The City God Built

made with Proclaim

Pastor Tom Ekkel

Pierson Bible Church

Longing for Heaven • Sermon • Submitted a month ago • Presented a month ago • 41:50

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Intro:

We are going to get back to Revelation 21 today…

2 weeks ago we looked at the opening verses of this chapter.

John said:

“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth…”

And then in verse 5 God said:

“Behold, I make all things new.”

We saw that this present creation will not last forever.

Sin has touched it.

Death has scarred it.

The curse has affected it.

But God has promised that there is coming a day when all of that will be gone.

A new heaven.

A new earth.

A creation where righteousness dwells.

And today, John takes us one step further.

Because beginning in verse 9, he gives us a closer look at the place where the redeemed will dwell.

A real city.

A holy city.

A glorious city.

A city designed by God Himself.

And that is why I have entitled this message:

“The City God Built”

(Read Revelation 21:9-27)

Meat:

Now, there are a lot of details in this passage.

Walls.

Gates.

Foundations.

Measurements.

Precious stones.

Gold.

Pearls.

And there may be a time that we do a full study through this amazing Revelation and we can dive into each one…

But Before we go any further, we need to understand exactly what John is seeing here.

This city is not the same thing as the present Heaven where God dwells now.

John says the New Jerusalem comes down out of Heaven from God.

John MacArthur explains it this way: ‘An entire city, magnificent in its glory, descends whole from heaven and becomes a part of the new earth. Heaven and earth are now one.’

This New Jerusalem is…

the capital city of the eternal realm…

the crown jewel of the new heavens and new earth.

So we are not simply talking about believers leaving earth and spending eternity somewhere up in the sky.

We are talking about the final eternal state…

a new heaven,

a new earth,

and the New Jerusalem coming down from God as the eternal home of His redeemed people.

Heaven and earth brought together under the glory and presence of God.

I am reminded of the desire that Abraham had…

The writer of Hebrews, speaking of Abraham, said… in 11:10 “he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” …

And here in Revelation 21…

John is able to see that very city.

And as the title suggests… This is a city…

A City…

1. Prepared By God

Revelation 21:10 “And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,”

This city has its origin with God.

It is prepared by God.

Made ready by God.

That ought to immediately remind us of the words of Jesus in John 14.

When He told His disciples:

“I go to prepare a place for you.”

Then He said:

“And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself…”

And that was over 2,000 years ago…

This is not just something that He is throwing together at the last minute…

He has been planning and preparing for us to spend eternity with Him…

And this city is…

1.1 Coming Down From Heaven

John says the city is:

“… descending out of heaven from God.”

Which again… means that our final hope is not simply that we leave earth and float somewhere in the clouds forever.

What John is trying to describe for us is far greater than that!…

God creates a new heaven and a new earth…

and the New Jerusalem comes down from God.

God brings Heaven and earth together in a way we have never experienced.

The dwelling place of God is with man.

John made that clear in v.3…

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them…”

So this city is not man reaching up to God.

It is God bringing His dwelling down to man…

What an amazing picture of Grace!..

That has always been the story of salvation.

Man does not climb his way to God…

God knows we could never make it… and so He comes to man.

God sought Adam after Adam sinned.

God called Abraham.

God dwelt among Israel.

Christ came into this world.

The Holy Spirit came to indwell believers.

And in eternity… God will dwell permanently with His people… in a city that is prepared…

1.2 As A Bride

The angel says in v.9…

“Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”

And then John is shown the city…

Now, that does not mean the church literally turns into buildings, walls, and streets…

Inside this amazing city, are the people who inhabit it…

The city is prepared for the redeemed…

Remember v.2 says…

Revelation 21:2 “Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

Think about a bride preparing for her wedding day.

Everything is carefully arranged.

Nothing is accidental.

Nothing is careless.

Everything is prepared for the occasion.

And John says that is how God has prepared the eternal home of His people.

Beautiful.

Glorious.

Complete.

Ready.

And yet there are people today who think that God has forgotten about them… that somehow…

He does not see where they are,

He does not know what they are facing,

and He has lost track of their life.

But if God has taken such care to prepare our eternal home… then surely He has not forgotten us while we are still on the journey.

Jesus said:

“I go to prepare a place for you.”

And here in Revelation, we have proof that He will keep that promise…

Secondly… John is describing a city…

2. Filled With Glory

v.11 says that the city has…

“the glory of God”

This would’ve been and will be a sight to behold… but before John talks about anything else… and I am certain that the very first thing we will notice as well, when we arrive, will be “the glory of God”…

And it will be absolutely…

2.1 Radiant

It shines with a brightness that comes from God Himself.

It is not merely reflecting some outside light source.

God is the source of the light.

His glory fills the city…

and everything shines because He is there.

John continues in v.11

“Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal…”

Remember, he is trying to use earthly language to describe something beyond anything we have ever seen.

The Bible characters who have been given a glimpse of Heaven and the allowance to talk about it, try and describe what they saw by using a similar phrase…

“It was like…”

And John does it here…

It was…

Like jasper.

Like crystal.

Like precious stones.

He is doing the best that he can with things that he knows.

But what many people miss is that the source of that radiance is not the stone…

They get fixated on the stones…

But the Radiance comes from God Himself.

Verse 23 says:

‘The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.’

The city shines because God is there.

His glory fills it…

and everything else reflects that glory.

And not only is the city radiant with the glory of God… John also describes it as being…

2.2 Precious

Precious beyond comparison…

He reaches for the most valuable and precious things he knows.

Gold.

Pearls.

Precious stones.

But we need to understand that John is not trying to get us to become obsessed with the financial value of Heaven.

So many people say…

“Can you imagine how much all that gold would be worth?”

… And they completely miss the point…

In Heaven, gold is pavement.

What people fight and kill over here…

God uses for streets.

What people spend their lives trying to accumulate here…

is nothing but construction material there.

The point is not wealth.

The point is glory.

The most beautiful things we know on earth are used merely as comparisons to describe what John saw.

And even those descriptions fall short.

Think about it…

If a fallen world can still contain…

sunsets that take your breath away…

mountains that leave you speechless…

oceans that stretch beyond what the eye can see…

stars filling the night sky…

flowers with incredible color…

… then imagine what creation will look like when there is no curse.

No corruption.

No decay.

No sin.

And everything perfectly reflects the glory of its Creator.

Lord, You are more precious than silver;

Lord, You are more costly than gold;

Lord, You are more beautiful than diamonds;

And nothing I desire compares with You…

Moving on…

It is a city…

3. Built With Perfection

Beginning in verse 12, John starts giving us details.

And everything about the city communicates order.

Security.

Beauty.

Completion.

Nothing unfinished.

Nothing broken.

Nothing out of place.

He starts with the…

3.1 Walls and Gates

v.12…

“Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates…”

Then he tells us that the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are written on the gates.

Verse 14 says the wall has twelve foundations, and on those foundations are the names of the twelve apostles.

You have Israel represented.

You have the apostles represented.

Old Testament saints.

New Testament saints.

The whole redeemed people of God represented in this city.

Then John tells us there are 12 gates…

3 on the North.

3 on the South.

3 on the East.

3 on the West.

… completely accessible from every direction.

There is no hidden entrance.

No forgotten side.

No part of the city cut off from the rest.

The picture is one of completeness, order, and welcome for all those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life…

And verse 25 tells us:

“Its gates shall not be shut at all by day…”

Here’s a question…

Why did ancient cities shut their gates?

Why do you lock the doors on your house or on your car?

Because we live in a world with…

Enemies.

Danger.

Threats.

… and keeping things locked is a form of protection…

But in the New Jerusalem… there is no threat.

No enemy army approaching.

No criminal slipping through.

No danger hiding outside the walls.

No reason to lock the gate.

The city is perfectly secure…

And John specifically says…

“Its gates shall not be shut at all by day…”

Well what about the night time?…

There is none!

Again, v.23…

Revelation 21:23 “The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it…”

So the gates never close.

John then moves from the walls and gates to the…

3.2 Foundations and Measurements

He tells us that the angel measures the city… and the first part of v.16 says…

“The city is laid out as a square… Its length, breadth, and height are equal.”

And then he gives the enormous dimensions.

Bible Scholars have put these dimensions on paper to try and give us an understanding of its size…

The city is described as being roughly 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high.

In order to give you and idea… here is a map of the US…

Map

This city will take up the space of basically half of the US…

That is massive…

Scholars figure it would cover about 2.25 million square miles even before you begin to account for its incredible height.

And this is just the city...

Not the whole new earth.

Not the whole new creation.

Just the New Jerusalem.

So when Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you,” He was not talking about some small corner of eternity.

He has prepared a place that is vast.

A place with room.

A place with order.

A place built with purpose.

A place perfectly suited for all of His redeemed people.

And if the city itself is this immense...

imagine the scale of the new creation that surrounds it.

Again, people get so caught up on the details of the dimensions and wonder just how many houses it can hold…

But the point is the sheer greatness of it.

God has prepared more than enough room.

Everything perfectly measured, with no defects…

No foundation settling.

No roof leaking.

No cracks in the drywall.

No repairs needed.

Nobody is going to say:

“Well, they just don’t build things like they used to.”

Because God built it…

And what He prepares will be perfect… for all eternity…

Then John describes the building materials…

3.3 Gold and Precious Stones

vv.18-19…

Revelation 21:18–19 “The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.

19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones… ”

And then John gives the list.

Jasper.

Sapphire.

Chalcedony (Kal-sed-ony)

Emerald.

Sardonyx.

Sardius.

Chrysolite.

Beryl.

Topaz.

Chrysoprase. (chris-o-praise)

Jacinth.

and Amethyst.

Heaven will be a paradise for everyone that is there, but even extra special for all you rock hounds out there…

Then verse 21 says:

“The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”

Now, I am not even going to pretend that I know how all of that will look…

But I do know this…

It will be more beautiful than anything we have ever seen.

The most expensive things on earth…

the rarest things…

the things kept behind glass…

locked in vaults…

guarded by security…

… are ordinary building materials in the city God has prepared.

And yet even all of that is secondary.

Because John continues… and makes it clear, that this is a City…

4. For The Redeemed

God is not building this city to remain empty…

This is a home for His Redeemed people…

We’ve seen several references to the 12 Tribes of Israel,

we have seen the 12 apostles referenced…

and as we come to v.24… we see that this city if built for the redeemed…

4.1 From Every Age

Revelation 21:24 “And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light…”

People from every background.

Every generation.

Every language.

Every nation.

Every century.

All united in Christ.

Abraham will be there.

Moses will be there.

David will be there.

Peter.

John.

Paul.

And every believer whose name is written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

People we never knew on earth… but are still our brothers and sisters in Christ.

And yes, those redeemed loved ones who went before us.

But as we have said throughout this series…

Heaven is not Heaven primarily because our family is there.

Heaven is Heaven because Jesus is there.

But what a joy it will be… to be gathered together with all the redeemed.

No denominations fighting.

No church splits.

No jealousy.

No grudges.

No misunderstandings.

No hurt feelings.

No broken relationships.

Just…

Perfect fellowship.

Perfect love.

Perfect unity…

4.2 Living in God’s Presence

John says in v.22…

Revelation 21:22 “But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

For Israel, the temple represented the place of God's presence.

There were boundaries.

There were curtains.

There were priests.

There were sacrifices.

There was separation.

But not in the New Jerusalem.

No temple building is necessary.

Why?

Because God Himself is there.

No veil.

No distance.

No separation.

That is what we have been longing for.

Not just a better world.

Not just a beautiful city.

Not just streets of gold.

We are longing for God.

We are longing for Christ.

We are longing for the day when faith becomes sight.

When we are finally home…

4.3 Secure Forever

v.27…

Revelation 21:27 “But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.”

Nothing sinful or corrupt will ever enter that city.

Nothing will threaten its peace.

Nothing will disturb its security.

Everything that makes this world dangerous and broken will be gone.

The New Jerusalem will be perfectly safe…

perfectly secure…

forever…

Closing:

Abraham spent his life looking forward to “…the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”

He never saw it in his earthly life… but he had faith that it was real and that he would one day live in it.

But on the Island of Patmos…

God pulled back the curtain and gave John a glimpse.

A city prepared by God.

A city filled with glory.

A city built with perfection.

A city made for the Redeemed.

And one day…

if you belong to Christ…

… that city will be your eternal home.

You will live there.

You will see what John struggled to describe.

You will walk through those gates.

You will behold the glory.

You will experience perfect security.