This is another in a series of excerpts from What Every Christian Should Know About the Return of Jesus, released by High Street Press and available at Amazon. 

---

In the previous two columns [read #1 … #2], we looked at Jesus’ words about “the renewal of all things” (Matt. 19:28) and Peter’s writing about “the day of the Lord” (2 Pet. 3:10-13). In this column, we begin to focus on John’s vision of New Jerusalem and the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21-22).

Revelation 21-22

The final chapters of Scripture offer details about what Jesus describes as “the renewal of all things” (Matt. 19:28) and what Peter portrays as “new heavens and a new earth” (2 Pet. 3:13). Volumes have been written on Revelation 21-22. Space does not permit a full exploration here. So, in this post and future posts, let’s consider just three components of our future life in the new heavens and new earth: the descent of New Jerusalem; the lifting of the curse; and the restoration of Eden.

The descent of New Jerusalem

In the opening musical theme of the 1960s sitcom Green Acres, Oliver Wendell Douglas, the attorney-cum-farmer who compels his wife to move with him from New York to Hooterville, boldly declares:

Green Acres is the place to be

Farm livin’ is the life for me 

Land stretchin’ out so far and wide

Keep Manhattan, just give me that countryside

Douglas’ wife, Lisa, is not convinced: 

New York is where I’d rather stay

I get allergic smelling hay

I just adore a penthouse view

Dahling I love you but give me Park Avenue

Whether we enjoy the bustling streets of major cities or the deafening silence of a solitary life off the grid, Christians are born again to be city folks. That’s because God is preparing a massive city in heaven that descends to earth one day and welcomes all of us to its streets of gold. 

John introduces us to New Jerusalem:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband (Rev. 21:1-2).

Much of Revelation 21:1 – 22:5 offers a virtual tour of our future home. This massive metroplex – a cube covering 1,400 miles in height, width, and depth – is the same shape as the holy of holies in the ancient tabernacle and temple. It serves as the place where God’s name, that is, his very presence, resides. 

Unlike the holy of holies, however, there is no veil in New Jerusalem separating the divine presence from human mediators, who are required to enter with atoning blood to cover their sins, and then the sins of the people. Christ, the one mediator between God and people (1 Tim. 2:5), passed through the veil in heaven with his own blood to take away our sins and offer direct access to the Father. As the writer of Hebrews notes:

Therefore, brothers and sisters, since we have boldness to enter the sanctuary through the blood of Jesus ​— ​he has inaugurated for us a new and living way through the curtain (that is, through his flesh ) ​— ​and since we have a great high priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. Let us hold on to the confession of our hope without wavering, since he who promised is faithful (Heb. 10:19-23).

What Christians experience now in the spiritual realm – intimacy with God through worship, Bible reading, and prayer – gives way to a fuller expression of true life as we encounter God face-to-face in our glorified bodies. We truly see God as he is, and become like him (1 John 3:2). This is how God created people in the beginning and intended them to be. Adam’s fall resulted in banishment from Eden and the withdrawal of God’s paradise. But New Jerusalem is God’s final answer to sin, Satan, and death. Yahweh once again resides with us, and we are invited to join him in everlasting life as he designed it and always envisioned it to be. 

Next: Key Features of New Jerusalem: Part 1