Revelation 21:1-4 - Homilies By D. Thomas

The fifth scene in the history of redeemed humanity: the unending age of blessedness.

"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth," etc. The retributive process is over; the characters of all have been tried, and the doom of all pronounced. The wicked are driven away into punishment, but the righteous have entered into life eternal. These words suggest two thoughts in relation to this final state—

I. THAT IT WILL BE IN A SENSE A NEW STATE . "A new heaven and a new earth," and a "new Jerusalem" ( Revelation 21:1 , Revelation 21:2 ). In what sense will it be "new"? I can conceive of three senses in which it will be new.

1 . It may be physically new. There is reason to believe that a great change will take place in the material creation. Indeed, there are forces which are constantly changing the earth, and the heavens, and the atmosphere in which our clouds swim and stars shine. The inorganic, the vegetable, and the animal worlds are constantly changing. The belief of the ancients, the doctrine of geology, and the testimony of the Scriptures, favour the opinion that the fires which burn in the centre of the globe will one day burst into a universal volcano, mantle the earth in flames, and reduce its fairest forms to ashes. Out of this ruin may rise "a new heaven and a new earth."

2 . It may be dispensationally new. Heaven and earth are sometimes used in Scripture to designate the dispensations under which men have lived. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth." The reference is, undoubtedly, to the Jewish economy. The patriarchal gave way to the Mosaic, the Mosaic to the Christian, and now the Christian will give way to something else. Christ will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father.

3 . It may be relatively new . New in the estimation and feeling of the occupants. No truth is more clear than this, that the world is to a man according to the state of his mind. To the voluptuary it is a scene of animal gratification; to the worldling it is a scene for barter; to the poet it is beauty; to the philosopher it is a school; to the saint it is a temple. Change a sinner's mind, and you change the world to him. He feels, and sometimes says, "The world is a new thing to me—a new heaven and a new earth." Let the men who now people this world come back to it in a perfect state, possessing a thorough sympathy with each other, the universe, and God. Will not the heavens and the earth be new to them? Will not all nature appear entirely different to what it was when they lived here, the creatures of imperfection and sin? Give the soul new moral senses, and you will give the material universe new attributes.

II. THAT IT WILL BE A STATE WIDELY DIFFERING FROM ALL PRECEDING ONES .

1 . The difference will arise from the absence of some things which were identified with all the preceding states. There are three things mentioned here as being absent from this state.

2 . This difference will arise from the presence of some things which have not been in connection with any preceding states. What are they?

I have, with great brevity, endeavoured to portray the epochs which are disclosed in the preceding chapter and verses before us—the epochs through which redeemed humanity has to pass. I believe that this is a correct interpretation of this passage. But were it not so, the sketch is still true. The ages I have mentioned are ages that belong to redeemed humanity. The first we are passing through now; and the others, though the nearest be immeasurably distant, are approaching with the march of time. Indeed, these epochs dawn in every redeemed soul. Our first stage in the Divine life is conflict; then a partial triumph; then, perhaps, a reaction; then the retribution; and then the unending blessedness. May this unending blessedness be thine, my friend!—D.T.