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Revelation 21:1-27

THE NEW JERUSALEM

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. (Rev. 21:1)

As I said, Jesus called this “the renewal of all things” in Matt. 19:28. According to Romans 8:19-22 the creation itself has been writhing and groaning, waiting for the Sons of God to be revealed so it could finally be liberated from its bondage to decay. The judgments of the Great Tribulation served in part to prepare the Earth for its restoration. In all probability, its orbit and axis will have been returned to their original configurations, bringing again the world wide sub-tropical environment likely enjoyed by our first parents. The vast oceans, silent witnesses to the enormity of Noah’s flood will be hoisted back into the outer atmosphere, restoring the water vapor canopy that protected early man and allowing the return of long life spans they experienced (Isaiah 65:20). The sea floors will be elevated and the mountains lowered, and Earth will once again resemble the Garden Planet it was when Adam came on the scene. Its atmosphere will no longer be the haunt of demons, and the heavens will have been purified of Satan’s rebellious minions forever (Rev. 12:7-8). second wedding dresses for older brides

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” (Rev. 21:2-5)

Notice that while John watched the New Jerusalem descending from Heaven, he didn’t report it as landing anywhere. Though it’s close enough to Earth for him to describe it accurately, it’s not on the Earth.

And don’t be fooled into believing that the phrase “prepared as a bride” means that the New Jerusalem is the Bride. No, the word “as” tells us that John’s comparing the New Jerusalem to a bride on her wedding day. Just as no expense is spared in making a bride look as beautiful as possible for her wedding, so none of God’s creativity has been spared in making the home of the redeemed His ultimate expression of beauty.

Finally, because of that one death on a hill outside of Jerusalem, God and man have been reconciled (Col. 1:19-20) and His heart’s longing to dwell with His creation has been fulfilled. For in the Church, He’s done nothing less than create a new race of human, as righteous as He is, fit to dwell in His Presence.

And so the Creator of the Universe has made everything new, a New Heaven, a New Earth, and a New Race of Human. The damage caused in the Garden by the Serpent has been repaired.

He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Rev. 21:6-8)

In his first letter to the Church John had asked the rhetorical question, “

Who is it that overcomes the world?”

His answer was,
“Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
(1 John 5:5)

Once again God makes the alternatives clear. Jesus said,

“If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink.”
(John 7:37)

Come to the One who gives the Living Water and drink from Him without cost, or remain in your sins and die forever.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Rev. 21:9-14)

When Judas Iscariot betrayed the Lord and killed himself, the 12 were disciples, or students. Later the remaining 11, now Apostles (sent ones), voted and chose Matthias to replace Judas (Acts 1:21-26). Nothing more was written about him, and we don’t know why. Obviously, God’s choice was Paul, by far the most prolific of New Testament authors. I think it’ll be his name we see on the foundation.

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. (Rev. 21:15-21)

12,000 stadia are equal to about 1380 miles, meaning that if this city came to rest in Europe, it would cover everything from Scandinavia to Gibraltar and from the Coast of Spain to Italy’s heel. Alternatively, it would hide the entire Middle East, or all of the Eastern US from Maine to Florida and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi. And at 1380 miles tall it would be about 4000 times as tall as the next tallest building on Earth. A globe with a 1380 mile diameter would be about 1/6th the size of Earth or about 2/3rds the size of the moon. More likely, it’s a small planet or low orbit satellite. Some see it as a cube and others as a pyramid, and we may live on it or in it or both. What we know is that it’s laid out as a huge city with streets paved in the purest gold, so pure it’s nearly transparent, and according to John 14:2 it’s filled with many mansions.

While the names of these precious stones don’t move easily between languages, it’s likely that they’re the same as the stones on the High Priest’s breast plate.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Rev. 21:22-27)

Not only does the home of the Redeemed not need the sun, but in fact it’s the source of light for the nations of Earth. Their kings bring the best of Earth’s production into it for our use, although as natural humans they themselves cannot enter. Having been the Lord’s Temple for all the Age of the Church, we now discover that He’s become ours for Eternity.

Search Scriptures Daily for Truth (Acts 17:11)

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God Bless.