What does Revelation say about the end of the world?

The Book of the Revelation gives prophetically the unveiling of the happenings of the last days. Beginning at chapter 2 and up to the end of chapter 20, the happenings are all earthly and governmental, ending with the judgment of the great white throne, the earth and the heaven fleeing away, the second resurrection, that of the wicked dead, taking place—the final settlement of evil (Rev. 20:11-12). Then we read of the new heaven and the new earth. Time will be no longer. Eternity will have begun. The fixed eternal state will have arrived, when He who sits upon the throne will say, “Behold I make all things new” (Rev. 1:5), a blissful scene marked by the absence of sorrow, pain, tears, and death itself. “The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death” (1 Cor. 15:26).

The Apocalypse gives the elements of a perfect judgment with respect to any state in which the professing church would be found, so as to guide any one connected with the church in those circumstances. At the same time it encourages the faithful, and declares the blessings for "him that overcometh." The Holy Ghost then reveals how, all will end the judgment of the world, the apostasy, the coming of the King of kings, followed by happiness (Satan being bound), and then a second apostasy, and the judgment of the great white throne, and lastly the eternal state when God will be "all in all." This is the complete development of what Jude, 2 Peter, and 2 Thessalonians had previously made known to the church in its moral elements.

Having thus furnished the Christian with all that he needs in the midst of the difficulties presented by the state of the professing church; and having revealed the judgment of Christ, with a perfection and a circumstantial adaptation which are most admirable, the Holy Ghost then lifts the veil to shew how all this will end in the judgment of the world. He reveals chastenings, first of all in outward things; then more directly upon man himself; afterwards, He discloses all the features of man's dreadful apostasy, the diabolical organization of his forces against Christ, and, at length, the judgment which will break forth at the coming of Christ Himself, the King of kings, and Lord of lords. This judgment is to make way for an administration of blessing and happiness (Satan being bound), which will only be interrupted by his being loosed from his prison, to test those who have enjoyed this happiness, and thus to bring on the final judgment of the dead and the eternal state in which God will be "all in all." This is the methodical and complete development of that which Jude, 2 Peter, and 2 Thessalonians had made known to the church in its moral elements.

The Church having been with the Lord from chap. 6 now returns with the Lord in chap. 19. The full number of the first resurrection being completed in the beginning of chap. 20, then takes place the millennium, or thousand years' rest, with Christ. The rest of the dead live not until this thousand years' rest is completed. During this thousand years, every promise of blessing to this earth will be fulfilled — Satan bound — sin not allowed, but immediately judged. Then comes the end. Satan is loosed a little while; and then the great judgment of the dead takes place. (Chap. 20:11-15.) And this over, the eternal state of inexpressible blessedness sets in — new heavens and new earth,

Here in Revelation not merely the present dispensation but the present heaven and earth have passed away, and give place to "all things made new." Doubtless the new heaven and earth will be made out of the old. Just as the resurrection-body will be formed out of the present body of humiliation by the power of God, so are the present earth and heavens destined to a kindred transformation. After the dissolution they will reappear in the form of the new heavens and earth. "No more sea" would be impossible without a miracle, as long as life in its present condition has to be maintained. The sea, as my reader knows, is absolutely necessary to animated nature as it is. Man could not exist without it; and so with regard to every animal and even vegetable upon the face of the earth, not to speak of the vast world of waters. But when time is done — when there is no longer the natural life that is sustained by God — when the millennium shall have yielded the brightest witness to this as well as to every other fruit of His wisdom and goodness and power — a new state of things altogether will ensue, and this perfect and everlasting. There will be new heavens and a new earth; for the first heavens and first earth are passed away; and there is no more sea. Perfection is come for the universe.

Jesus sits upon that throne. He, who is now the Saviour, must then be the judge. God has put all authority into His hand, once pierced for our sins, and He there sits, and wields the sword. The throne is called "great" because of the dignity of the One who fills it. It is called "'white" because of the absolute purity of the judge. Everything must be according to the unsullied holiness of the nature, of Him who sits upon the throne. Now observe — "I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them." People have sometimes spoken of this as the Lord's second coming to the earth. But observe, there is no coming at all here. Why? Because there is no earth to come to. Heaven and earth have fled away, consequently the Lord Jesus must have come to earth, before this epoch, or He can never come at all. Evidently time is no more, and the relation of man to the earth, as it now is, ended. Hence, there is no thought of any coming here. Nay, heaven and earth flee from the face of Him, who sits on that throne, so solemn, so appalling, is the sight.

But there is another scene that follows — the most solemn for man where all indeed is solemn. "And I saw a great white throne, and him that sitteth on it, from whose face fled the earth and the heaven; and there was found no place for them" (verse 11). Mark it well. There are many persons who suppose this to be the time of the coming of Christ, and who consequently put the millennium before His coming. But this will not bear the light of scripture. Without going to proofs outside the chapter, I would just take another ground, which is short and simple, and to my mind perfectly conclusive of the question. When the Lord Jesus comes, He comes to the earth from heaven. This is the universal belief, as far as I know, of all persons who have any defined thoughts about the matter. But such is not the case here. For the Lord sits on a great white throne, and instead of His coming from heaven to earth, both earth and heaven are all gone. It cannot be His coming to the earth, for there is no earth to come to. The entire system of earth and heaven, as they now are, will have vanished out of the scene not annihilated but destroyed; for there is a great difference between those two thoughts. However, the earth is no longer found filling its own place; it has disappeared. The great white throne is not therefore on the earth at all; for from the face of Him that sat on it the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. Lest it should be thought that their fleeing away was a mere figure of speech, it is added that "there was found no place for them." And it is said in 2 Peter 3 they shall be dissolved and their elements melt with fervent heat. Observe then that, when Christ is seen seated on the great white throne, the earth and the heaven are fled away. What are we to draw from it? Either the Lord Jesus Christ must have come before this, or He will never come to the earth at all; for it would not be the same thing to suppose that He merely comes to the new earth. after all judgment — even of the wicked dead — is over. Now we know that "the Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son" — "ordained of God to be the Judge of quick and dead." The general faith of Christians is that He will come back to this earth. His feet shall stand in a day yet future on the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and which thenceforward is to be not destroyed, but divided in the midst as a witness of it. These circumstances cannot apply to what St. John calls the new heaven and new earth, but before the last physical change. When the great white throne is found the earth is gone, and therefore the coming of Christ to the earth must have been before that final scene of judgment. In point of fact, too, we have had the coming of Christ already described in Revelation 19, and His reign in the early part of Revelation 20. This gives distinctness to the character of the great white throne.* Nothing can be more simple, if you take it in the order in which God arranges it. But man is ever perverse; and so he blots out the coming of Christ from chapter 19 where it is given, and imagines it in Revelation 20:11, where it is not and cannot be.

All is new. All is according to God in His nature. All is fixed. No economic changes now. We are introduced into God’s everlasting rest, into God‘s unchanging state, one of absolute perfection. We have not here the Lamb and the fulfilment of counsel and prophecy, nor the mediatorial kingdom and the reign of righteousness, but the kingdom given up, and God all in all (1 Cor. 15:24-28). Time distinctions, geographical boundaries, and limitations as at present entirely disappear in the grand eternal state, which, whether in Heaven or earth, displays the energy of God Himself. The “new Heaven” and “new earth,” the respective spheres of all the saved, shall be brought into blessed harmony with what God is. This is the state referred to by Isaiah 66:22, and Peter's second Epistle (2 Peter 3:13), a state in which righteousness shall dwell, not reign as in millennial times. Neither enemy nor evil shall invade either of the spheres where the redeemed will for ever dwell. Every one and everything will re-echo the glad refrain, God is light and God is love.

— “For the first Heaven and the first earth had passed away.” The undoubted reference is to the statement in the previous chapter. “From whose face the earth and the Heaven fled away” (v. 11). This dissolution, not annihilation, is effected by fire (2 Peter 3:10). Scripture is silent as to any future act of creating material in a literal sense, and is equally silent on what some foolishly contend for, namely, annihilation or total extinction of being. Scripture knows nothing of such a baseless theory. Not an atom of matter, not a blade of grass, and surely not a sentient being in the wide universe is doomed to extinction. Our planet will be put in the crucible, altered, changed, and made new, to abide for ever. There being no sin, there can be no corruption. The new earth is eternal. The terms “first Heaven” and “first earth” are in contrast to the “new Heaven” and “new earth.”

The Christian teacher suggested this present earth would not be destroyed, but purified by fire. Reading passages bearing on the subject it looks as if the new heaven and new earth would be brand-new. You cannot speak of a renovated thing as a new thing, and an earth purified by fire would be simply renovated. Revelation 20:11 speaks of the earth and the heaven fleeing from the sight of Him who sits on the great white throne, and no place being found for them. A renovated earth must have a place found for it. Revelation 21:1 speaks of the first heaven and the first earth being passed away, whilst Peter writes of the heavens being dissolved and the elements melting with fervent heat, the earth and the works that are therein, being burned up.

Now, righteousness suffers, in the millennial day it reigns, but in the eternal day it dwells happily, it is quite at home. "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." This is not what Isaiah alludes to (Isa. 65:17). His new heavens, and new earth, are only new, in a moral sense, as suiting the millennium, and the sea also exists, for he speaks of "the isles afar off," but here, every bit of the new earth is seen, brought into relationship with every other part, for "there was no more sea." This would be impossible, as things now are, for man's life. Of course, there must then be a wonderful change in the character of our life, because, as things now exist, we could not get on without the sea. It is the great reservoir, from whence comes the moisture, that is necessary for man, and the earth. I do not know what the change will be, but God brings out here, that which is very simple, and plain, and which faith delights to contemplate, "a new heaven, and a new earth, and no more sea." God, if I might so say, in the new scene, will efface everything, that could bring to memory, the sorrows of man's heart down here.