Kingdom come

Have you ever noticed that the Bible begins in a garden and ends in a city? Not everybody likes that thought, since many people hate cities and love their gardens–gardens that give them a tiny microcosm of the natural world.
The combination of garden and city has another resonance, I think. The original garden was planted by God. But the first cities were the creation of human beings (Gen 4:17; 10:8-12). In one sense, the city is the hub of human longing for security in the midst of restless vulnerability of life as a race of sinners.
Yet the city is also in many ways the pinnacle of human collective achievement…So, by putting the garden and the city together in its final imagery, the Bible combines the restoration of all that God originally made and intended his creation to become, with the redemption of all that human beings have achieved in the exercise of their capacity as creatures made in the image of God–however flawed and permeated with sin that achievement has been. 
For so many of us have absorbed a mental picture of "heaven" that essentially includes nothing of what we know here on earth…But then what? What survives? What "carries over" into the new creation, purged of sin? Once again both Isaiah and Revelation help us here. Isaiah foresaw a day when the nations would turn to the God of Israel for salvation and, in doing so, would bring all their wealth and resources as offerings to him and for the benefit of his people (e.g. Isa 23:18; Isa 60:5-11). 
But Revelation will not let us simply spiritualize away the great earthiness of the Old Testament vision [Rev 21:24-27]…What makes kings glorious (to the extent that they are at all) is the accumulated work of their subjects–whether in creating the wealth their kingdom is built on, or (in our sinful world) fighting to protect it or extend it. What brings honor to nations is the accumulation of cultural achievement over many generations. Art, literature, music, architecture, styles of food and dress, the richness of language and culture–and so much else–these are the things that national distinctive are built on, which at their best enrich our humanity and at their most trivial support the tourist industry. And these are things that all human beings participate in and contribute to, however humbly. These, I think, are what is implied by the language of national glory and honor, as represented by "the kings of the earth." These are the things they will be bringing into the city of God, in John's vision.
All that has enriched and honored the life of all nations in all of history will be brought in to enrich the new creation. The new creation will not be a blank page, as if God will simply crumple up the whole of human historical life in this creation and toss it in the cosmic bin, and then hand us a new sheet to start all over again. The new creation will start with the unimaginable reservoir of all that human civilization has accomplished in the old creation–but purged, cleansed, disinfected, sanctified, and blessed.
We lament the "lost civilizations" of past millennia, civilizations we can only partially reconstruct from archeological remains or in epic movies. But if we take Revelation 21 seriously, they are not "lost" forever. 
What a place the new creation will be, then! But what about the people there? Revelation tells us that there will be people from every tribe and nation, language and people–a great salad bowl of humanity in all our profusion of colors, shapes, and textures. Ethnic and cultural diversity will be a mark of the new humanity, but without the strife and confusion that disfigure them in the old humanity.
We need to remember that the biblical concept of rest does not simply mean the cessation of all activity. The original creation Sabbath was the beginning of human history, in which we enjoy creation along with our Creator through exercising our mandate of rule and care within it. When God gave the Israelites" rest" in the land, it meant freedom from their enemies, so that they cold get on with the job of farming the land. "Rest" meant the enjoyment of working in peace and seeing the fulfillment of one's labors.
The point that Isaiah makes is not that we will be freed from all work, but that the work we do will be freed from all frustration. The curse of weariness, loss, defeat, injustice futility, and misfortune will be gone. Our work in the new creation will be productive, enjoyable, satisfying, of lasting value, blessed by God–and environmentally safe (see Isa 65:25)!

Christopher. J. H. Wright, The God I Don't Understand (Zondervan 2008), chap. 11.