We should not expect to live perfectly without sin on our way to eternity in “New” Jerusalem. We should expect to see growth, maturity, and progress as the work of Christ in us claims victory of sin. It is only when we are in the presence of the Lord that we will fully realize that glorious state of rest wherein the only thing we experience, is the total, complete, comprehensive rest from sin, it’s effects, and death.The description of the New Jerusalem in eternity and en route to eternity is one to find comfort.
In an earlier discussion, we went over some examples of the nicknames in Revelation given to unfaithful Jerusalem. The unfaithful Jerusalem of the 1st century had rejected Jesus as king (John 19:15). The parable of the wicked tenants (Luke 20:9-19) was a summary teaching by Jesus of how the prophets had been sent ahead of the messiah, yet they and the messiah were rejected. This parable was so pointed that the teachers of the law and chief priests began to “look for a way to arrest him immediately because they knew he had spoken this parable against them” (Luke 20:19).
Jerusalem the old was a Sodom (Rev 11:8), an Egypt (Rev 11:8), a Babylon (Rev 14:8, 16:19, 17:5, 18:2, 18:10, 18:21). As Sodom was overrun by evil, so too was Jerusalem. As Egypt was an oppressor of God’s people, so too was Jerusalem. As Babylon was self-righteous and proud, so too was Jerusalem. Jerusalem was unfaithful to God, having had every opportunity to return to the Lord yet choosing to continue in rebellion. Therefore, Jerusalem the old was fully warned of judgment, entirely given chance to repent, and then fully rejected that chance and thereby received judgment in 70 A.D.
The “old” Jerusalem was the place given many nicknames. It was the historic city home to the Jewish leadership that crucified the Lord Jesus. While it was supposed to be the epicenter of loyalty to the One true God, it became the place of execution for the Son of God. The “new” Jerusalem is something different from the historic city of the 1st century. What the “old” Jerusalem could and should have been, is what the “new ” Jerusalem would certainly be.
With old Jerusalem’s downfall squarely in view in Revelation 18 and 19 the question then arises: Why does Revelation then talk about a “New” Jerusalem?
While the book of Revelation has many nicknames for the unfaithful “old” Jerusalem, there are a few times Jerusalem is mentioned with great excitement and goodness. A fascinating feature of Revelation is how Jerusalem is explicitly named. The 1st century historic Jerusalem is always referred to via symbolic nicknames. A”new” Jerusalem is mentioned by name explicitly 3 times in Revelation (3:12, 21:2, 21:10).
The reason I keep calling Jerusalem either “old” or “new” is because this is how the text of Revelation speaks of Jerusalem. The first time Jerusalem is mentioned by name in the book of Revelation it is accompanied by the word “new” (τῆς καινῆς Ἰερουσαλήμ):
Revelation 3:12 (ESV): The one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.
This “new” Jerusalem originates from God. This “new” city has as its founder none other than the Almighty. The name of the city is “my own new name”. The speaker in Revelation 3:12 is the resurrected Lord. This is Jesus, speaking of a new city, which has its beginnings from God, whose citizens will be those who conquer. Those who conquer are those who have kept Christ’s word and not denied his name (Revelation 3:8).
We begin to see in this first citation of the “new” Jerusalem that it is a group of people who are loyal to Christ. They are a special people who are given a unique name from Christ. Together, they form a group of people established by God. We begin to see how this “new” Jerusalem is not primarily about a geographic space, but is primarily about a particular people.
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