New Heaven and New Earth

Summary

Revelation 21:1–4 shows a new heaven and a new earth, the holy city coming down from God, and a loud voice from the throne: the dwelling place of God is with man, and he will wipe away every tear. The slides connect it to the great white throne judgment of chapter 20, to 2 Peter 3 and Matthew 24:35 on the passing of heaven and earth, and to Isaiah 65:17–19, and list the seven “no mores”: no more sea, death, mourning, crying, pain, curse or night.

In the divine announcement (21:5–8) the one on the throne says, “I am making all things new,” offers the water of life to the thirsty, and promises an inheritance to the one who conquers. The slides look at the Greek word for “heritage” (kleronomeo, to be an heir), and read the warning that follows about the lake of fire.

21:9–27 shows the New Jerusalem, the Bride, with its jasper-clear radiance, twelve gates bearing the names of the tribes of Israel, twelve foundations bearing the apostles’ names, and its cube shape of 12,000 stadia. The slides set it beside the camp layout of Israel in the wilderness, the twelve gemstones against the breastplate of the high priest in Exodus 28, and Isaiah 60, which shares themes of divine light, nations drawn to glory, open gates and the wealth of the nations. There is no temple, for its temple is the Lord God and the Lamb, and nothing unclean enters, only those written in the Lamb’s book of life.

The chapter in four parts

The class read the chapter this way:

Practical takeaways

The slides give five takeaways from Revelation 21: