The Jesus Who SurprisesSampel

Newlyweds

I love how these pictures come together in Scripture, like puzzle pieces that finally fit. But when I first looked at this puzzle piece from Revelation 21:2 all by itself, I was confused. What does this refer to—A city? A woman?

I learned that the New Jerusalem is the “new-created” Old Jerusalem, where God’s people are no longer estranged from Him but are rejoicing, “You are my God!” and He is saying, “And you are my people!” Look at Isaiah 65:18–19: 

Be glad and rejoice forever in that which I create; 

for behold, I create Jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness. 

I will rejoice in Jerusalem and be glad in my people; 

no more shall be heard in it the sound of weeping and the cry of distress. 

You may remember how God commanded Hosea to marry an unfaithful woman as a living mural of the heartbreak Israel was bringing to God. Hosea’s wife has illegitimate children through her lovers, and one is named Not My People! But it is a temporary situation, for hearts will be changed, and one day, Hosea prophesies, God “will say to Not My People, ‘You are my people’; and he shall say, ‘You are my God’” (Hosea 2:23).

It is still a mystery to me how and when all this will happen, but we know that God has His ways of transforming the hardest hearts, for He is looking forward to the New Jerusalem, when He will rejoice in His bride and she in Him. 

This also sheds light on the mysterious book of the Song of Songs, for indeed, though this is an earthly human love story, it points to the mysterious love story of Christ for His bride. When the bride in the Song rejoices, “I am my beloved’s and my beloved is mine” (6:3), we hear the echo of “You are my God and I am your people.” The whole Bible is a love story. The New Jerusalem is a bride, and the dwelling place where God and His people rejoice in one another like newlyweds. So now the scene of the New Jerusalem coming down dressed as a bride for her husband does not seem so strange at all. Indeed, it seems like a delightful surprise.

How has your understanding of Jesus’s presence throughout Scripture and in your life changed this week?