New Heaven and New Earth
God's tabernacle on earth
We mentioned at the beginning that God is love (1 John 4:16). His original purpose for creation is love and to be with His people! This eternal theme runs throughout the Bible and throughout human history.
The prophet Isaiah spoke for the Lord more than 2,700 years ago: “... I am the Lord, who makes all things, who stretches out the heavens all alone, who spreads abroad the earth by Myself ” (Isa. 44:24). When King Solomon built the temple for God more than 3,000 years ago, he exclaimed: “Will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” (1 Kgs. 8:27) The apostle Paul put it more vividly, "... the heavens are the work of Your hands. They will perish, but You remain; and they will all grow old like a garment; Like a cloak You will fold them up, and they will be changed. But You are the same, And Your years will not fail."(Heb. 1:11-12)
This is very hard for people to imagine! King Solomon was called the wisest man on the earth (1 Kgs. 3:11-13), but he said, “God has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end."(Eccl. 3:11). Who among the men is wise and knowledgeable? Who was in the beginning of the creation of the Lord, before the creation of all things? From the beginning of time, and before the world was created, where were men? (Prov. 8:22-23)
"The Lord by wisdom founded the earth; By understanding He established the heavens." (Prov. 3:19) God is the source of wisdom - "While as yet He had not made the earth or the fields, or the primal dust of the world. When He prepared the heavens, I was there, When He drew a circle on the face of the deep, When He established the clouds above, When He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When He assigned to the sea its limit, So that the waters would not transgress His command, When He marked out the foundations of the earth, Then I was beside Him as a master craftsman; And I was daily His delight, Rejoicing always before Him, 31 Rejoicing in His inhabited world, And my delight was with the sons of men."(Prov. 8:26-31) This is Jehovah God, our heavenly Father, who loves us deeply. "By the word of the Lord the heavens were made, and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." (Ps. 33:6)
When God’s righteous judgement is completed and sin and wickedness are completely removed from the earth, God will instantly make all things new, transforming the corruptible into the incorruptible (1 Cor. 15:53-54), so that people can live with Him forever in eternity. We will witness the Holy City - the New Jerusalem - coming down out of heaven (Rev. 21:1-5). We will live with our Lord Jesus and enjoy the glory and presence of God the Father in the eternal New Heaven and New Earth, far better than in the days of the Garden of Eden.
New Jerusalem
The City of the Living God
“Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If anyone defiles the temple of God, God will destroy him. For the temple of God is holy, which temple you are. ”(1 Cor. 3:16-17)
All God's children who are called and sanctified in the Lord Jesus Christ are living stones (1Pet. 2:5,9), with whom a spiritual temple on earth is being built by God the Father through the salvation accomplished by His beloved Son Jesus. We are fully united and built into the one Body of Christ, where God dwells by His Holy Spirit (Eph. 2:19-22), that is, the Holy City of the New Jerusalem - the Bride of Christ (Rev. 21:2, 9-11).
This New Jerusalem, coming down from the heaven, is "the City of the living God”. It is not visible to the naked eye now, nor can it be touched or destroyed (Heb. 12:22-24). It has the Lord Jesus as the temple of the Holy City (Rev. 21:22), the twelve tribes of Israel as the gates of the City (Rev. 21:12), the twelve apostles as the foundations of the walls of the City (Rev. 21:14), and the overcomers as the pillars of the temple (Rev 3:12). The walls are of jasper, the City is of fine gold (Rev. 21:18), and the nations who are saved will walk in the light of the City (Rev. 21:23-24), for the glory of God and the Lamb is its light.
In the city there is a pure river of water of life flowing from the throne of God and the Lord Jesus. In the middle of its street, on either side of the river, is the Tree of Life (Rev. 22:1-2). We saw earlier that at the beginning of God's creation, there was also a Tree of Life in the beautiful Garden of Eden. Man could eat from it at any time (Gen. 2:9, 16-17). When Adam and Eve sinned, they were expelled from the Garden of Eden, and God placed cherubim to guard the way to the Tree of Life. Mankind has lived under the power of sin and death ever since. Thanks to God, through the redemption of the Lord Jesus, mankind can return to the new Garden of Eden. There, sin and death have been cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:10), and mankind can once again eat the fruit of the Tree of Life and enjoy eternal life with the Lord God forever in the New Heaven and New Earth.
This Holy City, the New Jerusalem, is the dwelling place of God with His people. It is the perfect union of heaven, earth and man. Like the first coming of Jesus when He dwelt among us (John 1:14), it is "the fullness of Him who fills all in all" (Eph. 1:23), the tabernacle of God on earth (Rev. 21:3).
New Heaven and New Earth
God's tabernacle on earth
The ultimate purpose of God’s plan of salvation is to restore man’s divinity so that mankind can live with God forever. God, the Creator and the Finisher, wants to live with His creation for all eternity. Adam and Eve brought sin and death to humanity, but God made a way to save humanity from the death of the first Adam through His son Jesus, the sacrifice of the last Adam on the cross, so that the new humanity in Christ could be brought back to God (Rom. 5:12; 17-18,21; 2 Cor. 5:21), thus fulfilling God’s love for humanity - "the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them" (Rev. 21:3).
The name of Jesus means “God is salvation", proclaiming Jesus’ identity and mission. Jesus is also called “Emmanuel", which means "God with us" (Matt. 1:23), expressing God's desire to be with His children forever. This eternal theme runs through the Bible and human history:
From the creation of Adam and Eve, to the liberation of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt;
From the building of the tabernacle, to the incarnation of Jesus to save humanity from sin;
From the coming of the Holy Spirit, to the return of the Lord Jesus to marry His Bride.
In the Old Testament, God was with man through the tabernacle and temple. In the New Testament, God was with us through the incarnation of His Son Jesus, the perfect union of God and Man (John 1:14). And when we accept Jesus’ salvation and are born again, God dwells within us through the Holy Spirit (2 Cor. 6:16). When the Lord Jesus returns to marry the Bride of Christ, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” (Rev. 21:4) By then, God will be with mankind forever in the eternal New Heaven and New Earth (Rev. 21:1,3; Isa. 65:17-18), just as He was with Adam and Eve at the beginning of the world!
When we look at the history of mankind as recorded in the Bible, it begins in the Garden of Eden and ends in the New Heaven and New Earth. We know that the New Heaven and New Earth is the eternal Garden of Eden that God the Father has prepared for mankind. Here, God has made everything new, and there is no more sin and death, no more tears and sorrow (Gen. 21:1, 4-5). The honour, glory and authority lost by the patriarchs in the Garden of Eden have all been restored and perfected in the Lord Jesus. The divinity of man has been restored and returned to God's perfect creation. We will reign with the Lord Jesus and enjoy the eternal presence and infinite grace of God the Father in the eternal New Heaven and Earth (Rev. 22:5).
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