The Messianic Age as the New Heaven and Earth — Part 3

A reader noticed our last post omitted elements of the new heavens and earth. They also contain no tears, sorrow, crying, or pain (Rev. 21:4). He wanted to know how our prophetic framework, inmillennialism, explains these features.

The “new heavens and earth” do not describe eternity per se. Death, child-bearing, sinners, unhealed nations, conversion, and warnings against apostasy exist there.¹ None of these will exist in the eternal state.

Previous posts showed how the visions in Revelation pertain to John’s near future. The apostle wrote them before the “great tribulation” of AD 66–70. They describe the same period Jesus foretold in the Olivet Discourse (Matt. 24–25). We will not restate the arguments for this position.²

This perspective explains John’s vision of the new heavens and earth. God established the “first heaven and the first earth” in Israel’s Exodus from Egypt (Isa. 51:15–16). They existed during the Mosaic Age and would pass away when the Temple fell (Matt. 24:1–3, 29, 34).

The new heavens and earth exist during the following Messianic Age. They contain the new Jerusalem, which is the Bride of Christ, the church (Rev. 21:2, 9). Sinners saved by grace can enter this city (Rev. 22:14–15). God dwells with his people in this city. The new covenant defines their relationship (Rev. 21:3).

Spiritual death does not exist in the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21:4), but physical death does (Isa. 65:20).³ Neither will exist in eternity. This sets a pattern for all the other elements John places in the new heavens and earth. David Chilton says it this way:

That which is to be absolutely and completely true in eternity is definitively and progressively true now. Our enjoyment of our eternal inheritance will be a continuation and perfection of what is true of the Church in this life. We are not simply to look forward to the blessings of Revelation 21 in an eternity to come, but to enjoy them and rejoice in them and extend them here and now. St. John was telling the early Church of present realities, of blessings that existed already and would be on the increase as the Gospel went forth and renewed the earth.⁴

God will bring increasing blessings to his creation in the Messianic Age. Christ will continue defeating his enemies until they all become his footstool (Psa. 110:1; 1 Cor. 15:25). He will defeat the final enemy, death, in the resurrection (1 Cor. 15:26). This will complete Christ’s work during the Messianic Age. He will have made all things new (Rev. 21:5).

The saints enjoy all the blessings John mentions in the Messianic Age. Then, they will experience them “absolutely and completely” in eternity. In this sense, the Messianic Age is preparatory to the final state.

This post will make one central point to answer our reader’s request. The prophets describe the Messianic Age as John describes the new heavens and earth. This reinforces the view that the new heavens and earth are the Messianic Age. John Gill will serve as our representative authority in this exercise.

No Tears

John says, “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” in the new heavens and earth (Rev. 21:4).⁵ Isaiah said the same of the Messianic Age:

And in this mountain shall the LORD of hosts make unto all people a feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined. And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death in victory; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from off all faces; and the rebuke of his people shall he take away from off all the earth: for the LORD hath spoken it. (Isa. 25:6–8; emphasis added)

Gill says this passage “is to be understood, not of the ultimate glory of the saints in heaven … but rather of the Gospel dispensation, which lies in the ministration of the word and ordinances.”⁶

No Sorrow

In the new heavens and earth, “there shall be no more sorrow” (Rev. 21:4). Isaiah’s description of the Messianic Age includes the following:

And the ransomed of the LORD shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isa. 35:10; emphasis added)

Gill applies Isaiah 35 to the church. “This chapter is a prediction of the glory and flourishing estate of the Gospel church, and of the blessings received by it from Christ.”⁷

In our last post, we referred to Jeremiah’s description of God dwelling with his people. This occurs in the Messianic Age (Jer. 31:31–34). In this same chapter, Jeremiah says, 

Therefore they shall come and sing in the height of Zion, and shall flow together to the goodness of the LORD, for wheat, and for wine, and for oil, and for the young of the flock and of the herd: and their soul shall be as a watered garden; and they shall not sorrow any more at all. (Jer. 31:12; emphasis added)

This language resembles John’s statements about the new heavens and earth. God would dwell with his people (Rev. 21:3). And, there would be no more sorrow (Rev. 21:4).

According to Gill, Jeremiah is describing the Messianic Age:

This chapter … is full of prophecies and promises of spiritual blessings; of the coming of Christ; of the multiplication of his people, and the increase of their joy; of the conversion of the Gentiles; of the covenant of grace; and of the stability of the saints.… An account is given of the new covenant of grace, as distinct from the old, and of the articles of it; the inscription of the law in the heart, spiritual knowledge of the Lord, and remission of sin, then follow assurances of the everlasting continuance of the true Israel and church of God.⁸

John’s new heavens and earth are like the prophets’ Messianic Age. Both are without sorrow.

No Crying

In the new heavens and earth, “There shall be no more … crying” (Rev. 21:4). We have seen how Jeremiah 31 describes the Messianic Age. Here are God’s words about how we should behave in it:

Thus saith the LORD; Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the LORD; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy. And there is hope in thine end, saith the LORD, that thy children shall come again to their own border. (Jer. 31:16–17; emphasis added)

The apostles wrote during the “last days” of the Mosaic Age (Heb. 1:2). They said, “The night is far spent, the day is at hand” (Rom. 13:12). Weeping existed in the night of the Mosaic age, but joy came in the morning of the Messianic Age (Psa. 30:5). The time for weeping is now past.

No Pain

In the new heavens and earth, “there shall be no more … pain” (Rev. 21:4). Isaiah described the Messianic Age in similar language. He said,

There the glorious LORD will be unto us a place of broad rivers and streams; wherein shall go no galley with oars, neither shall gallant ship pass thereby. For the LORD is our judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our king; he will save us. Thy tacklings are loosed; they could not well strengthen their mast, they could not spread the sail: then is the prey of a great spoil divided; the lame take the prey. And the inhabitant shall not say, I am sick: the people that dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity. (Isa. 33:21–24; emphasis added)

Gill says this refers to

the inhabitant of Zion, or Jerusalem, the church of Christ, and such are they that are born again in Zion, and brought up there; who are made free thereof by Christ; are brought to dwell here by the Lord himself; and, under the influence of divine grace, ask their way hither, and come willingly and cheerfully, and settle here.… In the New-Jerusalem church-state there will be neither one sickness nor another; no more sorrow, pain, or death; the leaves of the tree of life will be for the healing of the nations.⁹

Conclusion

We could create an interesting competition between John and the Old Testament prophets. Who uses the more exalted language?

Hear the prophets teach about the Messianic Age: “And in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind shall see out of obscurity, and out of darkness” (Isa. 29:18). “Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped” (Isa. 35:5). And, in that day, 

The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice’ den. 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. 11:6–9)

Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise. (Isa. 60:18).

Hear John’s teaching on the new heavens and earth: 

God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. (Rev. 21:4–5)

The apostle reports the glorious age had arrived in his day. From his Messianic-Age throne, Jesus is now renewing all things. The resurrection at the end of the Messianic Age will complete this work. Then, the fully-renewed creation will enter eternity. The glorious descriptions of the prophets and apostles will then be true in an absolute sense.

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1. See Death In Heaven?
2. See Better Early Than Late! and similar posts.
3. For a discussion of these points, see The Messianic Age as the New Heaven and Earth — Part 1 and Part 2.
4. David Chilton, The Days of Vengeance: An Exposition of the Book of Revelation (Tyler, TX: Dominion Press, 1987), 538.
5. The above painting is Erfurt’s Lamentation of Christ, c. 1480, limewood, original colors. The digital file (here) is in the public domain (PD-1923).
6. John Gill, An Exposition of the Old and New Testaments, 9 vols. (Paris, AR: The Baptist Standard Bearer, 1989), 5:140.
7. Gill, Exposition, 5:197.
8. Gill, Exposition, 5:567.
9. Gill, Exposition, 5:193.