ACC ~ Revelation 21 v1 - 4

OVERVIEW:

Through the transgression of humankind, creation suffers corruption and mortality (OECUMENIUS). However, God will establish heaven and earth (CASSIODORUS) when they lay aside their corruptible character like an old garment and become new (CASSIODORUS, OECUMENIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). This renewal will not involve the annihilation of the world’s substance and the replacing of it by another, different substance (OECUMENIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). Rather, through fire that which is corruptible will burn away, leaving only a transformed substance suitable to bodies now made immortal (AUGUSTINE). In this new heaven and earth, transformed and made fit for people now remade, the soul is restored to its integrity and the body is restored to its original strength (AUGUSTINE). Then there will be no evil, and the restless and stormy turbulence of human life will also be no more (AUGUSTINE, ANDREW OF CAESAREA).

Then, too, that city created by heavenly grace will appear. The new Jerusalem has been “coming down” since the beginning, for continuously on the earth saints have been made citizens of it through the Holy Spirit (AUGUSTINE). This heavenly Jerusalem was prefigured in the tabernacle at the time of Moses (IRENAEUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA), and similarly the city of Jerusalem in the land of Israel was an image of it, for in it the righteous were disciplined for incorruption (IRENAEUS). Yet at the last judgment God’s gift of grace will shine with such splendor that all previous prefigurements of the new Jerusalem will vanish in the spiritual bliss of the saints (AUGUSTINE, OECUMENIUS). That new Jerusalem is the blessed destiny of the saints (OECUMENIUS) in which they are united with the Lord in holiness and righteousness (APRINGIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA). There the Trinity dwells and reigns (ANDREW OF CAESAREA), for God will be the reward of eternal bliss for those who have become his temple (APRINGIUS).

In the bliss that the church shall enjoy after the resurrection (CAESARIUS OF ARLES) all suffering and death will come to an end (OECUMENIUS, ANDREW OF CAESAREA), and where there is no suffering there is no sorrow (TERTULLIAN); where there is no death there is no more presence of the devil (ORIGEN). Rather, when their bodies have become incorruptible (BEDE), the saints will enjoy the vision of inexpressible gladness (ANDREW OF CAESAREA) as the contemplation of the eternal King feeds their minds (BEDE).

21:1a | A New Heaven and a New Earth

WHEN THE SOUL IS RESTORED TO ITS INTEGRITY. AUGUSTINE: Every rational soul is made unhappy by its sins or happy by its well doing. Every irrational soul yields to one that is more powerful, or obeys one that is better, or is on terms of equality with its equals, exercising rivals or harming any it has overcome. Every body is obedient to its soul so far as permitted by the merits of the latter or the orderly arrangement of things. There is no evil in the universe, but in individuals there is evil due to their own fault. When the soul has been regenerated by the grace of God and restored to its integrity and made subject to him alone by whom it was created, its body too will be restored to its original strength, and it will receive power to possess the world, not to be possessed by the world. Then it will have no evil. For the lowly beauty of temporal changes will not involve it, for it will have been raised above change. There will be, as it is written, a new heaven and a new earth, and there souls will not have to do their part in toiling but will reign over the universe. “All things are yours,” says the apostle, “and you are Christ’s and Christ is God’s.” And again: “The head of the woman is the man, the head of the man is Christ, and the head of Christ is God.” Accordingly, since the vice of the soul is not its nature but contrary to its nature and is nothing else than sin and sin’s penalty, we understand that no nature, or, if you prefer it, no substance or essence, is evil. OF TRUE RELIGION 23.44.

TERRESTRIAL FIRES. AUGUSTINE: Having concluded his prophecy of the judgment awaiting bad people, John has to speak of what is to befall the good. … [The new heaven and earth] will happen in the order which he indicated, by anticipation, in the earlier verse where he said he saw sitting on a throne one from whose face heaven and earth fled away. First, to be sure, will come the judgment of those uninscribed in the Book of Life and their consignment to eternal fire. … Afterwards, this world as we see it will pass away, burned away by terrestrial fires, just as the flood was caused by the overflowing of terrestrial waters. This conflagration will utterly burn away the corruptible characteristics proper to corruptible bodies, as such; whereupon our substance will possess only those qualities that are consistent with bodies immortalized in this marvelous transformation—to this end, that the world, remade into something better, will become fit for people now remade, even in their bodies, into something better. CITY OF GOD 20.16.

ALMIGHTY GOD ESTABLISHES HEAVEN AND EARTH. CASSIODORUS: This passage announces the power and strength of the Lord with the words “He has established them forever, and for ages of ages: he has made a decree, and it shall not pass away.” This is to remove all doubt that God is almighty, for what he has established continues in being without change, since this conclusion is applied to the things of heaven. But we read of the world to come: “There will be a new heaven and a new earth,” so how can one say of the present heaven “He has established them forever”? There is however no doubt that all things have been established by God. Though man himself dies, he is “established” in God’s eyes when he rises again; similarly heaven and earth remain in God’s sight when they are made new. Once they have laid aside their roughness or corruptible character, nature itself is made better and abides, since it has been bidden to exist in eternity. As Paul says about the transformation of our bodies: “When the corruptible has put on incorruption, and the mortal puts on immortality.” A “decree” means a law or condition, so that we may realize that all things are in his power. It cannot pass away because the Almighty established it, and Truth has promised it in return. EXPOSITION OF THE PSALMS 148.6.

HEAVEN AND EARTH WILL PUT OFF THEIR FILTH. OECUMENIUS: In his second letter Peter speaks in a similar way: “According to his promise we wait for new heavens and a new earth.” They do not say this as though heaven and earth and sea are destroyed and pass into nonexistence and that other things come into being in their place. Rather, they mean that the present realities have cast off their corruption and become new, putting off their filth as though it were an old and dirty garment. For that is called “new” which is not such as it was formerly but is as it has now become. The creation shall then be free of every corruption that it contracted through the transgression of humankind. The holy apostle is also a very trustworthy witness to these things when in his letter to the Romans he writes this about the [new] creation: “For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope, because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay unto the glorious liberty of the children of God.” And not only he, but also the holy prophet sang of the heaven and the earth in the testimony just presented: “They will all wear out as a garment, and as a vesture you will fold them, and they will be changed.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.13-21.2.

THE RENEWAL OF THE OLD. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: This passage does not speak of the obliteration of creation but of its renewal into something better. For as the apostle says, “this creation will be freed from the bondage of corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God.” Also the holy psalmist says, “You change them like a raiment, and they pass away.” The renewal of that which has grown old does not involve the annihilation of its substance but rather indicates the smoothing out of its agedness and its wrinkles. It is a custom among us to say concerning persons who have in some way become better or have become worse, “someone has become someone else.” And so it is indicated concerning the heaven and the earth that they have “passed away’’ instead of have “changed.” And this is also the same with us who have received death; we will change from a former condition to a better lot. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.1.

21:1b | The Sea Was No More

THE RESTLESS AND STORMY LIFE OF PEOPLE WILL PASS AWAY. AUGUSTINE: It is hard to know whether [the sea] will be dried up by the terrible heat of those flames or will itself be transformed into something better. For though we read that there will be a new heaven and earth, I cannot recall having ever seen mentioned a new sea, save perhaps in that verse of the Apocalypse, “a sea of glass similar to crystal.” Yet in that passage, John was not talking about the end of the world; moreover, he did not claim to have seen a sea proper, but something like a sea. Still, as prophecy is prone to intermingle the literal and metaphorical and so veil its meaning, it may be that in our present text, “and the sea is no more,” John was speaking of the identical sea he spoke of earlier: “And the sea gave up the dead that were in it.” For then, this world of ours, made restless and stormy by the lives of men (and, hence, figuratively, called the sea), will have passed away. CITY OF GOD 20.16.

THERE WILL BE NO MORE NEED OF COMMERCE. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: Concerning the sea, it says that “the sea was no more.” For what use is there of a sea when people no longer need to sail it or to acquire by means of it the goods grown in regions lying far away? Moreover the “sea” is symbolic of the turbulence and unsettledness of life, and so there will then be no need of it when there remains no trouble or fear among the saints. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.1.

21:2 | The New Jerusalem Comes Down from Heaven

IN THE NEW JERUSALEM, HUMANITY IS DISCIPLINED FOR INCORRUPTION. IRENAEUS: Of this Jerusalem the former one is an image—that Jerusalem of the former earth in which the righteous are disciplined beforehand for incorruption and prepared for salvation. And of this tabernacle Moses received the pattern in the mount; and nothing is capable of being allegorized, but all things are steadfast and true and substantial, having been made by God for righteous people’s enjoyment. For as it is God truly who raises up humankind, so also does humankind truly rise from the dead, and not allegorically. … And as he rises actually, so also shall he be actually disciplined beforehand for incorruption and shall go forward and flourish in the times of the kingdom, in order that he may be capable of receiving the glory of the Father. AGAINST HERESIES 5.35.2.

IN THE NEW JERUSALEM NO TRACE OF EARTHLY BLEMISH REMAINS. AUGUSTINE: This city is said to come down out of heaven in the sense that God created it by means of heavenly grace, as he told it through Isaiah: “I am the Lord creating thee.” Indeed, its descent from heaven began with the beginning of time, since it is by God’s grace coming down from above through the “laver of regeneration” in the Holy Spirit sent from heaven that its citizenship has continuously grown up on earth. Yet only after God’s last judgment, the one he has deputed to Jesus Christ his Son, will his tremendous gift of grace be revealed so brightly in [Jerusalem] that in this new brightness there will remain no traces of its earthly blemishes. For then its members’ bodies will pass over from mortal corruptibility to the new immortality of incorruption. CITY OF GOD 20.17.

THE SAINTS ARE UNITED WITH THEIR LORD. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: The heavenly Jerusalem is the multitude of the saints who will come with the Lord, even as Zechariah said: “Behold, my Lord God will come, and all his saints with him.” These are being prepared for God as a fine dwelling, namely, those who will live with him. “As a bride adorned for her husband.” Adorned with holiness and righteousness, they go to be united with their Lord and shall remain with him forever. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.2.

JERUSALEM IS THE BLESSED DESTINY OF THE SAINTS. OECUMENIUS: By Jerusalem he symbolizes the blessed destiny and dwelling of the saints, which he figuratively calls Jerusalem both here and in the following passages. He has described its adornment magnificently and becomingly, so that we might lead our minds from perceptible realities to the spiritual bliss of the life of the saints. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 20.13-21.2.

THE KINGLY TRINITY DWELLS IN THE NEW JERUSALEM. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: This passage shows the renewal and transformation to a more brilliant appearance that the Jerusalem above will acquire when it comes down from the incorporeal powers above to humankind, since Christ, our God, has become the common Head of both. This city is constructed of the saints concerning whom it is written, “Holy stones are rolled upon the land,” and it has Christ as its cornerstone. It is called a “city,” since it is the dwelling place of the kingly Trinity—for [the Trinity] dwells in it and walks in it, as he promised—and it is called “bride,” since it is joined to the Lord and is united with him in the highest, inseparable conjunction. It is “adorned,” since within, as the psalm says, it has glory and youth in its manifold virtues. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.2.

21:3 | “The Dwelling of God Is with Men”

THE LORD WILL REWARD HIS PEOPLE WITH GLADNESS. APRINGIUS OF BEJA: The Lord gives witness to himself, for the multitude of the saints will become his temple, so that he might dwell with them forever and that he might be their Lord and they might be his people. He himself will take away all weeping and every tear from the eyes of those whom he rewards with eternal gladness and whom he makes bright with perpetual blessedness. TRACTATE ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.3-4.

WE WILL ALWAYS BE WITH THE LORD. OECUMENIUS: He now unveils the symbolism [of Jerusalem as the spiritual destiny of the saints] and says, “Behold, the dwelling of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them and will be their God.” The apostle indicated this even more clearly when he said, “Then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air; and we shall always be with the Lord.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.3-5.

THE CHURCH IS THE TYPE OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: The saint is instructed from heaven that this is the true dwelling whose type was indicated by Moses, or rather the prefiguration of the type, since the type exists in the church of the present day. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.3-4.

GOD WILL BE THE REWARD OF ETERNAL BLISS. BEDE: For the elect, God himself will be the reward of eternal bliss which, since they are possessed by him, they will possess into all eternity. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 21.3.

21:4 | Tears, Death and Pain Cease

THERE WILL BE NO MORE SORROW. TERTULLIAN: If sorrow, and mourning, and sighing and death itself assail us from the afflictions both of soul and body, how shall they be removed, except by the cessation of their causes, that is to say, the afflictions of flesh and soul? Where will you find adversities in the presence of God? Where incursions of an enemy in the bosom of Christ? Where attacks of the devil in the face of the Holy Spirit—now that the devil himself and his angels are “cast into the lake of fire”? Where now is necessity, and what [the pagans] call fortune or fate? What plague awaits the redeemed from death after their eternal pardon? What wrath is there for the reconciled after grace? What weakness after their renewed strength? What risk and danger after their salvation? ON THE RESURRECTION OF THE FLESH 58.

THE DEVIL WILL BE NO MORE WHEN DEATH IS NO MORE. ORIGEN: It must be understood concerning the devil that he has certainly been conquered and crucified, but for those who have been crucified with Christ, moreover for all believers and likewise for all people, the devil will also be crucified at the time when what the apostle says will be fulfilled: “As in Adam all die, so also in Christ will all be made alive.” Thus there is also in this a mystery of future resurrection. For then, too, the people will again be divided into two parts; then, too, there will also be certain ones in front and others behind, who when they unite into one for Jesus, then, at that time, the devil will certainly be no more “because death will be no more.” … Concerning the devil, the apostle says, “Death, the last enemy, is destroyed” because death is truly conquered when “this mortal is swallowed up by life.” HOMILIES ON JOSHUA 8.4.

THE SUFFERING OF THE SAINTS WILL COME TO AN END. OECUMENIUS: “And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes,” it says. The prophet Isaiah says something similar to this: “Death has prevailed and swallowed [people] up, but again God has taken every tear away from every face.” For if, as the holy apostle says, “pain and sorrow and sighing have fled away” in that blissful life of the saints, how would any tears remain in the absence of those things? “The former things have passed away,” it says. By this he means that the suffering of the saints has come to an end. Now the rewards for their toils have come. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.3-5.

IN THIS LIFE, HOLINESS RESULTS IN MORE ABUNDANT WEEPING. PRIMASIUS: It is certain that all these benefits belong to the future life and not to this life. Indeed, in this life the more one is holy and the more full a person is of holy desires, the more abundant will be his weeping in prayer. For this reason we read, “My tears have been my food day and night,” and again, “Every night I flood my bed with tears.” COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.4.

THE CHURCH WILL HAVE BLISS. CAESARIUS OF ARLES: He has said all of this concerning the glory of the church such as it will possess after the resurrection. EXPOSITION ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.1-4, HOMILY 18.

THE VISION OF INEXPRESSIBLE GLADNESS. ANDREW OF CAESAREA: In this tent made without hands there is no weeping nor any tears, for he who supplies the joy of the eternal temple will give to all the saints the vision of inexpressible gladness. That is, it is written, “pain and sorrow and sighing have passed away.” That “the first things have passed away” signifies that the suffering of the saints and the arrogance of the wicked have ceased, for an exchange of circumstances will occur for each of these groups. COMMENTARY ON THE APOCALYPSE 21.3-4.

INCORRUPTION TO THE BODY AND HEAVENLY CONTEMPLATION TO THE MIND. BEDE: The glory of that city will be so great and so exalted from the goodness of God that no remnant of its [former] agedness will remain, namely, when the celestial incorruption will raise up all the bodies [of the saints] and the contemplation of the eternal King will feed their minds. … It was earlier said that death had been sent into the lake of fire. We can also now understand these statements in the same way, namely, that when the holy city has been glorified at the last judgment, mourning and crying and mortality will remain in Gehenna alone. EXPLANATION OF THE APOCALYPSE 21.4.