Heaven and Earth Reborn

Do you know how many people look on New Year's Eve at that little round ball coming down in New York? You ain't seen nothing yet. Dr. Tony Evans talks about the coming of God's new heaven and new earth. There will be a satellite city that will come down from heaven to earth. It's going to be spectacular. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans.

Old structures are often torn down to pave the way for something better and more up-to-date. In Revelation 20 and 21, God begins His ultimate reconstruction project. And today, Dr. Evans unpacks these pivotal chapters for us, revealing the hope and promise of God's final victory.

Let's listen. Revelation chapter 20. Satan is bound because we're entering the millennial reign. The 1,000-year rule of Christ. Six times in this chapter, you'll see the word a thousand, which means—which is the Latin for that—is millennium. He's bound for a thousand years, verse 2 says, and he's thrown into the abyss.

Why? Verse 3 says, so that he cannot deceive the nations anymore. Just to understand, that's what he does now. He deceives.

He tricks you. So his ability to tap into our sinful flesh through deception will be removed. Now that doesn't get rid of our sinful flesh. It just removes his ability to put a Bunsen burner under it and fire it up.

Okay? So he deceives the nation. Then I saw thrones and he sat on the judgment. So it's time for the judgment now. For all those who worship the beast, verse 4, and had received the mark of the beast on their forehead or on their hand. At the end of the thousand years, he's going to be released to deceive the nations, which are on the four corners of the earth. And they came to the plane of the earth and surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city, Jerusalem. And fire came down from heaven and devoured them.

So this battle is gonna be real quick. Then I saw a great white throne, verse 11, from whose presence the earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. The dead, great and small, were standing before the throne.

This is the white throne judgment of all non-Christians or non-believers in history. So every non-believer will be resurrected and their unglorified bodies will unite with their souls. You're going to discover what happens to the souls of non-believers when they die. The body houses the soul. The reason you know you're you, that you exist, is because you have a soul. And the soul is eternal. The body is not.

The body dies. So you, Christians, will receive a glorified body for their currently existing soul. Unbelievers will receive an unglorified body. In other words, it will be a body that is suited for their location. Believers will receive a body suited for our location.

They will receive a body suited for their location. And their soul will be merged with that, just like in our case. And so he says—we explained the difference between the books plural and the book of life. The books plural are the books of deeds. The books of deeds, the things you did in your life—good, bad, and otherwise—have been recorded.

They're recorded for believers, but they're for your rewards, but they're recorded for unbelievers to determine your level of judgment. The books plural have nothing to do with where you're spending eternity. Verse 15, And if any man's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the the lake of fire.

So the lake of fire had to do with whether your name is in the book of life. It had nothing to do with the book of deeds. The book of deeds talks about the kind of life you lived as a non-believer to determine your level of judgment, not to determine your eternal destiny.

Why? Because men are not saved by their works. You don't earn salvation by doing good works.

You receive salvation by faith in the finished work of Jesus Christ, not having my own righteousness. I don't want to stand before God with my book of deeds, because this book of deeds includes what you did, what you said, what you thought. I mean, this book of deeds is comprehensive, how what you did affected other people.

I mean, it includes all of that. I don't know about you. Maybe you want to stand before Him with your deeds.

That's not what I want to do. I want to stand before Him with the righteousness of Jesus Christ. I want to be covered by His righteousness, which is perfect righteousness.

I have a credit score, a perfect credit score, because God is credited to me and to every believer the righteousness of Jesus Christ. So the book of deeds is to determine the level of this person because their name is not written in the book of life. This ends history as we know it. History is over, and we now have entered into the eternal state, the eternal state for believers, because he's talked about the eternal state for non-believers already. Oh, by the way, remember chapter 21 verse 1, then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth passed away and there is no longer any sea.

Wow. The heaven and earth that you and I know today—the galaxies, the planets, all that—has disintegrated. Every molecule, every atom, every proton, every neutron, it has all disintegrated, which shouldn't be a problem since God spoke and it came into existence, okay?

So it's like, for Him, it's not that hard. It disintegrated, the Bible says in 2 Peter 3.10, with fervent heat. And so there is the uncreation. There's the creation when He created, then there is the uncreation. Why the uncreation?

The uncreation because God must remove every remnant of sin. In order for the eternal state to be what the eternal state is designed to be, all sin must be removed, including sin and creation in the created order. And so God will uncreate the universe. Now that naturally raises the question, I'm sure, well, if He uncreated the universe, what's there because there's nothing to be there if He uncreates the universe? Well, there is something to be there, and that is because God existed before He created. So since God existed before He created, God simply exists in another realm. He exists in the non-created realm, not in the created realm. Now I know this gives you an Excedrin PM headache, okay?

And I understand that. Just think of the thought, the fact that God is the uncreated creator of all things, that there's never been a time God has not been. That is an inconceivable thought, that you have an uncreated creator, that there's never been a time God has not been. But that doesn't solve the problem of the evolutionists, because the evolutionists still got to keep going back to something. So getting rid of God doesn't get rid of your problem. Your problem is you got to start with something, and then you got to ask the question, where did the thing I start with come from?

So you, right, so I would rather start with something that knows something rather than start with something that comes out of nowhere, okay? So there is this new heaven and new earth, and there's something about this new earth that's unlike the old earth, and that is there is no sea. There's no sea. Three-fourths of the earth is water. Three-fourths of the earth is sea. There are eight billion people on planet earth with water, okay?

Now follow this. There is eight billion people on earth when three-fourths of the earth is water, which means it's not lived on, okay? You cruise on it. You don't live on it. If you drive across Texas, you drive to El Paso, you drive, you drive to the Panhandle, you drive across it, you know how much open space that is?

Unlived on territory. So even with sea, there is vast amounts of land that has never been touched. Some of it can't be touched.

You couldn't live on it. A lot of it that can be touched has not yet been touched. So you can imagine how much space is available on earth where there is no sea. When the earth is three-fourths water—seas and oceans and rivers and stuff—it says there's no sea. So you talking about spread out space, and this now also involves the heavens. Now man has been trying—we got to the moon, we're trying to get to Mars, and we got a little telescope to help us see a few other places. And now they're telling us there are galaxies on top of galaxies. And they've spent all this time trying to get a little place, a little distance. So if there are new earth and new heavens, you've got all this space on earth, and now you've got the rest of the universe to be discovered.

And a galaxy's on top of galaxies. So you're dealing with a realm that will blow your mind. Dr. Evans will have more for us on the rebirth of heaven and earth when he continues our message in just a moment. Don't go away. If you've been encouraged by connecting with the Urban Alternative, whether it's online or on the air, we want to ask you to give your very best year-end gift to help keep that encouragement coming your way, and going out to others as well. Your financial support is vital to helping meet our year-end challenge amount to ensure this outreach remains strong, so that more people like you can continue to be encouraged by God's Word in the year ahead. Please visit TonyEvans.org to give today.

That's TonyEvans.org. The message we've been presenting today on the alternative is part of Dr. Evans' compelling series on Revelation, one of the Bible's most challenging books, filled with intense subject matter and complex symbolism. In this ten-part series, Dr. Evans has been guiding us through Revelation's heavenly scenes and explaining the spiritual meaning behind what God revealed to John while exiled on the island of Patmos. If you've missed any part of this series or would like to revisit the messages again, including material we didn't have time to present on the air, we encourage you to request your own copy of all ten full-length messages from the Revelation series.

You can get them on either CD or digital download. And through This Weekend Only, we're packaging this complete series along with Dr. Evans' newest book, Trusting God in Turbulent Times, a 30-day devotional guide designed to deepen your commitment and understanding of how God works through life's toughest seasons. They're both our gift to you, and thanks for your support of this ministry. Visit TonyEvans.org to get the details on this limited-time offer, or call 1-800-800-3222 to connect with our resource team. That's 1-800-800-3222 or online at TonyEvans.org. I'll repeat that contact information for you after the second part of today's message.

Here's Dr. Evans. Now, God will not give us a whole lot about heaven. He'll give you enough to whet your appetite. In 2 Corinthians chapter 12, the only man who was allowed to go to heaven and come back, he's taken to heaven and he said, And I saw things that are unlawful to utter.

He says, What I saw, I couldn't even fix my mouth to express. So what he does in chapter 21 is he gives you a little clue, a little taste, by showing you the capital city called the New Jerusalem. Verse 2, And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. God is saying—and I know this sounds like the sci-fi network, but it's God talking, so—there will be a satellite city that will come down from heaven to earth. So we got a homeland city up there, that's a heavenly city, but the work is on earth. So in the new heaven and new earth, when the earth has been now made brand new, the New Jerusalem, this city, the capital of the earth, like Jerusalem physically will be the capital during the millennium, the physical capital during the millennium in the Jerusalem that exists now. Once God destroys it all, he's gonna have a new capital city, still called Jerusalem, that will come down from heaven to earth. You know how many people look on New Year's Eve at that little round ball coming down in New York?

You got a million people standing out there in the freezing cold, okay, and millions upon millions looking at it on television. You ain't seen nothing yet. You wait till this baby comes down. The New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as the bride adorned. So just like a bride gets ready for a wedding, it's gonna be spectacular. And a loud voice from the throne, behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them. This is God dwelling in the midst of His creation on earth. And He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will be no longer any death. There will no longer be any mourning, nor crying, nor pain. The first things have passed away. That's with the old—with the heaven and the earth.

All that's gone. So there will be nothing ever again to bring sorrow. Nothing ever again to bring sorrow.

What you and I experienced today, they can be very bad days, a lot of tears, a lot of crying, a lot of hurt, a lot of disappointments. But on this day, when God does this one, it will be spectacular. And He who sits on the throne said, I am making all things new. He said, right, for these words are faithful and true. You can bank your bottom dollar on this one, He says.

He said to me, it is done. I'm alpha and omega, beginning and the end. The beginning and the end, I will give to the one who thirsts from the springs of the water of life without cost. In other words, you know when you're thirsty, how refreshing it is to get that cold glass of water.

What He's talking about is maximum fulfillment. You will never be bored. You will never be tired. You will never be weary. You will never have negative emotions. You will be able to drink, so to speak, satisfaction.

So there will be nothing that will not be satisfactory. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. Remember, to inherit is not to enter. To inherit means to get the benefits of. So, because you're not even here if you didn't enter, because all the unsaved are not here. So to inherit means to even get more that God has for you.

It's the bonus of those Christians who are fully committed. Okay, He gives you some information about the capital city. Remember, everybody's not in the capital. This is just the capital, but it's the capital of the whole earth.

But earth is huge, because you can live on more than one-fourth of it. It has a great high wall with 12 gates and 12 gates, 12 angels, and the names were written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. And there were the gates of the east and the west, three gates on the east, and three on the north, and three on the south, and three on the west. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. So you got Israel, 12 tribes, and you got the church, 12 apostles.

Okay? So both groups are represented, Old and New Testament. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width, and he measured the city with the rod.

1,500 miles in length and width and height are equal. The material on the wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like clear glass. Now, I don't even know what to say.

All I can tell you is, it's a beast. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb are its temple. Why? Because there will be a temple in the Tribulation. There will be a temple in the Millennium, but there will not be a temple here because God does not need a representation of His presence.

He will have His presence there. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb. This one blows my mind. There is no sun. I told you one time, if you were driving a car to the sun at 100 miles an hour, non-stop, it would take you 200 years to get to it. That's how far the sun is from the earth. And yet, that sun lights the whole planet in a 24-hour circuit. And he says there will be no need for the sun, because when God makes His presence here, everything stays lit forever.

Forever. See, the only reason you need night now is because you need to sleep. There you won't need to sleep. You'll have a glorified body that won't get tired.

Nor will it get bored. The nations will walk by its light. Okay, watch this. We're in the eternal state, but we still have nations.

You see? So let's forget this being, you know, sitting on a cloud playing a harp. We've got nations. We've got people functioning in national context, and this is the new heaven and new earth. And the kings of the earth will bring their glory to it. So you've got rulers, because we're not just talking about being in heaven.

We're talking about being on earth as well. In the daytime, for there will be no night there, so you could have said, in the daytime, and it's all daytime, its gates will never be closed, and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. So this is a hopping place, because everybody's coming. Like people going to Mecca, everybody's coming to this place. It's spectacular.

So why wouldn't they? And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. I don't know about you, but just knowing that that is the eternal future, it is nothing short of spectacular. The reality of an eternal future with God begins with the acceptance of the personal sacrifice Christ has already made for us.

Here's Dr. Evans to walk us through it. Imagine a life free from pain, suffering, and regret, where you encounter no hardships, no limitations, and make no mistakes. Well, that's the life God meant for you and me, and that's the life He offers to those who are willing to accept it. God's promise of an eternal existence in heaven, filled with His presence, free from the burdens and struggles that accompany life here on earth, awaits each of us who believe in Jesus Christ. You can invite Jesus into your life right now and experience His profound gift of eternal love and peace. Just say this simple prayer with me, but mean it for yourself. Heavenly Father, I know I'm a sinner, and I can't save myself. I believe Jesus Christ is Your Son who died on the cross in my place for my sin, and I am trusting Him alone to forgive me and give me the free gift of eternal life He promised to anyone who came to Him for it.

Thank you for saving me. Help me from this day forward to live a life pleasing to you. In Jesus' name, Amen. We encourage you to follow up on that prayer at tonyevans.org. Click the link at the top of the home page that simply says Jesus. Dr. Evans has posted a video that explains God's plan of restoration, and you'll find some additional follow-up resources there as well.

Again, that's tonyevans.org. Well, as mentioned earlier, today's lesson is one of the final installments of a series from Dr. Evans on the book of Revelation. Don't forget, for just a few more days now, we're offering the full-length versions of all ten messages in this series on CD or digital download, along with Tony's new 30-day devotional guide, Trusting God in Turbulent Times.

They're yours as our gift when you make a donation to help us continue this ministry to a world desperately in need of the good news of Jesus Christ. Call us right away at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center never closes, so don't wait. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit tonyevans.org to make the arrangements. Again, that's tonyevans.org. Well, coming up tomorrow, Dr. Evans presents the final message from the book of Revelation, a look at the ultimate restoration of what was lost to humankind in the Garden of Eden. Be sure to join us for the powerful conclusion to this series.