After the raging fires race through the California hills only smoldering ashes remain where before beautiful forests and hundreds of homes had covered the area . Now the only remedy would be to haul away the ashes and build everything new. One day the earth will be destroyed by fire, but God gives us the promise in Isaiah. 65:17, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.” The new creation will be so marvelous that there will be nothing in the new to remind us of the old. In Revelation 21 God tells us a few things about the new creation that He will prepare for those who love Him.

1. THE NEW HEAVEN AND NEW EARTH Revelation 1:1 “Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. “
Both heaven and earth are tainted with rebellion and must be cleansed. In fact, there was rebellion in heaven even before the rebellion here on earth in the Garden of Eden. Isaiah 14:12 "How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! [How] you are cut down to the ground, You who weakened the nations!” As evil increased here on earth there followed a judgment by the worldwide flood in the days of Noah, but the next judgment will be by fire as we are told in 2Peter 3:6-7, “by which the world that then existed perished, being flooded with water. But the heavens and the earth, which are now preserved by the same word, are reserved for fire until the Day of Judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”

Nothing will remain to remind us of the sin and death that reigned. There will be no pollution, but all will be clean and special, like sitting in a new car. 2 Peter 3:13, “Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.” Not only will there be no presence of sin, but also no possibility of sin. Romans 8:21 “The creation itself will also be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”

There will be no more sea. Revelation 21:1b “also there was no more sea. The sea is a picture evil and a place of its abode. Revelation 13:1 “And I stood upon the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.”
Isaiah 27:1 “In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that [is] in the sea.”
Isa 57:20 “But the wicked [are] like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”
Dan 7:3 “And four great beasts came up from the sea, diverse one from another.”
With no sea there will be more available living space on earth since the earth’s present surface is ¾ water.

2. THE NEW JERUSALEM [v.2] “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The marriage feast of the Lamb takes place in heaven after the BEMA seat (the judgment of the believer’s works) during the great tribulation time on earth. The formal marriage of Christ to His bride, the Church, will take place in the New Jerusalem, the place where God will dwell with His people forever.

3. NEW AND DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIP [v. 3] And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.”
The temple in Jerusalem was the place God chose for Israel to worship Him. God met with the high priest in the Holy of Holies once a year. No one else was ever allowed to enter. That room was a perfect cube.
The New Jerusalem is a 1400 mile cube and is the place where God dwells among His people, so there is a fullness of fellowship with Him at all times. In a sense this is true now, but then it will be true in a new and different way.
There will be a new reality to our relationship beyond what we can now imagine, perhaps like talking on the phone or face to face, a much more intimate relationship.

4. NEW AND DIFFERENT MEMORIES [v. 4] “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”

All the problems of life will be gone. What will it be like in heaven when we won’t have anything to moan about, gripe about, grumble about, complain about, worry about, etc. ?
Nothing but a good report, since all the news is always good and brings praise to God.

5. NEW AND DIFFERENT EVERYTHING [v. 5a] Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.”
We cannot imagine the glorious beauty of this totally new creation.

6. WHAT WILL WE DO?

We will serve the Lord. Revelation 22:3 “And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.” Like Jesus we will always do the things that please the Father.
We will reign forever. Revelation 22:5 “There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.”

You don’t have to go to heaven if you don’t want to but if you do want to there is only one way to get there. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Make sure you belong to Jesus and your name is written in His Book of Life.