Bible Commentaries
Revelation 21

Verses 1-27

I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away ( Revelation 21:1 );

Now, we are beyond the thousand years. The first heaven is passed away. Peter tells us it passes away with a great noise with a fervent heat as the elements are dissolved.

Now, God spoke the universe into existence. And in speaking it into existence, He spoke into existence a scientific puzzle. For in speaking matter into existence, He brought the protons and electrons and assembled them together. And in creating the atoms, and bringing into the heart of the atom, the protons tightly knit together in the nucleus of the atom, He violated the law of electricity, Collins Law, which speaks of the repelling force of positive charges. Positive poles repel. Try to put them together and they will fight each other. There is a repelling force of positive charges, tremendously powerful repelling force.

The atom bomb illustrates to us the true nature of an atom. For what is happening is the nucleus of an atom is bombarded with slow moving neutrons that upset the delicate balance of the protons in the heart of the atom and it releases them. As it releases them, you have this tremendous release of energy and power and you see the tremendous power released when protons within an atom are set free. It is an equivalent power that holds them together. It takes an equivalent power to hold the nucleus of an atom together that is released when the nucleus is unbalanced.

Now, God who holds together the universe by the word of His power, and we are told this in the scripture; He created it by the word of His power and by Him all things are held together. All He is going to do is relax and let it go, and the whole material universe will go up in one gigantic puff. The elements will be dissolved and melted with a fervent heat. The heavens will be on fire. The whole material universe following the natural laws with the protons repelling each other, and this whole material universe will go out of existence in a moment's time.

And then God said, "Behold, I create all things new," Isaiah sixty-six. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and the former will not be remembered or brought into mind. We are not going to sit around after that age and say, "Remember down on earth we used to". God is just going to excise from our brain all those DNA molecules that hold those memory stores and banks and it will be gone, not be remembered or brought into mind.

the first earth and the first heaven passed away; no more sea ( Revelation 21:1 ).

To bad surfers, but I am sure God will have something quite superior.

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

Now, this new earth will be orbited by the New Jerusalem. I believe the New Jerusalem will actually be an orbit around the new earth. It will be approximately the size of the moon. It will be cubed however rather than round and it will be fourteen hundred miles cubed.

Now, if we lived dimensionally at that time, you know we live on the surface of the earth, but if you had a cube and we lived dimensionally, it is interesting to get out your pencil and notepad and figure how many square miles you could get in a cube that was fourteen hundred miles in each direction. You would be amazed what fourteen hundred cubed becomes. Needless to say, you could all have a square mile and if we need more space what you do is just move your ceiling down to a half-mile and you double again the capacity.

And I heard the great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, [God is now going to dwell in the midst among His people.] they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. He will wipe away all their tears; 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 ( Revelation 21:3-4 ).

No physical infirmities, no weaknesses, no tiredness, and no weariness.

And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful ( Revelation 21:5 ).

It sounds like a dream, doesn't it? It sounds like a fairy tale. It sounds too good to be true. And because it is really just so good, that it is hard for us to conceive it so the Lord puts this special little "write these things because these sayings are faithful and true." God attests now to the truth of what He is declaring. You can believe it. You can trust it.

And he said unto me, It is finished. I am Alpha and Omega ( Revelation 21:6 ),

Jesus is called the author and the finisher of our faith, the beginning and the end.

I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of water of life freely ( Revelation 21:6 ).

Jesus, that day on the temple mount, cried, "If any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink." To the woman at the well He said, "If you drink of this water, you will thirst again, if you drink of the water that I give you will never thirst again"( John 4:13-14 ). And once again the invitation for those that are thirsty, "He will give the fountains of living water freely."

He that overcometh shall inherit all things ( Revelation 21:7 )

"Come ye blessed of the Father inherit," Jesus said, "the things that were prepared for you from the foundations of the earth"( Matthew 25:34 ). We are told about the glorious inheritance of the saints in light. That inheritance that has- "If we are sons of God then we are heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ"( Romans 8:17 ). We are going to inherit the whole new universe that God creates. It is all ours to enjoy to the fullest with Him.

And I will be his God, and he will be my son ( Revelation 21:7 ).

Beloved now are we the sons of God. What a privilege and what a blessing.

But outside the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, the drug abusers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. [We've already looked at that] And there came unto me one of the seven angels ( Revelation 21:8-9 )

Now, these are the angels that had those seven final vials. One of them showed him the destruction of the religious Babylon system in chapter seventeen. Now again one of the seven angels,

which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, came and talked with me, saying, Come over here, and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife. And so he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal ( Revelation 21:9-11 );

So you see how light refracts in a crystal and the brilliance or in a diamond the refraction of light, the glorious colors that are coming forth from the new Jerusalem as it descends out of heaven to take its place of orbit around the new earth.

And had a wall great and high, twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel ( Revelation 21:12 ):

So, the company includes those believers of the Old Testament time, Abraham and all of those who God imputed righteousness through their faith, but also the foundations with the names of the apostles representing the church.

three gates on the north; three on the south; three on the east; three on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and those are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city is foursquare [it is squared], and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs [fourteen hundred miles approximately]. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. [So it is a square] And he measured the wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man ( Revelation 21:13-17 ),

A cubit is about eighteen inches, so the height of the wall is about two hundred feet or so.

And the building of the wall was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second was sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gates was one pearl [or one huge pearl at each gate]: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass ( Revelation 21:18-21 ).

I think that God is doing that to show us that the value system is totally different in heaven as it is here. That which we highly prize and value that men will lie for, kill for and steal for will have no value up there. It is just asphalt.

And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it ( Revelation 21:22 ).

No need of a temple because we meet God everywhere now. He is dwelling with His people. You need no meeting place where you go to meet God. He is dwelling amongst His people.

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof ( Revelation 21:23 ).

The glorious incandescent light, of the Shekinah of God, the glory of God.

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defiles, or whatsoever works abomination, or a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life ( Revelation 21:24-27 ).

So, there will be limited access.

Now, perhaps God is going to create another new order upon the earth, the new earth. It is very possible. You can't limit God. There is no real proof that man is the first order that God created upon the earth here. Adam is the first of the Homosapiens after His type, but what kind of persons or beings or intelligent beings did God create before man? Who knows? And what kind God may create after us, who knows? God has got a lot of secrets that He hasn't told us yet. And it is going to be a glorious time in history discovering the mysteries of God, that is, the truths that have not yet been revealed.

Now, the church was a mystery. God didn't reveal the truth of the church until the New Testament times. And Paul said, "that He has hid these things from the Old Testament prophets, but now He has revealed them unto us"( Colossians 1:26 ), the mystery of the church.

So, there are glorious things. There are nations and the access though to this heavenly city will be the kings. We will reign with Him as kings, bringing the glory of the nations unto him. So, just what kind of order, or whatever, is only speculation and as such worthless, but it will be interesting when we get there and find out. I'm not going to add to it.

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