New heavens , new earth, new Jerusalem. Revelation 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. 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.”
After everything we have discovered about heaven so far we now arrive at the fact that perhaps all of that stuff is going to disappear and we wont get to experience any of it after all. Or maybe we will . Ive tried to understand this and failed. All illumination welcome!
Ezekiel, Isaiah and John all see visions of a new version of Jerusalem, which appears to be a real and absolutely massive city with 12 pearl gates, foundations of precious stones, streets of gold, rivers of life, healing trees and God in the midst providing the light and life. There is debate across the centuries and among all the scholars about this city. Is it going to be an actual , real solid structure descending from the sky and landing on the new earth? If so it is going to be somewhere between the size of India and Australia and reach to the edges of space ( as high as the space station is currently orbiting) Or perhaps it is an allegory for the era when God will rule through His church, the bride and all wickedness will be banished.
This bends my sore brain. I have no idea what a new heaven and new earth means. The heaven we have been looking into so far seems more than good enough to me. Why would we need a new one? Easier to see why we might eventually need a new earth!
Regardless of how this all works out in the end, the important thing is that God will be dwelling with people. Like He did at the very start of the story. Once again we will walk with God in the garden. He will give us permission to eat from the tree of life (Rev2:7) because we will finally be able to be eternal. When we had the capacity to sin He could not allow us to be eternal beings and we had to die. Jesus covers our sins and buys, with His blood, the right for us to be called children of God (Isaiah 8:18) We can eat from the tree of life and live forever with Him.
Rev 21:22-27 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honour of the nations.
I love the fact that the gates will always be open ( I wonder why gates are necessary if they are never going to be closed ! ) After the enemy has been defeated there will be no need for defences and the city where God dwells will be open and welcome to the nations of the earth. I dont know about you but I find that incredibly inspiring and hopeful,
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