2 Corinthians 5:17. Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.
Revelation 21:5. And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.”
When our first parents, Adam and Eve, fell for Satan’s lie, sin and death reigned over all created things. Even the galaxies are terminal – in countless eons they too must all be gone. But when the Lord Jesus died, the works of the devil were destroyed so that when God’s great recovery plan shall have been completed, and time shall be no more, perfection and permanence will characterise all things as they were in the beginning. Satan and his fallen angels, together with death and Hades, will no longer have any place for them except in the lake of fire which will burn eternally. ‘….the old things passed away; behold, new things have come’.
God made the greatest sacrifice that could be offered when He gave His one and only Son. The purpose of this sacrifice was that what Satan had debased and ruined might be restored to perfection and newness. Within this mighty achievement and victory of the Lord Jesus the way was opened for man to repent and believe the good news and find entrance into the kingdom of heaven. So that all who had become corrupted by Satan’s lie might be recovered to be sons of God: For remember that Adam is referred to as ‘the son of God’ at his creation. Luke 3:38. Through the cross all the redeemed, united together as perfected ones, will become the centrepiece of a new creation in Christ, the new Jerusalem, the eternal dwelling place of God.
Man’s choice is either to accept salvation by grace through faith, or to remain part of that old creation and thus to participate in the fate of the devil and his angels. This latter destiny for man is not God’s desire at all, it is man’s choice – ‘for God is not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance’. 2 Peter 3:9. As Adam and Eve made their choice, so all will have knowingly chosen the destiny that is finally theirs. In the Lamb’s book of Life are recorded the names of all the redeemed of all the ages back to Adam. Whoever has their name written in this book will spend eternity with the Lord. Whoever does not have their name in this book will be eternally lost.
To miss the marriage supper of the Lamb and the reign of Jesus on the earth for a thousand years will surely be a most bitter experience. What believer can stand before Jesus at the judgment seat and not regret to the utmost every wasted moment? Who can find themselves at last in the full presence of Jesus and not feel despair over every selfish decision? There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth indeed for those who, by their choice, will miss the wedding feast. Surely, though, it will be better to be in that outer darkness for as long as the Lord requires rather than to be cast forever into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched’. Mark 9:44. We must all pay the price for transformation. We must either pay the full price now during our earthly life, or later in far lengthier and more heart-rending circumstances.
What has been proclaimed as the gospel has largely emphasized escaping hell in order to enjoy living forever with the Lord in heaven, yet how desperately simplistic and understated is this belief; how limiting to the effectiveness of His church on earth; how damaging to its testimony before the world; how enfeebling to its struggle ‘against the rulers , against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness , against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places’. Ephesians 6:12.
The gospel of the kingdom proclaims to all creation that God will make His dwelling place forever in the midst of a people bearing the image of Jesus. Transformed men and women who have lived by faith, and thereby been perfected, will be brought together to be the wife of the Lamb who will be presented to her Bridegroom at the marriage supper of the Lamb. Revelation 19:7-9. At the dawn of eternity those who comprise His wife will be joined with all those believers who have now been made ready to be forever the new Jerusalem, ‘the bride, the wife of the Lamb’ and the eternal dwelling place of God. And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Revelation 21:5.
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