Well, my dear friend, this is a very interesting question. For the sake of brevity, I’m going to limit most of my comments to what we call the “eternal state,” which I believe is addressed in chapters 21 and 22 of the book of Revelation. What I believe we have here is that time after the millennial reign of Christ, where the last battle against Israel and Christ has taken place when Satan is released from the bottomless pit so that he might deceive the nations one last time (see Revelation 20:7-10). Once the rebellious enemies of the Lord are defeated, and the devil is cast into the lake of fire along with all the unbelievers from all ages, then we see the beginning of this eternal state. In Revelation 21:1-2 we read, “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

So, here we see in the last two chapters of Revelation, the culmination of God’s perfect plan of grace for His people unfolded in this new creation, and in the New Jerusalem which comes down from heaven. The New Jerusalem, I believe, will be the dwelling place of the saints of God, or in other words, the born-again Christians of all time periods (1 Thessalonians 4:16-18; John 14:1-3). This is the permanent abode of the Bride of Christ, or the church in its universal sense (Revelation 21:9-10). We do see the wall of the city described in Chapter 21 of Revelation in the most colorful and glorious terms, with gold that is transparent as glass, and precious gems of every type, all being descriptors applied by John through the Holy Spirit to show the brilliance and the magnificence of this place. This wall, I believe, is literal, but it demonstrates the perfect security of the heavenly city, which does not allow anything that offends (sin) to enter in, given the secure wall and given that the gates are guarded by angels (verses 12 and 27). J. N. Darby in his Synopsis of the Bible describes this very well as follows, “It is secure, having a wall great and high. It has twelve gates… The wall which secured it was the divine glory. As it is written of the earthly Jerusalem, “Salvation hath God appointed for walls and bulwarks (sjf note: see Isaiah 26:1-3) …”It was not merely the absence of evil, but the impossibility of its entrance, which characterized the holy city… Those only whose names were in the Lamb’s book of life found place in the city.”

Now, as to this last statement, we read in Revelation 22:14-15, “Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city. For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Thus, we see in the New Jerusalem a security against all evil, with the surrounding wall, and the gates guarded by angels. Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (the saved) can enter this place. But you might ask: “what is verse 15 then if this is the eternal state, with sin being rooted out of the earth?” I believe Revelation 22:15 is simply a statement that those who are not saved, the wicked of earth, cannot go into the New Jerusalem, but rather have been sent to the lake of fire described in Revelation 20.

And now, my dear friend, I must ask you if your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life? If so, you will indeed be caught up in the rapture described in 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 and will enter and dwell in the New Jerusalem. But if you have never believed on Christ Jesus as your Savior and Lord, it is not too late. We read in John 1:12, “But as many as received Him (the Lord Jesus), to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on His name….” (SF)  (569.6)