Shincheonji lesson 129: Revelation 21: the promised new heaven and new earth
Lesson 129 · Advanced
Main verses used
Links open the NET Bible.
What SCJ teaches
This section comes from class notes that an attendee wrote down during SCJ’s 9-month Bible study seminar, posted with the full Closer Look study. They are not SCJ’s printed curriculum, so the wording is the note-taker’s.
Opening and review
The lesson begins with a question: “Now in the language of the promised pastor, how do you say new heaven and new earth?” The answer is “Shincheonji.” The review of Revelation 20 repeats that the 144,000 reign as teachers with God and Jesus, that the dead will face a final judgment by all 66 books of the Bible, and asks, “When placed on God’s scale, are we heavy or light? We better be heavy.” Students are told, “We need to flee – and not just partially flee.” The time is compared with Noah, when “a place of salvation will appear, and we must be in this place,” and with Lot, who was told to flee to the mountains and not look back. Babylon stands in for Sodom, and “We cannot make excuses to God.”
Time and place
The notes call Revelation 21 “the first of the ending summaries,” because “The actual events described in Revelation conclude in chapter 20.” The thousand years began on March 14, 1984, and “We are currently in Shincheonji year 41,” with dates written such as “410314.” Another line says, “We are now in March 2024.” Mount Zion “represents a church – it’s about people,” with branches worldwide, and each person “belongs to the branch where they were spiritually born.” The teacher says over 100,000 people “have heard this word and chosen to enter Mount Zion.”
Verses 1 to 7
The “I” is New John. Heaven is “where God is,” and the first heaven and first earth were the Tabernacle Temple and its members, destroyed when betrayal let in the beasts. A warning follows: “All it takes is one small thing to trip you up, and you could lose heaven.” The sea is “Satan’s world,” and people who read it literally “should raise concerns about their understanding.” The new heaven and earth are “A new kingdom and a new people,” “A new tabernacle and new saints.” On unity, the notes say “Satan was the first to buck the trend, to think for himself,” and that people who feel uncomfortable are repeating “Satan’s thoughts.” Verse 4 is the promise of no more death. Verse 7’s “one who overcomes” is New John, the “13th blessing,” and “New John is not God.”
Verses 8 to 27
The cowardly are the people who do not enter Mount Zion because of what family, former church or spouse will think. The other sins in verse 8 are read as receiving other teachings, killing others’ spirits and feeding them lies. The city is “the organization” of God, Jesus, the 12 apostles and the martyrs’ spirits. The 12 gates are the 12 tribes, the 12 foundations are the 12 disciples, and the cube is read as “When you multiply 12,000 by 12, you get 144,000,” the priests. With no sun or moon, “This signifies the absence of pastors and evangelists,” and night is lack of the word. “The Book of Life is the church registry of heaven,” and “the one who overcomes is responsible for registering as many people as possible.” The notes end: “Let’s ensure we are registered.”
In SCJ’s own books
Each passage was checked against the scanned page image; page numbers are as printed.
The Physical Fulfillment of Revelation, Lee Man-hee (Shincheonji Press), page 509:
“The new heaven and new earth in Rv 21:1 represent the kingdom of Shincheonji, the twelve tribes of New Spiritual Israel that are created as people are sealed with God’s seal (Rv 7).”
Page 526 says:
“All twelve edges measure 12,000 stadia because each of the twelve tribes are made up of 12,000 people sealed with God’s word of truth. Thus, there are 144,000 sealed priests among the people of the twelve tribes.”
Page 532 says “Figuratively, the sun and moon symbolize pastors and evangelists who shine the light of the word.” Page 534 says the Lamb’s book of life “represents the membership registry of the church known as the new heaven and new earth.”
How the lesson notes compare with the books
- The new heaven and earth. Same teaching. Both name Shincheonji (p. 509).
- The sea. Same teaching. The book says the sea “symbolizes the destroyers and the world from which they come” (p. 508); the notes say it is Satan’s world.
- The cube. Same teaching. Both reach 144,000 sealed priests, though the notes multiply 12,000 by 12 and the book says each edge stands for a tribe of 12,000 (p. 526).
- The sun and moon. Same teaching. Both read them as pastors and evangelists (p. 532).
- The book of life. Same teaching. Both call it a church registry (p. 534).
What the Bible says
- Revelation 21:1-5 opens the vision. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and earth had ceased to exist, and the sea existed no more. (Revelation 21:1, NET)
- The one who conquers. The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. (Revelation 21:7, NET)
- The cowards are listed with others. But as for the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral, and those who practice magic spells, idol worshipers, and all those who lie, their place will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur. That is the second death.” (Revelation 21:8, NET)
- The city is measured. Now the city is laid out as a square, its length and width the same. He measured the city with the measuring rod at 1,400 miles (its length and width and height are equal). (Revelation 21:16, NET)
- The city needs no sun. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb. (Revelation 21:23, NET)
- The book of life. but nothing ritually unclean will ever enter into it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or practices falsehood, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:27, NET)
- Paul on pleasing people. Am I now trying to gain the approval of people, or of God? Or am I trying to please people? If I were still trying to please people, I would not be a slave of Christ! (Galatians 1:10, NET)
- The tabernacle was a copy. The place where they serve is a sketch and shadow of the heavenly sanctuary, just as Moses was warned by God as he was about to complete the tabernacle. (Hebrews 8:5, NET)
- Names in the book of life. They have struggled together in the gospel ministry along with me and Clement and my other coworkers, whose names are in the book of life. (Philippians 4:3, NET)
Where SCJ’s reading conflicts with the Bible
This lesson opens by asking, “Now in the language of the promised pastor, how do you say new heaven and new earth?” The answer: “Shincheonji.” It says the new heaven and earth are “A new kingdom and a new people,” the city is SCJ’s organization, the cube’s measurements give 144,000 priests, and the missing sun and moon signify “the absence of pastors and evangelists.” It calls chapter 21 a summary, since “The actual events described in Revelation conclude in chapter 20,” and dates the present as “Shincheonji year 41.” It says the “cowards” of 21:8 are those who don’t enter Mount Zion because of what family or spouse will think, that “Satan was the first to buck the trend, to think for himself,” and that “All it takes is one small thing to trip you up, and you could lose heaven.” Revelation 21 describes what the new heaven and earth are like, and that description is the clearest test of the claim.
1. No more death, mourning, crying or pain
- “Look! The residence of God is among human beings. He will live among them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will not exist any more—or mourning, or crying, or pain, for the former things have ceased to exist” (21:3-4).
- “the one seated on the throne said: ‘Look! I am making all things new!’” (21:5).
- In SCJ, as in every community on earth, people still die, grieve and suffer pain. The notes themselves quote this hope as still future.
- The new heaven and earth are defined by the end of death and God dwelling openly with his people. No organization in today’s world matches that description. (See Lessons 56 and 90.)
2. The city has no temple
- “Now I saw no temple in the city, because the Lord God—the All-Powerful—and the Lamb are its temple” (21:22).
- SCJ’s full name includes “the Temple of the Tabernacle of the Testimony,” and an earlier lesson said all nations must come to worship there. The new Jerusalem has no temple at all, because God and the Lamb are present everywhere in it. (See Lesson 90.)
3. No sun or moon: God’s glory is the light
The lesson says the missing sun and moon mean “the absence of pastors and evangelists.”
- “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God lights it up, and its lamp is the Lamb” (21:23). It echoes Isaiah 60:19: “the Lord will be your permanent source of light.”
- Even on the lesson’s reading, SCJ can’t be the new Jerusalem: it has instructors, evangelists and pastors, and the course has taught students to answer their evangelists’ calls. (See Lesson 125.)
4. The bride is the city
- “‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb!’ So he took me away in the Spirit to a huge, majestic mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God” (21:9-10).
- The bride is the city, God’s whole people. An earlier lesson said the bride is New John. The two claims don’t fit together, and the text supports only one. (See Lessons 54 and 127.)
5. The gates and foundations
- “the names of the twelve tribes of the nation of Israel are written on the gates … The wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (21:12-14).
- Israel’s tribes and the Lamb’s apostles: God’s people of both covenants, built on the apostles’ witness to Christ (Ephesians 2:20). It isn’t SCJ’s tribal structure. (See Lessons 60 and 83.)
6. The cube is the Holy of Holies
- “the city is laid out as a square, its length and width the same … (its length and width and height are equal)” (21:16).
- The only other perfect cube in Scripture is the inner sanctuary of Solomon’s temple, the Most Holy Place (1 Kings 6:20). The whole city is now God’s dwelling place.
- The measure gives one length for all dimensions. Multiplying 12,000 by 12 to get 144,000 priests adds a calculation the text doesn’t make. (See Lessons 109 and 120.)
7. “The one who conquers” is every believer
- “The one who conquers will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son” (21:7). The promise is to everyone who overcomes, as in every letter of chapters 2–3.
- “who is the person who has conquered the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?” (1 John 5:5). (See Lessons 45 and 89.)
8. The cowards of Revelation 21:8
The lesson says the cowards are people who don’t join because of what family, former church or spouse will think.
- “But as for the cowards, unbelievers, detestable persons, murderers, the sexually immoral … and all those who lie” (21:8). In Revelation, cowardice means shrinking back from faithfulness to Christ under persecution. The faithful are those who “did not love their lives so much that they were afraid to die” (12:11; see 2:10, 13).
- Choosing not to join a particular group after weighing family concerns isn’t the cowardice of 21:8. Scripture asks believers to honor parents and spouses (Ephesians 5:33; 6:2).
9. Saying “Satan was the first to buck the trend”
- Satan’s sin was pride and rebellion against God (Isaiah 14:13-14; 1 Timothy 3:6), not independent thinking.
- God calls his people to think carefully: “be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may test and approve what is the will of God” (Romans 12:2). “But examine all things” (1 Thessalonians 5:21). Labeling discomfort as “Satan’s thoughts” makes testing feel like rebellion. (See Lesson 105.)
10. Saying “one small thing” could lose heaven
- Jesus said: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish; no one will snatch them from my hand” (John 10:28).
- Paul: nothing “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). Living in fear of losing heaven through one mistake isn’t the security Christ gives. (See Lesson 64.)
11. The book of life is the Lamb’s
12. Saying events “conclude in chapter 20”
- Revelation 21 begins “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth” (21:1), and God says, “Look! I am making all things new!” (21:5). It’s the culmination of the whole Bible’s story, not a summary of events already past. Calling it a summary is what allows a present-day organization to claim it. (See Lessons 125 and 128.)
What the lesson is really for
This lesson names SCJ as the new heaven and new earth:
- Shincheonji is the new heaven and earth; its organization is the holy city.
- Not joining because of family is cowardice; independent thought is Satan’s.
- One misstep could cost heaven; register to be in the book of life.
The biblical answer: in the new heaven and earth, God himself dwells with his people, and there is no more death, mourning, crying or pain (Revelation 21:3-4). The city has no temple, because God and the Lamb are its temple (21:22), and no need of sun or moon, because God’s glory lights it (21:23). The bride is the holy city (21:9-10). And no one can snatch Christ’s sheep from his hand (John 10:28).
What’s happening behind the lesson
These notes are our reading of the lesson text, using Steven Hassan’s BITE model (behavior, information, thought and emotional control). They describe what the text does, not the teacher’s intent. Hassan notes that not every group uses every item. Source: Steven Hassan, BITE Model, Freedom of Mind.
- Information: can cast outside readers as unreliable (our reading). “Those in Babylon take these passages literally, but these things are figurative in nature, by God’s grace. It should raise concerns about their understanding.” In our reading, a student is told to doubt anyone who reads the verses differently.
- Thought: can make independent thinking sound like Satan’s. “Satan was the first to buck the trend, to think for himself.”
- Emotional: can raise fear of losing salvation. “All it takes is one small thing to trip you up, and you could lose heaven.”
- Behavior: can press for quick action. “We need to flee – and not just partially flee.”
Hoping for a time with “no more death, no more mourning, no more crying, and no more pain,” as the notes do, is not a control technique in itself.