Revelation 21:8-27
Revelation 21:1-7 talks about a new creation for God’s people. But who are God’s people? To the horror and disappointment to some, it will not include everyone. Far from it. Revelation 21:8 has a list of those who will not make it into the next life in the new world. It includes cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars. These people will go into the fiery lake of burning sulfur.
I know many people will say, “Oh I believe.” Good, but what do you believe? Jesus is not just nice guy, or just a prophet. He is not at all like Buddha. He is Lord. He has authority over everyone and everything. And God is not some cosmic consciousness. The God of Israel is a very real and mighty God. He can do anything He wants. And He has.
I have heard that if you’re good and kind, you’ll have life after death. Well, you may think you can earn you way into Heaven, but you can’t. God’s standards are way too high. We can never make it on our own. It is impossible. However, there is good news though. God loves people so much that He sent His son to pay our way. Jesus died on a cross to pay for our sins. Then He rose from the dead, physically, then some time later He went up into Heaven.
Remember, For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. John 3:16
It is through His grace that we may have eternal life, and that is why we celebrate Christmas, the birth of our Lord.
The rest of the chapter, Revelation 21:9-27 talks about the Jerusalem. It is described as the bride or the wife of the Lamb. I have read in several commentaries that Christians are the bride of Christ. And I agree with that. However this time I do believe this is a building. A very large building. In fact it’s 1400 miles by 1400 miles. (2253 kilometers by 2253 kilometers) That’s an amazing 1,960,000 square miles! (5,076,377 square kilometers) To give you an idea how big an area this is, Australia is 2,969,907 sq mi (7,692,024 sq km), and the United States total area: 3,794,083 square miles (9,826,630 sq km).
Imagine being able to look down and see the International Space Station – NASA
Revelation 21:16-17 says that the walls of Jerusalem were 216 feet (66 meters) and 1400 miles tall. (2253 kilometers) The International Space Station is only about 240 miles (386 kilometers) up. Imagine being able to look down at the space station. Of course the space station won’t be around then.
Now I know some of you will say all this is crazy, because the size of Jerusalem would throw the whole earth out of balance. OK. But if God can create the smallest sub-atomic particles, link them together to build atoms, then molecules, then planets, living animals, and plants; don’t you think He would know enough to offset the axis of the earth to keep it balanced???
Anyway, Revelation 21:10-21 goes in the detail of what Jerusalem will look like. To us at this point in time, this seems strange and almost unbelievable. Keep in mind that 100 years ago people most likely wondered about Israel being mentioned in the Bible when talking about end times. After all, there was no Israel for maybe 2700 years. How could they possibly make sense of this? But now there is Israel and it’s in the news often.
There is a lot going on in Revelation 21:22-27. First God and the Lamb are the temple, and the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. The nations will walk in its light. The rest of the chapter is interesting in that there are nations. Plural. And if there are different nations, then there will be different governments and different cultures. And all will be good. Even in a single country there could be different governments. For an example, in the United States, Louisiana and Alaska are the only two states that do not have counties. Louisiana has parishes and Alaska has boroughs and census areas instead.
Another thing I find interesting is that Revelation 21:27 says: Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. This makes it sound like there could be other people who are not God’s people around still. However I don’t believe there will be because of Revelation 21:8. Besides, if there were bad people then, it would go against the first part of Revelation 21.
There is only one more chapter left in Revelation. It’ll tell more about the new world, and I’ll tell you why I have been so detailed about what I have been writing. And please, please check out everything I say. Remember I am not trained in this. I am a mechanic. So until next time…
My Thoughts 