The new heaven and earth reign of Christ will enjoy a complete restoration of the union of the two worlds, because the Kingdom of God is the eternal union of the spiritual and material realms. Paradise once more will be clothed with what is material.

Our Lord Jesus Christ is the integration of Heaven and earth. The saints also will be citizens of two worlds, being of the earth and also of Heaven.

Who will inhabit the spiritual Heaven throughout eternity? The two chapters we are studying do not say. The emphasis is on the new earth. The Wife of the Lamb, the new Jerusalem, the center of government of the Kingdom of God, is seen "descending out of heaven from God" (21:10). The holy city will be established for eternity on a "great and high mountain" of the new earth.

We understand from the Scriptures that there are multitudes of spiritual creatures of various orders, such as the cherubim and seraphim. Perhaps these will remain in the spiritual Heaven throughout eternity, since Heaven is their natural domain—the environment in which they were created.

God, Christ, and the Body of Christ (the Wife of the Lamb), will live forever on the new earth. The Holy Spirit will be a "pure river of water of life" flowing from the Throne of God and of the Lamb (22:1).

Also living on the new earth will be "the nations of them which are saved" (21:24).

The angels were created in Heaven and Heaven is their home. In the present hour the angels pass back and forth between earth and Heaven as they perform the will of God in Christ. At least some of them will be stationed permanently on the new earth, for we find an angel posted at each of the twelve gates of the wall of the new Jerusalem (21:12).

People were created from the earth and the earth is our home. However, when the saints enter the glorified state in Christ, the will of God may require that we pass back and forth between earth and Heaven as we fulfill our several duties.

In the present hour, Heaven is the Throne of God and the earth is God's footstool. Earth also is the home of mankind. Heaven is the home of the many and varied orders of spiritual creatures. In Heaven are also the spirits and souls of the persons to whom God has granted entrance to Paradise.

In the Lord Jesus the throne and the footstool are brought together for eternity.

". . . and there was no more sea."

The sea is utilized in the Scriptures as a type, or symbol, of the mass of mankind—a disorganized multitude in which the individual tends to lose identity and significance as spiritual forces of all kinds drive the nations into war, revolution, famine, repentance, and the other moods and endeavors to which the peoples of the earth are subject.

God prefers to deal with the individual, not with an undifferentiated mass of mankind. Therefore there is no "sea" on the new earth. All persons who are saved, that is, who are brought forward to the new heaven and earth of Christ, will be worshipers of God, will be governed by the Spirit of God, and will have a portion of Christ in them. Each individual will be unique, precious, and known to God.

To be continued.