New Jerusalem
Day 720, Saturday, Aug. 1
Revelation Chapter 21
Until now Revelation has been a nearly unending stream of disturbing images, interspersed with promises that some day God would gather his faithful people to himself. In chapter 21, “some day” arrives.
Other than verse 8, which promises judgment on the unfaithful, every bit of the chapter is devoted to visions of beauty and splendor. The chapter begins, “Then I saw ‘a new heaven and a new earth,’ for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”
Much of the chapter depends on a mixed metaphor for its meaning: God’s people are equated with the new, perfect Jerusalem, and they are the bride of Christ.
Jerusalem, in Jewish and early Christian thought, was never just a city. It was the physical representation of God’s people…first the Jews, then the whole of the Christian church. God’s love for his people was shown in his love for Jerusalem.
At the risk of further confusing the metaphor, we can look back at the 23rd chapter of Matthew, when Jesus looks down on the holy city and says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing.” The love of Jesus for Jerusalem is not just the love of a groom for his bride, it is also the love of a mother for her offspring. It is a love that has no illusions, but loves nevertheless.
Jesus says in verses 6-7, “To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life. Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.”
Our understanding of chapter 21, like the rest of the book, doesn’t hinge on making logical sense of every image. An attempt to draw a picture of the holy city from this description will fail—the point isn’t to tell us what heaven looks like, but to assure us that it is beautiful beyond our wildest imagination. It is a place where “He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
One of the most striking features of the new Jerusalem is what isn’t there: There is no temple, “because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” The temple was a place where one could hope to glimpse the glory of God. In heaven we will see that glory directly.
-Rev. Mark Fleming
Saturday meditation
Song of Solomon 7:9b-8:5a
She
May the wine go straight to my beloved, flowing gently over lips and teeth. I belong to my beloved, and his desire is for me. Come, my beloved, let us go to the countryside, let us spend the night in the villages. Let us go early to the vineyards to see if the vines have budded, if their blossoms have opened, and if the pomegranates are in bloom—there I will give you my love. The mandrakes send out their fragrance, and at our door is every delicacy, both new and old, that I have stored up for you, my beloved.
If only you were to me like a brother, who was nursed at my mother’s breasts! Then, if I found you outside, I would kiss you, and no one would despise me. I would lead you and bring you to my mother’s house—she who has taught me. I would give you spiced wine to drink, the nectar of my pomegranates. His left arm is under my head and his right arm embraces me. Daughters of Jerusalem, I charge you: Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires.
Friends
Who is this coming up from the wilderness leaning on her beloved?
Prayer focus
When our course is run, receive us into the glory of your new holy city.