The New Creation
In this final issue of the series, I want to share a big-picture view of the whole creation that came to me a while ago.
Three Realms of Existence
For the last dozen years or so, I’ve had this concept of creation that I’d like to share with you now. (See the handout, Three Realms of Existence, apart from this series, for more on this topic.)
I envision 3 realms of existence:
- The Physical Realm
- The Spirit Realm
- The Divine Realm
Physical and Spiritual realms are the creation; the Divine Realm is God (He is His own realm).
The graphic (hands and orbs) attempts to illustrate this concept. The big bubble is God’s protection of us from His “unapproachable light”, which is His presence. The blue and purple orbs represent the two realms of creation. (The arrangement between realms is not known, but could be represented as being connected, like here, or concentric, or side-by-side, or some other arrangement).
However they are connected, they will both be destroyed together after the Final Judgment. “Destroy heaven?!” you may exclaim. Yes, along with its counterpart, hell, since both are a part of the Spirit Realm. The Physical Realm is the known universe we mortals live in now.
Both realms have been tainted by sin. Both realms have to go. And go, they will.
Going back to the graphic above, #3 represents the Father in His infinite, unapproachable light. The hands represent Adonai, the Lord Jesus and the Holy Spirit (God’s Right Hand and Left Hand), protecting us from His Presence.
After the Final Judgment, Adonai will remove the protective bubble and present us to the Father, without His protective bubble, so to speak. Adonai (Spirit and Jesus) will have prepared all things to be suitable to Abba (Father), free from unchecked sin. (See Hebrews 1 and 2)
Satan will be in the Lake of Burning Sulfur with everyone else who opposes Jesus and Abba, and the saints will be sharing in Jesus’ glory, while the nations will be obedient and under control.
(I suspect that they will not know the Father like the saints will know Him.)
In fact, the saints will be one with Adonai, sharing in His glory. They will basically be like the demigods of folklore fame in the eyes of the mortal nations who remain. I cannot even imagine that kind closeness with the divine Father, but there it is. (At least, that’s how I see it.)
New Earth
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone.
Revelation 21:1
This new earth will be beyond utopian in its serenity and beauty. It really will be the eternal heaven that we are all eagerly awaiting to have revealed to us. Just read Isaiah’s account:
“Look! I am creating new heavens and a new earth,
and no one will even think about the old ones anymore.
Be glad; rejoice forever in my creation!
And look! I will create Jerusalem as a place of happiness.
Her people will be a source of joy.
I will rejoice over Jerusalem
and delight in my people.
And the sound of weeping and crying
will be heard in it no more.
No longer will babies die when only a few days old.
No longer will adults die before they have lived a full life.
No longer will people be considered old at one hundred!
Only the cursed will die that young!
In those days people will live in the houses they build
and eat the fruit of their own vineyards.
Unlike the past, invaders will not take their houses
and confiscate their vineyards.
For my people will live as long as trees,
and my chosen ones will have time to enjoy their hard-won gains.
They will not work in vain,
and their children will not be doomed to misfortune.
For they are people blessed by the Lord,
and their children, too, will be blessed.
I will answer them before they even call to me.
While they are still talking about their needs,
I will go ahead and answer their prayers!
The wolf and the lamb will feed together.
The lion will eat hay like a cow.
But the snakes will eat dust.
In those days no one will be hurt or destroyed on my holy mountain.
I, the Lord, have spoken!”
(Isaiah 65:17-25, NLT)
New Jerusalem
The New Earth must be huge, like Jupiter-sized, in order to support the New Jerusalem (God’s House). Why? Physics.
The New Jerusalem will be a city, the size of which has never been conceived of by mankind. It will be encased in a gigantic, gargantuan cubic block of solid, clear-as-glass, crystal rock—called jasper. The walls of this crystal cube will be 216 feet thick. Each wall will be a staggering 1,400 miles long and high! If it were placed on this Earth, who knows how the tiny planet would wobble from the sheer mass of the thing.
And that’s just the encasement of it. The city itself is made of solid, pure gold (not as clear as glass; but as pure as clear glass).
I imagine the city rising up on the outer edges, rising ever higher as the buildings are further outward from the city center, where the Christ’s throne is located. This huge cube is His Holy of Holies; the entire planet is His temple.
Remarkably, the city (New Jerusalem) is set on top of a foundation that can only be huge, in and of itself.
This foundation is made of 12 levels or layers that are either made of a single slab of precious stone, or each layer is inlaid with the precious stone. Each stone layer shows a different color of the rainbow, so that I believe that the foundation will emanate a rainbow glow upon the world and atmosphere surrounding it.
Imagine this magnificent structure, larger than any mountain range on this earth, soaring ever higher into the beautiful, always bright sky. My guess is that each layer could be as high as 10 miles by our measurement, for a total foundation of just 120 miles high (a mere fraction of the massive city upon it).
Heaven. Earth. God. Saints. Angels. Nations of good people. … It’s all more wonderful than we can imagine. But give it a shot; imagine away, my friend, imagine the unspoiled beauty of heaven on Earth—The New, improved Earth.
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