A New Heaven and A New Earth

 Temple Baptist Church - 3-13-2022

Revelation 21:1; 20:11

 

A.  In Revelation 21:1, we find a reference to a "new" heaven and earth with not much said in the preceding verses concerning when, how, and why this is necessary in the light of eternity.  I will carefully compare scripture with scripture to establish this.  The key to its timing is found in chapter 20 as we find that the earth that we live on along with the heaven that we live under "fled away; and there was found no place for them."  Fled away means that they must leave, and no place found for them means that they will have no part of eternity because of their former condition and purpose.

 

Revelation 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

 

B.  This verse tells us the timing of the renovation of heaven and earth.  It is evidently a simultaneous event with the Great White Throne Judgment.  In order for the judgment to take place and also for the renovation to take place, several things had to immediately come to pass.  I will deal with them a little bit later in this message.

 

C.  In order to understand the last mention of heaven and earth, we need to go the first mention of the heaven and earth in Genesis, chapter 1.

 

On the first day of creation, the Bible establishes the creation of our atmosphere and the earth: Genesis 1:1  In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.

 

In this verse, we see that both heaven and earth are singular.  This is not the creation of our universe but of the heaven in which we live and breathe.

 

On the fourth day of creation, the Bible establishes the creation of our universe.  Genesis 1:14-18  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:  (15)  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.  (16)  And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also.  (17)  And God set them in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth,  (18)  And to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.

 

Genesis 1:31  And God saw every thing that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And the evening and the morning were the sixth day.

 

D.  In the day that God created the heaven and the earth along with the universe, they were declared to be "good."  Later all of creation was declared "very good."  These two instances shows that they were created in perfection and purity.  There was no curse.

 

E.  In Genesis chapter 3, we find the fall and along with it, the curse that fell upon God's creation.  This curse has remained until this day and will remain until Revelation 20:15.

 

The Curse of this Earth - Genesis 3:17-19  And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;  (18)  Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field;  (19)  In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground; for out of it wast thou taken: for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return.

 

Genesis 5:29  And he called his name Noah, saying, This same shall comfort us concerning our work and toil of our hands, because of the ground which the LORD hath cursed.

 

Isaiah 24:4-6  The earth mourneth and fadeth away, the world languisheth and fadeth away, the haughty people of the earth do languish.  (5)  The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.  (6)  Therefore hath the curse devoured the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few men left.

 

The Curse of the Heavens - Job 25:5  Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight.

 

F.  In the New Testament, we find these former verses paralleled:  Romans 8:22  For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.

 

"The whole creation" refers to both the heavens and the earth that God created.

 

G.  Today, our earth has hurricanes, tornadoes, droughts, flooding, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc. because of the groaning and travailing in "pain together until now."  There were none of these things before the fall of man as they are a part of the curse of sin.

 

Revelation 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

 

Before there can be a "new heaven and a new earth," this cursed universe must be done away with and the heaven (our atmosphere) and earth in which live must have that curse removed.

 

Chapter 21, verse 11 gives us the when of the renovation.

 

H.  We see the when, now let us look at the how of renovation of the heaven and earth.  As I previously said, the judgment and curse of sin will be renovated at the same time.  Chapter 21 begins with the word "And" which implies these are simultaneous events.  2 Peter, chapter 3, gives us the "how" of this event.

 

2 Peter 3:10-13  But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.  (11)  Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness,  (12)  Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?  (13)  Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

 

J.  Two things take place here: 1) the heavens will pass away with a great noise, 2) and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.  This is reiterated in verse 12, "the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." 

 

Nuclear fission is the splitting of an atom into two or more particles.  Atomic bombs use nuclear fission, which means they gain energy by splitting atoms in materials such as uranium or plutonium.  We hear much in our day concerning the enrichment of bomb grade uranium and plutonium.

 

Elements are primary or basic constituents of matter.  These are substances that cannot be chemically broken down.  The word "elements" is one that is well known in science: there are 118 elements found in the Periodic Table of Elements where they are organized in order of increasing atomic numbers: the number of protons in the nuclei of its atoms.

 

What the Bible is saying is that the heavens and the earth will be purified down to its primary constituents!  No sin or curse will remain!

 

K.  The timing is a part of the "day of the LORD."  The phrase "day of the LORD" is found 31 times in your King James Bible with the word "LORD" capitalized in each instance.  When the word LORD is found in all capital letters, it’s representing the word "yeh-ho-vaw" or Jehovah: the self-Existent One or the Eternal One.  It is the Jewish national name of God.  The phrase "Day of the LORD" refers to the day of destruction and judgment for those who have rejected Him and His salvation.  It refers to the end of all things as we know it.

 

L.  Revelation 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

 

The sea had to give up the dead which were in it because there would be no seas on the new eternal earth.

 

Death or the grave had to give up the dead where were in them because there would be no graves on the new eternal earth.

 

Hell had to give up the dead which was in it because there would be no hell in the center of the new eternal earth.

 

The Sun, moon, and stars had to dissolve because there would be no need of them in eternity where there will be no night and God will be the Light.

 

M.  In the beginning, the earth was surrounded by a canopy that gave it a "greenhouse effect."

 

Genesis 1:6-8  And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.  (7)  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.  (8)  And God called the firmament Heaven. And the evening and the morning were the second day.

 

N.  The canopy was removed when the LORD flooded the earth and for the first time, man knew the 4 seasons.

 

Genesis 7:11  In the six hundredth year of Noah's life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened.

 

Genesis 8:22  While the earth remaineth, seedtime and harvest, and cold and heat, and summer and winter, and day and night shall not cease.

 

O.  As the first earth was surrounded by a canopy which was necessary for the Garden of Eden to flourish, the new earth will possibly have a canopy as it will be like the Garden of Eden forever.

 

P.  In the beginning, God made all without the curse of sin and it was very good.  In the end, God will renovate a heaven and earth that will be very good forever.  That sounds like home to me.