Revelation 21:1-27 Part 5
Revelation 21:1-27 Part 5
1) Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, (the first heaven and the first earth went away, and the sea is no more),
2) and the new holy city Jerusalem coming out of the heaven from God having been made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
3) Then I heard a great sound from the seat saying “Lo, The tabernacle of God with man.” He will tabernacle with them, they will be His people, God Himself will be with them;
4) and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, the death will be no more, neither sorrow nor crying nor pain will be any more, for the firsts passed away.
5) Then the One sitting upon the seat said: “Lo, I make everything new!” And He says, “write; for these words are sure and true”;
6) He said to me, “they are come to pass. I, the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, will freely give from the source of the water of life to him who thirsts;
7) and the one overcoming will inherit these things, and I will be God to him and he will be My son.
8) But burning in the lake of fire and brimstone is the allotment of all the fearful and unfaithful and the corrupted and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all the liars.”
9) Then one of the seven messengers that had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me saying, “here, I will show you the bride – the wife of The Lamb”.
10) And it did bear me in spirit upon a great and high mountain and showed me the city – the holy Jerusalem coming down from the God of the heaven
11) having her God’s glory, her radiance like a precious stone, crystal clear as a jasper stone,
12) having a great and high wall having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve messengers and names written which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel,
13) three gates to the east, three gates to the north, three gates to the south, and three gates to the west;
14) the wall of the city having twelve foundation stones, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15) The one speaking with me had a golden measuring reed to measure the city and her gates and her wall,
16) (the city is shaped square – her length the same as the breadth); and he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand stadia, her length and breadth and height being equal;
17) and he measured her wall: a hundred and forty four cubits (man’s measurement as is that of a messenger),
18) the structure of her walls jasper, and the city as pure gold, crystal clear,
19) the foundations of the wall of the city adorned with every precious stone; the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,
20) the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst,
21) the twelve gates twelve pearls (each of the gates were of one pearl), and the city’s street pure gold as transparent crystal.
22) I saw no temple in her, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is her temple.
23) The city has no need for the sun or the moon that they should appear in her, for the glory of God was manifest in her and her light - the Lamb;
24) the nations will walk by her light, and kings of the earth bear their glory into her
25) by day (none of her gates will in any way be closed, and there will be no night there),
26) and they will bear the glory and honor of the nations into her.
27) By no means would anyone unclean ever enter into her doing abomination or falsehood, but only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.
As spoken to Isaiah the prophet seven hundred years before the advent of the Christ:
22) For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, says YAHVEH, so shall your seed and your name remain.
23) And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, says YAHVEH.
Just as it was written in Isaiah, the new heaven and the new earth promised imminently to the Churches of the first century comprises all the years of our Lord’s dominion, during which all flesh will come to worship before Him.
From month to month, throughout all the years, you – and your seed – all the ones written in the book of life will remain. Just as the new heaven and the new earth remain, so will His people remain. And from Sabbath to Sabbath, His people will come and worship Him.
Multitudes promised to Abraham from all the peoples and tribes and tongues of the world will be rebirthed into Him; the whole earth will increasingly rejoice in peace and prosperity; the earth’s treasures will be brought to Him by the kings of the nations.
The paradise mandate will be consummated by the reconciliation of all things IN HIM. And at the end of all the decreed years, all His enemies will be put under His feet as the satan and death and hades are cast into the lake of fire.
This was imminent for the Churches of the first century. And it is a current and present reality for us! We live in our Lord’s new heaven and the new earth; and there is a new city of God which is “Immanuel”! “Lo, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son; and He shall be called Immanuel – God with us”
The new city is in continuity with the first one. Therefore it is called “the New Jerusalem”. The first one was man-made… and she was a harlot filled with every detestable thing. However, she was prophetic of the new; and therein is the continuity. Our Lord Jesus Christ was judged there (in the first Jerusalem); and He was taken outside the city where He poured out His blood.
And the first city and the first mountain would be shaken and removed. The temple would be destroyed; the city would be burned, and the mountain cast into the sea. It would no longer exist.
But the new city is not man-made; it isn’t “shakeable”; it can’t be removed, and it is perfect in every way. And the River of Life flows from it. Therefore it is called the “holy” Jerusalem. And its beauty and glory so far surpasses the first one that all flesh… peoples and tribes and tongues from every nation on earth will come to it.
(And how’s that for a presentation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ to our Jewish neighbors!)
This is the Revelation of what He has done, what He is about to do, and what He is now doing; and what He will do. And it’s how our minds have to work; and it’s how we must live in response. It is the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If the Churches in our time were hearing these things from their pastors and evangelists, everything would look so different; our nation wouldn’t be in the condition it’s in; and the people wouldn’t be placing their hope in some “yet-to-come-messiah” to Israel. That’s a false hope; and it’s the same thing that came from the mouths of the false prophets of Israel before our Lord’s appearance!
The seed of the serpent are still doing their worst out there against the Christ. Their leader (actually, their “father” according to Jesus) is bound and sealed in the abyss until our Lord finishes His work. So, whatever they do, they’re doing it without the dragon’s incitements and deceptions.
There are false prophets. And there are “little caesars” that idolize themselves… terminally depraved mini-anarchists! And anarchists “militate” against sovereignty. But they only have power given to them temporarily. They will be diminished; and they will fade and disappear, only to be cast later into the lake of fire with the old dragon. We have nothing to fear from them.
Our Lord is Alpha and Omega; He is King of Kings and Lord of Lords; and He will complete the redemption of the world. He will reconcile all things to Himself.
This world will be in the full light of His Presence; and it will reflect the glory of its Creator.
So, hold the testimony of Jesus. Keep His commandments. Be thankful. He tabernacles with us, so live life In Him. Anticipate the fullness of His work, and rejoice in it. Delight in it! You have life; and you have it abundantly! And you have the promise that He will hold on to you in life, in death, and in resurrection.
Our forebears in the first Churches had it so much worse. They lived in the time before the satan was bound. And they suffered under the fourth beast of world history! Some of the house of Jacob to whom Jesus had spoken, and many who He had healed, witnessed the terminal end of Israel and the city of Jerusalem. And they suffered atrocities at the hands of the beast and at the hands of judaists.
But they had the promise of that which was soon to be. They had the prophets and the apostles; and they had this letter from John. So they knew that there was a new heaven and a new earth about to be! And through the eyes of John they saw the new Jerusalem coming down from God. It was Immanuel… God with us; the Lord Jesus Christ… the great mountain of His Kingdom over all the kingdoms of the earth.
They were In Him, and He was with them. And by the proclamation and teaching of this Gospel of Jesus Christ, there would be multitudes of those Gentiles out there who would be made their brothers (and, eventually, even many Jews)! And the royalties of the nations would bring their glory into the new city of God!
And through all the years of His domain there would be increasing peace and prosperity until all the earth would be in the full light of the Christ!
That’s what they knew; that’s what they anticipated; and that’s what they preached. And the ferocious beast with the teeth of iron (no longer being incited by the devil) was made to lie down with the Lamb. And it took only three or four generations.
Here we are, forty-five generations later, enjoying the peace and prosperity that no one before us has ever experienced. We are their posterity in Christ.
This is the view of the Savior of the world that we must have. He is with us, and we are in Him; and our lives are to be lived in Him as we deliver the message to our posterity… even to the thousandth generation (all of them).
And when petty tyrants arrogantly raise themselves up against the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, we should have no fear of them whatever. Anxiety about what they might do to us, and about their destruction of our “world order”, is faithlessness!
Our Lord has all authority on the earth. This is the new heaven and the new earth; and these “seed of the serpent” are under His authority. They belong to The Christ; and they only have power that He grants them. He uses them for His Own purpose.
By no means are we to ignore them, or cower before them. But what can they do to us? Our Lord is with us! We live in Him. His is the work of saving the world! And all the nations and tribes and tongues will acknowledge Him. He has overcome. He has made everything new! And it’s not what we do; it’s what He does! We’re the messengers.
The Gospel of Jesus Christ flows from under His great mountain of dominion that towers over all the mountains and hills of the earth. And it heals the sea of humanity. And the light of the New Jerusalem will brighten everything, so that there will be no place on earth where darkness can remain!
So, when something, or someone, does arise out of that darkness to challenge the sovereignty of the Savior of the world, Jesus Christ uses that to manifest His omnipotence!
These things that John is shown are what the apostle Paul wrote to the Churches before the Parousia of the Christ. He said their minds ought to be in the heaven where these things were about to be! Our Lord’s appearance was near! That’s what they were to look for and anticipate; and there would be a new heaven and a new earth; and there would be a new – and holy – Jerusalem!
John was given to see it all. He saw the One seated on the great white horse, with the Sword proceeding from His mouth. And he saw the redeemed of the house of Jacob and all the holy ones of old, all seated on white horses with Him. They were all ready for His appearance!
Anticipate all of these things, said Paul; rejoice and delight in them! In all your difficulties, it’s where your mind must be. Hold fast the testimony! It’s promised! His appearance is near; and all things will be made new.
It’s what Isaiah foretold; “Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for Him.” He will make His abode with you. There will be a new heaven and a new earth; and there will be a new Jerusalem… not like the harlot of the world, but one made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
Now. We regard the whole of Scripture as the one Word of the One True God – Father, Son and Spirit. There is one covenant for the salvation of the world; and the one Word of God is perfectly consistent from beginning to end; for the Word of God is Alpha and Omega – the beginning and the end. He is the Strong Right Arm of YAHVEH. It is His creation and His will and purpose, and His perspective, and His language. So the Word is covenantally consistent and faithful in all its parts.
So, when Moses spoke and wrote the Word, it was a faithful Word; and it would, in all cases, come to pass.
Listen to Moses at Leviticus twenty-six:
1) You shall make for yourselves no idols, neither shall you raise up a graven image, or a pillar; neither shall you place any figured stone in your land, to bow down unto it: for I am YAHVEH your God.
2) You shall keep my sabbaths, and reverence my sanctuary: I am YAHVEH.
3) Should you walk in my statutes, and keep my commandments, and do them,
4) then I will give you your rains in their season, and the land shall yield its increase, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.
5) And your threshing shall reach unto the vintage, and the vintage shall reach unto the sowing time; and you shall eat your bread to the full, and dwell in your land safely.
6) And I will give peace in the land, and you shall lie down, and none shall make you afraid: and I will cause evil beasts to cease out of the land, neither shall the sword go through your land….
9) And I will have regard unto you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, and will establish my covenant with you.
10) And you shall eat old store long kept, and ye shall bring forth the old because of the new.
11) And I will set my tabernacle among you: and my soul shall not abhor you.
12) And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people.
Now, isn’t that the perfect prophecy of what John is shown about to be? Revere His tabernacle (for God would make His abode with them); keep His Commandments; no idolatry… and He would bring them great prosperity and peace; and they would have no fear of evil beasts.
What we’re hearing here in chapter twenty-one is the fullness of what Moses told the people of Israel after the exodus from bondage in Egypt.
Now, almost six centuries before the advent of the Christ, the first evil beast of God’s history had put the sword to the nation, and had destroyed God’s tabernacle and the city of Jerusalem, and had once again taken Israel and everything of value into bondage in Babylon.
And God told His prophet to write to them. Here’s what He told Ezekiel to write. It’s in chapter thirty-six:
26) Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore.
27) My tabernacle will be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
28) And the nations shall know that I am YAHVEH that sanctifies Israel, when my tabernacle shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
The prophecy of Ezekiel is the same as that which is shown to John (the last prophet). It is that of a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem in which our God tabernacles with us; and all Israel will worship Him from Sabbath to Sabbath.
We’ll be reading more from Ezekiel. But he goes on to write the prophecy of the new tabernacle of God with man. He describes for the nation in captivity the idolatry and filth and degradation of the tabernacle that had just been destroyed, and compares that with the perfections of the new tabernacle that will be with His people forever.
And it couldn’t be more obvious that what Ezekiel prophesied is exactly what John is shown here in chapter twenty one.
The Word of God was made flesh; and He was sacrificed, as a Lamb, for the sin of the world. And the resurrected Jesus Christ – once – entered the tabernacle of God in the heaven, having satisfied the wrath of God. And having inherited all things, and having been given all authority in the heaven and on the earth, He is now shown to John as ready to make all things new and to tabernacle with man.
The tabernacle of God would be with us; and He would reconcile all things to Himself! In continuity with the old, there would be a new mountain of God over all the mountains of the earth. And there would be a new – and holy – city of God.
However, there would be no tabernacle in the new city, for His people would have direct access to the father IN HIM. The old tabernacle was only a “shadow” of the One Who was to come. He IS the tabernacle; for He is with us. He makes His abode with us. We already have access In Him. He has already made the one sacrifice for the sin of the world. That’s what the first tabernacle was for… for there to be sacrifices in order to have access to God!
So another tabernacle, one in the new city of God, would be redundant! He IS the priest; He IS the sacrifice (so there’s no more need for blood to be poured out), He IS the One to Whom the sacrifice is made! Access is provided – once and for all – to all who are IN HIM. And He is the One Who makes intercession for all IN HIM!
So John doesn’t see a tabernacle in the new – holy – city of God. That would be (not only) needless, but superfluous! The new city of God is holy BECAUSE there’s no tabernacle in it! Our Lord Jesus Christ IS the tabernacle. He is WITH us in the new holy city. He tabernacles with us.
While I’m right here, let me say that those “branches” of the evangelical Church that pray for, and work for, the rebuilding of the temple on the mount in Jerusalem, and the re-institution of the sacrifices in advance of the “second coming of Jesus Christ” are guilty of the grossest idolatry imaginable.
Since the sacrifice for the sin of the world has already been made; and since The Father is satisfied with that sacrifice; and since our Lord Jesus Christ has now tabernacled with us in this new heaven and new earth; and since there is now a new city of God with NO tabernacle; and since our Lord abides with us and we in Him, I can’t think of anything worse than another temple with more sacrifices!
That would be a denial of everything written in the Scripture. Even the idolatry of the nation of islam would have to be considered a “lesser” evil! There, at least, there is no “pretense” of being Christian!
Let’s go on now to verse four:
“and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, the death will be no more, neither sorrow nor crying nor pain will be any more, for the firsts passed away.”
At the appearance of the Christ at the end of the age, the first heaven and the first earth would pass away. And the first heaven and earth, and the first Jerusalem, would pass away in a flood of His wrath. And He will tabernacle with us and wipe away every tear from our eyes!
Now, we need the full scope of the context here; so let’s read some Scripture! As always, this will require some intense concentration on your part. So, don’t lose it!
Out of all the texts that could be cited this morning, there is one of such detail and of such glorious language that it can’t be misunderstood. It is the prophecy of exactly what John is shown is about to be at the Parousia of the Christ! So listen carefully; it will bring you understanding of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ!
Here are the words that God put into the mouth of Isaiah the prophet in about seven hundred BC. It has to do with God’s cosmic “paradise on earth”… heaven-and-earth Israel:
1) Behold, YAHVEH will make the earth empty, and make it waste, and turn it upside down, and scatter abroad the inhabitants thereof.
2) And it shall be, as with the people, so with the priest; as with the servant, so with his master; as with the maid, so with her mistress; as with the buyer, so with the seller; as with the lender, so with the borrower; as with the taker of usury, so with the giver of usury to him.
3) The land shall be utterly emptied, and utterly spoiled: for YAHVEH has spoken this word.
4) The earth mourns and fades away, it languishes and fades away, the haughty people of the earth languish.
5) The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, because they have transgressed the laws, changed the ordinance, broken the everlasting covenant.
6) Therefore will the curse devour the earth, and they that dwell therein are desolate: therefore the inhabitants of the earth are burned, and few remain.
7) The new wine mourns, the vine languishes, all the merryhearted do sigh.
8) The mirth of tabrets ceases, the sound of them that rejoice ends, the joy of the harp ceases.
9) They will not drink wine with a song; strong drink shall be bitter to them that drink it.
10) The city of confusion will be broken down: every house shut up, that no man may come in.
11) There will be a crying for wine in the streets; all joy is darkened, the mirth of the land gone.
12) In the city is left desolation, and the gate smitten with destruction.
13) When thus it shall be in the midst of the land among the people, there shall be as the shaking of an olive tree, and as the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done.
14) From the sea they shall lift up their voice, they shall sing for the majesty of YAHVEH, they shall cry aloud.
15) Even they in the isles of the sea glorify YAHVEH in the fires, even the name of YAHVEH the God of Israel.
16) From the uttermost part of the earth have we heard songs, even glory to the righteous. But I said, My leanness, my leanness, woe unto me! the treacherous dealers have dealt treacherously; yea, the treacherous dealers have dealt very treacherously.
17) Fear, and the pit, and the snare, are upon you, O inhabitant of the earth.
18) And it shall come to pass, that he who flees from the sound of the fearful shall fall into the pit; and he that comes up out of the midst of the pit shall be taken in the snare: for the windows from on high are open, and the foundations of the earth do shake.
19) The earth utterly broken down, the earth clean dissolved, the earth shaken exceedingly.
20) The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunkard, and shall be removed like a hut; and the transgression thereof shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and never rise again.
21) And it shall come to pass in that day, that YAHVEH shall punish the host of the high ones that are on high, and the rulers of the earth upon the earth.
22) And they shall be gathered together as prisoners are gathered in the pit, and shall be shut up in the prison, and after many days shall they be visited.
23) Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun made ashamed, when YAHVEH of hosts shall reign gloriously in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his holy ones of old.
That’s the prophecy spoken by God to Isaiah concerning the shame and the utter destruction of His heaven-and-earth creation – the nation of Israel and its city.
Directly following that prophecy, here’s what God then spoke to Isaiah:
1) O YAHVEH, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2) For You will make of a city a heap; a walled city a ruin: a palace of strangers to be no city; it shall never be rebuilt.
3) Therefore shall the strong people glorify You, the city of the terrible nations shall fear You.
4) For You will be a strength to the poor, a strength to the needy in his distress, a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5) You shall bring down the noise of strangers, as the heat in a dry place; even the heat with the shadow of a cloud: the branch of the terrible ones shall be brought low.
6) And in this mountain shall YAHVEH of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the hills, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the hills well refined.
7) And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the dark covering cast over all the peoples, and the vail that is spread over all the nations.
8) He will swallow up death in victory; and YAHVEH God will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for YAHVEH has spoken it.
9) And it shall be said in that day, Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, and he will save us: this is YAHVEH; we have waited for him, we will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.
“God Himself will be with them; and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes….”
You remember that Jesus said “I came to find the lost sheep of the house of Israel (Jacob)”. God had kept a remnant from each tribe for Himself; and Jesus came to find them.
When He found them, they were the weak and the sick and the poor and the crooked and the demon-possessed; and some were even the outcast prostitutes and tax collectors.
These are the ones who had been preyed upon by the wolves and jackals of Israel’s demon-possessed society. The elders and priests and pharisees had not shepherded them, having turned God’s Word upside down and inside out, leaving them with no hope; and they had ripped and torn them – using every means to take from them all that they had, leaving them destitute and in sorrow and mourning and weeping and in the pit of darkness and despair.
Then Jesus came to find them. And He began to reverse the effects of centuries of covetousness and idolatry and harlotry. He healed them and straitened their bodies and cast out their demons. He wiped away their tears; and He saved them from the wrath to come.
But there was, all through history, mourning and sorrow and weeping for the covenanted people and the land and the city; for God had revealed its complete destruction. The prophets of old cried out to Almighty God, with tears night and day, to save the land and the city and covenant people.
But God told the prophets that there would be no more tears for the city; for there would be a new Jerusalem into which all the kings and nations would bring their glory. And all Israel would be saved! And the abominations of the first Jerusalem would never be found in the new one!
As Isaiah wrote in the chapter twenty five that we just read, the nations… the nations and peoples and tongues and tribes over all of which was a pall – a veil – of darkness, would wail with tears at the destruction of the great shining city on the mount; for she was the harlot of the world. They were all rich because of her lasciviousness.
But God would wipe away all tears from their faces. The mourning and sorrow and despair at the harlot’s demise would be turned to joy and delight as the Dayspring from on high would enlighten the earth and destroy the darkness.
He would take away the dark covering cast over all the peoples, and wipe away their tears and swallow up death in His victory. And John says He would take away the “pain”. All through the Scripture this is the intense pain of labor and childbirth. It began in the garden with God’s judgment of the woman. It was prophetic of the pain, all through history, in bringing forth the seed of the woman; and the pain in birthing the “Daughter of Zion” into the nations; and the enduring pain and suffering as the nations waited through the labor and birth.
And (as we read in Isaiah) they would say “we have waited for Him”. The nations endured the pain of labor as they suffered under sin and depravity and the curse. But in the new Jerusalem the pain would be taken away; they would rejoice in His salvation.
Our Lord is Alpha and Omega, the Origin and the Completion, the Beginning and the End.
In His messages to the Churches (in chapters two and three) He told His people that should they mourn and sorrow and hold on to anything having to do with the first heaven and earth and the first Jerusalem, they would risk His judgment at His imminent appearance; for He would create a new heaven and a new earth and a new Jerusalem in which would dwell righteousness!
And John is shown it here in chapter twenty-one; for the firsts passed away. And for those in Christ there would be no sorrow and no tears and no death and no pain of sin and depravity… but thanksgiving and joy and delight in so great salvation.