A New World
Where will it all end up?
And they all lived Happily Ever After.
Isn’t that how all good stories end? I hope so.
Isn’t that what we long for. Yes, the occasional film likes to make a point by ending on a downer, but we all long for the resolution. We want the end to be better than the beginning. Why? Because that’s how God works.
If you were the all-powerful and ever-kind creator and ruler of the universe, wouldn’t you make sure that it didn’t all end in disaster? Wouldn’t you make sure that all that had gone wrong in the middle, was resolved by the end?
God gave the Apostle John a vision of the future in Revelation 21.
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. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling-place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 “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.’
5 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.’
Revelation 21
This world of pain, struggle and doubt will pass away. This old world, with all its patterns of misery, will be replaced, upgraded and improved. The goal of God’s people is still a physical world – we’re still going to walk and talk, laugh and hug, eat and drink. But in a new and better way.
God made a world for us that was very good. But now he will make somewhere even better. Where the first Eden could be spoiled by human weakness and rebellion, this new world will be secure forever.
John sees a New Heaven and a New Earth. He hears a voice from the throne saying ‘I am making everything new!’ Our eternal destination is not a disembodied existence of imagining and pretending, but real, physical, tangible – as solid as a city.
Putting it into Practice
- Because our eternal destiny is physical, we can rejoice in our physicality. We are not spirits trapped in a weak and sinful body. We don’t need to achieve transcendence by disconnection or mystic meditation. We can embrace the physical world and be positive about how we’re made.
- Because our current experience is of the world order that will pass away, we need to be careful not invest all our time, energy and money into this world. God’s going to give us an upgrade, so why invest all your time here. Instead, ‘store up for yourself treasure in heaven’.