30. The Everlasting Kingdom
April 2007
Topics:
One Thousand Years
The Lake of Fire
The New Jerusalem
The New Earth
The Final and Full Display of the Love of God
God is love. Through His love He created the heavens and the earth. Through His love He has redeemed sinful man. Through His love, man has been restored to His image. Not just to one person as with Enoch. And not just to the righteous who are resurrected and living in the presence of God. Salvation is not to just one family, as with Noah, but to a people, the 144,000. Grace is demonstrated to be sufficient for even sinful man.
As Jesus looks at the unnumbered multitudes of the saved, He feels "the joy that was set before him" (Hebrews 12:2) for which He endured the Cross. The sufferings of His life on earth are well rewarded by "the glory that should follow" (1 Peter 1:11), and He is satisfied (Isaiah 53:11).
When Jesus comes the second time, the Everlasting Covenant will have reached a climax. The promise given in Eden has been maintained and renewed through the ages of the Old Testament. The covenant was confirmed by the sinless life and the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on Calvary. The increased light of the grace of God has been spread to all people. That special group, who have made the deepest commitment to Him, are sealed. More than any others they are like Christ. The work of grace on the hearts of sinful men has been demonstrated to all.
"But we all, with unveiled face beholding (contemplate) as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18, ASV).
The everlasting covenant is a success! Jesus welcomes His people. After the New Jerusalem comes down to the earth, heaven is where God is. Heaven and the New Earth are again a happy place. All creation, in unshadowed beauty and perfect joy, declare that God is love.
"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).
We are getting ahead of ourselves. After Jesus comes again, the righteousness do not receive the Holy City or inherit the earth made new immediately. There is one more step that needs to be completed. For this the righteous are taken to Heaven into the very presence of God Himself. There, judgment is given unto them and they live and reign with Christ for one thousand years. Judgment, what judgment?
Christians are tempted to look on the Plan of Salvation as focused primarily on the salvation of the righteous. This is an important consideration, but not the only one and not even the most important consideration. Even more important is the character of God, Himself. Is God arbitrary, vengeful, seeking to destroy all those who do not obey Him? Or is He a God of love, grace, mercy, forgiving, and seeking to save all that He possibly can?
If God is just, how then can He be merciful? If He is merciful, how then can He be just? It is in the Cross of Calvary that "mercy and truth are met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psalms 85:10). Further, Jesus Christ is declared to "be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus" (Romans 3:25-26).
The plan of salvation as worked out on this earth, is of intense interest to all intelligent beings "for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men" (1Corinthians 4:9). The experiences we go through hear are "things the angels desire to look into" (1 Peter 1:12).
During this earthly reign of sin and of redeeming grace, observations are made. Tentative judgments are also made but there are questions that are not answered. Some will be saved who were known to be sinners. Some will be lost who were known to be kind and generous. Why? Why? Why? In the eternity of the earth made new, God wishes to have every question answered.
Maybe even the most difficult question is: How could angels, who lived in the presence of God ever sin? How could Lucifer, the highest angel and the closest to God Himself, rebel and sin against God? This question must be answered. The righteous redeemed of all ages will be given judgment of not just unsaved men but even of the fallen angels (1 Corinthians 6:3). From this judgment, everyone will become perfectly satisfied that God is a God of love. "For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God" (Romans 14:11).
The Lake of FireAfter every question is answered as to why the wicked are lost; after every knee, even the wicked and even Satan himself, has bowed to recognize Jesus as Lord; the judgment is finally consummated.
The Bible is crisp and concise. Satan, his angels, and all the wicked are cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20; 20:14,15). The Bible is also clear at this point: to be cast into the lake of fire is to suffer the second death. It is not an eternity of suffering and anguish. It is a quick, merciful death.
The picture of a lake of fire here is consistent with a quick, merciful death. This is not what God has chosen. It is what each individual has chosen as he lived his life on earth (2 Peter 3:9). The lake of fire is also a purifying fire. The earth is cleansed of all sin and sinners. The planet, now cleansed, is ready to be recreated, made new and receive the Holy City, New Jerusalem where all the righteous shall dwell forever. And not only the righteous, but God Himself shall dwell with them (Revelation 21:3)!
The New JerusalemThe earth made new is different from what Adam and Eve lived in. Revelation chapters twenty one and twenty two are surpassing beautiful in their descriptions, symbolisms, and poetry. The heavens and the earth are new. The holy city, new Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven. The beauty of the city is as a bride prepared for her husband.
With our known challenges in space travel, how can a whole city travel through space? There is no human scientific answer. We have faith to believe that a God who set the stars and planets in their orbits would also have power to send a city through space.
The holy city comes with a powerful announcement: "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 core of the everlasting covenant is now an eternal promise. God, who was with man throughout the reign of sin, is now to be even more fully with man. Living with him.
12 "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known" (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Included in this chapter is a description of the mind boggling size of the city. Revelation 21:16 gives a measure of 12,000 furlongs, or 1500 miles. Considering that this is the circumference of the city, each side would measure 375 miles, or about the size of the state of Arizona. Surely there is room in the city for the righteous of all ages.
There is one more feature of special note. The river of water of life and the tree of life are in the restored Garden of Eden. This now becomes the central focus of the universe and the location of the throne of God the Father and of Jesus the Lamb of God. To the saints is restored the lost dominion and "they shall reign for ever and ever" (See Genesis 1:26-28).
2 "In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
3 "And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him:
4 "And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
5 "And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever" (Revelation 22:1-5).
And that is not all. All sins committed are forgiven, buried, gone. Here are some verses:
12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us" (Psalms 103:12).
19 "He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea" (Micah 7:19).
When the new covenant is promised, God said, "for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more" (Jeremiah 31:34). How can sins be not only forgiven, but removed? How can sins be cast into the depths of the sea? They are forgotten! Those who have committed sins will have no more memory of them in the New Earth! Better yet, those who have been offended by our sins will not remember them either! And best of all, even God will not remember our sins! We will stand before Him as if we had never sinned!
17 "For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind" (Isaiah 65:17).
There is this special promise: "he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time" (Nahum 1:9). The plan of salvation has been a success! The victory gained by Jesus’ sinless life and his sacrifice on Calvary is complete. Evil will not arise a second time. There is just one reminder of the cost of our salvation, an eternal reminder.
4 "And His brightness was like the sunlight; rays streamed from His hand, and there [in the sunlike splendor] was the hiding place of His power" (Habakkuk 3:4 Amplified).
6 "If someone asks him, ‘What are these wounds on your body?’ he will answer, ‘The wounds I was given at the house of my friends’" (Zechariah 13:6 NIV).
As the redeemed saints are reminded of the cost of salvation; as they see His generous love in laying aside the prerogatives of divinity to become a man, forever "Emmanuel, God with us", in gratitude and praise they bend every effort in song, art, and in daily living to restore to Him the glory that He laid aside for us.
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