Mm. If you think of heaven as a sort of cloud kingdom where you will float around with a harp, it's time to think again. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah reveals what Revelation has to say about the place believers will spend eternity, and it might look a lot more like Earth than a cloud kingdom. From Escape the Coming Night, here's David to introduce the new heaven and the new earth.
And here is part one of that message: the new heaven and the new earth. It's from Revelation chapter 21, and it's a discussion. Of what will happen to this earth and to the heavens, Peter says that it's going to be burned up. When you read it carefully, you realize what Peter is saying is: God's going to renovate the earth and the heavens and make it a fit place. For the city of Jerusalem to descend upon and for our eternal destiny.
We're going to discuss all of that from the 21st chapter of Revelation in today, and we're going to talk some more about it on Monday as well as we learn about the new heaven and the new earth. Friends, as we move toward the end of the month of July, our time is running out for us to tell you about our New England and Canada cruise, which is going to take place in October. Little by little, the rooms for that cruise are filling up, and we're being told to tell people to get serious about it if they plan to go with us. The dates are October 4th through the 11th, and you can find all about this at davidjeremiah.org. Our guest artists include Michael Sanchez and Urio Vega.
We'll have other people along with us as we get closer to the time. We'll let you know about that. But we've done this a couple of times, Don and I have, and it's really a fun trip. I hope you'll go with us if you can. Find out today at davidjeremiah.org.
Now here's part one of the new heaven and the new earth. We have two messages on the nature of heaven. Most scholars believe that heaven is simply a perpetuation of the holy city, which is described for us in chapters 21 and 22. And so we're going to investigate the place. Where God's people are going to spend eternity.
I hear preachers say on occasion that you cannot know very much about heaven because there's nothing in the Bible about it.
Well, someone has said if God told us all that was in heaven for us, we'd be so heavenly-minded we'd be no earthly good. And that's probably true. But he's told us a great deal about heaven that we can know. In fact, a little girl was visiting the countryside and she was struck by the brilliance of the night skies. And she turned to her mother and she said, Mom, if heaven is so pretty on the wrong side, I can't wait to see it on the right side.
The right side of heaven is truly a splendid thing to see. It is a place characterized by laughter without tears. Life without death. Singing without mourning. Contentment without crying.
and pleasure without pain. Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ is there. The Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is there. And God the Father will be there as well. There will be a new heaven and a new earth and a resplendent city, the new Jerusalem.
As we open our Bibles to the 21st chapter of Revelation, we are introduced to everything new. In fact, in this chapter, everything you read is new. a new heaven, a new earth. a new Jerusalem, all things new. Everything is new.
We have seen the result of the old, and it's time for something new. The Bible says in the first and the fifth verse of chapter 21, 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. And verse 5 says, And he that sat on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful.
Now, strange as it may seem, there is not very much information in the Bible about what is going to happen when God makes a new heaven and a new earth. Walter Scott, in one of his books on the book of Revelation, has said: Of the configuration of the new heaven and the new earth, the size and appearance of it, we can say nothing. All we know is that it will be regions of everlasting bloom and beauty. It is interesting that when John describes the new heaven and the new earth. He makes this statement.
He says, I saw the new heaven and the new earth. The first heaven and the first earth are passed away, and there was no more sea.
Now that would be new, wouldn't it? A heaven and an earth without any bodies of water. Without any ocean, without any lakes.
Now, that is what the scripture says is going to be in the new heaven and the new earth. From his vast knowledge of creation, Dr. Henry Morris wrote, There will in fact be no need for sea on the new earth. The present sea is needed as a basic reservoir for the maintenance of the hydrologic cycle and the water-based ecology and physiology of the animal and human inhabitants of the earth. In the new earth, however, there will be no animals at all, and presumably all men and women who live there will have glorified bodies with no more need for water.
Their resurrected bodies will be composed like that of the Lord Jesus, of flesh and bone. but apparently with no need for blood. To serve as a cleanser and restorer of the body's flesh as it is at present. This in turn eliminates the major need for water on the earth. Blood is about 90% water, and present-day human flesh is about 65% water.
Apparently, the resurrection bodies will be made out of flesh and bone, and we won't need blood. And therefore, the concept of water in the new heaven and the new earth. Will be of no value or no need.
Now, we're going to find out later that there is a river of life that flows down from the throne of God, but that is apparently of a different nature and for a different purpose. Imagine what the world would look like if there were no oceans and no lakes. I don't understand it all, but that's what John sees when he sees the new heaven and the new earth. The Apostle Peter suggests another thing about the new heaven and earth that will be new. He writes in 2 Peter 3:13 these words: We, according to his promise, look for a new heavens and a new earth in which dwelleth righteousness.
Now that will be new, won't it? We look around us today at the old heaven and the old earth, there's not a whole lot of righteousness in this one, is there? But the Bible says that the earth will be filled with righteousness. when it is recreated by our God. Isaiah the prophet makes a comment about the new heaven and the new earth.
In Isaiah 66, 22, he writes these words, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. What that verse tells us is that the new heavens and the new earth are eternal. There will never be again a destruction of the earth by fire or water, by atomic fission, or any other form of destruction. When God makes it all new, it is there to stay forever and forever.
Now A great question comes when people study this section of Scripture as to what the Bible means when it says the old heavens and the old earth are going to pass away and God is going to make it all brand new.
Some people believe that that means that the earth and the heaven as we know it today is going to be totally annihilated. And they refer to a passage of scripture in the book of 2 Peter. Let me just read it to you, and you'll listen carefully. But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, by which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also and the works that are in it shall be burned up, the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
End of quote. You know, years ago, people would read those verses and think they were preposterous. Before the atom bomb, nobody could ever believe anything like that could ever happen. Nobody doubts the possibility of that today, do they? But what does it mean?
Does it mean that God is just going to blow the globe up? He's going to blow up the heavens and the earth and then start out of nothing to create a brand new heaven and a brand new earth?
Well, I don't believe that's what he means at all. I don't believe he's going to annihilate the earth. He is rather going to remake it. He is going to refresh it. Or if I can use the term of the auditorium, he's going to refurbish it.
He is going to come in with the heat of the skies and of the earth, and he is going to totally destroy every evil thing that is in the heaven and the earth. Smog will be gone. And all of the evil things that are a part of the atmosphere and on this earth, every kind of sin will be destroyed.
Now, I am not alone in my opinion that the earth will not be annihilated, but be refreshed. Here are some thoughts from others who have studied this at a deeper level than I am capable of. One commentator by the name of Lenski writes this. He said, The newness of the heaven and of the earth shall be like our own. We shall be the same persons with the same soul that we are now, but we will be made entirely new.
Our newness is like the newness of the earth and the heavens. Or Albert Barnes says it this way: if the world is to be renovated by fire, such a renovation will give an appearance to the globe as if it were created brand new, and it might be attended with such apparent change in the heavens that they might be said to be new.
So, the new heavens and the new earth are going to be refurbished. They're going to be cleansed. There's going to be a Fire cleansing, just like in the Old Testament. When the world was Deluged by the flood. And it was cleansed by the water.
God promised Noah that that would never happen again. This time, He's going to do it with fire. And after the old earth and the old heavens have been dissolved and cleansed, there will be the creation. of the new.
Now that's just about all we can say about the new heaven and the new earth. At the end of the millennium, after the Battle of Armageddon, when the last rebellion has been put down, God is going to do a renovation of the world. He's just going to come in and do a great cleansing, and everything evil will be destroyed.
Now, along with the new heaven and the new earth, there is a new city, the new city called the city of Jerusalem. You know that the longing for a future city goes way back to the book of Genesis. Did you know that? Back in the book of Genesis, there was a man by the name of Abraham, and you don't know this until you get to the book of Hebrews. But when you come to the book of Hebrews, you discover that Abraham, all the time he was wandering around, was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God.
In the heart of the patriarch was the concept that someplace out there in the distant future, God had a special place that He had reserved for those who had put their faith in Him. And Abraham went through his life looking for that city. Just about every man and woman of God has built within him the realization that God has something for us beyond this life. It is not until the 21st and 22nd chapters of Revelation, however, that we are given any detailed information concerning this eternal home of all of the redeemed. One of the problems that you face as you study the book of Revelation, and especially these two chapters, is the problem of interpretation.
Now, if you read some writers on Revelation 21 and 22, you will discover that they spiritualize everything. They don't see streets of actual gold. They don't see gates of pearl. They don't see any of these things as actualities. They make them symbols for something else.
But throughout the book, we have discovered that there is a literal interpretation of the book of Revelation. And we're back to the golden rule of hermeneutics. When the normal sense makes good sense, don't seek any other sense. And when you read about this city that God has created. While we can't quite fathom it or understand it, it seems to me that it's exactly the kind of place that a God like ours would make for his own children.
And I'd just like to say at the very front end. that were taking reservations for the city And if you haven't made your reservation already, I hope you'll do it before we're finished. Because you see, there's going to come a time when reservations are closed and you can't get them anymore. When the Lord Ends the period of reservation. There won't be any late reservations.
You only have to get them now during this period of time. And I hope every one of you have a reservation for the city which God has prepared for those that love Him.
Now, in order to get some understanding of the city, let me explain to you a little bit about its dimensions, the dimensions of the city of God. Has anybody ever said to you, boy, heaven must be someplace? How is it ever going to be big enough so that all the people who are going there are going to get in?
Well, whenever somebody says that to me, I want to remind them that the scripture says. Straight is the gate, and few there be who go that way. I think some folks have an inflated idea about how many folks are going to be in heaven. But when you take all of eternity past, clear back to the beginning of the human race, if you add up all the people who have ever put their trust and faith in God and you list them all, that's an awful lot of folks.
So, where in the world could heaven be that it could accommodate such a great number of people? Can they live in this holy city which God has created?
Well, let's look. at the dimensions of the city. Notice in your Bibles verses fifteen and sixteen. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth four square, and the length is as the breadth.
And he measured the city with the reed. Twelve thousand furlongs, the length and breadth and height of it are equal.
Now the phenomenal size of this city Is one of the reasons why a lot of scholars don't think this is really literally interpreted. You say, well, I don't understand furlongs. I understand that you don't understand furlongs, and so let me explain them to you. Maybe the best way I can do that is to tell you a little story that I read about a preacher by the name of F.W. Borum, who preached on the book of Revelation for many years and used to speak about this holy city, trying somehow to grab hold of the dimensions of it and get an understanding of it.
In his congregation, there was an Australian engineer. who got enamored with the Numbers that are associated with the holy city.
So he went back to his office and he began to do some homework putting all this information together. And one day he came to his pastor and he said, Did you ever think about the size of the city? And without waiting for a reply, he proceeded to reveal the significance of his statistics. Man, it's amazing, it's astounding, it beats everything I ever heard of. John says that each of the walls of the city measures 12,000 furlongs.
Now, if you work that out, and he bent closely over his notebook, it will give you an area. Of 2,250,000 square miles at the base. A furlong, the size of these dimensions are 1,500 miles each way. Did you ever hear the like of that? The only city four square that I ever saw was Adelaide in South Australia.
The ship that brought me out from the old country called in there for a couple of days, and I thought it was a fine city. But as you know very well, the city of Adelaide covers only one square mile. Each of the four sides is a mile long. London covers an area of 140 square miles. But this city, the city four square, it is 2,250,000 times as big as Adelaide.
It is 15,000 times as big as London. It is 20 times as big as all New Zealand. It is 10 times as big as Germany and 10 times as big as France. It is 40 times as big as all England. It is ever so much bigger than India.
Why, it's an enormous continent in itself. I had no idea of it until I went into the figures with my blue pencil here, and he wouldn't even allow the preacher to interrupt him. He went on talking. Wait a minute, he pleaded. Wait a minute.
Minute, I've been going into the matter of population, and that's even more wonderful still. Look at this, and he's working it out with his pencil. He says: if you take the number of people to the square mile in the city of London, the population of the city four square comes out at a hundred thousand millions, 70 times the present population of the globe.
Now you say, well, are you sure that's still big enough?
Well, that's just on the bottom floor. You see, it's a city four square, remember? It's just as long and as wide as it is high. It is 1500 miles high. Way out into the atmosphere, beyond the atmosphere.
And from what we can understand, it's a cube city, so that there are different levels on the city. You say, Pastor Jeremiah, how do you get from one level to the other? From what I can understand about our resurrection bodies, you don't even need an elevator. You just think 24th story, Zamp, you're up there, right? Wouldn't that be something else?
I mean, your resurrection bodies are not confined to time and space and gravity as they are today. You are able to move about in the universe by the principle of thought. Nobody will be making any money in transportation those days. You just are there.
Now, you say, Pastor, that is really wild. That's what the Bible says. That's what God says about the dimensions of this city. The scripture says that the city Is so large that you don't have to worry about having enough room for all the people who are going to go there. Seiss, who has written a commentary on the book of Revelation, is accurate when he states that all the cities in the world are mere villages in comparison.
with the New Jerusalem. The shape of the New Jerusalem is cubical. as long and as wide and as high. And so we have something to look forward to when we think about that city four square.
Well, that's the dimension of the city. Let's take just a minute to examine some of the description of the city. What is it going to look like?
Well, first of all, the Bible says it's a holy city. Ha ha ha. You know, cities have a tendency to be the opposite of holy, don't they? Everybody wants to start a city so that they can be with their friends and congregate and have all the conveniences. And then they get in the city and the first thing you know, the city gets away from them.
What happens when you have a city? You end up with slums. You end up with slums and there's no city that doesn't have slums. But this city is going to be holy. There will be no sin in this city.
A holy city will be a city in which no lie will ever be uttered in 100 million years. No evil word will ever be spoken. No shady business deals will ever be discussed. No unclean picture will ever be seen. No corruption of life will ever be manifest.
It will be holy because everyone in it will be holy. It's a holy city. The second thing about this city that I want you to note is the city is entered through 12 gates, and the Bible says they are what kind of gates? Pearly Gates. That's right out of the scripture.
Notice Revelation 21, verses 12, 17, 18, and 21. Just read as I read. And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And he measured the wall of it, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.
Each one of the gates was one pearl.
Now, you can again understand why some of the Bible commentators have decided. that they don't want to believe this is literal. Adam Clark, who has written on the book of Revelation, writes, This must merely be figurative, for it is all out of order of nature to produce a pearl large enough to make a gate to such an immense city. He's forgotten one thing. We don't need an oyster to do it.
Right? God can do it. He can just say, do it, and it's done. As we look at the 12 gates of Pearl, we see on these gates the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed. And the 12 gates are really a part of the wall that surrounds the city.
And John sees the wall glittering like a diamond bracelet. Notice the 18th verse. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. The walls measure just 250 feet. And some folks have said: whoever heard of a city that large with walls only 250 feet high?
But you forget the walls aren't there to keep people out or keep them in. They're just there to define the limits of the city. There's no danger of being attacked, there's no enemies left. When people are not trying to stay in, the gates are left open all the time.
So there's easy ingress, and you can get in and out of the city anytime you want. The walls are not there for walls of defense, so they don't need to be high. One writer has seen something else in the gates of Pearl. Listen to this. He writes, There is a sermon in the fact that the gates are pearl.
Heaven is entered through suffering and travail, through redemption and blood, through the agony of a cross. A pearl is a jewel made by a little animal that is wounded. Without the wound, The pearl is never formed.
So, even the gate itself is symbolic of the hurt and the anguish that is necessary for us to be inhabitants of that place. Nothing is accidental. on the new heaven and the new earth, and certainly not in the new Jerusalem. All of the things that are described in Revelation 21 have meaning beyond what you read. They teach you things that you could never know if it weren't written in such a wonderful way.
And we'll be talking more about that in the days ahead. The new heaven and the new earth. Part 1. That was today. And we're going to take a break for the weekend with a little pause in the midst of this message and come back on Monday to finish it up.
And then next week we're going to talk about what we will do in heaven and what we should do until then. And we'll finish up our series, Escape the Coming Night, at the end of the week. I hope that you have been blessed as we've studied Revelation together, and that if you haven't already done so, you've asked for your copy of the book Vanished when you send your gift to Turning Point during the month of July. I'm David Jeremiah. See you next time.
Our message today originated from Shadow Mountain Community Church and Dr. David Jeremiah, the senior pastor. Turning Point is also on radio and TV this weekend. To learn where to find it, visit our website davidjeremiah.org slash radio. That's davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call 800-947-1993.
Ask for your copy of David's exciting new novel, Set in the End Times, Vanished. It's yours for a gift of any amount. You can also purchase the Jeremiah Study Bible in the English Standard, New International and New King James Versions, available in several handsome and resilient cover options. If this ministry is an encouragement to you, let us know by writing to TurningPoint, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California, 92163. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us Monday as we continue the series Escape the Coming Night on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
