Glorious things of thee are spoken

At the end of the Bible a wonderful city is revealed, a city of gold with twelve pearl gates and with a foundation of precious stones. In the early days of our gospel preaching we referred to this city as a heavenly mansion and encouraged people to believe in Jesus in order to flee from the lake of fire and go to this mansion. Eventually, however, we saw that this wonderful city was not a heavenly mansion. Revelation 21:10 says that John saw the holy city "coming down out of heaven from God." In that day, if we go to heaven, we will find that the "mansion" has come down to the earth. This revelation caused us to begin to see the real significance of the New Jerusalem (see Hymns, #971-985). Eventually, we saw that the end of the Bible and the beginning of the Bible reflect each other. In Genesis 2 there is a garden with a tree and a flowing river, and there are the precious materials. Moreover, there is a man who marries a bride. In Revelation 21 and 22 there are the same items, but the garden has become a city. In the beginning there was a garden, not built but natural and created by God. At the end of the Bible, however, the garden is transformed into a city. In this city also there are the tree of life and the river (Rev. 22:1-2). This city is built with gold, pearl, and precious stones, which are the same as the materials in Genesis 2. Moreover, the city itself is the bride, and the Triune God in the Lamb is the Husband (Rev. 21:9-10). They are a universal couple.