Revelation 21:1 Commentary - Dr Peter Masters

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Revelation 21:1

Comments

It has been observed over and over again by commentators down the centuries that it is very striking to note the comparisons that can be drawn between what we are told in the book of Genesis and what we read particularly in these closing chapters of the Book of Revelation. Chapter 21 tracks the opening chapters of Genesis in certain important respects. You have God creating the heavens and the earth in Genesis; here you have God creating the new heavens and the new earth. In Genesis you have the assault of Satan: his viciousness and deception, and his tireless activity to bring down men and women, and ruin God's creation; and in the Book of Revelation you have the destruction of Satan and his end. You have in the Book of Genesis man fallen, hiding from God, afraid of God, concealing himself from the searching sight of God; and here you have man entering into the ultimate communion with God. Point by point you read about the opposite. Christians will know so much more about God once they are glorified. Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face. The new heaven and earth will be different in that it will be a fit dwelling place for the redeemed who see God face to face. One respect in which it will be different is that typical and symbolic elements will be removed. The details of these changes are given later in this chapter. The first creation was suitable for man in his original state, yet unglorified. It was adapted to the first man who was ‘of the earth, made of dust’ (I Corinthians 15:47). It encouraged him to aspire to something beyond this world. The new creation will be a perfect eternal home for him in his glorified state, when he has arrived in that realm he will never wish to be removed.We read in other Scriptures just how the new heaven and earth will come about, and how the old earth will be destroyed. Not entirely destroyed, but reduced to its fundamental particles. And then the substance of the universe will be gathered together and the new heavens, the new skies, and the new earth created.But all the things that we read here do not so only refer to the future. They refer also in some measure to the present. We have the earnest of the inheritance. All the characteristics of new Jerusalem, the state of the church in glory and Christ with his church; all these things are in some measure experienced even now in the true churches of Christ, and in the hearts of true believers.

Application

‘And there was no more sea.’ None of the things are to be taken literally. This is a vision of things that we cannot fully grasp, and which are too wonderful for us to appreciate and to understand now. There may be bodies of water in the eternal recreated earth, but in the vision there was no more sea, because the sea is a separating thing. In this book it usually symbolises internationalism, the different nations all separated from one another, and particularly, remember, in ancient times. It was hard to access other lands and nations, all with their own very distinct ways of behaving, and distinct language, all with intense pride and nationalism and against outsiders. But in the kingdom of heaven there will be no more sea, because the people of God are one, wonderful, vast family. They all have the same kind of language and capacity to communicate. There will be variety because in another passage they are represented by twelve different types of gemstone, and yet they are all of one mind. They are all pure and radiant with the likeness to Christ. There will be no more war, no more international opposition or disdain. We love the same Saviour, and there is a bond between us, and we esteem and respect each other, and love each other. Even now in some measure there's no more sea; there's no separation between the nations in a true church. Of course, because of fallen human nature, it isn’t perfect. We still have some tensions and unworthy problems that crop up, but all that will disappear, and it will be perfect fellowship and happiness and harmony in the eternal glory.

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Revelation 21:1 Commentary and Bible Study