The New Jerusalem Pt 3 8-23-2020

HEAVEN - SEEING THE UNSEEN THE NEW JERUSALEM PT.3 Sunday August 23, 2020 Scripture Reference: Revelation 21:22-22:6 (NLT2) Intro. A. Welcome to this last Sunday of messages on The New Jerusalem. I am going to use a little fewer verses than I have the proceeding weeks so let's get right into what the Bible tells us. 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 21:7-22:6 (NLT2) Trans. Today I want us to begin with these last verses of Revelation 21 as we consider the glory of this city. I. THE GLORY OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. You might recall that last week when we were looking at V.11 it said this, "It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone-like jasper as clear as crystal." Revelation 21:11 (NLT2) I said that the glory of God refers to the attributes of God. Just as a person shines with the glory of God when they come to faith in Christ. We see Jesus in them and there is a glow about them. Here again we are going to see how the glory of God makes this amazing city literally light up. First let's talk about V.22. It says, "I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." Revelation 21:22 (NLT2) A. God Is It's Temple. 1. This is probably just a pastoral thing, but when I am visiting a city or place new to me, I am always on the look out for churches. When we visit our kids in Idaho and they are driving us around I am always looking for churches. At some point in time even for those of you who were here at Cornerstone before I arrived you were "looking for a church to attend." I always tell those who visit Cornerstone that they have a daunting task before them if they are really seeking God's will for where to attend church, because where you attend church should be a whole more than "What will you do for me?" or "What is the music or preaching like?" The real question for us is this "Is there where God wants me and what will be my ministry here?" In the New Jerusalem things will be much different. We will not have a church on every corner so that if one pastor or some people upset me, I can just leave and go some where else. There will only be one church and that church is God Himself. 2. What does this mean? I think it means several things. a) It means that the very atmosphere of Jerusalem will be heavy with the Presence of God. I have talked about this before, that most of us had had those special experiences with God and His Presence where it is so real or we might even use the word "heavy" that there was just something very special about it for us. If you have had those experiences, then I would ask you to simply imagine what that would be like to have every moment of your life? b) The second thing I think this means is that every person will be filled with the Spirit of God and perfectly filled. I just said that even as Christians we still have difficulty with each other and so much so that it can even break off a friendship or relationship. Remember even Paul so disagreed with Barnabas that he parted ways with him. Last week I shared part of the parable Jesus told about the talents. Jesus talked about the reward for the faithful stewards as being rulers over cities. Honestly, I have struggled before with the concept that in Heaven someone might have authority over me. I have always wanted to picture it as everyone having the exact same status, but the scripture seems to teach otherwise, but again when we look at this, we look at it through the lenses of a corrupt and broken world. If we are each perfectly filled with the Spirit of God, I do not believe the issue of rule over each other will be a problem because we will know that every person is acting perfectly as God's agent for us. There will not be this spirit of competition or wanting to one up Manship. c) The third thing I think this means is that every person will also be filled with the constant conscious Presence of God. What this means is that whether we are in the city of the New Jerusalem or even some distant planet we will never be out of God's Presence. We are never out of His Presence now, but we all know that we feel like we are far to often, but this too will be gone forever. 3. I know that while we have been in this pandemic and while we spent those three months not meeting together in person there were those who said, "Well the church is still meeting just not in person." While that was true it was only half true and we should not be interested in half truths. Right now, in this dispensation we are living in it is biblical and vital that the church meet together. We are not now experiencing what is described in V.22 of Revelation and because we are not it makes the meeting together of the church all the more important and necessary. There is something that happens when the body of Christ gathers together that does not happen when we are apart. The fellowship and communion we experience together is something that cannot be experienced when we are apart. Now someday as this verse shows us, we will not need a building, but for now we do. Trans. Now let's take a quick look at V.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." Revelation 21:23 (NLT2) B. The City Light. 1. Here is a question I have had when it comes to this verse. Will there be no sun or moon in Heaven? Are these two celestial bodies we know so well gone forever now in Heaven? It might seem that way at first, but I do not believe this will be the case. I think probably the strongest argument for the sun and moon to not be gone from the New Earth is that this verse speaks of the city not needing light. How many times have you been inside a brightly lite building where you had no need for the sun to illuminate things? I think it could very well be that this city does shine so brightly with the Presence of God that the Sun is not needed, but that does not necessarily mean the sun and moon will be eliminated. 2. Now let's look at V.24. "The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory." Revelation 21:24 (NLT2) This is really a beautiful verse. Let me explain what we are being shown. The nations walking in this light of God are actually the people of God. Remember this verse, "And they sang a new song with these words: "You are worthy to take the scroll and break its seals and open it. For you were slaughtered, and your blood has ransomed people for God from every tribe and language and people and nation." Revelation 5:9 (NLT2) These nations are the people who have received the salvation that only Jesus Christ can give. They are the ones, the only ones I might add who will walk in this light these verses are speaking of. Now these words "the kings of the world" I must admit disturbed me at first. Once again, I think this is because of this fallen world and the way we see things now and those who "rule" over us, but the picture here is much different. What we are actually seeing here are those who were rulers or kings in this world, but what is exciting to me is how they enter this city. They do not come touting their power and riches, NO! What is actually happening is that they are kings, but they are coming to give honor and praise to the King of Kings!! The word here used means they are bringing their praises and their riches to give to the only True King! I have to share this scripture with you that comes from Isaiah where he prophecies what we are reading here. Look at these verses. "All nations will come to your light; mighty kings will come to see your radiance. 4 "Look and see, for everyone is coming home! Your sons are coming from distant lands; your little daughters will be carried home. 5 Your eyes will shine, and your heart will thrill with joy, for merchants from around the world will come to you. They will bring you the wealth of many lands. 6 Vast caravans of camels will converge on you, the camels of Midian and Ephah. The people of Sheba will bring gold and frankincense and will come worshiping the LORD. 7 The flocks of Kedar will be given to you, and the rams of Nebaioth will be brought for my altars. I will accept their offerings, and I will make my Temple glorious. 8 "And what do I see flying like clouds to Israel, like doves to their nests? 9 They are ships from the ends of the earth, from lands that trust in me, led by the great ships of Tarshish. They are bringing the people of Israel home from far away, carrying their silver and gold. They will honor the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has filled you with splendor." Isaiah 60:3-9 (NLT2) Trans. OK let's explore V.25 for a minute. This verse speaks to us of the unfettered access we will each have to our God. C. Unfettered Access. 1. "Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there." Revelation 21:25 (NLT2) I talked about the gates the first week, but just as a reminder, gates for the people first reading these words would be understood to provide protection against our enemies and those gates in biblical times would be closed at night so the enemy could not enter. The gates are still there so there is probably symbolism here to remind us of God's protection over us, but the fact that these gates are never closes also tells us we will never need to fear our enemies again and especially our enemy the Devil who has worked so hard to defeat us and prevent us from entering this wonderful city. 2. Now it tells us that there is no night here. We have talked a little about that already, but here is what I think John is telling us in this verse. I think it is entirely possible that this will be a very busy city. We sometimes use this term for New York City, "The city that never sleeps". I think the New Jerusalem will be this kind of city. I think there will be activity there 24/7 if I can use those terms. There is also another meaning for us here. The word night or darkness is often associated with sin and evil deeds. It is also associated with sorrow and emotional pain, but we were told back in V.6 that these things are gone forever Praise God! Trans. Now I had not intended to do this, but I cannot finish this exploration of the New Jerusalem today. I want to spend these next few minutes looking at V.26-27 and then next week I will finish this part of the series with what I think (no promises) a shorter message. I think these last two verses speak to us of only those who are worthy. D. Only Those Who Are Worthy. 1. Look at these verses, "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.' Revelation 21:26-27 (NLT2) V.26 is a continuation of what we saw in V.24. I think the repetition of this is to tell us of the praise and honor that God will continue to receive. For me this is like repeating something that is so important so significant that you just didn't feel like saying once was enough. I am sure we have all done that before. We were talking about something and in the same conversation we go back again to repeat something we said earlier because it was so central and important to us. 2. Now these last words of this chapter are I believe words of warning. We have been seeing for the past three weeks now how wonderful and marvelous this city will be, but John reminds us that as wonderful as this place is it is not opened to everyone. For me this goes back to what I have said so many times and that is we need to be more Heavenly minded. For me this is a reminder of the fact that Heaven and Hell are real, and they are ETERNAL! I still have people ask me how I deal with the loss of my daughter Sherry. Well for one thing it is not easy. Sometimes it is hard to think of her because of the emotion it stirs up in me, but the real reason I can deal well with her death is because for me this is not the end of the story. For me this is a temporary separation, but someday we will be together again for all of eternity. I sincerely believe that this place I have been describing to you these past weeks is where Sherry is today. I believe it is this New Jerusalem where the dead in Christ are now until the rapture and Heaven and earth are brought together again. 3. Once again I need to stress the seriousness of these words. John tells us, "Nothing evil will be allowed to enter..." Of course, we are not given a full and detailed list of what these sins are, but I do not think it is needed. NOTHING EVIL. Nothing contrary to the holiness of God, nothing contrary to the Word of God. Nothing that has not been cleansed by the precious blood of Jesus will be allowed into this city. John said only those whose names were written in the Lambs book of life will be permitted to enter this city. Conclusion A. Friends I do not care how many years you attended church. I do not care how much money you might have given. I do not care about the different ministries you might have had. I do not care how "good" you tried to be in this life. The only thing that will matter on that day is this, "Is your name written here, in this book?" If not, you will be lost for all eternity. Listen to these words, "I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God's throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. 14 Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15 (NLT2) 1. Friend is your name in this book? 2