21:2
The new Jerusalem comes down out from heaven. We should not restrict our understanding of this just to the physical Jerusalem. The old Jerusalem was meant to demonstrate to the world what a Godly city and people were like. As we know it did the exact opposite. The new Jerusalem is a people living in perfect harmony with God. “Prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband”. The church is Christ’s bride. Our goal is to be what Christ wants. All self-centred forms of “Christianity” are badly mistaken and are perversions of what we are meant to be.
21:3
“Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be His people”. In many ways this is the crux of the matter. Oftentimes in the Old Testament prophets we come across the phrase “I will be their God and they will be my people”. Through Christ this is finally fulfilled. We are transformed, and so we can dwell with God perfectly. This is what it is all about, achieving this is what the Bible is all about. Sin was the problem preventing this being the case, and Christ is God’s solution. We need to appreciate how strong is God’s desire and purpose that we should be with Him in a relationship.
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