Hovering over Revelation 21 this morning and the new Jerusalem. Will it be an actual place? Sounds like it — its measurements are meticulous, and its description is very detailed. Or is it to be understand as a symbolic portrayal of a people, “those written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21:27b)? It is, after all, referred to as “a bride adorned for her husband . . . the wife of the Lamb” (Rev. 21:2, 9), and I’ve read about a bride somewhere before where it talks of a people and not a place (Eph. 5:25).

But as I scan the chapter, something pops. As I chew on it, the flavor changes — maybe it’s not about discerning whether the new Jerusalem is a new place or a nuanced picture, but perhaps about knowing that the new Jerusalem is about a never experienced before proximity.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. I also saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne: Look, God’s dwelling is with humanity, and He will live with them. They will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and will be their God.

(Revelation 21:1-3 CSB)

Whatever the new Jerusalem is, it will be this: God’s dwelling is with humanity. Whether a physical place or a spiritual portrayal, know this, He will live with them. Be it a big cube or an inhabited cosmos, God Himself will be with them.

I’m not saying that it’s not important to try and figure out whether the composition of the new Jerusalem will be physical or if it will be experienced as something more metaphysical, I’m just thinking that the most important thing about the new Jerusalem is that God will again dwell with humanity in a way He hasn’t since the beginning of time. It will be Eden restored.

But Eden 2.0, a better Eden. In the context of a new heavens and a new earth, this Eden will be a new city rather than an ancient garden. A place where there will be no need for a sun and a moon to be created to shine on it “for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Rev. 21:23). A place where our proximity to God and His presence among us will allow us to not just hear the sound of the LORD God walking in our midst in the cool of the day (Gen. 3:8), but more than that — oh, so much more! — we “will see His face” as we worship before “the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Rev. 22:3-4).

A place? A picture? I can only imagine! (After all, isn’t that kind of what apocalyptic prophecy is all about?).

But a proximity, a new proximity? I can only anticipate! Eagerly awaiting that day when faith gives way to sight, when knowing in part becomes being fully known. When the old Eden is recast as the New Jerusalem and God’s dwelling is with humanity . . . He will live with them . . . God Himself will be with them.

He who testifies about these things says, “Yes, I am coming soon.”
  Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!

(Revelation 22:20 CSB)

Until then . . .

We await by His grace, even as we desire to live for His glory.