Anticipation of the New City

Oh man I am so excited about what God let me see this morning. I feel like doing back flips (though I cant really do them) Ok, in order for this to make sense you have to read some of Rev. 21 and 22.

"Then I saw a new heaven ad a new earth, for the first heaven and the first eath 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 throe saying, 'Behold, the dwellingplace fo God is with man. He will dwell with them, ad they will be his people, and God himself willbe with them as theri God. He willwipe away ever tear from thier eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.' ...Then came one of the seve angels hwo had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues ad spoke to me, saying, 'Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.' And he carried mre away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, andshowed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven fromGod, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal... The wall was bult of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the secod sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleeth jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a sigle pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass... Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing fromt hethrone of god ad of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city; also, on either side of the river, the tree of life wiht its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each moth. The leaves of the tree werre for the healing of the natios. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will b ei it, ad his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be o thierr foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be thier light, and they will reign forever ad ever.

Ok. So since this doesnt say like or as we know this city that will be brought down from heaven will be a literal Jerusalem. It will be heaven and earth being combined. God will come dwell on earth... the New Earth, with man. Generally, when I read this I skip over the whole ruby, topaz, jasper stuff since I cant picture that. But, recently I was again reminded of how insufficient and uninspiring view of heaven people have. I hate that. Really, if our view of heaven is singing all the time or sitting in a church service or being alone on fluffy clouds...  how can we set our hearts and minds on something and actually long for and greatly anticipate if it seems dull?  1 Cor. 2:9-10 says "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, or the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him- these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit." We can think about the reality of heaven and its awesome-ness because God's Spirit actually leads us into understanding. Cool.

So, thinking about these buildings. I was wondering, 'Why in the world would God have these details written down about architecture and not about any other part of the New earth culture. But this is so cool! From what I can think of, everything that is created is made of the natural resources. But what if there were different natural resources... or maybe if not different, what if someone used thier gifts to glorify God by discovering out how to build out of jasper and gold and such. So, instead of seeing the buildings we have now made out of steel... how beautiful would that be if the actual stuff the building was made of was beautiful.  And from those resources we make everything. Cars, musical instruments, pictures... everything. Awesome!  So perhaps in describing the details of what the buildings are made of gives us a glimpse of everything else created.

Ok. Just a quick thing just in case... Randy Alorn writes alot about heaven and I believe is the leading scholar on understanding heaven. He uses tons of scripture and talks about how of course the New earth/heaven will be like here but with no pain, sorrow, death, evil...  So, we will still create, work, travel, discover...

So back to the city coming down. This is my wonder... that I am quite fond of. (Who says that... fond of? Man, I sure dont in real life, but I guess I say a lot of dorky things in my head that I actually never say outloud.) I think that the people in heaven right now are building the city. This is why I think that.

1. When the angel is telling John what is going on He says 21:9 "Come I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And then he shows him the city.  

2. Jesus tells us that He is preparing a place for us. What Jesus is doing, people are involved in.

3. God's glory is displayed in nature, His Word, Jesus and through us. When we are living out our unique giftings for the purpose of displaying Him, we are glorifying Him. (Displaying Him) Same in heaven, I imagine people are usig thier uniqueness to display His glory but in a whole greater way... unhindered by the flesh.

Well, that is all I will type. There was more but... I just have to get some stuff done.  But how cool to think that people are actually building (and enjoying it greatly and using resources they never knew/used before) a city for us and we are going to get to see it!

And how beautiful heaven is going to be. Not only will the natural setting be beautiful but everything created by us will be beautiful. No cement! Woohoo. I bet the people in Russia are going to be thrilled.