Revelation 21:9-21

Revelation chapter 21, verses 9 through 21 for our study this morning. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues. Talked with me saying, come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain. it showed me the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a great wall, a wall great and high, and had 12 gates, and at the gates, 12 angels. and names written thereon which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the land. and he talked with me and had a golden reed to measure the city and the gates thereof and the wall thereof. And the city lieeth four square, and the length is as large as the breadth, and he measured the city with the reed twelve thousand furloins. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man that is of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of Jasper, and the city was pure gold like under clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was Jasper. The second, sapphire. The third, a chalistone. The fourth an emerald. The fifth of Sardox. The sixth, Sardius. The seventh Chrysalite. The eighth, beryl. The ninth, a topaz. The tenth, a chrysoprasis. The 11th, a janic. the 12th and amriths. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each several gate was one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass. God blessed to us his sacred and holy word this morning as we consider this passage. Now, we saw last week that the new heaven and the new earth that’s mentioned in verse one of this chapter is not a present reality for the Christian today. In fact, Peter declares it is something we look for. We look forward to it. We are anticipating it, coming, in association with Christ’s second coming, according to God, Chapter 3. The present, heaven and earth will pass away being purged by fire. We emphasize that the eternal state is in view. This is not a carnal, earthly state. For what we read here, is that there’s no more death or sorrow, according to 21-4. The wicked are all in the lake of fire, according to 21-8. which follows the final judgment, as we saw in chapter 20. The church enjoys eternal glory, according to verse 11 of this chapter. There’s no sun or moon or night, according to chapter 21, 23, and chapter 22 in verse 5. We mentioned the promise to Noah, as long as the earth existed, there’ll be seed time and harvest and day. night and so forth, well, this must not be the same earth. Something has changed. There’s no more curse. Chapter 22 and verse 3. All the righteous have access to the tree of life in paradise. 22.2. And as we said, 2 Peter 3 is the definitive passage, I think, for interpreting the new heavens and the new earth. It gives us the inspired explanation in very clear terms of what it means. So far, we’ve only considered the new heaven and the new earth, the first eight verses of this chapter. We now proceed to the rest of the chapter. And the second part of this chapter has to do with the Holy Jerusalem. The bride, chapter 21, verses 9 to 27. And the first part of it is the vision of the new Jerusalem, chapter 21 verses 9 through 21. Now before I proceed any further, there are those who take this city to be a literal city, a physical city, which the people of God will dwell. Is this a physical city, or is this a spiritual city? And why do you think so? Any thoughts about this? Just from our reading the text over, there’s anything jump out at you that would indicate one way or the other. Yes, he’s quite huge, isn’t it? What else would give us some indication about this? Having a symbolic meaning. Isn’t it? I suppose it’s symbolic. Don’t you think it’s interesting that he says here, I’m going to show you. the bride, the lamb’s wife, in verse 9. But what does he actually show them? The city. He shows John the city. So what does that indicate to us? The city is the bride. It’s the church. Why are we in heaven? Because when Christ comes, we’re caught up to be with him in heaven. So when the new heavens in the earth are, you know, when the earth is purged by fire, and we new heaven and earth, and then we return to the earth. Doesn’t that make perfect? sense with 2nd, Peter, or 2nd Thessalonians chapter 4 and the first part of chapter 5. And so we have these kinds of things that indicate to us this. I think also when you look at the gates of the city are the names of the 12 tribes. The foundation of the city are the names of the 12 apostles. Right? The indication here then is that the city itself. is actually the people of God. So we have a symbolic portrayal of the people of God. So when you hear people saying, well, when they get to heaven, they’re going to walk on the streets of gold and kick up some gold dust, or they’re going to fish in the river of life and catch fish this long without any scales on it and things like this, you say, I don’t think so. I don’t think that’s what we’re talking about here. So we need to keep these things in mind when we read Revelation. A lot of it is symbolic, and these kind of hints that we have indicate to us the symbolism involved. The origin of the city is found in verses 9 and 10. There came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues and talk with me saying, come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb’s wife. 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. Now the reference to one of the seven angels, which had the seven veils here, or vials, I should say, provides an immediate contrast with the great whore that we read about of apostate Jerusalem in chapter 17. Notice how chapter 17 opens, and there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials and talk with me, saying unto me, come hither, I will show the judgment of the great whore that siteth on many waters. So we have a… One of the angels here with the seven last vows showing us both of these women, the apostate Jerusalem and the holy Jerusalem, the contrast between these two. Now you’ll notice the Lamb’s bride is classified here as the Holy City Jerusalem. And it’s contrasted with the Holy City, Jerusalem. And it’s contrasted with the Lamb’s. earthly carnal apostate Jerusalem. That the church would be portrayed as a city is no unusual thing. I think you find this in scripture where we have this kind of idea of Jerusalem actually being the people of God. The holy city is a symbol of the church as the bride or wife of Christ. the New Jerusalem then is not a place, but it’s a people. It is not the final home of the people of God, but in a sense it is the people of God themselves. The Holy City descends from heaven indicating its gracious origin, a city which hath foundation whose builder and maker is God, and I told you about Thessalonians and why I thought it might be coming down from heaven to earth. We read in Galatians 426, but Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. And in Hebrews 11, 10, a city which hath foundations is builder and maker’s God. The image of a great high mountain, verse 10, portrays to us Mount Zion. Revelation 14-1 talks about the lamb being on Mount Zion and the people of God gathered around him. Psalm 48 verses 1 and 2 give us a similar type of statement. You want to look at that with me. There are a lot of references we’re not going to be able to consider, but I’ll look at a couple this morning. Help us in our understanding. Psalm 48, verse 1 and 2. Great is the Lord? greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of His Holiness. Beautiful for a situation. The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great king. So this is her origin. It is a God-made city, of course, because God’s the one who has called us out. Made us a people for himself. Her description here in the book of Revelation is picked up with verse 11. Here, having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The chief adornment of the lamb’s wife is that she has the glory of God. We are a glorious church, a church in a glorified state, because God’s glory has been given to us not having spot or wrinkle or blemish or any such thing, as Ephesians 527 indicates. Her light is like under the most precious of stones, even as all. A jasper stone, clear as crystal. Now this suggests to us the glory of God himself. If you look with me at Revelation chapter 4 in verse 3, when we talk about God’s appearance here in heaven, notice here in the first three verses what it says. And after this, I looked, behold, a door was opened in heaven. The first door was open in heaven. The first voice was what it says. voice which I heard was, as it were, of a trumpet talking with me, which said, come up hither, I will show these things which must come to pass. Immediately I was in the spirit, and beheld a throne was set in heaven, and one sat on the throne, and he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone, and there was a rainbow round about the throne in sight like unto. an emerald. And so we have this idea here of the glory of God here portrayed in a very similar way. So we have the glory of God upon us. It envelopes and adorns the holy city of the people of God. It makes the city beautiful, makes the city valuable. The wall of the city, according to verse. 12 of this chapter. It had a wall great and high. It had 12 gates. At the gates, 12 angels, the names written thereon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. There’s a wall that’s great and high. This indicates to us, of course, the security, the divine protection that God provides for his people. It’s interesting at Isaiah 60 and verse 18, we read, thou shall call thy walls salvation. The 12 angels at the gates here guard the entrance to the city. And we could think about perhaps the cherubim that guarded Eden. It’s the that none could get in, that God didn’t want in. And here we have the same idea, that, you know, the protective angels are at the gates. There are 12 gates. They’re named after the 12 tribes of Israel, and thus the people of God or the Israel of God. Now, entrance to the city comes through these gates. Does that suggest anything to you? If the gates are named after the tribes of Israel, and the only way we get into the city is through these gates, what does that suggest to us? Anything at all? Remember what Jesus said to the woman at the well? He said that salvation is of the Jews. Right? salvation in Jesus Christ originally comes to the Gentiles who will come from all four directions of this earth. It comes to the Gentiles through the revelation of God, given to the Jews, who are sent out and preached the Gospel of Jesus Christ. And through this preaching, the Gentiles come into the city. So the east, the north, the south, and the west, all have three gates, suggesting to us the fulfillment of God’s promise about the kingdom of God. Look with me at the Book of Luke Chapter 13 and verse 29. Our word sort of sums up I think several passages in the Old Testament regarding this. But this is one of the clearest statements. 1329, we’ll read 28 and 29 of Luke. He says there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you yourselves thrust out. Here he is talking to his own generation, who have rejected the truth of the gospel. The patriarchs the Old Testament prophets and so forth, they’ll be there. And then notice he says this in verse 29, and they shall come from the east, from the west, from the north, and from the south, shall sit down in the kingdom of God. Here we have an indication of the Gentiles. Well, you know, Christ’s generation of Jews, for the most part, are not part partakers of the kingdom of God. We find that God will have people from the northeast, south, and west. It’s sort of like the parable of the king who gives the wedding feast for his son. And those who are first bidden don’t come. And therefore he sends, go out into the highways and hedges and invite him to come. And so we have the same kind of idea, I think, here. Now in the Old Testament, If you want to look with me at Isaiah 45, verse 6. Here’s some of the prophecies that I think could be combined together to come to this conclusion. 45, and I’ll read verses 5 and 6 of Isaiah 45. I am the Lord. There is none else. There is no God. beside me, I girded thee and thou hast not known me. That they may know from the rising of the sun, from the east, that there, or excuse me, from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and there’s none else. From the east to the west, there’s none besides the Lord. Look at chapter 43. and verses 5 and 6. Fear not, where I am with thee, I will bring thy seat from the east and gather thee from the west. I will say to the north, give up, into the south, keep not back. Bring my sons from far and my daughters from the ends of the earth. So we have these kind of passages that indicate to us the various places. in which God’s people will come. Look at Malachi chapter 1. Also, verse 11. Here we have a clearer statement with regard to the Gentiles being involved. Malachi 1.11, for from the rising of the sun, even under going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles, and in every place incense shall be offered under my name and a pure offering. For my name shall be great among the heathen, of this city. Now, here we have clear evidence, then, of the oneness of God’s true people. In combining the 12 tribes’ names here with the 12 apostles in the same city, the bride is composed both of Old Testament and New Testament believers, Jews, and Gentiles alike. Her description. If you have any questions, you know, feel free to ask. them. I’m hitting the highlights here of what I see. I’m sure there’s a lot that I’m not even gleaning. There’s probably plenty more that we could talk about, but I’m trying to give you some insight as to the implications of these passages. Verse 14, the wall of the city had 12 foundations in them, the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb, which we just mentioned. Now, when you think about it, when you read Ephesians chapter 2, verses 19 through 22, we talk about the city of God and the temple of the holy temple that’s being built. Christ is a chief cornerstone, but who also is in the foundation? The 12 apostles are mentioned. So we have a connection with that passage as well in this one. Now, let’s go to her size, verses 15 to 17. And he talked with me, he had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, in the wall thereof, and the city lieeth four square, and the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, 12,000 furlongs, the length, and the breadth, and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, 140, and four cubits. According to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. The measure of the city here by the angel, using a commonly used human measurement, is similar to what we find. in Ezekiel chapter 40 in verses 3 and 5 where we have the angel measuring this holy city, the temple, and so forth that’s mentioned. Measuring is often symbolic. It is an expression of even of something being set apart either for destruction or for preservation. In this case, it is for preservation. It is going to be preserved for all eternity. Now Keith has already mentioned the huge size of the city. This is 12,000 furlongs. This is 1,500 miles. Broad, wide, and high. Now these numbers suggest to us a symbolic meaning. For instance, the distance between Jerusalem and Rome is 1,428 miles, a little short of 1,500 miles. That gives you the distance we’re talking about. It should be noted that this city like the Holy of Holies is laid out on a perfect cube. In Solomon’s Temple, we read the the inner sanctuary was 20 cubits in length, 20 cubits in breadth, 20 cubits in bread, and 20 cubits in height thereof, and he overlaid it with pure gold, according to 1st King 620. So it has a similar type of shape as the Holy of Holies. Perhaps this suggests to us that God’s New Jerusalem is in its entirety, the Holy of Holies of eternity, God’s dwelling place. In fact, that’s what he tells us. in the city. He tabernacles with us there. The city was to the new heaven and a new earth, what the Holy of Holies was to the congregation of Israel in the Old Testament. William Hendrickson in his book, More Than Conquers, claims this, and I, I’m, you know, I’m not that great on the, you know, numbers and symbolic numbers and all this, but here’s what he suggests. 12,000 is the product of 3 for the Trinity, times 4 for the universe, times 10, times 10, for reduplicated ultimate completeness and perfection. Hence, this number expresses the complete and perfect result of the saving power of the trium God operating in the universe. The complete and perfect result is the Church of God, enjoying fellowship. with God in the new universe. That communion will be complete and perfect in every direction. Whether the numbers are right or not, I think the conclusion is right, that it is a perfect portrayal of the church in its most glorious state. Now, in verse 17 here, a city has a wall for protection, safety and security of its inhabitants. We had touched on that before. This wall is high. It’s 144 cubits. Two hundred and sixteen feet. About three quarters of the length of a football field, high. It symbolized the perfect protection, of course, that the people of God enjoy. It’s important, evident, that we have the Greek dimensions here, 144 cubits. This is why, and sometimes it’s not in great. to update the biblical language into our American measurement system because then you lose the symbolism. 144 is 12 times 12. We’ve already had 12 names of the tribes and the 12 apostles, 12 times 12 is 144. In fact, we know that all the elect are gathered and included within the walls. here of the city. So the church in its completed state, God’s total holy community of all ages, I think, is what is being portrayed for us. Any questions about that? Then let’s look at her splendor here in verses 18 through 21. And the building of the wall of it was of Jasper, and the city was pure gold. like unto clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was Jasper, the second, Sapphire, the third, Calcedoni, the fourth, an emerald, the fifth, sardony, the sixth, the sixth, the sardinus, the seventh, a chrysalite, the eighth, burl, a ninth, topaz, a tpast, the tenth, the tenth, 10th, the Christ, so prasas, the 11th, a jacinth, the 12th, and ameth. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each several gate was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. The walls, the gates, the foundation, the foundation of the city, are all garnished here. and have precious stone involved with it. Now, this speaks, of course, of the adorning of the church. And we have already touched on this in the book of Song of Solomon, that the idea here is not that these metals are real, but they represent the spiritual qualities, the graces, that God has granted his church. And these are perfect, in a perfect state at this point. So the city itself was of pure gold so purified as to become transparent. The refined character of the glorified believer in heaven here is taken up with these verses. Remember in 1st Peter 1. We are like gold tried in the fire that comes out purified when we come through the fire. Many passages of scripture we could read with regard to this kind of idea of the people of God being purified and precious and beautiful in the sight of the Lord because of the excellencies and graces of Jesus Christ that have been given to us. Perfection is granted by Christ. Do you remember what Jesus said in his high priestly prayer? John 1722, The glory which thou gavest me, I have given them, speaking to his people. What you gave me, I gave them. The 12 gemstones, comprising the 12 foundations, appear to allude to allude to the breastplate. of the high priest in the Old Testament. You remember that the breastplate had in it settings for 12 different stones, one for each of the names of the tribes of Israel. And they had a stone engraved with the names on it. One stone for each tribe. However, in the book of Revelation, Jesus Christ is a high priest, after the order of Melchizedek, and his breastplate, while similar, has some stones that are a different type than we have on the high priest breastplate. Why is that? Perhaps because the people of God are not comprised merely of the tribes of Israel, but include a multitude from the Gentile nations as well. And Jesus, Christ, the high priest represents all his elect people and counts them precious. Gates are for the entrance into the city. But when you think about it, there is but one way of entrance into the city, no matter which gate you go through. The walls are called salvation, as we already saw on Isaiah 60. And here, the gates of the city are identical. They’re all a pearl. Well, anything I can think of friends is Jesus Christ. Christ is the pearl of great price and the parable. And therefore, he can be identified as the door. No matter which way you come in to the city, you’ve got to come through Christ into the city and become part of the city of God. It’s interesting that Isaiah 6018 says the gates of the city are called praise. Praise is actually the name for Judah. That’s Judah. If we translate it into what it means, it means praise. And so these pearls have some kind of reference to Judah. And certainly Christ is the lion of the tribe of Judah, and that would fit in with the thought that we were trying to bring out this morning, as we saw in chapter 5 of the book of Revelation. So here’s the vision of the New Jerusalem. Her origin, her description, her description, Her size, her splendor. Any questions is, I’m going to stop at this point. We’ll get to the life of the city in our next study. Any other suggestions as to the meaning of some of the things here? Yes, Keith. But if we’re thinking about the purity, in other words, if you have these graces in their height, their most perfect form, if people of God are like gold and silver tried in the fire, and we come out purified, refined by Christ to Malachi 3, he refines the refiner of his people. If that’s the case, no blemish, no spot, that explains some of the idea here about it being transparent. There’s nothing to make it to change any of the coloration of it, because now it’s as pure as it can possibly be. There’s no impurities in it. Or a further explanation. Yes. Yeah. That’s right. So I can’t read this without realizing that we’re talking about the church. And then if you see it that way, the symbolism here is rather rich. And you could spend, we could spend a lot of time on this. I just sort of hit the highlights and you could spend a lot more time. There’s a lot more verses of scripture. We could have looked up in the Old Testament with reference to this. But I sort of wanted to give you a flavor for the meaning. of it all. And I’m sure you could spend a little bit more time pondering some of these things. But I thought it was quite amazing what is stated here and the blessing that comes when we think about it. We’ll touch on this again when we get to the practical implications of this chapter. All right. If there are no more questions or other thoughts, why don’t we close with the word of prayer? Keith, could you close our Bible study this morning? Thank you.