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Today's reading
December 11, 2025
Revelation 21:1-5
In the 4th century BC, the Greek Philosopher Plato articulated a philosophy that would outlive him and shape all of Western thought. He looked around at the pain and suffering humans endure, and at the decay the earth suffers, and he concluded that the physical world was an inferior shadow of a true reality. Salvation, he believed, was the soul’s escape from the material world into an invisible realm where perfection lived.
Though Scripture does not teach this, the concept has woven itself into Christian imagination —
and no wonder. Our world still bears the bruise of Eden. We toil in a land that actively works
against us. We struggle to make sense of death and dream of the country where our departed
loved ones have gone.
At the same time, moments and memories drift through our consciousness that cause our spirits to ache and reach for a place we have never been. Something in us longs for renewal, not escape — and that longing itself is a clue.
As C.S. Lewis famously wrote,
“If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
This longing comes from God.
But as we glimpse into the throne room of heaven in Revelation, we discover that ultimate salvation is not about us reaching for God. It is about God coming near to us.
The apostle John had been transported from the lonely island of Patmos and given a sweeping vision of heaven and earth. Moment by moment, the vision built in intensity, as a shot for shot recollection of the judgement of sin flooded his senses. The events crescendo and the sights and sounds overwhelmed him. The momentum of the prophecy comes to an abrupt stop in the throne room of God. John narrates his vision, saying:
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Revelation 21:1–2 (NKJV)
At the end of all the turmoil, judgment, and conflict, that had played out before his eyes, the world John sees is not a ragged husk stained by violence and calamity like you may expect.
John sees a new heaven and new earth.
As soon as he observes the radiant city, he hears a voice thunder:
“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.
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.”
Then He who sat on the throne said,
“Behold, I make all things new.”
Revelation 21:3–5 (NKJV)
In this moment God is NOT saying He will make new things.
He is saying He will make ALL THINGS new.
In the Garden of Eden, God looked upon everything He had created and bestowed blessing upon it.
He called it good.
Though paradise had been lost through man’s defection, the potential of creation is realized through Christ. The broken image of God in man is restored through the perfect image of God in man - Jesus.
Through His power:
Every atom of the universe will be remade into sterling perfection.
Every wound healed.
Every fracture mended.
Every loss reversed.
This is the gospel of the apocalypse:
God will bring heaven to earth.
Suffering and pain will be swept away by God’s own hand.
Sin will no longer cast a shadow over God’s people, for we have been made new again through the blood of Christ and the testimony of His work.
Christmas was the first whisper of this promise.
In a Bethlehem stable, heaven came down.
God tabernacled among us.
The Creator stepped inside creation —
not to rescue us from the earth,
but to redeem the earth and everything in it.
As N.T. Wright remarks,
“What God did in Jesus He is doing on a cosmic scale. Heaven and earth were joined in Christ; they will one day be joined forever.”
This is why creation still groans.
Why our souls still ache.
Why hope still burns inside us even when the world cracks beneath our feet.
We were made for a world where God Himself wipes away tears…
Where death is extinct…
Where sorrow fades…
Where sin has no shadow…
Where the sea — that ancient symbol of chaos and evil — is no more.
Advent reminds us not only of the Christ who came,
but of the Christ who comes again
to finish what He started in a manger.
And when that day dawns,
the whole universe will hear heaven’s final word:
“Behold, I make all things new.”
So we wait.
We hope.
We lift our eyes.
Because heaven is on its way down.
God is coming to dwell with us.
Nothing will stay broken.
And everything — everything — will be made new.