Revelation 21:1-2

Verse 1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

When God flooded the earth at the time of Noah, he created a new earth in the sense that the earth was a totally renovated creation. It was completely different from what it had been before the flood, but it was not a new creation, just a renovated one. It had been wiped clean of the filth, and now would be as if it were a completely different creation, as everything about it would be different. At the time of God’s wrath after the tribulation, the world will again be renovated, only this time by fire. It will again be cleaned of its filth and be renewed to a completely new type of earth. It will be as it was before the flood, which will be completely different from the way it is now. After the millennium though, it says that the earth and this time also the heavens will pass away. Not just destroyed and renewed, but passed away. If one is to take this literally, heaven as well as the earth will pass away. In the gospels, Yeshua said, “heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.” Matt. 24:35, Mark 13:31, Luke 21:33. There are some verses in the Bible that say that the earth abideth forever, but it does not have to mean the same earth. An earth will abide forever, but this earth will pass away as Yeshua said, and as John says. God wants to be rid of the corrupted creation and start fresh with a perfect creation again for eternity. This time is says there will be no more sea. As one looks at our planet from space, it is a water world. If it is returned to its original state, it is assumed that from the scientific description of the world before the flood, there were no huge oceans, but smaller seas. Now it is described as having no seas. From space it would be a green planet with lots of land. Why this is, is not known, but it may be that part of the purpose of the great seas and oceans was to keep people apart from each other, as before this last century, travel took a long time and it kept wars and such at bay or slowed them down. In eternity, everyone will be followers of God, as it would appear that there will be no more sin, as death(Rev. 21:4) and the curse (Rev. 22:3) are lifted. Separation is not needed, and there will be a lot of people, so land is needed. Therefore the logical thing would be for there to be no more great seas. This is only a hypothesis as to why this is, but it makes sense.

The idea of a new heavens and earth was not new here in Revelation. In Isaiah 65:17 we find "For, behold I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come to mind." In eternity people will not even remember what this earth was like, nor will the fact that it ever existed even come to mind.

Verse 2 “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Now John sees New Jerusalem, the holy city where the saints live coming down from the heavens. Now we can see that indeed, the city has not been on the planet, but up in the heavens during the millennium. We know that this is not the beginning of the millennium (as some would say, as they believe New Jerusalem will be on the earth during the millennium) but the end as 1) the book of Revelation is chronological, and 2) there is no more death, and there most certainly is death after the beginning of the millennium. The second "Armageddon" is full of it. So New Jerusalem has been in the heavens, not on earth, during the millennium, as it is now coming down out of the heavens after the millennium is over.

We know that God dwells in this place, so His Shekinah glory has been illuminating the place. Our assumption that this has been the light source for the planet during these thousand years would seem to be correct given this information. The city, as will shortly be seen, is a city made of transparent gold and assorted jewels. She is like a big huge crystal cube in the sky with God's glory shining through and out of her. She is a beautiful object and is adorned (with gold and jewels) as a bride is for her husband.