Our Eternal Home Series

OUR ETERNAL HOME

2 PETER 3:13

A. "NEVERTHELESS WE, ACCORDING TO HIS PROMISE, LOOK FOR NEW HEAVENS AND A NEW EARTH, WHEREIN DWELLETH RIGHTEOUSNESS."

1. The promise of a new heaven and a new earth is indicative:

a. That this earth was created to be the eternal home of the children of men - Ps. 115:16

b. God made it, not in vain, but to be inhabited -Isa. 45:18

c. Our first parents were fully informed about God’s plan with this earth - Gen. 1:26-31; 2:8-14

2. But our opening text reveals, further, that the Creator’s original design had been prevented by:

a. Man’s disobedience or transgression - Gen. 3:23,24

b. Man became a vagabond, a pilgrim, and a strange upon the earth, which was intended to be his

eternal home - Heb. 11:13-16

c. Jacob, as well as the Psalmist, speak of their pilgrimage - Gen. 47:9; Ps. 119:54

d. The earth has become a battlefield between good and evil; a vale of tears; a graveyard filled with the bones of dead men.

B. OUR ETERNAL HOME: "A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH"

1. This has been the hope of all God’s pilgrims ever since our first parents lost their home because of sin:

a. Must have been the consolation of Adam and Eve when they lost their Edenic home.

b. The God-fearing Patriarchs understood this promise and lived accordingly - Heb. 11:7-16

c. Many of those, who looked forward to this eternal home, refused deliverance that they might obtain a better home - Heb. 11:40; 12:28

2. This glorious promise of our eternal home is indicative of:

a. That God’s original plan will be carried out in due time - Acts 15:18; Hab. 2:4

b. A new heaven and a new earth will become a reality- Isa. 65:17-25

3. That the earth, defiled by sin, having been under the curse since sin began: Gen. 3:17, 18; Isa. 24:5, 6

a. Will be purified by fire.

b. Will be made new - Isa. 34:8-10; 2 Pet. 3:10

c. Presently it is growing old like a garment - Heb. 1:9-12

C. NATURE OF OUR ETERNAL HOME

1. The new earth will be:

a. Free from sin.

b. Will be free from the curse that rested upon it ever since sentence was passed upon Adam and Eve -Rev. 22:3

c. Again, like the Garden of Eden - Isa. 35:1-10;51:3

d. The great seas will be no more - Rev. 21:1

e. The garden, which was removed from the earth, will be brought back again to this earth after the earth has been purified - Rev. 2:7; 22:1-3

f. The beauty of the eternal home is beyond our comprehension and beyond description - 1 Cor. 2:9,10

2. Inhabitants of the new earth:

a. They, too, will be new - John 3:1-6; 2 Cor. 5:17

b. Meekness will be the nature of their being - Matt. 5:5; Ps. 37:11

c. Immortality will make them suitable for their eternal home - Rev. 21:1-4; Isa. 35:3-10

d. Eternal joy will fill their mouths with laughter -Ps. 126:2; Isa. 51:11

e. They will see the King in His beauty - Rev. 21:1-

3; Isa. 33:17; Matt. 5:8

3. How the knowledge of the eternal home affects our lives:

a. Think of the saints in past ages - Heb. 11:13-16

b. Does it make us homesick for heaven and the glories we shall behold there?

c. Has it made us willing to set out hope and affections on things above? Col. 3:2

d. Has it made an impression upon our moral life? 2 Pet. 3:13, 14