Revelation 21
Eternity Unveiled
Chapter 21
Revelation
By: Michael Fronczak
564 Schaeffer Drive
Coldwater, Michigan 49036
mikefronczak@
Copyright © 2005, 2007
Revelation 21 Eternity Unveiled
Chapter 20 brings to an end the 1000 year period.
Throughout the book the words “and I saw” have been John’s characteristic designation for new details of revelation given to him. In this chapter these words appear three times for three major elements of revelation which the Lord wants to call to our attention through the visions given to John.
1. In 21:1 John saw the new heaven and the new earth. This clearly indicates that what follows is of the eternal state and bliss of the redeemed.
2. Then in 21:2 John saw the descent of the New Jerusalem. This is followed by revelation of new conditions with a description of the new Jerusalem. This too is related to the eternal state, though it will also be in existence in the Millennium and the home of the church of Jesus Christ and of Old Testament saints like Abraham.
3. Finally, in 21:22 John again wrote, “I saw.” What follows still deals with the new Jerusalem, only now the revelation deals with some special delights regarding the spiritual and physical conditions of the new Jerusalem.
Throughout Revelation 21:1-22:5 the discussion concerns the new Jerusalem and the eternal state. This seems quite clear from two main factors: (a) The close association apparent between 21:1 and 2, the new Jerusalem is seen following the vision of the new heaven and earth; and (b) the natural chronology of the book. Most consider this entire section as prophetic of the eternal state.
Some, however, think 21:9-22:5 refers to the Millennium. They think this because the nature of some of the things mentioned seem to be out of character with the eternal state, such as: (a) the mention of the nations and kings of the earth (21:24), and (b) the mention of healing (22:2). These have explanations, however, and can be easily applied to the eternal state as we shall see in the exposition that follows.
Ryrie has an important comment on these verses and this problem. He says,
Perhaps the best way to understand this entire section is to regard the new Jerusalem as the abode of the redeemed of all ages. Conditions within the new Jerusalem are conditions of eternity. Of course the redeemed will be inhabiting the city during the Millennium as well as during eternity. Always the conditions within the city are eternal, even when the city is related to the Millennium. This is no different from the present, for loved ones in heaven are enjoying eternal conditions as is God even though these eternal conditions impinge on time (as, for instance, on the Mount of Transfiguration or this entire vision given to John in the revelation). In other words, the new Jerusalem is the abode of the redeemed during the Millennium and during eternity.[1]
McGee Introduction: Eternity is unveiled in chapter 21—a new heaven, a new earth, a New Jerusalem, a new era, and the eternal abode of the Lamb’s bride where we will be new creations in Christ Jesus without the old nature that manifests itself so much today. Adopting a popular aphorism of the day, it can truly be said that this chapter is “out of this world.” This chapter hasn’t anything to do with the earth (except for the first few verses). In it we see the eternal abode of the church. What really is heaven? There is a lot of sticky, sentimental stuff said about heaven, and we get quite weepy when we talk about heaven. However, heaven is a place, a very definite place. You will have an address there. Your name will be put on you so that in eternity, when you wander around into outer space and get lost, some angel will bring you home—and you will have a home.
As the long vista of eternity is before us in this chapter, we move not only from time to eternity, but to a new creation. A new heaven, a new earth, and a New Jerusalem greet us. The redeemed have previously received glorified bodies like Christ’s. All things have become new. A new universe suggests new methods and approaches to life. New laws will regulate the new universe. The entire lifestyle will change. Here are some of the changes that are suggested in chapters 21–22:
1. There will be the total absence of sin and temptation and testing in the new creation. This in itself makes a radical difference.
2. The New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, does not mean another satellite for the earth, but rather the earth and all of the new creation with all of the galactic systems will revolve about the New Jerusalem, because it is the dwelling place of God and of Christ.
3. The law of gravity, as we know it, will be radically revised. There will be traffic between the New Jerusalem and the earth. The church will have already left the earth, and its dwelling place is the New Jerusalem. I believe that we will have entirely different bodies, and the law of gravity will not affect us; that is, the law of gravity of this earth or of any other planet.
4. There will be no sun to give light, for God Himself will supply it directly to the universe. There will be the absence, therefore, of night. There is no night there because we just do not need that time to rest since we will have new bodies. I am looking forward to that, by the way.
5. There will no longer be any sea on the earth. The sea occupies most of the earth’s surface today; approximately three-fourths of the total surface is water. This denotes a revolution in life upon the earth. Just think of the parking space we will be able to have! There will be no fish to eat. Apparently man will be a vegetarian during the Millennium and throughout eternity, as he was in the Garden of Eden. Fruit is the only diet of eternal man (see Rev. 22:2).
6. The presence of Christ and God, together with the throne of God made visible, ushers in a new day for man—the new creation.[2]
Revelation 21:1
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
There is very little revealed about the character of the new heaven and earth in Scripture (cf. Isa. 65:17; 66:22). The main emphasis is its uniqueness; it is quite different from the old. The new heaven and earth is not simply the old renovated but an act of new creation (cf. Rev. 20:1f with 20:11 and 2 Pet. 3:10, which describes the dissolving of the old heaven and earth). 17
Seeing things in the future - afar off:
(Heb 11:13-16) 13These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. 14For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. 15And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. 16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
(Gen 22:3-4) 3And Abraham rose up early in the morning, and saddled his ass, and took two of his young men with him, and Isaac his son, and clave the wood for the burnt offering, and rose up, and went unto the place of which God had told him. 4Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.
(2 Peter 3:11-14) 11Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
“...in earth as it is in heaven” (Mt 6:10).
Heaven and Earth to disappear! Moving outside of “time” and into Eternity (Heb 1:10-12; 12:26, 27).
[new heaven and a new earth] This will be the result of the renovation of the heavens and the earth by fire ( 2 Peter 3:10-13. The New Heavens and New Earth are mentioned in Rev. 21:1; 2 Peter 3:13; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22-24.
New heaven and new earth (Mt 24:35; Heb 11:13-16; 2 Pet 3:7-13).
“new” means “new in character” rather than “new in time,” and this suggests that God will renovate the old heaven and earth and remove all that is sinful and destructive. Note 2 Peter 3:7–10, where we are told that a fiery judgment brings about this renewal of the old creation.
“a new heaven and a new earth” This Greek term for “new,” kainos, emphasizes quality, not chronological time (cf. 2:17; 3:12; 5:9; 14:3; 21:1, 2, 5). This was an OT theme,a recreated earth (cf. Isa. 11:6–9; 65:17; 66:22; Rom. 8:18–25; II Pet. 3:10, 12). All believers are citizens of this new Kingdom (cf. Phil. 3:20; Eph. 2:19; Heb. 12:23) and share this new creation (cf. II Cor. 5:17; Gal. 6:15; Eph. 4:24). A parallel theological concept would be the “city of God not made with human hands” of Heb. 11:10, 16; 12:22; 13:14.
The new creation will be like the initial creation. Heaven may be a restored Garden of Eden. God, mankind, the animals, and all natural creation will fellowship and rejoice again! The Bible begins with God, mankind, and the animals in perfect fellowship in a garden (cf. Gen. 1–2). The Bible ends with God and mankind in a garden setting (cf. Rev. 21–22) and by prophetic implication, the animals (cf. Isa. 11:6–8; 65:25). Believers are not going to heaven; the new Jerusalem is coming down out of heaven (cf. Rev. 21:2) and coming to a recreated and cleansed earth. God and mankind are together again (cf. Gen. 3:15; Isa. 7:14; 8:8, 10; Rev. 21:3).[3]
[were passed away] Greek: parerchomai (G565), pass from one condition to another (note, 2 Peter 3:10).
“Passed away” does not mean “destroyed.” The fact that there is “no more sea” is significant; since John was exiled on an island and separated from those he loved. In the new creation, God will have devised a whole new system for watering the earth.
[no more sea] Why? Not needed for its cleansing action: 70% of earth covered to an average depth of 2.3 miles, antiseptic salinity (3.5%) purges, cleanses, and preserves our planet. It will change the climate of the world; many of the storms are formed over the oceans. However there will be an abundance of rivers, lakes, and small seas on earth forever. There will be more room for people and eliminate social barriers. (Psalm 72:8-17; Psalm 97:1-6; Psalm 146:6; Isaiah 42:10; Isaiah 60:5; Isaiah 66:19; Ezekiel 47; Zech. 14:8; Jeremiah 5:22; Jeremiah 31:35; Jeremiah 33:22; etc.).
The sea was no more. From the sea had come the evil oppressors (see 13:1).
Most of the earth is now covered with water which is vital to man’s survival, but apparently in the new earth there will be no bodies of water except for the one river mentioned in 22:1-2. Man in the eternal state and in his glorified body evidently will not need water as he does today to sustain him physically. There will be water, but it will speak of power, purity, and eternal life in the eternal city which has its constant source of life in God.
Is the sea evil? (Mt 8:26, “rebuked”?) End of old order? (Ex 20:11; Ezek 48:28); Beast out of the sea (Dan 7:1-3, 17; Rev 13:1, 6-8);
Demon swine take refuge in sea (Mt 8:30); Job 26:5-6; Isa 27:1; Jonah 2:1-6; Lk 8:30-3; Ps 69:14-15]
(Job 26:5-6) 5Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof. 6Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.
In John’s day, the sea meant danger, storms, separation—he was on an island at the time!
Van Impe: The passing away of the first heaven and earth occurred at the conclusion of the Great White Throne Judgment. This was part of the renovation of the world which Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:35 when He said, Heaven and earth shall pass away. The time and method are described in 2 Peter 3:7,10-13. Listen carefully to these solemn words: The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.
In the new world, the sea is eliminated, possibly because of its connotation with wickedness: The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt (Isaiah 57:20). Another reason may be that oceanic vegetation is no longer necessary.[4]
McGee: “And I saw” is the oft repeated statement of John to remind us that he was a spectator to all of these scenes. He was a witness to the panoramic final scene which ushers in eternity.
The Scripture clearly teaches that this present order of creation is to pass away in order to make room for a new heaven and a new earth. The Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, “Heaven and earth shall pass away …” (Matt. 24:35). The old creation was made for the first Adam. Christ, the Last Adam, has a new creation for His new creatures. “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind” (Isa. 65:17). “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain” (Isa. 66:22).
God had promised Abraham a land forever and David a throne forever. Daniel prophesied of “… a kingdom, which shall never be destroyed …” (Dan. 2:44). The new earth will see the total fulfillment of these prophecies. Consider the faith of the Old Testament worthies: “These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:13–16). “Heavenly” does not mean they are going to heaven, but that heaven is coming to this earth. This is what we mean when we pray the so-called Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come … in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10).
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Pet. 3:13). In his second epistle Peter declares plainly that the present earth on which we live will be destroyed by fire: “But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men…. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness!” (2 Pet. 3:7, 10–11).
The chief characteristic of the new earth, as we have suggested, is the absence of the sea. This would automatically change the climate, the atmosphere, and the living conditions. It is impossible for the human mind to comprehend the great transformations which will take place in a new creation. The sea in the past has been a barrier and also a border for mankind, which in some cases has been good and in others bad. Also, the sea was an instrument of judgment at the time of the Flood. However, by the disappearance of the sea, the population on the earth can be doubled again and again because of the increase of the land surface.[5]
JNTC: The sea was no longer there. Early JNT editions have “There was no longer any sea.” The change reflects my conclusion that the author, whose viewpoint is the Land of Israel, is not saying that there will no longer be oceans on the earth but that the Mediterranean Sea will no longer be the Land’s western boundary. (Is my being a surfer influencing my exegesis?)
The Bible depicts creation as war. Light conquers darkness (Genesis 1:1–5, Yn 1:1–5), but the sea is allied with the darkness. (This metaphor does not require our text to refer to all the oceans; the Mediterranean suffices.) Therefore the sea has to be contained, limited—this is done on the second day of creation (Genesis 1:6–10; see also Job 38:8–11, Isaiah 27:1, and possibly Isaiah 51:9–52:12). The sea is active in bringing destruction and death through the flood of Noach, an event mentioned five times in the New Testament (Mt 24:37–38, Lk 17:26–27, MJ 11:7, 1 Ke 3:20, 2 Ke 2:5). But the sea is under God’s control, as seen most clearly in the Exodus, where God’s “strong hand and outstretched arm” turn the Red Sea into a means of salvation for the Israelites, though a means of destruction for the Egyptians. God has promised never again to use water as a means of universal destruction (Genesis 9:11), but equally he has promised that he will use fire for that purpose (2 Ke 3:10–12). The Lake of Fire (20:15) is a fiery sea of eternal destruction; it conquers finally and universally what the Red Sea conquered temporally and locally—namely, sin. Water is powerful, but fire is more powerful; hence Yochanan the Immerser says he immerses in water but another is coming, Yeshua, who will immerse in the Holy Spirit and in fire (Lk 3:16–17). [6]
Chuck Smith: Now, we are beyond the thousand years. The first heaven is passed away. Peter tells us it passes away with a great noise with a fervent heat as the elements are dissolved.
Now, God spoke the universe into existence. And in speaking it into existence, He spoke into existence a scientific puzzle. For in speaking matter into existence, He brought the protons and electrons and assembled them together. And in creating the atoms, and bringing into the heart of the atom, the protons tightly knit together in the nucleus of the atom, He violated the law of electricity, Collins Law, which speaks of the repelling force of positive charges. Positive poles repel. Try to put them together and they will fight each other. There is a repelling force of positive charges, tremendously powerful repelling force.
The atom bomb illustrates to us the true nature of an atom. For what is happening is the nucleus of an atom is bombarded with slow moving neutrons that upset the delicate balance of the protons in the heart of the atom and it releases them. As it releases them, you have this tremendous release of energy and power and you see the tremendous power released when protons within an atom are set free. It is an equivalent power that holds them together. It takes an equivalent power to hold the nucleus of an atom together that is released when the nucleus is unbalanced.
Now, God who holds together the universe by the word of His power, and we are told this in the scripture; He created it by the word of His power and by Him all things are held together. All He is going to do is relax and let it go, and the whole material universe will go up in one gigantic puff. The elements will be dissolved and melted with a fervent heat. The heavens will be on fire. The whole material universe following the natural laws with the protons repelling each other, and this whole material universe will go out of existence in a moment's time.
And then God said, "Behold, I create all things new," Isaiah sixty-six. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and the former will not be remembered or brought into mind. We are not going to sit around after that age and say, "Remember down on earth we used to". God is just going to excise from our brain all those DNA molecules that hold those memory stores and banks and it will be gone, not be remembered or brought into mind.[7]
Revelation 21:2
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
[Jerusalem] means “providing peace”
(Heb 11:10) 10For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
(Heb 11:16) 16But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city.
[coming down from God out of heaven] It will come down from heaven to be the capital of God on the New Earth (Rev. 21:2-3,9-22:5). “Down out of heaven”: Doesn’t necessarily touch the earth! Heaven is a definite place. A new home. The Ultimate UFO!
[as a bride adorned for her husband] The city will be adorned with jewels like a bride for her husband (Rev. 21:19).
(Rev 3:12) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Note that the city comes down out of heaven from God and is in some way related to the earth. But it is nevertheless a heavenly city, not an earthly city. Because of its heavenly nature it may be like a satellite city which will orbit or hover above the earth and will finally settle upon it during the Millennium (cf. 20:9). This idea of Jerusalem as a satellite during the Millennium is of course only by implication and not by definite statement. If this is so, then this heavenly city will be withdrawn at the end of the Millennium in connection with the destruction of the old heaven and earth.
“Made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” compares the city to a bride, but this does not limit the city to the church. All saints will ultimately live in this city (cf. Heb. 11:10, 16). The figure of the bride simply emphasizes the following: (a) as marriage is designed to be permanent, so this will be our permanent or eternal abode, (b) as a bride is beautifully adorned for her wedding, so this stresses the beauty of this city as it is adorned for the saints, and (c) as the bride is to be pure, it portrays the purity of the holy city.
[prepared] The second point of emphasis according to the word order of the Greek is the word “prepared” which stands first in the attached descriptive clause. In John 14:2 our Lord said “… I go to prepare a place for you.” The verb there and here is the same, it is the verb hetoimazo„, “to prepare, make ready.” The indication in John 14:3 is that when Christ would come for His bride, the church, this place would at that time be prepared as her dwelling place. This teaches us that the new Jerusalem is prepared during the church age as a place for the bride and will be in existence at the rapture, during the Tribulation, and the Millennium. It will be the home of the church and our eternal abode there begins right after Christ comes for His bride. The author of Hebrews speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem as the abode and hope of the saints (Heb. 12:22-24).
Hal Lindsey: The new earth as a whole will not be the principal residence of the believers, though they will have free access to it. The New Jerusalem is where Jesus has been preparing mansions for his own and is the capital from which he will rule.[8]
Van Impe: Two Jerusalems are mentioned in Scripture (see Galatians 4:25,26 and Hebrews 12:22). One is earthly and the home of the believers during the millennial period. The other is heavenly-the New Jerusalem, or celestial city, which hovers over the earth eternally following the post-millennial creation of the new heaven and earth. The New Jerusalem is undoubtedly the one Christ has been preparing for 2,000 years, for the Saviour said in John 14:2,1 go to prepare a place for you. This magnificent masterpiece descending toward earth reminds one of the elegant beauty of a bride on her wedding day.[9]
McGee: This is the part which should interest us. I believe that the New Jerusalem is where those of us who are children of God are going to live. When you talk about going to heaven, what do you think about it? To most people it is just “a beautiful isle of somewhere.” However, it is a definite place. It is a city called the New Jerusalem. It is a planet within itself. Very candidly, very little is said in Scripture about heaven—but here it is, and that is the reason this ought to be important to us.
“I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” This New Jerusalem should not be identified with the old Jerusalem, the earthly Jerusalem down here.
I cannot think of a lovelier description than this: “made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.” It has been my privilege in my many years in the pastorate to have married several hundred couples. I have never seen an ugly bride—they are always lovely. At the wedding ceremony, after the solos have been sung, the preacher walks in followed by the bridegroom and the best man. Nobody pays any attention to the bridegroom except his mama. She smiles at him and thinks he’s wonderful, but nobody else looks at him. In a minute here comes the bride-to-be and, I tell you, everybody stands up and looks at her. I have never yet seen an ugly bride. On occasion when I would return from a wedding which my wife did not attend, she would always ask me, “Was the bride beautiful?” And I would always answer, “Yes. I’ve never seen an ugly one.” Don’t think I am just a doting old man when I say that. I have seen some brides before they got married or after the wedding, and I have wondered if she were the same girl who had come down the aisle. God gives to them at that time a radiance and a beauty. That is a thrilling moment for the bridegroom to look down the aisle and see the one whom he is going to make his own—she will belong to him. It seems that for that moment God transforms every girl into a lovely bride. I think the reason He does it is that the New Jerusalem where we are going to live is like the bride adorned for her husband. What a picture we have here!
The New Jerusalem is the habitation, the eternal home that is prepared for the church. The Lord Jesus said: “I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3). You could not have a more lovely or more appropriate picture given. We have seen in Revelation 19:7–8 that ushering in the millennial period, actually before Christ returned to the earth, was the marriage of the Lamb, and the bride was the church.
This passage is the fulfillment of what Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it; That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word” (Eph. 5:25–26).
At the judgment seat of Christ, there will be the straightening out and the judging of believers. Everything that is wrong will have to be corrected. All sin will be dealt with there. Rewards will be given out. And He is going to do something else—He is going to cleanse the church with the Word. The Word of God is a mighty cleansing agent. “That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that if should be holy and without blemish” (Eph. 5:27).
This is the picture we are getting here in chapter 21. The holy city, the New Jerusalem, is coming down from God out of heaven, adorned as a bride for her husband. The marriage took place before the Millennium, and the Millennium is now over. This has sure been a long honeymoon, hasn’t it? I think it is one that will go on into eternity.
Paul continues to talk about this marvelous relationship between Christ and the church, comparing it to human marriage down here. “So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:28–32). This idea is a mystery that is now being opened to us. The marriage relationship is the most beautiful and wonderful relationship. It is the oldest ceremony that God has instituted for man. It goes right back into the Garden of Eden, to the very beginning, and it is all-important. It is such a profound mystery that, even with all these marriage counselors and all the books they have written, I do not really think they have touched the fringe of how wonderful marriage could be for believers.
By the way, Paul is talking here to believers who are filled with the Spirit. All of these instructions are for Spirit-filled believers. They are not given to the lost world at all, and they are not given to the average believer. At the beginning of this section, Paul says, “… be filled with the [Holy] Spirit” (Eph. 5:18). That is the only commandment in Scripture in which you are required to do something about the Holy Spirit.
We find here something that is difficult to understand, but it gives us another insight into marriage. The wife is the same flesh as the man. How can that be? Have you ever seen a beautiful child that looked like the mother and had a mean disposition like the father? That is where they come together; that is where they are one flesh. But it is deeper than that. When a man loves his wife, he actually loves himself. This is true of the wife also. When she loves her husband, she is actually loving herself You cannot have it any more intimate than that.
When I injure my foot, I do not ignore it. I do all I can to care for it. I go to the doctor and if necessary have it put into a cast. It may not be very pretty, and I might like to leave my foot at home, but it is part of me. Likewise, my wife is part of me. She is my flesh. We are the same flesh. This is difficult to understand, but that is how intimate it is. This takes us back to the time of creation: “And Adam said, This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man. Therefore shall a man leave his father and his mother, and shall cleave unto his wife: and they shall be one flesh. And they were both naked, the man and his wife, and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:23–25). They were naked, and they knew each other. It was an intimate and a very personal relationship. After a couple gets married, when they have their first fight, the wife often turns over in bed, and he is in a huff and maybe goes to the sofa and lies there. Then they wonder why there is disintegration in their marriage relationship. When your foot gets sick, you don’t ignore it. You don’t get angry with it. You don’t kick with it. If you do, you are in deeper trouble. The thing that you are to do with the flesh is to do everything to doctor it and try to get it well again. This is the reason that young couples ought never to have a squabble without sitting down and talking things over. I think the wife ought to be very frank with her husband and tell him everything—how she feels, how he offends her, and what she thinks is wrong. And he ought to do the same thing. You see, they are the same flesh; they are one. They have been brought together in this very intimate, this very wonderful relationship in which a man leaves his family—his father, his mother, and his brothers and sisters. He has now been joined to a woman, and they are one flesh. They have started a new creation, if you please, and that is what the marriage relation should be. How wonderful it is to see a family where the man and his wife have no barrier between them. She knows him like a book, and he knows her like a book. They simply know each other, and they love each other. Until that kind of relationship is established, my friend, you are going to have trouble in the marriage, because God made us that way. Marriage is more than an arrangement to live together and to sleep together. When a man chooses a wife and a wife accepts her husband, they must understand that they are one flesh—and you would not hurt yourself, your own flesh, intentionally for anything in the world.
“This is a great mystery,” Paul says, “… but I speak concerning Christ and the church” (Eph. 5:32). In heaven we are going to be like Him. John writes, “… it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall he like him…” (1 John 3:2). We are going to have glorified flesh like He has. We are going to be one with Him. We are part of His body, and we are going to be joined to Him. He said, “… I go to prepare a place for you…. that where I am, there ye may be also” (John 14:2–3). How glorious that we can be with Him throughout eternity! As far as I know, no other creatures, including the angels of heaven, are going to have this personal and intimate relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. That is going to be the most glorious day! We are going to celebrate throughout eternity the very fact that we are with Him and that we have been joined to Him.[10]
JNTC: The holy city, New Yerushalayim, “the Jerusalem above” which “is our mother” (Ga 4:26), “the city with permanent foundations, of which the architect and builder is God” (MJ 11:10, 16), “the city of the living God, heavenly Yerushalayim” (MJ 12:22&N), the permanent city to come (MJ 13:14), is seen coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband, as described in 21:9–22:5 below. The wedding imagery here, at v. 9 and at 22:17 identifies the New Jerusalem with God’s people (compare 19:7–9; also in the New Testament Mt 9:15, 25:1–13; Yn 3:27–30; 2C 11:2; Ep 5:21–33; and in the Tanakh Isaiah 54:1–8; Jeremiah 3:1, 20; Hosea 1–2). Contrast “the great whore, … Babylon” (17:1, 5). [11]
Chuck Smith: Now, this new earth will be orbited by the New Jerusalem. I believe the New Jerusalem will actually be an orbit around the new earth. It will be approximately the size of the moon. It will be cubed however rather than round and it will be fourteen hundred miles cubed.
Now, if we lived dimensionally at that time, you know we live on the surface of the earth, but if you had a cube and we lived dimensionally, it is interesting to get out your pencil and notepad and figure how many square miles you could get in a cube that was fourteen hundred miles in each direction. You would be amazed what fourteen hundred cubed becomes. Needless to say, you could all have a square mile and if we need more space what you do is just move your ceiling down to a half-mile and you double again the capacity.[12]
Revelation 21:3
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
[great voice] While John is beholding the descending city, his attention is diverted by a loud voice—the last time of 21 times that either a “great” or a “loud” voice is mentioned. This is always an indication of an important piece of revelation that is about to be unfolded. It is significant that the last loud voice announces the dwelling of God among men. Though God is the independent God of the universe, He, in His love, longs to dwell among us in order to have fellowship with us and to bless us with His personal care. This ought to touch our hearts and cause us to draw near to Him.
Cf. Jn 1:14; Mt 12:6.
Jerusalem; Jireh-shalom, provides peace:
• Mt 23:37-39, “see me henceforth...”
• Jn 14:2, 3, “go to prepare a place...”
• Heb 11:10, 16, “...look for a city”
• Jn 1:14, “tabernacled among us”
• 2 Cor 5:17, “all things new”
• Ex 40:34; 1 Kgs 8:10, 11, “always fills”
[tabernacle of God is with men] “Tabernacle” stands for “dwelling place, a place of abode,” or of one’s “personal presence.” And where is that? “Among men.” The word “among” used here and in the next clause is the Greek preposition meta, which is used of association or companionship or fellowship. Note that the verse goes on to emphasize “God Himself shall be among them,” and “they shall be His people,” a result of the other. This verse denotes the most intimate and close fellowship with God in a perfect and unbroken way and on a face-to-face basis. This will be far beyond the knowledge of His presence and indwelling which believers can know today. Today we speak to Him in prayer and He speaks to us in His Word, but then He will be openly and visibly in our midst, personally ministering to our needs. The full scope of this is far beyond our comprehension today. What follows is a result of this personal presence of God in the most personal way among men.
cf. Lev 26:12; 21:7; 2 Sam 7:14. He will dwell with them. The Greek word for “dwell” is “tabernacle”), the same word used in Jn 1:14: “The Word became flesh and [tabernacled] among us.”
[dwell with them ...] Twelve blessings for man in the New Earth:
1. God will be dwelling among them (Rev. 21:3,7).
2. God will be their God (Rev. 21:3,7).
3. God shall wipe away all tears (Rev. 21:4; Rev. 7:17; Isaiah 25:8).
4. No more death (Rev. 21:4; 1 Cor. 15:24-29).
5. No more sorrow (Rev. 21:4; Rev. 22:3).
6. No more pain (Rev. 21:4; Genesis 3:14-19).
7. All things made new (Rev. 21:5).
8. Plenty of water of life (Rev. 21:6; Rev. 22:17).
9. Inherit all things (Rev. 21:7; Romans 8:17).
10. Eternal sonship (Rev. 21:7; 1 John 3:1-2).
11. No more curse (Rev. 22:3).
12. Freedom from ungodly neighbors (Rev. 21:8; Rev. 22:15).
[he will dwell with them] This is the final realization of the eternal of God for man and the earth (Zech. 2:10-11; Zech. 8:3; Isaiah 52:7; Ezekiel 43:7). Sin is gone which allows God to dwell with man.
Arno Froese: This heavenly Jerusalem, “the Holy city,” “Holy Jerusalem,” is the ultimate dwelling place of God with man.[13]
Van Impe: To this point in time, God's Tabernacle has been located in heaven. Now we discover a change of address. The Almighty descends to earth with His heavenly entourage, settling in the New Jerusalem to begin global operations from this satellite city. The redeemed-in their glorified bodies-live in the New Jerusalem. Those with bodies of flesh-those who were born and saved during the millennial hour- enter the eternal state with their natural bodies. They live on earth, in and under the light of the Holy City (see chapter 21, verse 24). The true beauty of the entire scene is that God dwells in the midst of His people, for a voice cries, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Another exciting fact is that believers, with their glorified bodies, will be able to travel as fast as the speed of light, yea, as fast as their thoughts. Thus, they will traverse back and forth to earth from their city in space-the New Jerusalem-in a moment of time. Presently the world's scientists predict that men will be living in space cities before the year 2,000. They don't know the half of it! Amen![14]
JNTC: This important verse tells the final fulfillment of one of the most frequently repeated covenant promises in the Tanakh, that God will dwell with his people and be their God, with full fellowship restored as in the Garden of Eden. See Genesis 17:7; Exodus 6:7, 29:45; Leviticus 26:11–12 (which is particularly related to this verse); Numbers 15:41; Deuteronomy 29:12(13); 2 Samuel 7:24; Jeremiah 7:23, 11:4, 24:7, 30:22, 31:33(34), 32:38; Ezekiel 11:20, 34:24, 36:28, 37:23, 27; Zechariah 8:8; MJ 8:10; and v. 7 below.
“Sh˒khinah” and “he will live” translate the Greek words “skênê” (“tent, tabernacle, lodging”) and “skênôsei” (“he will dwell”); and both are related to the Hebrew word “shakhan” (“to dwell”), from which is derived “Sh˒khinah,” referring to the glorious manifesting presence of God who can dwell among men (see 7:15). Thus God will dwell with them, be the Sh˒khinah and the Tabernacle with them, be the glory (kavod = Sh˒khinah) in the midst of them (Zechariah 2:9(10)). “But will God indeed dwell with man on earth?” (2 Chronicles 6:18). Yes, he will.
Peoples or “people”; the manuscripts vary. Here are Bruce M. Metzger’s remarks on this:
“It is extremely difficult to decide between the reading laoi [peoples], which is supported by [several very important early manuscripts], and the reading laos [people], which is supported by [a larger number of mostly less important sources]. Has the author followed the prophetic Scriptures that consistently speak of the one people of God (e.g., Jeremiah 31:32(33), Ezekiel 37:27, Zechariah 8:8)? In that case, laoi was introduced by copyists who pedantically conformed the word to the preceding autoi [they]. Or [on the other hand], did the author deliberately modify the traditional concept, substituting ‘the many peoples of redeemed humanity for the single elect nation, the world for Israel’ (Swete)? In that case, laos betrays the hand of the emendator, who conformed the reading to the imagery of the Old Testament. Chiefly on the basis of what was taken to be very slightly superior manuscript evidence a majority of the Committee [who put together the UBS edition of the Greek New Testament] preferred laoi.” (A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament, London & New York: United Bible Societies, 1975, p. 763)
If the correct reading is “peoples,” it confirms not only that God “made every nation living on the entire surface of the earth, and he fixed the limits of their territory and the periods when they would flourish” (Ac 17:26), but that God will save entire non-Jewish peoples, corporately; compare Isaiah 19:25.
God-with-them. This phrase tells us of the consummation of Isaiah 7:14, which foresees that the Messiah is to be called Immanu’el (“God with us”); see Mt 1:23&N. [15]
Revelation 21:4
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
[And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes] If there is no more dieing, death, or pain, why tears at all? Lost opportunities, lost friends and relatives? These verses give us God’s assurance that our present perplexities and sorrows, and indeed even their remembrance, will be wiped away, which undoubtedly includes answers with understanding. Note that “tear” is singular, every single tear.
Verse 4 promises us no more tears, mourning, crying, or pain. This means perfect, uninterrupted happiness and peace. It appears that with God visibly and personally in our midst, there will be absolutely no possibility of unhappiness.
[no more death] Death will be destroyed at the end of the Millennium (1 Cor. 15:24-28).
[former things are passed away] The former things refer to earth creations under the curse (Rev. 22:3; Genesis 3:1-19). “The first things have passed away” refers to all the conditions of this present world—Satan, sin, a sinful nature, and death, etc. Everything associated with Satan and his rebellion and man, his fall and rebellion, everything except believers themselves, will be removed, put away. In fact, “the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind” (see Isa. 65:17b).
Van Impe: This verse should be a favorite among God's people. Think of it! Pain, sorrow, crying, and death are forever eliminated in this land of eternal life. No wonder the redeemed are able to triumphantly shout, O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? (1 Corinthians 15:55). Never again will a funeral procession take place, for death, the last enemy, will have been destroyed (see 1 Corinthians 15:26). In addition, everything associated with death is also eliminated for time and eternity. Glory! No more disease, heart attacks, automobile accidents, wars or rumors of wars. "It is finished" is truly the national anthem of eternity.
Although these truths are wonderful in themselves, the greatest fact is that the Lord's people see His face (see chapter 22, verse 4). In addition, sin has ceased to exist because Satan is eternally incarcerated in Gehenna, the lake of fire (see chapter 20, verse 10). A new day in a new heaven suspended above a new earth has arrived because...[16]
McGee: “Behold the tabernacle [tent] of God is with men.” What is the tent? We are told by John in John 1:14, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt [pitched His tent] among us…” That flesh was crucified on the cross, and He was raised in a glorified body. We, too, are going to have glorified bodies, and we are going to live with Him in the New Jerusalem. The golden street is not really important. What difference does it make what kind of asphalt you walk on? It is important to know the psychological and spiritual values that will be there.
“They shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” Certain things that definitely are prominent today are going to be removed: “God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.” A columnist years ago wrote: “For every light that burns on Broadway, there is a broken heart.” Several times my wife and I have driven up into the Hollywood hills and have looked down on that blanket of light which is Hollywood. I have said to my wife, “For every light down there, there is a broken heart.” There is many a sad and lonely person in this world, but in the New Jerusalem there are not going to be any more tears.
“And death shall be no more”—that is going to be a very marvelous improvement. Since you began reading this chapter, a number of funeral processions have taken place. People are dying all the time. There is a continual march to the cemetery. This earth is nothing in the world but a cemetery. I once knew an engineer who in the early days had a great deal to do with the planning and plotting of the great freeways which crisscross this country today. I asked him, “Is it going over the mountains or down through the valleys or crossing the rivers that is the biggest problem for you?” He replied, “The big problem is missing the cemeteries.” This earth is a great cemetery today, but all of that is going to end. There will be no burying ground in the New Jerusalem. The undertaker will be out of business. Even the doctors are going to be out of business, because there is not going to be any crying, “neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”[17]
No physical infirmities, no weaknesses, no tiredness, and no weariness.
Revelation 21:5
And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
This may sound redundant, if God said it – it must be true.
We will be able to make a fresh start, there are very few mistakes I’ve missed.
Following the Millennium, Jesus will not fix or repair this old creation. He will recreate everything. This is more than a verbal promise because he says, Write this down. It is a divine declaration from one who cannot lie.
McGee: He is going to make all things new! This is more meaningful to me than anything else. I do not know about you, but I have never really been satisfied with this life. I have found myself frustrated, I have found myself hemmed in, and I have never been able to accomplish all that I have wanted to accomplish. I’ve never been the man I’ve wanted to be. I’ve never been the husband I’ve wanted to be. I’ve never been the father I’ve wanted to be. And I’ve never preached the sermon I’ve wanted to preach. I just do not seem to have arrived. All accomplishments seem to have a blot on them.
But He says to me, as He says to you, “I am going to make all things new. You are going to be able to start over again.” I am waiting for that day when all things are going to be new and I can start over. Have you ever stopped to think about the potential of starting out all new again, of learning all over again, and never ceasing but going on into eternity? Oh, the potential and capability of man! Yonder at the Tower of Babel, God said, “I had better go down there, or nothing will be withheld from man” (see Gen. 11:5–7). It was very foolish for some scientists and preachers to say that man could not go to the moon; I think he is going farther than that. Man is a clever being which God has made. Death ends his potential down here, but with eternity ahead of him, oh, the prospects a saved man has!
We see here the glorious prospect of all things made new. We can start over, and there will never be an end to our growth. Remember that of Christ it is said, “Of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end” (see Isa. 9:7). There is constant growth and development. Just think of the prospect of that for the future. Someday I am going to know something; today I don’t, but I will then.[18]
Chuck Smith: It sounds like a dream, doesn't it? It sounds like a fairy tale. It sounds too good to be true. And because it is really just so good, that it is hard for us to conceive it so the Lord puts this special little "write these things because these sayings are faithful and true." God attests now to the truth of what He is declaring. You can believe it. You can trust it.[19]
Revelation 21:6
And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
The cross – paid in full.
Alpha and Omega 4 times in Revelation, 1:8; 1:11; 21:6; 22:13.
Reminds us of the conversation between Jesus and the woman at the sell.
Van Impe: God speaks to John, saying, It is done. As Christ completed His redemptive work for sinners on the cross, He cried, It is finished. Now God, who has made all things new, again announces, It is finished, or done. His will has been accomplished in Jesus Christ-namely, that the earth should be free from the curse of sin and that its inhabitants should be conformed to His very likeness. This has happened. It is done. God adds, I am [the] Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. Alpha and Omega are the first and the last letters of the Greek alphabet. Hence, the explanation, the beginning and the end. But what does it mean? In Christ, all creation began without sin (see Colossians 1:15-19). Now, in Christ, it has ended without sin.
In this glorious city-New Jerusalem-the spiritual thirst of God's people is also satisfied forever. While on earth, Jesus said to the woman of Samaria, Whosoever drinketh of this water [in the well] shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life (John 4:13,14). That time has come, and God states: "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely." It is yours to possess throughout the ages. Enjoy yourselves!
However, make no mistake about it. The eternal prize of being in the presence of God in the New Jerusalem, where there is no more death, sorrow, crying, pain, or thirst, is only for those who trust in the merits of the shed blood of Christ.[20]
Twelvefold Plan of God Completed
1. Sinful career of immediate heavens and earth ended (Rev. 21:3-7; Rev. 22:3)
2. Renovation of heavens and earth (2 Peter 3:5-13; Hebrews 1:10-12; Hebrews 12:25-28)
3. "All things" made new (Rev. 21:5)
4. All rebels put down (1 Cor. 15:24-28)
5. Man purged of all possibility of rebellion (Rev. 21:3-8; Ephes. 1:10; Ephes. 2:7; Ephes. 3:11)
6. The curse removed (Rev. 21:3-8; Rev. 22:3; 1 Cor. 15:24-28)
7. Earth turned back to God (Acts 3:21-22; 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Ephes. 1:10; Isaiah 66:22-24)
8. Rebels judged and confined to hell (Rev. 20:11-15; Matthew 25:41,46; Isaiah 66:22-24)
9. God recognized again as Supreme Ruler of the universe as before rebellion (Rev. 21:3-8; 1 Cor. 15:24-28; Ephes. 1:10; Ephes. 3:11)
10. God's original plans for free will and the universe realized (Ephes. 3:9-11)
11. God's form of government and His own being vindicated before all free will in the universe (Ephes. 3:9-11; 2 Peter 3:9)
12. God's throne and headquarters moved from the third heaven and established on earth (Rev. 21:3-22:5)[21]
Thirst represents spiritual need, water spiritual satisfaction. Compare Psalm 36:9 (“For with you is the fountain of life”); Proverbs 13:14 (“The teaching of the wise is a fountain of life”), 14:27 (“The fear of Adonai is a fountain of life”); Mt 5:6, 10:42; Yn 4:5–14, 7:37–39; and especially Rv 7:17; 22:1, 17. [22]
Chuck Smith: Jesus, that day on the temple mount, cried, "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink." To the woman at the well He said, "If you drink of this water, you will thirst again, if you drink of the water that I give you will never thirst again"(John 4:13-14). And once again the invitation for those that are thirsty, "He will give the fountains of living water freely."[23]
Revelation 21:7
He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
[he shall be my son] Can we even imagine what this means? All things! Staggering in its implication. Only place in the Bible where the believer is said to be the Son of God.
“Overcomer” =
(1 John 5:4-5) 4For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. 5Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Not a work thing but a faith thing!
McGee: “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” This identifies the speaker as the Lord Jesus Christ, as He was identified like this in the first chapter of this book.
Believers in their new bodies will thirst after God and the things of God, and they will be satisfied: “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” In Matthew 5:6 the Lord Jesus said: “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.”
All believers are overcomers because of faith: “He that overcometh shall inherit these things.” “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (1 John 5:4).
“I will be God unto him, and he shall be the son to Me.” All the sons of God became sons through faith in Christ: “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name” (John 1:12).
They “inherit all things” because this was promised to the sons of God: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Rom. 8:16–17).
“The son to Me” is in the Greek moi ho huios. This is a very unusual expression. Vincent calls attention to the fact that this is the only place in John’s writings where a believer is said to be a son (huios) in relationship with God. (In other passages another Greek word is used rather than huios.) God is the One who says “my son,” and He says it here. Believers in the church are one of the peoples of God, but they are more. They are the sons of God in a unique and glorious fashion. “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).[24]
“and I will be his God and he will be My son” These are covenant phrases (cf. v. 3) which are so common in the OT (cf. Exod. 6:7; 29:45, 46; Lev. 26:11–12; Jer. 7:23; 11:4; 30:22; 33:38; Ezek. 11:20; 14:11; 34:30; 36:28; Hos. 2:23; Zech. 8:8; 13:9) and are also used in the NT (cf. II Cor. 6:16, 18).
The concept of covenant is probably the unifying theme of the Bible. Mankind has been alienated from God (cf. Isa. 53:6; Rom. 3:9–18, 23). Mankind cannot find God. God reaches out for us; God is pursuing us! His offer of reunion is one of covenant. He initiates (cf. Jer. 31:3; John 6:44, 65); He sets the agenda, but mankind must respond in specified ways. These ways have varied in content (Adam/Eve, forbidden tree; Noah, a boat; Abraham, a land, a son; Moses, a law code), but the form of acceptance, faith in the faithfulness of God, remains the same (cf. Rom. 4). The Old Covenant had requirements; so does the New (cf. Mark 1:15; Acts 3:16, 19; 20:21). Mankind must respond both initially and continually in faith, repentance, obedience, service, worship, and perseverance.[25]
Chuck Smith: "Come ye blessed of the Father inherit," Jesus said, "the things that were prepared for you from the foundations of the earth"(Matthew 25:34). We are told about the glorious inheritance of the saints in light. That inheritance that has— "If we are sons of God then we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ"(Romans 8:17). We are going to inherit the whole new universe that God creates. It is all ours to enjoy to the fullest with Him.[26]
Revelation 21:8
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
A vivid and instructive catalog of loosers. Note “the fearful” first on the list and “the unbelieving”; Cf. Mk 4:40; Jn 14:27; 2 Tim 1:7,8.
[fearful] fear is a sin – spies into the promise land, the fear cost them a forty year journey! Fearful is first on the list.
[sorcerers] pharmakeus, (G5332) far-mak-yoos'; from pharmakon (a drug, i.e. spell-giving potion); a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, i.e. (by extension) a magician :- sorcerer. Persons who by use of drugs, enchanted potions, charms, and enchantments seek to produce supernatural effects in the lives of others.
We are now in eternity, notice also:
The status of the lake of fire and the lost is unchanged;
Sin and its potential is totally excluded;
The lake of fire is eternal; final.
[the lake] The same as Gehenna of fire (note, ♣ Luke 12:5).
[burneth with fire and brimstone] Clearly, hell is a real place.
[which is the second death] The second death is the lake of fire, or the second separation from God in Gehenna (hell) (Rev. 2:11; Rev. 20:14; Rev. 21:8). The Lake of Fire is eternal, for it is the second death, and there is no third resurrection.
Bob Wilkin of Grace Evangelical Society has a perspective on this passage that better fits the context and thrust of 21:8. He writes:
It is a mistake to think that this verse is describing the way the unsaved behave here and now. The verse says nothing about the current behavior of believers or unbelievers. Rather, it concerns the eternal sinfulness of unbelievers.
A parallel passage is John 8:24: “If you do not believe that I am He, you will die in your sins.” Unbelievers die in a state of sinfulness. Forever they remain sinners. Believers, however, do not remain in a state of sinfulness because they are justified by faith: “Blessed is the man to whom the Lord shall not impute sin” (Rom 4:8; see also vv 1-7 and Rom 8:33-34).
Revelation 21:8 says nothing about whether believers actually sin prior to death or not. Of course we know that they do. However, that is not in view in Rev 21:8. What is actually in view is the continued unregenerate and unjustified state of the lost. Because unbelievers upon death are sealed permanently as those who are unjustified, they remain sinners in God’s sight forever.
There will be no sinners and no sin in the new heavens and the new earth. According to 1 John 3:2, “when He is revealed, we shall be like Him.”
It is interesting to note that this basic message is found three times in Revelation 21-22 (Rev 21:8, 27; and 22:15), the section of the book dealing with the eternal kingdom. A comparison of these three passages, and particularly the first and last, supports the conclusion that the sinful state of those in hell is what is in view…
Conclusion
If the kingdom contained those still in a sinful state, it would not be as glorious as God intends. That would put an eternal damper on the joy the Lord Himself and we, His subjects, could experience.
Revelation 21:8 should be a joyous verse for us. Those who interpret it to mean that we need to examine our behavior to see if we are saved (or if we are still saved) have robbed it of its joy and replaced it with works-salvation gloom.
The kingdom will be truly joyful because everyone in it will be holy and sinless.[27]
Van Impe: This text plainly states that those who were condemned at the judgment of chapter 20, verses 11-15, have been cast into the lake of fire, or Gehenna. They were not given a reprieve, a commuted sentence, or a second chance, as some sentimentalists teach. Revelation 21 is the eternal state.
No more changes are possible. Those who stood before God's Great White Throne did not make it. Who were they?
1. The fearful-those who rejected Christ to escape the ridicule of men.
2. The unbelieving-those who rejected the doctrine of Christ's deity and shed blood as the only means of obtaining eternal life. Jesus said, Ye shall die in your sins-if ye believe not that I am he [or that I am God] (John 8:24). In John 5:40, the Saviour again said, Ye will not come to me, that ye might have life.
3. The abominable-those who engaged in wicked practices. They spoke the language of christendom but never lived it: They profess that they know God; but in works they deny him, being abominable, and disobedient, and unto every good work reprobate (Titus 1:16).
4. The murderers-including those who carried hatred within their hearts and minds for others. If you don't believe it, listen to the following: Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him (1 John 3:15).
5. The whoremongers-those who engaged in fornication (premarital sex), adultery (extra marital flings), or perverted sex.
6. The sorcerers-those who practiced drug usage for "kicks" and "highs."
7. The idolaters-those who worshiped or revered anyone or anything other than the living and true God, or who used idols in worship. Remember God's warning, Little children, keep yourselves from idols (1 John 5:21).
8. All liars-those who deceived others, distorted the truth, and destroyed mankind by lies.[28]
McGee: There are several amazing features about this verse. First of all, the creation of the new heavens and a new earth did not affect the status of the lake of fire and of the lost. They are going into eternity just that way.
In the second place, there is no possibility of sin, which made man become fearful, unbelieving, liars, murderers, and all the rest, ever breaking over the barriers into the new heavens and the new earth. Sin and its potential are forever shut out of the new creation.
Finally, the lake of fire is eternal, for it is the second death, and there is no third resurrection. It is eternal separation from God, and there is nothing as fearful and frightful as that.[29]
NEW JERUSALEM, DESCRIPTION OF THE ETERNAL ABODE OF THE BRIDE
The appearance of this city is the quintessence of beauty, refined loveliness, and uncontrolled joy. Lofty language describes her merits, and descriptive vocabulary is exhausted in painting her portrait. The contemplation of her coming glory is a spiritual tonic for those who grow weary on the pilgrim journey down here.
The New Jerusalem is really a postmillennial city, for she does not come into view until the end of the Millennium and the beginning of eternity. This city was evidently in the mind of Christ when He said, “I go to prepare a place for you” (see John 14:2), but the curtain does not rise upon the scene of the heavenly city until earth’s drama has reached a satisfactory conclusion. Earth’s sorrow is not hushed until the endless ages begin.
The New Jerusalem will be to eternity what the earthly Jerusalem is to the Millennium. The earthly Jerusalem does not pass away, but it takes second place in eternity. Righteousness reigns in Jerusalem; it will dwell in the New Jerusalem. Imperfection and rebellion exist even in the earthly Jerusalem during the Millennium; perfection and the absence of sin will identify the heavenly city. Just as a king’s queen is of more importance than the place of his government, thus the New Jerusalem transcends the city of earth. This will cast no reflection on the earthly city, nor will it cause her inward pain. She can say in the spirit of John the Baptist, “She that hath the bridegroom is the bride” (see John 3:29).
The New Jerusalem is the eternal abode of the church. The New Jerusalem is the home of the church, the hometown of the church. This is a city toward which the church is journeying as she pitches her tent in that direction. We are now to look at this new home by reading the architect’s blueprint in this twenty-first chapter.[30]
Revelation 21:9
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
John has given us a brief look at some of the glories of eternity in verses 1-8. One such glory is the new Jerusalem adorned like a bride. So now in 21:9-22:5 more details are given about this glorious city, the eternal home of the redeemed. Revelation 21:9-21 will be a general description of the construction of the city. Then in 21:22-22:5 we are given a look at some of the special spiritual and physical delights of our eternal home.
[bride] The word bride is used only 5 times in connection with believers (John 3:29; Rev. 21:2,9; Rev. 22:17). The word bridegroom is used 10 times in connection with believers (Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35; John 3:29). All these passages refer to believers who will live in the New Jerusalem, which is the bride, the Lamb's wife (Rev. 21:2, 9-10). Up until now there has been a clear distinction. Now there seems to also be a commingling of the Church and Israel.
[bride] This could be the City of Jerusalem or the Church. Idioms deal with both. Mystery City Babylon was a woman and a city. John - She who has the bridegroom is the Bride. The New Jerusalem may have more than three dimensions. Probably far more here than we have any idea.
“The bride, the wife of the Lamb” is a description, as verse 10 shows us, of the new Jerusalem which is again seen coming down out of heaven from God. Why is the new Jerusalem called the bride, the wife of the Lamb? In verse 2 we are told the city was “made ready as a bride adorned for her husband,” but here new Jerusalem is called the bride. There are at least two reasons for this: the first is seen, as suggested in verse 2, in the beautiful analogy of the figure of a bride. Though dealing with the church and her responsibility in witnessing Joseph Aldrich has nicely captured the picture. He says:
Ideally, a bride is the epitome of all that is right and beautiful. She is a symbol of purity, hope, purpose, trust, love, beauty, and wholeness in a world pock-marked with ugliness. The bride motif, found in both testaments, is used by God to illustrate His strategy for attracting mankind to the availability of his life changing grace.[31]
So God calls new Jerusalem the bride, the wife of the Lamb, because as (a) the Lord is making his bride, the church, spotless and pure (Eph. 5:26-27), so he will make beautiful the new Jerusalem, (b) as marriage is permanent, so will be the new city, and (c) as a bride is beautiful and gloriously adorned, so will be the new city.
Second, though the new Jerusalem will eventually be the home of all the redeemed, it will first be the home of the church, the bride of Christ, who will also be on display during the Millennium, the marriage feast. Remember, this is the home that He is preparing for us (John 14:2-3).
Van Impe: Here one member of the angelic host which administered the final seven judgments now speaks to John, saying, "Come here. I want to show you the Bride, the Lamb's wife, the one who made herself ready [in] fine linen, clean and white (chapter 19, verses 7 and 8) and who returns with Him for the 1,000-year honeymoon (chapter 19, verses 11 through 16)." At this point the Bride is envisioned in her final resting place.[32]
McGee: What follows in verses 9–21 is a description of the city. We have seen the psychological or spiritual aspects of it that are wonderful, but this physical description is also worth contemplating.
We must pause here to consider the relationship of the city to the citizens—the city proper to the church. Certainly we are not to infer that the empty city without the citizens is the bride. The citizens are identified with the city in chapter 22, verses 3, 6, 19. Those outside are identified here in verse 8 as disfranchised. Although a distinction between the bride and the city needs to be maintained, it is the intent of the writer to consider them together.
This passage is a description of the adornments which reveal something of the love and worth that the Bridegroom has conferred upon His bride.[33]
Revelation 21:10
And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Mountain (Dan 2...) Abraham looked for this city (Heb 11:10).
In contrast to the false bride, the prostitute Mystery Babylon, also both a city and a woman, the New Jerusalem will be to eternity what the earthly Jerusalem is to the Millennium.
“She that hath the bridegroom is the bride” (Jn 3:29). The citizens are identified with the city in Rev 22:3,6,19.
“Descending out of heaven...” No reason to limit it to any specific number of dimensions. (It is not stated that it comes to the earth.)
Van Impe: The Bride is pictured as the city of the New Jerusalem because a city is composed of people. Buildings, streets, and light are but aids to the residents. For example, one refers to a city as "clean" or "wicked." Why? Because of its people. Now, as John views God's heavenly creation, he is impressed by (1) the brilliance of the city (verses 9-14), (2) the size of the city (verses 15-17), and (3) the beauty of the city (verses 18-21). He describes the city as...[34]
McGee: Certainly this city has no counterpart among earth’s cities which are built upon an earthly foundation and are built up from that base. This city comes down out of heaven. She originates in heaven, and the Lord Jesus is the builder. Although the city comes down out of heaven, there is no suggestion that she comes down to the earth. The earthly city never goes to heaven, and the heavenly city never comes to earth. Just how far down the city descends is a matter of speculation.
This has led to extreme views in interpreting the New Jerusalem. At the very beginning, Ebionism, one of the first heresies, went to the extreme of applying this whole passage concerning the New Jerusalem to the earthly Jerusalem. The Gnostics, another early heresy, went to the other extremity in spiritualizing the passage to make it refer to heaven. Many modern “isms” apply the New Jerusalem to themselves and set it up on earth at the geographical location of their choice. Liberal theologians and amillennarians have left the city in heaven, in spite of the scriptural statement that it comes down “out of heaven.” Two facts are evident from this passage: (1) It comes down out of heaven, and (2) it is not stated that it comes to the earth. This passage of Scripture leaves the city hanging in midair. This is the dilemma that many seek to avoid, but why not leave the city in midair? Is anything incongruous about a civilization out yonder in space on a new planet? The New Jerusalem will either become another satellite to the earth or, what is more probable and what I think is true, the earth will become a satellite to the New Jerusalem as well as the rest of the new creation. This chapter indicates that the city will be the center of all things. All activity and glory will revolve about this city. God will be there, it will be His headquarters, and His universe is theocentric (God-centered). The New Jerusalem is therefore worthy to merit such a preeminent position for eternity.[35]
Revelation 21:11
Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
[glory of God] The glory which the new city displays is God’s glory, it is, as with all creation, a derived beauty. The new city perfectly reflects and manifests the glory of God in all His holy perfection and essence. The glory is that of the Shechinah Glory whose final abode will be in the New Jerusalem.
Light (Isa 60:1-3), “arise, shine...”The whole city seems to be described by using light.
(Greek) iaspis: diamond, opal, or topaz (various authorities). Similarity of the Hebrew word for crystal in Ezek 1:22 to Hebrew word for “ice” suggests diamond. A diamond in a gold setting—appropriate idiom for the bride.
The light radiating from the glorious bride-city is compared to the radiance of a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, which probably refers to a diamond. The believing remnant is likened to jewels in the Old Testament. In Malachi 3:16:176, it is said of those who fear the Lord and meditate on His name, “They shall be Mine,” says the Lord of hosts, “on that day I will make them my jewels.”
“Jasper” is the Greek iaspis which was a light sky blue or green stone, primarily light green. “Crystal clear” is from a verb that means “to shine like crystal.” There are two points of truth we might note here:
(1) This city, the eternal abode of the saints, will give out a dazzling display of the glory of God. It will be more beautiful and exquisite than words can describe. This teaches us that everything in eternity will redound to the glory of God and will demonstrate God’s eternal love and care for His saints. Oh, what a Savior!
(2) Precious jewels are reflectors. By themselves they give off no light. When a jeweler wants to properly display the true brilliance of a precious gem he will often display it on a piece of black velvet cloth in order to more efficiently reflect the light shining upon the gem. The city, as it should be with believers today, will be but a reflection of the glory of God Himself who inhabits the city (cf. 21:23 with Eph. 5:8f; and Phil. 2:15).
McGee: Paul instructs the believers to “… rejoice in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:2). This hope will be realized in the holy city. Man in sin has never witnessed the revelation of the glory of God. The experience of Israel in the wilderness taught them that each time there was a rebellion in the camp, the glory of God appeared in judgment. The manifestation of God’s glory strikes terror to a sinful heart, but what glorious anticipation to be able to behold His glory when standing clothed in the righteousness of Christ!
Two wonderful facts make this city the manifestation of the fullness of God’s glory. (1) The presence of God makes the city the source of glory for the universe. Every blessing radiates from the city. (2) The presence of the saints does not forbid the manifestation of the glory of God. Sin caused God to remove His glory from man’s presence, but in this city all that is past. Redeemed man dwelling with God in a city “having the glory of God” is the grand goal which is worthy of God. This city reveals the high purpose of God in the church, which is to bring “many sons unto glory” (see Heb. 2:10).
The word translated “light” (phoster) is the Greek word for source of light. The city is a light giver. It does not reflect light as does the moon, nor does it generate light by physical combustion like the sun, but it originates light and is the source of light. The presence of God and Christ gives explanation to this, as He declared, “… I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). God is light.
The whole city is like a precious gem. This gem is likened unto a jasper stone. The modern jasper is a multicolored quartz stone. The stone referred to here cannot be that, for this stone is not opaque. “Jasper” is a transliteration of the word iaspis, which is of Semitic origin. Moffatt suggests that iaspis could mean the modern opal, diamond, or topaz.
The stone is transparent and gleaming, which suggests one of these stones, most likely the diamond. The diamond seems to fit the description better than any other stone known to man. The similarity of the Hebrew word for crystal in Ezekiel 1:22 to the Hebrew word for “ice” helps to strengthen this view. The New Jerusalem is a diamond in a gold mounting. This city is the engagement ring of the bride; in fact, it is the wedding ring. It is the symbol of the betrothal and wedding of the church to Christ.[36]
Revelation 21:12
And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
[wall great and high] The city wall symbolizes its “protection.”
[Twelve tribes] a perpetual reminder that “salvation is of the Jews.” Access to the city is through Israel. No middle wall here (Eph 2:14-18); no Temple here (Jn 4:21-24). Vs 3.
(Eph 2:14-18) 14For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us; 15Having abolished in his flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in himself of twain one new man, so making peace; 16And that he might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby: 17And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, and to them that were nigh. 18For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.
The attachment of the tribal names to the gates may suggest that through Israel God made a way for the world to enter the City of God, for “salvation is of the Jews” (John 4:22).
Satan tries to copy everything God does. This explains why the rebuilt city of Babylon will have the names of blasphemy written on it.
Revelation 21:13
On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
Suggests the order of Israel’s encampment around the Tabernacle in Numbers 2.
The Bride constitutes the priesthood that serves, as did the Levites in the Tabernacle.
Israel on the earth will enjoy the same relationship to the city that they did toward the wilderness tabernacle, and later, the temple (Song 8:5).
Notice that Peter isn’t guarding any of them! Probably not a surprise.
McGee: There are twelve gates to the city, three gates on each side. On each gate is the name of one of the tribes of Israel. This is very striking and suggests immediately the order in which the children of Israel camped about the tabernacle in the wilderness wanderings. The tribe of Levi was the priesthood and served in the tabernacle proper. The New Jerusalem is a temple or tabernacle in one sense, for God is there dwelling with man. The bride constitutes the priesthood who serve Him constantly. They serve as such in the city and dwell there as Levi did about the tabernacle.
Everything in eternity will face in toward this city, for God is there. The children of Israel on earth will enjoy the same relationship to the city that they did toward the wilderness tabernacle and later the city temple. This city will be a tabernacle to Israel. The children of Israel will be among the multitudes who come into this city to worship in eternity. They will come from the earth to bring their worship and glory. They will not dwell in the city anymore than they dwelt in the tabernacle of old. Those who actually dwell there will be the priests, who are the bride. The bride occupies the closer place to God in eternity, and the bride, like John in the Upper Room, reclines upon His breast. “Who is this that cometh up from the wilderness, leaning upon her beloved? …” (Song 8:5). She is the bride, and she has come up from the wilderness which is this present world. But the twelve tribes of Israel will come up to the celestial city to worship, three tribes coming up on each of the four sides. They will then return back to the earth after a period of worship, but the bride will dwell in the New Jerusalem.[37]
Revelation 21:14
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Apostles are the foundation; Christ is the chief cornerstone.
[twelve foundations] The foundations are the symbol of “permanence.”
[twelve apostles of the Lamb] Some believe the 12th will be the name of Matthias, who was numbered with the apostles (Acts 1:26). He was chosen before the Holy Spirit was given. Some believe this is in error, that Paul will be the 12th. Paul vindicates his apostleship in 1 Cor 9:1-2; Gal 1:1, 12,and 19. Many debates well be solved very quickly when we see all this take place.
(1 Cor 9:1-2) 1Am I not an apostle? am I not free? have I not seen Jesus Christ our Lord? are not ye my work in the Lord? 2If I be not an apostle unto others, yet doubtless I am to you: for the seal of mine apostleship are ye in the Lord.
(Gal 1:1) 1Paul, an apostle, (not of men, neither by man, but by Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised him from the dead;)
(Gal 1:11-12) 11But I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached of me is not after man. 12For I neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ.
(Gal 1:19) 19But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord’s brother.
Each foundation will have the name of one of the twelve apostles of Jesus on it. This is significant because the Bible tells us that the Church is being built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone (Eph 2:20).
Notice that the number 12 is very predominant in this city; it has 12 gates named after the 12 tribes, 12 angels, 12 foundation stones inscribed with the names of the 12 apostles, 12 pearls, 12 kinds of fruit, a wall 144 cubits (12x12), and the height, width, and length is 12,000 stadia, about 15,000 miles.
Van Impe: In Bible times walls were erected for protection. However, since war is forever finished, one may question the presence of this wall in the New Jerusalem. The answer? It serves as a reminder that the God of love protected His people while on earth. This wall is an eternal memorial to the fact that our lives have been hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3).
The city also has twelve gates, each inscribed with one of the names of the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel.
The gates are staffed with angels who welcome those possessing the right and privilege of entering the city (chapter 22, verse 14). The twelve angels standing at these entrances are possibly those who worked jointly with each tribe during the earthly sojourn of the people of Israel. We also note that, just as the gates are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes, the foundations of the wall itself contain the names of Christ's twelve apostles. Next let's consider the size of the city.[38]
McGee: This city has twelve foundations, and the names of the twelve apostles are upon them. The church today is “… built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Eph. 2:20). When Christ returned to heaven, He committed the keys into the keeping of the apostles. On the human level, the church was in the hands of these twelve men. The Book of Acts gives the order: “The former treatise have I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, Until the day in which he was taken up, after that he through the Holy Ghost had given commandments unto the apostles whom he had chosen” (Acts 1:1–2). I do not believe that Matthias is the apostle who succeeded Judas. I personally believe it was Paul. Simon Peter held that meeting to elect Matthias before the Holy Spirit came, and I do not think he was in the will of God when he did so. You never hear Matthias mentioned again, but you surely hear of Paul the apostle, and I think he is the one whom God chose to succeed Judas, making Paul the twelfth apostle.
To these twelve apostles were committed all the writings of the church. These men preached the first sermons, they organized the first churches, and they were among the first martyrs. It is not honoring to Scripture to attempt to minimize the importance of the twelve apostles. In a real sense they were the foundation of the church. To them the church shall eternally be grateful. This is not to rob Christ of His place, for He is “the chief corner stone,” but the church is built upon the foundation which the apostles laid.[39]
Revelation 21:15
And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
[golden reed] A measure 12.5 feet long (note, Rev. 11:1).
Revelation 21:16
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
John was told to measure the old city (Ch. 11); now he reckons the New City.
[Furlongs] (stadia): If a furlong is taken as 600 ft (measures differed in ancient days) the city would be about 1500 (Roman) miles square (1378 miles)! Some see it as cube; some as a pyramid; some as cube circumscribed inside a sphere—about the size of the moon.
The Holy of Holies was a cube 15cubits on a side, and may be a model. May have more dimensions than three.
There are some who say the city’s measurements are symbolic of a place that will hold all God’s people. However the measurements seem quite literal. These measurements are all multiples of 12, the number for God’s people: there were 12 tribes in Israel, and 12 apostles who started the church. The walls are 144 (12 x 12) cubits (200 feet) thick; there are 12 layers in the walls, and 12 gates in the city; and the height, length, and breadth are all the same, 12,000 stadia (1,400 miles). The new Jerusalem is a perfect cube, the same shape as the Most Holy Place in the temple (1 Kings 6:20). These measurements illustrate that this new home will be perfect for us.
It is important to note that the city’s cube shape was also the shape of the Holy of Holies.
The city lieth foursquare—Each side was equal, consequently the length and
breadth were equal; and its height is here said to be equal to its length. It is hard
to say how this should be understood. It cannot mean the height of the buildings,
nor of the walls, for neither houses nor walls could be twelve thousand furlongs
in height; some think this means the distance from the plain country to the place
where the city stood. But what need is there of attempting to determine such
measures in such a visionary representation? The quadrangular form intimates its
perfection and stability, for the square figure was a figure of perfection among
the Greeks; áíôñ ôåôñáãùíïò, the square or cubical man, was, with them, a man
of unsullied integrity, perfect in all things.[40]
McGee: The shape of this city is really difficult to describe, due largely to our inability to translate our concepts from a universe of time to the new creation of eternity. The measurements of the city have given rise to all sorts of conceptions as to the size and shape of the city. First of all, let us examine the size of the city. Twelve thousand furlongs is given as the measurement of each side and the height of it. It is twelve thousand stadia in the text, which means about fifteen hundred miles. This figure is corroborated by Dr. Seiss, Dr. Walter Scott, and others. The amplitude of the city is astounding when first considered but is commensurate with the importance of the city. Certainly God as Creator can never be accused of stinting, economizing, or doing things that reveal littleness. When you go down to the beach, you notice that He has put plenty of sand there and plenty of water in the ocean. He has made many mountains and He has put rocks everywhere. With a lavish hand, He has garnished the heavens with stellar bodies. When He does something, He certainly does it in abundance. This city bears the trademark of its Maker. The Lord Jesus, the Carpenter of Nazareth, is the One who built this city.
Now consider with me the shape of the city. “The city lieth foursquare” is the simple declaration of Scripture. That would seem to indicate that the city is a cube with fifteen hundred miles on a side. Dr. Seiss sees it as a cube. Dr. Harry Ironside sees it as a pyramid. Still others interpret these measurements in as many geometric figures as can be conceived. However, it is difficult for us to conceive of either a cube or a pyramid projected out in space. We are accustomed to thinking of a sphere (that is a ball-shaped object) hanging in space, because that is the general shape of the heavenly bodies. As far as we know, there are none out there that are square like a cube or like a pyramid. Cubes and pyramids are appropriate for earth’s buildings, but they are as impractical for space as spheres are impractical for earthly buildings. Yet it is definitely stated that the city is foursquare.
The difficulty resolves when we think of the city as a cube within a crystal-clear sphere. What we are given are the inside measurements. I think of it as a big plastic ball with a cube inside, having all eight of its corners touching the sphere. As this involves mathematics, which I could not figure out, I asked both a mathematician and an engineer involved in the space program to determine what the circumference of the sphere would be. They both came up with the same answer. To enclose a cube measuring 1,500 miles on each side, the circumference of the sphere would be about 8,164 miles. The diameter of the moon is about 2,160 miles, and that of the New Jerusalem sphere is about 2,600 miles. Thus, the New Jerusalem will be somewhat larger than the moon, and it will be a sphere like the other heavenly bodies. I personally believe that this is the picture that is given to us here.
My thinking is that we will live inside this sphere, not on the outside. Here on earth, we live on the outside, and that presents a few difficulties. The Lord had to make the law of gravity to hold us on the earth, or we would be flying out into space. We walk on the outside here, but I think that we will walk on the inside of the New Jerusalem.[41]
Revelation 21:17
And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
[Cubit] from Latin cubitus, means elbow; while there are many variations, all approximate 18 inches.
216 ft thick (or high?)! If viewed as a cube, wall thickness (rather than height) seems more likely, height has been given already.
Herodotus describes the walls of Babylon as 50 cubits thick and 200 cubits high.
[hundred and forty and four cubits] 300 feet at 25 inches per cubit.
Van Impe: The angel measures the city with a golden reed or measuring rod. Since the streets are composed of gold and the city is pure gold as well (verse 18), a gold yardstick is appropriate. (It's a good thing that thieves are excluded-I Corinthians 6: 10-otherwise heaven's freeways would disappear!)
Verse 16 informs us that the New Jerusalem is tetragonal, or foursquare in shape. The city is a perfect cube because its width, length, and height are equal. In fact, the angel discovers its dimensions to be 12,000 furlongs wide, long, and high. Most scholars believe this to be a distance of 1,500 miles. Dr. A. C. Gaebelein says, "Twelve thousand furlongs constitutes fifteen hundred miles." Seiss states: "The golden city is 1,500 miles square; for 12,000 stadia make 1,500 miles."
Placed over the United States of America, the heavenly city would extend from the northernmost point of Maine to the southernmost point of Florida and from the eastern seaboard to Colorado. In fact, the major cities of the world are mere villages in comparison with the New Jerusalem.
Because it also extends 1,500 miles upward into space, it could literally contain every person who has ever been born, plus additional billions as well.
The wall extends around the city and is approximately 216 feet in height, for a cubit is the distance from the elbow to the end of the middle finger (approximately eighteen inches).
Now let's look into the magnificent beauty of God's Holy City.[42]
Revelation 21:18
And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
God is a God of beauty; Peter wrote of the “manifold” grace of God (1 Pet 4:10): manifold = variegated, many colored. Some scholars believe like unto clear glass would be like a diamond in gold, symbolic of wedding. The gold seems to be translucent.
Pure gold, like unto clear glass—Does not this imply that the walls were made of some beautifully bright yellow stone, very highly polished? This description has been most injudiciously applied to heaven; and in some public discourses, for the comfort and edification of the pious, we hear of heaven with its golden walls, golden pavements, gates of pearl, etc., etc., not considering that nothing of this description was ever intended to be literally understood; and that gold and jewels can have no place in the spiritual and eternal world. But do not such descriptions as these tend to keep up a fondness for gold and ornaments? In symbols they are proper; but construed into realities, they are very improper.
The ancient Jews teach that “when Jerusalem and the temple shall be built, they will be all of precious stones, and pearls, and sapphire, and with every species of jewels.”—Sepher Rasiel Haggadol, fol. 24, 1.
The same authors divide paradise into seven parts or houses; the third they describe thus: “The third house is built of gold and pure silver, and all kinds of jewels and pearls. It is very spacious, and in it all kinds of the good things, either in heaven or earth, are to be found. All kinds of precious things, perfumes, and spiritual virtues, are there planted. In the midst of it is the tree of life, the height of which is five hundred years; (i.e., it is equal in height to the journey which a man might perform in five hundred years), and under it dwell Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, the twelve patriarchs, and all that came out of Egypt, and died in the wilderness. Over these Moses and Aaron preside, and teach them the law,” etc.—Yalcut Rubeni, fol. 13, 4. In the same tract, fol. 182, 1, we find these words: “Know that we have a tradition, that when the Messiah, with the collected captivity, shall come to the land of Israel, in that day the dead in Israel shall rise again; and in that day the fiery walls of the city of Jerusalem shall descend from heaven, and in that day the temple shall be builded of jewels and pearls.”[43]
McGee: The wall of the city is for protection. A walled city is a safe city. The New Jerusalem is safe, and those who dwell therein dwell in safety. The heavenly Salem will enjoy the fruits of safety and peace. Made up of those who found peace with God on earth, she will experience the fullness of peace throughout eternity. The walls are a sign that this city has achieved the full meaning of her name—peace.
The walls are 144 cubits in height or about 216 feet. Herodotus gives the estimation for the walls of ancient Babylon as 50 cubits thick and 200 cubits high. Those walls were built to make the city impregnable. The great height of the walls of the New Jerusalem are but commensurate with the great size of the city. Beauty, rather than protection, is the motive in design. It is a wall with jasper built into it and is generally designated as a jasper wall. The hardest of substances and the most beautiful gem constitute the exterior of the city.[44]
Revelation 21:19
And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Authorities differ on specifics; these are hard to establish with certainty:
[Jasper] (iaspis): clear. [Associated with Pisces, and Simeon]
[sapphire] A blue stone, next to a diamond in hardness. (sappheiros): blue. (Ex 24:10, the foundation of God. (Moffatt: blue; Pliny, opaque with gold specks; Petrie agrees.) [Associated with Aquarius, Reuben]
[chalcedony] A transparent stone—four kinds known: (chalkedon): greenish; Robertson, green silicate of copper.) [Associated with Capricorn, Naphtali]
1. A bluish white—most common kind
2. A dull milky-veined—least valuable
3. A brownish-black—least beautiful
4. A yellow-red—most beautiful and valuable of all; only in East Indies
[emerald] A green stone (note, ♣ Rev. 4:3). Emerald (smaragdos): green [Associated with Saggitarius, Asher]
May be some similarity to the breast plate stones.
Revelation 21:20
The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
[sardonyx] An agate stone, bluish-white and red. (sardonux): red; (Robertson: white with layers of red.) [Associated with Scorpio, Dan]
[sardius] A blood-red stone (note, ♣ Rev. 4:3). (sardios): fiery red; (Pliny, red for Sardis; Swete, fiery red.) [Associated with Libra, Levi]
[chrysolite] A gold like stone; a dusky green with yellow cast—a type of topaz. Chrysolyte (chrusolithos): golden yellow; (Moffatt, golden hue; Robertson, golden like our topaz.) [Associated with Virgo, Zebulon]
[beryl] A transparent gem of bluish-green. (berullos): green; (Robertson, like an emerald; Pliny, sea green.) [Associated with Leo, Judah]
[topaz] A pale green gem with a mixture of yellow. (topazion): greenish yellow; (Robertson, golden greenish stone) [Associated with Cancer, Issachar]
[chrysoprasus] A yellowish green stone with a bluish hue of the chrysolite kind. (chrusoprasos): gold-green; (Robertson, a golden leek; International Bible Encyclopedia, sea green.) [Associated with Gemini, Benjamin]
[jacinth] A stone of red color with a mixture of yellow—a cinnamon stone. (huakinthi): violet; hyacinth. [Associated with Taurus, Joseph]
[amethyst] A stone of purple or violet color, composed of strong blue and deep red; cp. these stones with those in the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28:17-21). (amethustos): purple. [Associated with Aries, Gad.]
These stones may also be related to the stones in the breastplate of the high priest (Ex 28:15-21; 31-34; 39:10-14). There is great difficulty in associating the specific stones since the terminology is not consistent throughout the literature, and John is also making his own translation from the Hebrew to Greek equivalents.
They also appear to have been connected to the signs of the Hebrew Mazzeroth (Zodiac): Josephus (Ant. iii.7.7) and Philo (De Monarchia, ii.5; cf.Vit. Mos. iii. 14). John’s order is the reverse of the zodiacal order.
Cf. Isa 54:11-12. There are also associations with the heavenly Eden (Ezek 28:13).
McGee: The twelve foundations of the city not only have the names of the twelve apostles, but they are twelve different precious stones. The most beautiful and costly articles known to man are precious stones. These stones express in human terms the magnificence of the city. The superlative degree of gems is used to convey something of the glory of the city to those who now “… see through a glass, darkly …” (1 Cor. 12:11). We are going to see through it clearly someday.
A close examination of these twelve stones in the foundation reveals a polychromed paragon of beauty; varied hues and tints form a galaxy of rainbow colors. The stones are enumerated as follows:
1. Jasper (Gr: iaspis)—its color is clear. As mentioned before, this is probably the diamond. It is crystal clear, a reflector of light and color. Dr. Seiss, in speaking of the New Jerusalem, describes it “as clean, and pure, and bright as a transparent icicle in the sunshine.”
2. Sapphire (Gr.: sappheiros)—its color is blue. This stone occurs in Exodus 24:10 as the foundation of God, “… and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.” Moffatt describes it as a blue stone. Pliny describes it as opaque with gold specks, to which Petrie agrees.
3. Chalcedony (Gr.: chalkedon)—its color is greenish. It is an agate. Pliny describes it as “a variety of emerald gathered on a mountain in Chalcedon.” Robertson says, “Possibly a green silicate of copper.”
4. Emerald (Gr.: smaragdos)—its color is green. Robertson describes it as a green stone.
5. Sardonyx (Gr.: sardonux)—its color is red. Robertson describes it as white with layers of red.
6. Sardius (Gr.: sardios)—its color is fiery red. Pliny says that it is the red stone from Sardis. Swete says that it is fiery red.
7. Chrysolyte (Gr.: chrusolithos)—its color is golden yellow. Moffatt assigns it a golden hue. Robertson says it is a golden color like our topaz.
8. Beryl (Gr.: berullos)—its color is green. It is like the emerald, says Robertson. Pliny says it is sea green.
9. Topaz (Gr.: topazion)—its color is greenish yellow. Robertson calls it a golden greenish stone.
10. Chrysoprasus (Gr.: chrusoprasos)—its color is gold-green. A golden leek, “a leek colored gem,” says Robertson. The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia describes it as sea green.
11. Jacinth (Gr.: huakinthi)—its color is violet. It is the color of the hyacinth. Pliny gives the color as violet.
12. Amethyst (Gr.: amethustos)—its color is purple. Although the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia lists it as a ruby, Robertson gives the color as purple.
The foundations of the New Jerusalem are constructed of the flashing brilliance of rich and costly gems. On the inside is Jesus who, when He was here, was the Light of the World. There He will be the Light of the Universe. Astronauts tell us that in space the colors almost entirely are gray and black—but wait until you see the New Jerusalem. It is going to light up God’s new heavens and new earth as they have never been lighted before. I think it is going to be the most breathtaking sight that you have ever seen. This New Jerusalem is a planet which comes down right out of heaven. Everything is going to revolve around it, and the light will come from there. It truly will be the Jesus Christ Light and Power Company then. The light will shine out in all these brilliant and beautiful colors.
Color is described to us today as dissected light. If you pass a ray of light through a prism, it is broken up into three primary colors: red, blue, and yellow. From these three primary colors come all colors and shades of colors. Light is a requirement for color. Where there is no light, there is no color. Objects of color reveal color to the eye because of their ability to absorb or to reject light rays. A red stone absorbs all the color rays except red; it rejects or throws back to the eye the red ray, which gives it the color of red.
The New Jerusalem is a city of light and a city of color. God is light, and He is there. The city is described as a jasper stone as clear as crystal. All of this color will be coming out and flooding God’s universe. The jasper stone is a sphere, and the city, the New Jerusalem, is within. The light shining from within through the jasper stone, acting as a prism, would give every color and shade of color in the rainbow—colors that you and I have not even thought of yet, The New Jerusalem is, I believe, a new planet, and it is inside a crystal ball. The presence of the primary colors suggests that every shade and tint is reflected from this city. A rainbow that appears after a summer shower gives only a faint impression of the beauty in the coloring of the city of light. Oh, what a glorious place this is![45]
Revelation 21:21
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Pearls were not “kosher”: cf. Mt 13:45, 46. They come from the sea, not the land; they grow in response to an external irritation; they grow by accretion; they are removed from their place of growth to become an item of adornment. (Description of the church)
The church will be the fairest jewel of all (Mal 3:17, 18).
Gates are never closed: cf. v.25
[twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl] No natural pearls could be this big, but God can make pearls as large as He wants. Therefore, we do not have to doubt the literalness of these materials simply because we cannot explain them in a natural sense.
[street of the city] The singular word here does not mean there is only one street in the city any more than it does in Rev. 11:8. There are 12 great broadways going out of the 12 gates of the city. One is described in Rev. 22:1-2.
[as it were transparent glass] Not glass, but gold of a kind unknown to us on earth.
Van Impe: Wow! Notice first that the wall of jasper represents Christ, in His radiant glory, surrounding His saints. Next the pure gold city typifies the righteousness of God's holy nature, and then the precious colorful stones-startlingly brilliant-picture the Lord's attributes as well as various aspects of His redemptive work.
Imagine the scene when the light of the city-the Lord Jesus Christ (verse 23)-shines through the brilliancy of these stones! When John's vision becomes a reality-then and only then-we will begin to understand the term the glory of God!
The beautiful city also pictures the saints of all ages joined together in love, for the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are coupled with the names of the apostles. This means that all of God's people from all dispensations have finally been joined together in one truly ecumenical brotherhood. No longer will we be Baptists, Lutherans, Methodists, Nazarenes, or Presbyterians. Instead, we will be united brethren! What a glorious day when we lay aside eternally the tags that so often divide us.[46]
McGee: Notice that verse 18 also says, “and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.” We were told at the beginning of this description that this city is transparent. This is the thing that gave me the lead and the key to believe that we will live on the inside and that everything is transparent. This would mean that the light shines from the inside out and goes through these many different-colored stones. Many colors which our natural eyes cannot see today we will be able to see with the new body that we shall have at that time.
We are also told here that the street is pure gold. Personally, I do not care about the asphalt of the place, but there are two things here that impress me. (1) It is not streets (plural) but street (singular)—this is not a city with many streets. (2) And it is “transparent”—even the street is transparent; it is gold, but transparent gold.
This leads me again to insist that what we are looking at is the inside of a globe. You could not have cities like we have today without having streets. You would certainly have a traffic jam with just one street. The New Jerusalem has just one street, which would begin at the four gates; it would start around the circle of the globe, go all the way to the top, and then circle and come back down. One would be the entrance and the other the exit. There is just one street, and my viewpoint lends itself to the idea that there is one street. The fact that it is transparent gold means that the light can shine out. There will be nothing to hinder the light, not even the street.[47]
Revelation 21:22
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Mt 12:6
[no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it] There will be a literal temple in the New Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12; Rev. 7:15; Rev. 11:19; Rev. 14:15,17; Rev. 15:1-8; Rev. 16:1,17). The meaning is simply that people will no longer go to some building as the only place to meet with God, as in the earthly temple at Jerusalem, for God and the Lamb will be visibly present among human beings to meet with them in all places (Rev. 21:3-7,22; Rev. 22:3-5).
John now turns from the description of the city to life within the city. Johnson points out:
… in antiquity every notable city had at least one central temple. The New Jerusalem not only differs in this respect from ancient cities, but also from all Jewish speculation about the age to come. Illuminated by the overflowing radiance of the presence of the glory of God, the holy city no longer needs a temple (naos). Yet paradoxically, it has a temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple (vs. 22).[48]
Van Impe: On earth, God always had a dwelling place-a temple or tabernacle-where men could come to worship and commune with Him. Such a place is no longer needed, for the tabernacle of God is now with men. He has chosen to dwell with them (chapter 21, verse 3).[49]
Revelation 21:23
And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Jn 14:3
[the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof] Only the city is referred to here. There will be light from the sun and stars on the earth outside the city (Genesis 8:22; Psalm 89:2-3,29,35-37; Jeremiah 31:35-36; Isaiah 30:26).
Actually the passage does not say that there will be no sun or moon, only that there will be no need of the sun and moon because the glory of God will illuminate the city. The sun and moon in comparison with the light of the glory of God will be like turning on an outdoor light in the broad light of the sun in our world today.
Van Impe: While on earth, Jesus said, I am the light of the world (John 8:12). Now, in the eternal city, Christ, in all His radiant splendor and glory, shines forth so magnificently that darkness becomes an impossibility. No wonder there shall be no night there![50]
McGee: God lights the new creation directly by His presence. After the entrance of sin into the old creation, God withdrew His presence, and “darkness covered the face of the deep” (see Gen 1:2). Then God made use of the physical lights in His universe. He put them up like we put up street lights or lights in our homes. However, in the new creation sin is removed, and He again becomes the source of light. Today the Lord Jesus Christ is the Light of the World in a spiritual sense: “Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12).
In the new creation He is the direct physical as well as the spiritual light. In the tabernacle there was the golden lampstand, which is one of the finest pictures of Christ. In the New Jerusalem He is the golden lampstand. The nations of the world will enter the Holy City as the priests entered the Holy Place in the tabernacle for the purpose of worship. The nations of the earth, as well as Israel, will come to the New Jerusalem as the high priest of old entered the Holy of Holies. Instead of the blood being brought, the Lamb is there in person. What a picture we have here!
The temple, which supplanted the tabernacle back in the nation Israel, was an earthly enclosure for the shekinah glory. It was a testimony to the presence of God and the presence of sin. Where sin existed, God could be approached only by the ritual of the temple. However, in the New Jerusalem sin is no longer a reality but is like a hideous nightmare, even locked out of the closet of memory. The actual presence of God with the redeemed eliminates the necessity for a temple, although the whole city may be thought of as a temple. Some have called attention to the fact that the New Jerusalem is the same shape as the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and temple where God dwelt: a perfect cube. That is no accident, by the way. In the city of light God is present, and sin is absent; therefore, an edifice of a material substance is no longer necessary, The physical temple was a poor substitute for the presence of God. The New Jerusalem possesses the genuine article—God in person. It is probably the first place where God will make a personal appearance before man. What a glorious prospect this is!
New Jerusalem will be independent of the sun and moon for light and life. What a contrast to the earth, which is utterly dependent upon the sun and the moon. It may be that the sun and moon will even be dependent upon the celestial city for power to transmit light, since the One who is the source of light and life will dwell within the city. Neither will light be furnished by the New Jerusalem Light and Power Company. The One who is light will be there, and the effulgence of His glory will be manifested in the New Jerusalem unhindered.[51]
Revelation 21:24
And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
It does not say they will live there; the New Jerusalem will give light unto the earth.
Of them which are saved is not found in the Greek – it is a translation interjection.
McGee: “And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof.” It does not say they will live there, but that they will walk in the light of it. In other words, the New Jerusalem (instead of the sun and the moon) will give light unto the earth.
“And the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.” This is my reason for saying that there will be a great deal of traffic commuting back and forth between the New Jerusalem and this earth down here. Not only will Israel come up there to worship, but the nations of the world which have entered eternity will also come up. It will not be their permanent abode, but they will come up there to worship. I believe that the church will be the priests at that time. We are told that we are a priesthood of believers.[52]
Revelation 21:25
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
[no night there] This refers to no night in the city, but outside the city there will be day and night eternally (Genesis 1:14-18; Genesis 8:22; Psalm 89:2-3,29-37; Jeremiah 31:35-36).
McGee: It is nonsense to say that the gates will not be shut at night because there is no night. Therefore, he says that they will not be shut by day. In other words, they are going to throw away the key because there will be no danger. In John’s day, a walled city had gates for the purpose of protection. When the gate of a city was closed, it meant that an enemy was on the outside and that they were trying to keep him there.[53]
Revelation 21:26
And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
Van Impe: These verses undoubtedly picture the multitudes who came through the Millennium as born-again, regenerated believers. They did not follow Satan in the final rebellion upon his release from the bottomless pit. Therefore, they entered the eternal state in bodies of flesh. Their rulers, kings, and presidents- also born again and still living in earthly bodies- now bring their glory and honour into the New Jerusalem as well. They come to praise Him who is all in all. As they arrive, there is no fear of assassination, recrimination, terrorism, or robbery. Such events are no longer possible. God is present. Satan is destroyed. Temptation is forever past. Thus, the gates of the city are never locked. Security is needless in the land of eternal day where there is no night. At this point, however, the warning flag is again lifted.[54]
The nations (or “Gentiles”) will walk by its light. There are not unregenerate nations living outside the city. Rather, as George E. Ladd says in his comment on this verse,
“In the divine consummation, the redeemed will consist of peoples from every nation and tribe and people and tongue (7:9) who will not lose their national identity. John’s language means no more than the statements of the prophets: ‘and many peoples shall come and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob”’ (Isaiah 2:3) …. This is the affirmation of the universality of the knowledge of God, as promised in Jeremiah’s presentation of the New Covenant (Jeremiah 31:30–33(31–34)).” (Revelation, p. 284)[55]
Revelation 21:27
And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
God has apparently accomplished His original purpose with man (Eph 2:7).
Man will be in resurrected body in the New Jerusalem, may not have to be on earth.
McGee: God has apparently accomplished His original purpose with man—fellowship. He now has a creature who is a free moral agent and who chooses to worship and serve Him eternally.
There can be no night, since the Lamb is the light, and He is eternally present.
The gates are not for protection, and they are never closed. Rather, they are the badge or coat of arms of the bride. Notice that these gates are of pearl. The pearl of great price has been purchased at a great price. In the parable (see Matt. 13:45–46) that the Lord Jesus gave, the pearl is not Christ whom the sinner buys. What is a sinner to pay for Christ?—he hasn’t anything that he can pay. It is the other way around. The merchant man who bought that pearl was the Lord Jesus Christ, and the pearl is the bride. It is interesting that a pearl is formed by a grain of sand that gets into the body of a little oyster or mollusk of some kind, and that little marine creature begins to put around that grain a secretion that before long makes the pearl. The pearl of great price is margarites in the Greek, and if the church has a name, it is Margaret. The Lord Jesus Christ paid a great price to buy this pearl. This pearl was formed from His side. Someone has said, “I got into the heart of Christ through a spear wound.” He was wounded for our transgressions; He was bruised for our iniquities. The church will be for the display of His grace throughout eternity to the absolute myriads of God’s created intelligences. “That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus”(Eph. 2:7).
In other words, in eternity you and I will be there on display. They will look at Vernon McGee and say: “Do you see that fellow? He deserved hell, and the Lord Jesus Christ died for him and paid a tremendous price. He trusted Christ; that is all he had to offer. Now look what the Lord Jesus has done for him. He has made him fit for heaven and made him acceptable in the beloved.”
The church will be the fairest jewel of all when He makes up His jewels (see Mal. 3:17–18). When He makes up His jewels, the church is going to be on display. This is the reason that the New Jerusalem will be the center of the new heavens and the new earth.
The Lamb’s Book of Life contains the names of the redeemed of all ages. No one who was not redeemed by the blood of Christ will ever be permitted to enter the portals of the New Jerusalem. There is a great gulf fixed between the saved and the lost.
The greatest joy that will capture the heart of the redeemed will be that of abiding in the presence of Christ for eternity. “That where I am, there ye may be also” is what He said in John 14:3. This is heaven, my friend, to be with Him. Revelation is all about Jesus Christ—He is the centerpiece of God’s universe.
Our attention has already been directed to the fact that a redeemed remnant of Israel makes regular visits to the city of God. In verse 24 another group is identified who come into the city to bring their glory and honor. These are the redeemed gentile nations which will occupy the earth together with Israel for eternity. These nations, like Israel, do not belong to the church, for they are redeemed after the church is removed from the earth (or before the church came into existence). They come as visitors to the city. They come as worshipers. In Hebrews 12:22 we are told there is also present an innumerable company of angels who evidently constitute the servant class. The city is cosmopolitan in character. All nationalities meet there, and the created intelligences of God walk the street of the New Jerusalem.
Among the multitudes, there is not one who will bring defilement or sin. How superior is this city to even the Garden of Eden where the lie of Satan made an entrance for sin. No lie or liar will ever enter the portals of the heavenly Jerusalem. All dwellers and all tourists are not only redeemed from sin but have also lost their taste for sin. They come through the gates which are never closed. The enjoyment of this glorious city is not restricted to the church, although they are the only ones who dwell there.
Jerusalem, the golden, with milk and honey blest!
Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed;
know not, O I know not what joys await me there;
What radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare.
“Jerusalem the Golden”
—Bernard of Cluny
What a picture and how inadequately I have dealt with it. Oh, if only you and I both could be lifted up so that we might get a glimpse of the glory of that city and of the glory of the One who is its chief adornment, even the Lord Jesus Christ, and of the glorious prospect and privilege of being with Him throughout eternity. There is nothing to compare to it![56]
Chuck Smith: Now, perhaps God is going to create another new order upon the earth, the new earth. It is very possible. You can't limit God. There is no real proof that man is the first order that God created upon the earth here. Adam is the first of the Homosapiens after His type, but what kind of persons or beings or intelligent beings did God create before man? Who knows? And what kind God may create after us, who knows? God has got a lot of secrets that He hasn't told us yet. And it is going to be a glorious time in history discovering the mysteries of God, that is, the truths that have not yet been revealed.
Now, the church was a mystery. God didn't reveal the truth of the church until the New Testament times. And Paul said, "that He has hid these things from the Old Testament prophets, but now He has revealed them unto us"(Colossians 1:26), the mystery of the church.
So, there are glorious things. There are nations and the access though to this heavenly city will be the kings. We will reign with Him as kings, bringing the glory of the nations unto him. So, just what kind of order, or whatever, is only speculation and as such worthless, but it will be interesting when we get there and find out. I'm not going to add to it.[57]
Isaih 60 Revelation 21
The sun shall no longer be your light the city had no need of the sun or of
by day, nor for brightness shall the moon the moon to shine in it for the glory
give light to you; but the Lord will be to or God illuminated it (v23)
you..light (V19)
the Gentiles shall come to your light (v3) the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light (v 24)
kings shall minister to yor (v 10) the glory the kings of the earth bring their
of Lebanon shall come to you (v 13) glory and honor into it (v24)
your gates shall be open continually…not Its gates shall not be shut at all by
shut day nor night (v 11) day (there shall be no night there)
(v 25)
the wealth of the Gentiles shall come to they shall bring the glory and the
you (v 5) honor of the nations into it (v 26)
also your people shall be all righteous there shall by no means enter it any-
(v 21) thing that defiles (v27)
Seven "New" Things in Revelation
1. New name for overcomers (Rev. 2:17; Rev. 3:12)
2. New name for Christ (Rev. 3:12)
3. New Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12; Rev. 21:2)
4. New songs (Rev. 5:9; Rev. 14:3)
5. New Heaven (Rev. 21:1; 2 Peter 3:13)
6. New Earth (Rev. 21:1; Isaiah 65:17; Isaiah 66:22)
7. All things new, referring to the renewal of the heavens and earth and all things previously cursed (Rev. 21:1-22:5)[58]
Twenty-one Other "New" Things in Rev. 21-22
1. New city on earth (Rev. 21:2-3,10-27)
2. New and visible presence of God the Father on earth (Rev. 21:3-7; Rev. 22:3-5)
3. New earth conditions (Rev. 21:4-7)
4. New water of life for all people on earth (Rev. 21:6; Rev. 22:1,17)
5. New realization of eternal inheritances for all mankind (Rev. 21:7)
6. New segregation between godly and ungodly (Rev. 21:8-27; Rev. 22:15; Isaiah 66:22)
7. New and eternal relationship (Rev. 21:3-10,24-27; Rev. 22:1-5)
8. New eternal generations of natural people (Rev. 21:3-7,24-27; Rev. 11:15; Rev. 22:4-5; Genesis 8:22; Genesis 9:12; Genesis 13:15; Genesis 17:7,19; Exodus 3:15; Deut. 5:29; Deut. 29:29; 2 Samuel 7:24-26; 1 Chron. 23:25; Psalm 45:17; Psalm 72:5; Psalm 89:4; Psalm 102:12,24; Psalm 106:31; Psalm 145:13; Psalm 146:10; Isaiah 9:6-7; Isaiah 51:8; Isaiah 59:21; Jeremiah 31:35-36; Jeremiah 32:38-40; Ezekiel 37:24-28; Ezekiel 43:7; Daniel 2:44-45; Daniel 7:13-14,18,27; Luke 1:32-33,55; Hebrews 12:28)
9. New traffic in the new city (Rev. 21:24-27)
10. New river on earth (Rev. 22:1)
11. New food for the new natural people (Rev. 22:1-2,14)
12. New and eternal health (Rev. 22:1-14)
13. New earth inhabitants—the resurrected people residing in the new Jerusalem (Rev. 21:2,9-10; Rev. 22:1-5)
14. New location for the capital of the universe (Rev. 21:2,9-10,24-27; Rev. 22:4-5)
15. New method of living forever (Rev. 22:2)
16. New kinds of fruit (Rev. 22:2)
17. New and eternal King and kingdom on earth (Rev. 21:3-7,24-27; Rev. 22:3; Ephes. 1:10)
18. New unity between heaven and earth (Rev. 21:3-7,24-27; Rev. 22:3; Ephes. 1:10)
19. New and eternal responsibility of man in carrying out the original plan (Rev. 21:3-7,24-27; Rev. 22:1-5; Isaiah 45:18; Genesis 1:26-28)
20. New future for natural and resurrected people (Rev. 21:3-7,24-27; Rev. 22:1-5; Ephes. 2:7)
21. New and eternal realization of God's plan for man fulfilled (Rev. 21:2-7,24-27; Rev. 22:1-5)[59]
Old Testament References:
21:1 Isa 65:17; 66:22
21:3 Lev 26:11-12; Ezek 37:27
21:4 Isa 25:8; 35:10; 51:11; 65:19
21:9 Lev 26:21
21:10 Ezek 40:2
21:11 Isa 60:1-2; Ezek 43:2;
21:12,13 Ezek 48:31-34
21:15 Ezek 40:3, 5
21:19,20 Ex 28:17, 20; Isa 54:11-12
21:23 Isa 60:19-20
21:24 Isa 60:3-5, 16
21:25 Isa 60:11; Zech 14:7
21:26 Isa 60:5, 16
21:27 Isa 52:1; Ezek 44:9; Zech 14:21
-----------------------
[1] Charles C. Ryrie, Revelation, Moody Press: Chicago, 1968, p. 118-119.
[2]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1062). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
OT New Testament
[3]Utley, R. J. D. (2001). Vol. Volume 12: Hope in Hard Times - The Final Curtain: Revelation. Study Guide Commentary Series (145). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[4] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[5]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1063). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[6]Stern, D. H. (1996, c1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary : A companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed.) (Re 21:1). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.
[7] Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Commentary on Revelation
[8] Lindsey, Hal, There’s a New World Coming, Pg 71
[9] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[10]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1063). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[11]Stern, D. H. (1996, c1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary : A companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed.) (Re 21:2). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.
[12] Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Commentary on Revelation
[13] Froese, Arno, News From Israel, June 1996, Pg 15
[14] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[15]Stern, D. H. (1996, c1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary : A companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed.) (Re 21:3). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.
[16] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[17]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1066). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[18]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1066). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[19] Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Commentary on Revelation
[20] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[21] Dakes Study Notes
[22]Stern, D. H. (1996, c1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary : A companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed.) (Re 21:6). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.
[23] Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Commentary on Revelation
[24]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1067). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
OT New Testament
NT Old Testament
[25]Utley, R. J. D. (2001). Vol. Volume 12: Hope in Hard Times - The Final Curtain: Revelation. Study Guide Commentary Series (146). Marshall, Texas: Bible Lessons International.
[26] Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Commentary on Revelation
[27] “Grace In Focus,” September 1993. This is from the newsletter published by Grace Evangelical Society. Check out their web site at .
[28] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[29]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1067). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[30]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1067). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[31] Joseph C. Aldrich, Life Style Evangelism, Multnomah Press: Portland, 1978, p. 25.
[32] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[33]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1068). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[34] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[35]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1068). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[36]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1068). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[37]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1069). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[38] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[39]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1070). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[40] Adam Clarke’s Commentary
[41]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1070). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[42] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[43] Adam Clarke’s Commentary
[44]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1071). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[45]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1071). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[46] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[47]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1072). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[48] NIV Bible Commentary, electronic version, quoting Alan Johnson, The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Vol. 12, Frank E. Gaebelein, general editor, Zondervan: Grand Rapids, 1981, p. 597.
[49] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[50] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[51]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1073). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[52]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1073). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[53]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1074). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[54] Message of Hope from Dr. Jack Van Impe, Commentary on The Book of Revelation, Van Impe
[55]Stern, D. H. (1996, c1992). Jewish New Testament Commentary : A companion volume to the Jewish New Testament (electronic ed.) (Re 21:23). Clarksville: Jewish New Testament Publications.
[56]McGee, J. V. (1997, c1981). Thru the Bible commentary. Based on the Thru the Bible radio program. (electronic ed.) (5:1074). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
[57] Chuck Smith Calvary Chapel, Commentary on Revelation
[58] Dakes Study Notes
[59] Dakes Study Notes
................
................
In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.
To fulfill the demand for quickly locating and searching documents.
It is intelligent file search solution for home and business.
Related download
Related searches
- psychic revelation tarot spreads
- revelation song kari jobe chords
- free printable revelation timeline charts
- printable book of revelation chart
- revelation of jesus christ ministry
- the revelation of jesus christ
- revelation of jesus christ ministries
- revelation of jesus christ
- church of christ revelation study
- revelation timeline chart
- revelation studies chapter by chapter
- revelation prophecy chart printable