Revelation 21

Revelation 21:1-4

THE NEW . If the prophet’s eyes had not been opened to see beyond these scenes, dark would seem the fate of our race. After a thousand years of purity and triumph history would seem to end in the terror of the judgment day and the darkness of the second death. But our Lord has mercifully lifted the curtain beyond and revealed to us the glorious final destiny of man. After a long and weary struggle, and a history full of dark and eventful episodes, mankind will reach a goal of happiness and splendor that it is vain to attempt to describe or even conceive. When the last battle is ended and the author of evil with all his works, the curses that he has wrought, and the servants that have promoted his ends, are cast into the eternal prison house, and their power to do evil forever broken, then will dawn the bright morning of eternal bliss and glory.

The “old heavens and earth,” which I understand to mean the old world and its order, so sadly out of joint, pass away at the time of the great judgment, and that old state of things shall be succeeded by a new order. Then there comes the sweet vision of the final condition of the holy Church, the consummation of every hope of the righteous, the ripened fruit of the eternal years. “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 I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 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. 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.” 21:1-4. On the glories of that city I would love to linger, but my work as an interpreter of prophecy is done. I have followed the history of the Church from its inception to the fullness of its eternal glory. Before I close there are certain features of this fair home of the redeemed that I will pause to note in the briefest way.

1. The career of man began in a garden, the fitting home of a race few in numbers. It ends, as revealed by the prophet, in a city, the home where multitudes gather. Of this city Jerusalem was a type. The redeemed and holy Church, washed by the Saviour’s blood, and obedient to his will as a faithful bride to her husband, is the new Jerusalem.
2. Of old the Shekinah, the emblem of God’s presence, dwelt in the tabernacle between the Cherubim. In this glorious city of the future, God shall make his tabernacle and dwell with men. They shall recognize his presence, his protection, his fatherly and omnipotent care over them.
3. No sorrow or travail of any kind shall ever enter within the walls of the city. The cry of anguish shall never be uttered, hearts shall never be broken, no tear shall ever dim the eye, and most glorious of all, death shall be unknown. Death began his sway when man was expelled from Paradise; he ends it when the final judgment condemns Satan, death and hades to enter the lake of fire. The new Jerusalem will be painless, tearless, deathless, because it will be a sinless city. “The former things have passed away.” Those who were so wedded to sin that they clung to it when Christ offered mercy and pardon, “the fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars,” have undergone the second death, the death that has no resurrection, and can never enter or disturb the holy peace of the glorious city.
4. The apostle beholds a vision of the beautiful city, and is thus enabled by symbols to indicate to us the glories of our eternal home. It shines with jewels and with gold, exhibiting a splendor such as mortal eye has never seen. The walls are of jasper, the gates of pearl, the foundations of precious stones and the streets paved with gold. The dimensions are immense, beyond even human conception, and its gates stand open night and day. The names of twelve apostles of the Lamb are written upon its foundations, and of the tribes of Israel upon its gates.

Night never settles down to shut out its splendor, and eternal light, springing from the brightness of God and the Lamb, precludes the need of a sun or moon. The whole description portrays to us a home, perfect, glorious, not wanting in a single feature that can add to its splendor, or to the eternal bliss of redeemed humanity. 5. John saw no temple in the city, as at Jerusalem. It was all temple. God and the Lamb were present in it everywhere and every spot was holy. Wherever the knee was bowed the Lord was present to see and hear. The whole of the new Jerusalem will be an abode of praise. 6. The gates were never shut. This implies, first, that the city has no fear of any foes. These have all been conquered and subdued. The struggles have been ended forever and no enemies remain to invade its happy precincts. It implies, in the second place, that “the nations of the saved” can always enter. There is always admittance freely to those “who have the right to enter in through the gate into the city.” “But there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” 7. Eden had its rivers. Through the new Jerusalem runs “a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb.” There was a tree of life in Paradise. In the new Jerusalem, on either side of the river stands the tree of life bearing twelve manner of fruits, or rather fruit twelve times a year, every month. The river and the tree are symbols of the life bestowed by the grace of God. The river flows from the throne of God and the Lamb; from the fountain whence life and immortality come.

The tree yields its fruit at all times, so that the supply never fails. Everything about the tree is healthful. Even the leaves are for the healing of the nations. There is a book, a river and a tree of life. Christ is the life, and all refer in some way to Christ. Trees and rivers presented most attractive features in an oriental city, and are beautiful emblems of the full supplies of life, grace and bliss that shall pervade the heavenly city. 8. The curse came upon those in Paradise on account of their sins. There shall be no more curse, for no sin shall ever enter the new Jerusalem. Every curse that has ever blighted the life of man, must be ascribed to sin. Not a throe of pain has ever been felt by the human body, not a pang has ever pierced the human heart, or a shadow of sorrow passed over the human spirit, which was not due, either directly or indirectly, to transgression. As sin can never pass the gates of the Celestial City, there will be no more pain. No fear of impending evil shall ever cloud the future of the saved. The bliss will be sweetened by the thought that saints are absolutely secure and their happy state shall never end. “Jerusalem, my happy home, Oh, how I long for thee; When will my sorrows have an end– Thy joys, when shall I see. “Thy walls are all of precious stones, Most glorious to behold; Thy gates are richly set with pearl, Thy streets are paved with gold.” My work is ended. I close by pleading with my reader to seek an eternal home in the city where there is no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither any more pain. I will bid him adieu with the hope that, when that bright morning of eternity comes, we shall walk together there and feast upon the glories that filled our souls with rapture and cheered us while we traversed the journey of life. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth, say Come. And let him that is athirst, come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.”