Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

THE NEW JERUSALEM

This entry was posted on 06-18-2009 and is filed under HEAVEN.

"I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, descending from God out of Heaven, prepared as a bride dressed in beauty for her husband" (Rev. 21:1, The New Testament in Modern English, J. B. Phillips).

What a glimpse of glory God allowed John the Revelator to have! John saw it with his own eyes. He saw "the holy city." There aren't too many of those on earth, are there? In fact, there is no "holy city" in this sin-cursed planet, not even Jerusalem itself. There are holy people who live in cities but the cities themselves are not holy like this one was. John also described it as "the new Jerusalem." The "old" Jerusalem, mentioned some 800 times in Scripture, is one of the most history-rich places in the world. David made it the capital of Judah around 1000 B.C. It is called "the city of God" (Psa. 46:4), "the city of truth" (Zech. 8:3), "the holy city" (Neh. 11:1), and "the city of the great king" (Psa. 48:2). None of the great cities of the world - Paris, London, or even Rome - are deserving of such divine titles. Paul said it is "the mother of us all" (Gal. 4:26).

But here John sees Jerusalem in a new way and so he describes it as the "new Jerusalem." He saw it descending from God out of Heaven. A "sneak peek" if you will. He describes it as something prepared; as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. Heaven is the gathering place of the church - "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem...the general assembly and church of the firstborn...the spirits of just men made perfect" (Heb. 12:22, 23 NKJV). We were made to dwell with the bridegroom, Jesus Christ, forever. He gave Himself for His bride (Eph. 5:25). He desires that we be with Him forever in Heaven (John 17:24). Jesus once wept over Jerusalem (Luke 13:34) but He will not weep over the "new Jerusalem" for there are no tears in Heaven, that land to which we are going. Some people cry at weddings but there will be no tears at the wedding feast of the Lamb and His bride!

Hymn: "Jerusalem, the golden, with milk and honey blest! Beneath thy contemplation sink heart and voice oppressed; I know not, O I know not what joys await me there; what radiancy of glory, what bliss beyond compare" (Bernard of Cluny)