Growing in Jesus Christ

The Everlasting Golden Age, Part 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. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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.  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."  And he who was seated on the throne said, "Behold, I am making all things new." Also he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true." And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
Revelation 21:1‭-‬7 ESV

If you read the Bible as one, entire huge story then Revelation - especially the last few chapters, is the ending, the finale of the story. Whether it's [The Lord of the Rings], or [The Chronicles of Narnia], or [Percy Jackson] or any other novel, or movie, or TV series, the ending is the final resolution of the entire narrative. The Bible is no different - it has a glorious beginning in the first few chapters in Genesis, a dark & painful middle that lasts all the way throughout the Old Testament till the Gospels, a bittersweet mixture of incredible suffering & hopeful joy throughout the New Testament, and finally, Revelation. 

The above passage is the beginning of the 'happily ever after', the ultimate consummation of God's plan of salvation & restoration. Without further ado, let's look into it, shall we? :))

The apostle John states that the 'first heaven and first earth' will pass away, when Jesus Christ comes back to destroy & extirpate His enemies, and consummate His kingdom fully. 2 Peter 3 captures vividly these realities, 

         "For they (false teachers) deliberately overlook this fact, that the heavens existed long ago, and the earth was formed out of water and through water by the word of God, and that by means of these the world that then existed was deluged with water and perished. But by the same word the heavens and earth that now exist are stored up for fire, being kept until the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly...the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be set on fire and dissolved, and the heavenly bodies will melt as they burn! But according to his promise we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells." 

While some preachers may argue that the explosively powerful flames of the omnipotence & majesty of the Lord Jesus Christ only purify the heavens & the earth with all its dross, the Greek terms for 'pass away' in 2 Peter 3 & Revelation 21:1 make it absolutely clear that the heavens & the earth as we know them will cease to exist. The flames of the fire of God will not merely burn up everything that is on the earth - they will burn up the whole earth to its core. Imagine the entire earth, and all the planets & heavenly bodies engulfed & awash in endlessly towering flames of destruction from the inside out, the fire scorching with such immeasurable & invincible power that the earth, the planets & stars literally melt & dissolve into complete nonexistence. 

But this present earth does not give way to a merely spiritual existence somewhere in the clouds above. We will not be floating around like ghosts in an ethereal heaven. No, all this gives way to a 'new heaven and new earth'. Certain preachers discredit the idea of there being a new, physical earth where a redeemed, glorified humanity will dwell with God forever, preachers such as Wayne Jackson, who writes for The Christian Courier. His article "Will Heaven be on Earth?" seeks to refute & discredit the notion of there being an actual new heaven & new earth, stating this only to be the vision of heaven. However, in his article, Jackson noticeably ignores & neglects the fact that all saints will have a new, resurrected, material body of incomprehensible strength & beauty, and how can people with material bodies exist in an immaterial, ethereal world. 

Another argument that Jackson made is that it would be impossible for all the souls of every single human who has ever existed to stand before God on the landscape of the earth during the Day of Judgment. And while I certainly agree with him on this, I do not think that signifies that a physical earth is impossible. Let's bear in mind that when the apostle John wrote "new heaven & new earth", he probably did not know that the earth was round, and he most likely also did not know the diameter & dimensions of the earth. Science wasn't nearly as advanced as it is today during the 1st century AD. When he said 'earth', he most likely meant 'land'. He most likely saw, as Isaiah prophesied, 'a land that stretches afar'. A real, physical, tangible plot of land that stretched on forever beyond what his eyes could see. To the Bible writers, the 'earth' didn't necessarily mean the earth as we think of now - a giant blue globe. No, to them it meant land - the physical territories & landscapes that God had created. And that's what it will be after the Lord Jesus Christ has consummated His kingdom - a real, physical existence for us, in real, physical, gloriously magnificent & vigorously robust bodies, living on a real, physical, boundlessly expansive plot of land. 

Verses 2 & 3 are inextricably connected. The apostle John witnesses "the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband". Many preachers claim that this is a reference to the new consummation of the relationship between Jesus Christ and His Bride, the church - the gathering, or assembly of the holy children of God, the followers of Jesus Christ. And while the intimacy & relational proximity between Jesus Christ & His Bride will reach unprecedented new depths, if that is really what the verse means, then why is the city coming down 'from' God, instead of 'for' God? If the holy city is the 'bride', and apparently Jesus Christ (who is also God) is the 'husband', then why is it coming 'from' God rather than 'for' God? 

Here's my answer: the term 'as a bride adorned for her husband' is merely a metaphor used to describe, or to communicate how unimaginably stunning, how immeasurably & exceedingly beautiful & magnificent & insatiably exhilarating it will be when God finally comes down to dwell with us. Why do I say this? Because of verse 3. As the holy city comes down, a loud voice announces that the dwelling place of God is with man. The descending holy city is meant to be a symbol of God's immediate, manifest presence on the new earth with us - Heaven has, in every sense of the word, come down on Earth. And note that God was the one who came down to the Earth. While we do indeed go to where God is when we die, that is not our final destination. The final note of history is when God comes down to the new earth to dwell with us and make His home with us; not the other way round.