THE ESTABLISHMENT OF ETERNAL BLESSEDNESS

The Establishment of Eternal Blessedness

 21:1-8

"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 I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But 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 burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death."

 The Presence of the Final Order

 

The Passing of the Old Order vs. 1

"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."

This does not mean that the earth will be annihi­lated. If it were, there would be no place for beings who must occupy space. The order and arrange­ments of things which are sinful will be completely rearranged and changed (cf. 2 Pet. 3:5-7, 10-13). The sea will be gone, for there will no longer be any need for separating peoples and nations. The earth will again be watered by a mist as it was in the beginning (Gen. 2:6).

"But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground."

The Presence of the Bride vs. 2

"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband."

The bride and the groom are going to make their home in the earth. The Holy City is that home. The city of many mansions, prepared for her. For those who look at that city see it as the city of the ruling class by the homes He built there for her. This bride, all prepared and completely adorned by His grace, is to be the object of the intimacies of the Son throughout eternity (Eph. 2:7), and the eternal display of the wisdom and glory of God to the nations (Eph. 3:10).

"That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus."
"To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,"

 

At last the city of God is seen, coming. It is the city which was in the counsel of God when He gave man a garden containing all its potentialities; the city which was in His purpose for man when He confused his Babel project; the city to reach which, Abraham left Ur of the Chaldees; the city whose walls have ever been before Him. It is the metropolis of tbe realized ideals of God for humanity, the center of the true social order. Let us observe carefully the time of its coming. After the thousand years, Satan is to be loosed. Even the millennial reign will not have finally overcome evil in humanity. It will have held it in check, reigned over it. And so the master-spirit of evil is loosed to gather together to himself all those in whom this principle of evil still remains. The last earthly expression of it will be the futile gathering of these to war against the saints and the city of the Divine purpose. They are only gathered that they may be cast, with Satan, from the earth. So evil passes from the world for ever. Then follows the great assize a period of august and awful silence in which the records reveal the righteousness of the Divine government. It should be remembered that the purpose of everything in these visions is such unveilings of Jesus Christ as show Him in His relation to this earth. Hades is cast into tbe lake of fire. Then the new heaven and the new earth. Then the City of God, and the nations walking in the light thereof. Then the full answer to the prayers of the saints: "Thy name be hallowed Thy Kingdom come Thy will be done: As in heaven so on earth"! 

The Presence of the Lord vs. 3

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

The age-long desire of men will finally be realized. God will dwell with men in the person of His son. With God going in and out among them, they shall be satisfied.
"tabernacle" The ancient tabernacle in the wilderness, where God “dwelt,” and occasionally communicated with His earthly people Israel, was merely a type of the eternal tabernacle, the new Jerusalem, where God will personally dwell forever with all His people from every nation. Compare Leviticus 26:11; Zechariah 2:11. Also remember that when Jesus “tabernacled” among us (John 1:14) in the days of His flesh, He was “Emmanuel,” meaning “God with us,” this also being a type of His future continual dwelling among us (Matthew 1:23).

The Passing of the Effects of Sin vs. 4

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away."

Emotion and tears from sin will pass away. Sepa­ration of body and soul will cease. Deep grief at the loss of loved ones will depart. Loud cries of pent-up feelings will be gone. Distress and toil will also be done away.

 The complete victory of Love and His accomplishment through His suffering. Life without death, singing without mourning, content without crying, pleasure without pain. He summoned him to behold the Bride in the glory of the great city. Radiant indeed is the revelation. It is a city of exclusion, having a wall great and high; and of inclusion, having gates opening in every direction. The names of the tribes on the gates suggest the varied temperaments of human life made pure as incorporated in the new social order. The names of the apostles of the Lamb on the foundations signify that the service of suffering has been the very foundation on which the city is built. No temple of localized worship is found, but the presence of God is everywhere known and felt. Beyond the city is the new earth, with nations and kings walking in the light of the glory of God. Excluded from it are all unclean things.
Sorrow is not the companion and ally of God, but the quick messenger following in the track of sin; a sense of loss. Sorrow is a deep sense of loss, the consciousness of lack, the natural experience of a God-forsaken life. Had not the King been dethroned, there could have been no sorrow, for the whole being, still and quiet in Him, could have no sense of loss. When man committed the act of high treason, by listening to a voice that called in question the love and wisdom of the Divine authority here on earth, there sprang up in that instance, the first sense of lust, boredom, hunger and sorrow, and it took the form of a desire to know what God had not revealed. And when following that desire, instead of returning then and there to allegiance, man passed through the door, seeking liberty, finding himself in a great darkling void, captive, without God, and yet possessed of a nature making demands perpetually, that neither he himself or any other could satisfy.
Sorrow, then, is the result of sin, and it is the tender, benevolent, purposeful messenger of the Eternal Love, Who cannot see His offspring loose all, without causing within these this sense of loss, and so ever by that means attracting them homeward to Him. Isaiah 53:3-4 is where our King experienced that same loss so that He might minister for us, and then know personally the darkest moment of sin. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"The Conqueror next lays down His life. Sin is put away, sorrow is recalled. Righteousness commences her new reign and joy follows in her wake.
The heart comes to leisure with itself. It has become so knowledgeable of Jesus as to rejoice in exactly the same circumstances that in the old life would have caused the deepest sense of sorrow. Here we see the mission of sorrow.
Take two persons:
One whose will is rebellious and whose heart is unregenerate. The other a disciple of Jesus-and let them both pass through identical experiences of bereavement and affliction, failure and disappointment. In the one case, the spirit becomes embittered and callous and the character degenerates. In the other, gentleness, love, tenderness, are the results, and the very face catches a new glory and beauty, the one defiantly faces sorrow, and looks upon God's messenger as an enemy, attempting to destroy and banish it, and so sinks into hardness and hatred; the other is drawn to the heart of God, and finds the very pain is but God's fire for the destruction of dross, and so rises into sweetness and love which is such a revelation to the power of the God of love.