“And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’ And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’” (Revelation 21:3-4)
As John’s vision of the Lord’s Revelation draws to a close, he sees an image of the eternal kingdom, a new creation with images drawn from Genesis 1 and 2 as well as the Old Testament prophets. The eternal Kingdom is the Church, the bride of Christ. She descends from above, from God, indicating that all of the beauty, purity and radiance she possesses is the work and glory of God. We have been saved and sanctified, made holy by Him. We have performed works of righteousness all by His strength and His grace.
It is Jesus who is making and will make all things new. He is not rebuilding the old earth on the ashes of the old, but is recreating all things, a new way of dwelling with His people. Such is the image of the Bride of Christ. We should also be comforted by this image of the bride for it demonstrates how highly the Lord loves and values us. And, as His bride, we will be intimately united with Him in eternity.
Consequently, we ought to live now in this Kingdom. We ought to eschew the values and promises of the world in favor of that glory now for our citizenship in that heavenly Kingdom. Our membership by faith in that Kingdom is worth infinitely more than all that we strive for in life and all that we hold onto so dearly. It is worth all of our life, time, effort, sacrifice and suffering. In His kingdom we find peace, joy, solace, comfort, and healing from all the hurts we have endured in this life. We will never want for anything. We will never need to be afraid of anything. These are things all people desire and seek in the world but never find. People also fear darkness, evil, chaos, the unknown and all that which is beyond human control. We fear that as well. Yet in the eternal Kingdom there is no darkness, no chaos, nothing to fear. The Lord who loves us and values us is in control.