“I also saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2 HCSB).
John saw the “Holy City,” the “new Jerusalem,” come down. This is the very place that Christ went to prepare, saying, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3).
He was following the same pattern as any Jewish groom would in the 1st century. Marriages had two ceremonies in those days: First, the betrothal ceremony and then, the wedding ceremony. The groom and his father would pay the agreed upon bride price at the betrothal ceremony. Then, the groom would return to his father’s house to prepare a place for his bride, usually adding on a room or two to his father’s house. Finally, the groom would go to get his bride and bring her to his father’s house on their wedding day, celebrating with a great banquet.
The “New Jerusalem” is the place that the Lord Jesus has prepared for us! The Father has already paid the price for our betrothal when He sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus has risen and returned to His Father’s house to prepare a place for us. Very soon He will return to take us to be with Him.
As my sweet mother used to sing, “I’m bound for that city, God’s home, that bright city. O yes I am!” For the New Jerusalem is both a place and a people. It is the place Christ has prepared for His Bride, which is the Church of the living God! Are you bound for that city?
PRAYER: Dear Father, we are the Church, the Bride of Christ. You have paid the bride price by sending Your Son to pay for our sins. Now we await the wedding day, when Christ shall return and the New Jerusalem, the place prepared for us, shall be our home. In Jesus’ name, amen.
This is a proverb made more timely by the current culture’s low view of marriage. Neither the art of being a wife, nor a husband are held in high regard today. Yet, for those who would have a marriage as God designed, desiring to experience the joy and bliss of such a divine estate, the Proverbs 31 description of a godly wife, is well… more precious than rubies!
As a young man, I was overwhelmed by the prospect of finding a wife. As with most men, my eye was attracted to outward beauty. Yet, I soon found this an uncertain indicator of inner grace (as my mother had warned). Even listening to my pastor’s sermons, who taught us not to date those outside the faith, I struggled with uncertainty. How could I be sure that I had found the right one? I mean, this whole “two shall become one” stuff is a pretty big deal and then you add on “till death do us part,” and I was terrified of making a mistake.
That’s when I began to pray for a Proverbs 31 wife. I would go through the list of attributes and pray that God was preparing such a wife for me. In the process of doing this, I began to wonder whether I was worthy of such a wife. Didn’t I need to be a Proverbs 31 husband too? So, I began to pray a two part prayer: “Lord, make me worthy of such a wife and help me find her when the time is right.”
This coming June will mark 44 years of marriage to my dear wife, Robin. This is a thing that God has done. He prepared us for each other before we ever met. He led us to find each other. And He has knit us together through many joys and sorrows along the way. Neither of us would have fit the Proverbs 31 description when we first started, but in our commitment to God and to one another, the Lord has done this work in us.
If you are looking to find a Proverbs 31 wife (or husband), first learn to be satisfied in your relationship with God, asking Him to make you more and more like Jesus, which is His purpose for you. Pray for your future mate, that God is doing the same for them. Then, ask God to lead you to one another when the time is right.
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You for the blessing of marriage. For it is a foreshadowing of that reality we have as the Church with Christ, the Bridegroom. We pray for those who are single, that they would be found content and whole in You. We pray for the married, that we too would find ultimate fulfillment in You. For it is from You that all blessings flow. In Jesus’ name, amen.
John saw the “Holy City,” the “new Jerusalem,” come down. This is the very place that Christ went to prepare, saying, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3).
He was following the same pattern as any Jewish groom would in the 1st century. Marriages had two ceremonies in those days: First, the betrothal ceremony and then, the wedding ceremony. The groom and his father would pay the agreed upon bride price at the betrothal ceremony. Then, the groom would return to his father’s house to prepare a place for his bride, usually adding on a room or two to his father’s house. Finally, the groom would go to get his bride and bring her to his father’s house on their wedding day, celebrating with a great banquet.
The “New Jerusalem” is the place that the Lord Jesus has prepared for us! The Father has already paid the price for our betrothal when He sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus has risen and returned to His Father’s house to prepare a place for us. Very soon He will return to take us to be with Him.
As my sweet mother used to sing, “I’m bound for that city, God’s home, that bright city. O yes I am!”
PRAYER: Dear Father, we are the Church, the Bride of Christ. You have paid the bride price by sending Your Son to pay for our sins. Now we await the wedding day, when Christ shall return and the New Jerusalem, the place prepared for us, shall be our home. In Jesus’ name, amen.
John saw the “holy city,” the “New Jerusalem,” come down. This is the very place that Christ went to prepare, saying, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3).
He was following the same pattern as any Jewish groom would in the 1st century. Marriages had two ceremonies in those days: First, the betrothal ceremony and then, the wedding ceremony. The groom and his father would pay the agreed upon bride price at the betrothal ceremony. Then, the groom would return to his father’s house to prepare a place for his bride, usually adding on a room or two to his father’s house. Finally, the groom would go to get his bride and bring her to his father’s house on their wedding day, celebrating with a great banquet.
The “New Jerusalem” is the place that the Lord Jesus has prepared for us! The Father has already paid the price for our betrothal when He sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus has risen and returned to His Father’s house to prepare a place for us. Very soon He will return to take us to be with Him.
As my sweet mother used to sing, “I’m bound for that city, God’s home, that bright city. O yes I am!”
PRAYER: Dear Father, we are the Church, the Bride of Christ. You have paid the bride price by sending Your Son to pay for our sins. Now we await the wedding day, when Christ shall return and the New Jerusalem, the place prepared for us, shall be our home. In Jesus’ name, amen.
“I’m Bound for That City” – Sung by Wilda Dillon Combs
John saw the “holy city,” the “New Jerusalem,” coming down from heaven. This is the very place that Christ went to prepare, saying, “In my Father’s house are many mansions. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3).
He was following the same pattern as any Jewish groom would in the 1st century. Marriages had two ceremonies in those days: First, the betrothal ceremony and then, the wedding ceremony. The groom and his father would pay the agreed upon bride price at the betrothal ceremony. Then, the groom would return to his father’s house to prepare a place for his bride, usually adding on a room or two to his father’s house. Finally, the groom would go to get his bride and bring her to his father’s house on their wedding day, celebrating with a great banquet.
The “New Jerusalem” is the place that the Lord Jesus has prepared for us! The Father has already paid the price for our betrothal when He sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus has risen and returned to His Father’s house to prepare a place for us. Very soon He will return to take us to be with Him.
As my sweet mother used to sing, “I’m bound for that city, God’s home, that bright city. O yes I am!”
PRAYER: Dear Father, thank You that You have bought us out of sin by the blood of Your Son, Jesus. We are Yours. We know that Jesus is even now keeping His promise to prepare an eternal home for us in the New Jerusalem. We sometimes lose sight of our future home, but today we remember. We shall spend eternity with You! Thank You Father. In Jesus’ name, amen.
This is a proverb made more timely by the current culture’s low view of marriage. Neither the art of being a wife, nor a husband are held in high regard today. Yet, for those who would have a marriage as God designed, desiring to experience the joy and bliss of such a divine estate, the Proverbs 31 description of a godly wife, is well… more precious than rubies!
As a young man, I was overwhelmed by the prospect of finding a wife. How can you find the right one? As most men, my eye was attracted to outward beauty. Yet, I soon found this an uncertain indicator of inner grace (as my mother had warned). Even listening to my pastor’s sermons, who taught us not to date those outside the faith, I struggled with uncertainty. How could I be sure that I had found the right one for me? I mean, this whole “two shall become one” stuff is a pretty big deal and then you add on “till death do us part,” and I was terrified of making a mistake.
That’s when I began to pray for a Proverbs 31 wife, wherever she was out there, that God would take care of her and prepare her for me. I would go through the list of attributes and pray them for her. In the process of doing this, I began to think about whether I was worthy of having such a wife. Didn’t I need to be a Proverbs 31 husband too? “Where’s that list?” I wondered. So, I began to pray a two part prayer: “Lord, make me worthy of such a wife and help me find her when the time is right.”
This coming June will mark 40 years of marriage to my Proverbs 31 wife. This is a thing that God has done. He prepared us for each other before we ever met. He led us to find each other. And He has knit us together through many joys and sorrows along the way. I don’t think either of us would have fit the Proverbs 31 description when we first started. But in our commitment to God and to one another, the Lord has done this work in us.
If you are looking to find a Proverbs 31 wife (or husband), first learn to be satisfied in your relationship with God, asking Him to make you more and more like Jesus, which is His purpose for you. Pray for your future mate, that God is doing the same for them. Then, ask God to lead you to one another when the time is right.
John saw the “holy city,” the “New Jerusalem,” come down. This is the very place that Christ went to prepare, saying, “In my Father’s house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you?And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.” (John 14:2-3).
He was following the same pattern as any Jewish groom would in the 1st century. Marriages had two ceremonies in those days: First, the betrothal ceremony and then, the wedding ceremony. The groom and his father would pay the agreed upon bride price at the betrothal ceremony. Then, the groom would return to his father’s house to prepare a place for his bride, usually adding on a room or two to his father’s house. Finally, the groom would go to get his bride and bring her to his father’s house on their wedding day, celebrating with a great banquet.
The “New Jerusalem” is the place that the Lord Jesus has prepared for us! The Father has already paid the price for our betrothal when He sent Jesus to die for us. Jesus has risen and returned to His Father’s house to prepare a place for us. Very soon He will return to take us to be with Him.
As my sweet mother used to sing, “I’m bound for that city, God’s home, that bright city. O yes I am!”
“I’m Bound for That City” – Sung by Wilda Dillon Combs
John heard a voice from the throne of heaven make this promise to the Bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem come down, which is the Church. Most of us remember our mothers wiping away our tears and gently replacing them with a kiss of her lips and a whispered comfort in our ears. The Lord will do this for His children, yet not only wiping away their tears, but actually taking away the death and pain which caused them. The former things will pass away. The sinfulness of humanity which brought suffering and death into God’s creation will be no more. “Behold!” The One seated on the throne declares, “I am making all things new!”
As you look back on this past year and look forward to the new, meditate on these things. Let Jesus wipe away your tears and whisper life in your ears.
John saw a city of pure gold “descending out of heaven from God.” This city is the New Jerusalem, a city not made by human hands (2 Cor. 5:1). This city is the Church, the Bride of the Lamb come down from heaven to a new earth. This is the “Father’s house” where Jesus ascended to “prepare a place for us” (John 14:2-3). There will be no “death, sorrow, nor crying” from pain in this city, for God will “wipe away every tear” and “make all things new.” The eternal destiny for those who believe in Jesus is not an existence on some immaterial, ethereal plane, but one where believers with resurrected, glorified bodies may dwell. It is a city prepared for those whose name is written in the “Lamb’s Book of Life.”
Do you ever question God’s love? The exiled Jews that had returned to Jerusalem did. They were happy to be home again, yet they were still under Persian rule and the former glory of their city was a mere memory. They wondered, how has God “loved us?” God’s reply through His prophet Malachi is both startling and mysterious: “I loved Jacob,” but hated his twin brother Esau. In other words, God chose to love them with an exclusive love long before they were even born. Like a groom who chooses his bride, rejecting all others, so God chose Jacob (Israel) and rejected Esau. It is God’s choosing to love us that makes it possible for us to respond. God’s love initiates. As Jesus told His disciples, “You did not choose me, but I chose you” (John 15:16). When Paul explained how God has loved us to the Romans, he wrote, “God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). How has God loved us? By choosing to love us when we were unlovable.
“I’m Bound for That City” – Sung by Wilda Dillon Combs