I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more. I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
Parallel Translations
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I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
I heard a loud voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, God’s dwelling is with people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; neither will there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things have passed away.”
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And I sawe a newe heven and a newe erth For the fyrst heven and the fyrst erth were vanysshed awaye and there was no more see.
And I Ihon sawe that holy cite newe Ierusalem come doune from God oute of heven prepared as a bryde garnysshed for hyr husband.
And I herde a grett voyce out of heaven sayinge: beholde the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with the And they shalbe his people and God him sylffe shalbe with the and be their god.
And God shall wype awaye all teares from their eyes. And there shalbe nomore deeth nether sorowe nether cryinge nether shall there be eny more payne for the olde thynges are gone.
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And I sawe a newe heauen, and a newe earth: for the first heauen, and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea.
And I Iohn sawe the holie citie newe Hierusalem come downe from God out of heauen, prepared as a bride trimmed for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heauen, saying, Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them: and they shalbe his people, and God himselfe shalbe their God with them.
And God shall wipe away all teares from their eyes: and there shalbe no more death, neither sorow, neither crying, neither shall there be any more paine: for the first things are passed.
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Cross-references (63)
- Isaiah 25:8 (v4) He has swallowed up death forever! The Lord Yahweh will wipe away tears from off all faces. He will take the reproach of his people away…
- Revelation 7:17 (v4) for the Lamb who is in the middle of the throne shepherds them and leads them to springs of life-giving waters. And God will wipe away…
- Isaiah 65:17-19 (v1) “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be glad and…
- 1 Corinthians 15:26 (v4) The last enemy that will be abolished is death.
- Isaiah 35:10 (v4) Then Yahweh’s ransomed ones will return, and come with singing to Zion; and everlasting joy will be on their heads. They will obtain…
Show all 62 cross-references
- Isaiah 60:20 (v4) Your sun will not go down any more, nor will your moon withdraw itself; for Yahweh will be your everlasting light, and the days of your…
- 2 Peter 3:13 (v1) But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
- Ezekiel 37:27 (v3) My tent also will be with them. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
- Isaiah 66:22 (v1) “For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me,” says Yahweh, “so your offspring and your name shall…
- 2 Corinthians 6:16 (v3) What agreement does a temple of God have with idols? For you are a temple of the living God. Even as God said, “I will dwell in them and…
- 1 John 2:17 (v4) The world is passing away with its lusts, but he who does God’s will remains forever.
- Isaiah 65:18-19 (v4) But be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; for, behold, I create Jerusalem to be a delight, and her people a joy. I will…
- Isaiah 51:11 (v4) Those ransomed by Yahweh will return, and come with singing to Zion. Everlasting joy shall be on their heads. They will obtain gladness and…
- Matthew 24:35 (v4) Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will not pass away.
- Jeremiah 31:13 (v4) Then the virgin will rejoice in the dance; the young men and the old together; for I will turn their mourning into joy, and will comfort…
- John 14:23 (v3) Jesus answered him, “If a man loves me, he will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our home with him.
- Leviticus 26:11-12 (v3) I will set my tent among you, and my soul won’t abhor you. I will walk among you, and will be your God, and you will be my people.
- Zechariah 8:8 (v3) and I will bring them, and they will dwell within Jerusalem; and they will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and in…
- 1 Corinthians 15:54-58 (v4) But when this perishable body will have become imperishable, and this mortal will have put on immortality, then what is written will…
- Isaiah 30:19 (v4) For the people will dwell in Zion at Jerusalem. You will weep no more. He will surely be gracious to you at the voice of your cry. When he…
- Hebrews 8:10 (v3) “For this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel. After those days,” says the Lord; “I will put my laws into their mind,…
- Isaiah 61:3 (v4) to provide for those who mourn in Zion, to give to them a garland for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the…
- Revelation 20:14 (v4) Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
- Revelation 21:1 (v4) I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth have passed away, and the sea is no more.
- Jeremiah 31:33 (v3) “But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my law in their inward…
- Hebrews 2:14-15 (v4) Since then the children have shared in flesh and blood, he also himself in the same way partook of the same, that through death he might…
- Hebrews 11:10 (v2) For he looked for the city which has the foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
- Revelation 3:12 (v2) He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will go out from there no more. I will write on him the name of…
- Revelation 21:5 (v1) He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” He said, “Write, for these words of God are faithful and true.”
- 2 Peter 3:10 (vv1, 4) But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will be…
- Revelation 22:3 (v4) There will be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will serve him.
- Jeremiah 32:38 (v3) Then they will be my people, and I will be their God.
- Hosea 13:14 (v4) I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction?…
- 1 Corinthians 7:31 (v4) and those who use the world, as not using it to the fullest. For the mode of this world passes away.
- Psalms 144:4 (v4) Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
- Genesis 17:7-8 (v3) I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to…
- Zechariah 13:9 (v3) I will bring the third part into the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will test them like gold is tested. They will…
- Hebrews 11:16 (v3) But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for he has…
- Revelation 21:10 (v2) He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
- Revelation 7:15 (v3) Therefore they are before the throne of God, they serve him day and night in his temple. He who sits on the throne will spread his…
- John 1:14 (v3) The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw his glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth.
- 2 Corinthians 6:18 (v3) I will be to you a Father. You will be to me sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.”
- Isaiah 12:6 (v3) Cry aloud and shout, you inhabitant of Zion; for the Holy One of Israel is great among you!”
- Isaiah 61:10 (v2) I will greatly rejoice in Yahweh! My soul will be joyful in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation. He has covered me…
- Hebrews 13:14 (v2) For we don’t have here an enduring city, but we seek that which is to come.
- Revelation 20:11 (v1) I saw a great white throne, and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. There was found no place for them.
- Revelation 21:7 (v3) He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
- Ezekiel 43:7 (v3) He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of my throne, and the place of the soles of my feet, where I will dwell among the children of…
- 2 Corinthians 6:17 (v4) Therefore “ ‘Come out from among them, and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing. I will receive you.
- 1 Kings 8:27 (v3) But will God in very deed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house that I…
- Hebrews 12:22 (v2) But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable multitudes of angels,
- 2 Chronicles 6:18 (v3) “But will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens can’t contain you; how much less this house…
- Revelation 19:7-8 (v2) Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself…
- Revelation 12:10 (v3) I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation, the power, and the Kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ has…
- Revelation 22:19 (v2) If anyone takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy, may God take away his part from the tree of life, and out of the holy…
- Isaiah 54:5 (v2) For your Maker is your husband; Yahweh of Armies is his name. The Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer. He will be called the God of the…
- 2 Corinthians 11:2 (v2) For I am jealous over you with a godly jealousy. For I married you to one husband, that I might present you as a pure virgin to Christ.
- Ephesians 5:25-27 (v2) Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it; that he might sanctify it, having cleansed…
- Isaiah 52:1 (v2) Awake, awake! Put on your strength, Zion. Put on your beautiful garments, Jerusalem, the holy city: for from now on the uncircumcised and…
- Psalms 48:1-3 (v2) Great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in his holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole…
- Isaiah 62:4 (v2) You will not be called Forsaken any more, nor will your land be called Desolate any more; but you will be called Hephzibah, and your land…
- Galatians 4:25-26 (v2) For this Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia, and answers to the Jerusalem that exists now, for she is in bondage with her children. But the…
62 distinct cross-references across this passage (63 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (30 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–3 Now followeth the second part of the history prophetical…
Now followeth the second part of the history prophetical (as I said, Rev. 1 and 11:1) of the future estate of the Church in heaven after the last judgment, unto the fifth verse of the next chapter, in this are two things briefly declareth. The station, seat, or place thereof, verse 1. Then her state and condition in the verses following. Before the state of the Church described, is set down the state of the whole world, that there shall be a new heaven, and a new earth, as Isa. 65:17 and 66:12 and 2 Pet. 3:13, and this is the seat or place of the Church, in which righteousness shall dwell.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1 And I saw a new heaven and a…
1 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.
Ver. 1. And I saw a new heaven] New for form and state, but the same as before for matter and substance; as an old garment translated is called a new one; and as whoso is in Christ is a new creature.
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Passed away] i.e. Were purged from their vanity and defilements.
And there was no more sea] i.e. Trouble and tumult. The sea is of itself restless, and often tossed with storms and tempests, Isa 57:20. As for the element of water, it shall remain, probably, as earth, air, and fire do. Andreas thinks there shall be no more sea.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–4 A new heaven and a new earth; a new…
A new heaven and a new earth; a new and glorious state of things relating to the church.
For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea; for now there was an end to the world, and all the troubles that the people of God had met with in it, as well as the material earth, heaven, and sea, were passed away. This new heaven was prophesied of of old by Isaiah, and more lately by Peter, 2Pe 3:13.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 By the new heaven and the new earth here,…
By the new heaven and the new earth here, all understand a new state and face of the church; but some apply it to the state of the church militant here upon earth, and others to the state of the church triumphant in heaven.
Accordingly they take the new heaven and the new earth to be the effect of that great change which shall be made by fire at the universal conflagration; and they are called new, not so much in regard to substance, as in respect of qualities, being now for nature more stable, and for beauty more glorious.
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Quest. But what use shall there be of this new heaven and new earth? and who shall dwell therein?
Ans. We cannot tell, but must rest satisfied with what God has told us, that therein shall dwell righteousness; that it shall be a standing monument of God’s power and greatness.
It is added, that the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; not by annihilation, but by a qualitative mutation. And no more sea; that is say some, as it was before, turbulent, changeable, subject to corruption and vanity; say others, no more troublesome state of things, which is oft-times signified by the sea. A new and glorious state of things was undoubtedly here designed relating to the church.
Observe next, The character St. John gives of the glorious state of the church triumphant, Rev 21:2. He compares her,
1. To a beautiful city, for amplitude and largeness, for compact structure, and for commodious habitation; she is called holy, because no unclean thing can enter into her, and because that holiness shall there be perfected which was here begun.
2. To an adorned bride; no spouse on her marriage-day so adorned as she was. The church in heaven is so called, to denote her dignity, and the love which Christ bears to her, and the delight which he takes in her, which is so continual, as if it were always a wedding-day; and she is adorned for him, and adorned by him, with spiritual beauty and glory, and perfection of grace.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 We have here a more general account of the…
We have here a more general account of the happiness of the church of God in the future state, by which it seems most safe to understand the heavenly state.
I. A new world now opens to our view (Rev 21:1): I saw a new heaven and a new earth; that is, a new universe; for we suppose the world to be made up of heaven and earth. By the new earth we may understand a new state for the bodies of men, as well as a heaven for their souls. This world is not now newly created, but newly opened, and filled with all those who were the heirs of it. The new heaven and the new earth will not then be distinct; the very earth of the saints, their glorified bodies, will now be spiritual and heavenly, and suited to those pure and bright mansions. To make way for the commencement of this new world, the old world, with all its troubles and commotions, passed away.
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II. In this new world the apostle saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven, not locally, but as to its original: this new Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, beautified with all perfection of wisdom and holiness, meet for the full fruition of the Lord Jesus Christ in glory.
III. The blessed presence of God with his people is here proclaimed and admired: I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, etc., Rev 21:3. Observe, 1. The presence of God with his church is the glory of the church. 2. It is matter of wonder that a holy God should ever dwell with any of the children of men. 3. The presence of God with his people in heaven will not be interrupted as it is on earth, but he will dwell with them continually. 4. The covenant, interest, and relation, that there are now between God and his people, will be filled up and perfected in heaven. They shall be his people; their souls shall be assimilated to him, filled with all the love, honour, and delight in God which their relation to him requires, and this will constitute their perfect holiness; and he will be their God: God himself will be their God; his immediate presence with them, his love fully manifested to them, and his glory put upon them, will be their perfect happiness; then he will fully answer the character of the relation on his part, as they shall do on their part.
IV. This new and blessed state will be free from all trouble and sorrow; for, 1. All the effects of former trouble shall be done away. They have been often before in tears, by reason of sin, of affliction, of the calamities of the church; but now all tears shall be wiped away; no signs, no remembrance of former sorrows shall remain, any further than to make their present felicity the greater. God himself, as their tender Father, with his own kind hand, shall wipe away the tears of his children; and they would not have been without those tears when God shall come and wipe them away. 2. All the causes of future sorrow shall be for ever removed: There shall be neither death nor pain; and therefore no sorrow nor crying; these are things incident to that state in which they were before, but now all former things have passed away.
V. The truth and certainty of this blessed state are ratified by the word and promise of God, and ordered to be committed to writing, as matter of perpetual record, Rev 21:5, Rev 21:6. The subject-matter of this vision is so great, and of such great importance to the church and people of God, that they have need of the fullest assurances of it; and God therefore from heaven repeats and ratifies the truth thereof. Besides, many ages must pass between the time when this vision was given forth and the accomplishment of it, and many great trials must intervene; and therefore God would have it committed to writing, for perpetual memory, and continual use to his people. Observe, 1. The certainty of the promise averred: These words are faithful and true; and it follows, It is done, is as sure as if it were done already. We may and ought to take God's promise as present payment; if he has said that he makes all things new, it is done. 2. He gives us his titles of honour as a pledge or surety of the full performance, even those titles of Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. As it was his glory that he gave the rise and beginning to the world and to his church, it will be his glory to finish the work begin, and not to leave it imperfect. As his power and will were the first cause of all things, his pleasure and glory are the last end, and he will not lose his design; for then he would no longer be the Alpha and Omega. Men may begin designs which they can never bring to perfection; but the counsel of God shall stand, and he will do all his pleasure. 3. The desires of his people towards this blessed state furnish another evidence of the truth and certainty of it. They thirst after a state of sinless perfection and the uninterrupted enjoyment of God, and God has wrought in them these longing desires, which cannot be satisfied with any thing else, and therefore would be the torment of the soul if they were disappointed but it would be inconsistent with the goodness of God, and his love to his people, to create in them holy and heavenly desires, and then deny them their proper satisfaction; and therefore they may be assured that, when they have overcome their present difficulties, he will give them of the fountain of the water of life freely.
VI. The greatness of this future felicity is declared and illustrated, 1. By the freeness of it - it is the free gift of God: He gives of the water of life freely; this will not make it less but more grateful to his people. 2. The fulness of it. The people of God then lie at the fountain-head of all blessedness: they inherit all things (Rev 21:7); enjoying God, they enjoy all things. He is all in all. 3. By the tenure and title by which they enjoy this blessedness - by right of inheritance, as the sons of God, a title of all others the most honourable, as resulting from so near and endeared a relation to God himself, and the most sure and indefeasible, that can no more cease than the relation from which it results. 4. By the vastly different state of the wicked. Their misery helps to illustrate the glory and blessedness of the saints, and the distinguishing goodness of God towards them, Rev 21:8. Here observe, (1.) The sins of those who perish, among which are first mentioned their cowardliness and unbelief. The fearful lead the van in this black list. They durst not encounter the difficulties of religion, and their slavish fear proceeded from their unbelief; but those who were so dastardly as not to dare to take up the cross of Christ, and discharge their duty to him, were yet so desperate as to run into all manner of abominable wickedness - murder, adultery, sorcery, idolatry, and lying. (2.) Their punishment: They have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. [1.] They could not burn at a stake for Christ, but they must burn in hell for sin. [2.] They must die another death after their natural death; the agonies and terrors of the first death will consign them over to the far greater terrors and agonies of eternal death, to die and to be always dying. [3.] This misery will be their proper part and portion, what they have justly deserved, what they have in effect chosen, and what they have prepared themselves for by their sins. Thus the misery of the damned will illustrate the blessedness of those that are saved, and the blessedness of the saved will aggravate the misery of those that are damned.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And I saw a new heaven and a new…
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth,.... This vision relates to a glorious state of the church, not in the times of the apostles, or first dispensation of the Gospel; when the old Jewish church state, with its ordinances, rites, and ceremonies, passed away, and a new church state, a new dispensation, new ordinances, and a new people, took place; and when saints came not to Mount Sinai, but to Mount Sion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; and when God tabernacled and dwelt with men in particular churches and congregations; and the curse of the law and the sting of death were taken away by Christ, and there was no condemnation to them that were in him; which is the sense of some: but death did not then cease, it has reigned over men in common ever since, in a natural way, and immediately upon that dispensation arose persecution unto death, both by Jews and Gentiles; and for the first three hundred years, instead death being no more, and sorrow and sighing fleeing away, there was scarce anything else: nor can it be said that there was no temple, or places of pubic worship, or that the church had no need of the sun and moon of the Gospel and Gospel ordinances then, since these have continued ever since, and will to the end of the world; nor did the kings of the earth bring their honour and glory into that church state in any sense, but set themselves against it, and endeavoured to destroy it; nor were the churches even of that age so pure as here described, Rev 21:27 many persons both of bad principles and bad practices crept into them; there were tares among the wheat, goats among the sheep, and foolish virgins with the wise: nor does this vision refer to the times of Constantine, when the old Pagan idolatry was removed out of the empire, and the Christian religion was revived, and came to be in a flourishing condition, and a new face of things appeared, and Christianity was embraced and honoured by the emperor, and the great men of the earth; there was not that purity as in this state; the Christian doctrine and worship were soon corrupted, being mixed with Judaism and Paganism; a flood of errors was brought in by Arius, Eutychius, Nestorius, Macedonius, and Pelagius, and others; yea, doctrines of devils, and which at length issued in a general apostasy, and in the revelation of the man of sin; nor was there that peace and comfort, and freedom from evils, as from death, pain, and sorrow; witness the Arian persecution, the incursions of the Goths and Vandals into the empire, and the inhuman butcheries and numerous massacres and murders of the Popish party since. Nor has this vision anything to do with the conversion and restoration of the Jews, when they will become a new people, quit their old principles and modes of worship, and there will be no more among them the sea of corrupt doctrine, respecting the Messiah, the works of the law, &c. for this will be over before this vision takes place, as appears from the 19th chapter: nor does it belong to the spiritual reign of Christ, which will be in the present earth, whereas this glorious state of the church will be in the new heavens and new earth; that will be at the sounding of the seventh trumpet, and in the Philadelphian church state, this will not be till prophetic time and antichristian times will be no more, when the mystery of God will be finished, and after the Laodicean state is at an end; in that there will be public worship, the ministry of the word, and administration of ordinances, but not in this; and though there will be then great spirituality and holiness, yet not in perfection, nor will the churches be clear of hypocrites and nominal professors, and will at last sink into a Laodicean state. Nor is this vision to be interpreted of the church triumphant in heaven, or of the ultimate glory of the saints there; since the new Jerusalem here described descends from heaven, that is, to earth, where the saints will reign with Christ; and since the church is represented as a bride, prepared and adorned for her husband, but not as yet at the entrance of this state, delivered up to him; and since the tabernacle of God is said to be with men, that is, on earth; and this dwelling of God with them is as in a tabernacle, which is movable, and seems to be distinct from the fixed state of the saints in the ultimate glory; to which may be added, that in this state, Christ, as King of saints, will be peculiarly and distinctly glorified, whereas in the ultimate one, when the kingdom is delivered to the Father, God will be all in all: this therefore is to be understood of the glorious state of the church during the thousand years of Satan's binding, and the saints' living and reigning with Christ; the holy city, and new Jerusalem, is the same with the beloved city in Rev 20:9 what is there briefly hinted, is here largely described and insisted on; this will be the time and state when the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven, will first meet together, and be brought to Christ, and be presented by him to himself a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle, or any such thing, and Christ will reign gloriously among them: the seat of this church state will be the "new heaven" and "new earth" which John saw, and which are the same that Peter speaks of, in which dwelleth righteousness, or in which righteous persons only dwell, Pe2 3:13 for as the first heaven and earth both here and there are to be understood literally, so in like manner the new heaven and new earth; which will be new, not with respect to the substance, but their qualities; they will be renewed, or purged from everything that is disagreeable, and is the effect of the sin of man; the first heaven and earth were made chiefly for men, but, on account of the sin of man, the earth was cursed, and brought forth thorns and thistles, and both the earth and air, or the heaven, were attended with noxious vapours, &c. and the whole creation was made subject to vanity and corruption; from all which they will be cleared at the general conflagration, and a new earth and heaven will appear, fit for the habitation of the second Adam, and his posterity, for the space of a thousand years. So the Jews speak of new heavens, as "renewed" ones, which are the secrets of sublime wisdom (o): and they say (p), that the holy blessed God will renew his world a thousand years, and that in the seventh millennium there will be new heavens and a new earth (q):
for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; not those in Rev 20:11 but the heaven and the earth which were first made, which passed away, as Peter also says, adding, with a great noise; meaning not as to their substance, but as to their form, fashion, and qualities:
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and there was no more sea; which may be understood either as to the being of it; it was "exhausted", as the Ethiopic version renders it, being dried up by the conflagration; see Amo 7:4 and if Mr. Burnet's hypothesis can be supported, that the paradisiacal earth, or the earth fore the flood, was without a sea, that being made, with the mountains and hills, by the falling of the surface of the earth into the waters under it, there is a surprising agreement between that earth and this new one; but the Alexandrian copy reads, "and I saw the sea no more"; it might be in being, though John saw it not and since, at the end of the thousand years, the sea will give up the dead which are in it, it must be in being, unless it can be interpreted of the place where the sea was: wherefore it seems best to understand it with respect to its use and qualities; and that as the heaven and earth will pass away, not as to their substance, but quality, so in like manner the sea will be no more used for navigation, nor may it be a tumultuous and raging one, or have its flux and reflux, or its waters be salt, as now; the schoolmen say it will no more be a fluid, but will be consolidated into the globe as the sphere; and, in a mystical sense, there will be no more wicked men; tumultuous and turbulent men are like the troubled sea, that cannot rest, Isa 57:20 for in the new heavens and earth only righteous persons will dwell, Pe2 3:13.
(o) Zohar in Gen. fol. 5. 2. vid. Kimchi in lsa. lvi. 6. (p) T. Bab. Sanhedrin, fol. 92. 2. & Gloss. in ib. Zohar in Gen. fol. 69. 1. Tzeror Hammor, fol. 150. 2. (q) Zohar in Gen. fol. 35. 3.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And I saw - So it runs, chap. xix,…
And I saw - So it runs, chap. xix, 11, xx, 1, 4, 11, in a succession. All these several representations follow one another in order: so the vision reaches into eternity. A new heaven and a new earth - After the resurrection and general judgment. St. John is not now describing a flourishing state of the church, but a new and eternal state of all things. For the first heaven and the first earth - Not only the lowest part of heaven, not only the solar system, but the whole ethereal heaven, with all its host, whether of planets or fixed stars, Isai xxxiv, 4 Matt. xxiv, 29. All the former things will be done away, that all may become new, verses 4, 5, 2 Pet. iii, 10, 12. Are passed away - But in the fourth verse it is said, "are gone away." There the stronger word is used; for death, mourning, and sorrow go away all together: the former heaven and earth only pass away, giving place to the new heaven and the new earth.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–4 The new heaven and the new earth, 1.
CHAPTER XXI.
The new heaven and the new earth, 1.
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The new Jerusalem, 2.
God dwells with men; the happy state of his followers, 3-7.
The wretched state of the ungodly, 8.
An angel shows John the holy city, the New Jerusalem, 9, 10.
Her light, wall, gates, and foundations, described, 11-21.
God and the Lamb are the temple and light of it, 22, 23.
The nations and kings of the earth bring their glory and honour
to it; the gates shall never be shut, nor shall any defilement
enter into it, 24-27.
NOTES ON CHAP. XXI.
Verse 1. A new heaven and a new earth] See the notes on 2Pe 3:13: The ancient Jews believed that God would renew the heavens and the earth at the end of seven thousand years. The general supposition they founded on Isa 65:17.
There was no more sea.] The sea no more appeared than did the first heaven and earth. All was made new; and probably the new sea occupied a different position and was differently distributed, from that of the old sea.
However, with respect to these subjects as they stand in this most figurative book, I must express myself in the words of Calmet: Vouloir dire quels seront ce nouveau ciel, et cette nouvelle terre, quels seront leurs ornamens et leur qualite, c'est a mon avis la plus grande de toutes les presomptions. En general, ces manieres de parler marquent de tres grands changemens dans l'univers. "To pretend to say what is meant by this new heaven and new earth, and what are their ornaments and qualities, is in my opinion the greatest of all presumptions. In general these figures of speech point out great alternations in the universe."
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 4 Rev 21:1-3. And I saw — So it runs,…
Rev 21:1-3. And I saw — So it runs, Rev 19:11; Rev 20:1; Rev 20:4; Rev 20:11, in a succession. All these several visions follow one another in order, and this vision reaches into eternity; a new heaven and a new earth — That is, after the foregoing visions, in which I beheld a representation of the state of the church and world to the consummation of all things, I had the final happiness of the true worshippers of God, to be enjoyed after the resurrection and the general judgment, represented to me in a new vision, in which I beheld a perfectly new state of things; the heaven and earth, in which we now live, being quite passed away, melted with fervent heat and dissolved in fire, there was a new heaven and a new earth, in which I perceived one thing very remarkable, that there was no more sea — A circumstance which, whether it be effected by the means which the theorists of the earth (see Burnet’s and Whiston’s theory) have prescribed, or by any other, time, or rather eternity, must show; for it is evident from hence that this new heaven and earth are not designed to take place till after the general judgment; for at that judgment, (Rev 20:13,) the sea gives up the dead which were in it. Many, however, understand the expression figuratively, that there shall be no troubles or commotions in the world; but it seems much more probable that it is to be understood literally. And I saw the holy city — The new heaven, the new earth, and the new Jerusalem, are closely connected. This city is wholly new, belonging, not to this world, not to the millennium, but to eternity. This appears from the series of the vision, the magnificence of the description, and the opposition of this city to the second death, Rev 20:11-12; Rev 21:1-2; Rev 21:5; Rev 21:8-9; Rev 22:5. Coming down — In the very act of descending; from God — Its maker and builder; out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband — Prepared to meet him, with all her charms set out to the greatest advantage, and full of glory and splendour. At the commencement of the millennium it was said, (Rev 19:7,) the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. At the conclusion of the millennium, Gog and Magog went up against the beloved city; and here it is represented as the metropolis of the new heaven and the new earth. The new Jerusalem shall be the habitation of the saints of the first resurrection, and it shall also be the habitation of the saints of the general resurrection; the church of Christ shall endure through all times and changes of this world, and shall exist eternally in the world to come. It shall be glorious upon earth during the millennium, and it shall be more glorious still in the new earth after the millennium, to all eternity. Earth shall then become as heaven, or rather it shall be heaven on earth; God dwelling visibly among men, and sin and suffering being for ever done away. For the apostle adds, I heard a great voice out of heaven — A voice proceeding from the eternal Word and Son of the Father; saying, Behold the tabernacle of God with men! — So it is in the original, there being nothing for the verb is; and he will dwell with them — In token of his favour and great love to them; and they shall be his people — Protected and governed by him; and God himself shall be with them — Continually, as their Friend and Father; and he shall be their God — Their supreme good and final portion, their all in all.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And I saw a new heaven and a new…
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth - Such a heaven and earth that they might properly be called new; such transformations, and such changes in their appearance, that they seemed to be just created. He does not say that they were created now, or anew; that the old heavens and earth were annihilated; but all that he says is, that there were such changes that they seemed to be new. If the earth is to be renovated by fire, such a renovation will give an appearance to the globe as if it were created anew, and might be attended with such an apparent change in the heavens that they might be said to be new. The description here Rev 21:1 relates to scenes after the general resurrection and the judgment - for those events are detailed in the close of the previous chapter. In regard to the meaning of the language here, see the notes on 2Pe 3:13. Compare, also, “The Religion of Geology and its Connected Sciences,” by Edward Hitchcock, D. D., LL. D., pp. 370-408.
For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away - They had passed away by being changed, and a renovated universe had taken their place. See the notes on 2Pe 3:10.
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And there was no more sea - This change struck John more forcibly, it would appear, than anything else. Now, the seas and oceans occupy about three-fourths of the surface of the globe, and, of course, to that extent prevent the world from being occupied by people - except by the comparatively small number that are mariners. There, the idea of John seems to be, the whole world will be inhabitable, and no part will be given up to the wastes of oceans. In the present state of things, these vast oceans are necessary to render the world a fit abode for human beings, as well as to give life and happiness to the numberless tribes of animals that find their homes in the waters. In the future state, it would seem, the present arrangement will be unnecessary; and if man dwells upon the earth at all, or if he visits it as a temporary abode (see the notes on 2Pe 3:13), these vast wastes of water will be needless. It should be remembered that the earth, in its changes, according to the teachings of geology, has undergone many revolutions quite as remarkable as it would be if all the lakes, and seas, and oceans of the earth should disappear. Still, it is not certain that it was intended that this language should be understood literally as applied to the material globe. The object is to describe the future blessedness of the righteous; and the idea is, that that will be a world where there will be no such wastes as those produced by oceans.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1–3 New, by their form and qualities, but not by…
New, by their form and qualities, but not by their substance. --- The first heaven and first earth was passed away: being changed, not as to their substance, but in their qualities. (Challoner)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Revelation Chapter 21
Revelation Chapter 21
But there was a new heaven and a new earth; but no more sea-no separation, nor part of the world not brought into an ordered earth before God. Here we do not find any mediatorial kingdom. The Lamb is not in the scene. God is all in all. No sorrow or crying more, no earthly people of God distinct from the inhabiters of the earth. These are God’s people, and God is with them Himself, but withal His tabernacle is with them. This is the holy city, the New Jerusalem. The assembly has her own character, is the habitation of God in a special way, when the unchanging state comes, and all is made new. God is the end, as the beginning. Him that is athirst now God will refresh with the fountain of the water of life-the overcomer shall inherit all things. The world for the Christian is now a great Rephidim. This is the twofold portion of the final blessedness: he shall have God for his God, and be His son. Those who feared this path-did not overcome the world and Satan but had walked in iniquity-would have their part in the lake of fire. This closes the history of God’s ways.
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What follows is the description of the heavenly city, as before we had that of Babylon. Its heavenly character and millennial connection with the earth is revealed. One of the seven angels, as in the case of Babylon, comes to shew the prophet the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The result of judgment on the earth is the introduction of better and higher blessings. The prophet is taken, like Moses, to see the scene of promise, and sees New Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. This was its double character from God, divine in its origin, and also heavenly. (Compare 2Co 5:1) It might be of God and earthly. It might be heavenly and angelic. It was neither: it was divine in origin and heavenly in nature and character. It was clothed with divine glory: it must be as founded on Christ’s work. It was transparent jasper, jasper being used as a symbol of divine glory. (Rev 4:3) It is secure, having a wall great and high. It has twelve gates. Angels are become the willing doorkeepers of the great city, the fruit of Christ’s redemption work in glory. This marked the possession too, by man thus brought in the assembly to glory, of the highest place in the creation, and providential order of God, of which angels had previously been the administrators. The twelve gates are full of human perfectness of governmental administrative power. The gate was the place of judgment. Twelve, we have often seen,denotes perfection and governmental power. The character of it is noted by the names of the twelve tribes. God had so governed these. They were not the foundation; but this character of power was found there. There were twelve foundations, but these were the twelve apostles of the Lamb. They were, in their work, the foundation of the heavenly city. Thus the creative and providential display of power, the governmental (Jehovah), and the assembly once founded at Jerusalem, are all brought together in the heavenly city, the organized seat of heavenly power. It is not presented as the bride, though it be the bride, the Lamb’s wife. It is not in the Pauline character of nearness of blessing to Christ. It is the assembly as founded at Jerusalem under the twelve- the organized seat of heavenly power, the new and now heavenly capital of God’s government. They had suffered and served the Lamb in the earthly, and under Him founded the heavenly. It is alike vast and perfect, and all measured and owned of God. It is not now a remnant measured; it is the city. It has not divine perfectness (that could not be), but it has divinely given perfectness. It is a cube, equal on every side, finite perfection. So the wall (they are merely symbols) was perfect, 12 x 12. The wall which secured it was the divine glory. As it is written of the earthly Jerusalem, “Salvation hath God appointed for walls and bulwarks.”
The city was formed, in its nature, in divine righteousness and holiness-gold transparent as glass. That which was now by the word wrought in and applied to men below, was the very nature of the whole place. (Compare Eph 4:24.) The precious stones, or varied display of God’s nature, who is light, in connection with the creature (seen in creation, Eze 28:1-26; in grace in the high priest’s breast-plate), now shone in permanent glory, and adorned the foundations of the city. The gates had the moral beauty, which attracted Christ in the assembly and in a glorious way. That on which men walked, instead of bringing danger of defilement, was itself righteous and holy; the streets, all that men came in contact with, were righteousness and holiness-gold transparent as glass.
There was no concealment of God’s glory in that which awed by its display-no temple where men approached but where they could not draw nigh where God was hidden. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb were its temple. They were approached in their own nature and glory, surrounded only by that fully displayed.
Nor was there need of created light here; the glory of the divine nature lighted all, and the Lamb was the light-bearer in it.
Note here, we have not the Father as the temple. It is the revealed dispensational Ruler, the true God and the Lamb who has made good His glory. This was the character of the city.
The vision goes on to shew its relationship to those on the earth, and its inhabitants: a seeming inconsistency, but no real one; for the city is viewed as the estate of the bride. Where the inhabitants are spoken of, it is the individual blessing. The nations, spared in the judgments on earth, walk in the light of it; the world does, in a measure, in that of the assembly now, Then the glory will be perfect. The city enjoys the direct light within; the world transmitted light of glory. To it the kings of the earth bring their honour and glory. They own the heavens and the heavenly kingdom to be the source of all, and bring there the homage of their power. Night, there is not there, and its gates are ever open; no defense against evil is needed, though divine security leaves no approach to evil. The kings themselves bring their willing homage to it. But the glory and honour of the Gentiles is brought to it too. Heaven is seen as the source of all the glory and honour of this world. Hence these are now true. Nothing defiling enters there, nor what introduces idols and falsehood. Neither man’s evil nor Satan’s deceit can exist or produce any corruption there. How often, when any thing good is set up now, the considerate heart knows that evil will enter, and Satan deceive and corrupt! There we have the certainty that this can never be. It was not merely the absence of evil, but the impossibility of its entrance, which characterised the holy city. There was that which, having its source in perfect grace, involves all blessed affections in connection with the Lamb in those within the city. Those only whose names were in the Lamb’s book of life found place in the city.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1 2. The New Heaven and the New Earth. The…
2. The New Heaven and the New Earth. The Clarified World and the Kingdom of Glory
Rev_21:1-8
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1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away [departed];1 and there was no more sea [the sea is no more]. 2And I John [om. John]2 saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God [om. from God] out of [ins. the] heaven [ins. from God], prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven [om. heaven—ins. the throne]3 saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell [tabernacle] with them, and they shall be his people [peoples],4 and God4 himself shall be with them, and be their God [or om. and be their God].5 And God [God or om. God]6 shall wipe away all tears [every tear] from their eyes; and there shall be no more death [death shall be no more], neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain [nor shall sorrow, nor crying, nor pain, be any more]: for the former [first] things are passed away [departed]. 5And he that sat [the one sitting] upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said [saith] unto me [or om. unto me],7 Write: for these words are true and faithful6 [faithful and true].8 And he said unto me, It is [They are] clone [or fulfilled].9 I am [or am]10, [ins. the] Alpha and [ins. the] Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst [thirsteth] of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh [or conquereth] shall inherit all [om. all—ins. these]11 things; and I will be his [om. his—ins. to him a] God, and he shall be my [om. my—8 ins. to me a] son. But [ins. to] the fearful [cowardly], and unbelieving, and12 the [om. the] abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers [fornicators], and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all [ins. the] liars, shall have [om. shall have] their part [ins. shall be] in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: [,] which is the second death.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
Synoptical View
Two points must here be established at the outset. First, the detachment of the section Rev_20:11-14 from the foregoing last special judgment, the judgment upon Satan. Secondly, the distinction, which is carried out here also, of a predominantly heavenly-ideal and a predominantly terrestri-real vision-picture, or the distinction of the sections Rev_21:1-8 and Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5. In respect to the first point, with the judgment upon Satan the last part of the world-judgment internal to this present world and life, or the outpouring of the Vials of Anger, is accomplished. Though the universal end-judgment is, by the Scriptures and the Church, preeminently denominated the Dies Iræ, it lies beyond the proper department of the Vials of Anger, since it introduces the eternal dooms, and is a judgment unto life for the blessed, as well as a death-judgment upon the damned; irrespective of the fact that the term of the end-judgment is, in Eschatology, summed up together with the foregoing special judgments in one great Day of Wrath, whose prelude is to be beheld in the day of wrath upon Jerusalem. In respect to the second point, we must not overlook the fact that the two finales contained in Rev_21:6-7 and Rev_22:4-5 would, as tautologies, obscure the text, if they were not to be regarded as parallels, in perfect analogy with the parallels Rev_12:6; Rev_12:14. The antithesis does here, indeed, issue in a point in which the two lines are not so strongly distinguished—Heaven descends to earth: earth becomes Heaven—; still, the pause between the visional Heaven-picture and the appearance of the City of God upon earth is distinctly perceptible (Rev_21:10).
The present Section A branches into the great antithesis of the end of the old world and the appearance or, primarily, the heavenly development, of the new world.
The centre and causality of the end of the world is the great white throne and the Judge enthroned thereon. The adjectives great and white manifestly denote the majesty and holiness of the Judge and His judgment.
In harmony with the universalism of the judgment and in accordance with Rev_21:4-5, God Himself is to be understood by the Judge; not, however, to the exclusion of the fact that Christ is the appearance of the great judging God (Tit_2:13), and thus His Parousia has here mediated the Last Judgment. With the great appearance of God the Judge, a complete subversion of the old form of the world takes place:—the corporeal world becomes nothing; the spiritual world becomes all. From His face the earth and the Heaven fled: and fled without a goal—they vanished. This cannot be apprehended as a real annihilation of the world, as the ancient orthodoxy maintained. And though the idea does essentially coincide with the fiery metamorphosis of 2Pe_3:10-13, it was not the intention of the Seer hyperbolically to express that fact [of the fiery metamorphosis]. Rather, in the antithesis, The corporeal world vanishes, the spiritual world appears, is contained the strongest expression of the thought that at last, under the almighty operation of the absolute personality of God, personal relations, as the true life-principles of the world, must become perfectly manifest. Above all, the old antithesis between Heaven and earth is hereby removed. But as decidedly as worldly relations withdraw, spiritual relations come into prominence. The Seer beholds the dead standing before the throne;—the great, because even the greatest is subject to this judgment, and the small, because even the smallest shall have perfect justice done him here. And with this the general resurrection is expressed; emphasis is not laid upon it, however, in the same manner as upon the first resurrection, because it is not specifically a resurrection to life. Clearly and positively as personalities themselves appear before the throne, just so distinctly are all the works of all individuals—works which bear the impress of their characters and which have fixed their destinies—in everlasting remembrance. There are the books, which are opened for the revelation of these works, in the unitous character of which latter the judicial sentence is, de facto, already extant (Mat_12:37). From the books the Seer distinguishes the book, the book of life, as the book κατ̓ ἐξοχήν, the Bible of eternity set forth in living Divine images. In this book, that sum total is already made up, for which the books in the plural contain, amongst other things, the material. Those who are written in this book have already, in spirit, passed the judgment (Joh_5:24; Romans 6.; Gal_2:19). The result of the life of other men is contained in the books, but is also summed up in the brief epitome presented in the statement that they have fallen under judgment if their names are not found in the book of life. The following antitheses should be noted: 1. The books and the book; 2. The works and the names; 3. The lostness of the names of the lost in the confusion of their works; and the concentration of the works of faith in the names of the faithful, the perfected characters. Formally, therefore, the judgment is general; all stand before the throne. And it must all the more be general, since the very separation of the righteous from the mass of the unrighteous is itself the expression and illustration of the judgment. In a material aspect, however, the general judgment, with this very separation of the righteous, brings in view the special judgment of damnation; the more, since the truly perfected Christians, the eschatological Christians, we might say the approved ones of the end-time, with all the martyrs, who represent a spiritual end-time through the entire course of the world’s history (scarcely those also who have become believers during the thousand years), are already, through the first resurrection, not only exempted from the judgment, but also called to share in its administration.
This general description of the judgment is followed by a specialization which goes back to the beginning. And first in regard to the dead. They come back from every direction out of the condition in which they have been hitherto; through the medium of the general resurrection they are placed before the throne of God. Not even into the abyss could they have sunk so deep as not to appear again. We, therefore, apprehend the detailed description as a gradation. That they are given back by the earth is assumed by the Seer as a matter of course. But also by the sea, in whose depths they seemed to have vanished forever; by death, by the power of death itself; and by the realm of the dead [Hades]13—are they given up. So far as the immortality of the soul is concerned, these categories are all alike; in whatever way they [as to body] perished, they all [as to soul] live on. Again, so far as death is concerned, they are all dead and in the realm of the dead [Hades]. But in respect of the relation of these categories to a bodily appearance before the throne of God, gradual distinctions are formed. They vanished in the depth of the ocean;—they are here again. They seemed long since a prey to the power of death;—they are living again. They seemed to be floating away as shades in the gloomy land beyond the portals of death;—here they come as entire men in the reality of earthly life, summoned before the judgment throne of God. So they are judged, each one according to his work. The judgment is thus thoroughly general and thoroughly individual, and likewise, as the final judgment, characterized as in accordance with the works of those judged (Matthew 25). The judgment makes a thorough end of the old form of the world. Death itself is cast into the pool of fire. As the natural life of the blessed is swallowed up in the spiritual life, so the natural death is merged into the spiritual death. The natural death appertains to the region of becoming; with the abolition of this region, it is itself abolished. What remains of it is the sense of continual self-annihilation in the region of an absolutely indifferentized [neutralized] self-tormenting existence. The whole institution of the realm of the dead [Hades], so far as its dark side is concerned, passes into the pool of fire, into the condition of a death multiplied into itself, and yet a conscious, living death. Again, together with death and Hades, the spiritually dead incur the judgment of the pool of fire. Life, life, life, to infinitude, is denoted when it is said: the name is found in the book of life. The contrast is death, death, death, to infinitude. Middle positions, uncertain, wavering forms, have ceased to be, for it is the harvest of the world.
The pool of fire, or the pond-like, stagnating lake of fire, denotes the entire precipitate of the world and worldly history; hence the new world can unfold itself, over against it, in all its glory. The Seer first beholds the new world in the antithesis of the new Heaven and the new earth, for the old Heaven and the old earth have departed, and the sea is not any more. The sea is the womb of shapeless life, as the nutriment of life that is in process of shaping, and in this respect it is an attribute of the region of becoming, but not of the region of being. It will be understood that Heaven and earth are intended not in the cosmical sense merely, but also in the spiritual sense, and this may be true of the sea also. For the sea of nations is, in common with the mundane sea, a womb—a womb of characters, as the latter is of creatures. That which is to unite Heaven and earth is the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, prepared in Heaven by God as a bride adorned for her husband.
Our first business here is to reconcile this Parousia of the perfected Church of God with the Parousia of Christ and His escort (Rev_19:14). It is impossible to accept the confused notion that another Parousia of Christ from Heaven must ensue here. Consequently, we must distinguish the train of His elect, which has accompanied Him to earth, and has here compacted itself into a whole, from the general constituents of the Church Triumphant; a distinction which was suggested in chs. 7 and 16. The Church Triumphant in the other world does not consist purely of warriors of God [Gotteskämpfer] in the narrower sense of that term, and it has found a new home in that other world. Therefore the barrier between Heaven and earth must be in the act of vanishing, if the new earth is to be raised to the dignity of becoming the mother-country of the new Church of God. This, however, seems to be a polar vital law: Principial consummation bears upward from earth to Heaven; the consummate appearance of life brings back again from Heaven to earth. This may be otherwise expressed as follows: Redemption, as principial, first conducts the redeemed from without inwards; next, as eschatological, from within outwards.
Thus ensues the heavenly consummation of God’s Kingdom upon earth. It is proclaimed by a great voice from the Throne—hence by a solemn declaration in the name of the Divine government—in a progressive series of theocratic items.
First, the theocratic cultus shall find its fulfillment in the consummation of the Kingdom of glory. Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men. That which was typically heralded by the Jewish tabernacle, and, later, by the Temple; that which the Church principially realized,—attains now its consummate and visible appearance: a Congregation of God, in which man’s communion with God is completely realized.
Secondly, the visible appearance of the full harvest of all pious tear-seed sown throughout the history of the world. God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. An image which might have been drawn from the nursery is employed to express the sublimest thought—the transmutation of all the earthly sufferings of the pious into heavenly bliss, through the sensible presence of Divine love and faithfulness. We may also say—the perfect transfiguration of the cross. For the first things have departed. A second, imperishable Kingdom of Life has arisen, in contrast to the second death.
Thirdly, the visible appearance of the renewal of the earth, or rather of the whole earthly Cosmos,—relatively, of the whole universe itself. Behold, I make all things new. This promise, too, must be written; it becomes, in pursuance of the Divine order, a written bond for the hope of mankind, like the promises in Rev_14:13 and Rev_19:9.
Fourthly, the full realization of all the promissory words of God. And He said unto me: They are fulfilled. Namely, the words of which it is declared: They are trustworthy and true [veritable]. They have become realized in the new earth, as words creative of God’s second, new and eternal world. The surety for them is given by the same God Who must be the Omega of all life, because He is its beginning (see Rom_11:36).
Fifthly, together with the universal destiny of the world, all individual destinies are fulfilled. For the men of longing, all longing for the eternal will be satisfied. The fountain of the water of life—highest life and sense of life, springing forth to infinitude from the depths of the Godhead—is offered for the free enjoyment of all who have thirsted for it.
But as the highest need of the soul, the longing for its true element, has made the thirsters warriors, combatants against all illusions of false satisfaction, and since victory has crowned the constant conflict, the second individualization of the promise runs thus: He that conquereth [or the conqueror] shall inherit these things—namely, the fulfillment of all these promises. And that which constitutes the centre, the sum and substance of this inheritance, is expressed in the words: I will be his God, and he shall be My son (1Jn_3:2).
Because the reference is to a conquest and a fulfillment conditioned entirely upon ethical grounds, an antithesis is once more employed.
It is highly significant that the lost are designated, above all, as cowards. In respect of the measure and vocation of man, in face of eternity and its revelations, faith is, in the first place, heroic bravery and gallantry; on the other hand, unbelief, in its fundamental form, is faint-heartedness, cowardice, despair as to the high calling of God and the high vocation of human nature. Under this characterism, therefore, the unbeliever comes, with his timorousness in view of Divine truth; the sinner, in the narrower sense of the term, as one who is timorous in regard to the worth of righteousness;14 the murderer, who was timorous at the calling of love; the fornicator, who was timorous at the law of spiritual liberty and purity of life; the sorcerer, who was timorous at the sanctity of Nature’s laws; the idolater, who, in his timorousness, surrendered the glory of the knowledge of God; also the liar, who despaired as to the good in truth;—they all cowardly despaired of the Life in life, the Divine word, law and Spirit—hence their portion shall be in the pool of fire. Their tendency led, in a straight line, to the perturbation of their being in absolute irritation.
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev_20:11. The pause between the foregoing section and the present one is marked by the announcement of a new vision: καὶ εἶδον.
Rev_20:11. A great white throne.—The greatness and whiteness are indicative of the glory and holiness of the throne (Düsterd.).
And the One sitting upon it.—Who is this? Answers: 1. The Messiah (Bengel et al.; Mat_26:31 [64?]); 2. God (De Wette, Hengstenb., Düsterd.; see Rev_1:8; Rev_4:3; Rev_21:5-6; Dan_7:9); 3. God and Christ, “the Two forming One, in perfect undividedness” (Ewald). With this modification, the visible appearance of God in Christ, No. 3 is entirely correct (Tit_2:13; 1Jn_5:20).—The earth and the heaven fled (see Rev_16:20; Rev_21:1).—The antithesis between the appearance of God and. the disappearance of the world as world, is represented under the figure of an antagonism and conflict. Before the God Who maketh all things new the old form of the world takes to flight.—And place was not found for them.—The renewal pervades everything.
Rev_20:12. And I saw.—The dead have once more taken visible shape.—The great and the small (see Rev_11:18; Rev_13:16).—The perfect equality of men before the judgment seat of God is repeatedly declared. The 12th verse, as Düsterdieck judiciously remarks, closes with a general description; Rev_20:13 th then reverts to special items, as in Rev_15:1; Rev_15:6. Bengel and Hengst. apprehend the relation as a continuous unitous description: in that case, the νεκροί of Rev_20:12 would necessarily be those who are transformed, who have lived to see the day of the Parousia, in contrast to those who are really raised from the dead. Such a view does violence to the text.—Books were opened.—(Dan_7:10). As there is repeated mention of books in the Apocalypse, so likewise is there in the Gospel of John (the Scriptures); see especially Rev_21:25. The book of life is but one; it is the book of the life of mankind in a concentrated form. Whilst the books seem to be journals concerning the works of all, the book contains the heavenly result of the history of the world, a register of the treasure, the κλῆρος, the harvest of God, in the names of the blessed. Since the entire decision is briefly contained in the question: Is the name of such and such a man in the book of life, or not? the books occupy the place of vouchers. Thus in Matthew 25. the one book is illustrated in the statement that Christ places the sheep on His right hand, and the goats on His left hand; the ensuing discussion of the works of the righteous and the wicked, however, is suggestive of the books.
Rev_20:13. And the sea.—The sea cannot here be understood directly as the sea of nations, although it is thus that Hengstenberg defines even this declaration, maintaining that the reference is to those who have perished in the battles of the nations. According to this, the literal form of the passage would be: the battlefields gave back their dead. In this case, in the subsequent sentence where it speaks of death as giving up its dead, we should have to understand those who had fallen on those fields of battle, rather than, with Hengstenberg, unblest dead ones. However, the reference is rather to different conditions of the dead. Personalities of all sorts (Rev_20:12) must re-appear out of mortal conditions of all sorts (see Syn. View). In regard to the sea, De Wette, after Wetstein, groundlessly cites a pagan idea here, according to which those who had been swallowed up in the sea did not enter Hades. According to Düsterdieck, this second presentation [Rev_20:13] embraces only such as incur the punishment of the second death or the lake of fire. This assumption is based upon the false hypothesis that, according to Rev_20:5, all believers rose from the dead at the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom. In that case the beginning of the Millennial Kingdom would really have constituted the judgment itself. Any blessed effects of the Parousia upon the world of nations would then have been out of the question.
Rev_20:14. And Death and Hades, etc.—“Death and Hades,15 presented in Rev_20:13 (comp. Rev_1:18) as localities, here appear (comp. Rev_6:8) personified, as demonic powers” (Düsterdieck). The Apocalyptist, however, would probably not father this conception. The inference is, rather, that the pool of fire must not be understood in a purely ethical sense, but that it has also its physical side. And this declaration doubtless imports that the two ground-forms of the old mortality—first, dying itself, and secondly, the mode of existence of the dead—are merged in their consummation-form, in which nothing remains of them but the second death, the æonic suffering of the lost (see Isa_25:8; 1Co_15:26).
Rev_20:15. And if any one was not, etc.—Literally apprehended, this seems very hard; ideally apprehended it means, where the second, higher life is utterly wanting, there is the second death; the essential and proper fulfillment of death; the natural, and therefore the positive consequence.
Rev_21:1. And I saw.—Picture of the consummation—first, as a Heaven-picture. The final goal of the history of the old world; therefore, the final goal of all the longing of all the pious (Romans 8.), of all revelations of salvation and prophecies, of all the forms and operations of the redemption and of the Kingdom of God, and hence even of all judgments, which at last, in the concentration of the final judgment, were obliged to make room for the eternal City of God. “Augustine (De Civ. Dei xx. 17) apprehends what follows de seculo futuro et immortalitate et æternitate sanctorum, and this opinion of his has, with more justice than others pronounced by him upon the Apocalypse, become authoritative.” De Wette. Even Hengstenberg, with a salto mortale, touching lightly the last period of the rebellion of Gog and Magog, has leaped from the mediæval Kingdom into the consummation-time of the new Jerusalem. Grotius, on the contrary, keeps to the period subsequent to Constantine, and Vitringa conceives of the time as still prior to the universal judgment (comp. Düsterd., p. 562, but particularly De Wette, p. 194). From the stand-point of a conception of heavenly felicity as abstractly spiritual, many have been unable to reconcile themselves to this descent of Heaven to earth, in antithesis to a rising of earth to Heaven. “The idea of the Church Triumphant is not that which precisely corresponds with the idea presented here: the conception here presented is that of the Kingdom of God in its consummation—a Kingdom for which Christ has, in His Church, broken the way—a Kingdom which has been gradually actualized—the Kingdom of the whole of redeemed and blessed humanity; the dominion of Christ is merged in that of God, Who is present (Rev_21:11), and shares His Throne with the Lamb (Rev_22:1).” De Wette.
A new Heaven and a new earth (Isa_65:17; Isaiah 66; Psa_104:30). “The theological question as to whether the old world is to pass away in such a manner that the new world will arise from it as from a seed, or whether an absolute new creation, following upon the complete destruction of the old world, is to be assumed, can be decided least of all by the Apocalyptic description; this description, however (comp. also 2Pe_3:10 sqq.), is not opposed to the former view, which has greater Scriptural probabilities in its favor than the latter (1Co_15:42 sqq.; Rom_8:21; Mat_19:28).” Duesterdieck. On the contrary, the Apocalypse alone sets forth the true mediation of the last metamorphosis of the old world, in the Millennial Kingdom. The idea of the antithesis of an absolute destruction and new creation belongs only to the half-spiritualistic, half-materialistic letter-theology of orthodoxism.
And the sea.—Why is it no more? The following answers to this inquiry are presented by Düsterdieck: 1. Navigation is no longer necessary (Andr.); 2. It is dried up by the universal conflagration (Bede); 3. As the old world arose out of the water, so the new has arisen out of the fire (De Wette); 4. A horror of the deep sea (Ewald); 5. There was no sea in Paradise either (Züllig); 6. Connection of the sea with the infernal abyss (Ewald II.); 7. The sea as a constituent part of the old world. “The text does not forbid the idea of a new sea accompanying the new earth” (Düsterd.). For our explanation see the Synopt. View.
Rev_21:2. The holy City.—New Jerusalem.—It is related to the ἄνω ̔Ιερουσαλήμ (Gal_4:26) as the resurrection is related to the principle of the new life; or the Palingenesia to the ἀναγέννησις; as the end to the harvest (1 Corinthians 15). The heavenly essence of the Church of God, possessed by it even upon earth, here arrives at a heavenly manifestation.—Coming down from God.—For a kindred rabbinical conception, cited by Wetstein on the passage in Galatians, see Düsterdieck, p. 563.—Prepared.—See Rev_19:7-8; 2Co_11:2; Eph_5:27; 1Pe_3:3. The new Jerusalem, as the sum of perfected individuals, is the City of God; in its unity, it is the Bride of Christ. The consummate manhood of all the citizens of the City of God is conditioned by their consummate receptivity, which extends even to perfect unanimity.
Rev_21:3. Behold, the tabernacle of God.—See Isa_2:3; Isa_4:5; Eze_37:27; Eze_43:7; 1Co_3:9; 2Co_6:16; Eph_2:19-22.
Rev_21:4. God shall wipe away, etc.—See Psa_126:5-6; Isa_25:8; Isa_65:19.—Death.—See Rev_20:14.—Sorrow.—Mourning for the dead, especially.—Nor crying, nor pain.—Κραυγή is the acute form of sorrow (“vehement outcry,—for instance, at the experience of such acts of violence as are indicated in Rev_13:10; Rev_13:17; Rev_2:10. [Bleek, Ewald; comp. Exo_3:7; Exo_3:9; Est_4:3.]” Duesterd.). The πόνος, pain, or painful labor, is the chronic form of the same.—For the first things.—To be taken in an emphatic sense, like the first man (1Co_15:4-5 sqq.)—the present æon. In accordance with the entire mass of Holy Scripture, the world is designed to be a succession of two worlds.
Rev_21:5. And the One sitting upon the throne, etc.—“That which the heavenly voice [Rev_21:3], interpreting the vision of John, had proclaimed, is now confirmed by the One sitting upon the throne (comp. Rev_20:11), in two speeches.” Duesterd. The words, And He saith unto me: Write; for these words, etc., are, according to Bengel, Züllig, Hengst., and Düsterdieck, an interlogue [Zwischenrede=between-speech] on the part of the Angel; these commentators refer to Rev_19:9; Rev_22:6. Observe, however, the change between Rev_14:9 sqq. and Rev_21:13 [to which also reference is made by Düsterdieck]. There the discourse of the Angel is followed by a speech from Heaven which commands the Seer to write the comforting declaration [Rev_21:13]. We therefore cannot infer from Rev_19:9 that an angelic speech here interrupts the voice from the throne. And this inference is the less proper from the fact that it would seem very strange for the speech of an Angel to be made to corroborate the language of God Himself. Moreover, the Divine speech in Rev_21:6 is too closely connected with Rev_21:5 for the above-cited view to be tenable.
Rev_21:6. They are fulfilled.—Comp. Rev_16:17. According to Düsterdieck, γέγοναν refers to what John has previously seen. But his visions were sure in themselves. We refer the expression to the λόγοι in the sense of highest realization; they have become facts. The words, I am the Alpha and the Omega, etc., contain the proof of the foregoing assertion that the words of God are, on the one hand, words of absolute faithfulness (πιστοί), and, on the other hand, of absolute reality (ἀληθινοί).—I will give unto him that thirsteth, etc.—In the satisfaction of all true human longing, the height of human blessedness is expressed (blessedness=possession of fullness; comp. the Lexicons).
Rev_21:7. He that conquereth.—(See the Seven Epistles.) Here, towards the end, we are once more carried back to the beginning. For the nucleus of the Seven Churches, considered in their symbolic totality, is the foundation for the glorious City of God which is now about to appear.—God as the inheritance of man; consummate blessedness: man as the son of God; consummate dignity (Mat_5:9; Rom_8:17).
Rev_21:8. But the cowardly.—Δειλοῖς. “In contrast to ὁ νικῶν, those Christians are meant who elude the painful combat with the world by denying the faithfulness of the faith (Bengel, De Wette, Hengst.).” Duesterdieck. This is certainly a much too special and superficial explanation. The category of these cowards, who were cowardly in the highest relation, embraces all the lost: that is, in other words—in view of the high epic goal of humanity, all lagging behind and being lost is traced back to a lack of specific æonic manly courage, to a shameful straggling from the ranks and a desertion of one’s colors. If we apprehend the δειλοῖς as composing a genus, a significant senary of species is formed: 1. Unbelievers and the abominable (in practice), transgressors against nature (see Romans 1); 2. Murderers and fornicators (cruelty and sensuality—a well-known pair); 3. Sorcerers and idolaters. Even here the affinity is manifest. Now, however, a seventh sort supervenes, apparently,—liars. But it is not without import that an addition is here made—καὶ πᾶσιν—in accordance with which these latter are classed with idolaters. Idolatry is in several instances in the Apocalypse designated as falsity (see Rev_14:5; also Grot., Rev_21:27; Rev_22:15; comp. Rom_1:25).—Unbelieving.—According to Bengel and Ewald: Apostates from the faith. According to Düsterdieck: Inhabitants of the earth hostile to the Christian faith. In the universal judgment, this distinction is no longer of any importance; the heathen is an unbeliever—the unbeliever is a heathen.—Abominable.—Those who through the working of abomination have made themselves abominable, ἐβδελυγμένοι, flagitiis fœdi.—Their part.—Change of construction. We are not to overlook the fact that they have deserved their lot, i.e., have drawn it upon themselves as the penalty of their sin.
[EXCURSUS ON HADES]
By the American Editor
[Concerning the souls of the departed, between the periods of their decease and the resurrection of their bodies, there are two questions of acknowledged interest. The one relates to their moral condition; the other, to their local habitation. The former of these questions it is not intended to discuss at all in this Excursus. The doctrine generally held in Protestant Churches is herein assumed to be true—viz.: that at death the period of gracious opportunity and discipline is brought to a close; that the souls of believers in Christ are at once made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass into glory; and that the souls of unbelievers, having sinned away their day of grace, are left hopeless in their sins, and are reserved in misery for public condemnation and everlasting destruction.
The second of these questions—viz.: that which relates to the local habitation of departed spirits—is one, not only of great interest, but also, in the judgment of all who have given special attention to it, of great difficulty. This difficulty arises, in the judgment of the writer, from three sources. The first and most important of these is the reticence of Scripture on the subject—but little is revealed thereon in the Word of God. More, however, is revealed than is generally supposed.
The second source of difficulty is properly introduced by the preceding remark. Notwithstanding the amount of distinct revelation, the whole matter is obscured to the reader of the English Version of the Bible by the erroneous rendering of the Hebrew term שְׁאוֹל (Sheol) and its Greek equivalent ̔́Αιδης (Hades). These words which in the original Scriptures have a fixed and definite meaning, indicating a place in the Unseen World distinct from both Heaven and Hell (regarded as the place of final punishment), are constantly rendered by either grave or Hell. By this mistranslation an idea proper to the Word of God is completely blotted out from the English Version; and, not only so, but the texts which present that idea are distributed amongst those which set forth two entirely distinct ideas—thus obscuring the teachings of Scripture concerning both the grave and Hell. But the obscuring and confusing influence of this erroneous translation does not terminate upon those who study only the English Version. The first and most enduring conceptions of the doctrines of Scripture are derived from the Version we read in childhood—conceptions which, even when false, subsequent study often fails to eradicate. And beyond this,—every Version, especially the one in common use, is, to a certain extent, a Commentary, and as such exerts a powerful influence over the minds of students of the original Scriptures. Had the word Hades been reproduced in our Version, much of the confusion that now embarrasses this subject could never have found existence. And here it is in place to remark that even though the Greek and Hebrew words were indefinite, synonymous sometimes with grave and sometimes with Hell, it would have been well, since the Holy Ghost inspired synonyms, to have preserved their use in our Version.
The third source of difficulty is the general and almost unquestioned assumption that the dwelling-place of the souls of the righteous dead has been the same since the Resurrection of Christ that it was before that event—an assumption opposed, as the effort will be made to show, to distinct intimations in the Word of God. In consequence of this assumption, there have been two schools in the Evangelical Church, each basing its doctrine on the clear and irrefragable teaching of the Scriptures—the one, in view of the ante-resurrection testimony, affirming the existence of an intermediate place, located in Hades, into which the souls of those who now die in the Lord are carried; the other, in view of the post-resurrection testimony, denying that there is now, or ever has been, such a place.
It is the desire of the writer to contribute something toward the settlement of this interesting question; and to this end he will endeavor to set forth what seems to him, after careful investigation, to be the Scriptural teaching concerning Sheol or Hades. To avoid confusion, the Greek term Hades, which is the Septuagint and New Testament equivalent of the Hebrew Sheol, will be used throughout this article. It may also be remarked that the term Hell will always be employed as indicating the place of final punishment.
It will be proper to say something as to the principles and mode of the investigation as conducted in the study. It was assumed, in the first place, that it should be made entirely within the field of the original Scriptures—the Septuagint being used as a door of communication between the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New. It was also assumed that each expression employed in Scripture to indicate a topic of revelation, should be regarded as maintaining one uniform sense throughout the Word of God,—unless, indeed, the contexts of different instances of its use should require us to put different senses upon it. It is desirable that the limitation of this principle should be distinctly recognized. It was not dogmatically assumed that each expression must, at all hazards, be regarded as having only one sense; but that, until the contrary should appear, each passage should be so regarded. Now, the term Hades (Sheol) occurs sixty-five times in the Old Testament; in thirty-one instances it is rendered in the English Version by grave, in thirty-one by Hell,16 and in three by pit. In the New Testament it occurs eleven times; in one of these instances it is rendered by grave, and in ten by Hells. It was not assumed that these renderings, or at least one class of them, must be wrong; on the contrary, it was admitted that the very fact that they had been made by the learned Translators carried with it strong probability of their essential correctness—not so strong, indeed, as to make unnecessary an investigation or to show the impropriety of this assumption in order thereto, yet sufficiently strong to make manifest the importance of the limitation.
As to the mode of the investigation—all the passages in which Hades occurs were tabulated and compared together, with the view of determining whether, consistently with the contextual requirements of each, some uniform meaning might not be given to the term. The experiment was successful beyond most sanguine expectation. It resulted in the conviction that by Hades is designated—I. Not the grave; II. Not Hell; III. Not the Unseen World, including Heaven and Hell; IV. Not the state of death; V. But—(1) a Place in the Unseen World distinct from both Heaven and Hell; (2) having, before the resurrection of Christ, two compartments—one of comfort, the other of misery; (3) to which, antecedent to the resurrection of Christ, the souls of all who died were carried; (4) into which Christ, at His death, descended, delivering the souls of the righteous; (5) to which, since the ascension of Christ, the souls of the wicked, and of the wicked only, have been consigned; (6) in which they are reserved in misery against the day of general judgment; (7) from which they are then to be brought for public judgment previously to their being cast into Hell.
The following argument is designed to commend the foregoing results of private study to others. It will be found to be strictly Scriptural. The truth of the facts on which it is based can be readily tested by any one who has access to the Englishman’s Hebrew, the Englishman’s Greek, and Cruden’s English Concordance.
As a further preliminary it is proper, though scarcely necessary, to state that in conducting the special arguments to prove that Hades is not the grave, is not Hell, etc., it is not designed to assert that in many particular passages the original term cannot bear the meanings denied to them. It is freely admitted that in some instances it may be translated grave, and in others Hell, without destroying the sense. And so in some instances it might be translated house, and in others ship. This is but saying that in every passage the context does not determine the meaning of all the terms employed therein. It is contended, first, that in no passage are these meanings required by the context; and, secondly, that in many they are excluded thereby. It is also claimed that it will become apparent upon a careful examination that, while the one meaning attributed to the term in this Excursus is required by many passages, it is excluded by none—that consistently with the context, it may be put upon it in every instance of its occurrence in the Word of God.
It is also proper to mention that independent arguments will not be presented in proof of each one of the points included in the last general topic. It is believed that the truth of each will appear in the course of the general discussion.
I. Hades not the Grave
This will be argued, in the first place, from data afforded by the Old Testament; and, secondly, from that afforded by the New.
A. That Hades must be regarded as having been used in the Old Testament to designate something different from the literal grave, seems to be evident from the following considerations:
1. It is never construed in the mode, nor with the terms, continually employed in the case of קֶבֶר (or קְבוּרָה), and which unmistakably mark that term as designating the place of the sepulture of the body. Thus קֶבֶר is used in both singular and plural;—it has a territorial location, Exo_14:11; its site is purchased and sold, Gen_23:4-20; it is possessed by the owner of the soil or by the person buried therein, Gen_1:5; Gen_35:20; it is dug by human hands, Gen_1:5; it is connected with the verb signifying to bury, Gen_47:30;—dead bodies are buried in it by living men, Gen_1:13;—it is marked by a monument, Gen_35:20; it may be touched by living men, Num_19:16; literal dead bones are in it, 2Ki_13:21;—it may be opened by men and the bones exhumed, 2Ki_23:16. Hades is always singular; it is never thus construed; it is not in a single instance thus spoken of.
2. It is spoken of with expressions of comparison utterly inconsistent with the idea of the literal grave. Thus we read of—“The lowest Hades,” Deu_32:22, Psa_86:13; “The depths of Hades,” Pro_9:18; “the midst of Hades,” Eze_32:21.
3. It is in two instances clearly distinguished from the grave. In Gen_37:35, where it first appears in the Bible, Jacob declares—“I will go down into Hades unto my son;” but from Gen_37:33 we learn that the Patriarch was under the impression that Joseph had not, and could not have, a grave; he is there represented as exclaiming, “An evil beast hath devoured him.” And in Isa_14:15 it is declared that Lucifer shall be “brought down to Hades,” who, Isa_14:19, is represented as being “cast out of his (קֶבֶר) grave.”
4. It is used in antithesis with Heaven under circumstances which show that the literal grave cannot be intended. “It is as high as Heaven, what canst thou do ? deeper than Hades, what canst thou know?” Job_11:8. “If I ascend up into Heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in Hades, behold, thou art there,” Psa_139:8. “Though they dig into Hades, thence shall mine hand take them; though they climb up to Heaven, thence will I bring them down,” Amo_9:2.
5. In the poetical Books it never occurs in one of two parallel clauses, answering to קֶבֶר in the other; nor under any other circumstances which grammatically require us to regard it as a synonym thereof.
6. It is manifestly used as synonymous with two other terms which cannot be regarded as indicating the literal grave—viz: בוֹר17 [pit) and תַחְתִיּוֹת אֶרֶץ nether parts of the earth.
The former of these, בוֹר, occurs fifteen times, and is distinguished from קֶבֶר by all the general characteristics by which Hades is distinguished from it. That it is synonymous with Hades, or that it indicates a compartment thereof, is abundantly evident. In Psa_30:3 the words appear in corresponding hemistiches—“O Lord, thou hast brought my soul from Hades; thou hast kept me alive that I should not go down to the (בוֹר) pit.” The same occurs in Pro_1:12, “Let us swallow them up alive as Hades; and whole as those who go down to the pit.” It is evident upon bare inspection that in Isa_14:15—“Thou shalt be brought down to Hades, to the sides of the pit”—the בוֹר of the second clause is synonymous with the Hades of the first; it is also evident that it is synonymous with the Hades of Rev_21:9; Rev_21:11, rendered in the former Hell and in the latter grave. That these words are synonymous will be further evident from an examination of Eze_31:14-18. In that passage Hades occurs three times,—in Eze_31:15 it is translated grave; and in Eze_31:16-17, Hell: בוֹר occurs twice, in Eze_31:14-16, and in both instances is rendered pit. The words translated “nether parts of the earth,” in Eze_31:14; Eze_31:16; Eze_31:18, are אֶדֶץתַּחְתית)—a compound term manifestly synonymous with the other two.
The phrase תַחְתִית אֶרֶץ or תַחְתּיוֹת אֶרֶץ occurs nine times. In Eze_31:14; Eze_31:16; Eze_31:18; Eze_32:18; Eze_32:24; Eze_26:20, it is manifestly synonymous with Hades. In Psa_139:15 it is used as a figurative expression for the womb. It also appears in Isa_44:23 and Psa_63:9 (10). What does it mean in these passages? Dr. Hodge, in his Commentary on Ephesians (Rev_4:9), remarks concerning this phrase that it “is used for the Earth in opposition to Heaven, Isa_44:23; probably for the grave in Psa_63:9; as a poetical designation for the womb in Psa_139:15; and for Hades or the invisible world, Eze_30:24.” He gives no reason for any of these interpretations, evidently presuming that their correctness would be manifest upon inspection. No exception can be taken as to the propriety of his opinion in the last two instances, (save as to the judgment concerning the nature of Hades conveyed by the use of the alternative phrase—“or the invisible world”). It should be carefully noted, however, that the phrase appears in Ezekiel, not only in the one passage referred to by him, but in five others,—in all of which it is manifest that it must be synonymous with Hades. This then is not only an established, but it is the leading, sense of the expression; and we must conclude that it has this sense in the other three passages unless the contrary be required by the contexts. Now in Psa_139:15 the context requires that we should attach to it a figurative meaning. But what is there in the other passages to make it necessary to depart from the leading sense? Most certainly when the Psalmist exclaimed, Psa_63:9, “Those that seek my soul to destroy it shall go into the lower parts of the earth,” there is nothing to forbid the idea that he meant they should go into Hades. Nor, on the supposition that Hades was a place of conscious existence to which the souls of the departed good as well as of the evil were carried, is there anything unnatural or improbable in supposing that when Isaiah (Isa_44:23) wrote, “Sing, O ye heavens, for the Lord hath done it: shout, ye lower parts of the earth,” he intended to call on Hades to rejoice.
7. Those in Hades are spoken of as being in a state of conscious existence, which never occurs in the case of the occupants of קֶבֶר. In Isa_14:4-17, the chief ones of the earth who are already imprisoned in Hades, are represented as greeting the King of Babylon at his entrance with the words, “Art thou also become weak as we?” Similar teaching is found in Eze_30:16; Eze_32:21. With this agrees the idea suggested by the phrases, “sorrows of Hades,” 2Sa_22:6, Psa_18:5 (6); “pains of Hades,” Psa_116:3; and with this agree also the facts that the womb (תַחְתִיוּת אֶרֶץ), Psa_139:15, and the belly of the whale in which Jonah (Rev_2:2) was imprisoned—both places of conscious existence, though of darkness and confinement—were figured by Hades. All this, it is true, may be attributed to poetic license—and so any teaching of the poetic Scriptures may thus be attributed. Nevertheless the fact remains that these declarations are found in the inspired Word of God in connection with Hades, and the further fact that similar expressions are never found in connection with קֶחֶר.
In view of all the foregoing considerations it seems rational to conclude that in the Old Testament Scriptures the term Hades was not used to designate the literal grave. Certain exegetical objections to this conclusion, may, however, present themselves to the minds of some. These, so far as they are known, or can be imagined, will now be considered.
(1) It may be urged that the declarations of Jacob and his sons concerning the bringing down of gray hairs to Hades, Gen_42:38; Gen_44:29; Gen_44:31; and the direction of David to Solomon to bring to Hades the hoar heads of Joab and Shimei, 1Ki_2:6; 1Ki_2:9; seem to imply that Hades was regarded as the resting-place of the body. This might be admitted, and at the same time a valid argument be drawn from other Scriptures requiring us to put another than the apparently normal construction upon the words of the Patriarch and David. We are not, however, driven to such a strait as this. Let it be observed that there is nothing in the form of the expressions to forbid our regarding the phrases gray hairs and hoar heads as indicating men in a state of old age. From this point of view there is nothing unnatural in regarding the Hades to which these old men were to be brought as a place of departed spirits. In the case of Jacob, for a reason already given, we cannot regard him as contemplating under this term the literal grave.
(2) In several passages, it may also be objected, Hades is spoken of under terms proper only to the grave. Psa_6:5 (6), “In Hades who shall give thee thanks?” Isa_38:18, “Hades cannot praise thee, death cannot celebrate thee; they that go down to the pit cannot hope for thy truth;”—Ecc_9:10, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in Hades, whither thou goest.”18 It must be acknowledged that these passages, in themselves, irrespective of the condition of the writers, are consistent with the idea that by the term Hades as employed in them was meant the literal grave. This, however, is not a necessary interpretation—and if it be, let it be observed, these texts must be regarded as affirming that the grave is the end of man, as denying the immortality of the soul. But the passages are also consistent with the idea that by Hades is meant the state of death, or Hell, or a place of gloom in the Unseen World distinct from Hell. In the progress of the discussion each of these hypotheses will be considered.
(3) Again, it may be contended that the ideas of burial and physical consumption, which are ideas proper only to the grave, are presented in the following passages: Psa_49:14 (15), “Like sheep they are laid in Hades, death shall feed on them,” etc.; Job_24:19, “Drought and heat consume the snow waters; so doth Hades those which have sinned.”
The difficulty in these passages is altogether in the English translation. Dr. J. Addison Alexander translates the former, “Like a flock to the grave (Hades) they drive; death is their shepherd.” In Job_24:19, the verb translated consume is properly rendered violently take, as in the margin; the reference is to the rapacity of Hades—not to the consumption of the body. The declaration in the following verse—“the worm shall feed sweetly on him,” may refer to the condition of the body when the spirit has been seized by Hades.
(4) It may also be asserted that in the Book of Job, especially in the 17 chapter, the oneness of Hades with the grave seems to be naturally implied.
In the 17 of Job, most of the words that have been brought into this discussion are employed: קֶבֶר, Job_17:1; Hades, Job_17:13; שָחַת, Job_17:14; and בור, Job_17:16. At first glance it would seem as though these terms had been used indiscriminately as synonyms for each other. Careful inspection, however, shows that they may be regarded as indicating the future of the entire man—the body to the grave, the spirit to the place of departed spirits. We, of the present day, sometimes speak of the grave as our place after death, and sometimes of the world of spirits as our place, without intending thereby to imply our belief that they are one and the same. So is language employed in the book of Job; and in Job 17 both forms of expression are introduced. Thus, naturally—and only thus—can the phraseology employed in Job be reconciled with itself and with other Scriptures.
B. The New Testament teaching as to the distinction between Hades and μνῆμα or μνημεῖον (the grave or sepulchre) is remarkably clear.
The term, as remarked in the Introduction of this Excursus, occurs but eleven times in the New Testament, and in every instance save one it is, in the English Version, translated Hell. The excepted case is in 1Co_15:55, “O grave, where is thy victory.” That in the other instances it will not bear the translation grave is evident upon bare inspection. These are as follows: “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto Heaven, shalt be brought down to Hades,” Mat_11:23; “The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (the Church), Mat_16:18; “And thou, Capernaum … shalt be thrust down to Hades,” Luk_10:15; “And in Hades he (Dives) lifted up his eyes, being in torments,” Luk_16:23; “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades,” Act_2:27; “His soul was not left in Hades,” Act_2:31; “I … have the keys of Hades and of death,” Rev_1:18; “His name was Death and Hades followed with him,” Rev_6:8; “Death and Hades delivered up the dead that were in them,” Rev_20:13; “Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire,” Rev_20:14.
The New Testament idea of Hades as distinct from the grave may be most clearly perceived in the declaration concerning Dives in Luk_16:23; and in the didactic teaching of the Apostle Peter, Act_2:27-31, concerning the soul of Jesus between His death and His resurrection. The Apostle, manifestly, spoke of both the body and the soul of our Lord (comp. Act_2:27 and Act_2:31), asserting that the former did not see corruption (although it was placed in a sepulchre), and that the latter was not left in Hades—implying, of course, that it went to Hades. Unless we adopt the conclusion that the soul sleeps with the dead body in the tomb—in the face of the manifest implications of the Apostle and the whole tenor of the Word of God—Hades must be distinct from the tomb. That the soul of Jesus did descend into Hades will, it is believed, more abundantly appear in the course of this Excursus.
Reference has been made to one instance in the New Testament in which the E. V. renders Hades by grave, viz., 1Co_15:55. In his comment on this passage, Dr. Hodge writes, in immediate continuance of what has already been quoted—“Here where the special reference is to the bodies of men and to the delivery of them from the power of death, it is properly rendered the grave. The Apostle is not speaking of the delivery of souls of men from any intermediate state, but of the redemption of the body.” It is indeed true that the special reference is to the glorification of the body. But does this forbid the idea that there should be any reference to the soul, that, in the moment of the body’s glorification and in essential order thereto, re-animates that body? If indeed there be, or has been, no place of the soul’s imprisonment, then, of course, there can be no reference to such a place; but if, on the other hand, there is, or has been, such a place, what more natural than that, in view of the redemption of the body, which involves the complete deliverance of the soul, reference should be made to that deliverance?19
From all that has been said, it seems evident that the New Testament confirms the teaching of the Old as to the distinction between Hades and the literal grave.
II. Hades not Hell regarded as the Place of Final Punishment
There are three opinions concerning Hades which it is important should be clearly distinguished from each other: the first, that it is Hell; the second, that it is the Unseen World including both Heaven and Hell; the third, that it is a term having no reference to place, but indicating merely the state of death. The first and second of these are often confounded together, and the second and third. That, however, they constitute three essentially distinct doctrines is evident upon reflection. It is designed in this section to show the fallacy of the first.
1. That Hades cannot be regarded as indicating merely Hell, is manifest from the fact that it is represented as the dwelling-place (antecedent to the resurrection of Jesus) of all the righteous dead.
The Patriarch Jacob declared his expectation of going into Hades, Gen_37:35; Job made a like declaration, Job_17:13; the inspired David, Psa_16:10, and the righteous Hezekiah, Isa_38:18, used language which implied that they entertained a similar expectation.
But the location of the spirits of these worthies in Hades locates all the rest of the righteous. Concerning Jacob it is declared, that upon his death he was “gathered unto his people,” Gen_49:33. This expression,—and the remark is also true of the similar phrase, “gathered unto his fathers,”—is one having reference to the spirit, and not to the body. That it is not an euphuism, as some contend, for being buried, is evident from three considerations: (1) Concerning Jacob it is declared, that “he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people,” Gen_49:33. He was “gathered unto his people” immediately upon his death; but he was not buried until long after, Gen_1:13; (2) Concerning both Abraham, Gen_25:8-9, and Isaac, Gen_35:29, it is declared that they died, and were gathered unto their people, and were buried; and (3) To Josiah God declared: “I will gather thee unto thy fathers, and thou shalt be gathered unto thy grave (קֶבֶר) in peace,” 2Ki_22:20. Manifestly, being gathered to one’s people (or fathers) was something distinct from both death and burial; and, further, God gathered to the fathers, man buried. The expression could have reference only to the spirit, and indicates the fact that all departed souls were carried to one place.
It may appear to some that Act_13:36 militates against the preceding explanation. It is therein declared, that David “fell on sleep, and was laid to his fathers, and saw corruption.” The Greek words translated “laid to his fathers” (προσετέθη πρὸς τοὺς πατὲρας αὑτοῦ) are those used in the Septuagint to translate that oft-recurring Hebrew phrase which is rendered in the English Version: “gathered to his fathers.” It must be acknowledged that in this passage, at first glance, the phrase seems to be an euphuism for buried; and this impression is deepened in the mind of the reader of the English Version by the improper rendering of προσετέθη as laid to, instead of gathered to. The idea of burial is not merely suggested, but is directly presented by the term employed in translation. This is indeed a possible, though a most unusual, rendering of the verb. In this Septuagintal phrase, however, it is manifestly excluded by the fact that in the Septuagint it is the translation of the Hebrew אָסַףּ, and consequently can have no meaning that the Hebrew verb has not. Now, whilst προσετέθη may mean laid to, אָסַףּ never has that meaning. The verse properly translated reads: “David fell asleep, and was gathered to his fathers, and saw corruption.” This declaration, from bare inspection of it as it occurs in the New Testament, may mean either, (1) David died, and his body was buried, and saw corruption—the reference being only to the lower nature; or (2) David died, and his spirit went to the place of departed spirits, and his body saw corruption—the reference being to the whole man. Nor is there anything in the context that will enable us to decide which of these is the correct interpretation. We must be guided in our determination by the usus loquendi of the Hebrews. As we have seen that amongst them that phrase had reference to the spirit, we must place that meaning upon it when employed by the Apostle.
The foregoing argument in proof that the righteous dead were collected in Hades is fully borne out by the parable of Dives and Lazarus, Luk_16:19-31. Our Lord does not indeed directly declare that Lazarus was in Hades—concerning Dives only was this declaration made, Luk_16:23 : “And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torments.” The whole parable, however, seems to be constructed on the idea that both were there—though in different compartments thereof. The underlying thought seems to be that Hades is a world to which the spirits of all the dead are consigned, having two compartments—one of comfort, and the other of misery—separated by an impassable gulf or chasm, but within speaking distance of each other. That our Lord did not intend to represent Lazarus as in Heaven seems to be evident. The place of his abode is not styled Heaven, but Abraham’s bosom; he is not represented as being carried up to it (the general form of expression when Heaven is the terminus), he is simply carried; it is within speaking distance of Dives, being separated from him only by a chasm—but Heaven and Hades are represented as being poles apart: “It is as high as Heaven—deeper than Hades,” Job_11:8; its central figure is not God, but Abraham; God is not there in His glory, nor angels save as ministers of transportation; it is not represented as a place of perfect bliss—Lazarus is merely comforted (παρακαλεῖται), a term never used in descriptions of the blessedness of Heaven. The hypothesis that Jesus contemplated Lazarus as in Hades not only gives force and consistency to the whole parable, but is directly in accordance with the natural interpretation of the brief and scattered teachings of the Old Testament concerning the abode of the righteous dead. It presumes that He spoke just as we would suppose that a Jew, acquainted with the sacred Books of his people, would speak. So natural is this hypothesis that there have been interpreters who adopted it, and then attempted to explain our Lord’s implied representation of the position of Lazarus as a mere condescension to Jewish prejudices!
In view of all the facts, is it possible to resist the conclusion that in uttering this parable, our Lord recognized the existence of a Jewish belief as to the abode of the righteous in accordance with the natural interpretation of the Old Testament teachings, and that He also recognized the correctness of that belief?20
The fact that the pious dead, as well as the wicked, were in Hades, excludes the idea of its being, in its entirety, Hell regarded as the place of final punishment.
III. Hades not the Unseen World including Heaven and Hell
The dogma now about to be controverted is to be carefully distinguished from another with which it is too frequently confounded, and which will hereafter be considered, viz. that Hades indicates the state of death. In the view now before us, it is a place; in the other, a condition.
If Hades be the Unseen World—a Place including the places Heaven and Hell, as Europe includes France and Germany—and if there be no other place included therein, then the Hades of the wicked must be Hell, and the Hades of the righteous must be Heaven. The effort will now be made to show that neither of these subordinate hypotheses is scriptural.
1. Hades, as the present abode of the disembodied spirits of the wicked, is not Hell. Throughout the Scriptures it is distinguished from the place of final punishment of devils and men.
In the beginning of this particular investigation, special attention is called to the fact that nowhere in the Bible is it said that fallen angels are in Hades, or that they are to be consigned thereto. The Lucifer, Isa_14:15, spoken of as “brought down to Hades,” was not the fallen Archangel; but, as we learn from Isa_14:4 of the same chapter, the King of Babylon. The word translated Hell in 2Pe_2:4 : “God spared not angels that sinned, but cast them down to Hell,” is not Hades. The whole phrase cast them down to Hell is the translation of the participle ταρταρώσας—i. e. cast them into Tartarus. Devils have another place of punishment than Hades, viz., Tartarus, as in the passage just cited; or the abyss, as in Luk_8:31, where the legion of unclean spirits cast out from the possessed man in the country of the Gadarenes are represented as beseeching our Lord “that he would not command them to go out into the (ἄβνσσον) deep.” This matter, however, will hereafter be more fully considered.
In the Old Testament there is occasionally and dimly set forth the existence of a place of darkness and woe other than Hades, viz., Abaddon (אֲבַדּוּן), translated in our Version destruction. Thus Job_26:6, “Hades is naked before Him, and Abaddon hath no covering;” Job_28:22, “Abaddon and death (מׇוֶת) say, We have heard the fame thereof;” Job_31:12, “It is a fire that consumeth to Abaddon;” Psa_88:12, “Shall thy loving-kindness be declared in the grave (קֶבֶר), or thy faithfulness in Abaddon?” Pro_15:11, “Hades and Abaddon are ever before the Lord;” Pro_27:20, “Hades and Abaddon are never full.”
As we enter the New Testament, we perceive that what is but dimly adumbrated in the Old, is therein distinctly declared—though concealed from the readers of the English Version by infelicities of translation.
In Rev_9:1-3 an angel to whom was given the key of the pit of the Abyss (τὸ φρέαρ τῆς ἀβύσσου—incorrectly translated bottomless pit) opens the pit whence come out locusts. These locusts are described, Rev_21:11, as having “a King over them, who is the Angel of the pit of the Abyss, whose name in the Hebrew tongue is Abaddon, but in the Greek tongue hath his name Apollyon.” Now, be it remembered that Abaddon is the name of that place of woe mentioned in the Old Testament other than Hades—of which term ἀπώλεια (Apoleia) is the Septuagint translation. Does not the name given to this leader beget, to say the least, the suspicion that either the pit whence he comes, or the place of woe to which he is to be consigned, should it prove other than the pit, may be the Abaddon shadowed forth in the Old Testament?
In Rev_17:8 reference is made to a Beast that ascends out of the pit of the abyss and who is to go into perdition (ἀπώλεια); in Rev_19:20 he is represented as being cast “into the (not a) lake of fire burning with brimstone”—manifestly he meets his foretold doom, this lake of fire is the Apoleia, the Abaddon, into which he was to go. In Rev_20:3 Satan is represented as being shut up in the Abyss for a thousand years; after his imprisonment he is loosed again for a little season, and then, Rev_20:10, is cast into “the lake of fire and brimstone where the Beast and the False Prophet are”—he also is cast into Apoleia. Then follows the account of the general judgment (Rev_20:11-13), after which (Rev_20:14-15) “death and Hades” (or those detained by them) were to be cast into the same lake. This is declared to be the second death. It seems unquestionable that this “lake of fire” (Apoleia=Abaddon), from which both Hades, and the pit of the Abyss seem to be distinguished, as jails from the penitentiary, is Hell regarded as the place of the final and everlasting punishment of devils and ungodly men.
With the instruction thus gathered from the Apocalypse, agree the teachings elsewhere scattered through the New Testament. It is a well known fact that there are two words in the Greek Testament which in the English Version are rendered Hell—Hades and Gehenna. Our Lord is represented as employing the former of these only three times—in reference to the humiliation of Capernaum, Mat_11:23; Luk_10:15; to the deliverance of the Church from its power, Mat_16:18; and to the imprisonment of the disembodied spirit of Dives, Luk_16:23. When he uttered His fearful threatenings concerning the casting of both body and soul into Hell, into unquenchable fire, the term employed by him was Gehenna; see Mat_5:22; Mat_5:29-30; Mat_10:28; Mat_18:9; Mat_23:15; Mat_23:33; Mar_9:43-47; Luk_12:5. These passages, especially Mar_9:43, where Gehenna is described as the place of “the fire that never shall be quenched,” immediately connect themselves with Mat_13:42; Mat_25:41, and show that this place of torment is “the furnace of fire”—the “everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels,” into which at “the end of the world”—after the judgment—the wicked are to be cast. And these passages are manifestly parallel with Rev_20:10-15—“the furnace of fire” and the “everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels” are “the lake of fire” into which the Devil and those delivered up by Hades for judgment shall be cast.
Directly in line with the teachings thus developed are those of the Apostles. Peter and Jude (2Pe_2:4; Judges 6) agree in declaring that the angels who kept not their first estate are “reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.” Are they not in the pit of the abyss (with the exception of those permitted for a season to come forth with their leader), reserved for that awful day when, with Satan, they shall be cast into that “everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels?” The “everlasting destruction” threatened in 2Th_1:9, is to be inflicted after Jesus has come in flaming fire taking vengeance—after His advent for judgment. Until that time also, when “the Lord cometh with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all,” “is reserved the blackness of darkness forever” which the Apostle Jude teaches us is reserved for the ungodly, Judges 11-15. That the ungodly are in Hades all admit, but they are not yet in their place of final and everlasting punishment—they are not yet in Hell.
Another line of thought bearing on this special subject will now be presented, rather by way of question than of argument. In view of the use of apoleia (abaddon) in the Old Testament and in the Book of Revelation, may there not be some reference to the place of final punishment when it is employed by Jesus and His Apostles—especially when the article is expressed, as is frequently the case? Our Lord declares, Mat_7:13, “Broad is the road that leadeth to τὴν ἀπώλειαν. He describes Judas, Joh_17:12, as “the son of τής ἀπωλείας. The Apostle Paul, 2Th_2:3, speaks of the revelation of “the son of τὴς ἀπωλείας. See also Rom_9:22; Php_3:19; Heb_10:39; 1Ti_6:9; 2Pe_2:1; 2Pe_2:3; 2Pe_3:7.
But whatever may be the force of this last consideration, it seems impossible to avoid the conclusion from those previously presented that Hades, so far as it is the prison of the ungodly dead, is not the same as Hell regarded as the everlasting prison of devils and men; as before remarked, it bears to that place of woe a relation similar to that of the jail to the penitentiary.
2. The Hades of the good is not Heaven. This is evident from the following considerations:
(1) God, angels, Jesus Christ (save during the time between His death and resurrection), are never represented as abiding therein. This is scarce explicable on the hypothesis that Hades is a general term for the Unseen World. It may be said, however, that the term is employed only in reference to the spirits of deceased men. This answer, it will be observed, exceedingly limits the hypothesis we are considering.
(2) Hades, as an entirety, is distinguished from Heaven. This is done in two distinct modes, (a) By being placed in antithesis therewith, as in Job_11:8, “It is as high as Heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than Hades; what canst thou know?” See also Psa_130:8, Amo_9:2. (b) By being localized as beneath the surface of the earth. Thus it is described by the synonym “nether parts of the earth;” and approach to it is universally described as a descent—thus, Num_16:33, Koran and his company are described as going “down alive into Hades” through the opening earth.
(3) Not only is the idea of situation beneath the earth presented when the wicked are spoken of, but also when the entrance thereinto of the righteous is described. Not only is it declared that Korah and his company “went down alive into (the pit) Hades;” but, also, Jacob exclaimed, Gen_37:35, “I will go down into Hades unto my son.” Not only did Saul ask the witch of Endor “to bring up Samuel,” (1Sa_28:8), thus testifying to the popular belief as to the descent of the spirits of the good; and not only did the terrified woman exclaim, (1Sa_28:13) “I saw gods ascending out of the earth,” but the spirit of Samuel (unquestionably his spirit, raised, not by the incantations of the woman, but by the power of God) is represented as saying to the King, (1Sa_28:15) “Why hast thou disquieted me to bring me up?” Of Elijah alone of all the Old Testament saints is it said that he ascended, and of him alone it is said that he went into Heaven (שָׁמַיִם). Unquestionably the idea of the Hades of the good presented in the Old Testament, is that of a subterranean place, distinct from Heaven. In strict accordance with the usus loquendi of the Old Testament, our Lord when he referred to His own abiding in Hades spoke of it as remaining “three days and nights in the heart of the earth,” Mat_12:40; and the Apostle Paul in referring to the same event, Eph_4:9, wrote of Jesus as “descending into the lower parts of the earth”—but of this here after.
(4) That the Hades of the good is not Heaven, is evident from the fact that it is always spoken of as a place, at the best, of imperfect happiness—a place to be delivered from. The pious writer of the 49 Psalm exclaimed (Psa_49:15 [16]) “God will redeem my soul from the power of Hades”—as of deliverance from a prison. David, who had bright visions of a future glory after he had seen the face of the Deliverer (Psa_17:15), wrote, not only prophetically concerning the Messiah, but also concerning himself, Psa_16:10, “Thou wilt not leave my soul in Hades.” In strict accordance with the idea set forth in these passages that Hades was a prison, are the words in Hos_13:14, referred to by the Apostle Paul in 1Co_15:54-55, “I will redeem them from the hand of Hades, I will ransom them from death. O death, I will be thy plagues; O Hades, I will be thy destruction.” Here the separation of soul and body seems to be set forth by the appropriate term מָוֶת; the imprisoned condition of the separated soul, by the phrase hand of Hades. The promise is of a deliverance of the soul, from its prison, and of a re-union of soul and body; or, in other words, of a resurrection of the body.
David also wrote concerning the Hades to which he was about to depart, but from which he was assured that he was in due time to be delivered, Psa_6:5 (6), “In Hades who shall give Thee thanks?” Dr. J. A. Alexander in his comment on these words writes: “In Sheol, the grave, as a general receptacle, here parallel to death, and like it meaning the unseen world or state of the dead, who will acknowledge or give thanks to Thee? The Hebrew verb denotes that kind of praise called forth by the experience of goodness.—This verse does not prove that David had no belief or expectation of a future state, nor that the intermediate state is an unconscious one, but only that in this emergency he looks no further than the close of life as the appointed term of thanksgiving and praise. Whatever might eventually follow, it was certain that his death would put an end to the praise of God, in that form and those circumstances to which he had been accustomed.” The last remark is certainly true; and yet, is it conceivable that David could have written thus, on the supposition that the departing spirits of the righteous went immediately to Heaven? Could one about to depart immediately to the glorious praises of the land of glory, have penned, under the inspiration of the Spirit, the words “In Hades who shall give Thee thanks,” on the supposition either that the Hades of the good was Heaven, or that the term indicated merely the state of death? Let one imagine, if possible, the Apostle Paul thus writing! The very explanation given by Dr. Alexander, requires that the Hades to which the Psalmist felt that he was to depart should have been a place either of unconsciousness, or of darkness and gloom. The only escape from this conclusion is in the hypothesis, not only that be was not inspired in this utterance, but also that he was in positive error as to the condition of departed saints. It is not enough to suppose that he was in ignorance or doubt as to his own spiritual condition—as to whether he was a saint. The implied assertion of the exclamation is universal—“In Hades who shall give Thee thanks?”
In manifest accordance with the teaching of the Old Testament on this subject, is that of the New. When our Lord referred to the condition of Lazarus, Luk_16:25, he did not speak of him as enjoying the fullness of his Father’s house, but as being “comforted;” a term, as before remarked, never used in reference to the joys of Heaven. And when the Apostle Paul spoke of the condition of the Old Testament worthies, he makes manifest reference to the incompleteness of their blessedness antecedent to the Christian dispensation. He wrote, Heb_11:39-40, “And these all, having received a good report through faith, received not the promise, God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Dr. Owen rejects this view, affirming, “the Apostle treats not here at all about the difference between one sort of men and another after death, as is evident from the very reading of the Epistle.” With the highest reverence for the memory of that great man, the writer would remark that the very reading of the Epistle has led him to the opposite conclusion. The special section which includes the words quoted above, begins immediately upon the close of Heb_10:34. In the latter clause of that verso the Apostle had referred to the heavenly inheritance of those to whom he was then writing. The mention of this calls for a special section in which he may incite them to faithfulness in order to the obtaining of that inheritance. He therefore writes, Heb_10:35-36, “Cast not away, therefore, your confidence, which hath great recompense of reward; for ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promise.” What promise? Manifestly that of the heavenly inheritance. He then proceeds to set forth the life of faith, which is in order to this inheritance, by the example of the Old Testament saints who had lived it in the midst of trials and afflictions. The natural apodosis of the recitals of Hebrews 11 would seem to be, ‘These all, having received a good report through faith, having finished the race set before them, received the promise;’ but not so—“They received not the promise; God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect.” Is it not manifest that the Apostle asserts that the old Testament worthies did not receive their heavenly inheritance until the Christian dispensation, and that the implied instruction to Christians is, ‘You, who are called to earthly patience like theirs, run under better auspices than was vouchsafed to them, even the sure hope of immediate blessing?’
(5) The great argument, however, in proof that the Hades of the righteous was not Heaven, is to be found in the fact of their deliverance therefrom at the Resurrection of our Lord. The consideration of this topic, however, more appropriately belongs to the concluding section, in which the effort will be made to establish the affirmative proposition that Hades is a place in the Unseen World distinct from Heaven and Hell.
IV. Hades not the State of Death
The opinion that Hades indicates (at least frequently) a state and not a place, is one to a great extent entertained in Protestant Churches.
This opinion appears to the writer to be unsupported by a single Scriptural passage, the context of which requires us to put such an interpretation upon it. The only texts that with apparent plausibility can be cited as teaching this doctrine are Psa_6:5 (6), “In Hades who shall give Thee thanks?” Isa_38:18, “Hades cannot praise Thee;” Ecc_9:10, “There is no work, nor device, nor wisdom in Hades.” These passages, so far as the immediate contexts are concerned, are certainly consistent with the idea now under consideration, even as they are consistent with the opinion that by Hades the literal grave is intended. But they are also consistent with the idea that by the term is represented a place of gloom; and this idea, as we saw in the preceding section, the spiritual condition of the Psalmist requires us to put upon it.
The opinion, thus unsupported by a single unambiguous Scripture, stands opposed to that vast multitude of passages in which Hades is manifestly referred to as a place. Many of these texts have already been quoted, and it is unnecessary to re-cite them.
The real grounds of the opinion that Hades is a state, and not a place, are, as it seems to the writer, philosophical and theological, and not exegetical.
There are those whose psychological views cause them to shrink from any localization of a pure spirit, and who therefore affirm that Hades must indicate a state. The same views, it may be remarked, should lead, and in many cases do lead, to the affirmation that the terms Heaven and Hell are indicative, not of places, but of mere conditions of the soul.
Another ground is what may be styled the pseudo-scientific. It seems plain that if the language of Scripture is to be interpreted normally, the location of Hades is in the heart of the earth. There are many who shrink from this opinion as though it must be false. Why false? If Hades be a place, it must be somewhere; and if somewhere, why not in the centre of the Earth as well as elsewhere? True science, which confesses its ignorance concerning the internal condition of our globe, can, on this question, neither affirm nor deny.
Others, still, deny because of their pre-formed opinion that the righteous Patriarchs did depart to perfect blessedness. But manifestly if the Hades of the Old Testament was a place, it was a place of gloom even in the case of the pious. The only refuge from this conclusion is in the opinion that the term has reference merely to the state of the soul separated from the body.
The main ground of the opinion, however, is, in the judgment of the writer, the manifest difficulty of harmonizing those texts in the Old Testament which speak of righteous Abraham and Jacob and David, as being in Hades, with those in the New Testament, which on the one hand declare that the righteous are taken to Heaven, and those which on the other hand declare that Hades shall be cast into the lake of fire. The very difficulty naturally suggests the hypothesis that Hades may be an indefinite term, meaning sometimes the state of death and sometimes the place of the lost—an hypothesis, however, utterly inconsistent with that mass of Scriptures which require us to define it as signifying a place. It may further be remarked that if there are intimations in Scripture that, at the Resurrection or Ascension of our Lord, a change was made in the place of abode of the souls of the righteous dead—that a new place in Heaven was prepared, to which those who had previously been consigned to Hades were removed, and to which the souls of those who now die in the Lord are carried—this ground of the hypothesis now contended against, is removed. The attempt will be made in the following section to show that there are such intimations.
V. Hades a Place in the Unseen World distinct from Heaven and Hell
That Hades is such a place logically follows if there has been no fatal mistake in any of the preceding arguments. If it be not the literal Grave, nor Hell, nor the Unseen World including Heaven and Hell, nor the State of Death, then it must be a third place in the Unseen World. The truth of this conclusion would at once be invalidated if a single text of Scripture could be cited which clearly teaches that there are but two places in the Unseen World. No such text, however, has been, or; it is believed, can be, adduced. The position of Protestant Theologians who have denied the existence of a third place, so far as is known to the writer, never has been that the Scriptures directly assert that there are but two places, but that they recognize the existence of only two. In this view of the state of the question, the conclusion that the Word of God does teach the existence of a third place might be left to the judgment of the reader without further remark.
There is, however, another argument bearing on the point that should not be omitted, viz. that arising from the fact that Christ, between the periods of His death and resurrection, delivered from Hades a captivity detained therein. If it be true that our Lord did perform such a work, then is it evident that Hades is a place distinct from both Heaven and Hell. The fact that He did so, the writer believes to be referred to in several passages of Scripture, and directly taught in Eph_4:8-9 : “When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. Now that He ascended, what is it but that He also descended first into the lower parts of the Earth.”
That the place to which our Lord ascended, leading “captivity captive” (whatever this phrase may mean), was Heaven, none deny. That the place to which He descended was Hades, and that the “captivity” consisted of the pious dead, seem to the writer to be the natural and legitimate meanings of the terms employed.
That our Lord did at His death go into Hades (whatever Hades may be) is admitted by all. But the phrase, in the passage now under consideration, translated “lower parts of the earth” (τὰ κατώτερα μέρη τῆς γῆς) is, as we saw in Section I. of this Excursus, the Greek equivalent for one of the Hebrew synonyms for Hades. Is it not natural to conclude that the Apostle Paul, in using this well-established Old Testament synonym for Hades, had in his mind the same fact to which the Apostle Peter referred when in his Pentecostal sermon he declared (Act_2:31): “His soul was not left in Hades?”
It also seems clear to the writer that, in accordance with Scripture usage, the phrase “led captivity captive” must have reference to the deliverance of captured friends. This phrase, unqualified, occurs but twice in the Old Testament—once in the Psalm from which the Apostle quotes it, Psa_68:18; and again in the Song of Deborah and Barak, Jdg_5:12 : “Arise, Barak, and lead thy captivity captive, thou son of Ahinoam.” Regarded merely as a phrase, it may mean either of two things: (1) to lead as prisoners a number of enemies, or (2) to lead as re-captured a number of friends previously captured by an enemy. The latter seems to be its most natural interpretation;21 and this manifestly is its meaning in Jdg_5:12, the only passage in which the context determines the meaning. It is clearly implied, Jdg_4:16, that Barak took no prisoners, in the words: “All the host of Sisera fell upon the edge of the sword, and there was not a man left.” The captivity that Barak led captive must have been captured Israel. As this interpretation is manifestly the meaning of the phrase in one of the two instances of its occurrence in the Old Testament, it is but logical to conclude that it is its meaning in the other also. This conclusion is strengthened by the considerations, first, that there is nothing in Psalms 68 to forbid our putting this interpretation upon it; and, secondly, that the Song of Deborah and Barak was manifestly in the mind of the inspired writer when he penned the Psalm. This is evident from a comparison of the two passages of Scripture.
This, then, is not only the natural, but the scripturally suggested interpretation of Eph_4:8-9,—that Christ descended into Hades, and then ascended into Heaven (above all Heavens), leading a multitude whom He had delivered (captured) from captivity.
As against the interpretation that by “the lower parts of the earth” the Apostle meant Hades, Dr. Eadie, in his Commentary on this Epistle, queries: “Why not use ᾄδης, when it had been so markedly employed before, had he wished to give it prominence?” It might be retorted: Why use “the lower parts of the earth”—an Old Testament synonym for Hades—if he meant simply the earth? His own explanation that by the descent of Christ into “the lower parts of the earth” is meant that He was born in a low condition—“born not under fretted roofs and amidst marble halls,” etc., is manifestly untenable. The Greek phrase will not bear that interpretation. Two reasons for the Apostle’s selection of the phrase, however, may be given—(1) Had he used Hades, the idea of His life on earth would have been obscured; by the phrase, “lower parts of the earth,” not only is its O. T. synonym Hades suggested, but also the idea of a descent to earth and through earth is preserved. (2) A second reason may be that on this subject, as on the whole subject of eschatology seems to be the case, it was the design of the Spirit to give an indefinite revelation. A preceding question of Dr. Eadie appears to the writer to be without force. This question is—“Why, if Hades was intended, should the comparative κατώτερος and not the superlative have been used?” In answer it may be said that the idea of the Hebrew is as well expressed by the comparative as by the superlative; and further, to have written that Christ went into the lowest part would have implied that He went into the prison of the wicked—the lowest Hades, which it was foreign from the intention of the Apostle, most certainly in this connection, to teach. Another objection of Dr. Eadie to the view presented in this Excursus is—“Those who suppose the captives to be human spirits emancipated from thraldom by Jesus, may hold the view that Christ went to hell (?) to free them, but we have seen that the captives are enemies made prisoners on the field of battle.” On turning to the comment on the passage referred to, we find that the reason for this opinion is nothing but an unsupported assertion; he writes: “ ‘Thou hast led captivity captive.’ The meaning of this idiom seems simply to be—thou hast mustered or reviewed thy captives, Jdg_5:12.” The reference, as is manifest on examination, refutes the assertion,—for Barak captured no enemies.
The other objections of Dr. Eadie are involved in the following three presented by Dr. Hodge in his Commentary on the Epistle to the Ephesians.
(1) “In the first place, this idea (the descensus ad inferos) is entirely foreign to the meaning of the passage in the Psalm on which the Apostle is commenting.” With the greatest veneration for the distinguished and beloved Commentator, it may be asked: In what respect is it more foreign than the idea adopted by himself? It is to be observed that there is no expressed reference in the Psalm to Christ. Dr. Hodge remarks on Eph_4:8 : “… Psalms 68 is not Messianic. It does not refer to the Messiah, but to the triumph of God over His enemies.” From this point of view, manifestly, any idea as to the terminus ad quem of the Messiah’s descent may be said to be foreign to the meaning of the Psalm; and from this point of view alone could the criticism now under consideration have proceeded. The learned Commentator, however, justifies the application of the Psalm to Christ on three principles which he rightly declares “are applicable not only to this, but also to many similar passages.” He writes: “The first is the typical character of the old dispensation. … Thus the Psalm quoted by the Apostle is a history of the conquests of God over the enemies of His ancient people, and a prophecy of the conquests of the Messiah. The second principle applicable to this and similar cases is the identity of the Logos or Son manifested in the flesh under the new dispensation with the manifested Jehovah of the old æconomy. … There is still a third principle to be taken into consideration. Many of the historical and prophetic descriptions of the Old Testament are not exhausted by any one application or fulfillment. .… The predictions of Isaiah of the redemption of Israel were not exhausted by the deliverance of the people of God from the Babylonish captivity, but had a direct reference to the higher redemption to be effected by Christ…It is, therefore, in perfect accordance with the whole analogy of Scripture that the Apostle applies what is said of Jehovah in Psalms 68 as a conqueror, to the work of the Lord Jesus, who, as God manifested in the flesh, ascended on high, leading captivity captive and giving gifts unto men.” It is on the platform of these manifestly correct principles that Dr. Hodge declares in his comment on Psa_68:9-10 : “… the Psalmist must be understood as having included in the scope of his language the most conspicuous and illustrious of God’s condescensions and exaltations. All other comings were but typical of His coming in the flesh, and all ascensions were typical of His ascension from the grave.” But is it not evident that, on this platform, what must be understood as having been “included in the scope” of the Psalmist’s language, in reference to any Divine descent subsequent to the writing of the Psalm, must be determined, not from the language of the Psalm alone, but from that language in connection with those Scriptures which describe the descent? If those subsequent Scriptures teach that the descent was merely to the literal grave, then a descent to the literal grave and an ascent therefrom are all that can be regarded as included within that scope; but if they teach that the descent was to Hades, then a descent thereto must be understood as included. Dr. Hodge has concluded from an examination of the New Testament that Christ’s descent was only to the grave; others, from a similar examination, have concluded that it was ad inferos. Both these ideas are “foreign” to the language of the Psalm literally interpreted; that one, however, is to be regarded as within “the scope” of its language, which the event, as described by the New Testament writers, shows to have been within the view of the inspiring Spirit, who knows the end from the beginning.
(2) “In the second place,” continues Dr. Hodge, “there (in the Psalm) as here, the only descent of which the context speaks is opposed to the ascending to Heaven.” This may be freely admitted—although in point of fact the Psalm does not speak of a descent at all; it merely implies one. But what was the terminus ad quem of the descent? This the Psalm does not declare. It can be determined only from the Apostle’s comment, who declares it to have been the lower parts of the earth.
(3) “In the third place this is the opposition so often expressed in other places and in other forms of expression.” The writer cannot perceive that the position here assumed is supported by the passages cited. These passages, with the remarks of the Am. Ed.. upon them, are as follows: “Joh_3:13” (‘No man hath ascended up to Heaven, but He that came down from Heaven, even the Son of Man who is in Heaven.’) Manifestly there is no allusion here to the bodily ascension of our Lord. Jesus was not, in this passage, prophesying to Nicodemus that He was to ascend; He was giving a reason why He could instruct concerning heavenly things as no other man could. It was as though He had said, ‘No man hath ascended up to Heaven and thence descended to teach; only He can teach you who descended from Heaven, who is still in Heaven’ “Joh_6:38” (‘I came down from Heaven’). Most true. But is this inconsistent with his going still further—into Hades? “Joh_8:14” (‘I know whence I came and whither I go’). A remark similar to the preceding might here be made. “Joh_16:28” (‘I came forth from the Father, and am come into the world; again, I leave the world and go to the Father’). Is there aught here inconsistent with the idea of His going, before His return, to the subterranean world? Because, when on the earth, our Lord spake of a descent from Heaven, are we debarred from supposing that He contemplated descending still further to a place whence also He must ascend?
As before remarked, if the interpretation which the writer contends is the natural one, viz., that Christ went into Hades and delivered captives therein held, be the true one; then, manifestly, Hades as the dwelling-place of the pious must have been a third place in the Unseen World, and not that World itself in its entirety, nor Heaven, nor Hell, nor the State of Death.
But whilst the interpretation given by the writer is the most natural, it is admitted that other interpretations may be put upon the passage that has been under discussion. It is not, therefore, contended that by itself, unsupported by other Scriptures, it will establish the doctrine it apparently presents. That the natural interpretation is the true one appears from the facts (1) That the doctrine thereby presented brings into perfect harmony two apparently discrepant classes of Scriptures; and (2) That it sheds light on several obscure passages of the word of God, bringing them, in their natural interpretation and with all their logical implications, into perfect harmony with each other and with the rest of revealed truth.
1. As to the former of these facts.
On the one hand, it cannot be denied that the apparent teaching of many passages of Scripture, written antecedent to the resurrection of Christ, is that Hades is a place distinct from Heaven, to which the souls of the righteous as well as of the wicked were consigned; and, on the other hand, it is clear that all the post-resurrection teachings of the word of God are, not merely that “the souls of believers at their death do immediately pass into glory,” but even more specific—that they do immediately pass into Heaven.
It is in place here to consider somewhat at length the latter class of Scriptures. That the post-resurrection teachings of the New Testament are that the souls of believers do immediately pass into Heaven, is evident from the following considerations:
(1) It is implied in all that is said as to the souls of believers going, at their death, to the place where the Lord is, Joh_14:2-3; “I go to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also.” Joh_17:24, “Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory.” 2Co_5:8, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent, from the body and to be present with the Lord.” Php_1:23, “To depart and be with Christ.” Now, Christ is in Heaven—Him “the Heaven must receive (hold) until the times of the restitution of all things,” Act_3:21. Believers therefore, who are with Christ, must be in Heaven. It is vain to object to this, that believers in Hades may be said to be with Christ, since He is everywhere and He may manifest Himself anywhere. True. As God, He is everywhere; on earth, in Hades, in Hell: and He may make a spiritual manifestation of Himself anywhere. He cannot, however, make a physical manifestation of Himself (and it is such a manifestation that the texts quoted call for) where He is not, and the Scriptures teach us that He is physically in Heaven. True, He has power to convey His human nature anywhere, but the declaration that “the Heaven must receive Him until the times of the restitution of all things,” conveys the assurance that He does not and will not convey Himself to Hades. He is in Heaven; the souls of believers are with Him; therefore they are in Heaven—i.e., in one of its “many mansions.”
(2) The same doctrine is directly taught, or implied, in such passages as the following: “We know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the Heavens,” 2Co_5:1. Whatever this heavenly house may be (and that question need not now be discussed) we know that it is in the Heavens. Those, therefore, who inhabit it, must be in Heaven, “with the Lord,” as we learn from 2Co_5:8; and thus this verse, which directly teaches that departed believers are in Heaven, by its contextual arrangement confirms the preceding argument that those who “are with the Lord” are in Heaven.
(3) This also is the natural explanation of the record concerning Stephen. Just before his execution he saw “the Heavens opened and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God,” Act_7:56. Shortly after, in the act of dying, he exclaimed: “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit,” as though he still gazed on Him whom a short time before he had been privileged to see at the right hand of the throne of God, Act_7:59. The implication of the whole passage is that Jesus, in accordance with His promise—“I will come again and receive you unto Myself,” Joh_14:2, revealed Himself unto this dying saint as about to take him into Heaven—to the place in His Father’s house He has prepared for His loved ones—that where He, the Saviour, was, there might he, the believer, be.
(4) Is not the same also implied in Heb_12:22-24, where, not to seek after the whole meaning, the teaching seems to be that not only are “the spirits of just men” now “made perfect” (comp. Heb_11:30); but that all such are with angels, and with God the Judge of all, and with Jesus, in the heavenly Jerusalem.
In view of all these Scriptures, the doctrine of the post-resurrection teachings of the New Testament seems to be that the spirits of the just do, on their death, immediately pass into Heaven.
This class of Scriptures seems to present a doctrine in irreconcilable contradiction with that set forth by the former class, on the assumption that each class presents an original and constantly enduring fact in God’s treatment of the spirits of the departed dead. In view of the former class there have been many Protestants, as is well known, who have set at naught the manifest teachings of the New Testament on this subject—contending that a soul may be in the place Hades, and yet with the Lord; and in view of the latter class, many have utterly ignored the force of Old Testament language, ascribing it (on a matter of pure revelation) to an accommodation to Jewish superstition. Neither of these positions is consistent with due regard to the inspiration of the Word of God. The very conditions of the problem suggest the hypothesis that, at sometime about the period of the Resurrection and Ascension of our Lord, there was a change in the condition of the spirits of the righteous dead. This hypothesis receives confirmation from the fact that it is the natural interpretation of Peter’s declaration that Christ, between His Death and Resurrection, descended into the place where the Old Testament teaches us that the departed righteous were; and does it not spring to the dignity of an established doctrine upon the discovery of a text which, taken in its literal and most natural sense, teaches that Christ did descend to Hades and thence deliver those therein confined? The text in Ephesians taken in its natural sense brings into perfect and beautiful harmony two apparently conflicting doctrines of the word of God.
2. And more. It sheds light on many detached portions of the Scripture, and brings them, and all their implications, into full harmony with each other, and with the whole body of revealed truth.
(1) The first of these passages that will be noticed is Joh_14:2, “In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” The implication here is that the future place of His disciples was not then prepared. This is inconsistent with the doctrine that the place of the pious dead has always been in Heaven, or that Hades continues to be their place. The implication calls for a change in the place of the pious dead synchronous with our Lord’s Ascension.
(2) A second Scripture is Heb_11:40, compared with Heb_12:23. These passages occur in the same section of the Epistle—that which exhorts believers to patience that they may obtain the promise, i. e., heavenly blessedness. In the former, the spirits of just men who were not made perfect (i. e., who did not receive the promise) until the present dispensation, are spoken of. In the latter, these same spirits are manifestly amongst the spirits of just men made perfect. The passage in Ephesians throws beautiful light on both these Scriptures, brings them into harmony with each other, and into perfect and enlightening harmony with the whole section that includes them.
(3) A third passage is the declaration of our Lord to the dying thief: “This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise,” Luk_23:43; compared (a) with those texts that declare he went into Hades, and (b) with 2Co_12:4, and Rev_2:7, which place Paradise in Heaven. The first comparison would seem to indicate that Paradise was a Jewish name for one of the compartments of the place Hades; the second, that it was a name for Heaven, or one of the many mansions thereof. If the natural interpretation of the passage in Ephesians be the true one, then the apparent discrepancy is at, once harmonized; at least a mode of reconciliation is at once suggested. If Paradise were the name for the abode of the righteous in Hades, then on their removal to Heaven, to the new place prepared for them, the name of their abode might naturally be transferred to their new home.
(4) The interpretation given to the passage in Ephesians throws light upon, and is supported by 1Pe_3:18-22.
The writer is unable to adopt the common English Protestant view concerning this passage, viz., that the preaching mentioned was by the Holy Spirit through Noah to the Antediluvians in the flesh, for the following reasons:
a. On this ground the consistency of the whole passage is destroyed. The Apostle was exhorting believers to the patient endurance of wrong; and he enforces his exhortation by a reference to the case of the God-man, Who by His endurance became a benefactor unto others, and won for Himself a reward of exaltation. Consistency requires that the preaching should follow the death.
b. The modern view requires us to regard the Holy Ghost as indicated by πενύμα, not withstanding the absence of the article, and the manifest antithesis between that term and σάρξ.
c. The use of πνεύματα in this connection requires that we should regard disembodied spirits as the objects of the preaching—the disembodied πνεύμα (the person dead ἐν σάρκι) preached to πνεύματα.
d. The collocation of the words role τοῖς ἐν φυλακῇ πνεύμασι requires us to regard the spirits as in prison when addressed.
e. The term πορευθεὶς of 1Pe_3:19 is manifestly parallel with the same term in 1Pe_3:22. The implication of the entire passage is that the same person first went to the prison, and then went to Heaven.
f. The position of ποτέ forbids this interpretation. Thus Bengel writes: “Si sermo esset de præconio per Noe τὸ aliquando aut plane omitteretur aut prædicavit conjungeretur.”
g. The natural interpretation of the passage, so far from teaching a doctrine at variance with other Scriptures, is manifestly in accord with what is elsewhere taught.
The writer would present the following translation: “For Christ also once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, in order that He might lead us unto God, being put to death as to flesh, but quickened as to spirit, in which (spirit) also having journeyed, He preached (ἐκήρυξεν= made proclamation) to the spirits in prison, etc.”
The passage in Ephesians calls for a φυλακή in which the spirits of the departed, as captives, were held, to which, after His death, Jesus descended, performing a mission of mercy. The passage under immediate consideration represents our Lord as, after His death, journeying to a φυλακή, and there making proclamation to the prisoners detained therein. The former passage states nothing as to the mode in which His mission was executed; the latter teaches us nothing as to the results of the proclamation. But in the confluent light of the two passages can we doubt, not only that they have reference to the same event, but that the mode in which the mission was executed (at least in part) was by proclamation, and that at least one result of that proclamation was the deliverance of those who had been ransomed by the Lord’s death?
This interpretation does not require, as some object, that an offer of salvation should have been made to the departed such as is now made to the living, that the gospel should have been preached to them as it is preached to men in the flesh. The term translated preach is κηρύσσω, which means simply to proclaim as herald. Dr. Mombert, in the Excursus on the Descensus ad Inferos, published in connection with his translation of Fronmüller’s Commentary (Lange Series) on 1 Peter, remarks, “it (κηρύσσω) is never used in the sense of judicial announcement, and N. T. usage clothes it with the meaning ‘to preach the gospel.’ ” It is true that it is never used to designate judicial announcement, and that for the sufficient reason that it has reference to heraldic announcement, which is an essentially different thing. It is also true that the New Testament (E. V.) usage of the word preach is almost invariably “to preach the gospel.” This however is not the case in reference to the use of the Greek word κηρύσσω, as is evident from an examination of Mar_1:45; Mar_5:20; Mar_7:36; Luk_8:39; Act_15:21; Rom_2:21; 2Co_4:5; Gal_5:11; Rev_5:2. All that the use of κηρύσσω calls for is the proclamation of a fact or facts. These facts, in the case before us, may have been the completion of the work of atonement, and the consequent deliverance of those who had accepted of Christ under the types of the old œconomy. Such an announcement would have been a word of life to those who had accepted while in the flesh. In this connection it is proper to remark that if the preaching of the Gospel to the dead (εὐηγγελίσθη) of 1Pe_4:6, has reference to the same event as that recorded in the passage under immediate consideration, it would not require us to regard the preaching of the Gospel (glad tidings) as the same as that to men in the flesh—as an offer of salvation. The nature of good tidings has respect to the condition of the hearers. To us, sinners in the flesh, the offer of salvation through a Redeemer is good news. To captives in Hades who had already performed the conditions of salvation, the announcement of the completion of the atonement and of deliverance consequent thereupon, would be glad tidings.
Nor are we forbidden to suppose that the preaching was to those who had already trusted, by the fact that all who were the objects of address are described as “once disobedient” (ἀπειθήσασι = unbelieving). It is to be carefully noted that in this portion of the passage the Apostle is laboring to set forth the gracious effects of the sufferings of Christ. He suffered, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us (the unjust) unto God. It was only consistent that the inspired penman should describe the Old Testament recipients of His grace as sinners.
It may also be remarked that an objection that may arise in some mind—viz., Why should the Apostle have made special reference to the Antediluvians? presses with equal force upon every conceivable hypothesis of interpretation. Probably the reason of the special reference was that it gave opportunity for the presentation of the Deluge as the type of Baptism. On this point, however, the writer will not enlarge. He does not claim that the hypothesis presented by him explains every difficulty of this most difficult passage of the Word of God. Probably there are allusions therein, as in other Scriptures, to mysteries which will never be understood save in the light of the world to come.
(5) The passage in Ephesians, in connection with the one just considered, throws light on certain expressions in the Old Testament prophecies, especially the following:
Isa_44:23 : “Sing, O ye heavens; for the Lord hath done it; shout, ye lower parts of the earth, etc.” Not only does it enable us to take the phrase lower parts of the earth in its established sense, by showing us that Hades might have cause for rejoicing, but it preserves the antithesis manifestly presented in the passage.
It enables us to translate Hos_13:14 (the first clause) literally, and manifests the beautiful propriety of the Hebrew term employed: “I will deliver (not ransom) them from the hand of Hades.” The verb translated, in the English Version, ransom, is כׇּדׇה which followed by מִן, as in this case, means (see Gesenius) to let go free—to set free.
In conclusion of this portion of the Excursus, it may be said, that the proposed interpretation of Eph_4:8-9, which, on the one hand, is manifestly natural; and which, on the other hand, brings into perfect harmony two apparently conflicting classes of Scriptures, and also sheds on many obscure passages a light that brings them into harmony with the whole body of revealed truth—such an interpretation, in the judgment of the writer, must be regarded as the true one.
And in conclusion of the whole subject, it may further be remarked, that the passage in Ephesians, interpreted as above, forms the cap-stone of the complex argument which demonstrates that the term Hades indicates a Place (and not a mere state) distinct from the grave, from Heaven, and from Hell; into which the souls of the righteous were conveyed antecedent to the death of Jesus; but from which they were delivered on His descent thereto, after the completion of His sacrifice on earth.—E. R. C.]
[Note On The General Resurrection And Judgment.]
By the American Editor
[The Resurrection described in this section is that which is to take place at the close of the Millennium—the Resurrection referred to by the Apostle Paul, 1Co_15:24, and implied by our Lord in Mat_25:31. The subjects of this Resurrection are the unraised of all dispensations preceding the Millennium (the λοιποὶ τῶν νεκρῶν of Mat_25:5); together with all who shall have lived in the flesh during, and subsequent to, the Millennial period—both the good and the bad.
This Resurrection is immediately to precede, and to be in order to, the General Judgment, when—(1) the present order of things shall pass away, 2Pe_3:10-12; 1Co_15:24-28; (2) the entire course of human history shall be made manifest to all, Ecc_12:14; Mat_12:36; Luk_12:2; Rom_2:16; 1Co_3:13; 1Co_4:5; (3) each (unjudged) individual of the human race, and each fallen spirit, shall be publicly acquitted or condemned, Mat_25:31-46; 2Co_5:10; Judges 6, etc.
It is admitted that the majority of the texts bearing on the subject seem to contemplate but one future Resurrection and Judgment. Remarks similar to those on the Future Advent of Christ (see Note on The Future Advent of Christ, pp. 339 sqq.) may here be made. The earlier propheecies of the O. T. were cast on one plane, apparently contemplating but one Advent, the later prophecies, however, adumbrated two Advents; which adumbrations, all now admit, foreshadowed the reality. So with the prophecies concerning the Resurrection and Judgment. In the majority of instances, the prophecies seem to contemplate but one; there are other declarations, however, which demand the hypothesis that there are to be two. (See the Note on The First Resurrection, pp. 352 sqq.)
It may present itself as a difficulty to some minds that the Judge described Rev_21:11 seems to be God the Father, and not the Son. Alford, who adopts the view that the phrase τὸν καθήμενον ἐπ’ αὐτοῦ refers to the Father (see chs. Rev_4:3; Rev_21:5), thus comments: “Be it remembered, that it is the Father who giveth all judgment to the Son: and though He Himself judgeth no man, yet He is ever described as present in the judgment, and mankind as judged before Him. We need not find in this view any difficulty or discrepancy with such passages as Mat_25:31, seeing that our Lord Himself says in Rev_3:21 : ‘I … am set down with my Father in His Throne.’ Nor need we be surprised at the sayings of our Lord, such as that in Rev_21:6 (b), being uttered by Him that sitteth on the Throne. That throne is now the throne of God and of the Lamb, Rev_22:1. Comp. also Rev_21:22.”
It is sometimes objected to the doctrine of a General Judgment at the close of the present order of things that it is superfluous, since each individual is judged as he leaves this world. In a sense, it is true that each individual is judged immediately upon death; and yet, this should not militate against our reception of the doctrine of a final and general Judgment, so clearly revealed in the word of God. In the first place, our ideas of what may be right or necessary should never lead us to set aside a clear revelation. But secondly, even on the platform of human reason, such a general Judgment cannot be regarded as superfluous. The objects of public trials by human judges are two: first, to determine the guilt or innocence of the prisoner; and, second, to make manifest the justice of the Judge in acquittal or condemnation. The first of these objects can have no existence where God is the Judge; the second, calls for a public trial before the assembled universe when the present order of things has reached its conclusion. Then, shall all things be discovered, and the righteousness of the Judge be made manifest before all created intelligences.—E. R. C.]
Footnotes:
[1]Rev_21:1. א. A. B*. give ἀπῆλθαν instead of παρῆλοε.
[2]Rev_21:2. “The words ἐγὼ ̔ ̓Ιωάνν. were interpolated from the Vulgate by Erasmus.” (Delitzsch.)
[3]Rev_21:3. [Tisch., Treg., Alf. give θρόνου with א. A., Vulg., et al.; B.* P. give οὐρανοῦ.—E. R. C.]
[4]Rev_21:3. Cod. A. and Lachmann [Tisch., Treg., Alf.] give λαοί; Cod. B*., Vulg., et al. give the singular, whic his more in accordance with the symbolical expression.
[5]Rev_21:3. [Tisch. (8th Ed.), Treg. omit with א. B.,* et al.; Lach., Tisch. (1859), Alf. give it with A. P., Vulg., et al.—E. R. C.]
[6]Rev_21:4. [Tisch., omitting the last clause of Rev_21:3 inserts merely a comma between αὐτῶν and καί. The rendering of his reading is—God Himself shall be with them, and shall wipe, etc.—E. R. C.]
[7]Rev_21:5. [Crit. Eds. generally omit μοι with A. B*.; it is given by א. P.—E. R. C.]
[8]Rev_21:5. A. B*., et al., give πιστοὶ καὶ ἀληθινοί; the Rec. reads inversely.
[9]Rev_21:6. There are three readings here: A., et al., give γέγόναν; B.* gives γέγονα ἐγὼ, etc.; the Rec. takes its reading from Rev_16:17. [Lach., Tisch. (8th Ed.), Treg. give γέγοναν; Alf. brackets the ν.—E. R. C.]
[10]Rev_21:6. [Tisch. (8th Ed.) omits εἱμι with א. B.* P.; Lach., Treg., Tisch. (1859) insert it with A., Vulg., et al.; Alf. brackets. The reading of the entire passage from γέγοςα (ν) is exceedingly uncertain. The possible renderings as given by Alford are: “They (viz.: these words or all things) are fulfilled. I am the Alpha and the Omega,” or “I am become the Alpha and the Omega.”—E. R. C.]
[11]Rev_21:7. The reading ταῦτα. in acc. with Codd. A. B*., et al., is given instead of the Rec.
[12]Rev_21:8. Cod. B., et al., insert καὶ ἁμαρτώλοις. Since ἀπίστοις is given in a more special sense, ἀμαρτ. might be given in a more special sense also. On account, however, of the significant totality of terms, it seems to be an addition.
[13][See Excursus at the end of this Section.—E. R. C.]
[14]See Text, and Gram. Notes.
[15][See Excursus at the end of the section.—E. R. C.]
[16][In two of these, the Margin reads grave.—E. R. C.]
[17][This word Should not be confounded with שָׁחַת, also occasionally translated pit, as in Psa_30:9, and which is sometimes synonymous with קֶכֶר regarded as the place of physical corruption. The word translated pit in Psalms 30. is כוֹר as above.—E. R. C.]
[18][It is by no means certain that this passage, Ecc_9:10, is to be regarded as an inspired utterance.—E. R. C.]
[19][The preponderance of textual authority, as is well known, favors the reading θάνατε instead of ᾅδη. If this reading be correct, the passage is, of course, removed from the field of the present investigation. In such case, however, it is to be observed that there is not a single instance in the New Testament in which the context even apparently favors the rendering of Hades by the (literal) grave.—E. R. C.]
[20][The very parable suggests the idea that the phrase Abraham’s bosom might have been a Jewish name for the place of departed Saints in Hades.—E. R. C.]
[21][The words translated “lead captive a captivity” occur a third time in the Scriptures, Numbers 21 :l, under circumstances which show that the captivity consisted of the enemies made prisoners. At first glance this fact may seem to militate against the position taken as to the natural force of the phrase—a closer examination, however, tends rather to confirm the view of the writer. The phrase in Num_21:1 is not the same as that in the other passages: it is qualified by the introduction of the term מִמֶּנּוּ (a parte ejus) the whole clause reads יִשְׁכְ מִמֶּנּוּ שֶׁכִי. This term limits the captivity taken by the Caneanites to have been of (the number of) Israel. Its very introduction seems to indicate that without it the clause could not have been thus limited.—E. R. C.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2–4 And I John--"John" is omitted in A, B, Vulgate,…
And I John--"John" is omitted in A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS; also the "I" in the Greek of these authorities is not emphatic. The insertion of "I John" in the Greek would somewhat interfere with the close connection which subsists between "the new heaven and earth," Rev 21:1, and the "new Jerusalem" in this verse.
Jerusalem . . . out of heaven-- (Rev 3:12; Gal 4:26, "Jerusalem which is above"; Heb 11:10; Heb 12:22; Heb 13:14). The descent of the new Jerusalem out of heaven is plainly distinct from the earthly Jerusalem in which Israel in the flesh shall dwell during the millennium, and follows on the creation of the new heaven and earth. John in his Gospel always writes [Greek] Hierosoluma of the old city; in the Apocalypse always Hierousaleem of the heavenly city (Rev 3:12). Hierousaleem is a Hebrew name, the original and holy appellation. Hierosoluma is the common Greek term, used in a political sense. Paul observes the same distinction when refuting Judaism (Gal 4:26; compare Gal 1:17-18; Gal 2:1; Heb 12:22), though not so in the Epistles to Romans and Corinthians [BENGEL].
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bride--made up of the blessed citizens of "the holy city." There is no longer merely a Paradise as in Eden (though there is that also, Rev 2:7), no longer a mere garden, but now the city of God on earth, costlier, statelier, and more glorious, but at the same time the result of labor and pains such as had not to be expended by man in dressing the primitive garden of Eden. "The lively stones" were severally in time laboriously chiselled into shape, after the pattern of "the Chief corner-stone," to prepare them for the place which they shall everlastingly fill in the heavenly Jerusalem.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–4 3. The final glorious award—the new heaven and earth,…
3. The final glorious award—the new heaven and earth, Rev_21:1 to Rev_22:5.
a. Visible descent of the New Jerusalem to the new earth, Rev_21:1-4.
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1. And—The old world—this our present earth—disappeared before the approach of the judgment throne, (Rev_20:11.) The new celestial earth now forms the visional scene. Over its broad surface sin and pain are no more, and a sorrowless immortality reigns. But the greatest glory of the new earth is its central metropolis. It is not the old antichristic Babylon— quite the reverse; nor is it even the old Jerusalem, real or mystical, for that has gone with the old earth. But it is one which comes, in complete structure, down from God himself, from above the firmament. It is made up of materials the most glorious that thought can conceive. It is lighted, not by lamp or by sun, but by the glory of the present divine Essence; and as that neither faints nor fails, there is no night, but one ever-glorious day. Into this, their divine metropolis, the nations of the saved over the universal surface bring, not trade and manufactures, but their glory and honour.
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The immortal health and youth of the heavenly populations is secured by the following divine provision. In, as we may say, the city park, is the divine throne. From its front goes forth a very broad street. And through the length of the street there flows a crystalline river, with rows of trees on each side. The fruit of this tree and the waters of this river are immortalizing. And as these flow from the throne so the stream of man’s heavenly perpetuity flows from the immortal God. The description, and indeed the whole apocalypse proper, closes at Rev_22:5.
I saw—The narrative is continuous with the last preceding chapter. That is, it is a description, not, as some maintain, of the gospel state, commencing with the first advent and closing with the second; nor, especially, is it a picture of the thousand millennial years of Satan’s imprisonment, as others maintain: but it is a shadowing of the post-judgment eternal state of the blessed, the final glorification—HEAVEN. For, 1. Such is the proper assumption. The writer’s order of narration must not be changed but for good assignable reason. We hold it for a fixed law, that the entire train of events of the seventh trumpet is invariably consecutive, admitting of no transposition. 2. Death exists during the millennial period; for it is not destroyed until the resurrection and judgment, Rev_20:14. But in these chapters death does not exist, Rev_21:4. These chapters, therefore, describe not the millennium, but the post-resurrection and post-judgment state. 3. If these two chapters are supposed to describe the millennium of Rev_20:3-6, then the apocalyptic narrative closes very tamely with the eternal penalty of the wicked at Rev_20:15, with no correspondent description of the eternal reward of the righteous. It possesses no well-rounded close, and a required antithesis is lost. On the contrary, the consecutive interpretation closes the apocalypse and the New Testament with a glorious termination. The Bible, which opens with the fall of man, closes with the final restoration. It finishes by leading us to, and leaving us in, glory. Where should the word of salvation leave us but in heaven?
A new heaven and a new earth—A new land beneath, a new sky above. The land is seen and supposed, stretching to an indefinite extent, and capable of being, in thought, a boundless, varied plain, or even a globe.
No more sea—Dusterdieck collects a curious variety of opinions as to there being no more sea in the new world. Besides those commentators who hold the sea to be a figurative term for peoples, Andreas held that the cessation of the difficulty of distant locomotion and of the necessity of navigation renders the sea needless; Beda held that the sea would be destroyed by the final conflagration; De Wette and Luthardt, that, as the old world sprang from water, the new springs from fire; Ewald, that the idea of the abolition of the sea arises from horror of the sea in the minds of the inland peoples, as the ancient Israelites, Egyptians, and Indians; Zullig, that paradise was without a sea; Volkmar, that the sea and the abyss, or “bottomless pit,” being connected, neither belong to the new state. Finally, Dusterdieck holds that St. John means simply that the sea disappeared with the rest of the old world. Heaven, earth, and sea, he thinks, departed together, and whether a new sea appeared in the new world or not is not said. Most of these opinions are consistent with each other, and we think correct. We agree with Dusterdieck, that the triad, heaven, earth, and sea, disappear together; but the special phrase, and the sea was no more, seems to indicate that it had no existence in the new state. This accords with the other views; of Ewald, as to the ancient aversion to the sea; of Andreas, that its navigation uses were no more; and of Volkmar, that sea and abyss alike belonged not to the new system.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 The New Heaven and Earth. Chap. Rev_21:1
The New Heaven and Earth. Chap. Rev_21:1
1. a new heaven and a new earth] Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22; referred to, as here, in 2Pe_3:13. It is idle to ask, what amount of change in the physical constitution of the universe is implied: the destruction of the earth, as a seat of life, and its renewal, would imply a complete change of the visible heavens. But a world “wherein dwelleth righteousness” would be a new world, even without any physical change at all.
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there was no more sea] More literally, the sea is no more. We cannot be sure that this is to be taken literally; we hear of a river in the next chapter, and a perennial stream implies an abundant reservoir of water somewhere. To us, the absence of sea seems, so to speak, a defect in the landscape, while to the ancients it seemed a pledge of security and of unfettered intercourse between all nations: see Isa_33:21. Hor. Od. I. iii. 22.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–4 THE FINAL REGENERATION.—ALL THINGS NEW: NEW HEAVENS; NEW EARTH;…
XXI.
THE FINAL REGENERATION.—ALL THINGS NEW: NEW HEAVENS; NEW EARTH; NEW JERUSALEM (Rev_21:1 to Rev_22:5).
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THE NEW HEAVENS AND NEW EARTH.
(1) And I saw a new heaven . . .—The hope of the renewal and restitution of all things had been long cherished. Earlier prophets had sanctioned the hope: Isaiah had told of new heavens and new earth (Isa_65:17); Ezekiel had closed his prophecy with the splendid vision of a renewed land of promise (Ezekiel 40-48); Christ Himself had spoken of the era which He inaugurated as the regeneration (Mat_19:28); His followers soon caught the truth that the outcome of the gospel age would be the realisation of all those marvellous visions with which prophets had sustained the fainting hopes of the people of God. The hope was not to be for ever receding as new height after height was surmounted. It will not always be said, “The days are prolonged, and every vision faileth” (Eze_12:22). The fulfilment may seem to tarry; the unbelieving might doubt or scoff (Mat_24:43; 1Th_5:2; 2Pe_3:4); but those who felt that the gospel was a power of spiritual regeneration, making all things new (2Co_5:17), learned to look forward to the widest and fullest restoration, and to expect new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness (2Pe_3:13). The characteristic word which runs throughout the description is the word “new.” All things are to be made new: the heavens and earth are new; the Jerusalem is new. There are two words which are translated new in our English version: one of these (neos) relates to time; the other (kainos) relates to quality. The one would be applied to what had recently come into existence; the other to what showed fresh features. The tomb, for example, in which our Lord’s body was laid was new, not in the sense that it had been recently hewn out of the rock, but in the sense that it had never been used before; it may have been long made, but it was one wherein never man was yet laid. To describe it the second word (kainos) is used (Mat_27:60 and Joh_19:41). In the same way, the wine-skins (called “bottles” in our English version) required for the new wine were not necessarily wine-skins only just prepared for service, but they were skins which had not grown withered, but retained their freshness and elasticity. Here, again, the second word (kainos) is employed to describe them. Now, it is this latter word which is used throughout this chapter, and, indeed, throughout the book of Revelation. The newness which is pictured is the newness of freshness: the old, decaying, enfeebling, and corrupting elements are swept away. The aspects and features which will surround the inhabitants of that new earth will be full of novelty to satisfy the progressive instincts of our nature; but the imagery no less conveys the assurance that the conservative instinct, which clings to what is old, and finds sanctity in the past, will not be disregarded. All things may be new, full of fresh and fair beauty; but all things will not be strange; there must be some correspondency between the old and the new, when the new things are called new heavens, new earth, new Jerusalem. The description is figurative, but the spirit of it implies that in the restitution age the sweetness of things loved and familiar will blend with the charm of all that is fresh and new.
And there was no more sea.—Or, better, And the sea is (exists) not any more. Among the more detailed features of the new earth, this obliteration of the sea stands first. It is strange that so many commentators should vacillate between literal and figurative interpretations of the chapter; the ornaments and decorations of the new Jerusalem (Rev_21:10-21) are treated as symbolical; the annihilation of the sea is considered as literal. It is wiser to leave the literal meaning to the future, and to grasp the spiritual teachings, which are of infinite and present interest, The sea has played an important part in the symbolism of the book: out of the sea rose the wild beast (Rev_13:1); the purple-clad Babylon sat enthroned upon many waters (Rev_17:1); the restless, tumultuous ocean, now discordant with its clamorous waves, now flooding the earth in confederate force; the troubled sea of evil, which cannot rest, and casts up but mire and dirt (Isa_57:21), is no more to be found on the face of that earth, or near that city whose peace is as a river, and whose righteousness as the waves of the sea (Isa_48:18), and whose inhabitants are delivered from “the waves of this troublesome world.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–4 And I saw. The usual introduction to a new…
And I saw. The usual introduction to a new vision. (cf. Rev_20:11, etc.) Having described the origin and progress of evil in the world, the final overthrow of Satan and his adherents, and the judgment when every man is rewarded according to his works, the seer now completes the whole by portraying the eternal bliss of the redeemed in heaven. (cf. on Rev_20:10) The description is based upon Isa 60 and Eze 40, et seq.; especially the latter, which follows the account of God and Magog, as does this. A new heaven and a new earth. The dispute as to whether a new creation is intended, or a revivified earth, seems to be founded on the false assumption that the dwellers in heaven must be localized in space. (cf. Isa_65:17, "I create new heavens and a new earth;" also in Isa_66:22 2Pe_3:13) For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. The Revisers follow B and others in reading aphlyon , and render it by the English perfect tense. In a, A, is read aphlyan , while other manuscripts give aphlyen and parhlye . The first heaven and earth; that is, those now existing pass away as described Rev_20:11. And there was no more sea; and the sea no longer exists. The threefold division of heaven, earth, and sea represents the whole of this world. (cf. Rev_10:6) Some interpret the sea symbolically of the restless, unstable, wicked nations of the earth, which now exist no longer; others understand the absence of sea to typify the absence of instability and wickedness in the New Jerusalem.
Ver1.-1Sa_25:16 Zec_2:5 Isa_26:1) The city of the saints is safe against all assault.
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3. Its entrance gates. Here there are two remarkable features. Where the protection of the walls ceases at the gates there is another guard, even "at the gates twelve angels," so that none can enter with hostile aims. And not only so, but on the several gates the name of a tribe of Israel is found. None but Israelites enter there.
4. Its foundations. (Ver. 14)
(1) There are inscribed the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. In the Apocalypse, the song is the song of the Lamb; praise is to the Lamb; in the midst of the throne is the Lamb; the book of life belongs to the Lamb; the seals are opened by the Lamb; the apostles are the apostles of the Lamb. Even so. The whole of this glory is based on the sacrifice of the atoning Lamb.
(2) The foundations are lustrous in their splendour (ver. 18). The most exquisite and costly things are lavished here. The pearl, with glistering radiance; the amethyst, with its red or violet hue; the jacinth; the translucent chrysoprasus, with its golden gleams; the topaz and emerald; the beryl, sardius, and chrysolite; the chalcedony, shining as a lamp; the sapphire, in its azure blue; the jasper, so resplendent that it is a fit image of the glory of God. All such precious stones, flashing and gleaming, are there; so precious is the foundation work of this city of the Lamb!
5. Its citizens. These are from "the nations," but not as of earthly nationality. This is past. They are the nations of the saved (ver. 24, Authorized Version). We have brief hints as to their character. (Rev_21:6, 7 22:14, Revised Version) Brief as these expressions are, they are enough; specially when we read the list of the excluded ones (vers. 8, 27). Only holy ones are in the holy city. The separation from the unholy is complete and final.
6. Its magnitude. It is measured. The measuring reed was a golden one, and showed its size 12, 000 stadia in length. Alexandria, according to Josephus, was 30 stadia by 10; Jerusalem was, in circuit, 33 stadia; Thebes, 43; Nineveh, 400; Babylon, 480; the holy city, 48, 000! How puny are the measurements of earth"s great cities compared with those of the great city of God! (Such is the case with this symbolic description, even if we take 12, 000 stadia to be the compass of the city, rather than a side thereof.) There will be room in the holy city for men from every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue. None of the artificial divisions or nomenclatures of ecclesiastical boundaries will count for anything there. Only love and life will enter there.
7. Its glory. Ver. 11, "Her light is like unto a stone most precious;" "The glory of God cloth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." We could almost say, with Payson, "Lord, withhold thy hand, and show us no more, or we shall be overpowered by the splendour of the vision!
III IN THIS HOLY CITY THERE ARE NEW CONDITIONS OF LIFE. Here, too, we can but analyze and arrange the description before us, dropping a hint or two as we advance.
1. There is one comprehensive, all-embracing condition which covers the whole ground. Ver. 3, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with the men," etc., i.e. with the sanctified men who are in this holy city. The home of God is there. Their spirits are at home in God. The work of redemption is perfected. The communion is entire and complete; never to be interrupted for a moment, nor to be marred by one sin. The revelations of the past secured an approximation to this. The earthly worship was an earnest of it. (cf. Exo_25:8 Exo_29:45 Num_35:34 2Ki_19:15 1Ch_23:25, margin; Psa_68:16, 18 132:14 Isa_57:15 Eze_43:7 1Co_6:19 1Co_3:16 2Co_12:9 (Greek); Eph_2:22) These passages are but specimens of many more which show that the whole drift and aim of the gospel redemption has been to bring together God and man in sublimest fellowship. The perfection of this is realized in "the holy city;" and it is the one condition of blessedness which includes all else.
2. There is a double set of detailed conditions of life, which follow on the complete realization of this full redemption.
(1) The first set includes the cessation of what used to be.
(a) No more death. When the redemption in Christ has done its work on the body at the resurrection, there can be no more dying. No element of perishableness will exist in the "spiritual body." It is "incorruptible." Death will have been swallowed up in victory.
(b) No mourning nor crying. No physical distress nor spiritual ill shall grieve. Joy shall have no shade. The day of eternity will know no cloud.
(c) No pain; no tension from excessive exertion; no aching from disease; no disappointment at the failure to realize our ideal; no cutting off of work ere it can be completed.
(d) No more curse. No condemnation will press on the conscience, nor will any sin pollute the soul.
(e) No alien. "There shall enter nothing that defileth." There will be no intrusion of aught that is evil within or without.
(f) No night there. No pause in the activities of life, because no weariness will ever be felt. There will be constant work and constant worship.
(g) No temple. Not only will hindrances which existed here be banished there, but helps which were precious here will not be needed there. If, as one has said, the most exquisitely tender text in the Bible is, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," surely the most far reaching text given through an inspired pen is, "I saw no temple therein." No forms will be wanted when the ideal of worship is perfect and permanent. No place for worship, when every spot is holy ground. No day for worship, when every moment is sanctified. No external acts of worship, when every act is "holiness to the Lord." Many a thinker is yearning for the pure thing in itself without form. Here it is. Their yearnings were anticipated eighteen hundred years ago. And to it we are pressing on by stages.
(h) No light of the sun. No lamp. No artificial light kindled by man, nor even the present forms of light created by God. "The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the Lord God giveth them light," etc. What meaneth this? Surely nothing less than that created media will not be needed to intervene between us and God. We shall need no borrowed light when we see face to face the Light! We shall see him as he is! What life is this! No moon, no sun, no night, no temple, no curse, no pain, no tears, no sorrows, no death! All these things will have passed away. Happy state, even if known only by such negatives as these!
(2) The second set of details includes the inbringing of what is new. The heavenly state is pictured here not only as one in which we shall miss much that we now experience, but also as one in which all that is true and precious here will be reproduced, exceeded, and perfected. Here, too, as in every other part of the Apocalypse, the scenery is based on Old Testament representations. Six features:
(a) The river. (Rev_22:1) In Eden was a fertilizing stream. Israel drank of the river which followed them. "There is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God." The good Shepherd now leads his flock beside still waters. And in the heavenly world he leads them still by the fountains of the Water of life. The water of life shall no more have its purity marred by coming through earthen channels. There we shall be at the fountainhead.
(b) The tree (or trees) of life (see Revised Version, margin). In Eden the tree of life would have counteracted the tendency to decay and death. But from this man was debarred when he fell. Christ has restored it to us. And he will himself give it to the victor. Full supplies of heavenly food ensuring immortality will be given by Christ"s own hand.
(c) The throne of God is there. Another symbol to indicate the immediateness of relations to God in the heavenly state. No intervening authority of priest or king; but close and absolute allegiance to the Eternal.
(d) The service. (Rev_22:3) Service in the sense of worship. "They serve him day and night in his temple.
(e) The sight. (Rev_22:4) "They shall see his face". (cf. 1Jn_3:1, 2 2Co_3:18) This sight will have transforming power.
(f) The royalty. "They shall reign forever and ever". (Rev_22:5) This "reigning" is not the preliminary and limited one referred to in Rev_20:4; but the final, the complete one, to which no ending is assigned. (cf. Rev_3:21) Well may we say with one, "I am content that I have seen the city, and without weariness will I go nearer to it; not all my life long will I suffer its bright golden gates to disappear from my sight" (Hengstenberg).
IV THE GLORY OF THIS CITY LIGHTS UP WITH ITS BRIGHTNESS THE LIFE THAT NOW IS. At any rate, it ought to have this effect, for most assuredly this is the intent of the disclosures. We shall do our God a wrong, and ourselves too, if we pursue our course here as if it were meant to end in gloom, or as if we were left in uncertainty as to what lies beyond it, or whether there is anything at all. Note:
1. Let us recognize the glory of life"s goal, if properly spent, as the working out of Divine grace, love, and faithfulness.
2. If we are indeed the children of God, we have even now the earnest of the Spirit, and are being wrought for that selfsame thing.
3. Let us bless God for the progressiveness of revelation and of redemption. The whole of the sacred Word is threaded by one infallible clue. It opens by showing us "Paradise lost." It closes by showing us "Paradise regained." And the intervening stages, taken chronologically, show us the Divine advance on the first, and the Divine preparation for the last.
4. If even now we have a vision so glorious of the holy city, let us go in the strength of it to work, to toil, to suffer, and to die, pressing forward to the glory yet to be revealed.
5. Seeing that in that future home nothing can enter that defileth, let us ever swear eternal enmity to sin, cultivating all the graces of the Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, for only so can we have any reasonable hope of finding our place at last in the inheritance of the saints in light.
HOMILIES BY S. CONWAY. Vers. 1-4. The new heavens and earth.
The retribution of God has fallen on the enemies of Christ and his Church. Death and hell, Satan, the beast, and the false prophet, have been cast into the lake of fire. The thunders of God"s vengeance are hushed; the manifestations of his love to his redeemed now only remain to be told. And here their ultimate and eternal blessedness is shown to us. Their abode and condition are described as "new heavens and a new earth." Let us inquire
I WHEREFORE ARE THEY CALLED "NEW"? The heaven, the earth, the holy city, are each called "new." Now, this may be because, in part, they are:
1. Physically new. We do not think this earth will be "burnt up," nor the elements "melt with fervent heat," nor that there shall be, literally, "a new heaven and a new earth;" all such representations we regard as metaphorical, and as telling only of great moral and spiritual changes that shall take place. But in so far as this earth has been marred and defiled, injured and degraded, by man"s sin as it has been in that respect and degree will it be made new. The thorns and briars, the poisonous and hurtful herbs, and all else that is significant, and the result of sin, will disappear; the pestilence will no longer walk in darkness, nor destruction waste at noonday. So far will it be new. There will be:
2. A new manner of dealing with us on the part of God. This may be intended by the expression on which we are commenting. For "heaven and earth" is an expression used in Scripture to denote the dispensations of God. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth". (Hag_2:6) The prophet is telling of the whole Jewish economy, which was to disappear and to give place to another and better. So it had been in the past; the patriarchal gave way to the Mosaic, and that was to give way to the Christian; and that, in its turn, will give way to the new heavens and new earth a new order of things between God and man.
3. And, assuredly, it will seem new. For "no truth is more clear than this, that the world is to a man according to the state of his mind." To the voluptuary, it is a scene of animal gratification; to the worlding, it is a scene for barter; to the poet, it is beauty; to the philosopher, it is science; to the saint, it is a temple. Change a sinner"s mind, and you change the world to him. He feels, and. sometimes says, "The world is a new thing to me new heaven and anew earth." And may we not, therefore, be sure that, to the new, regenerated, and perfect nature, all things will wear another aspect, the heaven and the earth will be as new?
II WHEREIN WILL THE NEWNESS APPEAR? There will be, according to these verses:
1. A newness of absence. Much that we have known here we shall not know there, for they will no longer be. See the things of which it is here said they shall be no more.
(1) The sea. It is the emblem of all unrest. Here there is, indeed, much of this, and its causes are manifold. But there, "no more sea.
(2) Death. (Ver. 4.) Here it may be said, "death reigns." His might, past, present, or near at hand, is scarce ever unfelt. What a change, for there to be "no more death"!
(3) Pain. "Neither sorrow nor crying." That will indeed be a new world where these are not. Here, where are they not?
(4) Night. Twice is it told "there is no night there". (ver. 25 and Rev_22:5) As to the meaning of this, cf. homily on ver. 25.
(5) Sin. (Ver. 27) Here sin rushes as a raging river down our streets; but there, "there shall in no wise enter," etc.
(6) The curse. (Rev_22:3) Here it is everywhere. On health and wealth, home and friends, business and pleasure; for there is no one of them that may not be a source of sore sorrow to us, and a very fountain of tears. Paradises are still turned into thorn beds as of old. The curse does it. "I will curse your blessings." But there, no more.
2. And there will be newness in what is present. Take only these opening verses as proof. They assure us of:
(1) A new revelation of God. The holy city, the new Jerusalem the place where of old God revealed himself the glory of God.
(2) A new revelation of the Church. "As a bride adorned," etc. Fair and comely, rich and honoured, blessed because perfectly satisfied. Never has it been possible to describe the Church in such way before.
(3) A new realization of God. In intimate fellowship; as a tent shall he shelter and enclose them, tabernacling over them. This abiding, "He shall dwell with them." As to the depth of his love to them, "They shall be his people, and he... their God. S. C.
"No more sea.
We must remember that, to the ancient Jews, the sea was an object of almost unmixed terror. Nearly all the allusions to it in the Bible tell of its destructive power and of its peril. The Jews were never a seafaring people. They dreaded the sea. An added element of terror is given to the solemn warning addressed to them, (Deu_28:68) when it is said, in case of their sin, that not only should they be taken back to Egypt to their old bondage, but that they should go there in "ships." They had no seaport worth mentioning, Their histories of the sea were all associated with its terribleness: the Deluge; the Exodus; Jonah. The epithets they apply to the sea are none of them of a pleasing character, but all more or less forbidding and fearful. They tell of its being "troubled," of its "raging," "roaring," breaking ships, filling men with utter terror, making them "reel to and fro," "stagger like a drunken man," and be "at their wits" end". (Ps 107) They noticed only its "noise," and they likened its waves to the wild, cruel, fierce "tumults of the people." It was "great and wide," vast and lonely. To be "far off upon the sea" was the summing up of all separateness and isolation. And besides what was the common feeling of the Jew, there was, in St. John"s special circumstances, sufficient to account for the peculiar dislike of the sea which our text expresses. He was in exile, at Patmos, a lonely barren island, amid a proverbially tempestuous sea, and cut off by its waves from all he loved best. It is told how he was wont daily to ascend the hills, and wistfully look towards Ephesus and his own beloved land of Palestine. What wonder, then, that, in telling of the final, blessed, condition of the Church, in its new and eternal home, he should say, "And there was no more sea"? But we need not take his words literally. The surrounding Scriptures do not require it. How much of manifest metaphor there is in this chapter! Moreover, such expressions as "the sea," "heaven," "earth," "sun," etc., are figures for great moral and spiritual facts, and their being removed or changed tell only of what shall be done in regard to these facts of which they are the figures (cf. St. Peter"s quotation, on the Day of Pentecost, of the prophecy of Joel as to the "sun" being "darkened," and the "moon turned into blood, all which, he said, was fulfilled then).
But, literally, this did not happen; only great moral changes typified by them. And so here, "the new heavens and the new earth" refer, not to literal facts, to the physical geography of the future world, but to a blessed new order of things in the moral and spiritual world. For this earth is to continue. How else shall the meek inherit it, and shall God dwell here with men? And the sea likewise, though it be typical of moral conditions which shall then cease to be. Moreover, in reality, though not in Jewish conception, the sea is one of God"s most blessed gifts to man. Life would he impossible without it. It has been justly called "the lifeblood of the land," as the blood is the life of the body. "It is the vital fluid that animates our earth; and, should it disappear altogether, our fair green planet would become a heap of brown, volcanic rocks and deserts, lifeless and worthless as the slag cast out from a furnace." We remember, too, how God said of the sea that it was "very good;" and no mistaken Jewish ideas must be allowed to reverse that verdict. Think of:
1. Its vapours. The corn harvest is really the harvest of the sea. For the sea yields up her strength in the form of vapour. These create the clouds, which, touched and tinged by the sun, are so exquisite in their loveliness. And these discharge themselves upon the earth in varied form, and so come the rivers which water the earth and make it bring forth abundantly.
2. Its currents, bearing along the sun-heated waters of sub-tropical climes, far away northward and southward, and giving to regions like our own that mildness of climate which we enjoy; whereas, but for the warm waters of the sea, our shores would be bleak, inhospitable, barren, all but uninhabitable, like the shores of Labrador.
3. Its breezes, so health giving, imparting fresh life to the feeble and the sick.
4. Its beauty, ever presenting some fresh form of loveliness in colour, movement, outline, sound, fragrance. Oh, how beautiful is the bright, bounding sea!
5. Its tides, sweeping up the mouths of our great rivers and estuaries, and all along our shores, washing clean what else would be foul, stagnant, poisonous.
6. Its saltness, ministering to the life of its inhabitants; by its weight aiding in the transmission of those warm currents of which we have spoken; preventing corruption; and much more. But what we have said is sufficient to show that the sea is indeed a gift of God, "very good" and precious; and therefore, as the future shall preserve all that is good, we believe, notwithstanding our text, that there shall be still the blessed, beautiful sea. But we are glad and grateful to know that those facts, of which to the Jewish mind it was the emblem, will not be hereafter. Of those facts were
I UNREST. The sea tells of that. Cf. "The wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest". (Isa_57:20) "There is sorrow on the sea; it cannot be quiet". (Jer_49:23) "Thou troubled sea, Oh, troubled, fretful sea! What can the causes be That thy soft, silvery breast So rarely is at rest? "E"en when there wind is none, And thou art let alone, Thy heart, self troubled, will Keep palpitating still. "Ah, well may thy unrest Emblem the human breast, Yea, the great world around, Where troubles so abound!
Yes; such is our life now. "Man is born to trouble;" and were it not that there is One who is able to hush the waves and say, "Peace, be still!" our hearts would know no rest. But yonder we shall rest. Quies in coelo. "There shall I bathe my weary soul In seas of heavenly rest, And not a wave of trouble roll Across my peaceful breast.
II PAINFUL MYSTERY. So was the sea to the Jew, though it be not so to us. Scripture so speaks of it. "Thy way, O Lord, is in the sea; Thy judgments are a great deep; Thy path is in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." The "depths of the sea" tell of that which can never be discovered; hidden from all knowledge. Now, that there is much of such mystery here, we all know. It is part of our trial and discipline, designed to educate us in the blessed lessons of trust in God. So that, in view and in spite of such mysteries, we may be able to say, "I will trust, and not be afraid." But yonder we shall know even as we are known. Here "we see as through a glass, darkly; but then face to face." Therefore let us "rest in the Lord, and wait," etc.
III SEPARATION. The sea of old was a complete barrier to intercourse. It was to St. John, and, even now, it so separates that many shrink from emigration to lands where life would be far brighter for them. But of old, to be "far off upon the sea," to "dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea," was indeed to be cut off almost from the land of the living. Only God could make his "way in the sea, and his path in great waters." It was possible only to Christ to walk upon the sea that he might go and succour his disciples. But to men the sea was an impassable barrier, a separating wall. Therefore a fit emblem of separation. How many such barriers there are to our intercourse with Christ and with our fellow men! The power of this present world, the things seen and temporal, this body of flesh, these, and yet others, separate between us and our Lord. And between man and man. Distance, time, diversity of language, habits of thought, position in life, uncongeniality, ignorance, and many more. But in Christ and with Christ we all shall be one. Drawn to him, we shall be drawn to one another also; and as nothing shall separate us from him, so nothing shall separate us from each other. "There shall be no more sea.
IV REBELLION AGAINST GOD. "The noise of their waves, the tumult of the people" (Psalm 65). The one stands for the other. The same thought lies in the words in Psalm 93, "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice; the floods lift up their waves. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters, yea, than the mighty waves of the sea." The rebellious heart of man, therefore, is that which under this imagery is set forth. And here in this Book of Revelation: "The waters... are peoples," etc. (Rev_17:15) The multitude of the ungodly and rebellious these are likened to the sea. Now, in this sense, there shall be no more sea. No more ungodly people, no more rebellious hearts. And my heart, O my God, shall, then and there, rebel no more. S. C.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-8. The spiritual kingdom.
Now, to the eye of the weary seer and in him to the eye of the weary, suffering Church there appear new scenes. The darkness is past. The judgments of the Lord upon the evil powers, and upon all who take part with them as antagonists of the good, the pure, and the true, are passed away. And to the comfort of the waiting, faithful ones, who endure "as seeing him who is invisible," the vision of the blessedness of the righteous in the kingdom of their Father is granted. The judgment which has just been represented, and in which the punishment of the wicked is brought especially into view, needs the supplement of the present vision. It commences an entirely new series; it is set over against that which has just closed. To the end of the book now the brighter scenes of the Church"s triumph, sanctity and joy are given. Here seems to be represented the bright and happy condition of the Church the glory of the kingdom of truth in its contrast to the power and evil working of the kingdom of evil. These may be contemporaneous. If so, the eye of the seer is lifted from the struggle of evil to the rest of the gospel salvation. This is certainly the brighter side of human history. It is the Divine and heavenly side. But it appears to run on into the great future the final conditions. To them, however, it must not be confined. It is "the kingdom of heaven upon earth; which as a seed becomes, in its fruit and harvest, the everlasting kingdom in heaven.
I THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM IS REPRESENTED AS HAVING ITS BASIS IN AN ENTIRELY NEW CONDITION OF THINGS. "I saw a new heaven and a new earth;" "the sea the wild tumultuous sea of the raging peoples no more" (ver. 1).
II THIS KINGDOM HAS ITS SPECIALLY DISTINGUISHING CHARACTERISTIC OF SANCTITY. It is "the holy city;" it comes "down out of heaven from God." It is "made ready as a Bride adorned for her husband" (ver. 2).
III ITS MOST PROMINENT FEATURE IS FOUND IN THE INTIMATE COMMUNION OF GOD WITH MAN. His "tabernacle is with men." He dwells with them; they are his people, and he is with them, and is their God (ver. 3). This is the supreme blessedness.
IV THE CONSEQUENCE OF THE SWAY OF THE SPIRITUAL KINGDOM IS THE REMOVAL OF HUMAN SORROW. "Every tear" is wiped from the eyes of men. Death, mourning, crying and pain are no more (ver. 4).
V ALL IS ACCOMPLISHED BY DIVINE AGENCY. "Behold, I make all things new" (ver. 5).
VI THE WHOLE PROMISE IS SUPPORTED BY SPECIAL PLEDGES relating:
1. To the Divine Name (nature) of the Church"s Head. "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.
2. To the promise of eternal life and blessing. "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
3. To the final inheritance of the utmost possible blessedness in a Divine relationship. "I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Thus "he that overcometh shall inherit all things;" for he shall be the son of the great King.
4. To the inevitable conditions of punishment which fall upon the subjects of the evil kingdom. This stands in contrast to the former, and is a word of warning and admonition. R. G.
HOMILIES BY D. THOMAS Vers. 1-4. The fifth scene in the history of redeemed humanity: the unending age of blessedness.
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth," etc. The retributive process is over; the characters of all have been tried, and the doom of all pronounced. The wicked are driven away into punishment, but the righteous have entered into life eternal. These words suggest two thoughts in relation to this final state
I THAT IT WILL BE IN A SENSE A NEW STATE. "A new heaven and a new earth," and a "new Jerusalem" (vers. 1, 2). In what sense will it be "new"? I can conceive of three senses in which it will be new.
1. It may be physically new. There is reason to believe that a great change will take place in the material creation. Indeed, there are forces which are constantly changing the earth, and the heavens, and the atmosphere in which our clouds swim and stars shine. The inorganic, the vegetable, and the animal worlds are constantly changing. The belief of the ancients, the doctrine of geology, and the testimony of the Scriptures, favour the opinion that the fires which burn in the centre of the globe will one day burst into a universal volcano, mantle the earth in flames, and reduce its fairest forms to ashes. Out of this ruin may rise "a new heaven and a new earth.
2. It may be dispensationally new. Heaven and earth are sometimes used in Scripture to designate the dispensations under which men have lived. "Thus saith the Lord of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth." The reference is, undoubtedly, to the Jewish economy. The patriarchal gave way to the Mosaic, the Mosaic to the Christian, and now the Christian will give way to something else. Christ will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father.
3. It may be relatively new. New in the estimation and feeling of the occupants. No truth is more clear than this, that the world is to a man according to the state of his mind. To the voluptuary it is a scene of animal gratification; to the worldling it is a scene for barter; to the poet it is beauty; to the philosopher it is a school; to the saint it is a temple. Change a sinner"s mind, and you change the world to him. He feels, and sometimes says, "The world is a new thing to me a new heaven and a new earth.
Let the men who now people this world come back to it in a perfect state, possessing a thorough sympathy with each other, the universe, and God. Will not the heavens and the earth be new to them? Will not all nature appear entirely different to what it was when they lived here, the creatures of imperfection and sin? Give the soul new moral senses, and you will give the material universe new attributes.
II THAT IT WILL BE A STATE WIDELY DIFFERING FROM ALL PRECEDING ONES.
1. The difference will arise from the absence of some things which were identified with all the preceding states. There are three things mentioned here as being absent from this state.
(1) Agitation. "No more sea" (ver. 1). The sea is here, undoubtedly, used as an emblem of commotion and distress. It is never at rest. The atmosphere may sink into passivity; no breeze may stir its heart; the clouds may rest on its quiet bosom, and the trees may sleep in its calm embrace. Night outspreads her sable mantle over the world, and all the busy tribes of earth and air sink to repose. But for the sea there is no rest; wave succeeds wave; a restless pulse throbs through all its particles. This is a true emblem of what the human world has been ever since the introduction of sin. Billow after billow of painful thought and feeling has been surging in rapid succession over the spirits of men through all preceding times. But now there is no "sea." The Church, agitated by the storms of ages, is at rest. All the elements of mental agitation will be excluded from heaven. What are they? Pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, doubt, fear, envy, guilt. These lash the soul into stormy billows now. But in the final state these will not be there will be "no more sea." Another thing mentioned as being absent is:
(2) Death. "And there shall be no more death" (ver. 4). Death has been the terror of all preceding periods; it has reigned through all. But there is no death in this final state. Death beds, funeral processions, cemeteries, are not known there.
(3) Suffering. "Neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain" (ver. 4). All these are excluded forever from this final state.
2. This difference will arise from the presence of some things which have not been in connection with any preceding states. What are they?
(1) A full manifestation, of God. "And I John saw the holy city," etc. (ver. 2). Jerusalem was the special residence of God, and the scene where his glory was displayed. The language, therefore, implies a full manifestation of God.
(2) A perfect fellowship with God. The fellowship will be: Direct. God himself with them; not through mediums. Permanent. He will "dwell with them" (ver. 3).
I have, with great brevity, endeavoured to portray the epochs which are disclosed in the preceding chapter and verses before us the epochs through which redeemed humanity has to pass. I believe that this is a correct interpretation of this passage. But were it not so, the sketch is still true. The ages I have mentioned are ages that belong to redeemed humanity. The first we are passing through now; and the others, though the nearest be immeasurably distant, are approaching with the march of time. Indeed, these epochs dawn in every redeemed soul. Our first stage in the Divine life is conflict; then a partial triumph; then, perhaps, a reaction; then the retribution; and then the unending blessedness. May this unending blessedness be thine, my friend! D.T.
The world without a sea.
"There was no more sea." A world without a physical sea, we confess, does not strike us as attractive. The sea is one of the grandest and most beneficent parts of this world. It is to the earth what the blood is to the body; it circulates through its every part, animates and beautifies the whole. The negation is to be understood in a spiritual sense. Division, mutation, agitation, are ideas we associate with the sea. In heaven these things will not be.
I THERE IS NO DIVISION THERE. The sea is the great separator. It divides the great family of man into separate sections. The sea forms the boundary of kingdoms, continents, and races. The more fallen the world is the more necessary for such divisions. Let the race advance in intelligence and purity, and a commingling will become more possible and desirable. Indeed, as the world advances, the sea becomes less and less a divider. Ship building and navigation are making old ocean the highway of nations, and the mighty channel of intercourse between the most distant peoples of the earth. Meanwhile, however, it is a separator. "And there was no more sea." To John these words would have a special significance. He was a prisoner in Patmos, a small desolate island in the Aegean. A treacherous and tempestuous sea divided him from the great world of men and from all the objects of his affection. "A touching tradition pictures the aged apostle going day after day to an elevated spot on the ocean rock, to which, Prometheus like, he was chained, and casting a long look over the wide waste of waters, with his face like that of the captive Daniel in Babylon, steadfastly fixed towards Jerusalem; as if, by thus gazing with all his soul in his eyes on the open sea, he could bring nearer to his heart, if not to his sight, the beloved land and the cherished friends for whom he pined." How much there is in this world that divides men! There are:
(1) Social caste;
(2) national prejudices;
(3) religious sectarianism;
(4) selfish interests;
(5) mutual misunderstandings,
None of these will exist in heaven.
II THERE IS NO MUTATION THERE. What so changeable as the sea? A pulse of restlessness throbs through every part. It knows no repose. Sometimes it moves in silence, at other times its march is as the roll of terrible thunders. It is not only ever changing in scene and sound, but it is ever producing change in the world. It levels the mountains, it fills up valleys, it creates new land. It is in all the changes of the face of the sky; all the organic and inorganic departments of the world it transfigures. Human life on this planet is, like the sea, in constant mutation. Not only does one generation come and another go, but the life of the individual man is a continual change sorrow and joy, friendship and bereavement, prosperity and adversity. In heaven there is no such change. The only change is that of progress. Progress in
(1) higher intelligence;
(2) loftier services;
(3) nobler fellowship.
No change in the way of loss. The crown, the kingdom, the inheritance, all imperishable.
III THERE IS NO AGITATION THERE. The sea is a tumultuous world. What human agony has its furious billows created! Human life here has many storms. Most men here are driven up and down like Paul in the Adrian, under starless skies, by contrary winds, and through treacherous and unknown seas. In how many hearts does deep call upon deep, and billows of sorrow roll over the soul! In heaven there are no spiritual storms. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1–4 I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
Rev_21:1-8
I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
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The new heavens and new earth
I. Scripture distinctly reveals the fact that this world is not destined to continue as it is. The fashion of this world changes is the constant statement of the inspired writers. We seem to learn this from the very fading qualities of everything that surrounds us. We have scarcely enjoyed the warmth of the summer sun when the leaves of autumn fall fast and thick around us. These have scarcely disappeared when we tread upon the snows of winter; and these have scarcely melted away before the budding of spring again surrounds us, and Nature gives indications that she is about once more to revive. It is not only from Scripture that we gain such lessons as this. We give it to you as a fact, which is proved to demonstration by science, that there is constantly going on, in the mechanism of the universe a similar decay to that which is going on in any other mechanism that you know. You are aware that the various planets that surround our globe move through an atmosphere; and that this atmosphere acts as a repelling and hindering force upon the planets which thus move; and that this hindering force, acting constantly upon every planet that moves through space, must eventually so check the velocity of those planets, and at length so act upon their movements, as to bring the whole of the planet-machinery to a stand. And, in addition to this, you are to remember that science points out to us the fact that in the very centre of our globe there exists a sufficient quantity of igniting matter to burst the crust of our globe, and make it a ruin at our feet. And now for what object is this to be? Is there to be anything in the place of this materialism when it thus falls into ruin? Or are we to reside in a place altogether different from this our world--a place rather spiritual than material in the elements that compose it? I beheld a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth were passed away. We, therefore, look for new heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. In the first place, the incarnation of Christ would lead us to infer, I think, that we were destined to be material as well as spiritual in our final and everlasting state. You are to remember, again, that Christ when He rose from the dead did not fling away materialism for ever; on the contrary, His body came back to His spirit, just as ours shall come back. And not only so, but He now bears that glorified body in the courts of heaven. And we may conclude that if Christ has thus brought materialism up to the courts of God, if He not only walked the earth in a material body, but now resides in heaven in glorified materialism, materialism is destined to decay, only that it may be purified with the fires of the last day. But, again, this is only a natural inference to be drawn from another doctrine of the Christian religion--I mean the resurrection of the body. Thus we come to the conclusion that when St. John saw a new heaven and a new earth he saw what literally should come out of the ruins of the old. And then who can describe the beauty of such a residence as this? Scripture only gives us a glimpse into paradise. Methinks, perhaps, we could not understand what paradise was; we could not realise the beauty of its sounds, the richness of its sights, the glories of its landscape. And so Scripture only gives us a glimpse into the glories of our future home. But in order to make this more evident we would ask you to remark that there is to be not only a new earth, but a new heaven as well. We perhaps could understand that the earth required renewing. It is inhabited by a sinful race. But you will naturally ask, Why does heaven require to be renewed--heaven, the residence of God. But we think you mistake in fancying that the heaven which is here stated to be renewed is the heaven wherein God dwells. We think, rather, it alludes to the firmamental space that surrounds this earth, and that what St. John means to assert is that not only does the earth become renewed by the process of the last fiery trial, but that also the atmosphere itself, the place wherein planets move, where the whole machinery of the stars is at work, that this place too is purged by a similar process. If so, we ask you, Does not imagination at once falter when we strive to conceive such a splendid spreading of materialism as this must throw open? Not only shall the earth, then, be clad with beauty, but there shall come a clearing process upon the air; and this shall so throw open the firmamental regions to mans view, and so render the planetary system visible, as to make the scene literally accord with the vision of St. John--a new heaven, as well as a new earth.
II. What shall be the pre-eminent mark and characteristic of the arrangements and inhabitants of this glorious scene? St. Peter tells us, We look for new heavens and a new earth, in which dwelleth righteousness; and we therefore infer that righteousness will be the characteristic of the future heavens and earth. If there was anything permitted there that was not thoroughly righteous--if there was anything like impurity infecting the region or sinfulness throwing its taint upon the scene, then in vain should we hope for such a beautiful residence. And thus there comes the practical question to ourselves, Are we or are we not fitted for such a scene as this? Fasten not your affections upon things below. Take them as God gives them to you: enjoy them as far as God allows you; but, remember, there is decay in everything you see. (J. P. Waldo, B. A.)
The new heaven and new earth
These words refer especially to the future. We all live in the future more or less; it is so full of possibilities of improvement that we are strongly disposed to dwell upon it. God has not allowed the future state to be wrapped entirely in mystery; enough has been revealed to inspire us to inquire into its glorious realities.
I. That there is a great change to take place in the heaven and the earth.
1. The new heaven implies that the future state will be suited to the soul in the fullest possible sense. There will be no night there--i.e., there will be no ignorance there. The god of this world will not have any power in the new heaven, nor will any evil men or false teachers be found there to blind or delude the minds of the inhabitants. The state will be perfectly adapted to the redeemed soul. There will be no doubt there. Certitude will be the mental state of all in the future life; nor will there be any fear in that state. The deep mysteries of the future will not create any fear in the minds of the redeemed. There will be no falsehood in that state either; no one who loveth or doeth a lie shall enter into it: truth will be the very atmosphere of the place. There will be no such thing as a selfish emotion experienced by any soul in the new heaven. Righteous principle will be the governing power in all. Neither will there be any hatred in the new heaven. All will be sweet and harmonious reasonableness.
2. It will be suited to the body. It will be a state of established health and vigour. The new earth will abound in all the elements of true and pure strength. So perfect will the body, which we shall then possess, be in all its parts, that we shall never be conscious of any evil passions whatsoever. There will be no want in the new earth. The new earth will be richly supplied with all that the new body will require; the new earth and the resurrection body will be most thoroughly fitted the one for the other.
3. The society of the future state will be of the purest and the best. The character of the inhabitants will be such that defection will be impossible. There will be great progression to fuller knowledge, larger views, and more comprehensive understanding of things spiritual and eternal. The very thought of it is an inspiration; what must an experience of it be?
II. That the future state will be one of very intimate spiritual association between God and His people. The tabernacle of God will be with men.
III. That the future state will be entirely free from all trial (D. Rhys Jenkins.)
The unending age of blessedness
I. It will be in a sense a new state.
1. It may be physically new.
2. It may be dispensationally new. Christ will deliver up the kingdom to God the Father.
3. It may be relatively new. New in the estimation and feeling of the occupants.
II. It will be a state widely differing from all preceding ones.
1. The difference will arise from the absence of some things which were identified with all the preceding states.
(1) All the elements of mental agitation--pride, ambition, avarice, revenge, doubt, fear, envy, guilt--will be excluded from heaven.
(2) Death-beds, funeral processions, cemeteries, are not known there.
(3) Suffering.
2. This difference will arise from the presence of some things which have not been in connection with any preceding states.
(1) A full manifestation of God.
(2) A perfect fellowship with God.
(a) Direct.
(b) Permanent. (D. Thomas, D. D.)
The new heaven and the new earth
1. Our future state of being will partake very largely of a material character. That is, we shall not exist in an invisible, impalpable condition, floating in ether, as some have fancifully supposed, or mysteriously suspended upon nothing. The soul and body are not two antagonistic beings, to be severed and divorced for all eternity. They are separated by death to be re-united at the resurrection.
2. Our occupation in a future state will be greatly influenced by material things. It would be unreasonable to attribute to the future life an entire absence of all those warm and sensible accompaniments which give expression and force to our present being. Christ did not come to take sway all taste for the beautiful in nature, but to refine and elevate those powers by which we apprehend and appreciate the lovely and the sublime. Our capacity for investigating the works of God will not merely remain undestroyed, but be developed so as to meet the requirements of the new state of being. When we have made the material world minister to our wants; when we have gathered to our tables the produce of all lands, and when we have culled from the beauties of nature for the adornment of our homes--nay, further, when we have made the steam-power print for our use the ripest thoughts of the greatest minds, and when we have girdled the earth with an electric band, so that words of hearty friendship may be flashed as in a moment to the uttermost ends of the world--when we have done all this have we yet put the works of Omnipotence to their highest use? Are there not fields yet to be entered, regions yet to be explored, treasures yet to be discovered, harvests yet to be reaped?
3. We anticipate future opportunities to unravel the perplexities of a Divine providence.
4. The new earth, with its new and sinless life, will afford opportunity for the more perfect comprehension of the mysteries of grace. (F. Wagstaff.)
The new heaven and the new earth
I. The sources whence the happiness of heaven is derived.
1. The happiness of heaven will be derived from increased and perfected knowledge. On earth our residence is so short, our mental faculties are so limited, our hearts are so carnal, and our opportunities of acquiring knowledge are, in many cases, so few, that the wisest and the holiest know but little either of the character or the works of God. What sources of happiness will be afforded by the moral government of God, when we are permitted to read the sealed book of providence, and by the work of redemption, when, in the very presence of the Redeemer, we gaze upon its height and depth and length and breadth.
2. The happiness of heaven will be derived from holiness of character. Sin and misery are so connected that no mere change of place can sever them; and the mind of man is so much its own place that, if unsanctified, it would make a hell of heaven.
3. The happiness of heaven will be derived from the society of angels and the redeemed.
4. This happiness will be derived from the presence and friendship of Jesus Christ.
5. This happiness will be derived from the employments of the inhabitants.
II. The peculiarities by which the happiness of heaven will be distinguished.
1. The happiness of heaven will be perfect in its nature. That is, it will be free from every imperfection and alloy that mingles with our enjoyments here.
2. The happiness of heaven will be various in its degrees. There is a prophets reward, and a righteous mans reward.
3. The happiness of heaven will be progressive and eternal. (S. Alexander.)
The future abode of the saints
None can deny that after the resurrection and the final judgment the just made perfect will not be, as angels, simply spiritual essences, but be endowed, as when on earth, with material bodies. Now material beings naturally presuppose a material locality; material sight would be simply useless unless there were material substances to see; material hearing, unless there were material sounds to hear. This obviates one great objection to what I am saying, that the whole Apocalyptic description is only the lowering of heavenly ideas to earthly minds. If a mere spiritual state were being described, doubtless it would be so; but when, to say the least, much that is material must be mixed up with it, the argument vanishes. Consider, again, the remarkable terms in which the abode of the elect is mentioned, after the final doom: A new heaven and a new earth. And lest any one should think this is a mere casual expression of St. Johns (granting that such things might be), St. Peter also and Isaiah speak of new heavens and a new earth. If, now, there were no analogy between the old and the new, between the first and the second earth, to what purpose this particular and thrice- repeated expression? And most remarkably it is said, There was no more sea. There is, therefore, so strong a resemblance between the two earths, that the absence of the sea in the second is thought a point worthy of notice. Therefore, all the varieties of natural beauty, besides this, it may be presumed, still will exist. If of one thing in a series it is recorded that it is abolished, the natural presumption about the others is that they remain. And in the mystical descriptions of heaven with which Scripture abound, we find frequent references to the other most remarkable components of earthly scenery. To trees, for there is the tree of life; to mountains, for there is the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; to lakes, for there the glorious Lord will be a place of broad streams; to rivers, for there is the river of the water of life. Surely it is impossible to believe that these things are purely metaphorical; nor can it be even said that the expressions are used in a sacramental sense. (J. M. Neale, D. D.)
There was no more sea.
Heaven without a sea
1. There shall be in heaven no more trackless wastes. Over three-fourths of this whole globe is composed of a wild, cheerless, trackless waste of waters. The ship passes over it and leaves no trace of its route. The sun woos it, the zephyrs waft it, the dews and rains descend upon it, yet it produces no vegetation. How many human beings seem to spend useless lives, leaving the world no better nor happier than when they came into it! There is no corner for such supernumeraries in the New Jerusalem. Its inhabitants shall not spend eternity in doing little but to sing songs and wave palm branches; but in service, glorious service, for the great King. Great energies will not be expended, as too often in this life, in vain efforts.
2. There shall be in heaven no more devouring waves.
3. There shall be in heaven no buried secrets. The sea is full of concealment and mystery. The scientific explorer dredges out wondrous revelations from the bosom of its gloomy depths. In heaven all earthly secrets shall be revealed, and there shall be no more sea.
4. There shall be in heaven no restless existence. The changeful tides, the constant agitation of surface, the winds and hurricanes, the ever-shifting scenery of old ocean are a picture of human life, with its rises and falls, its joys and sorrows, its births and deaths, its successes and failures--fickle, transitory, uncertain, unsatisfactory human life. What, is it possible that all this agitation of time shall some day cease? Its unquiet of body, its tumult of mind, its yearning of soul all come to an end? Yes, in heaven, where there is a rest for the people of God, a blessed calm, an eternal peace of soul in the presence of God. (M. D. Kneeland, D. D.)
No more sea
We know not whether there will be a literal physical sea or not in the future world. To the Apostle John, who doubtless, in common with all his countrymen, looked upon the sea with dread, the absence of it in the heavenly vision may have been welcomed as a relief. All the allusions to the sea in the Bible refer solely to its power or danger--never to its aesthetic aspects; and many, especially those to whom the sea has proved cruel, may sympathise with this prejudice, and rejoice to accept the announcement in all its literality, that in heaven there shall be no more sea. To others, again, whose earliest and sweetest associations are connected with its shelly shores and its gleaming waters, a world without a sea would seem a world without life or animation, without beauty or attraction--a blank, silent realm of desolation and death.
I. The existence of the sea implies separation. The sea, along with its accompanying lakes and rivers, is in this world the great divider. In the peculiar arrangements of land and water on the surface of the earth we have a clear and unmistakable evidence of Gods intention from the very beginning of separating mankind into distinct nationalities. For this separation a twofold necessity suggests itself. It exercised a restraining and a constraining influence. Had mankind been permitted to remain for an indefinite period in one narrow region of the earth, brought into close and constant communication with each other, and speaking the same language, the consequences would have been most disastrous. They would have inevitably corrupted one another. Family and individual interests would have come into frequent and violent collision. Their proximity would have been the occasion of endless wars and deeds of violence and bloodshed. God, therefore, mercifully interfered; He separated mankind into distinct nations, placed them in different scenes and circumstances, and effectually kept them apart by means of seas and trackless oceans; and thus the maddening passions of man were rendered comparatively innocuous, or circumscribed within the narrowest possible limits. Another reason for this separation of the human race by means of the sea was that national character might thus be formed and educated--that the one type of human nature might develop itself into every possible modification by the force of different circumstances and experiences. If there were no individuality among nations mankind could make no progress; all human societies would lose the mental activity, the noble competition, the generous emulation which distinguish them; there would be no mutual instruction, nothing to keep in check local evils, and by the better agencies of one region stimulate into action similar agencies in another. And it is a remarkable circumstance that this barrier continued insurmountable while the infant races were receiving the education and undergoing the discipline that were to qualify them for enlarged intercourse with each other. When, however, the day appointed by God to enlighten and emancipate the world approached, the sea became all at once, through the improvement of navigation and ship-building, the great highway of nations, the great channel of communication between the different and distant parts of the world. Christianity is rapidly melting the separate nationalities into one; but the fusion of these discordant elements into one glorious harmony, pure as sunlight, inspiring as a strain of perfect music, will never be accomplished in this world. And there was no more sea. Methinks these words must have had a deep and peculiar significance to the mind of the old fisherman when we think of the circumstances in which he was placed when he wrote them. A touching tradition pictures the aged apostle going day after day to an elevated spot on the ocean-rock, to which, Prometheus-like, he was chained, and casting a longing look over the wide waste of waters, as if by thus gazing he could bring nearer to his heart, if not to his sight, the beloved land and the cherished friends for whom he pined. The cause of his beloved Master needed the aid of every faithful arm and heart, but he could do nothing. Oh! a feeling of despondency must have often seized him when he thought of all from which the cruel sea divided him. And when the panorama of celestial scenery was spread out before his prophetic eye, to compensate him for the trials of banishment, with what joy, methinks, must he have seen that from horizon to horizon there was no sea there--nothing to separate--nothing to prevent the union and communion of those whom the grace of Christ had made free, and His power had transferred to that large place! And there was no more sea. Do not these words come home to our own hearts with peculiar tenderness of meaning? For what home is there whose circle of happy faces is complete, from which no wanderer has gone forth to the ends of the earth? Heaven is the land of eternal reunion. The friends who bade reluctant farewell to each other on earth, and dwelt apart with wide seas rolling between, shall meet on the eternal shore to separate no more for ever.
II. And there was no more sea. These words imply that in heaven there shall be no more change. The sea is the great emblem of change. There is nothing in the world more uncertain and unstable. Now it lies calm and motionless as an inland lake--without a ripple on its bosom; and now it tosses its wild billows mountains high, and riots in the fury of the storm. And not only is it the emblem of change: it is itself the cause, directly or indirectly, of nearly all the physical changes that take place in the world. We cannot name a single spot where the sea has not some time or other been. Every rock that now constitutes the firm foundation of the earth was once dissolved in its waters, lay as mud at its bottom, or as sand and gravel along its shore. The materials of our houses were once deposited in its depths, and are built on the floor of an ancient ocean. What are now dry continents were once ocean-beds; and what are now sea-beds will be future continents. Everywhere the sea is still at work--encroaching upon the shore--undermining the boldest cliffs by its own direct agency. And where it cannot reach itself, it sends its emissaries to the heart of deserts, and the summits of mountain ranges, and the innermost recesses of continents--there to produce constant dilapidation and change. Viewed in this light there is a striking appropriateness in there being no more sea in the eternal world. Heaven is the land of stability and permanence. There will be progress, but not change; growth, but not decay. There will be no ebb and flow--no waxing and waning--no rising and setting--no increasing and diminishing in the life of heaven. There will be perfect fulness of rest in the changeless land where there is no more sea.
III. The existence of the sea implies the existence of storms. And is not this life, even to the most favoured individuals, a dark and rainy sea, with only here and there a few sunlit isles of beauty and peace, separated by long and troubled voyages? There are many outward storms that beat upon us in this world--storms of adversity arising from personal, domestic, or business causes; as soon as one blows past, another is ready to assail us. And there are inward storms--storms of religious doubt, of conscience, of temptation, and, worse than any of these, the raging of our own corrupt affections and unsubdued desires. Between these two seas many of us are scarcely ever allowed to know what a calm means. But amid all these storms we are strengthened and consoled by the assurance that they are necessary, and are appointed to work together for good. Yet still we long for their cessation, and look forward with joyful hope to the region of everlasting peace. In heaven there will be no stormy winds or raging waters. Through the shoals and the breakers, and the sunken rocks of those perilous worldly seas, the Christian voyagers, some on boards and some on broken pieces of the ship, will escape all safe to land--and there shall be no more sea. (H. Macmillan, D. D.)
No more sea
I. No more painful mystery. We look out upon the broad ocean, and far away it seems to blend with air and sky. Mists come up over its surface. Suddenly there rises on the verge of the horizon a white sail that was not there a moment ago; and we wonder, as we look out from our hills, what may be beyond these mysterious waters. And to these ancient peoples there were mysteries which we do not feel. Whither should they come, if they were to venture on its untried tides? And then, what lies in its sunless caves that no eye has seen? It swallows up life and beauty and treasure of every sort, and engulphs them all in its obstinate silence. What should we see if depth and distance were annihilated, and we beheld what there is out yonder, and what there is down there? And is not our life ringed round in like manner with mystery? Oh! to some hearts surely this ought to come as not the least noble and precious of the thoughts of what that future life is--there shall be no more sea; and the mysteries that come from Gods merciful limitation of our vision, and some of the mysteries that come from Gods wise and providential interposition of obstacles to our sight shall have passed away.
II. No more rebellious power. God lets people work against His kingdom in this world. It is not to be always so. The kingdom of God is in the earth, and the kingdom of God admits of opposition. Strange! But the opposition, even here on earth, all comes to nothing. Men may work against Gods kingdom, the waves may rave and rage; but beneath them there is a mighty tidal sweep, and Gods purposes are wrought out, and Gods ark comes to its desired haven, and all opposition is nugatory at the last. But there comes a time, too, when there shall be no more violence of rebellious wills lifting themselves against God. The opposition that lies in all our hearts shall one day be subdued. The whole consent of our whole being shall yield itself to the obedience of sons, to the service of love.
III. No more disquiet and unrest. Surely some of us are longing to find anchorage whilst the storm lasts, and a haven at the end. There is one, if only you will believe it, and set yourselves towards it. There is an end to all the weary oar, the weary wandering fields of barren foam. On the shore stands the Christ; and there is rest there. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)
No more sea
This fact can be read physically. It would be the easiest reading, but perhaps not the only one, nor the most satisfying and helpful one. Rendered physically, it would neither satisfy curiosity nor offer stimulus. It would add nothing practically to our knowledge of the future, because we know nothing of the other physical conditions with which this fact of sealessness would stand in relation; and no fact means anything when standing alone. Every man in conceiving the things which are eternal has to think in terms of time; and in conceiving the things which are celestial has to think in terms of earth. In our most spiritual moods we cannot get away from our common surroundings or from our every-day vocabulary. We have only one language in which to phrase present experience and heavenly anticipatings. The finest pictures which our thought paints of the things which are unseen and eternal are done in tints gathered from off a pallet of earthly colour. If we are weary, then heaven means rest; if we are sin-sick, then heaven means holiness; if we are lonely, then heaven means reunion with the loved ones that have gone on before. If any kind of barrier invests us, we think that in heaven that barrier will be erased. In the sailor-boys dream of home, no buffeting waves or tempestuous sea divide longer between him and the old hearthstone. For the time being there is with him no more sea. Now there are many phases of life, many limitations by which we are hedged in, upon which this sentiment of our text falls with a singular power of stimulus and of comfort, and the more completely these waters of separation sunder us, and exile us from our souls object, the more richly freighted with fruition does the new and the sealess city become to us. There are in the first place our physical limitations, by which we are so many of us so closely and painfully walled. Much of our severity and acidity is only indigestion become a mental fact, and a good deal of our solicitude and distrust are no more than an enfeebled condition of the blood telling upon the spirit: The body made to be the helpmeet of the soul is become its adversary. Much of sin is the offspring of the body. Redemption and immortality are as much of the body as of the mind. Then there are our mental limitations. Men want to know, but they do not know how to know. Our philosophy is tentative. Thinking is trying experiments mostly. We think different things at different times, and no two men think the same thing, as no two eyes see the same rainbow. And then most of that which we do know is of things chat are going to last but a little; as it were, a gathering of wilting flowers. All knowledge is transient, that is, of things that are transient, as the splendour fades from off the hills as the sun passes under the west. There are also our moral limitations. Holiness is yonder, and there is a great gulf fixed. We can abstain from acts of sin, but do not succeed in becoming clean through and through. Our wishes outrun our attainments. Our bodies hold us back; our past holds us back; our surroundings detain us. We want it should become our nature to do right. Holiness lies in the future, but it is a sure fact of the future, and our wall of moral separation shall be broken down, our exile repealed, the island made continuous with the continent, and no more sea in the New City of God. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
No more sea
I. There will be no more mystery.
1. Our life is a mystery--birth, health, sickness, death.
2. Revelation is a mystery--prophecy, miracles, Calvary.
3. Providence is a mystery--prosperity of ungodly, adversity of the godly, death of children, war.
II. There will be no more trouble. The sea a picture of our life--restless, stormy.
1. Business troubles.
2. Domestic troubles--an erring son, bereavement.
3. Personal troubles--disease of body, perplexity of mind about religion, spiritual needs.
III. There will be no more impurity.
IV. There will be no more danger.
1. Danger from pernicious books.
2. Danger from evil companions.
3. Danger from Satanic influences.
V. There will be no more hidden life. Vi. There will be no more separation. (A. Gray Maitland.)
The world without a sea
I. There is no division there. How much there is in this world that divides men! There are:
1. Social caste.
2. National prejudices.
3. Religious sectarianism.
4. Selfish interests.
5. Mutual misunderstandings. None of these will exist in heaven.
II. There is no mutation there. The only change is that of progress.
1. Progress in higher intelligence.
2. In loftier services.
3. In nobler fellowship. No change in the way of loss. The crown, the kingdom, the inheritance--all imperishable.
III. There is no agitation there. Human life here has many storms. In how many hearts does deep call upon deep, and billows of sorrow roll over the soul! In heaven there are no spiritual storms. (Homilist.)
The sea-less world
St. John saw that the sea, whilst a great and essential good on earth, might in some aspects be regarded as an emblem of what was evil, and therefore undesirable.
I. The sea is emblematic of separation. Think of receiving a cablegram to-day telling that, say in Australia, a loved mother or child was lying ,lying and calling for you. How keenly you would feel the barrier set by the sea!
II. The sea is emblematic of peril. Some of the saddest wrecks on record have taken place on our coasts. The sea, therefore, is a fit type of peril. Now the sea is no more in heaven, and so there is no occasion of hurt, no cause of danger, no need for anxiety. We move amid perils now.
III. The sea is emblematic of commotion. The sea is never still. Even at its calmest there are ebbings and flowings, and sometimes in storm the disturbance is very great, we have our calms, but also our storms. A life of uninterrupted prosperity would be good for none of us. But the heavenly experience is better than earths best. When we reach the land of light the need of testing shall be past, and the reason for discipline shall have vanished away. And so the sea shall be no more. (G. Gladstone.)
Why there will bone more sea
St. John writes of the blessed life of the new creation, where holy souls are at rest, that there is no more sea. What was the sea, then, to him--what is it everywhere--that he should choose it to symbolise something that is unheavenly--something that is to be done away with when that which is perfect is come?
I. The sea is that which sunders man from man. It divides nation from nation, as well as land from land. Whatever the original unity of the race, it breaks that unity apart. That is the very epithet that a Latin poet (Horace), who lived just before St. Johns time, applied to it--the dissociable ocean. So long as the seas intervene, this is a divided world. The family of souls cannot be literally one; the universal neighbourhood and brotherhood at which the gospel aims cannot be actually represented till the first earth is passed away and there is no more sea. But if there is one thought that lies nearer the heart of the gospel than any other, it is that of the perfect oneness, or flowing together, and living together, of the nations and souls of men. The bond of that harmony began, in fact, to be woven when Christ was born, and the angels predicted peace at His coming, at Bethlehem. We know well enough how slowly the consummation has advanced against wars, crusades, caste, slavery, the complicated injustices and wrongs of a selfish society! Hereafter it will not be so. Hatreds, suspicions, oppressions, cruelties, quarrels, are all to be swept away. The spirit of Christs mediation shall be the reigning force. So much for the society at large. Think, too, of the heavenly comfort it must bring to private hearts to have all the sorrows of personal separations ended. There will be no empty rooms that feel empty, or deserted hearts. Communion, fellowship, love, the presence of the loved, will be perpetual.
II. There is a second character of the sea which probably likewise suggested it to St. John, for Christian comfort, as an image of what is of the earth earthy, and must therefore pass away before the coming in of an everlasting satisfaction. The ocean is all a field of nothing but barrenness. Nobody makes a home on that restless, fluctuating floor. The sailor is a ceaseless fugitive. Nothing settles or abides on that restless breast. All the life it ever sees or supports is a transitional, passing life, moving from one tarryingplace or coast to another. What an image it is of the fickle and transient elements of this world that now is, compared with the fixedness and stability and blooming life of that which Christ has opened! More than this: there is a key to this second part of the meaning of the text in the closing passage of the chapter that goes just before. The sea gave up the dead which were in it. The sea is a great graveyard. It is the home of the drowned and buried that it has swallowed up by thousands. And it never allows affection to set up a sign where the dead go down. There is no harvest from it, except the harvest of the resurrection. But then, following this scene of the judgment is the new creation, and when the Evangelist comes just after to speak of that, his mind goes back to the sepulchral sea. And lo! it is gone for ever. In other words, dropping the figure, that new world--the Christian home--is all a dwelling-place of life--life everywhere; life without sleep; life for ever. Deselations and destructions are come to a perpetual end. Everything there must be as useful as it is beautiful, and as fruitful as it is fair. You may say there is s wild and wondrous beauty about the ocean; and no doubt in this material world it has its uses; hat neither the gospel in this world nor the evangelic descriptions of the next recognise any beauty that is not the source of peace, or life, or benefaction. Heathen beauty, Greek beauty, cold, restless, faithless intellectual beauty, must be baptized into the warm spirit of life in Christ Jesus, or there is no room for it in the heaven Christ opens. (Bp. F. D. Huntington.)
The sea
I. Some of the many present uses of the sea. Among other special particulars, and mast material, one of the most prominent that strikes us is, it causes under Providence--
1. The fertility of the earth.
2. The temperature of climates. How serviceable are its gales, and how refreshing are its breezes, especially after the burthen and heat of the summers day!
3. Employment and sustenance to man. The first followers and chosen disciples of our Lord were chiefly fishermen.
4. Intercourse with foreign and distant lands. Again, the sea--
5. Affords security and defence for weaker states, and enables them to withstand the entrenchments of their more powerful neighbours.
6. It signally subserves the purposes of its Creator. Fire and vapour, storm and tempest, all fulfil the Almightys word. Once the sea arose, the deeps were broken up, and the foundations of the earth were discovered, in order to destroy the world.
II. Some emblems taken from the sea. In other words, the instructive lessons it particularly gives.
1. It reveals somewhat of the Divine perfections. Doth it not remind us continually of His power, His mercy, and His judgments? How widely spread, how fathomless!
2. The sea represents the varied characters of men.
3. The vicissitudes of human life.
4. The state and circumstances of the world.
III. Some events either literally or figuratively represented as fulfilled--there shall be no more sea.
1. No more dangers! no more hazards, likened to perils on the sea.
2. No more trials, deceptions, errors, mistakes, and persecutions from the world!
3. No more concealment of, or the keeping from us what is agreeable, and of which we would desire the possession.
4. No more straitened limits and bounded habitations.
5. No more estrangement from our brethren.
6. No more separation from our friends.
7. No longer any distance (any of our present intervening barriers) between the Christian and his God. (W. Williams, M. A.)
No more sea
1. The sea, to St. John and the men of his day, was a great barrier of separation. We must remember that the art of navigation was not then what it is to-day. Think of the ships of the ancients as compared with ours; think of them probably without either chart or mariners compass. All this is changed now. The sea, instead of being a barrier, has become the great highway of the nations. But we have to remember what the sea was to St. John. It was a type, an emblem of things that divided men. There was the sea of racial hatred, of selfish interests, of false religions, of cruel prejudice, of bitter animosities. To the Jew every Gentile was a natural enemy, an outcast, a dog of the uncircumcision. To the Greek the people of other nations were barbarians. To the Romans all but their own countrymen were hostes, towards whom enmity was the approved relation. And how much of this continues to this day! We see it in the grasping policy of chartered companies and of statesmen, in the competitions of modern commerce, in the deadly warfare between capital and labour, in the bitterness of sectarian life, in the jealousies and rivalries of social life and the domestic circle.
2. The sea, to St. John, was doubtless a source of fear and terror. The Jews seem to have had no love for the mighty deep. They invariably looked upon it with dread and awe. St. John appears to have shared the sentiment of his countrymen. From his desolate island he had gazed upon the sea in its many and ever-changing moods. His mind associated the most terrible objects with it. It was out of the sea that he saw arise the wild beast having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads the name of Blasphemy. It was on the many waters of the deep that he saw seated that purple-clad woman who had upon her forehead written, Mystery, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. To him the sea was a type of the confederate forces of evil that were sweeping over the world, spreading ruin and desolation; of the fearful storms that were breaking in upon the infant Church. But it was only to last for a season. Gradually the wild instincts of the human heart would be subdued. The fierce billows of opposition and wickedness and unbelief would be hushed and stilled. They had their limits fixed: Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further; and here shall thy proud waves be stayed. There should be no more sea.
3. The sea was a type of the worlds unrest. That AEgean Sea, laving the rocky island of Patmos, like the great ocean everywhere, was never still. Whenever he looked out upon it, its waters were heaving and tossing to and fro. A picture of the disquietude of the human spirit apart from God. He had felt it himself before he became a disciple of Jesus Christ: he had seen it in the life of his countrymen, in the life of the philosophers he had met at Ephesus, in the life of that Roman world with which, in various ways, he had been brought into contact. Unrest was the sign everywhere. The world was full of a restless life, of longings and questionings and yearnings it could not still. And the sea described that restlessness better than anything else. And John turned with relief from the troubled scene which everywhere presented itself to the rest-giving work of the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ.
4. The sea was a symbol of mystery. It was specially so to the ancients with their limited knowledge of its vast confines and of the wonders and glories of its fathomless depths. Think of the mountains that lie beneath the surface of the deep; of the life with which it teems of the towns and villages it has engulfed; of its myriads of nameless graves; of the secrets it keeps; of tales it has to unfold. Oh, sea! thy name is mystery. And the mystery of which the sea speaks meets us everywhere. Find a man who is not awed with a perception of lifes mysteriousness, and you have found a man who has never seriously begun to think. No sooner do I ask, What am I? Whence came I? Why am I here? Whither am I going? than I am conscious that I am in the presence of profound and inscrutable mysteries. Why should there be disease and pain? Why do the innocent suffer with the guilty? What was the origin of evil, and why was it permitted to enter the world? Why does a good and wise Providence allow storm and tempest to overtake men? And here is our comfort, that John foresaw a time when the mysteries of life shall be swallowed up in knowledge. No longer will the great sea of doubt or mystery roll over us; we shall know as we are known, the day shall break, and the shadows rice away, and the dark, impenetrable waters shall be no more. (J. H. Burkitt.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1 Rev_21:1-27; Rev_22:1-5.
CHAPTER X V I I.
THE NEW JERUSALEM. REV.
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Rev_21:1-27; Rev_22:1-5.
THE first part of the final triumph of the Lamb has been accomplished, but the second has still to be unfolded. We are introduced to it by one of those preparatory or transition passages which have already frequently met us in the Apocalypse, and which connect themselves both with what precedes and with what follows: -
"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God: and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain any more: the first things are passed away. And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true. And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. But for the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death (Rev_21:1-8)."
These words, like many others that have already met us, throw light upon the principles on which the Apocalypse is composed. They show in the clearest possible manner that down to the very end of the book chronological considerations must be put out of view. Chronology cannot be thought of when we find, on the one hand, allusions to the new Jerusalem which are only amplified and extended in the next vision of the chapter, or when we find, on the other hand, a description of the exclusion from the new Jerusalem of certain classes that have already been consigned to "the second death." By the first-mentioned allusions the passage connects itself with what is yet to come, by the second with what has gone before. For the same reason it is unnecessary to dwell upon the passage at any length. It contains either nothing new, or nothing that will not again meet us in greater fullness of detail One or two brief remarks alone seem called for.
The Seer beholds a new heaven and a new earth. Two words in the New Testament are translated "new," but there is a difference between them. The one contemplates the object spoken of under the aspect of something that has been recently brought into existence, the other under a fresh aspect given to what had previously existed, but been outworn.* The latter word is employed here, as it is also employed in the phrases a "new garment," that is, a garment not threadbare, like an old one; "new wine-skins," that is, skins not shriveled and dried; a "new tomb," that is, not one recently hewn out of the rock, but one which had never been used as the last resting-place of the dead. The fact, therefore, that the heavens and the earth here spoken of are "new," does not imply that they are now first brought into being. They may be the old heavens and the old earth; but they have a new aspect, a new character, adapted to a new end. Of the sense in which the word "sea" is to be understood we have already spoken. Another expression in the passage deserves notice. In saying that the time is come when the tabernacle of the Lord is with men, and He shall dwell with them, it is added, and they shall be His peoples. We are familiar with the Scripture use of the word "people" to denote the true Israel of God, and not less with the use of the word "peoples" to denote the nations of the earth alienated from Him. But here the word "peoples" is used instead of "people" for Gods children; and the usage can only spring from this: that the Seer has entirely abandoned the idea that Israel according to the flesh can have the word "people" applied to it, and that all believers, to whatever race they belong, occupy the same ground in Christ, and are possessed of the same privileges. The "peoples" are the counterpart of the "many diadems" of Rev_19:12. (* Trench, Synonyms, second series, p. 39)
"And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal, having a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel On the east went three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. And the building of the wall thereof was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, is the temple thereof, and the Lamb. And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory into it. And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they which are written in the Lambs book of life. And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein; and His servants shall do Him service: and they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads. And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign forever and ever (Rev_21:9-27; Rev_22:1-5)."
The vision contained in these verses is shown the Seer by the angel forming the third of the second group associated with Him who had been described at Rev_19:11 as the Rider upon the white horse, and who at that time rode forth to His final triumph. The first of this group of three had appeared at Rev_19:17, and the second at Rev_20:1. We have now the third; and it is not unimportant to observe this, for it helps to throw light upon the artificial structure of these chapters, while, at the same time, it connects the vision with Christs victory upon earth rather than with any scene of splendor and glory in a region beyond the place of mans present abode. Thus it contributes something at least to the belief that there where the believer wars he also wears the crown of triumph.
The substance of the vision is a description of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the true Church of God wholly separated from the false Church, as she comes down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Her marriage with the Lamb has taken place, - a marriage in which there shall be no unfaithfulness on the one side and no reproaches on the other, but in which, as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, the Lord shall forever rejoice in His people, and His people in Him. Then follows, to enhance the picture, a detailed account of the true Church under the figure of the city which had been already spoken of in the first vision of the chapter. The treasures of the Seers imagination and language are exhausted in order that the thought of her beauty and her splendor may be suitably impressed upon our minds. Her light - that is, the light which she spreads abroad, for the word used in the original indicates that she is herself the luminary - is like that of the sun, only that it is of crystalline clearness and purity, as it were a jasper stone, the light of Him who sat upon the throne.1 She is "the light of the world."2 The city is also surrounded by a wall great and high. She is "a strong city." "Salvation has God appointed her for walls and bulwarks."3 Her walls have twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, those to whom God gives charge over His people, to keep them in all their ways4; while, as was the case with the new Jerusalem beheld by the prophet Ezekiel, names were written on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.5 These gates are also harmoniously distributed, three on each side of the square which the city forms. The foundations of the city, a term under which we are not to think of foundations buried in the earth, but rather of courses of stones going round the city and rising one above another, are also twelve; and on them are twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (1 Rev_4:3; 2 Mat_5:14; 3 Psa_31:21; Isa_26:1; 4 Psa_91:11; 5Comp. Eze_48:31)
The Seer, however, is not satisfied with this general picture of the greatness of the new Jerusalem. Like that in Ezekiel, the city must be measured.* When this is done, her proportions are found, in spite of the absence of all verisimilitude, to be those of a perfect cube. As in the Holy of holies of the Tabernacle, the thought of which lies at the bottom of the description, the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal. Twelve thousand furlongs, or fifteen hundred miles, the city stretches along and across the plain, and rises into the sky, twelve, - the number of the people of God, multiplied by thousands, the heavenly number. The wall is also measured - it is difficult to say whether in height or in thickness, but most probably the latter - a hundred and forty and four cubits, or twelve multiplied by twelve. (*Comp. Eze_40:2-3)
The measuring is completed, and next follows an account of the material of which the city was composed. This was gold, the most precious metal, in its purest state, like unto pure glass. Precious stones formed, rather than ornamented, its twelve foundations. Its gates were of pearl: each one of the several gates was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. In all these respects it is evident that the city is thought of as ideally perfect, and not according to the realities or possibilities of things.
Nor is this all. The glory of the city is still further illustrated by figures bearing more immediately upon its spiritual rather than its material aspect. The out ward helps needed by men in leading the life of God in their present state of imperfection are dispensed with. There is no temple therein: for the Lord, God, the Almighty, is the temple thereof, and the Lamb. The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God lightens it by day, and the lamp thereof by night is the Lamb. There is in it no sin, and every positive element of happiness is provided in abundance for the blest inhabitants. A river of water of life, bright as crystal, flows there; and on this side of the river and on that side is the tree of life, not bearing fruit only once a year, but every month, not yielding one only, but twelve manner of fruits, so that all tastes may be gratified, having nothing about it useless or liable to decay. The very leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations, and it is evidently implied that they are always green. Finally, there shall be no curse any more. The throne of God and of the Lamb is therein. His servants do Hint service. They see His face. His name is in their foreheads. They are priests unto God in the service of the heavenly sanctuary. They reign forever and ever.
One important question still remains: What aspect of the Church does the holy city Jerusalem, thus come down out of heaven from God, represent? Is it the Church as she shall be after the Judgment, when her three great enemies, together with all who have listened to them, have been forever cast out? Or have we before us an ideal representation of the true Church of Christ as she exists now, and before a final separation has been made between the righteous and the wicked? Unquestionably the first aspect of the passage leads to the former view; and, if there be anything like a chronological statement of events in the Apocalypse, no other may be possible. But we have already seen that the thought of chronology must be banished from this book. The Apocalypse contains simply a series of visions intended to exhibit, with all the force of that inspiration under which the Seer wrote, certain great truths connected with the revelation in humanity of the Eternal Son. It is intended, too, to exhibit these in their ideal, and not merely in their historical, form. They are indeed to appear in history; but, inasmuch as they do not appear there in their ultimate and completed form, we are taken beyond the limited field of historical manifestation. We see them in their real and essential nature, and as they are, in themselves, whether we think of evil on the one hand, or of good on the other. In this treatment of them, however, chronology disappears. Such being the case, we are prepared to ask whether the vision of the new Jerusalem belongs to the end, or whether it expresses what, under the Christian dispensation, is always ideally true.
1. It must be borne in mind that the new Jerusalem, though described as a city, is really a figure, not of a place, but of a people. It is not the final home of the redeemed. It is the redeemed themselves. It is "the bride, the wife of the Lamb."* Whatever is said of it is said of the true followers of Jesus; and the great question, therefore, that has to be considered is, whether St. Johns description is applicable to them in their present Christian condition, or whether it is suitable to them only when they have entered upon their state of glorification beyond the grave. (* Rev_21:9)
2. The vision is really an echo of Old Testament prophecy. We have already seen this in many particulars, and the correspondence might easily have been traced in many more. "It is all," says Isaac Williams, as he begins his comment upon the particular points of the description - "It is all from Ezekiel: The hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me in the visions of God, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city;1 And the glory of the Lord came into the house by the gate toward the east;2 The Lord entered by the eastern gate; therefore shall it be shut, and opened for none but for the Prince.3 Such was the coming of Christs glory from the east into His Church, as so often alluded to before."4 Other prophets, no doubt, who prophesied of the grace that should come unto us, who testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow, are to be added to Ezekiel, but, whoever they were, it is undeniable that their highest and most glowing representations of that future for which they longed, and the advent of which they were commissioned to proclaim, are reproduced in St. John s description of the new Jerusalem. Of what was it, then, that they spoke? Surely it was of the times of the Messiah upon earth, of that kingdom of God which He was to establish with the beginning, and not with the end, of the Christian dispensation. That they may have looked forward to the world beyond the grave is possible; but any distinction between the first and second coming of our Lord had not yet risen upon their minds. In the simple coming of the Hope of Israel into the world they beheld the accomplishment of every aspiration and longing of the heart of man. And they were right. The distinction which experience taught the New Testament writers to draw was not so much between a first and a second coming of the King as between a kingdom then hidden, but afterwards to be manifested in all its glory. (1 Eze_40:1-2; 2 Eze_43:2 3 Eze_44:1-3; 4The Apocalypse, p. 438)
3. This ideal view of the Messianic age is also constantly brought before us in the New Testament. The character, the privileges, and the blessings of those who are partakers of the spirit of that time are always presented to us as irradiated with a heavenly and perfect glory. St. Paul addresses the various churches to which he wrote as, notwithstanding all their imperfections, "beloved of God," "sanctified in Christ Jesus," "saints and faithful brethren in Christ."1 Christ is "in them," and they are "in Christ."2 "Christ loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it; that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish,"3 - the description evidently applying to the present world, where also the Church is seated, not in earthly, but in "the heavenly, places" with her Lord.4 Our "citizenship" is declared to be "in heaven;"5 and we are even now "come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable hosts of angels, and to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven."6 Our Lord Himself and St. John, following in His steps, are even more specific as to the present kingdom and the present glory. "In that day," says Jesus to His disciples, "ye shall know that I am in My Father, and ye in Me, and I in you,"7 and again, "And the glory which Thou hast given Me, I have given unto them; that they may be one, even as We are one;"8 while it is unnecessary to quote the passages meeting us everywhere in the writings of the beloved disciple in which he speaks of eternal life, and that, too, in the full greatness both of its privileges and of its results, as a possession enjoyed by the believer in this present world. The whole witness of the New Testament, in short, is to an ideal, to a perfect, kingdom of God even now established among men, in which sin is conquered, temptation overcome, strength substituted for weakness, death so deprived of its sting that it is no more death, and the Christian, though for a little put to grief in manifold temptations, made "to rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and glorified."9 From all this the representation of the new Jerusalem in the Apocalypse differs in no essential respect It enters more into particulars. It illustrates the general thought by a greater variety of detail. But it contains nothing which is not found in principle in the other sacred writers, and which is not connected by them with the heavenly aspect of the Christians pilgrimage to his eternal home. (1 Rom_1:7; 1Co_1:2; Col_1:2; Col_1:2; 2 Col_1:27; 1Co_1:30; Php_3:9; 3 Eph_5:25-27; 4 Eph_1:3; 5 Php_3:20; 6 Heb_12:22-23; 7 Joh_14:20; 8 Joh_17:22; 9 1Pe_1:8)
4. There are distinct indications in the apocalyptic vision which leave no interpretation possible except one, - that the new Jerusalem has come, that it has been in the midst of us for more than eighteen hundred years, that it is now in the midst of us, and that it shall continue to be so wherever its King has those who love and serve Him, walk in His light, and share His peace and joy.
(1) Let us look at Rev_20:9, where we read of "the camp of the saints and the beloved city." That city is none other than the new Jerusalem, about to be described in the following chapter. It is Jerusalem after the elements of the harlot character have been wholly expelled, and the call of Rev_18:4 has been heard and obeyed, "Come forth, My people, out of her." She is inhabited now by none but "saints," who, though they have still to war with the world, are themselves the "called, and chosen, and faithful." But this "beloved city" is spoken of as in the world, and as the object of attack by Satan and his hosts before the Judgment.* (*Comp. Foxley, Hulsean Lectures, Lect. 1)
(2) Let us look at Rev_21:24 and Rev_22:2 : "And the nations shall walk by the light thereof; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory into it;" "And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Who are these "nations" and these "kings of the earth"? The constant use of the same expressions in other parts of this book, where there can be no doubt as to their meaning, compels us to understand them of nations and kings beyond the pale of the covenant. But if so, the difficulty of realizing the situation at a point of time beyond the Judgment appears to be insuperable, and may be well illustrated by the effort of Hengstenberg to overcome it "Nations," says that commentator, "in the usage of the Revelation, are not nations generally, but always heathen nations in their natural or Christianized state; compare at Rev_20:3. That we are to think here only of converted heathen is as clear as day. No room for conversion can be found on the further side of Rev_20:15, for everyone who had not been found written in the book of life has already been cast into the lake of fire."* But the words "or Christianized" in this comment have no countenance from any other passage in the Apocalypse, and in Hengstenbergs note at Rev_20:3 we are referred to nothing but the texts before us. On every other occasion, too, where the word "nations" meets us, it means unconverted, not converted, nations; and here it can mean nothing else. Were the nations spoken of converted, they would be a part of that new Jerusalem which is not the residence of Gods people, but His people themselves. They would be the light, and not such as walk "by the light" of others. They would be the healed, and not those who stand in need of "healing." These "nations" must be the unconverted, these "kings of the earth" such as have not yet acknowledged Jesus to be their King; and nothing of this can be found beyond Rev_20:15. (*Commentary in Clarks Foreign Theological Library, in loc.)
(3) Let us look at Rev_21:27, where we read, "And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that doeth an abomination and a lie." These words distinctly intimate that the time for final separation had not yet come. Persons of the wicked character described must be supposed to be alive upon the earth after the new Jerusalem has appeared.
5. Another consideration on the point under discussion may be noticed, which will have weight with those who admit the existence of that principle of structure in St. Johns writings upon which it rests. Alike in the Gospel and in the Apocalypse the Apostle is marked by a tendency to return at the close of a section to what he had said at the beginning, and to shut up, as it were, between the two statements all he had to say. So here. In Rev_1:3 he introduces his Apocalypse with the words, "For the time is at hand." In Rev_22:10, immediately after closing it, he returns to the thought, "Seal not up the words of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand; "that is, the whole intervening revelation is enclosed between these two statements. All of it precedes the "time" spoken of. The new Jerusalem comes before the end.
In the new Jerusalem, therefore, we have essentially a picture, not of the future, but of the present; of the ideal condition of Christ s true people, of His "little flock" on earth, in every age. The picture may not yet be realized in fullness; but every blessing lined in upon its canvas is in principle the believers now, and will be more and more his in actual experience as he opens his eyes to see and his heart to receive. We have been wrong in transferring the picture of the new Jerusalem to the future alone. It belongs also to the past and to the present. It is the heritage of the children of God at the very time when they are struggling with the world; and the thought of it ought to stimulate them to exertion and to console them under suffering.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1–4 1–4. I saw a new heaven and a new…
1–4. I saw a new heaven and a new earth. The scriptures both of the Old and New Testaments point to the destruction of the old earth when the Lord comes to judgment. See 2 Pet. 3:10. It is to undergo a purification and a renewal to fit it for the home of the saints in glory. The “old heavens and earth,” which I understand to comprehend the old world and its order, so sadly out of joint, pass away at the time of the great judgment, and the old state of things shall be succeeded by a new order, both physical and moral. And the sea is no more. Whether this is to be understood literally, or whether it means that there shall be no barriers between the peoples, such as the sea interposes, is not certain.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 “NOW is sealed the eternal doom of the dragon,…
THE NEW JERUSALEM
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
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“NOW is sealed the eternal doom of the dragon, beast, false prophet, and all their followers; yea, and of all who resemble them in the temper of their hearts or the action of their lives. Nothing remains but to exhibit the glorious reward of the righteous, in the eternal world, as contrasted with the awful punishment of the wicked.”
Rev_21:1. New heavens and new earth.—Isa_65:17; compare Ezekiel 40-48 and Mat_19:28. “Heavens “here refer to the firmament regarded as the dome above the earth; it is not the abode of the righteous. No more sea.—For ancient ideas of the sea, compare Isa_48:18; Isa_57:21. “To the ancients the absence of sea seemed a pledge of security and of unfettered intercourse between all nations.”
Rev_21:2. New Jerusalem.—An ideal city, presented under figures that represent perfection—the perfection of purity, beauty, and joy.
Rev_21:3 Tabernacle of God.—Figure from the conception of Jehovah as resident in the old Jewish tabernacle.
Rev_21:10. Holy Jerusalem.—Bishop Boyd Carpenter skilfully presents the leading features: “The great and holy community will be one which draws its glory from God (chaps. Rev_21:11; Rev_21:23, Rev_22:5). Its blessings are not for a few, but open to all; for its gates lie open to all quarters (Rev_21:12-13). The heavenly and the earthly will be at one; angels, apostles, and patriarchs are there (Rev_21:12; Rev_21:14). Diverse characters will find entrance there; the gates bear the names of the twelve tribes. The door of admission is alike for all, though diverse characters, from diverse quarters, will enter in (Rev_21:21). It will be the abode of all that is fair and good, and no disproportions will mar its loveliness (Rev_21:17-18). The ancient truths, spoken by various lips, will be found to be eternal truths, full of varied but consistent beauty (Rev_21:14; Rev_21:19-20). The forms and helps which were needful here will not be needful there (Rev_21:22-23); all that the servants of God have righteously hungered and thirsted for here, will be supplied there (Rev_21:1-2). There will be blessings, various, continuous, eternal; new fields of labour, and new possibilities of service, will be opened there.”
Rev_21:7. Loosed from his prison.—As this is the indication of some future condition, it is impossible to explain it. Taken mystically, the binding of Satan implied restraint put upon his power of freedom and action; the loosing means the removal of those restraints. Christendom, even in its times of glorious success, is exposed to the influences of the evil one. Gog and Magog.—See Gen_10:2; Ezekiel 38, 39. “In Rabbinical books these names were used to describe the nations that would rise against the reign of Messiah. The names are to be understood figuratively.”
Rev_21:12. Stand before God.—This representation of the judgment is a vision, and it would be unwise to treat it as literally descriptive. Compare our Lord’s being shown, in a moment of time, “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them.” Book of life.—Compare Dan_12:1.
Rev_21:13. Hell.—Sheol, the Hebrew equivalent of Hades. Those buried at sea are thought of as not being in the grave: a curious distinction.
Rev_21:14. Lake of fire.—This is pure imagery; fire to burn such things as death and the grave cannot possibly be literally explained. It is to be understood as the material representation of the “second death.” “Here is a resurrection, not to life, but to a death far more terrible than that which ends this life.”
Note on the “Second Death” or “Lake of Fire.”—It is a death of which the first death—the physical death, now destroyed—was but a faint figure. It is a condition which needs no coarse exaggeration, or vulgar literalisation of the prophetic imagery, to heighten the horror of it. Very awful is that spiritual death which knows not and loves not God, and from which Christ has come to arouse us; more awful must be that second death, in which the spirit, no longer the sinning victim of hereditary evil, has become the victim of habitual choice of wrong, loving darkness rather than light, and choosing alienation rather than reconciliation—the busks of the swine rather than the Father’s house. Of the full meaning of the words, in their true and future force, we can have little conception. It is enough for us to remember two things: they are figurative, but they are figurative of something.—Bishop Boyd Carpenter.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Rev_21:1-27
The Millennial State.—In the latter part of chap. 20, and in chaps. 21–22:5, all Christ’s enemies are destroyed, and the happiness of the saints is perfected. Upon the millennial bliss of the redeemed, and upon the glory and happiness of the New Jerusalem, it is not possible to dwell. Suffice it to say, that we are to behold in the former a figure of the perfected and eternally secured life of those who not only die, but rise, with Christ; and that in the latter we have a bright and beautiful, as well as elevating, picture of that new condition into which the followers of Jesus are introduced, even on this side the grave, and amidst the labours and trials of their present pilgrimage. Nothing, we are persuaded, has tended more to perplex the interpretation of the Apocalypse than the idea that that holy city which St. John saw “coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband” is intended to represent a glorious state into which the redeemed shall enter, sooner or later, after the close of their earthly pilgrimage, but before they obtain possession of their eternal inheritance. Taking such a view, it is impossible to interpret fairly all the expressions of the passage, while it deprives us, at the same time, of the thought of those sublime privileges which, as we are everywhere taught in Scripture, are not the future only, but the present inheritance of God’s children. It is true, indeed, that even they who are “in” Christ Jesus are still surrounded by a darkness which has no place in the heavenly Jerusalem; that they have still to shed tears which are there washed away; and that they have still to fear that they must meet that death which shall there be swallowed up of victory. Calling these things to mind, it can be no matter of surprise that many have difficulty in believing that the brightness and glory of this celestial city can, under any point of view, represent an earthly scene through which we are thankful if we may but grope our way, “fightings without, and fears within.” Yet let them remember that the Christian life has two sides, those two which are brought forward so prominently by the Apostle, when he speaks of himself and his fellow ministers “as dying, and behold we live; as chastened, and not killed; as sorrowing, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing all things” (2Co_5:1; 2Co_5:9-10). Let them remember that, if the follower of Christ dies daily with his Lord, he also rises with Him daily, and ascends to the heavenly places, and is set down there, his life not maintained amidst the things of earth, but “hid with Christ in God.” Let these thoughts be ever present to their minds, and they will not have much difficulty in seeing that in the description of the new Jerusalem we have the ideal side of the Christian’s position, elevated to its highest point and illuminated with its brightest colouring, but still a side that is true to one aspect of his present state.—W. Milligan, D.D.
SUGGESTIVE NOTES AND SERMON SKETCHES
Rev_21:1. A Strange Picture of the Future.—Who among us does not love the sea, and feel thankful that the Bible permits us to learn from it concerning God, and the future life? But our associations make it almost impossible for us to realise the joy of a time when “there shall be no more sea.” The landscapes of the heavenly world we cannot imagine will be beautiful without either near or far glimpses of the sea. The air of the heavenly world we can hardly think will be pure and rich and reviving if it does not blow over a restless, waving sea. There must, however, be some good reasons for putting the glory of the heavenly scenes under this figure. The meanings attaching to natural emblems differ in different times, and nations, and individuals, and when the Apostle John wrote this book of Revelation, men did not think of the “sea” as we think of it now. Indeed, throughout the Scriptures the sea is regarded as an object of fear and terror; its majesty, its greatness, its mastery, seem mostly to have impressed men then. It was not yet tamed by human skill. The compass was not known; the few vessels they had were inefficiently constructed for ocean-sailing; they seldom ventured out of sight of land. The dangers of sandbank, rock, headland, and current, were not marked on chart, or by buoy and lighthouse, and only the most adventurous spirits would risk their lives on the treacherous wave. The Jews, throughout their history, take no place as sailors; indeed, the whole sea-board of Canaan contains but one or two harbours. Scripture speaks of “the raging of the sea,” of the “raging waves of the sea”; of its “voice roaring,” of the “floods lifting up their voice,” of “the wicked being like the troubled sea,” of “those that go down to the sea in ships seeing the wonders of the Lord, and His judgments in the deep,” of the “great and wide sea, wherein are things creeping innumerable.” And even when it seems to have a gentle thought, saying, “There go the ships”; as if, like us, it loved to watch—
“The stately ships go on
To their harbour under the hill,”
at once it adds the note of power and fear—“there is that Leviathan whom thou hast made to play therein.” Only as we enter into the Bible associations of the sea shall we feel the meaning of its figure for the future world—“There shall be no more sea.” But more must be added. When John wrote down these visions he was “our companion in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of Jesus Christ, and was in the isle that is called Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ.” Patmos is a rocky and bare island in the Ægean Sea, and was used by the Romans as a place of banishment, something as St. Helena has been by us. There John was separated from his fellow-Christians, and from his loved work; the sea was his divider, and we can well understand how, looking on that wide waste of pathless waters all around him, his heart would fashion this image of the life to come—“There shall be no more sea.” The common idea of the age, and the special circumstances of the apostle, help us to reach the proper suggestions of a figure so unsuitable to our own feelings. We even know that the sea—the moving, and the storms of the sea—are necessary to life and health. The air is tempered which passes over it; the wants of men are met by its provisions of food; disease is dispelled by its tempests and commotions. And yet, for all the usefulness of the sea, and all the pleasure of it, there are times when, to our hearts, the figure of the text carries its full meaning; and in the light of that meaning we can anticipate “the new heavens and earth, in which there shall be no more sea.” The sea seems to gather up for us the various forms of trouble and anxiety that come to us in this life; the various forms of trouble from which we hope to be delivered in the coming life. The troubles that arise out of Separation, Danger, Mystery, Change, and Conflict.
I. If the sea be to us the symbol of separation, and so of those earthly troubles that come by separations, we shall see meaning and force in this promise for the future—“There shall be no more sea.”—True the ocean is now the pathway of nations. In all the interchanges of commerce, and friendship, and travel, we make well-defined tracks over the waters, and knit land to land more easily than when mountain ranges divide kingdoms. Let but any one watch in the Downs, and see the thousand ships passing in picturesque procession to and from the Thames, and he will feel it very hard to call the sea a divider. Think but of the ropes that pass beneath the wave, and carry lightning messages to the ends of the earth, and it seems strange to speak of the sea as a separator. Yet in no day has it been such a breaker-up of families and homes as in these emigrating days of ours. Few of us are without dear friends settled in distant lands, severed from us by the great wave. Many a mother, many a father, many a lover, feels most keenly that the sea is only a little less a separator than the grave. Why those tears wrung out of the agonies of parting, save that to human feeling every mile of ocean seems to lift up a higher, and at last impassable, barrier between us and them? How many a friend has watched the ship fading in the distance that bore the beloved away, and turned back to life with all the agony of desolation, feeling as if divided from them for ever!
“How hard to follow, with lips that quiver,
That moving speck on the far-off side!
Farther, farther—I see it—know it;
My eyes brim over. It melts away.
Only my heart to my heart shall show it,
As I walk desolate, day by day.”
Jean Ingelow.
That, indeed, is only separation of space. Across the dividing sea, heart may beat true to heart, and fellowship be kept. There are worse dividers than the sea. Envies, and suspicions, and jealousies, come breaking up our life-unions and our friendships, and some of the sorest of human sorrows belong to these failing friendships and wounded trusts. Gather them all, then, into the symbol of the wounded trusts. Gather them all, then, into the symbol of the sea. Let it remind you of all the woes that have come out of separations, all through your life; even let it recall how the great separator death again and again sets his wide, rolling river between you and those you loved. Yes, even think how those dear to you, part of the host, have crossed the great flood, and are now divided by the sea of death from you. And then turn to our text; let thought and heart fill its pictures of the future with tenderness, and peaceful resting to your soul. No ship shall sail out from the heavenly harbours, bearing away from you your boys. No rolling waves of mistrust shall toss between you and your friend. No night-moaning sea of death shall bear away on its bosom your beloved. “There shall be no more sea.” “They go no more out for ever.”
“Here we suffer grief and pain,
Here we meet to part again:
In Heaven we part no more.”
II. If the sea be to us the emblem of danger, reminding us of the perils to which our daily life is exposed, we shall feel the force of the text. Those dangers do, indeed, meet us everywhere: on road and rail, at home and abroad. “In the midst of life we are in death.” But we get the largest and most affecting impressions of danger from the records of the sea. Shipwreck is a most familiar word—so familiar that if there be not special circumstances of horror, it passes almost unheeded by us. The sea is the most masterful thing with which a man has to do. He does, at best, but hold his own with it, and that only by watching it, and fitting himself to its moods. Step on deck, knowing that, for days together, you will lose all sight of land, and scarcely meet another sail, and who can wonder that the sense of danger makes you lift your heart to God? But those only feel how the sea symbolises danger who have lost a friend at sea. Its peril then has come right home to them. Down in her solitary depths their loved one made a grave; and the heart almost shudders now to look upon the dreadful sea that devoured him. Had we a sailor’s widow here, how much her heart could tell us of the perils of the deep! Is your heart sensitive and sympathising enough to hear her moan?
“My boat, you shall find none fairer afloat,
In river or port.
Long I looked out for the lad she bore,
On the open, desolate sea,
And I think he sailed to the heavenly shore,
For he came not back to me—
Ah me!”
Jean Ingelow.
But these are only dangers to the body. May we rise to the higher dangers that put the soul’s life in peril; dangers hovering round our moral life, putting in peril character and virtue? And then, taking the sea as our emblem of both, does not the text begin to glow with meaning, as it promises the peace of established, settled, untempted goodness for ever?—“he that is righteous, righteous still; and he that is holy, holy still.” Watch and guard no more, as now, our first duty, and done at cost of weariness and pain. But rejoicing, resting, safety, the peace of God, about us for ever; no more treacherous, perilous, storm-tossed seas. We shall hear that “blessedest, best sound, the boat-keel grazing on the strand,” as we enter, once and for ever, the safe, quiet harbour of our God. Safe home at last.
III. If we deeply feel how the sea symbolises the mystery of our present life, we shall put meaning into the promise of our text. Have you ever done thinking about the sea? Ever done asking insoluble questions about it? Ever done watching its various moods? Ever seen all its possible colourings? Ever heard all its many sounding voices? One of the greatest indications that God Himself is a sublimer mystery than even the sea, lies in this statement: “He ruleth the seas”; He “holdeth the waters in the hollow of His hand.” It may well symbolise for us the mysteries, often so distressing, so agonising, with which we are surrounded. Mysteries of life, of truth, of duty, of ourselves, of God, and of eternity. How passionately we dash against some of these encircling walls!—as if we would force nature and truth to yield us their secrets. The day is coming when we shall win the open vision. Many of us anticipate heaven with unbounded enthusiasm, because then we shall see, then we shall know; shut doors, at which here we vainly hammered, shall be open; dark things, that puzzled us sorely, shall shine in the light of God. There shall be no more sea of mystery. In comparison with present limitations, our mind and soul shall feel free; and for ennobled faculties all the glory of God shall be open to research. For some, at least, the prospect makes heaven infinitely attractive. The Lamb is the light thereof, and “we shall know hereafter.”
IV. If we regard the sea as the emblem of change, we shall see the meaning of our text. It is well called the troubled, restless sea; and this we feel quite as truly in summer calm, when only gentle winds blow across it, as in winter conflicts, when wild winds raise high its tides. We feel it quite as much when we watch the varying waves fling themselves on the rocks, and cast up showers of spray in ever-differing forms, as when, journeying on the waters, we see them swirl past the vessel, and all around us heave and toss. Nothing can so well illustrate that sense of the changefulness of life which oppresses us when years of memory lengthen. The “fashion of this world is ever passing away.” What chequered, varying lives ours all have been! Indeed, we never set ourselves down anywhere now, to say “Here I shall stay,” or, looking around us, say, “All this I shall keep.” “Here we have no continuing city.” But when the heart in us pines for something to hold, something to keep, something that is unchangeable, Bible figure points us on; not now, not here, it seems to say. The sea is all about you now. A time is coming when there shall be no more change, “no more sea.” No more change as we have felt its bitterness here. “Therefore lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through and steal.” Changes are good, while we are struggling with sin, and after holiness; but through changes we are reaching the unchanging rest of God, and the sea of the future is the calm, ever-resting sea of glass, mingled with fire.
V. If we think of the sea as the emblem of conflict, we shall add meaning to the text. It may not have been your lot to watch a storm at sea. It is the most sublime illustration of conflict that I know. The lightning flash, that for a moment relieves the darkness, shows the seething, boiling waters, in a tumult of war, and the ship hardly straining and steadying itself, and keeping its prow well facing wind and wave. Such a storm I saw in early life, and its impressions can never be effaced. In half agony one thought, Could even the rocks withstand these waters when thus they lifted up their majesty? What could the little ships do amid forces so tremendous as these?—the loud thunder answering back to the deep baying of the troubled waves. It may well represent that conflict which is the law now for us in all conditions of life. We must fight. Everything in the world—the family, or the Church—that is worth having, must be won in a battle-field. Like wind, and wave, and storm, are “the world, the flesh, and the devil,” and sometimes they unite to beat upon, and strive to overcome, our soul-ships, as they voyage on to God. Is it oppressing you to-day that life is a conflict? Are you weary with it? Can you understand David saying, “Oh that I had wings like a dove, then would I flee away and be at rest”! God stills your heart to rest by the message He sends you to-day, and the promise He gives. A little while, only a little while, and then there shall be no more sea—
“Not a wave of trouble roll
Across thy peaceful breast.”
“What hath be at last?
Sorrow vanquished, conflict ended,
Jordan past.”
Does it seem to you that these thoughts have been somewhat melancholy in tone? I have wanted them to lead on to the brightness and joy of a large and blessed hope. We must be sometimes reminding you how full our present life is of trying and sorrowful scenes; but we never do so in hopeless spirits—never to help you brood over the large share of trouble put into your lot—never to make you miserable, and give ground for those who plead that our religion clouds our human life with gloom. We want to produce and keep alive a profound and affecting dissatisfaction with present scenes; to sever hearts from too close clinging to the world, and the things of the world. We do want to make you feel that this is not your rest; to lift your eyes right up, and set them looking right away from the hills and vales of earth to the hills of God, whence only cometh our help. We do want to kindle in your souls that great, glorious, blessed hope of eternal life with God, which will shine on present scenes so as to make them appear insignificant and worthless. We would so fill your souls with visions of the future that you could each one say to his heart, “Go up, heart, into a little higher fighting, a little longer waiting and bearing. Be brave unto shadows; soon the shadows will flee away. Be strong in the battle-field; soon the archangel’s trump shall stop the conflict, and call the victors to their crown. Be patient in the darkness: day is breaking, even the day of God. Bear nobly even heart-breaking separations: the time is coming when there shall be no more dividing; heart shall beat with heart in the communion of heaven for ever.” “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.” Out of the depths, then, let us lift our eyes to-day. Our redemption draweth nigh. Over the restless ocean of life we journey now; but with Christ in the vessel there is safe guiding, and one day the abundant entrance into the kingdom of heaven. The ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads. And well we know we scarce shall win our welcome ere we cast our crowns at the enthroned Redeemer’s feet, saying, “Unto Him that loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, be glory and dominion for ever and ever.” I have but another word. Reverse our text and make it a vision of the future for those who love not Christ, and do not serve God in the gospel of His Son. Conceive what an awful future is suggested by these words: “it shall be all sea”; all wide, wild wastes of midnight, howling, storm-tossed, wintry waters; never dropping into calm; never lit by the summer sunshine; full of separation, danger, mystery, suffering, conflict. I cannot image it to you. The soul shudders at the awful picture of the future awaiting those who love not God, and refuse the gospel of His Son. “Now is the accepted time; now is the day of salvation.”
No More Sea.—What is meant by this symbol is best ascertained by remembering how the sea appears in the Old Testament. The Jew was not a sailor. In the Old Testament it is a symbol of mystery, of rebellious power, and of perpetual unrest.
1. The revelation of a future in which there shall be no more painful mystery.
2. The text tells of a state that is to come, when there shall be no more rebellious power. God lets people work against His kingdom in this world. It is not to be always so.
3. The text forete’ls a state of things in which there is no more disquiet and unrest. Life is a voyage over a turbulent sea. Changing circumstances come rolling after each other, like the undistinguishable billows of the great ocean. Tempests and storms rise. That is life. But there is an end to it some day, and it is worth while for us to think about our “island home, far, far beyond the sea.”—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Rev_21:3-4. God’s Tabernacle with Men.
Consider—
I. The sentiments of which this proclamation is expressive.—We perceive in it—
1. The exultation of joyous discovery.
2. The rapture of sacred astonishment.
3. The eagerness of solemn expectation.
4. The expression of the force of a benevolent interest in all that pertains to the welfare and destiny of man.
5. The satisfaction of devout intelligence, beholding, in the events which it contemplates, fresh attestations of the stability and fulness of its own eternal welfare, as dependent on the Divine counsels and character.
6. Preparation for instant and cheerful concurrence in the effecting of God’s purposes, and the advancement of His glory.
II. The events by which it is called forth.—
1. The wonders of providence, as exhibiting God’s concern, and individual, as well as constant regard for human welfare.
2. The sublimer wonders of redemption.
3. The mysteries of the sanctifying influence.
4. The final revelations of the Divine power and greatness through all time and eternity.
III. The manner wherein it teaches us to reflect both on our privileges and duties.—We should meditate:
(1) with mingled gratitude and wonder;
(2) with united watchfulness and diligence;
(3) a corresponding appreciation of every ordinance which confirms it;
(4) a sacred ambition and ardour to diffuse its knowledge among thoe yet destitute of it;
(5) a holy desire for the final manifestation of God.—R. S. McAll.
Rev_21:5. The Renewal of All Things.
I. The need of a complete moral renewal. All visions of a political or economic millennium wreck themselves upon the obstinate fact of human depravity. With this, legislators, philosophers, and moralists, have been found powerless to deal. The gospel alone builds its hope upon a complete moral renewal of humanity, making “all things new”—chief among them the heart of man.
II. An adequate power.—“He that sitteth on the throne.” At this point, too, the best human systems of morality fail. But He who created the human soul can renew it. The hardest heart can be broken, the worst disposition changed, when Omnipotence rises up to work. The conversion of Saul of Tarsus, or of the three thousand in a day, come with infinite ease within the sweep of His power.
III. The wonder of regeneration.—For this stupendous thing we ask whenever we pray for the conversion of a soul: that the omnipotent Jehovah will reach down from the heaven of heavens and mould all the powers and activities of that soul to His own Divine image—in that soul “make all things new.”
IV. The secret of “holding out.”—If conversion is not a varnish put on the outside, not a mere “good resolution” of man, but a renewal of “all things”—purposes, desires, ambitions, loves and hates—by Divine power, that renewed soul will “walk in newness of life.”
V. The great need of the Church: a regenerate membership.—No more proud, covetous, envious, hot-tempered unscrupulous Church members, excusing these inconsistencies as “natural,” but, in the glory of the renewed nature, “growing up into Him in all things who is the head, even Christ.” Such a Church is the ideal of Christianity, and the hope of the world.
VI. The ultimate renewal of all outward things: nations, nature.—“The kingdoms of the world are become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ”; “the creation also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God”—“new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”—I. C. Fernald.
Rev_21:17. Wherewith to Measure Life.—The measure of a man is here identified with the measure of an angel. Here is a Divine scale of measurement, and one which, if we would apply it to our lives, would make them sublime indeed!
I. It is the curse of our race that, though God made our souls, like our bodies, upright, and fitted to gaze on heaven, we walk like Mammon, with earthward eyes.—Jesus contemned the offer of the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them. Men will be lofty or low, according to the office to which they direct their souls. If their ideal be dwarfed and miserable, their lives, too, will be small and mean.
II. You may judge of this by large as well as by small examples.—Take in your hands the great works of history, and see how grievously nations have suffered when their multitudes have been misled by false admirations.
III. But perhaps we may be misled if we make our deductions too broad.—Look, then, at sections and phases of Society only. Any class of society is degraded when it acquiesces in, much more when it admires, immoral favourites.
IV. To each of us individually—to our nation, to our Church—it is of supreme importance that we lift our eyes to the galaxy of great examples, and reflect the luminous virtue of heavenly ideals—The sole hope of humanity is in its good and holy men. All earth’s purest and noblest come and lay garlands at the feet of these statues, but the crowd of the vulgar clamber up the pedestal, with no other object than to injure and to deface. How can a man have any light or sweetness left in him who delights to feed himself on calumny and falsehood until the devil has drawn down his soul into incurable littleness, as the worm “draws in the withered leaf, and makes it earth”?
V. I have faith in manhood when I see men choosing lofty ideals, turning with scorn from all that is frivolous, leaving things base to perish of their own natural corruption, claiming their affinity with all things worthy, and measuring their lives with the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.—Such thoughts produce pure and high-souled men.
VI. Can one ask, without a sigh, whether it is a common thing for men thus to measure their lives with the measure of a man—that, is, of an angel?—
1. To what multitudes among us is not the love of money a root of all kinds of evils? How insignificant a fraction of their means do some men spare for the needs of their Church, the glory of their God, and the good of their fellow-men! The worshipper of Mammon—by what does he measure his life? Is it not by the measure of the wretchedest spirit that fell?
2. Others measure their life by the measure of a fiend. A drunkard—the helpless bondslave of a dead poison, sinking into penury and rags, or in some drunken orgy becoming a felon, or even a murderer.
3. Do not others measure life with the measure of a beast? The selfish, the unclean, the greedy, the immoral, do this.
4. Others by the measure of the world. We must learn one great Divine lesson in two aspects. Respect for human nature in ourselves; and also in others. In our faith in the Incarnation lies the very heart and essence of Christianity. Angels are but ministering spirits. “All angels worship Him.”—Canon F. W. Farrar, D.D.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 21
Rev_21:10. The New Jerusalem.—Josiah Conder, in his work on “The Harmony of History with Prophecy,” remarks, on the above passage: “In its general plan, the symbolical city presents a striking resemblance to the description of Ecbatana, furnished by the Father of secular history. ‘Of this city, one wall encompassed another, and each rose by the height of its battlements above the one beyond it. The ground, which was a circular hill, favoured this construction, but it owed still more to the labours bestowed upon the work. The orbicular walls were seven in number: within the last stood the royal palace and the treasuries. The largest of the walls nearly equalled the circumference of Athens. The battlements of this outer wall were white; those of the second, black; of the third, purple; of the fourth, blue; of the fifth, orange; all the battlements being thus covered with a pigment. Of the last two walls, the battlements of the one were plated with silver, those of the other with gold.’ Thus the Median city consisted of seven circular terraces, each distinguished by the colour of its wall, whereas the Apocalyptic city is described as a quadrangle of twelve stages or foundations; but the points of coincidence are highly illustrative of the emblematic description. The precious stones of which the walls of the holy city appeared to consist, whatever mystical or symbolical significance may attach to them, are obviously intended to describe the colour of each resplendent elevation; and, although the colouis do not occur in the precise prismatic order, the combination would have the general effect of a double rainbow.”
Rev_21:18. Gold as Compared with Glass.—“Gold comes into consideration here on account of its splendour. ‘The white jasper,’ says Bengel, ‘and the yellow gold harmonise well together.’ The point of comparison between the gold and the glass is expressly intimated. It stands simply in the purity; the transparency, noticed in Rev_21:21, is that of the glass, not of the gold, and taken into account merely as the symbol of purity. All gold is not pure; glass, considered generally, is so, and therefore, what is pure only exceptionally is compared with it” (Hengstenberg). Though coloured glass and opaque glass were known as far back as the early Egyptian era, it was only in the reign of Nero that clear, transparent glass came into fashion. A great demand sprang up at once for it. Hence John, in speaking of it, uses it as we would the railway or telegraph etc., and by so doing shows that his book was written after Nero’s reign. Possibly some other allusions of the same kind may exist.”
Rev_21:19-20. Precious Stones.—“When quartz or flint is found uncrystallised, and more opaque, of various colours, from white to black, it constitutes chalcedony” (Greek, chalkedon). Of this there are several varieties; the onyx and sardonyx, the sardius, or carnelian; and the chrysoprase; and the Oriental jasper already noticed. The colour of chalcedony is either bluish or milky grey. The chrysoprase is of of an apple-green colour. The former has a wavy appearance, somewhat resembling agate, and is said to have been originally found at Chalcedon, in Bithynia, whence its name The best carnelians are obtained from the East Indies, Japan, and Surat. It is also found in Europe and America. The word carnelian is derived from the Latin carnis, flesh, on account of its fleshy colour. Its Hebrew name has also relerence to its colour. “When first found these stones are of a dark olive colour, and obtain the lighter red or white hue by exposure to the air, or by being baked, it is said, in ovens. It takes a beautiful polish, and is used for seals and ornaments. It was among the precious things of Tyre. In a mountain near Damar is found a stone which the Arabs call ayek yemani, and which they hold in the highest estimation. It is of a red or rather light brown colour, and seems to be a carnelian. The natives set it in rings or bracelets, and ascribe to it the talismanic virtue of healing wounds, and stanching blood when instantly applied.” Moses, the most ancient and inspired historian, tells us that the land of Havilah abounded in the onyxstone (Hebrew, shehem; Greek, onuchion). The Hebrew word is variously translated by learned men; but it is certain, from the testimony of both the sacred and profane writers, that Arabia abounded in precious stones. Pliny says it was common in the mountains of Arabia; and Niebuhr says that he “saw quantities of the stones in the road, as he journeyed from Mount Taœs to Mount Sumara.” Another writer tells us that “not only was the onyx plentiful in Arabia, but they adorned their walls with it” (Rev_21:19-20). And the prophet Ezekiel also speaks of the precious stones from Sheba and Raamah, in which the Arabians traded with Tyre (Eze_27:22). The onyx and sardonyx (so called from its resemblance to the sardius in colour) are both of a flinty texture, composed of layers of chalcedony of different colours. “Some antique cameos were made from these stones, by having the figure, or head, in the whiter stratum, while the background was cut down to that which is darker coloured.” Miss Sedgwick says that in the room of gems in the Museo Borbonico, Naples, was an onyx, considered the finest cameo in Europe. It was as large as a plate. On one side was represented the “Nile and its fertility,” and on the other Medusa’s head. These stones are all referred to in the beautiful picture which the apostle gives of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city; and this description was quite in accordance with the splendour of Eastern palaces. “The first object that attracts attention,” says Franklin, in his History of Shah Allum, “is the public hall of audience.… It is adorned with excessive magnificence. I judge the building to be a hundred and fifty feet in length. The roof is flat, supported by numerous columns of fine white marble, which have been richly ornamented with inlaid flower work of carnelian and different coloured stones.… The inside of the wall, about two-thirds of the way up, is lined with marble, having beautiful borders of flowers, worked in carnelians and other stones, executed with much taste.… It is evident the apostle drew his magnificent description of the walls of the holy city from these pictures of gorgeous splendour. The coarser materials of brick and mud, of which the walls in many royal gardens of the East are composed, are entirely hid by the brilliant and dazzling profusion of gems that everywhere sparkle along the whole length of walls. But how far superior the holy city!
“Its walls all precious stones combine;
Its gates their leaves of pearl unfold;
Its holy mansions far outshine
Transparent glass and burnished gold.
In that bright city I would dwell,
With that blest Church the Saviour praise;
And, safe redeemed from death and hell,
Sit at His feet through endless days.”
H. H.
Rev_21:20. Chrysolite: Topaz.—(Hebrew, pitdah, topaz; Greek, topazion.)—Chrysolite really means the golden stone, and is a general term for stones having a golden hue. The colours of what we call chrysolite are a green, sometimes yellowish or brownish, with a white streak. It is bright and transparent, but is seldom larger than a pin’s head, and is used in jewellery. It is obtained chiefly from the Levant. There is a variety of this stone called olivine, on account of its colour, which is found in basalt in Bohemia, Hungary, and on the banks of the Rhine. The chrysolite of this verse was probably what we now call topaz. The topaz is a very beautiful gem, sometimes nearly transparent, and of different sizes, forms, and colours. Its general colour is bright yellow, tinged with red, orange, or green, and it is found in some countries of a blue green, or yellow colour. The Brazilian species is often as transparent as a piece of ice when the surface is melting. It is embedded in granite and other rocks in every part of the world, chiefly in veins of tin. It is either in crystal or in rounded masses, sometimes weighing several ounces. In Scotland, the topaz is found at Cairngorm, and receives its name from that place. The Oriental topazes were highly esteemed. Those of Ethiopia were celebrated for their wonderful lustre. Pliny says the topaz belonged to Arabia, and derived its name from the island Topazos.
Rev_21:23. The Glory of Heaven.—How transcendent the glory of that world where there shall be no more sin nor imperfection—where all shall unite in the song, “Worthy is the Lamb that was slain” I “The glory of the Lord (doth) lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.” The idolatrous temple of Diana was so bright and splendid that the door-keeper always cried to them that entered in, “Take heed to your eyes.” But what faculties of vision must we have to behold the glory of the temple above! If it is said that the righteous themselves shall shine forth as the sun, what will be the splendour of the Eternal Throne? What a delightful change, from this world of darkness and imperfection to that where all shall be light and glory!
Rev_21:27. The “Holy” City.—Without holiness there can be no such heaven as the New Testament reveals. There may be scenery of surpassing grandeur—mountains, woods, rivers, and skies, most charming; but they do not make a heaven, else a heaven might be found in Wales or Cumberland. There may be a capital full of palaces and temples; but they do not make a heaven, else a heaven might have been found in Delhi. There may be buildings of marbles and precious stones; but they do not make a heaven, else a heaven might have been in Rome or Venice. There may be health, and ease, and luxury, and festivities; but they do not make a heaven, else one would have been met with in Belshazzar’s halls. There may be education, philosophy, poetry, literature, art; but that will not make a heaven, else the Greeks would have had one in Athens, in the grove, and in the porch. Holiness is that without which no heaven could exist.—Rev. John Stoughton.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On v1 “I saw a new firmament and a new earth;…
HEAVENLY STATE OF THIS WORLD
“I saw a new firmament and a new earth; for the first firmament and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.” The millennial state of Edenic beauty and glory has come and gone, populating heaven with multiplied millions. Subsequently a great change has been wrought. Not only the sanctifying fires have done their work, but creative Omnipotence has supervened, transforming this world, with its atmospheric environments, into a heaven. Time, that noted parenthesis in boundless eternity, has come and gone. The mediatorial kingdom, reconciling man to God, restoring order in the celestial universe, expurgating all sin, and eternally banishing Satan and his votaries into outer darkness, has come and gone. The period of mortality and human probation is now numbered with the ages of bygone eternity. The grand restitutionary work of Christ, for which He evacuated the effulgent throne of His Father’s ineffable glory, and came down to suffer and to die, is now complete; therefore, like a proconsul sent out from Rome to restore a revolted province, He now surrenders up His mediatorial kingdom to the Father, that God may be all in all. (1Co 15:28.)
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“There is no more sea.” At present the sea occupies about three-fourths of the surface of the earth, the icy poles and burning deserts about another eighth, leaving but one-eighth for the occupancy of earth’s teeming millions. We readily account for the absence of the sea in the celestial earth. Water is composed of oxygen and hydrogen. The latter is the most combustible element, and the former the great supporter of combustion. A sufficient intensity of heat will decompose the oceanic waters, and utterly consume them. Thus the cremation of the earth will remove oceans, seas, icy poles, and transform burning deserts into fruitful fields.
“Behold, I make all things new.” John certifies to the complete renovation of the earth, with its environments. In the creation of all worlds, the heavenly state is the ultimatum. This earth has had a most wonderful history as the battle-field of God’s universe. Through all the flight of eternal ages, Earth will be celebrated in the history, poetry, and romance of all worlds as the battle-ground where the sons of light fought the powers of darkness under the heroic leadership of Prince Immanuel. While Earth will be the peculiar possession of Immanuel ‘s soldiers (Mat 5:4) you must not regard it as a prison in any sense whatever. Mortality and probation will exist only in the memory of the past. This world will be ours as a soldier’s bounty, conferred as a memento of our fidelity and valor during that terrible exterminating war which the Son of God waged against sin and Satan. We will enjoy our transfigured bodies, with facilities of lightning locomotion (Luk 10:18), while it will be our delectable privilege to wing our flight from world to world, exploring with enthusiasm the wonders of Omnipotence, eternally contemplating His ineffable glory, making wonderful proficiency in the universities of heaven, under the leadership of Adam, Enoch, Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, Paul, and all the apostles, mighty hosts of martyrs, unfallen angels and archangels, Gabriel and Michael. We will doubtless receive, to our delight, many solicitations to serve as angelic escorts back to this world, so celebrated in the literature of heaven. Evidently the inhabitable earth will be ten times as capacious as at present. As we shall wing our flight around the globe, accompanied by angel bands, the whole earth will be radiant with celestial glory inconceivable in our mortal and probationary investiture. In this bright celestial state, this earth will shine and shout forever. The popular impression that this world will cease to exist has simply originated from a wrong translation of aioon in the New Testament. It does not mean world, cosmos having that meaning. It simply means time, or age. Hence it should read, “end of the age,” or, “end of time.” The last two chapters in the Bible come in after time has flown, and forever been superseded by eternity. But you see this world not only continues, but is sanctified, made new, and transformed into a heavenly sphere.
“I saw the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having been prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” We find (Rev 19:7-11) the marriage of our Lord and His bride at the beginning of the millennial reign. During the millennium and post-millennial ages, constituting the Paradisian state of this world, the members of the bridehood were all at their posts, bearing their part in Immanuel’s administration. Of course, they all accompany their glorious King on His great white throne in the ethereal firmament during the final judgment, rendering valuable and important service. During the period of earth’s cremation, sanctification, and celestialization, of course they are absent, up in heaven. Now we see them coming down to take possession and forever enjoy this world in its heavenly state. We find here a double signification of “New Jerusalem.” It means the substantial, real city. It also means the members of the bridehood, who inhabit the city. Hence the New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ and the mother of God’s children. (Gal 4:25.)
3. These verses clearly and unmistakably reveal and vividly describe the heavenly state of this world. How people have read their Bibles over and over, and still believe that this earth will be burned up and blotted out of existence, is paradoxical in the extreme; because you have here a positive revelation that God will remake this earth, transforming it into a heavenly world, in which there will be no sorrow, pain, nor tears. Hence you see mortality and probation are out of the question, and heaven’s ineffable glory will shine and shout forever.
7. He that conquereth shall inherit these things, and I will be God unto Him, and he shall be a son unto Me.” In this verse, the Holy Spirit unequivocally and irrevocably confirms the glorious and consolatory doctrine of the saints’ everlasting inheritance of this glorified earth throughout the flight of the heavenly ages. The saints possess very little of this world at the present day, but rest assured, they will have it all in the good time coming. They will soon possess the millennial world, and in God’s good time, this earth, re-created and transformed into a glorious heaven, to shine and shout throughout all eternity. Oh, who would not forsake all to follow Jesus!
8. “But to the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the fornicators, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” You see this long, black catalogue, exhibitory of all the crimes that ever blackened earth and crowded hell. Don’t forget that cowardice heads the list. Why is this? Because cowardice sends more people to hell than any other sin in the category of pandemonium. Were it not for cowardice, people could get rid of all their dark iniquities, though hideous enough to make a demon blush. Why don’t you come to the altar and seek the Lord till you find Him in a sky-blue conversion? Cowardice, is the answer. Why don’t you seek entire sanctification with all your heart till it comes on you like a sunburst from the throne? Cowardice solves the whole problem. If you are not brave enough to fight a regiment of devils, and brook the contempt of earth and hell, you will never get to heaven. Is it possible you are going to make your bed in hell-fire for sheer cowardice?
9-27. THE CELESTIAL CAPITAL
We now reach the closing scene of this wonderful prophetical panorama. One of the seven angels having the seven last vials of wrath serves as John’s escort to the summit of a lofty mountain, from whose dizzy apex the illuminated eye takes in a view of this wonderful metropolis descending out of heaven from God. John’s description, which is doubtless veritable and real, sounds like the wildest hyperbole. The material of the city consists of the most valuable gems that ever decked a monarch’s crown — golden streets, pearly gates, and jasper walls. This wonderful city is a perfect cube, fifteen hundred miles long, wide, and high The material is transparent, so immortal eyes interpenetrate this mighty emporium, unobstructed by intervening streets. We find the apostles and prophets, representative of both dispensations, exceedingly prominent in this city. All this is in glorious harmony with its bridehood identity. We have here the blessed assurance that all whose names are superscribed in the Lamb’s book of life shall have a welcome in this wonderful city. I have seen the important cities of America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. God, in mercy, grant that my feet shall one day tread the golden streets of the New Jerusalem! John calls it the Holy City. Hence you must be holy, if you ever enter it. It is very consolatory to us to know that the city of God will come within the range of distinct visibility from this world. Will it not be on this earth? I do not so understand the revelation. An object fifteen hundred miles long, wide, and high, consisting of the most radiant gems, diamonds, rubies, and all manner of precious stones, radiating and flashing their glorious light through the ethereal void, would certainly be visible at a great distance. Remember, John found it necessary to ascend that lofty mountain in order to see it. What is this city? It is the glorious capital of the heavenly universe, and, of course, the residence of our blessed Heavenly Father. On what does it stand? It does not stand on anything. It is itself the center of universal gravitation. Hence it does not need anything on which to rest. During the reign of sin and Satan, it is withdrawn far away from this poor, dark world. After the grand and glorious restitutionary work of Christ is fully consummated, sin and sinners forever removed, earth and atmosphere gloriously sanctified, and all renovated in the beauty of heavenly investiture, and committed to saints and angels, then the very metropolis of the glory-world comes very nigh, and brightens earth and sky with her unwaning effulgence. Of course, the cremation of the earth will destroy the cities, with all other works of human art. This glorious ethereal metropolis is called the New Jerusalem, in contradistinction to old Jerusalem, which now stands on Mts. Zion, Moriah, Bezetha, and Acra, and is destined to be so magnitudinous, conspicuous, and influential during the millennial ages. Hypothetically, this newly-created celestial world, densely populated with saints and angels, will not build cities; but the countless millions, basking in the glory of unadulterated bliss, amid the grand effulgence of this the real Jerusalem, will enjoy and patronize it as the metropolis of the whole earth.
24. “The nations shall walk through its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.
26. “They shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.” In the glorious and triumphant restitution of God’s saints back to this world, after it shall have been transferred into a beautiful celestial sphere, doubtless the nations will reconstruct their former identities in their reoccupancy of the earth. We see from these Scriptures the beautiful conservatism of all nations to the New Jerusalem, through the onward flight of eternal ages. For “night shall not be there.” This city is the metropolis of the great King, the center of universal gravitation, and the capital of the boundless celestial empire. Of course there will be no night, for God Himself will be there, and He is original light. All other luminaries shine by His command. Not only will this wonderful city, fifteen hundred miles long, wide, and high, be ineffably glorious with the divine illumination, but the unutterable effulgence will irradiate this and all other celestial worlds with light and glory, forever expelling darkness, and verifying the promise, “Night shall not be here”
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 With this verse begins the closing passage of the…
Rev 21:1
With this verse begins the closing passage of the book of God: the revelation of the things beyond the end. Now the veil lifts for the last time, and we behold the new universe. He who in the beginning created the heaven and the earth now reveals to the gaze of faith His second and final world. It would be idle to say that there cannot be a literal meaning to our text. Assuredly it may please the Creator to order His new universe so that there shall be there scenes which answer to our earth and no scenes which answer to our sea. But it is plain that the main purpose of the phrase is spiritual. We are to put before us as we read not so much a state in which we shall never look out on a waste of tossing waters, as a state in which the sea of the soul shall be for ever gone.
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I. We read here that all tumultuous agitations and vehement changes shall be over there. Again and again in Scripture we find the sea made the picture of human agitation. In the new universe this sea shall be no more. Its waves shall be silent at last and for ever; none of the sinful agitations, none of the upswelling passions, whether of persons or of nations, shall break in through the endless duration of the new universe upon that perfect life and perfect rest of holiness and joy.
II. We read here that there shall be no more separation. In the days when God caused the Bible to be written even more than now, the sea was a separating thing. Every year in those old days, before the mariner’s compass had made new paths on the deep, well nigh from Michaelmas to Easter, the sea, in the Roman term, was "shut." The fierce, dreadful waters were scarce traversed by a single sail. Land from land, friend from friend, was barred those long months by the severing sea. Here at best heart to heart is like isle to isle, with deep waters between, even when these waters are oftenest crossed; there heart to heart will make, as it were, one bright, beautiful, continuous continent of sympathy and mutual joy, together for ever with the Lord.
H. C. G. Moule, Fordington Sermons, p. 107.
I. Let us consider this great and blessed promise as the revelation of a future in which there shall be no more painful mystery. We look out upon the broad ocean, and far away it seems to blend with air and sky. Mists come up over its surface. Suddenly there rises on the verge of the horizon a white sail, that was not there a moment ago; and we wonder, as we look out from our hills, what may be beyond those mysterious waters. And to these ancient peoples there were mysteries which we do not feel. What should we see if depth and distance were annihilated, and we beheld what there is out yonder and what there is down there? And is not our life ringed round in like manner with mystery? Surely to some this ought to come as not the least noble and precious of the thoughts of what that future life is, "There shall be no more sea," and the mysteries which come from God’s merciful limitation of our vision and some of the mysteries that come from God’s wise and providential interposition of obstacles to our sight will have passed away.
II. The text tells us of a state that is to come when there is no more rebellious power. In the Old Testament the floods are often compared with the rage of the peoples and the rebellion of man against the will of God. Our text is a blessed promise that, in that holy state to which the apocalyptic vision carries our longing hopes, there shall be the cessation of all strife against our best Friend, of all reluctance to wear His yoke whose yoke brings rest to the soul. The opposition that lies in all our hearts shall one day be subdued.
III. The text foretells a state of things in which there will be no more disquiet and unrest. Life is a voyage over a turbulent sea; changing circumstances come rolling after each other, like the indistinguishable billows of the great ocean. On the heavenly shore stands Christ, and there is rest there. There is no more sea, but unbroken rest, unchanging blessedness, perpetual stability of joy and love in the Father’s house.
A. Maclaren, Sermons in Manchester, 2nd series, p. 325.
References: Rev 21:1.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 98; vol. xii., p. 77; H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, 2nd series, No. 15; Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 356; R. A. Bertram, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 136; Ibid., vol. iv., p. 332; P. W. Darton, Ibid., vol. xxxii., p. 73. Rev 21:2.—G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons to English Congregations in India, p. 179; J. B. French, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 195. Rev 21:3.—H. P. Liddon, Ibid., p. 1.
Rev 21:4
God wiping away all Tears.
The subject teaches—
I. A lesson of resignation.
II. A lesson of gratitude. The same hand which chastises will one day wipe away our tears. It will not be long that we must wait before the faithfulness of God’s word will be established.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 443.
References: Rev 21:4.—G. Calthrop, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 97; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vi., p. 325.
Rev 21:6
The Idolatry of Novelty.
The one text exhibits to us in a lively picture the working of a great idolatry; the other text shows us the abolition of that idolatry by the satisfaction of the want of which it is the expression. Together they present to us the two sides of our subject, which is the idolatry of novelty. It cannot be denied that there is in all lives, probably not least in the busiest and the loftiest, an element of dulness. This is only to say that there must be routine in every life which is either active or useful; and that the life which is neither active nor useful is sure to have a routine of its own, a monotony of mere indolence or mere self-indulgence, of all monotonies the most irksome and the most fatiguing.
I. The Athenians were not mere gossips or newsmongers. The first sound of the words does them some injustice. Their idolatry of novelty by no means exhausted itself in inventing, or embellishing, or retailing scandalous or mischievous stories against the great men of their city, or against humbler neighbours "dwelling securely by them." Their treatment of St. Paul shows this. He was not a man of sufficient notoriety or sufficient importance to attract the attention of the mere tattler or scandalmonger. It was because he raised grave questions, going to the very root of the national and individual life, that these idolaters of novelty were attracted by him, and thought it worth while to bring him before the religious tribunal of the Areopagus, saying, "May we know what this new doctrine which is talked by thee is?"—"this new doctrine," because, as St. Luke adds in the text, their great interest was in the hearing and telling of "anything at all new."
II. Those Athenians might well have an open ear for the preacher of a new divinity. This was but to confess, what was no secret by this time, that their anonymous altar was still standing, and that they waited to worship till it had a name. For them the idolatry of novelty was their hope and their religion. After all these centuries, we too are left with an anonymous altar, and the worship of English hearts is offered once again at the shrine of an unknown, an avowably unknowable, God. There is not an arrival of a so-called new apostle, there is not an importation of a so-called new divinity, for which this modern Athens has not at least one of its ears open. We are told that some one has dared to say, within the Christian Church of London, that Buddha himself is second only (if second) to Jesus Christ in morals, and superior to Christ Himself in this: that he never claimed for himself Divinity.
III. The very feeling, the very want, the very sense of monotony which has made impatient man set up this paltry idol of novelty, is provided for by God Himself saying, "Behold, I make" (not a few things, but) "all things new." There are two ways of fulfilling the promise of renovation. One is by the renewal of the thing itself; the other is by the renewal of the eye that views it. If the one is the promise of the text, the other is the promise elsewhere alike of St. John and St. Paul. We have all known in ourselves how the same object—sea, sky, cloud, landscape, home itself and its inmates, the loved face, the letter from the dearest one—may look dull or look lively, look beautiful or look ugly, according to the state of the mind that views it. It looks quite different when a sin is strong in us from that which it looked when we had just risen from prayer, and the very skin of the face shone from the reflection of the King in His beauty.
"Dark and cheerless is the morn
Unaccompanied by Thee;
Cheerless is the day’s return
Till Thy mercy’s beams I see"—
then all is altered. Then the old commandment looks new. Then the heaven and the earth are new for me. Then He that sitteth upon the throne hath said, "Behold, I make all things new"—yea (as St. Paul interprets), the old things themselves.
C. J. Vaughan, Restful Thoughts for Restless Times, p. 272.
All Things New.
I. Consider what Holy Scripture teaches us as to our resurrection life. Let us try to learn something as to the state and place in which we hope to find ourselves hereafter. We are expressly told that there shall be a new heaven and a new earth. Our home, our bright, blessed, glorious home, is not to be in a world of sin and sorrow, not in a world which groans under the curse of God, but it will be a new home, nothing like what we see now, something quite different, something quite fresh, something altogether new: a new heaven and a new earth. "The former things"—death, sorrow, sickness, sin, temptation, misery, wretchedness; all that makes life a burden to us; all that troubles us and vexes us; all that saddens us and grieves us in this lower existence—all will have gone for ever; "the former things are passed away."
II. Not only is the place to be new, but those that inhabit the place must be new also. If no sin can enter there, if no sickness, no weariness, no weakness, if none of these things can enter that new Jerusalem, then certainly we must be new—new in body and new in soul. And so it will be: we shall be changed; we shall live under new conditions of existence. Mortality will give place to immortality. This corruptible frame of ours shall become incorruptible.
III. But our text tells us how this is to be. It explains how all this is to be accomplished: "And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new." All this must be God’s work, God’s work in our hearts. The work is a gradual work: it has its beginning, and its middle, and its end. The work will be finished in heaven, but it must begin here on earth. Here it is imperfect and incomplete; here it is a painful work, a work of toil and difficulty. In heaven it shall be finished, quite perfect, quite complete; for we shall be like Him, like Him for ever.
E. V. Hall, The Waiting Saviour, p. 103.
A New Creation.
A religion which professes to claim the attention and the allegiance of man must show itself to be a religion fitted for man. It must be capable of satisfying his legitimate and innocent instincts. It is perfectly true that the very idea of a religion is this: that it is to repress man’s vices and to educate within him holier desires; but it is also true that if religion appears at all, it must appear capable of satisfying his legitimate and his innocent instincts. And one of the features of the Christian faith is pre-eminently this. It is not merely one which sets itself in utter and irreconcilable antagonism to all that savours of sin or of vice in man, but it does not seek to distort human nature; it does not seek to turn man from what is natural to him. It is not merely antagonistic to evil, but it is also capable of developing good, because it comes to man, and dealing with man as he is, it proclaims to him the duty of an entire self-control.
I. There are several instincts which, as intimated in the text, the Christian religion will satisfy. What are these instincts? It has been often said that we are creatures of the present; that is, that our life is bounded by that little moment which we call "now." The past—that has slipped from our grasp; the future—it is not yet ours; and all of that which we can call life, which is really in our possession, is simply the present moment of time. This is perfectly true if by it we understand that our opportunities are limited to the present; but it is utterly untrue if it means that man can be for ever isolated from the past, or ever removed in anticipation from the future. We are bound to the past by the law of reminiscence; we are bound to the future by the law of hope. Though memory may be stronger in age, and hope may be stronger in youth, yet the two instincts of hope and memory walk side by side with us from the very cradle to the grave; and no religion which is worthy of the name can dare to come before man unless it satisfies these two instincts. The religion of the Master satisfies both. The words of the text seem to incorporate that which will satisfy both our longing after the past and our glorious anticipation of the future, when One who, sitting upon the throne of the universe, cries out to men who are sinking under the agony of despair as they find things withering at their touch, "Behold, I make all things new." It satisfies the instinct of hope.
II. But is this all? There is the other instinct. It is the love of the things old. It is that which memory so constantly pleads for; and do the words which seem to speak of newness satisfy that also? Christ does not say, "Behold, I make all things utterly unlike what they are; I make you a new heaven and a new earth." He surely never means that He does violence to the instinct which makes us cling to the things old. He means that He will put back the freshness of youth without robbing us of the love of memory; He means that He will give us back the suppleness and the power of the old early days, but He will not rob us of that which is dear and familiar to us. One of the grandest things in the whole of this book of Revelation is the way in which it preserves, so to speak, the contact of Christian minds with the past.
Bishop Boyd-Carpenter, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 1037.
References: Rev 21:5.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxi., No. 1816; G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 168. Rev 21:6.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvi., No. 1549; Homilist, 3rd series, vol. i., p. 107; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. v., p. 50; Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 113; H. P. Liddon, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxx., p. 353.
Rev 21:6-8
This chapter speaks of the winding up of God’s dealings with the world, and of the final outcome of that process of trial and discipline which has been going on throughout the long ages of human history. Consider—
I. The promise: "He that overcometh shall inherit all things." Those who long for the knowledge of God and for the enjoyment of God, those who consider God the highest good, to be obtained at all risks and at any cost, will be of necessity involved in a contest with the forces of this world. Their longing makes them warriors; their determination to find their way into their proper spiritual element, which is God, compels them to encounter and to overcome the intervening obstacles which lie between them and the object of their desire. Self wishes to be lord, and forbids Christ to be Lord. We have to resist self. We have conflict, too, with the outer world, with the society in which we move; conflict with the devil, with many a misgiving about God, with many a perverted thought about the Gospel, with many a dark surmising, all of which have their origination with the father of lies.
II. But it is not enough to be engaged in this conflict: we must be victorious in it. The promises are to him that overcomes. We must not fight and be beaten; we must fight and overcome. Our thirsting for God must make God everything to us. To serve Him, to please Him, to be like Him, must be our paramount desire, overriding every other feeling and carrying us triumphantly through all the opposition that stands in the way. It is something to find at last, when all is over, when the life-task is completed, that we have achieved a success. Such is the statement of the passage. We have not missed our aim; we have not made a great miscalculation. There is a result, and a great and magnificent one, to the course upon which we have entered. We have aimed at the possession of God, and have gained it. "I will be his God, and he shall be My son."
III. We pass on now to consider the opposite side of the picture. Look at those who lead the van of this black company. In the forefront we notice persons whom perhaps we should not have expected to find there: the "fearful" and the "unbelieving." The saved are the men of courage. They have feared nothing but God, and displeasing God. The fearful are the moral cowards, who have shrunk from what is displeasing to flesh and blood, and who have not been willing to take up the cross to follow Christ. The one class were athirst for God; they longed for God, for the possession and enjoyment of God, and this strong, irrepressible longing led them into conflict with the forces of evil, and in the end brought them triumphantly through. But the others cared nothing about the possession of God. The world, in some shape or other, was what they really were anxious to secure, and so they had no more strength to sustain them in the controversy with evil; and hence, instead of overcoming, they were overcome: instead of being courageous on the side of God, they were fearful, and fell under the power of evil. And notice into what fearful companionship their moral cowardice has brought them. They are linked with the bloodthirsty, and unclean, and impure, and false, and cast with them into the pool which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
G. Calthrop, Penny Pulpit, New Series, No. 987.
Reference: Rev 21:7.—P. Brooks, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 1.
Rev 21:10
The Heavenly Jerusalem.
There is no subject dearer to the Christian heart than that of the heavenly city, the city of Christian poetry and of Christian hope. Let us take up two or three points in the inspired description of the city in this chapter, and consider what they really mean.
I. Consider what is said in the thirteenth verse: "on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates"—twelve gates, that is to say, and three on each side. Of course this is not to be understood literally, because walls and gates are to keep the enemy out and to keep the citizens in; but who can suppose that there will be any need either of defences or of restraints in the heavenly city? What do these twelve gates mean, then, three on each side? What, save that the city lieth open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike? Therefore take courage, O traveller Zionwards; if only thy face be set towards the holy city, thou too shalt surely find a gate open to admit thee, from whatever direction thou shalt come.
II. Consider what is written about the city in the sixteenth verse: that it lieth four-square, and the length is as large as the breadth; the length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal. If anything were needed to show us that these descriptions are not to be literally understood, but are purely spiritual, this single sentence would be enough. The city of the vision lieth as a solid cube, which is manifestly impossible. Yet the signification of this parable is as plain as it is blessed; what does it mean save the perfect and complete proportions of heavenly happiness and glory? How great and striking is the contrast between this and any human happiness, any earthly good, so unequal, so incomplete, as that always is.
III. Consider how it is written in the eighteenth verse that "the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass." We shall remember at once that no gold on earth is like this, for it is one of the qualities of gold to be opaque, however thin it may be beaten out; even gold-leaf is not transparent; the beauties of pure gold and of clear glass are never combined in this world. Nor if they were would the result be at all desirable for building purposes. But what does this universal transparency signify in heaven save that there will be nothing to hide, nothing to keep secret, but that all will be open to all, because nothing will be shameful and nothing selfish? The city was of pure gold, precious, costly, thrice refined, of pure gold like clear glass, open, transparent, unconcealing. What a marvel is this to think upon as we look forward to that pure glory! What mysteries of joy and hope lie hid for us beneath the seemingly fantastic imagery of the Scriptures!
R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 352.
Reference: Rev 21:10-21.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. ix., p. 119.
Rev 21:10-23
We feel instinctively the beauty and the grandeur of this passage descriptive of the Church of Christ when she shall have passed through the successive stages of her earthly warfare and shall once more have her Lord reigning peaceably and triumphantly in her midst, all enemies subdued, all hindrances surmounted, all stains cleansed and purged away. For it is the purpose of her great Head, as St. Paul witnesses in his epistle to the Ephesians, to make His Church a glorious Church and to present her to His Father without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she shall be holy and without blemish. God Almighty, though distributing His gifts and ordering His providence at sundry times and in divers manners, has yet had one unchanging purpose from beginning to end. The patriarchal dispensation was preparatory to the Mosaic, the Mosaic to the Christian, and the Christian to that yet fuller development of the wealth of God’s loving-kindness when redeemed humanity—all redeemed, even though they know it not, by the one and self-same precious blood—shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of God.
I. There are two main ideas that seem to me to stand out amidst all this figurative language, and with these two I propose mainly, if not exclusively, to deal. They are the idea of brightness and the idea of proportion. The city was full of light, not the light of the sun, nor the moon, nor of candles, nor any artificial illumination; the Lord God was its light. "The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the Light thereof." Christ is the Light of the world. He came to scatter away the clouds of darkness; He came to make the whole body of the individual man and the whole body of the Church full of light, and in no part dark. Where the power of Christ’s Gospel has penetrated, there, in the fullest and broadest sense of the term, should be light. And light implies joyousness and brightness. And so we must remember we have to preach a "Gospel," not a gloomy message. The great feature of Christianity is hope. Heathen religions fostered despair. Any one who has read the poems of Lucretius knows the sad tone that runs through them; and even the brighter-eyed Virgil would say, "We see all things rushing backward by a sort of inevitable destiny." The Romans thought society was wretched because the world’s prospects were so dark before them, but not so with us who live in the sunshine of the Gospel. No doubt there is, and must be, an element of sadness in our worship when we think how unworthy we are of the manifold mercies which God our Father has so bountifully provided for us; and yet even when we think of our unworthiness there will be an overmastering element of confidence and even of joy.
II. And now to pass on to the other thought: the thought of proportion. The whole of this great city was of a certain proportion. It was all measured out with a measuring rod, and every part fitted to the other; and the length, and the breadth, and the height of it were equal. You will notice that this one idea of proportion runs through the visions both of Ezekiel and John. And so in the spiritual Church of Christ, to which you and I belong, and of whose glories these visions were but faint images; proportion is the great law of Christ’s gospel, both in its dogmatic and its practical aspects. If any man prophesy, says Paul, let him prophesy according to the proportion, the analogy, of faith. I have heard it said of Dr. Chalmers that it was one of his rules to a young minister that he should unfold the whole plan of salvation in every sermon, and his reason for it was this: that it might happen that in the congregation there was one man who had never heard that whole plan before, and might not again, and, therefore, for his sake the whole plan was to be unfolded. I do not know whether he who gave the precept acted upon it; but if most of us were to do so, we should very soon empty our churches. St. Paul wisely drew the distinction between milk for babes and strong meat for men.
Bishop Fraser, Church Sermons, vol. ii., p. 65.
Rev 21:13
The Gates of the Church.
I. The Church stands in a very definite and imperative relation to the Churches and the whole community about it. There can be no more thorough reversal of the idea of the Church than that its life, and work, and relations are within itself. It is indeed right that a Church should be well knit together, a body fitly joined and compacted, every part working effectually, increasing its body, and edifying itself in love. It has a life of its own, a work within itself, a growth from within to secure, a witness to bear by its own harmonious and righteous order. But when this is done, the Church is simply on the threshold of its larger duties and relations; it has so far only made itself effective for that distinctively Christian work that belongs to it. For of all institutions in the world the Church is an institution that stands in vital and binding relations to what is outside of it. It may lie four-square and have all harmony of proportion within itself, but it must also have gates open on all sides, or it is no heavenly city.
II. The Church links the community to the nation. No Church fulfils its idea that does not do this. Every conception of the Church that can be drawn from Holy Scripture points to an identification of the Church and the nation. Such was the Church at the beginning, and such it will be in the end: a holy city, in whose light the nations of the saved shall walk, and into which they will bring their glory and honour. The relation may never again be formal, but more and more will it become real. The only reason why in the unfolding of society Church and State may be formally separate is because the State is becoming moral and is working out those principles of righteousness, and mercy, and humanity for which the Church stands, separate, but coming under the same eternal laws and labouring for the same ends.
III. The Church stands in a vital relation to the past of its own history.
IV. The Church stands in near and definite relation to the Church of all ages.
V. The Church is linked to the Christian ages, to the true line of progress and to the truth that is worked out by the ages.
VI. The Church has a still higher relation. It is linked to the Churches and the community about it, to the nation, to its own past history, to the Church in all ages, and to the whole course of human society behind and forward. The abiding and all-determining relation of the Church is its relation to God and eternity.
T. T. Munger, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxix., p. 1.
Reference: Rev 21:14.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. ii., p. 534.
Rev 21:16
"The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." There are then three directions or dimensions of human life to which we may fitly give these three names: length, and breadth, and height. The length of a life, in this meaning of it, is, of course, not its duration. It is rather the reaching on and out of a man in the line of activity, and thought, and self-development, which is indicated and prophesied by the character which is natural to him, by the special ambitions which spring up out of his special powers. It is the push of a life forward to its own personal ends and ambitions. The breadth of a life, on the other hand, is its outreach laterally, if we may say so. It is the constantly diffusive tendency which is always drawing a man outward into sympathy with other men. And the height of a life is its reach upward towards God; its sense of childhood; its consciousness of the Divine life over it, with which it tries to live in love, communion, and obedience. These are the three dimensions of a life,—its length, and breadth, and height,—without the due development of all of which no life becomes complete.
I. Consider the length of life in this understanding of the word. Here is a man who, as he comes to self-consciousness, recognises in himself a certain nature. He cannot be mistaken. Other men have their special powers and dispositions. As this young man studies himself he finds that he has his. That nature which he has discovered in himself decides for him his career. He says to himself, "Whatever I am to do in the world must be done in this direction." It is a fascinating discovery. It is an ever-memorable time for a man when he first makes it. It is almost as if a star woke to some subtle knowledge of itself, and felt within its shining frame the forces which decided what its orbit was to be. Because it is the star it is, that track through space must be its track. Out on that track it looks; along that line which sweeps through the great host of stars it sends out all its hopes; and all the rest of space is merely the field through which that track is flung: all the great host of stars is but the audience which waits to hear it as it goes singing on its way. So starts the young life which has come to self-discovery and found out what it has to do by finding out what it is. It starts to do that destined thing, to run out that appointed course. Nay, the man when he arrives at this self-discovery finds that his nature has not waited for him to recognise himself. What he is, even before he knows it, has decided what he does. It may be late in life before he learns to say of himself, "This is what I am." But then he looks back and discerns that, even without his knowing himself enough to have found it out, his life has run out in a line which had the promise and potency of its direction in the nature which his birth and education gave him. But if he does know it, the course is yet more definite and clear. Every act that he does is a new section of that line which runs between his nature and his appointed work. Just in proportion to the definiteness with which he has measured and understood himself is the sharpness of that line, which every thought, and act, and word is projecting a little further, through the host of human lives, towards the purpose of his living, towards the thing which he believes that he is sent into the world to do.
II. Look at the second dimension of life, which we call breadth. I have ventured to call this quality of breadth in a man’s life its outreach laterally. When that tendency of which I have just been talking, the tendency of a man’s career, the more loftily it is pursued, to bring him into sympathy and relationship with other men—when that tendency, I say, is consciously and deliberately acknowledged, and a man comes to value his own personal career because of the way in which it relates him to his brethren and the help which it permits him to offer them, then his life has distinctly begun to open in this new direction, and to its length it has added breadth. When a man has length and breadth together, we feel at once how the two help each other. Length without breadth is narrow and hard; breadth without length, sympathy with others in a man who has no intense and clear direction for himself, is soft and weak. The man whom the work! delights to find is the man who has evidently conceived some strong and distinct purpose for himself, from which he will allow nothing to turn his feet aside, who means to be something with all his soul, and yet who finds in his own earnest effort to fill out his own career the interpretation of the careers of other men, and also finds in sympathy with other men the transfiguration and sustainment of his own appointed struggle.
III. The height of life is its reach upward towards something distinctly greater than humanity. The height of life, its reach toward God, must be coextensive with, must be part of the one same symmetrical whole with, the length of life, or its reach towards its personal ambition, and the breadth of life, or its reach towards the sympathy of brother-lives. It is when a man begins to know the ambition of his life not simply as the choice of his own will, but as the wise assignment of God’s love, and to know his relations to his brethren not simply as the result of his own impulsive affections, but as the seeking of his soul for their souls because they all belong to the great Father-soul—it is then that life for that man begins to lift itself all over, and to grow towards completion upward, through all its length and breadth. That is a noble time, a bewildering and exalting time, in any of our lives, when into everything that we are doing enters the Spirit of God; and thenceforth moving ever up towards the God to whom it belongs, that Spirit, dwelling in our life, carries our life up with it, not separating our life from the earth, but making every part of it while it still keeps its hold on earth soar up and have to do with heaven, so completing life in its height by making it Divine.
Phillips Brooks, The Candle of the Lord, p. 110.
References: Rev 21:16.—J. B. Heard, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiii., p. 22; R. Collyer, Ibid., vol. xxiv., p. 184; Homiletic Magazine, vol. vi., p. 138, Rev 21:21.—Talmage, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 280; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 79. Rev 21:22.—H. Wonnacott, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xvi., p. 129; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 401.
Rev 21:23
Christ the Light of all Scripture.
I. Consider how far the Christian conception of Christ accounts for the structure of Scripture prophecy. Deliverance from all evil, by means of the Son of man, who yet should suffer in delivering men—this was the idea of the first prophecy and the substance of the first hope. Already, then, we see faintly sketched the outline which all subsequent prophecy only filled up more clearly; already the Spirit of God was testifying to holy men of the sufferings of Christ and the glory that should follow. But along with this promise of a Deliverer, and necessarily springing out of it, another idea must have arisen in the minds of those who heard it: the idea of a Judge and an Avenger. The promise of Him who was to crush the serpent’s head implied ere long a warning prophecy of Him who should crush the serpent’s brood; and thus the very idea of salvation and deliverance gave rise in a world of impenitent and hardened sinners to that of judgment and retribution. And in this idea of the Christ that was to be, we have the keynote of all the prophecy that foretold Him.
II. But Scripture is history as well as prophecy. Is the Lamb the Light of this also? Does the idea of Christ account for the structure of the historical parts of Scripture? Now, in the first place, it is clear that from the moment that first prophecy to which we have referred was uttered it must have made for itself a history, the history of those that believed it as distinguished from the history of those that believed it not. All righteous men in God’s kingdom of old, so far as they were righteous, were truly types of the Son of man yet to be revealed. As we peruse the history of God’s kingdom among men, we see throughout it all, side by side with the idea of humanity ever tending, struggling upward towards God, the idea of Deity ever condescending to, ever allying itself with, man. Thus already does the great mystery of godliness, the union of the two natures, God manifest in the flesh, take almost visible shape and form before us, and thus the lines of mystery, like the lines of prophecy, are seen all to lead up to, and converge in, the God-Man, the incarnate Christ.
III. The Lamb is the Light of the law of Scripture. Either the ritual of the Jews was a Divine prophecy of the Atonement, or it was not Divine at all. For view the Jewish ritual apart from any thought of a future atonement to be represented in it, look on it only as a system of worship appointed for men by God, and is it conceivable that the God we worship could have ever given it? We do not hesitate to say that, thus viewed, the ceremonial law of the Jews, with its blood-stained altars, its ruthless waste of innocent life, its burdensome ritual of minute and useless ceremonies, its vexatious and wanton restrictions, its severe and awful penalties for the slightest infraction of its many rules, is one of the most unmeaning, the most repulsive, the most childish of all human superstitions. But view it as a revelation in type and symbol of the atonement hereafter to be effected by the sacrifice of Christ, and it becomes a picture so minutely accurate, a prophecy so extensively and yet so entirely true of all those good things to come, "a pattern of heavenly things" so exquisitely perfect, that it cannot have been given by any save by Him who from everlasting had designed alike the true and heavenly tabernacle and this its earthly and prophetic shadow.
W. C. Magee, Christ the Light of all Scripture, p. 1.
References: Rev 21:23.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. x., No. 583; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 355. Rev 21:27.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxvii., No. 1590; J. Aldis, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 257. Rev 22:2.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxi., No. 1233; W. C. E. Newbolt, Counsels of Faith and Practice, p. 46; G. W. McCree, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 410.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On vv1, 3 Rev 21:1-7; Rev 21:22-27
Revelation
THE NEW JERUSALEM ON THE NEW EARTH
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Rev 21:1-7; Rev 21:22-27
The ‘new Jerusalem’ can be established only under a ‘new heaven’ and on a ‘new earth.’ The Seer naturally touches on these before he describes it. And the fact that they come into view here as supplying the field for it makes the literal interpretation of their meaning the more probable. If ‘a new heaven and a new earth’ means a renovated condition of humanity, what difference is there between it and the New Jerusalem planted in it? We have to remember the whole stream of Old and New Testament representation, according to which the whole material creation is ‘subject to vanity,’ and destined for a deliverance. Modern astronomy has seen worlds in flames in the sky, and passing by a fiery change into new forms; and the possibility of the heavens being dissolved, the elements melted with fervent heat, and a new heavens and new earth emerging, cannot be disputed. In what sense are they ‘new’? ‘New’ here, as the application of it to Jerusalem may show, does not mean just brought into existence, but renovated, made fresh, and implies, rather than denies, the fact of previous existence. So, throughout Scripture, the re-constitution of the material world, by which it passes from the bondage of corruption into ‘the liberty of the glory of the children of God’ is taught, and the final seat of the city of God is set forth as being, not some far-off, misty heaven in space, but ‘that new world which is the old.’
‘And the sea is no more’ probably is to be taken in a symbolic sense, as shadowing forth the absence of unruly power, of mysterious and hostile forces, of estranging gulfs of separation. Into this renovated world the renovated city floats down from God. It has been present with Him, before its manifestation on earth, as all things that are to be manifested in time dwell eternally in the Divine mind, and as it had been realized in the person of the ascended Christ. When He comes down from heaven again, the city comes with Him. It is the ‘new Jerusalem,’ inasmuch as the ideas which were partially embodied in the old Jerusalem find complete and ennobled expression in it. The perfect state of perfect humanity is represented by that society of God’s servants, of which the ancient Zion was a symbol. In it all the glowing stream of prophecy dealing with the ‘bridal of the earth and of the sky,’ the marriage of perfect manhood with the perfect King, is fulfilled.
II. The vision is supplemented by words explanatory to the Seer of what he beheld {vs. 3, 4}, and all turns on two great thoughts - the blessed closeness of union now perfected and made eternal between God and men, and the consequent dawning of a new, unsetting day in which all human ills shall be swept away.
The former promise is cast in Old Testament mould, as are almost all the symbols and prophecies of this Book of Revelation. In outward form the tabernacle had stood in the centre of the wilderness encampment, and in the symbol of the Shekinah, God had dwelt with Israel, and they had been, in name, and by outward separation and consecration, His people. In the militant state of the Church on the old earth, God had dwelt with His people in reality, but with, alas! many a break in the intercourse caused by His people defiling the temple. But in that future all that was symbol shall be spiritual reality, and there will be no separation between the God who tabernacles among men and the men in whom He dwells. The mutual relation of possession of each other shall be perfect and perpetual. That is the brightest hope for us, and from it all other blessedness flows. His presence drives away all evils, as the risen moon clears the sky of clouds. How can sorrow, or crying, or pain, or death, live where He is, as He will be in the perfected city? The undescribable future is best described by the negation of all that is sad and a foe to life. Reverse the miseries of earth, and you know something of the joys of heaven. But begin with God’s presence, or you will know nothing of their most joyful joy.
III. The great voice speaks again, proclaiming the guarantees of the vision, and the conditions of possessing its fruition {vs. 5-7}.
How can we be sure that these radiant hopes are better than delusions, lights thrown on the black curtain of the unknown future by the reflection of our own imaginations? Only because He that sitteth on the throne,’ and is therefore sovereign over all things, has declared that He will ‘make all things new.’ His power and faithful word are the sole guarantees. Therefore seers may write, and we may read, and be sure that when heaven and earth pass away His word shall not only not pass away, but bring the new heavens and the new earth. So sure is the fulfilment, that already, to the divine mind, these things ‘are come to pass.’ Faith may share in the divine prerogative of seeing things that are not as though they were, and make the future present. He who is Alpha, the beginning, from whom are all things, is Omega, the end, to whom are all things. There lies the security that the drift of the universe is towards God, its source, and that at last man, who came from God, will come back to God, and Eden be surpassed by the new Jerusalem.
The conditions of entering the city are gathered up in words which recall many strains of prophecy and promise. Thirst is the condition of drinking of the water of life - as John the Evangelist delights to tell that Jesus said by the well at Samaria and in the temple court. Conflict and victory make His children heirs of these things, as the Christ had spoken by the Spirit to the churches. The Christian victory perfects the paternal and filial relation between God and us. And all three promises are but variations of the answer to the question: How can I become a citizen of that city of God?
IV. A fuller description, highly symbolical in colouring, of the city, comes next {vs. 22-27}, on which space will only allow us to remark that we have, first, two representations, in each of which the city’s glory is expressed by the absence from it of a great good, occasioned by the presence of a greater, of which the lesser was but a shadowy similitude.
There is no temple, no outward shrine, no place of special communion, no dependence on externals, because the communion with God and the Lamb is perfect, continuous, spiritual. There is no sun, moon, nor artificial light, for far brighter than their feeble beams is the light in which the citizens see light. That light is perpetual, and no night ever darkens the sky. That light draws all men to it. Possibly the Seer thinks of kings and nations as still subsisting, but more probably he carries over the features of the old earth into the new, in order to express the great hope that all shall be drawn to the light, and royalties and nations be merged in citizenship. One solemn word limits the universality of the vision. Nothing excludes but uncleanness, but that does exclude. The roll of citizens is the Lamb’s book of life, and we may all have our names written there. Only we must be pure, thirsty for the water of life, and fight and conquer through Jesus.
Revelation
NO MORE SEA
Rev 21:1
‘I John,’ says the Apocalypse at its commencement, ‘was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the testimony of Jesus.’ In this, the one prophetic book of the New Testament, we find the same fact that meets us in the old prophecies, that the circumstances of the prophet colour, and become the medium for, the representation of the spiritual truths that he has to speak. All through the book we hear the dash of the waves. There was ‘a sea of fire mingled with glass before the throne.’ The star Wormwood fell ‘upon the sea.’ Out of the sea the beast rises. When the great angel would declare the destruction of Babylon, he casts a mighty stone into the ocean, and says, ‘Thus suddenly shall Babylon be destroyed.’ And when John hears the voice of praise of the redeemed, it is ‘like the voice of many waters,’ as well as like the voice of ‘harpers harping on their harps.’ And then, when there dawns at the close of the vision, the bright and the blessed time which has yet to come, the ‘new heavens and the new earth’ are revealed to him; and that sad and solitary and estranging ocean that raged around his little rock sanctuary has passed away for ever. I suppose I need not occupy your time in showing that this is a symbol; that it does not mean literal fact at all; that it is not telling us anything about the geography of a future world, but that it is the material embodiment of a great spiritual truth.
Now what is meant by this symbol is best ascertained by remembering how the sea appears in the Old Testament. The Jew was not a sailor. All the references in the Old Testament, and especially in the prophets, to the great ocean are such as a man would make who knew very little about it, except from having looked at it from the hills of Judea, and having often wondered what might be lying away out yonder at the point where sky and sea blended together. There are three main things which it shadows forth in the Old Testament. It is a symbol of mystery, of rebellious power, of perpetual unrest. And it is the promise of the cessation of these things which is set forth in that saying, There was no more sea.’ There shall be no more mystery and terror. There shall be no more ‘the floods lifting up their voice,’ and the waves dashing with impotent foam against the throne of God. There shall be no more the tossing and the tumult of changing circumstances, and no more the unrest and disquiet of a sinful heart. There shall be the ‘new heavens and the new earth.’ The old humanity will be left, and the relation to God will remain, deepened and glorified and made pure. But all that is sorrowful and all that is rebellious, all that is mysterious and all that is unquiet, shall have passed away for ever.
I. Let us then, by way of illustrating this great and blessed promise, consider it first as the revelation of a future in which there shall be no more painful mystery.
‘Thy way is in the sea, and Thy path in the great waters, and Thy footsteps are not known.’ ‘Thy judgments are a mighty deep.’ ‘O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out! ‘Such is the prevailing tone of expression when the figure appears either in the Old or in the New Testament.
Most natural is it. There are, too, sources of obscurity there. We look out upon the broad ocean, and far away it seems to blend with air and sky. Mists come up over its surface. Suddenly there rises on the verge of the horizon a white sail that was not there a moment ago; and we wonder, as we look out from our hills, what may be beyond these mysterious waters. And to these ancient peoples there were mysteries which we do not feel. Whither should they come, if they were to venture on its untried tides? And then, what lies in its sunless caves that no eyes have seen? It swallows up life and beauty and treasure of every sort, and engulfs them all in its obstinate silence. They go down in the mighty waters and vanish as they descend. What would it be if these were drained off? What revelations - wild sea-valleys and mountain-gorges; the dead that are in it, the power that lies there, all powerless now, the wealth that has been lost in it! What should we see if depth and distance were annihilated, and we beheld what there is out yonder and what there is down there?
And is not our life, brethren, ringed round in like manner with mystery? And, alas! wherever to a poor human heart there is mystery, there will be terror.
The unknown is ever the awful. Where there is not certain knowledge, imagination works to people the waste places with monsters. There is a double limitation of our knowledge. There are mysteries that come from the necessary limitation of our faculties; and there are mysteries that come from the incompleteness of the revelation which God has been pleased to make. The eye is weak and the light is dim. There is much that lies beyond the horizon which our eyes cannot reach. There is much that lies covered by the deeps, which our eyes could reach if the deeps were away. We live - the wisest of us live - having great questions wrestling with us like that angel that wrestled with the patriarch in the darkness till the morning broke. We learn so little but our own ignorance, and we know so little but that we know nothing. There are the hard and obstinate knots that will not be untied; we bend all our faculties to them, and think they are giving a little bit, and they never give; and we gnaw at them, like the viper at the file, and we make nothing of it, but blunt our teeth!
Oh! to some hearts here, surely this ought to come as not the least noble and precious of the thoughts of what that future life is - ‘there shall be no more sea’; and the mysteries that come from God’s merciful limitation of our vision, and some of the mysteries that come from God’s wise and providential interposition of obstacles to our sight, shall have passed away. It is no dream, my brethren I Why, think how the fact of dying will solve many a riddle! how much more we shall know by shifting our position! ‘There must be wisdom with great Death,’ and he ‘keeps the keys of all the creeds.’ Try to conceive how some dear one that was beside us but a moment ago, perhaps but little conscious of his own ignorance, and knowing but little of God’s ways, thinking as we did, and speaking as we did, and snared with errors as we were, has grown at a bound into full stature, and how a flood of new knowledge and Divine truth rushes into the heart the moment it passes the grave I If they were to speak to us, perhaps we should not understand their new speech, so wise have they become who have died.
What mysteries have passed into light for them? I know not. Who can tell what strange enlargement of faculty this soul of ours is capable of? Who can tell how much of our blindness comes from the flesh that clogs us, from the working of the animal nature that is so strong in us? Who can tell what unknown resources and what possibilities of new powers there lie all dormant and unsuspected in the beggar on the dunghill, and in the idiot in the asylum? This, at least, we are sure of: we shall ‘know, even as also we are known.’ God will not be fathomed, but God will be known. God will be incomprehensible, but there will be no mystery in God, except that most blessed mystery of feeling that the fullness of His nature still surpasses our comprehension. Questions that now fill the whole horizon of our minds will have shrunk away into a mere point, or been answered by the very change of position. How much of the knowledge’s of earth will have ceased to be applicable, when the first light-beam of heaven falls upon them! Those problems which we think so mysterious - why God is doing this or that with us and the world; what is the meaning of this and the other sorrow - what will have become of these? We shall look back and see that the bending line was leading straight as an arrow-flight, home to the centre, and that the end crowns and vindicates every step of the road. Something of the mystery of God will have been resolved, for man hath powers undreamed of yet, and ‘we shall see Him as He is.’ Much of the mystery of man, and of man’s relation to God, will have ceased; for then we shall understand all the way, when we have entered into the true sanctuary of God.
Men that love to know, let me ask you, where do you get the fulfilment, often dreamed of, of your desires, except here? Set this before you, as the highest truth for us: Christ is the beginning of all wisdom on earth. Starting thence I can hope to solve the remaining mysteries when I stand at last, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, in the presence of the great light of God.
Not that we shall know everything, for that were to cease to be finite. And if ever the blasphemous boast come true that tempted man once, ‘Ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil,’ there were nothing left for the soul that was filled with all knowledge but to lie down and pant its last. It needs, by our very nature, and for our blessedness, that there should be much unknown. It needs that we should ever be pressing forward. Only, the mysteries that are left will have no terror nor pain in them. ‘There shall be no more sea,’ but we shall climb ever higher and higher up the mountain of God, and as we climb see farther and farther into the blessed valleys beyond, and ‘shall know, even as we are known.’
II. Secondly, the text tells us of a state that is to come, when there shall be no more rebellious power.
In the Old Testament the floods are often compared with the rage of the peoples, and the rebellion of man against the Will of God. ‘The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted up their voice. The Lord on high is mightier than the noise of many waters; yea, than the mighty waves of the sea.’ ‘Thou stillest the noise of the waves, and the tumult of the people.’ In like manner that symbolic reference surely supplies one chief meaning of Christ’s miracle of stilling the tempest; the Peace-bringer bringing to peace the tumults of men. Here, then, the sea stands as the emblem of untamed power. It is lashed into yeasty foam, and drives before it great ships and huge stones like bulrushes, and seems to have a savage pleasure in eating into the slow-corroding land, and covering the beach with its devastation.
‘There shall be no more sea.’ God lets people work against His kingdom in this world. It is not to be always so, says my text. The kingdom of God is in the earth, and the kingdom of God admits of opposition. Strange! But the opposition, even here on earth, all comes to nothing. ‘Thou art mightier than the noise of many waters’; the floods ‘have lifted up their voice’; but Thou ‘sittest upon the floods, yea, Thou sittest king for ever.’ Yes, it is an experience repeated over and over again, in the history of individuals and in the history of the world. Men, fancying themselves free, resolved to be rebellious, get together and say, mutteringly at first, and then boldly and loudly, ‘Let us break His bands asunder, and cast away His cords from us.’ And God sits in seeming silence in His heavens, and they work on, and the thing seems to be prospering, and some men’s hearts begin to fail them for fear. The great Armada comes in its pride across the waters - and the motto that our England struck upon its medal, when that proud fleet was baffled, serves for the epitaph over all antagonism to God’s kingdom, ‘The Lord blew upon them, and they were scattered.’ The tossing sea, that rages against the will and purpose of the Lord, what becomes of all its foaming fury? Why, this becomes of it - the ark of God ‘moves on the face of the waters,’ and though wild tempests howl to beat it from its course, yet beneath all the surface confusion and commotion there is, as in the great mid-ocean, a silent current that runs steady and strong, and it carries the keel that goes deep enough down to rest in it, safely to its port. Men may work against God’s kingdom, the waves may rave and rage; but beneath them there is a mighty tidal sweep, and God’s purposes are wrought out, and God’s ark comes to ‘its desired haven,’ and all opposition is nugatory at the last.
But there comes a time, too, when there shall be no more violence of rebellious wills lifting themselves against God. Our text is a blessed promise that, in that holy state to which the Apocalyptic vision carries our longing hopes, there shall be the cessation of all strife against our best Friend, of all reluctance to wear His yoke whose yoke brings rest to the soul. The opposition that lies in all our hearts shall one day be subdued. The whole consent of our whole being shall yield itself to the obedience of sons, to the service of love. The wild rebellious power shall be softened into peace, and won to joyful acceptance of His law. In all the regions of that heavenly state, there shall be no jarring will, no reluctant submission. Its ‘solemn troops and sweet societies’ shall move in harmonious consent of according hearts, and circle His throne in continuousness of willing fealty. There shall be One will in heaven. ‘There shall be no more sea’; for ‘His servants serve Him,’ and the noise of the waves has died away for ever.
Before I pass on, let me appeal to you, my friend, on this matter. Here is the revelation for us of the utter hopelessness and vanity of all opposition to God. Oh! what a thought that is, that every life that sets itself against the Lord is a futile life, that it comes to nothing at last, that none hardens himself against God and prospers! It is true on the widest scale. It is true on the narrowest. It is true about all those tempests that have risen up against God’s Church and Christ’s Gospel, like ‘waves of the sea foaming out their own shame,’ and never shaking the great rock that they break against. And it is true about all godless lives; about every man who carries on his work, except in loving obedience to his Father in heaven. There is one power in the world, and none else. When all is played out, and accounts are set right at the end, you will find that the power that seemed to be strong, if it stood against God, was weak as water and has done nothing, and is nothing! Do not waste your lives in a work that is self-condemned to be hopeless! Rather ally yourselves with the tendencies of God’s universe, and do the thing which will last for ever, and live the life that has hope of fruit that shall remain. Submit yourselves to God! Love Christ! Do His will! Put your faith in the Saviour to deliver you from your sins; and when the wild tossing of that great ocean of ungodly power and rebellious opposition is all hushed down into dead silence, you and your work will last and live hard by the stable throne of God.
III. Lastly, the text foretells a state of things in which there is no more disquiet and unrest.
The old, old figure which all the world, generation after generation in its turn, has spoken, is a Scriptural one as well, and enters into the fullness of the meaning of this passage before us. Life is a voyage over a turbulent sea; changing circumstances come rolling after each other, like the undistinguishable billows of the great ocean. Tempests and storms rise. There is wearisome sailing, no peace, but ‘ever climbing up the climbing wave.’ That is life! But for all that, friends, there is an end to it some day; and it is worth while for us to think about our island home, far, far beyond the sea.’ Surely some of us have learned the weariness of this changeful state, the weariness of the work and voyage of this world. Surely some of us are longing to find anchorage whilst the storm lasts, and a haven at the end. There is one, if only you will believe it, and set yourselves towards it. There is an end to all ‘the weary oar, the weary wandering fields of barren foam.’ On the shore stands the Christ; and there is rest there. There is no more sea, but unbroken rest, unchanging blessedness, perpetual stability of joy, and love in the Father’s house. Are we going there? Are we living for Christ? Are we putting our confidence in the Lord Jesus? Then, ‘He brings us to the desired haven.’
One thing more: not only does unrest come from the chaos of changing circumstances, but besides that, there is another source of disquiet, which this same symbol sets forth for us. ‘The wicked is like the troubled sea which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. That restless, profitless working of the great homeless, hungry, moaning ocean - what a picture it is of the heart of a man that has no Christ, that has no God, that has no peace by pardon! A soul all tossed with its own boiling passion, a soul across which there howl great gusts of temptation, a soul which works and brings forth nothing but foam and mire! Unrest, perpetual unrest is the lot of every man that is not God’s child.
Some of you know that. Well, then, think of one picture. A little barque pitching in the night, and one figure rises quietly up in the stern, and puts out a rebuking hand, and speaks one mighty word, ‘Peace be still.’ And the word was heard amid all the hurly-burly of the tempest, and the waves crouched at His feet like dogs to their master. It is no fancy, brethren, it is a truth. Let Christ speak to your hearts, and there is peace and quietness. And if He do that, then your experience will be like that described in the grand old Psalm, ‘Though the waters roar and be troubled, and though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof, yet will we not fear,’ for the city stands fast, in spite of the waves that curl round its lowest foundations. Death, death itself, will be but the last burst of the expiring storm, the last blast of the blown-out tempest. And then, the quiet of the green inland valleys of our Father’s land, where no tempest comes any more, nor the loud winds are ever heard, nor the salt sea is ever seen; but perpetual calm and blessedness; all mystery gone, and all rebellion hushed and silenced, and all unrest at an end for ever! ‘No more sea,’ but, instead of that wild and yeasty chaos of turbulent waters, there shall be ‘the river that makes glad the city of God,’ the river of water of life, that ‘proceeds out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.’
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Holy City
The Holy City
The enemies of the Lamb have been conquered. The Judgment is over. The old condition of things has passed away: cp. Rev_20:11. Now St. John sees in a vision the blissful glory of heaven, in which the Lamb's redeemed people will dwell for ever.
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1-8. The eternal dwelling-place prepared for the redeemed is seen from a distance (Rev_21:1.), and the voice of God declares what it means (Rev_21:3-6), and for whom its glories are (Rev_21:7.).
Three points come out in the description. (1) The Presence of God with the Jew, symbolised by the tabernacle in the wilderness, will now be perfected by His dwelling ('dwell,' lit. 'tabernacle,' Rev_21:3 cp. Joh_1:14; RM) with the redeemed of all races ('men,' Rev_21:3). The 'peoples,' i.e. Gentiles, have become 'His peoples' (Rev_21:3 RV), and He their Emmanuel ('God.. with them,' Rev_21:3): cp. Isa_7:14; Mat_1:23. He will take from them, and keep from them, all sorrow, pain, and death (cp. Rev_7:17; Isa_25:8; Isa_35:10; Isa_65:16.), because these belonged to the first dispensation, while now, (2) all things are new. There is a new heaven, i.e. sky, and a new earth (cp. Isa_65:17; Isa_66:22), from which the sea, emblem of unrest and of separation, has departed (Rev_21:1); there is a new society, 'new Jerusalem' (Rev_21:2); and 'all things,' i.e. all ways and thoughts and circumstances of existence, are new: cp. 2Co_5:17; (Rev_21:5). The word translated 'new' does not signify 'that which has never existed before,' but 'fresh,' 'that which has not been used or worn'; so it may be taken as meaning 'undimmed,' 'unspoilt.' The term 'new Jerusalem' is used figuratively for the divine society of the redeemed in glory, as 'Jerusalem' represents the society of the redeemed on earth: cp. Rev_20:9; Gal_4:26. It is a 'city' in the sense of being an organised community: cp. Eph_2:19; Heb_11:16. The New Jerusalem is compared to a bride (Rev_21:2-9 contrast Rev_17:1-5), to denote that the happiness of the redeemed springs from their union with Christ: cp. Isa_61:10.; Isa_62:1. Mat_22:3; Mat_25:10; Luk_12:36; Eph_5:25. (3) Those for whom these blessed things are in store: those who thirst for, i.e. intensely desire, God, righteousness, and eternal life, cp. Isa_55:1; Mat_5:6; Joh_7:37; Rom_2:7; (Rev_21:6), and who 'overcome' (Rev_21:7). Thus the chief purpose of the book, in encouraging the tempted and persecuted to overcome by resistance unto death, is maintained to the end. The 'city' is not for those who are too cowardly to endure, who fall from faith and join in heathen abominations (Rev_21:8).
3. A great voice] i.e. God's. Heaven] RV 'the throne': cp. Rev_19:5.
4. Former] RV 'first.'
5. He said] i.e. the herald angel. 6. He said] i.e. God. It is done] RV 'They are come to pass'; 'they' = 'these words' (Rev_21:5).
7. All] RV 'these.'
8. Abominable] i.e. those who join in heathen debaucheries: cp. Rev_17:4.
Sorcerers] lit. 'poisoners': cp. Rev_18:23; Rev_22:15. Gal_5:20 RV. There was much magic in heathenism, and it dealt in philtres and poisons. The lake] see on Rev_19:20. Second death] see on Rev_20:6.
9-27. Further description of the city. St. John has seen the city descending in the distance. Now it is shown him in full view by one of the angels of the bowls (Rev_21:9.), probably the herald angel: cp. Rev_17:1, see on Rev_1:10. The visible cloud of God's glory is in the city (op. Rev_21:3, Rev_21:23 Eze_43:2. Heb_9:5), and causes her to shine with glory as she descends (Rev_21:11). Her walls represent her beauty and security, and, with the gates and foundations (cp. Numbers 2; Eze_4:8; Eph_2:20), signify also that she is the home of the Church of both OT. and NT. The twelve Apostles are mentioned as a body, so that we need not ask whether the twelfth was Matthias or Paul (Rev_21:12-14). The city is measured, but as the city is figurative, so are the measurements. All the dimensions are compounded of 12, the number of the OT. and the NT. (cp. Rev_7:4.), the number which signifies that God is in the midst of His people: see on Rev_1:12, The city is a cube, which, taken literally, would be monstrous, hut in its symbolical meaning says that the whole city is a sanctuary like the Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle (Rev_21:15-17). The magnificence of the city is figured by the most beautiful and precious things (Rev_21:18-21). Her spiritual perfection is such that no special sanctuary is needed: cp. Joh_4:21. There is no one in the city who is not at one with God. All her people are united in His service. Thus 'there is no temple, because the city is all temple' (C. A. Scott) (Rev_21:22). Earthly light and knowledge, which are imperfect and partial, have vanished in the full light and knowledge of God: cp. Isa_60:19; Joh_8:12; 1Co_13:9.; (Rev_21:23). The prophecies of the gathering in of the Gentiles (cp. Isa_60:3) are fulfilled (Rev_21:24), and redeemed humanity worships God within the open gates of the city (cp. Isa_60:11) in perpetual light and security (Rev_21:25.); those only being shut out who are unclean through their separation from God to the service of the devil's agents (Rev_21:27).
9. Vials] RV 'bowls.' Full of] RV 'Who were laden with.'
10. Spirit] RV 'Spirit': cp. 173. Mountain] cp. Eze_40:2.; Mat_4:8.
11. Jasper] see on Rev_4:3.
12. Twelve gates] 'Four is the number which is the symbol of the world, three that of God. Twelve, therefore, is the signature of the covenant people among whom God dwells. The enclosure of the Tabernacle was a square space, three tribes being over against each of the four sides. Thus we have a square with the Tabernacle in the midst, expressive of God in. the midst of His people' (Currey).
15. Cp. Eze_40:3.
17. The wall] i.e. the thickness of the wall: cp. Jer_51:58. The angel] RV 'an angel,' i.e. the angelic cubit was of the same length as a human cubit.
19f. The stones are, with exceptions, the same as those in the high priest's breastplate (cp. Exo_28:17.; Exo_39:10.), and those ascribed to the king of Tyre (Eze_28:13). Flinders Petrie (HDB.) says that precious stones were not so exactly distinguished from one another in ancient days as they are now. 'Jasper' was, according to him, green jasper; the 'sapphire' was our lapis-lazuli; the 'chalcedony' was dioptase (silicate of copper); the 'emerald' should be rock-crystal, cp. Rev_4:3 note; 'sardonyx' was the red and white onyx; the 'sardius' was red jasper; the 'chrysolite' in St. John's time was the present topaz; the 'beryl' was either beryl, i.e. an opaque emerald, or green felspar; the 'topaz' was peridot; the 'chrysoprasus' was, probably, the green chalcedony; the 'jacinth' was the sapphire; the 'amethyst', was the modern amethyst.
24. Of them which are saved] RV omits.
27. That defileth] RV 'unclean,' lit. 'common': cp. Rev_21:8; Isa_52:1; Eze_44:9. Worketh, etc.] RV 'maketh an abomination and a lie.'
Book of life] cp. Rev_3:5; Rev_13:8; Rev_20:12.
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Rev 21:1-8.
CHAPTER 21
Rev 21:1-8.
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And now the eternal state comes into view. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and the sea is no more.” This is the revelation concerning the final and eternal state of the earth. “Thou hast established the earth and it abideth” (Psa 119:90); “But the earth abideth forever” (Ecc 1:4). These divine statements are now fulfilled. Many Christians have a very vague conception of the eternal state of the earth and the abode of the redeemed. They think of it as a spiritual state destitute of any locality. But it is not so. The earth and the heaven abide as definite places throughout all eternity. What a marvellous fact this is! In Rev 20:11 we read that the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place. We saw that at that time the great conflagration of which Peter speaks took place, when “the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements, shall be dissolved with fervent heat, the earth also, and the works that are therein shall be burned up” (2Pe 3:10).
But we read in the same chapter “nevertheless we, according to His promise look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2Pe 3:13). During the millennium righteousness reigns upon the earth, but now a state comes for the earth when righteousness shall dwell there. The great burning up meant not an annihilation of the earth and the heavens; God does not annihilate anything, nor does Scripture teach an annihilation of material things and much less the annihilation of human beings, as false teachers claim. The conflagration of the earth and the heaven means their complete purification. The heaven mentioned cannot be the entire heavens; for there is a heaven which cannot be touched by these fires of purification. The heaven is that which surrounds the earth and which was once the peculiar sphere of the great usurper, the prince of the power in the air. And when Peter writes that all this is according to His promise, he has a well-known prophetic statement in Isaiah in mind. “For as the new heaven and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain.” (Isa 66:22. See also Isa 65:17).
From this statement we get definite information that the redeemed Israel established upon the new earth will throughout the eternal state be distinct from the saved nations. They will throughout all eternity bear witness of God’s faithfulness as the covenant-keeping God. The new heaven and the new earth are therefore the abodes of the redeemed. The new earth, the eternal glory spot of redeemed Israel and the redeemed nations, and the new Jerusalem will come out of heaven to fill the new earth and the new heaven as well. “And I John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
The new Jerusalem, the holy city, comes into view. During the millennium the city of Jerusalem was known as the place of glory for the earth. Numerous Old Testament predictions were fulfilled. In Rev 20:9, she is called “the beloved city.” But in Rev 3:12 we have another Jerusalem mentioned, the same city which John sees coming down out of heaven, the place of the highest glory. It is the abode of the Church in all her glory; the statement “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” establishes this beyond controversy. She is called “holy” for all is holy; and a “city” because the Saints are in blessed communion and fellowship there. In the highest glory she had her abode. But now she is being revealed in all her eternal glory and beauty.
During the millennial reign this wonderful city was above the earth and from there Christ reigned and His saints with Him. But here she comes down out of heaven. A thousand years before the marriage of the Lamb had taken place (19:7-8), and now after a thousand years of unspeakable glory, she is still seen “as a bride adorned for her husband.” And yet all these things are given in figurative language. What will be the reality! The masterwork of God is at last fully manifested; what He accomplished through Him, who left the glory to die on the cross, is made known. The eternal, never ending riches, purchased by Him who was rich and became poor for our sakes, are beginning to be displayed in all their unfading splendor. Then the saints of God will learn to know the full meaning of Eph 2:7, “that in the ages to come He might display the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness towards us through Christ Jesus.” “And I heard a loud 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.” This is the glorious consummation. It is the goal of a holy, loving God.
In Eden God visited man unfallen, walked and talked with Him. Then sin severed this fellowship. He dwelt in the midst of Israel in the holiest of the tabernacle. In this age the Church is His habitation by the Spirit, but the blessed consummation in the eternal state will result in God dwelling with His redeemed creatures. What holy, glorious, never-ending intimacy that will be! It is the time when God is all in all (1Co 15:28). When that time has come all the former things are passed away. “And God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” Tears, death, sorrow, crying, pain and suffering, these came into existence through sin. And all these things, the effects of sin, are now gone. What relief and what joy!
And next comes the eternal state of those who have rejected the gospel, who lived in their sins and died in their sins, unsaved, unregenerated. “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” God still speaks. How many false teachers are meddling today with the solemn Scripture doctrine on the endless punishment of the wicked.
Rev 21:9-27.
With the ninth verse we are brought back once more to the millennial state. What was briefly stated in Rev 20:4-6 is now more fully revealed and we have a description of the bride, the Lamb’s Wife, in her millennial glory, in relation to Israel and to the nations on the earth. one of the angels which had the seven vials appears on the scene to show something to the seer. We had a similar scene in Rev 17:1-3. There one of these angelic bearers of the vials showed to John the harlot woman and her judgment; but now he is to see the bride, the Lamb’s wife. “And he carried me away in the Spirit, and set me on a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” She is seen coming down out of heaven. This coming down precedes the one mentioned in Rev 21:2-3 by a thousand years. Her coming down does not mean here that she actually comes down upon the earth, to dwell on the earth during the millennium. Her coming out of heaven in Rev 21:2-3 is undoubtedly to the new earth. But here she comes down to be over the earth.
For a fuller exposition of the symbolical language we refer the reader to the larger exposition of Revelation by the author. We mention briefly that the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem are twelve previous stones.
The jasper again stands first; the wall itself is of jasper, while the first foundation stone mentioned is also jasper. It stands for the glory of God. Then the stones follow in their order. The sapphire (blue); the chalcedony (a combination of grey, blue and yellow); the emerald (green); the sardonyx (a pale blue); the sardius (blood red); chrysolite (purple and green); the beryl (bluish green); the topaz (pale green or golden); the chrysoprasus (mixed blue, green and yellow); the jacinth (combination of red, violet and yellow), and the amethyst (purple). And what must be the deeper meaning of all these precious stones! What varied aspects of the glory of God they must represent! And the redeemed in their heavenly city shall know, understand and enjoy it all. What wonderful, unspeakable glory is ahead of us! May we look forward to it every day and willingly serve and suffer the little while down here.
The city itself was seen by John as of pure gold. Gold typifies the righteousness of God in His nature and such the holy city is, composed of the saints who were made through grace the partakers of the divine nature. “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each one of the several gates was of one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass.” How suitable the pearl to form each gate, the entrance to the city divine. The Pearl is a type of the Church. She is the one pearl of great price for which the Lord gave all He had (Mat 13:45-46). And the golden street like unto pure glass shows that all the ways and walks in that city are according to righteousness and that defilement is eternally impossible.
And there was no temple in that city; the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. There is no need any longer of a certain access into the presence of God, as it was on earth, but there is a free and unhindered fellowship with God and with His ever-blessed Son, the Lamb. Precious it is to hear Him again mentioned as the Lamb. His blessed work which He accomplished can never be forgotten by the saints in glory. And the light is not created light, but the light is the glory of God and the lamp thereof is the Lamb. The glory of God and Christ, the Lamb of God, will be the light and supersede all created light.
“And the nations shall walk by its light and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor unto it (the better rendering); and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations unto it.” From this we learn that the glory light which shines eternally and undiminished in the holy city is the light in which the saved millennial nations on the earth walk. And the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor unto it; not “into” it as it is rendered in the Authorized Version. The heavens then rule, for Christ and His co-heirs are in that holy city, and the government and rule over the earth proceeds from there. The kings bring their glory and honor unto it, they bow in homage in the presence of the holy city.
Heaven is acknowledged as the source of all light, glory and blessing. When the nations and the kings of the earth go up to Jerusalem to worship the Lord of Hosts during the millennial age (Psa 72:8-11; Is. 60:1-3; Zec 14:16) we doubt not, they will turn their faces upward. Mount Zion in Israel’s land will have resting upon it the glory and above it the vision of the city in which the glory dwells and from which the glory emanates. And unto it they bring honor and glory. The open gates, never closed, denote security and suggest also communication and intercourse with the earth. “There shall be no night there”; the night of sin and sorrow is forever gone for the dwellers in the holy city. “And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Seventh Vision: Of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
The Seventh Vision: Of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
The prelude:
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v. 1. And I saw anew heaven and anew earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
v. 2. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
v. 3. 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.
v. 4. 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.
v. 5. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said unto me, Write; for these words are true and faithful.
v. 6. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
v. 7. He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
v. 8. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their parts in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second death.
The eyes of the believers are here turned to the coming, complete salvation, Here we may look and lift up our eyes, for our salvation is near: And I saw the new heaven and the new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more. John sees the fulfillment of all the prophecies relating to the glory at the end, Isa 65:17; Isa 66:22; 2Pe 3:12-13. The believers inherit the Kingdom which was prepared for them since the beginning of the world, Mat 25:34. The new heaven and the new earth they are called, because they are altogether different from this present world, steeped in sin as it is. Everything that has any connection with sin will be removed altogether. Therefore the sea also, from which the dragon came forth, will be no more.
But the center of the picture was the most glorious: And the holy city, New Jerusalem, I saw coming down from heaven from God, all ready like a bride arrayed for her husband. All was ready for the marriage of the Lamb, and so the New Jerusalem, the holy city of God, the Church of Jesus Christ, consisting of the sum total of all those that were faithful to the end, came down from heaven, where the great majority of its members had gone, according to the soul arrayed in all the gifts of her Husband’s grace and mercy. So the entry of the blessed congregation of God into the eternal habitation prepared for her is here described. Of this we read further: And I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the dwelling-place of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and themselves will be His people, and Himself, God, will be with them. And He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and death will no more be, nor sorrow nor lamenting nor pain will any more be; for the first things are passed away. The divine voice itself explains the picture, thus doing away with all types. When the children of Israel journeyed through the wilderness, the Tabernacle of the Lord was also in their midst, and God dwelled in the Most Holy Place. But that was a temporal, earthly, imperfect type, pointing forward to the blessed perfection of heaven. It is evident from the whole description that it is impossible, in words of a human tongue, to convey even a distant idea of the glories of heaven. But the unspeakable beauties of eternal bliss are at least suggested. There God will live in our midst, as our own God, our supreme good and highest source of joy and satisfaction. And we shall be His people, His own, purchased with the blood of the Lamb, and now the treasures of His house. Every tear that was caused in this world, by its misery, its sorrow, its sin, its suffering, shall be wiped from our eyes; and there shall be no more occasion for weeping, no death, no sorrow, no lamenting, no pain. All these things were characteristic of this world, and they have all passed away when the last day brings us the consummation of our salvation.
God the Father Himself made the announcement of this joy and bliss: And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, new I make all things. All creatures, heaven and earth, we ourselves, will be new. Sin and all the consequences of sin will be removed entirely from our bodies, and we shall be filled with a new eternal life. Beyond conception everything will be more glorious than even creation was at the end of the six days, when the Lord saw that everything was very good. Again the voice of God sounded forth: And He said, Write, for these words are faithful and true. Our faith and our hope are not based upon our own opinions and ideas, but upon the infallible Word of God, which will remain when heaven and earth shall pass away.
With solemn emphasis another announcement rings out from the throne: And He said unto me, It is done: I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End. I shall give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life without price. He that conquers will inherit these things; and I shall be to him God and he shall be to Me a son. As Christ, when He hung on the cross, called out: It is finished, thus announcing to the world the completion of the work of redemption, so God the Father here states that it is done. All waiting and hoping is over; He who is Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End, who is from eternity and has all things in His hand, will turn over to them that are His children the full enjoyment of heavenly bliss, of the inheritance which He prepared before the foundation of the world for those that love Him. Salvation is the work of God alone, and every person in the wide world that thirsts after this salvation, that desires the mercy of God in Christ Jesus, may have this wonderful water of life without money and without price, Isa 55:1-2. He will be God’s son, God’s daughter; and God will be his Father throughout eternity.
The very opposite lot is reserved for the unbelievers, for the malicious enemies of Christ: But as for the craven and the unbelievers and the abominable and the murderers and the adulterers and the sorcerers and the idolaters and all the liars, their lot will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. So all the people in the world that rejected the Gospel of Jesus Christ: those that feared the devil and his power more than God; those that refused to believe; those that indulged in abominations of every kind; those that persecuted the people of the Lord; those that lived lives of utmost immorality; those that made use of sorcery in any manner; those that worshiped the anti-Christian beast and his image; those that did not want to accept the love of the truth, but proved themselves true children of the devil, the liar from the beginning: all these will find out to their great sorrow that God is not mocked. They will have their reward, with the dragon and with the beast and with the false prophet, in the abyss of hell, in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. That is the second death, everlasting destruction, everlasting damnation.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 General Information:
General Information:
John begins to describe his vision of the new Jerusalem.
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I saw
Here "I" refers to John.
like a bride adorned for her husband
This compares the new Jerusalem to a bride who has made herself beautiful for her bridegroom. (See: Simile)
translationWords
heaven
earth
holy city
Jerusalem
God
bride
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–4 21:1–22:9 The final scenes of the new heaven and…
21:1–22:9 The final scenes of the new heaven and earth are striking pictures of a new community and home for God’s people that is fashioned and given by God. These scenes help to lift the spirits of persecuted Christians. John lays out his basic vision (21:1-8) and follows it with two expansions: (1) In 21:9-27, he presents the new Jerusalem as the site of holy perfection; (2) in 22:1-5, he describes the new Jerusalem as the ultimate Garden of Eden that Adam and Eve could have experienced had they not sinned.
21:1 The vision involves God’s creation of the new heaven and earth (cp. Gen 1:1 with Isa 65:17; 66:22). The old creation has disappeared—it was subject to decay (see Rom 8:20-21; 2 Pet 3:7, 10). • the sea was also gone: The sea was associated with chaos or the abyss (see study note on Rev 9:1-12) and was sometimes portrayed as a roaring monster (see Pss 46:3; 74:14; see also Job 3:8; 41:1-34; Luke 21:25). The new creation will be free from all such evil.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.