seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
Revelation 21:1 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. 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. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 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.”
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.”
6 He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. 7 Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8 But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
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Here's a link to the commentary I read. Please go read it for yourself. I left a lot of commentary out.
A new heaven and a new earth: The idea of a new earth, with a new atmosphere and sky is a familiar theme in the Scriptures. Many of the prophets, both Old and New Testaments, spoke of this new heaven and new earth.
New heaven… new earth: The ancient Greek word translated new here (kaine) means “new in character, ‘fresh’.” It doesn’t mean “recent” or “new in time.” This isn’t just the next heaven and the next earth; this is the better heaven and better earth replacing the old (the first earth had passed away).
Some take this “newness” as only a spiritual and moral change. But there seems to be a genuine physical transformation in mind: there was no more sea.
No more sea: To the Jewish mind, the sea was a place of separation and evil. Already in the Book of Revelation it is shown to be the source of the Satanic beast (Revelation 13:1) and the place of the dead (Revelation 20:13).
In other passages of Scripture, the sea is associated with the heathen (Isaiah 57:20) and in a more general sense, with the opponents of the Lord that must be conquered (Psalm 89:9).
Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband: John used the most striking, beautiful image he could think of. The most beautiful thing a man will ever see is his bride coming down the aisle, ready to meet him. John said that this is how beautiful the New Jerusalem will be.
The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them: Moses’ tabernacle represented the dwelling place of God on earth. That was past the representation of the dwelling place of God; this tabernacle of God is the reality of His presence.
He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people: This succinctly states essence of God’s desire and man’s purpose. Simply, God’s desire is to live in close fellowship with man, and man’s purpose is to be a people unto God.
The former things have passed away: The New Jerusalem is distinguished by what it does not have — no tears, no sorrow, no death or pain. Later it will be shown that the New Jerusalem has no temple, no sacrifice, no sun, no moon, no darkness, no sin, and no abomination.
He who sat on the throne said: This is an authoritative announcement, coming from the throne of God itself. This is one of the few times in Revelation where we clearly see God speaking directly from His throne.
Behold, I make all things new: This statement is in the present tense, “I am making everything new.” This is the consummation of God’s work of renewal and redemption, having begun here and now in our present time.
All things new: This is a brief glance at the thinking behind God’s eternal plan — to allow sin and its destruction in order to do a greater work of making all things new. At this point in His plan of the ages, the plan is complete. All things are new.
Write, for these words are true and faithful: John was probably so astounded by these words that he forgot to write — and must be told to do so.
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I've read a few renditions of this chapter. Everyone seems to get excited about a city that comes plopping itself down on earth in place of the Jerusalem we have now.
As a matter of fact, I've heard over and over that it's a "spacecraft". Why would God need "a spacecraft"????
Verse 1 says "there was no longer any sea".
Let's look at who's writing down what he sees. John was a fisherman. The fishermen of John's Day had a very healthy respect for the "sea". They knew about fish that could knock into a boat and sink it. You've seen videos of whales breaching beside a boat. There were storms that came up without warning that would sink a boat. He also thought, because Columbus hadn't come along yet, that the world was flat, and if he went too far out in the sea, he would just fall off the edge of the earth!!!
When John wrote "there was no longer any sea", was he writing about a real sea [shape-shifted earth and all that] or was he referring to the sea of mean, horrible, ignorant apostate humans coming to war with Jesus.
When John wrote "there was no longer any sea", considering the beast came out of the sea, did he mean there was no place for Satan to hide?
When John wrote "there was no longer any sea", was he talking about the masses of moronic apostate humans who would follow Satan? I mean, all those humans swarming Jerusalem to take on Jesus and His troops, must have looked like a sea of humans. This is a vision, it hasn't happened... so, John is describing what God shows him. Did God show John a sea of people.
Was John saying "there were no more moronic apostate humans" left?
Or when John wrote "there was no longer any sea", did he mean, literally, there was no more sea. There was no place for him to work. There was nothing to be afraid of on earth.
I don't think God needs a spacecraft. He's perfectly capable of moving a city in space. After all, He popped at least nine planets and a sun in place in the Universe. Surely, He can plop a little city wherever He desires!
God is upgrading everything in this vision. Maybe humans won't need to worry about breathing anymore... They just exist. Maybe the new Jerusalem will be in the Garden, a pleasant place to walk with God!
There will be no more sea! Why didn't I see that before? Why did everyone get all hung up on talking about space-craft?
"There will be no more sea."
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