This is what new Jerusalem means to John, the churches, and to us today: God’s presence with God’s people in unending intimacy and splendor. God provides water and food and a city and shelter and safety, and all the jewels and materialism of Babylon are turned toward God, flooding the new Jerusalem with gifts stacked on gifts like a cosmic Christmas tree. He gives his people a perfectly constructed city where a temple is no longer needed. The temple was a place to “house” God, but God and the Lamb flood this place and are present everywhere (21:22).
