New heaven, new earth, new Jerusalem
21
📚And I saw a new heaven and a new 📖 earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away 📖. And no longer was there a sea 📖. 2 📚And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem 📖, coming down from God out of heaven 📖, prepared as a bride 📖 dressed for her husband.God will be with men
3 📚And I heard a loud voice from heaven 📖 which said, “Look, God’s dwelling place is with men 📖, and he will live with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them, and be their God 📖. 4 📚And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes 📖. And no longer will there be death 📖, or sorrow, or crying. And no longer will there be pain, for the former things have passed away 📖”.
God’s promises
5 📚And he who sat on the throne said, “See, I make all things new 📖”. And he said to me, “Write this, for these words are true and faithful 📖”.
6 📚And 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 freely give from the fountain of the water of life 📖. 7 📚He who overcomes 📖 will inherit 📖 all things. I will be his God, and he will be 📖 my son.
The punishment of the unrepentant
8 📚But the cowardly 📖, and the unbelieving 📖, and the vile, and murderers, and whoremongers 📖, and sorcerers 📖, and idolaters 📖, and all liars 📖 will have their part in the lake which burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death 📖”.
21:8 There will be only two classes of people – the saved and the lost; God’s people with whom He will dwell (v 3), and these who have refused to be God’s people.⚜
The vision of the city of God
9 📚And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues 📖, came to me and talked with me and said, “Come here, I will show you the bride 📖, the Lamb’s wife”. 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,
21:10 In v 9 the angel said he would show John “the bride, the wife of the Lamb”. But instead of showing John the people of God the angel shows him the city of God. This city will be the residence of the people of God (v 27) and represents them. Compare the great prostitute of chapter 17 who is also said to be a city (Rev 17:18). A city means more than buildings and streets. It means also the people who live there, and it can represent a whole system of religion. Compare Matt 23:37-39. It was not literal buildings and streets which killed the prophets but the people of Israel represented by the literal city of Jerusalem. As the old Jerusalem represented the Jews so the new Jerusalem represents the redeemed people of God and they will fully share its holiness, glory and splendor.⚜
11 📚having the glory of God 📖. And her light was like a very precious gemstone, like a crystal-clear jasper 📖. 12 📚The city had a great, high wall with twelve gates. And twelve angels were at the gates, and names were written on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes 📖 of the children of Israel. 13 📚Three gates were on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. 14 📚And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles 📖 of the Lamb.
15 📚He who talked with me had a gold rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. 16 📚The city is laid out like a square, and its length is the same as its breadth. And he measured the city with the rod, twelve thousand furlongs 📖. Its length, breadth and height are equal. 17 📚And he measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits 📖, according to man’s measurement, that is, of the angel. 18 📚The wall was built of jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear glass.
21:18 Gold transparent as glass is not a substance now known to man (nor pearls as large as city gates – v 21). God the Creator is not limited to the rude and solid materials we now have on earth.⚜
19 📚And the foundations of the wall of the city were embellished with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was with jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 📚the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolyte, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21:19-20 We cannot be sure what the Greek names for some of these gems represent today.⚜
21 📚And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.
21:21 No oysters produced these pearls, but He who will make all things new – v 5.⚜
22 📚And I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
21:22 There will be no need of a temple built of materials. The temple (and tabernacle) in the Old Testament was a place for God to dwell (Ex 25:8), and no one but the high priest of Israel could even enter His presence (Heb 9:7; Lev 16:1-2). All others were excluded. In the new Jerusalem God and Christ are the temple and all His people will live in His presence and in Him (v 3; Rev 3:12; John 17:20-23).⚜
23 📚And the city had no need of the sun or of the moon 📖 to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it and the Lamb is its light 📖. 24 📚And the nations of the saved will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honour into it. 25 📚And its gates will never be shut by day (for there will be no night there), 26 📚and they will bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
21:24-26 This picture suggests that the redeemed in the new earth may have distinct lands with their individual rulers and come and go to and from the city. But we cannot be sure of this.⚜
Who gets into the city, who is kept out
27 📚And no defiling thing 📖 will ever enter it, or anyone who commits an abomination or tells a lie 📖, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life 📖.
21:27 This makes it clear that the nations and kings of vs 24-26 will be the people of God, born of His Spirit.⚜