What is the New Heaven and New Earth?

In his vision, John sees a new heaven and a new earth (Revelation 21:1).  This calls to mind the opening words of Genesis 1, where we read that “God created the heavens and the earth.”  D.A. Carson says “the opening of the Bible connects with the closing of the Bible.  But now this new heaven and new earth is untainted by any of the residue of the sin of Genesis 3.  It is a new heaven and earth.”

Revelation 21-22 is the climax of the whole Bible.  We ought to read these chapters, like the rest of the book of Revelation, with the Old Testament (not the New York Times) in our other hand.  Revelation 21-22 is not telling us to be on the lookout for certain world events that will signal the second coming of Christ, but rather these chapters contain rich symbolism with Old Testament roots.  Many of the symbolic elements in Revelation 21-22 are suggestive of Eden before the fall.

Revelation 21:3-4 and 22:3 describes the new heaven and new earth as a place where there are no tears, no pain, no mourning, no curse, and no death.  In this life, the church is made up of sinners like you and me.  We have been justified and we are being sanctified, but we are not yet perfected or glorified.  But one day we will be in the presence of the Lamb of God in glory and splendor for all eternity.  There will be no more impurity or possibility of sin (Revelation 21:27).  We will love and worship God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength without any hint of idolatry.  We will love our neighbor as ourself without greed, hate, betrayal, selfishness, or jealousy.  The new heaven and the new earth is the consummated union between Christ and his people, and it has been secured for us through the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus.

Revelation 21-22 fosters hope and anticipation.  This is important to note as we go through deep waters of trials and sufferings in this present evil age.  Christian hope is anchored in the past, in what Christ has done in keeping the law, fulfilling all righteousness, bearing the curse, and rising again victorious over sin, death, hell, and the devil.  Our hope as believers is grounded in the plan of the Triune God from before the beginning of time.  Christian hope also projects into the future, prompting God’s people in every generation to meld their voices together and cry “Amen.  Come quickly, Lord Jesus” (Revelation 22:20).

If you are interested in talking more about “the new heaven and new earth,” you are invited to come and join us for our next Bible study, which takes place tomorrow night (Wednesday, September 28) from 6:30 to 8 PM.  We meet at 9257 Amsden Way in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. 

Does Hell Exist?

This has been an especially burning question since the recent publication of Rob Bell’s book Love Wins: A Book about Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Ever Lived.  Listen to how D.A. Carson answers this question:

Doubtless many think that hell, if it exists, is for really bad people, like the guards at Auschwitz, perhaps.  What this overlooks is that the guards at Auschwitz were just “ordinary” people from a sophisticated and highly educated culture.  A number of photographs have come to light showing these guards, including prominent leaders such as Rudolf Hoess and the infamous Josef Mengele (who performed cruel medical experiments on camp inmates) at Solahutte, a retreat center for SS personal located a mere 30 kilometers from Auschwitz.  These photographs disclose merry times—eating berries, mugging for the camera, lighting a Christmas tree.  One is thus introduced to the “banality of evil”: one of the most revolting elements of the evil was the sheer thoughtlessness of it all. 

Yet although this is an evil of a high order, from a biblical perspective the ugliest evil, the highest order of evil, is the erection of idols, the failure to love God with heart and soul and mind and strength.  We may console ourselves with self-deceptive comfort that our culture would never act like that of Nazi Germany, but a little self-knowledge enables us to imagine descending to similar levels, while reflection on the biblical themes shows that these levels are merely symptoms of a far deeper corruption that, in its idolatrous independence, has happily and mockingly ignored the God who is there and thereby attracted his wrath.  Indeed, the heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately wicked (Jeremiah 17:9). 

Yes, hell does exist—even though many try to deny this fact.  A.W. Tozer was right when he said “the vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.”  Since the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, the theme of judgment and curse runs throughout the Scriptures.  Jesus actually says more about hell than any other person in the Bible (Matthew 10:28). 

Hell is not a time to hang with your friends—there are no “friends” in hell.  Hell is also not separation from God; rather, hell is to be eternally tormented in the presence of the Holy angels and of the Lamb.  Imagine facing God in his wrath, without regard to his mercy—this is what hell is and why the torment is so great (Revelation 14:9, 11).  So, the testimony of God’s Word is that hell is eternity in the presence of the wrath and justice of God with weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:42; 2 Thessalonians 1:9; Revelation 19:11-16; 20:9-10). 

God is righteous, just, and holy.  We have all broken his law, and are deserving of his wrath and judgment for all eternity (Revelation 14:6-20).  The good news for God’s people is that Christ finished something on the cross; namely, he satisfied God’s justice and bore God’s wrath in our place (John 19:30).  On the cross, Christ didn’t just suffer suffocation and dehydration and blood loss.  While he hung on the tree on Golgotha, the sins of all his people were imputed to him and his righteousness is imputed to us (2 Corinthians 5:21). 

On the cross, Jesus was the ultimate obscenity.  He bore the curse of God’s law and became a horrific mass of depravity in the sight of the Father, suffering the wrath, judgment, and punishment of a holy God who is just and hates sin (Matthew 27:46; Galatians 3:13).  He was punished as a criminal under the justice of God for our crimes.  He drank that cup of the Father’s wrath for us so it wouldn’t come to our lips, and he was baptized into hell for us to be saved.  Carson writes: the measure of Jesus’ torment as the God-man is the measure of torment that we deserve and that he bore.  And if you see that and believe it, you will find it difficult to contemplate the cross for very long without tears.

Today is the day of salvation.  The Bible says that we are to flee from the coming wrath (Matthew 3:7) by trusting in Jesus, who saves us from the wrath to come (John 3:16-18, 36; 1 Thessalonians 1:10).  Carson says “granted that hell is real, terrifying, and eminently to be avoided, it would be unkind and uncharitable of me not to warn you, in exactly the same way that it would have been unkind and uncharitable of Jesus not to warn the people of his day.” 

If you are interested in talking more about the question of hell, you are invited to come and join us for our next Bible study, which takes place tomorrow night (Wednesday, September 14) from 6:30 to 8 PM.  We meet at 9257 Amsden Way in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.