Sermon Tone Analysis

Intro

Revelation 21:9-22:5 is one of the most glorious passages in the entire Bible.

There are streets of gold, the River of Life, and the Tree of Life giving fruit with leaves of healing for all the nations.

This vision is so glorious and so unimaginable, that when we read it, we just assume John is talking about Heaven.

But what if its something else?

What if this passage is not talking about the beauty and glory of heaven?

What if its talking about the beauty and glory of the Church and Her glorious mission of the gospel in history?

Now I know that sounds crazy, and I really want you to stick with me because I promise this is all going to be worth it in the end.

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.