BEHOLD, I AM MAKING ALL THINGS NEW
We began with a good creation ruined by sin. Where is God taking the story?
We have come a long way.
In Part 1, we asked what sin really did.
In Part 2, we stood beside the altar and watched the sacrifices.
In Part 3, we asked why God became man.
In Part 4, we saw that Jesus offered one sacrifice for sins for all time.
But there is still one question left.
WHERE IS ALL OF THIS GOING?
Did Jesus come merely to forgive our sins so that someday our souls could leave this world behind?
Or is God's plan bigger than that?
To answer that question, let's go back to the beginning.
IN THE BEGINNING, EVERYTHING WAS GOOD
Genesis does not begin with people trying to escape the earth.
It begins with God creating it.
Light.
Sky.
Land.
Seas.
Plants.
Animals.
Human beings.
Again and again God looked at what He had made and called it good.
Then, after creating humanity:
“God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.” — Genesis 1:31
This world was not an accident.
Matter was not evil.
Human bodies were not mistakes.
God made a physical creation and called it:
VERY GOOD.
GOD LIVED WITH HIS PEOPLE
Genesis describes something else that we can easily overlook.
God and humanity were together.
There was no Temple.
No priesthood.
No animal sacrifices.
No curtain separating God from man.
No death.
No graveyard.
No funeral.
No curse.
Humanity lived in God's good creation with access to:
THE TREE OF LIFE.
That was the world God made.
Then something happened.
SIN ENTERED THE STORY
Human beings rebelled.
They chose their own way rather than God's.
And everything changed.
Adam and Eve hid from God.
They were driven from the garden.
Access to the tree of life was lost.
The ground was cursed.
Death entered the human story.
Paul later writes:
“Sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin.” — Romans 5:12
Sin did not merely make people feel guilty.
It brought death.
And its effects reached beyond Adam and Eve.
CREATION ITSELF WAS AFFECTED
Paul says something remarkable in Romans 8:
“The creation was subjected to futility.” — Romans 8:20
Then he says creation is in:
“bondage to corruption.” — Romans 8:21
And:
“The whole creation has been groaning together.” — Romans 8:22
Creation didn't rebel against God.
We did.
Yet creation became caught up in the consequences of human rebellion.
We have never experienced the world exactly as God originally made it.
We live in a world where things decay.
Things break.
Bodies grow old.
People die.
CREATION GROANS.
But Paul doesn't stop there.
CREATION HAS HOPE
Listen carefully to what Paul says:
“The creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption.” — Romans 8:21
That's important.
Paul doesn't describe God's final purpose as simply rescuing human souls from creation.
He says creation itself has a future.
Creation will be:
SET FREE.
From what?
Corruption.
Something is going to happen to the creation that now groans.
AND WE ARE WAITING TOO
Paul then connects creation's future with ours:
“We ourselves...groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies.” — Romans 8:23
Notice what Paul says.
Not merely:
the escape of our souls.
But:
“THE REDEMPTION OF OUR BODIES.”
Christian hope is bodily.
That's why resurrection matters.
God does not finally solve death by leaving our bodies permanently in graves.
He raises the dead.
JESUS SHOWED US WHAT IS COMING
Jesus died.
His body was placed in a tomb.
Then on the third day—
the tomb was empty.
Jesus did not merely survive as an invisible spirit.
He was raised.
He told His disciples:
“Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.” — Luke 24:39
The risen Jesus could be touched.
He could be seen.
He ate with His disciples.
The resurrection of Jesus tells us something about God's answer to death.
DEATH DOES NOT GET THE LAST WORD.
CHRIST IS THE FIRSTFRUITS
Paul calls the risen Christ:
“the firstfruits of those who have fallen asleep.” — 1 Corinthians 15:20
Firstfruits are the beginning of a harvest.
The firstfruits aren't the entire harvest.
They tell you that more is coming.
Jesus' resurrection therefore isn't merely a wonderful thing that happened to Jesus.
It is the beginning of something much larger.
Paul says:
“As in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” — 1 Corinthians 15:22
Adam brought death into the human story.
Christ brings resurrection.
THE LAST ENEMY
Paul then says Christ:
“must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” — 1 Corinthians 15:25
And what is the last enemy?
“The last enemy to be destroyed is death.” — 1 Corinthians 15:26
Think about that.
The Bible begins with a world without human death.
Sin enters.
Death follows.
Christ comes.
Christ dies.
Christ rises.
And God's story moves toward the day when:
DEATH ITSELF IS DESTROYED.
Now we're beginning to see where the story is going.
PETER LOOKS AHEAD
Peter describes the Day of the Lord and then says:
“According to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” — 2 Peter 3:13
Notice what Peter calls our hope:
New heavens.
New earth.
And what characterizes that world?
RIGHTEOUSNESS DWELLS THERE.
The rebellion that ruined God's good creation will not rule the world God brings about.
THEN WE COME TO REVELATION
Near the end of the Bible, John says:
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.” — Revelation 21:1
That sounds very much like Peter.
But then John sees something surprising.
“I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” — Revelation 21:2
Notice the direction.
John doesn't describe God's people abandoning God's creation and disappearing forever into heaven.
He sees the holy city:
COMING DOWN.
Then a loud voice explains what it means:
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.” — Revelation 21:3
That should sound familiar.
Where did our story begin?
God and humanity together.
Where does it end?
GOD AND HUMANITY TOGETHER.
WHAT HAS DISAPPEARED?
John continues:
“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.” — Revelation 21:4
There it is again.
Death entered after sin.
Now:
DEATH IS GONE.
John continues:
“Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.”
Why?
“For the former things have passed away.”
Something enormous has happened.
What sin brought into God's world is being removed.
THEN GOD SPEAKS
The One seated on the throne says:
“Behold, I am making all things new.” — Revelation 21:5
Notice the wording.
God doesn't say:
“Behold, I am giving up.”
He doesn't say:
“Sin ruined My creation, so I am abandoning the whole thing.”
He says:
“I AM MAKING ALL THINGS NEW.”
The Bible's story isn't about Satan ruining God's plan.
It is about God ultimately accomplishing His purpose in spite of human rebellion.
AND SOMETHING ELSE IS MISSING
John looks around the New Jerusalem and says:
“I saw no temple in the city.” — Revelation 21:22
No Temple?
After all those centuries?
Why not?
John tells us:
“For its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.”
Now think back through our last several studies.
The old Temple is gone.
The sacrifices are gone.
The Levitical priesthood is gone.
There is no animal standing beside an altar.
There is no curtain keeping people away.
Why?
Because everything those things pointed toward has reached its fulfillment.
GOD IS WITH HIS PEOPLE.
AND THE CURSE?
Genesis 3 introduced the curse.
Revelation 22 says:
“No longer will there be anything accursed.” — Revelation 22:3
The curse entered near the beginning of the Bible.
The curse is gone near the end.
That isn't accidental.
John is taking us back to Genesis.
But there is more.
LOOK WHAT HAS RETURNED
Genesis introduced us to:
THE TREE OF LIFE.
After humanity sinned, access to it was lost.
But in the final chapter of the Bible, John sees:
“the tree of life.” — Revelation 22:2
There it is again.
The Bible begins with humanity losing access to the tree of life.
The Bible ends with God's people having access to it again.
Genesis 3 says humanity was driven out.
Revelation 22 says:
“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life.” — Revelation 22:14
The story has come full circle.
BUT IT IS MORE THAN GOING BACK TO EDEN
God isn't merely turning the clock backward.
The Bible begins with a garden.
It ends with a city in a renewed creation.
The story has reached its goal.
God's people have been redeemed.
Death has been defeated.
The curse is gone.
God dwells with His people.
And nothing will ever again destroy that fellowship.
NOW LOOK AT THE WHOLE STORY
We began this series by asking:
WHAT IS SIN—AND WHY IS IT SUCH A BIG DEAL?
Now we can answer more fully.
Sin damaged something magnificent.
God made human beings in His image.
He gave us life.
He gave us His creation.
He intended fellowship with us.
We rebelled.
Death entered.
Creation groaned.
And we couldn't repair what we had broken.
SO GOD ACTED
The sacrifices taught that sin and death were connected.
But the blood of animals could never finally take away human sin.
Then:
THE WORD BECAME FLESH.
Jesus became one of us.
He lived without sin.
The Lamb gave Himself.
The righteous One suffered for the unrighteous—
to bring us to God.
He offered one sacrifice for sins for all time.
Then He rose from the dead.
AND HE IS NOT FINISHED
Christ's resurrection was the firstfruits.
Our bodies await redemption.
Creation awaits freedom from corruption.
Death awaits destruction.
And God promises:
NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH IN WHICH RIGHTEOUSNESS DWELLS.
This is much bigger than:
“Someday I'll die and go to heaven.”
The gospel is part of God's great work of redemption.
God is putting right what sin put wrong.
FROM EDEN TO EDEN
Look at the two ends of the Bible.
Genesis 1–2
God creates.
Creation is good.
God is with humanity.
There is life.
There is the tree of life.
There is no death.
There is no curse.
Then sin enters.
Now look at Revelation 21–22.
God is with humanity.
Death is gone.
The curse is gone.
The tree of life is there.
God says:
“BEHOLD, I AM MAKING ALL THINGS NEW.”
The Bible begins with God's good creation.
It ends with God's redeemed creation.
And standing at the center of the entire story is:
JESUS CHRIST.
NOW WE CAN ANSWER OUR ORIGINAL QUESTION
Why couldn't God simply shrug His shoulders and say:
“Never mind. I forgive everybody”?
Because sin wasn't a spilled glass of milk.
It was rebellion against the Creator.
It brought guilt.
It brought separation.
It brought death.
And creation itself became subject to corruption.
God's answer was not to pretend none of that mattered.
GOD CAME TO US.
The Word became flesh.
Christ died for our sins.
Christ rose from the dead.
And the risen Christ is the guarantee that death will not win.
THE STORY IS NOT ABOUT ESCAPE
It is about:
Creation.
Rebellion.
Sacrifice.
Redemption.
Resurrection.
Restoration.
And finally:
GOD WITH HIS PEOPLE.
That's what sin threatened.
That's what Christ came to restore.
READ FIRST. CONCLUDE LATER.
Read the story for yourself:
Genesis 1–3
Romans 5:12–21
Romans 8:18–25
1 Corinthians 15:20–28, 35–58
2 Peter 3:8–13
Revelation 21–22
Then ask:
Does the Bible end with God's creation abandoned—or with God's purpose finally accomplished?
And listen one more time to the One seated on the throne: