Revelation 21:5–8 - A Lasting Inheritance

Do you know the names Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Suni Williams? They’re astronauts. Back in June, they flew to the International Space Station expecting to be there for only 8 days. But due to concerns about the safety of their spacecraft, they can’t return to earth for 8 months.

Now, they aren’t alone in space. And no, I don’t mean that I believe in aliens! There are many other astronauts on the ISS. These two just hadn’t planned on staying so long. But they’re okay. They don’t seem to be worried. They’ve expressed that they enjoy it up there.  

But at the same time, they aren’t entirely carefree. I mean, they’re in outer space. Obviously there are dangers and things can go wrong. That’s why they couldn’t come home. And in that regard, outer space is really no different from life here on earth, is it? Nowhere in this universe is totally safe or carefree. Problems and pain aren’t limited to this planet. They are universal.

We learned last week, however, that God will renew this universe. He will renovate the heavens and the earth. And there God’s people – those who are born again – will be completely safe and carefree.

However, these next verses make clear that not everyone will be safe and carefree at that time. Believers and non-believers have two different futures – two very different inheritances that will be received at that time. Scripture describes an old and a new order of things, with one inheritance for those made alive to God in Christ, and one for those dead to God in sins. Your inheritance will be a result of the order of which you are part.

But the old and new order accounts for our struggles now – whether you are a Christian or not – and for the divide between the two groups, and for the feeling of being torn between Christ and the world. In fact, you need to be able to distinguish between the old order and new order. Let me explain.

Notice in verse 5 that God says, “I am making all things new.” This describes the last days, not just during the life of the apostle John but now as well. God is currently doing this. The new order has broken into the old.

In 2 Corinthians 5, the apostle Paul writes, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Those in Christ have been reborn. The spirit or soul has been renewed. If you are born again, the new order dwells in you. The old, fallen, sinful order of this world no longer reigns over your soul and your will.

Today, people are being made alive in Christ, they are trusting in Him, and they are growing in godliness as a result – and in this way, God is “making all things new” at this moment.

Well, then God tells John, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” Record this. Each generation must know it. In a world full of deceit and lies, this is true. In our souls we recognize it as true when our souls are of that new order. God’s Spirit within us shows us that it’s true.

Look what God then says in verse 6. “It is done!” In other words, it is as good as complete. Who can credibly speak this way? Who can make this kind of claim? God can. He’s not concerned that something will get in the way and deter what He has planned.

Here’s why God can say this – notice the rest of the verse. “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Alpha and omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. The whole NT is written in common Greek. That’s what was generally spoken and read. This is God’s way of communicating His absolute control over the universe He has made.

Start to finish, He has a plan. He has decreed all that takes place, both good and bad. He has foreordained all that comes to pass, therefore nothing is out of His control, though not everything that occurs is in line with His moral law.

But because all is under His control, He alone grants passage from the old order into the new. Then God says, “To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment.” This is at the heart of the gospel of Christ. This is the grace of God – unearned, unmerited favor, and blessing, and renewal. Those who are made alive to God by the power of His Spirit then will desire to know God and they will long for the life that is from and is in Him.

And He gives it freely to His enemies who were dead in sin and who rejected His law and His ways. In 1 John 3, John writes, “See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.”

Children generally receive some kind of inheritance. This was especially true in the ancient world, though it’s just as prevalent today. Those who persevere with Christ to the end will inherit the new earth and the life therein. But God didn’t start the renovation with a tree or a piece of land. He began with His people.

And look at verse [7]. God adds, “The one who conquers will have this heritage (this inheritance) and I will be his God and he will be my son.” Which is to say, the one who proves to be saved by bearing fruit in keeping with repentance, who abandons self and the old ways passed down to fully embrace God’s moral law, who withstands the storms of life and comes out clinging only to Christ – they will receive this inheritance – “this heritage” – which is the right of the firstborn son.

In Colossians 1, Paul says that Christ is the firstborn of God according to the creation. This means according to the earthly life of Jesus Christ. God the Son – the second person of the triune God – is eternal as is the Father and the Holy Spirit. But the Son took on flesh – He came into the old order. He received a body that could suffer and die. He was able to endure mental anguish. But He also had the ability to perfectly keep God’s moral law, therefore all who are “in Him” by grace through faith are as firstborn sons through Him – each and every one.

Are you of this new order? There is blessed assurance that Jesus is ours. And we have a foretaste of the glory of heaven and eternal life with God. If you are, you no longer deal only with this old order. You deal with God now. You now experience the things of God – higher, holy things. Living water sustains you. But you still live in a relationship with the old order. The old order still affects you no matter where you go in this universe.

Remember Barry “Butch” Wilmore – the astronaut delayed in his return to earth? I learned that he’s an elder at his church – Providence Baptist Church in Pasadena, TX – which looks to be a sound church proclaiming the reformed doctrines of salvation. The old order of things hinders him right now from returning to his family and his church. You know, elders shouldn’t miss many Sundays in a row, but Butch Wilmore gets a pass!

So, this old order is passing away, but it has not yet totally passed away. And it makes life very hard for everyone: both believers and non-believers.

Now see what God goes on to say in verse 8. He addresses categories of people. First, “the cowardly” – those who don’t stand for Christ and His law but instead succumb to the immoral, ungodly pressures of the world. They will have no inheritance with Christ.

This is one aspect of what makes life hard for believers. We all have family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers who are out of sync with God’s law. They willfully reject it. We love them – and we don’t want to reject them – but they reject God, and we are tempted to affirm their rejection of His and His law.

God understands our struggle with this. He addresses it in His Word. But He calls us to be firm – loving, humble, gentle, yet firm – firm in the truth. Not cowardly. It takes courage – bravery – to be firm in the truth as we live surrounded by the old order.

And we are called to not be “faithless.” This refers to those who are unfaithful to Christ. In Luke 12, Jesus tells a parable about servants whose master had gone away, and the servants were required to be faithful during their master’s absence. Jesus asked, when the master returns, will he find his servants being faithful to him, or would their decisions and actions demonstrate that, actually, they were faithless? Those who behave this way will have no inheritance in the new order.

Look at the rest of the verse. The same goes for, “the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars.” These are all grievous violations of God’s moral law. These things are of the old order, and for all who are characterized by them, their fate will be the same as that of this old earth and heavens. What is that fate?

In 2 Peter 3, the apostle Peter writes that the old earth and heavens will burn on the last day. He writes, “the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly…the day of the Lord will come like a thief, and then the heavens will pass away with a roar, and the heavenly bodies will be burned up and dissolved, and the earth and the works that are done on it will be exposed.”

Now look back at the end of verse 8. God says that for all those of the old order, “their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” In other words, their inheritance. The first death we all experience at the end of our lives. The second death is the judgment of Christ before being sentenced to hell. Our future inheritance is according to the present order to which we belong: old or new.

If you’re in Christ, consider right now the ways you are torn between the old and the new. They don’t mix. Where is God calling you to be faithful to what is true? Be faithful to the new order. Be confident in the new order. God will help you. If today you realize you don’t have Christ, He can make you new. And when He makes you a “new creation,” you will turn from the old – gladly.

As we go to the Lord’s table today, we see a picture of the price paid to bring the new order into the old and to bring us out of the old into the new. The new has broken in – through Christ the Lord. Worship and adore Him.

Let’s bow together in prayer.