Activated

The Heavenly City and The New Earth

Compiled from the writings of David Brandt Berg

By Joseph Candel

As the world scene continues to grow darker, it’s more important than ever to keep our minds on the happy ending. Yes, things are going to get worse before they get better, but what matters most is that they are going to get better—much better! The darkest night this world has ever known will be followed by the most glorious sunrise. Then at last God’s kingdom will reign supreme, eternally.

During the three-and-a-half-year period known as the Great Tribulation, the soon-coming world dictator, the Antichrist, will persecute believers of all faiths. But at the end of the Great Tribulation, Jesus will return “on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory” and rescue His people and gather them to be with Him (Matthew 24:29-31).

All of God’s saved children who have died through the ages will be miraculously resurrected and ascend to meet Jesus in the air. Then the saved that are still alive on earth will also be instantly transformed and join them. Jesus will rescue His people from their antiChrist persecutors and whisk them away to the grandest victory celebration that has ever been held, the marriage supper of the Lamb in Heaven (Revelation 14:14-16; 19:6-9).

Meanwhile, the horrific wrath of God will be poured out upon the Antichrist and his followers (Revelation 14:8-11,17-20; 15:1,7-8; 16:1-11).

The superhuman hosts of Heaven, led by Jesus, will then return to completely defeat and destroy the Antichrist and his forces in the cataclysmic battle known as Armageddon. This will mark the end of man’s cruel rule, as Jesus Christ and His forces take over the world and rule in righteousness.

For the next one thousand years—a period known as the Millennium—there will be peace, plenty, and paradise on earth (Revelation 19:11-21; 20:1-6).

Then, at the end of the Millennium, Satan will be released from prison in the heart of the earth, where he has been held for those thousand years. He will be given his freedom just long enough to deceive the nations again, and the unconverted will join Satan and rebel against God’s kingdom on earth. God will once again defeat the Devil and his followers—this time at a battle even more cataclysmic than Armageddon, the Battle of Gog and Magog—and will completely purge and purify the surface of the earth with a flood of fire (2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 20:7-9; 21:1).

After the Battle of Gog and Magog, God will rebuild a new world on the ashes of the old—“a new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells” (2 Peter 3:13). It will be the same planet, but with a beautifully renewed surface. God is going to re-create the entire surface of the earth like a beautiful new Garden of Eden.

Then His great heavenly city will come down out of space to land on that beautiful new earth, and God is going to come down and live with us, and we with Him (Revelation 21:2-3).

It will be such a literal down-to-earth Heaven that Revelation chapters 21 and 22 describe it in detail—right down to the city’s exact measurements, colors, materials, and more! It will be the grandest city ever built—far beyond the wildest dreams of man—covering an area of about 2.25 million square miles (about 5.83 million square kilometers), or large enough to cover most of Australia, over half of Europe or the United States, or one-fourth of Africa (Revelation 21:16).

“The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb [Jesus] is its light” (Revelation 21:23). The sun and moon will continue to shine for the benefit of those outside the city, but those inside won’t need them because the city will have its own light—the light of God, His Son, Jesus.

The entire city will be made of “pure gold, like clear glass” (Revelation 21:18). Imagine!

There will be a beautiful river of the water of life, flowing out of the throne of God and through the center of the city. Both sides of the river will be lined with trees of life that bear twelve kinds of fruit continuously, and the “leaves are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). The resurrected saints in their supernatural bodies aren’t going to need healing, so it’s obvious that this healing is for the people and nations outside the city.

Another major difference in the new earth is that “there will be no more sea” (Revelation 21:1). Today most of the earth is covered by water, so when God remakes the earth’s surface and the seas are gone, there will be four or five times as much land for all the people outside the heavenly city to live on and enjoy.

It will be a whole new earth, a whole new creation, with peaceful, friendly animals and birds and all the beautiful creations of God that are with us now. But there will be none of the harmful insects and pests and thorns and thistles we have now (Isaiah 11:6-9; 55:13). The whole creation will be just like God had planned for it to be in the beginning, like it was in the Garden of Eden. What a wonderful world it will be, with no more sin, war, destruction, death, sickness, tears, or pain!

And that’s not all! “In My Father’s House,” Jesus said, “are many mansions. … I go to prepare a place for you … that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:2-3). If you have received Jesus as your Savior, one of these days you’re going to own a mansion that isn’t going to cost you anything, because Jesus has already paid for it.

Are you ready for Heaven? Are you going to be able to walk the streets of that heavenly city? Only the saved shall walk therein (Revelation 21:24). You don’t want to miss out on that, do you? All you have to do is receive Jesus as your Savior, if you haven’t already!

 

 

 

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