You will not miss New Zealand

Revelation 21:9-27

For over thirty years Jan and I dreamed of a vacation to New Zealand, we had read and been told of the beauty of the land and it’s people, but until we experienced it, till we walked on the land and met the people, it was only words in a book or pictures someone else had taken.  New Zealand exceeded our expectations in every way and one of the first areas we saw was Milford Sound, it runs 9 miles inland from the Tasman Sea and is surrounded by sheer rock faces that rise 3,900 ft or more on either side.  It has lush rain forests, with seals, penguins, and dolphins frequent the waters. Milford Sound is known as the wettest inhabited place in New Zealand and one of the wettest in the world. Everywhere you look is a waterfall but my words or the pictures we took cannot do justice to what we saw in the Sounds.  I am not sure what the garden of Eden looked like but New Zealand is one of the most beautiful places I’ve seen on this earth, and yet till you have been there it is hard to describe; as I read Revelation 21:9-27 I got that same feeling, to see it will be the only way you or I will understand, what John is seeing.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plaques told John to come with him; “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”  John tells us “he was carried away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.  It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed – on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.  And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

John goes on to tell of the measurements of the city and “The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass.”  But John does not quit telling us what he is seeing, its walls are adorned with every kind of jewel and John was amazed to not see a temple in the city, only to discover that its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb.  John tells us; “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.”  I can only imagine what it will be like, but I guarantee no one that enters that city, will miss New Zealand.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice