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The Holy City, New Jerusalem

January 1st is often used to look forward in hope that the new year will be better that the last. Certainly, for many 2005 has been an ‘annus horibulus’, as the Queen dubbed a year some years ago; people caught in the tragedies of life. The prospects for 2006, either for the Island, nationally or internationally, don’t look too promising, irrespective of our individual circumstances. But whether we’re optimists or pessimists, we want a better world. The good news of the Bible is that there’s better world coming but it’s clear that we can’t bring it about by ourselves without God.

It’s God’s great purpose to create and call out a people who will respond to His love and with whom He can be in perfect and everlasting fellowship. The Bible is ‘His-story’ and, in the words of an old hymn, it ‘begins with a tale of a garden and ends with a city of gold.’ That’s not a bad summary of the Bible’s view of creation and new creation.

Genesis tells us that God created heaven and earth and the last book in the Bible, Revelation, describes the new heaven and earth. Genesis describes a paradise that was lost. Revelation pictures a paradise restored. Genesis describes the cunning and power of the devil, and pictures the awful scene of man fleeing away from God and hiding himself from the presence of the Almighty. God’s plan, though for a while seemingly defeated, is in the end seen to triumph completely. Revelation shows us the most wonderful and intimate communion between God and redeemed man. The great theme is that Christ is victorious.

The human race has made tremendous progress in developing the resources that the Creator God provided. But all too often the veneer of civilisation is torn away to reveal aggression and deceit, the abuse of the environment by global warming, with possible catastrophic effect for future generations. So how will it all end?

John the apostle saw on the screen of his mind, in great vividness of colour and clarity, a new heaven and a new earth. It’s the result of God’s redeeming grace, in the present and in the future. It’s already working in the hearts of His people. The climax of the vision comes to John when he sees:

THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW EARTH
John heard the words from the throne of God, "Behold, I make all things new" (21:5). Only God can do this. Human history is like a patchwork quilt, full of holes and ugly tears, bloodstained and broken. It’s surely the evidence of man’s repeated failure. But now, at last, the judgement of sin is completed. The vision moves from hints of the glory in the ‘here and now’, to when sin is no more. The first heaven and earth have passed away. How is to happen? John doesn’t give us the physics of this renewal. The only clue we get is the resurrection of Jesus, as the risen Christ is the beginning of the new creation.

It’s clear that the earth will have been subjected to God’s purifying fire. Every stain of sin, every trace of death has been removed, and a renewed universe has been born. Yet it’s the same heaven and earth, gloriously rejuvenated, with no weeds, thorns or thistles, and so on. Nature comes into its own. All of its potential, marred by mankind for so long, is now fully realised. The ‘old’ order has vanished. The universe in which Satan and his angels were carrying out their programme of iniquity has vanished. “God … will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order has passed away” (4). But back to the present!

Knowledge has increased by leaps and bounds in harnessing the resources of creation. But there’s one thing in which there’s been no progress and that’s in human nature. There’s been no change for the better in the heart of man. C S Lewis put it rather well in an ironic parody of the hymn "Lead us Heavenly Father." His version reads, "Lead us evolution, lead us up the future’s endless stair; Chop us, change us, prod us, weed us, for stagnation is despair; Groping, guessing, yet possessing, lead us nobody knows where."

Only God can make new. Some have imagined that by means of a better education, better environment or laws, and a fairer distribution of wealth, a new era will be ushered in. These things are worth pursuing, but it’s only God who through His Spirit makes all things new. He does it now by the new birth, though its outworking is still restricted, but He’s going to do it completely when Christ returns. The vision of God’s perfect realm continues in more detail, as John focuses upon the Holy City, it’s:

THE NEW JERUSALEM
Modern cities can be both desirable and terrible. In a world of grossly overcrowded conditions, with decaying inner cities and surrounding shanty towns made of plastic and cardboard shacks, with violence, chaos and pollution, the thought that a city can represent perfection in living seems absurd. We see on television the sad spectacle of multitudes of poor, illiterate people from the countryside, having been lured to the big city, think they can improve their lot. But they find to their cost that the fine, gleaming apartments are not for them. They are now in a worse condition than they were back in the simple hardship of the jungle.

Superficially the great cities of the world express the glory and power of the world - but it’s a fallen world. J B Priestley wrote a powerful play, ’They Came to a City’ in which he portrayed the disillusionment of those who entered it. The city’s splendid buildings dedicated to commerce and the arts celebrate human genius and human glory. They look fine on the glossy pages of books that tourists take home for their coffee tables. But those outward images don’t tell the whole story. They are all part of the ’Babylon’ of this world. Behind the gleaming facade is decay and squalor, drug abuse and exploitation. What an illustration of people who have been misled by the devil into accepting his values rather than the claims of Christ!

Ideally the city is where the whole community lives in interdependence. This ideal is found only in the City of God, the New Jerusalem, the Church, the Bride of Christ. It’s a community of people who have fellowship with God. The Church of the future is being described here, and also the Church of the present, as yet a shadow of what is to come.

It’s important to notice where the City comes from. John testified that "in the spirit, the angel carried me to a great high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (21:10). This makes it quite clear that the Church of God is the work of God’s sovereign grace. It’s God’s creation and comes from heaven. And what’s more, God is there. John heard a voice, "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" (3). That’s the whole point of heaven, God is there.

Only the redeemed will be there. This whole planet is temporary, for at the end of time the Lord will speak again, as He did at creation and it will be all rolled up, put away, done away with. Why? God wants to make a new one. It will be better, renewed, after being cleansed from all sin and evil. But there’ll be many who won’t be there because they haven’t been redeemed and aren’t members of the true Church of Christ.

Do you remember the tragedy of the stricken Concorde airliner that crashed on take off in Paris in Summer 2000? As the investigators sought to discover the reason for the accident, they listened to the tapes of the pilot’s conversations with the control tower. His last words, as he fought to save his stricken craft were, ‘Too late’. We only have one life to live on Earth. If we fail to make our peace with God or man before life ends it will be ‘too late!’

But that’s not necessary if we accept the invitation that Jesus makes earlier in Revelation: “I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me" (3:20). The scene is the subject of a famous painting by Holman Hunt. The original is hung in St Paul’s Cathedral in London. If you look at it closely there’s something rather odd about it because it’s a door with no handle! I expect there is a handle, but it’s on the inside! Now what’s the reason for this? The artist is telling us that although Jesus wants to enter the home, it’s up to the person inside to open the door and let him in. If we’ve done that by coming to Him in repentance and faith, entry into The New Jerusalem of His Kingdom begins a new relationship as we become:

THE BRIDE OF CHRIST
The angel who had guided John in vision offers an invitation. "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb" (21:9). The New Jerusalem is presented as the bride of Christ. This is a powerful image of the renewed relationship of God and his people – it is you: it is I! Just as in this life, the marriage of a man and woman is an unforgettable and sacred experience, so is the union of Christ with His Church. In that great day when we are united with Him for eternity, the sins which marred our earthly lives will have been banished for ever. We will be presented to the Heavenly Bridegroom, as Paul put it, “in splendour, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing” (Eph 5:27).

Here is the fulfilment of God’s promises, establishing an intimacy and security for His people. But this marriage is essentially a covenant relationship. We may be sure that God keeps His side of the bargain but we have to acknowledge that there’s many a slip on our side. The reality of the fallen world in which we live is that sin divides us from our Lord. When we’re converted we become part of God’s new society, a people who have put off the old life and put on the new. We are called upon to “live a life worthy” (Eph 4:1) of our Lord and seek to have a lifestyle compatible with our new life in Christ.

Our reading from Matthew (25:31-46) reminds of the coming day that Jesus spoke of the Son of Man coming to “sit on his throne in heavenly glory” and “he will separate the people … as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.” It tells us that we are accountable and, although free to live as we please, an accounting will be required. It tells us that judgement awaits everyone, with no exceptions, no favouritism and no excuses.

Jesus is the judge but the parable doesn’t depict a normal trial. There’s no debate and no witnesses are called. A person’s destiny is written all over him or her before coming to judgement. I came across a poem written by someone hit by destitution but sadly, was told by a Christian neighbour that all he could do was to pray for her! It went like this:
‘I was hungry : and you formed a committee to discuss hunger.
- I was imprisoned : and you crept off quietly to your chapel.
- I was naked : and in your mind you debated the morality of my appearance.
- I was sick : and you knelt and thanked God for your health.
- I was homeless : and you preached to me about the love of God.
- I was lonely : and you left me alone and went to church.’

Jesus meets us daily and asks if that’s our response. We can be sure that they’ll be some surprises on that last day. Lots of people who were very confident of their condition will be undone and lots of people who rated themselves very lowly will be astonished by their promotion. “I tell you the truth” said Jesus, “Whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me” (25:40). This is because the heart of Christianity is relationship with Jesus Himself, which shows itself in loving, sacrificial care for others.

We eagerly look forward to the perfection of the new universe when Christ is all and in all. Yet we are still in the here and now, and we have our role to play in a dark society, to reflect the glory of Christ. Paul tells the Christians at Philippi "you shine like stars in the universe" (Phil 2:15). If we are doing what Christ would have us do, we have no need to reproach ourselves, whatever others might think of us as not being in tune with this passing world.

We enjoy a foretaste of it here and now. Here we must distinguish between the true Church and the imperfection of the Church as found on earth. Now at best it’s a mixture, but when the vision of God’s perfect realm is realised, evil and impurity will be unknown among its inhabitants.

The Holy City is pictured as being completely secure. The Church is the Bride of Christ. Security is one of the greatest gifts that a bridegroom can give to his bride. The City’s inhabitants, we’re told, "will reign for ever and ever" (22:5).

It’s true that this is only partially realised now, for as Paul said "Now we see through a glass darkly, but then face to face" (1 Cor 13:12). The interior of the City is characterised by life. There are rivers of water flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, symbolising eternal life, the gift from God. The source of life is God Himself and realised through fellowship with Him.

Man’s disastrous rebellion against his Maker took place where the tree of life stood and where the river of life ran through the garden. It’s fitting that in his final vision John should take his readers back to the beginning of things. For heaven is indeed ‘paradise regained’. Man’s long journey through the waste lands of sin ends where he began enjoying uninterrupted fellowship with his Maker in a setting of full provision and happiness, in unending praise and worship of our God and Saviour.

May we live worthily in the ‘here and now’, until the present gives way to the full realisation of the New Jerusalem.