Revelation 21:1; And I Saw a New Heaven and a New Earth (2)

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Revelation 21:1 (KJV)  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. 

Comparing this entire verse with Revelation 21:11, we find the order reversed.

Revelation 20:11 (KJV)  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 

At the Great White Throne, “the earth and the heavens fled away.” Now, it is “heaven” and “earth.” And this reversal is significant. In the old creation, which terminates at Revelation 20:11, God was intimately related with earth, on which He had a temple for His people. But now, with His people as a temple (Revelation 21:3), everything is of a heavenly nature.

Revelation 21:3 (KJV)  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. 

“Heaven” does not mean God’s immediate presence but rather the aerial heavens – that is, all that is between the earth and God Himself. The “new heaven” is to be constituted so differently that the sun, moon, stars, and atmospheric properties will no longer be necessary. At last, there will be a sunrise without a sunset.

There are three heavens referred to in Scripture:

  1. The third heaven is the place to which Paul was caught up in the immediate presence of God. It is the region of divine glory and also the dwelling place of angels and saints – 2 Corinthians 12:1-5 (KJV)  It is not expedient for me doubtless to glory. I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. And I knew such a man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. Of such an one will I glory: yet of myself I will not glory, but in mine infirmities. 
  2. The second heaven, or astronomical heaven, is the setting of the sun, moon, and starry host – Job 38:31-33 (KJV)  Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? 
  3. The first heaven, or atmospheric heaven, is the air around and above us. State is referred to as the prince of this region – Ephesians 2:2 (KJV)  Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 

Because the third heaven – God’s abode – is eternal, it is not subject to any change. “The new heaven” implies the transformation of the aerial and astronomical heavens. With our heavenly bodies, we shall be able to roam around the new heaven and the new earth.

A new “midheaven” is necessary, because the present heavens are polluted by Satan’s presence as the prince of the power of the air. It is for this reason that the stars are not pure in God’s sight – Job 25:5 (KJV)  Behold even to the moon, and it shineth not; yea, the stars are not pure in his sight. 

The space between us and God’s abode is also cluttered with missiles, rockets and satellites, and miscellaneous orbital debris, placed there by twentieth and twentieth-first century man.

[Hebert Lockyer, Revelation – Drama of the Ages, Whitaker House, 2012, 315-316]