If there is going to be a kingdom of God on earth, then the best description of it is given by Isaiah, (Isaiah Chapter 65) and by John (Revelation Chapter 21). But this earth needed to be created (Behold, I create new heavens and new earth (Isaiah 65:17) and it was created nothing like the old one, ('the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind', Isaiah 65:17). God destroyed his beloved Jerusalem, because it degenerated itself into whoredom ('how is the faithful city become a harlot', Isaiah 1:21, the 'golden cup in her hand full of abominations and filthiness of her fornication' Revelation 17:4). So for the righteous, he needed to create Jerusalem anew (Behold I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy, Isaiah 65:18). He created a Jerusalem where there was justice (They shall build houses and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them, Isaiah 65:21), peace, amity and reassurance, (The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock ... They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain …, Isaiah 65:25). ). The fundamental principles of the city, its bedrock were the twelve tribes of Israel (The wall of the city had twelve foundation, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, Revelation 21:14) and its foundation was the gospel preached by the twelve apostles of Christ ( And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the name of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, Revelation 21:12). The foundations of the city walls were not really decorated with every kind of precious stones, (Revelation 21:19). But it was a city full of heavenly splendour and glory, (Revelation 21:11). This earth is nothing like the earth we live in. For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea, (Revelation 21:1), and the city had no need of the sun neither of the moon to shine in it, (Revelation 21:23) and it came down from heaven, (I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, Revelation 21:2). The city did not exist physically. Human eye could not see it, (Kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there!( Luke17:20 & 21). And again, the people who entered the New Jerusalem after the final judgment, the people whose names were found in the Lamb's book of life, (Revelation 20:12 - 15 & Revelation 21:27) were not even earthy (In resurrection they ... are as the angels of God in heaven, Matthew 22:30; Luke 20:36. ... we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord, II Corinthians 5:1 - 10. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, I Corinthians 15:50). The city was really a group of righteous people (Behold, the kingdom of God is within you, Luke 17:21), the lamb of Christ (And there came unto me one of the seven angels ... and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife ... and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, (Revelation 21:9 & 10).
In Isaiah 65:21 (They shall build houses and inhabit them and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them), Isaiah does not say that the righteous will literally build houses in New Jerusalem and labour to get their food but that they will lead a life of justice (v.22 They shall not build and another inhabit. They shall not plant and another eat). In verse 25 he does not say that the wolf and lamb shall literally feed together, but that in the Jerusalem that God creates there shall be peace, amity and reassurance. In Revelation 19:11 & 14, (Behold a white horse, and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True ... and the armies which were in heaven followed him upon white horses clothed in fine linen, white and clean), John does not really say that there are horses in heaven and that the angels wear clothes, nor that our Lord is leading an army of sword wielding soldiers on horseback. The battle is not really the kind of battles we human battle on earth (the remnant were slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, Revelation 19:21). The sword is really his teachings (the sword proceeded out of his mouth, Revelation 19:21 & 15. The battle is won not by literal sword but by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. (Revelation 12: 11). We understand all that.
At the end of time stars of heaven will not really fall unto the earth as figs do when the tree is shaken by a strong wind, nor will the heaven depart as a scroll when it is rolled together nor will every mountain and island be moved out of their place, (And the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, Revelation 6:13 & 14; Revelation 20:21). We have read of such things before.
When God was angry and planned to destroy Babylon in the hands of the Medes, He said, in the words of Isaiah, 'Therefore I shall shake the heavens and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts ... , Isaiah 13:13. Again we see how angry God is with the Assyrians and how he wants to punish them. 'And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine and as a falling fig from the fig tree', Isaiah 34:4. Micah speaks of the wrath of God against the transgression of Jacob, 'For behold, the Lord cometh forth out of his place ... and the mountains shall be molten under him, and the valleys shall be cleft, as wax before the fire …' Micah 1: 4 - 5. ). Daniel in his vision saw a powerful he goat 'cast down some of the host (of heaven) and of the stars to the ground and stamped upon them' Daniel 8:10. . Deborah and Barak sing the victory over Sisera thus: the stars in their courses fought against Sisera, Judges 5:20.
We never took them literally. But such large scale disaster really took place when at the end of days the Romans laid siege in Jerusalem and after. What the Israelites could not dream in the wildest of their dreams, really happened. The majestic temple was brought down to its bare foundation. Thousands starved to death, thousands died violent death, and thousands were captured and sent to the mines in Egypt and to the Roman arenas to die as Gladiators. Trees were cut down and gardens destroyed, the city lay desolate, utterly destroyed and unrecognizable. To the Israelites it was as though the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind. And the heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together; and every mountain and island were moved out of their places, Revelation 6:13 & 14; Revelation 20:21).
The meek shall inherit the earth. The meek shall live on earth? But one, who inherits a piece of land, is master of the land, has his sway over it, and reigns over it. The meek endure and at the end of days they shall reign on earth with Christ. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him, (II Timothy 2:12) Do you not know that we shall judge angels? How much more, things that pertain to this life. ( I Corinthians 6:3;.. At the Last judgment, not Christ alone but the meek with him shall judge the wicked. Behold the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, Jude 1:14. Hast made us unto our God kings and priests; and we shall reign on the earth. Revelation 1:6; 5:10. Those who shall inherit the earth or those who shall reign on earth will really be judging the wicked of the earth.
If we could, for a while allow ourselves to accept that the Bible spoke the truth when it said the advent of the kingdom of God is 'nigh', 'near', 'at hand', even 'knocking at the door', if we could agree, that when Christ said, Verily I say unto you , This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled Matthew 24:34, he meant all these things will be fulfilled in the generation he was in; as we agreed that his use of the phrase 'this generation' in Matthew 12:41 , (The men of Nineveh shall rise in judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: because they repented at the preaching of Jonas, and, behold, a greater than Jonas is here) and in Matthew 12:42 (The queen of the South will rise up in the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon; and indeed a greater than Solomon is here), he meant the generation he was in, we will see how other verses, like Revelation 1:7 (Behold he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also who pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him ), Mark 14:62; Matthew 26:64 (And ye shall see the son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and coming in the clouds of heaven.), Mathew 10:16 & 23 (where Christ sends his disciples saying, Behold I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves ... ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel, till the son of man be come); Matthew 28:20 (where he tells his disciples, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world), fall in places.
At the end of days, after the final judgment, there are only two worlds the Bible speaks of. After resurrection, Revelation 20:11 - 15, a section of people, whose names were found written in the Lamb's book of life, enter the holy city, the New Jerusalem, a city which does not exist physically ( The kingdom of God cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! Luke 17:20 ) but is really a group of righteous people, the lamb of Christ ( The kingdom of God is within you, Luke 17:21; And there came unto me one of the seven angels ... and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife, Revelation 21:9 & 10) a city where the inhabitants do not exist in flesh and blood (We will put on heavenly bodies. ... we would rather be away from these earthly bodies, for then we will be at home with the Lord, II Corinthians 5:1 - 10. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God, I Corinthians 15:50). In short the righteous enter a plane beyond our understanding.
Then there is hell, a place where those, whose names, after resurrection, were not found written in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire (And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, Revelation 20:15), from where the smoke of the torments of the inhabitants rise forever and ever (And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, Revelation 14:11), a place where there are both death and hade (grave for the dead) (Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, Revelation 20:14).There is a list of the kinds of inhabitants that are in the lake of fire or in hell, (The fearful and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremngers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, Revelation 20:10 & 21:8).
How are the inhabitants of this earth where both death and Hades reign still, different from the inhabitants of hell? At the resurrection of the good and the evil, they only go to two places. Either it is the Holy city, a plane unknown to us or it is the hell.
But we still have sinners here on earth who believe Jehovah is the only God there is, who bow to him alone, who love Him with all their heart, and with all their soul and with all their mind, and with all their strength; who believe that Christ Jesus is his only begotten son and their only savoiur, one who gave his life for the redemption of their sins, the one whose teachings they live to follow, who have submitted all their wisdom and intelligence and desires to the guidance of the Holy Spirit, who are struggling to become spiritual in all their ways.., who see that it is God's grace that has made them God's worthy children.
From this hell they shall rise to find their place in God's righteous kingdom. Speaking of hell, our Lord says, For everyone shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt, Mark 9: 47 - 50.
Those who are earthly are earthly.For n this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon, with our house which is from heaven
Whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. Flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God
Our house is from heaven v2 wen are clothed in this house v3. And this body from heaven will be immortal v 4. This body of flesh and blood will not be made immortal. Whilst we are at home in the body we are absent from our Lord. V6
I Corinthian 15:48
