Finale Revelation and Imagination Daily Devotional- 53

REVELATION 21:12-17 | ¹² It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the
Israelites; ¹³ on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. ¹⁴ And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. ¹⁵ The angel who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. ¹⁶ The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. ¹⁷ He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using.

John was given a vision of Babylon’s fall, taken to see the wilderness by an angel. Here, in a contrasting vision he has gone “to a high mountain” (Verse 10), to see the city descend. The idea of descent emphasizes origin, the people of God come from Him, and have been made glorious and grand.

This section has many pictures of this perfection. The city is huge, translating stadia into miles make it 1,500 miles in three dimensions, a vast cube. Cubes were considered the perfect geometric form, models of harmony and symmetry. In an age when cities were unpaved and alternated between dust on dry days and mud on wet ones, in the heavenly cities the streets are “paved with gold” (see Verse 21).

Notice the way the urban metaphor is social and collective. It is the city that is beautiful, resplendent, shining. We have a collective identity which will be glorious, individually transformed but together with all those who have been redeemed.

How do you picture the renewal of this world and God’s people?

Tags: world, renewal, god's people