Apocalypse Now - Part XXII

Introduction

Last week we talked about the fact that Revelation is the tale of two cities and we looked at the first city - the great whore of Babylon. This week we turn to look at the other city - the new Jerusalem.

Analysis

Revelation 21:1–2 ESV

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 21:1

Note that John sees both a new heaven and a new earth. Why do people think that we will live in heaven for eternity? What would be the point of the new earth if that were the case.

Note that the sea is no more. Both in Revelation and in the OT the sea represents chaos and in particular the chaos of the unkown. The beast arose out of the sea.

Note the direction here: the new Jerusalem comes from heaven to earth. This is a contrast to the beast which arose from the sea. The redemption of creation is all about God descending. He enters His creation in the person of Christ who promised to prepare a place for us. This is that place.

Revelation 21:3–4 ESV

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

Rev 21:3

This could serve as the summary statement for the whole of Revelation and in fact for the whole of redemptive history. The whole point of history is for God to dwell with man. We tend to think of this the other way around i.e. that it is for man to dwell with God.

Note the use of the preposition “with”

God’s dwelling is with man.

God will be with us. This is why Christ is our Emanuel - God with us.

He will be with us as our God. Idolatry will be a thing of the past.

The consequence of God being fully with us is the eradication of all the results of our alienation - tears, mourning, death, pain ...

Revelation 21:9–11 ESV

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

Rev 21:9-

The lamb’s bride is the new city of God i.e. the new Jerusalem.

Israel is seen as God’s bride in the OT e.g. and

So the new Jerusalem is the new Israel which in turn is us.

The picture of the church as the bride of Christ is a very powerful metaphor.

It shows the intimacy of the relationship

It demonstrates grace.

Revelation 21:22–24 ESV

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,

Rev 21:22-24

Why no temple?

Because God Himself is the temple. Specifically Jesus Christ is the temple of God. Jesus Christ is the way that God dwells with us.

The energy source for the new Jerusalem is the glory of God. The creation is born from God’s glorification of Himself in Jesus Christ who is the firstborn of the new creation.

This is a doublet of

Revelation 22:1–2 ESV

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

Rev 22:

The sea of chaos and destruction is no more. It has been replaced by the river of life. The new creation has a river that runs through it!

The river of life has its source in God and the Lamb.

The tree of life that we were banished from partaking of has returned and has a new purpose - the healing of the nations. This is the reversal of Babel where the nations were separated.

Conclusion

We must live as citizens of a new city that God is preparing for us.

“...the actual possession of the happiness of this life, without the hope of what is beyond, is but a false happiness and profound misery” Augustine City of God