When many people read Revelation 21, they immediately picture the destruction of planet Earth followed by God creating another physical universe. But Revelation was not written in a vacuum. John was using prophetic and covenantal language that had already been established throughout Scripture.
If we allow Scripture to interpret Scripture, the new heavens and new earth begin to tell a much larger story: the passing away of the Old Covenant world and the establishment of the New Covenant Kingdom of God.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. Revelation 21:1
John sees an old creation passing away and a new creation established. This corresponds beautifully with the language of Hebrews, which describes the Old Covenant as something that was growing old and ready to vanish away. John is seeing the completed reality.
The former covenantal heavens and earth have passed away.
The statement that there was “no more sea” belongs to this same prophetic picture. Revelation itself uses waters for peoples, multitudes, nations, and tongues. The turbulent sea from which hostile powers arose no longer characterizes this new creation. John is presenting a completely transformed covenantal order.
Then something appears.
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Revelation 21:2
John doesn’t see another earthly Jerusalem being rebuilt. He sees New Jerusalem coming from above. Paul had already identified this Jerusalem years earlier.
For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. Galatians 4:25
But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all Galatians 4:26
Paul contrasted two Jerusalems. There was “Jerusalem which now is,” associated with Sinai and bondage, and there was “Jerusalem which is above,” associated with freedom. Revelation shows us the outcome of that covenantal transition. The earthly covenantal Jerusalem passed away, while Jerusalem above remained.
John sees her prepared as a bride because he is seeing the marriage. Later in Revelation 21:9, she is called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” The church has not remained an unmarried bride waiting nearly two thousand years for her wedding day. The marriage took place. She is the Lamb’s wife, and Galatians calls Jerusalem above “the mother of us all.” The wife continues bringing children into the Kingdom through the gospel.
Then John explains what this marriage means.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Revelation 21:3
The purpose of the marriage is relationship and dwelling. Under the Old Covenant, God’s presence was associated with the tabernacle and temple, and access was restricted. But in the New Covenant creation, God dwells with His people. The bride becomes the wife, and God makes His dwelling with His covenant family.
The great announcement of Revelation 21 is not that God’s people finally escape earth and travel somewhere else. The direction of the vision is exactly the opposite. New Jerusalem comes down from God, and the declaration is made: “The tabernacle of God is with men.”
Then John says something that has caused many to place this entire chapter in our future.
And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. Revelation 21:4
Does this mean Christians living in the New Covenant never physically die, cry, experience sorrow, or suffer pain? Obviously not. Nor does this mean a so-called new physical heaven and earth will appear one day where people will never die, cry, or be in sorrow.
He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. Isaiah 25:8
Notice the combination. Death swallowed up.
Tears wiped away. John didn’t invent this language. He is announcing the fulfillment of Isaiah’s promise.
Paul also quoted Isaiah when discussing the victory over death.
So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. 1 Corinthians 15:54
Then Paul gives us an important clue concerning the death he is discussing.
The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. 1 Corinthians 15:56
Death, sin, and the Law are connected. Elsewhere Paul even called the covenant written and engraved in stones the “ministration of death.” The victory over death therefore reaches deeper than biological mortality. Physical human beings continued dying after the New Covenant was established, but the covenantal administration of sin and death no longer reigns over God’s people.
At the same time, we cannot separate this covenantal transition from the terrible historical judgment accompanying it.
Jesus had warned His generation about great tribulation, Jerusalem surrounded by armies, wrath upon that people, and days of vengeance in which the things written would be fulfilled. The Jewish-Roman War brought horrific physical death, sorrow, crying, suffering, and pain as the Old Covenant world reached its catastrophic conclusion.
Revelation 21 shows us the other side of that judgment.
The tears associated with that covenantal catastrophe are wiped away. The administration of death has ended. The former things have passed away. New Jerusalem remains, and God dwells with His people.
Hebrews describes this same transition with another powerful picture.
And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Hebrews 12:27
Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: Hebrews 12:28
For our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:29
Something was being shaken. Something was being removed. But something else remained.
The Kingdom. God’s consuming fire removed what could be shaken, but the Kingdom of God could not be shaken.
This gives us important biblical background for understanding the judgment and fire imagery of Revelation. The old covenantal order did not survive the shaking. Its temple, priesthood, sacrifices, city, and covenantal administration disappeared. But Christ’s Kingdom remained.
That is the world John sees in Revelation 21.
The first heaven and earth have passed away.
New Jerusalem has appeared. The bride has become the Lamb’s wife. God dwells with His people.
Death has been swallowed up in victory. The former things have passed away. And what could not be shaken remains.
The Kingdom of God.