Unit 3: The Word: The Great Hope of the Saints
Key Verse:
Revelation 21:4 NLT
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
All of our sorrow will be behind us…
What you need to know
Isaiah 66:22 NLT
22
“As surely as my new heavens and earth will remain,
so will you always be my people,
with a name that will never disappear,”
says the Lord.
As we began this quarter with lessons from the Book of Isaiah, we will close with a foretelling by the prophet of a time at the end of time when a new Heaven and a new Earth are set to replace the old. We are beginning the final set of lessons for this quarter. The title is, “The Great Hope of the Saints”. The focus of this set of lessons will focus on the fulfilled promise that we, the Saints of God, will walk into when we receive our eternal inheritance in Heaven by Christ, Jesus. The lessons center around the final two chapters of the Book of Revelation. John reveals to us a new home for the believer, free of sin, pain, and death. Let’s take a peek…
2 Peter 3:10-13 NLT
10 But the day of the Lord will come as unexpectedly as a thief. Then the heavens will pass away with a terrible noise, and the very elements themselves will disappear in fire, and the earth and everything on it will be found to deserve judgment.[a]
11 Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live, 12 looking forward to the day of God and hurrying it along. On that day, he will set the heavens on fire, and the elements will melt away in the flames. 13 But we are looking forward to the new heavens and new earth he has promised, a world filled with God’s righteousness.
The Lesson
Revelation 21:1 NLT
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.
To begin this unit and this lesson, let us be reminded that all of history is not behind us as we peer into eternity. Heaven and Earth have been dissolved by fire and are no more. In His grand scheme, God brings forth a new home for his people. And it will be beautiful beyond imagination. The new Earth may be reminiscent of the original creation in that it very well may have a firmament above it. If that is the case, we can safely assume that the axis upon which the earth rotates will also be corrected in its new, improved version. Why is this important? If the firmament is in place on the new earth (God’s original design), the new earth will be a place of wonder. The enclosed atmosphere will behave like a hyperbaric chamber. The vegetation will be robust and enduring. The ravages of Noah’s flood will be replaced by splendor unseen ever by the eyes of men. All thing will be new. Because the new earth will rotate on a corrected axis, the seasons will be eliminated. The temperate zones where people will live will always be so. Additionally, creation scientists believe that because of the firmament, the light from the stars will be refracted as it passes into Earth’s atmosphere, much as light is refracted through a prism or as a rainbow is created by refracted sunlight through the mist of a passing rainstorm. In fact, God gave Noah the rainbow as a sign of an everlasting covenant that He would not destroy the earth by flood again.
Finally, if the firmament is in place over the new earth, then the expanse of oceans as we understand them will no longer exist. The ‘sea’ will be gone. In this regard, the new earth will be much like the earth before the fall, where a mist arose from the earth and watered it. There is so much more to say about this new earth that cannot be broached here. Suffice it to say, it will be exceedingly, abundantly above all that we can imagine.
Genesis 9:13-15 NLT
13 I have placed my rainbow in the clouds. It is the sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth. 14 When I send clouds over the earth, the rainbow will appear in the clouds, 15 and I will remember my covenant with you and with all living creatures. Never again will the floodwaters destroy all life.
Job 38:24 NKJV
24
By what way is light [a]diffused,
Or the east wind scattered over the earth?
Genesis 2::5-6 NKJV
5 before any plant of the field was in the earth and before any herb of the field had grown. For the Lord God had not caused it to rain on the earth, and there was no man to till the ground; 6 but a mist went up from the earth and watered the whole face of the ground.
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Revelation 21:2 NLT
2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
For the believers of John’s day, this passage took on significant meaning. You see, John wrote this Book sometime around 95 AD - 96 AD. At that time, it had been some twenty-five years since the destruction of the Temple at Jerusalem by Rome. Rome burned the Temple of God to the ground so as to remove all of the gold from the stone on which it had been overlaid. The Roman forces completely destroyed the Temple and the city of Jerusalem. Additionally, they completely defeated the Judean forces that opposed them. This was a lasting subjection of Israel that turned the entire area of Palestine into a desert. It has only been in the last one hundred years that the Jewish diaspora has returned to the area and re-established Israel as a nation. Even so, God promises a New Jerusalem, not formed by human hands, coming from God, out of heaven. It is there that God will establish His abode among His people.
Revelation 21:3 NLT
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.
God will abide with His people and we will abide eternally in His presence. There will be eternal peace in His Presence. Nothing compares to the Presence of God. Imagine, just for a moment, the electricity, the power, the majesty that will be made manifest in His Presence. Imagine the unbridled, unspeakable power on display in God’s Presence. It is no small wonder then, that John used terms like ‘the seven thunders’, or ‘the flashes of lightning and rumble of thunder’, and many more to describe the wonders of the Presence of God. Isaiah described the demonstration of the power of God’s Presence where the very foundations of the Temple were shaken by the voice of Him who spoke. Power. Unabashed, indescribable power in His Presence. Our God is Awesome.
Revelations 10:4 NLT
When the seven thunders spoke, I was about to write. But I heard a voice from heaven saying, “Keep secret what the seven thunders said, and do not write it down.”
Revelations 4:5 NLT
From the throne came flashes of lightning and the rumble of thunder. And in front of the throne were seven torches with burning flames. This is the sevenfold Spirit of God.
Isaiah 6:1-4 NLT
It was in the year King Uzziah died[a] that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple. 2 Attending him were mighty seraphim, each having six wings. With two wings, they covered their faces, with two, they covered their feet, and with two, they flew. 3 They were calling out to each other,
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of Heaven’s Armies!
The whole earth is filled with his glory!”
4 Their voices shook the Temple to its foundations, and the entire building was filled with smoke.
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Revelation 21:4 NLT
4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
And yet, God’s love will rule the eternal moment that we have entered. The awe of God will not seem terrifying, but rather, comforting to those on whom He has shed His eternal love. Beloved, you are greatly loved. All that God has done was done and will be done for those of us who are called ‘His own’. We are His people. There is no greater reward. As awestruck as we will be because of the glory of His Presence, so shall we be equally in awe of the great love that He will show us. His great love will wipe away all of our pain and sorrow. Death and the grave will not be remembered.
Revelation 21:5-7 NLT
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty, I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
“And the One sitting on the throne…” Make no mistake, Beloved, How are they, the Father and the Son one? I don’t quite know, nor will we until we are in their Presence to behold Him. I did that on purpose. Jesus told Thomas, “when you've seen me, you have seen the Father.” The writer of Hebrews describes Jesus as the express image of the person of God. Whatever the case may be, it is clear that it is Jesus who is speaking in the passage above. We hear the echo of His voice at the cross when He says, “It is finished!” We clearly understand that only Christ wears the title, “the Alpha and Omega-the Beginning and the End.” We are reminded of His invitation in the seventh chapter of John to come to Him for living water. All of these things identify the speaker as Jesus, the Christ. Beloved, for me, that’s good news. How about you? Be reminded that it was Christ who, for the joy set before Him, namely you and I, endured death on the cross so as to resurrect us with Himself into eternity. It is in Christ that we live, breathe and have our being. We could not be in better hands…eternally. Beloved, God has an eternal name. His name is Jesus. Amen.
John 19:30 NLT
30 When Jesus had tasted it, he said, “It is finished!” Then he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.
Revelation 1:8 NLT
8 “I am the Alpha and the Omega—the beginning and the end,” says the Lord God. “I am the one who is, who always was, and who is still to come—the Almighty One.”
John 7:37-39 NLT
37 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me! 38 Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’” 39 (When he said “living water,” he was speaking of the Spirit, who would be given to everyone believing in him. But the Spirit had not yet been given,[f] because Jesus had not yet entered into his glory.)
Hebrews 12:2 NLT
2 We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith.[a] Because of the joy[b] awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honor beside God’s throne.
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Revelation 21:8 NLT
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
I’ll keep it purposefully short. All who died whose names were not found in the Book of Life were deposed to the Lake of Fire in the previous chapter (Chapter 20). Subsequently, John is reminding his audience that they have nothing to fear in God’s Presence. Anything or anyone that might have been deemed remotely threatening has no place in God’s Presence. All darkness has been permanently extinguished. Sin is no more. The new Heaven and new Earth and new Jerusalem are eternally reserved as a place of peace ad order. Perfect Love casts out fear.
1 John 4:17-19 NLT
17 And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18 Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. 19 We love each other[a] because he loved us first.
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Revelation 21:9-10 NLT (verse 10 added)
9 Then, one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.
In fact, so complete is God’s victory over Sin, Death, Hell, and the Grave that one of the angels whose purpose was to exact God’s lasting judgment upon the old earth has been re-purposed by God. His new assignment is to reveal to John and his audience the splendor of the Bride of Christ coming down from Heaven in the holy city of New Jerusalem. Full Stop. One of the angels whose recorded purpose in the Word of God was to pour out wrath, plague, and suffering upon a sin-sick planet has now been re-purposed to proclaim the majesty and glory of God’s fulfilled and eternal purpose before all of creation. Thus begins the eternal bliss that awaits all of us who believe, who have placed our faith in the life-giving power of the precious blood of the Lamb of God!
Selah,
wb
John 15:13 NLT
13 There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
Amen !!
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