"They shall not hurt nor destroy IN ALL MY HOLY MOUNTAIN: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the

LORD, as the waters cover the sea" (Isa. 11:9).

"They shall not hurt nor destroy IN ALL MY HOLY MOUNTAIN, saith the LORD" (Isa. 65:25).

If we belittle or ignore this added revelation we must expect to have problems that remain unsolved, but if we

give God credit for meaning something by this repetition of the Holy mountain, light may dawn.

Isaiah 2:1-4 tells us that in the last days the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the

mountains ... and all nations shall flow unto it and be taught His ways.

"For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem" (Isa. 2:3).

Further, if we do not summarily dismiss the words "as the waters cover the sea" as a strange figure of speech, we

might learn more as to the relationship of the New Jerusalem with the New Creation. Ezekiel 47 reveals that healing

waters are to flow from the house of the Lord in Jerusalem, and that "everything shall live whither the river

cometh", and when we learn that it will reach to a place named En-gedi, we know that this river will flow into the

Dead Sea. So that we can understand the figure the better, the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, as the

river of LIFE shall heal and blot out the DEAD Sea. But this knowledge starts from Jerusalem, and takes time to

expand and spread. We now see that both Isaiah and John perceived that what was true in the first case of the New

Jerusalem only, was to be the blessed experience of the whole earth ultimately. If the new heaven and earth of

Revelation 21 were set over against the primal creation of Genesis 1:1 (where confessedly no thought of Jerusalem

old or new can be introduced) we should expect Paul and not Peter to refer his readers to the new heaven and the

new earth; for the church of the mystery is associated with the period known as "before the foundation of the

world". But the fact remains, whatever the meaning may be, that it is Peter and not Paul who refers his reader to this

new creation. Peter in his second epistle (2 Pet. 3) speaks of the day of the Lord, in which "the heavens shall pass

away" and "the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up" and then tells us that this will be

followed by the day of God. We must be on our guard when we read the A.V. here; "in the which" of verse 10 is in

the Greek en he, but "wherein" in verse 12 is di" hen "by reason of which" (See R.V.).

"Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth" (2 Pet. 3:13).

It appears that the Day of God that follows the Millennium and the new heavens and new earth are the same.

The same sequence is maintained in Revelation 20 and 21:

The day of the Lord i.e. the thousand years reign (Rev. 20:6).

The fleeing of heaven and earth (Rev. 20:11).

The new heaven and new earth (Rev. 21:1).

It is to be noted that most ancient manuscripts read "discovered" for "burnt up" in 2 Peter 3:10. While all the

host of heaven shall "be dissolved" and "the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll" (Isa. 34:4), the earth

remains after its baptism of regenerating fire.

Returning now to Revelation 21, we observe that the new Jerusalem is put forward as equivalent with the

tabernacle of God. "I saw" new Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for

her husband. "I heard" the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them. This "adorning" as a bride

is characteristic of the new Jerusalem for the Greek word kosmeo occurs nowhere else in the Apocalypse than in

verse 19 where it speaks of the "garnishing" of the foundation of the wall of the city with all manner of precious

stones. A reference back to the materials employed in the Tabernacle in the wilderness with its blue, purple, scarlet,

linen, silver, brass and gold, will justify the parallel. Again, as we have seen a parallel between the heavenly

Jerusalem of Revelation 21 and the earthly city of Isaiah 65, so we shall find that the earthly Jerusalem, when it is

restored to favour, will have a foundation of sapphires and all its borders pleasant stones (Isa. 54:11,12). Now if this

new Jerusalem which descends to the earth when the new heaven and the new earth replace "the former" and if

within its walls "there shall be no death" or pain or crying, we nevertheless find in that new creation, such awful and

evil characteristics described in Revelation 21:8,27 and 22:15 as to show that the knowledge of the Lord while

perfect and complete within the city, has not yet radiated to the ends of the earth.