Joy to the World!

 

And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and she will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” (Revelation 21:5-8 ESV).

 

It is almost time to make the trek into the attic and begin bringing all the decorations down for Christmas. It is past the time when I start listening to Christmas music. In fact, as I am writing this morning, I’m listening to a streaming channel of Christmas instrumentals. That may be a bit early for you, but as we continue in our study with the reading today, we must acknowledge the great joy that is yet to come. The contrast is incredible between the first coming of Jesus and the second.

 

Heaven, that place where we will see God face-to-face and enjoy Him forever, has been the focus of our discussion recently. We have also seen how knowing that the Lord will judge all people gives us hope during our suffering. Much of our study has assumed the existence of heaven as part of what theologians call "the intermediate state." We certainly go to be with the Lord in heaven if we die in faith before Christ returns (cf. 2 Corinthians 5:6–8), but our presence in heaven before Jesus' second advent is an intermediate state of our existence after death, not the final or ultimate state we will enjoy. In other words, the spiritual disembodied existence we will enjoy in heaven before Christ returns comes to an end and another state will take its place. As Scripture teaches us in many places, the resurrection of the dead will happen. Heaven will come down to earth, and we will have physical bodies and live in a perfected creation.

 

One of the most important passages on the new heaven and earth is in our context today, which describes this new creation. We should greatly look forward to the bliss we will experience there. We will have a foretaste of it in the intermediate state, but its fullness will only be ours when Christ comes to consummate His kingdom. At that point, we will enjoy the unmediated presence of God, for the whole universe will be His temple (vv. 3–4). This perfect new creation will be free from all sadness. There will be no more tears, for God will have wiped them all away. Death, disease, emotional pain, sin—all the things that bring us so much suffering will pass away. We will bear the image of God with utter clarity, and there will be no strife. Though there will be continuity between this present creation and the one to come—God will not wipe everything out but will resurrect and renew all things.

 

Our final home will be both beautiful and grand (vv. 9–21), and we will dwell in perfect light because the Lord's glory will illumine His creation. God will be our lamp and we will need no sun, no moon, no candles, no other source of light. We will be content to see His beauty and rejoice that we dwell in such incredible glory (vv. 22–27). That is the source of our belief the joy will come… that is Joy to the World!