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Revelation 3:12
Him who overcomes I will make a pillar in the
temple of my God. Never again will he leave it.
I will write on him the name of my God and the
name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,
which is coming down out of heaven from my God;
and I will also write on him my new name.
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January 30
New Jerusalem
Much of the book of Revelation is difficult to
understand. As John saw visions of the
future He saw an earth at least two thousand
years from his time and often he would have been
unable to accurately describe what he saw.
Likewise, we do not know how much of the book of
Revelation is meant to be interpreted literally
and how much of it should be understood as
figurative. A good rule of thumb is to
interpret the Bible as literal unless there is
good reason not to. Even then, the book of
Revelation is difficult to interpret.
One thing that is written about often though is
a New Jerusalem. This will be a city
unlike anything before. On earth Jerusalem
was the place where David and his descendants
ruled from. It was also the spiritual
center where the temple was located.
But Jerusalem was subject to sin just as we are.
The city was full of sinful people and was
subject to judgment. in 586 BC the
Babylonians carried away the inhabitants of the
city. In AD 70 the Roman army set the city
on fire. The temple burned and not one
stone laid on top of another as the gold melted
and ran between the cracks and soldiers pried
the stones apart to retrieve the gold.
But there will be a new city that will be
central for God's people. It will not be
subject to sin any longer. It will be
incorruptible. It will be a city that is
suitable for our worship of the Lord. |
