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1. The Bride of the Lamb of God (Revelation 21:9-11)
The New Jerusalem: The churches of Minor Asia consisted at the times of John the apostle of Hellenistic people, who formerly worshipped idols, as well as of Messianic Jews expelled from Israel, who had been scattered in all directions when the second temple in Jerusalem was destroyed in 70 AD. They had not been allowed by the Romans to return to their capital for ever. The second destruction of the House of their Lord was a violent shock and the beginning of a never ending trauma. Many of them had thought of the destroyed place of worship as the dwelling place of their God, the source of their strength, the centre of the earth. Jerusalem, however, remained occupied by the Romans. Great parts of the city had become a scene of devastation or destruction. All hopes of the fugitives were shattered and blank despair seized them.
The new vision of the heavenly Jerusalem acted for the Jewish Christians as a substitute, a new hope and a new spiritual centre for their tempted faith. If you want to understand the vision of the bride of the Lamb in the metaphor of the heavenly Jerusalem, then you may immerse yourself in the thoughts and the suffering of these Jewish fugitives and the images of this vision will get a new meaning and a special importance.
The great city, the holy Jerusalem, has not been built and accomplished, according to the vision of John, on earth but in heaven. The bride of the Lamb, the community of the saints from all times already lived “in” Christ in heaven, when the new heaven and the new earth were created. All Christians who Jesus had drawn to Him had perfectly been cleansed by the unique sacrifice of the Lamb of God (Hebrews 10:14). They had not sanctified themselves but had been born again by the spirit of the Father and the Son (John 3:5). Also the eternal Jerusalem, where righteousness dwells and where no more terrorist battles will take place, is holy.
The great city, which is seen as entirety of all believers, is a sign for the grace of the triune God. He created, bore and granted this new spiritual centre of His new, ideal world.
PRAYER: Our Father in heaven, we worship You because the living church congregation was united with and joined to Your Son Jesus before the passing away of the old world and before the emergence of the new world. This spiritual choice, fellowship of Christ, and temple of the Holy Spirit, is the hidden axis of the new universe. We give thanks from the bottom of our hearts for entering us into Jesus' life, love and praises. Amen.
QUESTION:
- Why does the book of Revelation call the regenerate believers in Christ “The New Jerusalem” in the future heavens?