Transcript

The Strait of Gibraltar is the strait that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Mediterranean Sea. On either side of the Strait of Gibraltar there are two mountains, which were known in ancient times as the Pillars of Hercules. According to Greek mythology, Hercules built these pillars to mark the edge of the world.

The pillars bore the warning, “No More Beyond,” cautioning sailors to go no further. But in 1492 Christopher Columbus destroyed the belief that there was “no more beyond” when he sailed far out into the Atlantic Ocean and discovered the New World.

In the town where the explorer died, there stands a monument commemorating him. On this monument there is a statue of a lion.

The lion’s paw is tearing away the word “No” from the phrase “No More Beyond,” making it read “More Beyond.” Columbus had proven that there was “more beyond.”

The Word of God shows us that there is more beyond this life. We have eternity to spend in heaven in the presence of God. We need to remember to live for the life beyond, and not for this life only. In eternity, we’ll never regret that we did.

In Revelation 21, we enter the description of the eternal state for God’s people who will reign with Christ on the earth for eternity.

And we’ll find how many things that are true for Israel on the earth in the eternal state will be true for the Church, the Body of Christ in heaven forever as well.

Revelation 21:1: “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

The phrase “and I saw” is found 25 times in the Book of Revelation. In the vision given to the Apostle John, he literally saw all these future events that will take place after the Rapture of the Church.

This phrase has introduced each of the climactic events and scenes of the end times.

In verse 1 of chapter 21, John again wrote, “And I saw.” John next saw a new scene that explains what he referred to as he described the Great White Throne: “from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.” The Lord predicted in His earthly ministry that “Heaven and earth shall pass away” (Matt. 24:35).

John had seen the old heaven and old earth pass away along with its contamination of sin.

After the Great White Throne judgment, John sees heaven and earth return, but it is a new heaven and a new earth, uncontaminated by sin.

This is the fulfillment of Peter’s prophecy: “Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (II Pet. 3:12,13).

After the earth and heaven are cleansed and renewed by fire, the new heaven and new earth will be newly made, fresh, and not cursed by sin; it will be brand new.

The Scriptures speak of three heavens. The first heaven is the earth’s atmosphere. It is where the Psalmist says that “the fowls of the heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches” (Psa. 104:12).

The second heaven is the vastness of space that contains the sun, moon, stars, and planets. In the words of King David as psalmist, “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament [expanse] sheweth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge” (Psa. 19:1,2).

The third heaven is the abode of God. The Psalmist records, “The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God” (Psa. 14:2).

The Apostle Paul revealed that he was “caught up to the THIRD heaven” where he heard unspeakable words (II Cor. 12:1-4).

The third heaven does not need to be made new. As the dwelling place of our holy God, it is unaffected by the curse of sin.

The “new heaven” of Revelation 21:1 is in relation to the second heaven of interplanetary and interstellar space, which has been contaminated by sin.

This is evidenced by meteor showers, the explosion of stars, increasing disorder and wearing down (Rom. 8:22). It is in bondage to God’s curse. Job 15:15 declares that “the heavens are not clean in His sight.”

But the universe will be renewed by fire and it will be purified from sin and decay and will have the curse removed. It will then be perfect and glorious.

Within this realm of the second heaven, along with the third heaven, the Church, the Body of Christ will rule and reign in Christ for all eternity.

While Israel, and believers from her prophetic program, will rule and reign on the earth with its atmosphere and first heaven.

Like the 2nd heaven, the earth (with its first heaven) is also polluted by sin and under the curse. Isaiah 24:5 reads, “The earth also is defiled under the inhabitants thereof; because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.”

As a result of this, as Romans 8:22 says, “the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” When sin and death entered the world at the Fall, it transformed the earth into a place of pain, rebellion, and corruption.

One day, however, the earth and the heavens will be renewed by fire and transformed by their Creator and they will be made new, and sin and the curse will be removed forever.

The creation will then “be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:21).

In the vision John saw, there is a big change in the new earth: “…and there was no more sea” (Rev. 21:1). When the new earth is in its perfected state, there will be similarities to the first earth but there will also be significant changes.

For example, there will be water and at least one river on the new earth (22:1,2), but there will be no more seas.

The seas and oceans occupy about three-fourths of the surface of the globe and, of course, to that extent they prevent the world from being occupied by people. But in the new earth, the entire surface of the earth will consist of inhabitable land.

The earth without seas or oceans will be a radically different place. The oceans affect the atmosphere, the climate, and other living conditions, as well as human transportation. The absence of seas is a chief characteristic of the new earth.

In Revelation 20, at the resurrection of the unjust for the Great White Throne, it says “the sea gave up the dead which were in it” (v. 13).

In Scripture, the sea is often portrayed as a place of death and a symbol of disorder, calamity, violence and unrest. Isaiah 57:20 tells us, “But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt.”

The seas also remind us of the worldwide flood in the days of Noah which covered the entire earth at that time.

Disorder, unrest, death, and destruction, and the seas which brought these things and symbolized them, will be absent in the new earth. Instead, through Christ, the new earth will be filled with order, peace, rest, and life everlasting.

Revelation 21:2: “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Prior to this mention, the Apostle John had not referred to himself by name since the very first chapter of Revelation. Dr. Henry Morris writes, “It is as though the event taking place before his amazed eyes was so glorious and incredible that he must stress that he himself had actually seen it happen.”

With the new heaven and new earth being in a perfect and holy state, it is prepared for “the holy city.” The Apostle John then saw the “new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.”

Like the Lord Jesus Christ, “He that came down from heaven” (John 3:13), the new Jerusalem is seen as “coming down from God out of heaven.”

The fact that Christ came from heaven also teaches that He pre-existed in heaven before He was born in Bethlehem.

Likewise, the fact that the new Jerusalem will come down from heaven indicates that it already exists, even now, in the third heaven.

The first Jerusalem is also called “the holy city” in God’s Word (Neh. 11:1; Isa. 52:1). It was a city set apart unto God for His people Israel and as His dwelling place on earth within the temple.

However, as we know from reading our Bibles, throughout its history, the city was anything but holy as a result of Israel’s wickedness, disobedience, and idolatry.

Previously in this Book, John wrote of Jerusalem, and not in a good way: “the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified” (Rev. 11:8).

The new Jerusalem, however, will be uniquely and perfectly “holy,” or pure and set apart unto God and His eternal purposes.

The new Jerusalem will be a literal city with life, activity, and people. The inhabitants of this “holy city” will be holy in Christ.

Speaking of this great city, Hebrews 12:22,23 reads, “But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect.”

Those who dwell in “the holy city” forever will be just people made perfect in Christ by His shed blood. It is the general assembly of Israel.

It will be those who took part in the first resurrection of prophecy after Christ’s Second Coming, of whom the Word says, “Blessed and HOLY is he that hath part in the first resurrection” (Rev. 20:6).

Those who are raised in the first resurrection for the Millennial Kingdom are all the prophetic saints, those who belong to God’s earthly program for the nation Israel.

For the members of the Church, the Body of Christ, we will receive our resurrected, glorified bodies, not at Israel’s prophesied first resurrection, but at the Rapture prior to the Tribulation period. Our hope is to be forever with the Lord in heaven.

And the new Jerusalem is not our hope. The inhabitants of the new Jerusalem have an earthly hope, and thus, the new Jerusalem descends from heaven to the earth as a place for the earthly saints to dwell in forever.

Hebrews 11 is sometimes called the “Hall of Faith” because it describes some of the faithful prophetic saints who trusted God and followed His will.

The Word of God says of them that they desired a heavenly country, “wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He hath prepared for them a city” (Heb. 11:16). The city God has prepared for them to live in and enjoy eternally is the new Jerusalem.

We should not overlook that among the new Jerusalem’s inhabitants will be “an innumerable company of angels” (Heb. 12:22). Among the holy, redeemed people of God, holy angels will also dwell within “the holy city” forever. There will be so many of them that they can’t be numbered!

As Jerusalem will be Jesus Christ’s capital during His millennial reign, so the new Jerusalem will be His capital city of the earth in the eternal state.

John adds that the city is “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev. 21:2). This statement is made in contrast to the city of Babylon in the Book of Revelation.

Babylon is a literal city in the future Tribulation that will be the capital of the Anti-Christ’s reign. Babylon is called a “woman” (Rev. 17:4,6), but it is also called a “great whore” (17:1,15,16; 19:2). It is not a pure, chaste bride like the new Jerusalem.

Revelation 17 describes this city: “Come hither; I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore. With whom the kings of the earth have committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth have been made drunk with the wine of her fornication.

“And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet colour, and decked with gold and precious stones and pearls.

“And upon her forehead was a name written, MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.”

Satan is a counterfeiter and imitator. He has no original thought. God’s plans are so wise and perfect, that Satan will attempt, through Babylon, to have a city like the new Jerusalem.

Babylon will be “decked with gold and precious stones and pearls” (17:4). Likewise, we read about the new Jerusalem in verse 19 and 21 of this chapter:

“And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”

In contrast to the wicked, vile, unclean city of Babylon, however, the new Jerusalem will be like a radiant bride, pure, elegant, and stunning.

As a bride adorns herself for her husband on her wedding day, so the new Jerusalem will be “adorned for her Husband,” the Lord Jesus Christ.

The city will be appropriately ordered and arranged perfectly in all her beauty, as the description of it indicates in this chapter and the next.

Revelation 21:3: “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

What makes the new heaven and new earth glorious above all else is that “the tabernacle [dwelling place] of God is with men, and He will dwell with them” (Rev. 21:3).

John heard a “great voice out of heaven” declare this truth. It is most likely an angel who makes the pronouncement. Often in the Book of Revelation, an angel announces an event with “a loud voice” (19:17).

After the many dark announcements in the Book of Revelation concerning judgment and wrath, this message from the voice out of heaven is one of glory and joy.

In the distant past, God’s tabernacle in the wilderness was a foreshadow of the glorious tabernacle of the new Jerusalem in the future.

At that time, the Lord told Israel, “And I will set My tabernacle among you: and My soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and ye shall be my people” (Lev. 26:11,12).

God’s presence resided in the shekinah glory-cloud that filled the tabernacle, and the same will be true in the new Jerusalem: “He will dwell with them. God Himself shall be with them” (Rev. 21:3).

Another foreshadowing of God personally dwelling in the presence of Israel is when God became man in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

John 1:14 says, “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”

The word “dwelt” in John 1:14 in the Greek means to fix a tabernacle. It is a variation of the word “tabernacle” that we find in Revelation 21:3. The presence of God dwelt or tabernacle among Israel in the Person of Christ.

The prophetic name for Christ, “Emmanuel,” means “God with us.” The “us” is specifically the nation Israel. In the days of Christ’s earthly ministry, the tabernacle of God was with men; God Himself was with Israel.

Christ’s earthly life and ministry picture Israel’s eternal state when God will set up His dwelling place on earth and tabernacle with Israel forever.

At that time, in the eternal state, the relationship that God has always desired to have with His people Israel will at last be a reality: “they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Rev. 21:3).

The greatest part of Israel’s hope is dwelling in the presence of God. And it’s the exact same for us, the Body of Christ, in heaven.

Revelation 21:4: “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

The great voice out of heaven goes on to declare that God will wipe away all tears from their eyes! As a result of God’s personal presence with Israel in the new Jerusalem, God Himself will wipe away all tears from Israel’s eyes.

God is the great tear-drier. The presence of God results in an entirely new state of being for those who inhabit the new Jerusalem.

This is the fulfillment of prophecy. Isaiah prophesied to Israel about this bright hope for them: “He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces” (Isa. 25:8).

And there is a principle here even for us. As a result of God’s personal presence among the Body of Christ in heaven, God will wipe away all tears from our eyes as well.

In the eternal state, for both Israel on the earth and the Body of Christ in heaven, everything that causes us to shed tears now will be no more.

No more death! No more sorrow! No more pain! God wipes away our tears by removing these things from our experience forever in eternity. Nothing ever again will be sad.

There will be nothing disappointing. There will be nothing unfulfilling. There will be nothing lacking. There will be nothing wrong. There will be nothing to cry about.

It will be just absolute eternal bliss. Everyone will be as joyful and content as conceivably possible, living in the presence of God, dwelling in a place of perfect goodness and peace.

All the time, it will be unmitigated, unrestrained, unlimited, unhindered, unrestricted, undiminished joy.

Think about how this book of the Bible will be a comfort for those who live through the Tribulation period, to whom this book is directly written.

All they will experience in that day is tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain. But the truth of God’s Word will sustain and comfort them in the Tribulation as they look forward to the Millennium and then to eternity when tears, death, and pain will be removed forever.

There will be “no more death.” At this point, Satan, who “had the power of death” (Heb. 2:14), will have been cast into the Lake of Fire: “And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone…and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (20:10).

At this point, death will have been cast into the Lake of Fire: “And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:14). Death will be thrown in the lake of fire and death dies, and it is gone forever. And to that we say praise the Lord!

It is then that the Apostle Paul’s words find their fulfillment: “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (I Cor. 15:26). And then no one will ever die in the eternal state.

Think about this: No more cemeteries; no more funerals to attend; no more obituary columns; no more shocking news hearing of one we knew passing away; no more thoughts of knowing that one day we must die unless the Lord comes.

No more fears for loved ones when they go somewhere and no more need to tell them, “Be careful!”; no more separation from those we love.

How different eternity will be from life as we know it now. And how glorious it will be. We learn and understand more about eternity, by the way it won’t be.

There will be no more “sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain.” There won’t be the sorrow or grief that accompanies death or because of disappointment, regret, guilt, suffering, sickness, loss of friends, etc.

Neither will there be the sorrow of losing a job, seeing your child make poor choices, having your marriage fall apart, and countless other things. Since the time of the Fall, sorrow has been constant in this world. We live in a sorrowful world.

There will be no more “crying.” This is the vocal expression of tears and sorrow. All outbursts of grief arising from anything emotionally painful or sad will be gone forever. The sound of crying will be heard no more in eternity.

There will be no more “pain.” Sickness, disease, physical pain, emotional pain, all will be gone forever.

So many suffer pain from incurable diseases, experience the pain of surgical procedures, or feel the various pains of aging in these mortal bodies. The glorified, sin-free, resurrected bodies we will receive one day will not be subject to pain of any kind.

After going through its renewing fire, “the first heaven and the first earth were passed away” (Rev. 21:1). Like the first earth and the first heaven, verse 4 says that “the former things are passed away.”

All things associated with the sin-cursed world we live in today will pass away. The suffering, grief, decline, disease, pain, and death that have characterized this world since the time of the Fall are all gone forever.

As one commentator aptly puts it, “No more terminal diseases, hospitals, wheelchairs, or funerals. No more courts or prisons. No more divorces, breakdowns, or break-ups. No more heart attacks, strokes, Alzheimer’s, or debilitating illnesses. No more therapists, medications, or surgery. No more famines, plagues, or devastating disasters.”

I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to this day! Each believer in Christ has a bright hope and future in store for them.

One of the early explorers of South Africa’s ocean waters, Bar-tall-lo-mew Dias, went around a cape on a stormy sea. His ship threatened to go to pieces, so he called the place the Cape of Storms.

But Vasco da Gama, who came later, changed the name to the Cape of Good Hope, for he saw ahead of him the jewels and treasures of India.

In this world, we experience a life of storms, but by the Word we rejoice at the glorious eternity ahead of us, and then we can call this life what it is only in Christ—a life of good hope. We have good hope in Christ.

The good hope that is promised to those who believe can strengthen us day by day, especially in times of suffering, and it can keep us looking forward to live in light of eternity and the glories and blessings that await us in heaven.