“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.

And He that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new’.

And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

And He said unto me, ‘It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death’.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” - (Re 21:1-14).

In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth (Genesis 1:1). This one sentence answers questions scientists and philosophers have posed throughout human history.

Is there a God? Yes, there is - the Bible opens with His existence in its very first sentence. Man may choose not to believe it, and ask for evidence, but the viewpoint of the Bible is clear and unambiguous.

Did the universe have a beginning or did it always exist? Yes, the universe had a beginning – it did not always exist. Scientific evidence clearly points out that the universe we live in, has had a beginning –the Big Bang being most the generally accepted theory that fits experimental observations. There are other theories that say we are in the midst of a cycle (google ekpyrotic theories) of contraction and inflation, but all of them say that we are in an inflationary period, which therefore, implies that inflation had to start somewhere.

Did the Universe come into existence out of nothing or was it created? Genesis 1:1 says God created it. We are just beginning to appreciate the elegance and simplicity underlying the majesty and beauty of the universe we inhabit. The human understandable laws of gravity, light, electricity, the fundamental particles (protons, electrons, neutrons) that make up a drop of dew and the largest galaxies, the emergence of complex and beautiful shapes from simple rules (google fractals), even the orbits of the stars and the seasons show the fingerprints of a Designer.

The book of Genesis also sets forth and answers the ethical & moral questions. Why do we sin? Why do we die? Why is there suffering and sorrow and pain? (Ans. – They exist by design – for the purposes and glory of God, to show forth His righteousness to the inhabitants of Heaven and Earth).

Rev 21 rings down the curtain on Act 1 and raises it to reveal 
Act 2. In time to come, we will look back and remember Act 1 as simply a short prologue to the amazing eternal story of Man, a creature created in God’s image and likeness to glorify Him, whom He loves.

We see a new Heaven and a new Earth. This Earth was beautiful, but it was cursed for Man’s sake. A cursed earth has no place in the new Creation – and so this is the first old thing we see pass away. A new Heaven could imply a completely new Universe (Childs play for One who created the old one in 7 days) or simply that the New Earth is located elsewhere in this one (the Bible does not say the Heavens were cursed – only the Earth). In this book, we see a reference to the Heavens being rolled up as a scroll (Rev 6:14 - at the time of the Sixth Seal signaling the beginning of the end) signifying a cataclysmic event – but a new Heaven is something we see mentioned for the first time here (also cf Peter 2 Pet 3:10-12).

Along with the material, the old moral issues are passed away as well. Here is the promise – “there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.” Christ had to bear His cross, and Humanity its own. We can cry out and ask why it was deemed necessary – and there are many philosophical viewpoints on the necessity of the existence of evil – but the truth is that we will not know until we stand before Him. All we can do is trust Him to be there with us in the midst of it, and to know that He will ultimately make an end of it all. It is interesting to speculate as to how that could happen – how could jealousy, anger, covetousness, lying disappear – but that’s for a different time and a different post!

Lastly, the ceremonial and religious barriers between Man and God disappear as well. No longer do we need to approach Him through intermediaries or our Mediator, or via the sacraments of communion and prayer. We have direct access to His presence and no longer need a Temple to focus our worship. (And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. -Re 21:22). We finally get to be in His presence in His City!

The city itself is described in detail in Rev 21:1-22:5, and we will take some time to go through it in detail but let us start this week by pointing out the first features that are remarked on, as they are especially noteworthy.

This is a physical city, that descends from Heaven to Earth – the fact further reinforced by the apostle actually describing aspects that would typify an actual city. It has walls, gates, and foundations.

Two elements are described that wonderfully harmonize the Old and New Testaments. Each gate is named for a tribe of Israel (Old), and each wall foundation is named for an Apostle(New). What an awesome memorial to the faithfulness of God and His Christ, and an eternal honor for the people thus named and represented!

It is important to remember that neither Israel or the Apostles came to the Lord of their own will, but were sovereignly chosen, called, and appointed by Him to be the instruments of His Grace. And that is why they are embedded into the very fabric of the city – entry to His grace begins with the Nation of Israel, and the apostles built upon the Foundation of Christ Resurrected – our hope of glory. The wall serves to restrict entry to the city to the 12 specific gates, and the angels guarding them prevent any other than His elect from entering the city.

Who lives outside the city? – a great question!!!

The answer to that is preceded by a reference to the nature of God Himself, the Alpha and the Omega. We see it in this week’s text, and it is repeated in Rev 22:13-15 – “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.”

In both statements, we see a distinction made between two populations. In this weeks text, between those that overcome and others, and in Rev 22 - those that do his commandments and others. Those that overcome and obey His commandments inherit all things, and have the right to the tree of life and enter the city. Those that do NOT, are destined for the lake of fire, and an existence OUTSIDE the city.

Commentators are divided on what OUTSIDE means here. It could be the lake of fire, or the outer darkness mentioned by our Lord so many times, or it could be in the New Earth, but restricted from city entrance. A key word is the word “part” in the sentence – “….and all liars, shall have their PART in the lake which burneth with fire….”.

The Greek word meros is used here – Strongs defines it as – ‘From an obsolete but more primary form of meiromai (to get as a section or allotment); 1 a part. 1a a part due or assigned to one. 1b lot, destiny. 2 one of the constituent parts of a whole. 2a in part, partly, in a measure, to some degree, as respects a part, severally, individually. 2b any particular, in regard to this, in this respect.’

If the word means ultimate destiny, then OUTSIDE means the lake of fire, and the city can be understood to mean some kind of HQ/residence for the saints who otherwise have homes on the earth.

If however, the word means “their allotted portion” – the sense being – their “allotted sentence” – then the lake of fire is judgement, and punishment - for a time - for their temporal sins, with the rest of their existence being spent outside the city, but on the New Earth.

This seems to align more with the righteous nature of the Lord we love - who would not punish someone eternally for sins committed in a finite lifetime. It also has implications for the elect’s role as Kings and priests over the nations. If everybody is a king and a citizen in the new World, there might not be much to govern(!)…. (We do have to say that we do not know clearly what kingship/priesthood in the new Creation entails. We will speak more of this when we examine the mission of the leaves of the Tree of Life).

We have just begun to take a peek into the Celestial city, and there is so much more to talk about, but we leave you this week to reflect on the Design of our designer, the Alpha and the Omega, who knows the end from the beginning and who has enshrined the names of His elect in the very walls of His city, that Christ has been preparing for us since He left to be with His Father!

“Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.” -Jn 14:1-4

Hallelujah!