The New Jerusalem
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Good Afternoon. The New Jerusalem. Today we are going to look at Johns attempt to record the glory and the beauty of the New Jerusalem that is yet to come. And I believe the most important aspect that we should walk away with today. Is just how much God loves us His children. The Church and that really means those within the church, not this building or some other building. But you and I who are the church, we are called the bride of Christ. And the New Jerusalem is the eternal home that Jesus the groom has gone to prepare. And so today we are going to read about the splendor and glory of that which Christ has prepared for His deeply loved bride. And that is what we need to see as we look at all of these details concerning the New Jerusalem. Every detail is important because it speaks of the magnitude for which Jesus loves you and I.
Now look there are many here today or online who might not feel like they have been loved very well, perhaps by their parents, or their spouses, or their children, or their friends, or whoever else. And those hurts have wounded us. But the love of Christ Jesus is the balm that is meant to heal those wounds those hurts of the past. So if that’s you here today. And I have to be honest there is no way that’s not you or I. Then I want you to witness the full love of God put on full display in the New Jerusalem that is yet to come.
So let’s look at the rest of Revelation chapter twenty-one and the beauty and glory of the New Jerusalem.
In verses nine and ten we read.
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.”
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 now shifts to a new vision. John is summoned by one of the angels who poured out the seven bowls. And we are told that the content of this final vision is the Bride of Christ, the wife of the Lamb.
And we now get a repeat almost of what we saw last week at the beginning of this chapter in verse two. The new Jerusalem is coming down from out of heaven.
And in the next verse we read of the primary characteristic of the New Jerusalem. That thing that is most important. And in verse eleven we read.
having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
The glory or radiance of God is a common biblical way of speaking of the very presence of God. And when John tries to describe the brilliance and splendor of the glory of God he chooses to uses precious stones to describe what he sees. We something similar in chapter four verse three where we read.
And he who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian, and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.
John continues and in verses twelve and thirteen we read.
It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed—
on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
So what we have is that there is a very tall wall that will surround the new Jerusalem. And on each wall there will be three gates. In total there will be twelve gates. And we are told that upon each gate will be the name of each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
This is directly prophesied in the book of Ezekiel chapter forty-eight verses 31 and following.
So for instance in chapter forty-eight verse 31 we read.
three gates, the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi, the gates of the city being named after the tribes of Israel.
And each of these gate is to be guarded or watched over by an angel. Each one I suspect the angel that has been assigned from creation to guard over each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
Then in verse fourteen we read.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Now we read that the city has twelve foundations and each of these bears the name of each of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
These two ideas brought together are very important for us to see and understand. Both the twelve tribes representing the period of the Old Testament prior to Christ and then then the twelve apostles representing the period of the Church are brought together as one in the New Jerusalem. All of the people of God will come together as one in order to worship the one true God, Jesus the Christ.
Then in verse fifteen we read.
And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls.
Previously we read where John was called to measure off the inner temple, the temple courts, and its worshiper within. This was done to show the preservation of the people of God and the judgment of the world. Now what we are going to see is that now John is measuring the New Jerusalem to show just how magnificent it is going to be.
in Verse sixteen we read.
The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.
So, again what the heck is a stadia and how large does this actually make the New Jerusalem. Essentially, the city is going to be a square with all four sides the same length. And that is one-thousand five hundred miles. This is large beyond imagine for a single city.
That would be about the distance from here to Austin, TX.
The New Jerusalem is unlike anything that we have ever seen.
Then in verse seventeen we read concerning the walls.
He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.
So, my best guess is that this is the measurement of the height of the walls. It doesn’t actually state height or width. Either way doesn’t really matter, they are massive walls. They are 216 feet tall or deep. Tall just seems to make the most sense to me based on the fact that it states this is by human measurement, which is the same as an angel’s measurement. And so when we compare a human to a wall I would assume we are speaking in terms of height.
Then in verse eighteen we read.
The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
So, this city is built as no human city has ever been built. What does this look like exactly, I am unsure. And I believe that the appearance is being lost in translation. John looks upon this magnificent city and he lacks the words to describe what he sees, and so he uses precious metals and stones describe the brilliance of the glory of this great city.
In verse nineteen and twenty we read.
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald,
the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
It is hard to fully visualize what is being described. But one of the things that needs to stand out to us is that the twelve foundations are not buried beneath the city. They stand raise somehow where they are visible to everyone. And that those foundations are adorned with precious stones to bring forth their beauty.
In verse 21 we read.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
So, each gate is a single pearl, and remember the walls are 216 feet tall. In ancient times the gates were built into the wall as part of a tower and those towers were always taller than the walls themselves. This means that this pearls are going to most likely stand more than 216 feet tall. Such a thing is simply beyond our imagination.
And the streets are made of pure gold. Now this gold is clearly unique because gold is not transparent. Transparent gold is not something that we could acquire today let alone use as building material for streets.
Then in verse twenty-two we read.
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb.
In the early days of Israel just after they fled from Egypt they built the tabernacle. And within the tabernacle was what was called the Holy of Holies. This was considered to be the dwelling place of God. And then later we saw similar when the temple was built by Solomon, God descended in a cloud and he occupied what was called the Holy of Holies. As a result the temple was considered the center of worship for the nation of Israel, because it was the place that God resided. Then with the church the people of God himself became the dwelling place and therefore the temple. And as a result we are now called to a life of worship. Because the dwelling place of God is everywhere his church is.
But, one day God himself will dwell among His people in the very person of Jesus and we will have perfect face-to-face communion with our God.
Then in verse 23 we read.
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
I don’t believe that John is speaking directly as to whether or not the sun or the moon will continue to exist in the age to come. Instead John is trying his best to describe the absolute splendor which radiates from the presence of God and the Lamb.
Then in verse 24 we read.
By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it,
So I hinted at this verse last week. When we enter into the age of the new heavens and the new earth all the nations of the earth will be represented. Their will be people from every nation, every tribe, and every tongue present before the Lamb. And I do not believe that we will necessarily lose our national identities. What is important to see is that in the age to come all those who make up the nations will know the Lord.
Then in verse 25 we read.
and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there.
What is the importance of the gates never being closed. Why would a city close its gates? The only reason to close the gates is in order to protect against enemies from outside the walls of the city. And in the New Heavens and the New Earth there will never be an enemy to the Lord present within the new world.
I’m going to run through the last of this verse and the next two verses because they are only reaffirming what we have already been told about the New Jerusalem.
In the end of this verse John references again the glory of God being so brilliant that there is no need for night within the Holy City.
Then in verse 26 we read.
They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.
The nations will continuing be found entering into the city in order to bring into the New Jerusalem the glory and honor that is due to Christ Jesus. And that is their worship of Him.
Then in verse 27 we read.
But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Nothing that is unclean, detestable, or false will be able to enter into the New Jerusalem because those individuals are not found within the Lamb’s book of life and so they will not live upon the New Heavens and the New Earth. So, of course they will have no opportunity to ever enter into the New Jerusalem.
It is only those whose names have been recorded within the Lamb’s book of life that will have the opportunity to walk through those pearly gates and witness the glory and honor and see the very face of the glorified Christ, our Lord, our King, our Savior. Jesus.
Amen.
So What?
So What?
So there are I believe several life principles that come out of todays passage. I am going to briefly go over a few of them that I believe stand out to me.
Prestige
Prestige
The New Jerusalem is God’s creation we will play no part in the building of the dwelling place of Jesus. All that we can do us prepare ourselves our adornments you might call them by performing righteous acts. We see this in chapter nineteen verse eight where the church is called to adorn herself with her righteous deeds. Look we don’t like to admit to it often times but our Christian subculture often times creates almost a competition between ourselves in order to see just who is the best Christian. We might not say this out loud. But often times in the back of our minds we question actions of other Christians around us just to measure how Christian are they really. We do this with denominations all the time. Which ones accept something that we disagree with biblically? Look I have stood up here and essentially done this very thing and called out specific denominations for their sin. The problem is never in the calling out of sin amongst the congregation. The problem exists when we begin to compare ourselves with others. This is found amongst pastors all the time. Look there are podcasts and video blogs that are meant to encourage pastors to be the best possible pastor that they can be. But you know how you get spotlighted on these podcasts. By having the most tick-tock, instagram, or whatever platforms followers. And so if you don’t have enough “followers” that you don’t make the cut, because you must not be creating as many disciples as this dude. Our prestige, our self-worth, our self-identity can not be tied up within social media platforms or some number that someone decided to track today. Who we are is defined by God Almighty through the scriptures and it is only in those terms that we should be defined.
But all of us as fallen human beings want more “followers” because then we have value before others. You know that we all do it. What people think of us often times becomes more important than how God see us. Seeking prestige and self-worth from others will always leave us empty. Because here is the real problem. How many followers on instagram or tick-tick or whatever is truly enough to make you feel better about yourself? It simply becomes a never ending cycle.
We need to allow the scriptures to reveal to us who we are to Christ and who we are in Christ.
So, over the next several months I am going to try very hard to post 2-3 times a week on Facebook at least ways in which the scriptures define who you are to Christ and who you are in Christ.
The will be very simple posts a white background with black lettering. Nothing fancy. Just the truth as to who you are.
And as I post each of these over the next several months pray about these truths that are revealed in Scripture and allow those truths to begin to define who you are as a person.
Because when you do your self-worth your self-identity will be found in the power of the almighty creator of all things.
Amen.
Some of the other points that come out of this passage that I may discuss next week for instance and I think we should all meditate on this week include.
God’s Incredible Love
God’s Incredible Love
How does the revealing of the New Jerusalem as Christ’s bride convey to us the depth of the love of the Lord for us the Church. We are His bride?
What about wealth?
True Wealth
True Wealth
Look no matter how much you work to gain wealth in this world all of it the moment you die is worthless. And what I think that we need to meditate on here is what or who is the source of true eternal wealth? And look there is a sense that here today we build greater wealth in eternity when we learn to depend on Him now.
Christ’s Values VS Worldly Values
Christ’s Values VS Worldly Values
I have discussed this point several times throughout our series. But the real question that we each need to ask is how much have we allowed Christ Jesus to define our values?
Our Speech
Our Speech
This probably isn’t what you might think. It certainly could be about the language that we choose to use within our daily speech patterns. But that’s not really what I’m aiming at with this one.
Do we speak about Jesus and the gospel. And in relation to the gospel people need to understand why the gospel is so important. I believe this is a major them of this book. Why does this world need the gospel of Jesus Christ? Because there are two eternal options within life and both are eternal, never-ending, and unfortunately never-changing. In the end there are only two options and the choice is not made then. It is made now. And it is these options that I believe we need to discuss more.
They are eternal judgment or eternal bliss.
So, over the next couple of weeks think long and hard on these two realities and every time you look into the eyes of the person standing in front of you realize that one of these must be true of them. How is God calling us to perhaps let them know?
The New Jerusalem
The New Jerusalem
We need to recognize that the beauty, the glory, the perfection of the New Jerusalem will go beyond all that we could ever imagine. And I don’t believe that John’s words here actually end up doing justice to the amazing beauty that we will behold when we enter into the New Heavens and the New Earth. When each of us has the opportunity to witness the final descent of the New Jerusalem upon the New Earth. In first Corinthians chapter two verse nine Paul writes describing what is to come and he says.
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”—
Those who love Jesus will have the opportunity to experience the full unbridled love of God in the world to come. One day we will see with our own eyes the full glory and grace of Jesus standing before us.
There should be no event history that we might yearn for more than this single moment.
Amen.
Amen.