Transcript

ANNOUNCER: Welcome to Grace in Focus as we get ready to wrap up our discussions in our series on eschatology, thinking today about the new earth, the nations, the people groups that will be represented there, and why it is important to think about it. This is a ministry of the Grace Evangelical Society, a free grace organization, and our website is faithalone.org. Many resources there for you, and a full description of our upcoming national annual conference in May, May 2026, the dates are 18th through the 21st. It is at Camp Copass, beautiful lakeside camp, family friendly, lots of great recreation opportunities, great food, and the fellowship and teaching sessions are out of this world. Get all the information you need at our website, faithalone.org. 

And now with today’s discussion, here’s Bob Wilkin, along with Philippe Sterling. 

BOB: All right, Philippe, we come to the end of our caravan through the book of Revelation. 

PHILIPPE: It’s been quite a journey.

BOB: It has, and it’s been more than the book of Revelation, because the many books of the Bible deal with eschatology or the last days. Obviously the Olivet Discourse in Matthew 24 and 25. Many of, well, really all of the prophets deal with this, the minor prophets as well as the major prophets. Daniel, of course, we did a whole show on Daniel 9:24-27. And so now when we come to the end, we’re going to talk a little bit about the New Earth, and there are going to be three people groups on the New Earth, and I believe we’ve talked about this before. 

There will be the Church, which will be scattered all over the Earth, and the purpose of the Church is going to be to rule over all of the nations. 

PHILIPPE: And that’s a special group of people that will glorify and ruling, the overcomers among them, ruling with Christ. 

BOB: And then you’re going to have Israel, which is going to be an ever-growing nation during the Millennium and possibly ever-growing forever on the New Earth. And then on the New Earth, you’re also going to have the nations, which are the goyim, they’re the ethne, which in Greek is ethne, and it basically refers to nations or Gentiles. And the nations during the Millennium will be an ever-growing group, and you and I happen to believe that will be true also on the New Earth. And we do know from Revelation 21:24, that the kings of the New Earth are going to be bringing presents to Jesus every year, right? Can you read that? 

PHILIPPE: Sure, that’d be Revelation 21:24. “And the nations of those who are saved,” here in the New King James, “shall walk in its light, and the kings of the Earth bring their glory and honor into it.” And that’s the New Jerusalem that it’s referring to. 

BOB: And there’s a textual issue, it’s either into it or to him. It could be either way. But the point is, Jesus is lighting up the New Jerusalem, and all the nations are sending their kings, not just an ambassador. The kings themselves come to the New Jerusalem to give Jesus glory, to give Him honor, to give Him presents, right? 

PHILIPPE: Yes, presents that are representing their culture and what they have manufactured, much like the Queen of Sheba brought the riches of her realm to Solomon. 

BOB: Or much like the wise men. 

PHILIPPE: Or the wise men, the three wise men who brought, you remember what they brought, gold, frankincense, and myrrh. 

BOB: And we say three, we don’t know if they were exactly three, but we think because they were three gifts.

PHILIPPE: Because of the gifts, right. 

BOB: But there could have been more or less, but probably at least three, and they were Gentiles, right? 

PHILIPPE: Yes, we assume they, we’re just told magi from the east or perhaps those who had been influenced down through years by Daniel and that influence had continued and they knew about Daniel’s prophecy, I think. And they were believers.

BOB: They kind of foreshadow what’s going to happen forever. Forever, the nations will be bringing honor and tribute, like the Queen of Sheba did, or like the wise men did. They’re going to be bringing tribute to the Lord Jesus Christ in the New Jerusalem. And that will be something that will go on forever. And like you say, each different nation may have some slightly different products or commodities, like Wisconsin’s known for its cheese, right? The Green Bay Packers are the cheeseheads, right? And if you’re from Hawaii, maybe it’s pineapples or something. 

PHILIPPE: A special Kalua coffee. 

BOB: Or you talked about, on Sunday, Philippe was talking at church, and he told this story of growing up in Haiti, and was it your aunt and uncle’s house? 

PHILIPPE: Yeah. My aunt and uncle live close by to us, and they had a great mango tree in their backyard that produced great fruit. 

BOB: And you did something. 

PHILIPPE: Now remember, I was probably only eight or nine years old. I climbed up the mango tree. I wanted to find a nice, ripe mango, and the way I decided to find out which would be the best mango for me to eat was by taking a little bite out of many mangoes. 

BOB: How many mangoes did you bite into? 

PHILIPPE: At least 10, maybe more. And so there were mangoes in various stages of ripeness that had tooth marks. And my aunt came out and saw that, and she was not happy with what I had done. But, you know, of course, we’re told that the tree of life will have 12 different kinds of fruits. 

BOB: And you said one of them might be mangoes. 

PHILIPPE: I think it’s going to be. The mangoes are one of the great tropical fruits of much of the tropical world. 

BOB: So the people of the new Haiti, if there is a new Haiti on the new earth, they may bring mangoes to the Lord Jesus. Or they may bring something else, but different places have different things they would bring. But all of it is to the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, one of the things that I think Calvinism or Reformed theology gets right is the fact that life is about glorifying God. And ultimately, glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ is what we’re going to love to do forever. 

PHILIPPE: In very creative ways. And we’ll be producing all kinds of different things that will bring honor to Him. 

ANNOUNCER: Did you know that the Grace Evangelical Society offers an MDiv degree through our online seminary and tuition is free to those who maintain a 3.0 grade average? It is a three-year degree program and you could submit your application now to gain acceptance. Then stay apprised of our registration periods for upcoming semester terms. Program and application details can be found at GESSeminary.org. Have a look at our MDiv degree. Become an approved workman. Find out how GESSeminary.org.

BOB: And the more we bring honor to Him, the more joy it will bring to us. And of course, then He will then pour more honor and glory and power upon us. Of course, that will mainly be established by what we do in this life. Whether people will be able to, let’s say you’re a ruler. Well, if you’re an especially good ruler, will God reward you even more? I don’t know. We’re not told, right? So it’s possible that a ruler could, if he’s very good in his rule, might even increase. 

PHILIPPE: Of course, we’re told in Isaiah 9 that of the increase of His government, there shall be no end. So the increase of the nations of the earth, I think, ultimately the nations of the galaxies will, as His kingdom ever expands. We’ll be still making these pilgrimages to the New Jerusalem and bringing the glory to it.

BOB: Right. Let’s go ahead and summarize our whole series then. We know on the new earth there will be many nations. We know the names of some of them in the Old Testament. We know Egypt will be one of those nations, Ethiopia will be one of them. 

PHILIPPE: Even Assyria, we’re told, definitely of the millennial period, Egypt and Assyria, and presumably that will continue on into the new earth. 

BOB: So what’s a summary then of the whole series of eschatology? Why would God take the time and effort to tell us about these things? Is this good for us to know about eschatology? 

PHILIPPE: Well, it’s all tied into hope and hope involves a certainty, a joyful certainty of the fulfillment of all of the promises of God as a motivating factor for our faithfulness throughout our lives here and now. And so that hope is an anchoring hope for us to sustain us through the suffering experience because of our identification with Christ. It’s a motivating factor to steadfastness, to endurance, to faithfulness because we know of what’s going to happen and we know of the rewards that will be given. And so eschatology, the doctrine of things to come is vital. It’s vital to our spiritual health. 

BOB: Good point. I want to pick up on what you just said, Philippe. Hope, in the New Testament, occasionally means what we mean in English by hope, like Paul says, I hope to come to you, I hope to see you. But most of the time, hope in the New Testament refers to exactly what you said, something which we know is certain, but the timing is yet uncertain. So we know Jesus is coming again. We just don’t know if it’s today, tomorrow, next year or 20 years or 100 years. 

PHILIPPE: And we know that He’s going to come as a thief in the night as we talked about a couple of times in this series. So to ever be prepared and anticipating and ready. 

BOB: That’s the hope, right? Our hope is this preparation, this anticipation, this Gregory watchful Christian, right? We’re watching for His soon return. And that, you said, has a very powerful motivating factor. You know, a lot of people think, haven’t you heard this one, Philippe, “Well, if I believe that just by faith in Jesus that I had everlasting life and I could never lose it, well, I’d go out and live like the devil,” right? Or they would say, “Why wouldn’t I go out and live like the devil?” And when I hear that, I’m like, well, if I know for sure I have eternal life, why wouldn’t I take a sledgehammer and just break my leg into 12 pieces? I mean, couldn’t I do that and still have eternal life? Well, I don’t think I want to break my leg in 12 pieces. Well, why wouldn’t I become a cocaine addict? Because that would be worse than breaking my leg in 12 places. Why wouldn’t I become an alcoholic? Because that’s bad for me. Why not become an immoral person? Because that’s bad for me. And not only is it bad for me, but it’s bad for everybody around me, right? 

PHILIPPE: And so knowing that my eternal destiny is secured, I have everlasting life simply for believing the promise of Jesus for it, but it becomes a motivating factor to purity and to looking then to the rewards and to developing a great fullness of experience that’s been reserved for me, but based upon my faithfulness. 

BOB: That’s a good point. And Maslow, the psychologist, he said, the highest thing we all strive for is approval. And the most important approval is the people most important to us. And the person most important to believers is the Lord Jesus Christ and Paul says, I discipline my body and bring it into subjection lest when I have preached to others about eschatology, about the Judgment Seat of Christ, I myself should be adokimos, disapproved. Paul strove to be approved by Christ and we all should be striving for his approval. 

PHILIPPE: Yes. Well done, good and faithful servant. 

BOB: Wouldn’t that be great? 

PHILIPPE: Great to hear that. 

BOB: Amen. Well, thanks, Philippe. Thank you all. And remember, let’s keep grace in focus.

ANNOUNCER: We would love to know where you are when you are listening to us. Please take a short minute to send us the call letters of this station and the city where you are listening and how many times a week you listen. Thank you. You will be helping us with our stewardship. Send it to radio@faithalone.org. That’s radio@faithalone.org. We are so thankful for our financial partners who keep us on the air. Every gift is tax-deductible and very much appreciated. If you’d like to find out how you can give, go to faithalone.org.

On our next episode: the nature of the existence of unbelievers after life, and a wrap up of eschatology. Please join us and until then, let’s keep grace in focus.