Revelation 21:1-8
Behold Jesus Makes All Things New
1 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.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
The Way to our Savior is through the Cross and the death of Jesus...And normally when we look at death, we see a tragedy, a sadness, grief, and one missing in our lives...But Jesus' death and resurrection is a beautiful thing for He died for our sins...God's Plan was to take this tragedy and make it the Greatest Story ever told, the Most Beautiful Story ever written...The Beautiful Story is written throughout the four gospels...
When Jesus returns to earth and to us we will see a new heaven and a new earth...For the first heaven and the first earth will have passed away, and there was no longer any sea...We will see a new Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband...And we will hear a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with us until Eternity...We will be His people, and God Himself will be with us and and be our God...He will wipe every tear from our eyes...There will be no more death no more mourning or crying and no more suffering and pain, for the old order of things will have passed away...He is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end...And we can believe after reading the gospels that, behold, Jesus does and can and will make all things new...
Professor Peter Kreeft wrote: “No story is more beautiful than the Gospel, even though it is a story full of pain and nails and hate and blood and sin and murder and betrayal and forsakenness and unimaginable agony and death...It is the story of what happens to the most beautiful thing, Perfect LOVE, when it enters our world: it comes to a Cross, to the crossroad between good and evil...All our most beautiful stories are like the Gospel: they are tragedies first, and then comedies; they are crosses and then crowns...They are crosses because they are conflicts between good and evil...That is the fundamental plot of every great story...To say "that story is beautiful" means "that story resembles the Gospel."...If you are bored by the Gospel, that puts no black eye on the Gospel, but on you...Most likely, it means you have never listened to it...You must have heard it, but hearing is far from the same thing as listening.”...
And Kreeft adds: “If Christianity is true, this changes EVERYTHING...Christ's very last words to us in scripture were: "Behold, I make all things new." (Rev. 21:5)...I hope you remember that most moving line in the most moving movie ever made, The Passion Of The Christ, when Christ turns to His mother on the way to Calvary, explaining the need for the Cross and the blood and the agony: "See, Mother, I make all things new."...I hope you remember that line with your tear ducts, which connect to the heart, as well as with your ears, which connect to the brain...Christ changed every human being He ever met...In fact, He changed history, splitting it open like a coconut and inserting eternity into the split between B.C. and A.D. If anyone claims to have met Him without being changed, he has not met Him at all...When you touch Him, you touch lightning.”...