God created the cosmos, the earth and the life indwelling its biosphere, its depths and the very lands of the globe. Collectively, we now know a great deal having explored and examined what lies within our grasp, but the riches found in sharing our labours and their benefits, oddly that remains far afield for the practice of human matters and affairs, for human reason.
Believers can read this chapter and illuminate, stimulate blessed thoughts of anticipation, of wonder and even longing to see God’s promises with confidence, hope, and expectation. Too many voices are merely ridiculed.
The world that is to come will be grander, bolder, more vital. All things will be new – ageless, flawless, exquisite and inspiring. Such will be God’s home with us, our home with Him – in every today, I long to see that day.
In this time of my longing I measure this world as a place of wrath, of lies and schemes, of trafficking and vengeance. Repent, turn and change your course – submit to life and joy in Christ, drawing from this joy in others.
1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.
2 I saw the holy city, the 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, and He will dwell with them. 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 there will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the former things have passed away.”
5 And the One seated on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” Then He said, “Write this down, for these words are faithful and true.”
6 And He told me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give freely from the spring of the water of life.
7 The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be his God, and he will be My son.
Now please don’t fuss due to use of the male gender! It will be an utterly different world, devoid of conflict – a world that does not harm – at all.
8 But to the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and sexually immoral and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. This is the second death.”
God requires all to forgive, hence unforgiveness is the most grave sin.
9 Then one of the seven angels with the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” [The city is the abode of the community of all faithful people]
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
11 shining with the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious jewel, like a jasper, as clear as crystal.
12 The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates.
13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and walls.
16 The city lies foursquare, with its width the same as its length. And he measured the city with the rod, and all its dimensions were equal—12,000 stadiad [Greek σταδίων (stad’-ee-on) – see note below] in length and width and height.
The given dimensions are staggering – such a volume would not conform to the contour of the globe! But this is a new cosmos and a new Earth! Well, it’s not a fifteen minute city, if you would pardon my sarcasm. Thank God.
17 And he measured its wall to be 144 cubits [24 feet (in thickness)], by the human measure the angel was using. 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself of pure gold, as pure as glass.
19 The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone: The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
22 But I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp.
24 By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory.
25 Its gates will never be shut at the end of the day, because there will be no night there.
26 And into the city will be brought the glory and honor of the nations.
27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who practices an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
This final verse is not an aspersion of the value of individuals, but rather it is a ‘wake-up call’ to all of those who yet resist, to all rejecting the works of God serving to recreate individuals – for recall, “You must be born again.”
End Times Prophecy 