Sermon Tone Analysis

| *The Capital City of Heaven \\ (Revelation 21:9–22:5)* |

* *

/Revelation 21:9-22:5 (KJV) //9// And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.

The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.

17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

19 And 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 chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.  1 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

3 And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4 And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.

5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

/

 

On the night before His death, the Lord Jesus Christ made a wonderful promise to all who believe in Him.

He said/, “Let not your heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe also in Me.

In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you.

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also”/ (John 14:1–3).

The “Father’s house” Jesus referred to is the New Jerusalem, where God will live with His people forever.

It is the present heaven where God dwells with the holy angels, and where the redeemed go when they die.

As noted in the previous chapter of this volume, the place that the Lord has prepared for them will descend in the eternal state, where it will be the capital city of the new heaven and the new earth.

Just as a person preparing to travel to a foreign country desires information about that country, so believers long for a glimpse of that glorious place where they will live eternally.

Knowing their eager sense of anticipation, God has provided believers with a description of heaven.

Though only a select few details are given, they are staggering, mind-boggling, and overwhelming.

As the vision of the New Jerusalem unfolds, history has ended, and time is no more.

John and his readers are transported to the eternal state.

Having described the fearful eternal destination of the damned, the lake of fire (v.

8; 20:14–15), the vision takes the beloved, exiled apostle to the blissful eternal resting place of the redeemed.

Because it is the capital city of heaven and the link between the new heaven and the new earth, the New Jerusalem is central to the vision and is described in far more detail than the rest of the eternal state.

The book of Hebrews also mentions the glorious capital city of heaven.

Describing Abraham’s faith, the writer of Hebrews stated that /by faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going.

By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God./ (Heb.

11:8–10)

In the next chapter, the writer penned the following description of the New Jerusalem:

/But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks better than the blood of Abel./ (Heb.

12:22–24)

As he closed out that epistle, he reminded his readers that “/here we do not have a lasting city, but we are seeking the city which is to come”/ (Heb.

13:14).

What Abraham, the writer of Hebrews, and the rest of the redeemed have anticipated by faith was revealed to and described by John.

His view of heaven’s capital includes several features*/: /*

·         */its general appearance, /*

·         */exterior design,/*

·         */ internal character, /*

·         */and the privileges of its inhabitants./*

#.

*Its General Appearance*

/And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; /(21:9–11)

1.

As the vision opened, an angel appeared to call John’s attention to the city.

2.       The last appearance of an angel was one thousand years earlier at the beginning of the Millennium (20:1).

a.        Angels play a significant role in Revelation, and this particular angel was involved in the Tribulation judgments.

b.

Those judgments unfolded in three telescoping series: the seal, trumpet, and, climactically, the bowl judgments.

c.

This angel was *one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues* (cf.

15:1).

d.

Either he or another of those *seven angels* also introduced the impending judgment of the harlot city of Babylon (17:1), making the contrast between the two cities apparent.

3.        Inaugurating John’s personal tour of heaven’s capital city, the angel *came and spoke with* the apostle, *saying, “*/Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife/*”*

a.

As noted in the discussion of 21:2 in chapter 18 of this volume, the New Jerusalem is described as a *bride* because it draws its character from its occupants.

b.

Those occupants consist of the *bride* of the *Lamb,* a title originally given to the church (19:7), but now enlarged to encompass all the redeemed of all the ages, who live there forever.

c.

The New Jerusalem is likened to a *bride* because the redeemed are forever united to God and the Lamb.

d.

It is further defined as *the wife of the Lamb* because the marriage has taken place (19:7).

4.       John’s incredible vision began when the angel *carried* him *away in the Spirit.*

a.

When he received the visions that comprise the book of Revelation, the aged apostle was a prisoner of the Romans on the island of Patmos (1:9).

b.

But he was transported from there in an amazing spiritual journey to see what unaided human eyes could never see.

c.        John’s visions were not dreams, but spiritual realities, like those Paul saw when he was also caught up to the third heaven (2 Cor.

12:2–4).

5.        The first stop was* a great and high mountain.*

a.        From that vantage point, the angel *showed* John *the holy city, Jerusalem.*

b.

The apostle repeats his observation from verse 2 that the New Jerusalem came *down out of heaven from God.*

c.

That emphasizes its divine origin; it is the city “whose architect and builder is God” (Heb.

11:10).

d.

It should be noted that what is described here is not the creation of heaven; it is merely the descent of what already existed from eternity past, and is now situated in the center of the new heaven and the new earth.

6.

The most distinguishing characteristic of the capital city of eternity is that it is the throne of the eternal, almighty One, and therefore had *the glory of God* in it.

a.

That *glory* will reach its fullest expression there (John 17:24); it will be unlimited and unconfined, flashing from that city throughout the re-created universe.

b.

The *glory of God* is the sum total of His attributes (cf.

Ex. 33:18–19) and is manifested as blazing light (Ex.

13:21; 19:18; 24:17; 34:29–30, 35; 40:34; 1 Kings 8:10–11; Ps. 104:2; Isa.

4:5; Ezek.

10:4; Hab.

3:3–4; Luke 2:9) and in His Son (Matt.

17:2; 24:27, 30; 1 Tim.

6:16).

c.        Sadly, though God revealed His glory, disobedient, rebellious people rejected Him.

d.

Even the Lord Jesus Christ, the embodiment of God’s glory in human form (John 1:14), “/was despised and forsaken of men/” (Isa.

53:3).

e.        Radiating from the New Jerusalem will be the brilliance of the full manifestation of God’s glory, so much so that “the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (v.

23).

f.         Isaiah foresaw that same reality: “/No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have the Lord for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory/” (Isa.

60:19).

7.        Describing the effect of God’s glory radiating from the new Jerusalem, John notes that *her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.*

a.        /Phōstēr/ (*brilliance*) refers to something from which light radiates.

b.

The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, uses it in Genesis 1:14 and 16 to describe heavenly light-bearing objects.