Revelation 21:3-5

(All Scripture is from the New King James Version unless otherwise indicated)

We are considering Revelation 21:3 through 5 where God has shown the Apostle John a vision of “…a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” (Revelation 21:1). We have seen in the last Gem why the Lord is going to make a new heaven and earth. But this is not the only new creation God is making or has already made! It might be of value to review the last Gem where it is explained why He has created a new godly nature, called the new man in Ephesians 4:24.

In II Corinthians 5:17 Paul writes, “…if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” But there are several new things that lead up to or flow out of this new creation!

• The old naturally-born person is infected by a sin nature! As it is written in Isaiah 64:6, “…we are all like an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags…” (see also Isaiah 59:2). “…our rigthteousnesses…” are the very best we can do in our own strength! ‘Fithy rags righteousnesses’ are unacceptable before our holy God! What, then, is acceptable before Him?

   ✞   God’s standard is shown in Matthew 5:48 – “Therefore 
       you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven 
       is perfect.” No human being can achieve such perfec-
       tion...

   ✞   ...except One! That One is He who, being God, also 
       became a human being! Jesus’ righteousness is per-
       fect!

   ✞   Having taken our sins (our filthy rags) upon Himself 
       and fully paying for them by dying in our place, He 
       now offers us His perfection as a clean white robe 
       for us to wear forevermore! This exchange is beauti-
       fully shown in II Corinthians 5:21 – “For He [the 
       Father] made Him [the Son] who knew no sin to be sin 
       for us, that we might be made the righteousness of 
       God in Him.”

• To accomplish this new creation the LORD gives the repentant sinner a new heart and spirit! Here is what is written in Ezekiel 36:25 and 26 (see also Ezekiel 11:19):

     Then I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall 
     be clean; I will cleanse you from all your filthiness 
     and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart 
     and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart 
     of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of 
     flesh.

   Jesus referred to this in John 3:3 and 5 as being born 
   again! (see also I Peter 1:23).

   ✡   In ancient Hebrew thinking, the heart was much more 
        than the organ that pumps blood through the body. 
        Here is how the jewishencyclopedia.com explains the 
        Biblical concept:

	   The seat of the emotional and intellectual life. 
           "Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of 
           it are the issues of life" (Proverbs 4:23), re-
           fers to the moral and spiritual as well as the 
           physical life....The three special functions, 
           knowing, feeling, and willing, ascribed by mo-
           dern psychologists to the mind, were attributed 
           to the heart by the Biblical writers....The 
           heart [is]...the seat of thought [,]...the seat 
           of emotion [and]...also the seat of volition. 
           It is self-directing and self-determining.

   ✡   The heart of stone is a heart hardened to the spir-
        itual things of God. The heart of flesh is a heart 
        tender and open to the things of the Lord. 

So having “…a new heart and…a new spirit within you…” (Ezekiel 36:26), what other new things should appear?

• A new way of thinking! Paul wrote in Philippians 4:8:

     Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever 
     things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever 
     things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever 
     things are of good report, if there is any virtue and 
     if there is anything praiseworthy--meditate [think] 
     on these things. 

• A new way of talking and acting! Here is what the apostle said in Ephesians 4:29 through 32:

     Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but 
     what is good for necessary edification, that it may 
     impart grace to the hearers. And do not grieve the 
     Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the 
     day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, 
     clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with 
     all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, 
     forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave 
     you.

• A new radiance! Now what can this mean? Consider Phlippians 2:14 and 15

     Do all things without complaining and disputing, 
     that you may become blameless and harmless, child-
     ren of God without fault in the midst of a crooked 
     and perverse generation, among whom you shine as 
     lights in the world....

   We all shine as lights in the world in one way or 
   another! For Jesus said in Matthew 6:22 and 23:

     The lamp of the body is the eye. If therefore your 
     eye is good, your whole body will be full of light. 
     But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full 
     of darkness. If therefore the light that is in you 
     is darkness, how great is that darkness! 

   God forbid that we shine darkly! I wrote a Gem on April 
   17, 2013 called Black Light Christians. In it I explain 
   more fully this concept of our radiance.

• A new song! Psalm 40:1 through 4 is a good example (see also Psalms 96:1; 98:1; 144:9; 149:1; Isa 42:10; and Revelation 5:9):

     I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined to 
     me, and heard my cry. He also brought me up out of a 
     horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet 
     upon a rock, and established my steps. He has put a 
     new song in my mouth — praise to our God; many will 
     see it and fear, and will trust in the Lord. Blessed 
     is that man who makes the Lord his trust....

• New friends! When I became a Christian at age 19, I stopped associating with several of my old friends and acquired new friends. You see, with my former friends, we got into a lot of trouble – drinking, stealing, lying, fighting, taking advantage of others, etc. And so a warning in…

   ✞   ...I Corinthians 15:33 – “Do not be deceived: 
       Evil company corrupts good habits.”

   ✞   ...I Peter 4:4 (Easy-to-Read Version) – “Now 
       those ‘friends’ think it is strange that you no 
       longer join them in all the wild and wasteful 
       things they do. And so they say bad things about 
       you.”

These are just a few of the new things that God creates in and through us! But a word of caution: We will manifest this “…new and living way…” (Hebrews 10:20) only as we allow Him to do His work in our lives! For we can resist Him, and fight Him, and push Him away…and He permits us to oppose His will if we so choose! Remember, we have a new godly nature, but we also have our old sinful nature, and the old battles against the new! We will look at this further in the next Gem.