The Holy City, Jerusalem, descending from Heaven, lets its brilliance and holiness flow out over the New Earth. The river of the ‘water of life’ flows from the throne of God and the Lamb, as clear as crystal, just as John had seen the ‘sea of glass like crystal’ before the throne of God.1 Everything has now become perfect. An Old Dutch song, praising the Name of Jesus, says: ‘What a lovely Name, that unites Heaven and earth, is rustling along the clouds, the Name of Jesus.’ Jesus is the connection between Heaven and Earth. “He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all Creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the Heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the Church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything. For it was the Father’s good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him, and through Him to reconcile all things to Himself, having made peace through the blood of His cross; through Him, I say, whether things on earth or things in Heaven.” Colossians 1:15-20. In Him everything was reconciled. Not just human beings, but Creation and the Universe itself. God’s throne is no longer far away, inaccessible to ‘earth-dwellers’, but God lives among people, among mankind, among human beings. And the New Earth is like Paradise, no, even better than Paradise! For there is no longer any ‘devil’, no longer any ‘state of innocence’ of the first humans, that had to be put to the test, but God’s love has triumphed over the very depths of ‘sin and death’. In the end ‘evil’ proved to be powerless when the Son of God held Heaven and earth together, when Jesus was hanging on the cross with pierced hands and feet, between Heaven and earth, rejected by man, forsaken by the Father, within the reach of the ‘power of darkness’.2 But when that happened, the deepest love was expressed by Jesus hanging on the cross: “It is finished”. “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit”. John 3:16 “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.” At that moment the turning-point in world history took place. Because of us He was reviled and broken. From that moment on new, everlasting life and ‘eternity’ break through into ‘time’. Jesus rose from the dead. People are being ‘born again’ (John 3:3-8) and have the ’Kingdom of God’ in their heart, and carry the seed of everlasting life in their mortal bodies, 2 Corinthians 4:6-7.
‘Signs of the Kingdom’ that is to come are set up throughout the world, through the spreading of the ‘Gospel of the Kingdom’ (Matthew 24:14), by deeds of righteousness, love and charity, and through ‘signs and wonders’ that the Lord grants as confirmation of the power of the King of kings and the Lord of lords. Everything comes to completeness, to a climax. God’s ‘measures’ are reaching their fullness. But also the ‘measures’ of evil, of the ‘devil’, the furious ‘raging of the nations’, the ‘hellish violence’ by the world of demons. But the ‘measure’ of God’s wrath and judgment as well. His purifying judgments extend to the whole earth. First the ‘plagues’, which for the last time is an ultimate appeal for repentance and conversion. Then the great sign of ‘God’s Covenant faithfulness’ made visible in the world, in the end-times: the Jewish people returning to Israel, to the Promised Land that God had sworn to give to them, with an everlasting Covenant to which He pledged a solemn oath.3 Everyone can see this. Do we all hear the silent message to all of us that comes forth from it? ‘Prepare, prepare your hearts, you sinful human offspring!’ Do we all see what is happening before our very eyes? It means: Jesus is Coming! World history is coming to an end! The time that God will be gracious to His people, Israel, is dawning! He will shortly reveal Himself to them by His Spirit!’4
But is the world listening? And is the Church, Christianity, listening? Are we? Or are we being drawn into and caught up in present-day developments that lead to the reign of the ‘anti-Christ? John already sees how it will all come to an end. ‘Babylon’ will fall.5 ‘Anti-Christ’ and the ‘false prophet’ will be cast into the ‘lake of fire’.6 The ‘devil’ will be bound.7 Jesus will come and will fill the world with His peace, from Jerusalem, from Israel. And, finally, the ultimate fulfilment will come: eternity with be glowing of everlasting life, swallowing up time as we know it forever! The judgments by then have disappeared, having been a thing of the past. The ‘devil’ has been cast into the ‘lake of fire’. God’s mark—the very stamp of His nature8—is on everyone’s forehead. The ‘victors’ are the ‘overcomers’ that inherit the Kingdom. They are ‘pillars’ in the New Jerusalem. The promised Name of the Father and the Son is on their forehead, and their own new name.9 The Spirit gives ‘eternal life’ like a full river with trees of life, with ‘fruits’ each month for the whole world, and ‘leaves’ for the healing of the nations. ‘Light and life’ go together. They were already united in the ‘Word that became flesh’.10 Now they are present everywhere, forever, in everything and everyone. ‘Glory be to God and to the Son and to the Holy Ghost. As it was in the beginning, now and for evermore, forever and ever.’ Amen.
• Seeing God meant ‘death’,11 but in the ‘resurrection body’ the saints bathe themselves in the ‘Glory of God and of the Lamb’.
• Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will see God.12 ‘Peacemakers’ are people who themselves have peace with God, being not just created by God, but having become children of God, by re-creation! They live as the redeemed in the present, broken world. And they are on their way to the everlasting Kingdom. Full of love, they fulfil their task and spend their time in this world.
• People owned by Christ in a ‘lost world’, among a lost mankind, but, being instruments in God’s hand, taking if possible some lost souls with them into the Kingdom!
Bible References:
1.Revelation 4:6 2.Luke 22:53 3.Psalm 105:7–11 4.Zechariah 12:10–14 5.Revelation 18:2 6.Revelation 19:20 7.Revelation 20:1–3 8.Hebrews 1:3 (Revised Standard Version) 9.Revelation 3:12 10.John 1:4, 14 11.Exodus 33:20 12.Matthew 5:8–9
