The Seventh “Last Thing”: The New Heaven and the New Earth (Rev. 21:1-8)

By David J. MacLeod

David J. MacLeod is a member of the faculty of Emmaus Bible College in Dubuque, Iowa, and is associate editor of The Emmaus Journal.

This is article eight in an eight-part series, “Expositional Studies of the Seven ‘Last Things’ in the Book of Revelation.”

Several years ago a reporter for a Chicago radio station took a survey at O’Hare Field, Chicago’s busy airport. He stopped about thirty people in one of the terminals and asked them, “Do you know for sure that you will go to heaven when you die?” The response from all thirty was “No.” A few were indignant that he would ask such a question. Several said, “No one could know such a thing as that.”[1]

Human destiny. What an awesome thought to cross the mind. After someone has lived out his mortal life, what then? According to a Newsweek poll, 77 percent of Americans believe in heaven.[2] Yet many do not want to talk about it.

This modern response to the biblical doctrine of heaven and hell demonstrates the great gulf between the Christian faith and the modern world. The difference is between hope and despair, that is, between two totally different views of life.[3] Many people say there is no meaning to life. They tell themselves that death is inevitable, a normal event of organic nature. But the truth is that death scares them.

The Christian view, however, says that the ultimate questions (the meaning of life and the threat of death) are things about which people can have great assurance. For believers the things the Bible says about the meaning of life and human destiny are a sure foundation.[4] For them death is a door to everlasting joy and happiness.[5]

To Christians, the world beyond this world is what makes the difference. Heaven gives meaning to life on earth because, in spite of rebellion and sin, this is God’s world. Believers face death with hope because of their assurance that heaven is their next home. This confidence toward death gives them confidence toward life. The heavenly mansion at the end of life’s pilgrimage makes a tremendous difference during the pilgrimage itself.[6]

Revelation 21:1–8 is all about the future life of God’s people. In these verses John presented “the last of the Last Things and the end of the visionary drama”[7] of the Book of Revelation. Earlier studies in this series have considered John’s description of Christ’s return to earth and His destruction of the Antichrist and the false prophet. Following Christ’s defeat of the Antichrist, an angel will bind Satan in the abyss, and then Christ and His people will reign on the earth for one thousand years. Satan will then be cast into hell, and the present heavens and earth will vanish. All the wicked will face God at the last judgment and will be cast into the lake of fire. Then God will create a new heaven and a new earth, and the new Jerusalem will descend from heaven. God will dwell in this new city, and tears, sorrow, and pain will end. Life will be glorious and blessed because of God’s presence and the absence of death, sorrow, and sin.[8]

The Vision of a New Heaven and a New Earth (20:1-4)

The Appearance of a New Creation (v. 1)

The words “And I saw” (Καὶ εἶδον) introduce the seventh of the “last things” in John’s survey of the events of the end time. In the eighth century before Christ, God told the prophet Isaiah that He will “create new heavens and a new earth” (Isa. 65:17).[9] Jewish writers of the intertestamental and New Testament periods picked up the idea,[10] but Isaiah’s prophecy and his own vision from the Lord were the sources of John’s exposition. When John said “new” (καινός), he probably meant a completely new universe made of new materials[11] and not merely the renovation of the present heavens and earth,[12] for he wrote, “The first heaven and the first earth passed away.”[13]

In the new heaven[14] a new atmosphere will surround the new earth. John also saw a “new earth.” Nothing is said of the configuration, size, or appearance of the new earth, but it will have no oceans.[15]

The disappearance of the sea is a reminder of the transience of the present created order. This present order of things will come to an end, and nothing more powerfully communicates this idea than the statement that “there is no longer any sea.”

In the Book of Revelation, as elsewhere in the Scriptures, the sea is often associated with evil.[16] For example the Antichrist is described as a beast that comes up out of the sea (13:1; Isa. 57:20). The sea represents the disorder, violence, and unrest that marks the present creation (Ps. 107:25–28; Isa. 57:20; Ezek. 28:8). As Morris notes, the sea is the first of seven evils that John said will no longer exist on the new earth, the other six being death, mourning, weeping, pain (21:4), the curse (22:3), and night (21:25; 22:5).[17]

However, nothing implies that there may not be large bodies of fresh water on the surface of the new earth.[18]

The Descent Of The New Jerusalem (V. 2)

John then saw “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”[19] This will be the metropolis or capital of the new earth. The city will be “out of heaven” (ἐκ τοῦ οὐρανοῦ͂), that is, heaven will be its place of origin.[20] It is “from God” (ἀπὸ τοῦ θεου§), that is, God will be its divine originator.[21] The city is “made ready as a bride [νύμφη] adorned for her husband.”

In 19:7 the church as a people is described as the Lamb’s bride or “wife” (γυνή). But in 21:2 the term “bride” (νύμφη) is used in describing the readiness of a place of abode.[22] The new earth will be the place of existence for redeemed humanity.[23]

Over the years I have performed a number of weddings and have found it to be a rather nerve-wracking responsibility. I shouldn’t worry, however, because people do not come to see me, nor are they there to see the fellow next to me in the rented tuxedo. They are there to see the bride. The highlight of every wedding is the moment when the bride makes her appearance. Heads turn, everyone stands, and everyone thinks, “Isn’t she lovely!” “Isn’t she beautiful!” On that day a young woman is radiant and beautiful.

This beautiful picture is used to describe the eternal abode of God’s people. This suggests the purity of Christ’s redeemed and glorified people, the intimacy they will enjoy with Him, and the fact that they will live together in peace and joy.[24]

The name of the city, “Jerusalem,” demonstrates that the blessings of eternity are grounded in the great events that took place in and around old Jerusalem—salvation was accomplished there.[25] When the New Jerusalem descends to the earth the distinction between heaven and earth seems to be forgotten. In a real sense heaven will then be on earth.[26]

Many people are startled by what they read in verses 1–8. They have the idea—a Greek idea, not a biblical one—that the redeemed will spend their lives in the sky. The Bible teaches, however, that man’s ultimate destiny is an earthly one. As can be seen from this passage, believers will spend eternity on the new earth, not in a heavenly realm removed from earthly existence.[27]

The Benefits of the New Order (vv. 3-4)

What will this heaven-on-earth existence be like? Many things are not known, but verses 3–4 do set forth a few important facts.

The presence of God on the earth (v. 3). John heard “a loud voice from the throne,” probably one of the four living creatures mentioned in 4:6.[28] The apostle heard the voice say, “The tabernacle [σκηνὴ] of God is among men, and He shall dwell [σκηνώσει] among them.” The translation “tabernacle” (KJV, NASB) is not a good one if it is taken as implying temporary residence; “dwelling” (NIV) is better in this regard. In the wilderness the tabernacle was God’s portable abode (מִשְׁכָּן, “tent,” from שָׁכַן, “to dwell”). In John 1:14 the apostle used the verbal form σκηνόω, “to dwell,” from σκηνή, “dwelling,” in referring to the Incarnation: “He dwelt among us.” In the eternal state God will remain with His people throughout eternity.[29]

At last in the eternal city Jesus Christ, the Son of God, will dwell forever with His people (lit., “peoples,” not “people”).[30] In the old Jerusalem there was one elect nation, Israel. In the New Jerusalem, however, many different peoples, nations, and races will make up redeemed humanity and will dwell with God in glory (cf. 5:9).[31]

How, then, will heaven or, more precisely, heaven-on-earth be described? First, it will be what it is because Christ is there. Dwight L. Moody (1837–1899) told the story of a young mother who became gravely ill. To let her rest, her little girl was taken to a neighbor’s home. The girl continually asked to be taken to see her mother. The young woman did not improve, however, and she soon died. Everyone concerned thought it best not to tell the girl until after the funeral. They did not want her to see her mother’s dead face. When at last the child was brought home, she ran to her mother’s sitting room, calling “Mother!” Then she ran to the master bedroom and to other rooms, all the time crying, “Mother.” Then her father told her that her mother had died. She then looked at the neighbor and said, “Take me back. I don’t want to stay here if I cannot be with Mother.” Moody said, “It wasn’t the home that made it so sweet to the child. It was the presence of her mother. And so it is not heaven alone that is attractive to us; it is the knowledge that Jesus, our leader, our brother, our Lord is there.”[32]

The absence of evil from the earth (v. 4). For John to try to explain to finite humans what this new state is like is similar, said Ray Stedman, to trying to explain the concepts of relativity and quantum physics to a two-year-old.[33] One way John sought to explain the new environment was to list five familiar things that would not be present.

For one thing there will be no tears. This will not happen automatically; God the Son, the gracious Comforter, will wipe them away. Tears of persecution, tears of misfortune, tears of sympathy, tears of regret, tears of disappointment, tears of bereavement—God will dry them all.

Scottish businessman, evangelist, and Bible teacher Alex Ross told the story of an elderly Christian lady who lay dying. Her husband sat by her bedside. As they held hands together, both knew that the end was near. As she died, a tear trickled down the cheek of the dear old woman. Her husband took his handkerchief and tenderly wiped the tear away, and then with a trembling voice said, “Thank God, Mary, that will be the last tear.”[34]

Also the debilitating effects of sin will be gone. “There shall no longer be any death.” A number of years ago J. Vernon McGee was talking to an engineer who had worked on the interstate highway system that was built in the 1950s and 1960s. McGee asked, “What is the biggest problem in highway design—going over mountains, going down valleys, or crossing over rivers?” The man answered without hesitation, “The biggest problem is missing the cemeteries.” The earth is one big cemetery today. But there will be no cemeteries on the new earth.[35]

After stating that tears, death, mourning, crying, and pain will be gone, John summed up by saying, “The first things have passed away,” that is, life as it is today with its sorrows, tragedies, and evil will be gone. Few commentaries bring out the meaning of this verse like the final paragraphs of C. S. Lewis’s classic novel The Last Battle. The young heroes and their family have been killed and find themselves in the Shadow-Lands, dead. Aslan, who represents Christ, tells them, “The term is over: the holidays have begun. The dream is ended: this is the morning.” Lewis concludes, “The things that began to happen after that were so great and beautiful that I cannot write them. And for us this is the end of all the stories and we can most truly say that they all lived happily ever after. But for them it was only the beginning of the real story. All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia had only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story, which no one on earth has read: which goes on for ever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.”[36]

The Certainty of the New Heaven and New Earth (21:5-8)

The Promise Of God (v. 5a)

In verse 5, probably for the first time in the Book of Revelation, God the Father—”He who sits on the throne”—speaks.[37] Almighty God told John to convey this message[38] to the struggling churches of Asia Minor and to all churches everywhere. They are words of reassurance that God will indeed make “all things new”—the new heaven and the new earth.

The Guarantee Of The Promise (vv. 5b-6a)

God told John to write about the promise because [ὅτι] “these words are faithful and true.” The words John heard “are as true as they are tremendous.”[39] God was vouching for the truth of what He said. He was reminding His people that these promises rest on a secure basis—the promise of God Himself. The very character of God, the One who “cannot lie” (Titus 1:2; cf. Heb. 6:18), stands behind this promise.

Besides this promise being guaranteed by God’s faithfulness, it is also guaranteed by His power. He said, “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.” Alpha, the first letter of the Greek alphabet, suggests that the Lord God Almighty is the initiator of creation, the source and origin of all things. And omega, the last letter of the Greek alphabet, points to the fact that He is the end of everything, that is, He is the goal or aim of all things.[40]

God should not be thought of as the God of the deists, who creates things like a watchmaker and lets them run without intervention. No, having created everything, God guides the whole process along to its desired conclusion.[41] “It is done” (γέγοναν), He said. A more literal rendering of the perfect-tense verb is, “They are done,” that is, His words have come to pass.[42] The renewal of all things and the future blessings of God’s people, resting on the solemn assurance of God Himself, are spoken of as if they had already come to pass.[43]

An Invitation To The Thirsty (v. 6b)

In the middle of His promises to His people God demonstrates that He is an evangelistic God to the end (cf. 22:17).[44] The invitation is taken from Isaiah 55:1, “Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; and you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost.” The Lord Jesus offered the woman at the well a drink that would satisfy all her spiritual yearnings (John 4:10–14). The forgiveness of sins, the cleansing, the life that everyone yearns for is found in Christ. And it is free (“without cost”) for the asking.

An Inheritance Of The Overcomer (v. 7)

In Revelation 21:7 John reminded his readers that “overcomers” will inherit heaven-on-earth. The term “overcomer” relates to the fact that a true Christian is the one who remains steadfast until the end.[45] Every professing Christian is warned to remain faithful. On the other hand, every true Christian is promised that God will keep him or her from stumbling (Jude 24). To the true believer God now makes the greatest promise of all: “I will be His God and he will be My son.”

This promise of sonship continues a long-established pattern of covenant faithfulness and close identification between God and His own. As recipients of the New Covenant, Christians gather each week in various places around the world to celebrate the Lord’s Supper. This is a covenantal meal that celebrates the “bond in blood,”[46] the New Covenant (Luke 22:20) between Christ and His people that was established at the cross of Calvary. It is a celebration that focuses on what Christ has done to incorporate believers into God’s New Covenant, in which He provides for them to be “children [τέκνα] of God” with the prospect of enjoying fellowship forever (John 1:12; 1 John 3:1–2; cf. Rom. 8:14–21; Gal. 4:6–7; Heb. 12:5–13; 1 Pet. 1:13–17).

There is no greater honor in all the universe than what will be bestowed on people who are true to the Lord.[47] During the terrible Chicago fire of 1871, D. L. Moody’s house burned down. As Moody surveyed the ruins, a friend said, “I hear you lost everything.” “Well,” said Moody, “you understand wrong. I have a good deal more left than I lost.” His friend asked, “What do you mean? You are not a rich man.” Mr. Moody then opened his Bible and read to him Revelation 21:7, “He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be His God.”[48]

The Prospects Of The Wicked (v. 8)

This tremendous passage about heaven-on-earth concludes with a warning for those who reject the “water of life.” “Even on the threshold of unimaginable joy John cannot forbear a parting glance over his shoulder into the abyss.”[49] Even here, in a sense, John continued to describe the heavenly city, but in a negative way. He spoke of the kind of people and practices that will not be found on the new earth. Those who reject Christ will go to the lake of fire. This is contrary to everything the world believes, but it is what God says. If every human being were to ignore the Word of God, hell would still be real. As the apostle Paul wrote, “Let God be found true, though every man be found a liar” (Rom. 3:4).

Amazingly the creation of the new heaven and new earth will not affect the status of the lake of fire and of the lost. They will still exist for all eternity.[50] Hell—like heaven—is part of John’s vision. The height of the mountain is appreciated from the depth of the valley. For salvation to be “good news” there must be “bad news” from which to be saved. If all of life’s roads lead to the same place, it makes no ultimate difference which road a person chooses. But if they lead to opposite places, to infinite bliss or infinite misery, then this is a life-or-death matter, a razor’s edge, and one’s choice of roads is infinitely important.[51]

John singled out several kinds of sinners for warning.

“The cowardly” are not the timid or the shy, but those who fear the threats of the beast more than they trust the love of Christ. In spiritual warfare God values highly the virtue of courage. John spoke here of those who once professed to be Christians but were not actually saved.[52] They will side with the beast during his persecution of believers, and they will go to hell.

The “unbelieving” (ἀπίστοις) refers to all who refuse the gospel.

“Abominable” people are those who will be associated with the worship of the beast (cf. 17:4–5) and those who will be involved in the impurities associated with pagan religions and cults, including unnatural vice. One of the noncanonical books (2 Enoch 10:4–5) includes these words: “This place is prepared for … those who on earth practice sin against nature, which is child corruption after the Sodomitic fashion, magic-making, enchantments, and devilish witchcraft … lies … fornication, murder.”

“Murderers” speaks of the beast’s agents in killing believers in the Tribulation (Rev. 13:15).

The term “immoral persons” (πόρνοις), strictly speaking, refers to male or female prostitutes, but it probably refers here to people involved in any kind of sexual sin.[53] Even though society flaunts sexual vices, the sexually immoral will be consigned by God to hell.

“Sorcerers” (φαρμάκοις) refers literally to those who mix potions. The Greek term for “sorcerer” (φαρμακεύς) is the source of the English words “pharmacy” and “pharmaceutical.” A sorcerer claims to be able to communicate with spirits by means of his magical potions or mind-altering drugs.[54] In Old Testament times communicating with evil spirits was a capital offense (Exod. 22:18; Lev. 19:26, 31; 20:6; Deut. 18:9–11). The lake of fire is God’s appointed doom for all who practice witchcraft, spiritualism, channeling to spirits, devil worship, and other forms of sorcery. Though people smirk at this idea, those who practice sorcery will go to hell.[55]

“Idolaters,” worshipers of other gods, will be given over to eternal judgment. Though many people today do not have literal images, they are idolaters for they worship the gods of materialism and pleasure. Whatever takes the place of God is an idol, and idolaters will go to hell.

“All liars” will be consigned to the lake of fire. God is characterized by truth, and Satan is “the father of lies” (John 8:44). Lying is contrary to God’s nature.

On a flight to Florida the writer sat next to a retired New York City policeman. He asked the retired officer if he had ever testified in court. He answered that he had testified over five hundred times. He then sat forward in his seat and emphatically added, “You know, in court everybody lies.” However, God does not view lying with nonchalance. “A lying tongue” is one of the seven things God “hates,” things that are “an abomination to Him” (Prov. 6:16–17; cf. Ps. 119:163).

The dreadful lake of fire “burns.” The verbal form (τῇ καιομένῃ, a present passive participle) indicates that the lake’s fires will never be exhausted. It will be a most terrible form of agony.

Conclusion

John’s seven “last things” suggest several truths.[56] First, John clearly believed that God is sovereign and will fulfill His purposes in creation. All those events will in fact come to pass.

A second truth is that this present life on earth is conditional and probationary; it is a time of testing. God’s purposes for His creatures are not fulfilled in this life. This life is not “all there is.” Life is not what Macbeth called a “brief candle,”[57] which, once snuffed out, ends all conscious existence. Here the gap between the Bible and modern thought is great. People think that death ends everything. But that is not true; on earth people are just passing through.

A third fact is that each person’s choices matter. People hold in their hands, under the sovereignty of God, the power to determine their everlasting futures. They are responsible to confess Christ as their Savior, trust His promise of forgiveness, and receive eternal life which He offers. The alternatives are indescribable bliss with the Lord or banishment forever from the Lord. A glorious future is certain for those who make the right choice in this life. Heaven is promised to all who embrace Jesus Christ as their Savior. If heaven is certain for those who receive Christ, hell is equally certain for those who reject Him. Jesus Christ is the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6). Each reader must face the question, Quo vadis? (“Which way are you going?”)

Notes

1. Sherwood Eliot Wirt, “Destination Heaven,” Christianity Today, August 12, 1977, 10.
2. Kenneth L. Woodward, “Heaven,” Newsweek, March 27, 1989, 52–53.
3. Peter Kreeft, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven … But Never Dreamed of Asking (San Francisco: Ignatius, 1990), 17.
4. Wirt, “Destination Heaven,” 10.
5. Kreeft, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven … But Never Dreamed of Asking, 17.
6. Ibid., 17-18.
7. Austin Farrer, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (London: Oxford University Press, 1964), 211.
8. Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (New York: Macmillan, 1919; reprint, Grand Rapids: Baker, 1979), 750.
9. Beasley-Murray says that the description in Isaiah 65 of the new heaven and the new earth is “almost wholly in terms of the present order of things” (George R. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, New Century Bible [London: Oliphants, 1974], 306). He errs, however, in that he fails to see that Isaiah discussed both millennial conditions (e.g., begetting of children, 65:20, 23) and the eternal state.
10. 1 Enoch 45:4; 72:1; 91:16; Jubilees 1:29; 2 Baruch 32:6; 44:12; 57:2; 4 Ezra 7:75 (cf. R. H. Charles, The Revelation of St. John, International Critical Commentary [Edinburgh: Clark, 1920], 2:203).
11. The decisive factor, says Thomas, in favor of an entirely new creation is “the language of 20:11 which depicts an entire dissolving of the old, a vanishing into nothingness followed by a new creation in 21:1 without any sea” (Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8–22: An Exegetical Commentary [Chicago: Moody, 1995], 440). See also Robert Govett, The Apocalypse: Expounded by Scripture (London, 1861; reprint, Miami Springs, FL: Conley & Schoettle, 1981), 4:326; Charles, The Revelation of St. John, 2:193; John F. Walvoord, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (Chicago: Moody, 1966), 311. William J. Dumbrell writes, “Isaiah has in mind the complete renewal, not merely the alteration of, the existing order (note the use of ‘to create’ Heb. בָּרָא in Isa. 65:17)” (The End of the Beginning: Revelation 21–22 and the Old Testament [Grand Rapids: Baker, 1985], 167).
12. Many scholars, however, argue that John described a renovation of the old creation. Their arguments are five. (1) The exegetical argument. They argue that a proper exegesis of verse 5 (as well as of Matt. 19:28; Acts 3:21; Rom. 8:19–22; and 2 Pet. 3:10) suggests a renewal and refining of existing materials. In Matthew Jesus spoke of the “regeneration,” in Acts Peter spoke of “the restoration of all things,” and in Romans Paul wrote of the renewal of the old creation. (2) The theological argument. The view that the old universe is to be utterly destroyed and replaced suggests that the divine purposes will be frustrated by sin. (3) The Christological argument. It is difficult to believe that the earth that was sanctified by the presence and works of the incarnate Son of God is to be destroyed. (4) The soteriological or anthropological argument. There is an analogy between redeemed man and the redeemed earth. Just as there is continuity between the earthly body and the resurrection body, so there is to be continuity between the old earth and the new earth. (5) The scientific argument. The intense heat of the final conflagration will not destroy matter but will only give it a new form. See Irenaeus, Against Heresies 5.36.1, in The Ante-Nicene Fathers, ed. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (1885; reprint, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 1:566; William Kelly, Lectures on the Book of Revelation (London: G. Morrish, 1874), 465–66; J. A. Seiss, Lectures on the Apocalypse, 9th ed. (New York: Charles C. Cook, 1906), 3:367–77; Henry Barclay Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John (London: Macmillan, 1906), 271–72; R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. John’s Revelation (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1961), 615; Wilbur M. Smith, The Atomic Age and the Word of God (Boston: Wilde, 1948), 126–63; Erich Sauer, The Triumph of the Crucified (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1951), 179; G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, Harper New Testament Commentary (New York: Harper & Row, 1966), 265–66; Wilbur M. Smith, The Biblical Doctrine of Heaven (Chicago: Moody, 1968), 223–36; John Sweet, Revelation, Trinity Press International New Testament Commentaries (London: SCM, 1979), 297; and Henry M. Morris, The Revelation Record (Wheaton, IL: Tyndale, 1983), 436.
13. Beasley-Murray writes, “John’s language, therefore, seems to demand the recognition that he viewed the new heavens and earth as newly created, in the strictest sense of the term, and that they replace a creation which has ceased to exist” (The Book of Revelation, 307 [italics his]). He then rejected this interpretation.
14. Seiss, Lectures on the Apocalypse, 3:378; Govett, The Apocalypse: Expounded by Scripture, 4:325. Some writers suggest that “the first heaven” refers to the abode of God. It is argued that the first heaven is destroyed not because of its imperfections but because of the symbols of remoteness (temple [15:8; 16:17], altar of incense [8:3]) and sin (altar of burnt offering [8:5]). Sin will be vanquished and God will dwell with His people. See Martin Kiddle, The Revelation of St. John, Moffatt New Testament Commentary (New York: Harper, 1940), 411–12. Smith, on the other hand, asserts, “I cannot help but believe firmly that the abode of God … is not referred to here” (The Biblical Doctrine ofHeaven, 235). The first heaven refers to the earth’s atmosphere and the starry universe.
15. Henry Morris speculates that there will be no animals on the new earth and that the human population living in glorified bodies will no longer need water (The Revelation Record, 437). The sea, which today serves as a reservoir for the maintenance of the hydrologic cycle and the water-based ecology and physiology of the animal and human inhabitants of the earth, will no longer be required. It seems, however, that these speculative remarks, interesting as they are, go beyond the data of Scripture. John did speak of “a river of the water of life” (22:1) on the new earth. Thomas writes, “These [i.e., ‘the river of the water of life’] are literal waters that are of such a nature and quality as to answer to the new Jerusalem to which they belong” (Revelation 8–22, 482).
16. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 272; see Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, 307; Robert H. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, New International Commentary on the New Testament (rev. ed., Grand Rapids; Eerdmans, 1998), 381; Gale Z. Heide, “What Is New about the New Heaven and the New Earth? A Theology of Creation from Revelation 21 and 2 Peter 3, ” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 40 (March 1997), 44–45.
17. Leon Morris, The Revelation of St. John, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1969), 243.
18. Ray C. Stedman, God’s Final Word: Understanding Revelation (Grand Rapids: Discovery House, 1991), 336.
19. Barclay argues that the background of the picture is Platonic, that is, the New Jerusalem is the preexistent reality in the heavens of which the earthly Jerusalem is a copy. However, it is more accurate to say that the earthly Jerusalem is a type of a future reality. John’s perspective is eschatological, not philosophical (William Barclay, The Revelation of John, rev. ed. [Philadelphia: Westminster, 1976], 2:199).
20. Govett (The Apocalypse: Expounded by Scripture, 4:167) and Walter Scott (Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, 4th ed. [London: Pickering & Inglis, n.d.], 420, 430) assert that the New Jerusalem will be suspended over the earth during the millennium. Walvoord entertains this view but only as a possibility (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 312–13). He suggests that this satellite city could be the residence of the translated saints during the millennium. Other futurists (e.g., Seiss, Lectures on the Apocalypse, 3:327–40, 383–84), however, suggest that the New Jerusalem will be in heaven until the eternal state and that during the millennium translated saints will dwell on the earth as Christ’s priest-regents.
21. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 751.
22. Scott argues that cities are connected with time and not eternity (Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, 419). The New Jerusalem, he asserts, is not an actual city but is a metaphor for the church. See also Hanns Lilje, The Last Book of the Bible, trans. Olive Wyon (Philadelphia: Muhlenberg, 1957), 259.
23. As Walvoord notes, the marriage figure is used in Scripture for the saints of both the old and new covenants. He concludes that it is likely that the New Jerusalem will be the abode of the saints of all ages (The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 313). See also F. W. Grant, The Revelation of Jesus Christ (New York: Loizeaux, n.d.), 231; and F. C. Jennings, Studies in Revelation (New York: Our Hope, 1937), 566–67.
24. Stedman, God’s Final Word, 337.
25. Leon Morris, The Revelation of St. John, 243–44.
26. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 263; cf. Leon Morris, The Revelation of St. John, 244.
27. George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary on the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972), 275. During the present age those who die go to heaven (2 Cor. 5:8). In eternity in the future, however, believers will live on the new earth. The “heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb. 12:23) will then be on earth. See also Thomas, Revelation 8–22, 443.
28. Charles, The Revelation of St. John, 2:205.
29. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 383.
30. The United Bible Society text gives λαοί (“peoples”) a “B” rating. This reading is supported by א, A, and twelve minuscules (Bruce M. Metzger, A Textual Commentary on the Greek New Testament [London: United Bible Societies, 1971], 765).
31. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 274; and Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 383.
32. Dwight Lyman Moody, New Sermons, Addresses, and Prayers (New York: Henry S. Goodspeed, 1877), 80–81.
33. Stedman, God’s Final Word, 334.
34. Alex Ross, “Fifty Years” in Christ (Aberdeen: Alex Ross, 1972), 227–28.
35. McGee, Thru the Bible, 5:1066.
36. C. S. Lewis, The Last Battle (New York: Macmillan, 1956), 173–74.
37. Swete (The Apocalypse of St. John, 275), Charles (The Revelation of St. John, 2:202), and Mounce (The Book of Revelation, 384, n. 23), however, say that God also spoke in 1:8 and 16:1, 17.
38. A number of commentators say the phrase, “And he said” (καὶ λέγει, lit., “he says,” present tense) refers to an angel. This interpretation is based on the verb change from καὶ εἶπεν to καὶ λέγει (v. 5) and then back to καὶ εἶπεν (v. 6). Cf. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 275. However, the verb change is stylistic, and God is the speaker throughout (Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 385).
39. Swete, The Apocalypse of St. John, 275.
40. Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 385.
41. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, 312; and Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 266.
42. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John, 752.
43. Ibid.
44. Beasley-Murray says the primary application of the invitation is to the believer (The Book of Revelation, 313). Swete says the water is offered to the church and the world (The Apocalypse of St. John, 277).
45. James E. Rosscup, “The Overcomer of the Apocalypse,” Grace Theological Journal 3 (1982): 261-86.
46. O. Palmer Robertson, The Christ of the Covenants (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1980), 7.
47. Barclay, The Revelation of John, 2:206.
48. Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Victor, 1989), 2:622.
49. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 267. Caird, of course, is not using “abyss” in the technical sense, that is, of the intermediate abode of fallen angels. He is speaking, rather, of the lake of fire.
50. McGee, Thru the Bible, 5:1067.
51. Kreeft, Everything You Ever Wanted to Know about Heaven, 20.
52. Cf. Beasley-Murray, The Book of Revelation, 314; Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine, 267; and Mounce, The Book of Revelation, 386.
53. Leon Morris, The Revelation of St. John, 247.
54. J. Stafford Wright, “Magic,” in New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. Colin Brown (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1986), 2:558.
55. Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ, 427.
56. For these observations I am indebted to Wirt, “Destination Heaven,” 10–12.
57. William Shakespeare, The Tragedy of Macbeth 5.5.23, in The Yale Shakespeare, rev. ed. (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1954), 95.