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Texts• Rev. 21:10-11 (NIV):–“And he carried me away in the

Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”

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• Rev. 21:1 (KJV):–“And I saw a new heaven and a new

earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

• II Pet. 3:13:–“Nevertheless we, according to his

promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.”

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Introduction• The Throne of God is now heaven, or

in heaven (i.e. Matt. 5:34 (NIV© 1984):

– “But I tell you, Do not swear at all: either by heaven, for it is God’s throne;”

• But, someday the Throne of God is coming to earth.–After the Return Of Jesus Christ at

the Second Advent . . .

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–After Jesus’ earthly rule with The Elect for 1,000 years, and . . .

–After the renovation and purification of the earth by fire, the throne of God is coming to earth with the New Jerusalem:

• Rev. 21:2-6 says:–“I saw the Holy City, the new

Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, . . .

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–“. . . prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. . . .

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–“. . . There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’ 5 He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”

• Heaven will be on the New Earth.

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A Synopsis• The New Earth will be a beautiful

Paradise of mountains, fields & forests, rivers, fountains, lakes & streams.–Everything will be completely free

from today’s corrupted environment, which has been polluted and degraded by industrial waste, chemical spills, damage from wars, etc.

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• All of creation will have undergone a remarkable transformation. –The so-called "natural disasters"

that plague the World today will occur no more!

–Earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, violent storms, hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, etc. will be things of the past!

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• The earth will no longer bring forth thorns, thistles, weeds or poisonous plants.–Instead, fruits, vegetables &

grains will grow easily and abundantly.

• All formerly wild and dangerous beasts, such as lions, tigers, bears and wolves will be docile and tame.

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–They will become the friends of mankind and pets of children.

• I suspect that all bothersome insect pests (e.g., mosquitoes, flies, and other creatures like spiders, scorpions, infectious worms & parasites will be completely eliminated).

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• The gigantic city of New Jerusalem will be the largest, most amazing structure that the World has ever seen! –It will be built of diamond-like

“jasper”, and a now-unknown-to-man crystal-like gold material.

–The entire city will be suffused with, and will radiate a beautiful warm glow.

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• The New Jerusalem will reach 1,500 miles high into space! That is 275 times higher than the present Earth's tallest mountain, Mount Everest! –The square base of the city is

1,500 miles long by 1,500 miles wide, covering a total area of 2-1/4 million square miles!

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• Within this beautiful golden city will be the Throne of God.–From here, the King of Kings and

Lord of Lords will rule forever.–The seat of all government,

spiritual and material will be in the New Jerusalem.

–This great city will be the most important in all the world.

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• The New Jerusalem will be the Capital of the King of Kings and Lord of Lords, Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living God, Creator & Master of the entire Universe!–And this marvelous 1,500-mile-

high city is already built and is on its way to our planet right now!

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• More important than anything else is the fact that we will be with our Lord Jesus Christ forever. – We shall worship Him and be His

people and He will be our God. –When we see Christ face to face

His presence will dominate heaven the same way the sun dominates the summer sky.

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• If heaven had streets of gold, precious gems, and angels singing overhead, but no Jesus, then Heaven would not be Heaven. –Just as the sun illuminates the

summer sky, so the glory of Christ illuminates all of heaven.

–He will be the most important thing in Heaven.

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• The same God Who created this Earth, and the Universe in which we live, has created a real and wonderful place for all of His children to live with Him forever! –His diamond-crystal-gold

Heavenly City will be our heavenly dwelling place forever.

–It will be wonderful indeed!

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• But before the New Jerusalem comes down to the New Earth, God is going to completely purge and purify the entire surface of the Earth with fire (II Pet.3:10).

–Earth will be re-created into a beautiful "New Earth", like the Garden of Eden.–"And there shall be no more

Curse!" (Rev.22:3).

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• The Curse that came upon the Earth when Man fell into sin will be completely removed. –All of the cursed and poisonous

things of today shall be no more.–All of man's rebellion will be done

away with forever.–Sin will be dead for all eternity,

Thank God!

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• All those things that pollute (e.g., toxic wastes, chemicals, radioactive debris and garbage will be utterly burned up.–Inside the wonderful golden city of

New Jerusalem, descended to the New Earth, all of God's saved Saints will live with Him forever!

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• We will all have supernatural, powerful, immortal, resurrected bodies which we will receive when Jesus Christ returns.–We will not be subject to the

same laws of physics. –In John 20:19,26 we find Jesus

evidently walking through walls and locked doors.

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–Elsewhere in the Bible we read about angels that appear and disappear.

–It is my opinion that we will be able to travel anywhere instantly, by thought.

–We will still be able to eat and enjoy food like Jesus did in John 20:27 and John 21:10-15.

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• We will never be sick or die again.–We currently live in a fallen,

imperfect world. People get sick, suffer and die.

–In heaven that won’t be true. God tells us in heaven there will “no longer be any curse” (Rev. 22:3).

–Rev. 21:4 says: “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or . . .

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–“. . . mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

–There will be no more suffering in heaven.

• We will recognize each other and we will have deeper relationships.–Love, Joy and Peace will be the

order of the day, every day.

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• Outside the holy city, on the beautiful new earth, there will be whole nations of natural people.–Their lives will also be ideal in

every respect.–Their bodies will evidently be kept

alive and healed through the river of the water of life, and the tree of life’s fruits and leaves.

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• These natural nations dwelling on the New Earth won't live in the New Jerusalem because they didn't receive God's Son, Jesus.–But there on the New Earth they

will learn to know and love Him at last!

–And they will live an idyllic existence as did Adam and Eve before the Fall.

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The New, Natural Peoples• The natural people who will live on

the New Earth will be as natural and earthly as they are today.–However they will be made

imperishable and new in character, righteousness and holiness forever, instead of being under the present curse and sinful state.

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• Rev. 21:3 says:–“And 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.”

• This tabernacle will be a literal, material one.

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• The temple (tabernacle) in Heaven is mentioned twelve times in the book of Revelation.–Each reference indicates a literal

temple in which God is enthroned.• The Greek word Skene means

“habitation or tabernacle.”–It is used 18 times in the New

Testament.

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–This is the only word in the book of Revelation translated “tabernacle”.

• This tabernacle of God is in the New Jerusalem now, but will come down out of the present Heaven with the New Jerusalem.–The preposition “with” is from the

Greek meta, and denotes “amid” or “among” (cf. Matt. 26:58; Mark 1:13).

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–Meta can also mean “in company with” (cf. Matt. 9:15; II Thess. 1:7; Rev. 14:13).

• All of this proves that natural men on the earth are the subject of Rev. 21:3-8, for glorified men will already have been with God for 1,000 years.–God will come down to earth and

live with natural men forever.

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• These natural peoples will be those who will live through the Millennium without rebelling against God when other natural men rebel with Satan at the end of the Millennium.–Instead of becoming a glorified

people, they will remain in a natural, but imperishable, state.

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• They will be in an imperishable state as God intended man to be when He created Adam and Eve.–The Fall of man did not cause

God to change His eternal purpose for mankind.

• The resurrected saints will reign over these natural peoples who will be free from the Curse of sin.

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• The Fall of man merely delayed the purpose of God. To reiterate:–God Himself will dwell with men

and be their God, and they shall be His people.

–God shall “wipe away all tears from out of their eyes.”

–“There shall be no more death, neither sorrow, or crying, neither shall there be any more pain.”

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• These things are the effects of sin, and since sin and the Curse will be removed, they will no longer plague men.–They will still be in existence, but

only in the lake of fire, which is the second death, where pain, sorrow, tears of remorse, weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth will go on through eternity.

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• Natural men will inherit the Earth in fulfillment of Exod. 32:13; Psa. 25:13; 37:9-11, 22, 29, 34; 69:36; 82:8; Isa. 60:21; Matt. 5:5; 25:34).–Death is the fruit and penalty of

sin, and Satan has used both to rule the human race.

–But both sin and death will be removed after the Millennium.

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• Thus the conditions of the New Earth will be adjusted to perfection for the good and perpetuity of natural mankind.–Although human beings will not

die in the New Earth, at least some animals will die and be sacrificed as under the Law of Moses.

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• There will be eternal generations of natural peoples –(See: Gen. 9:12; 13:15; 17:7, 19;

Exod. 3:15; 12:14, 42; 27:21; 30:8, 21; 31:16; 40:15; Lev. 3:17; 6:18; 10:9; 17:7; 23:14, 21, 31, 41; 24:3; Luke 155, Dan. 4:3, 34; Joel 3:20, etc.).

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• There will exist the eternal, natural priesthood of Aaron’s seed (Exod. 29:9; 40:15; Num. 25:11-13; I Chron. 23:13).

–Such would not be possible if his seed were not natural and eternal.

• Incense will burn eternally on the altar of God (Exod. 30:8; II Chron. 2:4).

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• Eternal sacrifices and offerings will be in place (Exod. 28:26-28; Lev. 3:17; 6:18-23; 7:34-38; 10:15; 16:29-34; 24:5-9; Num. 18:8-11, 19-23; 19:10; II Chron. 2:4; Zech. 14:16-21).

• The eternal land of promise will be given to Abraham and his posterity (Gen. 13:15; 17:6-8; 48:4; Exod. 32:13; Lev. 25:23, 30, 34; Deut. 4:40; Josh. 14:29; II Chron. 20:7; Isa. 60:21; Jer. 25:5, etc.).

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–These verses do not speak of the resurrected saints, because they will inherit all things and reign over these natural peoples.

• There will be feasts for eternity (Exod. 12:14, 17; Lev. 23:14; II Chron. 2:4; Zech. 14:16-21).

• There will be eternal light in the sanctuary (Exod. 27:20, 21; Lev. 24:2-4).

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–This, as well as other ceremonial parts of worship, will be carried on in the eternal temple (tabernacle).

• The natural people who are priests will wear priestly garments (Exod. 28:43).

• There will be new moons and sabbaths (Exod. 31:16-17; Lev. 16:21; II Chron. 2:4; Isa. 66:22-24).

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• There will be planting and harvesting, cold and heat, summer and winter as long as the Earth remains (Gen. 8:22; Psa. 104:5; Eccl. 1:4).

–The natural peoples of the earth will be the planters and harvesters.

• There will be eternal natural life among men, and multiplication of beasts.

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–Beasts will still be used in sacrifices and offerings, as stated before.

• David’s natural seed, and his throne and kingdom are eternal and will be ruled by the Lord Jesus Christ forever (II Sam. 7:11-17, 24-29; 22:51; 23:5; I Kings 2:45; 9:3-5; I Chron. 17:7-15, 22-27; 22:10; 28:4-9; II Chron. 13:5; 21:7; Psa. 89:3,4, 35-37; 145:13; Isa. 9:6-7; Ezek. 43:7-9; Dan. 2:44-45; 7:13-14; Rev. 11:15; 22:5, etc.).

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• In all these passages, the English words “everlasting”, “forever”, “perpetual”, etc. are used.–The same words are used for the

eternity of God, so if one is eternal, the other must be also.

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In Closing• In our wildest imagination, we

cannot think of a more beautiful and glorious place than Heaven.–The city of New Jerusalem will be

teeming mega-metropolis of billions of God’s saved people.

–The Earth will be splendid and magnificent.

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• Absolutely everything good and glorious that we can imagine will not come near to the reality of Heaven itself.–We will never miss this present

Earth and all its corruption due to sin and mismanagement by man.

–Anything we endure here will be well worth it for Christ’s sake.

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• For at the end of every child of God’s life is the glorious promise of a resurrected body and life eternal.–Our fellowship with Jesus and all

the saints of God from every age will be the most wonderful part of Heaven.

End of Lesson