Revelation, chapters 21 & 22

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Chapter 21 Written by the apostle John (in addition to the Gospel of John); note that these 4 later books by John (1st-3rdJoh & Reve) were the only books written after Rome was destroyed-- all the books after the Gospels are listed/described on the HOMEPAGE

Then I saw a new Heaven & a new earth, for the 1st Heaven & the 1st earth had passed away, & there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from GOD, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for Her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Now the Dwelling of GOD is with men, & HE will live with Them. They will be HIS People, & GOD himself will be with Them & be their GOD with them. HE will instantly wipe away every tear from their eyes. The tears will not remain to impact the heart; there will be no need for patient endurance. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. This is the message that needs to be heard by those who "understand" us to be communicating that they should respond to the Gospel out of fear.

Now we have about 2 lights being shed:

• 1st a return (to shed light on the present)-- back to the way things were before "the old order of things passed away." As was introduced in Reve 9 - 13 beginning of Chapter 12, Revelation is not a continuous historical account, but rather returns occasionally to former time periods. We have here the Gospel being presented as if the old order had not passed away-- we will see about the emphasis upon the fate of sinners (for we will see there is no victory of the sinful in the new order);
• then out of the past (to also shed light on the present)-- we saw about the 7 angels being given 7 bowls of wrath & plagues (for there is no wrath or plagues in the new order). We saw when 1 of the 4 living creatures gave to the 7 angels 7 golden bowls filled with the Wrath of GOD, & a loud voice from the Temple told them to, "Go, pour out the 7 bowels of GOD's Wrath on the earth." (see Reve 9 - 13 end of Chapter 15 & beginning of Chapter 16).

The 2 lights shed:

1. About the emphasis upon the fate of sinners (light shed via a return) HE who was seated on the throne gave the God-version of the Gospel & said, I am making everything new! Then HE said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy & true. HE said to Me: I am the Alpha & Omega, the beginning & the End. To him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the Water of Life. He who does this & thus overcomes will inherit all this, & I will be GOD & He will be MY SON-- in like manner that Jesus was declared HIS SON before the creation of the world (see Psa 2:7; 1stJoh 4:9; s.a., 1stCor 4:15). But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters & all liars-- their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the 2nd death. We shall see more below: Nothing impure will enter the New Jerusalem; the glory & honor of the nations will be brought in; the pure will reign for ever & ever; .
2. About the 7 angels being given 7 bowls of wrath & plagues (light shed from out of the past): 1 of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls full of the 7 last plagues came now & said to Me, Come, & I will show You the Bride, the Wife of the LAMB. And he carried Me away in the Spirit to a mountain great & high, & showed Me the then-present Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from GOD. Following are some descriptions of this New Jerusalem-- the most phenomenal of which is that it had no Temple:

It [the descended New Jerusalem] shone with the Glory of GOD, & its brilliance was like that of a precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall w/ 12 angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. There were 3 gates on the east, 3 on the north, 3 on the south & 3 on the west. The wall of the city had 12 foundations, & on them were the names of the 12 Apostles of the LAMB.

The angel who talked with Me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates & its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod & found it to be 12,000 stadia (14,000 miles) in length, & as wide as it is long.

• He measured its wall & it was thick, 144 cubits by man's measurement, which the angel was using-- the entire phrase it was thick is not in the Greek, so that some scholars say it was 144 cubits high. The wall was made of jasper, & the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.

Let me interpose here, & address a current situation-- about the former Penn State coach. I was living near there in the 1950's & 60's. I seem to recall a sexual perversion matter-or-2 that just dissolved (but then did I really just envision about it then?). Point is, I lived some 50 mi. from there; I graduated from H.S. in '67-- I was aware of no 1 specifically who was affected by those incidences. However, I have some relatives who did later attend Penn State, & perhaps they knew someone who was involved.

I brought that up to point out that while I or they or the victims may/may not forgive him (his turning his back on the matter), the depth of our possible forgiveness is minuscule in comparison to God's forgiveness-- & it's eternal value! And the guarantee that said forgiveness will happen, via confession & simply asking for forgiveness. Of course, better yet than the later guarantee of God's forgiveness would be deciding now in this life to not be involved by hiding it.

Now let me be quick to speak to those that hold to the idea that, "well, I'll just gamble & live a life of sin (in this case, ignoring it for the sake of the program), 'cause afterall, I can just confess it later-- on my death-bed, if need be." Wrong! You might not have that opportunity, in which case you've traded your eternal predicament for these few years of standing in a program! You might not luck out & have your situation exposed, & then have a cancerous time to live for God.

• The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The 1st foundation was jasper, the 2nd sapphire, the 3rd chalcedony, the 4th emerald, the 5th sardonyx, the 6th carnelian, the 7th chrysolite, the 8th beryl, the 9th topaz, the 10th chrysoprase, the 11th jacinth, & the 12th amethyst.
• The 12 gates were 12 pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.
• The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent tinted glass.

I did not see a temple in the city, because the LORD GOD Almighty & the LAMB together as ONE are its descended Temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the Glory of GOD gives it light from within, & the LAMB is its Lamp. So much light that: The nations will walk by its light, & the kings of the earth will bring Their splendor [personal light] into it. Forever: On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory & honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only Those whose names are written in the LAMB's Book of Life.

Chapter 22 Written by the apostle John

Then the angel showed Me the river of the Water of Life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the ONE Throne of GOD & of the LAMB down the middle of the great street of the City. On each side of the river stood the Tree of Life, bearing 12 crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the Tree are for the healing of the nations-- whereby sin has no victory. No longer will there be any curse. The ONE Throne of GOD & of the LAMB will be in the City, and HIS ONE Servants will serve HIM only-- they will have no others gods before HIM. They will see HIS Face only-- no distractions, HIS Name alone will be on Their foreheads. There will be no more night-- no periods of misguidance. They will not need remain focused on the light of a lamp when in service or the light of the sun while walking about, for the LORD GOD will give Them Light. And They will reign forever & ever. The angel said to Me, These words are trustworthy & true. The LORD, the GOD of the Spirits of the prophets, sent HIS Angel to show HIS Servants the things that must soon take place. Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is He who keeps the words of the prophecy in this Book.

I, John, am the 1 who heard & saw these things. And when I had heard & seen them, I fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who had been showing them to Me. But he said to Me, Do not do it! I am but a fellow servant with You & with Your brothers the prophets & all who keep the words of this book. Worship GOD! Then he told Me, Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this Book, because the time is near. Let him who does wrong continue to be vile-- the time for confession & repentance is on restraining order (later they shall be convinced that the hope of sinful victory is futile, that those who reign from the New Jerusalem will reign forever; let Him who does right continue to do right; & let him who is holy continue to be holy.

Behold, I am coming soon! MY reward is with ME, & I will gie everyone according to what He has done for ME. Together with MY FATHER: I am the Alpha & the Omega, the 1st & the last, the Beginning & the End. Blessed are those of the nations who wash their robes, that they also may have the right to the Tree of Life & may go through the gates into the City, the New Jerusalem. Outside are the dogs yet deceived about sinful victory, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters & everyone who loves & practices falsehood. I, Jesus have sent MY Angel to give You this testimony for the churches-- that there will be no more sinful victory. I am the Root & the Offspring of David, & the bright Morning Star.

John writing: The Spirit & the Bride, together as ONE in the New Jerusalem, say, Come! And let him who has an ear & hears also say, Come! Whoever is thirsty for the true Water, let him come; & whoever wishes for removal from the deception of sinful victory, let him take the free gift of the Water of Life. I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this book: if anyone adds anything to them, GOD will add to him the plagues described in this book. And if anyone takes any words away from this book of prophecy [not the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit spoken of by Jesus, which is never forgiven (see Matt 12:30-32, but especially v. 32)], GOD will take away from Him His share in the Tree of Life & in the Holy City, which are described in this book-- he will be cast outside the walls of the New Jerusalem, where he will again have the opportunity to realize the futility of belief in sinful victory. HE who testifies to these things says, Yes, I am coming soon. Amen. Come, LORD Jesus. The Grace of the LORD Jesus be with GOD's People. Amen.