What Happens After the Millennium? Revelation 21 Explained

Hello and welcome to Through the Bible with Les Feldick. An Oklahoma rancher and farmer, Les Feldick has been teaching homestyle Bible classes for 20 years in Iowa, Oklahoma, and Texas. Les Feldick's unique style of Bible teaching has made the books of the Bible come to life. When Les is teaching, it's so interesting that people say time just seems to fly by. And now, here is Les Feldick. Okay, and again, we're ready to go and pick up where we left last time. And I just happen to think, listening to that opening announcement, we're going to change that. It's no longer 20, it's 23, because we've been on the air now a little over three years. Time is flying by, so that should be 23 years instead of 20. Well, anyway, we're glad that we've got all you in the studio for our taping. And for those of you out in television, again, we love hearing from you. And nothing we like better than when people tell us we take our Bible and we're taking notes. In fact, a gentleman came into my class, McCallis, the other night for the first time, and he'd been watching the program quite a while, and he showed me his Bible. And, I mean, it just thrilled me to death. He had the whole thing filled with little stickums, you know, and had the margins all written that he had been just studying in these half-hour programs. And I'm sure that after sitting in the two-hour class, he realized what he's been missing, because 30 minutes just doesn't hold a candle to two hours. But anyway, we're glad for our television audience, and we just praise the Lord for every opportunity to come into your home. And we always like it understood. We're informal. We're not trying to build any kind of an organization or following. We just do this as a layman. The opening remarks are true. I am a full-time rancher, you know, and I still punch cattle during the day and do this teaching at night. But the Lord has seen fit to bless it in that regard, and so we'll just keep on as long as He gives us strength to do so. All right, now then, if you'll turn with me to Revelation 21. After our review of our last program, we came to the end of the thousand years and the end of time as we understand time. And now we're getting ready for the eternal state. But as I said in my closing remarks, I think that eternity is not going to be spent just floating around on a cloud up there somewhere, but eternity is going to be in light of all the Old Testament promises that this kingdom is going to be forever and forever, and Christ will be ruling on the throne of David, not for a thousand years, but forever. And so there has to be a continuation of it. But since this old planet has been plagued with the curse for 7,000 years now, even though the thousand years was relatively without it, it still had it at the end when Satan was released again. So this old planet is evidently going to be removed. Now let's look at Revelation 21, verse 1, where John now, after all the rest has been consummated, the unbelievers are in their place in the lake of fire for their eternal doom. And then he says, "...I saw a new heaven and a new..." What? "...earth." Well, the first thing when I try to get people to do as they read their Bible or study it is ask yourselves questions as you go along. Well, now it stands to reason that this should leave a question. "...I saw a new heaven and a new earth." Well, what happened to the old one? Well, the Scripture has the answer. Let's go back now from Revelation 21 and turn back to Peter's little epistle. Let's come back to the left, not all that many pages, to 2 Peter, chapter 3. Now I know the theologians, they bandy this back and forth as to which is eternal and which is still in the kingdom. But since I'm not a theologian, maybe I have a little more liberty than they do. But I just put it this way, I feel as though these verses in 2 Peter, chapter 3, give us the reason for Revelation chapter 21. And here it is, beginning with verse 10. 2 Peter, chapter 3, verse 10, where Peter writes, "...but the day of the Lord..." Now you want to remember this term, the day of the Lord, actually begins with the onset of the tribulation and goes all the way through the seven years as well as the thousand. That's all included in that term, the day of the Lord. So the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, and of course it will. It'll catch the world by surprise. "...in the witch..." Now remember there's a semicolon there. Now many times in Scripture, Old Testament as well as New, just a punctuation mark will skip a thousand years, four thousand years, or whatever. You have to be able to put it together in the light of everything else. So here with that semicolon in between, it says, "...the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat." Now what I always like about this verse is that Peter, that uneducated fisherman with no degree in science, uses the very terms that scientists still use today. And we speak of the makeup of this earth as what? Elements. All the elements that make up our earth. The iron, and the aluminum, and whatever. All the various elements. And we speak in terms of science, of dissolving, and what have you. All right, now these are the exact words that Peter uses with regard to this planet. "...that the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also, and the works that are therein, shall be burned up completely." And I see no room in there for leaving even the core. Then verse 11, "...seeing then that all these things..." What things? Everything that makes up the planet? Maybe even our solar system. I don't know. I'm not going to go so far as to say that the whole universe is going to come under this. I do not believe that. But I think the earth, and maybe our solar system, which, you know, in the light of the whole, I'm sure you all are aware of that, even our solar system is just a little pinpoint when placed in the scope of all of outer space. You know, our own pastor made the analogy in his sermon yesterday morning, and I like that. He said, you know, if man could set off a rocket and point it out into space, and even if he could get it to go 186,000 miles per second, the speed of light, at any given point in time, is it going to stick in the ceiling? Have you ever thought of that? I guess I hadn't. No. Because he said, it's not going to stick in the ceiling out there someplace, because if it would, then there'd have to be something on the other side. But, see, this is beyond... In fact, I laid in bed awake the other night, and I was trying to mull this over. And, you know, things like this can almost bring you to a headache, can't it? When you try to think of the vastness of space, that something going the speed of light can just keep going, and keep going, and keep going, and never come to the end of it. And I remember I made mention of that in our very first lesson three and some years ago in Genesis 1. That as far as space goes, who is always beyond it? God is. Now, see, that's beyond our comprehension. I say, you think about it, and you will. You'll get a headache. I mean, it's just beyond us, the infinity of God and of space. So, anyway, this little solar system, if God should see fit to destroy it, it would just be a little blip in the hole. But whatever, all these things, verse 11 again, shall be dissolved. See, the fervent heat is just going to melt it down to nothing. Now, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation, or manner of living and godliness? Now, all Peter is saying, since you're dealing with this kind of a God, who is man, who is man to even attempt to thwart Him, or to reject Him? Now, isn't that foolishness? And yet we know that down through human history, by far and away, the largest percentage of men have done that. They've kept God out of their life. And again, I always said I'm not a preacher, and I don't want to get on a stump and start preaching. But you know, this is why I'm so alarmed about our younger generation, our kids. They seemingly have no concept tonight of God, or of eternity, or of things spiritual. They're living for the here and the now. They're living for the gratification of the flesh, with no concept. And it's scary. It just scares me to death. And on the other hand, we have to understand that, of course, all this is getting ready for these end-time events, when the Antichrist will come on the scene, and all of these kids, even in our so-called Christian America, who have no concept of what's coming, when they hear the overtures of this charismatic individual who's going to promise peace and prosperity, with their ignorance of the Scripture and of spiritual things, they're going to fall for Him, hook, line, and sinker. Stands to reason. But whatever. Come back now to Revelation 21. So since this earth, and if I may go so far as to say this solar system, is totally dissolved. Maybe it isn't. Maybe it's just the planet. But I know that much will be, according to these verses. It's going to have to be burned up because it has been plagued and defiled with sin for so long. Alright? So he sees a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth was what? Passed away. See? It's gone. It's no longer there. Now you see, this is why hell had to be emptied up. See, most people don't stop to think of all these things. Hell as we know it is where? The center of this earth. But you see, if this earth is going to get blown away, even the inhabitants of hell had to be removed, because they're not going to get blown away. And so they were taken out, resurrected as I put it here a few weeks ago, so that they could come before the Great White Throne. Again, not in an invisible spirit situation, but how? Bodily. They're going to come before the Great White Throne. They're going to stand before Christ, the Judge, bodily. And then they will be sent to their place, the Great Lake of Fire, and we don't know where it's at. Again, it could be way out in the depths of space, and, you know, what's going to make hell so awful is the fact that it's an eternal separation from God. Now that's why it's called the second death, you know. Because death is a separation. Remember a long, long time ago, I sometimes get almost frustrated when I think that I've got so many listeners seemingly now from our letters coming in just in the last few weeks. And I've always told my class people, if you come in when I'm teaching Revelation, it's like some kid coming into a calculus class who has never had third grade arithmetic. It's just that hard to comprehend. But you see, if you've been with me all the way up through Scripture, which many of you of course have been, then all these things fit together so beautifully. And it's not that hard to comprehend. But anyway, the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, as Peter described it. They're going to be melded down with fervent heat. And then verse 2, now here comes the exciting part. And I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem. See? There's going to be another Jerusalem, and it's going to be for all eternity now. But this New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride is adorned for her husband. Now of course, we many times like to go back to John 14, where Jesus told the twelve, or was Judas already gone? Maybe it was just eleven. But He said, I go and prepare a place for you. Well, I don't know whether He had the New Jerusalem in mind specifically, but whether He did or didn't, we still know that God has this glorious abode that we're going to enjoy for all eternity in preparation, and it's ready to come down. In fact, He's got a thousand years to work on it yet, if He needs that much time. But it's going to be, again, beyond human comprehension. And then verse 3. The glorious part of this beautiful city is, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. Now that's in verse 3. And He, that is God, shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people. And God Himself shall be with them, and He shall be their God. In other words, God won't be somebody clear out there that we take by faith. God is going to be in the very present. And of course, eternity being what eternity is, and again, that's in another dimension that you and I can't comprehend. Even though there's going to be billions upon billions of inhabitants in eternity, yet each one of us are going to know God as personally as we do our own parent. I'm convinced of that. And that again is one of the uniqueness of the eternal. Well, then verse 4. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes. Now this is what makes heaven heaven as we think of it. No more death, no more sorrow, no crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for all those former things are passed away. And I like to tie it to the earth, the planet. That's all part and parcel of what this earth has been, you might say, known for. The curse. All that's going to be put away. And then verse 5. And He that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new, even the heavens. Everything is going to be new so that nothing can have been tainted by sin, whether it was satanic or whether it was human. And so He makes everything new. And He said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. Verse 6. And He said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega. Now there's only one person of the Godhead who says that, and who is it? That's Christ. And so the Lord Jesus here again refers to Himself as the beginning and the end. And I will give unto Him that is a thirst of the fountain of water of life freely. That's the eternalness again. Verse 7. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and He shall be My Son. And then of course in verse 8 we have a recap. I don't know why God put this in here, but He did. And I think again it's just a reminder of who will not be in this eternal state with us. The fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the whoremongers, the sorcerers, the idolaters, law liars. They'll have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. And that again, as I said before, is the second death. Because it's that final separation from God. Alright. Then we come down to verse 9. I want to move through quickly. I'm hoping we'll finish Revelation in the next program or so. Now there came one of the seven angels who had had the seven bowls back there during the Tribulation. And these angels said to John, come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. Now here again, these are terms of position more than a communal living or anything like that. Because here this bride is this new Jerusalem, this new beautiful city. And so He showed me, verse 10, from a great high mountain, He showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Now this great new city has the glory of God, and her light was like under a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Now I'm not going to take time to read all the descriptions. You can do that in your spare time. But you'll notice that this is just beyond, again, our comprehension of all the gemstones, all the jewels that will make up this city. It isn't just going to be gold, it's going to be everything that we think of as wealth and beauty. All right, and it's going to have 12 gates, verse 12, with a great wall, and at the gates, 12 angels, names written thereon, who are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. On the east wall, three gates, on the north three gates, and on the south three, and on the west three. And then the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and in these foundations were the names of the 12 apostles. That, of course, would be Peter, James, and John, and the rest. Verse 15, And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. Now he's going to bring it down in the language that we can kind of understand. And he said, The city lieth four square. Now what does that mean? Well, it isn't just going to be so many miles wide and so many miles long, as we think of cities in our day and time, but it's going to be long and wide and what? High! And so we actually have a cube. Now some feel it might be a pyramid, but I rather doubt that. I think it's going to be a cube. But it's going to be 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high. Now let's put that in the language we can comprehend. That's from New York City to Denver. From Denver to Mexico City, from Mexico City out into South Atlantic and then back to New York. Now that would be a 1,500 mile square. But, it also goes up 1,500 miles. Alright, now, I was telling Armory a little bit ago, why are we going to need a new Earth? Well, you see, that city would never rest on this little planet. Why, the curvature of the Earth would just fall away from it, and most of the city would be sitting out there like bird's wings. But I think this new Earth is going to be so huge, that this city, and I think the new Earth will be a curvature again, but it's going to be so huge, that even a 1,500 mile city won't go beyond the curvature. Now, you get your calculators out, you tell me someday how large that's going to have to be. But it's going to be beyond your imagination. Now, it's going to have to be. Because, see, I think most Bible believers ascribe to the idea that infants and little tiny children under the age of accountability are going to be in glory. I think most people agree with that. Now, you think back through human history, what percentage of infants got beyond infancy? Not very many. You take even the third world tonight, my land, think of the millions of little infants that live and die less than a year old. They're all going to be glory, as adults. See? And that makes me think that this new Earth is going to be so huge that nobody's going to be crowded. A lot of people, I even ask them, after all the Christians of all the last several thousand years are brought together, isn't Heaven going to be crowded? Well, maybe Heaven would be, but this new Earth won't be. I'll guarantee you. This new Earth is just going to be so huge and so beautiful. And remember, this 1500 mile city, that's just our apartments, so to speak. And again, as you come on down through the texts, you see, there's going to be food production. I think you're going to have all the aspects of the thousand year kingdom reign, which means that I feel there's going to be animal kingdom. There's going to be birds. There's going to be fish. Maybe not fish, because there's no sea. I'll take that back. But I think you're going to have an extension of this whole kingdom economy moving into this new Earth and this whole concept. Listen, maybe you do, but I can't stand sitting around very long. Would that be a glorious eternity to just sit with nothing to do? I don't think so. So what will God have? He's going to have activity. You're going to be busy as you can be. And there's going to be all kinds of things to enjoy, because you see, He's preparing this that we might have pleasures evermore. Now not pleasure as the world thinks of pleasure, but as God defines pleasure. Now I don't know what that'll be, but I know one thing, knowing God as I do, He can't make a mistake and it's going to be glorious. And then to think, and then to think that man will turn his back on all this for seemingly 10 or 15 years of a so-called good time. You ever thought of that? Of a so-called good time? Now I've always put it this way. You show me a person who so-called lives in the fast lane, and we see this constantly with our entertainers and so forth. They live in the fast lane. How long can their body take it? Just a few years. Then it isn't long and they're dying of lung cancer, and they're dying of AIDS, and they're dying of one thing or another. And there they've just burned themselves out for just a few years of so-called pleasure, and have turned their back on an eternity of real pleasure. Isn't that foolish? But see, mankind can't get these concepts straight. They think in terms of, well I want to live my own life, I want to have my good time for my three score years in 10, and I'm not going to worry about what's afterward. No, I look at it the other way around. I'm not going to be that concerned about this three score and 10. I'm going to be more concerned about the billions upon billions upon billions of years that are out there ahead of us. Now we can't, again, we can't get a concept of eternity. That's without end. It's going to be forever. For the lost, as well as the believer. Well, anyway, now let's move on. I've only got a minute or two left. So this beautiful city, garnished, verse 19, garnished with all manner of precious stones, see? The first foundation, jasper, the next one sapphire, the next one chalcedony, the fourth one emerald, sardonyx, sardius, the chrysolite barrel, topaz, oh, they're all beautiful gemstones, and these foundations are going to be garnished with them. And then verse 21, boy, this would make any bride, almost make her mouth water. The gates of this city are going to be made of pure what? Pearl. Imagine a gate in this city wall, solid pearl. The Bible says it. Now the biggest pearl in the world, you know, women have gone to great lengths to have it, but here we're going to have gates made of pearls. Every gate, a single pearl. Now that's going to take a pretty good size oyster, I know, but nevertheless it's going to be beautiful, see? And God's getting it all ready, if it isn't already ready. Then verse 22, well the streets, I don't want to pass that up. And the street of the city was pure gold, so pure that it's going to be transparent as glass. Now of course this is where the song writers have picked up, you know, we're going to tread the streets of gold and what have you. But this is our prospect. Alright, time is going, let's move on. Verse 22. Now you see since God is present with us, and we're present with God, there's no need for a place of worship. There will be no need for a temple. For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. Verse 23, the city had no need of the sun. Now that doesn't mean that there won't be, because we get into chapter 22, there's something that kind of throws a curve at me. I don't know how many people have picked this up, but I don't know if we'll get out of this program. We probably will the next one. But anyway, the Word is that it has no need of it. It doesn't say it won't be there. But there will be no need of the sun or of the moon, because the glory of God will be all the light that anything will need. And the Lamb is the light thereof. And then verse 24, and the, what's the next word? I want you to underline that word. What's the word? Nations. What does that tell you? You see what I said? That the kingdom economy is just going to slip right on into eternity, because we've got nations in the thousand year reign of Christ, and we're going to have nations again in eternity. I suppose maybe this is where the theologians come and say, well, this can't be eternal. This has to be the kingdom. But I beg to differ with them, if I may, that this is the eternal state, but since the Old Testament speaks of the kingdom as forever and ever, we're just moving on into it. And so yes, we're going to have nations. And those that are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and their honor into it. So evidently there's going to be nations with sub-government under the headship of God, which again comes right back to what's the promise to you and I as believers. We're going to rule and reign with Him, and I think it's going to carry right on into this eternal state. And then let's finish a chapter real quickly, and the gates of it shall not be shut, and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it, and there shall in no wise enter in anything that defileth. Thank you for watching Through the Bible with Les Feldick, a weekly Bible study. If you would like more information about the Les Feldick Ministries, a Bible study in your area, or about this program, write to Les Feldick Ministries, Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. That's Route 1, Box 760, Kinta, Oklahoma, 74552. Through the Bible with Les Feldick is viewer supported, and your gift is appreciated. Thank you, and be sure to tune in next time for Through the Bible with Les Feldick.