Term Paper: Module 5 Revelation 21
Revelation 21 is an obvious end-times chapter, but not what usually comes to mind when we hear the phase “end-times.” Revelation 21 prophesies to both the Millennial Age and post Millennial Age. It speaks to the time after the rebels are incinerated by the fire of God and sentenced to the judgment of the second death. Satan is thrown into the Lake of Fire where the Antichrist and false prophet await his arrival—Sheol opening its mouth to receive him (Isaiah 14:9). It speaks to the dawning of the New—the New Heavens and the New Earth—wherein dwell righteousness. All that is evil has been judged—no more tears, no more death, mourning, crying, nor pain. 7000 years later, the desire of God reigns—God dwells with man. The former is gone; the new has come. Thundering from the Throne is heard, “No more death… Behold I make all things new.”
This “new” is not a complete abolition of the old but a transformation—a new birth. As we consider what God means by a new heavens and a new earth we must anchor in the account of Noah as defined by Peter in 2 Peter 3. In Peter’s description the earth was destroyed in Noah’s flood. It wasn’t annihilated, the earth was cleansed of evil, as it will be at the end of the Millennium with God’s final blow to the rebels. God views righteousness as a “new.” Examples of this are: Noah’s flood in Genesis 6 as it cleansed the earth of the evil, in Christ we become the righteousness of God and are defined as a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17, 5:21), and in the New Heavens and New Earth “wherein dwells righteousness (2 peter 3:13).
In Verse 1 God says there is “no sea” in the New. This takes me to Ezekiel 28 where God pronounces judgment on the King of Tyre, an indicant of Satan. In Ezekiel 28:2 Satan says through the king of Tyre, “I sit in the seat of gods in the heart of the seas.” I see a tie between this statement and the “no more sea” statement in Revelation 21, differing with Mike’s point that it is about dividing peoples.
Revelation 21 stands as the headwaters revealing of the City of God. Its flow waters the whole Bible—the wedding processional, if you will. Without Revelation 21 we would lack the definitive revealing of the City as The Bride. There are hints elsewhere, but here we see her—His one—clothed as a bride adorned for her husband. How glorious she must be. Breathtaking, I’m sure. God Himself adorns her beauty. Abraham saw this city, God’s city—God’s bride—and chose to give his life in search for her. It changed his pursuit—and therefore, his destiny. This would be the outcome for us if we too could see her, even if just a glimpse; it would change us. It would narrow the way we walk and the things we pursue. She is that beautiful—that glorious. She is that one Christ Jesus gave His life for. She was worth it to Him. Because of this, one of my main prays has become, “Show me Your City and the Lion Who sits on its Throne.”
Why was Babel built on the plain in Shinar and not on a mountain, since it was to reach into the heavens? Verse 9 gives us insight, since New Jerusalem is on a plain. Satan has seen New Jerusalem. Satan wants what God has, as we clearly see in Isaiah 14’s “I will” statements. If he can’t have it, he imitates it. Babel was man’s attempt, birthed in the heart of Satan, to build his city to reach heaven. Revelation 20:7-10 describes Satan’s last attempt to have this city; instead, he meets his final demise.
Our destiny as the Church is wrapped up in Israel’s destiny. We together are the one new man Ephesians 2:15 talks about. We see this so clearly in Revelation 21’s description of the Bride. Verses 9-12 show us that Israel and the church are both part of the Bride. These four scriptures changed my decades-long understanding of the Bride as just the church. This City, the Bride, has gates inscribed with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. (I wonder if Dan is there or if he is replaced with Joseph or his sons.) Her foundation stones are adorned with the names of the Lamb’s apostles. (Again I wonder if Matthias was written or Paul.) This leads me to believe that at least some parts of both Israel and the Church are the Bride. She is comprised of those who made themselves ready, and not the “Ahabs” of Israel or of the ekklésia who shrunk back (Hebrews 10). In Ephesians 5 Paul also speaks of marriage as typifying Christ and His church. Could this include Israel? They too were God’s called out ones. Thayer's Greek Lexicon says of ἐκκλησία that in the Septuagint ekklésia is often equivalent to קָהָל, the assembly of the Israelites. I firmly believe that all the Bride must come through Jesus Christ, but how Israel does that is a mystery. Surely its thread must reach into Hosea 2: In that day..."I will betroth you to Me forever…”
