In this message we shall cover a number of matters related to the people on the new earth.
We should not think that in eternity there will be only two categories of people, the saved ones in the New Jerusalem and the perished ones in the lake of fire. There will also be a third category—the people who are neither in the New Jerusalem nor in the lake of fire but outside the city. These will be the people on the new earth in eternity.
At the end of this age a great part of the inhabitants of the earth will be killed by the sixth and seventh trumpets (Rev. 9:12-21; 11:14-18). The rest will be judged by Christ at the throne of His glory when He comes back to earth (Matt. 25:31-46). The condemned ones, the “goats,” will be cursed to perish in the lake of fire (vv. 41-46), whereas the justified ones, the “sheep,” will be blessed to inherit the kingdom prepared for them from the foundation of the world (vv. 34-40) and will enter into eternal life (v. 46). They will not be saved and regenerated as the New Testament believers; rather, they will only be restored to the original state of man as created by God. They will be the nations as citizens of the millennial kingdom, in which the overcoming believers will be the kings (Rev. 20:4, 6) and the saved remnant of Israel will be the priests (Zech. 8:20-23). After the millennium, a part of these nations, deceived by the Devil, will rebel against the Lord and will be consumed by fire from heaven (Rev. 20:7-9). The rest will be transferred to the new earth as the nations, living around the New Jerusalem and walking by its light (21:24). They will be the peoples mentioned in Revelation 21:3 and 4. They, as the created but unregenerated man, will be maintained to live forever in their created state by the healing of the leaves of the tree of life (22:2). Even to them there will be no more death (21:4). Under the shining of the New Jerusalem with the divine glory, neither will they be in darkness.
We need to emphasize the fact that the nations on the new earth in eternity will be restored but not regenerated. The nations will consist of those restored to the original state of man in God’s creation, and they will enjoy the blessing of the restoration. But restoration is not regeneration. To be regenerated is to be born again with God’s life, but to be restored is to be brought back to the original state of God’s creation.
We need to have a clear understanding of the difference between the nations as the people of God and the sons of God. As the people of God, the restored nations on the new earth will not have God’s life and nature. In this matter they will be different from the sons of God, who do possess the life and nature of God. As those who will be in the New Jerusalem, we shall be the sons of God, not the people of God.
Revelation 21:3 says, “They shall be His peoples,” and verse 4 speaks about the nations. Revelation 21:7 says, “He who overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he shall be a son to Me.” The nations will walk by the light of the holy city, but we, the sons, shall be the holy city. To God, then, His sons are one category and His people are another.
In the new heaven and new earth we shall not be the people, the nations, but the sons. The sons of God in Revelation 21:7 are those who have been born of God through regeneration (John 1:12-13; 1 Pet. 1:3-4, 23; James 1:18). They are built together through transformation (1 Cor. 3:9-12a; Eph. 2:20-22; 1 Pet. 2:4-6; 2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23-24). They will be glorified in full to be the corporate expression of the processed Triune God (Rom. 8:29-30; Heb. 2:10; Rev. 21:11). The nations outside the New Jerusalem will not be regenerated, transformed, or glorified.
Those who are regenerated, transformed, and glorified will be the components of the New Jerusalem. Today the believers as the members of the Body of Christ are the components of the church, which is both the house of God and the wife of Christ. These components—the regenerated, transformed, and glorified sons of God to be both the house of God and the wife of Christ (Rev. 21:3, 9)—in eternity will eat the tree of life and drink the water of life (Rev. 22:14, 17). The people, the restored nations, however, will not have this enjoyment. To them there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, pain, or curse (21:4; 22:3a). They will be sustained eternally by the leaves of the tree of life (22:2). The sons of God will enjoy the fruit, but the people will enjoy the leaves. The people, therefore, will live on the new earth outside the New Jerusalem and enjoy the common blessings in the new heaven and new earth, whereas the sons of God will dwell in the New Jerusalem, participate in all its enjoyment, serve God and the Lamb (22:3), and reign for eternity (22:5).