Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4, ESV)
There’s something wrong with our planet. Seriously wrong. Devastatingly wrong. Hurricanes, volcanoes, tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, even ice ages. These are imperfections that resulted from the curse, when the Lord removed Adam and Eve from the garden in Genesis 3. But why did God do this? Why did he make the Earth a more dangerous place? Was it just to make us feel guilty about Original Sin? No! He did it to increase our desire for restoration with Him, and to increase our Hope for heaven!
Romans 8:22-23 (NKJV) says,
For we know that the whole creation groans and labors with birth pangs together until now. Not only that, but we also who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, eagerly waiting for the adoption, the redemption of our body.
The despair that we have with our current planet increases our hope for the New Heaven and the New Earth! The terrible imperfection now points to the great future perfection we long for! Creation, as well as our own bodily pains and weaknesses that we experience, cause our great longing for our future hope to grow more and more!
How does a Christian cope with such devastating loss? Through the hope he has that one day it won’t be like this anymore. In verses 24-25, Paul points to this hope, this collective desire for something more, something better, something safe, as our reason for perseverance: “For we were saved in this hope, but hope that is seen is not hope; for why does one still hope for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”
To all those who have lost loved ones on the sea over the centuries, or those who lost everything in the tsunamis, our Lord has great news: “The sea was no more.” (Rev. 21:1) There will be no more destructive waves, no more sharks, no more drowning, no more death by hypothermia. But it’s not just the threat of a watery death that will be removed. The Lord is going to take away all of our pain, all of our sorrow. “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4)
Southeast Asia Tsunami Disaster Relief
I’m not even going to give you a number right now. If I did, it would be outdated by the time you read this, because the death toll is rising so quickly. But many, many, many people died on Sunday. Gospel for Asia, a missions organization which our fellowship supports, is one of several Christian groups who have taken up the call to provide emergency relief to the survivors of last Sunday’s tragedy. Please pray for the relief efforts in Asia, and learn about how you can help.