Revelation 21:7 - Printer Friendly

ESV: The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.

NIV: Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.

NASB: The one who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be My son.

CSB: The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he will be my son.

NLT: All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

KJV: He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

NKJV: He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.

Temptations and trials come to all believers, but through faith in Christ believers can overcome each solicitation to do evil and every trial. Paul assured the believers at Rome, "No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us" (Romans 8:37). He wrote in 2 Corinthians 2:14, "But thanks be to God, who in Christ always leads us in triumphal procession." The apostle John, too, identified believers as overcomers. In 1 John 4:1–3 he wrote that many false prophets, including the spirit of the antichrist, had gone into the world, but he said, "Little children, you are from God and have overcome them, for he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world" (1 John 4:4).

Believers in the tribulation overcome the False Prophet and the Beast at the risk—or cost—of losing their lives. They, too, are among the overcomers to whom the Lord promises an inheritance in the eternal city and an intimate relationship with himself.

Revelation 21:1–8 continues the progression of events which came after the end of the tribulation: Christ's return to earth (Revelation 19:11–16), the defeat and destruction of those who war against Christ (Revelation 19:17–21), the incarceration of Satan (Revelation 20:1–3), the millennial reign of Christ (Revelation 20:4–6), the release of Satan and the nations' final revolt against God (Revelation 20:7–10), and the great white throne judgment (Revelation 20:11–15). Here we see the creation of the new heaven and the new earth. Upcoming verses describe the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9–27).

This chapter focuses on the New Jerusalem. This is not the earthly, historic Jerusalem of the tribulation (Revelation 11:2, 8). Nor is it the surviving Jerusalem of the millennium that serves as Jesus' capital (Revelation 20:9). It is the heavenly city referred to in Hebrews 12:22, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10, 16). John attempts to describe the indescribable using analogies to precious gems and metals.

Leading up to this chapter, all sin and evil have been entirely defeated. Satan is banished to hell, along with every person who rejected Christ, as seen in chapter 20. Here, John describes the nature of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city which descends onto earth after the ultimate victory over evil. Chapter 22 is a further description of this perfect eternity, and last messages from Jesus to those who read John's words.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''

Accessed 5/8/2024 5:34:34 PM