Sermon Tone Analysis

HEAVEN - SEEING THE UNSEEN

THE NEW JERUSALEM

Sunday August 9, 2020

Scripture Reference: Revelation 21-22:6

Intro.

A. My scripture for these next few messages is a bit lengthy so let's get right into it.

It comes from Revelation 21-22:6.

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.

And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.

3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, "Look, God's home is now among his people!

He will live with them, and they will be his people.

God himself will be with them.

4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain.

All these things are gone forever." 5 And the one sitting on the throne said, "Look, I am making everything new!"

And then he said to me, "Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true." 6 And he also said, "It is finished!

I am the Alpha and the Omega-the Beginning and the End.

To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life.

7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.

8 "But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars-their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur.

This is the second death."

9 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come with me!

I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10 So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone-like jasper as clear as crystal.

12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels.

And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates.

13 There were three gates on each side-east, north, south, and west.

14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long.

In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.

17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel).

18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.

19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

21 The twelve gates were made of pearls-each gate from a single pearl!

And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.

23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.

24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory.

25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there.

26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.

27 Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty-but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life...Then the angel showed me a river with the water of life, clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 It flowed down the center of the main street.

On each side of the river grew a tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, with a fresh crop each month.

The leaves were used for medicine to heal the nations.

3 No longer will there be a curse upon anything.

For the throne of God and of the Lamb will be there, and his servants will worship him.

4 And they will see his face, and his name will be written on their foreheads.

5 And there will be no night there-no need for lamps or sun-for the Lord God will shine on them.

And they will reign forever and ever.

6 Then the angel said to me, "Everything you have heard and seen is trustworthy and true.

The Lord God, who inspires his prophets, has sent his angel to tell his servants what will happen soon."

Revelation 21-22:6 (NLT2)

B. Today we are beginning a wonderful new chapter in our Heaven series.

Today we will begin looking at this place the bible calls The New Jerusalem.

I wonder can anyone tell me when the last time was that you heard a message about The New Jerusalem.

Unless you hear one online or visiting another church, I know this, you have not one heard one preached here for over 24 years that I have been the pastor.

I am so glad to say today that this is about to change.

I have been blessed these past weeks to be studying and preparing these messages and I am excited to be able to share them with you now.

C. Who can tell me what Jerusalem is and this is not a trick question?

It is a city, a city we are all familiar with.

It is a city that I had the privilege of visiting back in 2005.

I mention this because of the previous messages I shared before my vacation.

You may recall that I spoke of the continuity between this world and the world to come.

The fact that the Bible speaks of the New Jerusalem and Jerusalem is a city affirms what we learned.

Now I will add that this will most certainly be unlike any city we have ever visited, but it is a city none the less.

As the bible describes this city it speaks of architecture, walls, streets and other things we are familiar with when we think of cities.

I believe this tells us that the New Jerusalem is not a figurative place but a literal place.

1. Remember this, we will be resurrected as physical people.

Does it make sense for God to resurrect us as physical people but then place us in a non-physical place?

We would be like a fish out of water.

Cities are usually considered the centers of commerce, culture, government, arts, sports and more.

For us The New Jerusalem will be the center of our lives and so we will probably be spending three maybe even four weeks talking about this wonderful place.

Trans.

The first thing I want us to explore about The New Jerusalem are the dimensions of this city.

Just by the dimensions alone this is truly a city unlike any other we have ever known.

I. THE NEW JERUSALEM

A. The City's Dimensions.

1. Let's look at V.15-17 again.

15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall.

16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long.

In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.

17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel).

Now as with so many other things we are told about Heaven there are those who say all these things are symbolic.

They are not actual they just have symbolic meaning.

The problem with this idea though is that there is nothing other than pure conjecture to suggest this.

I am not saying these people are wrong, just that we have nothing to tell us that these dimensions are not literal.

2. Now here is something I discovered that had not occurred to me when it comes to these dimensions.

The city is a square and so it faces every direction, north, south, east and west and there are gates on each side.

Could this not for us today speak to the availability of this city to all mankind?

In this case there certainly can be some symbolism for us today.

For me this is an exciting prospect because it means that even now God is using Heaven to express us unlimited grace to all those who will seek Him and call out to Him for salvation.

3. Now another thing to consider about the dimensions of this city is this.

If these are not real dimensions, then what is God's purpose in telling us about them?

I believe that these dimensions mean that God is wanting us to think about a real place like the cities we now inhabit.

4. Now this is one BIG city.

In fact, the dimensions of this city mean that the New Jerusalem would stretch from the Canadian boarder to the Mexican boarder and from the Appalachian Mountains to the boarder of California.

That is one BIG city!

5. Now one thing that makes this city different for us is that this is a city with walls.

We do not have walled cities in America, but of course Jerusalem was and is a walled city as many of the cities were in biblical times.

6. Have you ever thought about with all the people past and present and in the future, who will come to Christ, will any city be big enough to hold everyone?

I will explore this a little bit more in a minute but let me offer this suggestion.

Does everyone live in cities now?