Today we come to the completion, or fulfillment, of the big story of the Bible. It’s called the consummation of all things. And it answers the question:  Where are we going to end up? What kind of life will it be? 

The classic ending to all stories is “And they lived happily ever after.” That has never happened in any real story in this present world. But it WILL happen in God’s story. It’s called the new creation, and it’s the ending we long for. 

MV “The new creation is the start of a new world inhabited only by lovers of God who will live forever, confirmed in holiness and love in a world never again tainted by sin. They will spend the ages to come worshiping God, reigning, and discovering the adventures of the new earth.”

In The Last Battle, CS Lewis puts this idea really well. “All their life in this world and all their adventures had only been to cover the title page; now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth had read; which goes on forever; in which every chapter is better that the one before.”  

We long for that, because something REALLY has gone wrong with us and with the present creation, just as God tells us in the Bible. Adam’s sin brought creation and our experience in the world under a curse.  Romans 8:20 says, “all creation has been subjected to futility and decay.”

Our planet is beautiful but also wild and broken, things decay and die. Human beings are amazing creatures, capable of wonderful and good things, but sin and evil and rebellion runs through human hearts and brings SUCH misery! We experience the pain of sin, our own and others, conflict, sickness, depression and grief. And everything wrong with us or with this present world comes from sin. 

JIP “To say that our first need in life is to learn about sin may sound strange, but in the sense intended it is profoundly true. If you have not learned about sin, you cannot understand yourself, or your fellow-men, or the world you live in, or the Christian faith. And you will not be able to make head or tail of the Bible. For the Bible is an exposition of God’s answer to the problem of human sin and unless you have that problem clearly before you, you will keep missing the point of what it says.” (That is the big story of the Bible)

Christ came to fix our sin problem, totally and forever. He died for our sins and we are brought near to God by the blood of Jesus, without judgment, shame or condemnation. That is a glorious truth. But the work of Christ goes beyond that.  He not only saves, redeems, and heals us, He will redeem the earth and indeed the entire universe. 

Colossians 1:19,20 “God was pleased to have all His fullness dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile to Himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through the blood of His cross.” Reconciliation means restoring a broken relationship. “All things” means he is reconciling not only human beings but all creation. We all would say Jesus is Savior and Lord of us. But He is also L&S of all creation! He will restore it all to what God intended. 

The healing of our lives already underway. We are saved. But we haven’t seen the ultimate outcome of our salvation yet. We haven’t experienced the perfect righteousness, beauty and glory of all that God has planned for us. So our experience in this present world, is partially a cry, a longing for the Lord and His coming Kingdom. CSL described it as an ache, or intense longing, a homesickness for our true home.

Rom 8:23 says, "We ourselves, who have the first-fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” Then verse 22 says "The whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until the present time.” In some sense flowers, sun, stars, the moon, animals and angels, the entire universe, visible and invisible, are also eagerly waiting for that day.

So our present experience is like the "pains of childbirth". The baby will be born, the pains will end, there will be great joy, but we’re not all the way there yet. We are waiting for “the redemption of our bodies”. That happens when Christ appears and our bodies will be like His glorious body.  AND ALL creation is waiting with eager longing for (this same event) the revealing of the sons of God. 8:19 Why? Because our “revealing or redemption” will signal the restoration of the entire universe. 

*That day will be like being set free. 8:21 “the creation itself will be set free from its bondage, and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.  The glorious freedom of the sons of God is freedom from all sin and all effects of the curse. No sin suffering or death, no pain or sadness, no handicaps, no weakness, just glorious freedom.

In a similar way, all created things, plants and animals the earth itself, the heavens, will no longer know decay, death, or evil. God is committed to restoring the earth and the stars, the whole universe to perfect beauty and wholeness, setting it all free from the curse. 

Ephesians 1:9,10 "(God) has made known to us the mystery of His will according to His good pleasure, which He purposed in Christ as a plan for the fullness of time, to bring all things in heaven and on earth together in Christ.” Christ will unite heaven and earth or as Revelation 21:1 says, “The Holy City, the New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God”.  Heaven comes down to earth. God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven. The new creation will literally be heaven on earth!

The Coming of Christ and our resurrection will inaugurate the final events that lead to the this perfect consummation of all things. 1 Cor. 15:22-28 At the coming of Christ all who belong to Him will be made alive.. “Then the end will come, when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father after He has destroyed all dominion, authority and power. For (Christ) must reign until He has put all His enemies under His feet….And when all things have been subjected to Him, then the Son Himself will be made subject to Him who put all things under Him, so that God may be all in all.” The consummation of all things is when Jesus Christ has defeated every enemies, made every thing and everybody obey him, then he hands all of creation over to the Father and God is “all in all” or “utterly supreme over everything everywhere”.

*Let’s look at some of the glorious joys that await us in the new creation:

*We will receive a great inheritance. 21:7 "The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.” You will receive “all things”, all you could ever want – all God has to give you. He will hold nothing back. But the ultimate blessing, is the gift of God Himself: “You will be my people and I will be your God. 21:3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. God will live right here with us on the new earth. 

M Yousef "We all want a home where we can live forever, experience endless joy in God's presence, and be reunited with those we love." God Himself placed those desires within us so that we would never be satisfied with anything less than EL with Him.'  Heaven is to be at home with God.  She's home.

*The New Creation will be perfect and our experience in it will be perfect. 21:4 God Himself “will wipe away every tear from their eyes,’and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.” Behold, I make all things new.”  The pain, brokenness and misery that we experience in this present world will be over! Completely! Gone forever!

One of the OT descriptions of the coming Kingdom, is “You shall go out in joy and be lead forth in peace.” Is 55:12 Another is Jeremiah 31:12 “They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will be radiant over the bounty of the LORD... Their life will be like a well-watered garden, and never again will they sorrow.” 

God’s perfect or ultimate or final will for us is to remove all pain and suffering and tears and evil. There will be only life and health, peace and righteousness, joy and pleasure in the new creation.

*The OT prophets and the book of Revelation tell heaven is not a state of mind but a real place. It will be a New City on a New Earth. Some of these realities are described in Rev 21,22. 22:1 John said, “The angel showed me the river of the water of life as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, flowing down the middle of the main street of the City!” On either side of the river stood a tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit and yielding a fresh crop each month.” What a description! So tangible! We will enjoy incredible beauty! What an incredible experience. We’ll drink from the water of life and eat from the tree of life!

There will be unending enjoyment and worship of God.  Verse 3 goes on, “but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him.”  We will be overcome with awe and appreciation and an overwhelming desire to fall on our faces and worship Him! But our worship will also include works of service! The word used for worship here means minister or serve.  NASB, NIV, KJV all say “and his servants will serve him”.  We will have responsibilities, things to do for God. 

Next: We will know God intimately and personally. Verse 4 says “We will see his face”.  In the Bible the face is the essence of a person. You can talk on the phone, text, email but still the most intimate and personal communication is face to face. To say that we see God’s face means we are close to him. It means ultimate fellowship! It means really knowing and enjoying God, right up close.  The perfect love we long for we will finally experience when we see His face. 

And when we see his face, then we will say with David, “In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11 

*We will be marked as God’s treasured possession forever. Verse 4 goes on, “and his name will be on their foreheads”.  What do you put your name on? You put your name on things that matter to you, things that you value and want to keep.  God values his people!  You matter to God.  He will put his name right on your forehead!  What an honor! 

Malachi 3:17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession”. You are God’s treasured possession!  And God will distinguish you as one of His treasures for all the ages to come by putting his name on your forehead. What privilege!  What status!

Rev. 22:5 “There will be no night there, no need for lamps or sun, for the Lord God will shine on them.” The glory of God Himself illuminates the city...There won’t be any night because the light of God’s glory never goes out.  Wherever you go, whatever you do in that city God’s glory will shine upon you. And such detail! You won’t need a lamp or the sun! All light, no darkness, visually, but also spiritually. 

And we will rule over areas of responsibility on the New Earth.  Verse 5 “We will reign forever and ever.” God reminds us that positions of authority and honor are in our future.  Daniel 7:27 says, “And the kingdom and the dominion and the greatness of the kingdoms under the whole heaven shall be given to the people of the saints of the Most High.’  

How should we live in light of these truths?

First: Think, talk and live according this great story of the Bible. That’s our world view. If you actually believe the promise of living forever with God, on a new earth, in future glory, joy and beauty, that will change your life! I will show on your face, in your attitude, in your hope.  The godly woman “smiles at the future.” “The future is so bright I can hardly stand it.” We are the ones who should be saying that! 

Second: Be Patient and wait. Romans 8:25 if we hope for what we do not yet see, we wait for it patiently. This isn’t heaven yet. We understand that the fullness of God promises are yet to come. We accept that we must wait, so we persevere in hope.  We hold fast our confidence firm to the end! 

There’s a real problem in expecting all things to be perfect and whole right now. The thinking goes like this. God is sovereign. God is good and loving. So everything should be perfect right now. That’s a false belief, that comes from not accepting the big story of the Bible, from not believing what God has revealed to us in scripture. And then there is disillusionment or bitterness when loss or pain, or death comes. We are waiting with patience for the life without tears or death or pain. We have to realize where we are at in the big story of the Bible.

*Rejoice NOW, even in suffering, in our future salvation!  We rejoice now, because such a glorious future awaits us. Romans 8:18 “The sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory which shall be revealed to us.” Our future glory is God’s answer to present suffering! RA “Scripture continually puts the joys of heaven into the balance against the suffering of earth. I truly believe that weak view of heaven results in a faith that can’t stand up in the face of suffering. If you don’t talk about heaven then ultimately you have no answer to the evil and suffering that is so huge in our lives.” 

We rejoice now because we know all things will work out, all will be fixed, be resolved and be restored. We know we will live happily ever after. Every frustration, every fear, every grief and every tear is answered by the hope of the coming kingdom of God.

*We are content to be unknown here, to be servants, to be nobodies here, even to be disgraced or persecuted; we are willing to do things for God now, that get NO recognition, because our reward will come at the resurrection of the righteous, in the new creation. So we don’t feel inferior, or insecure, or left out and we don’t compare ourselves to others. Our eyes are on our future glory. 

Rev. 21:7 says, “we will inherit ALL things!” Paul said, “Let no one boast in men, because ALL things are yours whether Paul or Apollos or Peter, or the world, or life and death, or the present and the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God.” 1 Cor. 3:21-23

JP “Be done with all worry, and all feelings of insecurity, and all fears of insignificance, and all craving for importance. Do your work in the deep, solid, unshakable confidence and peace that no matter what comes to you in this world — all things are yours, all things will work out for your glory, “the world, the world to come, the present and the future — all things are yours, and you are Christ’s.” 

*Make the New creation and all it’s glory the basis of your hope. You cannot trust in anything or anybody in this world. Our hope is in the sure and certain promises of a new world coming in which there will no longer be any curse. And we will see the face of God!