v.3-5 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying; and there shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.” Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write for these words are true and faithful.”
The presence of God with us in heaven will not be interrupted as it is here on earth. All relations between God and us will be filled up and perfected. Our souls shall be assimilated to Him in all love, honor, and delight; and His love shall be manifested to us, and His glory put upon us. It will be a blessed state free from the effects of all former and future trouble, pain, and sorrow. “For the former things have passed away” and He shall “make all things new.”
Okay, but this raises a question commonly asked by Christians. Will we know our loved ones in heaven? I think so much the same way Moses and Elijah were known to Peter, James, and John during the transfiguration of Jesus (Matt.17:1-4). By revelation we will know them, but not in the former (sinful) self, we will know them and they will know us as pure in Jesus.
“Write for these words are true and faithful.” The certainty of this eventual state is so necessary for our perpetual memory and continual use that God actually ordered John to write it so we trust, beyond any shadow of doubt, that it is true.
v.6-8 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and He shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
After Jesus puts all enemies under His feet and destroys death, He will deliver the kingdom to God the Father and become subject to the Father “that God may be all in all” (see—1Cor.15:24-28). Though the nature of this mysterious and wondrous eternal relationship between the Father and the Son isn’t explained, I believe it occurs right here, the moment Jesus proclaims “It is done!”
Sin is no more, death has been destroyed, the people of God have been delivered and enjoined unto Him, and the age has been consummated and all things have been made new. God the Son, the Alpha and the Omega, has completed the work and purposes of God the Father. It is the end of redemptive history. “It is done!”
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End.” Jesus is both the source and the goal of creation. “All things were created through Him and for Him. And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist” (see—Col.1:15-18).
“I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.” Our desires do not cease in heaven, but they will not be polluted by the flesh. Our desires will be pure, and they shall be satisfied.
“He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and He shall be My son.” As citizens of New Jerusalem, believers will have unbridled access to the water of life flowing from the throne of God (Rev.22:1), shall “inherit all things” as “heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ” (Rom.8:17), and shall have a sure and indefeasible relationship with God as a son of God (see also—1John 3:2).
“But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” This vastly different state of the unbeliever helps to illustrate the glory and blessedness of the saints and clearly distinguishes the goodness of God towards us. The unbeliever will never see New Jerusalem. They will die another death after their natural death. They will be consigned to the terrors and agonies of eternal death. As one commentator puts it “they will die and always be dying.”