After the millennium Christ will judge all the dead at the great white throne, for He is the Judge of both the living and the dead (Acts 10:42; 2 Tim. 4:1). This judgment is described in Revelation 20:11-15. Verse 12 says, “I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and scrolls were opened; and another scroll was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by the things which were written in the scrolls, according to their works.” Standing here indicates that the dead have been resurrected. This is the resurrection of the unbelievers, the resurrection of judgment, after the millennium (John 5:28-29). The scrolls are the record of the unbelievers’ works and deeds. The unbelievers will be judged according to what is recorded in the scrolls.
In this judgment “the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, each of them, according to their works. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:13-15). The perishing unbelievers will be judged by Christ according to the scrolls, which are a record of their works, and they will also be cast into the lake of fire according to the book of life.
In eternity Christ the Lamb will be the Husband, and the New Jerusalem will be the wife. The one thousand years in the millennium will be the wedding day of the Lamb (19:7; cf. 2 Pet. 3:8). On this wedding day the overcoming saints will be the bride to Christ, the Bridegroom. After the wedding day, Christ will live a married life with His redeemed forever in which He will be the eternal Husband, and all His redeemed will be His eternal wife.
In both the Old Testament and the New Testament, God likens His chosen people to a spouse (Isa. 54:6; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32). The New Jerusalem, as Christ’s bride, comes out of Christ, her Husband, to become His counterpart, just as Eve came out of Adam, her husband, to be Adam’s counterpart (Gen. 2:21-24). In Genesis Adam typifies Christ as the Husband, whereas Eve typifies the church as the wife. Eve was built with a rib taken from Adam’s side and then brought back to Adam to be one flesh with Him. This type will be ultimately fulfilled in the New Jerusalem. Christ will be the eternal Adam, whereas God’s redeemed will be the eternal Eve. Christ and His wife will enjoy their married life forever and ever.
In eternity Christ with God will be the temple of the holy city (Rev. 21:22). According to the Bible, the temple is the place where God dwells and where God’s people serve Him. In eternity Christ with God will be such a temple as God’s habitation and our dwelling place as well.
Revelation 21 says that the New Jerusalem will be God’s temple. This indicates that in the new heaven and new earth, the temple of God will be enlarged into a city. In the New Jerusalem in eternity, Christ with God is the temple for us to dwell in and also for God to dwell among His redeemed so that God in Christ can continually dispense Himself into all His redeemed and enable them to enjoy the all-inclusive Triune God forever.
In the New Jerusalem Christ is also the lamp. Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” God is light (1 John 1:5); Christ the Lamb as the lamp will shine with the Triune God as the light to dispense Himself into His redeemed people. God as light needs a lamp. Without the Lamb being the lamp, God’s shining would kill us. Apart from Christ God’s shining would be a killing, but in Christ God’s shining is an illumining. With the redeeming Christ as the lamp, the divine light does not kill us but instead illumines us. First Timothy 6:16 says that God dwells in unapproachable light. In Christ, though, God becomes approachable. Because the divine light shines through the Redeemer, it has become lovable and touchable, and it has even become the light in which we can walk (1 John 1:7). Through the Lamb, the Redeemer, God’s killing light becomes an enjoyable shining for the dispensing of God into all His redeemed people.
Furthermore, Christ as the lamp will illumine the nations. Revelation 21:24 says, “The nations will walk by its light.” In the New Jerusalem the Lamb as the lamp will shine with God as the light, and the nations will walk by this light, that is, by its leading. In the millennium the light of the moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be intensified sevenfold (Isa. 30:26). In the new heaven and new earth Christ will shine with God as light, and this shining will be brighter than that of either the sun or the moon. Hence, the nations will not need to walk in the sunlight, for they will walk in the light of Christ’s shining.