Day Eighty-Eight -- From Eden to the New Jerusalem
Revelation 18:1--22:21
So many thoughts. So much to say; and yet how much more really needs to be said? To try and unravel the images in Revelation is beyond the scope of this blog and the present energy of this writer. To select one or another image or verse on which to comment is also difficult. There is the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. There is the completeness within God of all that is as the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. There is the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven with its pearly gates and streets of gold. There is the eternal glory of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb dwelling not in a temple but within the holy city that needs neither the sun or the moon to shine upon it.
So what did I select? "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse." (Revelation 22:1-3a). I personally see within this vision the restoration of the unity between God and humanity that originally existed in Creation and the Garden of Eden. In a way the whole story of the Bible is about Divine Mercy seeking to bring us back from our separation with God and our enmity with one another. Our Promised Land is not to be found in the transient nature of this life but in the eternal Mystery and Love that is God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
At least that's how I see it as I write these words. I'm sure that a thousand other thoughts will come to me later. Nothing more to say at his point, however. So I leave it in the hands of God, my Maker and my Redeemer. Amen.
So many thoughts. So much to say; and yet how much more really needs to be said? To try and unravel the images in Revelation is beyond the scope of this blog and the present energy of this writer. To select one or another image or verse on which to comment is also difficult. There is the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. There is the completeness within God of all that is as the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. There is the new Jerusalem coming down from heaven with its pearly gates and streets of gold. There is the eternal glory of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb dwelling not in a temple but within the holy city that needs neither the sun or the moon to shine upon it.
So what did I select? "Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse." (Revelation 22:1-3a). I personally see within this vision the restoration of the unity between God and humanity that originally existed in Creation and the Garden of Eden. In a way the whole story of the Bible is about Divine Mercy seeking to bring us back from our separation with God and our enmity with one another. Our Promised Land is not to be found in the transient nature of this life but in the eternal Mystery and Love that is God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
At least that's how I see it as I write these words. I'm sure that a thousand other thoughts will come to me later. Nothing more to say at his point, however. So I leave it in the hands of God, my Maker and my Redeemer. Amen.
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