CHAPTER 21

Revelation 21:1

Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.

John saw a new Heaven and a new Earth, this subject has been debated by Bible scholars down through the years. Does God completely eliminate the old heaven and earth and build new ones from nothing as He did in the beginning or does He just completely renovate the old ones and make them new. I am strongly inclined to believe that He is, according to what we read, going to do what the first scenario describes,’make new from nothing.’ The Greek word that is used in Genesis 1:1 to describe creation is, ‘ex nihilo’ which means, ‘Out of Nothing’. There is going to be a complete physical transformation take place and the absence of the sea indicates to us a new eternal state, for the sea is mentioned frequently throughout the history of the world right into the Millennial and here it no longer exists. The sea represents separation; it separates nations and people from each other. To John a prisoner on the Island of Patmos the sea surrounding him was like a prison wall shutting him off from everyone and everything. There shall be no such barriers in the world to come, on the new earth there will be no division, no strife, no storms of life such as the sea would bring. It is always changing, unsettled, bringing both calm and storm, never the same; this will not be so on God’s New Earth.

Isaiah 65:17-18

17 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind.

18 but be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem as a place rejoicing, and her people a joy.

2 Peter 3:10-13

10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.

11 Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness,

12 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?

13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

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Revelation 21:2

Then I, John, saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

“Behold, I create Jerusalem as a place of rejoicing.” John sees the New Jerusalem, descending from Heaven, a city of Hope and Joy for its people. It is God’s Holy city, His dwelling place, the reality of His presence and it is beautifully created, so much so that it is beyond description.

Revelation 21:3-4

3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.

4 And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the ormer things have passed away."

“The Tabernacle of God is with men,” this Tabernacle is a symbol of God’s presence among His people. His desire is to live among His people and be their God and this will be a reality in the New City of Jerusalem. The city will be a special place because of what is not there; there is no more death, no more sorrow, no crying there for God will wipe away every tear from every eye and there will be no more pain or suffering. We could say that the emphasis here is on the comfort God is providing for His saints, for all those former things have passed away forever. Man has never known a place where he could live free from sin but that has changed, for here in the New Jerusalem we have a very unique city. This is a city totally free from sin, it is pure, a community of righteousness and a city like this could only come from God.

Revelation 21:5

Then He who sat on the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." And He said to me,” Write, for these words are true and faithful."

We know that God originally created the Earth to be the home for all His human creation, He created a beautiful and perfect place of habitation for His children. Sin, however, entered the picture and changed it into a place of rebellion and alienation from Him. Since then God has been working throughout the history of mankind to bring about a total reversal of the terrible consequences brought about by sin. Here He tells us that He is going to make all things new and whether He completely eliminates the old or renovates it to form the new, this one thing we do know, He is going to make all things new. This will be the consummation of God’s work for the renewal of all things and the redemption of man. These words are spoken by God directly from His throne and they are True and they are Faithful and John is reminded to write them down.

Isaiah 55:10-11

10 As the rain and the snow come down from heaven, and do not return to it without watering the earth and making it bud and flourish, so that it yields seed for the sower and bread for the eater,

11 so is My Word that goes out from My mouth: It will not return to Me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it.

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Revelation 21:6-7

6 He 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.

7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

We have been and still are being shown two sides of God, our Heavenly Father. The side we read about here is the one of the Sovereign God who is a gentle and loving Father who prefers to be gracious, merciful and forgiving to all those who have come to Him in faith. John is told that those who overcome will inherit all that God has already prepared for those who love Him and that He will be their Heavenly Father and will call them His sons and they will enjoy a very special relationship with Him one that is known only to the redeemed.

Revelation 21:8

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."

What we previously read is in sharp contrast to what we read here which is the judgment of God on all those who oppose Him. These are the cowardly, unbelieving, rebellious ones who practice all kinds of evil and take pleasure in their sinning. Now we see the Sovereign God of the universe moving in His furious wrath as the mighty Destroyer pronouncing the sentence of eternal separation from Him on all those who oppose Him. Amid the blessings of Heaven this reminder is given of the horrors of Hell, the end of which is eternal damnation in the Lake of Fire, which is the Second Death.

Revelation 21:9-10

9 One 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."

10 And 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.

The Holy City, the City of God which possesses the glory of God and its beauty and perfection defies the descriptions of man. It is interesting to note that it is an Angel one of those who had the seven last Bowl plagues who has come to show John the Eternal City, the New Jerusalem which is associated with the Bride of the Lamb. The True Church, the Blood Washed believers are represented as the Bride of Christ. Is this a literal city or just a symbol of the Church which is the Bride of Christ? John was privileged to see this new creation made perfect by God and designed to work as He originally intended the world He gave us to work. It is a literal city where Almighty God will be fully disclosed to His people in all His Holy Radiance and glory and its location will be on the New Earth.

Revelation 21:11-17

11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

12 It 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.

13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.

14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.

16 The 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 (approx. 1500 miles), and as wide and high as it is long.

17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick (264’), by man's measurement, which the angel was using.

This fabulous city has the Glory of God which is the expression of what and who God is. This Glory representing His shinning radiance makes all other sources of light totally dark in comparison. The City has a great wall around it which will make the great wall of China pale in comparison but it is not for defense and shows us that some will be excluded from entering the city and only those whose names are in the Lamb’s Book of Life can enter in (v. 27). The beauty of the city is beyond description and John is describing it for us by using things symbolizing what we finite human beings consider most beautiful. This city is incredibly huge, about 1500 miles square (2415K) and as hard as it is to imagine it is 1500 miles high and there will be room for all God’s people.

There will be twelve gates, guarded by twelve Angels and the gate are named after the twelve tribes of Israel and shows us that God has not forgotten them and His covenant with them. The great wall (1500 mi. high – 264 feet wide) will have twelve foundations and placed within these foundations are the names of the twelve Apostles showing their importance in God’s overall plan, for the Church was founded through them.

Ephesians 2:19-20

19 Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God's people and members of God's household,

20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the chief cornerstone.

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Revelation 21:18-21

18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.

19 The 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,

20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

21 The 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.

As we read on we realize that the beauty of this city is beyond human description and John is using things that to us symbolize what he is seeing and that to us represents the ultimate in brilliance and purity. What would be concrete in our cities is pure gold in this Most Holy City, the twelve gates would have been very large, made of heavy, unattractive, wood and metal, but in this city each gate is a huge, perfect, beautiful pearl. When we read of all those beautiful, precious stones and the streets of gold, we should take this as a literal translation, relating the realities of another world, giving us the impression of unending and staggering beauty. When we put all of this together it symbolizes the redeemed of both the Nation of Israel and the True Church.

The City is said to be, “The Bride of the Lamb,” for in the Old Testament Israel is referred to as the ‘Wife of the Lord (Ezekiel 16),’ and in the New Testament the Church is identified as the ‘Bride of Christ, (Ephesians 5:24).’ Thus the ‘New Jerusalem,’ the eternal home of the believers, is referred to as, “The Bride of the Lamb”, and the greatest treasure of this glorious city will not be it’s streets of gold and structures made of the most precious of jewels and it’s gates of pearls, it will be it’s Chief Inhabitant, Jesus Christ, God’s Son.

Revelation 21:22-27

22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

23 The city does not need the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God Illuminates it and the Lamb is its light.

24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it.

25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night their.

26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

27 Nothing impure shall 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.

John says something here that at first sounds strange, he says that he saw no temple in the city. Throughout the Bible, from Old to New there has always been a Temple, in ancient days it was a tent, a tabernacle, then a structure, a building was erected to house the Arc of the Covenant, then we God’s people became His Temple, there has always been a Temple. Here in the New Jerusalem there will be no need of a Temple because God Himself and His Lamb, Jesus, will be there in person and they will be the Temple and thus the Temple will be everywhere. So the people of this city will have no need of a place of worship for the object of their worship, Almighty God, and His Son Jesus will be there in person.

In the same way, there will be no need for the light of the sun or the moon since the city will be illuminated by the very presence of God and the Lamb, who are the light. This light will undoubtedly permeate every part of this city and there will be no night there. Its gates will never be shut, they will always be open to all the redeemed and those who were saved out of the Great tribulation. We need to remember that not everyone was destroyed during the time when the nations came to do battle with Jerusalem and the Lord Himself. It is one of the mysteries that we can only try to understand. Different commentators say that besides the True Church, there shall be nations brought together by Kings that will be dwelling on the new earth, nations that have been saved by the influence of the Heavenly City. This is brought out in verse 24 and it is also made clear that only those who are loyal to the Lamb of God and whose names are written in His Book of Life, will be able to enter into the Holy City. Neither shall anything that is impure, shameful or deceitful be found in it. There will be no sin or sorrow; no unkind words will ever be spoken, no death or parting with loved ones ever again. What we have read is the most thorough description that could be given of our future home and it has been said that one of the best, most valid descriptions of Heaven is that it is a place, “Where God Is”.

John 14:1-3

1 "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me.

2 In My Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.

We need to remember that the saints of God will not be floating around like some ghostly figures, we will have our immortal bodies but we will look as our physical bodies do now with a big acceptation, we will be perfect. We are going to spend eternity inhabiting the new earth and we will be able to freely enter the New Jerusalem into the very presence of God and we will be able to look upon Him and not die. God and His Son Jesus are going to live with the redeemed Saints forever. We are going to be involved in the things of God forever and forever, there will always be things to do and things to see and our contentment and joy will know no end.