We are beginning to look at some of the glories of our eternal state in what is called here the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21.
In Revelation 21:9, it says, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’” This is a beautiful term right here as we move into this description of where we will live for all of eternity. There is a good contrast here. if you go back to Revelation 17:1, we find maybe this very same angel and almost identical verbiage in this verse, but there are two different pronouncements. In Revelation 17:1, it says, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters.” Maybe this is the same angel. It appears to be. He is making a pronouncement back in Revelation 17:1 and this pronouncement has to do with the judgment of the great harlot which is probably the spiritual aspect of the kingdom of the antichrist. So, the Lord is going to judge this kingdom of the antichrist beginning with the spiritual aspect of it, and then eventually to the economic aspect in Revelation 18. So, this is a pronouncement of judgment upon the antichrist and his kingdom. Now we go back to Revelation 21:9 and we see perhaps the same angel and it starts out the same way. Notice, however, the vastly different pronouncement here, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” He is going to show us what is called earlier the new Jerusalem which is the place where we will spend eternity and it will be inhabited by those who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior and the angels that the Lord has created. It will be that place that he is going to describe for us.
There is not a whole lot in Scripture dealing with heaven and the eternal state. Perhaps because we would not appreciate it or comprehend it. If you told a sixyear-old boy that one day he was going to marry and be a father and be in love with a woman and so forth, that little boy probably would not appreciate that. As a matter of fact, he might see that as rather repulsive because at that stage they do not understand the joys of a good marriage . . .
