The wall surrounding the New Jerusalem that John sees at the end of the Revelation is described as being great and high (21.12); a wall that is made of translucent stone (whether jasper or diamond; 21.18). This wall serves the purpose of distinguishing this city from other cities whose cultures are characterized by sinful patterns of life (22.15). The culture of Christ’s church is distinct. This distinction is not created by a cold, hard, plain stone wall. The wall that distinguishes us from the rest of the world is made of precious stone and is, therefore, beautiful. This wall, being translucent, allows the glory of God that is inside the city to shine through so that the world outside the city can see the life that exists within the city.
From John’s description of the city throughout, we know that this city is the reality of the church now in Christ and is what we are becoming. It is our present. It is our future. Christ has made his bride beautiful through his death and in his resurrection. The church can come and stand before the Father in beautiful holiness united to Christ. But there is also the reality that Christ is making us into a more beautiful bride through the Spirit’s work throughout history so that we might become what we are. As the church we are to see what we are being made and deliberately have our lives now on that trajectory.
Our life together as the church should be one of dazzling beauty to the world around us. Even though glamorized, the unholy lives lived outside the church are ugly. They are twisted and distorted, leaving people in unrelievable pain and death. What they should see when they look at the church is a beautiful life. This beautiful life is nothing less than the church living together in love; a love that shuns sin and pursues holiness; a love that is joyful, forgiving, faithful, peaceful, longsuffering, kind, good, and self-controlled. These aren’t lives that are sinless, but they are lives that are not enslaved to sin; lives that are free from guilt, shame, and the everlasting devastation of sin. These are some of the beauties of the city that should distinguish us from the world around us.
The church is seen by so many as the place that only tells you what you can’t do. The world distorts our message, to be sure. But sometimes we contribute to this distortion by making the Christian life look only like of set of “don’t do that” rules. Certainly we are to “flee sexual immorality” (1Cor 6.18), abstain from murder, stealing, bearing false witness, coveting, and such the like. But we avoid these things like a jeweler avoids anything that will take away from the beauty of a gemstone: he cuts all that would distort and detract. We avoid these things because they are detrimental to what is best. As the church we must present to the world what it looks like to live beautifully together.
If the church is no different than what they experience on the job with other non-Christians, what they experience in their non-Christian families, or what they experience in their dog-eat-dog social lives, then why add the trouble of church life to their already busy, messed up lives? If there is nothing that is beautiful about our lives together that would attract them even though we still have hardships and pain, then why bother? The church should present a clear alternative to the world, not just in hard words (even though they are needed), but in a beautiful life. When we live this type of life together as the church, the wall of the New Jerusalem becomes more visible to the world around us.
