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CHRIST MAKES ALL THINGS NEWLesson #46
Revelation 21:5-8
We rejoice to know that soon the Lord Jesus Christ shall come again and that when he comes, he will make all things new. He will create "a new heaven and a new earth!" As we saw in our previous study, this is what John saw and described in Revelation 21:1-4. The believer anticipates, with anxious heart, that great day when our God makes his creation new. We look forward to that new heaven and new earth "wherein dwelleth righteousness." However, it must never be forgotten that the Son of God exercises his renewing, creative power in this day. The basis of our confidence regarding the new creation of heavenly glory is our experience of the new creation of grace.
First, in verses 1-4 John saw the new heaven and new earth that Christ will make. Then he heard the Son of God declare, "Behold, I am making all things new!" It is as though our Lord were saying, John, the promise of a new heaven and a new earth should not take you by surprise. These things should not astonish you. Behold, I am making all things new right now by my saving, renewing, regenerating grace. Every time he saves a sinner by his almighty grace, he makes all things new for that sinner; and when he comes at the last day he will make all things new in God’s creation.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF GRACE
"He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." With those words the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, announces his great work of grace. Meditate upon each word carefully. "He that sat upon the throne" is Christ himself, the great God-man, the exalted Mediator, the Redeemer, and King of his people. He sat upon the throne of universal dominion forever as God (Heb. 1:8). He sits upon the throne now as the Lamb of God, upon the basis of his Mediatoral accomplishments as the sinner’s Substitute (John 17:2). He sits upon the throne because his work of redemption is finished (Rom. 8:34). He sits upon the throne with the ease of an absolute Monarch, possessing total sovereignty, without the slightest possibility of his throne being toppled or his decrees being nullified (Isa. 46:10).
"He that sat upon the throne said, Behold!" Give me your attention, Hear what I say. Give thoughtful consideration to my words. I am doing wondrous things for the sons of men. "I make all things new!" Christ, the Creator and Sustainer of all things in the physical creation, is the One who makes all things in the new creation. Nothing is attributed to the will of man. The Son of God says, "I make all things new!" Whatever this new creation is, he assures us that it is his work alone, accomplished by his power, according to his purpose, arising from his grace, and performed for his praise. The apostle Paul uses similar language in II Corinthians 5:17 - "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." The new creation is accomplished by the merits of Christ’s obedience and the power of his Spirit through the preaching of the gospel of his grace and glory. Everything in the new creation comes from him, is centered on him, and directs our hearts to him. He says, "I make all things new!" In the new creation, we are the beneficiaries of a new covenant(Jer. 31:31-34; 32:38-40), the recipients of a new nature (II Pet. 1:4; I John 3:9-10), given a new relationship (I John 3:1-2), brought into a new family (Eph. 3:15; Mk. 3:31-35), made to worship in a new way (Heb. 10:19-24), and granted a new record in heaven (Isa. 43:25; 44:22; Jer. 50:20).
The new covenant is the everlasting covenant of grace made between God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit before the world began. In that covenant the salvation of God’s elect was secured by the covenant promises of the three Persons of the Godhead to one another. The new nature created in the believer is the nature of Christ himself, a holy nature. Christ does not repair the old nature. He gives his people a new nature. The old nature remains with us, so that we cannot do the things we would. Sinless perfection is impossible, even for a moment! But there is in every believer a new nature that brings forth fruit unto God (Gal. 5:22-23). Our new relationship with God is one of sonship. God no longer deals with us as with slaves under the yoke of the law, and we no longer serve God as slaves by the constraint of the law. We are the sons of God! Can you imagine anything more ennobling? Being the sons and daughters of God we are now members of a new family, the family of God. Our family is a large one. It includes the whole church of God’s elect. And it is well supplied, for God himself is our Provider. Every member of this family, whose names are written in heaven, worship God in a new way. We come to God by faith in Christ, trusting the merits of his blood. We are all priests unto God. We do business in the holy place personally and are accepted there in Christ. In this new creation "old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." That means that our old record of sin is gone. Christ has purged away our sins by the blood of his cross. It also means that we have a new record in heaven. In the books of God we are declared to be perfectly righteous, because we have been made the righteousness of God in Christ by divine imputation (II Cor. 5:21).
THE ASSURANCE OF GRACE
Having made this marvelous declaration of grace, anticipating our hesitancy to believe such great things, our Savior gives us this perpetual word of assurance - "And he said unto me, write: for these words are true and faithful." If you are a young believer, one who has just come to Christ; or if you are one who has been in Christ for many, many years, before God all things are new, perpetually new, immutably new, eternally new! Your feelings will fluctuate, your failings will be many, and your experiences will often appear to contradict God’s work of grace and word of promise, but the new creation does not depend upon you. It depends only upon the truth and faithfulness of our great God and Savior (II Tim. 2:12-13, 19). The Lord God will never disown his child, disinherit him, cease to be gracious to him, or change his record in heaven. He will not impute sin to the one he has forgiven (Rom. 4:8). Because the new creation is God’s work, it is forever. Nothing can be taken from it. Nothing can be added to it (Eccles. 3:14).
THE ACCOMPLISHMENT OF GRACE
Read these next words and rejoice - "And he said unto me, It is done!" The gospel of Christ is good news to sinners who can do nothing for themselves, because it declares that the whole work of grace is done. The whole business of making all things new is finished. It was done before the world began. All the blessings of grace and salvation were fully given to God’s elect in Christ before the world began (Eph. 1:3; II Tim. 1:9). In him, according to God’s everlasting purpose of grace, we were predestinated, called, justified, and glorified from eternity (Rom. 8:28-30). The work was done when Christ died. When our Savior cried, "It is finished" (John 19:30), he declared that the whole work of righteousness and redemption, the whole accomplishment of God’s will by which we are sanctified and made perfect (Heb. 10:5-14) was done.The work is done when the chosen, redeemed sinner believes on the Lord Jesus Christ. Our faith adds nothing to what Christ has done. Faith receives Christ and all that he has done. Yet, no one has any right to claim Christ and grace until he believes. "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son of God shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). If you believe on Christ, you are a new creature in Christ. Your faith in him is the fruit of his creation, the gift of his grace, and the evidence of your election, redemption and calling.
THE ACCOMPLISHER OF GRACE
Once more the Lord Jesus declares, "I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End." Staying with the context, he is telling us that the whole work of making all things new is his alone. He is the Beginning of the new creation and the End of it. To put it another way, "Salvation is of the Lord!" He planned it. He purchased it. He performs it. He preserves it. And he perfects it. Therefore, he alone shall have the praise of it, "That according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord" (I Cor. 1:31).
THE ABUNDANCE OF GRACE
In the new creation, grace is both abundant and free. The Son of God declares, "I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." John Gill accurately describes this spiritual thirst as the thirst of a needy soul for Christ himself, for pardon and righteousness, for communion with and conformity to Christ, a thirst for a greater knowledge of Christ, and a thirst for the glories of his kingdom. This thirst the Lord Jesus promises to quench abundantly, with "the fountain of the water of life," and "freely," without money, without price, without qualification of any kind to be met by the sinner. In Christ, grace is free and abundant!
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things." All believers shall overcome sin, Satan, and the world, because all believers are more than conquerors in Christ (Rom. 8:35-39). Overcoming by the blood of the Lamb, every child of God "shall inherit all things." We are "heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17). That means that all that Christ possesses as our Mediator we shall possess in him forever. This one statement from the lips of our Lord should be sufficient to put to silence all questions about degrees of reward in heaven. The Son of God declares that every saved sinner "shall inherit all things!"
"And I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Christ himself, in whom we were adopted and by whom we have been purchased, is the mighty God and our everlasting Father (Isa. 9:6).We are his seed and his offspring. Here he promises us his perpetual presence, protection, and provision forever. In heavenly glory, he will see his seed with satisfaction, prolong his days, and enjoy the fruit of his toil in us forever. He will present us to himself in the perfection of holiness (Eph. 5:27) and present us to the Father (Heb. 2:13). Though now we are the sons of God, "it doth not yet appear what we shall be" (I John 3:2). But this we are assured of: Christ will forever be ours and we shall forever be his in the fullness and perfection of heavenly glory!
THE ADMONITION OF GRACE
In verse 8, there is a strong word of warning and admonition. It is possible that one may have read the pages of this book and yet not be a new creature in Christ. Be warned. Salvation is more than a profession of faith, a religious experience, doctrinal soundness, or a moral reformation. Salvation is a new creation (Gal. 6:15). You must be made a new creature, or you must forever die. Are you a part of this new creation? Are you a new creature in Christ? If you are, do not ever forget where and what you were when God saved you (I Cor. 6:9-11). Consecrate yourself to the Lord Jesus Christ, your gracious God and Creator. "Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s" (I Cor. 6:19-20).