A Vision for the Future

This post is a summary of my last sermon in the series covering Reading the Bible in 90 days. The scripture is Revelation 21:1-5:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 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."

He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

This passage is about vision. It provides a glimpse of a heavenly future awaiting those for whom it has been prepared. It is God's vision for the future. The scripture states that there is to be a new Heaven and a new Earth. Of course for there to be a new heaven and earth, the old one must pass away. A vision is like that; for the future to come, we must leave the past behind. I don't fully know what it means that there will be a new heaven and earth. I don't know what it will look like, but this scripture passage does give us some insight of what will be there.

First, and this is important, there will be no sea. Now I am an old sailor; I like the sea. But, for the ancient Israelite, the sea is not a good place. The Israelites were not sailors. The sea was a place of chaos. There were evil entities and monsters there. It was not a friendly place. None of this evil, this chaos will be present in this new heaven and earth.

Second, this passage tells of a new Jerusalem coming down adorned like a bride. What is the significance of this? Of course, Jerusalem was the city of God. The temple was there which signified God's presence. The church is called the new Jerusalem. The church is also called the bride of Christ and it is called the temple of the Holy Spirit. This new heaven and new earth will be a place where God dwells. Of course, the passage goes on to say just that.

Third, God's presence makes everything good. There is not going to be any death, mourning, crying or pain. This is good. Heaven is a place of everlasting joy in the presence of God.

Fourth, the passage reiterates that everything is now new. Things will be entirely different.

The good news about this passage is that this is a future that we will participate in. As the church, this future is designed with us in mind. One of the things that I like about this future is actually found in the next chapter of Revelation and it concerns the tree of life. When God created the Garden of Eden, there were two trees found in the center of the Garden. The Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Man chose to eat of the forbidden fruit; of the tree of the knowledge of Good and Evil. Man was put out of the Garden to keep him from eating from the Tree of Life (See Genesis 3). In Revelation 22, in our future, the Tree of Life is there with fruit for the picking. Our future is a place of eternal life.

Vision is important. The Bible says that without a vision, the people perish. Without a vision, we wander aimlessly. It is important to see the vision and work toward preparing to live out that vision. Certainly this is true for the vision described above. We must learn to live with and for God in this life as a preparation for dwelling with Him for eternity. I went on to discuss a vision for our church. A vision is of utmost importance, but if we don't work to make this vision a reality, it is after all only a pipe dream.