Study No. 21
The New Earth and
the Heavenly City
Rev. 21
In the previous study we learned about the millennial reign of Jesus on this earth. We noted that there are several categories of people who will be present for the entire 1000 year period.
Of those born during this time, they will have the first 100 years to put their trust in Jesus. If they fail to do that … they are accursed forever4.
Why would anyone NOT receive Christ as Saviour? Jesus is ruling from Jerusalem ... not in His human form, but in a body that can appear anywhere, instantly. All of those who were raptured at the last trumpet blast also have glorified bodies and have been given the responsibility to rule with Jesus on this earth. As they mix with people all over this earth, how could anyone remain an unbeliever? And yet, sadly we discover that the number of those who do NOT receive Christ during the thousand year reign will be as numerous as the sand of the sea.
At the end of the thousand years Satan is released from the bottomless pit (along with all of his forces – the demons) and gathers up an incredibly large multitude of unsaved humans, surrounds the city from which Jesus has been ruling, and attempts one last time to defeat Him. Fire falls from heaven and kills everyone and Satan and his demons are cast into the lake of fire.
The Beast and the False prophet were the first ones to be banished to the Lake of Fire one thousand years earlier, and now they are suddenly accompanied by Satan and thousands of demons.
Those killed are not dead for very long as immediately following this battle, John sees the white throne in heaven. God is seated on it. This is called the Great White Throne Judgment. (This is the second great judgment. The first one, a thousand years earlier, was called The Judgment Seat of Christ.5)
Who will appear before God to be judged?
1. The unsaved dead who have just been killed as fire came down out of heaven
2. The unsaved dead of all ages, dating back to Adam's time.
3. Everyone else who has not yet been judged1. This would include all of the believers who
a) entered the millennium as mortals and then became believers
b)Were born during the millennium and became believers.
Following the judgment, these believers would obviously need to be 'translated' into their new eternal
bodies in order to dwell in the heavenly city that we are now going to read about.
We begin with 21:1
John sees a new heaven and a new earth. He says the old 'heaven' and earth are passed away. This agrees with what Peter says.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
In this verse Peter seems to group two events together: (1) Jesus coming like a thief in the night, and (2) the destruction of this planet.
In this study we have discovered that the first event is mentioned as having happened in chapter 16 and verse 15: There we read
Re 16:15 "Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame."16 He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo.:17 ¶ The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"
Very clearly we read that Jesus comes as a thief in the night immediately before bowl number seven of God's wrath gets poured on the earth. This is before the millennial reign and we read nothing about the earth being dissolved by intense heat. And yet that is what Peter includes in the verse we just read. So the (2) second thing that Peter describes ... the burning up of this planet, is one thousand years after the 'thief coming' of Jesus. Why does Peter say it all happens in 'the day of the Lord'? Peter gives us the 'key' two verses earlier where he says that time is different with God. He tells us that with God, one day is a thousand years long. With this explanation we see that Jesus comes as a thief at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day He burns up the planet.
Why does Jesus destroy this earth? There is a growing number of bible teachers are thinking that this planet will survive and exist for eternity. I have to admit, with God in charge, it most certainly could. But when we take scripture literally wherever possible, we discover that God has something far bigger and better in mind.
The writer of Hebrews adds this:
Heb 1:10 And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment;
12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."
The picture is simple and clear. God says that the earth will be replaced in much the same way as an old garment is discarded and replaced by a new and better one.
This 'New Earth' does not have a sea. John sees it in a vision, but this give us no indication if it is even in the same universe. He sees the holy city descending onto this new earth. (There will be more about the city, its dimensions, inhabitants etc. in the next study.)
In our limited understanding we might question how a planet could exist without a sea. But we need to remember, there will be no mortals there. Everyone will have an eternal and immortal body. Technically there will be no need for food. Our ocean system cleanses this planet. God, in His wisdom, created earth with a sea, even though the earth had not yet suffered the curse. It was not until Adam brought on the curse that death began to occur. The need for a 'cleansing system' began with the defiling of the planet. The new earth will need none of that.
Verse 3 ... and they shall be my people is a phrase that appears almost a dozen times in scripture, particularly in the Old Testament.
4. Wipe away every tear ... Can you imagine heaven or eternity if God did not do this? There is no scripture that I can think of to back this up, but I believe that 'our' tears, that is, believers on 'this side' of the rapture will have their tears wiped away sometime just after our judgment. That would be a thousand years earlier than what we are reading in this chapter.
So, if not ours, whose tears are being wiped away? The believers who have just come up out of the millennial reign, been judged and now changed into immortal beings are the ones who are having their sorrows erased. Imagine with me the very greatest of sorrows ... knowing that one or your loved ones, one or more of your children ... did not make it. Knowing where they will spend eternity. I don't think we could stand it unless God did something to our minds.
Thousands upon thousands of people died at the end of the Millennial Reign. All of them ... were somebodies kid. God does His incredibly special work on their heart and mind so that they can enter eternity in joy.
v8 The 'residents' of the Lake of Fire. I would like to believe that they would just be 'burned up'. Some scriptures use language that even leads us to believe that. But other very explicit scriptures indicate that their existence continues.
A big IF. If death means unconsciousness... if death literally is like this verse Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Then imagine the surprise ... an unconscious being is suddenly brought to life ... finds himself in front of the judge who is looking for his name in a book ... it isn't there. Then zap! ... he is back into unconsciousness. That does not even make sense. The above verse has been used to support 'soul-sleeping' or non-conscious existence ... or even as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach ... non-existence. Since so many other scriptures indicate a conscious afterlife, we need to be careful not to 'array one scripture against another.' God's word does not contradict itself. Therefore we have only one choice when it comes to the Ecclesiastes verses: The author is writing from OUR perspective. When WE look at a 'sleeping' corpse we would observe, and perhaps say, that it has no idea of anything around it. It's appearance as 'sleeping' is what we see. That is why we use the term ... sleeping in Jesus. Because that is all that WE can see. We cannot see behind the veil. The only glimpses we get are what we have already read in Revelation.
Look at the list of 'residents' v8.
Number one on the list – 'the cowardly'
Number two: the unbelieving
Numbers three to eight: various types of heinous sinners.
When I first read this 'list', a big question came up in my mind. You probably are wondering the same thing. Here it is ... since we are saved or lost based on whether we believe or not ... why is there a list that has belief (WHICH WE THINK IS THE MAIN THING) as number two ... and why is there a list of sinners, anyway? It ought only to indicate whether or not one was believer. The verse could read, "But the unbelieving, - - - - - - - - shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Here is my take on it. The first word, cowardly ... (the old King James said, 'fearful') only makes sense if it has something to do with belief. If we remove the word altogether we start the list with ... But the unbelieving ... and then it makes sense. All the rest of the sinners mentioned would all fall under the heading of unbelievers or rejectors2. Therefore, cowardly can only have one meaning. It has to stand for all people who did not openly say ... “I just don't believe all that Jesus stuff”. They said, perhaps to themselves, “I don't say there is no God. I don't say there is nothing to it all. But I can't bring myself to say that I believe in Him, I can't bring myself to trust Him or to believe that everything in scripture about Jesus is all true.”
These are people who for one reason or another are 'afraid' to say there is no God ... he might just zap them. And they are afraid to say that there is, because then they would need to make a change in their lives. They think they will be OK because they did not openly reject Jesus. This verse states otherwise. This is all the more reason to warn our relatives, friends, neighbors and others.
The old hymn says, Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face!
The Bride – The City.
An angel ... it just happens to be the same one who was in responsible for the seven bowls of God's wrath being dumped onto the unbelievers in the world ... poured onto them in a last attempt to bring them to their knees in repentance. The will of God is that NO ONE should be lost, and the ALL would come to Him in repentance3.
John now finds himself transported up to the top of a very high mountain. From the sound of it, this mountain would be on the New Earth. What an amazing sight to witness! The Holy city, literally descending.
The angel had said, “I will show you the bride ... the Lamb's wife. In Ephesians 5:25-32 the Apostle Paul talks about husband and wife relationships. He urges that the attitude of a husband toward his wife should become like that of Christ to His church.
John expected to see the bride ... but what he sees is a city, the bride's dwelling place.
Who is the bride, exactly? Christians? Church-going Christians? What about Godly believers from the Old Testament. They are not called Christians simply because Christ had not yet come to earth. What about them? Are they to be included in the bride?
You will discover, if you do much research, that 'dispensationalists' generally agree that Israel and the church will remain forever separate.
(A dispensationalist teaches that God has defined a number of separate ages throughout history. They say we are living in the church age. They also say that the Age of Law was never quite completed and, for that reason, God will go back to it for the seven tribulation years. Because they strongly believe that the various age periods do not mix, they teach that the church will be (must be) gone before the age of Law can be completed. Most pre-Tribulationists are dispensationalists also.)
In their writings you will see their claim that this city contains only Christians of the New Testament times. That is, the age from the Day of Pentecost to the rapture ... only. They go as far as to say, the church is the bride of Christ, Israel is the bride of the Father. Quite a 'stretch' I would say. As a 'non-dispensationalist ... or a very modified one, I appreciate that the scriptures tell us about the revealing of The Great Mystery ... Both Jews and Gentiles will eventually end up together as one body4. Re 10:7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets ...Something happened at the last trumpet sound! The mystery (that Jews and Gentiles would be merged into one body) was now complete! God has just used the seven year tribulation period to completely join the Jews and Gentiles into one body.
Here is an interesting scripture on which I have not heard a dispensationalist ever offer a comment: These verses are taken from Hebrews 11.
Heb 11:9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise
Heb 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
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Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
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Heb 11:16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
The writer is telling us in these verses that men and women of faith in the old testament, looked for, expected, and will be given a city to live in ... a city built by God.
So either there are two heavenly cities ... one for Old Testament believers, and one for the New Testament 'bride' ... or there is only one heavenly city, inhabited by the bride which is to be composed of both Jew and Gentile believers from the beginning of time.
The City Described
Johns sees a light emanating from this huge city. The color of the light is Jasper – Red, yellow and brown. Often rather dull. In this case we are told that it is brilliant and clear as crystal. Probably a mixture of colour ... very obviously attractive and beautiful to John.
A wall surrounds the city. Why? Is that not reminiscent of the cities of the Old Testament times? A little more about this in the next study. The wall is about 180 to 216 feet high.
The wall and the city are square; each side being equal in length. Each of the four segments of wall has three gates. Each gate has an angel posted at it and each gate has written on it the name of one of the tribes of Israel.
The city has foundations. Twelve of them. I am not certain what that looks like. Three large segments of foundation at each side? Or twelve layers of foundation under the entire city? Each foundation has written on it the name an apostle.
By the way, there were twelve apostles. Judas disqualified himself, so then there were only eleven. Then Matthias is chosen, so there were twelve again. Then Paul comes along, calling himself an apostle born late. Is he the thirteenth? Or did the church (Peter) do the wrong thing by choosing Matthias? Is Paul actually number twelve? I expect to see Paul's name on one the foundations.
So names of the 12 tribes are posted on the gates, names of the 12 apostles are written on the foundations ... this is a clear indication that both Jewish and Gentile believers have access to the city.
The City's dimensions. Verses 15-17
The city is 1500 MILES wide and long. But not only that ... it is 1500 MILES high! Because of the immense size some commentators have said this is obviously symbolic and merely means that it will hold us all. They say it is symbolic because they are thinking that it will be on this planet.
If it were on this planet and stuck up 1500 miles, it would reach out into space, far above the atmosphere.
Satellites fly at about 200 miles up. This planet would be totally lopsided if it were to take on the heavenly city.
There are others who understand that this city would be far to big to settle on this earth, so they have come up with another option: and that is that the city does not actually come all the way down ... but is sort of suspended in the air and the earth just kind of rotates under it. The Seventh day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses believe that is the way it will be. They believe that this planet gets renovated and becomes the New Earth for eternity. But they are not the only ones who are teaching this.
There seems to be a wave of change passing through the teachings of prominent Bible teachers. Dr. David Jeremiah says the following: “God is not creating a whole new earth from scratch like He did in Genesis. He's renovating His creation and removing all the evidences of sin, decay, and disease. The earth will not be new in quantity but in quality-perfectly refurbished to its core.”5
But John saw a NEW earth. Imagine a planet so huge that a 1500 mile-high-city looks 'just right' in proportion to the rest of it. What about the tremendous gravity of such a planet? We, in our eternal bodies will not be subject to gravity.
John adds detail:
The colors of the wall and the city:
Verse 18,the city was pure translucent gold.
Verse 21, the streets are pure gold.
Verse 22, There is no temple there. The reason given? The Lord is the temple. This new planet does not have a sun. God illuminates the new earth with a constant light.
John describes some of the activity on this new earth. 24-27.
The gates are never closed. But there are angels posted there for some reason. The nations of saved people have kings. The kings enter the city carrying with them 'the glory and honor of the nations'. So we come to understand that the city is not the present heaven where God dwells at this time.
In this New Earth, eternity is spent by people living and interacting over the entire new earth. There will be those who are 'kings'. We are not told why only some are kings. But perhaps these scriptures help a bit.
Romans 8:17 ¶ and if children, then heirs——heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Matthew 19:28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
From verses such as the ones cited above, we get the sense that:.
1. Salvation means eternal life and we get that simply by confessing our sin and believing in Jesus as the One who took our place on the cross.
2. Ruling with Christ means we have been judged faithful in our service to Him and the suffering which we endured for His sake, qualifying us to be given the greater responsibility of ruling with Him. This thought agrees with the words of Jesus;
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Mt 25:21
Or the words of Paul, if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 2Ti 2:12
Lets's make it our aim to not be satisfied with having our name in the Book of Life ... only. As wonderful as that is, God wants to honor us for giving faithful service to Him, by having us rule and reign with Him.
1Heb 9:27
2In the book of Genesis we have the account of Cain killing his brother, and then of God confronting Cain with his sin. We read that Cain rejected God's offer of mercy and went away angry. Cain was a believer. But not all believers are saved ... only repentant and sin confessing believers.
32Pe 3:9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
4Ephesians 3:6
5 https://davidjeremiah.blog/eleven-questions-youve-always-wondered-about-the-end-times/
- A remnant of Jews who would not submit to or accept the Antichrist as their Messiah and had to run for their lives. They are miraculously protected for the last 3 ½ years of the tribulation. They are, as yet, ‘unsaved’. They have not received Jesus as Lord and Saviour. But God has a place of protection for them. Because they are unsaved, obviously they ‘miss’ the rapture which happens at the final trumpet (Trumpet1 number 7) So, while believers are up in heaven for the judgment seat of Christ and for the marriage supper of the Lamb, this remnant of Israel is still protected somewhere on earth. Then Jesus returns with all of His children and with His angels … and these Jews see that Jesus is their Messiah and they believe in him2. They are now God’s children and enter the millennium, but in their natural bodies. They live for a thousand years. Their families multiply greatly.
- Of the nations who came against Jesus at the very end, some have not been killed during the battle of Armageddon. Why? Likely because they were not there at the time. These would be the mothers and grandparents who did not go to war. These would be the children and youths who were too young to go to war.
- Believers of all ages will be there. They have been resurrected to immortality. Add to this number those who were alive at the second coming and were ‘translated’ at the rapture3. They are ruling and reigning with Christ for a thousand years. Are they visible to the mortals? I have no idea. The scripture says, Beloved, now we are children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. 1John 3:2 After Jesus rose from the dead he had His ‘new’ body. In that body he appeared and disappeared at will. He even walked through walls. The glorified believers will be just like Him and may have the same abilities.
Of those born during this time, they will have the first 100 years to put their trust in Jesus. If they fail to do that … they are accursed forever4.
Why would anyone NOT receive Christ as Saviour? Jesus is ruling from Jerusalem ... not in His human form, but in a body that can appear anywhere, instantly. All of those who were raptured at the last trumpet blast also have glorified bodies and have been given the responsibility to rule with Jesus on this earth. As they mix with people all over this earth, how could anyone remain an unbeliever? And yet, sadly we discover that the number of those who do NOT receive Christ during the thousand year reign will be as numerous as the sand of the sea.
At the end of the thousand years Satan is released from the bottomless pit (along with all of his forces – the demons) and gathers up an incredibly large multitude of unsaved humans, surrounds the city from which Jesus has been ruling, and attempts one last time to defeat Him. Fire falls from heaven and kills everyone and Satan and his demons are cast into the lake of fire.
The Beast and the False prophet were the first ones to be banished to the Lake of Fire one thousand years earlier, and now they are suddenly accompanied by Satan and thousands of demons.
Those killed are not dead for very long as immediately following this battle, John sees the white throne in heaven. God is seated on it. This is called the Great White Throne Judgment. (This is the second great judgment. The first one, a thousand years earlier, was called The Judgment Seat of Christ.5)
Who will appear before God to be judged?
1. The unsaved dead who have just been killed as fire came down out of heaven
2. The unsaved dead of all ages, dating back to Adam's time.
3. Everyone else who has not yet been judged1. This would include all of the believers who
a) entered the millennium as mortals and then became believers
b)Were born during the millennium and became believers.
Following the judgment, these believers would obviously need to be 'translated' into their new eternal
bodies in order to dwell in the heavenly city that we are now going to read about.
We begin with 21:1
John sees a new heaven and a new earth. He says the old 'heaven' and earth are passed away. This agrees with what Peter says.
2Pe 3:10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up.
In this verse Peter seems to group two events together: (1) Jesus coming like a thief in the night, and (2) the destruction of this planet.
In this study we have discovered that the first event is mentioned as having happened in chapter 16 and verse 15: There we read
Re 16:15 "Behold, I come like a thief. Blessed is he who watches, and keeps his clothes, so that he doesn’t walk naked, and they see his shame."16 He gathered them together into the place which is called in Hebrew, Megiddo.:17 ¶ The seventh poured out his bowl into the air. A loud voice came forth out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, "It is done!"
Very clearly we read that Jesus comes as a thief in the night immediately before bowl number seven of God's wrath gets poured on the earth. This is before the millennial reign and we read nothing about the earth being dissolved by intense heat. And yet that is what Peter includes in the verse we just read. So the (2) second thing that Peter describes ... the burning up of this planet, is one thousand years after the 'thief coming' of Jesus. Why does Peter say it all happens in 'the day of the Lord'? Peter gives us the 'key' two verses earlier where he says that time is different with God. He tells us that with God, one day is a thousand years long. With this explanation we see that Jesus comes as a thief at the beginning of the day and at the end of the day He burns up the planet.
Why does Jesus destroy this earth? There is a growing number of bible teachers are thinking that this planet will survive and exist for eternity. I have to admit, with God in charge, it most certainly could. But when we take scripture literally wherever possible, we discover that God has something far bigger and better in mind.
The writer of Hebrews adds this:
Heb 1:10 And: "You, LORD, in the beginning laid the foundation of the earth, And the heavens are the work of Your hands. 11 They will perish, but You remain; And they will all grow old like a garment;
12 Like a cloak You will fold them up, And they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."
The picture is simple and clear. God says that the earth will be replaced in much the same way as an old garment is discarded and replaced by a new and better one.
This 'New Earth' does not have a sea. John sees it in a vision, but this give us no indication if it is even in the same universe. He sees the holy city descending onto this new earth. (There will be more about the city, its dimensions, inhabitants etc. in the next study.)
In our limited understanding we might question how a planet could exist without a sea. But we need to remember, there will be no mortals there. Everyone will have an eternal and immortal body. Technically there will be no need for food. Our ocean system cleanses this planet. God, in His wisdom, created earth with a sea, even though the earth had not yet suffered the curse. It was not until Adam brought on the curse that death began to occur. The need for a 'cleansing system' began with the defiling of the planet. The new earth will need none of that.
Verse 3 ... and they shall be my people is a phrase that appears almost a dozen times in scripture, particularly in the Old Testament.
4. Wipe away every tear ... Can you imagine heaven or eternity if God did not do this? There is no scripture that I can think of to back this up, but I believe that 'our' tears, that is, believers on 'this side' of the rapture will have their tears wiped away sometime just after our judgment. That would be a thousand years earlier than what we are reading in this chapter.
So, if not ours, whose tears are being wiped away? The believers who have just come up out of the millennial reign, been judged and now changed into immortal beings are the ones who are having their sorrows erased. Imagine with me the very greatest of sorrows ... knowing that one or your loved ones, one or more of your children ... did not make it. Knowing where they will spend eternity. I don't think we could stand it unless God did something to our minds.
Thousands upon thousands of people died at the end of the Millennial Reign. All of them ... were somebodies kid. God does His incredibly special work on their heart and mind so that they can enter eternity in joy.
v8 The 'residents' of the Lake of Fire. I would like to believe that they would just be 'burned up'. Some scriptures use language that even leads us to believe that. But other very explicit scriptures indicate that their existence continues.
A big IF. If death means unconsciousness... if death literally is like this verse Ecclesiastes 9:5 For the living know that they will die; But the dead know nothing, And they have no more reward, For the memory of them is forgotten. Then imagine the surprise ... an unconscious being is suddenly brought to life ... finds himself in front of the judge who is looking for his name in a book ... it isn't there. Then zap! ... he is back into unconsciousness. That does not even make sense. The above verse has been used to support 'soul-sleeping' or non-conscious existence ... or even as the Jehovah's Witnesses teach ... non-existence. Since so many other scriptures indicate a conscious afterlife, we need to be careful not to 'array one scripture against another.' God's word does not contradict itself. Therefore we have only one choice when it comes to the Ecclesiastes verses: The author is writing from OUR perspective. When WE look at a 'sleeping' corpse we would observe, and perhaps say, that it has no idea of anything around it. It's appearance as 'sleeping' is what we see. That is why we use the term ... sleeping in Jesus. Because that is all that WE can see. We cannot see behind the veil. The only glimpses we get are what we have already read in Revelation.
Look at the list of 'residents' v8.
Number one on the list – 'the cowardly'
Number two: the unbelieving
Numbers three to eight: various types of heinous sinners.
When I first read this 'list', a big question came up in my mind. You probably are wondering the same thing. Here it is ... since we are saved or lost based on whether we believe or not ... why is there a list that has belief (WHICH WE THINK IS THE MAIN THING) as number two ... and why is there a list of sinners, anyway? It ought only to indicate whether or not one was believer. The verse could read, "But the unbelieving, - - - - - - - - shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
Here is my take on it. The first word, cowardly ... (the old King James said, 'fearful') only makes sense if it has something to do with belief. If we remove the word altogether we start the list with ... But the unbelieving ... and then it makes sense. All the rest of the sinners mentioned would all fall under the heading of unbelievers or rejectors2. Therefore, cowardly can only have one meaning. It has to stand for all people who did not openly say ... “I just don't believe all that Jesus stuff”. They said, perhaps to themselves, “I don't say there is no God. I don't say there is nothing to it all. But I can't bring myself to say that I believe in Him, I can't bring myself to trust Him or to believe that everything in scripture about Jesus is all true.”
These are people who for one reason or another are 'afraid' to say there is no God ... he might just zap them. And they are afraid to say that there is, because then they would need to make a change in their lives. They think they will be OK because they did not openly reject Jesus. This verse states otherwise. This is all the more reason to warn our relatives, friends, neighbors and others.
The old hymn says, Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face!
The Bride – The City.
An angel ... it just happens to be the same one who was in responsible for the seven bowls of God's wrath being dumped onto the unbelievers in the world ... poured onto them in a last attempt to bring them to their knees in repentance. The will of God is that NO ONE should be lost, and the ALL would come to Him in repentance3.
John now finds himself transported up to the top of a very high mountain. From the sound of it, this mountain would be on the New Earth. What an amazing sight to witness! The Holy city, literally descending.
The angel had said, “I will show you the bride ... the Lamb's wife. In Ephesians 5:25-32 the Apostle Paul talks about husband and wife relationships. He urges that the attitude of a husband toward his wife should become like that of Christ to His church.
John expected to see the bride ... but what he sees is a city, the bride's dwelling place.
Who is the bride, exactly? Christians? Church-going Christians? What about Godly believers from the Old Testament. They are not called Christians simply because Christ had not yet come to earth. What about them? Are they to be included in the bride?
You will discover, if you do much research, that 'dispensationalists' generally agree that Israel and the church will remain forever separate.
(A dispensationalist teaches that God has defined a number of separate ages throughout history. They say we are living in the church age. They also say that the Age of Law was never quite completed and, for that reason, God will go back to it for the seven tribulation years. Because they strongly believe that the various age periods do not mix, they teach that the church will be (must be) gone before the age of Law can be completed. Most pre-Tribulationists are dispensationalists also.)
In their writings you will see their claim that this city contains only Christians of the New Testament times. That is, the age from the Day of Pentecost to the rapture ... only. They go as far as to say, the church is the bride of Christ, Israel is the bride of the Father. Quite a 'stretch' I would say. As a 'non-dispensationalist ... or a very modified one, I appreciate that the scriptures tell us about the revealing of The Great Mystery ... Both Jews and Gentiles will eventually end up together as one body4. Re 10:7 but in the days of the sounding of the seventh angel, when he is about to sound, the mystery of God would be finished, as He declared to His servants the prophets ...Something happened at the last trumpet sound! The mystery (that Jews and Gentiles would be merged into one body) was now complete! God has just used the seven year tribulation period to completely join the Jews and Gentiles into one body.
Here is an interesting scripture on which I have not heard a dispensationalist ever offer a comment: These verses are taken from Hebrews 11.
Heb 11:9 By faith he went to live in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, heirs with him of the same promise
Heb 11:10 For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.
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Heb 11:13 These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.
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Heb 11:16 But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared for them a city.
The writer is telling us in these verses that men and women of faith in the old testament, looked for, expected, and will be given a city to live in ... a city built by God.
So either there are two heavenly cities ... one for Old Testament believers, and one for the New Testament 'bride' ... or there is only one heavenly city, inhabited by the bride which is to be composed of both Jew and Gentile believers from the beginning of time.
The City Described
Johns sees a light emanating from this huge city. The color of the light is Jasper – Red, yellow and brown. Often rather dull. In this case we are told that it is brilliant and clear as crystal. Probably a mixture of colour ... very obviously attractive and beautiful to John.
A wall surrounds the city. Why? Is that not reminiscent of the cities of the Old Testament times? A little more about this in the next study. The wall is about 180 to 216 feet high.
The wall and the city are square; each side being equal in length. Each of the four segments of wall has three gates. Each gate has an angel posted at it and each gate has written on it the name of one of the tribes of Israel.
The city has foundations. Twelve of them. I am not certain what that looks like. Three large segments of foundation at each side? Or twelve layers of foundation under the entire city? Each foundation has written on it the name an apostle.
By the way, there were twelve apostles. Judas disqualified himself, so then there were only eleven. Then Matthias is chosen, so there were twelve again. Then Paul comes along, calling himself an apostle born late. Is he the thirteenth? Or did the church (Peter) do the wrong thing by choosing Matthias? Is Paul actually number twelve? I expect to see Paul's name on one the foundations.
So names of the 12 tribes are posted on the gates, names of the 12 apostles are written on the foundations ... this is a clear indication that both Jewish and Gentile believers have access to the city.
The City's dimensions. Verses 15-17
The city is 1500 MILES wide and long. But not only that ... it is 1500 MILES high! Because of the immense size some commentators have said this is obviously symbolic and merely means that it will hold us all. They say it is symbolic because they are thinking that it will be on this planet.
If it were on this planet and stuck up 1500 miles, it would reach out into space, far above the atmosphere.
Satellites fly at about 200 miles up. This planet would be totally lopsided if it were to take on the heavenly city.
There are others who understand that this city would be far to big to settle on this earth, so they have come up with another option: and that is that the city does not actually come all the way down ... but is sort of suspended in the air and the earth just kind of rotates under it. The Seventh day Adventists and Jehovah's Witnesses believe that is the way it will be. They believe that this planet gets renovated and becomes the New Earth for eternity. But they are not the only ones who are teaching this.
There seems to be a wave of change passing through the teachings of prominent Bible teachers. Dr. David Jeremiah says the following: “God is not creating a whole new earth from scratch like He did in Genesis. He's renovating His creation and removing all the evidences of sin, decay, and disease. The earth will not be new in quantity but in quality-perfectly refurbished to its core.”5
But John saw a NEW earth. Imagine a planet so huge that a 1500 mile-high-city looks 'just right' in proportion to the rest of it. What about the tremendous gravity of such a planet? We, in our eternal bodies will not be subject to gravity.
John adds detail:
The colors of the wall and the city:
Verse 18,the city was pure translucent gold.
Verse 21, the streets are pure gold.
Verse 22, There is no temple there. The reason given? The Lord is the temple. This new planet does not have a sun. God illuminates the new earth with a constant light.
John describes some of the activity on this new earth. 24-27.
The gates are never closed. But there are angels posted there for some reason. The nations of saved people have kings. The kings enter the city carrying with them 'the glory and honor of the nations'. So we come to understand that the city is not the present heaven where God dwells at this time.
In this New Earth, eternity is spent by people living and interacting over the entire new earth. There will be those who are 'kings'. We are not told why only some are kings. But perhaps these scriptures help a bit.
Romans 8:17 ¶ and if children, then heirs——heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
Matthew 19:28 So Jesus said to them, "Assuredly I say to you, that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory, you who have followed Me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
29 "And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or lands, for My name’s sake, shall receive a hundredfold, and inherit eternal life.
1 Corinthians 2:9 But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him."
James 1:12 Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him.
From verses such as the ones cited above, we get the sense that:.
1. Salvation means eternal life and we get that simply by confessing our sin and believing in Jesus as the One who took our place on the cross.
2. Ruling with Christ means we have been judged faithful in our service to Him and the suffering which we endured for His sake, qualifying us to be given the greater responsibility of ruling with Him. This thought agrees with the words of Jesus;
His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’ Mt 25:21
Or the words of Paul, if we endure, we will also reign with him; if we deny him, he also will deny us; 2Ti 2:12
Lets's make it our aim to not be satisfied with having our name in the Book of Life ... only. As wonderful as that is, God wants to honor us for giving faithful service to Him, by having us rule and reign with Him.
1Heb 9:27
2In the book of Genesis we have the account of Cain killing his brother, and then of God confronting Cain with his sin. We read that Cain rejected God's offer of mercy and went away angry. Cain was a believer. But not all believers are saved ... only repentant and sin confessing believers.
32Pe 3:9 ¶ The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.
4Ephesians 3:6
5 https://davidjeremiah.blog/eleven-questions-youve-always-wondered-about-the-end-times/