What Happens after the Millennium???

Until my dying day I will remember the first time I watched Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (if you are not familiar with LOTR that is the first of a trilogy). There I was in our living room. My friend Jake was over and we anxiously watched Frodo and Sam walk toward Mordor with the One Ring in pursuit of their mission to destroy it deep in the heart of Mt. Doom. Once Frodo catches a glimpse of their destination we hear:

• Frodo: Mordor. I hope the others find a safer way.
• Sam: Strider will look after them.
• Frodo: I don’t suppose we will ever see them again.
• Sam: We may yet Mr. Frodo; we may.
• Frodo: Sam, I’m glad you’re with me.

There is nothing shocking in those lines except that those are the last lines!!! The One Ring yet exists. The story’s many characters are yet out wondering through Middle Earth with all their own plot lines untied. When the credits started to role and the ring was not yet destroyed I was sad and frustrated…bordering on angry. I had sat there for nearly three hours anticipating the story to be told in full by the time it was over. I was unaware that it was a trilogy. I was greatly bothered at being left hanging and not knowing how it would all conclude.

Have you had that experience with a movie or book. Sometimes it’s not the situation described above, but is the result of poor writing or plot building. There are those stories that reach the last page and you are thinking in your mind: “….and what happens to [fill in the blank]” I love books but a disappointing story makes me want to throw the book at the wall. Its so frustrating is it not!?! We want finality…closure…enlightenment….accomplishment.

Echoes of Eden

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Rev. 22:1-5

These last verses of John’s vision close the WHOLE story of the Bible by returning our attention to the beginning of the story: Eden. That is not to say that we are now back at square one, but that the phrases laid out by John echo Eden in a number of ways so as to show completion of God’s plan.

Eden was the first place where God and mankind lived with each other face to face. In that place was a river, a tree of life, and the goodness of God, both in the creation and emanating from the Creator. John uses these terms to call our imagination to life, for in the rising of our mind’s eye to the picture he has put before us in these five verses Eden is brought to mind.

Now can we make this claim with confidence? We can for at least two reasons:

1. John has been using and embellishing Old Testament ideas and phrases for the whole book…starting in Revelation chapter one.
2. The images John gives us feel like, smell like, and taste like the Garden of Eden as described in Genesis 1&2 and other parts of the Old Testament.

It is safe to say that John is pointing to the goodness of the future for which the Christian longingly and patiently waits by comparing it to what has occurred as recorded in the Bible. He uses Eden to give us something tangible to wrap our minds around as we read of the place in which we will live with God for all of the rest of time. However, as I said above, this more than going back to square one. The future is not going to be only the goodness of Eden…its going to be so much more…it will be glorious.

Not Merely Good, but Glorious!!!

Eden was a place where mankind lived with God in harmony and innocence, enjoying the Creator’s goodness in purity. However, it did not last. Ever since Genesis 3:15 we have been anticipating God recovering, restoring, and advancing his creation according to his glorious plan.

“I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and her offspring; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

Genesis 3:15

These five verses found here at the close of John’s vision bring us face to face with what we will enjoy. Let us take a few minutes to reflect on the riches we can anticipate. In preparing to write out this portion I read James M. Hamilton’s commentary on the passage and was greatly encouraged. I am indebted to his work in bringing me to a greater appreciation of the New Eden to come.

In Revelation 22:1-5 we continue John’s description of the temple-city that he began in 21:1 yet with specific attention to the Eden-like details.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Revelation 22:1-2

The river of Rev. 22:1 would be an unimaginable contrast to ancient water for it is abundant (flowing river, beautiful, and pure). John is calling our minds to creations beauty beginning in Eden (Gen. 2:10) while pointing to the hope of the future (Eze. 47:1).

This river of the water of life is connected seamlessly with the tree of life. According to Ezekiel 47:8-12 both the water and leaves have healing power.

The river bright as crystal and tree bearing twelve types of fruit is beyond the experience of this world in which we live. It might even be said to be magical for it is such that is found in tales of old which call to our hearts. From a child’s story to great novels we find our hearts aroused after these worlds that are literally on our finger tips as we turn the pages yet so far away. The new creation is where that magical dream morphs into reality.

We will be in a place like Eden but a “new and greater Garden of Eden.”

Genesis and Ezekial are not the only books which speak of a life giving river. See Psalm 1:

He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers.

Psalm 1:3

When we put these texts together (Genesis 2, Ezekiel 47 with Psalms 1:1-3), we see that those who do what “Psalm 1 commends—delighting in the Law of the Lord and meditating on it and night—become like the new heaven and new earth, where the river of living water makes the soil rich for the tree of life whose leaves do not wither. Those who delight in the Bible and meditate on it day and night are like the tree of life. Their leaves don’t wither, and all they do prospers. Is that what your life is like? Do you want your life to be that way? Give your brain Bible! Meditate on it day and night. Delight yourself in it.”

No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Revelation 22:3-4

According to Romans 12:1-2 the purpose of redemption is worship of God. Like when God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt he did so, so that they might worship and serve him. Yet just just as Israel failed, so also do we. 

Our miseries are the result of neglecting God’s call on and design for our lives. 

Joy is found in and with him, yet sin thwarts our fellowship with him. 

A day will come when there is nothing cursed, but only a redeemed creation remaining. There we will enjoy service to the enthroned Triune God. We were created to worship our good Creator, and will find fulfillment there in.

Think about the feeling you get when you are not only do what you were designed for but do it well. At work. Sports. School. Yard work. Parenting. Problem solving. When we find ourselves doing well what we have been designed for we are fulfilled in a very strong and unique way. How much more so in a God given state of perfection where both our existence as well as the world suffer no imperfection?!?

What the scriptures say of Eden as well as the New and Greater Eden inform us regarding what we were designed for: knowing and delighting in God. Adam and Eve walked with God. The people of the New Temple-City will see God face to face. The greatest revelations of God’s glory and beauty will be known and felt personally, relationally. 

“And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

Revelation 22:5

In this New Eden the presence of the glory of God will be as full, real, and experienced as we experience the light and warmth of the sun. God’s glory, being the revelation of all that he is, will be seen and felt. Do you want your life to be that way?

Conclusion:

• Such reality is not entirely out in the future. We have at least two reasons to live hopefully, anticipating what is to come while also tasting small samplings here and there. 1) Jesus said in John 17:3, “And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent.” The relationship you now enjoy with God through Jesus Christ is a taste of life in the New Eden. The New Creation has begun to enter into reality by the fact you are enjoying part of eternal life now. 2) Which leads to the second point. The experience of being born again flows from the river of life that is the resurrection of Jesus. We live because he lives. We have hope for the future because of his work on our behalf, a work we have begun to benefit from. Resurrection life is being tasted now, and will fully be experienced at his return when the body, as well as the soul, enjoys God given resurrection life.

• These ideas which speak into our now. The way in which the above two realities informs how we think about life in the here and now should cause more and more anticipation of the New Eden. That anticipation should also be paired with how we look at the world we live in. It is a world waiting to be renewed as we are. Romans 8:20-22, “For the creation was subjected to futility, not willingly, but because of him who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. For we know that the whole creation has been groaning together in the pains of childbirth until now.” When we our driving to work or sitting by a window we can look out into the world around us where we see the trees, hills, animals, flowers, streams, and so much more. We can look at them and anticipate the day when all of it, all around this world will be transformed by the power of God into a New and Greater Eden. This earth on which we walk now will be traversed for ages to come by the renewed people of God as they enjoy God in his renewed creation.