Scripture Reading: Revelation 21, 22
One of the greatest questions people have asked throughout history is, "Will there ever be an end to suffering?" Will good finally triumph over evil? Will death have the last word, or will life ultimately prevail? These are not new questions. Philosophers have wrestled with them for centuries, and every generation has searched for answers. As Christians, we do not face these questions without hope. The Bible teaches us that this present life is not the end of our story. Our earthly life is a precious gift from God, but it is temporary. We were not created merely for this world. We were created for eternity, to live forever in the presence of our Creator. That is why the closing chapters of the Bible are so encouraging.
Revelation chapters 21 and 22 are the final pages of God's written Word. In them, the Apostle John receives a breathtaking vision of a new heaven and a new earth—a renewed creation that God is preparing for His redeemed people. It is the fulfillment of the hope that believers have cherished throughout the ages. Over the past several weeks, we have reflected on our eternal home through the Psalms. Psalm 90 reminded us that God has been our dwelling place throughout all generations. Psalm 91 assured us that He is our refuge and shelter in every storm of life. Now, as we come to the closing chapters of Revelation, we see the glorious destination toward which those promises have always pointed. The Bible begins with a beautiful garden.
In the opening chapters of Genesis, God created a perfect world filled with beauty, harmony, and life. Adam and Eve enjoyed unhindered fellowship with God. They walked with Him in the cool of the day. There was no sickness, no pain, no sorrow, no fear, and no death. Above all, God's presence was with His people. Then sin entered the world. Everything changed. The fellowship between God and humanity was broken. Creation itself became subject to suffering, decay, and death. Human beings, who had been created for fellowship with God, suddenly became strangers in a broken world. Yet God never abandoned His creation. From the very moment sin entered the world, God promised redemption. Throughout the Old Testament, He unfolded His plan to restore what had been lost. At the fullness of time, He sent His own Son into the world. Jesus Christ lived among us, suffered for us, died on the cross for our sins, and rose again in victory over death. Through His resurrection, He conquered sin, defeated death, and opened the way for us to return to God's presence. When we arrive at the end of the Bible, we discover that God's plan has come full circle. Genesis begins with creation. Revelation ends with a renewed creation. The Bible opens with a beautiful garden, and it closes with an even more glorious garden. Once again there is a river of life. Once again there is the tree of life. Once again God dwells with His people. What was lost in Eden is restored through Jesus Christ. The book of Revelation is often misunderstood. Many people think only of its judgments, beasts, and mysterious symbols. Yet the central message of Revelation is not fear. It is hope. It is the triumphant declaration of Jesus Christ: "Behold, I am making everything new."
John received this remarkable vision while living under very difficult circumstances. After the death and resurrection of Jesus, tradition tells us that John ministered in Ephesus, faithfully preaching the Gospel. Because of his witness for Christ, he was arrested and exiled to the small island of Patmos, located off the coast of modern-day Turkey. My wife and I had the opportunity to visit Patmos several years ago. It is a small, rocky island, quiet and isolated. There is a chapel built over what tradition identifies as the cave where John received the Revelation. Visitors are shown a simple stone bed and even a stone pillow, said to represent where John rested. Whether those details are historically exact or not, standing there reminds you that God often gives His greatest revelations during life's most difficult seasons. John was not writing from a palace. He was writing as an exile. He was not surrounded by comfort. He was surrounded by hardship. Yet God opened heaven and allowed him to see the future prepared for God's people.
There is a beautiful story about an elderly Christian woman living in a nursing home during the final days of her life. The staff noticed that every day she read only the last two chapters of the Bible. Finally, one nurse asked, "Why do you always read Revelation 21 and 22? Why don't you read the rest of the Bible?" The woman smiled and replied, "Because I'm living the last chapters of my life. I'm studying the home where I'm about to live forever." What a wonderful perspective. Most of us spend months—or even years—preparing for an earthly home. We study neighborhoods, compare floor plans, choose paint colors, cabinets, flooring, appliances, and furniture. We carefully research every important purchase we make, whether it is a home, a car, or a new career opportunity. Yet how little time do we spend thinking about the home we will one day inherit for all eternity? No real estate agent can show us heaven. You cannot find it on Zillow or Realtor.com. But through Revelation 21 and 22, God gives us something even better. John becomes our heavenly guide, taking us on a tour of the eternal home that Christ has prepared for those who belong to Him. The book of Revelation begins with churches under pressure. The believers John addressed were experiencing persecution, suffering, and uncertainty. The book opens with fear and hardship, but it closes with paradise. It begins with tears, but it ends with God wiping every tear from our eyes. That is why Christians are people of hope. We know how the story ends. Our Redeemer has already won the victory. We were never created to make this broken world our permanent home. We were made for another world. That explains why there is so much longing in the human heart. No matter how comfortable life becomes, something inside us still yearns for more. We instinctively know that this world is not all there is.
John writes, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth..." (Revelation 21:1) The word "new" is one of the most beautiful words in these closing chapters. In the original Greek, it refers not merely to something newly created but to something renewed, restored, and transformed. Think of a master artist restoring an old masterpiece. Over the years the painting has become cracked, faded, and damaged. The artist does not throw it away and begin again. Instead, he carefully restores it until its original beauty shines once more. That is exactly what God is doing with His creation. He is not abandoning His world. He is redeeming it. He is restoring it. He is making all things new. The Apostle Paul expresses this same truth when he writes, "If anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come." (2 Corinthians 5:17) Notice that Paul does not say we become completely different people in the sense of losing our identity. Rather, through Christ we are renewed. God begins restoring us into the people He originally intended us to be. Peter echoes this same promise when he writes about "a new heaven and a new earth, where righteousness dwells." Imagine a world where righteousness is perfectly at home because sin has been completely removed. No evil. No injustice. No violence. No corruption. Only the perfect reign of God. From Genesis to Revelation, God's desire has always been the same. He longs to dwell with His people. In Eden, He walked with Adam and Eve. In the wilderness, His presence filled the tabernacle. In Jerusalem, His glory filled the Temple. Then, in the greatest miracle of all, "the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." Jesus Christ entered our world so that God might once again dwell with His people.
Now Revelation brings the story to its glorious conclusion. God's dwelling place will once again be with humanity. Nothing will ever separate God's people from His presence again. That is the greatest promise in all of Scripture. When the storms of life shake us, when suffering seems overwhelming, when death appears to have the final word, we must remember that God is leading us toward a far better country. We were not created for a world filled with pain and sorrow. We were created for a world where righteousness dwells, where God's presence fills every corner of creation, and where His redeemed people will live with Him forever. Heaven is not heaven merely because it is beautiful. Heaven is heaven because God is there. The greatest joy awaiting every believer is not simply streets of gold or gates of pearl. The greatest joy is that we will finally see our Savior face to face and dwell forever in His presence. That is our eternal hope.
The greatest promise John hears in Revelation is found in these comforting words: *"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away." (Revelation 21:4) These are not simply beautiful words intended to comfort us. They are God's eternal promises. Think about that for a moment. Every tear you have ever shed has a story behind it. Some tears come from grief. Others come from disappointment, loneliness, betrayal, illness, or the pain of watching someone you love suffer. We have all cried tears that no one else ever saw. One day God Himself will wipe every one of those tears away. Not only will He remove our tears, but He will remove the very causes of our tears. There will be no more death. No more funerals. No more hospitals. No more cancer. No more Alzheimer's disease. No more broken hearts. No more suffering. No more mourning. No more pain. Everything that entered the world because of sin will be gone forever. Sometimes I ask people to imagine what heaven will be like. Picture yourself walking into a hospital where every room is empty. The nurses have gone home. The doctors have no patients to treat. The emergency room is closed because there are no emergencies. There are no surgeons because no one needs surgery. There are no pharmacies because there is no sickness. No wheelchairs. No oxygen tanks. No rehabilitation centers. Even my cardiologist will have nothing to do in heaven! There will be no insurance forms to complete, no deductibles to pay, and no co-pays. Everything will be made perfectly whole because God Himself has removed every effect of sin. That is the hope of the Christian.
The Bible teaches that those who have been born twice die only once. We are born physically into this world, and through faith in Jesus Christ we are born again spiritually. Those who experience this second birth never experience the second death. Physical death becomes nothing more than a doorway into the presence of Christ. That is why Christians can face death differently. Death is no longer our greatest enemy. Christ has already conquered it. David understood this when he wrote, *"Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me."* (Psalm 23:4) Notice that David did not say he would never walk through the valley of the shadow of death. He said that even there he would not fear because God would be with him. Death has become a doorway through which Christ welcomes His children home. One of the most beautiful truths in Revelation is that God longs to be with His people. As parents, we understand something of that longing. No matter how old our children become, we still desire to see them. Even after they marry and have families of their own, we continue to pray for them, think about them, and eagerly look forward to every visit. Our heavenly Father loves us infinitely more than we love our own children. He watches over us every day. He knows every step we take. He sees every burden we carry. And He longs for the day when all His redeemed children will finally be home with Him. Sometimes we become so focused on our present struggles that we forget how much God desires our fellowship. Throughout the entire Bible, His purpose has always been to dwell with His people. Sin interrupted that fellowship, but Christ restored it through His death and resurrection. The Christian's greatest hope is not simply living forever.
Our greatest hope is living forever with God. There is a remarkable true story that illustrates this hope. In 1985, an Alabama man named Ray Hinton was wrongly convicted of murder and sentenced to death for crimes he did not commit. He spent nearly thirty years in prison before evidence finally proved his innocence, and in 2015 he walked out of prison a free man. During those thirty years, Ray Hinton came to know Jesus Christ personally. Although he lived under the shadow of injustice, he refused to become bitter. He often encouraged other prisoners, telling them that no prison could imprison his soul because Christ had already made him free. Many people wondered how he could remain joyful after losing so many years of his life. His answer was simple. His joy did not depend upon his circumstances. His joy rested in Jesus Christ. He knew that even if earthly justice failed him, heaven would never fail him. When he finally walked out of prison, he was already free on the inside because Christ had set his heart free years before. That is exactly the kind of hope Revelation offers every believer. Our present circumstances do not define our future. No matter how painful this life may become, Christ has already secured our eternal home.
The prophet Isaiah declared, "He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces." (Isaiah 25:8) The Apostle Paul triumphantly proclaimed, *"Death has been swallowed up in victory." (1 Corinthians 15:54) Christians are an unusual people. One philosopher once observed that Christians are ordinary people who believe extraordinary things. We believe that God hears our prayers. We believe that He heals. We believe that death is not the end. We believe that Christ rose from the dead. We believe that one day He will return. Most astonishing of all, we believe that beyond this broken world there is an eternal home where suffering will never enter again. That is extraordinary hope. The Bible closes exactly where it began. Genesis introduces us to the tree of life and the river flowing through the Garden of Eden. Revelation welcomes God's redeemed people back to the tree of life beside the river flowing from the throne of God. Everything lost through Adam has been restored through Jesus Christ. The curse has been removed. The fellowship has been restored. Creation has been renewed. Jesus Himself declared, "Whoever believes in me... rivers of living water will flow from within them." (John 7:38) Even today, the Holy Spirit gives believers a foretaste of the life that awaits us. After months of drought, the first heavy rain transforms the landscape. Brown fields become green again. Dry streams begin to flow. Life returns to the earth. That is only a faint picture of what God's presence will accomplish when He renews all creation. Finally, Revelation closes with one of the most beautiful prayers in all of Scripture. "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."* (Revelation 22:20) The Bible does not really end with a conclusion. It ends with an invitation. An expectation. A longing. The Church has been praying these words for nearly two thousand years: "Come, Lord Jesus." Just as Christ is preparing a place for us, we eagerly wait for the day when He returns. Our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will one day be revealed.
There is a beautiful story from Japan that captures this spirit of waiting. At a railway station in Tokyo stands the famous statue of a dog named Hachikō. His owner was a university professor who traveled to work by train every day. Every morning Hachikō accompanied him to the station, and every afternoon he faithfully returned to greet his master when the train arrived. Then one day the professor suffered a fatal heart attack at work and never came home. But Hachikō did not know. The next afternoon he returned to the station. And the next day. And the next. For nearly nine years, Hachikō continued waiting faithfully for the return of his beloved master. His extraordinary loyalty touched the hearts of an entire nation, and today a bronze statue stands at that station in his honor. As moving as that story is, our hope is even greater. Hachikō waited for a master who would never return.
We wait for a Savior who has promised that He will. Jesus Christ is alive. He conquered death. He ascended into heaven. And one day He will return in glory to gather His people. On that day every promise of Revelation will become reality. Every tear will be wiped away. Every sorrow will end. Every prayer will be answered. Every wound will be healed. Death will be no more. The people of God will dwell forever in His presence. Until that glorious day, we live with hope. We worship with hope. We suffer with hope. We serve with hope. And with the entire Church throughout the ages, we continue to pray: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus."
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