The city seems like a...
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The "city" seems like a strange and uninviting image for heaven. Would not a pleasant, tranquil garden scene be better? Eugene Peterson writes, "Many people want to go to heaven the way they want to go to Florida -- they think the weather will be an improvement and the people decent." But in John's revelation of heaven, escapism is not to be found anywhere. The city of Jerusalem with all its flaws is the dominant symbol. Although Jerusalem has had a history of great worship, preaching, and temple-building, it also has been a place characterized by paganism, deceit, and murder. It seems an unlikely model for heaven. The twelve foundation stones and twelve gates symbolize the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles -- both faithful and faithless at times. Strange building materials they seem to be in fashioning the holy, eternal city. Peterson takes hope for his own life, stating, "Such things being the case, there is nothing so evil in my unfaithfulness and nothing so obscure about my life that is not, even now, being fashioned into the foundation stones and entrance gates of heaven." -- Hasler
