The Bible Book

328 THE NEW JERUSALEM

its original purpose. The Bible

begins in Genesis with a picture

of God in harmony with His good

creation, and ends in Revelation

with evil destroyed forever and

that harmony restored. The reality

of the long, hard history of sin and

suffering that lies between is not

simply denied, however. In Genesis,

creation is good simply by virtue of

its origin in God, but in Revelation,

the future is good, both because of

its origin in God and because it has

been set free from sin by the death

and resurrection of Jesus. From

the earliest days of Christianity,

believers looked forward to when

God would gather up those with

faith in Him from the four corners

of the world to celebrate God’s

glory. This picture, which appears

in many of Jesus’s parables, is

stated by Paul the Apostle. God’s

purpose—“to be put into effect

when the times reach their

fulfillment”—is “to bring unity to

all things in Heaven and on Earth

under Christ” (Ephesians 1:10).

The promise of new life

Central to this “recapitulation”

is the expectation that all God’s

people who have ever lived will

be physically present. Throughout

the Bible, there is a growing

understanding that death is not

the end for those who have a place

in God’s family. Since justice is

often not received in the present

life, Old Testament prophets look

forward to a future time when the

wrongdoers will be punished and

God’s faithful dead will be raised

(Isaiah 26:19). Jesus affirms this

expectation and extends it when

A popular French print dating

from around 1900 shows Christ

waiting above the entrance to

New Jerusalem to welcome those

who have been redeemed.

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ACTS, EPISTLES, AND REVELATION 329

Hell and purgatory

“Nothing impure” will ever

enter New Jerusalem, nor

“anyone who does what

is shameful or deceitful”

(Revelation 21:27), which

raises questions about the

fates of the people who are

excluded. Images of tortuous

destruction by fire are often

associated with hell. In

Revelation 21:8, God warns

that evildoers will be put in

“the fiery lake of burning

sulphur” and will suffer “the

second death.” The description

of hell is another example of

apocalyptic language and

serves as a warning about

being separated from God for

eternity. Roman Catholics

also affirm belief in purgatory,

a place where God’s people

are purged of remaining

sin through refining fire

(1 Corinthians 3:11–15). By

the Middle Ages, purgatory

was believed to be a physical

place where people were held

after death to be made pure

before entering Heaven.

He himself is raised from the

grave to a new life. Christian logic

sees a correlation between Jesus’s

resurrection and ours. Jesus is

resurrected because He has

defeated sin and death, and the

grave could not hold Him. Jesus

has ascended to heaven and is

waiting for the moment when the

present creation has “passed away”

and God’s new creation is revealed.

Jesus is described by Paul

the Apostle as the “first fruits

of those who have fallen asleep”

(1 Corinthians 15:20). The words

“first fruits” and “fallen asleep”

are believed to indicate that what

happened to Jesus will happen

to those who die in faith, “that

God will bring with Jesus those

who have fallen asleep in Him”

(1 Thessalonians 4:14). At the new

creation, Christians believe that

they, too, will share a new life as all

things return to their original

purpose of worshipping and service

to God in a relationship of love.

Heaven on Earth

For centuries, an image of the

afterlife as a vague, heavenly realm

where people float around playing

angelic harps has captured popular

imagination. The eschatology of

the Bible has little to do with this

idea. Christians look forward to the

coming of heaven on Earth. This

means that every part of the world

we know will be transformed by

the rule of Jesus, the King of the

City of Peace, the New Jerusalem.

Evil will have been destroyed, the

old will disappear to be replaced

by the new, providing a fresh

start for all who believe. At death,

Christians who have “fallen asleep,”

secure in God’s presence, await

resurrection in the new creation.

Christian eschatology reaches a

grand finale: at some unspecified

moment, a sumptuous wedding

feast will celebrate the marriage

between heaven and Earth, God’s

home and ours.

However, eschatology, “the last

things,” is not only found in the

future in the Bible. Another strong

theme in the New Testament is

that Jesus brings some of God’s

future into the present. His core

message is, “The kingdom of God

has come near. Repent and believe

the good news!” (Mark 1:15). By

placing all their trust in Jesus,

Christians bring that kingdom into

their lives. The “last things” begin

now—through their prayers and

deeds, empowered by God’s Holy

Spirit—and continue forever. ■

Freed from purgatory, souls are

welcomed by the Virgin Mary, God

the Father, His Son, and the Holy

Ghost (as a dove) in a 19th-century

print by François Georgin.

Creation itself will

be liberated ... and

brought into the

freedom and glory of

the children of God.

Romans 8:21

The perishable must

clothe itself with the

imperishable, and the

mortal with immortality.

1 Corinthians 15:53

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