Thursday, March 4, 2010

The Promise of a New Jerusalem

Our friends are leaving in a few days for two weeks in Israel! How excited they are to visit places mentioned in the Old and New Testaments! What a wonderful time they will have!


You and I may never make it to Israel, may never walk the Via Dolorosa or visit the Wailing Wall. We may never see Jacob's well or the place Jesus is said to have been born. But one thing is certain: God's people will see the new Jerusalem, described by the Apostle John as "coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband" (Revelation 21:2).

The new Jerusalem will not be scarred with bullet holes or filled with bitter animosity--Arabs against Jews. It will be a blessed land ruled by a blessed God.

"Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.
They will be his people, and God himself 
will be with them and be their God.
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."
~Revelation 21:3-4

A few verses later, John speaks of the actual city as shining with the glory of God, its brilliance like that of a  precious jewel. The very foundations of the New Jerusalem were "decorated with every kind of precious stone."

Can you picture it? Neither can I. But we know it will be beyond anything we've seen on this earth. And we know it is coming soon because the final two verses of the Bible state:

"He who testifies to these things says,
'Yes, I am coming soon,'
Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.
The grace of the Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen."
~Revelation 22:20-21

And all will be as it should be. At last.

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