It will be the perfect happiness of the saints, when Christ returns to reign, to have God’s immediate presence with them, His love fully manifested to them and His glory fully put upon them. No remembrance of former sorrows shall remain and all causes for future sorrow shall be removed. Whatever is excellent and valuable in this world will be there enjoyed to a far greater degree, and Christ will be the everlasting fountain of knowledge and joy to His people.
Revelation 21
1 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.
2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 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.
4 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.
5 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.
6 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.
7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8 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.
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
10 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,
11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12 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:
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 in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Revelation 21 Intro – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:1 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:2 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:3-4 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:5 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:6-8 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:9 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:10-11 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:12-14 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:15-16 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:17-21 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:22-23 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:24-25 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:26-27 – J. Vernon McGee
Revelation 21:1-8 – “A New Heaven and a New Earth”
Here is a vision of the new creation. This is the “restitution of all things” to which Peter refers in Acts 3:21, and the deliverance of creation from the bondage of corruption which Paul anticipates in Romans 8:21. No words can portray in positive description what that universe will be, and even the inspired writer has to confine himself to negatives. All he does is to name various elements of terror and dread, saying: This shall not be there, nor that, nor the other, all of which are the fell brood of human sin. The one great positive blessing will be that which was given to Israel in type, but then will be the perpetual experience of the human family. Compare Revelation 21:3 and Exodus 25:8. Let us see to it that here and now the Lord Jesus is the Alpha and Omega, the A and Z of our life. If so, we may even in this mortal life begin to experience the life of the redeemed. We may now inherit all these things, and know the intimacy of Revelation 21:7. But we must overcome. Note that the fearful, that is, the cowardly, who draw back in the face of opposition, are classed with the abominable and murderers. —Through the Bible Day by Day
Revelation 21:1—There was no more sea.
All through this book we hear the clash of the waves. Throughout there is the voice of many waters. But when there dawns on the eye of the seer the bright and blessed time, which is yet to come; when the new heavens and earth appear, this is among the chief attractions of that glorious world—that there is no more sea. The sea is a characteristic emblem of this age, but not of the next.
There shall be no more painful mystery.—To the Jew there was a double mystery in the sea—that which lay in its sunless caves, and that which lay beyond the rim of the horizon; and because there was mystery there was dread and alarm. We, too, live on the shores of mystery, and float above it, with only a plank between it and us. But there we shall know as we are known; our questions answered; our problems solved.
There shall be no more rebellious power.—The sea is the emblem of untamed power. Lashed into yeasty foam it drives the great ships before it and eats into the land. Men cry, Let us break his bands asunder, and cast away his cords. But God laughs at them. Remember the motto that England struck on its medal to celebrate the destruction of the Armada: “The Lord blew upon them, and they were scattered.” And so shall it be one day when all proud opposition to his will is vanquished.
There shall be no more disquiet and unrest.—Life is like a voyage over the sea—now miles of calm, then days of storm; now monotonous and slow progress, then the awful stress of peril and threatening death. Outside of Christ life is like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, but casts up mire and dirt. But yonder there will be unbroken peace and rest. —Our Daily Homily
O GRAVE! WHERE IS THY VICTORY?
Death has no terror for the child of God. Neither the damp sod nor the granite tomb can hold the free spirits of the children of faith. We commit them to the earth and shed the parting tear and are too prone to fancy that the cold ground holds the object of our love; but it is only the cast-off covering of the soul that we bury. The real self, the indestructible and everliving spirit, has been caught up into heaven and long before the hearse and the cortege of weeping friends have left the tomb, the glad song of the departed one has swelled that of the angelic host in the refrain, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (I Corinthians 15:54).
Revelation 21:4
Revelation 21:7 – At the battle of Crecy, where Edward the Black Prince, then a youth of 18 years of age, led the van, the king, his father, drew up a strong party on a rising ground, and there beheld the conflict, in readiness to send relief where it should be wanted. The young prince, being sharply charged, and in some danger, sent to his father for succor; and as the king delayed to send it, another messenger was sent to crave immediate assistance. To him the king replied, “Go, tell my son, I am not so inexperienced a commander as not to know when succor is wanted, nor so careless a father as not to send it.” He intended the honor of the day should be his son’s, and therefore let him with courage stand to it, assured that help should be had when it might conduce most to his renown. God draws forth His servants to fight in the spiritual warfare, where they are engaged not only against the strongholds of carnal reason, and the exalted imaginations of their own hearts, but also in the pitched field against Satan and his wicked instruments. But they, poor hearts, when the charge is sharp, are ready to despond, and cry with Peter, “Lord, save us: we perish” (Matthew 8:25); but God is too watchful to overlook their exigencies, and too much a Father to neglect their succor. If help, however, be delayed, it is that the victory may be more glorious by the difficulty of overcoming. (Spurgeon)
Revelation 21:9-27 – ”The Holy City”
The “new Jerusalem” (Revelation 21:2) is the redeemed Church united with her Lord in the act of governing the whole world. A city is obviously the seat of imperial rule. In that blessed condition the saints will rule the earth as the powers of darkness rule it now. We shall enjoy the fellowship of the good and great of every age. In a literal sense we shall be fellow-citizens with the saints. All ages and dispensations will blend there. Angels at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes and twelve Apostles engraved in imperishable characters to indicate the blending of the dispensations; the differing stones, representing variety of character and function but all blending in the light of the Lamb on the throne.
The happy throngs pour through the gates with never-ending rapture. Those gates, facing every quarter, stand always open; but none desire to go forth, except commissioned on some errand by the King. All the glory and honor of the world are gathered within those walls, because Jesus will be king over every department of human life. There will be room for all beauty, art, and culture in the city of eternal light and love. —Through the Bible Day by Day
THE STRAIT GATE.
The invitations which God has extended for men to come into His kingdom are all broad and generous. “Every one,” and “whosoever,” these are the key words of His gracious command. And yet the summons to a better life and to future bliss, is not entirely unqualified or unconditional. No man can with confidence approach the portals of heaven with a proud heart or with unclean lips or with hands stained with sin. The gate of heaven is high, but narrow. It will not admit the evidence of any worldly possession and by no means of the fruits of self-love or base ambition or sensuality, covetousness, pride or deceit. The strait gate is big enough for any sinner, but it is too small to admit his sins.
Revelation 21:27