(1) And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. (2) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (3) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
Whether what is here said hath respect to the Church, during the thousand years' reign of Christ with his saints, or whether after the day of general judgment, is not so clearly said, as to determine positively. But the felicity here described, cannot but make every child of God to be longing for such a blessed time, when nothing shall any longer interrupt the joy of the Lord's people. Paul, when comforting the Church, under the various dissatisfactions arising from everything here below, points to this blessed time, and sums up the whole account in those precious soul-reviving expressions. So shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore, comfort one another with these words! 1 Thessalonians 4:18
If I might venture to give my present views of the subject, I would say, that both this, and the succeeding Chapter, are more directed to show the blessedness of the Church in the thousand years reign of Christ and his people, than touching upon that eternal state, which is to follow. The Prophet Isaiah was directed by the Holy Ghost, to tell the Church of the new heavens, and the new earth, the Lord would create; and all the blessed consequences which should follow, Isaiah 65:17 to the end. And, in another of his Chapter s the Prophet gives a very similar description of the Church to what John saw in vision, as recorded in this Chapter. Compare Isaiah 60:1 throughout. All which correspond to the Church on earth.
And, when we consider what follows, of the tabernacle of God dwelling with men, and being with them; we certainly cannot be said to do violence to the scripture, even if interpreted with an eye to the change wrought by grace in the Lord's people, when called from darkness to light. Old things are then passed away, and all things are become new, 2 Corinthians 5:17
But what seems most decidedly to favor the opinion, that it is the Church in Christ's reigning with his saints, which John saw, and is here described, is because this Church is said to come down from heaven, and descends of course on the earth; which would not have been so expressed, one should think, if the eternal state of the Church in glory, were intended; for that is uniformly spoken of through all the scripture, as being in heaven.
The holy city, which John saw coming from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, gives a very blessed idea of the felicities in this reign of Christ. But it opens also to a subject connected with it, of a very sweet and spiritual nature. I will beg the indulgence of the Reader to touch upon it. I am free to confess, that, however it might be more gratifying to the generality of Readers, to enter upon a description of what is here said, concerning the glories of this New Jerusalem; I do not feel competent to it. Neither do I consider it can be profitable; for if it had, the Holy Ghost would have done it to our hands. It is sufficient, it should seem, to that blessed Spirit, to state the fact but; but further. The Lord means, in all things, to glorify Jesus, and not to gratify curiosity.
But in the sweet and precious subject, in what is here said, of the tabernacle of God being with men, and dwelling with them; here we have a discourse, of the most gracious, the most blessed, yea, of the most glorious nature. Allow me to state some few of the many delightful things contained in it.
And, first. The tabernacling of the Son of God in our nature, I mean, in taking what he did in that holy, pure, and perfect portion of humanity, hath been, and ever must be, a subject of everlasting wonder, love, and praise. But that the Son of God should make choice, as he hath done, in every instance, more or less, of his redeemed to come in, and dwell in an heart inhabited before by Satan, and a cage of unclean birds; here the astonishment ariseth yet higher.
Secondly. The design of the Lord in this dispensation is to demonstrate his love, and the exceeding riches of his grace, in these wonderful acts of our God. While the heaven, and the heaven of heavens, cannot contain him, and the heavens are not clean in his sight; the Lord chooseth the heart of a sinner for his residence. Now, Reader! observe, among a thousand things in it, which must forever excite wonder, and show that his thoughts are not our thoughts, neither his ways our ways; here is one sweet cause for such an act of unequalled grace, as must forever endear the Lord to the heart of his people; namely, it is the only way, whereby he should show to us, his peerless mercy. For, supposing God hath first made us holy; yea, supposing he had so ordered, that we had never sinned; but having made us what we might have thought holy tabernacles in his people for his residence, and taken us to heaven at once; we should indeed have had to have loved him for his love; admired him for his wisdom, and praised him for his power; but then we should have lost, yea, never known one sweet and precious attribute of our God, namely, his mercy. Whereas the scripture most sweetly, and blessedly teacheth us, that the Lord delighteth in mercy, Micah 7:18. And how, or by what means, could the Lord show forth his delight in the exercise of it, but upon objects of misery? Well, then, if the Lord delighteth in mercy, and the Lord delighteth to be known by those be loves, in the free, and full, and everlasting exercise of mercy, he must find objects to show it upon. So then, saith the Lord, it shall be. If those I have loved, with an everlasting, love, and chosen to be holy and without blame before me in love in my dear Son, fall into sin and misery, I will magnify my free, and sovereign mercy, in bringing them out of it; and this shall be the way, by redemption in his blood, that I will cause my mercy to shine to the utmost. And thus the scripture speaks concerning it. God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he hath roved as, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, Ephesians 2:5. In whom we have redemption through his blood the forgiveness of sins according to the riches of his grace, Ephesians 1:7
Thirdly. But what still tends to heighten the mercy more is, that God most evidently manifests all along, that there is nothing in the objects of his love, from first to last, that hath the least concern in this transaction. It is not their misery, that first awakened his love and mercy; for both were in exercise, not only before they had done either good or evil, but even before they had any being. These plans of God, were before sin, before sorrow, before the world was formed. The Lord laid his foundation deep and low, to bring about the purposes of his will; and therefore, in the vast contrivance, the Lord gave scope for the exercise of all these attributes, wisdom, love, and power; and mercy to be brought forth into the fullest display of its riches, when the sin of his people rendered it so necessary. Reader! pause over this view of the subject; for, according to my apprehension of it, nothing can be more sweet, and precious. Your misery, and my misery, by reason of our sins, are not the cause of God's mercy; for neither our deservings, or undeservings, are at all considered as motives with the Lord for the display of his grace: (for if this had been the case, it would cease to be grace.) But God, who is rich is mercy, for his great love wherewith he hath loved us, takes occasion, from our misery, to make known his mercy, yea, and the fulness of it also in his dear Son. He, therefore, displays his grace, the riches of his grace, yea, the exceeding riches of his grace, in such a way, and manner, as shall magnify the glories of his name, in bestowing the aboundings of his mercy, to overwhelm, and do away the aboundings of sin, that where sin hath abounded, grace shall much more abound; and as sin hath reigned unto death, even so shall grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life, through Jesus Christ our Lord, Romans 5:20-21
Fourthly. One of the sweetest feelings of the soul also, under these gracious workings of grace from the Lord, ariseth out of it; namely, that in the ebbings and flowings of the mind, when visited by those high tides of God's love and mercy, his tabernacling with his people, and his manifestations, that he is at home in his dwelling, is when their emptiness, and brokenness of heart, makes his presence so seasonably great, and refreshing. Our hearts are often like empty walls, and blessed it is to be so. For when we have nothing, and are nothing, yea, worse than nothing, stripped of all, no chair to sit on, not a table to eat upon, nothing, yea, nothing to put upon it, no purse, no scrip, nor money in our purse, with souls sinking, and hearts fainting, and brought down to the very floor of sorrow; then, to behold the Lord coming in, with love in his heart, and a fulness of grace in his hands; and supplying all we need, in himself, and from himself, in his rich bounty: oh! the blessedness of all this? Oh! who would not wish to be emptied of everything, and all our trumpery furniture tumbled into the street, that Christ may come in, take possession of our whole souls, and be our God, our all, and our portion forever!
Lastly, to add no more. Our God must be glorified, and our God must have all the glory. In nature, in providence, in grace, in glory, creatures can add nothing, can bring nothing, can offer nothing. Yea, our very praises for Christ, and all the benefits with Christ, can add nothing to God's glory. His glory is in himself. His glory is from himself, to himself. As we brought nothing to our first creation in nature; so neither can we bring anything to our new creation in grace. If the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; it is all of pure, free, sovereign love, and grace. And as God declares, that he hath chosen a broken, and a contrite heart, for his throne; certainly it is his own free choice, and for his own glory, that He is thus pleased to make it so. And blessed be the Lord, for such revelations of his will and pleasure; for now I find, that my nothingness, and emptiness, are exactly suited for his fulness, and all-sufficiency. Lord! drive every buyer and seller from thy temple, even my poor soul; and make it thy fee-simple, and inheritance, as it is justly thine both by creation and redemption, thine forever.