Details of the Book Of The Revelation Of Jesus Christ by Leon O. Poole

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

John was privileged to see what Abraham looked for. According to Hebrews 11:10, he looked for a city, which has foundations. We should realize that the actual manifestation of the blessed City is yet future, as of the year of our Lord, 2,000 a.d. To me it is marvelous that god can reveal such things before they occur. Romans 4:17 says that God calls those things that be not as though they were. Surely, most of the Book of The Revelation of Jesus Christ fits into that category.

John said that he saw a new heaven and a new earth. God has not created another earth since Genesis 1:1, but according to Isaiah 66:17, He foretold that He IS going to create new heavens and a new earth. In this 21st chapter of Revelation, John said he saw them. He said that the first heaven and the first earth (i.e., the ones that we know now) shall, at that time, have passed away. On the new earth, John said there was no more sea.

Isaiah 66:17 says that the former heaven and earth shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. We know no other environment, so we tend to think of eternal things in terms of what we know in this world. But Isaiah says we will not even remember this one.

We will be occupied with the new ones, and will be rejoicing in them. God promises that Jerusalem and her people (the Jews) will be a rejoicing and a joy. They will occupy the city of Jerusalem on earth. God promises that He will rejoice in them, and there will be no more weeping in Jerusalem. Everyone will fulfill his life, and God's people shall long enjoy the work of their hands.

When God creates the new earth, there will be no more sea. He is going to change the way that earth systems function, from what we have known in this present earth. This present earth is a 'water based' system. I.e., the denizens of the earth must have water in order to exist. How ever it is established, the new world will be a BETTER ONE THAN THIS ONE IS. God ALWAYS advances when He does things over. For example, our new, glorified bodies, which we will receive at the Rapture, will be better ones than we have now. Philippians 3:21.

Not only did John see the new heaves and the new earth, he also saw the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It is gorgeously beautiful. John likens it to a bride adorned for her husband. I.e., decked out in the best that is available. Then a great voice out of heaven calls attention to the fact that from then onward, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and that He will dwell with them. They shall be His people, and He will be their God. God will dwell with them, in that city, and it will be on the new earth.

God has made similar promise to believers now, according to 1 Corinthians 6:14-18. The requirement is for us to separate ourselves from all that defiles and not to touch any unclean thing. We do no yet have access to the New Jerusalem, but God promises to dwell IN us and to walk WITH us, and that we shall be His people, and He shall be our God. The terminology is similar, but there will be no possibility of failure when we arrive in that blessed City that is soon coming down. Amen, praise the Lord.

John wrote that God is going to wipe away all tears from the eyes of those who dwell in that City. Nothing shall ever make them cry again. He said that there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying and there shall be no more pain. Oh, what a promise! Those things shall have passed away, and never again will anyone who lives in that City experience them.

Now we should see by Revelation 21:4 that sorrow is NOT God's will for His people. Crying is NOT God's will for His people. In this world we do know pain, sorrow and crying. But those things are in this world because of the ruin that came when Adam sinned, back in Eden.

Instead of sorrow, crying and pain it is God's pleasure for mankind to have joy and peace and gladness. Notice 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18: "Rejoice evermore. Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you." Again Philippians 4:4: "Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice." Joy is a fruit of the spirit. God hates pain and sorrow so much that He sent His Son into the world to redeem us. No, it is not a sin to feel sorrow or pain or to cry. But God's perfect will for His people is for us to rejoice evermore.

Per 2 Corinthians 5:17, believers in Christ are already new creatures. The old things (n us) are passed away. That is, in our inner man, we are delivered from them, though not from their presence or possibility in this world. But in the New Jerusalem we will at last be delivered from the PRESENCE of sin, sorrow, pain and crying and from death. Glory to God.

Notice God's statement in Revelation 21:5: "Behold, I make all things new." He did not say I make all new things, He said I make all things new. God verifies His Own statement, by assuring us that what He has just said is true and faithful. This is the way that it is going to be.

Notice Jeremiah 29:11: "For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." That is the bottom line of God's plan of redemption, and Jesus said that whosoever will may come. On, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness and for His wonderful works towards the children of men, Psalms 107:21.

In this world people think bad thoughts about God. They think He causes them to be sick, poverty stricken or to suffer other calamity. Sometimes they say: "God did this to me to teach me something." It is tragic that they really do not know God as He is. No, He sent the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth, and He gave us Jesus as our High Priest to make intercession for us. He does chasten us, so that we may take part in His holiness, but He is not malicious, and He isn't inclined with evil intent towards us. Especially not to His Own children. Notice Psalms 103:10: "He has not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities."

Everything in this universe began with God, (except sin and its results) and it is going to end with Him, Revelation 21:6. He is the first cause and prime mover of everything in this universe, except sin. He is not the author of sin. He is not the author of death. Death is the consequence of sin. Those things are alien to God. No wonder they are so hurtful. When God looked at His works, as noted in Genesis 1:31, He pronounced that it was all very good.

According to God, there is the fountain of the water of life. God promises that thirsty people can drink from it freely. God promises that the overcomer shall inherit all things. Nothing shall be withheld from overcomers. In addition, God shall be the overcomer's God, and he shall be God's son. There can be no greater treasure than to have God as our God.

In contrast the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the Lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the Second Death.

I did not know that unbelief was such a great sin, until I read this verse. Notice that ALL liars shall have their part in the Lake of Fire. That surely is not heaven! Let professing 'Christians' who practice lying beware! Sometimes people talk about 'little white lies'. But ALL lies are sin! People who tell 'little white lies' are liars, and shall have their part in the lake of fire. In God's sight, there is no color in lies. They are all sin! Therefore, we ought to be careful, even in joking, that we do not lie, or even make a lie.

In Revelation 21:9 one of the seven angels which had the seven last plagues invited John to see the Bride, the Lamb's wife. He carried him away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed him that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. The last time that John was borne away by the angel, he was carried away into the wilderness. There he saw Mystery Babylon, the great whore.

In each case, a city was seen. A city is collection of dwelling places and of commerce. But a city is also the people who dwell in it. Thus, the whore and New Jerusalem are each dwelling places for their citizens. New Jerusalem will have the glory of God. Those who dwell there will be able to interact with it, in a way that mortal men cannot. It will be resident in them, and they in it.

In Revelation 21:1 John saw a new heaven and a new earth. In verses 10-21, John is given the description of the New Jerusalem which came down upon the new earth. It has twelve gates with an angel at each gate, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the Children of Israel. What a privilege they have!

The Lord Jesus said that salvation is of the Jews. Specifically, it is by Jesus Christ, the chiefest of Jews. Thus, people can enter into salvation through the Jews. Perhaps the twelve gates of the City signify that. There are three gates on each side, and the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Per Ephesians 2:19-20, today's believers are built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ being the Chief Corner Stone.

The City lies foursquare, each side equal in length, and it is as high as it is long. It is about 1,500 miles on each side. It's wall is about 216 feet high. From one side of any of those gates in the wall, around the city to the other side of that same gate is 4 X 1,500 miles, about 6,000 miles! The building of the wall is of jasper. The City is pure gold, as clear as crystal. That is a type of gold that is unknown on the present earth. The foundations of the wall is garnished with all manner of precious stones, listed in versed 19-20.

Each gate is one pearl. The street is of transparent gold. John saw no Temple in the City, because the Lord God Almighty and Jesus Christ, the Lamb, are the Temple of it. The City had no need of the sun or of the moon, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is the light thereof. God grant that we may enter into it, through the obedience of faith in Jesus Christ. The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory and honor into it.

The gates of the City shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. The fact that nations bring their glory and honor into it, seems to indicate that there will be much traffic in and out of it. But there shall never enter into it anything that defiles or works abomination or makes a lie. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life shall have access.

This tells us that the nations that enter into it are all written in the Lamb's book of life. God WANTS people to enter into His City. Perhaps the gates signify access from every direction so that all of the saved nations shall have an entrance into the City.