The Regenerated Earth


Behold, I create new heavens and new earth ... ... Behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy ... ... They shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them ... ... the wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord. Isaiah 65: 17 to 65. All this shall be on new earth under the new heavens, in Jerusalem; not the earth people lived on but on another that God was to create; nor in the Jerusalem they knew, but in .the Jerusalem God was to create anew, the New Jerusalem?

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, Revelation 21: 1 & 2.

And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel ... And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Revelation 21: 12 &14. So what does John tell us? That the city was surrounded by great high walls? Or that the city's strength and foundations were the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve disciples of Jesus?

And the building of the wall of it was of Jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. Revelation 21: 18 & 19. How fascinated are the righteous of the city ( v. 27 ), who have denounced the world and all its glory, likely to be by a city of gold studded with all kinds of precious stones? Or is John simply speaking of the spelndour and glory of the city? Or is Isaiah, in Isaiah Ch. 65 verses 17 to 25, speaking of a pastoral life where people would toil to gather their food or is he speaking of a life in the New Jerusalem that will be one of justice (v. 22) and of fearlessness (v. 25).

Imagine some thousands of kilometers of a part of the earth, the holy city (or perhaps the holy city represents the whole earth) coming down from heaven. Surely it is all very symbolic (being prepared as a bride). Revelation 21: 2. There is no sun (Rev. 21:23 & 22:5) and no more sea (Rev. 21:1); therefore no more of the pastoral life painted in Isaiah 65:21 - 23, no more the gold and precious stones on which the sun will shine, spoken of in Rev. 21:18 - 21. It is a regenerated earth (Behold I create new heavens and a new earth. Isaiah 65:17 & rev. 21:1), nothing of the earth we know of (no sun and no sea) for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away (Rev.21:1) and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind (Isaiah 65:17).

No, our new heavens and new earth is not an earthly plane. It is a different plane altogether, where the people living do not need eyes to see nor food and water to nourish them. The glory of God lightens it (Rev.21:23). It is the bride, the Lamb's wife. ( 'And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife … and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Rev. 21: 9 & 10; Rev. 21: 2). It is 'they which are written in the Lamb's book of life' (Rev. 21:27). 'The kingdom of God is within you'. Luke 17: 21. (Why does 'the kingdom of God' represent Christ? 'Kingdom of God 'represents Christ's bride, the Lamb's wife). If it is not actually the plane, it is at least akin to the plane which the angels tread on. For, 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God' (I Corinthians 15:50) and 'they that are in the flesh cannot please God' (Romans 8:8). .