Now His Dwelling is With Men

Revelation 21:1-22:6

Welcome! Today we are in our next-to-last week in our current series on the book of Revelations. Our passage today is the “good stuff” – we are past the terrible stuff; in fact, last week, we saw basically the end of our universe and a throne room in which everyone will be judged. Those whose names are not found in the book of life will be cast into the lake of fire. As we discussed last week, that would be where we all would go if it were not for Christ; for believing Christians, those who have agreed with God about their sin, who have accepted Jesus’ sacrifice of His own life in payment for their sins, who have trusted Jesus going forward with their lives, these are the ones whose names will be found in the book of life. And so this week we will see where these blessed ones will go, we will see what will happen to them (to us).

Now, although I love these verses we will look at today, I feel nervous about expanding on them. Revelations 22 warns people not to “add any words” to the prophecy that is the book of Revelations. Unfortunately, people have done exactly this for the last 2000 years and led many people astray.

I saw an example of this in the news just yesterday. A few years ago a book was published entitled The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven. From the publisher’s description: “In 2004, Kevin Malarkey and his six-year-old son, Alex, suffered an horrific car accident. The impact from the crash paralyzed Alex—and medically speaking, it was unlikely that he could survive. “I think that Alex has gone to be with Jesus,” a friend told the stricken dad. But two months later, Alex awoke from a coma with an incredible story to share. Of events at the accident scene and in the hospital while he was unconscious. Of the angels who took him through the gates of heaven itself. Of the unearthly music that sounded just terrible to a six-year-old. And most amazing of all . . . of meeting and talking to Jesus. The Boy Who Came Back from Heaven is the New York Times bestselling true story of an ordinary boy’s most extraordinary journey. As you see heaven and earth through Alex’s eyes, you’ll come away with new insights on miracles, life beyond this world, and the power of a father’s love.

Well, that’s the description. To this day the son has multiple medical issues and is paralyzed. The reason the book is making the national news now is that the boy has recanted the entire story. Here in his own words is his retraction:

“An Open Letter to Lifeway and Other Sellers, Buyers, and Marketers of Heaven Tourism, by the Boy Who Did Not Come Back From Heaven.”

Please forgive the brevity, but because of my limitations I have to keep this short.

I did not die. I did not go to Heaven.

I said I went to heaven because I thought it would get me attention. When I made the claims that I did, I had never read the Bible. People have profited from lies, and continue to. They should read the Bible, which is enough. The Bible is the only source of truth. Anything written by man cannot be infallible.

It is only through repentance of your sins and a belief in Jesus as the Son of God, who died for your sins (even though he committed none of his own) so that you can be forgiven may you learn of Heaven outside of what is written in the Bible…not by reading a work of man. I want the whole world to know that the Bible is sufficient. Those who market these materials must be called to repent and hold the Bible as enough.

In Christ,

Alex Malarkey

I don’t want to spend excessive time on this, but from what I have read, it seems that the mother has been trying for years to get the book retracted; the father has been the one who has profited, and there are claims that he hasn’t even helped appropriately with his son’s medical and other costs. My point in bringing this up is not to pick on this child, who may have been manipulated, but to point out that there are plenty of people out there who want to “add words to this book” because it pays handsomely, and it pays handsomely because there are plenty more people out there who are hungry to read more words of this book.

We should resist this temptation. We should be careful in what we read. I am struck by Paul’s comments in 2 Corinthians:

“Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.” – 2 Cor. 12:1-4

Paul is talking about himself here. Notice what he says: he heard things that no one is permitted to tell. From this I conclude that God does not want us to know more about heaven than appears in Revelations and in the rest of Scripture – not yet. In some ways the temptation to know more reminds me of the first temptation of all, that of the fruit in Eden. That temptation was also about wanting to know things that God did not want us to know. And so I conclude that this temptation is serious stuff, and thus, I tread very carefully today. So let’s look at the passage itself.

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. – Rev. 21:1-2

In the previous chapter, we saw that at the presence of the great white throne and Him who was seated there, the earth and the heavens fled from His presence, and there was no place for them. So it seems that the universe was unmade, except for this throne room. But now the judging is past, and it is time for our new home. A new heaven and a new earth. Like so much of Revelations, this is hinted at in the Old Testament.

“As the new heavens and the new earth that I make will endure before Me,” declares the Lord, “so will your name and descendants endure.” – Is. 66:22

This is a promise that the new heaven and earth is an eternal heaven and earth, unlike the one that fled away at the presence of Him who will be seated on the throne, the heaven and earth in which we now live. And this is a promise that those who are there will also endure; we will experience eternal life with Him. Recall the old favorite verse, John 3:16:

For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. – John 3:16

Back to our Revelation passage –

Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. – Rev. 21:1-2

A new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. By the way, the word new is kainos, not neos, and so this is referring to newness not in time, but in nature. It’s new, as in different, better, amazing. New how? The passage goes on to tell us a few ways it is new, but, again, we are not given many details – it is not for us now to know.

I love the image that the new Jerusalem, our new home, is prepared like one prepares a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. That is a tradition that has not changed in 2000 years. Everything will be perfect, filled with loving touches from the One who loves us more than anyone loves us, more than we even love ourselves. I am also reminded of Jesus’ promise to us:

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” – John 14:1-3

One more verse that comes to mind is from Psalm 102; it is also quoted in Hebrews 1:

In the beginning You laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; they will all wear out like a garment. Like clothing You will change them and they will be discarded. But You remain the same, and Your years will never end. – Psalm 102:25-27

Continuing with our passage:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and He will dwell with them. They will be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” – Rev. 21:3-4

We take this for granted because we have heard it so much. But this is incredible! Not since Eden did people walk with God like this. When Jesus walked on earth, there was a sense in which people walked with God, but Jesus was also fully human – He limited, restricted Himself so that He could do this. In His full glory, no one could look upon God and live, because of His holiness and our sinfulness. But this is what we have to look forward to: we will be with Him.

At Clemson University we have a program in which some professors live with the students for a year in the dorms. I’m not sure what students think about this. When I was a student, I would not have particularly liked it. I would worry about being too loud late at night. I would feel like I had to be on better behavior around him. Small talk would just seem a little weird. Now that I am a professor, I understand that students may feel this way around me in social situations. I try to be friendly, but there is a natural gap that takes work on both sides to overcome. My point is that whatever heaven will be like, it won’t be like that. We won’t need to tiptoe around God! Somehow our worship of Him and our intimacy with Him will exist side-by-side. The fact that it is hard or impossible for us to really picture this tells me that it will be more awesome than we can begin to imagine.

He will live with us – God, in His complete glory, will live with us, spend His days with us, love us. We will worship Him in holiness and awe and wonder, and yet we will also love Him like a brother or a father, except we will love Him far more than we were ever able to love anyone here, because we will be completed, mature in Him, no longer prone to sin, no longer battling our sin nature, but complete in Him, satisfied in Him, all of our longings will be more than satisfied in Him.

No more sadness, no more pain. Yes, our bodies will be new bodies, not bodies that grow old, not bodies that hurt on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday after playing Ultimate Frisbee on Sunday. But that’s not really the point here – the point here is that He will be with us, closer than a parent to us, closer than a sibling, closer even than a spouse. He will wipe every tear. He will heal our hearts, mend our hurts. Although the passage is not explicit in this, I don’t see how what it says can be possible unless there is no more loneliness, no more boredom, no more existential angst, no more frustration, none of these things. Not only our bodies will be perfect; so will our hearts.

Recall Jesus’ own words recorded in John:

“Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. – John 17:24

We are going to be with Him forever because that is what He wants. That is how much He loves us.

He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 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 water without cost from the spring of the water of life. – Rev. 21:5-6

A new heavens, a new earth, a new Jerusalem, and now, a new everything. Again the word does not mean new in time, but new in quality, new in its nature. And then, “It is done.” Where have we heard this before? Back on the cross: “It is finished.” On the cross, Christ delivered Himself for sacrifice so that we could be with Him forever; here, we see the fulfillment, the realization of that work.

And He is the Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, and the Omega, the final letter. God was there in Genesis 1:1, “In the beginning God…” and He is here at the end. God precedes all of Creation, the world and universe that we now live in, because He created it. We were all born some time in this world and universe. But at the end, when the new everything is made, we will be there with Him. In this sense we are infinite; we have eternal, infinite life. But God is doubly infinite; unlike us He has no beginning, because He is the beginning. He created even time, so there is no time before He was.

To the thirsty… That’s us. Are you thirsty? Do you thirst for Him? I think of the verse:

As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. – Psalm 42:1

It also brings to mind a verse from Isaiah:

Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. – Is. 55:1

And it also reminds me of Jesus’ discussion with the woman at the well:

“If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” – John 4:10b

And referring to the well water, He said,

“Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” – John 4:13b-14

The water of life, of zoe. Not just of being alive, but of really living. An eternal fullness, satisfaction, meaning. We won’t just be playing harps in heaven. In heaven, we will participate in doing something infinitely more meaningful that what we do on earth. I think of the jadedness and weariness of the author of Ecclesiastes – “Meaningless, meaningless, all is meaningless!” Not in heaven. In heaven we will truly live. We will be participants with God, doing things with Him that bring satisfaction to the deepest parts of us. We were made in His image, and I believe that includes our need for meaning and purpose and for expressing ourselves creatively. I believe we will be completely satisfied in these things – indeed, we will be amazed and overwhelmed by how great these things are – as we partner with God in heaven.

Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.” – Rev. 21:7-8

Again, we are soberly reminded that not everyone will participate in this incredible future. Those who are victorious – this is those who overcome. Many verses speak of this but one that puts it all together is this:

In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands. And His commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world? Only the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God. – I John 5:3-5

These people listed in Rev. 21:7-8 who will not be in heaven but instead consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur are those who do not believe, who reject God’s gift of salvation through faith in Jesus. As Romans and other passages make clear, while on this earth, believers do still sin, but if we have truly trusted in Christ to save us, we will grow in godliness as the Holy Spirit teaches, reproves, and guides us. Our salvation is not by works, but by faith in Christ. But if our faith is genuine, over time works will accompany our salvation. Our lives will increasingly change; we will grow in godliness, in righteousness. In contrast, those consigned to the lake of fire will generally also change, but they will change in the opposite direction. Sin will progressively blacken their hearts, sear their consciences, deaden their sensitivity to the things of God.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. – Rev. 21:9-10

So we already have learned about the new Jerusalem coming down; now we are about to be given more details.

It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. – Rev. 21:11-14

How literal is this? How figurative? How symbolic? Again, it is hard to know. But there is a lot take in here if you just look at it literally, and I want to point out a few things. The city was aglow – I don’t know that jasper gives us a good picture; I think for us a better picture is diamond. Imagine an entire city made of diamonds. You couldn’t look at it without squinting – I think this gives you the idea.

There are gates, 3 per wall, four walls, north, south, east, and west. What are gates for? For going in and out of the city. People won’t just be only in the city; they can come and go. And when they do, they will be greeted by an angel. By the way, this should remind you of how God organized the tribes around the tabernacle in the desert. He had three tribes on each side, just like the gates here. The foundations refers to foundation stones, presumably three per side, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles. And so there is an honoring here of the whole series of events with Moses, who served as a foreshadowing or type of Jesus, and of the apostles, upon whom the church had its beginnings.

The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. – Rev. 21:15-17

Commentators believe that the dimensions of the city translate into 1500 miles wide, long, and high. This is so large it is beyond comprehension. It is 3000 miles from the east coast of the US to the west. So the city is half this long. Its volume is about 3 billion cubic miles. For comparison, the volume of the moon is about 5 billion cubic miles, so the city as almost as large as the moon! To get some kind of sense of this number, suppose there are about 3 billion believers, so each person gets 1 cubic mile to live in. Let’s suppose they have an area per floor of 1500 square feet, like a typical house, and suppose there are 10 feet between successive floors. Then the question is how many floors does each individual person get? The answer is one million floors! Again, these are just mind-boggling numbers. The wall thickness was about 200 feet.

The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. – Rev. 21:18-21

Again, the walls are like diamond. Symbolically, I think the point here is that the city is beautiful and precious; because this is the home God has made for us, He has made it with “only the best.” It is the most lavish gift (apart from Christ’s gift of salvation of course) in the entire history of the universe. Each gate is made of a pearl-like material – I don’t think we need to worry about giant killer oysters in heaven. God can make pearls without oysters.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. – Rev. 21:22-24

There is no temple here. This is interesting; John is seemingly surprised by this. There did seem to be a throne in the past in John’s visions of heaven; an altar with incense was described in chapter 8, and chapter 11 speaks specifically of a temple being opened. The picture here again is overwhelming. Remember how big the city is, the size of the moon – all that space, filled with transparent walls and transparent streets; God’s glory fills not a temple, like in the days of Solomon and beyond, but fills this entire 1500 mile by 1500 mile by 1500 mile city. And we are there. We are not out in the outer courts; every place here is like the holy of holies, the innermost place – we have unlimited access to the glory of God.

By the way, this new earth will be very different from our old one, which depended on the sun for warmth and light and life. This new earth will not orbit the sun. My guess is that it will not orbit anything. The word nations is ethnae; it means different peoples. It does not mean that there have to be different countries here, although there might be. Who are the kings? They might be people who were kings at the end of the millennium. Or they might be people given crowns because of the great things they did for God during their lives. In the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew and elsewhere we get this idea of storing up treasure in heaven, or receiving rewards, or crowns.

On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. – Rev. 21:25-27

We don’t today experience going into cities with gates, although we still waste money creating lots of symbolic gates everywhere; Clemson University has several, at the most major entrances.  But for thousands of years, a city was a place surrounded by walls for protection; the gates were opened during the daylight hours for trade and commerce, but typically at night the gates were shut. If you were on a journey hoping to make it to a certain city, you needed to make sure you could make it all the way there before nightfall, or you would be stuck and forced to sleep outside the city that night. The point here is that this new world won’t be like this at all. The city walls aren’t for defense, because there is no threat of any kind. The gates never shut. There are no conflicts, ever, forever. There is no need for soldiers, for police, even, if I understand this right, for privacy. Nothing is done in secret. Nothing is hidden.

There is tremendous symbolic depth in the idea of light and no darkness here that we don’t have time to really go in to. But recall that when Moses went into God’s presence on the mountain he came back with his face glowing with light. Recall that Jesus glowed brightly at the transfiguration. And recall the opening of the book of John:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. In Him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. – John 1:1-9

And from I John:

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with Him and yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live out the truth. But if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, purifies us from all sin. – I John 1:5-7

In eternity there is no darkness. Revelation describes it as no physical darkness, but there is also no spiritual darkness, no sin, no moral darkness. There is transparency, and the light of God Himself illuminates everything.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. – Rev. 22:1-2

We have already spoken about water when we talked about thirst. Here is the water of life that Jesus alluded to when He spoke to the woman at the well. As for the tree of life, there was a tree of life in Eden, wasn’t there? Adam and Eve were allowed to eat from this tree until they were banished from Eden after eating the fruit of the one tree they were told not to take, the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Symbolically, the tree of life symbolizes blessing, a fulfilling, good life. Proverbs 3:18 says that wisdom is a tree of life to those who take hold of it; those who hold fast to it will be blessed. There are other “trees of life” in Proverbs 11:30, 13:12, and 15:4. There is apparently eating in eternity, with delicious fruit to partake. Healing may not be the best choice for translating the part about the healing of the nations. Perhaps a better phrase would be health-giving. The Greek word is where we get the word therapeutic from. And again, nations, is really peoples.

No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and His servants will serve Him. They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. – Rev. 22:3-5

No curse. No death. No pain. No creation cursed on account of our sin causing us to work hard to survive. Instead we will worship God; we will see Him face to Face and live. We will know Him more and more and never cease to worship and be amazed. And we will serve Him. Whatever He asks us to do we will do. We won’t grumble because what He will ask us to do will be exactly what we want to do, because our greatest joy will be to do exactly what He asks. We will please Him. Joy will be everywhere. And it says we will reign. We are not just servants or slaves of God; we will reign over whatever He asks us to reign over. We will serve with Him, not just for Him.

The angel said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God who inspires the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.” – Rev. 22:6

We have seen only the briefest glimpse of our future, but it is enough. It is enough for me to want to serve Him in any way I can, to fight the good fight, to tell others the good news, for as many days as I have in this old earth. But I eagerly await my future in the new one.