Most of us raised in western Christianity grew up thinking the goal of this life was to "go to heaven" when you die. We were raised on a neo-platonic spirituality which had the unintended consequence of denying the goodness of God's creation and the goodness of the human body. The Biblical story is quite different and here in Revelation 21:1-8, we see this "fleshed out".
Renewal Not Replacement
"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." - Rev 21:1 (NRSV). At first glance it might seem that John is telling us that God's plan for the future is to replace the current heaven and earth with a brand-new heaven and earth. But the way John uses the Greek word kainos (new) is more in line with the idea of renewal not replacement. Just as a refurbished house or car has a "new" quality without being brand-spanking-new, so the new creation will share continuity with the old, but also discontinuity as God will transform the world, making it even better (and possibly bigger) than what we experience in the present. Notice verse 5. God doesn't say that he is making all new things, but rather he is making all things new!
But why will the sea be no more? In much of the Biblical narrative, the sea represents chaos and destruction. Now that God's people have passed through these chaotic waters, they are safe and sound on the "other side", never to fear those dangers again. John's vision should not be pressed too literally here. He is not saying that when God makes all things new that there will no longer be oceans, rivers, lakes, and seas, but that the chaos and destruction of this life will have passed away.
God's Creational Plan is Realized
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and in the end, John sees a new heaven and earth where God has come to dwell with his people, rather than his people going to be with him. This brings to completion the whole Biblical narrative. In Genesis 2, God freely and intimately "walked" with humans in the garden. But after sin and rebellion alienated humanity from God, the rest of the Bible's story is about God making a way to once again be with his people. The story climaxes with the incarnation where God the Son becomes the man Jesus and dwells (literally tabernacles) with humankind. With Jesus having won the victory over sin and death, in Revelation 21, God not only dwells with humanity, but he gets up close and personal. Just as he forms humanity from the dust of the earth and breathes the breath of life into humankind in the garden story of Genesis 2, here in Revelation 21 God himself wipes every tear from each person's eyes. And that leads us to the next point.
Death Will Be No More
"...Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." Rev 21:4b. Plato's version of life after death was defined by a disembodied form of bliss where the soul escapes the body, but the Biblical view of eternal life is bodily resurrection. If you are unfamiliar with this concept, take a look at Isaiah 26:19, Ezekiel 37:1-14, Daniel 12:1-2, John 5:25-29, Rom 6:5, 8:9-11, 1 Cor 15:1-58, and Revelation 20:4-6. The Christian hope of life after death features resurrected human beings with physical bodies who enjoy eternal life in the renewed creation. John sees a vision of this new existence in Revelation 21-22.
Absent from the New Creation
As well as the sea (chaos and destruction) being no more, we read in verse 8 that the cowardly, faithless, polluted, murders, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars will suffer the second death (annihilation or non-existence - eternal death). This does not mean that anyone who has ever committed any of these sins will miss out on life in the age to come. The whole reason that Christ died was to free humanity from these and other destructive vices. But, if individuals wish to persist in these behaviors rather than to embrace the abundant life on offer from Jesus, then they will receive the opposite of life - death. The fact that God will not force anyone to bow their knee to Jesus not only allows them to have the freedom to choose, but it also prevents these kinds of destructive behaviors from polluting the renewed and cleansed creation.
Heaven and Earth Coming Together
In verse 2, John sees the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Essentially, this is the marriage of heaven and earth where God's will is finally done on earth as it is in heaven. We'll explore the new Jerusalem and its symbolism in the next blog. Until then. - Shay
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