In Rev. 21:1-8 (Concordant Literal New Testament) we read the following:
And I perceived a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth pass away, and the sea is no more. And I perceived the holy city, new Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I hear a loud voice out of the throne saying, “Lo! the tabernacle of God is with mankind, and He will be tabernacling with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them. And He will be brushing away every tear from their eyes. And death will be no more, nor mourning, nor clamor, nor misery; they will be no more, for the former things passed away.”
And He Who is sitting on the throne said, “Lo! New am I making all!” And He is saying, “Write, for these sayings are faithful and true.” And He said to me, “I have become the Alpha and the Omega, the Origin and the Consummation. To him who is thirsting I shall be giving of the spring of the water of life gratuitously. He who is conquering shall be enjoying this allotment, and I shall be a God to him and he shall be a son to Me. Yet the timid, and unbelievers, and the abominable, and murderers, and paramours, and enchanters, and idolaters, and all the false–their part is in the lake burning with fire and sulphur, which is the second death.”
Although this earth has been a place of death, mourning and misery for almost as long as humans have been in existence, what we read in this passage makes it clear that all such evils will be absent from the new earth. We can thus conclude that life on the new earth will be far superior to anything mankind has ever experienced (or ever will experience) on this earth. But is the future state of affairs described in this passage the ultimate goal toward which God is working with regard to mankind's salvation?
Most Christians believe that it is. According to this view, the last two chapters of Revelation reveal the “final state” of mankind in “eternity.” For example, in a recently-given sermon on the subject of “heaven,” Christian pastor Dr. Jeff Schreve tells his listeners that “the book of Revelation ends – the last two chapters – in what theologians call ‘the eternal state.’ Time is no more, and those who have given their lives to Christ will live forever with him in an eternal state, in an eternal home known as heaven.”
In contrast with this commonly-held view, I’ll be arguing in the remainder of this article that the future state of affairs described in the last two chapters of Revelation will be neither perfect nor permanent. As a corollary of this view, it will be shown that Paul (and not John) is the apostle through whom God has chosen to reveal “the end of the story.”
Israel and the nations on the new earth
One of the ways in which we can know that Revelation 21-22 doesn’t reveal a perfect and permanent state of affairs involves what these chapters reveal concerning Israel and the nations on the new earth.
The distinction that exists between the nations and God’s covenant people, Israel (i.e., the twelve-tribed people whose identity is based on their particular ethnicity/lineage and covenantal relationship with God) is one of the clearest truths we find affirmed in Scripture. For example, shortly after the birth of Christ, Simeon referred to Jesus in his prayer to God as “a Light for the revelation of nations, and the Glory of Thy people Israel” (Luke 2:32; cf. Zechariah’s prophecy in 1:67-79).
Christ himself affirmed this divinely-created distinction between Israel and the nations when he instructed his disciples as follows: “Into a road of the nations you may not pass forth, and into a city of the Samaritans you may not be entering. Yet be going rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 10:5-6). In accord with these instructions (where it’s clear that Christ understood God’s covenant people to have precedence over the nations), Christ later declared, “I was not commissioned except for the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Matt. 15:24; cf. Mark 7:27). Hence, we’re told by Paul that Christ became “the Servant of the Circumcision, for the sake of the truth of God, to confirm the patriarchal promises” (Rom. 15:8).
Moreover, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, it's evident that God is going to continue to make a distinction between Israel and the nations on the earth during the coming eon (Ezek. 28:25; 37:21-28; Joel 2:15-19, 23-27; 3:1-2; etc.). It’s further evident that, during this future time, Israel will have a preeminent, favored status on the earth and be especially blessed by God, while the nations will be subordinate to Israel and receive their blessings through the mediation of Israel (Isaiah 14:1-2; 45:14-17; 49:22-23; 60:1-16; 61:5; Jeremiah 33:7-9; Zechariah 8:14-15, 20-23; 14:16-18; Micah 4:1-3; Amos 9:11-15). But will this distinction (and inequality) between Israel and the nations continue on the new earth as well? Yes.
In Rev. 21:10-14 we read the following:
And he carries me away, in spirit, on a mountain, huge and high, and shows me the holy city, Jerusalem, as it is descending out of heaven from God, having the glory from God. Her luminosity is like a stone most precious, as a crystalline jasper gem, having a wall, huge and high, having twelve portals, and at the portals twelve messengers, and their names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. From the east are three portals, and from the north three portals, and from the south three portals, and from the west three portals. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lambkin.
The very fact that “the holy city” referred to in this passage is named “Jerusalem” is significant. Ever since the city of Jerusalem was conquered by David and made the capital of the Jewish kingdom in 1000 BC, the name “Jerusalem” has been inseparably connected with the people of Israel and their prophesied destiny. Notice, also, that the portals of the wall surrounding new Jerusalem will have inscribed on them “the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” (this will also be the case with the gates of Israel’s capital city during the next eon as well, as Ezekiel 48:30-35 makes clear). This is not an insignificant detail; as is the case with the name of the city itself, the names that are inscribed on the twelve portals of the wall of the city tell us who the city was designed for, and who will be residing within it.
We further read that the wall of new Jerusalem has twelve foundations, and that “the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lambkin” are on these twelve foundations. As should be evident from the fact that the “apostles of the Lamb” referred to here are twelve in number, these apostles are inseparably associated with the twelve-tribed nation to which they belong. Thus we read that the kingdom for which these apostles longed is that which Christ shall be restoring to Israel (Acts 1:3, 6), and in which they shall be “sitting on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel” (Matt. 19:28; Luke 22:28-30; cf. Rev. 20:4).[1]
Lest there be any question concerning the ethnic/national identity of those for whom new Jerusalem has been built by God (and who thus will be dwelling within this city), we go on to read the following concerning "the nations" in Rev. 21:23-26:
“And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should be appearing in it, for the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lambkin. And the nations shall be walking by means of its light, and the kings of the earth are carrying their glory into it. And its portals should under no circumstances be locked by day; for there shall be no night there. And they shall be carrying the glory and the honor of the nations into it, and under no circumstances may anything contaminating, or one who is making an abomination and a lie be entering into it, except those written in the Lambkin’s scroll of life.”
As is the case throughout the rest of Scripture (including the rest of Revelation), the people referred to as “the nations” in this passage should be understood as those among mankind who do not belong to the twelve-tribed people of Israel. That is, those who constitute “the nations” in view here are Gentiles. And according to what we read above, the nations on the new earth will be paying tribute to those within the city (as is indicated by the words, “and [the kings of the earth] shall be carrying the glory and the honor of the nations into it”).
Moreover, the fact that the “glory and honor of the nations” is something that “the kings of the earth” will be bringing “into” new Jerusalem indicates that what was previously said concerning the nations (i.e., that “the nations shall be walking by means of its light”) refers to the nations’ activity and experience outside of the holy city (for it is while the nations are “walking by means of its light” that the kings of the earth will be “carrying their glory into it”). This implies that the nations on the new earth will be living outside of the city. This is in accord with what will be the case during the next future eon as well (for example, in Rev. 20:7-9 we find that the nations will be living outside of “the beloved city” – i.e., Jerusalem – during the future thousand years).
Thus, although the nations on the new earth will be included among “[God’s] peoples” during this time (for “God Himself will be with them” and blessing them), they will not be residing within the city of Jerusalem. Instead, those dwelling within new Jerusalem will be the saints among the twelve tribes of Israel.
Further evidence that the future state of affairs described in the closing chapters of Revelation will not be perfect is found in Rev. 22:1-2. In these verses we read the following:
“And he shows me a river of water of life, resplendent as crystal, issuing out of the throne of God and the Lambkin. In the center of its square, and on either side of the river, is the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, rendering its fruit in accord with each month. And the leaves of the tree are for the cure of the nations.”
Just as the leaves of the trees referred to in Ezekiel 37:12 will be used for “medicine” in the eon to come, so the leaves of the tree of life referred to in Rev. 22:2 will be “for the cure [therapeian] of the nations” on the new earth. Apparently, the curative properties of these leaves will preserve the health of the nations during this time (and will provide healing, if necessary). However, the very fact that the nations on the new earth will be in need of these leaves at all indicates that they will not inherently possess perfect health during this future time. That is, those who will be among “the nations” during this future time will not yet enjoy what is referred to in Hebrews 7:17 as “the power of an indissoluble life” (which, although currently enjoyed by Christ alone, will be possessed by all who will have a part in “the former resurrection” referred to in Rev. 20:4-6; cf. Luke 20:34-36).
Finally, in Rev. 22:5, we’re told that the saints – i.e., those who will be dwelling within new Jerusalem – shall be reigning “for the eons of the eons.” The first of these future eons will commence when Christ returns to earth at the end of this present eon, and – after the events referred to in Rev. 20:4-10 have transpired – will be succeeded by yet another eon. But over whom will the saints be reigning during these future eons?
Based on what we read in Rev. 2:26-27, it’s evident that, during the first of the future eons, the saints will be reigning over the nations:
“And to the one who is conquering and keeping My acts until the consummation, to him will I be giving authority over the nations; and he shall be shepherding them with an iron club, as vessels of pottery are being crushed, as I also have obtained from My Father.”
And since the reign of the saints on the new earth will simply be a continuation of the reign that will begin in the next eon (and since the only other people who will be living on the new earth will be those referred to as “the nations”), we can conclude that the nations are the people over whom the saints of new Jerusalem will be reigning during the last eon.
The fact that those within new Jerusalem will be reigning over the nations accounts for why there will be a wall around the city. We know that the purpose of the wall won’t be for protection, for there will be no enemies on the new earth to threaten the inhabitants of the city (thus, we read in v. 25 that the portals of the city will never be closed). Rather than being for protection, the wall will be a boundary marker that will serve as a visible, tangible reminder of the sovereign status of the city, and its dominion over those who will be living outside of the city.
Revelation 21-22 and the reign of Christ
The above considerations involving Israel and the nations should, at the very least, lead one to seriously question the commonly-held view that Revelation 21-22 reveals the “final state” of mankind. However, there is a more fundamental reason as to why the future state of affairs described in the last two chapters of Revelation should be understood as neither perfect nor permanent. And this reason has to do with what Paul revealed concerning the duration and outcome of Christ’s reign.
As noted earlier, we’re told in Rev. 22:5 that the saints in new Jerusalem “shall be reigning for the eons of the eons.” If the saints are reigning during this time, it follows that Christ will be reigning as well (for the reign of the saints is going to coincide with, and not continue beyond, the reign of Christ). That Christ will be reigning during this time period is confirmed by the fact that, according to Rev. 22:1-3, the throne of Christ (“the Lambkin”) is going to be present in the city.
Thus, the time during which those who are “conquering” will be “enjoying the allotment” of which we read in Rev. 21:1-8 will coincide with the reign of Christ and the saints. Moreover – and as I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere (see A defense of the expression “for the eons of the eons”) – the “eons of the eons” for which we’re told the saints shall be reigning in Rev. 22:5 are the eons of Christ’s reign (Rev. 11:15). We can, therefore, conclude that the future state of affairs described in Revelation 21-22 will coincide with Christ’s reign.
But this fact means that the state of affairs described in Rev. 21-22 cannot be permanent. For according to what we read in 1 Cor. 15:20-28, Christ is not going to be reigning for an endless duration of time. In these verses we read the following:
“Yet now Christ has been roused from among the dead, the Firstfruit of those who are reposing. For since, in fact, through a man came death, through a Man, also, comes the resurrection of the dead. For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified. Yet each in his own class: the Firstfruit, Christ; thereupon those who are Christ's in His presence; thereafter the consummation, whenever He may be giving up the kingdom to His God and Father, whenever He should be nullifying all sovereignty and all authority and power. For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet. The last enemy is being abolished: death. For He subjects all under His feet. Now whenever He may be saying that all is subject, it is evident that it is outside of Him Who subjects all to Him. Now, whenever all may be subjected to Him, then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him, that God may be All in all.
In the context, the “consummation” of which we read in v. 24 refers to either the consummation of Christ’s vivifying work (i.e., the vivification of all mankind and consequent abolishment of death, “the last enemy”), or the consummation of Christ’s reign (i.e., the time when Christ will “be giving up the kingdom to his God and Father” and will thus “be subjected to [God]”). According to either understanding, the consummation of which Paul wrote is inseparably connected with both the end of Christ’s reign and the abolishing of death.
That Christ’s reign will eventually end (and is thus not going to continue for an endless duration of time) is evident from the fact that, when death is abolished, Christ is going to be “giving up the kingdom to His God and Father.” This is further confirmed by the words, ”For He must be reigning until He should be placing all His enemies under His feet.” Paul is here revealing the goal of Christ’s reign. When this goal is reached – i.e., when all of Christ’s enemies have been subjected to him – there will no longer be any need for Christ to continue reigning, and Christ will thus give up the kingdom to his God and Father. This idea is also being expressed in the words, “then the Son Himself also shall be subjected to Him Who subjects all to Him…”
Now, we know that being subjected to Christ will involve becoming a subject of the kingdom that he’ll be giving up to God after he has abolished death, for the same term translated “subjected” is used in reference to both the “all” who are to be subjected to Christ and to Christ himself (and when it’s used in reference to Christ, we know that it refers to his becoming a subject of the kingdom after he gives up the kingdom to God, for Christ is already completely submitted to God’s will). Thus, when the kingdom over which Christ will be reigning is given up to God, God alone will reign as King over this then-universal kingdom, and all created, intelligent beings – including Christ himself – will be his subjects.
Moreover, we also know that the kingdom that will be given up to God will continue without end beyond the duration of the eons of Christ’s reign. It is for this reason that we’re told in Luke 1:33 that “there shall be no consummation” of Christ’s kingdom. For, although Christ’s reign over the kingdom will end when he gives up the kingdom to his God and Father, the kingdom itself will have no end (or “consummation”) after it has been delivered to God.
Since Christ’s reign is only “until” a certain point (at which point he will give up the kingdom to his God and Father), it follows that the duration of time for which Christ and the saints are going to be reigning (i.e., “for the eons of the eons”) is not endless or “eternal”; rather, it will end when Christ’s reign ends, and he gives up the kingdom to his God and Father. Consider the following argument:
1. The state of affairs described in Rev. 22:3-5 will not extend beyond the duration of Christ’s reign.
2. According to what is revealed in 1 Corinthians 15:22-28, Christ is not going to reign for an endless duration of time (for it is only “until” a certain point).
3. Thus, the state of affairs described in Rev. 22:3-5 cannot be endless in duration.
It therefore follows that the state of affairs described in Rev. 21-22 (which coincides with the reign of Christ and the saints) will end when Christ’s reign ends.
We also know from Rev. 21:8 that some humans will be dead during the time period that’s in view in Rev. 21-22. In this verse we find that, while the saints on the new earth are enjoying the “allotment” referred to in the previous verses, there will be some humans whose “part” will be “in the lake burning with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.” And as I’ve argued in greater depth elsewhere, the second death is a judgment that will involve certain people (i.e., those whose names aren’t written in the scroll of life, and who will therefore be cast into the lake of fire) being dead during the final eon of Christ’s reign. But according to Paul, death is “the last enemy” of Christ’s reign, and is going to be “abolished” by Christ before his reign ends. And the only way that death can be abolished is if everyone who is either dead or dying is vivified (i.e., made immortal). Thus we read the following in 1 Cor. 15:22:
“For even as, in Adam, all are dying, thus also, in Christ, shall all be vivified.”
The parallelism of this verse clearly indicates that the same individuals who are included within the first “all” (i.e., all who, in Adam, are dying) are included within the second “all.” That is, the individuals referred to by the two uses of the word “all” are identical, and the scope of the first “all” determines the scope of the second “all.” And since the first “all” is comprised of all descendants of Adam (all of whom can be referred to as dying “in Adam”), it necessarily follows that all mankind shall be vivified “in Christ.”
One cannot appeal to the fact that all are not presently “in Christ” in order to support the view that all won’t be vivified; according to what Paul wrote, the vivification of all who are dying in Adam is a future certainty. All who are dying in Adam shall be vivified, and this future vivification shall occur “in Christ.” Being vivified in Christ is by no means restricted to the relatively small number of humans who are later referred to in v. 23 as “those who are Christ’s in his presence” (i.e., believers). Rather, it embraces the same individuals who, in 1 Tim. 2:4, we’re told God wills to save (i.e., “all mankind”).
Thus, despite the efforts by some to deny the obvious meaning of what Paul was affirming in this verse, we can conclude that, when death is abolished by Christ at the end of his reign, the same individuals who are included within the first “all” (i.e., all who, in Adam, are dying) will be vivified in Christ. And this means that all mankind will ultimately receive the same “power of an indissoluble life” which, in Heb. 7:16, is said to be possessed by Christ. And this must include those over whom the “second death” will be having jurisdiction during the final eon of Christ’s reign (for these will be the only people who will still be dead when the consummation arrives). Moreover, since death is the penalty of which sin makes us deserving (Rom. 1:32; 6:23; 1 Cor. 15:56), it follows that, when all humanity has been vivified in Christ, they will have been justified and thus saved from their sins (which, of course, is what Christ died to accomplish).
In light of these considerations, we can conclude that the time during which “the second death” will be in effect will be prior to “the consummation” referred to by Paul in 1 Cor. 15:24 (i.e., when death is abolished and Christ delivers up the kingdom to God). Thus, what we read in Rev. 21-22 necessarily pertains to a time that is prior to the time when, according to 1 Cor. 15:22-28, Christ delivers up the kingdom to his God and Father so that God may be “All in all.”
Why Paul (and not John) reveals “the end of the story”
Most Christians will find the idea that Revelation 21-22 does not reveal the “final state” of mankind deeply perplexing. For according to the understanding of most Christians, the final chapters of John’s prophetic work contain the penultimate revelation of what the final state of affairs will be, and is precisely where one should go if one wants to know how God’s story of redemption ends. However, as demonstrated in this study, it is not through the apostle John but rather through the apostle Paul that God has revealed “the end of the story.”
John wrote down only what was revealed to him in the visions he received from God, and the fact that he didn’t reveal anything beyond the state of affairs described in Rev. 21-22 doesn’t mean that there isn’t anything beyond it (similarly, just because Ezekiel didn’t reveal anything beyond the next eon doesn’t mean that there won’t be a new earth, or that redeemed Israel will always have a temple; in Rev. 21:22, we read that there will be no literal temple in which the saints will worship God on the new earth). Just as John saw further into the future than did Ezekiel (and revealed more in his prophetic work than Ezekiel did in his), so the apostle Paul saw further into the future than did John (being given revelation concerning what will be occurring beyond the most distant period of time that John was blessed to see in his visions).
But why would this even be the case? The answer, I believe, has to do with the administration that, according to what we read in Eph. 3:1-2, was given to Paul for the nations. This administration is referred to as the “administration of the grace of God” and the “administration of the secret,” and is the administration to which Paul’s evangel (or “gospel”) – i.e., “the evangel of the grace of God” (Acts 20:24) – belongs. Both the administration of the grace of God and the evangel that pertains to it are completely distinct from any administration or evangel that existed before Paul’s apostolic ministry among the nations began.
Before the administration of the grace of God began, the only evangel that was being heralded was the evangel that Paul referred to in Gal. 2:7 as “the evangel of the Circumcision” (which Paul said was entrusted to the apostle Peter). It is this evangel that was heralded by the twelve apostles (among whom was John, the writer of Revelation). As is evident from Paul’s use of the term “Circumcision,” this evangel pertains to God’s covenant people, Israel. And as verses such as Matt. 16:16 and John 20:31 make clear, this evangel essentially involves the truth “that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.” The evangel of the Circumcision is, in other words, concerned with the identity of the One through whom the kingdom is going to be restored to Israel (in accord with the apostles’ question in Acts 1:6).
After Paul’s apostolic ministry among the nations began, however, a new evangel – i.e., “the evangel of the Uncircumcision” – began to be heralded. But what, exactly, is the truth that constitutes the evangel of the grace of God with which Paul was entrusted to herald among the nations? Answer: the evangel entrusted to Paul to herald among the nations makes known the truth that Christ died for the sins of all mankind, and was roused the third day (1 Cor. 15:3-4; cf. 1 Tim. 2:4-6). This is an evangel that pertains to (and is good news for) all mankind, for it means that all mankind is going to be saved (which is, of course, in accord with the fact that God is “the Savior of all mankind,” as we read in 1 Tim. 4:10). Christ’s death and resurrection guarantees the ultimate salvation of everyone for whose sins he died (which, according to Paul, includes all mankind).
Thus, it shouldn’t be surprising that Paul – and not John – would be the apostle to reveal what is going to occur at the consummation of Christ’s reign (for the evangel of the grace of God that was entrusted to Paul is concerned with what Christ did for all mankind, and it is not until the consummation of Christ’s reign that everyone for whose sins Christ died will be saved). However, because the evangel of the Circumcision is an evangel that is concerned with Israel’s Messiah and kingdom, it also shouldn’t be surprising that the future seen by John and revealed in Revelation doesn’t take us any further than the duration of Christ’s reign “over the house of Jacob” (Luke 1:33).
[1] The
fact that the names of the twelve apostles are on the twelve foundations of the
city means that the name of the apostle Paul is not on one of
the foundations. The exclusion of Paul’s name from the foundation of the city
would be inexplicable if Paul shared the same eonian destiny as that of the
twelve apostles, and the fruit of his labors as “the apostle of the nations”
involved people being called to the same expectation (and coming to enjoy the
same allotment) as those who will be dwelling within new Jerusalem during the
future time with which Rev. 21-22 is concerned. However, as I’ve argued in
greater depth elsewhere (see Did Paul teach that the body of Christ will be reigning on
the earth?), God has something different in store for Paul and the company
of saints to which he belongs.
