Revelation 21:1-8 (New Heaven & Earth)

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Introduction

The New Heaven and the New Earth

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And 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 from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

This week we come to the final two chapters of John’s Apocalypse. I considered tackling these remaining chapters together all at once, but later I decided that it would probably be best if we broke up the material, especially since much of what we’re going to cover will likely cause us to consider the contents of these chapters in ways we probably haven’t before. So, I want to give you the opportunity to digest this material over the course of the next couple of weeks.
Now, most of us, in our modern context, have only ever understood these remaining chapters from a purely literal interpretation. That these chapters describe, exclusively, a literal new heaven and new earth that will follow the second coming of Christ, a description of a future material universe when our fallen world finally reaches its end and is replaced by a literal new heaven and new earth. That Revelation 21-22 is a literal description of what the new creation will look like after Christ’s return.
However, as you probably already suspect, I don’t believe that this is the point of these remaining chapters in John’s Apocalypse. If you’ve been with us throughout our study, you should immediately recognize, again, that the imagery here in chapters 21-22 is symbolic, not literal, that it’s apocalyptic imagery, just like the rest of the book has been thus far. In fact, even the most committed literalist commentators struggle to maintain their literal interpretations in these chapters.
For example, later in chapter 21 the heavenly city is described as 12,000 stadia in length, width, and height, a footprint of nearly 2 million square miles, or nearly the size the United States, equivalent to drawing a line from Vancouver, Canada, to the Great Lakes, to the Gulf of Mexico, to the Pacific Ocean, and back to Vancouver. The city is also described as almost 1,400 miles high, which is more than a thousand miles higher than the orbit of the International Space Station, and almost 800 miles higher than SpaceX’s highest Starlink satellites. Therefore, if John’s vision is meant to portray a literal city then it’s bottom half would be knocking satellites out of the sky.
Instead, we need to not forget the overarching storyline of John’s Apocalypse thus far, and to compare the imagery utilized in chapters 21-22 with any parallel imagery found elsewhere in the Bible. We should also keep in mind that the context of the Book of Revelation is first and foremost the first century. If you’ll recall, John’s whole letter is book-ended in such a way so as to emphasize this point. He writes in Revelation 1:1, “The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things that must soon take place,” and then again at the end of the book John writes in Revelation 22:6, “These words are trustworthy and true. And the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place.”
Therefore, our default position, unless we’re told otherwise, should be imagery symbolizing first century events and first century characters. Now, this isn’t to say that John can’t, or doesn’t speak of future events at all, but only that it’s proper to assume that the imagery of John’s Apocalypse is signifying first century events and characters, unless we’re told otherwise. There have been times when John has looked ahead to the future or reached back into past, but those instances have been few and far between, and have always served the purpose of explaining these first century events in light of the broader redemptive history.
Furthermore, you might be surprised to discover just how much the imagery here in chapters 21-22 is taken from prior OT prophecies and from other NT writers that apply those prophecies to the NT era, or to the church today, rather than exclusively to the future. That being said, as I’ve pointed out before, what typically makes imagery like this particularly challenging to our modern ears is that the imagery purposefully reveals the true nature of the events and characters that it portrays, which immediately causes our minds to run to the future or to the fulfillment. For instance, because the church is portrayed here in chapters 21 in all it’s glory, we’re tempted to assume that John must be describing our future experience, overlooking that this imagery revels the true nature of the church, even now, and is how God sees us from his vantage point in heaven, and in Christ.
And finally, we can’t forget the overarching storyline of Revelation thus far. That John is utilizing apocalyptic imagery to describe the significance of these first century events, which are the result of Christ’s first coming, that John is describing redemptive history’s transition from the old covenant to the new covenant. That John’s witnessing the end of the Judaic aeon, or the Judaic age, with the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple, while simultaneously witnessing the onset of the messianic age, as a result of the new covenant and Christ’s ministry. Therefore, it’s fitting for the final chapters of John’s Apocalypse to describe this messianic age as a new heaven and a new earth, and as a holy city, a new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

New heaven and a new earth

And so, with that, let’s begin there in verse 1 of chapter 21,

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s important that we understand that this language isn’t new, that the idea of a new heaven and a new earth isn’t unique to John’s Apocalypse, he isn’t describing a new idea, but instead he’s describing a very old idea, and drawing from the OT prophets. The reason being, is that John sees the events described in his Apocalypse as a fundamental fulfillment of those OT prophecies.

Isaiah 65

Therefore, he quotes from Isaiah 65, which was written hundreds of years before Christ. In Isaiah’s day, the growing body of prophetic literature was collectively building a portrait of the Messiah and of his future kingdom, and in Isaiah 65, beginning in verse 17, he famously writes,
“For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. No more shall there be in it an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old, and the sinner a hundred years old shall be accursed.” (Isaiah 65:17-20)
Now, often chapters 65-66 of Isaiah are believed to describe events following the second coming of Christ, however, the details of these prophecies seem to rule out such a conclusion. While Isaiah foresaw a future time of unprecedented blessing, he clearly indicates that death persists. Whereas, in the NT we learn that the second coming of Christ is uniquely marked by death finally being destroyed. Therefore, I believe Isaiah, like the other OT prophets was looking forward, not to the second coming of Christ, but to his first coming, and the messianic age that would follow, and of which we now share in.

Idealized language

Now, one of the difficulties with prophetic literature, is that the prophets describe future events by employing idealized language from their contemporary context. For example, in Isaiah 2:4, the prophet used the analogy of “beating their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks” (or weapons into farming tools) to characterize a time of future peace. So, similarly, here in Isaiah 65, Isaiah says, “no more shall there be … an infant who lives but a few days, or an old man who does not fill out his days, for the young man shall die a hundred years old.” In other words, we need to realize that the prophet is using idealized language from his contemporary context to describe a future reality of divine blessing and restoration. So, we have to be careful not to press prophetic literature beyond its original intent. We’re not meant to envision a time when we literally call a person living to a hundred years old young, no, the point is blessing and restoration.

Messianic age, established by the new covenant

Therefore, when Isaiah described this future period of time when God would “create a new heaven and a new earth” he was using a prophetic idiom, or a prophetic figure of speech to describe the coming of a new era or kingdom, the messianic kingdom. Furthermore, we also see the other NT writers applying the contents of Isaiah 65-66 to this present age, indicating that they too understood Isaiah as describing their own day.
All that being said, my point here is that when John writes that he saw a new heaven and a new earth, he isn’t speaking of a new material cosmos, but rather the dawning of the messianic age, established by the new covenant. For the first heaven and first earth were passing away. The Judaic age, established by the old covenant, was fading away, or as Hebrews 8:13 puts it, "… speaking of a new covenant, he makes the first one obsolete. And what is becoming obsolete and growing old is ready to vanish away." What Isaiah saw had come to pass, the dawning of the messianic age.

New Jerusalem, the Bride

Then Johns goes on there in verse 2,

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

Later, in verse 9, we learn that this holy city, this new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride, is the wife of the Lamb, the church. We are the city, the new Jerusalem, pictured as coming down out of heaven from God. Hebrews 12:22 says, “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven…” The Apostle Paul writes in Galatians 4:26, “… the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.”

Marriage Supper of the Lamb

And if you’ll recall, back in chapter 19, John had heard the voice of a great multitude crying out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; [and] it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure” (Rev. 19:6-8) So, what we see here in chapter 21 is John picking up where he left off back in chapter 19 when he indicated that the marriage of the Lamb had come and his Bride had made herself ready.
The imagery here reminds me of the old hymn from the early 19th century called, From Heaven He Came and Sought Her. Two of the verses go like this,
From heaven He came and sought her
To be His holy bride;
With His own blood He bought her,
And for her life He died.
Elect from every nation,
Yet one o'er all the earth;
Her charter of salvation,
One Lord, one faith, one birth.
And all of this is meant to illustrate of the dynamics of the new covenant. And as we’ll see in our next time John intends to contrast the Bride here in chapter 21 with prostitute back in chapter 17.

God dwells with man

Then John continues on there in verse 3 and says,

3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

One of the pitfalls of pushing this text completely into the future is that we risk missing the glory of the new covenant now. One of the most profound and anticipated promises associated with the new covenant was that God would dwell with man. In fact, this was originally foreshadowed by Israel and the Temple in Jerusalem. When God brought the Israelites out of Egypt and established the Mosaic covenant with them at Sinai he told them that if they walked in his statutes and observed his commandments that he would dwell among them. Listen to Leviticus 26:11-13,
Leviticus 26:11–13 ESV
I will make my dwelling among you, and my soul shall not abhor you. And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, that you should not be their slaves. And I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.
Unfortunately, the Israelites failed to keep the covenant, culminating in the destruction of their Temple in 586 B.C. and again, once and for all, in A.D. 70 after Jesus, less than 40 years earlier, told them in Matthew 23:38, “See, your house is left to you desolate.”
However, the prophet Ezekiel had described a time in the future when God would establish a new covenant with the house of Israel, and that he once again would dwell among them. We read in Ezekiel 37:26-27,
Ezekiel 37:26–27 ESV
I will make a covenant of peace with them. It shall be an everlasting covenant with them. And I will set them in their land and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in their midst forevermore. My dwelling place shall be with them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.
Therefore, when John says here in Revelation 21:3, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God,” he had in mind the fulfillment of this new covenant anticipated by Ezekiel. Which is also why the Apostle Paul could write in 2 Corinthians 6:16, “For we are the temple of the living God; as God said, “I will make my dwelling among them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” In other words, God’s presence among his people is a very real and present reality even now, and a promise associated with the new covenant.

Wipe away every tear

John continues there in verse 4,

4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Now, on the face of it, this seems to speak exclusively of a time after the second coming, and while that’s certainly the telos, or the trajectory of the passage, this is also a very present reality, even now, within the new covenant. While we’re certainly still grieved by pain, suffering, and death, the point here is that the new covenant has, in principle, unraveled the curse and the penalty of death, therefore we’re meant to see that the new covenant has fundamentally undermined the affects of the fall which results ultimately in hope and salvation.
This is why Paul writes in 1 Thessalonians 4:13,
1 Thessalonians 4:13 ESV
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep, that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope.
So, while we still grieve, we do no do so as those who do not have hope. This is also why Jesus could say in John 14, “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” and “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

We will never die

Furthermore, as a result of the new covenant we’re promised everlasting live, never to die. Jesus said in John 6:50-51,
John 6:50–51 ESV
This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
or when Jesus spoke to Martha after Lazarus’ death in John 11:25-26,
John 11:25–26 (ESV)
Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.”
2 Timothy 1:10 says that Christ has “abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the Gospel.” And while most of us will die, the second death has no power over us. This is why Paul could write in 1 Corinthians 15:55,
1 Corinthians 15:55 (ESV)
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”

Former things have passed away

Even now, Paul says the former things have passed away, 2 Corinthians 5:17 says,
2 Corinthians 5:17 ESV
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
Therefore, again, John’s purpose in chapter 21 is to highlight the promises of the new covenant and to communicate to the church, despite the circumstances of the great tribulation, that he saw a new heaven and a new earth, and that the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And that on the other side of their circumstances was the dawning of the messianic age, and the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, the church.
And so John continues by saying there in verse 5,

5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And he said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

The idea here is that restoration had already begun, and just as Jesus said, “It is finished,” on the cross before breathing his last, we read similarly here that he said to John, “It is done!” This is the assurance given to the first century church in the face of their persecutors, Rome and Jerusalem.

Living water

Then John says something that I think is particularly telling. We pickup again there in verse 6,

To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

Now, John seems to have Isaiah 55:1-3 in mind which says, “Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David.”
Isaiah, of course, was looking forward to the new covenant, a day when the thirsty would be given the water of life without price! Therefore, John, here is indicating that this day has finally come! In fact, do you remember Jesus’ interaction with the woman at the well during his earthly ministry? If you would, turn with me to John chapter 4, beginning in verse 7.

7 A woman from Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 (For his disciples had gone away into the city to buy food.) 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How is it that you, a Jew, ask for a drink from me, a woman of Samaria?” (For Jews have no dealings with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob? He gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I will not be thirsty or have to come here to draw water.”

Now, obviously, the woman misses Jesus’ point here, but what we’re meant to see is that Jesus is the living water which Isaiah had spoken about, in fact, later in John 7:37-38 he said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’” In other words, believing in Jesus is akin to drinking living water. Therefore, what’s telling about John’s words back in Revelation 21 is that the Gospel is still in operation, living water is still being offered to those who are thirsty, without price. This indicates that Revelation 21 is not a text primarily about the future, but a picture of the kingdom of heaven even now.

Only Christ will satisfy

There is also a point of application for us here, it’s important for us to realize that there is nothing in this life that will satisfy, while God gives us many good things, even to unbelievers, we were never meant to find lasting satisfaction in them. Many try to find purpose and satisfaction in their careers, others seek it through the pursuit of money or wealth, others seek it through marriage, their children, or various material goods, but none of these things are designed to give us purpose or lasting satisfaction, only Christ will satisfy.
Whereas, all of these other things are merely signposts intended to glorify their Creator, not to be glorified, therefore we will only final lasting satisfaction in Christ. And for that reason, make Christ your chief pursuit, not these other things. All of the other pursuits and created things are intended to magnify God’s glory, not diminish it, nor rob him of it. We are not to make idols of these things, we are not to worship the creation rather than the Creator. We are designed to worship God.

Conquers

Then John continues back in Revelation 21, verse 7,

7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

John here doesn’t lose sight of his original audience, nor the fundamental purpose of this letter. This has been his message from the very beginning, in his seven letters to the seven churches, encouraging them to overcome their adversaries by the word of their testimony and by the blood of the Lamb. This book was not intended to be a bare prediction of future events, but a prophecy meant to embolden and strengthen the church of the first century, to remind them that the great tribulation would ultimately give way to the triumph and victory of the church. That Christ, by his blood, and the binding of Satan had assured their victory, both in this life and the next. That the first heaven and the first earth were passing away, and that the new heaven and a new earth had already come. That they were the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and that God would dwell with them, that they were his people and he was their God, and that the former things were passing away.
John writes elsewhere in 1 John 5:4-5,
1 John 5:4–5 ESV
For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world—our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?
However, John immediately contrasts them with those who will be counted among the cowards there in verse 8,

8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”

These are those who will join themselves to the world, who will bear the mark of the beast on their forehead (identifying themselves with the world), and bear his mark on their hands (to doing his bidding), and who will join the harlot in her spiritual infidelity. And there are several lists like this throughout the NT, and they stand as a sobering warning for us guard ourselves against such things, therefore, let us hold fast to our confession.

Prayer

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