A New Home
Revelation 22:3-5—And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 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.” 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.”
You may have seen it before: A family is really struggling, and one of the big struggles is the old, worn-out house that’s too small and has so much to be repaired you’re almost better off tearing it down and starting new. A community and television production company team up and build a brand new house for the family, complete with everything they need to help make their lives easier. Each child has their own bedroom that perfectly matches their personality. The master bedroom is a sanctuary for the parents. There is a big open kitchen and family room where they all can be together. There is no mortgage. Money is given to even cover the property taxes for years to come.
In a way, the Apostle John got a preview of the big reveal of our heavenly home. When Jesus tells us that he is making everything new, the word he uses isn’t really about something being new in time, but new as in better. Like those families who received those new homes, they certainly had memories with their old home, but the new home is a place for new memories and joys.
Friends, our new home in heaven is so much more than that! God will at last fully restore what Adam and Eve lost in the Garden of Eden. But when God restores it, it will be perfectly restored forever. God promises that he will make it so that sin can never come into the picture again. And he promises this in the most wonderful way.
[God] 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. The worst part of the curse of sin is death. This sinful world views death as a natural thing, but that couldn’t be any farther from the truth! Death is the most unnatural thing in all creation. When God created the world, he made it to be a constant new without any ruin or death. Adam and Eve destroyed that with their sin. When God makes it new on the Last Day, it will be new indeed! It will be new because on that day our Lord Jesus will defeat our last enemy—death (1 Cor. 15:26).
On the Last Day not one person will be forgotten in their graves. Each person will be raised. The unbelievers will be raised to suffer the eternal second death of hell. But we as God’s people will be raised to eternal life with him in our new home. So many things in life bring mourning, crying and pain, but the biggest culprit of them all is death. But death will not hold us any more than it could hold Christ in the tomb on Easter morning!
All those consequences of sin will end and every tear shall be wiped from our eyes all because Jesus endured all those thing for us. Jesus lived with us for a time on this earth so that we could live with him forever in the new heaven and new earth. Jesus wept. Jesus mourned. Jesus suffered. Jesus even died, all so that one day you and I could be freed from all those things. And that’s what John sees in this vision. He sees all of God’s promises fulfilled. He sees sorrow, crying and pain have vanished from the existence of God’s people. Friends, this is the new home that waits for you!