A City Like No Other: Part 1

       As the Revelation comes to a close, the One who sits on the throne then confirms to John what he is seeing. “And He said to me, ‘It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts. He who overcomes [death] shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death’ ” (Rev. 21:6-8).
       All those now on the new earth at that time are righteous because they are “in Christ.” Then an angel invites John to witness the culmination of the mystery of Christ, fully revealed in Rev. 21:9-11. The angel says that what the apostle will see is the Bride, the Lamb’s wife.
          This wording is significant because of what Paul teaches us in Eph. 5:30-32. For we are members of His body, of His flesh and of His bones. “For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” This is a great mystery, but I speak concerning Christ and the church. He who is the way, the truth, and the life has made us one with Him. It is the mystery of Christ fully revealed (Eph. 3:1-6). 
            Acts 17:31 tells us how this happens. “He has appointed a Day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.” The Man, Jesus, judges by virtue of overcoming death (resurrection). As a result of the rapture, we are complete in Him (Col. 2:9-10), ruling with Him as joint-heirs (Rom. 8:17). It is the Bridegroom and the Bride as one new Man.
            Surprisingly, what John sees isn’t a wedding ceremony—not yet anyway. Instead he sees the mountain of the Lord’s house, the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. His Bride is radiant, having the glory of God. The rest of the chapter gives the dimensions of the City, all of which have to do with the number 12 (symbolizing heavenly government) and the number 3 (the trinity).           
             End-Time Lesson: You may recall that His Bride is shown in the Revelation as an innumerable multitude. It is symbolized as the 144 thousands (plural). Here at the end of the Revelation we see again the significance of 12 times 12 = 144 in the design of this City.
            When God merges His Heaven with the new earth, the ruling court (the City) descends as well. This biblical truth brings down another high mountain in God’s end-time highway. This is when the Church comes down to the earth again at the end of the ages—not after the rapture.
            We rule from above during the last Day because we are completely conformed to Christ, including His holiness and glory. The mortals on earth could not bear being in the presence of such glory. But now that the unsaved have experienced the second death in the Lake of Fire and the earth has been made new, with no corruption in it, the Holy One and His holy City can come down to the new earth.
            This Mountain of the Lord’s House is described in Eph. 2:19-22. “Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God,  having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord,  in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit.”
            It is a remarkable moment, certainly a time of rejoicing like no other. It is time for the Marriage Supper of the Lamb to be celebrated (Rev. 19:9)!