Once the Millennium is concluded, Revelation 21-22 indicates there will be an entirely new universe, a profound restructuring of everything. Again, there are a variety of approaches to what John’s oracles mean.
Literal
One way to understand the text is to accept a literal recreation—a new cosmos, a new galaxy, a new planet (heavens and earth). Once the Great White Throne judgment has taken place, all the names in the Books of Deeds have been addressed, and death and hell finally swallowed up in the Lake of Fire, the Second Death, then there will be a massive rending where all that exists in the material realm will dissolve, atom by atom, and only the void, the chaos of that primordial time before even time existed will be left.
Over that void the Spirit of God will once again hover, and the Creator will create by the agency of the Word. Up from the swirl within the physical dimension will come forth the new universe, the final, eternal habitation of God with the people of God, in glory and glorious harmony.
Strong reasoning for understanding John’s visions as an accurate and reliable portrayal of a literal new universe has to do with God’s consistency in fulfilling prophecy in actual, physical, tangible ways. Particularly in the case of Christ, Jesus was literally and miraculously born of a woman, but not of a man—the Spirit overshadowed Mary who became with child. Jesus literally died, as a human being, and literally came back to life, now in a much changed and glorified human-yet-immortal body.
Nevertheless, much of John’s depiction is taken symbolically, even with a literal interpretation. For example, the dimensions of the Holy City, New Jerusalem, are understood as symbolic, the twelve tribes of Israel are seen as “spiritual” Israel, or all of those who have put their faith in God, and so on.
Non-Literal
But what if John’s oracles are allegorical, or metaphorical? What if, all along, John has been speaking of spiritual things made vivid by powerful visions?
Elysium
Possibly, John is describing the spiritual realm, the realm of heaven. Interestingly, the Greco-Roman vision of heaven is very like what Christians envision today. In both Greek and Roman mythology, Elysian Fields, or Elysian Plain was the place the souls of the dead found their eternal rest if they had been blessed by the gods. Originally, heroes were granted immortality and eternal joy in Elysium, but over time, the belief developed that everyone who had lived a righteous life would enter Elysium as they passed from life, through death, into tranquil eternity.
Here, the righteous and heroic would live a blessed and happy life for all eternity, engaging in whatever brought them enjoyment.
Base of a funerary marble vase. It is decorated in relief on its three visible sides. On the face a young woman and a youth pick apples from a tree.
This unique allegoric theme apparently alludes of the afterlife in the Elysian Fields, where according the ancient tradition, the blessed dead enjoyed the golden fruits.
The eschatological character of this scene is completed with the presence of a priest holding a sacrificial knife on the right side of the base, and a youth wearing short chiton, chlamys and petasos on the left side of the base.
The latter figure has been identified as Hermes Psychopompos (leader of souls), his herald’s staff would have been rendered in paint. The upper part of the base bears a circular opening for the fastening of a marble vase. The tenon at bottom was used for the insertion of the relief vase into a larger pedestal. Found in Athens, in Moschatto.
410-400 BC.
National Archaeological Museum of Athens, Inv. No 4502—see the image below
Some, like the Greek poet Homer, claimed Elysium was by the banks of the Oceanus River at the ends of the earth. Others, such as Hesiod located Elysium on the Isles of the Blessed. Later, Greek and Roman mythology developed the concept of Elysium in the underworld, where Aeneas saw his father—a separate place from Hades, though.
A writer from the fifth century BCE described Elysium as follows:
The good receive a life free from toil, not scraping with the strength of their arms the earth, nor the water of the sea, for the sake of a poor sustenance. But in the presence of the honored gods, those who gladly kept their oaths enjoy a life without tears, while the others undergo a toil that is unbearable to look at.
Those who have persevered three times, on either side, to keep their souls free from all wrongdoing, follow Zeus’ road to the end, to the tower of Cronus, where ocean breezes blow around the island of the blessed, and flowers of gold are blazing, some from splendid trees on land, while water nurtures others.
With these wreaths and garlands of flowers they entwine their hands according to the righteous counsels of Rhadamanthys, whom the great father, the husband of Rhea whose throne is above all others, keeps close beside him as his partner
Pindar, Odes (2.59–75) [translated by Diane Svarlien (1990)]
New Covenant
Perhaps John is describing what Paul meant when he wrote of a New Creation.
So if anyone is in Christ, there [or “that person”] is a new creation: everything old has passed away; look, new things have come into being! [or “everything has become new”]
2 Corinthians 5:17 (NRSVUE, brackets include footnotes in the original]
Those who have covenanted with God in faith through Christ through the new covenant cut by Christ in his own blood have past from the old Sinai covenant (old heavens and earth) into the new gospel covenant (new heavens and earth).
New Jerusalem, that gleaming golden city John sees, is perhaps a representation of the church—God’s holy dwelling place. If the tabernacle’s, and later the temple’s, Holy of Holies was the place where heaven and earth intersected, where God dwelt among the people, and where God met humankind in our own physical realm, then the believer has become that Holy of Holies. God makes God’s home in each believer through the indwelling Holy Spirit, and God also dwells among all believers who are the church,
Now, the Holy of Holies is the church in its earthly existence, but also connecting the span between the heavenly and spiritual realms in a concrete way.
Each aspect of the new creation is to be understood as either allegorical or metaphorical in reference to the spiritual experience of believers. The first heaven and earth—which pass away—are the “preconversion state” of the believer. The new heaven and earth describe the newness of life, both spiritually and experientially for the believer.
Layers of Meaning
Perhaps all of these layers can be viewed together. Some literal expositors, for instance, see the possibility of both a partial expression of John’s description as place in the spiritual realm called “heaven” for those who die before the Millennium, and then a complete fulfillment in the destruction of the old universe to be replaced by the creation of a new one.
The writer of Hebrews indicates the earthly tabernacle, and later the temple, was a shadow of the true and original tabernacle in God’s heavenly realm.
Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tent[tabernacle] was constructed, the first one, in which were the lampstand, the table, and the bread of the Presence; this is called the holy place. Behind the second curtain was a tent [tabernacle] called the holy of holies.
… But when Christ came as a high priest of the good things that have come, then through the greater and more perfect tent [tabernacle] (not made with hands, that is, not of this creation) …
… Thus it was necessary for the sketches of the heavenly things to be purified with these rites, but the heavenly things themselves need better sacrifices than these. For Christ did not enter a sanctuary made by human hands, a mere copy of the true one, but he entered into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God on our behalf.”
Hebrews 9 (NRSVUE, brackets include footnotes from the original)
Now that original place is being brought to the new earth, for all will now be the authentic and genuine perfection of God.
Final thoughts taken from Revelation: Four Views A Parallel Commentary, edited by Steve Gregg
