Revelation 21:1”Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away, and the sea was no more.”
We have already seen the old heaven and earth pass into nothingness; now there is a new heaven and a new earth. Barclay explains:
The dream of a new heaven and a new earth was deep in Jewish thought. “Behold,” said God to Isaiah, “I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, or come into mind” (Isaiah 65:17). Isaiah speaks of the new heaven and the new earth which God will make, in which life will be one continual act of worship (Isaiah 66:22).
The picture is always there and its elements are always the same. Sorrow is to be forgotten; sin is to be vanquished; darkness is to be at an end; the temporariness of time is to turn into the everlastingness of eternity. This continuing belief is a witness to three things–to the unquenchable immortal longings in man’s soul, to man’s inherent sense of sin and to man’s faith in God.”
While God is giving John this vision, He is also using texts with which John would be familiar, such as Isaiah, to imprint images on John’s mind. For John, there must have been many “Aha! So that’s what you meant!” moments when he remembered God’s words in Isaiah and suddenly saw them coming to pass in the vision.
What’s so important about the sea? Again, Barclay gives us insight: In this vision of the future bliss we come on one of the most famous phrases in the Revelation–“And the sea was no more.” This phrase has a double background.
(i) It has a background in the great mythological beliefs of John’s time. We have already seen that the Babylonian story of the creation of the world is of a long struggle between Marduk, the god of creation, and Tiamat, the dragon of chaos. In that story the sea, the waters beneath the firmament, became the dwelling-place of Tiamat. The sea was always an enemy. The Egyptians saw it as the power which swallowed up the waters of the Nile and left the fields barren.
(ii) It has a much more human background. The ancient peoples hated the sea, even though, by the time of John, they were voyaging long and far. They did not possess the compass; and, therefore, as far as possible, they coasted along the shores. It is not till modern times that we come on people who rejoice in being sea-faring…. In Jewish dreams the end of the sea is the end of a force hostile to God and to man.”
v. 2 “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Barclay explains: Here, again, is a dream of the Jews which never died–the dream of the restoration of Jerusalem, the holy city.
(i.) It has a background which is essentially Greek. One of the great contributions to the world’s philosophical thought was Plato’s doctrine of ideas or forms. He taught that in the invisible world there existed the perfect form or idea of everything upon earth, and that all things on earth were imperfect copies of the heavenly realities. If that be so, there is a heavenly Jerusalem of which the earthly Jerusalem is an imperfect copy. That is what Paul is thinking of when he speaks of the Jerusalem that is above (Galatians 4:26), and also what is in the mind of the writer to the Hebrews when he speaks of the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22)… This conception of preexisting forms may seem strange. But at the back of it is the great truth that the ideal actually exists. It further means that God is the source of all ideals. The ideal is a challenge, which, even if it is not worked out in this world, can still be worked out in the world to come.
(ii) The second background of the conception of the new Jerusalem is entirely Jewish. Observant Jews still pray: And to Jerusalem thy city return with compassion, and dwell therein as thou hast promised; and rebuild her speedily in our days, a structure everlasting; and the throne of David speedily establish there. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the builder of Jerusalem.”
There are many descriptions of the New Jerusalem, but one of the most eloquent is found in Isaiah 54:11 – 12 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.”
Obviously, the vision God gave John was so wonderful that it was almost beyond comprehension. Brides always dressed themselves in their finest clothes and their most magnificent jewelry as a demonstration of their love and respect for their bridegrooms. Now the New Jerusalem is gleaming on the horizon, stunning in its beauty. We will never know the full extent of this loveliness until the day that we see the New Jerusalem in God’s Kingdom.
PRAYER: Father God, thank you for every detail of the vision you gave to John. Lord, we long to see your glory and your beauty and your majesty! Put a desire in the hearts of all who read these words, that they may truly follow you and come to the New Jerusalem to live with you forever. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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