Studies in Revelation: The Eternal Kingdom (Revelation 21,22)

^21:1 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. ² I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. ³ And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ⁴ ‘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.”

⁵ 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.”

⁶ He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. ⁷ Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. ⁸ But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” (Revelation 21:1-8, NIV)

The millennial kingdom over, God does a major rehab on the earth and sky in order to make it suitable to house the “new” or heavenly Jerusalem, God’s abode in heaven. The “holy city” comes to earth and becomes the dwelling place of all believers. God’s familiar tripartite (three part) blessing, “I will be their God, they will be my people, and I will dwell among them,” repeated to Israel frequently, is now fulfilled in the new order (the “old order” has passed away). It is done! Heaven has come to earth, His kingdom come, His will to be done.

The new order, life in the new Jerusalem, is absent the curse of death and suffering, as well as sin. It is the life God intended for us to have from the beginning.

⁹ 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.” ¹⁰ 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. ¹¹ It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² 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. ¹³ There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. ¹⁴ The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:9-14, NIV)

The city is a merging of Israel and the Church into one people of God. Israel is celebrated with the names of the 12 gates, and the Church with the names on the 12 foundation stones.

¹⁵ The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. ¹⁶ 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. ¹⁷ The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. (Revelation 21:15-17, NIV)

The city measurements are vast. It is 1,400 miles or about 2,200 kilometers in length, with the same width and height, and its walls are 200 feet or about 65 meters thick. Our current atmosphere consists of the troposphere, which extends 5-10 miles from the surface of the earth, the stratosphere, extending 30 miles, the mesosphere, 53 miles, the thermosphere, 372 miles, and the exosphere which blends with space. A city this massive and 1,400 miles high would require a totally different surface and atmosphere, if, that is, resurrected bodies need air and moderate temperatures to survive. This may be the reason God makes a new heaven and earth. Jesus said there are many rooms in his Father’s house (John 14:2). There could be an enormous amount of rooms in these walls.

²² I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³ 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. ²⁴ The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. ²⁵ On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. ²⁶ The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. ²⁷ 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. (Revelation 21:22-27, NIV)

In the city itself there is no temple. The Father and the Son (and the Spirit, we presume) are the temple. There is no separation between the sacred and the profane, no veil separating us from God. He is the light of the city. Does earth still have a star, the sun, around which we orbit, and a moon that orbits around us? If so, they are not needed to give us light. All the nations of earth, the saved from every tribe and tongue, come into the heavenly Jerusalem now on earth. It is the perfect kingdom, the eternal kingdom.

^22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb ² down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. ³ No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. ⁴ They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. ⁵ There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 22:1-5, NIV)

The river of life flows down the middle of the “great street” of this city with the tree of life spanning both sides of the river. Adam and Eve were banished from the tree of life so that they could not eat from it and live forever (Genesis 3:22,23), but now mankind will have access to the tree whose leaves heal the nations. Does this tree supply food that we need? We will not be idle in heaven, but will rule with God forever and ever. We will subdue the earth and rule over it.