The Kingdom: Consummation, Character, City, Challenge, Day of God (Rev. 20-22, 1 Cor. 15, 2 Pet. 3:13) — A.J. Higgins

The New Heaven, New Earth, and New Jerusalem

We're going to look at, we have about 40 minutes left, we're going to be looking at Revelation 21, and we'll read some verses. And Revelation 21, in verse number 1, 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.

Now you notice, the previous chapter ended with the sea giving up the dead. Now there's no more sea. And I, John, and I'm going to ask our brethren why it is that the man who is never referred to in the Gospel of John as John, he's the disciple whom Jesus loved, in the epistle that he wrote, 2nd and 3rd epistle, he is the elder, he's not John, five times over in Revelation, one of them is textually, but at least four times over, I, John, I, John.

Anyway, I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, he will dwell with them, they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away.

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. 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. He that overcometh shall inherit all things. I will be his God, he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving, abominable, adulterers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

And there came unto me one of the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, talking to me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

Go down to chapter, verse number 22. And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, nor to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb was the light thereof.

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 honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.

They shall bring the glory and honor of nations into it. And there shall no wise enter into it anything that defileth neither whatsoever worketh abomination nor maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God unto the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, or on either side of the river, was there a tree of life which bare twelve manner of fruits, yielded her fruit every month.

And the leaves of the tree were for the, not the healing, but the health, the health of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God unto the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face.

His name shall be in their foreheads. There shall be no night there. They have no need of candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. Now, we could begin this Bible reading by asking our brethren to tell us what eternity is like.

Is it timeless or is it endless? I'm not sure. We are so conditioned to think as we have to think in this world that it's hard for us to think of either timeless or endless. But it's eternal. And we'll have to leave it there, at least I have to leave it there.

Interpreting the Eternal State in Revelation 21–22

This Bible reading will introduce a few difficulties. Two major issues. Number one is, is the new heaven or new earth a new creation or a new character? In other words, is it renovated? Is it something that God has purified as he did with the first old earth, the old world, the world that then was being perished, overflown with the flood?

God brought a new earth out of it. None of the constituents were changed, just a renovated, purified earth. So is the new heaven or new earth something that is renovated or is it entirely a new creation?

And there will be a difference of opinion. We'll voice that and move on. More difficult and more germane to our discussion is, while everyone is agreed that in chapter number 21, verses one through verse number eight refer to the eternal state, scholars, and people here, are divided over whether verse nine to the end of chapter 22 reverts to the millennium or continues to speak about the eternal state.

It is not uncommon for John to either give parentheses or to revert and explain details of something he has dealt with earlier. On the other hand, there seems to be the natural flow of information and so on that would make others think this is the eternal state all the way through to chapter 22 where I read the first five or six verses.

We'll state our views on that and why there's a divergence there. But having said that, even if you take the end of chapter 21 and 22 to be millennial, looking back, it is introducing principles and characteristics that will be true for all eternity.

So there's not that big a difference. Please get that. It's not that big a difference. Some of us may want to die for what we believe, but you'll understand. It's just a matter of introducing things that are going to be true all the way through in this everlasting, this eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

So with that before us, we're going to go down the chapter very quickly. I want you to turn to 1 Corinthians 15, first of all. Now you have a choice. If you're really spiritual and love the word of God, you can skip the meal and just stay.

If, however, you are carnal, you can go ahead and you'll miss all that we have to say. 1 Corinthians 15, and break in at verse number 24 for sake of time. Then cometh the end. The end of what? This is the end of the millennial reign of Christ.

Christ’s Kingdom and the Goal of History

Then cometh the end. I think this is one of the most thrilling, one of the most wonderful moments in all of history. Then cometh the end. When he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father, when he shall have put down all rule, all authority and power, he must reign, lovely, he must reign till he hath put all things under his feet.

And the last enemy that shall be destroyed is death. For he hath put all things under his feet, but when he saith all things are put under him, it is manifest that he is accepted, which did put all things under him.

And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him, that put all things under him, that God may be all and in all. The climax, the entrance into eternity.

The moment we have read about is the moment that every tyrant that ever reigned has longed for. Every dictator has ever struggled to attain. Every monarch has longed to possess. The Lord Jesus at the end of a thousand year reign will possess all power, all authority, all glory, all honor.

Now the question is what will he do with it? Will he keep it for himself? Will he bask in the glory of the moment? 1 Corinthians 15 says, he is going to hand it back to his father. A perfect stewardship.

You may never have thought of the Lord Jesus as a steward. But I would suggest to you, read John 17 with that in mind. I have manifest, that I have finished, I have glory, I have done everything you wanted me to do.

I have been a perfect steward in my life. Now he is a perfect steward in the kingdom. Tremendous to think. He will hand everything back to his father. You remember that Philippians chapter 2 says that every knee is going to bow, every tongue confess that he is Lord.

But it doesn't stop there. To the glory of God the Father. He will never cease, directing worship and honor to the Father. Now, I know we will get into eternal things, and will we see God our Father. But you will understand, I am just trying to paint the picture here.

And we get this great purpose, that God, the triune God, God in all of the fullness of his day, the triune God may be all and in all. You have that expression in Colossians chapter 3, Christ all in and all.

You have it in 1 Corinthians chapter 12, God who works all in and all. And Ephesians chapter 1, filleth all in and all. Here we have the idea that now God is permeating, everything is God saturated, if I can say that in a very reverent way.

And we have that brought about, because of the perfect stewardship of the Lord Jesus. Remember, a steward, 1 Corinthians chapter 4, his one responsibility is faithfulness. And the Lord Jesus has been faithful in this kingdom for God.

So with that before us, we're going to look at the, that's very quickly the climax of it. Some of the changes in this new heaven and in this new earth. And look again at the city. And finally, we want to look at the throne of God under the Lamb.

We want to close with an appreciation of the Lord Jesus eternally as the Lamb. And why that is so, and how fitting it is. And hopefully we'll have time for that as we get down the chapter. So with that before us, any of our brethren have comments on 1 Corinthians 15.

First of all, the climax of the millennium on our entrance into the eternal state.

This goes way beyond the millennium though. It really reaches right back to the inception of creation, doesn't it? Because it's the kingdom, the government of God, right? Which is really what the kingdom is.

And it's,.

He hands it back to God, even Father, so that there are both aspects, son of God, son of man. Very good. Very good. Yeah. And just to point, I totally agree. That's lovely in 1 Corinthians 15, isn't it?

And the thought of the end is not just the point of time, but it's the goal, isn't it? That word teleos means it's the goal. It's the aim of the whole thing.

Beautiful passage. We spoke about God being goal-directed. He's got a purpose for history. It's not meaningless. It's not frustrating. You know, it's got a purpose. And make sure you're in that purpose with God.

Make sure your life is, because that's the whole teaching of Colossians chapter 1. When Paul prays that they might know the will of God, it's not about who you marry and where you go to school. It's all about am I really giving Him the place of preeminence in my life that God intends for Him.

In all of the universe? Yes. And making everything conform to that. Looking for and hastening onto the day of God, there's that response in our hearts. We want to be there. Peter goes on to say, where in the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, would you take it.

That's the, what John refers to as the heaven and earth flat away? Mm-hmm. Okay, very good.

Our brother has read from 2 Peter where we didn't have time to read. Elsewhere it tells us that all things are, all things consist by the Lord Jesus. Mm-hmm. All things are being held together. Mm-hmm.

What happens when atoms are suddenly loose from each other? Mm-hmm. What happens? Release of energy, heat. And what occurs? Explosion. Explosion. Mm-hmm. Destruction. So the one who now is holding everything together is going to let things...

Dissolve. Dissolve. Yes. And there will be a tremendous nuclear explosion, however you want to put it, but just the tremendous heat that will then be generated and the world, according to 2 Peter 3, the elements melting with fervent heat and so on.

Mm-hmm. So the smallest particles, the elements, smallest particles,.

They're dissolved, everything flies apart. Yeah. And then it's reconstituted to something new. Well, that's one view. Okay. Mm-hmm. Do you have something to say? Well, I was just thinking, there are, I know, to create nuclear explosions, there are certain elements that can only be done with, not from an engineering standpoint.

But I think this is much wider. This is the loosing of orbits. This is the loosing of everything. It's the dissolution of all things, right? Okay. Very good. So in a nutshell, brethren, let's answer the question.

Is everything going to be reduced to nothing? Yes. Or are all the constituent components that God created in Genesis 1 going to be broken down, if I might use the Lego illustration, they're broken down to the last brick, purged by fire, and those elements which God initially created, which are in themselves morally neutral, there's nothing wrong with them, having been purged by fire of every vestige of sin, those original constituent elements then form the new heavens and the new earth.

Is it annihilation of things and then a totally new creation, or is it the purging and the rebuilding of the original elements? That's what I introduced at the beginning. And that's what you believe?

No, I'm sorry. I'm saying that's what you believe. No, I think it's going to be totally new. Totally. Ex nihilo again. Ex nihilo. Ex nihilo, yes. All right, okay.

But the second Peter 3 would support the building blocks, the rudimentary elements of all things, right? Yeah. Almost a purgation and purification and then a reassembling.

Well, I know that when I dissolve sugar in coffee, it doesn't disappear. Right. It changes state, but it doesn't disappear. So, two views. One, heaven and earth are going to pass away, and God will create a new heavens and a new earth, totally new, and our brethren here mostly believe that it will be a renovated...

Yeah. I wonder why you so confidently predicted that we were going to be at odds about this, and now I realize. Yeah.

Joe. I just wondered if, on the other view, if it's more, rather than renovated, resurrected. Just like our bodies will go through resurrection, right? Mm-hmm. In the 1 Corinthians 15 state, this incorruptible shall...

Well, I think probably... Yeah. One of the things that's in view is, again, going back to John's gospel, behold the Lamb of God that beareth away the sin, not sins... Sin, right. ...the sin of the world.

This is going to be brought to pass, that the final thing before Christ offers everything back up to the Father in 1 Corinthians 15 is that the sin principle, every vestige of sin, every mark, every stain has all got to be removed, and I would judge it's the fire of 2 Peter 3 that does that.

Mm-hmm. Okay.

Would you tie in, Janet, in the beginning, there is only one beginning, so in that sense, God created, and whatsoever God do with it shall stand forever, and He's going to then now purge, and would you allow that?

It's possible. Yes. I mean, it's a vesture. He's going to fold them up. When you fold a tablecloth, you don't throw it away.

You just put it away because it's done its job for the time being. You've heard both sides, and we'll move on here. And another thing. I had a question on the word new. Is it just new in chronology, or is there another thought?

Well, it could also, the word that's used here could be fresh. Yeah, new in condition. You know, it carries some different shades of meaning. Isn't that the stamp of freshness will be on it forever? Yes.

Oh, yes. Oh, yes. You never grow old. Very good. Okay, let's quickly come then.

The Exclusions of the New Heavens and New Earth

To the new heavens and new earth and the exclusions. Things are not going to, seven things are excluded. Now, just as something to throw out for you to think for yourselves as a meditation, look at all these things that will be excluded, and think of the fact that Christ endured them all at Calvary.

Amen. Yes, yes. He endured in earthly Jerusalem, but we will never endure in the new Jerusalem. Amen. He endured in Jerusalem below, so we could be entered into Jerusalem above. Same thing with that expression, firstborn ones written in heaven.

Only two places that word is used to be written or enrolled in a census. Luke chapter 2, they want everyone to be enrolled. Joseph and Mary went up to be enrolled in a census in Bethlehem. We are enrolled in a census in heaven.

He was enrolled in a census on earth so that we could be enrolled in a census in heaven. So he had these lovely contrasts and these lovely pictures of the Lord Jesus here. What he endured, the opposite of all that's being excluded from the new heaven, darkness, distress, tears, the curse, and so on.

So he has presently gone beyond these as well as a real man in the glory. He's bringing many sons into the good of that.

The City, the Bride, and Israel’s Eternal Distinction

Why does John mention his name? I know here textual evidence is shaky, but four other times in the book he does mention I John, I John. I'm intrigued. Would it be because he's dealing now with prophecy and this is authoritative.

Apostolic authority is giving this revelation of what is coming. It's not just eyewitness of what Christ in his life, the gospel of John, or the elder to the churches, but now it's I John authoritatively giving you a prophetic announcement of what is coming.

So the holy city, New Jerusalem, this is a literal city coming down out of the open heaven, but for the millennium it pauses, it stops. It can't come all the way to earth. Is that right? I would take it that's the case.

But in the day of God it will come, and the tabernacle of God will be with men.

So what arrests its downward movement? Is it because the sin principle is still in operation on earth, the purgation of things hasn't taken place yet? That's an intriguing thought. I hadn't thought of it that way, but that is.

There will be the latter in the sense of communication. Of course, the way cast up, yes. The way cast up in communication. So in the millennium.

Then we have a satellite city as it were, but in the eternal state then it's right down onto the earth. It comes down to earth. Yes. So would you take it, I know this may be a little bit, but Revelation 20 that we've already covered,.

There are people now that come out of the millennium, through the millennium, and now everything is going to be created new. These people need to be changed. Right. Okay. Will that heavenly city be kind of like an ark?

In other words, they will go to that place while everything is being dissolved.

Do you know, I think so, Frank. That would be my view. That just as the ark carried Noah and his family into a completely new order of things, I think the heavenly city will, because it's the only thing that's not going to be dissolved by fire.

So they go up Jacob's ladder and they wait. Well, I don't know about how they get up there. Probably an elevator or something. Now we come to the issue in verse number two. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Is it the bride or is it a city prepared like a bride in the freshness and beauty? The latter. The latter. So this is not just, we're not excluding the church,.

But this is not just the church that's in view here coming down from God out of heaven. It is all the residents, all the inhabitants of that city. And we'll get some help on who they are. We agree that there's the church, certainly.

Yes, for sure. And I would say that we have a very unique and distinct relationship with Christ in this. Would you take it that the church is always going to be his body? The church will always be unique and distinct for all eternity.

Yes. It's true that, I mean, here the city is bearing the character of the bride, isn't it? Yes. And cities on earth at the moment bear the character of the people who live in them. Some cities are known as attractive places to go to and some cities you wouldn't want to go to.

And the city itself is neutral. It's the people who live in them. It's a lovely expression of happiness, joy. The happiest day in a bride's life, normally, is the day she's married. Yeah, and that's an eternal state for my wife.

Especially when you're here.

Especially when I'm here. I'll tell her that, Sandy. Yeah, very good. So, here then is the new heavens and new earth and in a sense it is heaven coming down to earth. Now there's still what's coming down out of heaven so there's still a heavens above.

But God is making His tabernacle and I'd be happy to hear our brethren still why it's the tabernacle. God is making His tabernacle, His dwelling place on earth with men. Radiating out through the church, I would take it.

And that'll bring us to some of the administrative responsibilities of believers in the church during the eternal state. We're going to come to this in a moment if time allows. Do not think of yourself sitting on a cloud with a harp.

Just singing. You know, some of you are looking forward to an eternity of sleeping. Catching up on your rest. That is not the case. It is going to be a time of tremendous occupation. And we'll look at some of those things as time permits.

Sorry, Frank, go ahead. Go ahead. Occupation and occupancy. What is the size of this city? Maybe you can comment. Okay. If we take the size, the dimensions given to us in chapter number 21. Yeah, chapter 21.

It would be 1500 miles by 1500 miles by 1500 miles by 1500 miles by 15... I would take it a cube. Another 1500 miles. It might be a pyramid. Okay, but every... The holy place in the tabernacle, the holy place in Solomon's Temple were all cubes.

Yeah, it doesn't have to be. It doesn't have to be. But it could be a cube. So 1500 miles. So that's 6000 miles around. Possibly 1500 miles high. A wall of, what was it, 240 some feet. Yes. Or it could be thick.

It could be the thickness of the wall rather than the height. But it's a huge city. And, I mean, you can read calculations of how many square miles, how many square feet, how many people could inhabit it.

It's immense. But it is a city. An actual city. I would take it that it's very much a city. Yes, because it's literal. People have got bodies. Yeah. So the thought of the tabernacle then, the tabernacle of God being with men, that was the absolute opposite of a city, wasn't it?

But maybe the idea of the tabernacle is that the tabernacle, we know, represented things in heaven. It had three compartments. Going from the inside place, the holiest of all, the holy place, the outer court.

Could it be that the distinction between Jew, Gentile, Church of God continues into eternity and that it's describing degrees of nearness to the presence of God. So that which is the holiest of all answers to the location of the church.

The sanctuary, the location of Israel, the outer court, the saved of the nations. Would that be perhaps there? Yeah. And I think what our brother has mentioned, I believe since that Israel will remain a nation distinct for all eternity.

Amen. He shall reign over the house of Jacob forever. Yes. So Israel will be in it now.

The other nations, depending on how you view chapter 21 and 22, the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it. Could mean simply the saved of the Gentiles. Exactly. Or it could mean individual nations.

But whatever the case, there will be these distinctions so that this is not pat ourselves on the back. This is the grace of God to us. That we will have the nearest place to Christ for all eternity. Is this the city that Abraham looked for?

I think so. I think the city that Abraham looked for, the city the patriarchs looked for, the city of Hebrews chapter 12, and on. The country they were looking for too. That is in heavenly. That is in heavenly, yes.

So just to, this city exists now, would you say? This, Hebrews chapter 12 would suggest it exists right now, yeah. Somewhere in outer space. Celestial city. Yes. Yeah. I think spiritually, spiritually it exists now.

I think it will take on form as part of the new heavens and the new earth. Yes. Is it the equivalent of my father's house? The equivalent, yes. Okay. I would be happy with that. Yeah. And we have here the, what I have called in verse number 5, I know I am rushing but you will forgive me.

Eternal Satisfaction and Service in God’s Kingdom

In verse number 5, what I have called the inaugural speech of eternity. Every potentate, every president, every king, when he comes to the throne, comes to power, comes to his place of rule, he makes inauguration speech.

Lots of promises. Not much fulfillment. Here is the inauguration.

Speech of eternity and then he backs it up in the next verse. Can you do it? It is done. I am Alpha and Omega. I am the beginning and the ending. Yeah. I can do it. Yeah. So he will do it. So we have here the God's, or the son of God's inaugural speech as he ushers in eternity and his promise to us that it will be done.

He is Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending and then we have this expression, I will give unto him that is a thirst, a fountain of water of life freely. Now this is not an invitation to salvation.

No. This is a promise of eternal satisfaction. Yes. Could I suggest in the resurrection appearances of the Lord Jesus Christ we get previews of his present ministry as well as some of his eternal ministry and you recall that, I am sorry, some offended by what we are saying.

You recall that in John 21 when they came to shore they found a fire, coals, they found bread and they found fish and he served them and they had as much as they wanted to. Don't ask me to explain logistically how this will occur but I think the Lord Jesus is going to make it his personal responsibility to see that every one of us is as satisfied as we could possibly be for all eternity.

Wonderful. Can you imagine going up to Peter, Peter would you like more fish? A little more bread? I've got some here. You know, you remember the Lord Jesus gave the miracle of the feeding of the 5 ,000.

There were 12 baskets left over because he is inexhaustible. He will never come to the end of Christ. There will always be 12 more hand baskets left. And the beginning of his miracles a well full of wine.

Inexhaustible. This idea.

Of making all things new just a curiosity the cosmos the planets will they be like right now. They are empty balls more or less. What's your idea there as far as this new heavens and new earth? What do more than your idea I guess.

What do we have revelation for? I don't think we have an awful lot given to us in revelation but we will be administering the universe with him. So I think there will be something out there to administer and that's just conjecture but everything will be entirely orderly.

That's the thing right now there are meteors there's black holes there's exploding stars. That won't be like that. We must remember I think that the heavens as God created them Psalm 19 would tell us they had a message and we've lost that capacity every generation of man since Adam has degenerated but I think David he could read stuff in the stars.

The whole plan of redemption probably was there. I mean Babylon really is a place in Genesis 11 they prostituted the message of the heavens and we've got all this zodiacs and all this kind of stuff but it seemed that there was a revelation of God.

In the heavens and it also gave man the capacity to receive that revelation and to understand it. So it wasn't just as though respectfully and reverently it wasn't just God just flung stars into space to show how powerful he was.

God is a God of order. So the fact that they're where they are and the fact that Job saw them in the same places the constellations at least that we see means that there's something there we've lost the capacity to see it now I think.

But so I would imagine in the new heavens and the new earth there will be purpose in everything God does. There's nothing haphazard. So just to move again what will be our occupation for all eternity?

First of all they shall see his face. Secondly that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me. So we will be first of all occupied with Christ beholding his glory. This again is conjecture I think our appreciation of Christ in heaven.

Will begin where it left off on earth. I don't think we're going to get a microchip inserted into our brains and know everything. I think it will begin in heaven where we left off on earth with our appreciation of him.

So but now that doesn't suggest anyone is going to be unhappy or dissatisfied. Just how much of Christ do I want? In this world man needs work because that's how God has designed him. Adam needed work not labor but he needed work.

And when you look at the temple for example which we know has got some four gleams of millennial glory and honor to eternity. There were people whose profession was that of a singer for example. Now we can't I know people can be opera singers today and that sort of thing.

But if our occupation in eternity was to be singing the praises of Christ we couldn't imagine doing that here. But we'll be fitted for it there you know. And everything will be for the centrality and the exaltation of Christ and we'll be fitted to do it.

And we're also told that his servant shall serve him. So there will be spheres of service.

Granted to each of us relative to our place in that both in the kingdom and in eternity. What about our education? Ephesians chapter 2. That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace and his kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.

So eternity will be a continual education in all of God's ways towards us and all of his grace that he has displayed. Now I'm going to move on to shaky ground. What about our recognition one of another?

Recognition, Marriage, and Relationships in Eternity

Will we know each other? Will your wife know the marvelous man that you are here upon earth? Let me just make a suggestion. Along with the amount of transfiguration that the disciples knew who Moses and Elijah were along with that Luke chapter 16.

Now we usually think of Luke 16 the story of Dives and Lazarus come. Earlier in the chapter the Lord Jesus Christ speaking about giving says. Make to yourselves friends with the mammon of unrighteousness your money that when you fail they will receive you into everlasting habitations.

What does that mean? I think what it means is that as we sacrifice for the work of God let me just give a very down to earth example. You decide to send two hundred dollars to a missionary in Mexico because you send money to him.

He's able to stay there on the field. He sees people get saved as a result of his being able to be there and preach the gospel. Now I think when we get to heaven you're going to start connecting the dots.

The assembly there in Mount Sterling supported the work of God in Zambia and here I am a believer from Zambia. And because they supported that work I got saved. You don't think they're going to come up to you and say thank you?