T. Desmond Alexander
Beginnings and endings matter to people. How did it start? How will it finish? The Bible addresses these questions on a grand scale. It begins with the creation of the heavens and the earth, and it ends with the creation of new heavens and new earth. God is responsible for both events, and both are intimately linked. Marking the beginning and ending of all that the Bible says, there is good reason to read the opening chapters of Genesis and the final chapters of Revelation in the light of each other.
While we might initially imagine that the Garden of Eden in Genesis 2–3 has little in common with New Jerusalem, the mega city of Revelation 21–22, both locations are connected by references to the “tree of life.” Located in the middle of the Garden of Eden, the “tree of life” stands alongside the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” (Gen 2:9). Whereas the latter plays a prominent role in the events that unfold, involving Adam and Eve’s betrayal of God (Gen 3:1–7), exclusion from the “tree of life” underlines the devastating nature of the punishment pronounced by God (Gen 3:22–24).
Although the two trees are both located in the middle of the garden, eating their fruit brings contrasting outcomes. The fruit from the “tree of the knowledge of good and evil” brings death to the human couple. In marked contrast, eating from the “tree of life” offers eternal life. For this reason, after their disobedience, God bars the human couple from accessing the “tree of life.” Their exclusion leaves them and their descendants in a world where death dominates their existence.
While the Book of Proverbs mentions a “tree of life” on a number of occasions (3:18; 11:30; 13:12; 15:4), none of these refers to the “tree of life” in the Garden of Eden. Remarkably, aside from Genesis 2–3, the “tree of life” is only mentioned elsewhere in the Bible in the Book of Revelation. Introduced by a brief reference to it in Revelation 2:7, the tree reappears in the description of New Jerusalem in 21:1–22:5. The apostle John writes:
Then he showed me the river of the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the city’s main street. The tree of life was on each side of the river, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, producing its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree are for healing the nations, and there will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will worship him. (Rev 22:1–3; CSB)
Whereas Genesis 3 focuses on how God prevents humans from eating of the tree of life, Revelation 22 emphasizes the tree’s remarkable fruitfulness and associates its presence in New Jerusalem with “the healing of the nations.” The two scenes could not be more different. In John’s utopian vision, people are no longer excluded from enjoying the benefits of the life-giving tree. While the biblical story begins with humans becoming alienated from God, it concludes with a picture of people flourishing harmoniously in God’s presence.
The transformed relationship between God and humanity comes through a process of redemption initiated by God. Against the background of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, God promises that one of Eve’s descendants will overthrow the mysterious serpent, who tempts the human couple to disregard God’s instructions (Gen 3:15). This God-opposing serpent is later revealed to be the devil or Satan (Rev 12:9; 20:2). Ultimately, God’s pronouncement against the serpent finds its fulfilment in Jesus Christ, who defeats the powers of evil, redeeming those who are enslaved to the evil one.
While the overarching biblical story involves restoration, it is also a story of transformation. When God created this world, his intention was for its human population to increase numerically and fill the earth (Gen 1:28). In this way, they would create a city where God himself would dwell. What begins as a garden suitable for two people is meant to expand to become a metropolis, where people will flourish in the presence of their Creator.
As the early chapters of Genesis reveal, those expelled from Eden aspire to build a city, but their enterprise is undertaken to fulfil purely human aspirations. Motivated by a spirit of hubris, the self-confident builders of Babel/Babylon1 suppose that they can bridge the gap between heaven and earth through the construction of an enormous tower (Gen 11:1–9). Their arrogant folly is punished by God.
Out of this crisis, God called Abraham to be the father of many nations (Gen 17:4–5), establishing a line of descendants that will eventually lead to Jesus Christ. Those who trust God, as Abraham did, will be blessed through Jesus Christ (Gal 3:7–9).
As the divine plan of salvation gradually takes shape in the Old Testament, Jerusalem is established as the earthly city where God comes to dwell. He resides in a temple constructed by Solomon on Mount Zion. While this is a partial fulfilment of God’s creation plan, it merely models imperfectly what God will ultimately bring into existence. The Jerusalem where God takes up residence temporarily foreshadows a more permanent city. We see this expectation expressed most vividly in the Book of Isaiah.
The prophet Isaiah lived towards the end of the eighth century BC. As an anthology of his oracles, the Book of Isaiah begins by highlighting the corruption that permeated the highest levels of society in Jerusalem. The city falls short of being the holy place that God desires. Behind a mask of religiosity, the people’s behaviour is loathsome to God. Isaiah predicts that Jerusalem will be destroyed.
A short parable illustrates well Isaiah’s message to the people. Isaiah compares the city to a walled vineyard that produces bitter grapes (Isa 5:1–7). Disappointed and frustrated by the worthless vines, the owner of the vineyard pulls down its walls and abandons it so that it becomes a wasteland. According to Isaiah, a similar fate will befall Jerusalem due to the immoral behaviour of its citizens.
Yet beyond judgement Isaiah foretells salvation. God will restore Jerusalem. Isaiah speaks of how Jerusalem will be rebuilt by a foreign king, a Persian monarch named Cyrus (Isa 44:28–45:1). This happens in the late sixth century BC, decades after the Babylonian destruction of Jerusalem in 586 BC. Strikingly, Cyrus is described as the Lord’s anointed (Isa 45:1), a designation that is normally associated with the divinely appointed kings who rule over Israel and Judah. The same concept underlies the terms mashiah, and its Greek equivalent christos, both of which mean “anointed one,” and from which we derive in English the words Messiah and Christ.
Although Isaiah highlights Cyrus’ role as a gentile “Messiah” who rescues Judeans from exile in Babylon, Cyrus is not the only divinely appointed figure anticipated in the Book of Isaiah. Importantly, Isaiah speaks more fully of a “servant of the Lord” who will play a vital role in the creation of a righteous Jerusalem that will be truly faithful to God. In various oracles Isaiah describes how this transformed Jerusalem will be prized by God (e.g., Isa 60:1–22; 62:1–12; 65:17–25). It will be no ordinary city. It will be a city marked by righteousness and well-being, where people will live together in safety, having all that is necessary to enjoy life. It will be a cosmopolitan city, where the nations will gather in peace to be taught by God. It will be a city where death will no longer impacts the lives of those who live there.
Isaiah’s vision of this utopian Jerusalem far exceeds anything that occurred when the Judean exiles returned from Babylon. It entails more than restoration; Isaiah predicts a new creation. We see this most clearly in Isaiah 65:17–18 where the creation of this utopian Jerusalem corresponds to the creation of a new earth and new heavens:
“See, I will create
new heavens and a new earth.
The former things will not be remembered,
nor will they come to mind.
But be glad and rejoice forever
in what I will create,
for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight
and its people a joy.” (NIV)
Echoing the opening verse of Genesis, God associates the creation of a new earth with the creation of a new Jerusalem.
Old Testament scholar Gary Smith offers an inspiring summary of how Isaiah’s oracles portray the Jerusalem that God will make when he recreates the heavens and the earth. He writes:
When chapters 65–66 refer to the new heavens and new earth, they recall earlier texts, in which Jerusalem will be called “the city of righteousness, a faithful city” (1:26), where God will teach the Torah to people from many nations (2:3), where the Prince of Peace will reign forever on the throne of David (9:6–7), and where the remnant of God’s people will gather (11:10–11). Believers from Egypt and Assyria and many other nations will be there with all the faithful and humble Israelites (19:19–25; 66:18–22), enjoying God’s lavish banquet (25:6). Death will have vanished from the new earth (25:8; 30:19). In the heavens the light from the sun will change (30:26; 60:19), God’s Spirit will be poured out on His people (32:15), and Zion will be filled with gladness and joyful shouting (35:10). People will shout the good news that God is reigning (40:5; 52:7; 60:1–2), the Suffering Servant will have forgiven the sins of many (52:13–53:12), and Zion will be so full of people that there will be no room for them all (54:1–17; 60:3–17).2
In the light of all that Isaiah says, there can be little doubt that his vision of Jerusalem corresponds with that of the apostle John recorded in Revelation 21–22. Prophet and apostle both testify to a future city that is the goal of God’s creative and redemptive activity.
With such an ending in view, it is worth recalling how the apostle Paul, in writing to the church in Galatia, contrasts the present Jerusalem with a “Jerusalem that is above” (Gal 4:25–26). Elsewhere he tells the church in Philippi that “our citizenship is in heaven.” In a similar vein, the author of Hebrews encourages his readers to seek “the city that is to come” (Heb 13:14), “the heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb 12:22).
While these New Testament passages focus on a “heavenly Jerusalem,” we should revisit John’s vision in Revelation 21.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Rev 21:1–4; NIV)
John speaks of the new Jerusalem descending from heaven to earth. The coming together of heaven and earth brings the biblical story to an awesome climax. This picture of the city’s descent from heaven is reinforced as John proceeds to describe how an angel takes him to a great, high mountain.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Rev 21:9–10; NIV)
In the final chapters of Revelation, John’s vision of New Jerusalem follows on from a vision of “Babylon.” The two cities stand in stark contrast to one another. Babylon already exists on this earth as a symbol of godless society. In keeping with humanity’s rejection of God, Babylon is portrayed as a faithless woman, who entices humans with her gawdy clothing and promiscuous living. As John writes, “With her the kings of the earth committed adultery, and the inhabitants of the earth were intoxicated with the wine of her adulteries” (Rev 17:2; NIV). By way of contrast, New Jerusalem is pictured as a faithful bride.
From John’s perspective the future descent of New Jerusalem to a new earth marks the end of Babylon and the beginning of a new era in a transformed world. While New Jerusalem is located on a high mountain, Babylon is associated with a wilderness (Rev 17:3). For the present, John’s readers experience life as aliens or exiles in Babylon. One day, however, they will enjoy fullness of life in New Jerusalem. With poetic beauty, Isaiah prophetically captures something of the homeward journey that the exiles in Babylon will experience. As God brings the wilderness to life, they will come joyfully to Zion with singing. Isaiah foresees a transformed world:
[1] The desert and the parched land will be glad;
the wilderness will rejoice and blossom.
[2] Like the crocus, it will burst into bloom;
it will rejoice greatly and shout for joy.
The glory of Lebanon will be given to it,
the splendor of Carmel and Sharon;
they will see the glory of the Lord,
the splendor of our God.
[3] Strengthen the feeble hands,
steady the knees that give way;
[4] say to those with fearful hearts,
“Be strong, do not fear;
your God will come,
he will come with vengeance;
with divine retribution
he will come to save you.”
[5] Then will the eyes of the blind be opened
and the ears of the deaf unstopped.
[6] Then will the lame leap like a deer,
and the mute tongue shout for joy.
Water will gush forth in the wilderness
and streams in the desert.
[7] The burning sand will become a pool,
the thirsty ground bubbling springs.
In the haunts where jackals once lay,
grass and reeds and papyrus will grow.
[8] And a highway will be there;
it will be called the Way of Holiness;
it will be for those who walk on that Way.
The unclean will not journey on it;
wicked fools will not go about on it.
[9] No lion will be there,
nor any ravenous beast;
they will not be found there.
But only the redeemed will walk there,
[10] and those the Lord has rescued will return.
They will enter Zion with singing;
everlasting joy will crown their heads.
Gladness and joy will overtake them,
and sorrow and sighing will flee away. (Isaiah 35:1–10; NIV)
With such hope, let us live here and now as citizens of the city that is to come, awaiting faithfully and patiently that day when God will make all things new.
T. Desmond Alexander is Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies at Union Theological College in Belfast, Northern Ireland. He is the author of many books, including From Eden to the New Jerusalem: An Introduction to Biblical Theology, From Paradise to Promised Land: An Introduction to the Pentateuch, and The City of God and the Goal of Creation.
Image: Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld, The New Jerusalem
- The Hebrew name of the city is babel. Elsewhere in the OT this name is normally rendered “Babylon” in English translations.[↩]
- G. V. Smith, “Isaiah 65–66: The Destiny of God’s Servants in a New Creation,” Bibliotheca Sacra, 171 (2014): 50–51.[↩]