Ahh, Paris, the City of Light. It’s the dream destination of many a romantic.
Or we might visit Florence, the City of Lilies. We could try the Mother of the World, Cairo; the Fashion Capital, Milan; or fly to the Peace Capital, Geneva.
Is our appetite whetted? New Orleans is the Big Easy. Toronto is called Muddy York; and who could mistake the Big Apple, New York?
Cities around the world develop a persona that people identify with. It creates a mystique, an aura of fascination, and a pull that draws the world in.
What will one day draw people into God’s Great City? Revelation 21:10-11 reveals the ultimate mystique:
“And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”
This is the New Jerusalem, a part of the new heaven and the new earth. This is the city that God has designated as his new seat of residence when he moves from heaven to earth. Its appeal is found in the glowing, vibrant glory of God. This passage describes God’s glory as a light, shining through jasper, as radiant and as clear as a crystal. It won’t be built on the earth; rather, it will descend out of heaven to rest upon the earth.
Paris won’t be able to compare. The City of Light will be eclipsed by the Crystal City, the Jasper Stone Most Precious, the Holy Jerusalem. Florence? Forgotten. Cairo, old dead bones. Milan, last year’s news. Geneva, unnecessary. New Orleans, Toronto, and New York will pale in comparison.
The new standard will be God’s Great City, the New Jerusalem, the Shining Repository of God’s Glory. It will become the place to be, the magnetic center of people, culture, and activity. It will be the only place that matters, anymore.
When God returns for his own, the bling of the world will fade into tattered rags.
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Code: FGO.F.02.17b.vp.kjv