We all like to give good news to people, and we share our
happiness with the one who brings us the good news. Is it possible to be the bearer of any better
news than the Lord returning. Isaiah
envisions the watchmen on the walls seeing the Lord coming to the city of
Jerusalem and the joy they would feel and share with one another as they
celebrate the establishment of the city as the city of God. We bear that same good news to the entire
world in Jesus and yet the world doesn't necessarily rejoice at the news. The city, in fact, rejoiced one day and
acclaimed Him and then within the week they were shouting "Crucify
Him!" Do we long for the coming of
the Lord so that when He returns the news will be more welcome than anything
else we could imagine?
Jesus has aroused the Pharisees against Himself. They were the religious vanguard of the day,
the ones who kept the Law, who determined righteousness and enforced the
Law. They were the respected ones in the
church, the ones who were perceived as the religious elite. They hated Jesus partly because they
determined Him to be unrighteous for the things He did on the Sabbath, for His
teaching which contradicted their own, and largely because the people were
going out after Him instead of following them.
Their hegemony was being threatened.
Jesus, however, withdrew from confrontation with them at this time and
reached back to a prophetic word concerning not the Jews but the Gentiles who
would hope in Him. He was not primarily
the Messiah for the Gentiles but the rejection by the Jews opened the door for
us to come into the kingdom and covenant.
The Good News has come to us as well.
In the new city the lamp of God is the Lamb of God. He is the lamp through which the radiance of
God shines. Think of the tabernacle and
temple and the glory of the Lord settling there in Exodus 40 and I Kings 8 and
the amazing sight that must have been as the glory of the Lord filled those
structures. This is how it will be in
the new Jerusalem all the time. The city
will know no darkness and all who come to the city will bring glory to it, she
will be the dwelling place of God. It is
too much to imagine. How wonderful and
thrilling it must have been for John to have received this vision. The only thing better than receiving it would
have been sharing it. Have you shared it
lately?
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