Revelation Chapter 21 - John Karmelich

1. This lesson is called "Understanding Happily Ever After".

a) Children's fairy tales often end with the phrase "Happily Ever After". It refers to the idea that the heroes of the story go on to live a happy life at the end of the story.

b) With that said, we are now in the last two chapters of the bible. This is the "happily ever after" section of the bible. It gives us a glimpse of what our eternal life is all about.

c) Before I begin, think about this: The bible says very little about our eternal life after we die. We have two chapters here in Revelation and an occasional reference here and there. That is a small percentage of the bible. The vast majority of the bible focuses on the "here and now". That tells me that God wants us to primarily focus on this life.

2. Back to the title: The main point to get out of the last two chapters of Revelation is to understand the purpose of "eternity". Let's set the stage and I'll explain this further:

a) Most of Revelation focuses on the events of Jesus Second Coming.

b) Much of the book has to do with judgments prior to the Jesus actual return.

c) Chapter 19 was the actual return of Jesus and the events around that return.

d) Chapter 20 focuses on events after His return: This included a 1,000 year "millennium" period where Jesus rules from earth. The remainder of the chapter deals with "Jesus as judge" where all the unsaved get sent to hell as well as the final judgment on Satan and his demonic forces.

e) In Chapter 21 We're now done with judgments.

i) We're now done with Satan. We're now done with evil and sin.

ii) We're even done with Jesus 1,000 year rule during the millennium. The thousand-year period may be a long time, but it is relatively nothing compared to eternity.

f) Chapters 21 and 22 focus on the "happily ever after" section of our existence.

g) The question becomes, "now what"? What do we do for eternity? Do we just stand there and praise God? Doesn't this get boring after awhile? ☺ The other key question is how does this "happily ever after" section affect my life today?

3. If I had to pick one word to describe this eternal state, it is "fellowship". It is an old English word often used in "Christian-speak". The idea is to spend time with the one you love.

a) I've occasionally used the illustration of a young person who has a crush on somebody: When you are infatuated with someone, you want to find out all you can about them. You just want to be with them. You want to spend time with them.

i) That is what God desires of us. Sometimes we spend time in prayer, "just to be with God". We read His word to learn more about God and what He wants of us.

ii) If you are with friends you like, you enjoy talking to them. You trust them and tell them intimate things. You want to hear about their lives.

b) Remember that our God is a God-of-love. To use another of my regular illustrations, if somebody has a gift for canvas painting, they will paint whether they get paid for it or not. They do it because they just love to do it. If God is a God-of-love, He needs someone or some group to express that love upon. If we are forced to love God, it is not true love. That is why God allows free-will to exist, to see if we freely choose Him.

c) The point is the eternal "happily ever after" of these two chapters focuses on a love relationship between God and other Christians.

i) What if I'm shy or an introvert? Will I hate heaven? ☺ I don't know. I do know that God loves us too much to leave us alone. If we do love God, we want to spend time with Him. If we love people with common interests (i.e., our love for God), we want to spend time with them.

ii) The point is, "Get used to the idea of spending lots of time with God and with other Christians". That seems to be the theme of these last two chapters.

iii) The application is to get started now. If we're going to spend eternity in a close personal relationship with God and other believers, get started now. It doesn't work in the sense one can live in isolation now, and expect to enjoy eternity.

iv) God wants the "happily ever after" to begin now, with our attitude. We can't control the world around us, but we can control our attitude at any time. Remember, we as Christians will live forever. We as Christians do spend eternity in a love relationship with God Himself and other believers. We'll develop this theme more during the lesson, but get used to the idea of "fellowship", i.e., a close personal relationship with God and with other Christians.

4. Last thing and then I'll get started: Is this all there is to heaven? If you've read Chapters 21 and 22, it reads like a nice fairly tale ending. Won't it get boring after awhile?

a) My personal view is that this is not all there is to eternity, but this is all that God chose to reveal to us about eternity at this time.

b) I believe it's going to take an eternity to get to know all there is about God and about fellow believers. Imagine how long it's going to take to get to know fellow Christians and their lives. Even if and when we have perfect knowledge of all saved people and all human events, that still is "less than eternity". My point to all of this is that whatever happens in eternity, we only can focus on what we do know and not what we don't know. We have to trust God in His eternal plans for us.

c) Remember the bible verse that gives the purpose of human history: "And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus, in order that in the coming ages he might show the incomparable riches of his grace, expressed in his kindness to us in Christ Jesus. " (Ephesians 2:6-7, NIV).

i) The idea of this sentence in Ephesians is that the purpose of human history is for God to organize a group of people so that He can spend eternity showing His love to that group. I don't know what that fully entails, but it sounds pretty good to me, especially when one considers the alternative! ☺

d) If the main point of human history is to have a big group of people who spend eternity loving God and loving each other, the application of these chapters is to get started now and don't wait for "eternity" to begin. In a sense, our eternity began the moment we became born-again. If God's great ultimate purpose is a love relationship with Him and fellow Christians, then God wants us to start practicing now in preparation of that time!

5. Chapter 21, Verse 1: Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.

a) Remember that the events of Chapter 20 focused on the 1,000 year time frame called the millennium. This is a time when Jesus ruled on earth, presumably over those that survived through the Tribulation. The end of this tribulation brought a time of final judgment. Essentially, all those who are saved are now saved forever. Those who are condemned are condemned forever. There is no more new life.

b) Notice the word "I" in Verse 1. In the King James Version, the word "John" is in the text itself. The point is John is validating this particular point. To paraphrase what John is writing, he is saying, "I know you the reader must think all of this stuff is strange what I'm writing in Revelation and think I was just having a bad dream. Let me tell you, all of it is real. I saw it with my own eyes! I saw this stuff. I'm not just making it up!"

c) To open this next chapter in human events, John sees a new heaven and a new earth.

d) First, understand the bible has three different uses of the word "heaven".

i) The first "heaven" refers to the sky, or atmosphere above the earth.

ii) The second "heaven" refers to the stars and what is beyond our atmosphere.

iii) The third "heaven" refers to God's throne and wherever "eternity" exists.

iv) Paul refers to the fact he was taken up to "The third heaven" (Ref.: 2nd Cor. 12:2). The point is Paul understood the three heavenly references.

v) Remember God's location, (i.e., "the" heaven) is not somewhere one can travel via a spaceship. It exists in dimensions we cannot comprehend. If God created the universe as we know it, He must exist outside of that universe. If "God is everywhere", He must exist in dimensions beyond our comprehension.

e) With all that said, we can now go back to the concept of a "new heaven and new earth". There are a number of Old and New Testament references to the fact that God will one day create a new heaven and a new earth. (E.g., Isaiah 65:17, 22, 2nd Peter 3:13, and here.)

f) Some people believe the new heaven is a new "God's throne room". The majority of scholars argue it only refers to the first heaven, which is the atmosphere above the earth. If God's throne is perfectly holy, I don't see a need for a new throne-heaven. Further, John saw will see a new "Jerusalem" come down from the sky (i.e., space). I believe the sky (or space) doesn't change, but just the earth and its atmosphere, which is the first "heaven".

g) OK, onto the big question: Why get rid of the earth as we know it? Why have a new one?

i) Being a guy, let me use a football illustration. ☺ I once attended a football game where a strange pre-game ceremony took place. In American team sports, there is often a person dressed up in a costume as a "mascot" for that team. It somehow represents the team's nickname. The week prior to this game, the uniform of the mascot was stolen by the team's archrival. Just before the game, the mascot's uniform was returned. Given all of that, there was a ceremony before the football game where the uniform was completely destroyed. The joke was, "This uniform was touched by our enemies. It is permanently infected and now it is beyond repair. We must destroy it and create a brand new one".

ii) In a strange way, this joke of a ritual is biblical. The idea is that sin has corrupted the world so bad, that it is beyond repair. It is like the way one has to shoot a horse that has a broken leg. That horse will be in pain the rest of his or her life. It is more merciful to kill the horse than let it live with the pain. That is the main reason why God will create a new earth, and the atmosphere around it. Our world is too corrupted by sin and God makes a new one through eternity.

h) There is a lot we don't know about the "how" question: How does God destroy the old one? Is there any debris floating around? ☺ Where does God get the material to create a new one? My view is that if God can create the universe as we know it "out of nothing", He can do it a second time. If you can accept the idea that God created the universe, it should be easy to accept the fact God can create a second one.

i) It's relatively easy to think about the idea that there is no more evil and corruption. Stop and think about all the beautiful things that will be destroyed. Think about one's favorite art work. Think about one's favorite nature spot to visit. Think about watching a sunrise or sunset. It's all going to be gone one day. I take by faith that whatever the new earth is, it will be better than what we know in this lifetime.

i) The application is not to be too "hung up" on things of this world. We can still enjoy its beauty and yes, even enjoy man-made things. The point is to put it in the perspective of eternity. When our beautiful new car gets its first scratch, don't get too upset, God's going to destroy it one day anyway! ☺

6. Lets get back to the Verse 1: The second sentence points out that the new earth has no sea.

a) If you think about this, it must be some sort of future vision. John was standing on the earth when this chapter begins. Obviously, the same world still exists today. John must have seen some sort of vision of the world being instantly destroyed and a new earth put in its place. The first thing John notices is that there is no more sea.

b) Remember John's perspective: He lived all of his life in and near Israel. He may have traveled to parts of the Middle East and the Mediterranean, but that's it. John had no knowledge of the world's great oceans. My point is "a new sea" is not just a reference to a new Mediterranean Sea, but I suspect there are no major seas or oceans in this world.

c) Our climate depends on the ocean to produce clouds, then rain, etc. Whatever this new world is, it will be different than the one we know right now.

i) I believe the first point of "no more sea" is to understand it will be different from the one earth we know. John had enough insight to realize that he just wasn't watching a big globe come out of the sky, but a new earth. John realized this new earth was distinct from the earth as we know it and didn't have any more "sea".

d) OK, why does God want us to know the new world has no sea? The text doesn't say.

i) Here's my favorite theory on this. The prophet Micah said, "You (God) will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities (sins) into the depths of the sea." (Micah 7:19, NIV parenthesis added) The point is of this word picture is God removes all of our sins and throws them into the depth of the sea. Here in Revelation, God gets rid of the sea!

ii) I mentioned in a previous lesson the story how Jesus once "rebuked" the sea as if it was demon controlled. (Ref.: Matthew 8:26, Mark 4:39). There are hints every now and then that somehow, the "sea" is somehow tied with sin. Back in Revelation 13:1, the antichrist, "came out of the sea". The point here in Revelation 21 is this "sea", with all of its sinful overtones (as a word-picture) no longer exists.

e) Hey look, there's a Verse 2 in this chapter! ☺

7. Verse 2: I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

a) In Verse 1, John saw a new earth, and a new heaven. The "heaven" most likely refers to the atmosphere around the new earth.

b) In Verse 2, John saw a new city, which he calls the "New Jerusalem". Notice this city comes to earth separately. Some scholars think this new city doesn't actually touch the new earth, but hangs in space. I disagree with that idea, but some argue it hangs in space.

c) In this verse, notice the word "as". The city is prepared "as a bride…"

i) The point is this city is really a city called Jerusalem. It is not a female bride.

ii) John is making the point of how this city is prepared. Just as a bride makes herself beautiful prior to the wedding ceremony, so is this city prepared for its arrival.

iii) I have a great memory of my wife first coming down the aisle at our wedding. It was one of the most beautiful sites I've ever seen. John is using a word-picture that most people can comprehend.

d) I have to admit, I thought about this verse way too much: How did John know it was "New Jerusalem". Did it have a big neon sign saying, "Welcome to New Jerusalem"? ☺

i) First, way back in Revelation Chapter 3, Verse 12, there was a reference to the fact there would be a "New Jerusalem" coming out of heaven. Therefore, this reference here in Chapter 21 is fulfilling a promise made in Chapter 3.

ii) I suspect John had some sort of "tour guide" as he was writing explaining to John just what He saw and what He wanted John to write down.

iii) I've explained in earlier lessons that a nickname for the bible is, "A tale of two cities". Those two cities are Jerusalem and Babylon. Jerusalem represents the headquarters (or "capital") of a close relationship with God. Babylon represents the headquarters of any and all organized rebellion against God.

a) A few chapters back, we read of the final destruction of Babylon. Here in Chapter 21, we now read of the final fate of "Jerusalem". Just as the "old" Jerusalem represented God's "spiritual capital" of worship on the present earth, so a new Jerusalem is prepared for the new earth. Since there is no more sin, there is no new Babylon in this new world.

8. Verse 3: And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.

a) Back in the introduction, I stated that God's purpose for human history is to create a group of people to which God can express His love upon. In this lifetime, we only have limited capacity to comprehend what is that love of God.

i) Think of it this way: Can we see God? Do we fully understand Him? Of course not. With that in mind, re-read Verse 3. Go ahead, I'll wait here. ☺

b) One gets the idea that "whatever" is happening in Verse 3, somehow God the Father Himself actually dwells with people. God won't just be our next door neighbor. He will live in the same house, the same city and same location as us. It is an intimate personal relationship that we can only imagine in this lifetime.

i) Won't we feel guilty if we sin and God is watching us? He's watching us now! ☺ Remember that sin no longer exists at this time!

c) What is happening in this verse is someone (probably an angel) announcing the fact that God will dwell with people.

i) Notice the lack of conditions to this promise. God is just saying in effect, "To those who trusted Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, there is now no more sin and now those people (i.e. the saved) can spend eternity with Me (God).

ii) There are those on earth who think, "Is that it? Where's the golf courses in heaven? ☺ Where's my big house that I get to hang around in for all of eternity?

iii) The point of eternity is that we get to "be" with God. We get the privilege of experiencing God's love for eternity. This gets back to my opening theme of "understanding happily ever after". It is all about love. It is about God's love being showered upon us. It is about us reflecting that love back to God and upon fellow believers. It is joy, but not from material things. It is the greatest joy that exists, one of a true love relationship without the influence of sin.

d) Most of Chapter 21, beginning in Verse 9, rest of this chapter is going to describe the beauty of the New Jerusalem. We're going to have images of gold, precious jewels and even pearls. Yet to me, somehow this dwarfs in comparison to the concept of "face to face interaction with the God of the Universe".

i) Somehow, someway, we are going to have an intimate relationship with God in ways we cannot imagine today.

ii) We are also going to have intimate relationships with other Christians without the interference of sin or even that of demonic influences. I believe that will be far greater in beauty than any of the gold and jewelry to be described later.

e) Let's personalize this verse. We may understand that one day we have a very close and personal relationship with the God of the Universe and other Christians. How should that affect our lives today?

i) The first idea is we are to "practice". A close relationship with God doesn't start after we are resurrected. It begins now. Prayer is a balance between realizing that God is in charge and perfect in all His ways, and at the same time, talking to God like we would to a close friend who we can trust with our most intimate secrets.

ii) As an example, sometimes my prayers are more formal as I want to remember God is holy (perfect) in all His ways and I am a sinful person. Other times, I just pour out whatever is on my mind to share my thoughts with Him. The point is to start developing "now" the relationship that will last for eternity.

iii) The next idea is to practice relationships with other Christians. Yes, we all know saved people who we desire they stay on the other side of heaven. ☺ We all have "unsaved" friends or relatives. The point is we are going to spend eternity with other Christians. Might as well get used to them. Get to know other Christians. Minister to others, which simply means putting others' needs in front of one's own. Again, it is about practicing now what God intends for us for all of eternity.

iv) Nothing else will last for eternity other than our relationship with God and other people. All "things" of this world will be destroyed. It is a reminder of what is important in life: Relationships with God and relationships with people.

9. Verse 4: He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

a) Apparently, once this intimate relationship begins in heaven, such things as death, sorrow (mourning), crying or pain are done away with.

b) The question becomes, if God is wiping away our tears, what are we crying about?

i) There is all sorts of speculation about this one. Crying is a human reaction when gets overwhelmed emotionally and there is no other way to let it out.

a) The crying (i.e., God wiping our tears) could be from the happiness of seeing heaven and knowing we are saved for all of eternity.

b) Some have suggested the tear wiping could be from lost opportunities. We could look back at the parts of our lives and realize what we have "wasted" that could have been used for God.

ii) My personal view is that God will take away part of our memory. Let's assume we all have friends and loved ones who will not be saved. How can one be truly happy, knowing a close friend will be in hell for eternity? That is why I'll argue that part of heaven is "selected memory removal". (Hey, it's just my theory. ☺)

c) Here is what is important about heaven: There is no more suffering. This is the "happily ever after" part about heaven.

d) This is a great verse to take comfort in during times of suffering. It will come to an end. There is a day for believers were there is no more death, mourning, crying and pain.

i) If you've seen the 1997 movie, "The Titanic", there is a scene near the end when one man is quoting Revelation Chapter 21 and 22 as they were all about to die. There is something wonderful about quoting the joy of heaven during times of stress and worry. It is comforting to know that suffering is only temporary.

ii) I like to recommend reading Revelation 21 and 22 during times of intense suffering and mourning. It is a reminder that there is a hereafter and whatever one is going through now, is still relatively nothing compared to eternity.

10. Verse 5: He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."

a) Let's start with the first sentence of this verse: God announces from the throne in an audible voice that John can here: "I am making everything new".

i) Verse 1 described a new heaven and a new earth. By Verse 5, God is stating again, what is now obvious: That everything (as we humans know it) will be knew.

ii) Why is "new" necessary? Basically, because we humans have ruined the old one so that it i