The New Jerusalem © 2012 Will Duke User Has Unrestricted Use of This Document If Attribution Is Provided in Any Published Medium
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The New Jerusalem © 2012 Will Duke User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. THE NEW JERUSALEM (Rev. 21-22) Introduction One of the most precious promises we have is the one Jesus gave us in John 14:1-3: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.” (NIV) We talk about going to Heaven when we die, and we will, but Scripture tells us that we won’t be there for long and that Heaven will not be our eternal home. To make sure we are all on the same sheet of music, let’s review what happens when we die. 1 The New Jerusalem © 2012 Will Duke User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. DESTINY FLOW CHART Paradise in Resurrection Bema Heaven with Bodies Judgment Christ 1 Cor. 15:50-54 of Believers Phil. 3:20-21 Rom. 14: 10b, 12 Joy & fellowship 2 Cor. 5:10 The First Resurrection Rev. 20:6 New Heaven & New Earth Rev. 21-22 Old New Testament Testament Acts 1:11; Natural Natural Person 1 Thess. 3:13; Titus 2:13 Rebelliou Faithful Does not Receive s Person Person receive s Christ Christ THE FIRST D E A T H GREAT Paradise Comfort & WHITE fellowship THRONE GREAT GULF Physical bodies JUDGMENT decompose Rev. 20:11-13 Sheol/Hades Suffering & torment The Second Death Rev. 20:14-15; 2 21:8 The New Jerusalem © 2012 Will Duke User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. When a believer dies, (like the believing thief on the cross in Lk. 23:42-43) he or she goes immediately to Paradise which is now in Heaven with Christ. At the time of the Rapture, we will be resurrected and given our new, glorified bodies, and we will continue to enjoy the fellowship of the Lord in Heaven while Earth goes through the seven-year Tribulation period. At end of the Tribulation will be the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ when Jesus, along with all of us, will return to Earth to establish His 1,000 year millennial reign. At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be released from his prison, will lead a rebellion against Christ, and Jesus will close the curtain on this current world. In fact, the Earth and the entire physical universe will be uncreated. Then will occur the Great White Throne Judgment when all those who have followed of Satan in this life will follow him into his eternal condemnation to Hell. Every person who has not trusted Christ for their salvation will stand before Him to be judged for what they have done and be assigned their places in the Lake of Fire. At this point in time, the purpose of the original creation has been completed; man’s great test is over, and the first universe has been destroyed. God has separated the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:31-46), the wheat from the tares (Matt. 13:24-30), and the rebellious have gone with Satan, the Anti-Christ, and the false prophet to an eternal Hell. Jesus will then create a new universe, a new Heaven and a new Earth, and it is on this new Earth that we will have our eternal home. The passage in John 14 tells us that our future home is being or will be created by Christ, Himself in Heaven. That new home is the New Jerusalem. Interestingly, God hasn’t just left us with vague hints about where are going; He has given us a lot of information about it, so thinking about that glorious new place that awaits us must be important. The last two chapters of the Bible contain some of the most detailed description of the New Jerusalem, so let’s look there for our study this morning. Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21, and follow along as we work our way through this chapter. You will not need to worry about taking notes; I will make a complete set available on the JH website, and the audio recording will be available there, too. 3 The New Jerusalem © 2012 Will Duke User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. LESSON Rev. 21:1 New Heaven and New Earth—God will create a new universe (the Greek phrase “Heaven and Earth” means the entire physical creation, i.e., the whole universe). o In Isa. 65:17, God says, “See, I will create new heavens and a new earth.” bara) “create”; it is the same word ברא) NIV) He used the Hebrew word bara) used in Gen 1:1 to describe God’s original act of creation. o We don’t know much about what this new universe will be like, but we think it will be similar to the present universe with galaxies, stars, planets, and moons. o We know that where we will live will be on a planet, and it will be called the “New Earth.” This makes us think that it will be at least somewhat like the present Earth, but many things will be different (see v. 4, below). The First Heaven and the First Earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. o This present creation will have been uncreated or destroyed at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment (see Rev. 20:11). 1 V. 2 The Holy City, the New Jerusalem o The New Jerusalem is a holy City. - There are many marvelous and beautiful cities on Earth, today, but none of them are holy. - “Holy”— (hágios) is usually translated “holy,” but it can also mean “saint” when referring to a human being. Holy means dedicated to God or set aside for Him and His service; it also carries the meaning of “pure, perfect, worthy of God.” 1 Note: John is not saying that what Paul calls the “Third Heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2) will pass away. The Third Heaven is the place where God’s throne is and where the believers have been with Christ during the Tribulation, and this is the place from which the New Jerusalem descends in the next verse. 4 The New Jerusalem © 2012 Will Duke User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. - The New Jerusalem is holy; it is dedicated to God; it is set apart for His use; it is pure and perfect. - Note: even the first Jerusalem was called the holy city (Rev. 11:2; Mt. 4:5; 27:53; Ne. 11:1; Isa. 52:1; Da. 9:24). Even though its people were far from holy, the first Jerusalem was holy in that it was set apart for God’s use. The New Jerusalem and its people will be holy. - This is the City for which Abraham looked (Heb. 11:8-10). - This is the City for which the Old Testament saints were longing (Heb. 11:13-16). - We are even now citizens of that City. We are not citizens of this present Earth, but of the holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:25-26; Php. 3:20; Heb. 12:22-24). We look forward to that City to which we belong (Heb. 13:14). Coming down out of Heaven o The New Jerusalem comes down from Heaven; John saw it actually descending from Heaven. - John does not say he saw it being constructed or created; it had already been completed by this time. Jesus told us in Jn. 14:2-3 that He, Himself is building the New Jerusalem, and Paul told us that the New Jerusalem was in Heaven at that time (Gal. 4:26). From God— o We marvel today at the awesome beauty, complexity, and intricacy of the present universe God has created. We will marvel even more at the new universe He is going to create. o The Old Testament told us that this present universe was created by God (Gen. 1:1), but in the New Testament, we learn that the Member of the Godhead who was the direct Agent Who created it is the Son (Col. 1:16- 17). o As marvelous as this present creation is, He is holding His best until last. o This new universe will be as much greater and more glorious than the first universe as our new, resurrection bodies will be greater than our present bodies. The old universe was created for man’s probationary state; the new universe will be for man’s perfected state. 5 The New Jerusalem © 2012 Will Duke User has unrestricted use of this document if attribution is provided in any published medium. o The Old Earth versus the New Earth: The Old Earth The New Earth Was created by God as a probationary order—God Will be created for man in his created the world to be full of challenges; it is a perfected state; there will be no world needing subduing (Gen. 1:28; note: this was sin there (Heb. 12:22-23). the case even before the Fall). Is suffering under God’s curse.2 Will not be under a curse (Rev.