Introduction
† This question always comes from someone who never stops to ask who Revelation was written to or what kind of death it's talking about. They assume physical death must end, physical streets of gold must show up on earth, and literal mansions must drop out of the sky. None of that comes from scripture. It's all tradition. Today's traditional church is guilty of all this, and it upsets me they still teach these lies. John was describing the end of the world Israel lived under, the world ruled by sin, death, and the law. That world ended in AD 70 when the temple fell and the separation between God and man was removed forever.
† Paul shows plainly that physical death wasn't the death Jesus came to deal with. Romans 7:9-11 shows the death Adam brought came through the law, not biology. That means the death Jesus destroyed wasn't heartbeat death, it was the death of being cut off from God.
† Scripture never says physical death will end. Adam was already physically mortal before he sinned. Jesus came to remove the death of separation, not the death of the body.
† People confuse physical death with the death the Bible talks about. Every passage about death in the New Testament connects it to sin and the law, not to funerals or aging bodies.

The Great White Throne Judgment Was The End Of The Old Order Of Sin And Death

Revelation 20:11-15
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

† John isn't talking about God eliminating funerals. He's describing the end of the separation from God that ruled under the law.
† Paul shows exactly what death he's talking about.

1 Corinthians 15:56
The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law.

† Death's power came from the law. That means the death being destroyed in Revelation is the death that existed under the law, not biological death.
† If Revelation 20 was about physical death, then after AD 70 there'd be no funerals, no aging, no sickness, no accidents. Scripture never promises that.
† The Great White Throne judgment removed the death that kept people from God's presence.
† Revelation 21:4 says there'll be no more death. It's talking about the same death destroyed in Revelation 20:14, the death tied to sin and the law. Physical death continues. The old separation does not.
† When Hades gave up its dead, that was the end of the waiting place for the dead. That whole system existed only under the law. When the temple fell, that entire order ended.

Christ Destroyed The Death Adam Brought

2 Timothy 1:10
But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel.

† Jesus abolished the death that mattered. The death Adam brought was separation from God, not physical mortality. That's why Paul quotes Hosea.

Hosea 13:14
I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death. O Death, where are your plagues? O Sheol, where is your sting? Compassion is hidden from My sight.

1 Corinthians 15:55
O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?

† The Great White Throne judgment was the final removal of Adam's death. Under the old system, people couldn't stand in God's presence. After AD 70, that separation was gone.
† Hebrews shows the same thing.

Hebrews 2:14-15
That through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives.

† That death was the fear of being cut off from God. Jesus ended that fear.
† The moment death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, the entire old system of separation was gone.
† The early Christians understood this. They didn't put people back into Hades the way futurists do today.

What About Lazarus Being Raised Physically From The Dead?

† People ask, Was Lazarus dead and his body stinking, and did God raise his physical body back to life? Yes, Lazarus was physically dead, and Jesus raised him physically. But that has nothing to do with the resurrection life Jesus gives. Lazarus went back to the same mortal life he had before. He died again later. His resurrection was a sign, not the fulfillment.
† Scripture makes a clear difference between coming back to mortal life and being raised into the life Jesus revealed. Lazarus came out of the tomb with the same kind of body he had before. But Jesus came out of the tomb in a new way of existence the scriptures call a spiritual body.
† Jesus is the firstfruits of the resurrection. That means He's the model of the life all believers receive in Him, not the temporary resuscitation Lazarus experienced.
† Lazarus proves God can raise a dying body. Jesus shows the kind of life God gives His people through the end of the old order. One is temporary. One is eternal. One is a sign. One is the fulfillment.
† The resurrection is about receiving the kind of life Jesus had after His own resurrection, a life no longer ruled by sin, the law, or separation from God. That's why He's the firstfruits.
† So yes, Lazarus was raised, but that was not the resurrection Jesus came to bring. Lazarus returned to the grave. The redeemed do not.

Where Are The Streets Of Gold And Gates Of Pearl

Revelation 21 uses symbolic temple language to describe God's people, not a city of physical gold floating down from space.

Revelation 21:2
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.

† The bride is the city, and the city is the bride. Scripture says so plainly.
† Revelation 21:9-10 proves it.

Revelation 21:9-10
I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem.

† A city didn't marry Jesus. The people did.
† The stones, gold, and pearls aren't building materials. They represent the beauty and value of God's people.

Ephesians 2:19-22
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God's household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord.

† Peter uses the same language.

1 Peter 2:5
You also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house.

† Streets of gold represent the walk of God's people. Gates of pearl represent entering God's presence through the costly suffering of Christ. It's not talking about city construction.
† If it were literal, the church wouldn't be God's temple. Scripture makes it clear: God's people are His dwelling place.

Where Is My Mansion

† Jesus never promised a physical mansion. The Greek word in John 14:2 means dwelling place, and Jesus explains exactly what He meant two verses later.

John 14:23
If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.

† Jesus wasn't talking about real estate. He was talking about God living with His people.
† The church turned this into a housing development in heaven, but Jesus was describing relationship, not property.
† He fulfilled that promise when the old world of law, sin, and separation ended in AD 70 and the new life in Him was fully revealed.
† Jesus said in John 11:26 that whoever lives and believes in Him will never die. He wasn't talking about physical death. He was talking about the death Adam brought.

Historical References
† Josephus describes AD 70 as the end of Israel's entire religious world.
† Tacitus records the same destruction and its unmatched severity, just as Jesus predicted in Matthew 24:34.
† Early writers like Eusebius, Clement, and Lactantius understood the fall of Jerusalem as the end of the old order and the revealing of the kingdom Jesus established.
† None of them expected a global destruction. They expected exactly what happened.

How It Applies To Us Today
† We're not waiting on a judgment, a resurrection, or a kingdom. All of that was fulfilled in Christ and revealed in AD 70.
† We live in the New Jerusalem now. We walk the streets of gold now. We have full access to God now.
† The Great White Throne judgment removed the last barrier that kept people from God's presence.
† Physical death is just the body ending. It has nothing to do with the death Jesus destroyed.
† What we have now is better than any mansion or any city. We have God Himself dwelling with His people.
† The old world ruled by sin, law, and separation is gone. Jesus finished the work, and we live in what He completed.

† This is the fulfilled perspective we proclaim at Fulfilled Prophecies †
© Fulfilled Prophecies - Dan Maines.

Source Index
† Revelation 20:11-15, 1 Corinthians 15:55-56, 2 Timothy 1:10
† Hosea 13:14, John 14:23, Ephesians 2:19-22
† Romans 7:9-11, Hebrews 2:14-15, John 11:26
† Revelation 21:2, Revelation 21:9-10
† Josephus, Wars of the Jews, Book 6
† Tacitus, Histories 5
† Eusebius, Ecclesiastical History, Book 3