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Zechariah 14:9 says, “Jehovah will be King over all the earth.” This verse, along with Matthew 25:31-34 and 1 Corinthians 15:25, prophesies that at His coming back Christ will establish His kingdom on the earth. When the Lord comes back, He will save Israel, crush the Gentile nations, and judge the peoples on earth. Afterward, He will establish His kingdom on the earth for a thousand years; this is the millennial kingdom. In the millennium there will be three realms: the first will be the realm of the earth, where God’s creation will be blessed (Gen. 1:28-30); the second, the realm of the nation of Israel in Canaan, from the Nile to the Euphrates, where the saved Jews will rule over the earth (Isa. 60:10-12; Zech. 14:16-18); and the third, the heavenly and spiritual realm where the overcoming believers will enjoy the kingdom reward (1 Cor. 15:50-52; Matt. 5:20; 7:21).
In the millennium Christ with His overcomers as co-kings will reign over the nations (Rev. 20:4, 6; 2:26-27; 19:15b). These nations will be the last stage of human nations on the old earth, and they all will become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ (11:15), being ruled by Christ and His overcomers. Such a reigning will be the unique work of Christ in the millennium to show to the entire universe His kingship with His divine and heavenly authority for the shame of Satan, the defeated enemy of God. This is the final fulfillment of Isaiah 32:1, Jeremiah 23:5, and Zechariah 14:9, 16, and 17. After Christ has redeemed the created and lost earth and all people into the realm of His kingdom so that they become constituents of His kingdom (Col. 1:20), after He has sold all that He has and bought the kingdom (Matt. 13:44), and after He has saved the earth and all people from Satan’s usurpation (Rev. 20:2-3), He will have the full right to be the King of the restored earth and the restored nations. In His coming reign, God’s authority and glory will be fully manifested, and the entire earth, together with mankind, will also be ushered into the righteousness, peace, joy and full blessings created by God (Matt. 6:13; Isa. 32:1, 16-18; 35:1-2, 5-7).
In the millennium Christ as the Bridegroom will enjoy the marriage dinner with the overcoming believers as the bride. Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The marriage of Christ is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. Verse 9 says, “Blessed are they who are called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb.” Those who will be called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb are the overcoming believers; they will also be the bride of the Lamb. The marriage dinner of the Lamb is the wedding feast in Matthew 22:2. It will be a reward to the overcoming believers; only the overcomers will be called to it. The five foolish virgins in Matthew 25:8-13 will miss it. Hence, to be called to the marriage dinner of Christ is to be blessed. Christ, the Bridegroom, will usher the bride, the overcoming believers, into the enjoyment of the marriage dinner with Him in the millennium.
At the end of the millennium Satan will be released from the abyss to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth, that is, to deceive Gog and Magog that they may lead the nations to follow Satan and rebel against God. They will go up to surround the camp, the lodging place of the overcoming saints on earth, and the beloved city of Jerusalem, the dwelling place of the remnant of Israel. At that time fire will come down out of heaven from God and devour the rebellious ones. Then the devil, who deceives the nations, will be cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet will also be (Rev. 20:8-10). This will be mankind’s last rebellion against God. After this final purification, the peoples remaining after the millennium will be transferred to the new earth to be the nations for eternity (21:3, 24).
After the millennium Christ will judge all the dead at the great white throne, for He is the Judge of both the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1). This judgment is described in Revelation 20:11-15. Verse 12 says, “I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened; and another scroll was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by the things which were written in the scrolls, according to their works.” Standing here indicates that the dead have been resurrected. This is the resurrection of the unbelievers, the resurrection of judgment, after the millennium (John 5:28-29). The scrolls are the record of the unbelievers’ works and deeds. The unbelievers will be judged according to what is recorded in the scrolls.
In this judgment “the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, each of them, according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:13-15). The perishing unbelievers will be judged by Christ according to the scrolls, which are a record of their works, and they will also be cast into the lake of fire according to the book of life.
In eternity Christ the Lamb will be the Husband, and the New Jerusalem will be the wife. The one thousand years in the millennium will be the wedding day of the Lamb (19:7; cf. 2 Pet. 3:8). On this wedding day the overcoming saints will be the bride to Christ, the Bridegroom. After the wedding day, Christ will live a married life with His redeemed forever in which He will be the eternal Husband, and all His redeemed will be His eternal wife.
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God likens His chosen people to a spouse (Isa. 54:6; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32). The New Jerusalem, as Christ’s bride, comes out of Christ, her Husband, to become His counterpart, just as Eve came out of Adam, her husband, to be Adam’s counterpart (Gen. 2:21-24). In Genesis Adam typifies Christ as the Husband, whereas Eve typifies the church as the wife. Eve was built with a rib taken from Adam’s side and then brought back to Adam to be one flesh with Him. This type will be ultimately fulfilled in the New Jerusalem. Christ will be the eternal Adam, whereas God’s redeemed will be the eternal Eve. Christ and His wife will enjoy their married life forever and ever.
In eternity Christ with God will be the temple of the holy city (Rev. 21:22). According to the Bible, the temple is the place where God dwells and where God’s people serve Him. In eternity Christ with God will be such a temple as God’s habitation and our dwelling place as well.
Revelation 21 says that the New Jerusalem will be God’s temple. This indicates that in the new heaven and new earth, the temple of God will be enlarged into a city. In the New Jerusalem in eternity, Christ with God is the temple for us to dwell in and also for God to dwell among His redeemed so that God in Christ can continually dispense Himself into all His redeemed and enable them to enjoy the all-inclusive Triune God forever.
In the New Jerusalem Christ is also the lamp. Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” God is light (1 John 1:5); Christ the Lamb as the lamp will shine with the Triune God as the light to dispense Himself into His redeemed people. God as light needs a lamp. Without the Lamb being the lamp, God’s shining would kill us. Apart from Christ God’s shining would be a killing, but in Christ God’s shining is an illumining. With the redeeming Christ as the lamp, the divine light does not kill us but instead illumines us. First Timothy 6:16 says that God dwells in unapproachable light. In Christ, though, God becomes approachable. Because the divine light shines through the Redeemer, it has become lovable and touchable, and it has even become the light in which we can walk (1 John 1:7). Through the Lamb, the Redeemer, God’s killing light becomes an enjoyable shining for the dispensing of God into all His redeemed people.
Furthermore, Christ as the lamp will illumine the nations. Revelation 21:24 says, “The nations will walk by its light.” In the New Jerusalem the Lamb as the lamp will shine with God as the light, and the nations will walk by this light, that is, by its leading. In the millennium the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be intensified sevenfold (Isa. 30:26). In the new heaven and new earth Christ will shine with God as light, and this shining will be brighter than that of either the sun or the moon. Hence, the nations will not need to walk in the sunlight, for they will walk in the light of Christ’s shining.
Revelation 22:1 shows that the throne of God and of the Lamb is in the center of the New Jerusalem. God and the Lamb being on one throne proves that God and the Lamb are not separated; God in the Lamb is sitting on the throne. This is what is indicated in Revelation 21:23, which reveals that God as the light is in Christ as the lamp and is one with Christ. In eternity Christ will still be the redeeming Lamb (22:1). Christ accomplished redemption on earth. This redemption was designed by God in eternity past and accomplished in time. Before the foundation of the world, God had appointed Christ as the Lamb to redeem fallen mankind. In time Christ as the Lamb was slain (1 Pet. 1:19-20). In eternity Christ will still be the Lamb, indicating that the redemption He accomplished in time will be brought into eternity. In the New Jerusalem the throne of God and of the Lamb is in the center of the holy city, indicating that in eternity the redeeming God is the Ruler. Furthermore, His reign in eternity is based on the redemption that He accomplished in Christ.
Revelation 22:2 says, “On this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” In the New Jerusalem Christ will be the tree of life. The word for tree in Revelation 2:7, as in 1 Peter 2:24, means “wood”; it is not the word usually used for tree. In the Bible the tree of life signifies Christ as the embodiment of all the riches of God (Col. 2:9) for our food (Gen. 2:9; 3:22, 24; Rev. 22:2, 14, 19). It signifies the crucified (implied in the tree as a piece of wood, 1 Pet. 2:24) and resurrected (implied in the life of God, John 11:25) Christ. In the New Jerusalem this crucified and resurrected Christ will be the tree of life for the nourishment of all God’s redeemed people—the saints as the components of the New Jerusalem—forever.
According to Revelation 22:2 the tree of life grows “on this side and on that side of the river,” spreading and proceeding along the flow of the water of life for God’s people to receive and enjoy. This indicates that Christ as the tree of life, as the life supply, will grow and be available along the flow of the Spirit as the water of life to God’s redeemed people. Where the Spirit flows, there the life supply of Christ will be found.
In the New Jerusalem Christ as the tree of life not only nourishes the sons of God; the leaves also heal the nations as God’s people on the new earth. In the Bible leaves are a symbol of man’s deeds (Gen. 3:7). The leaves of the tree of life symbolize the deeds of Christ. In eternity the restored nations will be healed by the leaves of the tree of life. They will take the deeds of Christ as their outward guide and regulation that they may live the human life forever. When the nations look at the way Christ does things and behaves Himself, His deeds will become a source of healing to them, and this healing will maintain their human life forever.
In the New Jerusalem Christ is also the spring of the water of life. Revelation 21:6 says, “I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely.” The spring of the water of life refers to Christ. The water of life is the Triune God Himself as our life. This water of life has a source, then a spring, and then a flow, a river. The river comes from the spring, and the spring from the source. The source is the Father, the spring is the Son, and the flow, the river, is the Spirit. In eternity Christ is the spring of the water of life, just as the Spirit is the river, and the Father is the source. According to the picture depicted in Revelation 21 and 22, the river of water of life flows from the spring of the water of life to the entire New Jerusalem, dispensing the Triune God to the whole city and saturating the whole city.
In eternity Christ is also the Shepherd. Christ’s redeemed people still need His shepherding in eternity. Revelation 7:17 prophesies that “the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of waters of life.” Shepherding includes feeding. Under the shepherding of Christ, God’s redeemed people will not lack (Psa. 23:1). Christ will lead them to the spring of the water of life, indicating that in eternity He will shepherd them into Himself that they may enjoy the eternal dispensing of the Triune God for His manifestation to the fullest extent.
When the Lord comes back, He will save Israel, crush the Gentile nations, and judge the peoples on earth. Afterward, He will establish His kingdom on the earth for a thousand years, which is the millennium. In the millennium Christ with His overcomers as co-kings will reign over the nations. Such a reigning will be the unique work of Christ in the millennium to show to the entire universe His kingship with His divine and heavenly authority to shame Satan. In the millennium Christ as the Bridegroom will enjoy the marriage dinner of the Lamb with the overcoming believers as the bride. At the end of the millennium, Satan will be released from the abyss to deceive the nations that are in the four corners of the earth and to lead them to rebel against God. However, God will use fire from heaven to devour them, thereby purifying for the last time all the peoples on the earth. Then Christ will judge all the dead at the great white throne. The perishing unbelievers will be judged by Christ according to the scrolls, which are a record of their works, and they will also be cast into the lake of fire according to the book of life.
In eternity Christ the Lamb will be the Husband, and the New Jerusalem will be the wife. Christ will enjoy a married life with His redeemed forever and ever. Christ is also the temple of the holy city as our dwelling place and for Him to dwell among men. In addition, He is the lamp of the holy city to shine with the Triune God as the light and to dispense Himself into the redeemed people. The nations will not need to walk in the sunlight, for they will walk in the light of Christ’s shining. The throne of God and of the Lamb is in the center of the New Jerusalem, indicating that the Ruler in eternity is the redeeming God. Furthermore, His reign in eternity is based on the redemption that He accomplished in Christ. Christ is also the supply of the holy city as the tree of life nourishing the sons of God and healing the people on the new earth. As the spring of the water of life flowing out the river of life to the entire New Jerusalem, He dispenses the Triune God to the whole city and saturates the whole city. He is also the Shepherd of God’s redeemed people, shepherding them to Himself that they may enjoy the eternal dispensing of the Triune God for His manifestation to the fullest extent.
