I N D E X
15
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When dealing with Revelation 20:5 we found that this "first" resurrection was the "former" of which the
resurrection at the Great White Throne is the "latter" or the member that completes "the pair". So "the former"
heaven and earth which pass away, demands that the new heaven and earth shall be the second member of a pair.
At the setting up of the Great White Throne we read:
" ... from Whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them ... and the sea
gave up the dead which were in it" (Rev. 20:11-13).
We need seek no further for "the former heaven and earth" which passed away, or for "the sea" which was to be "no
more". It is utterly impossible to think of the primal creation of Genesis 1:1 here; THAT surely will not pass away at
the setting up of the great white throne. The former creation can only refer to Genesis 1:3 to 2:3.
We consider next the relationship of the new heaven and new earth with the heavenly city, called here the holy
city, and "the new Jerusalem". This city is called "new" in ONE OTHER PLACE, namely in Revelation 3:12 where it is
also spoken of as coming "down from heaven" from God. The overcomer whose sphere of glory and of service
during the Millennium is to live and reign with Christ for the thousand years, evidently reigns OVER the earth, rather
than ON the earth, and experimentally proves the lesson learned by Nebuchadnezzar that "the heavens do rule" in
"the kingdom of men" (Daniel 4:25,26).
It may be necessary at this juncture to anticipate a difficulty. In each sphere of blessing there will be two classes.
Both will "live", but both will not "live and reign". This is exhibited in 2 Timothy 2:11-13. It is possible that "The
Bride" will be attended by "the virgins her companions" (Psa. 45:14) who will also have a place in the heavenly
city, even as they will who are for ever "with the Lord" in 1 Thessalonians 4:13-18. While the believer was on
earth, and looking forward to this city it was of necessity spoken of as "heavenly", but when the heavenly rule is
over, the Millennium having run its course, this heavenly city will descend to the "new" earth; it is then called "The
new Jerusalem" and then it will assume another character, not so much as "reigning" over the earth but enshrining
"the tabernacle of God" so that He may, at long last dwell among men. Before we deal with this aspect, there is
another feature demanding our attention, namely the reason for this association of the new heaven and earth with
Jerusalem. It must be very essential to the fulfilment of the purpose, for we not only have it so expressed in
Revelation 21:1-3, but we have it in the prophecy of Isaiah also where the new Creation is linked with the earthly
Jerusalem. Isaiah, in chapter 65 says:
"For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into
mind" (Isa. 65:17).
So far all is straightforward, but the prophet continues:
"But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her
people a joy ... the voice of weeping shall no more be heard in her, nor the voice of crying" (Isa. 65:18,19).
At the close of this chapter in Isaiah we read words very similar to those found in Isaiah 11.
"The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb ... and the lion shall eat straw like the ox" (Isa. 11:6,7).
"The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock" (Isa. 65:25).
"The asp" and "the cockatrice (or adder)" are mentioned in Isaiah 11:8 and "the serpent" in Isaiah 65:25. "A
little child", "the sucking child" and "the weaned child" figure in Isaiah 11:6-8, while an "infant of days" and "a
child" are brought into the record in Isaiah 65:20.
While in Isaiah 65:19 there is a parallel with Revelation 21, in that there will be no more weeping nor crying;
yet, in Revelation 21 we read "there shall be no more death", whereas in Isaiah 65 we read "the child shall die an
hundred years old: but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed" (verse 20).
The problems that such features raise are partly of our own making, for we have omitted one other feature that is
found in both Isaiah 11 and 65:
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see the booklet entitled Zion, the Overcomer, and the Millennium by the same author.