Heaven by Christopher W. Morgan & Robert A. Peterson

Author:Christopher W. Morgan & Robert A. Peterson
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Crossway

The visionary descriptions of the city indicate unsurpassed wealth, security, safety, and protection. It has powerful gates and walls, but the gates will never be shut because there will be no night, threat, or danger (v. 25).35 In stark contrast to the dangers encountered by God’s people in the old creation in the form of natural disasters, sickness, and the persecuting power of the evil trinity (the Dragon and the two beasts), there will be no worrying about our own safety and that of our loved ones in God’s new creation. The extravagant wealth contained in the building materials of the New Jerusalem also contrasts with the economic and social deprivation experienced by many of God’s people in the old creation because of their faithful witness to Christ.

The Restoration of Eden and the Reversal of the Fall (22:1–5). God’s new creation in which believers will one day live eternally is described as a restored and perfected Eden.36 Several motifs in these verses allude to the description of paradise in Genesis 2–3: the river of life (Rev. 22:1; cf. Gen. 2:10; Ezek. 47:1–9; Zech. 14:8); the Tree of Life (Rev. 22:2; cf. Gen. 3:22; Ezek. 47:12); and the removal of every cursed thing (Rev. 22:3; cf. Gen. 3:14–19; Zech. 14:11).37 These connections indicate that God’s new creation will entail a restoration of all that was lost when humanity originally rebelled against God. When humanity rebelled against God, they were removed from the garden so that they could not eat from the Tree of Life and live forever, but in God’s newly created world without sin, people have full access to the Tree of Life.

Humanity’s rebellion resulted in a cursed and broken world that groans and longs for freedom from corruption (cf. Rom. 8:19–23).38 The world, paradise, became a corrupt place filled with broken, sinful, selfish people who use, hurt, and oppress one another. Revelation declares that in God’s new creation everything cursed as a result of mankind’s rebellion against God will be completely removed.39 Verse 3 of the well-known Christmas carol “Joy to the World” captures the hope expressed in these verses:

No more let sins and sorrows grow,

Nor thorns infest the ground;

He comes to make his blessings flow

Far as the curse is found,

Far as the curse is found,

Far as, far as, the curse is found.40

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