On VBS Sunday, Pastor Kent Keller lands the What About? series on the question every person eventually faces: what happens after we die? Preaching from Revelation 21 — and with a dear lifelong friend freshly in the grave — he makes the case that this is no abstract topic. Three truths: (1) Death is a reality, but not a finality — it is a real enemy, but a defeated one; because Jesus rose, it will not get the last word (1 Corinthians 15:26). (2) Heaven is a way station, not a final destination — God has promised a new heaven and a new earth where he comes down to dwell with his people forever (Revelation 21:1). (3) Earth shall be perfected, not rejected — the creation itself groans for the day it is set free and made new (Romans 8; Isaiah 65). Everybody lives forever; the only issue is location — and God's salvation is freely offered in Christ to all who will receive it. One day he will wipe away every tear.
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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever.
