By Adam Parish
“Behold, I make all things new.” — Revelation 21:5
Introduction
You are used to powerful preaching. I’m not a preacher—I’m a teacher. So today, let’s take a teacher’s look at the most astonishing vision in all of Scripture—the moment when Heaven and Earth pass away, and God begins again.
The Great Judgment
John writes:
“And I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away…” (Revelation 20:11
Creation itself cannot bear that gaze. What we might call the un-creation takes place: the heavens rolled up like a scroll, the earth consumed in fire. Everything that ever seemed solid melts away before the face of the Holy One.
Before that throne stand the dead—small and great. No ranks now—no preachers or presidents, no hidden souls forgotten in history. Every life is laid bare. “The books were opened”—the ledgers of human works, the stories we wrote with our own hands.
This is not a mock trial. The Judge is perfectly just. Each one is judged according to their works—every kindness remembered, every cruelty recalled. Then John says, “another book was opened, which is the Book of Life.”
Here lies the difference between justice and grace: judgment is by works, but salvation is by name. The Book of Life is no symbol—it is the Lamb’s register, written before the foundation of the world. Those whose names are there stand covered by the righteousness of Christ. Their failures are not erased but redeemed.
Brothers and sisters, that scene is not meant to frighten the saints but to make us tremble at justice and marvel at grace. Before that throne, we will know the full measure of both.
The New Creation
Then, in the silence between chapters 20 and 21, something extraordinary happens. The court is adjourned, the books are closed, and creation itself has vanished.
“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away…” (Revelation 21:1)
This is not repair—it is re-creation. God does not patch what was broken; He speaks again, as He did in the beginning. Only this time, we are there to behold it.
We will watch the Father’s will take form in the Word and come alive in the Spirit. The song that began in Genesis rises again, now joined by every redeemed voice. The new creation sings—the universe becomes worship.
In the first creation, there was one man placed in a garden; in the new, there is no loneliness. The Bride of the Lamb stands complete. As Adam was given Eve, so the Son receives His Bride—the Church, radiant and pure.
Pause and imagine that moment: every word, every color, every sound proclaiming together, “Behold, I make all things new.”
We were not there to see the first dawn of creation, but by grace we will see the second.
The Descent of the City and the Wedding Feast
“And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2
From our place on the new earth, we will lift our eyes and see what no generation has seen: heaven and earth at last joined. The veil between Creator and creation is mended forever. “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them…” (Revelation 21:3
The city shines with the radiance of God. There is no temple within it, “for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” (Revelation 21:22)
No sun or moon—“for the glory of God gives it light.” (Revelation 21:23)
And now the feast begins—the Marriage Supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:9) Every hunger satisfied, every tear wiped away, every longing met. The Judge upon the throne now stands among His people as Bridegroom and Lord.
The story that began in a garden ends in a city filled with light, life, and song—the eternal dwelling of God with His people, the Wedding Feast of the Lamb that never ends.
Benediction
“Now to Him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy…” (Jude 24–25)
Until that day, we worship and wait in hope.
Amen.
Between Two Altars 
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