A New Heaven and A New Earth – Part 1 of 6

1901

Notes of the International Series Selection for June 23, 1901, Sunday School, by John R. Whitney.

SUBJECT — A New Heaven and a New Earth. — Revelation 21:1-7,22-27.

GOLDEN TEXT — He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. — Revelation 21:7.

The book which we term "The Revelation" opens with the declaration that it is "The Revelation of Jesus Christ." But it evidently is not so much a revelation given to John by Jesus Christ — somewhat similar in character to those we have recently considered, but infinitely higher in degrees it is a revelation given to him "of Jesus Christ" — an unfolding before his eyes of all that "God gave unto Him" — the revelation of His complete work.

The purpose of the revelation was "to show unto His servants things" — or events — "which must shortly come to pass." This, however, does not signify that the "things" revealed were such things, or events, as would "come to pass" immediately, or soon after being revealed — as we are apt to consider it — but rather that they were such things as do surely come to pass without any halting or unnecessary delay — "come with speed" (Young.) They thus include past things as well as future things. In other words, this revelation declares that God's purposes in Christ concerning His people are everlastingly moving on with irresistible power and velocity, for although one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day," yet "the Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count slackness" (2 Peter 3:8,9.) For, as Eldridge S. Brooks very justly says, "Years count for but very little in the evolution of a Divine plan; the tyranny of figures is a matter of human limitations." — John R. Whitney.