My Sheep Hear My Voice- Rev. 21:2

My Sheep Hear My Voice- Rev. 21:2

Before Jesus was crucified He told the disciples to watch and pray, something so simple, but they let their physical bodies take over and they fell back asleep. In these last hours of time you need to hear His voice. When He tells you something, it is very important, but most ignore my voice or just discuss it and go on with what they were doing. You will see many things start to happen shortly and if you do not hear and obey His voice,... it will mean death for some of you....Jesus has only your best interest in mind. Christ knows you heart, and if you are truly His you will hear His voice. He awakes many of you at 3am on the dot, but most will roll over and go back to sleep. There are a few who will get up and pray. Your day is filled with so many things and Jesus is the last thing many of you give your time to. But Christ needs to talk to you,... to fellowship with you and only when you are still and quite (3am) can you hear Him,... the rest of your day is so busy you do not have time for Him,... but you need to make time, for time is short and the Lord has instructions for you.

Revelation 21

The New Heaven and the New Earth

The Names of the City:

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Rev. 21:2

holy city, new... Seven names of the city of God:

1. The Holy City (Rev. 21:2; 22:19). It is called holy because there shall never enter into it anything that defileth, that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie (Rev. 21:27).

2. New Jerusalem (Rev. 3:12; 21:2). It is called new because of its eternal freshness and newness, not because it is new in existence. It is as old as heaven and was promised to the earliest saints on earth (Heb. 11:10-16; Psm. 93:2; 103:19). New Jerusalem (compare 3:12; Heb. 11:10; 12:22-24; 13:14). This is the capital city of heaven, a place of perfect holiness. It is seen “coming down out of heaven” indicating it already existed; but it descends into the new heavens and new earth from its place on high. This is the city where the saints will live (compare John 14:1-3).

This city is the bride of Christ as well; just in the same way that Babylon was an evil city and was the apostate church, all at the same time.

3. The Tabernacle of God (Rev. 13:6; 15:5; 21:3). It is called the Tabernacle of God because it is the dwelling place of God.

4. The Bride, the Lamb’s Wife (Rev. 21:2, 21:9). It is called the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife because it will be the eternal home of the redeemed of all ages (Rev. 21:9; Heb. 11:10-16; 13:14; John 14:1-3).

5. The Holy Jerusalem (Rev. 21:10).

6. The Heavenly Jerusalem (Heb. 12:22). It is called the Heavenly Jerusalem because it is the Jerusalem in heaven and not the one on earth.

7. The Father’s House (John 14:2). It is called the Father’s House because it is the abode of God and His heavenly family (John 14:1-3).

coming down from... It will come down from heaven to be the capital of God on the New Earth (Rev. 21:2-3,9-22:5).

as a bride... The city will be adorned with jewels like a bride for her husband (Rev. 21:19). An important New Testament metaphor for the church (compare Matt. 25:1-13; Eph. 5:25-27). John’s imagery here extends from the third part of the Jewish wedding, the ceremony. Believers (the bride), in the New Jerusalem come to meet Christ (the bridegroom), in the final ceremony of redemptive history (see note on 19:7). The whole city, occupied by all the saints, is called the bride, so that all saints must be finally included in the bride imagery and bridal blessing. God has brought home a bride for His beloved Son. All the saints live with Christ in the Father’s house (a promise made before the church began (John 14:2).

Now John sees the new holy city which is not heaven, but is called that since everyone who will be in it is holy. This is Christ's Kingdom. "Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection" (20:6).
New Jerusalem will be coming down to the new heaven and new earth mentioned (in verse 1). The old heaven and earth which was (in 20:11), fled away and was no more.
The city is illustrated as a bride because it contains the bride and takes on her character. John saw the bride adorned for her husband because the time for the consummation had arrived. The concept of the bride includes not only the church, but all the rest of the redeemed from all the ages who will live forever in that eternal city.
1 Cor. 15:28 “And when all things shall be subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all”.

“New Jerusalem” (compare 3:12; Heb. 11:10; 12:22-24; 13:14). This is the capital city of heaven, a place of perfect holiness. It is seen “coming down out of heaven” indicating it already existed; but it descends into the new heavens and new earth from its place on high. This is the city where the saints will live (compare John 14:1-3).

This city is the bride of Christ as well; just in the same way that Babylon was an evil city and was the apostate church, all at the same time.

The New Jerusalem Described (Rev. 21:2-8)

John’s attention was then directed to a specific feature of the new heaven and new earth, namely, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. The New Jerusalem is called “the Holy City,” in contrast with the earthly Jerusalem (which spiritually was compared to Sodom in Rev. 11:8). As early as Rev. 3:12 the New Jerusalem was described as “the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from My God.” The fact that the New Jerusalem comes down from heaven and that it is not said to be created at this point has raised the question as to whether it has been in existence during the Millennium (see further discussion on this under Rev. 21:9).

Many expositors regard the promise of Christ in John 14:2, “I am going there to prepare a place for you,” as referring to this city. The suggestion has been made that if the New Jerusalem is in existence during the millennial reign of Christ, it may have been suspended in the heavens as a dwelling place for resurrected and translated saints, who nevertheless would have immediate access to the earth to carry on their functions of ruling with Christ. In the Millennium the New Jerusalem clearly does not rest on the earth, for there is an earthly Jerusalem and an earthly temple (Eze. 40-48).

The New Jerusalem then will apparently be withdrawn from its proximity to the earth when the earth will be destroyed at the end of the Millennium, and then will come back after the new earth is created. Though this possibility of a satellite city has been disregarded by most commentators and must be considered as an inference rather than a direct revelation of the Bible, it does solve some problems of the relationship between the resurrected and translated saints to those still in their natural bodies in the Millennium, problems which otherwise are left without explanation.

Here, however, the New Jerusalem is described as it will be in the eternal state, and it is said to be “a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” Because the church is pictured in Scripture as a bride (2Cor. 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.