1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God: 4 and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away. 5 And he that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. 6 And he said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the 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 these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.

On the nature of the new creation, many people think about the afterlife as an ethereal eternal existence, some even picturing saints floating forever on clouds. Unfortunately, this is not only the perspective of nominal believers; even many true Christians sometimes have such a view.

But the new creation is described in these verses as a fundamental physical transformation of the old creation and its renewal. At this time, the body will be raised from the dead and be gloriously transformed. This bodily transformation is pictured in our passage as the church becoming a perfected bride. The saints to whom John is writing now see their future in the plan of God. The new creation is a place of righteousness and holiness (2 Pet. 3:13).

The making of all things new refers primarily to the inhabitants of the new creation as well as its physical topography, in which they will live. The destiny of God’s people is to live with resurrected physical bodies in the newly transformed physical environment of the eternal new earth and heavens.

It’s Jerusalem, a new Jerusalem.

What was old Jerusalem?

It’s clearly the antitype to the Old Testament Jerusalem. Jerusalem was the great meeting place between God and his people. This is the city where God rules and where God has provided a sacrificial system that addresses all of human sin and enmity.

This was as close as you got on this earth to the glories of heaven. That historical city was corrupted by all kinds of gross sin and was destroyed, that was merely a reflection of what should not have been.

God will manifest himself as the God of the Israelites by appearing in glory in the tabernacle and then later in the temple. That’s how God will be their God and manifest himself to them.

Here we’re not to think the New Jerusalem comes down out of the new heaven onto the new earth. The New Jerusalem is the new heaven and the new earth.

A city symbolizes, from the Old Testament, not only the center of God’s reign, the place where God meets with his people.

This is an act of God. It is not something that we gradually bring in by a superior brand of utopian politics. This is something that God himself finally brings about at the end.

Galatians 4:26. We don’t belong to the old Jerusalem; we belong to the Jerusalem above.

God Among His People

V3 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

v 4: “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.”

The old order of things has passed away.

We are given a glimpse into what will no longer be there: death, sorrow, and decay. We still have not yet seen what will be there.

Revelation, chapter 7: ‘Never again will they hunger; never again will they thirst. The sun will not beat down on them,’ nor any scorching heat. For the Lamb at the  center of the throne will be their shepherd; ‘he will lead them to springs of living water.’ ‘And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.’ ”

Consummation, life, the fullness of joy in the presence of God, utter holiness without tarnishing, love for one another without any self-justification or one-upmanship, happy service, industry and creativity, jobs to do, and the energy and strength to do them, with a God-centeredness that is full of vitality and resurrection existence.

All Things New

In verse 5, God speaks. The language is weighty. It’s as if every significant clause has to be separately introduced to give you time to stop and think about it. “He who was seated on the throne said, ‘I am making everything new!’ Then he said, Write this down

Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. “He said to me: ‘It is done.’ ” The Savior on the cross cried, “It is finished.” Here the voice from the throne calls, “It is done.” When Christ called, “It is finished,” he was saying that all the needed sacrifice had been accomplished. There was no more payment for sin needed, for all the sins of the past, all the sins that would take place in the future. Christ’s holiness was utterly and completely satisfied. “It is finished.”

The New Jerusalem has descended. Now the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End, the only one who can bring about the promised End.

That’s why the lion-lamb described so eloquently in chapter 5, this lion-lamb actually emerges from the center of the throne. He doesn’t have to approach God from the outside. He emerges from the center of the throne, yet he is himself the lion-lamb who alone is qualified to take all of God’s purposes, held in this scroll in the right hand of the Almighty, and bring them to pass. The Beginning and the End, the Alpha and the Omega, has brought it to be and, “It is done.”

V6“To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”

Who does this pertain to?

21;7 He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

For the overcomer. The overcomer is simply the one who perseveres in faith and obedience. “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

It’s without cost to those who receive it; it was not without cost to him who provided it.

The one who is victorious, who is a conqueror, will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”  It is worth thinking about this son language again.

At the level of whether men and women are included, there’s no dispute, it is both. In some instances, it’s helpful to point that out, even in the translation, but in this instance, son is so much bound up with a symbolism that runs right through Scripture that you’ve just got to preserve the word.

In our culture, the overwhelming majority of sons do not end up doing what their fathers did vocationally. The overwhelming majority of daughters do not end up doing what their mothers did vocationally. Most of us, find jobs in vocations away from our parents. We are not trapped into the heritage of our family. In the ancient world, sonship was more than genetics. It was bound up with self-identity.

For God here to say, “He will be my son.” In the Old Testament, Israel, as early as Exodus 4, is considered God’s son. Because in certain respects, Israel was supposed to reflect something of the character of God to the nations.

Eventually the king was supposed to be God’s son par excellence, exercising God’s rule, God’s authority, God’s justice to the son who is his people.

The most powerful description of this in the New Testament is in another Johannine writing, John 5:16–30. There we’re told of this Son, the Lord Jesus, everything the Father does, the Son also does.

It is worth thinking about this son language again

Insofar as God is the supreme peacemaker, if we make peace then we’re acting like God and so far also are we sons of God, but no one would say of Don Carson, “He’s the son of God because he does all that God does.” You or I might make peace but as far as I know, none of us has made a universe recently. Of this Son it is said, “Everything the Father does, the Son also does.”

Whatever the Father does, the Son also does. To us he says, “Be holy, for I am holy.”

He does not say, “Be omniscient, for I am omniscient,” for there are incommunicable attributes of God.

We are not God, but now insofar as finite beings can ever reflect God, now without footnote, without excuses, without exceptions, we reflect God. We are the son. That is what’s going on here. This is not merely an expression of relationship. It’s an expression of identity and, thus, of character and of morals and of integrity and of orientation and of value.

What that means now is we who are Christians (whether we’re men or women) will so perfectly reflect God. After all, we were originally made in his image, and if the image has been horribly distorted and soiled, now we’re coming into a fullness that is even greater.

We will reflect God. We will be like him in every way that human beings can be like him.

your self-identity as a son is bound up with your clan, with your family, with your father, and out of this come all kind of biblical images.

Similarly, Paul, writing to Gentiles, insists that the real sons of Abraham are not those who are genetically descended from Abraham but who have Abraham’s faith. If they act like Abraham, they must be sons of Abraham. Jesus, likewise, confronting some opponents in his own day in John, chapter 8, when they say, “We are the sons of Abraham,” says, “Oh, no, you’re not. Abraham had great faith. He rejoiced to anticipate my day, and you instead just want to get rid of me. You can’t be sons of Abraham.”

They say, We’re actually sons of God.” Jesus says, “It can’t be. I really do know God. He is my father, and you don’t recognize me, so you can’t be sons of God. I’ll tell you whose sons you are. You’re the sons of the Devil. After all, he was a liar from the beginning, and you’re telling untruths about me. He was a murderer from the beginning, and you’re trying to kill me. This proves you’re sons of the Devil.”

The point is they’re acting like the Devil so they must be sons of the Devil. Now we’re told, “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” So far as it is possible for human beings to be like God, we will be like God.

That is why there is such a strong contrast between verse 7 and verse 8. “He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.” There’s a sense in which we’re already son, but then we will be the son without the footnotes, without the residue of sin, without the corruption that still traps us now. No, there we will reflect God.

The contrast is painfully, desperately sharp: “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.”

“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

The catalog of sins concludes with all liars. The phrase likely points to a focus on those whose Christian profession is betrayed either by compromising behavior or false doctrine.

This is the second death.” Do no misunderstand this passage. This passage is not saying that we really never did belong to any of those classes. “Bad people go in this direction; good people go in this direction. Just be good enough and you’ll get to heaven.”

There’s no way in the light of this book as a whole that is what this text is saying. After all, already as early as the vision of chapters 4 and 5, we have learned there we have been purchased for God by the blood of Christ, by the blood of the Lamb. That is why we have access into the very presence of God. Our sins have been paid for by another.

This is the second death.” They have become as detestable as the things they loved, to use the language of Hosea.

As far as I can see in Scripture, there is no hint anywhere that people in hell genuinely repent. Even in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the rich man lifts his eyes in torment and somehow he is enabled to see, in the story, Abraham and Lazarus afar off. Considering how he had treated Lazarus during the days of his flesh, what do you think the rich man in hell should say? What do you think he would say?

Wouldn’t you expect him so say, “Oh Lazarus, did I get that one wrong! I am so sorry. Will you please forgive me?” Wouldn’t you expect that? He doesn’t even address him; he was a nobody in the days of his flesh. The rich man doesn’t deal with nobodies. He goes right to the top. “Father Abraham,” he says, “tell Lazarus to go and dip his finger in water and bring me something to cool my tongue. It’s pretty hot here.” Where’s the repentance in that?

He still thinks he’s at the center of the universe. He’s still going to order Lazarus around. There’s no brokenness, there’s no contrition, there’s no shame. Before the story is over, he’s actually arguing theologically with Abraham: “No, Father Abraham, you got that one wrong. If someone rose from the dead that would really make a difference.

All the promises of God made to the earthly saints in the letters are fulfilled in this section. How important it is to reflect on the fact that God is faithful to His promises and that it is not unspiritual or selfish to suppose He rewards those who seek and serve Him, since that is His will for us. God does want our best. How often do we list the promises He has already fulfilled for us and use that as an encouragement for the fulfillment of all that is yet to come?