Revelation 21: New Earth and New Jerusalem

Revelation 21: New Earth and New Jerusalem

v1-8: New Heaven and New Earth

After the final judgement,  John saw a new heaven and a new earth, and that the existing ones have "passed away". (v1)  The "heaven" in Greek was Ouranos. It can be used to refer to three types of "heaven: - (a) the atmosphere (the blue sky), (b) outer space (night sky), and (c) Heaven, the place of God's throne. In this case it definitely refers to the sky, but perhaps also the outer space, the universe.  It does not refer to God's throne. Essentially a new universe is created, if it includes outer space.

Peter had prophesied that there will be a new heaven and a new earth, and describe what will happen to the existing environment: "Looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat… Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." (2 Peter 3:12-13)

God is erasing the old earth that had brought so much pain to Himself and to Mankind. He wants to start a new. At that time there will be no humans, they were either judged and went to the lake of fire, or the faithful ones were raptured before the earth was destroyed.

Then John saw a new Jerusalem, coming down from God's heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And a loud voice from the throne said "Behold the dwelling place of God is with man,,, they will be His people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there me mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore,  for the former things have passed away."  God is making all things new. (v3-5)

This is the ultimate purpose of God for creating us, to dwell with us. It reminds us of the Garden of Eden where God walks and talks with Adam and Eve, and that he did everything He can to dwell with the Israelites in the tabernacle. It was only when they failed to obey Him, that he gave His son as a sacrifice, just so that we can dwell together in the end. 

In v6, God said "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end," and that he will give the spring of water of life to those who are thirsty, without charge. And that He will be our God and we will be His son. (v7)  What a wonderful reminder of His love for us! It is a reminder of what Jesus's promise: “but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life” (John 4:14)

But for those who are cowardly, faithless, .... idolaters... their portion will be in the burning lake. (v8)

v9-27: The New Jerusalem

The angel with the seven bowls came and carried John away, in the Spirit, to a high mountain. where he saw the holy city of Jerusalem coming down from heaven. Though he called it a bride, it is really a beautiful city, radiant like the glory of God, like Jasper, and clear as crystal. (v9-11)

Here's are the description of New Jerusalem:

a) The City, the walls and the gates.  It is a cube with 12,000 stadia (about 2221 KM) in length, width and height. It was made with gold, like clear glass. There are walls around it, made of jasper. There are three gates on each side of the wall. The wall's thickness is 144 cubits, i.e. 64.8 meters. (John remarked that angels also use cubits for measurements as well.)  Each of the twelve gates have an angel greeting people going in and out of the city.  Each gate is inscribed with the tribe of the sons of Israel.  Each gate is made of a single pearl, and the streets are made of pure gold, like transparent glass. (v11-21)

New Jerusalem

Let's take a minute to consider the size of this New Jerusalem. The straight line distance between Singapore and Hanoi is 2204 KM, slightly shorter than each side of the city. Imagine a square being put between Singapore and Hanoi. Mount Everest is 8.85 KM high. The city is 249 times the height of Everest! Another way to look at this is that the International Space Station has a 400KM orbit around the earth. The height of the city is 5.5 times higher than ISS, and even higher than the satellites in low earth orbit. You practically need to take a rocket to go to the city roof!

Guzik commented: "Henry Morris, guessing that there will have been 100 billion people in the human race through history, and that 20% of them will be saved, calculated that each person would have a “block” with about 75 acres on each face to call their own. This is highly speculative, but illustrates the point that there is plenty of room in the New Jerusalem."  (75 acres is 303,514 meter squared)

Jesus was very serious when he told the disciples that he will go back to heaven to prepare their rooms!

b) The Foundation. The wall sits on twelve foundation, which was named by the twelve apostles of the Lord. (v14, 19, 20) The foundations were adorned with 12 jewels - jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx.  carnelian,  chrysolite,  beryl,  topaz,  chrysoprase,  jacinth,  amethyst. 

It makes sense to have the gates representing the Israelites, for Jesus came out from them, and the apostles represents the foundation, as they are the ones who carry the basis of salvation, which is the death and resurrection of Christ. 

c) No temples or sun.  John did not see any temple in it, as the temple is the Lord God and the Lamb. There is no sun as well, for the glory of God is the light, and the Lamb is the lamp and the nations will walk in the light. The gates are always open, and there are no night there, and through them the kings will bring in the glory and the honor from the nations. Nothing unclean nor anyone who does what is detestable or false will enter into the city, except those who are written in the Lamb's book of life. (v22-27)

There is no temple in the city, as there was no temple in the Garden of Eden. There is no longer any need to make sacrifices. It is always day time there - perhaps we do not need to sleep as well? 

In verse 24, it reads as "And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it"  (NKJ)  These people are those that had been raptured or resurrected into heaven. These includes ourselves. 

We can only agree with Henry Alford, who said: “Among the mysteries of this new heaven and earth this is set forth to us: that, besides the glorified church, there shall still be dwelling on the renewed earth nations, organized by kings, and saved by means of the influences of the heavenly city.”  

When John spoke about people who are detestable, he did not mean it literally, and all these humans no longer exist. What he meant is that if you want to enter into the city, you need to believe and be faithful to Jesus Christ now.