Revelation 21:1; And I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth

Revelation 21:1 (KJV)  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. 

With Satan, sin and sinners forever removed, with death and hell vanquished, and with Christ recognised and revered as Lord of all, a perfect age begins in which God becomes all in all. At last, the eternal state appears. Gloom has been banished, and glory begins. An everlasting sunshine ushers in a new creation, for the world’s last dark day has gone. Man’s history has been consummated, and God’s new order is now introduced.

These last chapters of Revelation comprise a fitting close to God’s eternal purpose and marvellous provision for His own people.

Ephesians 2:7 (KJV)  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 

Here, we are at the goal of all revelation! Satan’s will and purpose throughout the ages were to separate God from man but God is ultimately victorious. At long last, every divine purpose for man’s eternal well-being is realised, and every divine purpose fulfilled.

In sublimity of language, the description of the transportation of the glorified to the pinnacle of eternal peace that John gives stands unsurpassed. The moral competence of the apostle behold and grasp the glorious of eternity was not in himself but in the Holy Spirit. Under His absolute control, John lived and moved in another realm of existence and he was thus prepared to receive the vision of the realities of heaven.

Somehow, we fell that the chapters before us call for contemplation more than interpretation, for reverence rather than research. We find ourselves wishing that more had been recorded of our eternal abode. One reason for the scarcity of facts regarding the eternal state is the limitation of language to expression what John saw and felt. The best of words are only words, at best, at best – a poor medium of expression when it comes to eternal glories. Once we are in heaven, amid its splendour, ours will be the exclamation of the Queen of Sheba: “The half was not told of me” (1 Kings 10:7).

The key phrase of the closing section of Revelation is found in chapter 21, verse 5: “Behold, I make all things new.” Some writers suggest that, now, the millennial age and the eternal age blend into one perfect portrayal of unending glory. Chronologically, verse 9 through 27 of Revelation 21 may actually precede verses 1-8. Verse 7 and 8 point to a time before the dawning of the eternal age. The scene presented is indeed magnificent. At last, Christ is the Victor of the ages, and He is about to hand over the kingdom to His Father. What a thrill this act of surrender will be for both Father and Son! How we need to live more in the future than we do! Like the apostle Paul, let us learn how to balance the gloomy now with the glorious then.

[Herbert Lockyer, Revelation – Drama of the Ages, Whitaker House, 2012, 314-315]