As we are closing the end of the church age and the rapture of the church is imminent, let’s look at what our eternal home is like.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Rev 21:2, KJV

Story (Rev 21-22:5):

John saw in visions God gave him a new heaven and earth, for the first heaven and earth had passed away.

And there was no more sea.

And he saw the holy city, which is new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

And there was a loud voice from heaven saying, behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, they shall be His people.

And God will wipe away all tears from their eyes, there would be no more death, no more sorrow, crying, neither shall there be any more pain.

For the former things have passed away.

And He that sat upon the throne said, behold I make all things new, and He told John to write these words, for they are true and faithful.

And He said, I’m then Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

I will give unto him that is thirsty, the fountain of the water of life freely.

He that overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be His God, and He shall be my son.

But the fearful, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, whoremongers and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake with burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

And an angel came to John saying, come here I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

And he carried John to a high mountain, and showed him the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of the heaven from God.

Having the glory of God, and her light was like a very precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

And the city had a wall great and high, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels.

And names were written on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.

On the east were three gates, north three gates, south three gates, and west three gates.

And the wall of the city, had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And the angel took a golden rod to measure the city, its gates and walls.

And the city was laid out like a square, and its length, breadth, and height were all 2,200 kilometres.

And the thickness of the wall was 65 metres thick.

And the wall was made of jasper, and the city was made of pure gold, like unto clear glass.

And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.

The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eight beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.

And the twelve gates, were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.

And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

And I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the temple of it.

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it, for the glory of God lightens it, and the Lamb is the light.

And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it.

And the kings of the earth, do bring their glory and honour into it.

And the gates of the city shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there.

And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

And there shall be in no wise enter into it, anything that defiles, or is an abomination, or lies, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

And the angel showed John, a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God, and of the Lamb.

The river was flowing down the middle of the street of the city, and on each side of the river was the tree of life.

Which bear twelve crops of fruits, and yielded fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

No longer shall there be any curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve him.

And they shall see His face, and His name shall be in their foreheads.

And there shall be no night there, and they no need candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.

Exposition:

Previously I have written a similar article about heaven / heavenly Jerusalem (please refer to Luke 23:42-43 article).

Let’s recap what we have discussed.

We saw how heavenly Jerusalem resembles the earthly Jerusalem, where there are three gates on each side of the city walls: north, south, east, west (Ezek 48:30-34).

Where there is also a beautiful union of all God’s people into one body: from Israel and the church.

On the gates were written the names of the twelve Israelite tribes.

And on the twelve foundations of the city wall, were written the names of twelve apostles in the New Testament.

However, unlike the earthly Jerusalem, there is no temple as we see will be built in Ezek 40-48 as God restores His people.

The temple dimensions described in Ezek 40-48 is a temple God Himself builds, and not the one Israel is currently building today (the third temple).

The first temple was destroyed during invasion of Babylonians into Jerusalem, as Judah went into exile during 586 BC (please refer to 1 Kings 12:20 article).

The second temple was rebuilt during Ezra-Nehemiah times, please refer to Writeup on Daniel 1 article.

But it was destroyed during 70 AD, please refer to Bible Typologies: Rachel and Leah article.

Now, this third temple that is currently rebuilt by the Jews in Israel today, is not part of God’s plan.

The Israelites today are blinded, and they didn’t know that God will build His own temple, in Ezek 40-48.

They are waiting for the Messiah to come, not knowing / believing He has already came 2000 years ago (please refer to 2 Thess 2:3 article).

But Jesus would come again first for His church during the rapture, then thoroughly purge and sanctify the Israelites again during the seven years tribulation, to cause them to Him.

Then He will come again, for the Israelites, and start His millennial reign with all His people: Israelites and the church.

And during His millennial reign, He will build the fourth temple, with all those grand dimensions we see in Ezek 40-48.

But finally, in the heavenly Jerusalem, there would be no temple, for God Himself would be the temple.

And this is the place we will spend eternity with God and all His people.

Relationships fractured by hurts, would be restored, and there would be no more broken relationships in heaven.

God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes, there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain.

So everyone would be in perfect unity with each other, just as the body of Christ is one, and we are one with God (John 17:21).

Also I believe in the heavenly city, we would all be very close to each other, since we get to spend eternity knowing one another.

Time will no longer be a limiting factor.

And I believe this closeness and unity, would be much deeper than the intimacy of a marriage relationship.

In this passage, we also see the heavenly Jerusalem is pictured as a bride adorned for her husband Jesus, which God the Father gives to His Son Jesus.

So this echoes our perfect oneness with Christ, and also each other.

I believe in this city, each of us would get to live in a beautiful customised mansion (place of residence), we would all enjoy.

John 14:2-3 echoes that in my Father’s house are many mansions, and Jesus goes to build a place for us to stay for eternity.

He is almost done, and the church age is coming to an end, where Jesus is coming for His bride also described as the church.

Another thing we see about the heavenly Jerusalem, is the exquisite materials, even the foundations of the city walls are garnished with all precious stones.

So the city would look great, and built with the most expensive materials, God is very generous lavishing on us!

Even the streets are made of pure gold.

We also see the purity of the materials where the gold is as transparent glass, and water from the river is pure and clear as crystal.

This is the place where we can experience the fullness of love, joy, peace, goodness, mercy and grace of God.

Because there would be no more sin to tamper, and prevent us entering into God’s fullness of what He has for us.

So set your eyes on this place as your final destination you will spend eternity in.

And definitely, I believe the place is much more glorious than what John could describe in words.

Even Paul when He was caught up to the third heaven, where the throne of God is, saw and experienced glories he seemed to have no words to describe (2 Cor 12:1-4).

It’s so majestic, glorious and full of splendour, that words can’t describe.

In our glorified, immortal bodies enjoying this place, we will still have memories of this life on earth, as our soul follows us to our new body.

So we will recognise people, we have met before; our friends, family, church members.

But relationships in heaven will be fully  perfect, where without sin we can have perfect intimacy with everyone, even with remarkable people in the OT like Moses, Elijah, Abraham.

We will get to spend eternity with all of them, and our family, friends too.

And this intimacy would be perfect too, and I believe same as our intimacy with everyone else in the heavenly city.

But some relationships like family, marriage, friendship, kinship, will change, as we are all now brothers and sisters in one big family with God our Father.

There will be currency too, but it would be our heavenly bank account, based on what we have done for Christ here on earth, and sacrifices made for Him.

This heavenly bank account contains money and currency that is eternal.

Which is why Matt 6:19-21 say do not lay for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust corrupt it, and thieves break in to steal.

Rather lay for yourself treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor that corrupt, and thieves do not break in to steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart be also.

So which would you choose, temporary riches on this earth or eternal riches in heaven?

See heaven is not some fictitious place or fantasy, it is a beautiful place yes.

But we won’t be just floating around aimlessly doing nothing.

I’m sure there are things to learn too, from our God, Creator of all things.

And there is fellowship with people, in the heavenly city.

And there is worship of course, to our great and high God, worthy of all our praise.

Rev 4:8-11 gives a picture of the four beasts and twenty four elders worship God, and casting their before His throne saying, worthy are you Lord to receive glory and honour and power.

For You have created all things, and for your pleasure they were created.

So with us learning new things from God constantly in heaven, I don’t think we will get bored, there’s just so much to learn from an infinite God, with infinity capacity, it will take an eternity to learn.

Finally, we can expect that earth is a reflection of how heaven is like.

God patterned His creation of earth, the plants, animals, land, sky, stars, and moon, after heaven.

If Adam and Eve were made in the image of God, and marriage was designed by God to reflect Christ love for the church and humanity.

Then we should expect heaven to look like earth, except that heaven would be much more glorious.

With all these being discussed about heavenly Jerusalem, let’s look forward to our permanent home where we belong!