What is heaven like? In cartoons and TV ads, it is usually a very old and ethereal place. If it has any land, it looks a bit like the North Pole—all white under a bright sky. More often, there is just sky with puffy clouds that seem sturdy enough to support an assortment of people in white robes who are playing harps and cracking jokes.

Such caricatures may be amusing, but they add up to a thinly veiled mockery of the Christian concept of heaven and life after death.

For all the rash of books on so-called near-death experiences and alleged daytrips to the next life, the only source of hard information on what heaven will be like is the Word of God, the Bible. And of all the passages that address this subject, Revelation 21 is certainly the most vivid. Rather than the heaven of the cartoons, it reveals a rich and vast landscape with magnificent buildings, populated by the innumerable multitude of God’s elect. They live, work and worship around the awesome presence of God the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the host of heaven.

The first focus of attention is on what we will call the geography of glory. This is unfolded in Revelation 21:1-21. The second, which will be the subject of a succeeding article, is the experience of glory (revealed in Revelation 21:12-22:5). The former concerns what heaven will look like, how we are to conceive of its general layout. The latter describes what it will be like to live in that new heaven and new earth as resurrected people of God.

There are three aspects to the nature of the eternal heaven to come. There will be a reconstituted creation (Rev. 21:1), a recreated city (vv. 2, 9-21), and a redeemed citizenry (vv. 3-8).

A Reconstituted Creation

Heaven, as presently constituted, is invisible from this earth. This is the dwelling of God the Father and His exalted Son, the crucified and risen Jesus. It is “the third heaven” (2 Cor. 12:2). From there “the Lord looks down…upon the children of men, to see if there are any that did understand, who seek God” (Ps. 14:2). This heaven, as Edward Donnelly has written, “is the arena of glory” (Heaven and Hell, p. 74). In the last day, when Christ returns, this heaven will embrace the new earth, so that heaven and earth are one unitary, visible whole.

1. Heaven will in some respects be changed. Glorious as it is already, heaven will undergo certain developments before the purposes of God in redemption are completed. Several components of the eternal heaven are presently missing. For example, the history of creation remains to be consummated. The “kingdoms of this world” have yet to become “the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ” (Rev. 11:15). The full number of God’s people—the population of heaven—has yet to be saved. Only at the end of history will God “send His angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they will gather together His elect from the four winds, from one end of heaven to the other” (Matt. 24:31).

2. Earth will be utterly transformed. This is predicted in Psalm 102:26: “They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak you will change them, and they will be changed.” John sees that “the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.” (Compare Matt. 5:18; 24:35; 2 Pet. 3:10; 1 John 2:17). This is sealed in a startling way by John’s simple declaration of the new earth, “Also there was no more sea.” William Hendriksen points out that “At present the sea is the emblem of unrest and conflict. The roaring, raging, agitated, tempest-tossed waters, the waves perpetually engaged in combat with one another, symbolize the nations of the world in their conflict and unrest (13:1; 17:15)” (More than Conquerors, p. 199).

John Martin (1789-1854), a British artist well known for his apocalyptic canvases, painted “The Plains of Heaven” to illustrate Revelation 21. It is in the Tate Gallery in London. A fleet of gondolas is bringing the redeemed to the shore of a great lake, to be met by angels in white robes (only one is playing a harp). The holy city is supposedly descending in the clouds (but I can’t make it out) and the landscape is vast and beautiful, filled with flowers, with the cedars of Lebanon on the right, and the palm trees of Elim popping up in quiet corners. There is no sun, but light suffuses everything: and there is no more sea, but rivers and lakes abound. This is no cartoon heaven or new-age ether, but one man’s attempt to portray the real renewed world of the glory that shall be revealed.

3. There will be a consolidated new heaven and new earth. This puts Revelation 21:1 in proper perspective. John is given a vision of a vast and final transformation at the end of history in which heaven and earth are reconstituted as one entity. This forging of a new heaven and a new earth which includes God’s heaven is also prophesied in Scripture (Isa. 65:17-19; 66:22-23).

4.This is the heaven that comes to us. We naturally think of going to heaven when we die. That is true enough, for, as Westminster Shorter Catechism question 37 succinctly sums it up, “The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness [Heb. 12:23], and do immediately pass into glory [2 Cor. 5:1, 6, 8; Phil. 1:23; Luke 23:43]; and their bodies, being still united to Christ [1 Thess. 4:14], do rest in their graves [Isa. 57:2] till the resurrection [Job 19:26-27 ].”

When we hope for heaven, we do hope for this, but our hope reaches even further—to the day of resurrection. Peter describes the full scope of our heavenly hope—that ultimate, eternal, final form of heaven in which all things are made new, including our resurrected bodies and a reconstituted world (2 Pet. 3). The apostle is answering the scoffers who basically argue that because the world had not ended yet, it will never end. If that sounds convincing, just remember that you haven’t ended yet either, but that doesn’t prove you are here forever! The apostle replies by showing why God has his own timetable. He is both reserving this world for a fiery end, and bringing salvation to those in future generations who He is determined will not “perish but…come to repentance” (v. 9). Only when the latter is accomplished will the former take its course. Then “the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise. and the elements will melt with fervent heat: both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up” (v. 10).

Peter makes practical application along two lines. First, we ought to live godly lives (2 Pet. 3:11). Second, we ought to be “looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God” (v. 12). And third, we ought to expectantly look for “new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (v. 13).

5. The Christian is a new creation looking for a renewed creation. Paul in 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation: old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.”

But the creation itself will be renewed. Our present defiled environment will be refurbished to become the new environment in which God’s people will live forever. It will cease to groan under the burden imposed by human sin and be “delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God” (Rom. 8:20-22). There will be no Chernobyl, no Love Canal, and no Exxon Valdez in the new heaven and the new earth.

A Recreated City

John also sees a “new Jerusalem” descending from heaven from God. This “holy city” is represented as already existing, as coming down from heaven as it presently is, so as to become the centerpiece of the new earth.

1. A holy city (Rev. 21:2). The expression “holy city” reaches back to the “Salem” of Melchizedek, who prefigured Christ (Gen. 14:18; Ps. 110:4; Heb. 7:1-21); and to David’s Jerusalem, where God made Himself present in the Temple; and to Mount Zion, which in Scripture represents the church as the people of God (Ps. 74:2; Heb. 12:22). The centrality of Jerusalem to the Old Testament church is expressed in the lament of the exiled Jews in Babylon: “If I forget you, O Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its skill! If I do not remember you, Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth—if I do not exalt Jerusalem Above my chief joy (Ps. 137:5).

“Among the many illustrations that convey the nature of heaven to us,” observes E. M. Bounds, “the illustration of a city is the most striking.…A city teems with life in its richest and most strenuous form. It has never felt the chill of death.…Graves have never been dug there.…Heaven is a city of life.…Heaven knows no tears and has never felt a sorrow. It is filled with eternal, brilliant and vibrant life” (Catching a Glimpse of Heaven, pp. 29-30). This is what Abraham was looking for when “he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:10). This is Jerusalem as the church. “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect” (Heb. 12:22-23). Jerusalem the place is not the point. The real meaning is in the words, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (See John 3:29; Rev. 22:17). The imagery is straight from the prophets as they refer to the relationship between God and his people (Isa. 49:18; 62:5; Jer. 33:11). Christ is the bridegroom and the church is “the bride, the Lamb’s wife” (Rev. 21:9; Isa. 61:10).

2. A glorious city (Rev. 21:9-21). These verses recapitulate and expand upon verse 2 in order to reveal something of the glorious construction of the New Jerusalem. Bear in mind that this is a vision, not a video. The angel supplies the interpretive principle we are to apply to his description of the city when he says, “Come, I will show you the bride” (v. 9). This is the Church triumphant in heaven, and, soon, upon the new earth. It is not a street plan of heaven, but it is a symbolic evocation of the corporate life of the people of God.

That is not to say that there will not be a visible city of God in space and (endless) time. The new earth is going to be three-dimensional, with a real city in a real creation with real people in real physical bodies living in real dwellings. This city has three leading features.

(a) It is full of light (Rev. 21:11). It is illuminated by the glory of God: Jesus is its lamp. The sun and the moon are not needed, and there is no more night (vv. 23, 25). This is more than physical illumination, although it is that. It is also the complete triumph of spiritual light, light as opposed to darkness, representing truth and righteousness as over against the now­-banished powers of darkness.

(b) It is safe and secure (Rev. 21:12-14, 25). There are massive walls, but they are not for defense. The gates are made each of a single pearl, guarded by angels—the “pearly gates” of jokes and cartoons. The gates are never closed. We are not besieged. The whole new universe of glory will be ours with neither danger nor hindrance. This tells us that the kingship of Christ is now without challenge of any kind. Indeed, “the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it” (21:24, 11:15). He has delivered us “from the evil one,” for His is “the kingdom and the power and the glory forever” (Matt. 6:13).

(c) It is magnificent and imposing (Rev. 21:15-21). It is constructed with precious stones and gold. The city is 1,500 miles square and so covers an area of 2.25 million square miles—about equal to most of the U.S. east of the Mississippi—thereby providing enough room, says John MacArthur, to house about 11 billion people! (The Glory of Heaven pp. 107-108). In terms of the vision, this is just to say that there will be enough space in heaven for the whole company of God’s elect. “In my Father’s house,” said Jesus, “are many mansions” (John 14:2).

The city is also 1,500 miles high, which makes it a cube sticking way up into space. Again, remember that this is a vision, not an artist’s impression or a photograph. The symbolism comes to life when you realize that the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple was also a cube, but much tinier at only 30 feet each way (1 Kings 6:20). The New Jerusalem is the new Holy of Holies—the place where God dwells in covenant among His people. He and the Lamb are the final temple (Rev. 21:22). This is “the tabernacle of God” that is forever “with men” (v. 3). This is “man’s chief end” come to fulfillment, namely, “to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” (Shorter Catechism 1). Is this your goal for your life?

A Redeemed Citizenry

Who will inhabit heaven? The vision thus far provides its own answer. It is those who are “the bride” of Christ (Rev. 21:2). The fact that the gates of the city are named for the twelve tribes of Israel, and the foundations of the walls for the twelve apostles (vv. 12-14), indicates that a redeemed citizenry is in view, that is, those whose names “are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (v. 27). This is confirmed by the three distinct emphases (below) in the passage, the last of which is a call to people today to repent of sin and believe in the Lord.

1. God comes to us forever (Rev. 21:3). The relationship between God and (the new) humanity is resolved completely and permanently by His unhindered presence and fellowship with them, reconciled through “the blood of the everlasting covenant” in Jesus Christ (Heb. 13:20). “God Himself will be with them and be their God.”

2. God saves us from all evil (Rev. 21:4-5). The condition of God’s people will be resolved completely and permanently by the removal of all the effects of sin and its corruptions. There will be no death, sorrow, crying, or pain. “God will wipe away every tear.” Salvation comes to its final victory. All things are made new.

3. God calls us to account even now (Rev. 21:6-8). The *application to John’s readers is that every one of us is accountable to the sovereign God right now. On which side of God’s victory will you come down? As we might expect in a vision of the final consummation of God’s plan for mankind and His world, the destinies of believers and unbelievers are set out in a context of relentless certitude, as an accomplished fact. “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” Nevertheless, the door is left open for anyone who will listen to God.

First of all, God promises new life to all who will come to Him for life. “I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts” (Rev. 21:6). He puts the responsibility where it belongs: Do you thirst for salvation from your sins and eternal life? Will you, like the jailor in Philippi, believe in the Lord Jesus Christ that you would be saved (Acts 16:31)?

Second, God promises each believer that he will “inherit all things” as His adopted son and heir (Rev. 21:7). Christ is not ashamed to call those who believe in Him His brothers (Heb. 2:11). The emphasis that a believer is one who overcomes, stresses that a living faith persists and presses toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Phil. 3:14). The answer in the believing soul is then “the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ‘Abba, Father,’” because “The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together” (Rom. 8:15-17).

Finally, God reminds us of the default destination for those who will not repent (Rev. 21:8). The unrepentant and unbelieving will be “turned into hell” (Ps. 9:17). This is the “second death”—the unending state of spiritual deadness, forever under God’s righteous judgment.

This is a somber note on which to end a section on how all things are to be made new. The drama of the moment, however, has the clear intent of underlining the urgency of the issue for every living human being. The coming of Christ and the revealing of the new heaven and new earth may be a long time in coming, in terms of human history, but the eternal destiny of we who are alive today will be settled in a very short time—anything from minutes to decades. This is a blink of God’s eye.

If we have any sense at all, we must know that the moment of decision is upon us. We must close with Christ and embrace Him as our Savior. Peter urges us to make the proper application in our lives:

“Therefore, since all these will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells” (2 Pet. 3:11-13).

Gordon Keddie is the pastor of the State College, Pa., RPC. He is the author of several Bible commentaries and is a member of the RPCNA Board of Education & Publication.