Revelation 21

Throughout this book we have come to the Grand Finale of the Lord's purposes more than once. First there was a deep and prolonged silence at the opening of the seventh seal (8:1). Then as the seventh angel blew his trumpet it was already announced that “the kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ” (11:15). Again after the bowls of God's judgment had been fully poured out, the King of the kingdom came riding on a white horse, and on His robe and his thigh He had a Name written: “King of kings and Lord of lords” (19:16).

But now, in the last two chapters of the book, we see the fullness of the Lord's good plans in the brightest colors. The aged Apostle describes the new heaven and earth. The old world is gone, or at least so completely renewed that it can be spoken of as having passed away. Something like a resurrection to immortality has taken place.

The resurrection power of Jesus has come down upon the old world, and death has been swallowed up in a victory that changes everything. Once again, heaven and earth are one, as the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven from God. This new Jerusalem is the perfected church, those who have passed through the first death (natural death on earth), and have been enjoying the life of the first resurrection (existence in the present heaven). They will never experience the second death (the eternal punishment of hell), for Jesus suffered the pains of hell for them. The second death can have no hold upon them. They are returning with the Lord now as His glorious bride. The time of the second resurrection has come, the fullness of immortal bodily living for the people of God on earth.

This state of eternal blessedness is not one of separation between God and man, with the Lord in His heavens and His people on a new earth. The dwelling place of God is with man. He will live with them. This is the great and everlasting Tabernacles, the new life of eternity, in a creation completely cleansed from all the stains of sin, misery, and death. Truly the former things will have passed away, and the will of the Lord will be entirely fulfilled according to these wonderful words: “Behold, I am making all things new.”

The time for concealing will be over. This is a time for the fullness of revelation. The divide between eternal blessing and eternal curse could not be clearer. Do you want the springs of eternal glory and the solid joys of the godly with the Father, or do you want a portion with the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars? They will have the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. You will have God's greatest benediction in the land of second resurrection.

In that day, the church, the Bride of the Lamb, will be the spotless holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming out of heaven from God. On her twelve gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and on her walls, her foundations, are the names of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ. Here is the fullness of the Jews and Gentiles, perfected in the blood of the Lamb, and saved for the eternal purposes of God by His matchless grace.

This heavenly city, now come down upon the earth, is the perfection of God's holy plan. Notice the 12,000 stadia, the measurement of not only the length, but also the width and the height of the city. It is a 12, (the the full number of tribes, and the full number of apostles), times 1000, (the number that should impress you because of its enormity). It is a large and perfect new realm of order and beauty. The wall around it (how can we envision a wall around a cube of such enormous dimensions?) is 12 times 12 cubits, 144 cubits high. Consider the worth of all its gold and precious jewels. It is all beyond measurement. It is what eye has not seen, it is the answer to something beyond our prayers, more than we ask for, or even imagine. Every gate made of a gigantic solitary pearl, every street of pure gold, yet transparent as glass; heaven has come to earth, and we are glad.

The whole new creation is a place of the presence of God, Ezekiel's visionary temple, perfected and writ large, but without the Old Covenant temporary ordinances. There is no need for a special holy spot in the Lord's final land. It is as if the Name of the whole city is “The Lord is there.” See the end of Ezekiel 48. It is a realm of perfect light, where the inhabitants live in the Father and the Son. This is what Jesus came to win for us through His blood.

There is a communal order there, with nations and kings, but there is no warfare or oppression, for everyone in that place lives in the Lord Jesus Christ. All that we see as danger today, requiring soldiers at the gates, all that makes darkness frightening to the heart of a child (or an adult), has no place in this perfect order. Nothing unclean will ever enter there.

Today we manage in the midst of what is detestable, and we despise every lingering trace of death and sin in our own bodies and souls. One day, we will have no such trouble. And we will all be together. Everyone in the Lamb's book of life will be there. No one will be missing who is a true citizen of this great city, for Christ has shed His blood for all the inhabitants of His glorious eternal kingdom.