After the white throne judgement and the lake of fire, the universe is started anew, with a purpose far beyond the mere Paradise in Genesis.
Revelation 21: 1-4, The new heaven and the new earth
Then 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. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
And 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. He 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."
Why the remark about the sea? (As Tim Hall commented earlier, on a different passage, the sea most likely represents chaos and fear.) Finally we begin to undo the result of the Fall, reversing it and then going past it to better things.
The holy city is described as the New Jerusalem and the "bride" of God. (In Rev 19:7 the bride is presumably the Church, the people of God.)
Note, in this chapter and the next, the many promises which come with the new city. This New Jerusalem is not the angels-and-harps stereotype prevalent in many churches. The location is not some far away place in the sky, but on a new physical earth, within a new universe.
Revelation 21: 5-8, All things new!
He 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."
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. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 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."
The Alpha and Omega says that we should continue in drinking from the water of life, enduring through the pain, to inherit this coming kingdom.
What does it mean to make all things new? Heaven will not merely undo the Fall but go beyond it.
What does it mean to make all things new? Heaven will not merely undo the Fall but go beyond it.
The judgement for those who persisted in sin is dismissal into the "second death".
Revelation 21: 9-10, The new City
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." 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.
Again, the New Jerusalem is called the Bride of the Lamb. Throughout the New Testament, the "bride" of God has been a community, the universal church of believers, making up the new kingdom of God. Is it this community that is being described here?
Revelation 21: 11-21, Description of the new Jerusalem
It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
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. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 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, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
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, 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. 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.
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. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 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, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick by man's measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
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, 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. 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.
The city is described as large, dramatic, over a thousand mile across. It bears gates and foundations that reflect the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve closest followers of Jesus, emphasizing a historical continuity with the Messianic promises to Israel.
What would have been the reaction of John's readers to this description? How do these measurements compare with the world of John's day?
From the NIV footnotes: 12,000 stadia is, about 1,400 miles (about 2,200 kilometers); 144 cubits is about 200 feet (about 65 meters) and the precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain.
Revelation 21: 22-27, The new temple
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The 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.
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing 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.
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing 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.
This new city needs no temple and no lights, as God provides it all.
Contrast the statement of the "glory & honor of the nations" with the laments about Babylon in chapter 18.
What is the requirement for city membership? What will happen to the nations? (It won't happen before this time!)
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