(1) The new Jerusalem:
Fulfillment of Jewish prophecies. “You shall be called My delight is in her, and your land Married; for the LORD delights in you, and your land shall be married” (Isaiah 62). The land is called Married. Deep mystery of God’s everlasting union with His people in heaven;
(2) The new Israel:
Both the “twelve gates” (sons of Israel) and the foundation (twelve apostles of the Lamb) + adorned with 12 jewels – the exact 12 jewels the Jewish high priest wore when he offered sacrifice in the Temple. Jesus the High Priest had born this people on his heart in sacrifice. “The Spirit unveils for John (and for us) how Jesus the Bridegroom sees the souls of the people of God: as precious gems, holy and beautiful in his eyes, and always close to his heart” (127);
(3) The new Temple:
No separate temple in the new Jerusalem, because “its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Rev 21:22). No more separation. Heaven becomes the Holy of Holies;
(4) The new Eden:
The tree of life emerges and the divine love story of salvation history comes full circle.
With these words, the divine love story of salvation history comes full circle. Just as the Bible begins with the “wedding” of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden, watered by four rivers (Genesis 2–3), so now the Bible ends with the wedding of Jesus the Bridegroom and the Church, his bride, in a new Eden watered by the supernatural “river of life.” This is the deepest mystery of the end of time: the eternal marriage of God and his people in Christ and the new Jerusalem, so that human beings will at last be able to see the face of God, which is the face of the divine Bridegroom. 128-9
Prodigal Catholic 