Verse By Verse Through Revelation
Chapter Twenty-One
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.”
- “And…” continues what John saw into this current part of the vision. This context is easily confusing. In light of the conclusion of the previous chapter you could easily be led to conclude we are looking at Heaven. There are context clues that we will see that we cannot ignore.
- A new Heaven and earth can certainly refer to the end of the world (II Peter 3:9-14).
- That language does not have to be about the end of the world either. We see this in a restored Jerusalem prophetic message of old (Isaiah 65:9-25 and Isaiah 66:15-24; cf. Jeremiah 30:1-3 and Amos 9:11-15).
- What does it mean that there was no more sea? It could mean the sea being a body of water was destroyed. The sea could refer to where the first beast [Roman emperor] arose from (Revelation 13:1).
- The context gets clearer starting with the next verse.
Revelation 21:2 “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
- The church in Philadelphia was told of the new Jerusalem which cometh down of Heaven (Revelation 3:12).
- This context clue begins clear evidence that this part of John’s vision is not about eternity in Heaven above. Heaven does not come down from Heaven. At the end of this life we will go up to Heaven, not wait for Heaven to descend to us (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). When the end comes Christ will deliver UP His kingdom to the Father, not bring it down (I Corinthians 15:24-28).
- The church is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-32).
- Furthermore, the context later speaks of a future inheritance in contrast to a future punishment (Revelation 21:7-8).
- Remember, the church is the Heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22-23).
- See: Revelation 21:9-10
Revelation 21:3 “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.”
- The church is the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God (I Corinthians 3:16-17 and I Timothy 3:15).
- This is not language about eternal Heaven. See: II Corinthians 6:14-7:1
- Again, prophesies of old included such language as we see here in reference to a restored Jerusalem during the restoration after Babylonian captivity (Ezekiel 43:7-9 and Zechariah 8:1-9).
Revelation 21:4 “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.”
- We talked about a similar point in chapter seven. This is NOT about eternal life; the final judgment (Revelation 7:14-17).
- The church is being returned to glory. The no more tears is about deliverance from the tribulation. We see similar language in other physical salvation times (Psalms 116:1-9, Psalms 126:1-6, and Isaiah 25:1-12).
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