188    The Bible and the Future of the World 

and so there is no more death and no need for Purgatory. The sea is used 

here as a metaphor for Purgatory because Purgatory is like a great sea of 

souls from every nation, language, and culture. 

    After the end of the world, God will make a new Heaven and a new earth. 

The end is only the beginning. Who can imagine how wonderful Heaven is 

now? Who could describe the great holiness and peace and love on earth 

during the Millennium? So when God makes a new Heaven and a new 

earth, what can anyone say? There are no words. 

The Completed Church of Jesus Christ (Rev 21:9 27) 

     And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and 

showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 

having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, 

clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates 

twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of 

Israel were inscribed....  (Rev 21:10 12). 

    The new city of Jerusalem is the completed Church, the Bride of the 

Lamb. The new Jerusalem is not built on earth, it comes down from 

Heaven, from God. The twelve gates represent the twelve parts of the 

Church. Recall that ancient Israel was divided into twelve tribes. This 

division was a foreshadowing of the division of the Church on earth into 

twelve parts within the one unified Church. This division is not one of 

disobedience or heresy. This division is not a sinful division based on 

disputes about faith and morals. It is a holy division within a complete unity 

of faith, morals, leadership, and authority. The completed Church will have 

twelve parts, twelve divisions within unity. 

     And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the 

Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine 

upon it, for the glory of God is its light and its lamp is the Lamb.  (Rev 

21:22 23).