Can you imagine death in heaven? The existing prophetic frameworks1 imply it will be there. They also suggest other surprising conditions will exist.
These implications arise from the subject of Revelation’s seventh vision (Rev. 21–22:7).2 The existing prophetic models all teach John’s “new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1) is the eternal state.3
Here are examples. William Hendriksen represents amillennialism when he speaks of Rev. 21:3. He says “the fact that these words refer to the new heaven and earth, to fully redeemed humanity as it shall exist after the judgment day is plain as daylight.”4 George Eldon Ladd is a historic premillennialist. He says this vision is of “the ultimate destiny of God’s people.”5 Walter Scott is a dispensational premillennialist. He says Rev. 21:1–8 describes “the eternal state.”6 The postmillennialist Russell Bradley Jones agrees. “The new heavens and the new earth, as described in Revelation 21 and 22, show . . . all the glories of that eternal age.”7
Some of these writers propose solutions to the problems we mention below. Their suggestions appear forced. Examining them is beyond this post. Our purpose here is to highlight the difficulties. We want to emphasize the need for a prophetic framework that does not create these problems.
This post examines two passages. Before considering Rev. 21–22, it will examine Isa. 65–66. It takes this approach because “Revelation 21 . . . fulfills Isaiah 65:17–25.”8 These passages provide comprehensive descriptions of the new heaven and earth. They give more details of that state than any other place in Scripture.
Future posts will provide inmillennialism’s interpretation of this imagery. They will show how it avoids the following problems.
Isaiah
Isaiah describes the “new heavens and a new earth” God would create (Isa. 65:17–25). His description occurs in a prophecy of the Messianic Age. Isaiah 65:1–16 describes Messianic salvation. God says, “I am sought of them that asked not for me; I am found of them that sought me not: I said, Behold me, behold me, unto a nation that was not called by my name” (Isa. 65:1). The Apostle Paul says Christ’s first coming fulfilled this prophecy (Rom. 10:20–21). In his generation, Gentiles were finding salvation in the kingdom of God. Apostate Israel was rejecting it.
Isaiah’s prophecy contains several statements incompatible with the eternal state.
Death
Human death exists in Isaiah’s new heavens and new earth. He says, “the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isa. 65:20).
This creates a problem for prophetic frameworks. Christ will destroy physical death during his kingdom reign. It will be the last enemy he defeats (1 Cor. 15:26). After the second resurrection,9 no death of any kind will exist in the eternal state. Isaiah’s “new heavens and earth” cannot represent the final state.
Sinners
Isaiah 65:20 also declares sinners exist in the new heavens and earth. But, unrighteous persons cannot exist in heaven during the eternal state. All prophetic frameworks teach that God will separate the righteous from the wicked at (or before) the end of history. They base this teaching on Rev. 20:13-15 and similar passages.
The new heaven and earth is not the eternal state. Sinners and saints will not live and die together forever.
Offspring
Childbearing exists in Isaiah’s account of the new heavens and new earth. He says, “They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them” (Isa. 65:23; emphasis added).
Childbirth will not happen after the resurrection. So, this cannot describe the post-resurrection, eternal state.
Other Possible Problems
In his introduction to Isaiah 66, John Gill says “this chapter treats of the same things as the former.”10 And, near the end of the chapter, God again mentions “the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make” (Isa. 66:22). If this chapter is a continued description of this state, more problems appear.
Then, animal death exists in the “new heavens and new earth.” Isaiah says, “He that killeth an ox is as if he slew a man; he that sacrificeth a lamb, as if he cut off a dog’s neck; he that offereth an oblation, as if he offered swine’s blood” (Isa. 66:3). The prophet uses present-tense verbs.11 These sacrifices are realities for the time he is describing.
Delusion exists. God says, “they have chosen their own ways, and their soul delighteth in their abominations. I also will choose their delusions” (Isa. 66:3–4).
Evangelization will occur. In the new heavens and earth, some islands have not heard of the fame of the Lord. God sends missionaries to them. “They shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon swift beasts, to my holy mountain Jerusalem, saith the LORD” (Isa. 66:19–20).
An eternal state where such things occur is difficult to visualize.
Revelation
Revelation’s seventh vision (Rev. 21–22:7) contains other incompatibilities. Some of its new-heavens-and-new-earth pieces do not fit the eternal-state puzzle.
Unhealed nations
Unhealed nations exist in the new heavens and new earth. John says,
And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (Rev. 22:1–2; emphasis added)
The healing of the nations must occur in history. John’s “new heaven and earth” imagery does not describe the eternal state.
Sinners
Sinners exist in the new heavens and new earth of this passage (Rev 22:14-15). Dogs, sorcerers, whoremongers, etc. live outside the open gates of the city. They surround “the holy Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:10), a city that descended from heaven to the new earth. As we will see, these sinners are within earshot of the righteous inside the city.
This description agrees with Isaiah’s account (Isa. 65:20), but not with the eternal state.
Conversion
In the new heavens and earth, some of the above sinners “enter in through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:14). They were once outside. At some point, they entered the gates. What caused their entrance?
These sinners heard an invitation. We mentioned above that evangelization may occur in Isaiah’s new heaven and earth. Revelation removes all doubt. Here, “the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17). Some sinners, by God’s grace, accept this invitation and enter the city.
So, the conversion of sinners occurs in the new heaven and new earth. The converts enter a city that exists only there. And, the water they drink comes from one source only. It flows in “a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. 22:1). These are new-heaven-and-earth conversions.
If the new heavens and earth are the eternal state, then the conversion of sinners will occur forever.
Warnings
Warnings against apostasy exist in the new heavens and earth. John says, “if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book” (Rev. 22:19).
How do we know this warning pertains to the new heavens and new earth? Because part of the warning includes exclusion from the “holy city.” This city only exists in the new heavens and new earth (Rev 21:2, 10–27).
Warnings of having ones part taken out of the book of life is incompatible with the eternal state.
Conclusion
The “new heavens and new earth” do not equate to the eternal state. Existing prophetic models fail to recognize this fact. Inmillennialism offers itself as an improved model. If the Lord wills, future posts will show its interpretation of this imagery.
Footnotes
- See a summary of these frameworks here: Comparison Of Prophetic Models.
- Our outline of Revelation is in the post Mapping God’s Highway In Revelation.
- This post equates phrases like the following: “a new heaven and a new earth” (Rev. 21:1), “new heavens and a new earth” (Isa. 65:17), “the new heavens and the new earth” (Isa. 66:22), et al.
- William Hendriksen, More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1939), 238. Emphasis added.
- George Eldon Ladd, A Commentary of the Revelation of John (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1974), 275.
- Walter Scott, Exposition of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Grand Rapids: Kregel, n.d.), 416.
- Russell Bradley Jones, The Latter Days (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker, 1961), 136.
- Keith A. Mathison, Postmillennialism: An Eschatology of Hope (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1999), 157.
- For a discussion of the first and second resurrections, see A Delayed Millennium? — Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.
- John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols. (Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 5:387.
- In the LXX.
