MONDAY
Finally, the judgment is over and we come to the end of the story. Again, as I’ve been saying all along, to get to the new creation depicted here, something must be done with the evil that we see everywhere in creation. The judgment of God is the biblical answer to the question of what is to be done with evil. This week we will see the final purpose of God’s creation. We must also remember that this was written to Christians who were suffering and putting their lives and livelihoods on the line for believing in Jesus. These two chapters are meant to encourage them to put their hope in Jesus. Although they suffer now, while the Romans seem to be experiencing the good life, the positions will be reversed in the end.
Revelation 21:1-4 (ESV)
The New Heaven and the New Earth
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.”
Heaven and earth passing away are allusions to Isaiah 65:17 and 66:22. We also see it in the New Testament in 1 Peter 3:13. From the rest of the context, as we will see going through this text, this likely doesn’t mean that the creation will be destroyed, although this is certainly a plausible understanding. The difference is between leveling a house or gutting a house and restoring it. The sea, as we’ve already seen (😀), is the place of evil, chaos and disorder. These have no place in God’s new creation.
In verse 2 a “holy city, the new Jerusalem,” is coming down from heaven to earth. In Genesis 11 humans tried to build a city (Babel) reaching to heaven. Old Testament scholar John Walton argues that this temple in Babel is humans’ attempt to bring God to earth on their terms. The hubris of it is that the humans think they can dictate God’s presence on earth rather than following his rules and submitting to his timing in his presence dwelling on earth. Here we finally, at the end time, have a picture of God bringing his kingdom fully to earth. New creation is not a human accomplishment.
This is the fulfillment of what Jesus has told us to pray—“Your kingdom come.” (Matt. 6:10) God’s Kingdom was inaugurated in Jesus’ first appearing, now it is arriving in full.
This city is contrasted with Babylon in Revelation (cf. Rev. 17). The city represents both all of new creation and the people of God (people are also God’s creation, remember). It is a people and a place. The city is described as a bride, just as the people of God are described as the bride at the wedding supper of the Lamb (19:7). Note that the city is coming down from heaven, implying a renewed creation theme rather than a destruction theme.
The voice from the throne declares that God’s dwelling place is now with humanity. This is the greatest blessing of new creation—God fully with us. This theme is one we can trace all through Scripture. In the Old Testament God walks in the Garden of Eden. God commands his people to build a tabernacle in the Exodus. God commands Solomon to build the temple. The temple is destroyed when Judah is sent into exile; it is rebuilt by Nehemiah to a fraction of its former glory. Finally it is rebuilt by Herod in the New Testament era. Whereas the presence of God in these spaces takes center stage in the Old Testament, it is known that these spaces cannot contain the fullness of God’s presence. Yahweh is the living God and he cannot be contained to a space.
1 Kings 8:27 27 “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the highest heaven cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built!
Isaiah 66:1 1 Thus says the Lord: “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; what is the house that you would build for me, and what is the place of my rest?
This passage is the fulfillment of God’s presence fully filling all of creation.
In the New Testament we see Jesus as Immanuel (God with us), the Holy Spirit indwelling believers and the church. For now, however, the term for “dwelling place” is literally “tabernacle.” This draws us back to the Exodus and to John 1:14.
John 1:14 14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
What Jesus brought in part in his first appearing, he will bring in full in his second appearing. Now we can experience the presence of God in part; then we will experience it in full.
It is significant that the “people” in verse 3 is plural—”peoples.” This is not solely referring to the people of Israel—in that case it would be singular. It makes for awkward Greek to write “peoples” but John does to make the point that the people of God are the multiethnic believers from every nation, tongue and tribe throughout the world.
Finally for today, we see some of the results of God’s presence being fully with his people in the new creation—”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.” The effects of sin and evil in God’s good creation are fully done away with. In 7:17 John says the Lamb will wipe the tears from the eyes of his people. Here, it is Jesus. Again, John equates Jesus with God.
Reflection
The greatest blessing of new creation is fully being in the presence of God. The blessings of the new creation are glorious and awesome. The Scriptures have no problem holding out the benefits of the new creation as an incentive for faithfulness to Jesus. However, those are not the best part. The best part is God’s presence. We must be sure that we desire God the most, not just what he gives us. If you cannot definitively say that you desire God the most, not just what God gives you, then I’m not so sure you’ll experience the new creation. So reflect on that today and be honest with yourself. Do you truly desire God the most or do you desire what God can give you?