Revelation 21 - The Ultimate Remodel
When God created, He said 'It is good.' When He makes all things new, He'll say "It is done.' Find out what's in store!
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Revelation 21 (ESV)
1 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.”
9 Then came one of the seven angels
who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues
and spoke to me, saying,
“Come, I will show you
the Bride,
the wife of the Lamb.”
10 And he
carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain,
and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
11 having the glory of God,
its radiance
like a most rare jewel,
like a jasper, clear as crystal.
12 It had a great, high wall,
with twelve gates,
and at the gates twelve angels,
and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—
13 on the east three gates,
on the north three gates,
on the south three gates,
and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations,
and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.
16 The city lies foursquare,
its length the same as its width.
And he measured the city with his rod,
12,000 stadia.
Its length and width and height are equal.
17 He also measured its wall,
144 cubits by human measurement,
which is also an angel’s measurement.
18 The wall was built of jasper,
while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl,
and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple in the city,
for its temple is
the Lord God the Almighty
and the Lamb.
23 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.
24 By its light
will the nations walk,
and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
25 and its gates
will never be shut by day—
and there will be no night there.
26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
27 But
nothing unclean will ever enter it,
nor anyone who does what is detestable or false,
but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
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Previous DIG DEEPER posts on Revelation
Revelation 21 Summary
Each of the seven perspectives of Christ's return we've read through in Revelation have given progressively more and more details. We've seen that especially in the last couple of chapters as the viciousness of the coming wrath and judgment was articulated in ways that has been so difficult to understand. We now are up to this final description of the new heaven & earth, and it is nothing short of amazing, but at the same time it is almost impossible to comprehend and picture.
We read the new Jerusalem resembles a massive cube 1,400 miles deep, wide and tall. The walls of this city are said to be 200 feet thick and made of jasper (a silica based jewel) with everything else made of pure gold. We also read that this massive cube has twelve foundations. None of this seems very practical. But John is not trying to tell us the specific details of this New Jerusalem, rather he just wants to convey that this city is so mind blowingly awesome that it's indescribable.
Dig Deeper
We've been working through the book of Ephesians in our Sunday morning services for the past couple of months, and we've learned that the point of the gospel isn't to solve all of our problems or even to make us into better versions of our old selves, but rather to transform us into a new humanity and build us together into a holy temple of the Lord... to become a dwelling in which God lives (Eph. 2:15, 21).
The New Jerusalem has no temple, because it doesn't need one. We will be the temple, the place in which God dwells.
What will that be like? That's a tough question to answer, because we're only told what it won't be like. We're told that tears will be wiped away, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore (v4).
In other words, eternal life in the City of God will be inexpressibly good.
AAA Prayer :
ACKNOWLEDGE WHO GOD IS: Father, you are God and I belong to you (v3, 7)
ALIGN YOUR LIFE WITH GOD'S WILL: Ask God to be preparing you each day to live as a citizen of His new heaven & earth right now.
ASK GOD FOR WHAT YOU NEED:
