The Glory of the New Heaven and Earth

Revelation • Sermon • Submitted 3 years ago

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All of God’s people will enjoy his presence for eternity in complete fellowship with other believers in a new and perfect city.

Notes

Transcript

Text: Revelation 21:9-22:5 (NKJV)

Primary Audience: Believers

CIT: All of God’s people will enjoy his presence for eternity in complete fellowship with other believers in a new and perfect city.

Proposition: All of God’s people will enjoy his presence for eternity in complete fellowship with other believers in a new and perfect city.

Purpose: To help the congregation understanding the coming hope they have in Christ.

Title: The Glory of the New Heaven and Earth

Outline

1) 21:9-21 “A Bride/City of Perfection”

2) 21:22-27 “The Perfect Temple”

3) 22:1-5 “A Return to the Garden”

Read Revelation 21:9-22:5

Prayer

Introduction: The first year I taught school I was asked to go on the senior trip to Washington, DC and New York City as a chaperon. While we were in Washington DC, one of the students got a really bad migraine and so I was asked to go to a convenience store which was about two blocks away from our hotel to purchase some medicine. Mind you now, this was at around 11:30pm in the middle of our nation’s capital, and even though this might be the nation’s capital, that doesn’t mean the crime rate there is any lower! So, I left and walked, by myself, to the store, which had bars on every window, to purchase Extra Strength Excedrin Migraine from a clerk who looked like he’d just as soon kill me as smile at me! Needless to say, I hurried back to the hotel after making my purchase, only to find out that the convenience store I’d just left had experienced a robbery and the clerk I’d just spoken to had been shot at point blank range. ---- I remember lying awake that night, not being able to find sleep because I was thinking about how blessed I was to have made it back to that hotel alive. The longer I laid there and thought about it, the more thankful I became for the place I live. You see, rural western North Carolina is a far cry from the middle of the hustle and bustle of a big city, especially with all of the crime and people issues that occur in that kind of place. In the years that have passed that little incident I experienced made me realize that there are times when God’s people can get caught in the middle of really bad situations, and sometimes, for whatever reason, they don’t make it out alive! That’s a striking thought isn’t it, but do you realize that there’s a day coming when we won’t ever have to worry about things like that happening anymore? Why(?), because we’ll be living in a perfect place under the care our God who is completely perfect! I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait and the passage we’re going to look at today, Revelation 21:9-22:5, says that there’s going to be a time and place in the future when all of God’s people will enjoy his presence for eternity in complete fellowship with other believers in a new and perfect city. Let’s a take a quick look at what this text tells us about what that’s going to be like.

21:9-21 “A Bride/City of Perfection”

-Let’s start by looking at vv.9-21. These verses give us a symbolic description of the bride in terms of a perfectly well-built city where God will be glorified as he dwells with his people. You might say that this portion of Rev. 21 can be divided into two parts, vv.9-14 and then, vv.15-21. First, 9-14.

-Verses 9, 10, and 11 start out by letting us know that John was taken by an angel to a massive mountain where he could see the bride, who is the city, who is the wife of the lamb coming down from heaven to earth. Now, that’s interesting isn’t it, the bride, whom the NT clearly teaches is the church, is herself the city. Why is John doing this, why describe the bride in terms of a city? ---- Thank you for asking! I’ll show you. Put your finger here in chapter twenty-one and then turn back to chapter seventeen. Take a look at how ch.17 begins and notice how similar the wording is to chapter twenty-one. “17:1 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and talked with me, saying to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, 2 with whom the kings of the earth committed fornication, and the inhabitants of the earth were made drunk with the wine of her fornication.” Who is this great harlot, this great prostitute? Rev. 17:5 tells you, “17:5 And on her forehead a name was written: MYSTERY, BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.” The great harlot is pictured as what? ---- A city whose name is Babylon the Great. You see friends, Revelation is really a tale of two cities, the city of this world, symbolized by Babylon (the great whore), and the city of God, pictured as those people who are believers. Why is John doing what he’s doing in Rev. 21? He’s creating a contrast between those who are followers of the Lamb and those who are not, and he’s doing it by using the imagery of a city. ---- Now, flip back to Rev. 21 and look at vv.12-14. When you read these verses one of the things you should notice right off the bat is the repetition of the number 12 and the fact that you have the gates of the city being designated by all twelve of the OT tribes of Israel, and yet, at one and the same time, the foundation of the city bears the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. When you read that, I think it should be blatantly obvious that there’s more going on in the text than wooden literalism. No, what you have here is a symbol laden picture of the complete people of God, both OT and NT who are finally, in the end, brought together in the new creation where they will live forever in the unhindered presence of God. What you’ve got is a picture of what it’s going to be like after the groom, who is Jesus, gets married to his bride, who is the church. (Application) By the way, on that note, here’s a little point of application for you (I won’t charge you for this one!) One of the reasons what John says here about the bride is so important is because it has a point of contact with you and your marriage here in the present time. Have you ever wondered why the Bible puts so much emphasis on the purity and sanctity of the marriage relationship? ---- It’s because marriage is supposed to be a living picture in the present, the time in which we now live, of what’s going to come in the future? That said, don’t you think it’s important that your marriage function rightly and within the bounds of Scripture?

Now, look at vv.15-21. If vv.9-14 place their emphasis on a picture of a bride, then these verses, vv.15-21, emphasize the presence of God with his people. How so? In vv.15-17 you’re given the measurements of the city, v. 16 says, “16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.” When you hear or read this, you’re supposed to get the picture of a gigantic cube that would reach 1400 miles into the sky, were it to actually be physically built. Also, did you notice that v.17 tells says the wall of the city is 144 cubits? Although, the Greek text doesn’t specifically say, I believe we’d be on safe ground to conclude that the 144 cubits is likely a reference to the thickness of the city’s wall. Now, here’s the rub, and this might be a real shocker for some of you, if this is a literal city to be built sometime in the future, its measurements are so far out of proportion it’s unbelievable! And here’s where someone is going to look at me and say, “But you don’t understand, God is the one who builds this city! You’re just spiritualizing the text, and when you start spiritualizing the text you can make it mean whatever you want it to!” And that’s the point when I smile and say, no, you need to learn to read your Bible, especially your OT a little closer because the only place you see a cube mentioned is in the Temple, particularly the holy of holies (1 Kings 6:20), where God did what? Dwelled and met with his people! Also on that note, I find it rather striking that the precious stones mentioned in these verses roughly parallel those worn by the high priest who was the only person allowed to enter into the direct presence of God in the holy of holies, and then only once per year. Now, when I stop and consider all of that, I honestly have to scratch my head at wooden literalism when someone tries to tell me that this is an actual city that’s going float down out of heaven and land somewhere in the middle east! I say that with all due respect to my brothers and sisters who want to hold a view like that, but I simply believe there’s more going on in the text here, especially in light of what Rev. 21:3 has to say about the actual purpose of what we’re talking about in Rev. 21 as a whole. John writes, “21:3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” Church, the point of Revelation 21 is to show you, in highly symbolic language, that a time is coming when God will be with his people in such a way that we can’t even begin to imagine what it will be like! Let’s move now to vv.22-27.

21:22-27 “The Perfect Temple”

John begins v.22 by making a really surprising statement, especially from the perspective of a Jewish man whose life would have revolved around what happened daily at the temple in Jerusalem. He says, “21:22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” For John, coming from a Jewish perspective, the temple would’ve been the place where God lived, the place where God dwelled and met with his people! How could this be, how could God be with his people and yet, there be no temple? I think the point here is to be found in the imagery itself. Yes, it’s correct that God did dwell among his people and meet with them at the temple in the OT, but when God’s presence covers the whole earth in the manner John is speaking of in Rev. 21, why would we need a stone temple?

Excursus: (I think this is a good place to consider Ezekiel vision of a new temple in Ezek. 40-48. Many Christians believe that Ezekiel’s temple vision is that of a future temple that’s going to be built right before or during the millennium, and that there’s going to be animal sacrifices pointing to what Jesus did that will be carried out there. There are a number of problems with this view. First, the book of Hebrews clearly teaches that the Old Covenant with its animal sacrifices is obsolete (Heb. 8:13). Second, all of those animal sacrifices in the Old Covenant pointed to what Jesus would do in his one-time sacrifice (Heb. 9:11-10:18). Third, if premillennialism is correct and there is a millennial reign on earth why do we need to have sacrifices again when all a person would have to do is hand someone a copy of the Bible, especially a copy of the NT, and let them read it. Fourth, nowhere in Ezekiel is anyone ever told they are to build Ezekiel’s temple. Fifth, and this is probably the biggest one for me, if you go back and read Ezekiel 40-48 all of the textual references lead you to Revelation 21-22 where John explicitly says here in Rev. 21:22, “22And I saw no temple in the city …” So, what’s the point? ---- The point is that what Ezekiel saw and what John saw are the same thing, Ezekiel was using the language of the Old Covenant to describe a New Covenant reality he couldn’t completely grasp. The point, I believe, both Ezekiel and John are trying to get across is that when it’s all said and done, the entire earth will be one big temple where God is with his people.)

So, here the thing, what we finally get, in the end, is what God had originally commanded Adam to do way back at the beginning. I think that’s the point of vv.22-27 where you’ve got creation language (v.23) about the sun and moon, and language in vv.24-27 about how the entire earth will be full of the presence and knowledge of God. Do you recall what God told Adam in Genesis 1:28? “1:28 Then God blessed them, and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply; fill the earth and subdue it; have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the air, and over every living thing that moves on the earth.” What you’re seeing here is the complete culmination of that text. ---- (Appeal) That said, however, before we move into our last portion of Scripture today, there’s a warning in Rev. 21:27 we need to pay close attention to, “21:27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.” Listen, the only way you’re going to get in and take part of any of this stuff we’ve been discussing is if your name has been written in the book of life. How does that happen? ---- You have to be washed in the blood of the Lamb, you have to place your faith in Christ and give your life to him.

22:1-5 “A Return to the Garden”

-Let’s finish up by looking at 22:1-5.

-It’s interesting that when you read the from Bible cover to cover, you start and finish in a garden. It’s as if you’ve got bookends and the beginning and end of your Bible. In Rev. 22:1-5 John gives us a very brief glimpse into the truth that one day there’s going to be a return to the Garden. In 22:1 he says that he saw the river of the water of life, and it was flowing from the thrown of God and the Lamb. Now, notice where he says in 22:2 that the river was flowing, “22:2 in the middle of its (that is the city’s) street …” Now, that’s and interesting comment isn’t it. I don’t know of too many rivers that do this. Then, catch what John says next, “22:2 … on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month …” What’s the purpose behind this? The last part of v.2 gives us a. hint, “22:2 … The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” That last comment should tell us at the very least something about what the new heaven and earth is going to be like. There’s going to be nations there. So, what this seems to imply is that there will be some form of structure to society. What it will look like, however, only God knows. ---- Then, finally, in vv.3-5 John emphasizes once again the conditions that will persist when all of this happens, “22:3 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.” (How?) “22:4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. 22:5 There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. (And catch this last part) And they shall reign forever and ever.” (Appeal) What an amazing day that’s going to be, and I want you to be absolutely sure that you’re going to be there to see it. ---- How do you do that? There’s only one way, one ticket that gets you in, faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. Let me ask you, is he your Lord and Savior, are you resting totally in him? If not, why not let today be the day it begins.