“Revealing the Revelation”
Chapter 21 “A New Heaven and Earth”
April 18, 2010
1Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
6He said to me: "It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death."
9One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia ]in length (1400 miles), and as wide and high as it is long. 17He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick (200 feet), by man's measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.[d] 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
We are rapidly getting to the end of this wonderful book and this series of sermons. It has been a blessing to me to study the Book of Revelation. I have learned new things; I have come to some conclusions about the end times and this study has helped me to see the Bible in a new and fresh way. I never realized how much the end times is written into the Bible and inner-woven throughout its pages. I’ll talk more about that in a week or two.
This morning we begin this chapter by learning about a new heaven and a new earth. To get this in some sort of chronological order let me briefly recap what we have seen in the last few weeks. In chapter 19 we see the Beast and the false prophet cast into the lake of fire. Those who had received the mark of the beast are destroyed – presumable to wait in Hades until the thousand years reign is over and they are called forth at the second resurrection for the great white throne judgment.
Satan is bound for a thousand years and locked away in the ‘bottomless pit’ or the ‘abyss’. Then those who had not taken the mark of the beast and were killed for their faith are resurrected and return with Christ to rule and reign with Jesus for the thousand years. This is the ‘first’ resurrection. Again, it is clearly after the tribulation years, after Satan is bound, and before the thousand year reign.
For a thousand years Jesus, and His faithful followers, will rule the earth. It will be a virtual paradise. Nothing will harm or destroy during that time. Those born during that time will grow into maturity without having to deal with Satan and all the trials and tribulations and temptations we have to go through now. The world will be renewed with such a good environment that people will live for hundreds of years – literally for the thousand years.
Then Satan is released and He goes through the repopulated earth and deceives the nations. Just like he did with Adam and Eve, he lies and deceives millions of people. They choose to believe him and follow him instead of God. So they gather together with all of Satan’s evil forces and attack the Holy City, Jerusalem. God has enough. He sends fire from heaven and destroys the evil army. Satan is cast into the Lake of fire with the Beast and the False Prophet to be tormented forever and ever.
God then calls all the dead to come forth from the ends of the earth and depths of the seas. Great and small stand before Him sitting on the Great White throne and each one has to give an account of himself and his actions. Then death and Hades and everyone who is not written in the Book of Life are cast into the Lake of Fire to be separated from God and His goodness for eternity.
Right now, when someone dies, they go to an ‘intermediate state’, as the theologians call it. The Christian goes to paradise - the rebellious to Hades. Right now Jesus is in paradise, so when the Christian dies he goes immediately to be with Jesus. But it still isn’t heaven. That comes after the Great White Throne Judgment.
When the sinner dies – he doesn’t go to “Gehenna” – he goes to Hades. Gehenna, or hell, is the lake of fire. That final place of separation happens only after the Great White Throne Judgment. It is called the “second” death.
The Bible says,
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death." Revelation 21:8
Death, in the Bible, means separation. We think of death as separation from life – and it is. But it is more. Spiritual death is separation from God. When we sin – we die spiritually. We are separated from God. The second death is a second or total separation from God. There is no prevenient grace that all people enjoy now. All people experience God’s creation of love and pleasure and goodness and so on. The second death is a separation from God completely. Think of what it would be like to be separated from all that is good. It would be hell, wouldn’t it?
So Satan and his demons, and all whose names are not in the Book of Life, are locked away forever in Hell. Judgment day is over and we are all rejoicing and giving each other high fives and fist bumps! Maybe hugs and kisses, too! What a relief it will be! What joy! But there is a problem. The last great battle has devastated the earth. When fire came down from heaven and destroyed Satan and his minions, earth was destroyed, too. So God creates a new heaven and a new earth.
What a place this will be. Remember when Jesus said this?
"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God.. trust also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
John 14:1-3
So guess what Jesus has been doing all this time, maybe those in paradise have even been helping Him, I don’t know. But I know this - Jesus has been preparing a place for you. It is like a bride being prepared for her groom. Remember when you brides were preparing yourself for your groom. You had a host of bridesmaids helping you and you fussed and puttered and created beautiful things. The white dress had to be just right. The hair had to be just so. The veil and the train of the dress had to rest just so. The bridesmaids and the groomsmen had to look just so and act just as the bride wanted them to.
Jesus has been doing that for you. He has been making the New Jerusalem. He has been making the Holy City. Many scholars believe it is a cube – because it is described as being laid out with length, width, and depth – but one scholar I read believed it to be shaped like a pyramid. He believed that the great pyramid in Egypt may have been modeled after it. I’m not sure if that’s true – but it is an interesting thought. But this we know. God will live here. He will dwell with His people. And because of that there is no need of a sun. His radiance will light the whole world up. Because God dwells with us, there will be no more sadness; no sorrow; no crying; no more death. Our loving Savior will lovingly wipe every tear from our eyes. The old way of doing things will be gone forever. We won’t hunger or thirst anymore. We can drink freely from the River of Life. This is for all those who have overcome. The ‘overcomers’ will inherit all this that God has prepared for them.
And how do we overcome? How can we become one of the overcomers? John wrote:
“This is love for God: to obey his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.” 1 John 5:3-5
How do we become an overcomer? By believing in Jesus. By accepting Him as our Savior and living by faith. Faith is what overcomes the world. Faith is believing, trusting and obeying God. Are you living by faith? Are you a child of God? It will be worth it.
Jesus seemed to find it important to reveal to John and to us that Heaven is a real place. It is solid. It has dimension. It is has color. You can see it. You can touch it. It is a physical place. Heaven is very real. Listen:
11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia ]in length (1400 miles), and as wide and high as it is long. 17He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick (200 feet), by man's measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.”
Matthew Henry says, “The new heaven and the new earth will not be separate from each other; the earth of the saints, their glorified, bodies, will be heavenly.” Right now heaven and earth are separate from each other. One day they will be one. We will be able to go in and out of the city. It has gates. It will be beautiful. Talk about eye candy! Every beautiful color you can image; every priceless and valued gem stone will be a part of it. In John Wesley’s notes, he wrote:
“The colors of these are remarkably mixed. A jasper is of the color of white marble, with a light shade of green and of red; a sapphire is of a sky-blue, speckled with gold; a chalcedony, or carbuncle, of the color of red-hot iron; an emerald, of a grass green. A sardonyx is red streaked with white; a sardius, of a deep red; a chrysolite, of a deep yellow; a beryl, sea-green; a topaz, pale yellow; a chrysoprase is greenish and transparent, with gold specks; a jacinth, of a red purple; an amethyst, violet purple.
Pure gold, so pure it is transparent, will be walked on. The gates are great white pearls, probably representing Jesus, who is the pearl of great price and who is the gate to heaven.
But the extraordinary quickly becomes ordinary. The uncommon soon becomes common. The value of this city is not how it looks or its construction. What makes heaven –heaven – is Jesus, the Light of the world and the Light of heaven. There is no need for the sun or the moon – Jesus is there.
22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.”
Do you remember Jesus talking about light? “Light on a hill, light of the world, Kingdom of Light, children of light” Each sentence, each word here has so much meaning. But the bottom line is Jesus. We will be with Jesus.
Here is an interesting thought.
“The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.” Verse 28
It seems to me that we won’t all live in the city. We can and will be able to go into God presence any time we wish, but it seems that we will be able to go out into the new world and explore and build and do our thing. I don’t know all that this means. I am sure it is beyond our experience or comprehension. The bible says,
"No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him." (1 Corinthians 2:9)
“Dear friends, now we are children of God, and what we will be has not yet been made known…” (1 John 3:2)
We can not comprehend what we will one day be and experience – but we can get an idea because God has revealed a little of Himself to us. He is love, joy, peace, kindness, gentleness, goodness, patience, faithfulness, and self-control. One day we will experience these things completely and perfectly and eternally. I think we will, also, continue to grow and learn and create – because God is this way. But all our imagining cannot begin to touch the greatness of God or eternity with Him. I know this, though. I want to go there. I want to spend eternity with Jesus. And His promise is that I can. He said,
Do you believe in Jesus? Have you put your faith in Him? He is the way we overcome. Jesus has overcome the world. We overcome the world by faith in Him. Don’t trust the world or anything in it – trust Jesus. Don’t love the world or the things in the world – love Jesus. Do not follow the world or anything in the world – follow Jesus. Do His will. Obey Him. He will lead you to eternal life.
Is your name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life? You can know. John said,
“He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself; he who does not believe God has made Him a liar, because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of His Son. And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.”
1 John 5:10-12
Do you have the witness? Do you know you have eternal life? If you are in a loving relationship with Jesus – you have eternal life. It’s that simple. If you are not in that kind of relationship with Him you can be. You simply ask Him to come in. Pray a prayer like this:
Dear Jesus,
Thank you for loving me. Thank you for dying for me. Thank you for the wonderful plans you have for me. I have not been following you. Please forgive me. Help me to live for you from this day on. Give me eternal life and help me to overcome the trials and temptations of this life. Please be the Lord of my life.
SONG:
