Let’s talk more about the city, the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ. If you don’t believe that John’s vision was full of symbolism rather than literal, physical stuff, this passage should convince you. One of the angels tells John to come and see the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. When John gets to a very high mountain, he instead sees a city coming down out of heaven. So, which is it, a woman or a city? It’s both!
Everyone agrees that the Bride of Christ is the body of all believers. And yet the body of all believers is also the Body of Christ. How can that be? As Eve was taken out of Adam, so you and I as believers were taken out of the body of Jesus when his side was pierced. Eve was flesh of Adam’s flesh. And we, the body of believers, are of the same spirit as Jesus. We are born of the Spirit! Jesus and all of us as believers are one. And yet we are his Bride just as Eve was Adam’s bride and yet part of his body.
But we are also the New Jerusalem. You see, as believers, you and I are living stones. All of us together are the city itself.
"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." -- Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)
In fact, this whole second chapter of Ephesians talks in depth about this building and how it is constructed of both Jew and Gentile believers.
John’s vision describes this city, this dwelling place of God, his Bride, as having twelve gates with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. But it also had twelve foundations on which are the names of the twelve apostles. All of history is wrapped up in this magnificent city in which God dwells. It is a perfect cube of 12,000 stadia. Don’t try to figure out what that is in feet, meters, or miles. That destroys the symbolism. The number 12 times the complete number 10 times itself three times, is the point. It’s a description, not a dimension. The same is true for the thickness of the wall around the city, 144 cubits – 12 X 12: the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
God’s intent from before sin entered the world has been accomplished. The Son has a Bride. God has a dwelling place. The Lamb has many brothers and sisters. God has a family. The New Jerusalem is made up of living stones, who are the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the people of God. They are all the same thing, just described in multiple ways. Throughout the limitless expanse of eternity God will pour his love into his Son and the Son will pour God’s love into his Bride and his Bride will reflect it back to him, an unending dance that has been the driving force for creation and the reason for our world. God’s unfathomable love has been expanded, and yet it still overflows, cascading over the new community that now has joined with the Trinity through the obedience of the Son.
Everyone agrees that the Bride of Christ is the body of all believers. And yet the body of all believers is also the Body of Christ. How can that be? As Eve was taken out of Adam, so you and I as believers were taken out of the body of Jesus when his side was pierced. Eve was flesh of Adam’s flesh. And we, the body of believers, are of the same spirit as Jesus. We are born of the Spirit! Jesus and all of us as believers are one. And yet we are his Bride just as Eve was Adam’s bride and yet part of his body.
But we are also the New Jerusalem. You see, as believers, you and I are living stones. All of us together are the city itself.
"Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit." -- Ephesians 2:19-22 (NIV)
In fact, this whole second chapter of Ephesians talks in depth about this building and how it is constructed of both Jew and Gentile believers.
John’s vision describes this city, this dwelling place of God, his Bride, as having twelve gates with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. But it also had twelve foundations on which are the names of the twelve apostles. All of history is wrapped up in this magnificent city in which God dwells. It is a perfect cube of 12,000 stadia. Don’t try to figure out what that is in feet, meters, or miles. That destroys the symbolism. The number 12 times the complete number 10 times itself three times, is the point. It’s a description, not a dimension. The same is true for the thickness of the wall around the city, 144 cubits – 12 X 12: the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
God’s intent from before sin entered the world has been accomplished. The Son has a Bride. God has a dwelling place. The Lamb has many brothers and sisters. God has a family. The New Jerusalem is made up of living stones, who are the Body of Christ, the Bride of Christ, the people of God. They are all the same thing, just described in multiple ways. Throughout the limitless expanse of eternity God will pour his love into his Son and the Son will pour God’s love into his Bride and his Bride will reflect it back to him, an unending dance that has been the driving force for creation and the reason for our world. God’s unfathomable love has been expanded, and yet it still overflows, cascading over the new community that now has joined with the Trinity through the obedience of the Son.
RSS Feed
