In Revelation 4:3 “He who was sitting [on the throne] was like a jasper stone” and in 21:11 New Jerusalem’s “light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone.” The whole of New Jerusalem has the same appearance as God who sits on the throne at the center of the city.
The entire wall of the New Jerusalem is built with jasper (v. 21:18), and the light of the New Jerusalem is like a jasper stone, bearing the appearance of God (4:3) to express God by her shining. God in the redeeming Lamb is the light, and the entire city is a luminary, a great light-bearer. This means that God as the divine light shines within and through the redeeming Christ, and this shining enlightens the entire city. Then the entire city becomes a light-bearer. This bearing of God’s light becomes an expression, and this expression is God’s goal.*
God’s goal, His eternal purpose, is first seen in Genesis 1:26 which says that God created man in His own image. God did not create a “mankind” but He created a man according to His kind.
The purpose of this creation is that man would receive God as life (portrayed by the tree of life in Genesis 2) so that God could express Himself through man.
God’s goal is fully completed in New Jerusalem. The Triune God is in the city, in every member of the city, supplying life by the river and the tree so that the city can be a corporate expression of God.
Republished with permission from Blogs.crossmap.com, featuring inspiring Bible verses about New Jerusalem Has the Appearance of God 43-1-4.
By Crossmap Blogs
Crossmap.com is a Christian living portal website serving the U.S. and global Christian communities. It is pan-denominational, viewing all Christian denominations as equal constituents of the body of Christ, and all Crossmap staff and contributors adhere to our statement of faith.
