Abstract
M.A.
Jerusalem, the City of God as the Psalmist described it (Psalm 48:1 – 2), has for many centuries intrigued the nations of the world. Since ancient times, Jerusalem was known as the capital city of Palestine. The word Jerusalem is mentioned 814 times in the entire Bible. When it comes to the term New Jerusalem, it is unique to the last book of the Bible, which is Revelation. The very nature of the city Jerusalem and the prophetical New Jerusalem have to be investigated to determine the physical and spiritual substance thereof. Is the New Jerusalem a place or a people or both?
In order to understand the Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem, a sufficient background needs to be presented in two lines: an objective line where the Holy City, Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem can be seen as a place, then also a subjective line where the Holy City, Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem can be experienced as a people. This is in order to make an exegetical – theological analysis of Revelation 21 and 22. It is also the very last section of the things which have to take place, as referred to in Revelation. This section can thus be seen as the fulfillment of the entire Bible, all the types, prophecies and teachings. The New Jerusalem is the finality of God’s reign and rule with His people, forever.
The seeds of most of the truths of the divine revelation were sown in Genesis, the first book of the Bible. The growth of all these seeds is progressively developed in the succeeding books, especially in the books of the New Testament, and the harvest is reaped in the book of Revelation. Hence, most of the things covered in this book are not absolutely new but are found in the preceding books of the Bible and are perfected in the last one. In Revelation 22 John shows that this entire book of Revelation is inspired by the Spirit of God and is also a completion of all the prophecies in the entire Bible. John encourages his readers not to seal up the content of this book because the time is near (22:10).
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The whole Bible reveals Christ. The book of Revelation especially, as conclusion, completion and consummation of the whole Bible, is “the revelation of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 1:1). For this analysis one needs to look at the entire Bible as the backdrop for the last two chapters of the Bible. This process developed throughout the Bible and is coloured in by various Jerusalem motifs that is always linked to Jerusalem.
The Historical context of the New Jerusalem in Revelation, its architectural structure with the wall, twelve gates and twelve foundations, the absence of the temple, the precious stones, the pilgrimage of the nations and kings to the New Jerusalem, the new paradise and the light and brightness of the city, all need to be linked into one image, the New Jerusalem. This may be done by analyzing the “Then Jerusalem”, “Modern Jerusalem” and concluding with the “New Jerusalem”.
John, the author of the Gospel of John, the epistles of John and Revelation, has always had a special relationship with Jerusalem. John has gathered up diverse yet integrally related Old Testament texts and themes expressing hope of eschatological restoration and salvation. This he then welded together into a fresh synthesis expressing his own hope of eschatological salvation into a vision of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 – 22. The old heaven and old earth had passed away to make space for “The New”.
In Revelation, the Church is described by manifold symbols such as the 7 Churches, 24 elders, two witnesses, the woman who begets a son, the 144,000, the innumerable throng, the bride of the Lamb and finally the New Jerusalem. Here, the Church has three kinds of dimensions. The first one is that on earth, the second is that in heaven and the third is that on earth at the end of time. Chapters 2 – 3 of Revelation provide a pattern of the militant Church on earth and chapters 4 – 5 provide a pattern of the triumphant Church in heaven. The ultimate Church, the New Jerusalem, shown in chapters 21 – 22 is not just depicted by John as a futuristic event, but as a present one which can be experienced in the life of God’s people. The personification of the New Jerusalem, as a bride and a people presents the subjective line with the processes that this bride and people are going through in order to become the New Jerusalem.