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Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2 I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."
5 He who was seated on the throne said, "I am making everything new!" Then he said, "Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true."
Revelation21:1-5
We've reached the final Act in Revelation. Here's what we've seen so far:
1. The church in the world (with seven letters to seven churches)
2. The suffering of the church (with seven seals opened)
3. Warnings to the world (with seven trumpets blown)
4. The Drama of history (described in seven visions)
5. The punishment of evil (poured out of seven bowls)
6. Evil personified as Babylon (judged in seven words)
7. The Drama behind history (key characters in seven visions)
For anyone familiar with the Old Testament this set of seven sevens should have theirs instincts twitching because 7X7=49 and this heralds the "Year of Jubilee" which was a socio-economic-political concept in the Law which was unfortunately never practised. The idea was that after seven cycles of seven years, the _fiftieth_ year would be a year in which debts were cancelled, slaves set free, land restored to rightful owners, and oppression dealt with.
It was meant to be a cyclical "reset/reboot" button for the economy and society. It was meant to give people a taste of what things would be like with God in charge instead of tyranny-tending-humanity.
It never happened.
God's people simply did not have the courage or the internal generosity to implement it. Our sinful nature rebelled against it.
The Age of the Church culminates in the coming of Christ and when He comes, the debts of those who belong to Him will be cancelled and the world will be restored and suffering will end. This passage is a beautiful image of this.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
