In Lesson 72 we dealt with John’s vision of a new heaven and new earth, a result of what had taken place during the Millennium preparing the earth for the eternal state. Then, as I mentioned in the last lesson John starts a somewhat extended description of the holy city New Jerusalem that comes down from God out of heaven. “And I saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelation 21:2)
I’ll have more to say about the “bride” when we get to verse 9. But with reference to the above verse, I have to at least look at the word “adorned”. It comes from kosmeo, meaning to arrange or put in order (we get our English word, cosmetic, from this). There is, of course, a double meaning here. John is referring to the city, but uses the metaphor of a woman prepared for her marriage, dressed in her finest and wearing her very best jewelry. This illustration is appropriate when we see his description of the city and the precious jewels that make up its foundations later in this chapter.
Then in verses 3 through 7 he talks about the new people and the new conditions of the eternal earth. “Then I heard a loud voice coming from the throne saying, Look, the dwelling place of God is with men, and He will now live among them! They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” (Revelation 21:3) So, here’s the first new condition – God is now on the earth, living with men. He is no longer the invisible (unseen) God, beyond man’s physical ability to see. His visible presence will forever be on the earth.
“God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And there will be no more death, or sorrow or crying or pain, for the old conditions have passed away. And He that is sitting on the throne said, See, I am making all things new. And He said, Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.” (Revelation 21:4-5) Now, here’s where I have a confession to make. The first time I taught through this series several years ago, I totally missed this. Let’s go back a ways. During the Millennium the curse of Genesis 3 is reversed. Part of that curse was death. In Genesis 2:17 the correct translation of the last phrase of God’s warning to Adam should read something like, “for in the day that you eat of it, dying, you will die”. The verb muth (to die) is doubled, signifying the fact that the instant Adam disobeyed he died spiritually and that would eventually lead to his physical death (he died after 930 years according to Genesis 5:5). The conclusion is simple, but powerful: in the eternal earth there is no more death, so there is no more flesh (sin nature, carnal nature, whatever you want to call it), no more spiritual death (separation from God), no more possibility of sin or rebellion. And, there is no more of the unpleasant consequences of sin or death, as stated above (no more sorrow, crying or pain). There will be more on this in the next lesson.
Then we have to look at the statement, “See, I am making all things new”. I went back through Revelation and will attempt to list all the “new” things I could find. Not everything listed is specifically identified as “new”, but they will fit the meaning (remember, “new” is kainos, meaning, the essential quality or characteristics are now different). Here they are:
Now, as you go through the points above you should have noticed that most of the references are duplications of the same verses in chapters 21 and 22. Even though the verses are fairly concise, the implications are numerous.
This is what comes next in John’s revelation. “Then He said to me, It is done! I am the Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the fountain of the water of life. And he who overcomes will inherit all these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.” (Revelation 21:6-7) The phrase “It is done!” is what we’ve been waiting for through all these lessons. God’s plan for the ages is finished (but these lessons are not). At this point in time everything God had planned has been fulfilled. This is the beginning of eternity.
Now, I can’t resist giving a corrected paraphrase of Paul’s comment in Ephesians 1:5-11. “Because He determined before the ages of time even began that we would be adopted to Himself as sons in accordance to His will, as this was His kind intention. And this is to the praise of His glorious grace; wherein He has made us acceptable through the One He loves. In Whom we have deliverance by means of His sacrifice, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the generosity of His gracious favor, which He lavished on us in all wisdom and understanding (fully knowing our helpless condition). Making known to us the mystery of His plan (that Gentiles would be included), which was this: following His merciful intention that He had previously purposed in Christ, He planned in the climax of the ages of time to unify all things in Christ, both things in heaven and on the earth. In Him we were chosen as His inheritance; because we had been chosen beforehand in accordance with His plan and because He is able to work out everything exactly as He had purposed.”
In the next lesson we’ll look at the phrase in verse 6, “It is done!” I’ll try to summarize just what was done.