Revelation 21:1–8

The previous chapter closed with the solemn scene of eternal judgment. Now a vision of the cloudless beauty of the eternal state of blessedness opens before our eyes. The contrast is as sudden as it is magnificent.

Today righteousness suffers. In the millennial day it reigns. But in the eternal day it dwells happily; it is quite at home... This is not what Isaiah refers to (Isa. 65:17). His new heavens and new earth are only new in a moral sense, to suit the millennium. The sea also exists there, for he speaks of "the coastlands far away."

During millennial days, we read that "a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice" (Isa. 32:1). In the eternal state, righteousness will dwell. Ruling supposes there is evil to be repressed. In the eternal state there will be no sin to mar the new heavens and the new earth.

No doubt the new heaven and earth will be made out of the old. By the power of God, the resurrection body will be formed out of our present lowly body. The present earth and heavens are destined for a similar change. After the dissolution they will reappear in the form of the new heavens and earth.

You cannot call a renovated thing a new thing, and an earth purified by fire would simply be renovated. In Revelation 20:11 the earth and the heaven flee from the sight of Him who sits on the great white throne, and no place is found for them. A renovated earth must have a place found for it.

Fire brings about this dissolution, not annihilation (2 Peter 3:10). Scripture says nothing about any future act of creating material in a literal sense. It says nothing either about what some foolishly argue for: annihilation, the total extinction of being... Our planet will be put in the crucible, altered, changed, and made new, to remain for ever.

As a question of exact translation... if the Greek word for sea had no article, the older translation would have been justified. As it stands, the right reading is "the sea was no more", whatever the interpretation. In verse 4 of the same chapter, the same rule about the article shows the right reading to be "death shall be no more."

The sea forms a barrier to contact. So the first and most obvious thought is that there will then be no more separation. Then we remember the symbolic meaning of earth and sea in this book. The earth speaks of ordered government. The sea speaks of unorganised masses of people or nations that are not in subjection. It teaches that every part of the new earth will be in ordered subjection to God, under His governmental control.

One broad physical fact marks off the eternal state from everything that has ever been: the sea is gone. As the world now is, the loss of the sea would be fatal to all natural life. How vast the change then! The fact is that all mere nature will have completely passed away. The course of God's dealings through the ages is then over. All will be fixed for ever.

All is new. All is according to God in His nature. All is fixed... This is not the scene of the Lamb fulfilling purpose and prophecy. It is not the kingdom Christ holds as Mediator, nor the reign of righteousness. It is the kingdom handed over, and God all in all.

The scene in verse 10 of this chapter comes a thousand years before this one in verse 2. In verse 10 John sees the "holy city, Jerusalem" in her glory during the thousand years, in relation to the earth of that day. In verse 2 that thousand-year kingdom has passed away for ever. John now sees the "holy city" coming down from the place she held during the kingdom, to take up her appointed place on the new earth. It is the "holy city," holy according to the nature of God. And it is "new Jerusalem," not the old one described in the Old Testament.

To grasp its meaning we must first clear our minds of one idea that sentiment has encouraged. It is the idea that the holy City is a literal description of the eternal home of believers. In a book where all the other visions are symbolic, it is unlikely that in this vision symbols should give way to literal description. Scripture names the City in so many words: "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." So it is clear that the City is a symbol of the Church in glory. Yet many details show that it is not only a symbol of the saints themselves. It is a symbolic description both of the Church in glory and of her eternal home.

In the future the Church is pictured as a Woman and a City… The Bride is spoken of as the Lamb's Wife, and is likewise described as "that Great City, the Holy Jerusalem." It is interesting that Revelation 17 presents the doom of the false bride, and chapter 18 of the false city — the Christian world that has abandoned the faith in the last days.

It descends "from God," since it is all His own workmanship. And it comes "out of heaven," for its calling was from heaven. To heaven it had gone when the Lord Jesus came for all His saints.

Earlier she was only coming down from heaven towards earth. Now she comes right down to earth, because God has suited the new earth to this heavenly city… I have seen a good many brides in my day. I have met them a few years later, and what lines are on the brow, what cares are plain on the face, and how soon grey hairs have appeared… But what does John see? He sees, coming down from heaven, the one who has been the Lamb's wife for a thousand years, and she looks as bright, as beautiful and as fresh as the day she went up. Not a grey hair, not a wrinkle can be seen.

The bride is more an object for the affections. The wife speaks of a vessel fully fitted to be a helper to the man… In her eternal place she is seen as "a bride adorned for her husband", and the term wife is not used. It suggests the closest possible relationship. It shows the place of favour and nearness we shall have with the Son throughout that eternal day.

"Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband!" Let us think about these last four words. In the light of them, could we bear the thought of being indifferent to His wishes now? Thank God, SHE will be for HIM then.

Moses says, "The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; I will prepare Him a habitation," a tabernacle. But God says, I will prepare Myself a tabernacle. At the end of the times, after the millennium, this desire of God will come true, just as Revelation 21:3 says. The word tabernacle always has the sense of a habitation of God with men.

The tabernacle was God's first dwelling place on earth among His people Israel, after He redeemed them out of Egypt. While still in the wilderness... the LORD gave this promise, a promise conditional on their obedience: "I will make my dwelling among you... And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people" (Lev. 26:11-12). This promise, because of Israel's transgressions, was never entirely fulfilled... Coming to our scripture, we find almost the same words again. Only now they are not a promise, but a statement of fact and accomplishment.

I understand that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God. It is where He lives in a very special sense. And this tabernacle of God comes down out of heaven to be with men. The heavenly saints make up the tabernacle of God. Those on the new earth are simply called "men."

They are not, as the church is, the dwelling place of God, but their place and blessing are as perfect in their relationship as the church's are in hers. There are differences which God in His sovereignty has been pleased to make, but these only illustrate His own perfections and grace.

"He shall tabernacle with them." This emphatic statement is an advance on the previous one. There we read, "The tabernacle of God is with men"; now, "He shall tabernacle with them." In the one case it is the tabernacle. In the other it is Himself. What an amazing truth, that God, the very God, the Maker and Sustainer of heaven and earth, will actually and really dwell with men on earth.

God dwelling with men — not merely as a visitor, as He was with our first parents in the garden of Eden, but as one who lives there.

In the eternal state, when everything will be according to God's mind, nationality will be gone. The distinction between Jew and Gentile, between one nation and another, will have perished. All the redeemed, with one heart, one object, and one occupation, will be "HIS people."

"They shall be His people" — that is, God will take the eternal dwellers on the new earth for Himself. Israel of old was the LORD's people. Now the name "His people" takes on a breadth and depth of blessing completely unknown in Old Testament times... "And God Himself will be with them as their God." In this marvellous statement God, so to speak, comes out of His tabernacle and is personally with His people. Nothing is mentioned here that stands between God and His people — no tabernacle, nothing at all. He is "with them," apart from any covering or outward means of communication.

It is remarkable that Revelation 21:22 uses the word "temple" for the church in millennial display. But when we come to the fixed eternal state, we get the word "tabernacle."... The last glimpse we have is of God dwelling among His people for eternity. May we anticipate that day by taking up the divine thoughts even now.

There will be no question of a distinction between light and darkness. There will be no possibility of anything contrary intruding... No shrine is seen, for the glory of God shines from every atom of its constitution. There is no holy place nor holy of holies, for every part of it is new creation, in which righteousness dwells!

Only in the eternal state does God remove every physical and moral effect of sin. The thousand-year reign, as we have seen, is not a perfect condition. Even under the good rule of the Lord people will still weep on earth. The words, "He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes," are repeated word for word in Revelation 7:17. There, however, it is a millennial scene; here it is the everlasting state. Neither here nor in the earlier scene is the wiping away of tears the work of the Lamb. God does it. If He wipes away every tear, then He removes every cause and occasion of sorrow.

Not a trace of former sorrow shall remain, and God Himself will remove it. What infinite tenderness that God Himself will do this! A mother gently wipes away her child's tears. In the same way God Himself will delight to wipe away all tears from the eyes of His people. And once wiped away they can never return, for "death shall be no more." Think how many tears death has drawn from grieving people in this world!

God had gone to the source of everything that brought in sorrow, and swept it away in the judgment of the cross. The former things had passed away. God once had to drive the man and the woman out of Eden in tears — the garden He had made for them before they fell. Now He can meet us at the door of a new heaven and a new earth as the One who wipes all tears from our eyes.

Not only has He taken away the evil, but it is never to be any more. That is, there is now full and perfect security and blessedness. All the evil is gone. So are all the trials that tested man and brought him to the point where he could truly meet God. The love of God takes the place of everything. He fills all things with Himself, so evil can never enter again. That is the opposite of the old paradise man was given.

Death, and all the trials, pains, and griefs bound up with human life in this world are gone, abolished for ever. Sin has now been taken away (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:26). That is the final result of the death of Christ on the cross. So death is gone from the scene, and with it all the other bitter fruits of sin. Life has swallowed them up in victory. It is not the positive side of eternal blessedness, but the negative.

And He reveals all this to us now, so that we may live in its light through faith. In it we find a remedy for present trials. We also find a rich encouragement to set our minds on things above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

Notice that it is God who is prominent through this section... The One who sits on the throne speaks. We do not get the Lamb mentioned. It is the glory of God in the fullest possible sense that we have here. And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." No doubt Christ is the Alpha and the Omega too, as we find in Revelation 22:13. But it is not the Lord as such who acts and speaks here. It is God.

He who acts, to produce these new creation things, is the One "who was seated on the throne" — our Lord Jesus Christ. He acted to bring into existence the old creation, according to Genesis 1. He acts again to bring into existence the new. As before, so here, the word of His power is enough. In the past, "He spoke, and it came to be" (Ps. 33:9). Now again He speaks and His words are, "It is done." Both are accomplished with equal ease.

God on the throne of all power, of absolute sovereignty, declares His will — all things new. The old order of things is not improved. It is not carried over into the eternal state in any way, because that state demands a condition of things that fits it. God is the measure and source of the whole eternal state, whether of persons or things. Nothing short of what suits God can appear in the unchanging state.

In the eternal state everything will be new in the fullest sense of the word. The material heavens and earth will be new, and "all things" found in them will be new. All those things that we know at present, spoken of as "the former things," will have passed away.

The One who sits on the throne declares that He makes all things new. "New" here is a very distinct word. It does not mean "new" as opposed to "old." It means "new" as never having been in existence before, either in kind or in itself, and never getting old. Nothing and nobody can ever get old in new creation.

Today, the men of the world are trying to get rid of "the former things." They are seeking to "make all things new." They can break hearts and fill the earth with death, sorrow, crying, and distress. But they cannot end the sorrows of the world. They cannot "make all things new," or bring in a new order, as they dream in vain.

This sentence fixes the character of the eternal state. Grand words indeed, and worth recording! God also confirms His own magnificent declaration by adding, "for these words are trustworthy and true." He demands our attention, and claims our whole-hearted and unqualified agreement... This is not a promise. It is God's own assertion of what will be fact when the moment comes for it to happen.

In the new heaven and new earth all will be new. Everything will then be on the basis of "new creation." It will suit the full and unrestrained expression of all God's nature. It will be the fulfilment of His eternal purpose. We, thank God, are on that basis now as "in Christ" (see 2 Cor. 5:17).

Our verse begins, "And He said to me, 'It is done.'" These words seem to announce the curtain coming down after the grand and terrible scene has passed before the eye. Then follows the declaration, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." The end has arrived — "it is done!" The last seal had been broken, the last trumpet blown, and the last bowl poured out. The power of Satan had been crushed and the folly of man rewarded. The kingdoms of this world had become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. The false prophet and the beast had received their doom. Satan had been thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. The Great White Throne had pronounced its irreversible sentence on the wicked dead, and Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet are followed by the explanatory phrase, "the beginning and the end." They show that all testimony on earth had its origin in God, and that its end is His glory. Creation, providence, promise, history, prediction, prophecy, testimony, love, and grace each have their source in God and in Him their end. Nothing on God's side ends in failure. God triumphs at the end.

It is God who is prominent through this portion... The One who sits on the throne speaks. We do not get the Lamb mentioned. It is the glory of God in the fullest possible sense that we have here... No doubt Christ is the Alpha and the Omega too, as we find in Revelation 22:13; but it is not the Lord who acts and speaks here; it is God.

This is present, not future. No one will hunger or thirst in the "new heaven" and "new earth." The splendid list of negatives in verse 4 rules out the thought of thirsty ones in the eternal state, except in the lake of fire. The heart of God overflows with pity and tenderness towards the needy and unsatisfied sons and daughters of men. The "fountain," the source of life itself, is promised to the thirsty. It is God's gift, and freely given, as all His gifts are.

Not of the river, or the stream, note that. The river of life will flow out in a mighty volume in the coming age, but now men are invited to the Fountain. The river has been polluted. Men's opinions and "doctrines of demons" have been poured into it, and the error has spread as the stream has flowed on.

"But," you say, "how can I be sure it means me? Perhaps I am not thirsty enough, not anxious enough, for salvation." Very likely; no one ever was as anxious as he should have been... But the point is not the measure of your anxiety, but the fact of your being thirsty or willing at all... "I will give... freely." That is God's side. "Let him take... freely." That is your side. God gives; all you have to do is take what He gives.

Hear these gracious words! They are placed right beside that awful verse about the lake of fire. God has set them side by side: the fountain of living waters, and the lake of fire... But those who despise the open fountain of living waters must be thrown, with all their evil, into the lake of fire.

All God's people must be overcomers. They are passing through a hostile world, open to every trick and all the malice of a powerful enemy. An earlier chapter gives us a glimpse of a faithful remnant in conflict, and of them we read, "They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives even unto death." (Rev. 12:11) As to the world, John writes, "This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith." (1 John 5:4) These two scriptures give us the means of victory. The passage in front of us brings encouragement while the fight is still on.

From the grace of verse 6 we pass to the overcoming of verse 7. At first sight it looks like a complete change. But no one overcomes except those who have received the grace. This is the last mention of overcoming, or victory, in the book of Revelation, which is the book of victory. The victorious saint will enter into full possession of the inheritance. But no saint at all would overcome if the Lamb had not prevailed (the same word), as we see in chapter 5.

The promises to the overcomer in the early part of the book (Rev. 2 and 3) concern special circumstances, and have special rewards in view. But here the encouragement to keep going to the end in the general battle of life is fuller. The rewards are fuller too than the ones mentioned earlier. "The one who conquers will have this heritage" — the things just named. But a still deeper and richer blessing is in store for the overcomer, one of a personal kind: "I will be his God." He gives Himself to the conqueror over life's sorrows. In our judgment this remarkable statement goes even beyond Paul's triumphant words, "the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). But the tale of grace is not finished, for we read, "he will be my son." Sonship, then, is an eternal relationship. The overcomer has God, and God has the overcomer as son.

The conflicts of the past are over for ever now. We recall humbling failure and defeat on our part, but His only memory of them is the final overcoming, the fruit of His grace and power. "And I will be his God, and he will be my son," in all the intimacy of an individual relationship enjoyed by all.

The overcomer will inherit all things (v. 7), for he becomes by faith a joint heir with Christ, into whose hands the Father has entrusted everything (Rom. 8:17, John 3:35). This is the only time in John's inspired writings that the believer is said to be a son ("huios") of God. "Son" indicates a position of dignity, liberty and trust. John's usual word for believers is "children." This one exception fits, because eternity is in view. It stresses the dignity of having part with God in eternal glory, not just the family relationship.

The list of those who fall under this doom teaches a sad lesson. It begins with the fearful and unbelieving. Being without faith, they feared man and did not confess Jesus as their Lord. The overcomers of verse 7 are sons of God. The damned of verse 8 proclaim themselves sons of the evil one. They share his doom.

God is the Speaker here, as in the earlier statements. In those earlier declarations God speaks as love. In this final statement of eternity He speaks as light. God never gives up His character as Judge of evil. The lake of fire is an actual and eternal place of punishment. We do not know where in the universe it is. Some today deny eternal punishment. This solemn passage gives them no support. It gives absolute condemnation. The eighth verse is as distinctly eternal as the first or the second.

Who praises the coward? Sadly, he stands at the head of the dark list of the lost in Revelation 21:8. "The fearful" here means those who are afraid to confess Jesus as Saviour and Lord, from fear of the consequences. They are cowards when it comes to Christ. In God's sight this is a sin of the meanest and blackest character. Such people know something of Christ and of His goodness, and yet they are ashamed of His name before others.

"The unbelieving" are those who refuse God's testimony. That testimony was the only thing that could have kept them out of the company of "the abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars." Every unbeliever chooses such company, and he or she will have a part with them in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death — not annihilation, but separation (the basic meaning of death) — separation from God in eternal torment.

The list of those on whom this doom falls is sadly instructive. It begins with the fearful and unbelieving… Next come those who bore the character of the devil, who is a murderer. They were marked by lust and dealings with the powers of darkness. The list finishes with "all liars." Lying is another characteristic of the devil, and deceit takes many subtle forms. The overcomers of verse 7 are sons of God. The condemned of verse 8 show themselves to be sons of the evil one. They share his doom.

Sorcerers are those who claim to have dealings with spirits. Death was the appointed penalty under the law for those who practised spiritualism in those days (Deut. 18:10-12). The lake of fire is God's appointed doom for all who practise witchcraft, spiritualism, devil worship, and other forms of sorcery.

The "lake" burns. Its fire is never exhausted. "Fire and brimstone" symbolise torment and agony of a fearful kind (Isa. 30:33)… "Which is the second death." The first death separates soul and body. It is not the ending of existence, and not unconsciousness, as many imagine. Luke 16:19-31 is not said to be a parable. Both it and Revelation 6:9-11 show that the spirit is conscious and active in that state. The lake of fire in its never-ending agony is the second death.

The misery of the unbeliever is brought in again here, as it seems to me, so that there might be no room for a question about how long their condemnation lasts. Can anything be more conclusive? Be assured, there is no coming out of that pit. It is impossible, for divine judgment and righteousness have put them there. Scripture gives no warrant for a purifying fire after death. Would the blessed Lord have repeated five times within a few verses, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched," if He had not meant to show the final and eternal doom awaiting the guilty and lost?