The Descent of the New Jerusalem

The Descent of the New Jerusalem

Revelation 21:1-8

Scripture Reading and Insights

Begin by reading Revelation 21:1-8 in your favorite Bible. As you read, keep in mind that the Word of God brings spiritual maturity (1 Corinthians 3:1-2; Hebrews 5:12-14).In yesterday’s reading, we focused on Christ’s final victory over Satan after the millennial kingdom. In today’s reading, we zero in on God’s creation of a new heaven and a new earth. The new Jerusalem—a heavenly city—will come down to rest on the new earth. With your Bible still accessible, consider the following insights on the biblical text, verse by verse.

Revelation 21:1

I saw a new heaven and a new earth (21:1): Notice that the Bible begins in paradise, but it is quickly lost. The Bible ends with paradise restored! In the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve sinned against God. God subsequently cursed the earth (Genesis 3:17-18; Romans 8:20-22). So before the eternal kingdom can appear, God must deal with this cursed earth. Satan has also long carried out his evil schemes on earth (see Ephesians 2:2),so the earth must be purged of all stains resulting from his extended presence. In short, the earth—along with the first and second heavens (the earth’s atmosphere and the stellar universe)—must be renewed. The old must make room for the new. The Scriptures often speak of the passing of the old heavens and earth(Psalm 102:25-26; Isaiah 51:6; Matthew 24:35). Indeed, the present earth and heavens (earth’s atmosphere and the stellar universe) will be destroyed by fire in preparation for the new heavens and new earth (2 Peter 3:7-13).After the universe is cleansed, God will create a new heaven and a new earth. All vestiges of the curse and Satan’s presence will be utterly and forever removed. There will be no more curse, no more germs, and no more sickness, sorrow, tears, or death. Scripture reveals that even while Christians are on the new earth, they will also be in heaven. The new earth will be subsumed in the heavenly existence.Peter speaks of this glorious future reality in 2 Peter 3:13. Heaven and earth will unite in a glory that exceeds the imaginative capabilities of the finite human brain (see Isaiah 65:17).There will be geological changes in the new earth, for there will be no more sea (Revelation 21:1). Our present environment is water-based (our blood, for example, is 90 percent water). The environment in the new heavens and new earth, by contrast, will not be water-based. It will rather be based on a different life principle, a life principle that certainly includes the “water of life”(Revelation 22:1,17). Glorified humanity will inhabit a glorified earth re-created and adapted to eternal conditions.

 Revelation 21:2

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven (21:2): The new Jerusalem—the eternal city that you and I will one day inhabit—is a holy city, for it will contain no sin or unrighteousness of any kind. The new Jerusalem is portrayed as a real city, not some kind of an ethereal twilight zone. This is important because you and I will have real, physically resurrected bodies. As real persons with real bodies, we would naturally live-forever in a real city—the new Jerusalem. John witnessed the city coming down out of heaven. This means the city is actually being constructed (perhaps even now by Jesus Christ—see John 14:1-3)in heaven. Eventually the New Jerusalem will come down and rest on the new earth. (More on this in the next chapter.) Prepared as a bride (21:2): This metaphorical bride of Christ, the new Jerusalem, will include two previous brides of Christ: redeemed Israelites who had lived in Old Testament times (Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 2:2; 3:20; Ezekiel 16:8;Hosea 2:19-20) and the New Testament church (2 Corinthians 11:2; Revelation19:7). The habitat is identified according to its inhabitants.

 Revelation 21:3-4

“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man” (21:3): God will now live directly with redeemed humankind (compare with Leviticus 26:11-12; Deuteronomy 12:5). Here at last we find unfettered companionship between the Creator and His creation. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more(21:4): The Old Testament promises that in the heavenly state, death will be swallowed up forever (Isaiah 25:8). This is in contrast to the ancient Hebrew belief that death has a nasty habit of swallowing up the living. Paul speaks of this same reality as it relates to the future resurrection: “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: ‘Death is swallowed up in victory’” (1 Corinthians 15:54).There will be no more disease, no more weakness, no more decay, no more coffins, no more funerals, and no more graves. There will be no reason for tears. Life in the eternal city will be painless, tearless, and deathless. It is not that we will be sad in heaven and need to be cheered. We will not start crying and then need to have our crying eased. Rather, tears will be utterly foreign to the whole setting. It will be a time of rejoicing in the grace of God. There will be nothing to cry about! Bible expositor Albert Barnes reflects on the absolute absence of mourning in heaven: “How innumerable are the sources of sorrow here; how constant is it on the earth…How different, therefore, will heaven be when we shall have the assurance that henceforward grief shall be at an end!”1

 Revelation 21:5-7

“Behold, I am making all things new” (21:5): There are two primary views as to how everything will be made new. The replacement view holds that the universe will be annihilated and replaced with a brand-new, second universe created ex nihilo (“out of nothing”).It will be an entirely different and entirely new earth and universe. In favor of this view is Peter’s affirmation that the present heavens and earth will be destroyed by fire (2 Peter 3:10-13).On the other hand, according to the renewal view (my personal view), the new heavens and new earth will be our present universe, but it will be purified by fire of all evil, sin, suffering, and death. The Greek word for “new” in Revelation 21 does not mean “new in origin,” but rather “new in quality.” Our future cosmos will stand in continuity with the present cosmos, but it will be utterly renewed and renovated. It will be gloriously rejuvenated. This means that a resurrected people will live in a resurrected universe! John Piper put it this way: “What happens to our bodies and what happens to the creation go together. And what happens to our bodies is not annihilation but redemption…Our bodies will be redeemed, restored, made new, not throwaway. And so it is with the heavens and the earth.”2“Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (21:5): God’s revelation about the future can be trusted because God always faithfully speaks the truth (see Revelation 3:14; 19:11).“It is done” (21:6): This is a statement of divine finality. It represents a promise from God Almighty that what He has created for humankind’s eternal state will indeed last forever and ever. It is an accomplished fact.“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end” (21:6): God restates His name, as if to put an exclamation point on the reality that “it is done.” As we have seen, this name expresses eternity and omnipotence.“To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment” (21:6): Jesus gives the water of life, which eternally satisfies (see Revelation 7:17; 22:1,17; see also Isaiah 55:1-2; John 4:13-14; 7:37-38). This water cannot be earned. It is a grace-gift, given without payment.“The one who conquers…I will be his God and he will be my son” (21:7):The one who conquers or overcomes seems to be the one who places saving faith

in Jesus Christ. “Everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?”(1 John 5:4-5).The one who overcomes—or trusts in Christ for salvation—is fortunate indeed, for he or she will dwell with God in a parent-child relationship. This will be the heritage or the inheritance of the believer as a child of God (see 1 Peter1:4).

 Revelation 21:8

As for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable…their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur (21:8): In this midst of all this glorious news for believers is a somber warning for unbelievers. Indeed, their inheritance will be an eternity in the lake of fire. This is the second death—eternal separation from God.

 Major Themes

 1. God dwelling among us. In the Garden of Eden, God walked with Adam and Eve. Once sin entered the world, God dwelt among the Israelites by means of the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34) and later the temple (2 Samuel 22:7). In New Testament times, God “tabernacled”among us in the person of Jesus (John 1:14). Today, Christians arethe temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19). In the new Jerusalem, God will dwell with His people face to face (Revelation22:4).

 2. A better country. Heaven is not only called a city but also “a better country” (Hebrews 11:13-16). And what a glorious country it is, as eighteenth-century Bible expositor John Gill wrote:[The heavenly country] is full of light and glory; having the delightful breezes of divine love, and the comfortable gales of the blessed Spirit…Many are the liberties and privileges here enjoyed; here is a freedom from a body subject to diseases and death, from a body of sin and death, from Satan’s temptations, from all doubts, fears, and unbelief, and from all sorrows and afflictions.3

 Digging Deeper with Cross-References

Adopted into God’s eternal family—Romans 8:14,29; Galatians 3:26; 4:5;Ephesians 1:5; 2:19; 3:6; Philippians 2:15; Hebrews 12:6-9; 1 John 3:1.Christians’ inheritance in heaven—Matthew 5:5; 19:29; 25:34; Hebrews; 9:15; 1 Peter 1:4.

 Life Lessons

1. How can we be happy in heaven when people are suffering in hell? Some theologians believe God may purge our memories so that they do not retain memories of those in hell. In Isaiah 65:17-19, God speaks of the new heavens and a new earth: “Behold, I create newheavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind…no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress.”

 2. Recognition in heaven. Scripture reveals that we will recognize our Christian loved ones in the new Jerusalem. The Thessalonians Christians were concerned about their Christian loved ones who had died. Paul responds that they will be reunited in heaven, implying that they’ll recognize each other (1 Thessalonians 4:13-17). Davidknew he’d be reunited with his deceased son in heaven and had no doubt about recognizing him (2 Samuel 12:23). Lazarus, Abraham, and the rich man all recognized each other in the afterlife (Luke16:19-31).

 Questions for Reflection and Discussion  

 1. Think about being reunited with some of your Christian loved ones who are now in heaven. Does this put wind in your spiritual sails?\

2. You have been adopted into God’s eternal family, and you have a family inheritance awaiting you in heaven. What do those things mean to you personally?