Thursday 16 August 2012

Background

Last month Europe's tallest building theShard was officially inaugurated. Standing at 310 metresand dominating the London skyline, it was 12 years in the making,the subject of a public enquiry and has 72 floors. Yet the questionremains: who is going to fill all that space?

People always strive to build the tallest, the longest or be thebest. It seems to be part of the human condition. Yet compare thisagainst the new Jerusalem that John the Divine (the writer ofRevelation) describes. In shape, it is a cube and in size, 1,500miles. Its vastness is beyond our imagination with its footprint(width and length) comparable in square miles to the Roman Empire.And that is before we begin to consider the fine metal and jewelsof its construction.

The cube shape is significant, as it this is the shape of theHoly of Holies in the temple in Jerusalem (1Kings 6:20), where God was said to dwell.

But now the cube is an immense city, and the whole city is God'sdwelling place.

In today's passage, John is giving is reader the vision of anultimate future. But in putting the vision down in words on paper,he is offering a peep of what is to come to the present world. Itis a glimpse of the future in the present.

Living a Christian life of faith and discipleship is aboutliving kingdom values - being in the world, but not of the world(John 17). It is about following Jesus, whosepresence, light and glory flood throughout the heavenly city.

To ponder:

• Take a moment to dream. In contrast to empty skyscrapers andoffice blocks, what and who do you imagine to be in the heavenlycity?

• Revelation stands between the present and the future - theworld and God's kingdom. Where do you signs of God's kingdom inyour life? What might you be able to do to enable "thy kingdomcome, on earth as it is in heaven"?