Annual motto 2026 – God makes all things new
Series: EIFACH muetig – with Jesus as a role model | Bible text: Revelation 21:5
God will create a new heaven and a new earth. There will be neither sorrow nor suffering, but only incomprehensible joy and peace. God’s perfect presence will be experienced and he will reign in righteousness. This is our great hope if we submit ourselves to God’s will.
It’s been a long time since I was last able to stand here and give a sermon. Not because the last sermon was so abysmally bad that I wasn’t asked back, fortunately, but because I was ill when I was due to give my last sermon. When I say I was ill, I mean really, really ill. I hate to say it, but I think I had a real man flu. I was in bed for several days with a fever, had no voice at all for over a week and couldn’t sleep for several days because of my chesty cough. So I lay there in my bed and prayed what a good Christian prays. Firstly, of course, «Lord, please heal me from this evil illness». And when that didn’t work: «Lord, you said you’d be back soon. Now would be a really good time for that». A few weeks later, I had another such moment. Matthias asked me for this sermon and enthusiastically told me that it would be a great opportunity to preach a sermon on the annual motto. «God says: Behold, I make all things new.» (Revelation 21:5). What a beautiful, encouraging verse, and I agreed just as enthusiastically. And then I suddenly realised, wait, that verse is in Revelation. I have no problem with the book of Revelation, but preaching about it? I’m really wary of that. When you’re up front here, you have a certain responsibility and the book of Revelation does hold a stumbling block or two. So I had two options for today’s sermon: either I prepare a real feel-good sermon for you, where you can listen and relax with your Christmas bellies still full, or I jump over my own shadow and dive with you into the fullness that this verse has to offer if you look at it more closely in the overall biblical context. I have decided in favour of the latter because I can get really outraged when verses are torn out of their context.
What this verse is not about
That’s why we’re starting with the «tidying up». First of all, the verse as it can be read everywhere as the annual motto and as it is printed on posters, mugs and other products is not in any translation of the Bible. In the New Living Bible translation, we can read: «And he who sat on the throne said, «Yes, I am making everything new! And then he said to me: «Write it down, because what I tell you is reliable and true!» (Revelation 21:5 NLB). So, for one thing, no translation says «God speaks», but «He who sits on the throne». For another, the second part of the verse is withheld in each case. Of course, I agree that «the one who sits on the throne» refers to God. But in the context of the verse, I find the emphasis on God as the one who sits on the throne and rules an important accentuation. The second part of the verse, which is omitted, also shows us how relevant this statement is for John and all generations after him, i.e. us. I will go into these points in more detail later. So back to the slimmed-down version of the annual motto. If you simply enter «annual motto 2026» into Google, the Google AI spits out this shortened and modified version of the verse from Revelation 21:5, along with the words «This Bible verse stands for hope, renewal and new beginnings and reminds us that even in difficult times, God can heal what has been destroyed and create something new, a message of confidence for the coming year.». This statement is by no means wrong. But I believe it is only half the truth. Logically, this is the first thing that comes to mind when you read the motto for 2026 and it was honestly my first thought: what an encouraging verse. When I’m in trouble, experiencing grief and hardship, God knows a way out. He can turn graves into gardens. How I would love to preach about this hope today, but it would fall short. I also think that such a sermon could subliminally convey an untruth. I would like to address this untruth, because I am convinced that what we believe influences our actions. For this reason, it is essential to expose lies that have crept in. Nowhere, really at no point in the biblical narrative can I discover a promise that we will experience redemption from all hardship on this earth through Christ. No matter how closely you walk with God, loss, grief and hardship will be part of your earthly life and even though God is always close to you, it will sometimes feel like He is distant and silent. Yes, God can bring wonderful things out of hopeless situations. He can turn dung into fertiliser. But just because we follow him, our lives won’t be all candy floss and chocolate cones. I think many people here can agree with that. This misconception seems harmless. Like so many half-truths, it seems to offer a lot of good things and that’s exactly what makes it dangerous. For one thing, it will bring down our faith if things don’t turn out well. If situations don’t change and I can’t feel God carrying me through. On the other hand, it is the expression of a compromise that we make. I know this compromise only too well from myself. This compromise begins with a slight doubt: what if I am not quite 100% right with my faith and eternity is not waiting for me after all? In the unlikely event that this is the case, I have to somehow secure myself enough to make it worthwhile now. So we live in a faith that raves about how God works in my life, carries me through and allows joy to grow out of pain. Eternal life is simply the icing on the cake. But the point is, it’s the other way round. The motto for 2026 is about God creating a new heaven and a new earth, as we can read in Revelation 21:1: «Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was no longer there either.» (Revelation 21:1 NLB). By the way, the new heaven refers to the blue sky above us, where the clouds hang and the birds fly, not a new separate place where God lives. This final hope for a new creation is the core of our hope! The fact that we can experience the dawn of God’s new kingdom and his reign in this world is just the icing on the cake. Please don’t get me wrong. I don’t want to devalue God’s work and his miracles among us, but I want you to feel something of the fact that this is just an amuse-bouche, a small foretaste of what awaits us. I would like to illustrate how such a small doubt can influence your entire behaviour with a little story from my time as a youth leader. While I was working as the main leader in Schinznach, another youth group came to spend the night on our premises. As this must not go unpunished, one of our leaders turned up in the middle of the night in an old police uniform and explained that they now had to wake up all the children, throw the mats and sleeping bags in a pile and stay awake with the children all night. As it was an industrial building, it was forbidden to spend the night there. Of course, the leaders strongly suspected that this was a joke, but they weren’t 100% sure that it really wasn’t a real policeman. So they actually did everything as they said. How firmly we believe or doubt that God will ultimately create a new heaven and a new earth that is so glorious that it surpasses all our thinking is reflected in our willingness in this life to uncompromisingly take up our cross, deny ourselves and recognise God’s reign.
The new creation
This new creation is mentioned in various places in the Bible. In the third chapter of his second letter, Peter writes about the day of the Lord and the new heaven and the new earth. He urgently reminds us of this promise and admonishes us to wait vigilantly and full of anticipation for this coming creation. Verse 13 says «But we await the new heaven and the new earth that he has promised. God’s righteousness will reign there.» (2 Peter 3:13 NLB). The last two chapters of the book of Isaiah are also about the new creation. In chapter 65, verses 17–19, we read: «Behold, I am creating a new heaven and a new earth – no one will remember the past, no one will take it to heart. Rather, rejoice; rejoice forever and ever in what I will bring about: For I will turn Jerusalem into a place of happiness and its inhabitants into a source of joy. I myself will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad over my people, and the sound of weeping and mourning will no longer be heard there.» (Isaiah 65:17–19 NLB). Or in Revelation 21, I read verses 1–4, the verses directly before the motto of the year: «Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God like a beautiful bride adorned for her bridegroom.I heard a loud voice calling from the throne: «Behold, the dwelling place of God is now with men! He will dwell with them and they will be his people and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away all their tears, and there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. For the first world with all its calamities has passed away forever.» » (Revelation 21:1–4 NLB). There are three important core ideas in the biblical narratives about this coming creation. Firstly, it is a place of unimaginably great joy where there will be neither pain nor sorrow. Secondly, in this place we will see God face to face. That alone is tremendous when we consider that it is clearly written in the Old Testament how God’s face is so glorious that everyone who sees it must die. I imagine it would be incredible to experience God’s perfect presence. Thirdly, God will reign in this new creation and so will his righteousness. Conversely, this also means that there is no room in this place for people who do not want to enter into a relationship with God, nor for those who refuse to submit to his will. C.S. Lewis writes in the book «The Great Divorce»: «Ultimately, there are only two kinds of people: those who say to God: «Thy will be done», and those to whom God says in the end: «Thy will be done».». It is our decision alone. Jesus sweated blood and water before his death and spoke these words from the bottom of his heart: «Thy will be done» and it cost him everything. We pray these words so easily in the Lord’s Prayer and unfortunately we often don’t realise the consequences if we really mean it. It can cost us everything in this life, really everything. But if we really believe in the promise that we will experience the new creation through it, all suffering and all sorrow, our whole earthly life is just a breath in comparison.
Experience the new realm today
The marvellous thing about this new creation is that this new reign has already begun through Jesus. Through him, we can already experience a foretaste of this coming creation today. I have previously mentioned three core elements of the new creation. Abundant joy and peace, the perfect presence of God and the righteous rule of God. Wherever the Holy Spirit is given space, God’s presence can be experienced. When people speak from a sincere heart and then live «God, your will be done!» we experience God’s reign. When these two things come together, God bestows his supernatural peace and a joy that we cannot put into words. There we experience God’s glorious kingdom. But again, our goal towards which we live is the coming creation. It is this «God says: «I am making all things new» » that is our great hope. Experiencing his kingdom today is the icing on the cake and is thanks to the pure grace of God.
Possible questions for the small group
Read Revelation chapter 21 together
- What feelings does the chapter trigger in you? Is it just pure joy, hope and confidence or also uncertainty and fear?
- In which areas of your life is it time to pray more consciously and honestly «God, your will be done» and then act accordingly?
- How can you make more room for the spirit of God in your everyday life in the following year?
- Many stressful situations are difficult to bear because you are overwhelmed by hopelessness and a feeling of hopelessness. Pray together that God can change your perspective and that you can look at these situations from an eternal perspective.
