The New Heaven and the New Earth
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. 4 He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.” 6 And 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 from the spring of the water of life without payment. 7 The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son. 8 But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.”
The New Jerusalem
9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (ESV)
1Then 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.
It’s going to be so awesome the day that the Lord comes and that He will just burn the earth and make a new Heaven instead of earth. Heaven is just so amazing it is just to amazing to even explain. All I can think about is that there is no sin, you have perfect bodies, and there are no emotions! Satan is completely gone and you do not have to worry about Him once you make it to Heaven. God is in control of Heaven, and you are no longer on earth.
5He 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.”
This time will be amazing. When God destroys the Heaven and the Earth and creates a new one. One without flaw or sin that ruins our world today. The new Jeruselum will be beautiful and perfect in every way. I can’t wait till the day when we will dwell there with God.
3 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.
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.”
Wow, this is such an awesome thing we have to look forward to! God Himself will be living among us in a perfect world, where everything has been made new and all traces of evil and sin’s consequences have been done away with. Sometimes it is hard to believe that this really is going to happen, but if we take the Bible at its word, we can know for certain that the New Jerusalem will one day be our home. While we are here on this earth, we need to live every day with this as our ultimate goal, striving to live a life that is pleasing to God, to hear HIm one day say “Well done, my good and faithful servant,” and to keep our lives free from the bondage and stain of sin. If we keep our eternal future as the mindset for our lives in the present, we will find that we get more joy out of life by enjoying it the way God wants us to and realizing that everything we have now is only temporary compared to the glory that we will one day have. MARANATHA!!!
… i really don’t think that’s fair, posting on SOTD before the day actually begins…
1Then 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.
This is going to be so great, wow!!! New Jersalem will be perfect, God is making everything new, that is better than the first earth and heaven. There will be no pain or crying because the joy of the Lord will wipe our tears away. No more hunger or thirst. Night time in the New Jersalem, day time all day, because God’s glory gives it the light, there is even no sun or moon. This is home of ours is going to be so amazing! And most importantly we will be with God!
7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
I love this verse! God deserves to be praised forever because of His great sacrafice for us. He is the giver of all things, and if we are His children we inherit all the great gifts He has for us. I can’t wait to worship Him and praise Him for all that He is, and the best part is that it will be in person! In the New Jerusalem I can literally fall down at the feet of my savior and worship Him. MARANTHA!!!!!!!!!!
4He 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.”
This reminds me how great heaven is going to be and how awful hell will be. I need to keep my eyes focused on the goal of eternal life and not let the worldly ways pull me down.
Hahahahahaha nice Mike!
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.”
And wow, what an awesome verse! It is an amazing description of how heaven is going to be like and what we can look forward to! Everything that is happening now: death, mourning, crying, or pain, will not be happening in heaven. As Christians, we really need to focus on the Lord, and as Jeff said, keep focused on the goal of eternal life and not let the earthly desires lead us astray! Mmmmmmmm, heavens descriptions are just so great!!!
3And 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.
4He 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.”
Nice comment Mike. It’s so true that when we look to Heaven as the goal and hold that mindset, our live on earth will have so much satisfaction as we are living the way God wants us. And we also know that this earth is the worst is will ever be for us, so rather than seeking enjoyment here we should instead seek God alone and take hope in knowing that Heaven is going to be so much better. Heaven is going to be so great, and all I can think of is that we should be trying to bring as many people as we can with us.
I Love these verses. They really give you hope. If you start to feel all sad, just read these. It really puts things into perspective. Sleazy world where your own body try to get you to do wrong, or perfect world of pearls, gold, and GOD!!! Seriously.
the description of heaven in this chpater is amazing!!! this also is such a motivation for evangelizing, as is hell, becasue hell is a horrible place that we shouldnt want anybody to go tho, while heaven is unfathomable becasue it will be sooo great. what is more, we will live there forever, worshipping the Lord!!!
27Nothing 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.
this verse here reminds of John 14:6, Jesus is the ONLY way to get into heaven. nothing more, nothing less. only those whose names have been written in the book of life can enter, and only those who are pure. we were born into sin, and so we dont deserve heaven. but the Lord sent Jesus Christ to die for our sins, so we can be made new and live with the Father forever. that is something we really need to praise God for everyday. His grace is overlooked all the time, and we are always in His debt, and we will never be able to to pay the Lord back. that is so powerful and moving, we should tell everyone we know about the grace of God. it reminds of the lyrics in Jesus Lord of Heaven by Kutless: “Lord, I stand in wonder
of the sacrifice You made, with mercy beyond measure. My debt You freely paid.” when i hear those lyrics it hits me hard. we can NEVER fathom the sacrifice that Jesus went through, the torture and mockery. we should be willing to lay down our lives for Christ, becasue thats what he did for us. the last part of those lyrics always choke me up: My debt You freely paid. we dont deserve the grace that He has given us. Christ did nothing wrong, yet he was sent to the cross for our wrong acts. we should thank God all the time for the sacrifice he made
Cameron! Great Comment, I love that song :)
Ahhh, Its truly humbling and awing to try to wrap your mind around this description of Heaven. I remember going thru this during compass nights last year and learning from Pastor Mike that:
There will be no evil, Good will abound, We will be made perfect, We will be completely satisfied, We will serve God, We will be secure, and We will be leaders! Plus, we will be living in most beautiful city ever conceived and God will dwell with us. The fact that we as Christians will inherit all this makes me think that anything difficult in this life that we go thru, will all be worth it in the end. Its kinda like a long race, the runners soon start to ache and wear out, but they no that the pain they feel is only temporary, they are racing for the gold. We need to have this same attitude, we know that the world will persecute and ridicule us, treat us unfairly and whatnot, But we need to focus on the prize at the end of our race here on earth. Like Paul says in Philipians 3:14 “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” Let us focus on Heaven, our eternal, and only true Home.
P.S. Here is a blog I wrote about Heaven a while back – check it “http://fanatic4him.blogspot.com/2008/08/home-our-true-home.html”
Wow what a great chapter! All of Revelation up to this point has been the wrath of God and judgement. Then we get to this chapter and… wow!!! This is something to look forward to and be running the race towards! I want my friends and family and even people I don’t know to be here. I don’t want them destined for the wrath of God but for them to repent and run the race with me toward this!! What a great picture of how the new earth will be!
Since the fall of man, believers have been waiting for these words…
3And 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.”
How encouraging that in heaven God will be physically present with us. While He has given His Spirit to us and is omnipresent now, Revelation 21 describes something that we can only imagine in our wildest dreams. What an encouraging truth to hold on to…those of us who finish the race and are disciples of Christ will one day live with Him in the New Jerusalem. Marantha!
Yeah just like Haley said, everything so far in Revelation has been about God’s coming judgement and wrath. However, when it comes to this chapter we see all we have in store for us and that we are able to look forward to. This chapter is definitely an encouragement and shows us why we run this race…to live with God for eternity. MARANATHA!!!!!
3 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.
Wow I love this verse. It is so comforting knowing that on day, God will dwell among His people and God himself will live with them and be with them. What a wonderful thing to live for!!
27 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.
It’s amazing just to think how glorious and pure of a kingdom heaven is. It is a place where nothing impure, shameful, or deceitful will ever enter, only resemblance of God. I am in awe just reading this…
—I was thinking about this morning’s message and I really want to apply everything we’re learning each and every weekend to my life. (And everything we learn on SOTD each and every day). I need to make it a priority to be taking action and as Pastor Bobby once said: “Use Words” when living the Christian life. I also need to make sure I have friends who will keep me accountable… Very important :)
This is going to be amazing. Just like pastor Mike said, we will get new bodies which aren’t corrupted so we won’t sin.
8 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. This is the second death.”
I noticed that it said the cowardly with all of those detestible sins. So its saying people who are cowards aren’t going to enter into heaven, but what it means is that people who are cowardly toward showing their faith won’t enter into heaven. If your a christian you will want to tell others about Christ and won’t be affraid to say that your a christian.
3And 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.
wow this verse is so amazing to know that god will be with us forever and will live among us in our presence in a perfect world where all sin is gone. and to know that he is our god!!!
25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.
Wow. this is just one of the super cool/ awesome things that we get to wonder about Heaven.
3And 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.
I…. I….. I cannot explain how I feel to read this verse, its kind of weird to be honest
The only thing I think I can say is that I can’t wait
The first five verses of this chapter are very encouraging to me. The thought of being with God in the New Jerusalem is exciting! Ty and I wrote a song about looking forward to this. It’s called It’s All Right and if you click on the link in my name you can listen to it or download it. Many of you have heard it before. It’s the last song on the cd we hand out at True North. Maranatha!
21The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
Wow it’s such a beautiful description of it! I want to see it sooo bad! I’m excited to see God take over completely and destroy the Devil once and for all! It’s so encouraging to read this chapter! I just want to go out and tell others about this beautiful place that God has provided us with!
27Nothing 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.
Nothing evil will ever enter! No sin will be left and God will keep us righteous praising His name forever more! I love my God who has kept me away from a life without Him! :D
Pastor Bobby that is a great song!
7He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
We as Christians wont walk through this world having no trials or any pain or suffering. we are going to experience great rejection and humiation for being a follower of Christ but we should look forward to entering heaven beacause once we have overcome the obsticles, we will inherit the kindom of heaven! What an undescribable feeling i have when i read what heaven will be like and try to imagine the complete holyness and power our God has! maranatha!
22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23The 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.
We won’t need to worship a God that we can’t see – he’ll be there, and we’ll get to be with him! It’s hard to imagine a world without a sun or moon, but there won’t be a need for them because the glory of God will provide light. This chapter is awesome! A new heaven and a new earth! And new bodies! When I think about heaven, I can relate to Romans 8, where all of creation groans, and we eagerly wait for the time when we will get to experience all this. And the best part is that we’ll get to see our Lord face to face. Maranatha!
4He 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.”
This is one of those verses that really makes me wonder about how amazing heaven is. I am definitely looking forward to when that day comes.
4He 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.”
I can’t wait till this day. I will never have to feel the pain of hate or dishonesty ever again. God is giving us the perfect life that we could never have without him on this day.
I love this chapter! Its so exciting (=
7 He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.
We really need to strive to overcome the world and all its trials because in the end we will get rewarded for it. The only way to do that is through God and by reading his word. If we dont know how to overcome the world then how are we supposed to actually do it! The only way we know how is through the book God gave us called the Bibleeeeeeeeeeeee. (=
18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.
This verse is good because it describes how awesome Heaven is gonna be, and you can’t really argue with a city of pure gold.
8But 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. This is the second death.”
I think its interesting how going to hell is referenced as the second death, just like becoming a christian is referenced as being born again. “the second birth”
1Then 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.
This is so cool to hear, that this earth that we live in today will pass away. All the worldly things will be gone. And there will be a new earth. Personally i can not wait for that day.
4He 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.”
i was just listening to the beautiful music of ty sager, and the song that i was listening to was its all right. And that song totally says this, it was so cool to see. Like God himself will wipe every tear from our eyes, and no more death or crying or pain. Then it goes on and says that the old order of things have passed, how amazing is that. The way that things are on this world now with all the killing and just craziness will be passed away.