The Kingdom of God- 9

Subtitle:  A New Creation

Revelation 20:11-15; 21:1-5.  This sermon was preached by Pastor Marty Bonner on Sunday, May 18, 2025.

Two weeks ago, we looked at the Millennial Kingdom in Revelation 20:1-10.  This period of time ends with fire coming out of the heavens to stop the final rebellion that is led by the devil.  This brings us into a transitional time. 

Let’s look at our passage.

God will make a new heavens and a new earth (20:11-15)

This time of transition wraps up the old creation and leads into the new creation.  God is going to make new heavens and a new earth.  However, this is preceded by a final judgment for this world and these heavens.  This judgment takes place at the throne of God.

It is important to understand that the new heavens and the new earth will never have anyone who sins and wrecks God’s loving purpose.  Some people question why God didn’t make the first creation like that.  Of course, we assume that it can be done, i.e., an imperfect world isn’t a necessary step in creating a perfect one.  It is also possible that it is not about it being necessary, but about this way being wiser than creating a “perfect” world in the first place.

The Creator has once and for all shown His true heart when He hung on a cross for you and for me.  We can trust Him.

In verse 11, we have the heavens and the earth “fleeing away” from God’s great white throne.  It is from this throne that He will judge.  What is meant by fleeing away?  It appears to be metaphorical language since the concept of fleeing implies intention.  As a metaphor, this phrase  can be translated as vanish, in the sense of avoiding the immediate presence of God.  It is unclear exactly what is happening, but the sequence is this: fire comes down out of the heavens to destroy the rebellion, the heavens and earth are removed from the presence of God, at the same time that there is a gathering of humans and heavenly beings before God.

Though the phrase is not used, this appears to be the second resurrection that is implied in verses 5 and 6.  Those who are resurrected here will be at least all those who have ever lived who did not put their faith in God.  It is also possible that there will be some mortal humans who did not join the rebellion.  When everything is melted down by the fire, they would die.  However, they would now be resurrected in order to be rewarded by God.  Regardless, this resurrection would consist of mostly, if not all, the unrighteous dead.

The judgment is simple and clear.  We have beings and things that are judged and put into the Lake of Fire.  The Lake of Fire is defined as “the second death” (v. 14).  In the first death, our spirits are separated from our bodies so that we cannot interact with the material world.  At the second death, our spirits are separated from all of God’s creation so that we cannot interact with it.  This is like a firewall between the new creation that will be and those of the old creation who refused to trust God.  As best we know, no one ever comes back from the Lake of Fire.

If you follow through Revelation 19 and 20, you will see a series of beings and things put into the Lake of Fire.  First, we see the Beast and the False Prophet cast into the fire (19:20) at the beginning of the Millennium of King Jesus reigning physically upon this earth.  After the 1,000-year reign and the rebellion led by the devil, we then see the devil cast into the fire (20:10). 

Following the resurrection of all those still in the grave, there is a judgment of these souls.  It is also assumed that, as the devil was judged, so too will the other heavenly beings.  Paul speaks of the Church judging angels in the future in 1 Corinthians 6:3.

Regardless, the judgment of that day will be based upon the lives that people lived.  Did they live a life that flowed out of trusting God’s Word, or did they trust in themselves or something else?  All those whose names are not found in the book of life and whose deeds were wicked will be thrown into the fire (20:15).  Finally, both death and Hades (the grave) are thrown into the fire.  I do not believe this intends to imply that these are two spiritual beings.  I believe that, as God empties the grave and removes all things into the fire that belong there, death will cease to happen and the spiritual holding place we call the grave will become no longer necessary.  Whatever this place is in the spirit realm, it will be thrown into the Lake of Fire.  Thus, the imagery is death dying along with the grave dying.  They will never reappear in humanity’s experience again.

This will leave God with only righteous, resurrected humans along with righteous, faithful angels standing with God before His throne.  This brings us to the new creation.

Creation 2.0 (21:1-5)

There is no dramatic explanation of how God creates (similar to Genesis 1-2).  We don’t have to know how God does it.  He has created this creation, and He can create another one.  Verse 1 simply has John seeing a new heavens and a new earth.  In fact, a lot of things are described as new in this place.

Along with the new heavens and new earth, there is a new Jerusalem, which is a big city that comes down out of the heavens.  There are new bodies for the righteous human spirits.

The idea for something “new” can be contemplated from different angles.  It can be new in the sense of time, chronologically.  This would distinguish between a previous thing that used to be new, but is now old, from another thing that is currently new.  This typically would mean that the old thing, whether it has passed away or still exists, would be of the same kind as the new thing.

However, in this passage, the word for new is different.  It contemplates the idea of newness from the sense of quality.  This is not just a brand new earth of the same kind.  It is an earth 2.0.  It is an upgrade.  It is of a new, better quality.  This is true of all the things described as new in these passages.  God is not recontinuing the old things.  This is why we see things like death and the grave going into the Lake of Fire.  God is doing a new thing that is both chronologically and qualitatively new.  This will be a new life for humans of a greater quality than is experienced on this planet.

The new city that is provided is called the New Jerusalem.  It is presented as a dwelling place for God, the Lamb and immortal humanity.  This is a city that is qualitatively different than the old.  We will dwell directly in the presence of God without separations from His presence.

This is a city that has been built by God (Hebrews 11:10) and is symbolic of the bride of Christ who dwell in it with him.  This is not a city like the cities of this world.  It will be of a completely different quality and character.

Verse 4 emphasizes that the experience of life in the new creation will not involve the bad stuff of this world.  All tears will be wiped away.  This isn’t just about the absence of harmful and sad things.  It is also about healing.  There is a tender and personal touch from God that appropriately removes the sadness of the old world from our spirits.  There will be no more death.  There will be no sorrow, crying or pain.  The former things (the first things) will have passed away.

It is possible that the new heavens and new earth are made out of entirely new material.  It is also possible that the old heavens and earth are melted down into a plasma that is then reformed into better material.  It is not important for us to understand the physics of this new creation any more than we need to understand the physics of resurrection.  We know that God created the first heavens and earth, so how hard is it to believe that He can make new ones that are even better?

This new world will be a universe without any rebellions and wickedness.  We will live in perfect harmony with God.

Verse 5 ends with the declaration, “Look!  I am making all things new (qualitatively better).”  What does this mean to us now?  It means that we can trust God.  We can die to the things of this world without fear.  We are promised a better to anything that we lose in this life.

Now, all of this is symbolic of what God is doing in our lives today.  He is already making all things new by starting inside of you.  This then makes a difference in the immediate world around  you.  We are participating in the dawning of the new creation.  Our lives are meant to be the evidence, the foreshadowing, of the new creation that will be finished in the future.

This is why we have verses like 2 Corinthians 5:17.  “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.  Also, Galatians 6:15, “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but a new creation [does avail something].”  Being a new creation in God will accomplish something.  Letting the Spirit of God work His new creation power within us is the joy of every believer.  May God help us to lean into His work, to cooperate with Him!

New Creation audio