Part XVIII The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (KA, GWTJ, and Ages of the Ages (AoA) (Revisited)

Revelation Chapters 21 through 22

Review

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” Then the twenty-four elders who are seated on their thrones before God threw themselves down with their faces to the ground and worshiped God with these words: “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign. The nations were enraged, but your wrath has come, and the time has come for the dead to be judged, and the time has come to give to your servants, the prophets, their reward, as well as to the saints and to those who revere your name, both small and great, and the time has come to destroy those who destroy the earth.” Then the temple of God in heaven was opened and the ark of his covenant was visible within his temple. And there were flashes of lightning, roaring, crashes of thunder, an earthquake, and a great hailstorm. (Revelation 11:15-19 NET)

God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27 NET)

The Lord God formed the man from the soil of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. (Genesis 2:7 NET)

The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” (Genesis 2:18 NET)

So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. (Genesis 2:21–22 NET)

Then the seventh angel blew his trumpet, and there were loud voices in heaven saying: “The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Christ, and he will reign for ever and ever.” (Revelation 11:15 NET)

Detailed Description

Revelation Chapters 21 and 22

The First and Second New Things – The New Heaven and the New Earth

FLASHBACK: The New Heaven and Earth (Circa The Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. (Revelation 21:1 NET)

Having now informed us of the fate of those who will not rank among the redeemed, including the destruction of Satan and his armies, John now shifts back to events that will follow the Battle of Armageddon. Presented next does not describe the “Ages of the Ages.” Contextually, John is still writing about the beginning of the Messianic Kingdom. In the preceding verses, John has propelled us forward to a time after the Millennium, revealing how the fate of Satan and unregenerate humanity is to come about. After this, he shifts back to give greater insight and details concerning the thousand-year period. (3)

This contextual style is nothing new for John. Remember how John describes the final bowl judgment upon Babylon (Revelation 16:17-21) and then follows with two chapters that give even greater details of the rise and fall of Babylon. However, contextually Babylon has already been destroyed (Revelation 17 and Revelation 18). A similar thing occurs in Revelation chapters 20 and 21. (3)

It would seem on the surface that the text indicates God will create a whole new heaven and earth while destroying the previous heaven and earth. (3)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. (Revelation 21:1 NET)

This, however, would be in direct contradiction to other scripture that states the earth will exist forever: (3)

A generation comes and a generation goes, but the earth remains the same through the ages. (Ecclesiastes 1:4 NET)

He established the earth on its foundations; it will never be upended. (Psalm 104:5 NET)

You demonstrate your faithfulness to all generations. You established the earth and it stood firm. (Psalm 119:90 NET)

It is specifically promised that “the Meek shall Inherit the Earth” and that the Children of Israel shall dwell in it forever.

“Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. (Matthew 5:5 NET)

All of your people will be godly; they will possess the land permanently. I will plant them like a shoot; they will be the product of my labor, through whom I reveal my splendor. (Isaiah 60:21 NET)

If God’s people are to inhabit it forever, it must exist forever. This earth that has been consecrated by the Presence of the Son of God, where the costliest sacrifice that the Universe could furnish was offered up on Calvary to redeem a race for which God has a great future, is too sacred a place to ever be blotted out or cease to exist, for it is the most cherished orb in the mind of God of all His great creation. (6)

The answer lies in the Greek words used for “new” and “ceased to exist” or “pass away.”

The term “new” is the word “kainos”:

kainos (καινός, 2537) denotes “new,” of that which is unaccustomed or unused, not “new” in time, recent, but “new” as to form or quality, of different nature from what is contrasted as old. (7)(8)

Then I saw a new [kainos] heaven and a new [kainos] earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. (Revelation 21:1 NET)

The new heaven and new earth in Revelation 21:1 are the same new heaven and new earth that were spoken of by the Apostle Paul:

while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze!  But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new [kainos] heavens and a new [kainos] earth, in which righteousness truly resides. (2 Peter 3:13 NET)

Again, in both the Old and New Testament passages, the words for “new” mean “new in respect of freshness” rather than “new with respect to existence.” That is, “a new heaven and a new earth” could also be properly translated “a fresh heaven and a fresh earth.” The new cosmos is not a novel cosmos but a renewed one. It is just like the first, except that all its agelong ravages of decay have been expunged, and it is fresh and new again. This complete reversal of the universal decay process will require God’s creative and formative powers for its accomplishment. (4)

The first heavens and earth had been contaminated by sin, with the very elements in bondage to God’s curse.

For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. (Romans 8:20–22 NET)

The only way they could be completely cleansed was to be completely renewed. “All these things” had to be “dissolved,” with the elements melting in fervent heat. (4)

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must we be, conducting our lives in holiness and godliness while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolved, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze! (2 Peter 3:10–12 NET)

By the First Law of Thermodynamics (i.e., the principle of mass/energy conservation), nothing had been really lost except the effects and evidence of sin. After terrestrial matter had been converted either into the vapor state or, more probably, into pure energy, God had once again exercised His mighty powers of creation and integration, and the new heavens and new earth had appeared out of the ashes, so to speak, of the old. (4)

The term “pass away” or “ceased to exist” is the Koine Greek word ἀπερχομαι (aprerchomai), which is in the second aorist active indicative.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist [aperchomai] , and the sea existed no more. (Revelation 21:1 NET)

Other verses where the second aorist active indicative of ἀπερχομαι (aperchomai) are used: (11)

The next day the crowd that remained on the other side of the lake realized that only one small boat had been there, and that Jesus had not boarded it with his disciples, but that his disciples had gone away [aperchomai] alone. (John 6:22 NET)

But some of them went [aperchomai] to the Pharisees and reported to them what Jesus had done. (John 11:46 NET)

The first woe has passed [aperchomai], but two woes are still coming after these things! (Revelation 9:12 NET)

So I went [aperchomai] to the angel and asked him to give me the little scroll. He said to me, “Take the scroll and eat it. It will make your stomach bitter, but it will be as sweet as honey in your mouth.” (Revelation 10:9 NET)

The second woe has come and gone [aperchomai]; the third is coming quickly. (Revelation 11:14 NET)

So the first angel went [aperchomai] and poured out his bowl on the earth. Then ugly and painful sores appeared on the people who had the mark of the beast and who worshiped his image. (Revelation 16:2 NET)

Note that the subjects were not annihilated in these verses. The meaning of “aperchomai” in this form does not mean to be annihilated but passed from one form of existence, place, or condition into another.

What did Jesus say About this?

Heaven and earth will pass away [parerchomai], but my words will never pass away [parerchomai]. (Matthew 24:35 NET)

Heaven and earth will pass away [parerchomai], but my words will never pass away [parerchomai]. (Mark 13:31 NET)

Heaven and earth will pass away [parerchomai], but my words will never pass away [parerchomai]. (Luke 21:33 NET)

The term for “pass away,” spoken by Jesus in the Gospels, is the Koine Greek word παρέρχομαι (parerchomai).” The Greek word “Parerchomai,” translated as “pass away,” does not mean “termination of existence” or “annihilation” but means to pass from “one condition of existence to another.”

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to Titus, speaking of the “new birth” of men, uses the same word that Jesus used when He promised His disciples that in the “age when all things are renewed” (i.e., in the “New Earth”), they should sit on “Twelve Thrones” judging the “Twelve Tribes” of Israel.

he saved us not by works of righteousness that we have done but on the basis of his mercy, through the washing of the new birth [palingenesia] and the renewing of the Holy Spirit, (Titus 3:5 NET)

Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: In the age when all things are renewed [palingenesia], when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:28 NET)

Now no one supposes that “the new birth of a man” is his annihilation. It is simply a renewing process by which he is brought back to the condition of man spiritually as before the Fall.

Therefore, the word “parerchomai” used in these verses means to pass away without fulfillment or to be in vain. (10) (12) The first appearance of “parerchomai” in these verses means our fallen world in its present condition will never fulfill its created potential. The second appearance of “parerchomai” in these verses means that God’s Word, His precious promises, shall be fulfilled as intended.

In the same way, the promise that I make does not return to me, having accomplished nothing. No, it is realized as I desire and is fulfilled as I intend.” (Isaiah 55:11 NET)

Again, Jesus said:

I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth pass away [parerchomai] not the smallest letter or stroke of a letter will pass from the law until everything takes place. (Matthew 5:18 NET)

This appearance of “parerchomai” in this verse again means our fallen world in its present condition will never fulfill its intended potential. However, this will not stop the Word of God from being fulfilled as intended.

Since the Bible tells the same story from Genesis to Revelation, we would expect to find the Hebrew prophets writing about what John now sees.

“For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain. (Isaiah 66:22 NET)

Isaiah recorded what the Lord told him:

Look up at the sky! Look at the earth below! For the sky will dissipate like smoke, and the earth will wear out like clothes; its residents will die like gnats. But the deliverance I give is permanent; the vindication I provide will not disappear. (Isaiah 51:6 NET)

In this word, Isaiah compares our old planet to a worn-out garment due to the curse of sin. Science calls this the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This law means that the world and everything in it are wearing out. (21)

It then becomes apparent that we are to understand there will be a new quality or nature to the earth, as its old form of existence will need to be done away with. This is the very hope of creation that was spoken of by the Apostle Paul: (3)

For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. (Romans 8:19-22 NET)

However, John does not tell us how this transformation of heaven and Earth will come to pass.

Jesus alludes to it:

“I have come to bring fire on the earth—and how I wish it were already kindled! (Luke 12:49 NET)

The Apostle Peter gives us the details, during the wrath of the Day of the Lord, the earth will be renovated by fire, and its old existence will be transformed by Jesus. Peter explains that God will purge the curse of sin from our physical universe with fire. As we all know, fire is destructive; but it also cleanses and purifies. Forest fires burn up the old but bring rejuvenation and new growth.

Peter said:

But by the same word the present heavens and earth have been reserved for fire, by being kept for the day of judgment and destruction of the ungodly. (2 Peter 3:7 NET) 

But the day of the Lord will come like a thief; when it comes, the heavens will disappear with a horrific noise, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze, and the earth and every deed done on it will be laid bare. Since all these things are to melt away in this manner, what sort of people must we be, conducting our lives in holiness and godliness, while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? Because of this day, the heavens will be burned up and dissolve, and the celestial bodies will melt away in a blaze! But, according to his promise, we are waiting for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness truly resides. (2 Peter 3:10–13 NET)  

The same verse from the Wuest Expanded Translation: (13)

But there will come the day of the Lord as a thief, in which the heavens with a rushing noise will be dissolved, and the elements being scorched will be dissolved, and the earth also and the works in it will be burned up. All these things in this manner being in process of dissolution, what exotic persons is it necessary in the nature of the case for you to be in the sphere of holy behaviors and pieties, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which [day] heavens being on fire shall be dissolved and elements burning up are being melted. But heavens new in quality and an earth new in quality according to His promise we are looking for, in which righteousness is permanently at home. (2 Peter 3:10–13 WUESTNT)

It is clear that Peter is referring to the same event as John, for he says it is to be at the “day of judgment and destruction of Ungodly Men,” (2 Peter 3:7), and that is the “Great White Throne Judgment” of the wicked dead. (6)

The “Dissolving” of which Peter speaks (2 Peter 3:11) is the same word lyo (Greek λύω) Jesus used when He said of the colt – “Loose” them and bring them to Me (Matthew 21:2 NKJ). The teaching of the Scriptures is that “Creation” is at present in a “State of Captivity,” waiting to be “Loosed from the Bondage” that sin has caused. (6)

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. For the creation was subjected to futility—not willingly but because of God who subjected it—in hope that the creation itself will also be set free from the bondage of decay into the glorious freedom of God’s children. For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers together until now. (Romans 8:18–22 NET)

Again, a surface reading of 2 Peter 3:10-13 would lead one to believe that the earth as a planet and the heavens, are to be destroyed by fire and pass away. But carefully studying the Scriptures will show us this is not so. (6)

That this is the correct view of the passage is clear from Peter’s words:

For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. Through these things the world [cosmos] existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. (2 Peter 3:5–6 NET)

The Apostle Peter was referring here not to the Flood of Noah but to the Primeval Earth, which was made “without form and void” (Genesis 1:2) by a “Baptism of Water” (1) that completely submerged it and destroyed all animal life. Note that the flood of Noah did not destroy marine life as did the “Baptism of Water,” which destroyed everything on Earth. Now as the Framework of the “Primeval Earth” was not destroyed by its “Baptism of Water,” so the Framework of the “Present Earth” is not to be destroyed by its “Baptism of Fire.” (6)

For they deliberately suppress this fact, that by the word of God heavens existed long ago and an earth was formed out of water and by means of water. Through these things the world [cosmos] existing at that time was destroyed when it was deluged with water. (2 Peter 3:5–6 NET)

The key to understanding the rest of verse five is the Apostle’s use of the word “world.” The Koine Greek word for world kosmos (κοσμος), which speaks of a system where order prevails, the “land surface,” the “inhabitableness” of the earth, and not the earth as a planet. This word refers to the original perfect system of the material universe of Genesis 1:1, which was brought into being by the Word of God. (6)(14)

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1 NET)

God spoke the universe into existence. What a commentary on the condition of the first perfect earth, the surface of land masses surrounded by water. This earth, “being deluged with water, perished.” This refers to the cataclysm of Genesis 1:2, where we read, (14)

Now the earth was without shape and empty, and darkness was over the surface of the watery deep, but the Spirit of God was moving over the surface of the water. (Genesis 1:2 NET)

The Koine Greek word “deluged” is katakluzō (κατακλυζω), “to overwhelm with water, to submerge, deluge,” from which we get our word “cataclysm.” “Destroyed” is the Koine Greek word apollumi (ἀπολλυμι), “to ruin so that the thing ruined can no longer subserve the use for which it was designed.” (14)

It was the judgment upon the angel Lucifer’s fall and the pre-Adamic race’s (1) consequent apostasy. This judgment the end-time mockers are wilfully ignorant of, like the fictitious ostrich who buries his head in the sand and thus thinks to escape danger. The ancient Greeks thought the primeval condition of the earth was one of chaos. The theory of evolution starts with chaos. The New Testament writers, using kosmos (κοσμος), describe the original condition of the universe as one of perfection. The sons of God (the angels) did not shout for joy over chaos (χαος) (Greek for a rude, unformed mass), but a kosmos (κοσμος) when they saw this universe come into existence by the creative Word of God.

“Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell me, if you possess understanding! Who set its measurements—if you know— or who stretched a measuring line across it? On what were its bases set, or who laid its cornerstone— when the morning stars sang in chorus, and all the sons of God shouted for joy? (Job 38:4–7 NET)

As to the “Departing as a Scroll” of the heavens and the “Flying Away” of the earth and heavens, of which John speaks,

The sky was split apart like a scroll being rolled up, and every mountain and island was moved from its place. (Revelation 6:14 NET)

Then I saw a large white throne and the one who was seated on it; the earth and the heaven fled from his presence, and no place was found for them. (Revelation 20:11 NET)

The total disappearance of all the material worlds is not at all the idea, for he tells us that afterward, he saw—the New Jerusalem descending down out of Heaven from God, and nations living and walking in the Light of it on the earth, and the kings of the earth bringing their grandeur into It. (6)

And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God... (Revelation 21:2 a NET)

The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it. (Revelation 21:24 NET)

Again, it is the exterior surface of the earth, then that is to “Melt With Fervent Heat” and the “Works Therein Burnt Up.” The intense heat will cause the gases in the atmosphere to explode, which the Apostle describes as the “heavens (the atmosphere) passing away with a great noise.” The earth’s exterior surface shall be completely changed, all animal and vegetable life destroyed, all that sin has brought into existence, such as thorns and thistles, disease germs, insect pests, etc., destroyed, and the atmosphere purified and freed from evil spirits and destructive agencies. (6)

The Lord will then restore the earth as His kingdom begins. Man will again live in an earthly paradise. Heaven and Earth will be reborn when God makes all things new.

The prophet Isaiah provides greater insight into this period of history: (3)

For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; And the former shall not be remembered or come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing, And her people a joy. I will rejoice in Jerusalem, And joy in My people; The voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her, Nor the voice of crying. No more shall an infant from there live but a few days, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days; for the child shall die one hundred years old, but the sinner being one hundred years old shall be accursed (Isaiah 65:17-20)

In this passage, Isaiah speaks of the new heaven and earth regarding the Millennium, not eternity’s future. This is obvious in that he speaks of short lives for those who are sinful and long lives for those who are not. So, there will be death for those who are sinful during this period. It will not be until the end of the Millennium that God will throw death into the lake of fire. (3)

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14 NET) 

Isaiah continues:

“For just as the new heavens and the new earth I am about to make will remain standing before me,” says the Lord, “so your descendants and your name will remain. (Isaiah 66:22 NET)

The psalmist used similar words:

In earlier times you established the earth; the skies are your handiwork. They will perish, but you will endure. They will wear out like a garment; like clothes you will remove them and they will disappear. But you remain; your years do not come to an end. (Psalm 102:25–27 NET)

The writer of Hebrews refers to this Psalm in the book of Hebrews:

And, “You founded the earth in the beginning, Lord, and the heavens are the works of your hands. They will perish, but you continue. And they will all grow old like a garment, and like a robe you will fold them up and like a garment they will be changed, but you are the same and your years will never run out.” (Hebrews 1:10–12 NET)

Isaiah then lists the blessings that will occur during the rule of the Messiah. (3)

They will build houses and live in them; they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build a house only to have another live in it, or plant a vineyard only to have another eat its fruit, for my people will live as long as trees, and my chosen ones will enjoy to the fullest what they have produced. They will not work in vain, or give birth to children that will experience disaster. For the Lord will bless their children and their descendants. Before they even call out, I will respond; while they are still speaking, I will hear. A wolf and a lamb will graze together; a lion, like an ox, will eat straw, and a snake’s food will be dirt. They will no longer injure or destroy on my entire royal mountain,” says the Lord. (Isaiah 65:21–25 NET)

From understanding Isaiah’s and John’s texts, it can be determined that the restored heavens and earth will occur immediately after the Day of the Lord (the Days of Mourning are included in the Day of the Lord) at the commencement of the Millennium. Finally, it is stated by John that “there was no more sea.” (3)

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. (Revelation 21:1 NET)

This does not mean there will be no major bodies of water on Earth. Rather, this is a reference to the renovation of the Mediterranean Sea. Revelation focuses primarily on events in and around the Mediterranean basin. At the second trumpet, the Mediterranean Sea received a severe judgment. John now informs us of the fate of this great body of water. According to John and the prophet Zechariah, the Mediterranean will be cleansed from the blood judgment, and its waters will run into the Dead Sea (Zechariah 14:8). (3)

Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea [the Dead Sea] and half of them to the western sea [the Mediterranean]; it will happen both in summer and in winter. (Zechariah 14:8 NET)

The waters of the Mediterranean will be healed and will no longer be salty, for it is no longer to be a sea.

Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple. I noticed that water was flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from under the right side of the temple, from south of the altar. He led me out by way of the north gate and brought me around the outside of the outer gate that faces toward the east; I noticed that the water was trickling out from the south side. When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep. Again he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was now knee deep. Once more he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was waist deep. Again he measured 1,750 feet and it was a river I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I had returned, I noticed a vast number of trees on the banks of the river, on both sides. He said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the Arabah; when they enter the Dead Sea, where the sea is stagnant, the waters become fresh. Every living creature which swarms where the river flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh and everything will live where the river flows. (Ezekiel 47:1-9 NET)

Saltiness is what makes a sea a sea. Since the Mediterranean will now consist only of fresh water, John correctly states that there will be no more sea. Its fresh waters will give life to the trees growing along the river’s banks flowing from the Mediterranean to the Dead Sea. This will solve all the freshwater problems of the entire area of the Middle East! (3)

Fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to En-eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty. On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:10–12 NET)

The Third New Thing – The New City of Jerusalem

FLASHBACK: The New City of Jerusalem Descends from Heaven (Circa the Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

And I saw the holy city—the new Jerusalem—descending out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2 NET)

In the gospel of John, Jesus told His disciples that He would go to prepare a place for His elect and that when He returned, they would dwell with Him forever. (3)

“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. And you know the way where I am going.” (John 14:1–4 NET)

The New Jerusalem is where Jesus has been “making ready” places for the elect of the ages. Only those who have been redeemed and resurrected will inhabit the New Jerusalem. God will now dwell with men in this great city, and it will become the “camp of the saints.” (3)

The joy that will be in the New Jerusalem will eclipse anything that Satan or the world could ever hope to offer. Satan tried to offer his trivial kingdom to Jesus (1)(Matthew 4:8-9), but it could not even begin to compare to the kingdom that the Father would eventually bestow upon Him. (3)

The new Heaven and the new Earth are now ready for God to dwell with His people on the earth. Then the dramatic moment happens. John sees the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming from Heaven from God. This is the city Abraham saw by faith. While Abraham journeyed in the Promised Land and went to Jerusalem, he saw far beyond the earthly Jerusalem to a more glorious Jerusalem where God would dwell among His people forever. (21)

The writer of Hebrews explains:

By faith Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to a place he would later receive as an inheritance, and he went out without understanding where he was going. By faith he lived as a foreigner in the promised land as though it were a foreign country, living in tents with Isaac and Jacob, who were fellow heirs of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with firm foundations, whose architect and builder is God. (Hebrews 11:8–10 NET)

But as it is, they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. (Hebrews 11:16 NET)

Hebrews further explains:

But you have come to Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the assembly and congregation of the firstborn, who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous, who have been made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks of something better than Abel’s does. (Hebrews 12:22–24 NET)

While millions of believers love the present Old City of Jerusalem, the New Jerusalem is the one we are waiting to enter. It is the ultimate destination of God’s people and angels who stayed true to God when Satan rebelled. From the beginning of creation, the New Jerusalem has been the heavenly home of God and the angels.

For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. (Hebrews 13:14 NET)

But just as it is written, “Things that no eye has seen, or ear heard, or mind imagined, are the things God has prepared for those who love him.” God has revealed these to us by the Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:9–10 NET)

John says the city is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Comparing a city to a bride is not part of our way of thinking and speaking. However, in times past, rulers and citizens expressed their love for and bonding with their land and city in marriage terms. At their coronation, emperors and kings pledged their fidelity to the land and the city. They and their subjects were one with the land, and the city as a husband and wife are bonded to one another. The land, the city, and the people were one. (21)

This is why God used marriage talk when He spoke about the people of Israel and the land of Israel. Ancient people understood His meaning. He said that He would not leave Zion and Jerusalem like a forsaken wife but that He would restore the land and the people to one another. The land and the people would be married to each other. (21)

God speaks tenderly to the land through the prophet Isaiah:

You will no longer be called, “Abandoned,” and your land will no longer be called “Desolate.” Indeed, you will be called “My Delight is in Her,” and your land “Married.” For the Lord will take delight in you, and your land will be married to him. As a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so your God will rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:4–5 NET)

All saints in the first resurrection will go to live in the New Jerusalem, and all such saints will be members of the bride.

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:25–27 NET)

No one person, group of persons, denomination, mansion, temple, or any other building can be called the city, the Lamb’s wife. It takes all to be the city – the bride. Again, all the redeemed of all other ages will be a part of the bride. (35)

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST

The King of Kings – the Lord Jesus Christ – looked upon his bride with love, the same love that had compelled Him to die for her.

No one has greater love than this—that one lays down his life for his friends. (John 15:13 NET)

For the love of Christ controls us, since we have concluded this, that Christ died for all; therefore all have died. And he died for all so that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised. (2 Corinthians 5:14–15 NET)

She was dressed in a beautiful, brilliant white flowing gown – spotless and wrinkleless. This gown is woven of the good works (1) of the righteous saints, washed spotless in the Word of God, dried and purified by the fire of affliction, and pressed wrinkle-free by the weight of hardship.

She was permitted to be dressed in bright, clean, fine linen” (for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints). (Revelation 19:8 NET)

Look, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have purified you in the furnace of misery. (Isaiah 48:10 NET)

We are experiencing trouble on every side, but are not crushed; we are perplexed, but not driven to despair; we are persecuted, but not abandoned; we are knocked down, but not destroyed, always carrying around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our body. For we who are alive are constantly being handed over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may also be made visible in our mortal body. (2 Corinthians 4:10–11 NET)

For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. (Romans 8:18 NET)

She is beautiful to Him, and to her, He makes the concept of submission sacredly desirable and empowering.

My heart is stirred by a beautiful song. I say, “I have composed this special song for the king; my tongue is as skilled as the stylus of an experienced scribe.” You are the most handsome of all men! You speak in an impressive and fitting manner! For this reason God grants you continual blessings. Strap your sword to your thigh, O warrior! Appear in your majestic splendor! Appear in your majesty and be victorious! Ride forth for the sake of what is right, on behalf of justice! Then your right hand will accomplish mighty acts! Your arrows are sharp and penetrate the hearts of the king’s enemies. Nations fall at your feet. Your throne, O God, is permanent. The scepter of your kingdom is a scepter of justice. You love justice and hate evil. For this reason God, your God has anointed you with the oil of joy, elevating you above your companions. All your garments are perfumed with myrrh, aloes, and cassia. From the luxurious palaces comes the music of stringed instruments that makes you happy. Princesses are among your honored guests, your bride stands at your right hand, wearing jewelry made with gold from Ophir. Listen, O princess! Observe and pay attention! Forget your homeland and your family! Then the king will be attracted by your beauty. After all, he is your master! Submit to him! Rich people from Tyre will seek your favor by bringing a gift. The princess looks absolutely magnificent, decked out in pearls and clothed in a brocade trimmed with gold. In embroidered robes she is escorted to the king. Her attendants, the maidens of honor who follow her, are led before you. They are bubbling with joy as they walk in procession and enter the royal palace. Your sons will carry on the dynasty of your ancestors; you will make them princes throughout the land. I will proclaim your greatness through the coming years, then the nations will praise you forever. (Psalm 45:1–17 NET)

This submission was modeled in the life of Esther as she submitted to Hegai to prepare her to meet the king. An example of how believers should submit to the Holy Spirit to prepare us to meet our King Jesus!

When it became the turn of Esther daughter of Abihail the uncle of Mordecai (who had raised her as if she were his own daughter) to go to the king, she did not request anything except what Hegai the king’s eunuch, who was overseer of the women, had recommended. Yet Esther met with the approval of all who saw her. Then Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus at his royal residence in the tenth month (that is, the month of Tebeth) in the seventh year of his reign. And the king loved Esther more than all the other women, and she met with his loving approval more than all the other young women. So he placed the royal high turban on her head and appointed her queen in place of Vashti. (Esther 2:15–17 NET)

Yes, the Bride of Christ was the joy that carried Him through the cruel torture and shame of the cross.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, we must get rid of every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and run with endurance the race set out for us, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. For the joy set out for him he endured the cross, disregarding its shame, and has taken his seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1,2 NET)

God created humankind in his own image, in the image of God he created them, male and female he created them. (Genesis 1:27 NET)

The LORD God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him.” (Genesis 2:18 NET)

It was not good for man to be alone for he needed someone to share his life and love with. All the animals were named; however, none were named “companion” because none had a human nature. So, God put Adam to sleep, took a part from man’s side, and made a woman from this part so she would have a compatible human nature to be his companion.

The Lord God formed out of the ground every living animal of the field and every bird of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them, and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man named all the animals, the birds of the air, and the living creatures of the field, but for Adam no companion who corresponded to him was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep, and while he was asleep, he took part of the man’s side and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the part he had taken out of the man, and he brought her to the man. Then the man said, “This one at last is bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh; this one will be called ‘woman,’ for she was taken out of man.” (Genesis 2:19–23 NET)

In a similar way, it was not good for the omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, eternal, inherently complete, and all-sufficient God (El Shaddai)(1) to be alone (1), for He desired someone to share His life and love with. All of the creation, including angels, were named; however, none were found to be suitable companions because none had a divine nature. So, God put Jesus figuratively to sleep, in reality, to death on the cross (1), and from His pierced side flow blood and water (John 19:34). This symbolically represented justification by His blood and sanctification by the water of the Holy Spirit breathed Word available to all humanity that would accept Him as Lord and Savior. Consequently, the blood and water ultimately represented the birth of the Bride of Christ from the Last Adam’s side. (1 Corinthians 15:45)

I can pray this because his divine power has bestowed on us everything necessary for life and godliness through the rich knowledge of the one who called us by his own glory and excellence. Through these things he has bestowed on us his precious and most magnificent promises, so that by means of what was promised you may become partakers of the divine nature, after escaping the worldly corruption that is produced by evil desire. (2 Peter 1:3,4 NET)

There are several notable points in 2 Peter 1:3–4. First, God’s power has granted us the “very great promises” concerning our salvation. Second, those promises make us “partakers of the divine nature.” Third, being partakers of the divine nature involves escaping the world’s decay and rising above sinful desires. Simply put, when we are saved, we receive a new nature, by which we do not perish with the world. (27)

Human “nature” in the Bible is what makes us “us.” A man’s nature is the sum total of qualities that make him who he is. It is a person’s inherent character that constitutes his or her individuality. According to the Bible, every human being is born with Adam’s nature, which is sinful; we have a natural bent toward pleasing self (Romans 5:12; 7:14). Our natural selves cannot please God (Romans 8:8). Our sinful nature keeps us from fellowship with God, keeps us in bondage to sin, and leads eventually to spiritual death (Romans 6:16, 23; 7:14; 2 Peter 2:19). We cannot free ourselves from sin because we cannot change our natures, just as a tiger cannot change its stripes. (27)

When we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ (1), we are saved (Acts 16:31) and undergo a radical spiritual transformation. This is what Peter means when he says we are made partakers of the divine nature. We are made new creations in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are born again (John 3:3). We died, and now our lives are “hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:3). We are “in Christ” (Romans 8:1). We have the Spirit of Christ (Romans 8:9-11).

As partakers of the divine nature, believers no longer have to follow the sinful nature. At salvation, our old nature is defeated, and we receive a new, divine nature that desires the things of God (2 Corinthians 5:17). We love what He loves and hate what He hates (Galatians 5:22; 1 John 4:4). (27)

As partakers of the divine nature, believers are no longer enslaved to the passions and sins of the flesh (Romans 6:6, 14). We have power from on high to conquer every temptation that comes against us (1 Corinthians 10:13). (27)

As partakers of the divine nature, believers are made part of the family of God (John 1:12), resulting in a changed life. First John 3:9 says, “No one who is born of God will continue to sin, because God’s seed remains in them; they cannot go on sinning, because they have been born of God.” By giving us His nature, God makes us His sons and daughters and conforms us to the image of His Son (Romans 8:29; 2 Corinthians 6:18). (27)

As partakers of the divine nature, believers have the Holy Spirit indwelling them. God declares that we are “more than conquerors” because of the power of the Holy Spirit within our hearts (Romans 8:37). Our Comforter/Advocate/Counsellor is with us wherever we go (John 14:16). We will never be forsaken (Hebrews 13:5). (27)

God is faithful to keep His “great and precious promises,” and we praise Him for our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, for the gift of the Holy Spirit and for the everlasting life we enjoy as partakers of His divine nature. (27)

and to put on the new man who has been created in God’s image—in righteousness and holiness that comes from truth. (Ephesians 4:24 NET)

Therefore, Jesus through His death, burial, resurrection, and ascension (1) redeemed us so that we could become partakers of the divine nature as adopted sons of God. Not Gods, but sons of God with God’s nature.

But when the appropriate time had come, God sent out his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we may be adopted as sons with full rights. And because you are sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, who calls “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave but a son, and if you are a son, then you are also an heir through God. (Galatians 4:4–7 NET)

For you did not receive the spirit of slavery leading again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, by whom we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself bears witness to our spirit that we are God’s children. And if children, then heirs (namely, heirs of God and also fellow heirs with Christ)—if indeed we suffer with him so we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that our present sufferings cannot even be compared to the glory that will be revealed to us. For the creation eagerly waits for the revelation of the sons of God. (Romans 8:15–19 NET)

(See what sort of love the Father has given to us: that we should be called God’s children—and indeed we are! For this reason the world does not know us: because it did not know him. Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. And everyone who has this hope focused on him purifies himself, just as Jesus is pure). (1 John 3:2–3 NET)

God the Father, through Jesus, His unique Son, will have many sons and daughters to share His life with. The Marriage of the Lamb of God, Jesus, with the Bride of Christ is the culmination of the plan to have many adopted sons and daughters that partake of the divine nature, God’s nature. Amen

BACKSTORY: The Song of Songs (Circa 950 B.C.)

“One of the oldest interpretations of the song [of Solomon] sees it as an allegory. This view was held by both Jewish and Christian scholars from an early date. The description of human love in the song is an allegory of the love between Christ and the church. Augustine of Hippo (354–430) believed that the marriage referred to in the song was an allegory of the marriage between Christ and the church.” (19)

The Song of Solomon describes the depth of the passionate love of Jesus to be united with His Bride, the New Israel of God consisting of Jews and Gentiles, and the passionate love the Bride should have to be united with Jesus our Groom.

The Song of Songs as an Allegory

In the north country of Israel, in the mountain district of Ephraim, King Solomon had a vineyard Solomon 8:11), and he rented it out to keepers to an Ephraimite family.

Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-Hamon; he leased out the vineyard to those who maintained it. Each was to bring a thousand shekels of silver for its fruit. (Song of Solomon 8:11 NET)

Apparently, the husband and father were dead, but there was a mother and at least two brothers. There were two daughters (i.e., two sisters), with the younger one a little undeveloped. (24)

We have a little sister, and as yet she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? (Song of Solomon 8:8 NET)

It would seem that the older sister was the “ugly duckling” or the “Cinderella” of the family. Her brothers did not appreciate her and imposed hard tasks upon her, denying her the privileges that a growing girl might have expected in a Hebrew home. “My mother’s sons were angry with me.” Perhaps they were her half-brothers in a blended family. (24)

We read,

I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah. Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep! (Song of Solomon 1:5–6 NET)

In Hebrew, it is, “My mother’s sons were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept.” The brothers told her she could not lounge around the house; she had to get out and get to work tending to the vineyard. She was responsible for pruning the vines and setting traps for the little foxes that spoiled the vines.

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes, that ruin the vineyards— for our vineyard is in bloom. (Song of Solomon 2:15 NET)

They also committed to her care of the lambs and the kids of the flock.

If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds. (Song of Solomon 1:8 NET)

It was her responsibility to protect and find suitable pastures for them. She worked hard and was in the sun from early until late. “My own vineyard I could not keep!”

Do not stare at me because I am dark, for the sun has burned my skin. My brothers were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards. Alas, my own vineyard I could not keep! (Song of Solomon 1:6   NET)

She meant while working so hard in the field, I had no opportunity to look after myself. She had no opportunity to care for her own person. She may not have ever known the use of cosmetics of any kind, and yet as she looked out on the road, she would see the beautiful ladies of the court riding on their docile horses and in their covered litters, and as she got a glimpse of them, or as she bent over a woodland spring and saw her own reflection, perhaps she would say, “I am sunburned but lovely, and if I only had the opportunity, I could be as beautiful as the rest of them.” (24)

I am dark but lovely, O maidens of Jerusalem, dark like the tents of Qedar, lovely like the tent curtains of Salmah. (Song of Solomon 1:5 NET)

One day, as she was caring for her flock, she looked up, and to her embarrassment, there stood a tall and handsome stranger-shepherd, one she had never seen before, gazing intently upon her, and she exclaimed, “Look not upon me because I am black because the sun has darkened my skin.” And then she gives the explanation, “My mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards, but mine own vineyard I could not keep.” (24)

But he answers quietly without any offensive forwardness, “I was not thinking of you as dark and sunburnt and unpleasant to look upon. To my mind, you are altogether lovely; behold, thou art fair, my love; there is no spot in you.” Of course, that went a long way toward a friendship, and so little by little that friendship ripened into affection, and affection into love, and finally, this shepherd had won the heart of the shepherdess. Then he went away, but before he went, he said, “Someday I am coming for you, and I am going to make you my bride.” And she believed him. Probably no one else did. Her brothers did not believe him; the people in the mountain country felt she was a poor, simple country maiden who had been deceived by this strange man. She had asked him where he fed his flock, but he put her off with an evasive answer, yet she trusted him. He was gone a long time. Sometimes, she dreamed of him and would exclaim, “The voice of my beloved,” only to find that all was quiet and dark. But still, she trusted him. (24)

One day, there was a great cloud of dust on the road, and the country people ran to see what it meant. Here came a glorious procession. There was the king’s bodyguard and the king himself, and they stopped just opposite the vineyard. To the amazement of the shepherdess, the royal outriders came to her with the announcement, “The king has sent us for you.” “For me?” she asked. “Yes, come.” And in obedience, she went, and when she looked into the face of the king, behold, the king was the shepherd who had won her heart, and she said, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” (cf. Song of Solomon 2:16;6:3) (24)

Detailed Review of The Song of Songs as an Allegory

Solomon’s Most Excellent Love Song. (Song of Solomon 1:1 NET)

The Bride of Christ speaks to Jesus the Groom:

Oh, how I wish you would kiss me passionately! For your lovemaking is more delightful than wine. The fragrance of your colognes is delightful; your name is like the finest perfume. No wonder the young women adore you! Draw me after you; let us hurry! May the king bring me into his bedroom chambers! (Song of Solomon 1:2-4 a NET)

This is an expression of the bride’s delight in her bridegroom. We are reminded how the house was filled with the aroma of the ointment (i.e., perfumed oil) when Mary broke her alabaster box and poured it upon His head (1). The shepherdess has been brought from the hill country into the royal palace, as you and I will be brought from a distant country into the very presence of the Lord Himself. She has been claimed by the King. What a wonderful picture we have here of real communion. No one has ever entered into the truth of communion with Christ until Jesus Himself has become the all-absorbing passion of the soul. His love transcends every earthly joy, of which wine is the symbol in Scripture. Why is it so used? Because of its exhilarating character. Wine speaks of anything on earth that stimulates or cheers. Wine speaks of the joys of the earth to which we once turned before we knew Christ. But after we know Him, we say, (24)

We will rejoice and delight in you; we will praise your love more than wine. How rightly the young women adore you! (Song of Solomon 1:4 b NET)

There is a fulness in His love, a sweetness found in fellowship with Christ, of which the worldly person knows nothing. (24)

And do not get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled by the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs, singing and making music in your hearts to the Lord, (Ephesians 5:18–19 NET)

The Spirit-filled believer never craves the foolishness of the godless world. Christ is enough to satisfy at all times. (24)

The Bride of Christ speaks to Jesus the Groom:

Tell me, O you whom my heart loves, where do you pasture your sheep? Where do you rest your sheep during the midday heat? Tell me lest I wander around beside the flocks of your companions! (Song of Solomon 1:7 NET)

This verse looks back to when she first met her lover and inquired of Him where he fed his flock.

Jesus the Groom speaks to the Bride of Christ

He answered,

If you do not know, O most beautiful of women, simply follow the tracks of my flock, and pasture your little lambs beside the tents of the shepherds. (Song of Solomon 1:8 NET)

In other words, it is as when the disciples of John came to Jesus and said,

Jesus turned around and saw them following and said to them, “What do you want?” So they said to him, “Rabbi” (which is translated Teacher), “where are you staying?” Jesus answered, “Come and you will see.” So they came and saw where he was staying, and they stayed with him that day. Now it was about four o’clock in the afternoon. (John 1:38–39 NET)

“And so the soul cried out, “Tell me, O you whom my heart loves, where do you pasture your sheep?” And he said to her, “Just go along in the shepherds’ path, feed your flock with the rest, and you will find out.” If you take the path of devotedness to Christ, you will soon know where He dwells. If you walk in obedience to His Word, you cannot fail to find Him. (24)

O my beloved, you are like a mare among Pharaoh’s stallions. Your cheeks are beautiful with ornaments; your neck is lovely with strings of jewels. We will make for you gold ornaments studded with silver. (Song of Solomon 1:9–11 NET)

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

While the king was at his banqueting table, my nard gave forth its fragrance. My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh spending the night between my breasts. My beloved is like a cluster of henna blossoms in the vineyards of En-Gedi. (Song of Solomon 1:12–14 NET)

Jesus and his beautiful bride are together in the royal palace, and she says, “While the king was at his banqueting table”—and the table is the place of communion—“my nard gave forth its fragrance. My beloved is like a fragrant pouch of myrrh…” In other words, “He is to me like a fragrant bouquet in which my senses delight.” And so as we enter into communion with Christ, He becomes all in all to us, and the heart goes out in worship and praise, like Mary, in the house of Bethany bringing her alabaster box of ointment (i.e., perfumed oil) and pouring it on the head of Jesus (1). The king sat at the table that day, and her spikenard sent forth its fragrance, and the house was filled with the aroma of the ointment. That is the worshiper. There can be no real worship except as the heart is occupied with Him. (24)

Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me. To whoever obeys my commands, I will reveal my power to deliver.” (Psalm 50:23 NET)

You are holy; you sit as king receiving the praises of Israel. (Psalm 22:2 NET)

Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, acknowledging his name. (Hebrews 13:15 NET)

God has said, “Whoever presents a thank-offering honors me.” He tells us He dwells amid the praises of His people. It is the satisfied heart that really worships. When the soul has been won for Christ, there will be an appreciation of Himself for what He is, not merely thanksgiving for what He has done (important as that is) for what He has so graciously bestowed upon us. This causes the spirit to go out to Him in worship and praise. (24)

You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, because you are attaining the goal of your faith—the salvation of your souls. (1 Peter 1:8–9 NET)

“The Father,” Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “seeketh such to worship Him.” He yearns for the adoring love of devoted hearts. (24)

But a time is coming—and now is here—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father seeks such people to be his worshipers. God is spirit, and the people who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (John 4:23–24 NET)

May we respond to His desire and ever “worship Him in spirit and truth.” (24)

The figure of the bride and the bridegroom is used very frequently in Scripture.

Isaiah in the Old Testament says,

As a young man marries a young woman, so your sons will marry you. As a bridegroom rejoices over a bride, so your God will rejoice over you. (Isaiah 62:5 NET)

It is used of the Church in the New Testament,

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. (Ephesians 5:25–27 NET)

When the apostle Paul speaks of the divine institution of marriage, he says,

For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh. This mystery is great—but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church.” (Ephesians 5:30–32 NET)

And then, writing to the Corinthian believers, he says,

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2 NET)

Therefore, this delightful figure of the sweet and intimate marriage relationship is used throughout Scripture to set forth our union and communion with the Eternal Lover of our souls. (24)

The Song of Solomon is the Book of Communion. This is beautifully set forth in the first seven verses of the second chapter. The bride and the bridegroom are conversing together. We delight to speak with those whom we love. One of the wonderful things about love is that when someone has really filled your soul’s vision, you do not feel that any time taken up communing with them is wasted. (24)

Here, then, you have the lovers out in the country together.

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

I am a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys. (Song of Solomon 2:1 ESV)

Often, we apply those words to the blessed Lord; we speak of Him as the Rose of Sharon. We sing sometimes, “He’s the Lily of the Valley, the Bright and Morning Star.” It is perfectly right and proper to apply all of these delightful figures to Him, for we cannot find any figure that speaks of that which is beautiful and of good report that cannot properly be applied to the Lord. But the wonderful thing is that He has put His own beauty upon His people.

I am a meadow flower from Sharon, a lily from the valleys. (Song of Solomon 2:1 NET)

And so here the bride is looking up into the face of the bridegroom saying, “I am the rose (possibly the Tulipa agenensis subspecies sharoneniss, a blood-red tulip)(25) of Sharon and the lily of the valleys (possibly Narcissus tazetta)(38)”— the lily that thrives in the hidden place, not in the town, not in the heat and bustle of the city, but out on the cool country-side, in the quiet field. This speaks of the soul’s separation from the world and unto Christ Himself. (24)

When we draw apart from the things of the world, apart unto Him, we thrive, grow in grace, and become beautiful in His sight. One of the great griefs that comes to the heart of many who seek to lead others on in the ways of Christ is knowing the world has an influence upon them after they are converted to God. How often the question comes from dear young Christians, “Must I give up this, and must I give up that, if I am going to live a consistent Christian life?” And the things that they speak of with such apparent yearning are mere trifles after all as compared with communion with Him. Must I give up eating sawdust in order to enjoy a good dinner? Who would ask that question? (24)

Rather, must I give up the pleasures of the world in order that I may have communion with Christ? It is easy to let them all go if the soul is enraptured with Him, and when you get to know Him better, when you learn to enjoy communion with Him, you will find yourself turning the question around and when the world says, “Won’t you participate with us in this doubtful pleasure or in this unholy thing?” your answer will be, “Must I give up so much to come down to that level? Must I give up communion with Him? Must I give up the enjoyment of His Word? Must I give up fellowship with His people in order to go in the ways of the world?” That would be the giving up. Dear young Christian, do not think of it as giving up anything to go apart with Him and enjoy His blessed fellowship. (24)

Like a lily among the thorns, so is my darling among the maidens. (Song of Solomon 2:2 NET)

It is then the separated soul looks into His face and says, “I am like the Tulipa agenensis of Sharon, and the Narcissus tazetta of the valleys,” and He at once responds, “As the lily among thorns (possibly Lilium candidum)(38), so is My love among the daughters.”

It is the heart-satisfaction that He has in His people. (24)

See the contrast between the beautiful, fragile, lovely lily and the rough, unpleasant, disagreeable thorn. The thorn speaks of those who are still under the curse, walking in the ways of the world, and the lily sets forth His sanctified, devoted people, those who have turned from the world to Himself. This is His estimate of His saints, and as this little conversation continues, it is just the soul speaking to Him, and He responds in a beautiful holy dialogue. (24)

The Bride of Christ about Jesus the Groom:

Like an apple tree among the trees of the forest, so is my beloved among the young men. I delight to sit in his shade, and his fruit is sweet to my taste. (Song of Solomon 2:3 NET)

He says to her, “You are like a lily to Me in contrast to the thorns.” And she says, “And You to me are like a beautiful fruit tree in contrast to the fruitless trees of the woods.” The thought that the bride expresses is this: You are so much more to me than any other can possibly be. I have shade and rest and refreshment in your presence. “I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.” (24)

How often the Spirit of God employs the figure of a shadow. To understand it properly, you have to think of a hot eastern climate, the tropical sun shining down upon a traveler. Suddenly he sees a place of refuge before him and exclaims as David does: (24)

Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a refuge from a rainstorm; like streams of water in a dry region and like the shade of a large cliff in a parched land. (Isaiah 32:2)

Protect me as you would protect the pupil of your eye! Hide me in the shadow of your wings! (Psalm 17:8 NET)

How precious is your steadfast love, O God! The children of mankind take refuge in the shadow of your wings. (Psalm 36:7 ESV)

The figure is frequently used in the Bible in speaking of rest and comfort found only in communion with Christ. (24)

Do you remember when you first fell in love with the one who afterward became your life companion? Did you find it hard to spend half an hour with them? Did you try to find an excuse for staying away from that young them? Did you always have some other engagement so that you would not be at home when they came for a visit? No, but you tried to put everything else out of the way so as to have the opportunity to become better acquainted with the person who had won your heart. So it is with the believer. The more we get to know Christ, the more we delight in His presence. So the bride says, “I sat down under His shadow with great delight, and His fruit was sweet to my taste.” Her bliss was complete. (24)

Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. (Psalm 37:4 NET)

You cannot delight in Christ if you are going after the things of the world.

“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matthew 6:24 NET)

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him, because all that is in the world (the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the arrogance produced by material possessions) is not from the Father, but is from the world. And the world is passing away with all its desires, but the person who does the will of God remains forever. (1 John 2:15–17 NET)

And so you cannot enjoy Christ and the world at the same time.

Then, we go a step further in this scene of communion.

The Bride of Christ about Jesus the Groom:

He brought me to the banqueting house [Heb, house of wine], and his banner over me was love. Sustain me with raisins; refresh me with apples, for I am sick with love. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! (Song of Solomon 2:4-6 ESV)

This is the place of the soul’s deep enjoyment when all else is shut out, Christ’s all-satisfying love fills the spirit’s vision, and the entire being is taken up with Himself. This is indeed the “house of wine,” the rest of love. In verses five and six, you have the soul so completely enthralled by the one who has won her heart that she does not care to think of anything else. (24)

Then in verse seven, we have his tender answer, for it is the bridegroom speaking now:

Jesus the Groom speaks:

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. (Song of Solomon 2:7 ESV)

“I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my love, till she please,” not “till he please.” (24)

The word is in the feminine, and the point is this: He sees such joy in His people when they are in communion with Him that He says, “Now do not bring in anything to spoil this until she herself please.” We have that illustrated in the Gospels. (24)

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him as a guest. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he said. But Martha was distracted with all the preparations she had to make, so she came up to him and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work alone? Tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things, but one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the best part; it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38–42 NET)

Jesus had gone to the house of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, and Martha served and was burdened about her serving. But Mary took her place at the feet of Jesus and listened to His words. She was in the banqueting house, and His banner over her was love. He was enjoying communion with her. But Martha said, “I have something more important for Mary than that; it is more important that she put the dishes on the table and get the dinner ready.” But Jesus said (paraphrased), “Martha, Martha, I charge you that ye stir not up, nor awake my love (i.e., Mary) till she please.” In other words, “As long as Mary is content to sit at My feet and commune with Me, this means more to Me than the most enjoyable meal.” (24)

When the poor Samaritan woman came to Him at the well outside the city of Sychar (John 4:4-37), His disciples came and wondered if He were not hungry, but He said, “I have meat to eat that you know nothing about.” It meant more to Him to have that poor sinner listening to His words, drawing near to Him and entering into the love of His heart, than to enjoy the food they had gone to the city to get. (24)

Meanwhile the disciples were urging him, “Rabbi, eat something.” But he said to them, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” So the disciples began to say to one another, “No one brought him anything to eat, did they?”Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to complete his work. (John 4:31–34 NET)

Service is a wonderful thing; it is great to labor for so good a Master. But oh, there is something that comes before service, something that means more to Him and should mean more to us, and that is fellowship with Himself! (24)

Our blessed Lord wants us. Our heart’s affection means far more to Him than service. And yet there will be service, of course, but service that springs out of communion accomplishes much more than when we are too busy to enjoy fellowship with Him. (24)

The Bride of Christ speaks about Jesus the Groom:

The voice of my beloved! Behold, he comes, leaping over the mountains, bounding over the hills. My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, there he stands behind our wall, gazing through the windows, looking through the lattice. (Song of Solomon 2:8–9 ESV)

In this section, he is absent from her, and she waits for him to return. Suddenly, she thinks she hears his voice and springs up, saying, “The voice of my beloved! Behold, he cometh leaping upon the mountains, skipping upon the hills.” You and I, who know His grace, realize something of what this means. He has saved us, won our hearts, as this shepherd lover won the heart of this shepherdess, and He has gone away, but He said, “I will come again, and receive you unto Myself,” and when He comes, He will be the glorious King. It was the shepherd who won her heart; it was the King to whom she was wedded. And so Jesus, the Good Shepherd, has won us for Himself, but He will be the King when we sit with Him upon the throne. (24)

And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. (John 14:3 NET)

The Bride of Christ speaks about Jesus the Groom:

My beloved speaks and says to me: “Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away, for behold, the winter is past; the rain is over and gone. The flowers appear on the earth, the time of singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land. The fig tree ripens its figs, and the vines are in blossom; they give forth fragrance. Arise, my love, my beautiful one, and come away. (Song of Solomon 2:10–13 ESV)

Does it not stir your soul to think that at any moment, we may hear His voice saying, “Arise, My love, and come away?” Listen to the way she depicts it here. “My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. For, behold, the winter is past, the rain is over and gone; the flowers appear on the earth; the time of the singing has come, and the voice of the turtledove is heard in our land; the fig tree putteth forth her green figs and the vines with the tender grape give a good smell. Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away.” It is the time of singing,” when He will sing, and we shall sing, and we shall rejoice together when earth’s long winter of sorrow and trial and perplexity is ended, and the glorious spring will come with our blessed Lord’s return. This is just a little poem in itself, a complete love-lyric in anticipation of the bridegroom’s return. How soon all this may be fulfilled for us, how soon He may come for whom our hearts are yearning, we do not know. We have waited for Him through the years; we have known the cold winters, the hard and difficult days; we have known the trying times, but oh, the joy, the gladness when He comes back! (24)

He has said,

For just a little longer and he who is coming will arrive and not delay. (Hebrews 10:37 NET)

“ ‘A little while’—the Lord shall come,

And we shall wander here no more;

He’ll take us to His Father’s home,

Where He for us is gone before—

To dwell with Him, to see His face,

And sing the glories of His grace.” (24)

We shall then share the glory that He went to prepare. What will that mean for us and for Him! He will have the joy of His heart when He has us with Him. (24)

Jesus the Groom speaks to the Bride of Christ:

O my dove, in the clefts of the rock, in the crannies of the cliff, let me see your face, let me hear your voice, for your voice is sweet, and your face is lovely. (Song of Solomon 2:14 ESV)

The closing verses speak of what should be going on during all the time of His absence. In the first place, we ought to be enjoying Him anticipatively, and then there should be self-judgment, putting out of life anything that would grieve or dishonor Him. The bridegroom speaks; may He speak to our souls. ‘O My dove, that art in the clefts of the rock.” That is where we are resting, in the cleft of the rock. (24)

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Grace hath hid me safe in Thee.” (24)

“O My dove, that art in the clefts of the rock, in the secret places of the stairs,” or, “in the hidden places of the going up.” We are moving upward from day to day, soon to be with Him. “Let Me see your countenance, let Me hear your voice; for sweet is your voice, and your countenance is comely.” Have you heard Him saying that to you, and have you sometimes turned coldly away? (24)

Probably when you arose in the morning, you heard Him say, “Let Me see your countenance before you begin the work of the day; spend a little time with Me. Let Me hear your voice; talk with Me before you go out to speak to other people. Let Me enjoy a little time with you, the one for whom I died before you take up the affairs of the day.” And you have just turned coldly away, looked at your watch, and said, “I am sorry, but I cannot spare any time this morning; I must hurry to the office or the shop,” and so all day He waited for you. When evening came, He spoke again and said, “Let Me see your countenance, let Me hear your voice,” and you said, “Oh, I am so tired and weary tonight, I have to hurry off to bed.” Have there not been many days like that? Are there going to be many more? Or will you seek by grace to respond to the love of His heart and let Him see your face and hear your voice more often? (24)

The Bride of Christ speaks to Jesus the Groom:

Catch the foxes for us, the little foxes that spoil the vineyards, for our vineyards are in blossom.” (Song of Solomon 2:15 ESV)

Then we have her response, “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our vines have tender grapes.” You see, her brothers had driven her out to be the vinedresser. Now she thinks of that, sees a figure there, and says, “I know how I had to watch the vines so carefully, and now I have to watch the growth of my spiritual life. As I set traps for the little foxes, now I have to judge in myself anything that would hinder fellowship with Him or my spiritual growth.” What are the little foxes that spoil the vine? I can tell you a good many. There are the little foxes of vanity, pride, envy, evil speaking, and impurity (I think this is a wolf instead of a little fox). Then there are the little foxes of carelessness, neglect of the Bible, neglect of prayer, and neglect of fellowship with the people of God. These are the things that spoil the vine that hinder spiritual growth. Deal with them in the light of the cross of Christ; put them to death before they ruin your Christian experience; do not give them any place. “Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines.” (24)

The Bride of Christ speaks about Jesus the Groom:

My beloved is mine, and I am his; he grazes among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle or a young stag on cleft mountains. (Song of Solomon 2:16,17 ESV)

And now we have the closing words, “My beloved is mine, and I am his: he feedeth among the lilies.” We need to be reminded of this again and again. The most intimate, sweet, and unsullied spiritual relationship is brought before us here. And this is to continue, “Until the day break and the shadows flee away.” When will that be? When our blessed Lord returns. “Turn, my beloved, and be thou like a gazelle roe or a young stag upon the cleft mountains,” that is the mountains of separation. He is the object of her soul as she abides upon the mountains of separation until he comes back.

Oh, that these things were more real with us all! We profess to “hold” the truth of our Lord’s near return. But does it hold us in such a way that we esteem all earthly things but loss for Him who is so soon to claim us wholly for Himself? “Let us search and try our ways,” and make sure that we allow nothing in our lives that destroys the power of this “blessed hope” over our souls. (24)

The third chapter of the Song of Songs is divided into two parts; the first comprises verses 1 to 5, and the second, the balance of the chapter, verses 6 to 11. (24)

The opening section sets before us communion is interrupted and renewed.

The Bride of Christ speaks about Jesus the Groom:

On my bed by night I sought him whom my soul loves; I sought him, but found him not. (Song of Solomon 3:1 ESV)

We are not told just what it was that disturbed the lovers’ fellowship. It may have been the absence of the Beloved, resulting in a temporary lethargic condition on the part of his espoused one.

Possibly the entire section is to be treated as a dream. In fact, this seems the most likely explanation. But dreams often reflect the disturbed state of the heart. “A dream cometh through the multitude of business” (Eccl es. 5:3).

The opening verse depicts the restlessness of one who has lost the sense of the Lord’s presence. What saint has not known such experiences? (24)

David once exclaimed,

By your favor, O Lord, you made my mountain stand strong; you hid your face; I was dismayed. (Psalm 30:7 NET)

This withdrawal of the light of His countenance is not necessarily in anger. Sometimes, it conveys a warning or reprimand. It is love’s way of bringing the soul to a realization of something cherished or allowed that grieves the Holy Spirit of God. Or it may be the testing of faith to see whether one can trust in the dark and in the light. Rutherford’s experience is depicted thus: (24)

“But flowers need night’s cool sweetness,

The moonlight and the dew;

So Christ, from one who loved Him,

His presence oft withdrew.”

To His disciples, He said, when He announced His going away, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” That is to say, “As you have believed in God whom you have never seen, so when I am absent, believe in Me. I will be just as real—and just as true—although to sight unseen.” Though the soul loses the sense of His presence, He still abideth faithful. He never forsakes His people, though He seems to have withdrawn and does not manifest Himself. This is indeed a test of faith and of true-hearted devotion. We say, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder,” but there is often greater truth in the old proverb, “Out of sight, out of mind.” When the Lord stayed in the temple as a boy, even Mary and Joseph went on “supposing Him to be in the company,” not realizing the true state of affairs. (Luke 2:41-52) (24)

Here, the bride feels her loss. She seeks for him; he is not there. There is no response to her cry. For her, rest is impossible with this awful sense of loneliness upon her. She must seek until she finds; she cannot be content without him. Would that this were always true of us! But, alas, how often we go on bereaved of the assurance of His presence, yet so insensate that we scarcely realize our loss. Here, there is energy—determination—and action! She must find him who is all in all to her. Love abhors a vacuum. Only the sense of his presence can fill and satisfy her heart. (24)

The Bride of Christ speaks about Jesus the Groom:

I will rise now and go about the city, in the streets and in the squares; I will seek him whom my soul loves. I sought him, but found him not. (Song of Solomon 3:2 ESV)

She leaves her mountain home and searches for the object of her deep affection. To the city she travels, wandering about its streets and peering into every hidden place, looking only for Him! But at first, her search is unrewarded. In fact, it is not until she bears witness to others of his preciousness that He gladdens her vision. Note the terms used: “I sought him; I found him not; I will seek him; I found him not.” (24)

The Bride of Christ speaks to the Guards about Jesus the Groom:

The watchmen found me as they went about in the city. “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” (Song of Solomon 3:3 ESV)

The watchmen, guarding the city at night, are surprised to see a lovely and yet apparently respectable woman going about at such an hour. But she turns eagerly to them before they can reprove her, crying in the distress of her soul, “Have you seen him whom my soul loves?” The abrupt question conveyed little information, indeed. It must have sounded almost incoherent to the unimaginative guardians of the peace. But to her, it was all that was necessary. There was only one for whom her soul yearned. Surely they, too, would know his worth! But, from them, she gets no response. (24)

The Bride of Christ speaks about Jesus the Groom:

Scarcely had I passed them when I found him whom my soul loves. I held him, and would not let him go until I had brought him into my mother’s house, and into the chamber of her who conceived me. (Song of Solomon 3:4 ESV)

Leaving them, she has hardly from their sight before she comes upon the object of her search. In ecstasy, she lays hold of him, and clinging to him as to one who might again vanish away, she brings him into her own home where she first saw the light of day.

The more the passage is pondered, the more evident it seems to be that all this happened in a dream. But it tells of the deep exercises of her soul.

She misses him; she cannot be happy without the sense of his presence. Her only joy is found in abiding in his love. She finds him when she seeks for him with all her heart. This is what gratifies him. And so again, we have the refrain of satisfied love. (34)

The Bride of Christ speaks about Jesus the Groom:

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles or the does of the field, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. (Song of Solomon 3:5 ESV)

Nothing gives our Lord more delight than to find a heart that joys in Him for what He is in Himself. Too often, we think rather of His gifts, the gracious favors He bestows. It is right and proper that these should stir us to thanksgiving, but as we get to know Himself and to joy in His love, we really worship in blissful communion.

“The bride eyes not her garments,

But her dear Bridegroom’s face;

I will not gaze at glory,

But on my King of Grace!

Not at the crown He giveth,

But on His pierced Hand;

The Lamb is all the glory

Of Immanuel’s land.”

The latter part of the chapter is of an entirely different character and sets forth the truth of union rather than of restored communion.

The espoused one has waited long for the return of the shepherd whose love she has prized above all else. His promise to return for her has been cherished and relied upon, even though, at times, His continued absence has made the heart sick with yearning and even overwhelmed the drooping spirit with fear. But never has she really lost confidence in his plighted word. Eagerly she has awaited the fulfilment of his promise. (24)

The Rapture of Believers

What is that coming up from the wilderness like columns of smoke, perfumed with myrrh and frankincense, with all the fragrant powders of a merchant? (Song of Solomon 3:6 ESV)

One day, all the simple folk of the countryside are astir and filled with interest and wonder as they behold a grand procession winding its way along the highway up from the glorious city of God. Outriders and trumpeters on prancing chargers herald the approach of a royal equipage. “Who is this that comes?” This is the question raised by every on-looker. Whose procession is this? Who travels in such grandeur and splendor? One can imagine the scene, and none can blame the curious conjectures as the peasants of the hills gaze with wonder upon the advancing cavalcade. In the Hebrew, the question is really, “Who is she that cometh?” It is a bridal procession. But who is the honored maiden called to share the love of the King? Evidently, they look in vain at first for a sight of her. Everything proclaims a nuptial parade, but no bride is really seen. (34)

Behold, it is the litter of Solomon! Around it are sixty mighty men, some of the mighty men of Israel, all of them wearing swords and expert in war, each with his sword at his thigh, against terror by night. (Song of Solomon 3:7–8 ESV)

The bridegroom, however, is clearly in evidence. It is Solomon, the son of David himself. In excited admiration, the wondering people exclaim: “Behold his litter (or palanquin), which is Solomon’s!” The royal conveyance is recognized. Sixty valiant soldiers guard their king as he journeys through the country. Clad in armor, each with his sword ready to defend his sovereign against any lurking traitorous foes, they move on in orderly array, as the excitement among the shepherds and vinedressers grows ever more intense. Not often have their eyes been regaled by such a scene as this! Perhaps they will never see its like again! (34)

King Solomon made himself a carriage from the wood of Lebanon. He made its posts of silver, its back of gold, its seat of purple; its interior was inlaid with love by the daughters of Jerusalem. Go out, O daughters of Zion, and look upon King Solomon, with the crown with which his mother crowned him on the day of his wedding, on the day of the gladness of his heart. (Song of Solomon 3:9–11 ESV)

How magnificent, how costly is that royal litter! It is the King’s provision for the comfort of his bride. And that bride is half-hidden among the rest of the country folk, not daring to believe such honor is for her. All eyes are on the King. It is his crowning day—his nuptial hour—the day of the gladness of his heart. He has come forth to seek and claim his spouse, whom he won as the shepherd and to whom he now reveals himself as the King. (34)

There is no actual mention of the claiming of the bride and bringing her to the King; it is true. But it is clearly implied. He has come to fulfill his promise to make her his own. With deep and subdued joy, she responds to the royal summons and takes her place at his side, and so the procession sweeps on, leaving the bewildered on-lookers gasping with startled amazement at the sudden change in the circumstance of her who had been through the years but one of themselves. It is a worthy theme for a Song of Songs! Most graphically, it portrays the glorious reality that the Bride of the Lamb shall soon realize when the Shepherd-King comes to claim His own. (34)

“He is coming as the Bridegroom,

Coming to unfold at last

The great secret of His purpose

Mystery of ages past;

And the bride, to her, is granted,

In His beauty now to shine,

As in rapture she exclaimeth,

‘I am His, and He is mine!’

Oh, what joy that marriage union,

Mystery of love divine;

Sweet to sing in all its fulness,

‘I am His, and He is mine!’ ”

How short then will seem the waiting time; how trifling the foolish practices of the earth which we gave up in order to be pleasing in His sight! How slightly, too, will the sufferings of the present time appear, as compared with the glory then to be enjoyed. (24)

If some think we have drawn too much upon imagination as we have sought to picture the real background of these lovely lyrics, let me ask: Is it possible to mistake the picture when all Scripture tells the same story? What was the marriage of Adam and Eve intended to signify? What shall be said of the servant seeking a bride for Isaac, and what of the love of Jacob as he served so unweariedly for Rachel? Of what “great mystery” does Asenath, the Gentile wife of Joseph, speak? And what shall be said of the love of Boaz for Ruth? Hosea, who bought his bride in the slave market, gives a darker side of the picture, yet all is in wonderful harmony. All alike tell the story that: (24)

Husbands, love your wives just as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her to sanctify her by cleansing her with the washing of the water by the word, so that he may present the church to himself as glorious—not having a stain or wrinkle, or any such blemish, but holy and blameless. In the same way husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. For no one has ever hated his own body but he feeds it and takes care of it, just as Christ also does the church, for we are members of his body. For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.This mystery is great—but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. Nevertheless, each one of you must also love his own wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband. (Ephesians 5:25–33 NET)

“All fair” indeed will she then be in His eyes, and one with Him forever, for It is written,

For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and will be joined to his wife, and the two will become one flesh.This mystery is great—but I am actually speaking with reference to Christ and the church. (Ephesians 5:31–32 NET).

Surely all this should speak loudly to our hearts, we who through grace have been won for One we have never yet seen, but of whom we read, (24)

You have not seen him, but you love him. You do not see him now but you believe in him, and so you rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, (1 Peter 1:8 NET)

What will it be when we behold Him coming in royal array to claim us as His very own, when we discern in the King of kings, the Good Shepherd who gave His life for the sheep, and who, before He left this scene, gave the solemn promise, (24)

And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. (John 14:3 NET)

That glad nuptial hour draws on quickly. May our hearts be stirred and our spiritual pulses quicken as we join the wondering cry, “Who is this that cometh?” (24)

When the bride is caught away, what will the astonishment be on the part of those who had never understood that she was the loved one of the Lord Most High? When they realize that the Believers are gone and the heavenly procession has passed them by, what will be their thoughts on that day? (24)

But we must pause here for the present. The next chapter gives us the glad recognition and the happy response. (24)

It is not strange that as we think of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Heavenly Bridegroom, our souls are moved to their deepest depths, but it is hard for us to realize that He has a greater love for us than we could ever possibly have for Him. And so here in this fourth chapter of the Song of Solomon, we hear the bridegroom expressing to his loved one the feelings of his heart toward her, and as we read these words, as we listen to these heart-breathings, we should remember that the speaker is really our Lord Jesus Christ and that the bride that Church which Christ loved and for which He gave Himself. (24)

So we may see in these utterances His delight in His Church. In verses one to seven of this fourth chapter, you will notice that He addresses Himself directly to the bride and speaks of her beauties as He sees them in a very wonderful way. The imagery, of course, as throughout this book, is strictly Eastern and goes considerably beyond what we unimaginative Westerners are in the habit of using. And yet as we read it, we see nothing coarse that would blush our modest cheeks. It is the fullest, most rapturous delight of the bridegroom in the bride, but every expression is in keeping with the holiness of this blessed little book. (24)

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young. Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. (Song of Solomon 4:1–7 ESV)

First, he speaks of her general appearance.

Four times in this chapter, he tells her of her fairness. Twice, He declares it in verse one. He says,

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. (Song of Solomon 4:1 ESV)

In verse seven, we read,

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. (Song of Solomon 4:7 ESV)

Again in verse ten,

How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! (Song of Solomon 4:10 ESV)

And yet she had no fairness in herself, as we had no beauty in ourselves. In an earlier chapter, we heard her say,

I am very dark, but lovely, O daughters of Jerusalem, like the tents of Kedar, like the curtains of Solomon. (Song of Solomon 1:5 ESV)

But he says as he looks at her through love’s eyes,

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. (Song of Solomon 4:7 ESV)

Does it not bring before us the wondrous thing that our Saviour has done for every one of us who has been redeemed by the precious blood of Christ? We would never have been saved if we had not realized in some measure our own wretchedness, sinfulness, and unlovely character. Because of this, we fled to Him for refuge and confessed that we were anything but fair and beautiful. We took our places side by side with Job and cried, (24)

I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.” (Job 42:5–6 ESV)

We knelt beside Isaiah and exclaimed,

And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:5 ESV)

We took part with Peter and cried,

But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” (Luke 5:8 ESV)

We in exasperation declared like Paul,

Wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? (Romans 7:24 ESV)

But when we took that place of repentance, of acknowledgment of our own natural deformity and unloveliness, He looked upon us in His grace and said,

And your renown went forth among the nations because of your beauty, for it was perfect through the splendor that I had bestowed on you, declares the Lord God. (Ezekiel 16:14 ESV)

And now, as those who have been washed from our sins in His own precious blood, He addresses us in the rapturous way that we have here,

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. (Song of Solomon 4:7 ESV)

What! No flaw in us when we were stained by sin or polluted by iniquity?

Once it could be said of us,

From the sole of the foot even to the head, there is no soundness in it, but bruises and sores and raw wounds; they are not pressed out or bound up or softened with oil. (Isaiah 1:6 ESV)

And now His holy eyes cannot find one spot of sin nor any sign of iniquity. Let this give us to understand what grace hath wrought.

“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound,

That saved a wretch like me!”

It is only God’s matchless grace that has thus made us accepted in the Beloved. Amen.

Then you will notice that the bridegroom, looking upon his bride, speaks of her person in the most glowing terms, referring to seven different things. (24)

First, He speaks of her eyes and says to her,

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. (Song of Solomon 4:1 ESV)

What does that mean? The dove was a clean bird of love and sorrow, offered in sacrifice upon the altar, and thus typified our Lord Jesus as the heavenly One. And now he sees reflected in his bride that which speaks of himself. “Thou hast doves’ eyes.” We may not have stopped to realize it, but the dove has very keen eyesight. (24)

Recently, in an eastern city, a poor carrier pigeon fell exhausted on one of those high buildings, and somebody working on the roof of the building caught it, utterly unable to rise. They found attached to it a message that had come over three thousand miles, and that little dove had seen its way all along the miles and had flown on and on until, at last, it had brought the message to that eastern city. (24)

When our blessed Lord says to us,

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. (Song of Solomon 4:1 ESV)

It means that we have eyes of beauty and are quick to discern the precious and wonderful things hidden for us in His holy Word. Do we respond to this, or do these doves’ eyes sometimes take to wandering, going out after the things of a poor, godless world? (24)

Second, He speaks of her hair and says to her,

Behold, you are beautiful, my love, behold, you are beautiful! Your eyes are doves behind your veil. Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. (Song of Solomon 4:1 ESV)

He refers to the Syrian goat with its long, silken hair. One can imagine the beauty of the scene, a flock of goats up on the mountainside. The bridegroom says, “Your hair reminds me of that.” Hair, in Scripture, is a woman’s glory. That is one reason why she is not supposed to follow the styles of the world and cut away her beauty and glory. You remember the woman of old who loved Jesus and knelt at His feet and washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. She used that which spoke of her beauty and glory to minister to Him, the loving, blessed Saviour. (24)

but if a woman has long hair, it is her glory? For her hair is given to her for a covering. (1 Corinthians 11:15 NET)

Third, He speaks of her teeth,

We may think that strange, but there is nothing more beautiful than a lovely set of pearls half-hidden in the mouth.

Your teeth are like a flock of shorn ewes that have come up from the washing, all of which bear twins, and not one among them has lost its young. (Song of Solomon 4:2 ESV)

The two sets of teeth answer to the twins in their cleanliness and sparkling beauty, so attractive in his eyes. And how important the teeth are, spiritually speaking, because they speak to us of chewing, of the ability to properly lay hold of and digest our food. I am afraid there are a number of toothless Christians from that standpoint. Some say, “I do not know how it is, but other people read their Bibles and find such wonderful things when I do not find much in mine.” The trouble is you have such poor teeth, that you do not chew your spiritual food properly. It is by meditation that we appropriate our daily provision. David said, (24)

May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord. (Psalm 104:34 ESV)

Until He gives you a new set of spiritual teeth, you had better use some second-hand ones. Thank God for what others have found; read their books and get something that way! If you wait on Him, the Lord will give you back your teeth, even if you have lost them, and you will be able to enjoy the truth for yourself. (24)

Fourth, He speaks of her lips and mouth.

Your lips are like a scarlet thread and your mouth is lovely. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. (Song of Solomon 4:3 ESV)

Here it is the red lip of health, of spiritual health. “Your lips are like a scarlet thread, and your mouth is lovely.” Why? Because it is speech that has to do with Him! The bride loves to speak of the bridegroom, as the Christian loves to speak of Christ, and her lips are like a thread of scarlet, for she exalts that blood by which she has been brought near to God. Every real Christian will have lips like a thread of scarlet, for they gladly confess that he owes everything for eternity to that precious atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is not only when we gather at the table of the Lord when we bow in worship as we take the bread and cup from His blessed pierced hand, that we love to sing and speak and think of the blood, but always, everywhere, at all times, the believer delights to remember that he has been redeemed to God by the precious blood of Christ (1). You will find the scarlet thread running right through the Bible. (24)

God has said, “The life of the flesh is in the blood, and I have given it to you upon the altar to make an atonement for your soul; it is the blood that maketh an atonement for the soul.” “When I see the blood, I will pass over you.” “We have been redeemed to God by the precious blood of Christ, as of an unblemished spotless lamb, foreknown indeed from the foundation of the world, but manifest in these last times for you.” “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” And when at last we get home to heaven, our lips will be like a thread of scarlet still, for we will join in that new song and sing our praises to Him who was “slain and has loosed us from our sins in His own blood,” and we will render adoration unto the Lamb whose blood was shed, that we might be made kings and priests unto God. O Christian, make much of the blood, speak often of the blood. Do not be satisfied with the feeeble, bloodless religion of the day. When you ask the question, “Are you a Christian?” and you get the ready answer, “Oh, yes; I belong to the church,” then see that your lips are like a thread of scarlet and ask, “Are you trusting in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus alone for salvation?” So often you will find that the idle profession made a moment ago was only an empty thing. They are Christians in name only. There are thousands among us who know nothing of the cleansing value of the blood of Jesus. (24)

Fifth, He speaks of her brow.

Your lips are like a scarlet cord, and your mouth is lovely. Behind your veil, your brow is like a slice of pomegranate. (Song of Solomon 4:3 HCSB)

You know the brow speaks of the dome of thought, and so the bride’s thought is about her bridegroom. She loves to think of him, to meditate upon the treasures found in his word. Then he delights in her as she delights in Him. (24)

Sixth, He speaks of her neck.

In the next verse, we have the strength of her character given to her by divine grace.

Your neck is like the tower of David, built in rows of stone; on it hang a thousand shields, all of them shields of warriors. (Song of Solomon 4:4 ESV)

David’s tower is the place of defense, the place of strength, and the bride here is one of those who can stand up straight and boldly look the world in the face, assured of the love and protection of her matchless bridegroom. And so we are called upon to be “strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” The head won’t be hanging down like a papyrus when our hearts are taken up with Him. There will be a boldness that is never known when out of communion with Him. Then, last of all, in the seventh place, he speaks of that which tells of affection. (24)

Seventh, He speaks of her breasts,

Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle, that graze among the lilies. Until the day breathes and the shadows flee, I will go away to the mountain of myrrh and the hill of frankincense. (Song of Solomon 4:5,6 ESV)

Her heart is his; her whole being belongs to him, and he rejoices in her. (24)

We may well sing:

“Jesus, Thou art enough

The mind and heart to fill;

Thy patient life—to calm the soul;

Thy love—its fear dispel.

“O fix our earnest gaze

So wholly, Lord, on Thee;

That, with Thy beauty occupied

We elsewhere none may see.”

As we joy in Him, we will find that He will joy in us. You remember what Faber wrote:

“That Thou should’st so delight in me

And be the God Thou art,

Is darkness to my intellect,

But sunlight to my heart.”

I cannot understand why He should say,

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you. (Song of Solomon 4:7 ESV)

I cannot comprehend such matchless grace, but my heart can rejoice in it, and so I love Him in return because He first loved me. (24)

We love because he loved us first. (1 John 4:19 NET)

Following this section, in which we have the bridegroom’s joy in the bride, verses eight to eleven have his summons to companionship with himself. The bridegroom would call his bride away from everything that has occupied her to find her all in him. (24)

Come with me from Lebanon, my bride; come with me from Lebanon. Depart from the peak of Amana, from the peak of Senir and Hermon, from the dens of lions, from the mountains of leopards. You have captivated my heart, my sister, my bride; you have captivated my heart with one glance of your eyes, with one jewel of your necklace. (Song of Solomon 4:8,9 ESV)

He sees her upon the mountainside. And, you know, the mountain is the place of privilege, beauty, worldly grandeur, and glory but also the place of danger. The leopard’s lair is there and the lion’s den, and as he beholds her there alone, he cries, “Come with me from Lebanon … from the lions’ dens, from the mountains of the leopards.” Our blessed Lord wants the companionship of His redeemed people. How sweet those words, “Come with Me!” He never calls His people from anything, either the beautiful things of the world or the dangerous things (and after all, the beautiful is often the most dangerous), simply to take a path alone, but it is always, “Come with Me,” and you cannot afford, you who love His name, to draw back, to say, “There are other things so lovely, so beautiful, that my soul must have; I cannot leave them to go with you.” He who died for you, He who left heaven’s glory in order to redeem your soul, calls to you and says, “Come with Me.” Can you draw back and say, “No, it is too much to ask; I cannot leave these surroundings; I cannot leave these worldly follies; I cannot quit this place of danger for Your sake, Lord Jesus?” Surely, there is not very much love there. You need to get down before Him and confess the sin of your cold-heartedness and indifference, and ask for a fresh vision of the love He manifested on the cross so that your heart may be weaned away from everything else. (24)

Dr. Isaac Watts has put it:

“He calls me from the lion’s den,

From this wild world of beasts and men,

To Zion where His glories are,

No Lebanon is half so fair.

Nor dens of prey, nor flowery plains,

Nor earthly joys, nor earthly pains,

Shall hold my feet or force my stay,

When Christ invites my soul away.”

Does your heart respond to that? What He desires above everything else is to see His people find satisfaction in His company. In the first chapter, she said, looking up to him, “We will remember your love more than wine.” Now it is He who responds to her and says, (24)

How beautiful is your love, my sister, my bride! How much better is your love than wine, and the fragrance of your oils than any spice! Your lips drip nectar, my bride; honey and milk are under your tongue; the fragrance of your garments is like the fragrance of Lebanon. (Song of Solomon 4:10–11 ESV)

His people should be fragrant with the sweetness of Christ. It is said of the disciples of old, “They took knowledge that they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13),” and if we are in His company, there will be a rich fragrance of holiness, of heavenliness, about us wherever we are found. (24)

But thanks be to God who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and who makes known through us the fragrance that consists of the knowledge of him in every place. For we are a sweet aroma of Christ to God among those who are being saved and among those who are perishing—to the latter an odor from death to death, but to the former a fragrance from life to life. And who is adequate for these things? For we are not like so many others, hucksters who peddle the word of God for profit, but we are speaking in Christ before God as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God. (2 Corinthians 2:14–17 NET)

Beloved, if you and I are living in fellowship with Christ, if we keep in touch with Him everywhere we go, His fragrance will be manifested in our lives. (24)

We have been noticing in chapter after chapter how the blessed Lord puts before us our privileges as those who are permitted to enter into communion with Himself, and now in this little section, we have the Body of Christ pictured as a watered garden set apart for our Lord Himself to bring forth fruit that will be to His delight. It is a lovely figure, one used on a number of other occasions in Scripture. (24)

And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. (Isaiah 58:11 ESV)

This is a beautiful picture. Primarily, it refers to Israel; morally, it speaks of any believer, of that which God would see in all His saints as they walk with Him. (24)

They shall come and sing aloud on the height of Zion, and they shall be radiant over the goodness of the Lord, over the grain, the wine, and the oil, and over the young of the flock and the herd; their life shall be like a watered garden, and they shall languish no more. (Jeremiah 31:12 ESV)

It is the Risen Christ Himself from whom we draw abundant supplies of mercy and grace, but did you ever think of your own heart as a garden where He is to find His joy? (24)

A garden locked is my sister, my bride, a spring locked, a fountain sealed. (Song of Solomon 4:12 ESV)

Your very life is as a garden which is to be for His pleasure. That is the figure you have here. The bridegroom looks upon his bride with his heart filled with delight as he says to her, “You are to be for me; you are like a lovely garden yielding its fruit and flowers for me, set apart for myself.” (24)

We in America like open gardens that anybody can enjoy, but Syria and other parts of the old land have many enclosed gardens that are walled in. This is necessary in some of those countries, as otherwise they would be destroyed by marauding creatures and robbers. It is as though the Lord says, “That is what I want My people to be, separated unto Myself; I want them to have about them the wall of holiness, for I have marked them off as My own.” (24)

In the Psalms we read,

But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself; the Lord hears when I call to him. (Psalm 4:3 ESV)

Some Christians shrink from the idea of separation. If it is only a legal thing, it may become mere Pharisaism with no heart to it, but if it is to Himself, if it is the soul going out to Him, if one turns away from the world for the love of Him, then separation is a very precious thing indeed, and one does not need to think of it as legal bondage, for it is being set apart for God Himself. Could one think of a higher privilege on earth than that He might find His joy in us and we might find our joy in Him? (24)

“A garden locked is my sister, my spouse.” How Satan likes to break down the wall, to destroy that principle of holy separation which would keep our hearts for the Lord alone; but what a loss it is to our own souls, and what a loss it means to Him, when His people become like a garden trodden under foot, as it were, by every drifter. That is what the Christian becomes who does not keep the path of separation. (24)

Then notice the next figure, “A spring locked, a fountain sealed.” Pure water is a very precious thing in the Far East, and so often, when a spring is discovered, it is walled about, covered, and locked, and the owner of it keeps the key so that he can go and drink when he will, and the water is kept from pollution and waste. That is what our Lord would have in His people. He has given His Holy Spirit to dwell in us, and the Holy Spirit is Himself the Fountain of Water within every believer’s heart, that we might be to His praise and to His glory. This living water within the garden will, of course, result in abundant fruit and flowers. (24)

But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 NET)

“Thy plants are an orchard of pomegranates, with pleasant fruits; camphire, with spikenard.”

Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices— (Song of Solomon 4:13–14 ESV)

The orchard suggests more than a mere garden of beautiful flowers; not only something fair to look at or fragrant to the senses, but something fruitful as well. What precious fruit is borne by the believer; what precious fruit is found in the heart of the one who is shut up to God! (24)

“I am the vine; you are the branches. The one who remains in me—and I in him—bears much fruit, because apart from me you can accomplish nothing. (John 15:5 NET)

In Philippians one, the apostle tells those dear saints that he is sure that God who has begun the good work in them, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. In verses nine to eleven of this chapter, He says, (24)

For I am sure of this very thing, that the one who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus. (Philippians 1:6 NET)

And I pray this, that your love may abound even more and more in knowledge and every kind of insight so that you can decide what is best, and thus be sincere and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ to the glory and praise of God. (Philippians 1:9–11 NET)

It seems to me that everyone ought to understand that a life that is lived for God is one bringing forth the fruits of righteousness. Love, purity, goodness, sweetness, kindness, compassion, and consideration for others are beautiful fruits that grow in this garden when the living water properly fructifies the soil. In Galatians 5:22,23, we have a long list of the fruit of the Spirit (1). (24)

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22–23 NET)

Challenge your own heart by asking, “Am I producing this kind of fruit for Him, ‘Love, joy, peace, patience’ ?” It is that patience, you know, that makes you willing to endure. Then there is “kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness, self-control.” This is the delightful fruit that our Lord is looking for in the lives of His people. He would have every one of us as a garden that produces fruit like this. (24)

That word translated as “orchard” is really similar to the Persian word for “Paradise,” and it may suggest that as God has a paradise above for His own people, where they shall share His joy for all eternity, so a believer’s heart when it is producing fruit like this, is for God a paradise where He finds His joy and His delight. I wonder if we think enough of that side of it. Are we not likely to become self-centered and merely think of God as serving us, the blessed Lord Jesus giving Himself for us, dying for us, rising again for us, nurturing our souls, guiding us through the wilderness of this world, and bringing us at last to glory? Some of the hymns we sing are almost entirely occupied with the blessings that come to us, but these do not rise to the height of the Christian’s communion at all. It is when we are through thinking about what God is doing for us, and are seeking by grace to adore the One who does all this for us, and are letting our lives go out to Him as a thank-offering in praise and adoration that we truly rise to the height of our Christian privileges. (24)

Then it is that He gathers these sweet and lovely fruits in His garden. It is not only fruit upon which He feeds, but it is that which gives satisfaction in every sense. (24)

Your shoots are an orchard of pomegranates with all choicest fruits, henna with nard, nard and saffron, calamus and cinnamon, with all trees of frankincense, myrrh and aloes, with all choice spices — (Song of Solomon 4:13–14 ESV)

Some of these plants give forth their fragrance as the rain and dew fall upon them; some of them send forth a subtle aroma when the rays of the sun are warming them. Others never exude, never give out their fragrance, until they are pierced and the sap flows forth. So it is with our lives. We need all kinds of varied experiences in order that we may manifest the graces of Christ in our behavior, and it is not only that we are to be for His delight in the sense in which I have been speaking, but we are to be for His service too, in making known His grace to a lost world. (24)

In the next verse, we read, “A fountain of gardens, a well of living waters, and streams from Lebanon.”

a garden fountain, a well of living water, and flowing streams from Lebanon. (Song of Solomon 4:15 ESV)

There is Lebanon, that backbone mountain range of Israel, with snow covering Mt. Hermon to the north. The streams coming down from Lebanon sink into the ground, and as they do so, springs rise here and there in vales and dells to the surface of the earth, and so the living water flows forth to refresh the thirsty soil. The living water represents, as we know from John’s Gospel, the blessed Holy Spirit. (24)

Our Lord Jesus said,

On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’ ”(Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37–39 NET)

Now the Spirit of God descending from above enters into our inmost being, and then we have the living water springing up unto everlasting life. Our hearts are refreshed and gladdened, and abundant living water flows out from us to bless a lost world around us. Is this not a beautiful picture? My brother, my sister, what do you know of this life in the fulness of the Holy Spirit? Far too many of us seem to be content to know that our sins have been forgiven and that we have a hope of heaven based upon some testimony that we have received from Holy Scripture. But it is more than this. We are not merely to have the assurance of our own salvation, but every one of us should be as watered gardens for Him, with streams flowing out for the refreshment of dying men and women all about us. (24)

In what measure is your life touching others? In what measure are you being used by God to win other souls for Christ? If we have to confess, as many of us would, that we have never had the privilege of winning one soul, that so far as we know, we have never yet given testimony to anyone who has really been blessed in his or her coming to Christ, let me suggest that there must be something that is hindering the outflow of the living water. Can it be that great boulders of worldliness, selfishness, pride, carnality, sinful folly, or covetousness are literally choking the fountain of living water so that there is just a little trickling when there should be a wonderful outflowing? If this is the case, seek by grace to recognize these hindrances and deal with them one by one. Away with worldliness, away with pride. Who am I to be proud of? What have I to be proud of?

For who concedes you any superiority? What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as though you did not? (1 Corinthians 4:7 NET)

Away with carnality, away with self-seeking, away with covetousness, away with living for my own interests, and let me henceforth live alone for Him who shed His precious blood for me and redeemed me to Himself. As I thus deal with these things that hinder the outflow of the living water, I will myself enter into a new, living, blessed, and wonderful experience, and my testimony then will count as a blessing to those about me, and my life will be at its best for Him. (24)

Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow. Let my beloved come to his garden, and eat its choicest fruits. (Song of Solomon 4:16 ESV)

The bride is speaking, indicating her yearning desire to be all He would have her to be. Dear child of God, is that your desire? Do you yearn to be all Christ would have you to be, or are you still actuated by worldly and selfish motives hindering communion with Him? Listen to these words again as we think of them as coming from the lips of the bride, “Awake, O north wind.” That is the cold, bitter, biting, wintry blast. Naturally, she would shrink from that as we all would, and yet the cold of winter is as necessary as the warmth of summer if there is going to be perfection in fruit-bearing. It is as though she says, “Blessed God, if need be, let Your Spirit breathe upon me through trial and sorrow, difficulty, perplexity, and suffering (1). Take from me all in which I have trusted from the human standpoint; deprive me of everything if You will; leave me cold, naked, and alone except for Your love, but work out Your will in me.” (24)

The best apples are grown in northern climates where frost and cold must be faced. Those grown in semi-tropical countries are apt to be tasteless and unappetizing. It takes the cold to bring out the flavor. And it is so with our lives. We need the north winds of adversity and trial and the soft, gentle breezes of the south so agreeable to our natures. The very things we shrink from are the experiences that will work in us to produce the peaceable fruits of righteousness. If everything were easy, soft, and beautiful in our lives, our fruit would be tasteless; there would be so little in them for God that could delight His heart. Consequently, there must be a harsh north wind. But, on the other hand, we need the south wind also, and our precious Lord tempers the winds to every one of us. “Awake, O north wind, and come, O south wind! Blow upon my garden, let its spices flow.” It is a blessing to be in that state of soul where we can trust ourselves to Him. (24)

Charles Spurgeon tells of a man with the words, “God is love,” painted on his weathervane. Someone said, “That is an odd text to put there. Do you mean to say that God’s love is as changeable as the wind?” “Oh, no,” said the other; “I mean that whichever way the wind blows, God is love.” Do not forget that. It may be the north wind of bereavement when your dearest and best are snatched from you, but “God is love.” It may be that the cold wind of what the world calls ill fortune will sweep away like a fearful cyclone all that you have accumulated for years, but “God is love,” and it is written, (24)

The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. (Nahum 1:3 ESV)

Perhaps you have been asking questions like this, “Why has God allowed the sufferings (1) we have had to undergo? Why has He allowed these weeks and months with no employment and everything slipping away, the savings of years gone?” Dear child of God, He giveth no account of any of His matters now, but, (24)

“When you stand with Christ in glory, Looking o’er life’s finished story,”

then He will make it clear to you, and you will know why He allowed the cold wind to blow over His garden as well as the south wind, and if you would bow to Him now and recognize His unchanging love, perhaps He would be able to trust you with more breeze from the south than you ordinarily experience. We are not subject enough to the will of God. We need to learn the lesson that: (24)

And we know that all things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose, because those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters. And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he also glorified. (Romans 8:28–30 NET)

“Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” In other words, “Anything, Lord, that will make me a better Christian, a more devoted saint; anything that will make me a more faithful child of Yours, so that You can find Your delight in me.” Is that your thought? And then she looks up into the face of her bridegroom and says, “Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits.” How He delights to get such an invitation as that from His people. He responds to her immediately, for the first verse of chapter five really belongs to this section. (24)

She no sooner says, “Come,” than he replies,

I came to my garden, my sister, my bride, I gathered my myrrh with my spice, I ate my honeycomb with my honey, I drank my wine with my milk. Eat, friends, drink, and be drunk with love! (Song of Solomon 5:1 ESV)

It closes with a scene of rapturous communion. And when you look up to the Beloved of your heart and say, “Come into Your garden and eat Your pleasant fruits,” He will immediately respond, “I am come.” You will never have to wait; you will never have to give Him a second invitation. If you have any time for Him, He always has time for you. (24)

We have a very long section before us, beginning with the second verse of chapter five and concluding with the fifth verse of chapter eight. In this entire portion, we have traced out for us in a very wonderful way the interruption of communion and its final restoration. We have already had one similar picture in this book where the bridegroom’s absence produced a temporary sense of estrangement. We have that dealt with more fully in this section, where the bridegroom’s advances are coldly spurned. If we remember that the bride speaks of any regenerated soul and that the bridegroom is our blessed Lord Jesus Christ, I am sure we shall have no difficulty getting these chapters’ spiritual lesson. (24)

We have all experienced interrupted communion. We have all known such periods of glad joy in the Lord as those brought before us in the previous chapter. But how often have we found that following almost immediately on a period of great blessing and delightful fellowship with the Lord, there may come a time of spiritual lack and broken fellowship? You recall that in Israel’s history, they were scarcely through rejoicing over the wonderful victory at Jericho before they were wringing their hands in despair because of the defeat at AI. How often in our Christian lives we have similar experiences. Perhaps you go to an edifying meeting where your whole soul is stirred by the singing, by the prayers, and by the ministry of the Word, and you feel as though you would never again lose sight of your blessed Redeemer’s face; and yet the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak, and within a very short time you find yourself inquiring, (24)

“Where is the blessedness I knew

When first I saw the Lord?”

And everything seems dark and cloudy, and you no longer discern your Saviour’s presence. Is there anyone who has had uninterrupted communion with the Lord throughout all the years? I am sure there is not. Even if we imagined so, it would simply be because we lacked that sensitiveness that would enable us to apprehend the fact that He was, in some sense, grieved because of our behavior. (24)

I slept, but my heart was awake. A sound! My beloved is knocking. “Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my perfect one, for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the night.” (Song of Solomon 5:2 ESV)

We have a wonderfully beautiful picture here. The bride has retired and is drowsy, just about asleep, and yet a bit restless when there comes a knock at the door. It is the knock of the beloved one who has returned from a distant journey. (24)

We have the same picture in the New Testament in the book of Revelation, in which we see the Lord Jesus waiting outside the door of the Laodicean church. (24)

He says,

Listen! I am standing at the door and knocking! If anyone hears my voice and opens the door I will come into his home and share a meal with him, and he with me. (Revelation 3:20 NET)

But what a lack of energy and enthusiasm there is! How few respond to His gracious request! (24)

And so the bride exclaims,

I had put off my garment; how could I put it on? I had bathed my feet; how could I soil them? (Song of Solomon 5:3 ESV)

“I have already taken off my robe—must I put it on again? I have already washed my feet—must I soil them again?” (Song of Solomon 5:3 NET)

There is an irritation about it. Why am I disturbed at this hour? Why did you not come at some other time? I have taken off my garment; must I put it on now? I have washed my feet; must I defile them? This refers to the eastern custom of washing the feet before seeking repose, for in that land they wore sandals, and the upper part of the foot had no covering. In other words, she did not want to rouse herself even so much as to open the door to him. (24)

Have you never had similar experiences? Have you never been so much concerned with your own affairs, with seeking your own ease, with self-pleasing, that when His voice called you for an hour of communion and fellowship with Him, you really repelled His advances instead of gladly throwing open the door and saying, “Blessed Lord, nothing else is worthwhile but to enjoy the sunshine of Your smile, to enjoy fellowship with You?” (24)

In this instance, we may see evidence of such a state of soul in the bride’s behavior. But then, as she lies in a light drowse, neither asleep nor awake, she discerns something that moves her heart. (24)

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

My beloved put his hand to the latch, and my heart was thrilled within me. (Song of Solomon 5:4 ESV)

We will not understand the simile unless we are familiar with those Eastern doors and locks. The lock was on the inside of the door, and there was an opening where the owner could, if he had the key, reach in and use the key from the outside to open the lock located on the inside of the door. He comes, but he does not open the door in that way. He has asked for entrance and wants her to rise and open the door for him. She sees that hand come through the opening, and the moment she does so, her heart is stirred. She thinks, “Oh, I must let him in.” And now she rises and hurries to the door. (24)

The Bride of Christ about Jesus the Groom:

I arose to open to my beloved, and my hands dripped with myrrh, my fingers with liquid myrrh, on the handles of the bolt. (Song of Solomon 5:5 ESV)

That refers to another Eastern custom. When a lover came to visit the one who had won his heart and found that she was not at home, or if at home, she did not respond to his advances, he covered the lock of the door with sweet-smelling ointments and left flowers as a token of his affection. And so the bride says, “My hands dropped with myrrh, and my fingers with sweet-smelling myrrh.” It was not a dream then; he had been there and gone. But she threw the door open to enable him to hear her cry, “Come, come in!” but there was no answering response. “My beloved,” she said, “had withdrawn himself and was gone.” (24)

I opened to my beloved, but my beloved had turned and gone. My soul failed me when he spoke. I sought him, but found him not; I called him, but he gave no answer. (Song of Solomon 5:6 ESV)

Love is very sensitive. The trouble with many of us is that we fail to recognize this. We have an idea that the beloved one should be ready whenever we are for a time of gladness together, but it is not always so. And so, sometimes, when He comes to the heart’s door, we practically say, “No, it is inconvenient. I do not want to drop things right now.” But later, when we would enjoy His presence, we find He has gone. Have you never had such experiences? Has He come to you and said, “I want you to sit down with Me over My Word; I want you to spend a little time in prayer; to dismiss other things from your mind and commune with Me,” and you have said, “Oh, but I have so much to occupy me; I cannot do it now.” Plenty of time for self but very little for Him. And then some wonderful token of His loving-kindness came to you, and you said, “Oh, I must respond to His heart,” and you threw open the door as it were and called, but He was not there. And did you ever know what it was to go on for days and weeks without any real sense of His presence? “My beloved had withdrawn himself.” If you do not respond to His voice when He comes to you in tender grace, you may seek Him for a long time before you will enjoy fellowship with Him again. Such is the sensitiveness of love. He wants to make you feel that His love is worthwhile and wants to test you as to whether you are really in earnest when you profess to desire fellowship with Him. (24)

And so, as the story goes on, she leaves the house and goes out into the city seeking after him, and as she makes her way from street to street, perhaps calling his name and looking here and there and wondering where he has hidden himself. (24)

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

The watchmen found me as they went about in the city; they beat me, they bruised me, they took away my veil, those watchmen of the walls. (Song of Solomon 5:7 ESV)

You will always have to suffer if you refuse obedience to the voice of Christ when He calls you. You will always have to be tested before communion is restored. (24)

For this reason a woman should have a symbol of authority on her head, because of the angels. (1 Corinthians 11:10 NET)

We are told that in New Testament times, a Christian woman was to cover her head with a veil when she was engaged in worship with the people of God or in public prayer or testimony. And people say, “Why the veil?” The Bible says the veil is her “symbol of authority.” This verse, I believe, explains what it means. The covering on her head is her symbol of authority. In what sense? As long as her head was veiled, that was her symbol of authority, but when the keepers saw her going about the streets at night, they misunderstood her motive and character and took away her veil. The unveiled woman was marked out as one who was unclean and unchaste, but the covering on her head was the sign of the chaste and modest wife or maiden. (24)

The same was true in the times and Eastern culture where and when the Song of Solomon was written. The uncovered head indicated an immoral woman, while the covered head displayed that she sought to live a life of goodness and purity in submission to her husband or father. Realize that it is in submission to one of higher authority that we have authority delegated to us. (24)

So Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends to say to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. That is why I did not presume to come to you. Instead, say the word, and my servant must be healed. For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me. I say to this one, ‘Go,’ and he goes, and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes, and to my slave, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.” (Luke 7:6–8 NET)

So here, because the bride has lost the sense of her bridegroom’s presence, she is branded as though she were impure and unholy. This shame has come upon her because she did not immediately respond to her bridegroom’s call. (24)

She turns for help to the daughters of Jerusalem as the morning dawns, and she sees them coming down the street.

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that you tell him I am sick with love. (Song of Solomon 5:8 ESV)

In other words, Tell him my heart is yearning for him; tell him I repent of my indifference, of my cold-heartedness and my unconcern, and want him above everything else. Christian, is that what your heart says? Are you a backslidden believer? Do you remember times when you enjoyed communion with your Lord when life with Him was sweet and precious indeed? But now, that fellowship has been broken, and you are saying with Job, “Oh, that I knew where I might find Him!” Does your heart say today, “Tell Him that I am sick of love, that my whole being is yearning after Him; I want to be restored to Him, to the sweetness of communion?”

The daughters of Jerusalem say,

What is your beloved more than another beloved, O most beautiful among women? What is your beloved more than another beloved, that you thus adjure us? (Song of Solomon 5:9 ESV)

This one you say means so much to you; why is he more to you than you might expect another to be to us? The world says, “Why is Christ more to you than any other?” Why does Jesus mean so much more to us than the things that you and I have known in the world? “Tell us that we may seek him with you.” (24)

Then, at once, she begins to praise him. From verse ten to the end of the chapter, in wonderful Eastern imagery, she praises his kindness, graciousness, aptness to help, strength, and tenderness. (24)

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

My beloved is radiant and ruddy, distinguished among ten thousand. His head is the finest gold; his locks are wavy, black as a raven. His eyes are like doves beside streams of water, bathed in milk, sitting beside a full pool. His cheeks are like beds of spices, mounds of sweet-smelling herbs. His lips are lilies, dripping liquid myrrh. His arms are rods of gold, set with jewels. His body is polished ivory, bedecked with sapphires. His legs are alabaster columns, set on bases of gold. His appearance is like Lebanon, choice as the cedars. His mouth is most sweet, and he is altogether desirable. This is my beloved and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem. (Song of Solomon 5:10–16 ESV)

And when she praises him, the daughters turn again and say,

Where has your beloved gone, O most beautiful among women? Where has your beloved turned, that we may seek him with you? (Song of Solomon 6:1 ESV)

“Where has he gone? How is it that you have let him slip out of your sight if he is so much to you?”

Is that not a proper question? If Christ is so precious to you and means so much to you, why do you so easily allow the fellowship to be broken? Why do you so readily permit other things to come in and hinder communion? (24)

And then instantly, as she gives testimony to him, she recalls the last words he said to her before that eventful night, “I have come into my garden” (Song of Solomon 5:1), and her own heart was the garden.

The Bride of Christ about Jesus the Groom:

My beloved has gone down to his garden to the beds of spices, to graze in the gardens and to gather lilies. I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine; he grazes among the lilies. (Song of Solomon 6:2–3 ESV)

And instantly, he speaks; he is right there. He had been waiting and watching for her to come to the place where he was everything to her soul. Immediately, He expresses his appreciation of her as she had expressed hers of him.

Jesus the Groom speaks to the Bride of Christ

You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love, lovely as Jerusalem, awesome as an army with banners. Turn away your eyes from me, for they overwhelm me— Your hair is like a flock of goats leaping down the slopes of Gilead. Your teeth are like a flock of ewes that have come up from the washing; all of them bear twins; not one among them has lost its young. Your cheeks are like halves of a pomegranate behind your veil. There are sixty queens and eighty concubines, and virgins without number. My dove, my perfect one, is the only one, the only one of her mother, pure to her who bore her. The young women saw her and called her blessed; the queens and concubines also, and they praised her. “Who is this who looks down like the dawn, beautiful as the moon, bright as the sun, awesome as an army with banners?” I went down to the nut orchard to look at the blossoms of the valley, to see whether the vines had budded, whether the pomegranates were in bloom. Before I was aware, my desire set me among the chariots of my kinsman, a prince. Return, return, O Shulammite, return, return, that we may look upon you. (Song of Solomon 6:4–13 a ESV)

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

Why should you look upon the Shulammite, as upon a dance before two armies? (Song of Solomon 6:13 b)

In chapter seven, verses one to nine, he uses one beautiful figure after another to tell all his delight in her.

How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O noble daughter! Your rounded thighs are like jewels, the work of a master hand. Your navel is a rounded bowl that never lacks mixed wine. Your belly is a heap of wheat, encircled with lilies. Your two breasts are like two fawns, twins of a gazelle. Your neck is like an ivory tower. Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, by the gate of Bath-rabbim. Your nose is like a tower of Lebanon, which looks toward Damascus. Your head crowns you like Carmel, and your flowing locks are like purple; a king is held captive in the tresses. How beautiful and pleasant you are, O loved one, with all your delights! Your stature is like a palm tree, and your breasts are like its clusters. I say I will climb the palm tree and lay hold of its fruit. Oh may your breasts be like clusters of the vine, and the scent of your breath like apples, and your mouth like the best wine. and teeth. (Song of Solomon 7:1–9 a ESV)

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

It goes down smoothly for my beloved, gliding over lips (Song of Solomon 7:9 b ESV

Knowing that the Lord has far more delight in His people than we have ever had in Him is wonderful. Some day, we shall enjoy Him to the fullest; someday, He will be everything to us, but as long as we are here, we never appreciate Him as much as He appreciates us. But as she listens to his expression of love, her heart is assured; she has a sense of restoration and fellowship.

The Bride of Christ to Jesus the Groom:

I am my beloved’s, and his desire is for me. (Song of Solomon 7:10 ESV)

In other words, he has not turned against her. When we turn from Him, the natural thought of our hearts is that He has turned against us, but He has not. If He allows us to go through trial, it is like Joseph (1) testing his brethren in order to see if there was genuine repentance of sin.

Three times in this little book, we have similar expressions to this, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” In chapter two, verse sixteen, we read, “My beloved is mine, and I am his.” That is very precious. Are you able to say, “My beloved is mine, and I am His?” In other words, Have you given yourself to Him? Have you trusted Him as your Saviour? If you have, He has given Himself to you. Just the very moment you give yourself to Him in faith, that moment He gives Himself to you and comes to dwell in your heart. This is the assurance, then, of salvation. “My beloved is mine, and I am His.” And then in chapter six, verse three, she says, “I am my beloved’s, and my beloved is mine.” That is communion. I belong to him, and he belongs to me, that we may enjoy one another together. And then in verse ten of chapter seven, we read, “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me.” Every doubt and every fear is gone. She has found her satisfaction in him, and he finds his satisfaction in her. What a wonderful picture!

Shall it be only a picture, or is it to be a reality in our lives? Is it not a fact that we do the very things the Shulamite did so often? So often, we turn a deaf ear to the Bridegroom’s voice. We can be so busy even with Christian work that we do not take time for Him. I can be so occupied with preaching that I do not have time for prayer. I can be so overwhelmed with preparing sermons that I do not have time to feed on the Word. You may ask, “Why, how can you prepare sermons without feeding on the Word?” It is one thing to study the Bible in order to prepare an address which I am to give to other people, but it is another thing to sit down quietly in the presence of the Lord and say, “Blessed Saviour, as I open Your Book I want to hear Your voice speaking to my heart. I want You to talk to me, to express Yourself to me in tones of tender love.” As I read in that attitude, He speaks to my soul, and as I lift my heart to Him in prayer, I talk with Him. That is communion. (24)

Do not be content with the knowledge of salvation; do not be content to know that your soul is eternally secure; do not be content to know that you are serving Him in some little measure. Remember, there is something that means more to Him than all your service, and that is to sit at His feet and delight your soul in His love.

Again, read the Lover’s description of the Beloved in the sixth chapter (Song of Solomon 6:4-13 a). It will remind you of the fullness there is in Christ. It seems as though every figure is exhausted to show His wonder.

“Join all the glorious names

Of wisdom, love, and power,

That angels ever knew,

That mortals ever bore;

All are too mean to speak His worth,

Too mean to set the Saviour forth.”

Oh, to have the heart so occupied with Him that we shall lose sight of everything else, and Christ alone will satisfy every longing of our souls! (24)

Come, my beloved, let us go out into the fields and lodge in the villages; let us go out early to the vineyards and see whether the vines have budded, whether the grape blossoms have opened and the pomegranates are in bloom. There I will give you my love. The mandrakes give forth fragrance, and beside our doors are all choice fruits, new as well as old, which I have laid up for you, O my beloved. (Song of Solomon 7:11–13 ESV)

Oh that you were like a brother to me who nursed at my mother’s breasts! If I found you outside, I would kiss you, and none would despise me. I would lead you and bring you into the house of my mother— she who used to teach me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the juice of my pomegranate. His left hand is under my head, and his right hand embraces me! I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, that you not stir up or awaken love until it pleases. Who is that coming up from the wilderness, leaning on her beloved? Under the apple tree I awakened you. There your mother was in labor with you; there she who bore you was in labor. (Song of Solomon 8:1–8:5 ESV)

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. (Song of Solomon 8:6–7 ESV)

It is, of course, the love of the bridegroom for his bride that is thus spoken of in these verses. We have been tracing the manifestations of it throughout this little book, from when the shepherd first looked upon the shepherdess, and his heart went out to her until they were united in marriage. It is a beautiful picture, first of the love of Christ reaching us in our deep need, and then that glorious union with Him which will be consummated at the marriage supper of the Lamb. (24)

Now you hear the bride exclaiming, “Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm.” The seal speaks of something that is settled. One draws up a legal document and seals it and that settles it. And so Christ and His loved ones have entered an eternal relationship, and He has given us the seal, the Holy Spirit.

And when you heard the word of truth (the gospel of your salvation)—when you believed in Christ—you were marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit, who is the down payment of our inheritance, until the redemption of God’s own possession, to the praise of his glory. (Ephesians 1:13–14 NET)

That seal is the pledge of His love, and you will notice that in the following words, we have love spoken of in four ways; at least, we have four characteristics of love. (24)

Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it. If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised. (Song of Solomon 8:6–7 ESV)

First, there is the strength of love. “Love is as strong as death.” Second, the jealousy of love. Our version reads, “Jealousy is fierce as the grave,” which is often true of human love. It may be a very cruel thing indeed, but actually, the word translated as “fierce” is the ordinary Hebrew word for “firm” or “unyielding.” It may be translated as “Jealousy is unyielding as the grave.” “The flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the Lord, and this expression, “the very flame of the Lord,” in the Hebrew text is “a flame of Yah.” That is the first part of the name of Yahweh, and it is one of the titles of God. It is a blazing flame! Third, we have the endurance of love. “Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it.” And then lastly, the value of love. “ If a man offered for love all the wealth of his house, he would be utterly despised.” (24) 

First, we meditate on the strength of love.

We are thinking, of course, of the love of our God as revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, for Christ is the Bridegroom of our souls. “Love is as strong as death.” This He has already demonstrated. “Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for it.” And that giving Himself meant going into death to redeem His own. “Love is as strong as death.” We might even say in His case, “It is stronger than death,” for death could not quench His love. He went down into death and came up in triumph that He might make us His own, and we are reminded of this as we gather at the Lord’s table. It is this that He wishes us to cherish in a special way when we come together to remember Him. He knows how apt we are to forget; He knows how easy it is to be occupied with the ordinary things of life, and even with the work of the Lord, and forget for the moment the price He paid for our redemption; and He would call us back from time to time to sit together in sweetest and most solemn fellowship, and meditate on that mighty love of His which is “strong as death.” Nothing could turn Him aside. (24)

“Love that no thought can reach,

Love that no tongue can teach,

Matchless it is!”

Now when the days drew near for him to be taken up, Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem. He sent messengers on ahead of him. As they went along, they entered a Samaritan village to make things ready in advance for him, but the villagers refused to welcome him, because he was determined to go to Jerusalem. (Luke 9:51–53 NET)

Because there was no other way to redeem our souls, “Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem.” When He went through that Samaritan village, they did not receive Him because they realized that there was no desire upon His part to remain among them at that time, but they saw “His face as though He would go to Jerusalem,” and they said as it were, “Well if He prefers to go to Jerusalem rather than remain here with us, we are not going to pay attention to His message. We are not interested in the proclamation that He brings.” How little they understood that it was for them, as truly as for the Jews in distant Judea, that He “Jesus set out resolutely to go to Jerusalem” If He had not gone to Jerusalem and given Himself up to the death of the Cross, there could be no salvation for Samaritan, Jew, or Gentile. But oh, the strength of His love! He allowed nothing to divert Him from that purpose for which He had come from heaven. Before He left the glory:, (24)

So when he came into the world, he said, “Sacrifice and offering you did not desire, but a body you prepared for me. “Whole burnt offerings and sin-offerings you took no delight in. “Then I said, ‘Here I am: I have come—it is written of me in the scroll of the book—to do your will, O God.’ ” (Hebrews 10:7 NET)

And to do the will of God meant for Him laying down His life on the cross for our redemption. Do we think of it as much as we should? Do we give ourselves to meditation, to dwelling on the love of Christ, a love that passeth knowledge, and do we often say to ourselves, “The Son of God loved me, and gave Himself for me”? Oh, the strength of His love! (24)

Second, we think of the jealousy of love.

I know that jealousy in these poor hearts of ours is often a most contemptible and despicable thing. Jealousy on our part generally means utter selfishness. We are so completely selfish; we do not like to share our friends with anyone else, and what untold sorrow has come into many a home because of the unreasonable jealousy of a husband, wife, parents, or children. But while we disapprove of jealousy with selfishness and sin at the root of it, there is another jealousy that is absolutely pure and holy, and even on our lower plane, one has well said that “Love is only genuine as long as it is jealous.” When the husband reaches the place where he says, “I do not care how my wife bestows her favors on others; I do not care how much she runs around with other men; I am so large-hearted I can share her with everybody,” that husband does not love his wife, and if you could imagine a wife talking like that about her husband, you would know that love was gone, that it was dead. (24)

Love must be jealous, but let us see that it is a jealousy that is free from mere selfishness and unwarranted suspicion. When we think of it in connection with God, we remember that one of the first things we learned to recite was the Ten Commandments, and some of us were perplexed when we read,

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above or that is on the earth beneath or that is in the water below. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I, the Lord, your God, am a jealous God, responding to the transgression of fathers by dealing with children to the third and fourth generations of those who reject me, and showing covenant faithfulness to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:4–6 NET)

We shrank back from that because we were so used to thinking of jealousy as a despicable human passion that we could not think of God having it in His character. But it is He who has a right to be jealous. God’s jealousy is as pure as His love, and it is because He loves us so tenderly that He is jealous. In what sense is He jealous? Knowing that our souls’ happiness and blessing alone will be found in walking in fellowship with Himself, He loves us so much He does not want to see us turning away from the enjoyment of His love and trying to find satisfaction in any lesser affection, which can only be for harm and eventual ruin. “The end of these things is death.” (24)

So what benefit did you then reap from those things that you are now ashamed of? For the end of those things is death. (Romans 6:21 NET)

Paul, writing to the Corinthian church, says,

For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy, because I promised you in marriage to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (2 Corinthians 11:2 NET)

And then Paul gives the ground for his jealousy,

But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough! (2 Corinthians 11:3–4 NET)

You see, Paul was a true pastor. He loved the people of Christ’s flock and knew that their only lasting joy was to be found in living in communion with their Saviour, and His heart was torn with holy jealousy if he saw them turning aside to the things of the world, following after the things of the flesh, or being ensnared by the devil. Every God-anointed pastor will feel that way. (24)

Young believers sometimes imagine that some of us who try to lead the flock of God are often needlessly hard and severe, and they think us unsympathetic and lacking in compassion and tenderness when we earnestly warn them of the folly of worldliness and carnality. They say, “Oh, they don’t understand. That old-fashioned preacher, I have no doubt, had his fling when he was young, and now he is old, and these things no longer interest him, and so he wants to keep us from having a good time!” (24)

Let me “speak as a fool,” and yet I trust to the glory of God. As a young believer coming to Christ when I was fourteen years old, the first lesson I had to learn was that there is nothing in this poor world to satisfy the heart, and by the grace of God, I sought to give it all up for Jesus’ sake. The only regret I have today is that there have ever been times in my life when I have drifted into carnality and fallen into a low backslidden state, and so allowed myself something which afterward left a bad conscience and a sense of broken fellowship, and I never was happy until it was judged, and I was once more in communion with the Lord. If sometimes we speak strongly to you about going in the ways of the world, reminding you that God has said, (24)

Therefore “come out from their midst, and be separate,” says the Lord, “and touch no unclean thing, and I will welcome you,and I will be a father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,” says the All-Powerful Lord. (2 Corinthians 6:17–18 NET)

We have learned from years of experience that there is no peace, no lasting joy, and no true unspoiled happiness for those who walk in the ways of the world. If you want a life of gladness, a life of enduring bliss; if you want to be able to lie down at last and face death with a glad, free spirit, then we beg of you, follow the path that your blessed Lord Jesus took. Oh, that we might not be turned aside but that we might rouse our souls to a godly jealousy. (24)

I wonder if you have ever noticed that the blessed Holy Spirit who dwells in every believer is Himself spoken of as jealous. There is a passage found in James 4:4,5 that I am afraid is not often really understood because of the way it may be translated, but it is a very striking one: (24)

Adulterers, do you not know that friendship with the world means hostility toward God? So whoever decides to be the world’s friend makes himself God’s enemy. Or do you think the scripture means nothing when it says, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning”? (James 4:4–5 NET)

Take that home, dear young Christian. Do not be seduced by the world and its folly; do not be turned aside from the path of faithfulness to Christ by the mad rush for worldly pleasure and amusement; do not allow the flesh to turn you away and rob you of what should be your chief joy. “The friendship of the world is hostility with God. Whosoever, therefore, will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God.’ ” (24)

It is the next verse that perhaps we might not understand. “Do ye think that the Scripture means nothing, The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy?” One might gather that this expression, “The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning,” was a quotation from Scripture, as though He were asking, “Do you think the Scripture, that is, the Old Testament, saith in vain, ‘The spirit that God caused to live within us has an envious yearning?’ ” But you can search the Old Testament from the beginning of Genesis to the end of Malachi, and you will not find those words or anything that sounds like them. So it is clear that that is not what is meant. In fact, there are really two distinct questions in Greek. (24)

The first question, “Do ye think that the Scripture means nothing?” Do you? Do you think that the Scripture means nothing? Having read its warnings and its admonitions against worldliness, against the unequal yoke, against the pleasures of sin, against following the path of the flesh, do you sometimes say in your heart, “I know it is all in the Bible, but after all, I am not going to take it too seriously?” Do you think that the Scripture means nothing? (24)

Why has God put these things in His Word? Is it because He does not love you, and desires to keep you from things that would do you good? That is what the devil told Eve in the beginning. He insinuated that God did not love her. (24)

The serpent said to the woman, “Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil.” (Genesis 3:4,5 NET)

And Eve said, “I am going to eat of it; I will try anything once.”

But I am afraid that just as the serpent deceived Eve by his treachery, your minds may be led astray from a sincere and pure devotion to Christ. For if someone comes and proclaims another Jesus different from the one we proclaimed, or if you receive a different spirit than the one you received, or a different gospel than the one you accepted, you put up with it well enough! (2 Corinthians 11:3–4 NET)

Is that what you have been saying too? If you can only do this or do that, you think you will have an experience you have never had before. The whole world is looking for new thrills today. Before you act, put the question to yourself, “Does the Scripture speak in vain?” It tells you that the end of all these things is death and you may be assured the Scripture does not speak in vain. (24)

The second is the question, “Does the spirit that God caused to live within us have an envious yearning?” And the answer is, “Yes.” The Holy Spirit dwelling in the believer jealously desires to keep us away from the world and to keep our hearts true to Christ. Do you realize that you never tried to go into anything that dishonored the Lord without the Spirit of God within you being grieved and seeking to stop you because He jealously desired to keep you faithful to Christ? I am talking to Christians. If you are not a Christian, the Spirit does not dwell in you, and you do not know what this is. (24)

You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God lives in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, this person does not belong to him. (Romans 8:9 NET)

Our blessed Lord wants you all for Himself. People sometimes say, “Well, I want to give the Lord the first place in my heart,” and they mean that there will be a lot of places for other things. The Lord does not merely want the first place; He wants the whole place. He wants to control your whole heart, and when He has the entire control, everything you do will be done for His glory. (24)

“Where He leads me, I will follow,” but don’t you start and ask Him to tag along. Let Him lead. Because He knows that your real, lasting happiness and joy are bound up in devotion to Him, He is jealous lest you should be turned aside. (24)

Third, we notice the endurance of love.

“Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it.” How precious that is! How blessedly it was proven in His case. He went down beneath the floods of divine judgment.

He could say,

One deep stream calls out to another at the sound of your waterfalls; all your billows and waves overwhelm me. (Psalm 42:7 NET)

But it did not quench His love, and through all the years since, His people have had to endure many things; they have had to pass through deep waters and great trials, but He has been with them through it all.

In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them; in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; he lifted them up and carried them all the days of old. (Isaiah 63:9 ESV)

When you pass through the waters, I am with you; when you pass through the streams, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not harm you. (Isaiah 43:2 NET)

Don’t you love having somebody to whom you can go with all your troubles and know He will never tire of you? (24)

Ah, we have a great High Priest who never wearies of our trials. We are weary of hearing of them sometimes because they stir our hearts, and we would like to do that which we cannot do, but He has the power to see us through. No trial, no distress, can quench His love.

Just before the Passover feast, Jesus knew that his time had come to depart from this world to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now loved them to the very end. (John 13:1 NET)

Somebody has translated it this way, “Having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them all the way through.” Through what? Through everything. He even loved Peter through his denial, through his cursing and swearing, and loved him back into fellowship with Himself. His love is unfailing. Having taken us up in grace, He loves to the end. (24)

You cannot buy love, but oh, His love for us creates love in us. It is not the wonderful things that He has done for us, it is not the fact that He has enriched us for eternity, but it is because of what He is. “We love Him because He first loved us.” (24)

“His is an unchanging love,

Higher than the heights above;

Deeper than the depths beneath,

Free and faithful, strong as death.”

What a blessing to know and love Him and be loved by Him! Oh, to be kept from wounding such a Lover, from grieving His Holy Spirit! For we read, “The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us.” (24)

We have a little sister, and she has no breasts. What shall we do for our sister on the day when she is spoken for? (Song of Solomon 8:8 ESV)

This question was put by the bride to the bridegroom after she had been brought into the full enjoyment of the privileges that he delighted to lavish upon her. He had found her a shepherdess there in the hill country, loved her, and won her heart in those trying days when she felt despised and neglected. Brought to the palace and united in marriage to the king, enjoying to the full his tender consideration and surrounded by the evidence of his affection, she could not keep from thinking of the little mountain home from which she had come. (24)

She thought of the dear old mother who had raised her and cared for her after the father’s death, for it is evident that the mother was a widow, and the family, by superintending the king’s vineyard, earned a precarious living; and then she thought of the little sister, much younger than she, who had none of the privileges that she was enjoying. And as she thought of her, she seemed to say, “This bridegroom of mine, my king, the one who has loved me and brought me into these privileges, cannot but take an interest in my family, in my household, and I am going to speak to him about that sister of mine.” And so she turned to him in the tenderest, most confiding way and said, “I have a little sister, a little undeveloped sister, up there in the vineyard. I am concerned about her. Is there not something we could do for her? What shall we do for our sister?” (24)

If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. (Song of Solomon 8:9 ESV)

And he responds at once, “If she is a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she is a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar.” This is just the oriental way of saying, “I am so glad you spoke to me about that little sister of yours; I am so glad you have not forgotten her and her needs. It will be a real privilege for me to show my love for you by what I do for her.” And so he uses the striking figures of the wall and the door to assert his willingness to help. It was as though he said, “Whatever her circumstances are, and whatever her needs are, I will be delighted to minister to them, and I will make you my agent in doing it.” (24)

It seems to me this expresses one of the very first evidences of union with Christ. We are no sooner saved ourselves, no sooner rejoicing in the knowledge of Christ as our Redeemer, as the Lover of our souls, as our heavenly Bridegroom, than we begin to think of others less privileged, and our hearts cry out with longing, “What about my little sister? What about my brother? What about those who are still in their sins and still in their deep, deep need, who do not know, do not understand this incomprehensible love of Thine which means so much to me?” And it is the Holy Spirit Himself who puts that yearning into our hearts that leads us to manifest an interest in the souls of others. In other words, every real Christian feels within him something that impels him to missionary service. (24)

Have you saved yourself? Then have you been to the Lord about that little sister or that neglected brother? Perhaps it is a little sister or a brother you have never seen, and maybe, strange to say, of an altogether different color from yours! Perhaps that little sister of yours is away over there, a child-widow in India, perhaps a down-trodden native woman in Central Africa, or a degraded Indian in the wilds of South America, but yet your little sister; for we read, “God hath made of one blood all nations that be upon the face of the earth.” And while you may say, “But she is so sinful, so undeserving,” you must remember that you too were sinful and undeserving, and the grace that is lavished upon you came from His heart of love. He delights in giving to the undeserving, and the very need of your little sister is why you should be going to the Lord about her. (24)

The bride here is really praying about her sister. Do you often pray to the blessed Lord for that little sister of yours? Perhaps it is a brother. My brother, you who rejoice in Christ Jesus, do you think very often of that poor, ignorant, under-privileged, degraded, sinful brother of yours, living perhaps in heathen darkness today or dwelling in the slums of one of our great cities or it may be, enjoying all that this life has to offer and yet not knowing Christ? Have you been to Him about that degraded one? Somebody has said, “A selfish Christian is a contradiction in terms,” yet we hear people talking about selfish Christians. Christianity is the manifestation in the life of the love of Christ, and that same love which was lavished upon you, He would now have you lavish upon others in their need. What wonderful pictures we have along this line! (24)

At the beginning of John’s Gospel, we read how the Lord revealed Himself to one another, and everyone who got that divine revelation went after someone else. Each said, “I have a brother, a friend, a dear one in need, and I must go to that one and tell the story of Jesus; tell him that we have found Him.” The privileges, the blessings that God has given to us in Christ are not given to us for ourselves alone. We may say in connection with them all: You must either use them or lose them. “What,” you say, “are you telling us that we may lose our souls after having been truly converted?” That is not a blessing. Your soul is you. Of course, you cannot lose that if you are saved (1) in your spiritual heart (1), not just your head. I recognize the fact that having received everlasting life, you shall never perish, but I am talking about the blessings that the Lord lavishes upon you from day to day. They are in order that you may share them with others. To what extent do you enter into that? (24)

Think about these three things:

(1) TIME

To what extent do you use your time for the blessing of other people? I DO NOT QUITE UNDERSTAND IT when I find Christians who need so much physical recreation and have so little time to seek to win souls. I spoke with a young man some months ago, saying, “Do you do anything to win others for Christ?” He said, “I would like to, but it is not my gift. I work hard all day, and when Saturday comes, I have to go off and get some physical exercise.” I think his great invigorating exercise was throwing horse-shoes at a little stick. I said, “Did it ever strike you that you could get wonderful exercise by taking a bundle of tracts and going out on a country road and visiting the homes along the way, telling people about their souls? Walking is wonderful exercise.” “But,” he said, “you see, I am thinking of serious things all week, and I cannot be serious on Saturday afternoon.” (24)

Time is given to us to use in view of eternity. I quite recognize that we need a certain amount of physical exercise or we would go to pieces, but you will find you can get on beautifully if you give more of your time to God. I was saved forty-one years ago, and I can honestly say my best times ever since have been those in which I have spent my days trying to help other people to a knowledge of Christ, which is the greatest exercise in the world. I visited a preacher some time ago, and he asked, “What do you do for physical exercise?” I replied, “I preach.” “But I mean when you want to get a rest,” he said. “I preach some more, and that rests me,” I answered; “the more you do in the work of the Lord, the better you feel.” “Brother,” he said, “you will have a nervous breakdown if you are not careful.” “But I am trying to be careful,” I said. It is not the Lord’s work that gives people nervous breakdowns; it is getting into debt, getting mixed up in questionable things, and then getting worried and upset. Just keep at solid service for the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will not have a nervous breakdown. Paul was at it for thirty years. They tried to kill him again and again; he was half-drowned several times, and was thrown to wild beasts, but the old man, when about seventy years of age, had much more vigor than a lot of worldly preachers that I meet, who have to go on a prolonged vacation every once in a while. Your time belongs to the Lord Jesus, who gives it to you so that you may use it to bless and help other folk. (24)

Each of you should be concerned not only about your own interests, but about the interests of others as well. (Philippians 2:4 NET)

Some time ago, I met a dear man, one of the greatest men for physical exercise I ever saw. He worked hard on the street railroad. As he welded the steel rails, I would see him down on his knees, a great big covering over his eyes to shield them from the brilliant light. By Saturday noon, he was just worn out, and he would get a bundle of books, and off he would go for exercise, over the hills and far away, hunting up poor, needy souls, maybe in the County Hospital, possibly in the jails, and to poor families. Sometimes, he would hear of somebody lying sick and poor and miserable, and he would go to see that one. And you know he had a remarkable way of preaching the Gospel. He would often lay money on the side of the bed if he found out they had no money to pay the bills. On Sunday he would say, “My! I was worn out yesterday but had a wonderful time Saturday afternoon, and I am all rested up.” He was living for others. (24)

“Live for others while on earth you live,

Give for others what you have to give,”

Then you will find the secret of a really happy Christian life. Your time is to be spent in the service of Christ for the blessing of others, for the blessing of the little sister of that poor brother. (24)

The Only Joys in Life are Giving and Serving

(2) TALENT

He has entrusted you with your talents. “Oh, but,” you say, “I haven’t any.” Oh, yes, you have. You would not like it if others said you had none. But who are you using them for? For Christ, for the blessing of that brother, of that sister in need? The investment you make of your talents here for the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ will reward you at His judgment seat. (24)

Remember what Jesus said,

For whoever has will be given more, and will have an abundance. But whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. (Matthew 13:12 NET)

You are to use the talents God has given you for Jesus’ sake. Is it the ability to speak? Use it for winning souls to Christ. Is it that you know how to be a kindly, sympathetic friend? Then surely you have a wonderful sphere for service. Is it looking up the shut-ins, the sick and needy, and giving them a tender loving word? You would bless and help so many you never think of now if you would only begin to use those talents for Him. It is not all the work of the man on the platform. When I see souls coming to Christ in a meeting, I wonder what started them. Years ago, when I was young and ignorant, I would go home to my wife and say, “I won six souls tonight,” and she would look at me and say, “Are you sure you did it?” I would say, “No,” of course, “but the Lord used me.” But you know it really began away back of that. Perhaps it was a dear Sunday School teacher who had been sowing the seed in the heart of that young man or woman. It was lying there dormant for days, months, or years, and as the Word of God came anew, something was said that caused it to fructify and burst into life, and that boy or girl came to Jesus. Perhaps it was the lesson the mother taught as the child knelt at her knee long ago. Perhaps it was the father’s word dropped into the heart. There is seldom a soul who comes to Christ, but a lot of folks have something to do with it. It is not just the preacher and the preached message. God gave us talents to use for Christ. (24)

I [Paul] planted, Apollos watered, but God caused it to grow. So neither the one who plants counts for anything, nor the one who waters, but God who causes the growth. (1 Corinthians 3:6–7 NET)

(3) MONEY

Then there is my privilege not only to use my time and my talents but my money to help and bless that little sister, that neglected brother. What a wonderful thing consecrated money is! There never would have been a dollar bill, a piece of silver money, a gold, copper, or nickel coin in the world, if it had not been for sin. That is why Jesus calls it the mammon of unrighteousness. Every coin in your pocket is a witness that sin has come into the world. If men and women had remained as they were when God created them, there would have been no money. People would not have sought to build up fortunes and buy and sell things. We would still be living in a glorious state on this earth, and we would not have had to go out and earn our bread by the sweat of our brow. (24)

And I tell you, make friends for yourselves by how you use worldly wealth, so that when it runs out you will be welcomed into the eternal homes. (Luke 16:9 NET)

Since the money is here, and we cannot get along without it, do not live for it; do not let it get a hold of you. (24)

For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. (1 Timothy 6:10 ESV)

But use it now in reference to the everlasting habitations; use it to meet your own needs and those of your family, but then use it as God enables you, to bless and help others in their deep spiritual need and temporal need too. Then, when you finally reach the glorious habitation, you will see a throng running down the golden street to meet you, and they will say, “Welcome,” and you will ask in amazement, “Who can these be?” And one will answer, “We are so glad to welcome you here, for it was your dollar that paid for that Testament that brought me the message of Christ.” Another, “You met my need when in such distress I thought nobody cared for me, and then you gave me the money for a good dinner, and I could not help but think of the God of all grace who had put it in your heart to do that for me”; and another, “I came to Jesus because of the kind deed you did for me.” Then we will feel it was worthwhile that we spent and were spent for others. “What shall be done for our little sister?” Let us share with her the good things we have. (24)

If she is a wall, we will build on her a battlement of silver, but if she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar. (Song of Solomon 8:9 ESV)

The king says, “If she is a wall, we will build upon her a battlement.” A wall speaks of security. If she has already entered the blessings of Christ, we will build a row of stones along the top of her wall, set for her defense and stability. We will add to that which is already hers. We will try to help and lead her on and build her up in the things which be in Christ. “If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.” A door speaks of responsibility or opportunity for service. (24)

Paul says,

because a door of great opportunity stands wide open for me, but there are many opponents. (1 Corinthians 16:9 NET)

‘I know your deeds. (Look! I have put in front of you an open door that no one can shut.) I know that you have little strength, but you have obeyed my word and have not denied my name. (Revelation 3:8 NET)

But what use is a door if it has no side posts to swing from? “If she is a door, we will enclose her with boards of cedar.” If she wants an opportunity for service, we will help to make it possible and assist her in whatever is required so that she may work the better for the Lord Jesus Christ. (24)

I was a wall, and my breasts were like towers; then I was in his eyes as one who finds peace. Solomon had a vineyard at Baal-hamon; he let out the vineyard to keepers; each one was to bring for its fruit a thousand pieces of silver. My vineyard, my very own, is before me; you, O Solomon, may have the thousand, and the keepers of the fruit two hundred. (Song of Solomon 8:10–12 ESV)

Then, as the chapter closes and the little book closes, the bride, her heart content to think she has come into blessing and that her little sister too has come into blessing, goes over the past and talks about the vineyard days, the love that has been shown and the bliss now hers. (24)

He desires for her to be with him forever and says,

O you who dwell in the gardens, with companions listening for your voice; let me hear it. (Song of Solomon 8:13 ESV)

She turns to her beloved one and says,

Make haste, my beloved, and be like a gazelle or a young stag on the mountains of spices. (Song of Solomon 8:14 ESV)

“Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountains of spices.” “Till the day break and the shadows flee away.”

[Joyfully the radiant bride turned to him, the one altogether lovely, the chief among ten thousand to her soul, and with unconcealed eagerness to begin her life of sweet companionship with him, she answered] Make haste, my beloved, and come quickly, like a gazelle or a young hart [and take me to our waiting home] upon the mountains of spices! (Song of Solomon 8:14 AMP)

The consummation of all bliss will be when we are at home forever with Him. Until then, let us seek to spend and be spent for His glory. (24)

Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and visit you?’ And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’ (Matthew 25:37–40 NET)

Let us seek by grace to make every day count for the blessing of others. Loving Him truly, we cannot be selfish or indifferent to the needs of those for whom He died “until the day breaks and the shadows flee away.” (24)

“Give me the Love that leads the way
The Faith that nothing can dismay
The Hope no disappointments tire
The Passion that’ll burn like fire
Let me not sink to be a clod
Make me Thy fuel, Flame of God”

― Amy Carmichael (28)

What Will Be

FLASHBACK: God Tabernacles with Humanity (Circa The Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. (Revelation 21:3 NET)

Next, John hears a loud voice proclaiming what God’s people have longed to hear throughout the ages—our Father in Heaven will now personally live with us. This is breathtaking. We can hardly grasp it; it is almost too much for our physical beings to handle. The fullness of the majesty and glory of God will be with us, and we will be able to live with Him in that fullness— forever! (21)

The voice John hears makes five statements saying what will be when God comes to live with His people in the New Jerusalem.

(1) The Tabernacle of God is with men

The tabernacle of God is the phrase that defines God’s dwelling place. It is the Sh’khinah (manifested presence of God). Our Father in Heaven has always desired to “tabernacle” among His people. He has said this many times in the Scriptures. (21)

God’s Word in Leviticus connects to all of these positive statements:

Let them make for me a sanctuary, so that I may live among them. (Exodus 25:8 NET)

“ ‘I will put my tabernacle in your midst and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you, and I will be your God and you will be my people. (Leviticus 26:11–12 NET)

(2) He will dwell with them

The voice explains that for God to “tabernacle among us” means He will dwell among us in His manifested presence. Because of sin, God could only dwell among His people indirectly. But He gave previews of what it would be like when He could come in the fullness of His glory. (21)

This is what happened when God appeared at the Tabernacle of Moses:

Then the cloud covered the tent of meeting, and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting because the cloud settled on it and the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle. (Exodus 40:34–35 NET)

God manifested His presence again when Solomon dedicated the Temple. (21)

This is what happened while the people were praising Him:

Once the priests left the holy place, a cloud filled the Lord’s temple. The priests could not carry out their duties because of the cloud; the Lord’s glory filled his temple. (1 Kings 8:10–11 NET)

As wonderful as this was, God had something better in mind. As one of us, he would come in bodily form to live among us. Certainly, the Creator can stay in Heaven and, at the same time, prepare a body for Himself to live among us. (21)

Isaiah saw this in the future and wrote:

For this reason the sovereign master himself will give you a confirming sign. Look, this young woman is about to conceive and will give birth to a son. You, young woman, will name him Immanuel [God with us]. (Isaiah 7:14 NET)

While there was an immediate, historical understanding of this word, prophetically, it pointed to the coming of the Lord to live in our midst as one of us and to be the perfect revelation of His glory. We are talking about Jesus of Nazareth. (21)

This same John wrote of Jesus:

Now the Word [the full expression of God] became flesh and took up residence [tabernalced] among us. We saw his glory—the glory of the one and only, full of grace and truth, who came from the Father. (John 1:14 NET)

No one has ever seen God. The only one [the uniquely born son], himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known. (John 1:18 NET)

The same verses from the Wuest New Testament Expanded Translation:

And the Word, entering a new mode of existence, became flesh, and lived in a tent [His physical body] among us. And we gazed with attentive and careful regard and spiritual perception at His glory, a glory such as that of a uniquely-begotten Son from the Father, full of grace and truth. (John 1:14 WUESTNT)

Absolute deity in its essence no one has ever yet seen. God uniquely-begotten, He who is in the bosom of the Father, that One fully explained deity. (John 1:18 WUESTNT)

Now that God has removed the evidence of humankind’s sins and created a new Heaven and new Earth, He can dwell among us in the fullness of His blazing glory and dazzling beauty. We can behold Him as He is because we will be like Him—without sin. (21)

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. (1 John 3:2 NET)

(3) They shall be His people

Out of His sovereign desire to reveal Himself to us, the Creator of the universe needed a people through whom He could make Himself known. He could not reveal Himself to us in the fullness of His glory without destroying us with His manifested presence. He needed a people group. God could have chosen any people group. As we learn in the Bible, He chose Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants as the ethnic people through whom He would reveal His redemptive plans and purposes on the earth. (21)

God did not choose the Jewish people because they were better than any other group. He chose them because He found in Abraham a man who believed in the One True God and followed Him. Abraham’s descendants, later known as the Jews, were not unique because of some inherent superiority but because of their high calling:

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. He has chosen you to be his people, prized above all others on the face of the earth. It is not because you were more numerous than all the other peoples that the LORD favored and chose you—for in fact you were the least numerous of all peoples. Rather it is because of his love for you and his faithfulness to the promise he solemnly vowed to your ancestors that the LORD brought you out with great power, redeeming you from the place of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So realize that the LORD your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, but who pays back those who hate him as they deserve and destroys them. He will not ignore those who hate him but will repay them as they deserve! So keep the commandments, statutes, and ordinances that I today am commanding you to do. (Deuteronomy 7:6–11)

While the Jews were the first of God’s people, the Creator made it clear that He would also call a people to Himself from among the Gentiles. In all three divisions of the Hebrew Bible, the Law (Torah), the Prophets (Nevi’im), and the Psalms (K’tivim), the Lord revealed that He would include Gentiles as part of “My people.”

From the moment God called Abraham, He told Abraham that he would be a blessing to all the families of the earth.

I will bless those who bless you, but the one who treats you lightly I must curse, and all the families of the earth will bless one another by your name.” (Genesis 12:3 NET)

God’s covenant people would include “whosoever will” as they responded to the revelation He gave through Abraham.

Before God even brought the Hebrews into the Promised Land, He reached out to the Gentiles and said,

Cry out, O nations [Gentiles], with his people, for he will avenge his servants’ blood; he will take vengeance against his enemies, and make atonement for his land and people. (Deuteronomy 32:43 NET)

The psalmist calls the Gentiles to worship the Lord:

Praise the Lord, all you nations! Applaud him, all you foreigners! (Psalm 117:1 NET)

Isaiah spoke of the Messiah who would come from the seed of Jesse, the father of King David. (21)

He prophesied that the Gentiles would seek Him:

At that time a root from Jesse will stand like a signal flag for the nations. Nations will look to him for guidance, and his residence will be majestic. (Isaiah 11:10 NET).

Luke tells the story of Simeon, a devout Jewish man waiting for the Messiah to appear. The Lord told him he would not die until he saw the Messiah.

When Jesus was presented at the Temple, Simeon prophesied:

“Now, according to your word, Sovereign Lord, permit your servant to depart in peace. For my eyes have seen your salvation that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples: a light, for revelation to the Gentiles, and for glory to your people Israel.” (Luke 2:29-32).

Simeon was referring to Isaiah’s prophecy where the Lord said of the Messiah:

he says, “Is it too insignificant a task for you to be my servant, to reestablish the tribes of Jacob, and restore the remnant of Israel? I will make you a light to the nations, so you can bring my deliverance to the remote regions of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6 NET)

It is evident, from the writings of Paul, that God has not called two separate peoples but one people. Paul says that true Israel is made up of those who are the children of faith in Christ, not merely those who are born of Jewish descent:

Now this secret was not disclosed to people in former generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, namely, that through the gospel the Gentiles are fellow heirs, fellow members of the body, and fellow partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 3:5–6 NET)

Therefore remember that formerly you, the Gentiles in the flesh—who are called “uncircumcision” by the so-called “circumcision” that is performed on the body by human hands—that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed. And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:11–22 NET)

As Western believers, we must understand that Christians are part of “the Israel of God” and have become “one new man” with them. The Church is not Israel but is joined with Jews as the “one new man,” also known as the new “Israel of God.”

But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation! And all who will behave in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:14–16 NET)

Speaking symbolically, Jewish believers are not grafted into the Christians’ wild olive tree, but Christians are grafted into the cultivated Jewish olive tree. Furthermore, the Jewish branches that were broken off will be grafted back into the Jewish olive tree.

Now if some of the [Jewish] branches were broken off, and you, a [Gentile] wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the [Jewish] olive root, do not boast over the [Jewish] branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the [Jewish] root, but the [Jewish] root supports you. Then you will say, “The [Jewish] branches were broken off so that I [a Gentile] could be grafted in.” Granted! They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! For if God did not spare the natural [Jewish] branches, perhaps he will not spare you [a Gentile branch]. Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God—harshness toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. And even they [Jewish branches]—if they do not continue in their unbelief—will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. For if you were cut off from what is by nature a [Gentile] wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated [Jewish] olive tree, how much more will these natural [Jewish] branches be grafted back into their own [cultivated Jewish] olive tree? (Romans 11:17-24 NET)

While Abraham is the natural father of the Jewish people, he is the spiritual father of all true believers.

For in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God through faith. For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female—for all of you are one in Christ Jesus. And if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s descendants, heirs according to the promise. (Galatians 3:26–29 NET)

He is “Our Father Abraham.”

For this reason it is by faith so that it may be by grace, with the result that the promise may be certain to all the descendants—not only to those who are under the law, but also to those who have the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all (Romans 4:16 NET)

It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel,
 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants. (Romans 9:6–8 NET)

But you, brothers and sisters, are children of the promise like Isaac. (Galatians 4:28 NET)

But may I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. For neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything; the only thing that matters is a new creation! And all who will behave in accordance with this rule, peace and mercy be on them, and on the Israel of God. (Galatians 6:14–16 NET)

All Christians are spiritually Jews:

For a person is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision something that is outward in the flesh, but someone is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart by the Spirit and not by the written code. This person’s praise is not from people but from God. (Romans 2:28–29 NET)

Zechariah saw this “One New Man” company of people when he wrote:

The Lord who rules over all says, ‘In those days ten people [a representative number] from all languages and nations will grasp hold of—indeed, grab—the robe [tzitzit] of one Jew and say, “Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.” ’ ” (Zechariah 8:23)

Through Messiah, God has made way for all people to be His people, regardless of ethnic or national background, skin color, gender, economic status, social position, education, life achievements, age, language, customs, or traditions. No human barriers keep us from being in God’s Kingdom family. All of His people will be forever in His glorious presence.

Only those who have faith in Christ are considered God’s people. According to Paul, if one is born Jewish and rejects Christ, he is not considered part of God’s people. This is the same for a Gentile who also rejects Christ.

No one has ever seen God. The only one, himself God, who is in closest fellowship with the Father, has made God known. (John 1:18 NET)

All things have been handed over to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son decides to reveal him. (Matthew 11:27 NET)

So Jesus answered them, “I tell you the solemn truth, the Son can do nothing on his own initiative, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him everything he does, and will show him greater deeds than these, so that you will be amazed. For just as the Father raises the dead and gives them life, so also the Son gives life to whomever he wishes. Furthermore, the Father does not judge anyone, but has assigned all judgment to the Son, so that all people will honor the Son just as they honor the Father. The one who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent him. “I tell you the solemn truth, the one who hears my message and believes the one who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned, but has crossed over from death to life. I tell you the solemn truth, a time is coming—and is now here—when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live. For just as the Father has life in himself, thus he has granted the Son to have life in himself, and he has granted the Son authority to execute judgment, because he is the Son of Man. (John 5:19–27 NET)

Everyone who denies the Son does not have the Father either. The person who confesses the Son has the Father also. (1 John 2:23 NET)

Everyone who goes on ahead and does not remain in the teaching of Christ does not have God. The one who remains in this teaching has both the Father and the Son. (2 John 1:9 NET)

God has only provided one way of salvation: through the redemptive sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. (1)

I tell you, many will come from the east and west to share the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, but the sons of the kingdom will be thrown out into the outer darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:11–12 NET)

Then one of them, Caiaphas, who was high priest that year, said, “You know nothing at all! You do not realize that it is more to your advantage to have one man die for the people than for the whole nation to perish.” (Now he did not say this on his own, but because he was high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus was going to die for the Jewish nation, and not for the Jewish nation only, but to gather together into one the children of God who are scattered.) So from that day they planned together to kill him. (John 11:49–53 NET)

“O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those who are sent to you! How often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would have none of it! Look, your house is left to you desolate! For I tell you, you will not see me from now until you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ” (Matthew 23:37–39 NET)

(4) God will be with them

Because of the curse of sin and our own rebellious ways, God our Father has not personally been with us. He walked within The Garden with Adam and Eve. But sin separated us from Him. Ever since then, He has desired to be with us. (21)

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. (Genesis 3:8 NET)

He manifested His presence from time to time in His cloud of glory. He sent His angels with messages. He reached out to us through creation, our human conscience, His written Word, and His Living Word, Jesus of Nazareth. (21)

Jesus replied, “Have I been with you for so long, and you have not known me, Philip? The person who has seen me has seen the Father! How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9 NET)

Furthermore, our Father in Heaven sent His Spirit to live in us so that we could have fellowship with Him until He could be with us in His fullness. (21)

Jesus explained:

Then I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate to be with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot accept, because it does not see him or know him. But you know him, because he resides with you and will be in you. (John 14:16–17 NET)

Any good father wants to be with his children. Likewise, our Father in Heaven wants to be with us. Now that He has made us like Him, He can walk in the garden again with us. (21)

Jesus promised:

Jesus replied, “If anyone loves me, he will obey my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and take up residence with him. (John 14:23 NET)

God has made His home with and in us through the Holy Spirit. But our entire beings will be filled with Him in the New Jerusalem. We will be able to live in the fullness of His manifested presence. We will be full with Him and fully like Him. His blazing glory and beauty will no longer overwhelm us because it will be in and with us. (21)

(5) He will be their God

God will not only Tabernacle with us, dwell with us, and be with us as His people; He will also be our God. When God created us in His image and likeness, He put within us the need to know Him and worship Him. Human beings have an innate need to worship. If we do not worship God, we will worship something or someone else. (21)

Tragically, when our ancient ancestors rebelled against God, they lost the knowledge of Him. And yet, that innate need within them to worship something or someone greater than themselves would not be ignored. Finally, they responded by worshiping demonic spirits, images, and idols made with their hands. This led them to live self-destructive lives of wickedness, immorality, poverty, disease, superstition, fear, despair, hopelessness, and bondage to every unclean thought and practice. Their minds became so deceived and darkened that they could not see the reality of their wretched and shameful lives. (21)

Paul described this terrible depravity of life without God:

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth by their unrighteousness,because what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world his invisible attributes—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, because they are understood through what has been made. So people are without excuse. For although they knew God, they did not glorify him as God or give him thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts and their senseless hearts were darkened. Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for an image resembling mortal human beings or birds or four-footed animals or reptiles. Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity, to dishonor their bodies among themselves. They exchanged the truth of God for a lie and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen. For this reason God gave them over to dishonorable passions. For their women exchanged the natural sexual relations for unnatural ones, and likewise the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed in their passions for one another. Men committed shameless acts with men and received in themselves the due penalty for their error. And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what should not be done. They are filled with every kind of unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, malice. They are rife with envy, murder, strife, deceit, hostility. They are gossips, slanderers, haters of God, insolent, arrogant, boastful, contrivers of all sorts of evil, disobedient to parents, senseless, covenant-breakers, heartless, ruthless. Although they fully know God’s righteous decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but also approve of those who practice them. (Romans 1:18–32 NET)

This was certainly not God’s intention for His human offspring. He entered into an everlasting blood covenant with Abraham, promising that he and his descendants would be His people and He would be their God. (21)

I will confirm my covenant as a perpetual covenant between me and you. It will extend to your descendants after you throughout their generations. I will be your God  [Elohim (1)]  and the God [Elohim] of your descendants after you. (Genesis 17:7 NET)

From that moment forward, God consistently stated that He wanted to be their God. (21)

I will take you to myself for a people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God, who brought you out from your enslavement to the Egyptians. (Exodus 6:7 NET)

“But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel after I plant them back in the land,” says the Lord. “I will put my law within them and write it on their hearts and minds. I will be their God and they will be my people. “People will no longer need to teach their neighbors and relatives to know me. For all of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” says the Lord. “For I will forgive their sin and will no longer call to mind the wrong they have done.” (Jeremiah 31:33–34 NET)

And I will bring them to settle within Jerusalem. They will be my people, and I will be their God, in truth and righteousness.’ (Zechariah 8:8 NET)

While God became God to the Hebrews, the Gentiles were still far from Him. (21)

As Paul wrote:

that you were at that time without the Messiah, alienated from the citizenship of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. (Ephesians 2:12 NET)

In His mercy, God made way for the Gentiles. He renewed His ancient covenant through the person of Jesus. (21)

Paul adds:

But now in Christ Jesus you who used to be far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, the one who made both groups into one and who destroyed the middle wall of partition, the hostility, when he nullified in his flesh the law of commandments in decrees. He did this to create in himself one new man out of two, thus making peace, and to reconcile them both in one body to God through the cross, by which the hostility has been killed.And he came and preached peace to you who were far off and peace to those who were near, so that through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, (Ephesians 2:13–19 NET)

God is now the God of all who come to Him through the blood of the everlasting covenant, fully realized in the Lamb of God slain from the foundations of the world. He is God to us. Hallelujah! (21)

These five declarations tell us that we will forever be in the presence of our glorious Father in Heaven. We will have unbroken fellowship with joy unspeakable and full of glory. (21)

Jude was looking to this time when he wrote: (21)

Now to the one who is able to keep you from falling, and to cause you to stand, rejoicing, without blemish before his glorious presence,to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time, and now, and for all eternity. Amen. (Jude 24–25 NET)

What Will Not Be

FLASHBACK: Death, Mourning, Crying, and Pain Cease to Exist (Circa the Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” (Revelation 21:4 NET)

The voice John hears makes six statements saying what will not be when God comes to live with His people in the New Jerusalem. In a negative sense, these are just as encouraging as the positive statements we contemplated. Although John wrote these words of comfort and encouragement to the believers in the seven congregations, his words are certainly for all of God’s people throughout history who have suffered for their faith. May we also find the strength and courage to be faithful, knowing that there will be “no more” of the following when our Father in Heaven is with us.

(1) There will be no more tears

When God created Adam and Eve, they were without sin. This means they were also without tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain. All of these human liabilities came about because of sin. God told Adam and Eve that the day they sinned, they would die.

The Lord God took the man and placed him in the orchard in Eden to care for it and to maintain it. Then the Lord God commanded the man, “You may freely eat fruit from every tree of the orchard, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat from it you will surely die.” (Genesis 2:15–17 NET)

The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat of the fruit from the trees of the orchard; but concerning the fruit of the tree that is in the middle of the orchard God said, ‘You must not eat from it, and you must not touch it, or else you will die.’ ” (Genesis 3:2–3 NET) 

When they disobeyed, they lost the glory of God (i.e., they died spiritually and began to die physically) and covered themselves with fig leaves. They ran and hid from Him when God came to fellowship with them.

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God moving about in the orchard at the breezy time of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the orchard. (Genesis 3:8 NET)

Thus began the process of death and sorrow that today characterizes human existence on the earth. Throughout history, God has kept a record of the tears His people have shed in their struggles to live righteous lives and stand strong when persecuted for their faith. In fact, ancient people had tear bottles in which they preserved their tears during times of great sorrow and grief. King David had such a tear bottle and figured that God also had one for each of His children. (21)

When David had to fight the Philistines, he literally cried to God, saying,

You keep track of my misery. Put my tears in your leather container! Are they not recorded in your scroll? (Psalm 56:8 NET)

First-century Romans kept tear bottles and placed them in the tombs of their deceased family members to show respect. In more modern times, during the American Civil War, women wept in tear bottles for their husbands and sons who had gone to fight. Some companies today specialize in selling tear bottles. From the cradle to the grave, life is accompanied by tears. (21)

With the curse of sin removed, there will be no more tears. God will wipe every tear from our eyes. (21)

Isaiah looked to this time and wrote:

he will swallow up death permanently. The sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from every face, and remove his people’s disgrace from all the earth. Indeed, the Lord has announced it! (Isaiah 25:8 NET)

When God makes all things new, He will open and empty our heavenly tear bottles. They will no longer be needed. So here is the good news for all of God’s people: there will be no tear bottles in the New Jerusalem.

(2) There will be no more death

The Bible tells us that history bears witness, and our personal experiences do as well; the judgment for sin is death. (21)

For the payoff of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:23 NET)

From the moment we are born, we begin to die. Our time on this earth is limited. (21)

“Man, born of woman, lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble. (Job 14:1 NET)

We all have to live with the reality of death and the grave. When the curse of sin is removed, there will be no more death. We will live forever in a new body free from sin’s corrupting influence. (21)

While this new body for believers is not the subject of many revelations, a few things are revealed. The largest single passage about the resurrection precedes the discussion on the Rapture and the role of the trumpet in the Rapture:

But someone will say, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body will they come?” Fool! What you sow will not come to life unless it dies. And what you sow is not the body that is to be, but a bare seed—perhaps of wheat or something else. But God gives it a body just as he planned, and to each of the seeds a body of its own. All flesh is not the same: People have one flesh, animals have another, birds and fish another.And there are heavenly bodies and earthly bodies. The glory of the heavenly body is one sort and the earthly another. There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon and another glory of the stars, for star differs from star in glory. It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven. (1 Corinthians 15:35–49 NET)

Paul quoted Isaiah and Hosea when he wrote these words of assurance:

For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. Now when this perishable puts on the imperishable, and this mortal puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will happen, “Death has been swallowed up in victory.” [Isaiah 25:8] “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?” [Hosea 13:14] The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ! So then, dear brothers and sisters, be firm. Do not be moved! Always be outstanding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 15:53–58 NET)

From this one passage, six things can be learned about the nature of the resurrection body:

• It is going to be a body that is incorruptible in verse 42: It is the same with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown is perishable; what is raised is imperishable. It will no longer be subject to corruption.
• It is going to be a glorified body in verse 43a: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory. This same point is made by:
  • But the wise will shine like the brightness of the heavenly expanse. And those bringing many to righteousness will be like the stars forever and ever. (Daniel 12:3 NET)
  • Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. The one who has ears had better listen! (Matthew 13:43 NET)
  • But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20,21 NET)
• It is going to be a body of resurrection power in verse 43b: it is sown in weakness; it is raised in power; it is going to have power that our bodies do not have at the present time.
• It is not going to be a blood-sustained body, but a spirit-sustained body. It is going to be a spiritual body in verses 44–46: it is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. So also, it is written, “The first man, Adam, became a living person”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. However, the spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and then the spiritual. (cf. Luke 24:39, where Jesus’ resurrected body was flesh and bone with no mention of blood)
• It is going to be a heavenly body in verses 47–49: The first man is from the earth, made of dust; the second man is from heaven. Like the one made of dust, so too are those made of dust, and like the one from heaven, so too those who are heavenly. And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven, and
• It is going to be an immortal body in verse 53: For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. The resurrection body will no longer be subject to mortality or corruption. That is why this type of body can enter Heaven itself.

The Resurrection Body of Jesus

As far as direct statements of Scripture, this is all that God has chosen to reveal about the nature of the resurrection body. Another possible source of information can be used to discover the nature of the resurrection body: the resurrected body of the Messiah. However, this must be done with caution. One cannot always be sure that everything true about the resurrected body of Yeshua (Jesus) will necessarily be true of the believer’s body. Nor is it not always easy to determine if something true of the body of the Messiah was true because of His Resurrection or because of His deity. Yeshua was not only resurrected, but He is also God, and perhaps some things are true because He is God and not because He had a resurrected body. Certain things that were true of His resurrected body will not be true of ours. For example, after His Resurrection, Jesus still had wounds on His hands and side. Yet the believer’s resurrected bodies will have no evidence of this kind of corruption, such as wounds or scars. Yet, for some reason, the resurrected body of Jesus did have wounds and scars, though it is not known if He still has them today. Perhaps when He was glorified upon His entry into Heaven at the Ascension, the scars of the Crucifixion were removed. One known thing is that when He first arose, He did have the scars of the Crucifixion. When believers are raised from the dead, they will not have any scars whatsoever. So it must not be assumed that everything true of the body of Jesus at His Resurrection will necessarily be true of us. Again, it is not always easy to determine if what He did was because of His resurrected body or because He is God. (2)

Six observations can be made concerning Jesus’ resurrected body:

1. It is known that Messiah’s voice was recognized as the same one He had before His death and Resurrection (John 20:16). When He said Mary, Mary Magdalene recognized that the One speaking to her was none other than Yeshua. Whatever accent He had—and He probably had a Galilean accent; whatever tone of voice He had—since everyone has a unique tone of voice, Mary recognized His voice. Possibly, our voice will be recognizable because it will be much the same.
2. His physical features were always recognized, but not always immediately (John 20:26–29; 21:7). There were enough changes in His resurrected body that recognition was not always immediate. But some things remained the same so that the people who knew Him eventually recognized Him. (2)
3. It was a real body, not a phantom one, as His body was embraceable (John 20:17, 27). (2)
4. He was able to appear and disappear (Lk. 24:31). But the question is: “Was the Messiah able to appear and disappear because He had a resurrected body or because He is God?” There is no guarantee that believers will be able to do the same thing. (2)
5. He was able to go through walls (John 20:19). Here again, believers cannot be sure that their resurrected bodies will be able to do the same (2) and
6. He was able to eat food (Luke 24:41–43). Believers will certainly be able to do this much in their resurrected bodies because they will participate in the Marriage Feast, and there is no sense in coming to a feast if one cannot eat and feast. The resurrected body will be immortal, not subject to death. So they will not have to eat to survive; it will be purely for pleasure. The nature of the resurrected body will be such that believers can eat all they want and never gain an ounce of weight. (2)

(3) There will be no more sorrow.

Before Adam and Eve sinned, they knew only joy. They did not know sorrow, which is the death process of the soul. Unfortunately, they passed on their anguish of soul to all of us. The history of the human race and our own life experiences tell us that we have inherited their mental and emotional distress. There is no other sensible explanation for the condition of humankind. While we might not want to face this truth and acknowledge it, we should be able to understand it, knowing that we pass on both the good and the bad to our own children. We do to our children just what Adam and Eve did to us. (21)

Human life is characterized by joy and sorrow, happiness and heartache, triumph and trials, and delight and despair. Millions of people suffer from anxiety attacks, and depression is a plague of the soul as real as plagues that attack the body. Some of our fellow humans have such troubled and tortured souls that they take their own lives. (21)

While God’s Spirit produces joy in the souls of His people, believers are certainly not immune to the sorrow and heartaches that are part of living in this world. We sometimes have more than our share because of deep-rooted concerns for our troubled world and compassion for hurting people. (21)

All of this will change when we are in the full presence of our Father in Heaven. With sin no longer afflicting our souls, there will be nothing to trouble us. There will be no anguish, no grief, no heartache, no disappointments, no regrets, no despair, no sadness, no mourning, no anxieties, and no sleepless nights fretting over loved ones and the issues of life. (21)

During the Messianic Kingdom, we will have a preview of life without sorrow.

those whom the Lord has ransomed will return that way. They will enter Zion with a happy shout. Unending joy will crown them, happiness and joy will overwhelm them; grief and suffering will disappear. (Isaiah 35:10 NET)

King David experienced a foretaste of this in his own life with God. (21)

David wrote:

You lead me in the path of life; I experience absolute joy in your presence; you always give me sheer delight. (Psalm 16:11 NET)

Lord, let it be soon!

(4) There will be no more crying.

Tears refer to a quiet expression of grief, but crying is a vocal manifestation of our inward heartaches. Crying expresses outwardly the inner anguish of our souls and physical afflictions. Sometimes we suffer to the point where we can “no longer hold it in.” For the sake of our own inner healing, we have to “let it out.” (21)

Humans cry out to God. We cry out in physical pain. We cry out in times of extreme soul affliction. We cry when we lose something of great value. We cry when our world falls apart. We cry in times of great distress. We cry when people fail to live up to our expectations. We cry when people we love are suffering. We cry at funerals. Humans cry. It is part of living in a world full of death, sorrow, injustice, poverty, disease, and inevitable disappointment.

But we will not cry when we live in the New Jerusalem. With no tears, death, or sorrow, crying will be a thing of the past. There will not be anything to cry about. In Isaiah’s words, when God makes all things new, the voice of weeping and the voice of crying will be heard no more.

Isaiah also states that no weeping shall be heard ever again within the New Jerusalem. (3)

Jerusalem will bring me joy, and my people will bring me happiness. The sound of weeping or cries of sorrow will never be heard in her again. (Isaiah 65:19 NET).

(5) There will be no more pain.

Since Adam and Eve sinned, the human race has known pain as a normal part of life. Life begins with birth pains and ends with the pain of death. Genesis tells us that God proclaimed the following judgment on Eve:

To the woman he said, “I will greatly increase your labor pains; with pain you will give birth to children. You will want to control your husband, but he will dominate you.” (Genesis 3:16 NET)

Every woman who has brought a child into the world is a living testimony to the reality of this pronouncement. While the mom-to-be looks forward to the joy of bringing a new life into the world, she certainly does not look forward to the labor pains. This was particularly stressful for women in Bible times who considered having many children a blessing from God despite the pain of childbirth. I suppose we could say of childbirth that women have the blessed joy of labor pains.

To Adam, God said:

But to Adam he said, “Because you obeyed your wife and ate from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’ cursed is the ground thanks to you; in painful toil you will eat of it all the days of your life. It will produce thorns and thistles for you, but you will eat the grain of the field. By the sweat of your brow you will eat food until you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you will return.” (Genesis 3:17–19 NET)

People living off the land can certainly witness the reality of this statement. Oh, the life of a farmer—so rewarding and so many aches and pains. Every farmer and tiller of the soil knows how challenging it is to make the land productive. It is hard and difficult work from sunup to sunset. And after it’s all said and done, there is no guarantee of a good crop. (21)

We don’t have to live on the farm to appreciate this difficulty. Anyone who wants to grow a garden or beautify a yard knows the difficulty of planting just the right vegetables or flowers in the right place at the right time with the right amount of sun, shade, and drainage. We have to prepare the soil, pull the weeds, cut down the thornbushes, spray the bugs, keep out the critters, plant, fertilize, and water the plantings—just to enjoy a few tomatoes or flowers in the yard. (21)

The pain our bodies feel in birthing and working is only a part of our human experience with pain. We have to cope with the pain caused by health issues. We suffer from dreaded diseases, broken bones, allergies, infections, bodily injuries, organic disorders, and accidents that can maim and cripple us. The list is endless. (21)

In addition to these physical challenges, we struggle with mental and emotional pain that can hurt just as much as physical pain. We must deal with the pain of broken relationships, lost love, separation from loved ones, unkind words, persecution, hate and prejudice, poverty, injustice, and ultimately death. (21)

Here is some more good news. With no more curse of sin, no more tears, no more death, no more sorrow, and no more crying, there will also be no more pain in the New Jerusalem. (21)

(6) The former things will have passed away.

There will no longer be any curse upon the earth, and the very name of Jesus shall be written upon His servant’s foreheads. God will reign over the earth, and the redeemed of the ages shall reign with Him forever and ever. The Millennial Kingdom and the period following will be an unprecedented time of blessing that will right all of the wrongs that have occurred because of Satan, sin, evil, and death. A few of the characteristics of the kingdom of Christ are as follows: (3)

• It will be a period of peace, for there will be no more wars (Isaiah 2:4)

• It will be a period of great joy, longevity, and health (Isaiah 12:3; 33:24; 65:20)

• It will be an unequaled time of prosperity and ease of labor (Isaiah 35:1-2; 65:21-22)

• It will be a time when the knowledge of God will cover the earth (Isaiah 11:9; 66:19-20)

We will no longer have to deal with tears, death, sorrow, crying, and pain because the former things will have passed away. There is no place for suffering in God’s newly established Kingdom. No matter what we are enduring as believers, it will not last. We will live in eternity free of all the human liabilities caused by sin. Just as this old world will pass away, so will our old heartaches, failures, frustrations, disappointments, pain, agony, and grief of body, soul, and spirit. (21)

Jesus spoke these words of reassurance to His followers:

“Do not let your hearts be distressed. You believe in God; believe also in me. There are many dwelling places in my Father’s house. Otherwise, I would have told you, because I am going away to make ready a place for you. And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. (John 14:1–3 NET)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. (John 14:27 NET)

I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In the world you have trouble and suffering, but take courage—I have conquered the world.” (John 16:33 NET)

Once the loud voice clarifies our place with God in the New Jerusalem, God Himself declares that Heaven and Earth as we know them are gone. The creation of the new Heaven and new Earth is done. We can have faith and confidence in a better world because God’s words are true, and He is faithful to perform them. (21)

The truth and faithfulness of God are emphasized again:

Then the angel said to me, “These words are reliable and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.” (Revelation 22:6 NET)

When we look back in time and see that God has done everything just as it was written in the Bible, we can look to the future and know that He will also keep His promise to make all things new. (21)

As Jesus said:

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:35 NET)

The Creator of the universe is outside of time. He was before time, He is after time, and when time is no more. All of time and space are contained within Him. This is why God can declare the end from the beginning. (21)

who announces the end from the beginning and reveals beforehand what has not yet occurred, who says, ‘My plan will be realized, I will accomplish what I desire,’ (Isaiah 46:10 NET)

Like a book is contained within the author, all creation’s history is contained within God. (21)

Writing to a Greek-speaking audience, John uses the Greek alphabet to communicate the eternal nature of God. He is the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. The Alpha and the Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet. If John had written this to Hebrew speakers, he would say that God is the Aleph and the Tav, the first and last letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Since Jesus has the divine DNA of His Father, He speaks of Himself in the same way in His letters to the seven congregations. (21)

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God—the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come—the All-Powerful! (Revelation 1:8 NET)

saying: “Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches—to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” (Revelation 1:11 NET)

When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! (Revelation 1:17–18 NET)

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead, but came to life: (Revelation 2:8 NET)

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end!) (Revelation 22:13 NET)

God gives a further word of encouragement to the overcomers. He promises the faithful that they will drink freely of the waters of life; they will inherit all things; He will be their God, and they will be His children. These sweeping statements simply mean God has made full provision for His people to live with Him forever without needs or wants. (21)

God has made this same promise to us in this life, but the curse of sin often hinders us from experiencing the fullness of this promise. (21)

And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19 NET)

In the new Heaven and Earth, as well as in the New Jerusalem, there will be no hindrances keeping us from enjoying the overflowing presence of God and His provision throughout eternity. (21)

FLASHBACK: All Things are Made New (Circa the Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

And the one seated on the throne said: “Look! I am making all things new!” Then he said to me, “Write it down, because these words are reliable and true.” (Revelation 21:5 NET)

What Luke recorded has now come to pass:

Therefore repent and turn back so that your sins may be wiped out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and so that he may send the Messiah appointed for you—that is, Jesus. This one heaven must receive until the time all things are restored, which God declared from times long ago through his holy prophets. (Acts 3:19–20 NET)

Not only is there a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem, but there is a new song (Revelation 5:9) and a new name (Revelation 2:17; 3:12). In fact, all things are to be made new, and we have the assurance of God Himself that this promise is true and faithful. (4)

Presumably, this means that everything will be made new and everything will stay new. The Second Law of Thermodynamics (i.e., entropy) will be “repealed.” Nothing will wear out or decay, and no one will age or atrophy anymore. Every tree will bear fruit abundantly and eternally (Revelation 22:2). There will be no need to use up limited energy resources to provide illumination or other services (Revelation 22:5). All things will be and remain eternally young and fresh and new, just as they were in the week of creation itself. (4)

The authority for this wonderful promise is none other than the enthroned Christ, who has descended with His throne in the heavenly city to His permanent home on the new earth. With respect to the new bodies of the resurrected and glorified saints, these also will remain forever strong and healthy. The Scriptures are not explicit on this, but there is at least a possible implication that the “apparent age” of each person in the resurrection may be in, say, his or her early thirties. When Adam and Eve were created, they were mature adults capable of raising children. Since aging and death were part of the results of their sin, they would presumably have remained at the same “age” as that at which they were created if they had not sinned. At the same time, however, they were commanded to have children (Genesis 1:28), and these would surely have grown to a similar maturity before their “age” would have stabilized, as it were. (4)

It also seems significant that those who were to serve as priests or Levites in the service of the Tabernacle had to be thirty years old and upward (Numbers 4:3). Joseph was thirty years old when he was made ruler over Egypt (Genesis 41:43, 46), and David, the man after God’s own heart, became king over Israel at age thirty (2 Samuel 5:4). Since those who are in the resurrection are also to serve as priests and kings in the millennium (Revelation 20:6), it would be likely that their resurrection “age” would be of this same order.

Even the Lord Jesus Christ entered His earthly public ministry when He was about thirty (actually thirty-two (1)) and went to the cross only about three-and-a-half years later.

So Jesus, when he began his ministry, was about thirty years old. He was the son (as was supposed) of Joseph, the son of Heli, (Luke 3:23 NET)

It is significant that His resurrection body was of this same apparent age, different in its glorified state but still easily recognizable. The Scriptures, of course, also teach that those who are Christ’s will be “like Him” when He comes again (1 John 3:3), with bodies “fashioned like unto his glorious body” (Philippians 3:21). (4)

Perhaps (although it is not explicitly taught in Scripture) those who die in old age will be young again, at the age of greatest vigor, and those who die in infancy or youth will mature to the age of full growth and development, in the resurrection. While this is speculation, everything will be made new, for the Lord’s Word is true and faithful.

FLASHBACK: Water of Life Given to the Thirsty (Circa the Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

He also said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water free of charge from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:6 NET)

That it is none other than the glorified Christ speaking to John is demonstrated by His renewed reference to Himself as Alpha and Omega (see Revelation 1:8, 11; 22:13), the Word of creation and consummation, the first and the last. Just as the work of creation was finished (Genesis 2:1–3) and the work of redemption was finished (John 19:30), so now the work of consummation and restoration has been finished. (4)

Then the Lord renews a promise made long ago. John himself had recorded the conversation at the well of Samaria:

But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:14 NET)

Then, later, the Lord had said:

“If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified)” (John 7:37–39).

This “water of life” is both symbolic of the Holy Spirit, with the eternal life He gives all who believe in Christ, and also literal water, sparkling pure and abundant in the beautiful river flowing through the holy city (Revelation 22:1). Having made all things new, He will maintain the glorified bodies of the saints in eternal health and strength by the fruit of the tree of life and the river of the water of life (Revelation 22:1, 2) created anew by their providing Lord. (4)

FLASHBACK: Overcomers Receive God’s Promises to Them (Circa the Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:7 NET)

Each of the seven churches (1)(Revelation 2;3) had previously been given thirteen gracious promises for the “overcomers” in that church.

The overcomers will…

1. Eat of the Tree of Life.
2. Not be hurt by the second death.
3. Eat the hidden manna of the life of God.
4. Receive a white stone of acceptance with a new name.
5. Have power over the nations.
6. Rule with the Lord with a rod of iron.
7. Receive the Bright and Morning Star.
8. Be clothed in white garments.
9. Have their names written in the Book of Life.
10. Hear the Lord confess their names as His own before His Father and the angels.
11. Be a pillar in the Temple of God.
12. Receive a new name to manifest the glory of God forever.
13. Sit with Messiah on His throne.

Now, a fourteenth and final promise is given to him “that overcometh.” This is an implicit assurance that all the overcomers in all true churches everywhere have now, in the resurrection and the new earth, finally received the fulfillment of all the promises of God.

14. They shall inherit all things.

And, of course, this is because Christ Himself is “heir of all things” (Hebrews 1:2; Psalm 2:8), and those who are in Christ are “joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:17), receiving “an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Peter 1:4, 5). (4)

The heir relation is also a son relation. “The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if children, then heirs, heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ” (Romans 8:16, 17). The overcomer (that is, every true believer, redeemed through faith in Christ as Savior and Lord) becomes both son and heir of the mighty God of creation.

Paul said:

So then, no more boasting about mere mortals! For everything belongs to you, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life or death or the present or the future. Everything belongs to you, and you belong to Christ, and Christ belongs to God. (1 Corinthians 3:21–23 NET)

What a glorious inheritance! The believer’s future is neither limited in time nor restricted in space. The infinite resources of the space/time cosmos itself, limitless in space and unending in time, are his, in the ages to come.

FLASHBACK: A listing of types of individuals thrown into the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death (Circa After the Kingdom Age)

But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 NET)(cf. Revelation 20:14,15)

In contrast to the glorious promises to the redeemed, the Lord inserts another warning to those who remain (by virtue of their fear and unbelief) unforgiven in their murders and flesh peddling, unrepentant of their demonic idolatries, and committed to their falsehoods. They will spend eternity in the awful lake of fire, in eternal torment, the second death.

Many people in the last days will take the Mark of the Beast, choosing temporary physical safety with the Beast rather than life with God. Like the early church, which did not have faith and courage when faced with persecution, they “fixed their sandals” (1) in front of the emperor’s statue. As a result, they are banished from God’s presence and doomed to spend eternity with the Beast in the lake of fire. (21)

This is the last reference in the Bible to “fire,” and it refers to the fiery lake of burning brimstone, which is the final and eternal hell. The first reference in the Bible to fire is found in Genesis, where “sulfur and fire” are seen raining from the skies, turning the whole valley of Sodom and Gomorrah into a precursive “lake of fire.” Christ is first and last in judgment as well as grace. (4)

Then the Lord rained on Sodom and Gomorrah sulfur and fire from the Lord out of heaven. (Genesis 19:24 NET)

The catalog here of sinners inhabiting hell is vivid and instructive. At the head of the list are the “fearful.” This is not primarily a reference to physical cowardice but rather to a lack of trusting faith in the Lord.

Jesus said,

And he said to them, “Why are you cowardly? Do you still not have faith?” (Mark 4:40 NET)

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you; I do not give it to you as the world does. Do not let your hearts be distressed or lacking in courage. (John 14:27 NET)

Paul said,

For God did not give us a Spirit of fear but of power and love and self-control. So do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord or of me, a prisoner for his sake, but by God’s power accept your share of suffering for the gospel. (2 Timothy 1:7–8 NET)

Those who are more fearful of the disapproval of men than of Christ are dangerously close to this kind of sin.

For if anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will also be ashamed of him when he comes in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38 NET)

This kind of fearfulness is very similar to the sin of unbelief itself, the next in the list. It is only the sin of unbelief, with its outward manifestation of fearfulness, which actually sends people to hell.

Jesus said,

The one who believes in him is not condemned. The one who does not believe has been condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the one and only Son of God. (John 3:18 NET)

The seemingly more repugnant sins cataloged next are less serious than those of unbelief. Even murder can be forgiven if there is genuine repentance and faith, but there is no salvation for unbelievers, and no degree of moral righteousness, short of absolute perfection, can ever offset this. The greatest sin of all is rejecting Christ’s infinite love and suffering for us in atonement for our sins. (4)

John said,

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God resides in him and he in God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him. By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world. (1 John 4:14–17 NET)

The “abominable” are those who practice abomination—the blasphemous and licentious practices associated with idol worship. The term “murderers” refers not to manslaughter but to criminal homicide. Next is the “whoremonger” (Greek pornos), translated in other passages as “fornicator.” In the context here, it refers to any who practices or promotes sexual activity outside of marriage (1). (4)

The “sorcerer” (Greek pharmakeus) is one who uses drugs to induce pseudoreligious fantasies and occult experiences. The term is appropriately associated with the “idolater,” one whose religious worship is directed toward a material object which, in turn, represents to him some spiritual reality, either an actual demonic spirit or some religious or philosophical concept. A number of Scriptures (Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5) make it plain that even covetousness (inordinate love of material possessions) is idolatry. (4)

Finally, “all liars” are included in the roster of the condemned. Satan himself is the father of liars (John 8:44), and those who practice deception and falsehood, especially false teachers must finally join their diabolical “father” in his lake of fire. (4)

Peter said,

But false prophets arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. These false teachers will infiltrate your midst with destructive heresies, even to the point of denying the Master who bought them. As a result, they will bring swift destruction on themselves. And many will follow their debauched lifestyles. Because of these false teachers, the way of truth will be slandered.And in their greed they will exploit you with deceptive words. Their condemnation pronounced long ago is not sitting idly by; their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but threw them into hell and locked them up in chains in utter darkness, to be kept until the judgment, and if he did not spare the ancient world, but did protect Noah, a herald of righteousness, along with seven others, when God brought a flood on an ungodly world,and if he turned to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah when he condemned them to destruction, having appointed them to serve as an example to future generations of the ungodly,and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man in anguish over the debauched lifestyle of lawless men,(for while he lived among them day after day, that righteous man was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) —if so, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from their trials, and to reserve the unrighteous for punishment at the day of judgment, especially those who indulge their fleshly desires and who despise authority. Brazen and insolent, they are not afraid to insult the glorious ones,yet even angels, who are much more powerful, do not bring a slanderous judgment against them before the Lord.But these men, like irrational animals—creatures of instinct, born to be caught and destroyed—do not understand whom they are insulting, and consequently in their destruction they will be destroyed,suffering harm as the wages for their harmful ways. By considering it a pleasure to carouse in broad daylight, they are stains and blemishes, indulging in their deceitful pleasures when they feast together with you. Their eyes, full of adultery, never stop sinning; they entice unstable people. They have trained their hearts for greed, these cursed children!By forsaking the right path they have gone astray, because they followed the way of Balaam son of Bosor, who loved the wages of unrighteousness,yet was rebuked for his own transgression (a dumb donkey, speaking with a human voice, restrained the prophet’s madness). These men are waterless springs and mists driven by a storm, for whom the utter depths of darkness have been reserved. For by speaking high-sounding but empty words they are able to entice, with fleshly desires and with debauchery, people who have just escaped from those who reside in error.Although these false teachers promise such people freedom, they themselves are enslaved to immorality. For whatever a person succumbs to, to that he is enslaved.For if after they have escaped the filthy things of the world through the rich knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they again get entangled in them and succumb to them, their last state has become worse for them than their first. For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than, having known it, to turn back from the holy commandment that had been delivered to them. They are illustrations of this true proverb: “A dog returns to its own vomit,” and “A sow, after washing herself, wallows in the mire.” (2 Peter 2:1–22 NET)

Jude said,

For certain men have secretly slipped in among you—men who long ago were marked out for the condemnation I am about to describe—ungodly men who have turned the grace of our God into a license for evil and who deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I desire to remind you (even though you have been fully informed of these facts once for all) that Jesus, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, later destroyed those who did not believe. You also know that the angels who did not keep within their proper domain but abandoned their own place of residence, he has kept in eternal chains in utter darkness, locked up for the judgment of the great Day. So also Sodom and Gomorrah and the neighboring towns, since they indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire in a way similar to these angels, are now displayed as an example by suffering the punishment of eternal fire. Yet these men, as a result of their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and insult the glorious ones.But even when Michael the archangel was arguing with the devil and debating with him concerning Moses’ body, he did not dare to bring a slanderous judgment, but said, “May the Lord rebuke you!” But these men do not understand the things they slander, and they are being destroyed by the very things that, like irrational animals, they instinctively comprehend. Woe to them! For they have traveled down Cain’s path, and because of greed have abandoned themselves to Balaam’s error; hence, they will certainly perish in Korah’s rebellion. These men are dangerous reefs at your love feasts, feasting without reverence, feeding only themselves. They are waterless clouds, carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit—twice dead, uprooted; wild sea waves, spewing out the foam of their shame; wayward stars for whom the utter depths of eternal darkness have been reserved. (Jude 1:4-13 NET)

James said,

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers and sisters, because you know that we will be judged more strictly. (James 3:1 NET)

Although few may wish to acknowledge themselves to be such flagrant sinners as those described here, it must be remembered that idolatry includes covetousness, fornication includes lustful thoughts (Matthew 5:28), and murder includes anger (Matthew 5:21, 22). Further, who is there who has never lied or never been fearful? This listing of sinners thus includes all.

Paul said,

for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23 NET)

The condemnation, however, is specifically for those who die in their sins and are thus still seen, not in Christ, but in the stark ugliness of sin. However, there is wonderful forgiveness in Christ for all such sinners who will come to Him.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived! The sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, passive homosexual partners, practicing homosexuals,thieves, the greedy, drunkards, the verbally abusive, and swindlers will not inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you once lived this way. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God. (1 Corinthians 6:9–11 NET)

However, there can be no forgiveness for the sin of unbelief in the true God and Redeemer. (4)

John said,

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The one who has the Son has this eternal life; the one who does not have the Son of God does not have this eternal life. (1 John 5:11–12 NET)

Those who do not overcome but are cowardly and sinful are to have their part in the lake of fire. They will never be allowed to share in the rewards of those who have faithfully followed Jesus. (3)

How can a good God who is grace, mercy, and compassion pass judgment for destruction and suffering?

Do I actually delight in the death of the wicked, declares the sovereign Lord? Do I not prefer that he turn from his wicked conduct and live? (Ezekiel 18:23 NET)

The answer is that God does not cause this suffering. Mankind causes this due to the hardness of his heart. It is the result of the evil in people’s hearts to live their lives without God. His Great MERCY is extended to all equally, and He waits patiently for all to accept it.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor’ and ‘hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemy and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be like your Father in heaven, since he causes the sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. (Matthew 5:43-45 NET)

Or do you have contempt for the wealth of his kindness, forbearance, and patience, and yet do not know that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? (Romans 2:4 NET)

The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:9 NET)

How blessed is the one who does not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand in the pathway with sinners, or sit in the assembly of scoffers! Instead he finds pleasure in obeying the Lord’s commands; he meditates on his commands day and night. He is like a tree planted by flowing streams; it yields its fruit at the proper time, and its leaves never fall off. He succeeds in everything he attempts. 
Not so with the wicked! Instead they are like wind-driven chaff. For this reason the wicked cannot withstand judgment, nor can sinners join the assembly of the godly. Certainly the Lord guards the way of the godly, but the way of the wicked ends in destruction. (Psalm 1:1–6 NET)

Nevertheless, when the point is reached that a person or persons, by an act of their will, decide to never change from serving evil (Satan) to serving good (God), then the only thing left is a JUDGMENT of WRATH that will keep them that have chosen to serve Satan from affecting the MERCY to be received by those that have chosen to serve God.

An evil man is rebellious to the core. He does not fear God, for he is too proud to recognize and give up his sin. The words he speaks are sinful and deceitful; he does not care about doing what is wise and right. He plans ways to sin while he lies in bed; he is committed to a sinful lifestyle; he does not reject what is evil. (Psalm 36:1–4 NET)

God, the one who has reigned as king from long ago, will hear and humiliate them. (Selah) They refuse to change, and do not fear God. (Psalm 55:19 NET)

Turn away from evil and do what is right! Strive for peace and promote it! The Lord pays attention to the godly and hears their cry for help. But the Lord opposes evildoers and wipes out all memory of them from the earth. (Psalm 34:14–16 NET)

The MERCY for the future of those who have chosen to serve God trumps the present MERCY extended to all, resulting in the removal and eternal incarceration of those who have chosen to serve evil.

It is terrible to show partiality to the wicked, by depriving a righteous man of justice. (Proverbs 18:5 NET)

If the wicked are shown mercy, they do not learn about justice. Even in a land where right is rewarded, they act unjustly; they do not see the Lord’s majesty revealed. (Isaiah 26:10 NET)

The Lord abhors the way of the wicked, but he loves those who pursue righteousness. (Proverbs 15:9 NET)

The Lord approves of the godly, but he hates the wicked and those who love to do violence. (Psalm 11:5 NET)

You reprimand arrogant people. Those who stray from your commands are doomed. (Psalm 119:21 NET)

The wicked have no chance for deliverance, for they do not seek your statutes. (Psalm 119:155 NET)

If the righteous are recompensed on earth, how much more the wicked sinner! (Proverbs 11:31 NET)

Yes, look! Those far from you die; you destroy everyone who is unfaithful to you. (Psalm 73:27 NET)

The Lord protects those who love him, but he destroys all the wicked. (Psalm 145:20 NET)

May sinners disappear from the earth, and the wicked vanish! Praise the Lord, O my soul! Praise the Lord! (Psalm 104:35 NET)

Let anyone who has no love for the Lord be accursed. Our Lord, come! (1 Corinthians 16:22–23 NET)

Remember, refusal of the greater MERCY leaves only the WRATH. (1)

The wicked have decided to never change from evil to good, unrighteous to righteous, and wicked to godly.

There is no Mercy for the Wicked

FLASHBACK: The Holy City Descends from Heaven (Circa the Beginning of the Kingdom Age)

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven final plagues came and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!” So he took me away in the Spirit to a huge, majestic mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:9–10 NET)

With God’s promise to the overcomers now confirmed, it is time for John to see the New Jerusalem. One of the angels who poured out the seven bowl judgments calls John to come with him for one last apocalyptic vision. Once again, we remember that John was not literally carried to a high mountain. He is still on Patmos. He is “in the Spirit,” meaning God enables him to see with his spiritual eyes what he cannot see with his natural eyes. (21)

John is brought to a high mountain, probably Mount Zion, for a better perspective on the New Jerusalem. He is told that this city is the bride, the Lamb’s wife. This is because the city is the abode of the elect of the ages who make up the bride of Christ. (3)

While the New Jerusalem is presently in Heaven, John is told it will come down from Heaven to be the eternal home of all God’s people and angels. (21)

We learned that ancient people considered themselves married to their land. They pledged their fidelity to defend and protect the land, just as a husband would pledge to defend and protect his bride-wife. Since John is writing to an audience that understands this, the angel mentions that the Lamb’s wife, the people, and the city are one. A city is more than a place. It is also the people who live in the city. Just as the New Jerusalem reflects the glory of God, so do the people who live there. They are one with their God and King and with their city. (21)

While the New Jerusalem is a literal city, John describes it using symbolic language that his readers would understand to represent perfection in every way. To the ancient mind, a structure that was as high as deep and wide and made with rare gems was something people could only imagine. It was certainly not attainable by human efforts. The New Jerusalem is what Babylon and Rome are not.

All who passed by on the road clapped their hands to mock you. They sneered and shook their heads at Daughter Jerusalem. “Ha! Is this the city they called ‘The perfection of beauty, the source of joy of the whole earth!’?” (Lamentations 2:15 NET)

It is the ultimate “perfection of beauty, the joy of the whole earth.”

The New Jerusalem Described

(1) The City Possesses the Glory of God

The city possesses the glory of God; its brilliance is like a precious jewel, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper. (Revelation 21:11 NET)

It is pure, holy, and radiates God and His people’s spectacular splendor and glory. (21)

The most glorious aspect of the city of God, of course, will be the fact that Christ is there:

And if I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too. (John 14:3 NET)

Then we who are alive, who are left, will be suddenly caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. (1 Thessalonians 4:17 NET)

It is also good to be reminded that the Hebraic way of thinking emphasizes function rather than form. In other words, John would expect his readers to understand why he describes the New Jerusalem as he does (function) and not just the physical description (form). The ancient mind would be more interested in what a structure is for than what the structure actually looks like. (21)

John gives this description to explain that the city’s function is to radiate God’s glory everywhere. (21)

And the twelve gates are twelve pearls—each one of the gates is made from just one pearl! The main street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21 NET)

(2) The Walls and Gates of the City

It has a massive, high wall with twelve gates, with twelve angels at the gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel are written on the gates. There are three gates on the east side, three gates on the north side, three gates on the south side and three gates on the west side. (Revelation 21:12–13 NET)

There are said to be twelve gates, each with the name of one of the tribes of Israel written on top. (3) John says the names of the 12 tribes of Israel are written on the gates to remind us that God’s covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is eternal. Furthermore, the tribes have never been lost. They did not become Gentiles living in far-off lands. Nor were they replaced by Christians. (21)

There are to be three of these gates on each of the four sides of the city. This is exactly what Ezekiel describes as He details the Jerusalem of the Millennium. (3)

“These are the exits of the city: On the north side, one and one-half miles by measure, the gates of the city will be named for the tribes of Israel; there will be three gates to the north: one gate for Reuben, one gate for Judah, and one gate for Levi. On the east side, one and one-half miles in length, there will be three gates: one gate for Joseph, one gate for Benjamin, and one gate for Dan. On the south side, one and one-half miles by measure, there will be three gates: one gate for Simeon, one gate for Issachar, and one gate for Zebulun. On the west side, one and one-half miles in length, there will be three gates: one gate for Gad, one gate for Asher, and one gate for Naphtali. (Ezekiel 48:30–34 NET)

In Bible times, the function of a wall was to protect the people inside by keeping the enemy outside. John describes a wall so high that his readers would immediately understand his point—no enemy of God or His people could ever hurt them again. They were protected and safe forever. Furthermore, God posted angels at each gate as His ultimate “watchmen on the wall” – even though no watchmen were needed. (21)

He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits according to human measurement, which is also the angel’s. The city’s wall is made of jasper and the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:17–18 NET)

The wall around the city is 216 feet high. A cubit is approximately 18 inches or 1.5 feet, and the wall is 144 (12 x 12 = 144) cubits high. It is made of transparent jasper. (21)

(3) The Foundations of the City’s Walls

The wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (Revelation 21:14 NET)

The wall of the city has 12 foundations made of precious stones. Each foundation is named after one of the 12 apostles of the Lamb (i.e., Jesus) who brought the Gospel of the Kingdom to the Gentiles. (21)

The foundations of the city’s wall are decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. (Revelation 21:19–20 NET)

The walls and the foundations are said to be laid with precious stones, as God has spared no expense in the construction of the New Jerusalem. That the city is made out of precious stones is also confirmed by the prophet Isaiah. (3)

“O afflicted one, driven away, and unconsoled! Look, I am about to set your stones in antimony and I lay your foundation with lapis-lazuli. I will make your pinnacles out of gems, your gates out of beryl, and your outer wall out of beautiful stones. (Isaiah 54:11–12 NET)

John is making the point that the foundations are designed to radiate the glory of God in a dazzling spectrum of brilliant colors. That is their function. (21)

A brief description of the foundations:

1. Jasper gold, clear as crystal
2. Sapphire blue
3. Chalcedony (agate) is thought to be sky blue with other colors running through it
4. Bright green emerald
5. Sardonyx, which is red with white stripes
6. Sardius, a beautiful red
7. Chrysolite, a transparent stone golden green
8. Sea-green beryl
9. Transparent yellow topaz
10. Chrysoprase, a shade of green
11. Jacinth, a violet color
12. Beautiful purple amethyst.

Jesus described this indestructible foundation during His earthly ministry.

“Everyone who hears these words of mine and does them is like a wise man who built his house on rock. The rain fell, the flood came, and the winds beat against that house, but it did not collapse because it had been founded on rock. (Matthew 7:24,5 NET)

He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” And Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. “And I also say to you that you are Peter [Gk petros a stone], and upon this rock [Gk petra a bedrock; the bedrock of revelation that Jesus is the Messiah and Son of God] I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it. (Matthew 16:15-18 LSB)

Paul said,

So then you are no longer foreigners and noncitizens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of God’s household, because you have been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. In him the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:19–22 NET)

Peter said,

So as you come to him, a living stone rejected by men but chosen and priceless in God’s sight, you yourselves, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood and to offer spiritual sacrifices that are acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. For it says in scripture, “Look, I lay in Zion a stone, a chosen and priceless cornerstone, and whoever believes in him will never be put to shame.”So you who believe see his value, but for those who do not believe, the stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone, and a stumbling-stone and a rock to trip over. They stumble because they disobey the word, as they were destined to do. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. You once were not a people, but now you are God’s people. You were shown no mercy, but now you have received mercy.(1 Peter 2:4-10 NET)

This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, that has become the cornerstone. And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among people by which we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:11–12 NET) 

The Psalmist said,

The stone which the builders discarded has become the cornerstone. (Psalm 118:22 NET)

Isaiah said,

Therefore, this is what the sovereign master, the Lord, says: “Look, I am laying a stone in Zion, an approved stone, set in place as a precious cornerstone for the foundation. The one who maintains his faith will not panic.  (Isaiah 28:16 NET)

(4) Measuring the City

The angel who spoke to me had a golden measuring rod with which to measure the city and its foundation stones and wall. Now the city is laid out as a square [tetragonos], its length and width the same. He measured the city with the measuring rod at fourteen hundred miles (its length and width and height are equal). (Revelation 21:15–16 NET)

As the angel proceeds to measure the city, John can see directly that the city’s plan is that of a square. The term “foursquare” is the Greek tetragonos (literally “four-angled,” a term used to mean equal angles). (16) Further, the measurements confirm that the sides are all equal, as well as the angles, with each dimension no less than 12,000 “furlongs” (that is, stadia, a Greek measure corresponding to 600 Greek feet, or approximately 607 English feet). In terms of miles, this would make the dimensions of the base of the city each 1,380 miles (2221 km) in length. Never, of course, was there ever a city like this!

For comparison, our Moon has an approximate average diameter of 2,159.2 miles (3,475 km). Earth has an approximate average diameter of 7913 miles (12735 kilometers).

If the New Jerusalem were to be superimposed upon the United States, its area would cover all the way from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico and from the Atlantic Ocean to Colorado. (4) If it were to be superimposed upon and centered on Jerusalem, its area would approximately cover all the way from Samsun, Turkey to Jeddah, Saudia Arabia, and from Benghazi, Libya to Bagdad, Iraq.

The approximate boundary between our atmosphere and outer space, known as the Kármán Line, is in the thermosphere, at an altitude of about 62 miles (100 km). If the New Jerusalem settled on Earth, it would project 1380 miles (2221 km) – 62 miles (100 km) = 1318 miles (2121 km) into outer space!

However, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, will move from the planet Heaven to enter a geostationary orbit above Jerusalem, Israel. This means God’s people will not spend eternity in Heaven floating on clouds in heavenly mist. No, they will live with Him forever in this grand, eternal city orbiting a new Earth over Jerusalem!

But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. For it is written: “Rejoice, O barren woman who does not bear children; break forth and shout, you who have no birth pains, because the children of the desolate woman are more numerous than those of the woman who has a husband.” (Galatians 4:26–27 NET)

A geostationary orbit is a circular geosynchronous orbit in the plane of the Earth’s equator with a radius of approximately 26,199 mi (42,164 km) (measured from the center of the Earth). An object in such an orbit is at an altitude of approximately 22,236 miles (35,786 km) above mean sea level. For comparison, the Moon is an average distance of 238,855 miles (384,400 km) from Earth. This means that while the New Jerusalem is about 64% of the size of the Moon, it will be 90% closer to the Earth than the Moon! Furthermore, unlike the moon, it does not need to reflect the light of the Sun but rather radiates the light of the Son and the Father!

Furthermore, since its height is the same as its width and breadth, it comprises a gigantic cubical structure of 1,380 miles on every side. A number of writers have interpreted the city to be like a pyramid in shape, with the height of the pyramid equal to the dimensions of its base. Such an interpretation is quite forced; however, the passage’s language is much more naturally understood to mean a cube, with the same length, breadth, and height. Such a shape was long ago associated with the sacred presence of God, suggesting the attributes of tri-unity as it does. That is, the fundamental cosmic entity of space is a genuine trinity. Space must have three dimensions, but each dimension pervades all space. Space is always referenced to the first dimension (length) but can only be seen in terms of two dimensions (area = length squared) and experienced in three dimensions (volume = length cubed). Similarly, the Godhead is referenced to the Father, seen in the Son, experienced in the Holy Spirit. (4)

The pyramidal shape, on the other hand (whether as in Egypt, Mexico, or the stepped-towers of practically all ancient nations), seems always to have been associated with paganism, with the pyramid’s apex being dedicated to the worship of the sun, or of the host of heaven. The first such structure was the Tower of Babel, and the Bible later condemns worship carried out in high places (Leviticus 26:30), whether these were simply natural high hills or artificially constructed hills in the form of a pyramid or ziggurat. (4)

On the other hand, the cube was the shape God specified for the holy place in Solomon’s temple, where God was to “dwell” between the cherubim. Both the language and the symbology thus favor the cubical, rather than the pyramidal, shape. (4)

The inner sanctuary was 30 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 30 feet high. He plated it with gold, as well as the cedar altar. (1 Kings 6:20 NET)

It should also be remembered that the new bodies of the glorified believers will be like those of Jesus’ resurrected body. (29)

But our citizenship is in heaven—and we also await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform these humble bodies of ours into the likeness of his glorious body by means of that power by which he is able to subject all things to himself. (Philippians 3:20–21 NET)

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. (1 John 3:2 NET)

Our heavenly bodies will overcome disease and triumph over death. They will become immortal, never again subject to disease or death. (29)

And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven. Now this is what I am saying, brothers and sisters: Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Listen, I will tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed—in a moment, in the blinking of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. (1 Corinthians 15:49–53 NET)

It was neither subject to time nor space. Jesus appeared to His disciples in a room with locked doors and windows (John 20:19–26). Breaking bread with the two disciples of Emmaus, Jesus suddenly vanished (Luke 24:31). (29)

Therefore, it will be easy for the glorified believers to travel to and from the New Jerusalem to Earth. Assuming we will travel at the speed of light (1 John 1:5) how long would it take to get from the farthest place on Earth to the New Jerusalem?

The radius of Earth at the equator is 3,963 miles (6,378 kilometers), according to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. (30) However, Earth is not quite a sphere. The planet’s rotation causes it to bulge at the equator. Earth’s polar radius is 3,950 miles (6,356 km) — a difference of 13 miles (22 km). Using those measurements, Earth’s equatorial circumference is about 24,901 miles (40,075 km). However, from pole to pole — the meridional circumference — Earth is only 24,860 miles (40,008 km) around. Our planet’s shape, caused by the flattening at the poles, is called an oblate spheroid.

Assuming we choose to travel around the Earth’s surface rather than through it, we start on the Earth opposite Jerusalem then the distance would be approximately:

(24,901 miles (40,075 km)) / 2 + 22,236 miles (35,786 km) = 34,686.5 miles (55,823.5 km)

Dividing the distance by the speed of light in a vacuum. The speed of light traveling through a vacuum is exactly 299,792,458 meters (983,571,056 feet) per second. That’s about 186,282 miles per second — a universal constant known in equations as “c,” or light speed. (31)(32)

34,686.5 miles (55,823.5 km) / 186,282 mi/s (299,791.8 km/sec) = 0.2 sec (0.2 sec)

The average eye blink is .25 seconds (.1 to .4 seconds). (33) Therefore, we can travel from the opposite side of the Earth to the New Jerusalem in the “blink of an eye.” If we can travel through the Earth, it would be slightly faster!

Furthermore, it will be as easy for the inhabitants to travel vertically as horizontally in the new Jerusalem. Consequently, the “streets” of the city (verse 21) may well include vertical passageways as well as horizontal avenues, and the “blocks” could be real cubical blocks instead of square areas between streets as in a present-day earthly city. (4)

This kind of geometry makes it easier to understand how all the redeemed of all ages could be domiciled in a single city. Although there is no way to know precisely how many people will be there, one can make at least an order-of-magnitude estimate. It can be calculated that the total number of people who lived between Adam’s time and our time is about 117 billion. (17) Then, assuming that a similar number will be born during the millennium and allowing another 10 billion (~4%) for those who died before or soon after birth (18), it is reasonable that about 244 billion men, women, and children will be members of the human race—past, present, or future. (4)

Assume also that 20 percent of these will be saved, including those who die in infancy. This is obviously only a guess, but the Lord Jesus did make it plain that the large majority will never be saved (Matthew 7:13,14).

“Enter through the narrow gate, because the gate is wide and the way is spacious that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. But the gate is narrow and the way is difficult that leads to life, and there are few who find it. (Matthew 7:13–14 NET)

If this figure is used, the new Jerusalem would have to accommodate about 50 billion residents. Also, assume that 25 percent of the city is used for the “mansions” of these inhabitants (John 14:2), with the rest allocated to streets, parks, public buildings, etc. Then, the average space assigned to each person would be:

This would correspond to a cubical “block” with about thirty-five acres on each face. Obviously, there is adequate room in the holy city for all who will be there. Another way of measuring the size would be that each person’s block’s average length (or width or height) would be approximately a quarter of a mile in each direction. Some, no doubt, would have larger amounts, some smaller, but this would be about the average size. (4)

John’s description of the shape, height, width, and length was his way of saying the city is perfect in every way. While Babylon and Rome were built for the glory of man, the New Jerusalem was built for the glory of God. It is perfect, just as He is perfect. (21)

Recall the earthquake from the last Bowl changed the contour of the entire land of Israel. It raised the Mediterranean Sea so its waters would flow through the valley created by Jesus when He stood upon the Mount of Olives. This was a fulfillment of what was spoken by Zechariah: (8)

On that day his feet will stand on the Mount of Olives which lies to the east of Jerusalem, and the Mount of Olives will be split in half from east to west, leaving a great valley. Half the mountain will move northward and the other half southward. Then you will escape through my mountain valley, for the mountains will extend to Azal. Indeed, you will flee as you fled from the earthquake in the days of King Uzziah of Judah. Then the Lord my God will come with all his holy ones with him. (Zechariah 14:4–5 NET)

This allowed the now-fresh waters of the Mediterranean Sea to flow again into the Dead Sea. In addition, perhaps the gravitational field developed by the New Jerusalem will cause the Mediterranean Sea to rise, thus facilitating increased flow into the Dead Sea. Furthermore, this gravitational field may be a factor in Mount Zion becoming the highest mountain in Jerusalem. However, the New Jerusalem is from Heaven and may not have the same properties as this universe.

Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple. I noticed that water was flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from under the right side of the temple, from south of the altar. He led me out by way of the north gate and brought me around the outside of the outer gate that faces toward the east; I noticed that the water was trickling out from the south side. When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep. Again he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was now knee deep. Once more he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was waist deep. Again he measured 1,750 feet and it was a river I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I had returned, I noticed a vast number of trees on the banks of the river, on both sides. He said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the Arabah; when they enter the Dead Sea, where the sea is stagnant, the waters become fresh. Every living creature which swarms where the river flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh and everything will live where the river flows. Fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to En-eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea.But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty. On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:1–12 NET)

(5) The Gates of Pearl and Streets of Gold

This is how John describes the city: (21)

And the twelve gates are twelve pearls—each one of the gates is made from just one pearl! The main street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:21 NET)

Each gate is made of a single pearl. (21)

(6) God the Father and Son are the Temple

Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God—the All-Powerful—and the Lamb are its temple. Revelation 21:22 NET)

John states that there is no temple within the New Jerusalem. However, the Millennial temple will be built on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. At the earthquake of the seventh bowl, Mount Zion will be made the highest of all the mountains of Israel. (3)

The prophet Ezekiel gives great details concerning the temple that will be the throne of the Messiah on top of Mount Zion (Ezekiel chapters 40-48). Some major similarities need to be addressed that make it very evident these passages in both Ezekiel and Revelation are referring to the time of the Millennium: (3)

• Within both the Millennial temple and the New Jerusalem, it is said to be the throne of God and Jesus Christ.

And there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city [New Jerusalem]. His servants will worship him, (Revelation 22:3 NET)

I heard someone speaking to me from the [Millennial] temple, while the man was standing beside me. He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die. (Ezekiel 43:6–7 NET)

• Both thrones will seat a King who rules forever.

Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:5 NET)

He said to me: “Son of man, this is the place of my throne and the place for the soles of my feet, where I will live among the people of Israel forever. The house of Israel will no longer profane my holy name, neither they nor their kings, by their spiritual prostitution or by the pillars of their kings set up when they die. When they placed their threshold by my threshold and their doorpost by my doorpost, with only the wall between me and them, they profaned my holy name by the abominable deeds they committed. So I consumed them in my anger. Now they must put away their spiritual prostitution and the pillars of their kings far from me, and then I will live among them forever. (Ezekiel 43:7–9 NET)

• The throne in the New Jerusalem and the throne in the Millennial temple will display the glory of God.

The city [New Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23 NET)

The glory of the Lord came into the [Millennial] temple by way of the gate that faces east. Then a wind lifted me up and brought me to the inner court; I watched the glory of the Lord filling the temple. (Ezekiel 43:4–5 NET)

• Both thrones have water flowing through them, upon the banks of which are said to be trees that will grow for the healing of the nations.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life—water as clear as crystal—pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing down the middle of the city’s main street. On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:1–2 NET)

On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:12 NET)

• Only those whose names have been written in the Book of Life shall enter, while the unrighteous will be excluded (Revelation 21:27 )

but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:27 NET)

This is what the sovereign Lord says: No foreigner, who is uncircumcised in heart and flesh among all the foreigners who are among the people of Israel, will enter into my [Millennial] sanctuary. (Ezekiel 44:9 NET)

The throne room in the description of the New Jerusalem matches the throne room in the description of the Millennial Temple that sits upon Mount Zion. How can that be since the New Jerusalem orbits Earth and the Millennial Temple is on Earth? The answer is there are two similar throne rooms.

But he was silent and did not answer. Again the high priest questioned him, “Are you the Christ, the Son of the Blessed One?” “I am,” said Jesus, “and you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power and coming with the clouds of heaven.” (Mark 14:61–62 NET)

But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked intently toward heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. “Look!” he said. “I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God!” (Acts 7:55–56 NET)

One is in the New Jerusalem, which has a throne for God our Father and a throne for God the Son, Jesus the Messiah, on His right.

I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21 NET)

The city [New Jerusalem] does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23 NET)

In the verse above, God the Father is the primary light of the New Jerusalem, whereas Jesus is the lamp which implies mobility.

The other is in the throne room in Jerusalem, Israel, with a throne for Jesus and at least twelve additional thrones placed on His right and left.

Then Peter said to him, “Look, we have left everything to follow you! What then will there be for us?” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth: In the age when all things are renewed, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. (Matthew 19:27–28 NET)

Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said, “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask.” He said to them, “What do you want me to do for you?” They said to him, “Permit one of us to sit at your right hand and the other at your left in your glory.” But Jesus said to them, “You don’t know what you are asking! Are you able to drink the cup I drink or be baptized with the baptism I experience?” They said to him, “We are able.” Then Jesus said to them, “You will drink the cup I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism I experience, but to sit at my right or at my left is not mine to give. It is for those for whom it has been prepared.” (Mark 10:35–40 NET)

I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. (Revelation 3:21 NET)

Then I saw thrones and seated on them were those who had been given authority to judge. I also saw the souls of those who had been beheaded because of the testimony about Jesus and because of the word of God. These had not worshiped the beast or his image and had refused to receive his mark on their forehead or hand. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years. (Revelation 20:4 NET)

Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if the world is to be judged by you, are you not competent to settle trivial suits? Do you not know that we will judge angels? Why not ordinary matters! (1 Corinthians 6:2–3 NET)

Jesus is God, which means He is imminent and transcendent. That is, He is simultaneously beyond this world and near and present in this world without contradiction. (36)(37) This means Jesus could be seated on both thrones simultaneously.

Ezekiel also states that this temple will have priests who will perform sacrifices that will continually bring to remembrance the Lord’s atonement on Calvary (Ezekiel chapters 44 and 45). The sacrifices in the Old Testament were never for the remission of sins but for the Jewish people to comprehend the price that had to be paid for sin. They looked forward and pointed to the atoning work of the cross.

Similarly, when the church celebrates the ordinance of the Lord’s Supper (1), it does not add to the work of Christ at Calvary but serves as an illustration and a reminder of the all-sufficient work of our Lord. Similarly, the millennial sacrifices will point back to Christ’s death as an accomplished fact and serve as a reminder of the salvation that all Israel will by then know. During the Millennium, the Jewish people and the nations will be continually reminded of the Lord’s sacrifice as they come to worship Him on Mount Zion. (3)

And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.” In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers. For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable. Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience, so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy. For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all. Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen. (Romans 11:26–36 NET)

When King Solomon built the Temple to God, he realized that no earthly structure could contain the fullness of the glory of God. (21)

I will build a great temple, for our God is greater than all gods. Of course, who can really build a temple for him, since the sky and the highest heavens cannot contain him? Who am I that I should build him a temple! It will really be only a place to offer sacrifices before him. (2 Chronicles 2:5–6 NET)

It was simply a place where God could meet with His people, and they could draw near to Him through their sacrifices. Solomon was right, which is why New Jerusalem has no temple. The fullness of God’s presence is the temple in the New Jerusalem. Every citizen of the New Jerusalem will be in His presence wherever they are because His glory fills the city. (21)

Isaiah saw this city and wrote:

“Arise! Shine! For your light arrives! The splendor of the Lord shines on you! For, look, darkness covers the earth and deep darkness covers the nations, but the Lord shines on you; his splendor appears over you. Nations come to your light, kings to your bright light. (Isaiah 60:1–3 NET)

(7) The Glory of God Provides General Illumination, and Jesus provides Specific Illumination

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it. (Revelation 21:23–24 NET)

The New Jerusalem will be in geostationary orbit about the Earth, with its center aligned with the Millennial temple atop Mount Zion. The glory of God will shine forth from the New Jerusalem in this position to illuminate Jerusalem and the surrounding nations. Imagine the Glory of God shining through those twelve foundation layers!

The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it. Its gates will never be closed during the day (and there will be no night there). (Revelation 21:24–25 NET)

John sees the final fulfillment of Isaiah’s prophecy and says that the nations (the redeemed Gentiles from the Messianic Kingdom) shall walk in the light of God’s brightness and bring their glory and honor to Him. (21)

Isaiah also said of the future Jerusalem:

Nations come to your light, kings to your bright light. (Isaiah 60:3 NET)

These nations are the descendants of those who survived the Day of the Lord and were allowed to enter the kingdom of God after the Sheep and Goat Judgment. (3)

Now it shall come to pass in the latter days That the mountain of the Lord's house Shall be established on the top of the mountains, And shall be exalted above the hills; And all the nations shall flow to it. Many people shall come and say, "Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, To the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, And we shall walk in His paths." For out of Zion shall go forth the law, And the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Isaiah 2:2-3)

The people of these nations will be required to go to Jerusalem to worship during the great Hebrew feasts: (3)

And it shall come to pass that everyone who is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of Hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles. And it shall be that whichever of the families of the earth do not come up to Jerusalem to worship the King, the Lord of hosts, on them there will be no rain. (Zechariah 14:16-17)

Today, believers are the temple of God because His Spirit lives in them.

Paul writes:

Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body. (1 Corinthians 6:19–20 (NET)  

Because we sometimes yield to the lusts of our flesh, we can grieve and quench the Holy Spirit in us.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. (Ephesians 4:30 NET)

Do not extinguish the Spirit. (1 Thessalonians 5:19 NET)

The Fourth New Thing – The New Nations

The City is for Believers Only

Its gates will never be closed during the day (and there will be no night there). They will bring the grandeur and the wealth of the nations into it, but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:25–27 NET)

It is then revealed that no one who is sinful or unclean will be allowed to enter the city; only those who have been written in the Book of Life. As discussed before, there will be those of these nations who will reject Jesus and His Kingdom and side with Satan at the end of the Millennium. These unbelievers will not be allowed access to the New Jerusalem. (3)

Ancient people closed the gates of their cities at night for security reasons. They needed to keep out invaders. Because evil and sin have been completely purged from the earth, the city’s gates will always remain open. We will not need to lock our doors or set our alarm systems. Nor will we need to close the gates because there will be no invaders to keep out. (21)

Paul encouraged the believers at Thessalonica with the following words:

Now may the God of peace himself make you completely holy and may your spirit and soul and body be kept entirely blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls you is trustworthy, and he will in fact do this.Brothers and sisters, pray for us too. (1 Thessalonians 5:23–25 NET)

May God comfort us with these words as we face a world that hates God and His people with ever-increasing fervor. The near future is uncertain, but our eternal destiny is sure. Regardless of difficulties, God has a glorious home for His people, a place where we will live with Him forever. His Word is true, and He is faithful to His Word. (21)

May they speak to our hearts as well.

The Fifth New Thing – The New “River of Life”

Paradise Restored

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life—water as clear as crystal—pouring out from the throne of God and of the Lamb, flowing down the middle of the city’s main street. (Revelation 22:1 NET)

We learn in Genesis that when God created the Garden of Eden, He made a river to water it:

Now a river flows from Eden to water the orchard, and from there it divides into four headstreams. (Genesis 2:10 NET)

The story in Genesis is not an allegory. Adam and Eve were real people. The Garden of Eden was a real place with a river flowing through it. In the restored Paradise, John also sees a river. We have every reason to believe this is a real river, just as it was in the Genesis account. (21)

Water has always been a symbol of life in ancient times and our own times. In the world of the Bible and much of our world today— including Israel and her neighbors—water is scarce. One of the biggest challenges in Israel today is determining how to preserve and distribute the water in the Jordan River. In fact, one of the main causes of the 1967 Six-Day War was Syria’s effort to divert the headwaters of the Jordan River from Israel to Syria. (21)

This water scarcity has spawned an emerging industry: desalination technology to turn seawater into drinking water. We can live without oil, but we can not live without water. (21)

A definite rainy season in Israel begins in late September or early October. During this time, the people of Israel prayed for rain, without which there could be no harvest. This was, and still is, the time of the biblical Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths). (21)

The Hebrews had several special rituals they called upon when seeking God for rain. The first was the ritual of pouring water. This took place on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles (Feast of Booths). The day was called in Hebrew Hoshana Rabba, which means the “Day of the Great Hosanna.” (The phrase translates into English as “save now.”) On the Day of the Great Hosanna, the Jews would pray for rain and for God’s salvation through the Messiah. (21)

The ritual of pouring the water had both a physical and spiritual significance. At the beginning of the rainy season, the Jews needed the rain to soften the ground for plowing. Because of this, they made a special thanksgiving offering to God for the rain he would send. The spiritual significance pointed to the coming of the Messiah, who would give them the living waters that flow from His Spirit. (21)

As part of the ritual proceeding, a designated priest would use a golden pitcher to draw water from the Pool of Siloam and carry it to the altar at the Temple. The High Priest would then take the pitcher and pour the water into a basin at the foot of the altar. As this occurred, the priests would blow their trumpets, and the Levites and all the people would wave palm branches and sing to the Lord. (21)

About the time the water was being poured, the people would sing and praise God with these words from Isaiah:

Joyfully you will draw water from the springs of deliverance. (Isaiah 12:3 NET)

and

For I will pour water on the parched ground and cause streams to flow on the dry land. I will pour my spirit on your offspring and my blessing on your children. (Isaiah 44:3 NET)

This was the most joyous day of the celebration, and the pouring of the water was the most joyous moment of the day.

Jesus kept the Feast in obedience to the Torah. Just as the fervor of the celebration reached its peak at the pouring of water, Jesus made a bold declaration. John was an eyewitness to it and wrote:

On the last day of the feast, the greatest day, Jesus stood up and shouted out, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. Just as the scripture says, ‘From within him will flow rivers of living water.’ ”(Now he said this about the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were going to receive, for the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:37–39 NET)

Jesus made a similar statement to the Samaritan woman at the well. John also records this conversation:

Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water [from this physical well] will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him [from my spiritual well] will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13–14 NET)

From the Bible and history, we understand that water is necessary for physical life and is universally recognized as a symbol of spiritual life.

The Hebrew prophets spoke of a time when a river would flow from the Temple of God to refresh the land and the people. (21) This river was created when Christ split the Mount of Olives and raised the Dead Sea at the seventh bowl judgment. It shall flow through the throne room and into the city. (3)

Ezekiel and Zechariah spoke about the time of the Messianic Kingdom, which would be a preview of life in the New Jerusalem with God. (21)

Then he brought me back to the entrance of the temple. I noticed that water was flowing from under the threshold of the temple toward the east (for the temple faced east). The water was flowing down from under the right side of the temple, from south of the altar. He led me out by way of the north gate and brought me around the outside of the outer gate that faces toward the east; I noticed that the water was trickling out from the south side. When the man went out toward the east with a measuring line in his hand, he measured 1,750 feet, and then he led me through water, which was ankle deep. Again he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was now knee deep. Once more he measured 1,750 feet and led me through the water, which was waist deep. Again he measured 1,750 feet and it was a river I could not cross, for the water had risen; it was deep enough to swim in, a river that could not be crossed. He said to me, “Son of man, have you seen this?” Then he led me back to the bank of the river. When I had returned, I noticed a vast number of trees on the banks of the river, on both sides. He said to me, “These waters go out toward the eastern region and flow down into the Arabah; when they enter the Dead Sea, where the sea is stagnant, the waters become fresh.Every living creature which swarms where the river flows will live; there will be many fish, for these waters flow there. It will become fresh and everything will live where the river flows. Fishermen will stand beside it; from Engedi to En-eglaim they will spread nets. They will catch many kinds of fish, like the fish of the Great Sea. But its swamps and its marshes will not become fresh; they will remain salty. (Ezekiel 47:1–11 NET)

Moreover, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, half of them to the eastern sea and half of them to the western sea; it will happen both in summer and in winter. (Zechariah 14:8 NET)

The river of life John sees is pure and clear as crystal. It flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This description means that the river of life is uncontaminated and undefiled, representing the fullness of God’s life and blessings forevermore. (21)

Although the Holy Spirit in believers today quenches our souls’ thirst for God, our sins often keep us from enjoying the fullest measure of His life flowing in us, through us, and out of us. When we are fully like God without sin, there will be nothing to hinder us from drinking freely of the river of life. (21)

The sons of Korah expressed the heart cry of God’s people throughout the ages:

As a deer longs for streams of water, so I long for you, O God! I thirst for God, for the living God. I say, “When will I be able to go and appear in God’s presence?” (Psalm 42:1–2 NET)

This cry of our souls for God is fully satisfied by His eternal presence in our midst when Paradise is restored. (21)

The psalmist looked prophetically to this time and wrote:

The river’s channels bring joy to the city of God, the special, holy dwelling place of the sovereign One. (Psalm 46:4 NET)

The Sixth New Thing – The Tree of Life

John sees the Tree of Life, which shows God’s faithfulness to His word of promise:

On each side of the river is the tree of life producing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month of the year. Its leaves are for the healing of the nations. (Revelation 22:2 NET)

Both John and Ezekiel also state that trees will grow along this river’s banks and that they will bear fruit every month (Ezekiel 47:12 and Revelation 22:2). These trees shall be medicine for the healing of the nations who live on the earth outside of the New Jerusalem (Ezekiel 47:12 and Revelation 22:2). Most importantly, the tree of life, which was taken away from man when sin began, is now restored to the earth. Those who have overcome will be able to eat freely from the Tree of Life, as was stated in Christ’s letter to the church in Ephesus (Revelation 2:7). In fact, many of the things promised to the faithful of the seven churches are now fulfilled. (3)

The tree(s) of life bear fruit every month. John explains that the leaves are for the healing (health) of the nations. The word nations can also be translated as “peoples.” (21)

We don’t know if this refers to the citizens of the New Jerusalem or people groups that will make a transition from the Messianic Kingdom into eternity. However God works this out, the result is that God’s people will live with Him forever. (21)

In eternity, the normal cycles of planting, sowing, and reaping no longer apply. The tree(s) of life bear fruit every month. When John says the leaves are for the healing or health of the nations, he does not mean that people will actually get sick. (21)

In another connection to the Garden of Eden:

The Lord God made all kinds of trees grow from the soil, every tree that was pleasing to look at and good for food. (Now the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil were in the middle of the orchard.) (Genesis 2:9 NET)

On both sides of the river’s banks, every kind of tree will grow for food. Their leaves will not wither nor will their fruit fail, but they will bear fruit every month, because their water source flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” (Ezekiel 47:12 NET)

The Lord made this promise to the overcomers at Ephesus:

The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers, I will permit him to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God.’ (Revelation 2:7 NET)

He has already said that:

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” (Revelation 21:4 NET)

This simply means that the bodies we will have in eternity will not be subject to corruption. (21)

Whether you believe what John sees is literal or symbolic, he means for us to understand that God’s life will be fully and completely sufficient for our every need. All the “no mores” of the New Jerusalem will be no more because we will no longer live with the curse of sin. Instead, we will live in the direct, unveiled presence of the manifested glory of God. (21)

The Seventh New Thing – The Throne of God and of the Lamb

And there will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and the Lamb will be in the city. His servants will worship him, and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. Night will be no more, and they will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, because the Lord God will shine on them, and they will reign forever and ever. (Revelation 22:3–5 NET)

John now makes seven mind-boggling comments about the eternal home of God’s people. Since we are bound by time and space and limited to our experiences in this world, it takes a revelation from God’s Spirit to grasp the enormous blessings of living in God’s new world. (21)

There shall be no more Curse

First, John gives the good news that he hints at in:

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying: “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist.” (Revelation 21:3–4 NET)

The curse of sin is gone!

The Lord made the following promise to the overcomers at Smyrna:

The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches. The one who conquers will in no way be harmed by the second death [which is a result of the curse of sin].’ (Revelation 2:11 NET)

When Adam and Eve sinned, their rebellion resulted in what Paul calls the law (or principle) of sin and death. Jesus took the curse of this law on Himself when He died as the innocent substitutionary sacrifice for sin. (21)

Paul explains:

For the law of the life-giving Spirit in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:2 NET)

When God’s Spirit comes to live in us, He changes the desires of our hearts and empowers us to live in victory over the sinful thoughts and ways we entertained in the past. (21)

As Paul comments:

for the one bringing forth in you both the desire and the effort—for the sake of his good pleasure—is God. (Philippians 2:13 NET)

Paul explains this dramatic change in our lives:

But I say, live by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desires of the flesh. For the flesh has desires that are opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit has desires that are opposed to the flesh, for these are in opposition to each other, so that you cannot do what you want. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity, depravity, idolatry, sorcery, hostilities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, factions, envying, murder, drunkenness, carousing, and similar things. I am warning you, as I had warned you before: Those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God! But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also behave in accordance with the Spirit. Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, being jealous of one another. (Galatians 5:16–26 NET)

Internally, we are new creations:

So then, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; what is old has passed away—look, what is new has come! (2 Corinthians 5:17 NET)

Believers are no longer under the curse of the law of sin and death. Our changed lives are a testimony to this reality. We can and should live in the victory Jesus has made possible for us. Yet we still sin, and we still die. This is because, in this present world, the law or principle of sin and death is still in us, with us, and everywhere around us. (21)

That will change in God’s eternity. While we should give place to the Holy Spirit daily, in the New Jerusalem, we will no longer have to struggle to overcome the law of sin and death. The curse of sin will be gone forever. Hallelujah! (21)

The Throne of God and of the Lamb is Seen

In Revelation Chapters Four and Five, John sees the throne of God and the Lamb, which he now understands is in the New Jerusalem. In ancient times, it was not unusual for an honorable king to share his throne with his firstborn son, who would one day be his heir. In the same way, a father often shares responsibilities with his oldest son. Here we see our Father in Heaven sharing His throne with His firstborn Son — the heir of all things. (21)

in these last days he has spoken to us in a son, whom he appointed heir of all things, and through whom he created the world. (Hebrews 1:2 NET)

Not only has our Father in Heaven promised to share His throne with His Son, but Jesus has also promised to share His rule with us. While His rule is that of the sovereign Lord, ours is that of the overcomer. (21)

The Lord made this promise to the overcomers at Laodicea:

I will grant the one who conquers permission to sit with me on my throne, just as I too conquered and sat down with my Father on his throne. The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ ” (Revelation 3:21–22 NET)

In John’s vision of the throne room of God, he sees the 24 elders sitting on thrones:

In a circle around the throne were twenty-four other thrones, and seated on those thrones were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in white clothing and had golden crowns on their heads. (Revelation 4:4 NET)

John consistently points out that God’s glory is shared with His Son. John says that the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple in the New Jerusalem. (21)

Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God—the All-Powerful—and the Lamb are its temple. (Revelation 21:22 NET)

This means we will not have to go to a temple or other place to worship God because the entire City is God’s Temple or dwelling place. (21)

This is true for believers today as well. So many have been led to believe that they have to go to some building or place to worship God when, in fact, they are the building of God. (21)

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16 NET)

In New Jerusalem, this will be clear to everyone.

John also says that the river of life flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Now he adds that the manifested glory of God and the Lamb is the light of the New Jerusalem. (21)

We should live our lives constantly, aware of Jesus as our Lord and King. He should be on the throne of our hearts. This is a decision we must make anew every day of our lives. We should live overcoming lives today. (21)

We will not have to struggle with this in New Jerusalem. Neither will we have to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem to appear before God. His throne will be in our midst. Our Creator and Lord will be with us forever in His blazing glory and beauty. We will have complete access to His spectacular splendor and awesome majesty. The New Jerusalem, our eternal hometown, is the ultimate “throne city of God.” (21)

His servants shall serve Him

What will we be doing in eternity? Some still think we will spend eternity floating on clouds and playing harps. Nothing could be further from the truth. John explains that we will spend eternity serving God. While he does not say what we will be doing, we know that Adam and Eve stayed busy tending God’s Garden before they sinned. (21)

In addition to our unfettered worship and praise in the presence of God, our Father in Heaven will have many assignments for us that quite possibly will relate to administering and carrying out His will throughout the universe. (21)

With no hindrances from Satan and freedom from the curse of sin, we can accomplish our God-given tasks full of joy and satisfaction. Our service will be pure and holy and will never be tainted by self-promotion or hidden agendas. There will be no need for money to finance our assignments and no need to pray for helpers to come alongside and bear the burden of the ministry. The presence of God Himself will be the eternal source of all that we need to do His will.

They shall see His Face

When Moses met with God at Mount Sinai, he pleaded with God, saying: (21)

And Moses said, “Show me your glory.” (Exodus 33:18 NET)

The Lord told Moses He would reveal Himself but explained that Moses could not see His face. God meant that neither Moses nor any human could see the fullness of God’s glory (and live to tell it). (21)

The Lord said to Moses,

But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can see me and live.” (Exodus 33:20 NET)

John means this when he says we will see God’s face. As we learned in the last chapter, we will be able to behold God as He is because we will be like Him—without sin. We will live in the presence of the grandeur of His glory and the awesomeness of His aura, as John explains in the first of his three letters: (21)

Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is. (1 John 3:2 NET)

Oh, to love like Jesus loves, to hate sin like He hates sin, to love righteousness like He loves righteousness. To have the character of the Messiah! Hallelujah!

In the Lord’s letter to the believers at Philadelphia, He promised to write His name on the overcomers, that they would be citizens of the New Jerusalem and pillars in the Temple of God.

The one who conquers I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never depart from it. I will write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God (the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven from my God), and my new name as well. The one who has an ear had better hear what the Spirit says to the churches.’ (Revelation 3:12–13 NET)

This Scripture is now fulfilled in Revelation chapter twenty-two.

Writing a deity’s name on someone was an ancient custom that showed ownership and devotion. The mark on a person was a form of witnessing that expressed their devotion to a particular deity. This is still done in some cultures (India, for example). (22)

When God revealed Himself to the Hebrews, He did so with words and ways related to their day’s customs. Since they were familiar with the idea of bearing the mark of a deity, God said He would write His name on them. This is like a “P.S.” to the blessing God told Aaron to pronounce over the people. (22)

This blessing in Hebrew is called the Birkat Cohanim (the priestly blessing).

The blessing reads:

“The Lord bless you and protect you; 

The Lord make his face to shine upon you, and be gracious to you; 

The Lord lift up his countenance [His radiant smile] upon you 
and 
give you peace [security, wholeness, success].” ’ 

(Numbers 6:24–26 NET)

The Lord then adds the following, who is the source of the blessing:

So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Numbers 6:27 NET)

God instructed the Hebrews to write His name on their foreheads and hands as an outward sign that they were devoted to Him. (21)

Deuteronomy reads:

Fix these words of mine into your mind and being, and tie them as a reminder on your hands and let them be symbols on your forehead. (Deuteronomy 11:18 NET)

God even told them to write His words on the doorposts of their houses.

Inscribe them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates so that your days and those of your descendants may be extended in the land which the Lord promised to give to your ancestors, like the days of heaven itself. (Deuteronomy 11:20–21).

God did not tell the Jewish people how to do this. Over time, the religious leaders decided to make two small leather boxes containing the Scriptures, commanding the people to attach them to their foreheads and hands. The box attached to their foreheads and hands is called a tefillin. The mezuzah is a container for holding God’s Word attached to the doorpost. The Jews write the Hebrew letter shin on the outside of the tefillin and the mezuzah. The shin stands for Shaddai, which means “Almighty.” (21)

We have already learned that God put a seal on the foreheads of His people to protect them from His judgments against those who oppose Him. (21)

“Do not damage the earth or the sea or the trees until we have put a seal on the foreheads of the servants of our God.” (Revelation 7:3 NET)

Later on, we learned that this seal is God’s name:

Then I looked, and here was the Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with him were one hundred and forty-four thousand, who had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads. (Revelation 14:1 NET)

In Revelation 22, we see that God’s name will be on the foreheads of His people for eternity.

and they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. (Revelation 22:4 NET)

Whether you believe this is a literal name written on our foreheads or a symbolic way of saying we belong to the One True God, the point is that we will be God’s people forever. (21)

God is the light of Eternity

John repeats something he said earlier. He tells us there is no night in eternity because God and the Lamb are the light. (21)

He previously explained:

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their grandeur into it. Its gates will never be closed during the day (and there will be no night there). They will bring the grandeur and the wealth of the nations into it, but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:23–27 NET)

Previously, we noted that Isaiah prophesied a time when God’s glorious presence would be the light of the New Jerusalem.

“Arise! Shine! For your light arrives! The splendor of the Lord shines on you! (Isaiah 60:1 NET)

The sun will no longer supply light for you by day, nor will the moon’s brightness shine on you; the Lord will be your permanent source of light— the splendor of your God will shine upon you. Your sun will no longer set; your moon will not disappear; the Lord will be your permanent source of light; your time of sorrow will be over. (Isaiah 60:19–20 NET)

In the Genesis account of creation, God made the sun and the moon for light:

God made two great lights—the greater light to rule over the day and the lesser light to rule over the night. He made the stars also. God placed the lights in the expanse of the sky to shine on the earth, to preside over the day and the night, and to separate the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good. (Genesis 1:16–18 NET)

The sun and the moon give light and are also necessary for our agricultural seasons. Since God and the Lamb are the light of the New Jerusalem and the river of life and the tree(s) of life are perpetual, agricultural seasons will not be needed in eternity. As John noted, the tree(s) of life will bear fruit every month, not just in certain seasons. There will be no time or seasons in eternity. (21)

In the first of his three short letters, John wrote:

Now this is the gospel message we have heard from him and announce to you: God is light, and in him there is no darkness at all. (1 John 1:5 NET)

John is referring to God’s manifested glory and His moral character. (21)

When Jesus walked the earth,

He said,

Then Jesus spoke out again, “I am the light of the world. The one who follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12 NET)

When healing a blind man, Jesus said:

As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5 NET)

Jesus also told His followers,

You are the light of the world. A city located on a hill cannot be hidden. People do not light a lamp and put it under a basket but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:14–16 NET)

As believers, the light of God’s life lives in us in the person of the Holy Spirit. Yet, sometimes our light is not very bright. It will be bright in the New Jerusalem because the glory of God will be the light of our eternal home. We will fully radiate His light throughout eternity. (21)

Sometimes, we do not glorify God. We will not have this challenge in New Jerusalem. The city is designed to radiate the light of God’s glory without hindrance so that all the inhabitants will see His glory and be in His glory wherever they are. Because the Lord’s glory is the city’s light, there is no need for the sun and moon, for there will be no nighttime in eternity. (21)

This is not to say that the sun and the moon will no longer exist, just that their light will not be needed to illuminate the New Jerusalem. Recall the structures and the streets are said to be constructed of pure, transparent gold, while each gate entrance is carved out of a single giant pearl. Consequently, the reflection of the glory of God from this city will light up the entire area of the Middle East. It is also revealed that the nations and the kings of the earth will bring the glory and honor of its peoples into it. (3)

They shall reign forever and ever

John’s last comment is that God’s people will reign with Him forever and ever. Think about that! When God created Adam and Eve, He gave them His authority to rule and subdue all He had created.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply! Fill the earth and subdue it! Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and every creature that moves on the ground.” (Genesis 1:28 NET)

When they sinned, their authority was lost to Satan, who became the god of this world system.

I will not speak with you much longer, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no power over me, (John 14:30 NET)

and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. (and concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world has been condemned. (John 16:11 NET)

Because we have all sinned, God could not restore His authority to any of us. This is one of the reasons He came to earth in the person of Jesus of Nazareth. Since He was the Worthy Redeemer, without sin, God was able to restore His delegated authority to Jesus. He is the exalted Son of Man (one like us) to whom and through whom God has restored His authority to humankind. (21)

Paul explains:

As a result God exalted him and gave him the name that is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow —in heaven and on earth and under the earth— and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:9–11 NET)

Even though God has placed His Spirit within us, we do not always yield to His life and power. As a result, we don’t always walk in the victory God has won for us. But we will in the New Jerusalem. (21)

Paul wrote to Timothy,

If we endure, we will also reign with him. If we deny him, he will also deny us. If we are unfaithful, he remains faithful, since he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:12 NET)

A Final Reminder

Then the angel said to me, “These words are reliable and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants what must happen soon.” (Look! I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy expressed in this book.) I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them, I threw myself down to worship at the feet of the angel who was showing them to me. But he said to me, “Do not do this! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey the words of this book. Worship God!” Then he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book, because the time is near. The evildoer must continue to do evil, and the one who is morally filthy must continue to be filthy. The one who is righteous must continue to act righteously, and the one who is holy must continue to be holy.” (Revelation 22:6–11 NET)

John has now seen all that God wanted to show him. The remainder of the chapter contains some final words of encouragement given to John by the angel and Jesus for us. As a further confirmation and confidence-builder, the angel assures John that the words in Revelation he has received are faithful, true, and will come to pass. (21)(3)

John declares that Jesus is:

and from Jesus Christ—the faithful witness, the firstborn from among the dead, the ruler over the kings of the earth. To the one who loves us and has set us free from our sins at the cost of his own blood (Revelation 1:5 NET)

Jesus introduced Himself to the believers at Laodicea as:

“To the angel of the church in Laodicea write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the originator of God’s creation: (Revelation 3:14 NET)

In Revelation 19:11, Jesus is called:

Then I saw heaven opened and here came a white horse! The one riding it was called “Faithful” and “True,” and with justice he judges and goes to war. (Revelation 19:11 NET)

In Revelation 21:5, God Himself tells John that the words He is writing are:

Then the One seated on the throne said, “Look! I am making everything new.” He also said, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.” (Revelation 21:5 HCSB)

Jesus has conquered Caesar, Zeus, and Satan. He is exalted in Heaven as the glorified Son of Man and is returning for those who are His. God’s people will rule and reign with Him throughout eternity in a new Heaven, Earth, and Jerusalem. Therefore, we should not fear what evil leaders and governments can do to us. We should not be tempted to “fix our sandals” (1) before the altar of anti-God governments. He will judge them in God’s own time while glorifying His own. (21)

As Jesus said:

Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away. (Matthew 24:35 NET)

God used Angels to reveal His words to John, except for Jesus’ letters to the seven congregations and one other instance:

(Look! I will come like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays alert and does not lose his clothes so that he will not have to walk around naked and his shameful condition be seen.) (Revelation 16:15 NET)

However, in this last chapter, Jesus Himself confirms that He is returning to the earth. No fewer than three times, He says that He is coming quickly:

(Look! I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy expressed in this book.) (Revelation 22:7 NET)

(Look! I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to pay each one according to what he has done! (Revelation 22:12 NET)

The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 NET)

Two thousand years have passed since Jesus made this promise, and He has not yet returned. Therefore, we might understand His words to mean something other than chronological time.

Peter helps clarify His meaning for us:

Now, dear friends, do not let this one thing escape your notice, that a single day is like a thousand years with the Lord and a thousand years are like a single day. The Lord is not slow concerning his promise, as some regard slowness, but is being patient toward you, because he does not wish for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. (2 Peter 3:8–9 NET)

When Jesus says He will come quickly, I believe He means His coming is a prophetic certainty. As the final events unfold, His coming will be eminent. Jesus is speaking about God’s prophetic calendar more than our chronological one. His admonition is that we will not have time to prepare once these events occur. We must prepare now if we are to be ready for the marvelous events that are ahead. (21)

When teaching about the end of days, Jesus told His followers:

Therefore you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him. (Matthew 24:44 NET)

Jesus connects His words in Revelation 22:7 with what has already been said in Revelation 1:3:

(Look! I am coming soon! Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy expressed in this book.) (Revelation 22:7 NET)

Blessed is the one who reads the words of this prophecy aloud, and blessed are those who hear and obey the things written in it, because the time is near! (Revelation 1:3 NET)

After reassuring John and his first-century readers that He is coming, Jesus pronounces a blessing on those who keep or obey the prophecies in the Book of Revelation. Because Western Christianity emphasizes faith as a mental agreement rather than a faithful and obedient way of life, it is most important to be reminded that true faith is evidenced by obedience to the will of God. (21)

When God called the Hebrews out of Egypt, He said to them:

So realize that the Lord your God is the true God, the faithful God who keeps covenant faithfully with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations, (Deuteronomy 7:9 NET)

Many of those who read this will say these words are for the Jews in the Old Testament, and they do not apply to New Testament believers. This is clearly not true. Jesus alluded to this Scripture and said to His followers:

“If you love me, you will obey my commandments. (John 14:15 NET)

John again states that he heard and saw these things, indicating that the prophecies outlined did not arise from a weird dream. These events were, in actuality, taking place as he witnessed them. (3)

I, John, am the one who heard and saw these things, and when I heard and saw them, I threw myself down to worship at the feet of the angel who was showing them to me. But he said to me, “Do not do this! I am a fellow servant with you and with your brothers the prophets, and with those who obey the words of this book. Worship God!” (Revelation 22:8–9 NET)

Now, we must forgive John for being overwhelmed by all he sees and hears because he once again tries to worship the angel. (21)

Remember, he did this before:

So I threw myself down at his feet to worship him, but he said, “Do not do this! I am only a fellow servant with you and your brothers who hold to the testimony about Jesus. Worship God, for the testimony about Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” (Revelation 19:10 NET)

Again, the angel rebukes John and tells him to worship God. This starkly contrasts Lucifer, the fallen angel, who desires worship for himself.

The angel’s instruction captures the overall focus of Revelation: that man should worship God, and God alone. All those who do not will have their part in the lake of fire. As Jesus states, He has His rewards, and each one will be given according to his or her works. Those who obey and keep His commandments can access the Tree of Life and the New Jerusalem. Those who do not will be left outside, never to enter or enjoy God’s rewards for His redeemed ones. (3)

The angel then instructs the Apostle John that the book of Revelation is not to be sealed. (3)

Then he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy contained in this book, because the time is near.  (Revelation 22:10 NET)

Ironically, Revelation has been unsealed since the very day it was penned by John. God has always been willing to give men an understanding of its contents and its implications for His children. Yet, many are unwilling to come to study its prophecies. Revelation’s message is frightening and glorious, bitter, yet sweet. God will one day right all the wrongs, but it will be a long, tough road of faith and trust in Jesus Christ to get there. I pray that the body of Christ will overcome and persevere. The gates of hell will never prevail against the church of Jesus Christ. As we face the trials and tribulations ahead, the words continually upon our lips should be: (3)

MARANATHA! (15)

EVEN SO, COME, LORD JESUS!

Perhaps it is the same angel who said the following to Daniel:

“But you, Daniel, close up these words and seal the book until the time of the end. Many will dash about, and knowledge will increase.” (Daniel 12:4 NET)

He said,

He said, “Go, Daniel. For these matters are closed and sealed until the time of the end. (Daniel 12:9 NET)

The angel then gives his last words to John:

The evildoer must continue to do evil, and the one who is morally filthy must continue to be filthy. The one who is righteous must continue to act righteously, and the one who is holy must continue to be holy.” (Revelation 22:11 NET)

Once again, the words of the angel come from the words he gave to Daniel:

Many will be purified, made clean, and refined, but the wicked will go on being wicked. None of the wicked will understand, though the wise will understand. (Daniel 12:10 NET)

Since God has nothing to say, the unrighteous who reject God’s Revelation cannot expect any further word from Him. Unless they repent, they will continue in their unrighteous ways, while the righteous who accept this Revelation will continue to live holy lives. This is why this angel says what he says to the unrighteous and righteous.

Rewarding the Righteous

(Look! I am coming soon, and my reward is with me to pay each one according to what he has done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end!) Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the sexually immoral, and the murderers, and the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood! “I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star!” And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say: “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge. (Revelation 22:12–17 NET)

For the second time, Jesus says that He is coming quickly, or as just explained,

I tell you this, brothers: flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the perishable inherit the imperishable. Behold! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed. For this perishable body must put on the imperishable, and this mortal body must put on immortality. When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: “Death is swallowed up in victory.” “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?” The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain. (1 Corinthians 15:50–58 ESV)

The Lord repeats this statement to urge His own to be spiritually sober and alert.

Paul wrote the following to the believers at Thessalonica:

But since we are of the day, we must stay sober by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation.For God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are alert or asleep we will come to life together with him. Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, just as you are in fact doing. (1 Thessalonians 5:8–11 NET)

Jesus reminds the righteous that He will reward them according to their works. Once again, we realize that salvation is God’s gift to us by grace through faith. However, faith without works of covenantal love produced by the Holy Spirit is not true saving faith. This is the consistent theme throughout both testaments of the Bible.

The same Paul who explained grace and faith wrote these words to Titus:

For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all people.It trains us to reject godless ways and worldly desires and to live self-controlled, upright, and godly lives in the present age, as we wait for the happy fulfillment of our hope in the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ.He gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, who are eager to do good. (Titus 2:11–14 NET)

We revisit the words of Jesus in Matthew 5:16:

In the same way, let your light shine before people, so that they can see your good deeds and give honor to your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 NET)

When the Bible talks about works, it does not mean the religious activities or good deeds we do out of our self-interest, even though they are good things. In the biblical context, the word good means “acceptable.” The only works God considers good or acceptable to Him are those motivated by pure spiritual love from the Holy Spirit who resides within the believer. (21)

The Bible tells us that God’s love is put into our hearts when we receive the Holy Spirit.

And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. (Romans 5:5 NET)

The Holy Spirit teaches us God’s ways, motivates us with God’s love, and empowers us to do what pleases Him. These Spirit-inspired works of covenantal love are the basis of every believer’s rewards. They are the only actions we do on this earth that we take with us to Heaven. As a result, they have eternal consequences. (21)

In the Hebrew Bible, God made the following declaration:

Thus says the LORD, the King of Israel and his Redeemer, the LORD of hosts: “I am the first and I am the last; besides me there is no god. (Isaiah 44:6 ESV)

We note in this verse that God not only speaks about Himself but also refers to His Redeemer in the sense that the Redeemer is one with God but with a unique and different personality.

The same God who spoke to Isaiah said this to John:

“I am the Alpha and the Omega,” says the Lord God—the one who is, and who was, and who is still to come—the All-Powerful! (Revelation 1:8 NET)

This wording is repeated numerous times in the Book of Revelation.

Who acts and carries out decrees? Who summons the successive generations from the beginning? I, the Lord, am present at the very beginning, and at the very end—I am the one. (Isaiah 41:4 NET)

God repeats this in Revelation 21:6:

He also said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the one who is thirsty I will give water free of charge from the spring of the water of life. (Revelation 21:6 NET)

Jesus is the Redeemer of humankind that God mentioned in the Isaiah verse. Therefore, we see Jesus making the same claims about Himself.

He repeats similar wording in Revelation 1:17;2:8:

When I saw him I fell down at his feet as though I were dead, but he placed his right hand on me and said: “Do not be afraid! I am the first and the last, and the one who lives! I was dead, but look, now I am alive—forever and ever—and I hold the keys of death and of Hades! (Revelation 1:17–18 NET)

“To the angel of the church in Smyrna write the following: “This is the solemn pronouncement of the one who is the first and the last, the one who was dead, but came to life: (Revelation 2:8 NET)

Now, as if to put an exclamation point to the vision given to John, Jesus provides a final affirmation of who He is. In one last sweeping statement, Jesus puts all of these references to deity into one declaration and applies them to Himself:

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end!) (Revelation 22:13 NET)

With this statement, Jesus clearly declares His oneness with the Creator of the universe. As God’s uniquely born Son, He shares the divine DNA of His Father. This means Jesus is more than just a great prophet, teacher, or role model. He is Immanuel, God with us— God in human flesh who came to redeem us from our sins. (21)

A person might not believe this about Jesus, but there is no doubt that Jesus believed this about Himself. After spending three and a half years as His constant companions, Jesus’ disciples also believed this true.

In the end, Jesus is either who He says He is or a liar and a self-delusional lunatic. (21)

Any intelligent, thinking person must acknowledge that a liar or self-delusional person could not have said and done the things that Jesus said and did when He walked the earth. Furthermore, when we read the stories about Jesus in the Bible, we know in our hearts that such a person could not be fabricated. Our minds could never imagine a “Jesus.” He is far beyond what we could invent. We either accept Him for who He is or reject Him. (21)

When Adam and Eve sinned, they were banished from the Garden of Eden and lost access to the Tree of Life. That situation is now reversed. In the last blessing promised in the Book of Revelation, John confirms that God’s people have access to the Tree of Life and the right to go in and out of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. (21)

Blessed are those who wash their robes so they can have access to the tree of life and can enter into the city by the gates. (Revelation 22:14 NET)

Some Bible versions translate the blessing promise to read: “those who do His commandments.” Other versions read, “those who wash their robes.”

We recall that the great multitude standing before the throne of God and the Lamb in Heaven are said to be those who:

So I said to him, “My lord, you know the answer.” Then he said to me, “These are the ones who have come out of the great tribulation. They have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb! (Revelation 7:14 NET)

All true believers have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb and will do (keep) His commandments. Even though we might often fall short in our walk with God, we desire to please Him in word, thought, and deed. God is holy and calls His children to be holy, even while showing us mercy when we grieve Him. Human parents can certainly understand this because of their relationship with their children. (21)

Tragically, those who have not washed their clothes in the blood of the Lamb and do not strive to keep His commandments do not have access to the Tree of Life and the eternal city of God. When John says they are outside the gates, he does not mean this literally. He means that they are banished forever from the presence of God. They have been exiled to the Lake of Fire, the eternal destination of those who have rejected God’s love and offer of redemption. (21)

But to the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8 NET)

Jesus confirms that He personally sent His angel (i.e., the Angel of the Lord) to witness John through this vision. For this reason, John can write it to the congregations for encouragement, edification, and warning. Of course, the Book of Revelation is not exclusively for the seven congregations of the first century. It is for all of God’s people from then until now. (21)

One last time, Jesus identifies Himself with the Jewish people and the family of David. As the Root and the Offspring of David, Jesus was both before David and after David. He was before David as the Son of God and after David as the greater Son of David.

(To review the earlier discussion of Jesus as the Root and the Offspring of David, see the comments on Revelatio n 5:5 and Isaia h 11:1-2,10; Psalm s 110:1; and Matthe w 22:42-46.)

Once again, non-Jewish believers need to understand that Jesus is not returning as a Western Christian. He is returning as the Jewish Messiah and Redeemer of the tribe of Judah. He is returning to Israel to rule as the King of the Jews and as King of kings and Lord of lords over the nations. His coming is not based on the Greco-Roman Christian calendar but on the biblical Feasts of the Lord. Life and worship expressions during the Messianic Kingdom will be biblically Jewish, not modern rabbinic, with Jesus as their ultimate reality and perfect embodiment. (21)

This is why it is strange when some Christians say they love Jesus but are anti-Semitic. They know the Western Jesus but not the biblical Yeshua. It simply isn’t possible to love Jesus and be anti-Semitic. Jesus was and always will be a Jew! Of course, if Christians think of Jesus in Greco-Roman terms, they will not identify with Him this way. They will be shocked when the real Jesus of the Bible (Yeshua) returns as a Jew. (21)

Jesus also refers to Himself as the Bright and Morning Star. In His letter to the overcomers at Thyatira, Jesus promised to give them the morning star:

just as I have received the right to rule from my Father—and I will give him the morning star. (Revelation 2:28 NET)

Here, in Revelation 22:16, He claims to be the Morning Star:

“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star!” (Revelation 22:16  NET) 

Jesus again puts forth His credentials as being of the lineage of David and the “Bright and Morning Star.” (3)

As the morning star is the first star we see just before sunrise and the start of each new day, Jesus is the light of the world and the light of the new day of redemption. By identifying Himself in this way, Jesus encourages His readers that the darkness of the Great Tribulation is over and God’s people will forevermore live in the light of the glory of God and of the Lamb. There will be no night in eternity because the Bright and Morning Star is the light. (21)

This title of the Lord is contrasted with Satan’s or Lucifer’s title, which is the “son of the morning” (Isaiah 14:12). The “Morning Star” brings with Him eternal life, while the “son of the morning” brings eternal damnation. Jesus also discloses that the things in Revelation are for “the churches.” This indicates that the words of the text of Revelation are for the entire body of Christ, throughout all the ages, and not just specifically for the seven churches of Asia Minor. However, the words of Revelation will have their greatest significance for the churches that enter the Seventieth Week. (3)

(To review the earlier discussion on the morning star, see the comments on Revelatio n 2:28 and Peter’s words in Second Pete r 1:19.)

Before the closing words of warning regarding this Revelation, John writes that the Holy Spirit and the believers make one last appeal, asking people to respond to God and His offer of love and redemption made possible through Jesus. The appeal is to those who hear God’s invitation, those who are spiritually thirsty, and whoever desires salvation and redemption. God offers to quench their spiritual thirst by giving them the water of life.

Remember, Jesus made this promise to the overcomers in Revelation 7:16:

They will never go hungry or be thirsty again, and the sun will not beat down on them, nor any burning heat, (Revelation 7:16 NET)

This is the same invitation the Lord has always offered to humanity, even as he spoke through the prophet Isaiah:

“Hey, all who are thirsty, come to the water! You who have no money, come! Buy and eat! Come! Buy wine and milk without money and without cost! Why pay money for something that will not nourish you? Why spend your hard-earned money on something that will not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is nourishing! Enjoy fine food! Pay attention and come to me! Listen, so you can live! Then I will make an unconditional covenantal promise to you, just like the reliable covenantal promises I made to David. Look, I made him a witness to nations, a ruler and commander of nations.” Look, you will summon nations you did not previously know; nations that did not previously know you will run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he bestows honor on you. Seek the Lord while he makes himself available; call to him while he is nearby! The wicked need to abandon their lifestyle and sinful people their plans. They should return to the Lord, and he will show mercy to them, and to their God, for he will freely forgive them. (Isaiah 55:1–7 NET)

Before reading the last few words of the Book of Revelation, let us spiritually drink the following words of Jesus. They are from his conversation with a Samaritan woman who came to draw water at the well. He asked her for a drink from the well and stirred up a conversation about everlasting life:

Jesus replied, “Everyone who drinks some of this water will be thirsty again. But whoever drinks some of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again, but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up to eternal life.” (John 4:13–14 NET)

A Final Warning and Assurance

I testify to the one who hears the words of the prophecy contained in this book: If anyone adds to them, God will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes away from the words of this book of prophecy, God will take away his share in the tree of life and in the holy city that are described in this book. The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. (Revelation 22:18–21 NET)

John warns everyone who hears this Revelation not to add or take anything away from it. This was a common expression in Bible times before the days of copyright laws designed to protect the integrity of written documents. It was a solemn warning not to edit a person’s words. The normal warning was stated in terms of blessings and curses. (21)

We find a similar expression all the way back in Deuteronomy. There God Himself gives the following warning regarding His words:

 Do not add a thing to what I command you nor subtract from it, so that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I am delivering to you. (Deuteronomy 4:2 NET)

He repeats this warning:

You must be careful to do everything I am commanding you. Do not add to it or subtract from it! (Deuteronomy 12:32 NET)

Do not add to his words, lest he reprove you, and prove you to be a liar. (Proverbs 30:6 NET)

God’s people must carefully fear (reverentially) the Lord and His Holy Word. We must seek God for wisdom and understanding of His Word and not take it for granted nor have a casual attitude toward it, for out of it flow the issues of life.

This should be a sober warning for everyone who teaches the message of Revelation—including myself. Believers must be extremely careful when approaching the study of any portion of God’s precious word, especially the book of Revelation. (3)

We must take Paul’s exhortation seriously to his disciple, Timothy:

Make every effort to present yourself before God as a proven worker who does not need to be ashamed, teaching the message of truth accurately. (2 Timothy 2:15 NET)

We must do our best to understand God’s Word within the historical, cultural, and Hebraic setting in which it was written. If we view God’s Word with Western eyes, we will certainly misunderstand much of it. We must not take God’s Word out of context nor read it into what we want it to say. We must not prefer our own traditions over the Word of God. (21)

We must clearly distinguish between what the Word of God says and what we think it means. When we say, “God said,” we had better be sure it is God doing the saying. While I have done my best to explain the Book of Revelation as I understand it, we each must seek the Holy Spirit for guidance and truth as He is the true teacher of God’s Word. (21)

 But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything, and will cause you to remember everything I said to you. (John 14:26 NET)

In His closing words, Jesus affirms the truthfulness of the Revelation and the certainty of His coming. John voices his agreement with the words of Jesus and expresses what has been for the last 2,000 years the deepest heart desire and hope of God’s people:

 The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! (Revelation 22:20 NET)

John closes the Book of Revelation by speaking the blessing of God’s grace for the people and a final amen, meaning in everyday words: “Yes, Lord, You are a faithful covenant-keeping God and King.”

The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen. (Revelation 22:21 ESV)

THE AGES OF THE AGES (Circa After the Great White Throne of Judgment)

Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death—the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:14 NET).

Death, the last enemy, was eliminated sometime after the Kingdom Age.

Then comes the end, when he hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when he has brought to an end all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign until he has put all his enemies under his feet. The last enemy to be eliminated is death. For he has put everything in subjection under his feet. But when it says “everything” has been put in subjection, it is clear that this does not include the one who put everything in subjection to him. And when all things are subjected to him, then the Son himself will be subjected to the one who subjected everything to him, so that God may be all in all. (1 Corinthians 15:24–28 NET)

Jesus delivers the Kingdom of God to His and our Father, after ending all rebellion. Where Lucifer wanted all of God’s authority, Jesus willingly returned the authority given to Him by God the Father (1) to conquer and eliminate all evil.

And We live joyfully forever after… Amen

And the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say: “Come!” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wants it take the water of life free of charge... The one who testifies to these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon!” Amen! Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. (Revelation 22:17,20 NET)

...what sort of people must we be, conducting our lives in holiness and godliness, while waiting for and hastening the coming of the day of God? (2 Peter 3:11,12 NET)

Hasten the Day!

Hannah Kerr – Forever Evergreen

There is a song
That’s never out of season
Tells of every reason 
To never stop believing 

There is a love 
Greater in the present 
Given in the giving 
Joining us with Heaven 

I wanna see it now
I wanna hear the sound

Kingdom is coming
The mystery’s growing
Can you hear the angels sing
On Earth, let there be peace?
Here in the winter
Hope for a Savior 
The Holy King of Kings
For all eternity
Forever evergreen

There is a light
Dawning in the darkness
Reaching to the farthest
Shining in the shadows

There is a child 
Laying in a manger
Clothed in human nature 
Holding our tomorrows

Kingdom is coming
The mystery’s growing
Can you hear the angels sing
On Earth, let there be peace?
Here in the winter
Hope for a Savior 
The Holy King of Kings
For all eternity
Forever evergreen
Forever evergreen

Ever in the lasting
Ever in the changing
Ever in the making all things well
Ever in the searching
Ever in the finding
Forever our Emmanuel

Kingdom is coming
The mystery’s growing
Can you hear the angels sing
On Earth, let there be peace?
Here in the winter
Hope for a Savior 
The Holy King of Kings
For all eternity
Forever evergreen
Forever evergreen

(Here in the winter
Hope for a Savior)
The Holy King of Kings
For all eternity
Forever evergreen

Chorus / Description:

Kingdom is coming
The mystery’s growing
Can you hear the angels sing
On Earth, let there be peace?
Here in the winter
Hope for a Savior
The Holy King of Kings
For all eternity
Forever evergreen

(34)

His-Story (History) Series:

• Part I: The Lord of the Scroll – Fellowship Lost!
• Part II: The Lord of the Scroll – The Two Kingdoms
• Part III: The Lord of the Scroll – The Revelation of the King!
• Part IV: The Lord of the Scroll – The Death of the King
• Part V: The Lord of the Scroll – The Re-Birth of the King!
• Part VI: The Lord of the Scroll – Salvation
• Part VII: The Lord of the Scroll – Revelation of the King’s Bride!
• Part VIII: The Lord of the Scroll – Revelation of the King of Kings!
• Part IX: The Lord of the Scroll – The Lord of Hosts
• Part X: The Lord of the Scroll – When will the King of Kings Return?
• Part XI: The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (God’s Throne Room)
• Part XII: The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (The Beginning of Birth Pains (BBP))
• Part XIII: The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (The Great Tribulation (GTrib))
• Part XIV: The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (The Day of the Lord (DOL))
• Part XV: The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (GTrib and DOL Revisited)
• Part XVI: The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (BBP, GTrib, DOL, and The Days of Mourning (DOM) Revisited)
• Part XVII: The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (DOM, Cleansing the Temple (CT), The Kingdom Age (KA), Great White Throne Judgment (GWTJ) Revisited)
• Part XVIII The Lord of the Scroll – Daniel’s 70th Week (KA, GWTJ, and Ages of the Ages (AoA) Revisited)

Shalom
(Security, Wholeness, Success)
Peace

Dear friend, I pray that all may go well with you and that you may be in good health, just as it is well with your soul. 
(3 John 1:2 NET)

(1) Select the link to open another article with additional information in a new tab.

(2) Ever had a computer that acted so improperly that the only solution was to reboot it? To reboot means to turn off the computer and then let it restart and restore or reload the proper operating system or program.

Well, that has been God’s way of dealing with issues from the beginning. When God saw that man did not have a helpmate, Adam was put to sleep (turned off), and Eve was created from his body, then Adam was brought back to life. When Adam and Eve chose to disobey God, resulting in mankind’s fall, the solution declared by Jesus was to be born again. Today Jesus might say it this way – you must be rebooted! Is that not what Baptism (1) represents? Identifying with Jesus’ death going into the water and His life as we are raised to a new life! Paul went on to say that after we are “rebooted,” then it is our responsibility to change the way we think by changing the operating system loaded in our souls from that of the world to the Word (the word WORLD is WORD with an “L” added representing the LIES of Satan corrupting the truth like yeast corrupts dough). Well, God never changes. From our safe vantage point of the Heavenly City, the New Jerusalem, we will witness our ever-expanding universe collapse into a nuclear fire! Then our God Jesus will create a new universe without sin. Glory to God, for His Mercy is FOREVER!

(3) Salerno, Jr., Donald A., (2010). Revelation Unsealed. Virtualbookworm.com Publishing, Inc.

(4) Morris, H. M. (1983). The Revelation Record: A Scientific and Devotional Commentary on the Prophetic Book of the End Times. Tyndale.

(5) Rosenthal, Marvin (1990). The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church. World Publishing

(6) Larkin, C. (1919). The Book of Revelation: A Study of the Last Prophetic Book of Holy Scripture (p. 124). Philadelphia, PA: Rev. Clarence Larkin Estate.

(7) Vine, W. E., Unger, M. F., & White, W., Jr. (1996). In Vine’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words (Vol. 2, pp. 430–431). T. Nelson.

(8) Mounce, W. D. (2006). In Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (p. 470). Zondervan.

Adjective: καινός (kainos), GK 2785 (S 2537), 42×. kainos means “new” in contrast to something old, such as the new covenant in contrast to the old (Lk. 22:20; 1 Cor. 11:25; 2 Cor. 3:6; Heb. 8:8). It can also carry the idea of “new” in the sense of “unused,” as in “new wineskins” that can hold new wine (Mt. 9:17; Mk. 2:22; Lk. 5:38) or a “new tomb” (Mt. 27:60). Finally, it can means “new” in the sense of unknown or strange, such as a “new teaching” (Mk. 1:27; Acts 17:19).

Before the time of biblical Greek, kainos had a distinctive meaning from its synonym neos (GK 3742) in that neos meant new in time and kainos referred to something new in the sense of unused. However, in NT Greek there is some overlap in the meanings of the two words so that you cannot assume the older distinction is still present. The “new covenant” phrase, for example, is referred to by both kainos (Heb. 9:15) and neos (12:24).

In speaking of “the new covenant” Jesus says, “The cup is the new covenant in my blood” (1 Cor. 11:25). Just as “new wine” is placed into “new wineskins,” so also Jesus’ teaching requires new forms that are different from those of Judaism (Lk. 5:37–38). Christians look forward to “a new heaven and a new earth” (2 Pet. 3:13) and the “new Jerusalem” (Rev. 3:12). We are a “new creation” when we become believers in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17; Gal 6:15). A “new song” is sung in heaven, “Worthy are you to take the book and break its seals” (Rev. 5:9). The “new” command given by Jesus to his disciples is that they should love just as he loved them (Jn. 13:34). This new command is also old because it has been God’s command all along (Mt. 22:36–40; cf. Lev. 19:18; Deut. 6:5). This commandment is thus both new and old (1 Jn. 2:7). See NIDNTT-A, 280–82.

(9) Mounce, W. D. (2006). In Mounce’s Complete Expository Dictionary of Old & New Testament Words (pp. 292–293). Zondervan.

Verb: ἀπέρχομαι (aperchomai), GK 599 (S 565), 117×. aperchomai means “to go away, withdraw,” though it can also simply mean “to go.” It is used mostly in the Gospels and Acts.

In its basic sense, aperchomai means to move from one point to another. In Mt 8:18, Jesus orders the disciples “to depart” and go to the other side of the lake (see also Mt 9:7; 13:25; Mk 5:30; Lk 1:38; 5:25; Jn 4:8; 6:1; Acts 9:17). In Lk. 8:39b, after the demon-possessed man was healed, “the man went away and told all over town how much Jesus had done for him.” Jesus uses this verb twice in Jn 16:7 when he explains, “It is for your good that I am going away. Unless I go away, the Counselor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you.” Here he is speaking of his impending death and resurrection.

aperchomai can also mean simply “to go.” Mk 6:36 records the words of the disciples, “Send the people away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat” (cf. Mt 8:33; 28:10; Mk 4:24; Jn 4:28; 11:54). In such cases, the verb is followed by the location where one was to go, such as “to the mountain,” “to the city,” “to the house.”

In the NT letters, aperchomai typically retains this general sense. In Rom 15:28, Paul tells the Roman church, “So after I have completed this task … I will go to Spain and visit you on the way.” Similarly, in Gal 1:17, Paul tells the Galatians “I went immediately into Arabia and later returned to Damascus.” (cf. Jas 1:24). Jude 7 uses aperchomai to refer to Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them who “went after strange flesh.” Here this word denotes how the people of these cities indulged themselves in sexual immorality. John uses aperchomai metaphorically to refer to the “passing away” of the first heaven and earth (Rev 21:1). Death, mourning, crying, and pain have all “passed away” as well (21:4).

aperchomai can also refer metaphorically to someone “going away from Jesus,” as in Jn 6:66. The many who withdrew from Jesus did not simply change their location but refused to believe and instead abandoned him. This is confirmed two verses later when Peter utters the wonderful confession, “Lord, to whom shall we go, you have words of eternal life” (Jn 6:68; cf. 12:19).

(10) Dake, F. J. (1991). In Dake’s Topics. WORDsearch.

Pass Away — Change Greek: parechomai (GSN-<G3928>), pass away; pass from one condition to another. It never means annihilation. Used of:

1. Passing of time (time is now past, Mt. 14:15; 1 Pet. 4:3)
2. Events coming to pass (Paul’s fast was past, Acts 27:9)
3. The unchangeableness of God’s Word — generations will pass and heaven and earth will be changed, but not the Word of God (Mt. 5:18; 24:34–35; Mk. 13:30–31; Lk. 16:17; 21:32–33)
4. People passing by certain places (Mt. 8:28; Mk. 6:48; Lk. 18:37; Acts 16:8)
5. Denoting neglect (Pharisees passed over judgment and the love of God, Lk. 11:42)
6. The coming of persons (come forth, Lk. 12:37; go, Lk. 17:7; came, Acts 24:7)
7. Never passing up duty (the prodigal’s brother never transgressed, Lk. 15:29)
8. Danger passing away (Jesus praying that the cup and the hour might pass, Mt. 26:39, 42; Mk. 14:35)
9. Sins passing away (2Cor. 5:17)
10. Dying (pass away, Jas. 1:10)
11. Passing away of the heavens and the earth (2Pet. 3:10; Rev. 21:1), or the changing of them, like old things passing away and all things becoming new at the new birth (2Cor. 5:17). In this last usage it means they will be:

• (1) Purified by fire (2Pet. 3:7, 10–12)
• (2) Delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the sons of God (Rom. 8:21)
• (3) Changed to a new state (Heb. 1:10–12)
• (4) Re-created or renewed to their original perfection (Heb. 12:25–28; Isa. 65:17; 66:22–24; 1Pet. 3:13; Rev. 21:1)
• (5) Cleansed of all the curse and its effects (Rev. 22:3)

(11) Robertson, A. T. (1933). Word Pictures in the New Testament (Re 16:2). Broadman Press.

(12) Zodhiates, S. (2000). In The complete word study dictionary: New Testament (electronic ed.). AMG Publishers.

(B) Metaphorically, to pass away, perish. (1) Used in an absolute sense in a general way (Matt. 5:18; 24:34, 35; Mark 13:30, 31; Luke 16:17; 21:32, 33; 2 Cor. 5:17; James 1:10; 2 Pet. 3:10; Rev. 21:1; Sept.: Ps. 37:36). (2) Used also of words or declarations meaning to pass away without fulfillment, to be in vain (Matt. 5:18; 24:35; Mark 13:31; Luke 21:33).

Metaphorically spoken of things, such as leprosy (Mark 1:42; Luke 5:13); fruits (Rev. 18:14); the earth (Rev. 21:1 [TR]); woe (Rev. 9:12, “is past,” is over; Rev. 11:14).

(13) Wuest, K. S. (1961). The New Testament: an expanded translation. Eerdmans.

“THIS translation of the New Testament, unlike the standard translations such as the Authorized Version of 1611 and the American Revised Version of 1901, uses as many English words as are necessary to bring out the richness, force, and clarity of the Greek text. The result is what I have called an expanded translation. It is intended as a companion to, or commentary on, the standard translations, and as such it complements them in several important respects…”

(14) Wuest, K. S. (1997). Wuest’s word studies from the Greek New Testament: for the English reader (Vol. 12, p. 67). Eerdmans.

(15) Achtemeier, P. J., Harper & Row and Society of Biblical Literature. (1985). In Harper’s Bible dictionary (1st ed., p. 602). Harper & Row.

maranatha (mah-rah-nah-thahʹ), an Aramaic expression transliterated into Greek (1 Corinthians 16:22; Didache 10:6) meaning ‘Our Lord has come’ (maran atha) or ‘Our Lord, come’ (marana tha). The prayer, ‘Come, Lord Jesus’ (Revelation 22:20), which is a Greek translation of this expression, favors the latter. The use of maranatha in 1 Corinthians 16:22 indicates that this was an early prayer originating in the Palestinian church and that Jesus already in earliest times was probably referred to as Mar or ‘Lord.’

(16) 79.91 τετράγωνος, ον: pertaining to having four equal sides and four right angles—‘square.’ ἡ πόλις τετράγωνος κεῖται ‘the city was square’ Re 21:16.

 Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A. (1996). In Greek-English lexicon of the New Testament: based on semantic domains (electronic ed. of the 2nd edition., Vol. 1, p. 702). United Bible Societies.

(17) https://www.prb.org/articles/how-many-people-have-ever-lived-on-earth/

(18) https://ourworldindata.org/child-mortality#child-mortality-around-the-world-since-1800

(19) Elwell, W. A., & Beitzel, B. J. (1988). Song of Solomon. In Baker encyclopedia of the Bible (Vol. 2, p. 1978). Baker Book House.

(21) Booker, R. (2013). the Victorious Kingdom. Destiny Image.

(22) interruption of chronological sequence (as in a film or literary work) by interjection of events of earlier occurrence…

 Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). In Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Merriam-Webster, Inc.

(23) a story that tells what led up to the main story or plot (as of a film)

 Merriam-Webster, I. (2003). In Merriam-Webster’s collegiate dictionary. (Eleventh ed.). Merriam-Webster, Inc.

(24)  Ironside, H. A. (1933). Addresses on the Song of Solomon. Loizeaux Brothers.

(25) The Committee on Translations of the United Bible Societies. (1980). In Fauna and Flora of the Bible (Second Edition, p. 150). United Bible Societies.

Walker (following Moldenke) suggests that the ‘rose of Sharon’ (SS 2:1) may be a red tulip, Tulipa sharonensis.

(26) Salerno, Jr., Donald A., (2010). Revelation Unsealed. Virtualbookworm.com Publish-ing, Inc.

(27) Got Questions Ministries. (2014–2021). Got Questions? Bible Questions Answered (Vol. 2). Faithlife.

(28) Amy Carmichael (Dec. 16, 1867 – Jan. 18, 1951) was a Christian missionary in India, who opened an orphanage and founded a mission in Dohnavur.

(29)  Fowler, J. B., Jr. (1991). Basic Bible Sermons on Philippians (p. 99). Broadman Press.

(30) https://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/planetary/factsheet/earthfact.html

(31) https://www.space.com/15830-light-speed.html

(32) https://www.thoughtco.com/speed-of-light-3072257

It is often stated that the speed of light is constant and that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. This is not entirely accurate. The value of 299,792,458 meters per second (186,282 miles per second) is the speed of light in a vacuum. However, light actually slows down as it passes through different media. For instance, when it moves through glass, it slows down to about two-thirds of its speed in a vacuum. Light slows down slightly even in the air, which is nearly a vacuum. As it moves through space, it encounters clouds of gas and dust and gravitational fields, which can change the speed a tiny bit. The clouds of gas and dust also absorb some of the light as it passes through.

(33) https://bionumbers.hms.harvard.edu/bionumber.aspx?&id=100706&ver=4

(34) https://www.hannahkerrmusic.com/

Evergreen news is news that is always good. The good news of Jesus is Evergreen!

(35) Dake, F. J. (1991). In Dake’s Topics. WORDsearch.

(36) Hernando, J. D. (2012). Transcendence. In Dictionary of Hermeneutics: A Concise Guide to Terms, Names, Methods, and Expressions (Revised edition, p. 172). Gospel Publishing House.

In theology, this term speaks of the relationship between God and His creation. Transcendence is the state of being separate and distinct from His creation. In the words of Kierkegaard, it speaks of God being “wholly other” than anything He has created. It is not to be equated with being “remote” or uninvolved in this world (i.e., Deism). God can be both Immanent (near, present) and transcendent with regard to this world without contradiction.

(37)  Hernando, J. D. (2012). Immanence / Immanent. In Dictionary of Hermeneutics: A Concise Guide to Terms, Names, Methods, and Expressions (Revised edition, p. 162). Gospel Publishing House.

God’s presence in, nearness to, and involvement with His creation and its creatures. God’s active participation in human history is clearly seen in the history of redemption as chronicled in Scripture. Immanence is a byproduct of God’s omnipresence, but it does not result in God’s being inseparable from His creation. In Scripture, the Creator is never confused with His creation but remains distinct from it (see Romans 1:25), which is one reason why all forms of idolatry are forbidden (see Isaiah 40:26–41:7).

(38) http://www.flowersinisrael.com/Tulipaagenensis_page.htm