A few years ago, I read a book entitled Searching for Home by Craig Barnes. In it, he made the provocative point, “The ache for home is the ache for God.” That idea came back to me as I was reading Revelation 21. Most of us carry a quiet ache for home. Not just a roof over our head or a house in a certain zip code, but a place where we’re known, where we don’t have to perform, where we can finally relax. We long for a place where we can just be – it seems that’s what we mean by home. In fact, one of the best compliments you can pay a person is to say that they “made the house a home” – because we all know there is a difference.
Revelation 21 is about that innate longing for home. John records his vision by writing,
9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” (Revelation 21:9)
So we initially expect to see a bride. Maybe even the bride of Christ. However, when John looks, that’s not what he sees.
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:10)
He’s told he’s going to see a bride, but then he sees a city. He sees his eternal home. At first, that feels a little confusing. But the longer you sit with it, the more beautiful it becomes.
What makes a city what it is? The people. Their shared life. Their stories overlap. Their lives tangled together over time. And in the same way, what makes a home a home isn’t the walls, it’s who’s there with you. One of the distinctives of the new Jerusalem is that it’s a place, that it’s not a collection of individuals in proximity; it’s people connected in community.
This vision tells us something important about where the story is headed. God’s future isn’t just you and Jesus. It’s you, Jesus, and a community of people who are fully healed, fully connected, finally at peace. The bride speaks of intimacy. Being chosen. Being loved. The city speaks to community. Belonging. Shared life. It’s both. Deeply personal and beautifully collective.
And honestly, that hits a nerve for me. We live in a world where people are more mobile than ever and more lonely than ever. We move often. We stay guarded. We keep relationships light because deep connection feels risky or exhausting. Even in church, it’s possible to sit in a room full of people and still feel unknown.
But God’s picture of the future says: this won’t always be true.
New Creation is a place big enough to hold millions without losing intimacy. There’s room for you, and there’s a purpose for you. You won’t disappear into the crowd, and you won’t have to protect yourself anymore. Love becomes shared life. Intimacy grows into community. Covenant turns into culture.
And here’s the invitation for today: if this is where we’re headed, then this is what God is forming in us now. Every step toward vulnerability, every act of forgiveness, every risk of showing up for others is a step closer to home.
You’re not just waiting for eternity. Eternity is shaping you and teaching you how to be at home right now, today.
Pastor Ryan Paulson