The Millennium and the New Creation. /
Reply, Jörg Frost 00, 2000-07-13
(Texts enclosed in a black frame are quoted from visitors to the site or other authors.)
This glorious state of the church (sc. FH in the millennial kingdom) will
become a reality when Satan is bound for a thousand years and is no longer able to lead the
heathen astray, and the saints may live in peace and justice with the king of all kings, and
rule with him as the priests of God and of Christ for a thousand years. And after that they will
reign from eternity to eternity (Rev 22, 5).
New heaven and new earth = Millennium = New Creation = the final goal of Christian hope (2Ptr 3,
13).
Millennium = the rule of justice on earth = renewal of the creation (Isa 65, 17 ff) = paradisal
conditions on the holy mountain of God (Isa 65, 25).
The measurements of the heavenly Jerusalem in Revelation are not to be understood literally:
they have a symbolic significance, namely that there is enough space available for all twelve
tribes of the spiritual Israel, that is, for all the elect of God, because Christ has prepared
the place for them (Jn 14, 3).
(Jörg Frost / Katholisch Apostolische Bewegung [Catholic Apostolic Movement])
Joerg_Frost@compuserve.de / http://www.johannesoffenbarung.de/
).
For want of an overall view of the prophecies of the Bible, some commentators
repeatedly confuse and confound the scriptural statements on the Millennium, on the one hand, and
those relating to the New Creation on the other.
We have in Revelation texts which relate unambiguously to the New Creation ‒ a new heaven and a
new earth, thus a completely new universe:
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth.
Rev 21,1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first
heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. 21,2 And I saw the holy
city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her
husband. 21,3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is
among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among
them, 21,4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death;
there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” 21,5
And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new. ”And He said,
“Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Rev 21, 1- 5;
Now it is pointed out above, in Rev 21,1 that the first heaven and the first earth
have passed away. But Rev 20,11, as well, foretells an end to this, the first creation:
From whose presence earth and heaven fled away.
Rev 20,11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from
whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. Rev 20,11;
The reason, now, why many commentators cannot accept this matter of the passing away
of the present world and the creation of a new heaven and a new earth may be put down to the fact
that in the scriptures we have numerous references to a “new heaven and a new earth” which
plainly have to be referred to earthly conditions.
I create new heavens and a new earth.
Isa 65,17 “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth;
And the former things will not be remembered or come to mind. 65,18 But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I create; For behold, I create Jerusalem for rejoicing And her people for gladness. 65,19 I
will also rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in My people; And there will no longer be heard in her
The voice of weeping and the sound of crying. 65,20 No longer will there be in it an infant who
lives but a few days, Or an old man who does not live out his days; For the youth will die at the
age of one hundred and the one who does not reach the age of one hundred will be thought accursed.”
Isa 66,17-20;
To establish the heavens, to found the earth.
Isa 51,14 “The exile will soon be set free, and will not die in
the dungeon, nor will his bread be lacking. 51,15 For I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the
sea and its waves roar (the LORD of hosts is His name). 51,16 I have put My words in your mouth and
have covered you with the shadow of My hand, to establish the heavens, to found the earth,
and to say to Zion, ‘You are My people.’” Isa 51,14-16;
(See also Chapter 08: “The reorganization of
heaven and earth.”)
So although in both passages we are told of a “new heaven and a new earth”, the
“youth who dies at the age of one hundred” in Isa 65,20 and the “exile who will not die in the
dungeon” in Isa 51,14 clearly point to an earthly fulfillment of these promises.
And now, of course, these commentators do not go on to study the scriptures to see whether it might
not be the case that both promises are valid: instead, they “truncate” what scripture tells us
by lumping the two together, asserting that there will be no New Creation ‒ rather the new heaven
and the new earth are a “renewed” heaven and a “renewed” earth. The consequence, then, is
that these people ‒ like the Jehovah’s Witnesses ‒ arrive at the view that eternity will
happen here on earth, on this planet of ours.
This interpretation patently confounds the events that take place directly before the Millennium
with those that take place after the Millennium, after the General Resurrection and the Last
Judgment. If we study the scriptures more closely, we can see that before the Millennium ‒ that
is, the millennial kingdom of the Lord Jesus ‒ God will transform heaven and earth,
so as to fulfill those promises made to humanity in connection with this kingdom, like a lifespan of
something like a thousand years (as in antediluvian times), simultaneous sowing and harvesting and
so on.
(See also Chapter 10: “The Millennium.”)
The New Creation, on the other hand, has nothing more in common with this earth and
this heaven. There completely different conditions will prevail. As we see from Rev 20,14 and 21,4,
amongst other things, death itself will then no longer exist.
Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.
Rev 20,13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and
Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to
their deeds. 20,14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second
death, the lake of fire. 20,15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life,
he was thrown into the lake of fire. Rev 20,13-15;
And there will no longer be any death.
Rev 21,4 and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there
will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first
things have passed away. Rev 21, 4;
And then too, as a result, one who “dies at the age of one hundred” can no
longer pass as a youth, and likewise the prisoner can no longer “die in the dungeon”, seeing
that now, in the New Creation, the heavenly Jerusalem, neither prisoners nor death will any longer
be found.
(See also Chapter 14: “The New Creation.”)