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Revelation Chapter 21

Revelation 21 shows the new heaven, new earth, and New Jerusalem. God dwells with His people and makes all things new.

New creationNew JerusalemBride of the LambGod with His peopleNo more death

Revelation 21:1-8

New Creation and End of Death

Revelation 21:9-14

Bride-City Descends

Revelation 21:15-21

Measured City of Holy Beauty

Revelation 21:22-27

God and the Lamb as Temple and Light

Revelation 21:1

John sees a new heaven and a new earth because the former creation, marred by sin, has passed away. The word translated "new" emphasizes newness in quality. The SDA Commentary understands this as a re-creation from the purified elements of the old, a world made new and no longer scarred by rebellion.

The statement that there is "no more sea" should first be allowed its plain force. The seas as they are known in the present creation will no longer exist in that form. Although sea imagery elsewhere in Revelation can symbolize peoples or powers, treating the sea as symbolic here would also require the heavens and earth in the same sentence to be symbolic.

The theological hope remains profound without replacing the text's concrete promise. The old order of sin, death, and ruin is removed, and God renews the world He made. New creation is not an escape from embodied life but redeemed life with God in a creation where righteousness dwells.

Revelation 21 therefore turns judgment into homecoming. After evil has been exposed and removed, the Creator makes all things new and prepares a real dwelling place for His people under the unveiled presence of God and the Lamb.

Study Links

Cross References

Genesis 1:1Isaiah 65:17Isaiah 66:222 Peter 3:13Revelation 20:11Revelation 21:5

Symbols

New heaven and new earth

God's renewed creation, made new in quality after the sin-marred order passes away.

Isaiah 65:172 Peter 3:13Revelation 21:1

No more sea

The seas as known in the present creation will no longer exist in that form; this is part of God's concrete re-creation of the world.

2 Peter 3:13Revelation 21:5Revelation 21:1

Word / Phrase Notes

New heaven and new earth

God's renewed creation after the old order has passed away.

Isaiah 65:172 Peter 3:13Revelation 21:1

First heaven and first earth

The fallen order marked by sin, death, and judgment.

Revelation 20:11Revelation 21:1

No more sea

The seas as known in the present creation will no longer exist in that form; this is part of God's concrete re-creation of the world.

2 Peter 3:13Revelation 21:5Revelation 21:1