1. Context: After Millennium, and the Great White throne, the judgment of sins is done. Death, Hades, and sinners are all thrown into the lake of fire. (the old)
2. Content: Repeated: old/new, former things.
v.1-3 the old, and the first heaven and earth ceased to exist. The new has began.
Among the new, the important part is the new Jerusalem, which is descending from heaven and is ready like a bride. v.2 Who they are? All the OT, NT, tribulation saints?
(BKC) Because the church is pictured in Scripture as a bride (2 Cor. 11:2), some have tried to identify the New Jerusalem’s inhabitants as specifically the church saints, excluding saints of other dispensations. However, the use of marriage as an illustration is common in Scripture, not only to relate Christ to the church but also Yahweh to Israel. Though the city is compared to a beautifully dressed bride, it actually is a city, not a person or group of people.
In other words, they are the one that made up the new and what is God expecting for Him to take residence among human beings v.3. God has been ready since the creation, but Adam and Eve were not fitted to have God living among them and were expelled. Israel rejected their covenant with God. Finally, when all humans were judged the moment has now come. (BKC) In eternity saints will enjoy a new intimacy with God which is impossible in a world where sin and death are still present.
v.4 former things: Tear, death are the product of sins. Tears comes when we are mourn, cry or pain. Since sins are no more, the product of sins are no more. "the former things" are sins.
Reflection: The end was not brought in by the wipe out of Satan, sins, or death, but by the descending of the city which includes the people who are saved by grace. This is the group that God would be their God and they would be His people, and therefore, God would dwell among them. Therefore, the focus of my life should be on this. Nothing is more important in this world than this precious people.
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