This Article: (7 Pages)
1) New Jerusalem
The following is an architectural discourse. Over the eighteen years the author has been immersed in architecture she has gained an ever deeper appreciation, and awe, of the absolute brilliance of the buildings and objects the Creator has designed. This knowledge, a gift of God, will be used to investigate the construction of the future.
The Revelation to John concludes with a picture of a future time when a holy city is to come down from God out of heaven, which is called “New Jerusalem”.
I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready like a bride adorned for her husband. (Rev. 21:2)
The first thing to notice about this city is that it is likened to a “bride”. Architects make extensive use of analogy. Buildings are like anything from 'ribbons' to 'onions'. Also buildings are personified and are often described as having 'skins'. The analogy describes a characteristic that can be seen in the real building. For example, the 'ribbon' will be seen as a thin bit of steel that looks like a huge ribbon, or the 'onion' will relate to real layers of wall. The 'skin' is cladding.
In what way will this city be like a bride? We are told that it is “adorned”, meaning dressed or covered. But this city has more characteristics that relate to a bride than the adornment. An angel came and told John the following:
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, "Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb's bride." 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. (Revelation 21:9 WEB)
Here it says that the city is an analogy for the Lamb's bride. First we are told the city is like a bride. Now we are told the bride is like a city! In what way is the bride like a city? The verse says that it “has the glory of God”. We will return to this point.
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