The Lord # 62
62. The New Jerusalem in the Book of Revelation Means a New Church
In the Book of Revelation we find a description of the state of the Christian church as it would be at its close and as it now is. We are told that those people from that church who were meant by the false prophet, the dragon, the whore, and the beasts were cast into hell. After this-after the completion of the Last Judgment, that is-it says the following:
I saw a new heaven and a new earth, because the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Then I, John, saw the holy city Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among people, and he will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God.” The one who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And he said to me, “Write, because these words are true and faithful.” (Revelation 21:1-3, 5)
The new heaven and the new earth that John saw after the first heaven and the first earth had passed away do not mean a new sky like the one we can see with our eyes, full of air and stars, or a new earth for us to live on, but a new kind of church in the spiritual world and a new kind of church in this earthly world.
[2] Because the Lord, when he was in this world, made a new kind of church in both the spiritual and the earthly worlds, it says similar things in the prophets, namely, that a new heaven and a new earth were going to come into being at that time, as we find in Isaiah 65:17; 66:22, and elsewhere -which cannot therefore be understood to refer to the sky that we can see with our eyes and the earth that we live on.
“The spiritual world” means the world where angels and spirits live, and “the earthly world” means the world where we are living. On the recent founding of a new kind of church in the spiritual world and the eventual founding of a new kind of church in the earthly world, there is some information in the booklet Last Judgment and more in the supplement to that work.
Revelation 21
1
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.
2
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
3
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.
4
He will wipe away from them 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."
5
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."
6
He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give freely to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life.
7
He who overcomes, I will give him these things. I will be his God, and he will be my son.
8
But for the cowardly, unbelieving, sinners, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death."
9
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb's bride."
10
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,
11
having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it was a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12
having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
13
On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14
The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb.
15
He who spoke with me had for a measure, a golden reed, to measure the city, its gates, and its walls.
16
The city lies foursquare, and its length is as great as its breadth. He measured the city with the reed, Twelve thousand Twelve stadia. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.
17
Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
18
The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass.
19
The foundations of the city's wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
20
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst.
21
The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
22
I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.
23
The city has no need for the sun, neither of the moon, to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.
24
The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
25
Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there),
26
and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter.
27
There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
