February 22: FAITHFUL OR UNFAITHFUL? YOU CHOOSE
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Revelation 21:9
John had been given a stunning vision, from a distance, of the holy city of God as it descended toward the earth, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (v.2). Several vital points are stressed regarding the new – actually restored – order of creation which centers upon the glorious, unveiled presence of God with His people (v.3), and includes the permanent end of every source of sadness and pain and all of the resulting sorrows (v.4). His faithful promise to make all things new and the pronouncement of its fulfillment, “It is done!” follows (vv.5-6). Often in Scripture, such prophetic pronouncements are expressed in the past tense. God’s perfect plan is so certain that it is already complete in His mind, and we are to trust His word as true, faithful, and done! This is the divine antidote to worry, stress, and negative thinking.
The insertion of the terrible list of those who fall short of trusting Christ (v.8) is placed for contrast. The Creator must – out of love for all of His creatures – lift from His creation the offense of lawlessness (Matthew 13:41). The permanent removal of sin itself must include those who refuse to give it up. This is an act of mercy, as sin only leads to misery. The list of sins is included now as a solemn reminder that no one is forcing anyone to choose this for themselves and highlights the redemptive power of Christ to save and to sanctify, to cleanse and purify.
Today John is invited to come and see those who asked to be lifted out of sin’s mire. The angel who invites John is one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues. Very likely, this is the same angel who showed him the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters (17:1). The vision of the wife of the Lamb brings to mind the attempted deception of substituting counterfeits for the genuine: God has a faithful bride and Satan has an unfaithful harlot. God has a heavenly city of peace, and Satan has an earthly city of confusion. The combined metaphors of a woman and a city blend into one. The genuine is the New Jerusalem…prepared as a bride (21:2) and the counterfeit: The woman whom [John] saw is that great city which reigns over the kings of the earth (17:18).
God leaves it up to each of us to choose a “city” of citizenship and a “husband” to love, serve, and obey. The great city of Babylon is fallen, is fallen (Isaiah 21:9; Revelation 14:8;18:2) and her unfaithful, polygamous “husband” has become a horror, and shall be no more forever (Ezekiel 28:19). Satan knows his time is short (Revelation 12:12).
“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel {Jesus is the real Israel, the Ultimate Overcomer (John 16:33) and is the head of this household} and with the house of Judah {those whose hearts are circumcised (see Romans 2:29)}—not according to the covenant I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the LORD. Jeremiah 31:31-32
(For further study: read Jeremiah 50 & 51)