Bible Commentaries
Revelation 21

Verses 1-5

XXII

THE FUTURE ETERNAL STATE OF THE RIGHTEOUS AND WICKED

Revelation 21:1-22:5

I want to say, as impressively as I know how to say it, that the reason Christian people are no happier than they are, the reason they have so little power, is that they have such a misty conception of heaven, of the world to come. And whatever is misty, is painful. It is only those who, with a clear understanding of God’s word as to the outcome of human life, those who by faith see eternal things, and feel the powers of the world to come, who can make any lasting impression for good in this world. I do not care how much learning a preacher may have, if he has not a clear conception of heaven and its eternity, of hell and its eternity, he cannot be a man of spiritual power. I wish I could make everybody feel on this subject as I feel, and not occasionally only, but all the time. So far as I am concerned, the question of the death of the body does not concern me in the least, and it has not for a great many years. All the time before me is the glorious light and the blessed state of the world to come. I have never gotten away from the influence of my first apprehension of it.

With reference to the world to come, you understand that heaven is a place) "I go to prepare a place for you," and hell is a place. All finite beings must be posited; they must have locality. Only the Infinite One can be everywhere, but all finite beings must always be somewhere. I want you to get clearly in your mind the idea of a place, then of the condition of that place, then of the companionship of that place, then of the eternity of that condition, place, and companionship.

1. What is meant by a new heaven and a new earth?

ANSWER. – Before answering this question we must determine the meaning of certain words and statements. First, the word "new." There are two Greek words that may be rendered into the English "new": one neos, which simply means new in appearance ; the other is kainos, and that means new in kind. It is kainos, or new in kind, that is employed here, and that you may get the true conception of the word, I will quote it as it is elsewhere used in some of the passages of the New Testament. For instance, our Lord said: "The instructed scribe shall bring forth out of his treasure things new and old"; there is the new contrasted with the old (Matthew 13:52). The Lord said: "This cup is the new covenant in my blood." (Luke 22:20.) There is not only a difference between the old and new covenant in appearance, but there is a difference in kind. Jesus was buried in a new tomb (kainos), as distinguished from an old sepulchre, which had been used for a place of burial.

The next word that we need to understand is the word "regeneration." When it is applied to conversion it means a new birth. You were once born according to the flesh, but now you are born according to the spirit. This word "regeneration" (Greek palingenesia) applied to the spiritual birth in Titus 3:5, is thus used in Matthew: "You who have followed me, shall in the regeneration sit on twelve thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel." This regeneration does not refer to man, but to the earth. This regeneration of the earth is accomplished by the worldwide fire, as the new earth occupied by Noah was accomplished by the worldwide flood. It is to this event that Paul refers in Romans 8:

The creation was made subject to vanity, not of its own will, but by reason of him who subjected it, in hope that creation itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the liberty of glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. And not only so, but ourselves also, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for our adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. – Romans 8:20-23.

Now, at the resurrection of the dead there will be a new birth of the earth – a birth that comes by fire.

The next word is apokatastaseos, and it means "restoration." Peter says to the Jews: "Repent that your sins may be blotted out, and so that the times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send Jesus, whom the heavens must receive until the time of apokatastaseos, the restoration of all things." Whatever, then, this word kainos (new), and this word palingenesia (regeneration), and this word apokatastaseos (restoration) mean, they describe the earth and the heaven after the resurrection.

It will be recalled that in bringing the earth material out of chaos, the firmament, or atmosphere, was created – that is, the heavens in the ordinary sense; the sky above us – and that atmosphere by its specific gravity, its weight, separated the waters above from the waters below. That is, the waters converted into vapours until lighter than air would go up, but when in clouds it became heavier than air, it would be precipitated to the earth again in fog, rain, hail, or snow. It is the atmosphere and its weight that brings about that separation. Hence when the earth was about to be destroyed by the flood, God reversed that process, "and the windows of heaven were opened"; the atmosphere was broken open; it lost its specific gravity; the fountains of the deep were broken up, and that division of the waters above from the waters below, and the land from the sea, was all done away with in the flood. But after a while that flood subsides, and coming out of it there is a new atmosphere – new heaven, new firmament, new earth – which Noah occupies. Tremendous changes were wrought in the physical surface of the earth by the flood – the evidences of it are to be found in the highest mountain ranges, and you need not pay attention to those who tell you that a universal flood was impossible. It was as universal as the fire will be.

Now, that flood did not annihilate the earth, but it changed it so that it is called a new earth. So that fire, which leaps out at the resurrection of the dead, will not annihilate the earth, but will change it, and out of that flood of fire a new earth appears. That is the meaning of those terms.

We will also recall that when man sinned, that earth which God had pronounced good when he made it, was cursed – it was made subject to vanity, but subjected in the hope of restoration in the redemption of our bodies in resurrection. So we may conclude that that destruction by fire does not annihilate, but changes, and as God pronounced the creation good until marred by sin, so the removal of sin and all evil agencies will bring restoration. At any rate, our next chapter shows that paradise is regained – the paradise in which Adam and Eve lived is regained in all its spiritual power. This new creation will be here for occupation – and occupation by man – but occupation under new conditions adapted to his glorified body, which brings us to the next question:

2. What is the meaning of "And the sea is no more"?

ANSWER. – I am not sure that I can satisfy myself, much less you, as to what that means. It may be literally true that after the fire there will be no more ocean. In the convulsions of that great upheaval the bottom of the sea may upheave. As it now stands, three-fourths of the earth’s surface is covered by water. I say we may consider it that way, because we have construed the earth literally, and the firmament literally, and if so, why not consider the sea literally? Or it may mean that there is no more sea in the sense of a barrier between nations. Under present conditions it is a barrier. For many centuries the Atlantic Ocean barred the approach to this Western continent; we had to wait nearly fifteen centuries after Christ to discover this continent. The sea was in the way, by laboured action, but by volition. He wills to move, and so

But, under the new conditions of spiritual bodies, we would not need any ships, because the glorified man does not move moves, through the air easier than a bird can fly, and more swiftly than a flash of lightning. He will be as the angels of heaven. While Daniel was yet praying, an angel swooped and touched him; who can measure the swiftness of his flight? There will be no barrier between the nations, because nationality will have perished; there is a unity of race into one great family of God. There are no longer linguistic barriers, as Babel when tongues were confused so that they could not understand each other. And as at Pentecost, tongues were given that they might understand each other, this was a forecast of that heavenly condition when every man and woman and child in glory not only can understand each other’s speech, but also the tongues of angels: "Now we know in part; then we shall know even as we are known."

3. What is the meaning of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem? Your lesson goes on to say: "And I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem." What is the meaning of that?

ANSWER. – As there was an earthly capital of earthly Israel, called Jerusalem, so there shall be a heavenly capital of spiritual Israel. Paul, to the Galatians, says: "Jerusalem that is above is free," and to the Hebrews he says: "Ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." One of the promises of this book, already considered, says: "I will write upon him the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God." Our Lord himself has stated: "Let not your hearts be troubled. . . . In my Father’s house are many mansions. . . . I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also" (John 14:1). Of Abraham it is said that the reason he was a sojourner on earth, was that "he looked for the city that hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." And of the other pilgrims on earth it is said, in Hebrews 11:16: "They desire a better country that is a heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed of them to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city."

Now, let us note the measure of that city: the passage measures it for you. You will recall that when Jerusalem of the restoration after the captivity was about to be measured, and a young man with tapeline started out to measure it, an angel said: Stop that young man; do not let him put that measurement on Jerusalem; for Jerusalem will extend into the country, and take in the villages and the whole outlying territory. What a pity that we cannot speak to all the young men who go out with their narrow and restricted tapelines to measure the city and government of God!

4. What are the dimensions of the city?

ANSWER. – Now, the text says the circuit of this city was 12,000 furlongs – 1 am giving you the symbolical numbers; that would be 1,500 miles, and as it was square, that means that each side was 375 miles. Suppose we take 375 miles as the side of a square city: 375 times 375 miles is 140,625 square miles. That gives you its surface area. But the city is as high as it is long or broad, so we have to go up 375 miles, and make a cube, or hexagon, with six sides. Now, multiply your 140,625 by the 375 miles high, and you get over fifty-two million cubic miles. Suppose you put it into stories, each story a mile high and with 140,625 square miles surface, and then another story on top of that, and so on up. Talk about your modern skyscrapers! Elevators? You won’t need any elevators! If you are down on the street of that city, and you want to go to the top story, you will to be there, and there you are. You do not need any machinery to pull you up in your glorified body.

5. How does it compare with ancient Jerusalem, and what is the meaning of these symbolic numbers?

ANSWER. – Just think of the circuit of ancient Jerusalem – four miles. You could ride around ancient Jerusalem in an hour – all around it. Whatever these symbolic numbers mean, they certainly mean that there will be a great many people saved to occupy so great a city – and that is only the capital. Multiply the square miles in London or New York a thousand fold, and it would not even approximate the dimensions of this New Jerusalem: "In my Father’s house are many mansions."

6. Describe its wall and give its boundaries; what symbols show the richness of the city?

ANSWER. – Now, in addition to the size of the city thus expressed, there is a wall that enclosed the city, how close to it the record does not say – it may be the boundaries of the earth. That wall, if you use the sacred cubit of 22 inches as a measure, is 260 feet high; if you use the 18-inch cubit measure, it is 216 feet high. It is a higher wall than this earth ever saw – higher by far than the walls of ancient Babylon. The great Chinese wall, built as a barrier to Tartar invasion, may start you on the idea. This wall goes all around the city, and the twelve foundations of the wall have on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The city is four-sided, just as the ancient court around the tabernacle, looking north, south, east, and west, around which the twelve tribes camped, three on each side. The richness of the city cannot be conceived: the streets are of gold, and every one of the twelve gates is solid pearl. That is symbolical language, but the idea of the symbolism is to convey to you a richness that passes beyond the realization of any man having knowledge of only such things as we see here. "Oh when, thou city of my God, shall I thy courts ascend?" Those gates, however, are never shut – they are always open, because there is no evil to shut out. The devil and his demons and every evil man is in prison forever in the lake of fire, and as your lesson says, all the nations of the saved pour through the gates of that city to worship God.

7. What are not found there and what things are abiding?

ANSWER. – The light of the city is God himself – nothing that the mind of man has ever conceived of in the way of brilliancy can even approximate the white light and eternal radiance of that God who is light, and in whom there is no darkness. He is the light of it; the black wing of night never flaps over it; there is no night there. There is no pain there; there is no weeping and mourning for the dead, for none die; there is no death there; tongues have ceased and prophecies have ceased, but abiding forever are hope, love, faith – these three. There is only love to God, and love to the fellow man, a high and holy love, and faith and hope; those are the conditions. It is an eternal condition of inexpressible felicity and joy. No wonder Dr. Chalmers, in the greatest sermon he ever preached on the expulsive power of a new affection, used somewhat this language: "Oh, if some island of the blessed could be loosed from its heavenly moorings and glide down the stream of time and pass by in our sight just one time, so that we might see the unflecked serenity of its skies, and inhale the fragrance of its flowers, and be ravished by the melodious strains of its music, and catch just one time the sheen of the apparel of its inhabitants – never again would we be satisfied with this world." I was once literally swept off my feet by hearing four thousand Methodists in a tent meeting sing that song,

Have you heard, have you heard of that sun-bright clime, Undimmed by sorrow and unhurt by time; Where age hath no power o’er fadeless frame: Where the eye is fire, and the heart is flame; Have you heard of that sun-bright clime?

When the thoughts of heaven sweep down on us, when the glory of that heavenly city comes into the mind, I tell you, we have a revival – power rests on the feeblest saint.

8. What three figures are used in presenting this heavenly place?

ANSWER. – You are to understand that this heavenly city is presented in three figures: First, this city; second, the Lamb’s wife; third, by Paradise. Right in the center of the city is the throne of God, and bubbling up from under that throne is a water system that branches into four heads, as an ancient paradise, running in four directions – the water of life, flowing freely. And on either side of it is the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, and yielding its fruit every month – the flowers never cease to bloom, the fruit never ceases to ripen, the stream never hushes its music as it outflows, and every ripple of it says, "Life, life, eternal life."

9. What, then) the object of the book?

ANSWER. – So, whether we consider heaven as a glorious city, or the city as an image of the church in glory, or as paradise regained, we see "the restoration of all things." God knew, when he made this world, how he wanted it, but the devil thought to thwart him; he did take possession of it for a time. The object of this great book of the New Testament, this closing book, this last flash of revelation, is to show you preachers, you women workers, that all of this earth shall be redeemed from the power of the devil, and that the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ will "never lose its power till all the ransomed church of God be saved to sin no more," and you ought to live on that thought. You may stumble occasionally ; you may fall occasionally, but always get up facing heaven. I always said, when I was a wicked sinner, that if I was ever converted the first thing I would do after being converted would be to read Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress, or the sojourner’s travel to the heavenly city. And when I got back home, lying down, happy in my conversion, my hands over my face, my mother came and pulled my hands away, and said: "My son, you have found the Saviour." That night I sat by her bedside and read John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. And I tell you, when I got to that part of the book where Beulah Land is described, or where, from the mountains delectable, one might see the glory of the heavenly city, with only the river of death between, and the shining ones coming down to the river and beckoning you to come over and waiting to receive you when you crossed, I got my great conception of heaven right then, and have never lost it since.

There was a lady schoolmate of mine, a brilliant girl and a very dear friend. We went different ways when we left school. One day I received a note written on the margin of a newspaper, saying: "If you are my old schoolmate, as I think you are, come to see me before I die, and bring your church choir with you." I went, and found her heartbroken and dying. When I entered the room she said: "I did not send for you to tell me how to die: I know, I know. But I tell you what I wish you would do; get your singers to sing a hymn. I want to be upborne on the wings of melody as I ascend to heaven." I asked: "What do you want us to sing?" "Sing this song: ’Oh, sing to me of heaven when I am called to die; sing songs of holy ecstasy to waft my soul on high.’ " We sang it, in tears, and when we got through, in the sweetest, faintest voice, she repeated the last verse and ended with a sigh. She was dead. So music cheered her last breath on earth, and greeted her first taste of heaven.

It may sound fanciful, but I sometimes am carried away with the thought that if I could get together the preachers and the working forces of the churches, and keep them studying for a few days on the Bible teachings of heaven, until the clearness, and certainty, and eternity of heaven and hell got hold on them, they would know how to work.

10. Who are the inhabitants of this city?

ANSWER. – You have learned in our study about heaven as a place, heaven as a state, and now I close with a reference to its companionship. Paul says: "But ye are come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable hosts of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaketh better than that of Abel" (Hebrews 12:22-24). That is companionship divine, angelic, and human. But the greatest of all the joys will be when we come to Jesus and, taking off the crowns his gracious hands placed on our brows, lay them down at his pierced feet, and say: "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy name be honour and power and glory and dominion for ever." Yes, we are coming to Jesus; we are coming to the innumerable host of angels, ten thousand times ten thousands of thousands and thousands of the shining ones we have heard so much about in this book; we are coming to the general assembly, the church of the firstborn who are written in heaven, and who, standing on the walls of everlasting deliverance, and looking down toward the earth once ruled by the devil, all of its mountainsides scarred with battle, all of its valleys crimson with blood, all of its caves filled with the bones of the murdered, all of its seas filled with the wrecks of those who perished in battle and storm, we shall look down on it, and we will see all of it washed whiter than snow. I do not say that we shall be limited to the earth in the world to come; I do not suppose there will be any barrier to our going to any part of the universe. But God intended that man should have dominion over the earth.

11. Who are forbidden to enter this city?

ANSWER. – Before we leave the subject I ought to say this sad thing: "On the outside are the fearful," those who lacked moral courage, those who were ashamed to say: "I am for Christ," that were ashamed to stand by him, ashamed to confess him in public. "On the outside are all liars, and all whoremongers, and all idolaters." That is the crowd that is on the outside forever. They, too, have a place, prepared for the devil and his angels; they, too, have companionship: but what a crowd! What a crowd! Who wants to be with them forever? If it chill your heart to be associated now with one unclean, foul, slimy soul, what will it be to company with all the lost forever?

The questions are in the body of the text, it being presented ill the form of a catechism.