Revelation 21:9-22:5: Revelation: The Church Militant

By the end of this sermon my hope is that you will see yourself, the Church, the gospel, and the Great Commission Christ has given us to do in a whole new light.

Here’s the BIG IDEA I want you to take away from today.

The church is Christ’s glorious Bride who has a glorious mission to bring Salvation to the ends of the earth.

When we push Revelation 21:9-22:5 off for eternity we miss out on some deep spiritual truths that God wants us to have here and now to help us carry out the Great Commission and take the gospel to the ends of the earth.

But before we do that, before we talk about our identity as the Bride of Christ and our Mission as the Church, I have to prove it.

What exegetical reasons do I have for saying that Revelation 21:9-22:5 is not talking about the Church Triumphant in Eternity, but the Church Militant in history.

Let’s start with point number 1...

I. The New Jerusalem: The Church Triumphant or Church Militant?

Revelation 21:9-10 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.

First things first. John clearly says the New Jerusalem is the Bride of Christ and wife of the Lamb.

When you hear the Bride of Christ what should you think of? The Church.

That means the New Jerusalem, according to John, is not talking about the literal city of heaven, but the people of God themselves.

The Church is the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ and wife of the Lamb.

Hebrews 12:22 says But you have come [meaning its already happened and it continues on to today] to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

In Christ, we have already come to this heavenly city.

We have been seated with Christ in the Heavenly places and our citizenship is in heaven (Eph 2:6, Phil 3:20).

And Galatians 4:26 The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother.

Christians are children of the heavenly Jerusalem.

That is why Jesus says you must be born again, born from above, if you want to see the Kingdom of God (John 3:7).

So when you read “the New Jerusalem” you should be thinking the people of God not heaven itself.

But that still begs the question: Is it talking about the Church in eternity or the Church in history? Does this describe believers in heaven or something else?

Look at verse 10.

John saw the Bride, the wife of the Lamb, coming down out of heaven from God.

This is crucial. That's not the first time he’s said that.

Just 8 verses earlier in Revelation 21:2 John said And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

Why? Why does John say the New Jerusalem comes down twice so close together?

If he were talking about the same thing, if the first New Jerusalem coming down is the same as the second, why not just keep going? Why say it comes down again?

That is the key question. And answering it will show us how both of these New Jerusalem’s fit in the overall story of Revelation.

Hard Break

To understand the book of Revelation, you need to understand John organizes the book.

Revelation is organized around 4 “In the Spirit” visions.

The 3rd “In the Spirit” vision starts in Revelation 17 and goes all the way through the Final Judgment and Revelation 21 verse 8 where the first New Jerusalem descends from Heaven.

And this vision basically describes all of world history from the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, the judgment of Harlot Babylon, Apostate Old Covenant Israel, and runs all the way to the Final Judgment and Christ’s return.

In Revelation 19 and 20, Christ rides out on a white horse to conquer the world with the sword of His mouth, which is the gospel, and a rod of iron to shatter any nation that refuses to worship Him, and the saints reign with Christ, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Then John sees the Final Judgment and the wicked are cast into the Lake of Fire which is the Second Death.

And then after that, after the Final Judgment John sees the first New Jerusalem descend to earth.

In this New Jerusalem every trace and stain of sin is washed away and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away (Rev. 20:3-4).

And then John ends that glorious vision with verse 8: But as for [all sinners], their portion will be in the Lake of Fire, which is the second death (Revelation 21:8).

What John is doing is tying the first New Jerusalem back up to the Final Judgment?

The wicked are thrown in the Lake of Fire but what happens to the righteous?

They enter into a glorified New Heavens and New Earth.

So the first New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:1-8, is describing the Church in Heaven, the Eternal City, and it concludes the 3rd “In the Spirit” vision.

And then there’s a hard break after verse 8, because Revelation 21:9 starts John’s 4th and final “In the Spirit” vision where the New Jerusalem descends again.

The “In the Spirit” visions are like a soft reset, and in this last “In the Spirit” vision John basically answers, “Well, what now?”

But we are still suffering here. What does that look like for us in the mean time?

But we are still suffering here. What does it look like for us in the mean time?

And that’s when John sees the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, come down again.

Do you see the break?

The two New Jerusalems are the same, they are both the people of God, but they’re different.

The question is how? Why does John see the city come down again?

Here’s my argument: I think the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:1-8 describes the eternal city, the church in Heaven, and the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:9-22:5 describes the millennial city.

The church in history as She carries out the Great Commission and makes disciples of all the nations.

Theologically we call these two Churches the Church Triumphant and the Church Militant.

The Church Triumphant is the Church in Heaven.

She is eternally victorious, glorified, perfect, and holy with all the blessings of God and the fullness of joy forevermore.

The Church Militant is the Church in History as she exists today.

She is still victorious (what is it that overcomes the world? Our faith!), but She’s embattled.

She's waging the war of the gospel in a battle with sin, Satan, death, and the world to take the good news of the gospel to every tribe, tongue, and nation on earth.

So the first New Jerusalem is the Church Triumphant. The Church as she will be for all eternity.

The second, is the Church Militant. The Church as She is today. Beautiful, Holy, and on a Mission for the glory of Christ and the Salvation of sinners.

I told you. Sounds crazy. How can we be sure?

Couldn’t the 4th “In the Spirit” vision just be a new vision focusing on Heaven, and describing it in greater detail?

Possibly. But I don’t think so and here’s why.

We already have the hard break but John also explicitly compares the second New Jerusalem to the Harlot Babylon, Old Jerusalem, from chapter 17.

Revelation 21:9: One of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls said “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.

And Chapter 17, One of the 7 angels who had the 7 bowls said, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute…and he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names.

The wilderness represents judgment and the mountain a place of glory and salvation and worship.

Then if you go on to read the passage, there are even more comparisons.

They are both adorned with gold, beautiful jewels and pearls, but one only glorifies herself, and the other glorifies God.

The parallels are obvious and John wants you to see them.

Both the Harlot Babylon and theNew Jerusalem Bride are apocalyptic visions of the people of God.

One is the apocalyptic vision of the Old Covenant Harlot wife, the Old Jerusalem, and the other the apocalyptic vision of the New. The Holy Bride. The Jerusalem from above. The Church.

These two women are the story of Revelation: A Covenant Trial and a Covenant Marriage.

God puts away the Harlot, adulterous wife to take for himself a pure Bride washed in the blood of the Lamb.

And are we not the Bride of Christ now? That’s our first clue.

There are two more and they are pretty big.

In the first New Jerusalem, the wicked are thrown into the Lake of Fire and sin and death are no more. That’s obviously Heaven.

Now look at the Second New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:27 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.

Likewise, Revelation 22:14-15 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates. Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

If this really is about Heaven, why are the wicked outside the gates? Aren’t they supposed to be in the Lake of Fire?

Are we really saying there’s going to be sinners outside the New Jerusalem in the glorified New Heavens and New Earth even though everywhere else tells us every trace and stain of sin is washed away?

But if we are talking about the Church Militant in history, then the wicked are outside the gates because they have not yet washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

Only those forgiven by Christ are children of the Jerusalem from above.

And what about Revelation 22:2 On either side of the river, the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

In Heaven, sin and death are no more and the former things have passed away. Why would the nations still need healing? Are they not healed already?

But what happens when we take the gospel out into the world?

Doesn’t it bring healing, life, and salvation to all the nations and every person that trusts in Jesus Christ?

If this passage really is talking about the Church in Heaven then you cannot have the wicked outside the gates and nations in need of healing.

Those things do not line up with what God has promised us in the eternal state.

But they do fit if John is giving us an apocalyptic vision of the Church as she exists today.

Of the Church Militant in history as she proclaims the gospel to the whole wide world.

The promises of Revelation 21:9-22:5 are not somewhere way out in eternity.

We’ll have the fullness of them in eternity.

But they are also spiritual realities right here, right now that tell us who we are in Christ and what He wants us to do until He returns.

But listen. Say you’re not convinced. Say you think I’m wrong. That’s ok! Just don’t check out.

Say this is heaven. All these things would still be spiritually true today.

At the end of the day, I’ll tell you, it doesn’t really matter how you interpret this passage.

You want to say its Heaven? Fine!

You want to say its now? Great!

Either way you are going to have to look forward or backward depending on where you start.

If this is heaven, what does it mean for us today?

And if its now what do we have to look forward to in heaven?

No matter how you interpret it, the New Jerusalem is ultimately all about who we are in Christ and the power of the gospel to save.

Now with that said, let’s go to who we are in Christ with point number 2...

II. The Glorious Beauty of the Bride

Revelation 21:10-14 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, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 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. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

One of the first things you’ll notice is that there are a lot of 12s.

12 is the number for the people of God and that number comes up again and again in the New Jerusalem.

The 12 Tribes of Israel are written on its gates and the 12 Apostles of the Lamb on its foundations telling us that the Bride of Christ is all the saints, Old Covenant and New Covenant, who put their faith in Christ and have been saved by His life, death, and resurrection.

And John says she has the glory of God, radiance like jasper clear as crystal.

In Revelation 4:3, God’s own glory is described as jasper and now John uses it to say that the church reflects God’s glory to the world.

Her very existence shows the world that God is holy, merciful, gracious and good.

And then John focuses in on the wall, gates, foundations, and dimensions of the city because every part of the city reflects the glory of God and tells us something about God’s amazing grace in Jesus Christ.

Wall

The wall surrounding the Church is made of jasper.

Remember, jasper represents the glory of God.

And there are two Old Testament passages that tell us about this wall.

In Isaiah 60:18, God says you shall call your walls Salvation so the walls surrounding the Church are Salvation.

And in Zechariah 2:5 God said And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord

Coincidentally, Jasper is a fiery red color.

When you put those two verses together with what we see in the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21, the walls tell the Church that God Himself is our Salvation, and in Him we are eternally secure.

That’s what a wall does. It defends, protects, guards.

So in the Church, God is our wall and salvation who keeps us in His hand and promises that He will never let us go.

That we will never be lost. Nothing can separate us from the Love of God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:39).

Gates

And then John says there are 12 gates; 3 on every side. 3 facing east, 3 facing north, 3 facing south, 3 facing west.

That obviously tells us that the Church is made up of every tribe, tongue, and nation. For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son (John 3:16).

Like Jesus said Luke 13:29 And people will come from east and west, and from north and south, and recline at table in the kingdom of God.

And each one of these gates is made out of a single pearl.

Well what did Jesus say about the Kingdom of Heaven?

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it (Matthew 13:45-46).

To enter the into the New Jerusalem you must come through the gate.

You must enter through the pearl of great price, you must enter the Kingdom of God.

And the only way to do that is if you are born again by the power of the Holy Spirit (John 3:3). If you look on the Son and believe.

That’s why if you go back to Isaiah 60:18 it says you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.

We are born again to the praise and glory of the living God.

Foundations

That takes us to the foundations.

Each foundation bears the name of one of the Apostles because Paul said Ephesians 2:19-20 that the Church, the household of God, is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

But these foundation are also made of precious stones.

Revelation 21:19-20 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.

At first glance, this might seem like just a bunch of rocks. Pretty rocks, but rocks.

But when you dig deeper and get the Old Testament background for these stones, these actually tell us about some of the most glorious things about our salvation in Christ.

In Ezekiel 28:13, we are told these stones were all stones of Eden.

You were in Eden, the garden of God; every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings (Ezekiel 28:13).

If you look at the two lists, you’ll probably notice that three of the stones that don’t exactly match up, but that's probably because of different ways to translate the Hebrew words into other languages (Leithart, Revelation Vol. 2, 327-373).

But ultimately these foundation stones of the New Jerusalem are shouting out echoes of Eden.

In Christ God is bringing us back into Paradise. Back into life, blessing, and relationship with Him.

But that’s not all. And this is amazing!

Scientists have only discovered this in recent years.

When it comes to precious gem stones there are basically two different types.

There’s Isotropic Gems and Anisotropic Gems.

If you take an Isotropic Gem and you shine polarized light, the purest light we can make through the gem, it will turn black as coal.

It absorbs all the light.

But if you shine that same light in an Anisotropic Gem, it will reflect that light in all the colors of the rainbow in a pattern completely unique to its own.

And all 12 of the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem are Anisotropic Gems.

So when the glory of God’s light shines in the church, thats verse 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, the foundation stones of the New Jerusalem reflect that glory into all the colors of the rainbow in a dazzling display of the beauty and glory of Christ.

Because what else is a rainbow in the Bible? God’s promise to never destroy the earth again with the flood of Noah.

That means the very foundation of the church reflects the glory of God’s promise that we are saved and will never face His judgment or His wrath.

The foundation stones tell us that every single one of our sins has been forgiven once and for all in the perfect sacrifice of Christ.

Holy of Holies

Then John says Revelation 21:16 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.

In other words, the city is a perfect cube.

The 12,000 stadia is a symbolic number. 12 being the number of the people of God and 1000 the number for completeness, fullness, or perfection.

Again this tells us the New Jerusalem represents the fullness of the Church of Christ, everyone who loves and worship Jesus.

And the cube itself represents the Holy of Holies, the place where God’s glory dwelt in the midst of His people.

Under the Old Covenant, no one could enter into the Holy of Holies except for the High Priest on the Day of Atonement. If you did you would died.

Your sin would literally kill you in the presence of God’s holiness.

And the High Priest had to do this year after year after year because Hebrews 10:4 It is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

But Jesus is our Great High Priest. He entered into the Heavenly Holy of Holies to offer the sacrifice of His own blood that forgive our sins once and for all.

Through His death, burial, and resurrection, He secured and eternal redemption for everyone that puts their faith in Him.

All your sins are forgiven and you are washed clean.

The reason the New Jerusalem is a cube like the Holy of Holies is to tell us just how much we have been forgiven by Christ.

We are so forgiven, so holy by God’s grace, we actually dwell in the Holy of Holies of the New Jerusalem just like Adam did in the Garden of Eden because all of our sin has been washed away.

Gold

That’s where the gold comes in. Its not just decadent riches. Its theological.

John says The city was pure gold, like clear glass…and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass (Revelation 21:18, 22).

Remember, the city itself represents the Church.

And here’s where the Theology comes in. Gold is not clear. You cannot see through it. It is solid metal.

So the gold of the New Jerusalem clear as glass is an unimaginable, glorified, heavenly gold like nothing else we have on earth.

It is so pure that every defilement and impurity has been taken away and you can see right through it.

Well where else do we see gold in the Bible?

Gold covers the Temple and the Holy of Holies (1 Kings 6:20).

And God even talks about our own holiness as gold that is refined by fire.

So gold, especially holy gold, represents holiness.

The New Jersualem, we, are holy.

And our holiness is a heavenly holiness. One that is not our own, but belongs to Christ.

He is our righteousness and in Him every defilement and impurity, every sin is washed away.

No spot or blemish, clear as glass.

And the streets of Gold…

In the Bible a street, path, way, or highway is how the Bible talks about about a way of life.

What road are you on?

So the Church walks on streets of gold because she walks in holiness, and a little later John says the River of Life runs right through the middle of this street because we walk in holiness by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Summary

Now I know that’s a lot, so let me give you a summary and what this all ultimately boils down to.

Everything about the city, everything that makes the Bride so glorious and beautiful is really just the glory and beauty of Christ and the gospel.

She is the radiance of the glory of God because everything about Her points to Him.

His love. His mercy. His grace. His holiness, goodness, kindness, and forgiveness to everyone who believes in Him.

The glorious beauty of the Bride is all we are because of Christ.

Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, o that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish (Eph. 5:25-27).

He is ultimately the glorious beauty of the Bride.

Well that’s who we are. What does Christ want us to do. That’s point number 3…

III. The Glorious Mission of the Bride

Revelation 21:22-26 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 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. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

This is promising the overwhelming success of the gospel in the world as the Church carries out the Great Commission.

Remember what Jesus said in John 8:12 I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.

Walking by its light means that the nations will follow Jesus and recognize His Lordship over every area of life.

All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the Lord, and all the families of the nations shall worship before you. For kingship belongs to the Lord, and he rules over the nations (Ps. 22:27).

And when it says they will bring their glory and honor into the New Jerusalem God is promising that the nations will no longer glory in themselves or their idols but will bring all their glory, all that they are, all their worship will belong to Christ.

And for that to happen, the nations must be converted. John says nothing unclean will ever enter the city so if the nations and the kings of the nations are bringing their glory into it, that means they’ve been made clean and washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb.

All this is is the fulfillment of what God promised Christ in Isaiah 60:5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea [that is Gentile nations] shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.

The nations will turn to Christ and bring their glory to Him.

That’s hard to believe, but that’s what Christ has commanded us to do in the Great Commission. Go and make disciples of all nations.

Turn all the nations into followers of Jesus. That’s what a disciple is.

And John is saying that will happen in the New Jerusalem.

The Church Militant will succeed in Her mission and make disciples of all nations.

Through the Great Commission not only will Christ be King of kings and Lord of lords but the nations will recognize Him as King of kings and Lord of lords and turn to glorify Him.

The New Jerusalem is really the fulfillment of Isaiah 2.

The mountain of the house of the Lord, the Church, shall be established as the highest of mountains…and all the nations shall flow to it.

They will say Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and the house of God that he may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths.

That we may walk in His light.

Is not the New Jerusalem on a great an high mountain (verse 10), and did not Jesus say You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill [a city on a mountain] cannot be hidden (Mt. 5:14).

Well how does this happen? How do the nations turn to Christ and worship Him?

Its the Great Commission. They drink from the River of Life that flows out of the city.

River of Life

Revelation 22:1-2 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb...

Remember what Jesus said in John’s own gospel.

John 4:13-14 Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.

And John 7:37-39 If anyone thirsts, let him come to me and drink. Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ ” Now this he said about the Spirit.

The River of Life is the gospel which carries the waters of eternal life and Salvation poured out by the Spirit.

If you drink from the Spirit eternal life in Christ, you will never be thirsty again.

But here’s where this gets really good. John sees the same River that Ezekiel saw in Ezekiel 47.

East

And in this vision, Ezekiel sees a Temple and water was coming out of the Temple towards the east and flowed towards the eastern region down into the Desert and into the Sea (Ezek. 47:8).

The east is theologically significant.

When God kicked Adam and Eve out of the Garden, He drove them out at the Eastern Gate (Gen. 3:24).

And in Ezekiel the River of Life flows from the east and goes into the Desert lands. Into wilderness, death, barrenness, and the curse.

And wherever it goes it brings life from the dead.

Its God’s way of saying, come back to Eden. Leave the wilderness and come back to life, salvation, and the fellowship with God you were created for.

Depth

And this River starts off as a small trickle.

And a little further down this river, its ankle deep. Then knee deep. Then waist deep. Until eventually this River is so deep Ezekiel could not pass through it.

This symbolizes the growing influence of the gospel and the Holy Spirit in the world as the Church carries out the Great Commission.

The gospel starts out as a small trickle but everyday its growing into a raging river as more and more people are regenerated and made alive by the Holy Spirit and turn to Christ.

And look what this River does.

Ezekiel 47:8-10 When the water flows into the sea, the water will become fresh.

It makes salt water that is dead comes alive.

And wherever the river goes, every living creature that swarms will live, and there will be very many fish. For this water goes there, that the waters of the sea may become fresh [and literally that word in Hebrew is healed]; so everything will live where the river goes.

This is the gospel of Salvation in action.

The water is healed and made fresh and dead sinners come to life. Very many fish.

Ezekiel keeps going. And...

Fishermen will stand beside the sea. From Engedi to Eneglaim it will be a place for the spreading of nets. Its fish will be of very many kinds, like the fish of the Great Sea.

These fishermen catch very many kinds of fish from a sea that was formally dead.

And what did Jesus say? Follow me and I will make you fishers of men (Mt. 4:19).

This is why by, the way, after His resurrection in John 21, Jesus told the disciples to cast their nets just like the Fishermen in Ezekiel, and they caught so many fish they couldn’t get it into the boat and they had to drag it to shore.

Jesus was showing us what kind of fishing trip the Church should expect as we take the gospel out into the world. We won’t even be able to get it into the boat.

Through the gospel, the River of Life and the Holy Spirit flow out from the Church, the Temple of God, to water the world and bring life from the dead.

Living water that Jesus promises anyone who drinks it will never be thirsty again.

And one day this river will flow into the world until the whole earth is filled with the knowledge of the glory of God as the waters cover the sea (Hab. 2:14).

Tree of Life

Revelation 22:2 On either side of the River is the tree of life with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The Tree of Life was in the garden of Eden and in the New Jerusalem its another Echo of paradise, because in Christ God brings us back into the life and blessing of the Garden He created us for.

And this Tree is the Cross of Christ.

They drove nails through His hands and His feet and hung him on a tree.

And on that tree He became a curse for us.

He died that we might live.

All of our sin was laid on Him so that through faith in His life, death, and resurrection we might be saved.

That is the message that we Preach. His cross is the Tree that leads to eternal life and brings healing to the nations.

And what does that healing look like?

Revelation 22:3-4 No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

Christ became a curse to redeem us from the curse.

In the New Jerusalem, in the Church, sin and the curse are no more. Jesus has forgiven everyone of our sins and removed our sin from us as far as the east is from the west (Psalm 103:2).

Nothing accursed guarantees that the Church will never face the curse of judgment for Her sins.

God’s wrath no longer burns against Her. There is therefore now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:1).

That’s why John says They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

God writes His name on us to adopt us. We belong to Him

And in the Old Testament, God told Moses that sinful man could see God’s face and live.

We were alienated from God. We were His enemies and we deserved His wrath.

But in Christ, God erases that alienation. He reconciles us to Himself and makes His face shines upon us.

He smiles on us.

Numbers 6:24-27 The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.

They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads is a sign of God’s love, mercy, blessing, and grace.

The Gospel really is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom 1:16).

Conclusion

The church is Christ’s glorious Bride who has a glorious mission to bring Salvation to the ends of the earth.

Revelation 21:9-22:5 gives us our identity and mission as a Church.

God calls us to be a light to the nations.

A Beacon of His love, grace, and mercy for everyone who believes in Jesus Christ.

He makes us Holy and calls us to live holy in every way. To always reflect the glory of God and the power of the gospel to save.

And He sends us on a mission to take the good news of the gospel to the world and make disciples of all nations.

The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (Revelation 22:17).

Let’s Pray

Scripture Reading

Matthew 28:18-20 “And Jesus came and said to them, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.””

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