Gabe Fluhrer

John says this, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away and the sea was no more.

And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man.

He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more.

Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore.

For the former things have passed away.

What is the terminus?

What is the omega point, the end point of our hope?

It's this.

And notice how John sees it.

Going back to Babel, mankind builds his way to God.

And it's so minuscule that Moses shows us as God speaks through him that God has to come down and see it.

Not like God couldn't see it.

He can see everything.

He was just making the point.

It's so minuscule he came down from heaven to see the puny works of mankind and man building his way up with his puny city.

And instead, in the true and lasting New Jerusalem, it comes down from heaven.

It's a gift of grace is what God is showing John.

And this imagery here is one of, as one scholar put it, a garden and a city and a temple all combined.