Pastor Stephen Sammons

One of the arguments regarding the goal of history for Israel being the millennial kingdom is that Revelation 21 and 22 are new material.

Arnold Fruchtenbaum points out that the book of Revelation has “about 550 references back to the Old Testament. The majority of the things found in the first twenty chapters of the Book of Revelation are found elsewhere in the Old Testament. Only the last two chapters deal with
things totally new.”[i] He goes on to suggest that the book of Revelation helps put the Old Testament prophecies in chronological order.[ii]

Then he claims,
“However, the material found in the last two chapters [of Revelation] is totally new material which describes the Eternal Order. The Old Testament prophets never saw anything beyond the Messianic Kingdom. Indeed, the Kingdom was the high point of Old Testament prophecy and no prophet ever saw anything beyond that. But the Eternal Order is the high point of New Testament prophecy, and Revelation 21 and 22 provide new information, as they describe the Eternal Order.”[iii] [Italics for emphasis are mine].

The claim is that the material of Revelation 21 and 22 was not seen by the Old Testament prophets, that when the Old Testament prophets were writing they only saw the millennial Messianic Kingdom.

But is that claim true?

Revelation 21 describes a new heaven and a new earth being created. The New Jerusalem is referred to as the holy city which comes down out of heaven, prepared as a bride for her husband. In verses 3 and 4 we read,

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”

Let us carefully examine these verses. One of the events foretold in these verses is that God will be dwelling among the people. Is there an Old Testament prophecy foretelling a time when God would be personally dwelling with his people?

Ezekiel 37:26-28 prophesies that the LORD would make his dwelling place amongst his people.

Ezekiel 43 describes the LORD setting up his throne in the temple on earth and dwelling among the people.

Ezekiel 48 prophesies of a time when the LORD will dwell in Jerusalem.

Joel 3:17 prophesies a day when the LORD God is dwelling in Zion on his Holy Mountain.

Zechariah 14:5-9 prophesies the LORD God coming and dwelling with his people.

I was taught that all of these verses are a reference to the reign of Christ during the millennial period, but it must be noted that the language of the LORD God dwelling with his people fits the descriptions of Revelation 21 better than the descriptions found in Revelation 20. Revelation 20 talks about the tribulation saints reigning with Christ, but there is no mention in Revelation 20 about the reign of the Lord God with his people – that is in Revelation 21.[iv]

Joel 3:17 describes Jerusalem as a place which will be holy with no foreigners in it.

Isaiah 52:1 describes Jerusalem as a holy city in which no unbelievers dwell.

Again, these descriptions fit well with Revelation 21.

Moving on, in Revelation 21:4 we read that God will wipe away every tear from their eyes and there will be no more death. Do we find the abolishment of death prophesied in the Old Testament anywhere?

Isaiah 25:8 states, “He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.” So the abolishment of death and the wiping of tears is clearly taught by Isaiah.

Isaiah 35:10, 51:11, and 61:7 all prophesy about a time of everlasting joy.

Furthermore, there is a significant battle after the millennium in Revelation 20:7-10 in which a lot of people die. Thus, the abolishment
of death would have to wait until after Revelation 20. Again, Isaiah 25:8 fits nicely with Revelation 21.

Another thing to consider is that all of the prophecies of the Old Testament support that the coming of the LORD ushers in a period of time after which there will be no war (Isaiah 2:4, Micah 4:3, Ezekiel 37:26). Certainly, an entrance into a time of eternal peace would fit better after the war described in Revelation 20 than the millennial kingdom, which is before the final war of Revelation 20.7-10 .

As we go on in Revelation 21, we read that in the New Jerusalem there is no need for the sun or the moon to shine for the glory of God lights the place up (v.23), and there will be no night in the New Jerusalem (v. 25). Do we find any similar references to no need for the sun or moon because of the glory of God in the Old Testament prophets?

In Isaiah 60:19, 20 we read,

“The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your
everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.”

Zechariah 14:6, 7 states,

“On that day there will be no light, no cold or frost.  It will be a unique day, without daytime or nighttime—a day known to the LORD. When evening comes, there will be light.”

Isaiah and Zechariah both describe a time of continual light which results from the glorious presence of the LORD. Certainly, these texts would fit nicely with Revelation 21:23-25, and Revelation 22:5.

In Revelation 22 we read of water flowing from the throne of God (which has replaced the temple – 21:22) and trees whose leaves provide healing for the nations. Do we find prophecies concerning healing waters flowing in the Old Testament?

In Joel 3:18 we find water flowing from the house of the Lord.

Zechariah 14:5-8 describes a time of the LORD God dwelling with his people and living waters flowing from Jerusalem.

Ezekiel 47:1-12 describes waters flowing from the temple with trees growing along the banks whose leaves provide healing (v.12). In Ezekiel 43:7 we have the prophecy that the LORD would set his throne in the temple. Thus the throne and temple are a reference to the same place, and the waters flowing from the temple which provide healing and the waters flowing from the throne which provide healing are easily connected as the same place.

After careful reflection on the texts of the Old Testament prophets, we can see that the claim of Revelation 21 and 22 being totally new material
unforeseen by the Old Testament prophets is simply false; it is a claim which cannot be sustained in light of literal interpretation of the Old Testament text. There are well over a dozen references in the Old Testament which fit appropriately into Revelation 21 and 22. The only way to claim that Revelation 21 and 22 are new material is to radically twist the plain text of the Old Testament.

The only way to make the Old Testament prophets refer strictly to a future earthly millennial kingdom is to come to those conclusions because a system of interpretation is brought to Scripture and imposed on the texts of Scripture. They have to be different, not because a historical-grammatical interpretation of the text demands it, but because a system of theology demands they are different in order to get the texts to fit their system.

Allowing “Scripture to interpret Scripture” we can readily see that many of the Old Testament prophecies fit comfortably, and significantly better, in Revelation 21 and 22 than they do in Revelation 20:4-6.

There is an important understanding that is necessary regarding overcoming.  Overcoming
in the Bible does not mean that you always get out of trials or conquer the
trials by surviving them physically.  For
us today, especially as Americans, overcoming is equated with winning.  You overcome the odds, and win the Super
Bowl.  You win the game by overcoming and
making the game winning shot. 

In the New Testament overcoming can be a reference to dying well.  In 2 Timothy 4.6 Paul says he is being poured
out as a drink offering and that the time of his departure from this earth is
at hand.  In verse 7 he states that he
has fought the good fight, finished the course, and kept the faith.  Paul goes on to say, “The Lord will rescue me
from every evil attack and will bring me safely to his heavenly kingdom. To him
be glory forever and ever. Amen” (2 Timothy 4:18).  There is no suggestion, and there never has
been, that Paul was anticipating being raptured to heaven before he was killed.  Thus being rescued “from every evil attack”
is not a reference to Paul being raptured. 
“The Lord will rescue me” meant there was no evil deed that would happen
to Paul which could make him deny his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Rather, Paul sees death as the means through
which he is rescued from evil and brought safely into Christ’s heavenly
kingdom.

Hebrews 11 holds up great people of faith; some
accomplished great feats through the power of the Lord. However, the list
starts with a person who was killed and ends with people of whom the world is
not worthy, who wandered in caves and were sawn in two. By faith some people
stopped the mouths of lions, and by the same faith some people died well.

In Revelation 2:10-11 the one who is faithful in the midst
of tribulation until death is the one who overcomes. They are the ones who
conquer and are given the crown of life.

Thus, a person who “overcomes” is one whose faith is not shattered to the
point where they deny Christ in order to get out of the testing or trials.  The “one who overcomes” prefers death over
denying Christ as the means of finding release from the trials.  For after all, Christ has overcome death and
he will bring us safely into his kingdom (1 Corinthians 15). 

Now we don’t live in Egypt or Pakistan or North Korea.  Death for our faith is not  likely to happen.  For us it is more ridicule and the temptation
to do ungodly actions and attitudes to get out of the midst of the trials that
we are in.  For us it is
more the temptation to act like non-Christians to get ahead.

May we, with the power of the Holy
Spirit, be overcomers in this life.

Pastor Stephen

In 1 Corinthians 1:17 we read, “For Christ did not send me to baptize but to preach the gospel, and not with words of eloquent wisdom, lest the cross of Christ be emptied of its power.” ^ESV 

 This verse points out that if we try to get to clever in our presentation of the gospel, the cross of Christ is emptied of its power. As one who has always wanted to be effective in my communication, I was prompted to take some time to reflect on this verse. 

It reminded me of a story told by Haddon Robinson that occurred in the 1800’s. A logging town built a little church and called a pastor. The way logging worked in those days was that people would cut down trees, brand them, and float them down the river.  At the mill down the river, the logs were pulled out of the water, and the person who had their brand on the log was given money for the log.  While visiting his people, the pastor was horrified to see some of his congregation pulling logs out of the river, cutting off the branding, re-branding the logs, and then sending them down the river.  So he preached a message that Sunday on “thou shalt not steal.”  Afterward, everyone lined up to tell him what a great message he preached.  He breathed a sigh of relief that it had gone better than he expected. However, the next week the people continued their practice.  So  he preached another message: “thou shalt not cut the brand off thy neighbor’s log.”  After that message, they ran him out of town.

It seems that effectiveness in Biblical terms is not related to a positive response, but to the clarity of communicating the message.  Paul goes on to state that the response is God’s work (1 Cor. 3.5-7).   May we communicate the message so clearly that it can be rejected (1 Cor. 1.18; 2 Cor. 2.15-17). 

Of course, may we also communicate in such a way that it is the gospel which is being rejected and not our obnoxiousness.

As we study the Bible, it becomes rather apparent that there is an immense amount to learn.  It can be overwhelming at times because one is tempted to think that they will never arrive – which they never will.

But instead of it being overwhelming in a negative sense, it should be encouraging — we will never exhaust all of its resources. 

I liken it to a gold mine.  If you could never come to the end of a gold mine, that is, if you were assured it would never run out, would that motivate you to dig more or would you stop digging because you will never fully get all the resources the mine can offer? 

Happy digging! And relish the resources you have already as you continue forward.