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Revelation 21:1-5

King James Version (KJV)

“In our prayers we talk to God, in our Bible study God talks to us, and we had better let God do most of the talking.”
— D.L. Moody

Scripture focus

1. 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. 2. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3. 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. 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. 5. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.

Revelation 21:1-5 — KJV

Commentary

Commentary on Revelation 21:1

Theological / Devotional

New. Gr. kainos, “new” in quality as opposed to that which is worn or marred. Both occurrences of “new” in this verse are translations of kainos. Neos, also translated “new” in the NT (Matt. 9:17; 1 Cor. 5:7; Col. 3:10; etc.), refers to newness in point of time. By using the word kainos, John is probably emphasizing the fact that the new heavens and earth will be created from the purified elements of the old, and thus be new in quality, different. The new heavens and the new earth are, then, a re-creation, a forming anew of existing elements, and not a creation ex nihilo. Compare 2 Peter 3:13.

Were passed away. That is, in so far as their former, marred state is concerned. That which was perfect as it came from the hand of the Creator, which He pronounced as “very good” (Gen. 1:31), had become terribly marred by sin and could not be allowed to continue throughout eternity.

No more sea. The clause reads literally, “and the sea is not any longer,” that is, the seas as we know them now will not exist in the new creation. Some have insisted that this “sea” is symbolic of peoples, nations, tongues (cf. ch. 17:15); but if so, the heavens and the earth would necessarily be symbolic also. Here John simply affirms that the heavens, the earth, and the seas will no longer exist as we know them now.

By SdaBc