02.63. LECTURE No. 63 -- Rev_21:1
LECTURE No. 63 -- Revelation 21:1 The Last Judgment Will he the Judgment of the Great White Throne - The New Heaven am the New Earth - The Original Earth and the First Heaven Perished - God Then Brought Order Out of Chaos and Made the Earth Habitable for Man - Man Was Then Created and Placed upon the Earth and Was to Have Dominion - The Present Earth Is Reserved Unto Fire and Will Be Renovated by Fire - The Lord Is Not Slack Concerning His Promise - The Present Earth Will Not Be Annihilated But Renovated by Fire and Preserved and Prepared As the Future Home of the Redeemed
The Great White Throne Judgment OUR last message was based upon Revelation 20:11-15, where the Apostle John said,
“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Lesson Text
We are now ready to advance in our study by reading what is written in Revelation 21:1, where John further said,
“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.” The Seven New Things For a long time now, we have been studying in the Book of Revelation concerning the darker side of the picture, which is presented to us in this marvelous Book.
Of necessity and for our instruction the Lord has revealed to us in this book the terrible judgments which will come upon an unsuspecting world as a consequence of sin. The terrible judgments which are to be meted out under the seven seals and the seven trumpets and the seven vials of the wrath of God are indeed very terrible and are not at all pleasant to think about. And if that were all that is recorded in the Book of Revelation, it would be a very dismal and gloomy book to study, I am sure. But, in His love and grace, God has been pleased to tell us also of the seven new things which will come to pass after the tribulation period is over and the terrible judgments of God have been accomplished, and the 1,000 years have ended.
Thus, in our present lesson, we are beginning a study of those things which will come to pass after the Millennium or Kingdom age has been fulfilled; i. e., the new heaven, the new earth, the new city, the new nations, the new river, the new tree of life, and the new throne.
Certainly, my friends, such lofty subjects as these are worthy of study and should claim the attention of all those who are interested in the final outcome of conditions upon the earth. By the time we have finished our study of these things, we will have a better understanding of the plans and purposes of God, and we shall see how God will, in the end, fully vindicate His own Name and reveal the wisdom of all that He has done in bringing about the redemption of the race. The New Heaven
First among the seven new things to be mentioned is the new heaven and the new earth. In Revelation 21:1 of our lesson text John said, “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.”
These words present a real problem to our thinking and .before we can hope to understand them, we must take into account the fact of the original creation and of the changes which have already happened to the earth in times past. Which Heaven Is Meant
First of all, let me call your attention to the fact that the word “heaven” as it is used here and in Genesis 1:1 is singular. It applies, therefore, to this earth and to the atmospheric heaven which surrounds it, and does not include the starry heavens above or the highest heaven where God’s throne is. What John had a vision of, therefore, was a change in the earth and in the atmospheric heaven surrounding the earth. If we will limit our thinking to this interpretation, the passage will more quickly clarify itself in our minds.
Historic Judgment Upon the First Earth
According to Genesis 1:1 the first earth and the first heaven about the earth apparently were created in the dateless past. Most Bible expositors agree that there is a vast unnamed period of time between Genesis 1:1 and Genesis 1:2. Genesis 1:2 says, “And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
These words in themselves indicate that after the original earth was created, it was visited with a terrible judgment, which apparently was a judgment of water, wherein the earth was submerged, for when the time came for God to bring order out of chaos, and to reconstruct the earth and make it habitable for man, it says, that “Darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters.”
Mind you, these words do not refer to the flood which came in the days of Noah, for these were the conditions upon the earth before man was created.
How God Brought Order out of Chaos
It is interesting to note that in Genesis 1:3-27, where we have a record of the work of God during the six days of reconstruction of the earth, no mention of any creative act by the Lord is mentioned until Genesis 1:21, which describes the work of God during the fifth day.
Our thought is this: In Genesis 1:3 it does not say that God created light, He merely said “Let there be light, and there was light.” On the second day, God merely divided the waters from the waters. In other words, He provided the clouds to hold the moisture of the atmosphere above the earth, but no mention was made of any new creative act in bringing this about.
The same thing applies to the work of the third day when God caused the waters to be gathered together and the dry land to appear, but this apparently did not require any special act of creation.
The same thing applies also to the work of the fourth day, during which time the sun, the moon, and the stars became visible, but it does not say that any new act of creation was accomplished in order to bring this about!
Not until we come to the work of the fifth day, do we find mention made of any creative work of God in connection with the reconstruction of the earth, after it had been submerged in water by a previous judgment before man was created.
Man Was to Have Dominion As a part of the work of the sixth day, after God had brought order out of chaos, in Genesis 1:26 it tells how God created man in His own image and gave him dominion over the earth. An Important Prophecy With these things in mind we can better understand the words of the Apostle Peter in 2 Peter 3:3-7, where he said,
“Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, And saying,
“Where is the promise of his coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store reserved unto fire, against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The Lord Is Not Slack Concerning His Promise
Having mentioned the original earth which was overflowed with water, and the heavens and earth which are now, the Apostle continued his argument by saying in verses 2 Peter 3:8-14,
“Beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
“The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.
“Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.”
Certainly, my friends, this is a wonderful passage and he who studies what is stated here carefully will discover that in these few words the Apostle has given to us, as it were, a bird’s-eye view of the changes which have come, and will yet come to the material earth and the atmospheric heavens surrounding it. The Original Earth Perished by Water In 2 Peter 3:6, when the Apostle said, “Whereby the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished;” he was not referring to the Noahic flood but to the original earth, mentioned in Genesis 1:1, which was visited with judgment and was overflowed with water as the second verse of the first chapter of Genesis fully explains.
It was therefore the original earth that perished and became without form and void so that darkness was upon the face of the deep. Before the earth could be reconstructed, it was necessary for the spirit of God to move upon the waters in which it was submerged.
It is needless to say, therefore, that these words of the Apostle do not refer to the Noahic flood, which lasted only for forty days and forty nights and was a judgment upon man rather than upon the material creation.
In 2 Peter 3:7, the Apostle spoke of the heavens and the earth which now
“By the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The Present Earth to Be Renovated by Fire
Thus, my friends, we see that because of a former judgment the earth has had its baptism of water, and that at a future time it is to be renovated by fire.
In between these two major events, the Bible makes mention of two minor events, which greatly affect the structure of the earth. The first of these was the flood, which happened in the days of Noah. As we know, the earth was not destroyed by the flood, but there were great changes effected by it, so that the climatic conditions of the earth became changed to such an extent that the length of life was reduced from 900 years to what it is today, namely, to about threescore years and ten.
We are told also that when Jesus comes again in His revelation at the close of the tribulation period, to the Mount of Olives that great physical changes shall take place in Palestine, which will greatly affect the geography and the climatic conditions in the world during the reign of Christ. To confirm this, read Zechariah the 14th chapter.
Life Will Be Prolonged A very interesting comment concerning the conditions upon the earth at that time is found in Ezekiel 47:1-12. Also in Isaiah 65:20, the prophet tells how longevity of life shall be restored to men during the Millennial period, or kingdom age.
After the Millennial period is over, the Apostle Peter tells us that,
“The day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
No one can question but what this will be a major event in the history of the earth, and surely God will have a great purpose in bringing this about. The Earth Will Not Be Annihilated
It is sad, however, that so many people have gotten an idea from a superficial reading of this passage that this event will mean the complete annihilation of the earth, but a careful study of the passage will reveal that, in no sense is the earth to be annihilated but that its surface is to be changed or renovated by fire, so that its exterior surface will be completely changed and purified and made free forever from the destructive agencies which now cause disease and decay.
When the original earth was destroyed by water, the framework of the earth was preserved, so that during the six days of deconstruction, God brought order out of chaos and made the earth habitable for man. Therefore, when Peter said the original earth perished by water, he merely meant that it was changed or renovated by water.
So, when the time comes for the earth to be renovated by fire, it will not be annihilated but will merely be changed. This is confirmed by the fact that the expression “pass away” as used in our English version, in the Greek, does not mean annihilation but means “To pass from one condition of existence to another.”
Another argument for the continuation of the earth after it has been cleansed by fire, is given in Ecclesiastes 1:4, where it says, “One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.”
The argument, therefore, is sustained by the scriptures that the earth will be changed by fire but that it will not be annihilated.
Therefore, when the Apostle John said in our lesson text in Revelation 21:1,
“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,” we can understand just a bit better what he meant by such a statement.
~ end of lecture 63 ~