I don’t claim to have a good understanding of Revelation by any means, but there are some parts that aren’t too hard to figure out. And since this passage in Revelation was brought to my attention recently, I did a bit of reflecting, and what follows are my thoughts on the subject.

Revelation 21:1-8

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. 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. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And 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. 5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. 9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

So, we are talking about the Bride of Christ here. What is the bride of Christ? Why it’s the Church. Imagine that. Seems pretty easy to understand to me.

But according to Dispensational Theology, this chapter is interpreted as referring to a time after the second coming of Christ.  Thus, it takes place in the second heaven and second earth. But this runs into conflict with verses 6 and 7. God says he will give to him that is athrist of the fountain of life freely. Then he says that those who overcome will inherit all things. Now wait a minute, I thought they had already overcome and now they were in the second heaven and the second earth. Clearly, the Dispensational theology doesn’t match up with what the scripture actually says.

So as not to be tedius, I’m not going to quote text in full any more here, but I am going to go on further in my musings.

Now consider verse 14. It says that the wall of this city (New Jeruselem) had twelve foundations. Now what on earth can this be. It tells us in this same verse. It says that in them is the name of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Now, what did Jesus tell Peter? He said, thou art Peter, and upon this rock will I build my Church. Wow, is this making any sense? Simple. Christ built his Church upon the foundation of the Apostles.

Verse 24 says that the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it. Can we remember any nation of those who were saved, who at one time walked in the light of the Church of God? What was the US founded upon? It was founded upon the word of God. The US is just an illustration, there have been nations before that walked in the light, and there are probably more to come. But I don’t think this passage can be referring to nations after the second coming of Christ, as the Dispensationalists claim.

Verse 27 says that: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Are we talking about anything other than the universal Church of God (the invisible, or the Church made up of all true believers)?

We must remember that there are no chapter breaks in the orriginal manuscripts, so moving into chapter 22 is an illusion. The beginning of chapter 22 continues describing the same thing as the previous chapter. Notice that verse 2 says that the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. What nations? Why the nations of earth of course, not nations after the second coming of Christ.

Now comes my big question. How can we say, as the dispensationalists do, that nothing in Revelation has come to pass yet? Consider the end of verse 6, “the things which must shortly be done.” Now what does shortly mean? Does it mean shortly, or does it mean it’s going to be a while? Now consider verse 10, “And he saith unto me, Seal not the sayings of the prophecy of this book: for the time is at hand.” Well let’s see, what does he mean by saying that the time is at hand? This isn’t very hard to figure out.

Now, there are many things in Revelation that I don’t understand, and there are plenty of things in chapters 21 and 22 that I don’t understand completely. But one thing is abundantly clear to me, this is not prophecying of something far, far away. I am of the persuation that most of the things in the book of Revelation have come to pass.