............................................................................
The New Jerusalem
Clearing Up
End-Times Confusion: What Actually Is the New Jerusalem?
MIKE WITTMER
We
tend to think that our final destiny is heaven.
It seems like that's what Jesus promised when He said,
"if
I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and receive you to Myself,
that where I am, you may be also" (John 14:3).
Yet in Revelation, John declares that the place Jesus
is preparing will ultimately come "down out of heaven from God" (Revelation 21:2)
Scripture
doesn't conclude with God's children floating on clouds up there, but with
God living with His saints down
here.
The
biblical story begins in a garden of delight, and then it focuses on our
embodied God who physically died, rose again and is remembered in the material
symbols of the bread and cup.
Our
hope is equally physical.
We
long for our resurrection, when we will live as whole people - body and soul - in
the new Jerusalem on the new earth.
This
ending may be surprising, but it is a fitting climax to the story God has been
telling all along.
If
we back up, we'll see how the story began—with a promise.
Old City
God began His salvation plan by commanding Abram to "Go
from your country, your family, and your father's house to the land that I will
show you" (Genesis 12:1).
Abram
obeyed, and his children blossomed into the nation of Israel, from which God
promised to restore the entire world (Genesis 12:1–3).
Israel
acquired its permanent headquarters when King David captured the centrally
located, impregnable fortress of Jerusalem (2 Samuel 5:6–10).
David
brought the ark of God to his capital because of what it meant to the people (2 Samuel 6).
Although
they knew God wanted to bless the world through them, Israel betrayed Him and
worshiped foreign gods.
God
punished their idolatry by razing Jerusalem and its temple and allowing His
people to be dragged off into captivity.
Jerusalem
would be destroyed numerous times—by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., the Seleucids
in 167 B.C. and the Romans in A.D. 70.
For
the Jews, Jerusalem was:
1. The home of God on earth. David sings "praises to the Lord, who dwells in
Zion" (Psalm 9:11a).
Asaph calls on God to remember "Mount Zion, where you have
lived" (Psalm 74:2c).
And God Himself concludes the prophecy of Joel with the
cheer, "The LORD dwells in Zion!" (Joel 3:21).
2. The place where God will defeat the powers of
evil.
Zechariah
prophesies that God will destroy all of His enemies at a climactic battle in
Jerusalem (Zechariah 12:1–9; 14:12–15).
"Blow the ram's horn in Zion, sound the alarm on
My holy mountain! All the inhabitants of the earth will tremble, because the
day of the Lord has come, because it is near" (Joel 2:1).
Amos adds, "The LORD roars from Zion and utters
His voice from Jerusalem" (Amos
1:2a).
Isaiah declares that "the Lord of Hosts (shall)
come down to fight for Mount Zion, and for its hill" (Isaiah 31:4c).
3. The source of blessing for the world.
Psalm 46:4 states, "There is a river whose
streams make glad the city of God, the holy dwelling place of the Most
High."
Ezekiel
47 adds that this river, which begins in the temple, runs from Jerusalem
all the way to the sea. The sea then carries its new fertile, fresh water to
the ends of the earth.
He writes: "By the river upon its bank, on this
side and on that side, shall grow all kinds of trees for food, whose leaf shall not fade nor
shall its fruit fail. They shall bring forth fruit according to their months,
because their water issues out of the sanctuary. And their fruit shall be for
food and their leaves for medicine" (Ezekiel 47:12).
Pivotal City
Even before the carnage began, Isaiah announced that
God would keep His promise. "Good news" would eventually come
to Jerusalem, for "the glory of the LORD will be revealed" there—in a
way that no one would expect (Isaiah
40:1-11).
God's
glory was revealed when the Son of God came to earth.
Jesus recognized the importance of Jerusalem, and He
was "steadfastly
set to go to Jerusalem" (Luke
9:51).
There,
He defeated the powers of evil before the dwelling place of God.
His
death provided life-giving water for the world.
John records Jesus saying, "He who believes in me, ...
out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water."
John then explains, "By this He spoke of the
Spirit, whom those who believe in him would receive" (John 7:38-39).
The Spirit came to Jerusalem on Pentecost, where the
life-giving water of the gospel bubbled up, streamed into Samaria and finally
poured "to the ends of the earth" (Acts 1:8).
Those
who are washed will join Jesus when He brings His new Jerusalem to the new
earth.
New City
John's Revelation consummates the biblical focus on
the New Jerusalem.
Its
descent from heaven means:
1. God is here. John writes, "And I heard a loud voice
from heaven, saying, ‘Look! The tabernacle of God is with men, and He will
dwell with them. They shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them
and be their God’" (Revelation
21:3).
Three times in this verse, John says that God will
live with His people.
The biblical story doesn't end with God taking us up
to live with him, but with God coming down to live with us.
He is Immanuel, which means "God with us" (Matthew 1:23).
2. Evil has been vanquished forever.
Jesus
will return and "wipe every tear" from our eyes.
"Neither
shall there be any more sorrow nor crying nor pain, for the former things have
passed away" (Revelation 21:4b).
This
perfect bliss will continue forever, for "No unclean thing shall ever
enter" the New Jerusalem (Revelation
21:27).
3. The entire world flourishes
under the blessing of God.
In spectacular fulfillment of Ezekiel's vision, John
declares that a river of life will flow "from the throne of God and of the Lamb
in the middle of its street" (Revelation
22:1b-2a).
Its waters will nourish the tree of life, which bears
monthly fruit, and leaves that heal the nations.
Every nation bears the scars of their bloody attempts
to achieve peace and prosperity.
Their wars will continue until the end, when Jesus
brings His kingdom of peace to earth and reigns over our world from the New
Jerusalem.
John closes his letter, and the
entire Bible, with the only appropriate response: "Amen. Even so, come Lord
Jesus!" (Revelation 22:20b).
To learn more about the Christian hope, pick up Surprised by Hope by N.T. Wright. Go to Logos.com/WrightHope
Article courtesy of Bible Study Magazine published by Faithlife Corporation.
Originally published in print, Vol. 4 No. 5/.
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