Smeagol is Free!
A hermitudinal view of...stuff...


9.22.2006  

Word

Revelation 21:9 - 27
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, "Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

It was about a year and a half ago, now. I'd been doing some research for my paper in Dr. Wellum's Theology III class, and the material I needed to dig into included Revelation 19, 21, and 22. I don't remember precisely what the occasion was, but I do recall Scott telling me something he'd recently heard concerning the dimensions of the holy city, new Jerusalem. He said that the only two perfect cubes described in Scripture were in Revelation 21, where the dimensions for the New Jerusalem were given, as well as in Exodus, where the dimensions for the holy of holies are given.

Wow.

Can you imagine what knowing this would have meant to one of the ancient Jews? They were the ones to whom such strict Law had been given, who were chosen to see and experience with such aching intimacy the transcendence and holiness of the LORD. In particular, I think of the priests, especially the high priests. The holy reverence with which they had to live their lives is one that I would do well to claim as my own. The high priest could enter the holy of holies to make atonement for sins but once a year, and even then, there was a promise of death if he did not find himself clean before the Holy One of Israel. Do you think he had a sense of reverence and awe before the LORD? When was the last time I felt such reverent fear? *Sigh*...

I wonder, what would such a priest think were he to find that the holy of holies, that innermost sanctum wherein one would find oneself in the presence of the Living God, was but a foretaste of the perfection of God's holy presence in heaven? And that in heaven, in the new Jerusalem, there would be no fear of death, but only holy joy in knowing the bitter taste of sin would never wash over our his soul again? Maybe one day, I'll ask such a priest...

posted by Bolo | 11:58 PM
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