The New Creation - God Dwelling with His People

These verses echo the same categories and warnings found earlier, particularly in the Ekklesia letters. However, this is no longer a forward-looking exhortation, but a final confirmation. What was previously stated as a warning is now declared as reality—those who are victorious inherit all things, while those who reject God face the second death.

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The promises given to those who overcome in these letters are ultimately fulfilled in Revelation 21, where the victorious inherit all things and dwell with God forever. (see The Ekklesia Letters)

 

Revelation 21:6 "He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life."

• "It is done" - stated at the end of redemption and judgment
  • Genesis 2:1–2 "Thus the heavens and the earth were completed in all their vast array. 2 By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work."
  • John 19:30 "When he had received the drink, Jesus said, “It is finished.” With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit."
  • Revelation 16:17 "The seventh angel poured out his bowl into the air, and out of the temple came a loud voice from the throne, saying, “It is done!” "
• "Alpha and Omega" - see Alpha and Omega
• "Beginning and the End" - see First and Last

  • Ecclesiastes 3:11 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end."

• "spring of the living water" - associated with the life-giving presence of God, identified elsewhere with the Holy Spirit. This water flows from the throne of God and the Lamb and gives water to the Tree of Life.

  • Jeremiah 2:13 "“My people have committed two sins: They have forsaken me, the spring of living water, and have dug their own cisterns, broken cisterns that cannot hold water."

  • John 4:10-14 "10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 “Sir,” the woman said, “you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his livestock?” 13 Jesus answered, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

  • John 7:37-39 "37 On the last and greatest day of the festival, Jesus stood and said in a loud voice, “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, as Scripture has said, rivers of living water will flow from within them.” 39 By this he meant the Spirit, whom those who believed in him were later to receive. Up to that time the Spirit had not been given, since Jesus had not yet been glorified."

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Revelation 21:7 "Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children."

• “victorious” — the same language used throughout the Ekklesia letters (“to the one who overcomes”), now fulfilled rather than anticipated (Revelation 2–3), where each promise was given to those who overcome. 

• "inherit all this" - The promises once given—access to life, belonging to God, and eternal inheritance—are now realized in full.

  • new heaven

  • new earth

  • new Jerusalem

  • relationship with God

  • no more death

  • no mourning

  • no crying

  • no pain

  • water of life

These promises are no longer conditional exhortations but realized outcomes, confirming the final state of those who have overcome.

• "I will be their God" 

  • 2 Samuel 7:8-16 "8 “Now then, tell my servant David, ‘This is what the Lord Almighty says: I took you from the pasture, from tending the flock, and appointed you ruler over my people Israel. 9 I have been with you wherever you have gone, and I have cut off all your enemies from before you. Now I will make your name great, like the names of the greatest men on earth. 10 And I will provide a place for my people Israel and will plant them so that they can have a home of their own and no longer be disturbed. Wicked people will not oppress them anymore, as they did at the beginning 11 and have done ever since the time I appointed leaders over my people Israel. I will also give you rest from all your enemies. “‘The Lord declares to you that the Lord himself will establish a house for you: 12 When your days are over and you rest with your ancestors, I will raise up your offspring to succeed you, your own flesh and blood, and I will establish his kingdom. 13 He is the one who will build a house for my Name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 14 I will be his father, and he will be my son. When he does wrong, I will punish him with a rod wielded by men, with floggings inflicted by human hands. 15 But my love will never be taken away from him, as I took it away from Saul, whom I removed from before you. 16 Your house and your kingdom will endure forever before me; your throne will be established forever.’ ”

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Revelation 21:8 "But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

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This list mirrors the moral and spiritual conditions warned against throughout Revelation, now presented not as a call to repentance, but as the final identification of those outside of God’s kingdom:

• "cowardly" - in Greek "deilois" means a fear rooted in unbelief with no perseverance

  • Joshua 1:9 "Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.”

  • Matthew 10:28 "Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell."

  • Mark 4:40 "He said to his disciples, “Why are you so afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

  • Hebrews 10:38–39 "38 And, “But my righteous[a] one will live by faith. And I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.” 39 But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved"

  • Revelation 2:10 (Church of Smyrna) "Do not be afraid of what you are about to suffer. I tell you, the devil will put some of you in prison to test you, and you will suffer persecution for ten days. Be faithful, even to the point of death, and I will give you life as your victor’s crown."

• "the unbelieving" in Greek "apistois" means faithless or "a" = without, "pistis" = faith

  • Mark 9:19 "“You unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.”

  • John 20:27 "Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.”

• "the vile" in Greek "ebdelugmenois" means to be disgusted by, to loathe like a stench because of their moral uncleanness; abominable

  • Proverbs 6:16–19 "16 There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: 17 haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, 18 a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, 19 a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community."

  • Matthew 24:15 "“So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’ spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand—"

  • Luke 16:15 "He said to them, “You are the ones who justify yourselves in the eyes of others, but God knows your hearts. What people value highly is detestable in God’s sight."

  • Revelation 17:4–5 "The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. 5 The name written on her forehead was a mystery: Babylon the great the mother of prostitutes, and of the abominations of the earth."

• "the murderers" - in Greek "phoneusin" means unjustified, intentional homicide

  • Exodus 20:13 "“You shall not murder."

  • John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies."

  • Romans 13:9 "The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other command there may be, are summed up in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

  • 1 John 3:15 "Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him."

  • Revelation 6:3-4 "3 When the Lamb opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature say, “Come!” 4 Then another horse came out, a fiery red one. Its rider was given power to take peace from the earth and to make people kill each other. To him was given a large sword."

• "the sexually immoral" - in Greek "pornois" means fornicators, immoral people

  • 1 Corinthians 6:13-20 " 13 You say, “Food for the stomach and the stomach for food, and God will destroy them both.” The body, however, is not meant for sexual immorality but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. 14 By his power God raised the Lord from the dead, and he will raise us also. 15 Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ himself? Shall I then take the members of Christ and unite them with a prostitute? Never! 16 Do you not know that he who unites himself with a prostitute is one with her in body? For it is said, “The two will become one flesh.” 17 But whoever is united with the Lord is one with him in spirit. 18 Flee from sexual immorality. All other sins a person commits are outside the body, but whoever sins sexually, sins against their own body. 19 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20 you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.

  • 1 Thessalonians 4:3 "It is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality;"

• "those who practice magic arts" - in Greek "pharmakois" means sorcerers, poisoner, pharmacist (drugs), occult and witchcraft.

  • Deuteronomy 18:10–12 "10 Let no one be found among you who sacrifices their son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, 11 or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. 12 Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord; because of these same detestable practices the Lord your God will drive out those nations before you."

  • Galatians 5:19-21 "19 The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God."

  • Revelation 9:21 "Nor did they repent of their murders, their magic arts, their sexual immorality or their thefts."

  • Revelation 18:23 "The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world’s important people. By your magic spell all the nations were led astray."

• "the idolaters" - in Greek "eidōlolatrais" means image worshipers. people who worship idols or false gods

  • Exodus 20:3–5 "3 “You shall have no other gods before me. 4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me,"

  • Deuteronomy 27:15 "“Cursed is anyone who makes an idol—a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”

  • Isaiah 44:9–11,20 "9 All who make idols are nothing, and the things they treasure are worthless. Those who would speak up for them are blind; they are ignorant, to their own shame. 10 Who shapes a god and casts an idol, which can profit nothing? 11 People who do that will be put to shame; such craftsmen are only human beings. Let them all come together and take their stand; they will be brought down to terror and shame.... 20 Such a person feeds on ashes; a deluded heart misleads him; he cannot save himself, or say, “Is not this thing in my right hand a lie?”

  • Psalm 115:4–8 "4 But their idols are silver and gold, made by human hands. 5 They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but cannot see. 6 They have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but cannot smell. 7 They have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but cannot walk, nor can they utter a sound with their throats. 8 Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them."

  • Ephesians 5:5 "For of this you can be sure: No immoral, impure or greedy person—such a person is an idolater—has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God."

• "liars" - in Greek "pseudesin" means false, not true, wicked

  • Exodus 20:16 “You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor."

  • Deuteronomy 19:15 "One witness is not enough to convict anyone accused of any crime or offense they may have committed. A matter must be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses."

  • John 8:44 "You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.

  • Acts 6:13 "They produced false witnesses, who testified, “This fellow never stops speaking against this holy place and against the law."

  • 2 Corinthians 4:2-6 "2 Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. 4 The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. 5 For what we preach is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. 6 For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ." 

 

The same voice that warned the churches now declares the outcome—what was once urged is now established, and the distinction between the faithful and the faithless is complete.

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