Revelation 21-22a

Translation

Then I saw a new heaven and new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I saw a new Holy City of Jerusalem coming out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride is adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice from the throne say, “Look! The dwelling place of God is with humans, and he will pitch his tent with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain, because the former things have passed away.”

And the one seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making all things new.” And he said, “Write! Because these words are faithful and true.” He said to me, “Come! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. I will give drink freely to the thirsty from the fountain of the water of life. The victor will inherit these things and I will be God for them, and they will be a son for me. However, the cowardly, the faithless, the loathsome, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters and every liar will inherit a their portion in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. This is the second death.

Then one from the seven angels who had the seven offering bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come! I will show you the bride, the wife of the little lamb. He carried me by the Spirit upon a great high hilltop, and showed me the Holy City of Jerusalem coming out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God, her radiance like a precious stone, like the shining crystal jasper. It has great high walls. It has twelve gateways, and over the gates twelve angels, and names are written which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Three gates from the east, three from the north, three from the south, and three from the west. The walls of the city have twelve foundations, and over them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the little lamb.

[Break]

The one Speaking with me had a measuring rod of gold, so that he could measure the city, her gates, and her walls. The city lies four square, and her length is the same as her width. He measured the city with the rod to be 12,000 stadium (about 1500 miles), the length and the width and height are equal. He measured her walls to be 144 cubits by human measurement (216 ft.), which the angel was using. Her walls were made of jasper, and the city was pure gold like clean glass. The foundation of the walls of the city had been adorned with every precious stone: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, amethyst, twelve in all. The twelve gates are twelve pearls, each one of the gates was from a pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like clear glass.

I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty was her temple, and the little lamb. The city had no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine for her, because the glory of God gave her light, and the little lamb was her lamp. The nations will walk by her light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into her. Her gates will never be shut in the day, for there will be no night there, and they will bring the gory and honor of the nations into her. Nothing unclean, or making abominations, or false will go into her, only those who have been written in the little lamb’s book of life.

Then he showed me the river of the water of life shining like crystal, coming out from the throne of God and the little lamb, in the middle of the city street and the, and on either side of the river is the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, each month it produces its fruit, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No curse remains any more. The throne of God and the little lamb are in the city, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their forehead. Night is no more, and no one has need anymore for the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign for ever and ever.

He said to me, “this word is faithful and true, and the Lord God of the spirits of prophecy sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon. Look! I am coming soon! Blessed are those who keep the word of the prophecy of this book.

Heaven on Earth

Old passes away- death and resurrection

Is 65 fulfilled

The New Revised Standard Version The Glorious New Creation

For I am about to create new heavens

and a new earth;

the former things shall not be remembered

or come to mind.

18 But be glad and rejoice forever

in what I am creating;

for I am about to create Jerusalem as a joy,

and its people as a delight.

19 I will rejoice in Jerusalem,

and delight in my people;

no more shall the sound of weeping be heard in it,

or the cry of distress.

“Floating up to heaven”? No!

New Jerusalem comes down from God

God “pitches his tent” here

Matt 6

The New Revised Standard Version Concerning Prayer

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done,

on earth as it is in heaven.

Union of Heaven and Earth, no longer any distance between the two

What this means: purification of all creation

No more evil, no more tears, no more suffering

All things entirely in the presence of God

The Completion of the Biblical narrative

Lev 26:11-12

The New Revised Standard Version Rewards for Obedience

11 I will place my dwelling in your midst, and I shall not abhor you. 12 And I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you shall be my people. 13 I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, to be their slaves no more; I have broken the bars of your yoke and made you walk erect.

The Heavenly City

Jerusalem restored

Angel shows John “the bride of the little lamb”. The Church? Or a city?

City is obviously metaphor for the church and her dwelling place. The “New Jerusalem” is the city of the Kingdom of God; i.e. the way the Church will live together

If the holy city seen of John is so metaphorical, what can we know for sure about this new heaven and earth?

Fulfillment of Ezekiel 40-48

“Twelve Gateways” with the twelve names of the tribes of Israel as well as the twelve apostles, gates in the “east, north, south, and west”

Symbol of universality of the Church: All nations, tribes, and languages

Gates never close: all welcome, no danger or threat anymore

What are all the little details about?

Jewels- the city is adorned this way because it is the bride of the lamb, the church is celebrating the wedding of Heaven and earth

Size “12000” stadia and “144” cubits, metaphors pointing back to 12 (apostles/tribes). Lit. this “city” would be the size of the moon!

This city is big enough for all

In the city is no temple- and no need for one!

The wedding of the bride and the lamb is a wedding of heaven to earth, and of God to humanity. There is no more need for a temple to bridge the gap, God is here

No more darkness in the city, no more seas on earth

Not lit., but representative of the eradication of chaos and evil

Is 25

The New Revised Standard Version Praise for Deliverance from Oppression

And he will destroy on this mountain

the shroud that is cast over all peoples,

the sheet that is spread over all nations;

8 he will swallow up death forever.

Then the Lord GOD will wipe away the tears from all faces,

and the disgrace of his people he will take away from all the earth,

for the LORD has spoken.

9 It will be said on that day,

Lo, this is our God; we have waited for him, so that he might save us.

This is the LORD for whom we have waited;

let us be glad and rejoice in his salvation.

10 For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain.

The River of Life

But it doesn’t stop there! Not only is the Church made new, but all of creation is made new!

River prophesied in Ezek 37 and Zech 14

The New Revised Standard Version Future Warfare and Final Victory

On that day living waters shall flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it shall continue in summer as in winter.

9 And the LORD will become king over all the earth; on that day the LORD will be one and his name one.

Recreation of Edenic paradise

Gen 2

The New Revised Standard Version Another Account of the Creation

In the day that the LORD God made the earth and the heavens, 5 when no plant of the field was yet in the earth and no herb of the field had yet sprung up—for the LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was no one to till the ground; 6 but a stream would rise from the earth, and water the whole face of the ground

All of creation is renewed and given new life

All Things New

New Creation is not something we just wait for, however. In Christ, it has already begun.

2 Cor 5

The New Revised Standard Version The Ministry of Reconciliation

16 From now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view; even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way. 17 So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!

Eph 4

The New Revised Standard Version The Old Life and the New

17 Now this I affirm and insist on in the Lord: you must no longer live as the Gentiles live, in the futility of their minds. 18 They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance and hardness of heart. 19 They have lost all sensitivity and have abandoned themselves to licentiousness, greedy to practice every kind of impurity. 20 That is not the way you learned Christ! 21 For surely you have heard about him and were taught in him, as truth is in Jesus. 22 You were taught to put away your former way of life, your old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.