The Wedding We’re Waiting For
By Brett McCracken, TGC.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Rev. 21:1–2)
If to be exiled is to be separated, displaced from, or cut off from the place or people we most love, then the end of exile must mean, among other things, reunion: the coming back together of what has been kept apart through exile.
Scripture’s story arc goes from union in Genesis to reunion in Revelation. We were together with God in the garden then exiled because of our sin (Gen. 3:23–24), cut off from God’s presence until Christ purchased our reconciliation on the cross. This turning point set the course for exiled people to return, through Christ’s blood, to the paradise of God’s presence. In this glorious reunion it’ll be declared from the throne, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man” (Rev. 21:3).
The end of exile in John’s Apocalypse includes vivid imagery of climactic battles (20:7–10), God’s triumph over the “that ancient serpent” Satan (v. 2), judgment before a “great white throne” (vv. 11–13), and Babylon’s fall (18:1–24). The climactic victory over Babylon is especially sweet for the exiled church. Symbolizing all the cities of the world (in John’s day, especially Rome) who oppose God and are “drunk with the blood of the saints” (17:6), Babylon will be brought to ruin, her oppression of God’s people halted forever.
This epic victory over Satan and Babylon sets the stage for the magnificent reunion envisioned in chapters 21–22. I want to reflect here on two interrelated images of “reunion” we see in Revelation’s description of the new heavens and new earth: (1) the marriage supper of the Lamb and (2) the “garden-city” description of the new creation.
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