I have to warn you, I'm going to be reading the
passage little by little during the sermon. So
that's why we're not having a scripture reading
before the sermon. But we will look at the whole
passage. So it's Revelation 21, verse 9 through
chapter 22, verse 5. And this passage describes
an enormous city. the heavenly Jerusalem that
descends from heaven. And when we first got to
Mexico in 2005 and I started teaching at the
seminary, I did a little math and I came up with
this image that you're going to see on the screen.
It represents the dimensions that Revelation
21 gives of that heavenly Jerusalem. Each side
is, as you can see there, 2 ,133 kilometers.
But for those of you who don't know metric system,
it's about 1 ,400 miles each way, each side.
But keep in mind that that city was not a square,
but a cube. And so you have to imagine it going
up 1 ,400 miles into space. Just for reference,
Mount Everest is 5 .5 miles tall. We're talking
about 1 ,400 miles. And we're talking about a
massive structure about two -thirds the size
of the moon. The clouds would be at the bottom
of that square. Now, if I ever took those dimensions
literally at some point, a little bit of thinking
helped me realize that that couldn't be the case.
The walls are only 200 feet thick. Only, but
that's very thick. But for a 1 ,400 mile tall
wall, that's not enough support. So I concluded
that this must be a symbolic rather than a literal
vision of the city where we're going to live
forever. And you know what? I was still wrong.
This vision isn't about a city. It isn't about
heaven. It isn't even about a place. You say,
wait, what's this? That's a description of us.
And that's why I entitled the sermon, That's
us, because it's a vision of the church, of the
body of Christ, of the people of God. And not
just the perfect glorified church of the future
after Christ returns. It's also got features
of the church as we are now, or as we should
be even now. The vision mixes up the already
and the not yet. It's a description of the church
as it will be at the end and as it is and should
be now. Now maybe some of you are ready to lynch
me. This idea of this passage being a city, a
place that we're going to live is very deeply
ingrained in our way of thinking. We talk about
the streets of gold. We talk about the pearly
gates. But this image is one of several portraits
of the church placed throughout the book of Revelation
in between the stories of monsters and disasters
and everything else. For example, in chapter
7, we actually see two portraits of the church.
The church as the 144 ,000 of the tribes of Israel,
marching tribe by tribe. The church militant,
the church on earth. And in the same chapter,
we see the great multitude that no one can count,
praising Jesus in heaven. The church in glory.
In chapter 11, we see the two witnesses who represent
the mission of the church, the church as persecuted
and then vindicated by God. In chapter 14, the
144 ,000 appear again, and this time they're
following the lamb wherever he goes, which is...
Kind of ironic because we normally think of sheep
and lambs following a human shepherd, but in
this case, the people are following the lamb.
In Revelation 20, we see the passage about the
millennium. We see the souls of the martyrs come
to life with Christ and reign with him for a
thousand years. And in Reformed theology, that
represents the church. The Christians who deceased
on earth and they're instantly by Christ's side
in heaven, in what we call the intermediate state,
the condition that we're in from the time we
die until the time that Christ comes again. And
finally, here in chapter 21, we have this glorious
description of the church as a giant, beautiful
city. Maybe some of you still aren't convinced.
And you think it's a description of the place
where we'll live. Well, let me prove it to you.
Because John isn't even subtle about it. He's
very clear. So let's look then at the first passage,
Revelation 21, verses 9 to 11. 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, having the glory of God, its radiance like
a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
Something similar to what we see in chapter 5.
In chapter 5, an angel says to John, Hey, I'm
going to show you the lion of the tribe of Judah.
And when John turns to look, he doesn't see a
lion. He sees the lamb that was slain. And in
the same way, in this chapter, the angel says,
hey, I'm going to show you the bride, the wife
of the lamb. And when John turns, he sees not
a woman or a bride, but a city. Now, if that's
not enough to convince you, then think about
the dimensions that we're... or have already
read some and will read some more throughout
the sermon. 12 ,000 stadia, 144 cubits, 12 pearls,
12 foundations, etc. Everything is multiples
of 12. And why is that? Because it represents
the people of God. Israel was composed of...
12 tribes, and the church was led by 12 apostles.
In the Bible, 12 is the number of the people
of God. And this vision of the church as a beautiful
city is meant to encourage us to press on when
things are hard, to press on toward the goal,
toward the people that we will become in all
of our beauty and glory, both individually and
collectively. So let's read verses 12 to 14.
It had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at
the gates 12 angels. And on the gates the names
of the 12 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 12 foundations,
and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles
of the Lamb. Now, Roman cities only had gates
on one side of the city, only one gate of the
city for obvious security reasons. You need to
control everything coming in and out of the city.
But this city has 12 gates, three on each side.
The church receives people from every direction
of the globe, every nation. We'll find out later
that these gates are open. all the time to receive
people. There's no need for homeland security
in this city. We also see the names of the 12
tribes written on the gates, the names of the
12 apostles written on the foundations. What
a beautiful image of the continuity between the
Old Testament and the New Testament, between
Israel and the church. There's one... people
of God, not two. The church is the Israel of
God, as Paul tells us in Galatians 6. And he
says in Romans 4 that people who put their faith
in Jesus are the true children of Abraham, the
man of faith, because they exercise faith as
well. Now about those 12 foundations, we can
note a parallel passage in Ephesians 2. It says
this, So then, you are no longer strangers and
aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the
saints and members of the household of God, built
on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,
Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in
whom the whole structure, being joined together,
grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him
you are also being built together into a dwelling
place for God by the Spirit. The church in that
chapter of Ephesians is a people made up of Jews
and Gentiles. Races that formerly despised each
other, formerly opposed each other, but in Christ
they become one new race, one new nation, one
new humankind. And people of every color are
being gathered together like bricks. and fashioned
into a holy temple. And God's Spirit comes to
live in them, in that temple, and fill it with
God's glory. Well, we need to keep moving. I
don't need to say too much about verses 15 to
17, since they give us those astronomical dimensions
that we mentioned at the beginning of the sermon.
But here are the verses. And the one who spoke
with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure
the city and its gates and walls. The city lies
four square, its length the same as its width.
And he measured the city with his rod 12 ,000
stadia, and its length and its width and its
height are equal. He also measured its wall,
the thickness of the wall, 144 cubits by human
measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.
Be kind of interesting to know more about the
measurements, but we can't cover everything.
We need to just limit ourselves to certain details.
This is more of a panoramic view of the chapter.
But one question is worth asking. If the gates
are on all four sides, welcoming and receiving
people from every direction, then what purpose
does it serve to have walls that are that high?
And the answer is that the emphasis is not on
the height of the wall for protection. The answer
is that the church is being compared to the original
temple in Jerusalem, to the Holy of Holies specifically.
The Holy of Holies was that inner sanctum of
the temple. And the measurements in the Pentateuch
make it a cube. And the city, of course, we saw
is a perfect cube. And so the emphasis is not
on protection, but on the fact that we as the
people of God are the holy of holies, where God
dwells in our midst, the place where God himself
dwells. Verses 18 to 21 say this, The wall was
built of jasper, and while the city was pure
gold like clear glass, 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. And the twelve gates were twelve. pearls
and each of the gates made of a single pearl
and the street of the city was pure gold like
transparent glass. Now the point of all this
is not to interpret each precious stone, each
jewel as allegorically as if each one meant a
different thing. It's more like a cumulative
effect where we're supposed to be in awe of all
this beauty, all these gorgeous, radiant stones
and jewels together. And the meaning is clear.
That the Lamb, Jesus Christ, looks at his church
and sees his church as beautiful, as radiant,
as stunning. The Lamb is smitten by his church,
his bride. Now there's something here for the
self -esteem of every individual Christian. God
loves you, and God considers you beautiful. But
the main focus is on the church collectively.
The church is made in the image of God, beautiful.
The church is following and imitating Jesus to
the point where they reflect God's glory. And
the church is washed and purified by the blood
of the Lamb. The church is beautiful. Yes, I
know what some of you are thinking. I have my
cynical moments too. The church that squabbles
about everything, not your church, but we as
a church as a whole, the church filled with vacillating
hypocrites, filled with people who sin and are
unfaithful, people who resist change. Both individually
and collectively, we don't deserve to be described
like a jewel -encrusted cathedral that reaches
to outer space. We're unworthy. But God loves
whom he loves. And he's chosen to love us and
to call us. And those whom he called, he sanctifies
and he glorifies and makes. Beautiful and radiant.
When we think about our sins, maybe it's scary
sometimes to think that God sees us as we really
are. But I think we're missing another element
of that picture. God sees us as we really, really
are. As this beautiful people of God that comes
out in this vision. Ultimately, theologically,
we are gorgeous in God's eyes despite the sins
that we have. The question is whether we will
have the courage to begin looking at ourselves
as this chapter reveals us in all of our glory.
We need to move on to verses 22 to 26. It says,
And I saw no temple in the city. for its temple
is the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. And the
city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it,
for the glory of God gives its light, and its
lamp is the Lamb. By its light the nations will
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 honor of the
nations. A lot of Jewish literature in the ancient
world before the New Testament stated that when
the Messiah came, that he would rebuild the temple.
And so the commentators that I looked at mentioned
how surprising it is that this description of
the city has no temple whatsoever. But that really
shouldn't surprise us. The function of the temple
in Jerusalem was to control and limit access
to God. You might have heard how the different
patios and courtyards in the temple limited certain
groups of people. The Gentiles could only get
to the patio of the Gentiles on the outer rim.
The Jewish women could go a little further to
the court where the women went. The Jewish men
could get into the inner court there, but they
couldn't go into the building. The priests could
go into the building of the temple, but only
the high priest could go into the Holy of Holies.
And he could only do that on one day a year.
But now that Christ has died for us, he broke
down all those barriers and obstacles and gave
us direct access to God. No matter where we are.
no matter what time of day, no matter who we
are or what our past looks like, we can approach
the throne of God of great, the throne of grace,
in prayer. We have VIP access to our Creator
and Redeemer. And the Lord God Almighty and the
Lamb are our temple. And there will be no more
darkness or night. In the ancient world, darkness
was a time for the drunkards, for the sexually
immoral, for the thieves to break in, for armies
of other nations to try to sneak up on a city
and invade it. So there needed to be gates and
police and night watchmen. But in this city,
in the church, we are the light of the world
penetrating the darkness. We're a city set upon
a hill where the nations can see us. Revelation
says that the nations will bring in their glory
and honor into the city. That is, the nations
will bring in the souls of all those from each
nation that are converted, the people who come
to Christ. And here, my friends, is where I get
to do two things. One is, as we'll see in a moment,
I get to smuggle missions into the sermon. Really
not smuggle because it's already there, right?
But I also get to do something else. I also get
to give that final death blow to the idea that
this chapter is about a place where we will go
to live someday forever. So let me take that
on first. For the people who think that this
passage is about a heavenly city, then these
verses in particular create a huge problem for
them. Because how can the nations stream into
the city and bring their treasures and glory
and splendor into the city? Because what nations
are we talking about? This is chapter 21. In
chapter 19, Christ comes back and destroys all
of his enemies in the battle of Armageddon. And
at the end of chapter 20, all humanity is resurrected,
and Jesus sends the unbelieving, the reprobate,
to the lake of fire. There's no one left. There's
no nations left. There's only one nation left,
the people of God. But we would be in the city,
right? Because the whole description is supposedly
the city where we will live. So what nations
would be outside of the city to be able to bring
in their treasures? But if you see this chapter,
this vision, as a vision about the church, the
church even as it is now, then the picture of
the nations streaming into the city with their
treasures becomes intelligible. It's understandable.
It's a picture of missions. The church is composed
of people from every tribe and nation and language.
This is something that the book of Revelation
repeats a number of times. And we are those who
have already come in to the city, and we call
others to come in as well. we send evangelists
and teachers and relief workers and many more
to fulfill the Great Commission, both in our
backyard and to the four corners of the earth.
And we do that because we're looking forward
to being part of that great celebration, the
great multitude that's greater than anyone can
count, an international... interracial multitude
worshiping God and the Lamb at the consummation
of all things. And we want that crowd to be humongous.
And so we take the gospel everywhere. We want
our family members, our friends, our co -workers,
our classmates to be part of that celebration.
We don't want to leave anyone out, unfortunately,
unless they want to be left out. And that's where
verse 27 comes in. But 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. And this repeats the idea
of verses 7 and 8. The one who conquers will
have this heritage, and I will be his God, and
he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the
faithless, the detestable, as for murderers,
the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and
all liars, their portion will be in the lake
that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the
second death. Sadly, there are people who will
not respond favorably to the gospel. They'll
cling to shameless lives. And their fate is the
fate that each one of us deserves, but that Christ
took our sentence away for us. By the grace of
God, God has written down our names in his book.
We finish our tour of Revelation 21 and 22 with
the first five verses of chapter 22. 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 through the middle of the
street of the city. Also 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. 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, and night will be no more. They will
need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God
will be their light, and they will reign forever
and ever. We can't look at every detail, but
I should mention that these verses portray the
church as a new Eden, a new Garden of Eden. We
see a river and a garden just as we see in Eden.
We see the tree of life that had been in Eden
in Genesis. We see the saints beholding the face
of God just as Adam and Eve had communion and
could see the face of God. And we see the long
-awaited undoing of the curse from Genesis 3.
Nothing more will be accursed. One missiologist
puts it this way. that the Bible began in a garden
but ends in a city. And we can add this, that
the city fulfills the goals of that original
garden. The church, to the extent that we love
and obey our Lord, fulfills the original goal
of Genesis 1, of a kingdom of human beings reigning
over creation in communion with God. Now in conclusion,
let's think about some applications. There are
many ways in which we can integrate this passage
into our lives. The main application would be
to reorient and rehabilitate our cynical view
of the church. The church has gotten a lot of
bad press, especially in the last few years.
And oftentimes we get a little cynical about
the church. And it's true that the church fails
in so many ways. We can be hypocritical. We can
be mediocre and boring. We can be passive. We
can be out of date. We can be out of touch. But
Jesus Christ loves his church as his bride. Jesus
told John that to him, his church, we... are
like a glorious international metropolis filled
with light, reaching space, and adorned with
precious jewels. And so how can we then contemplate
this passage and this vision to be able to reorient
our ways of thinking and speaking and feeling
about the church? On a more individual level,
as I mentioned, we can use this chapter to bolster
our individual self -esteem because we are part
of that radiant church. God looks at you with
love and longing. Yes, you're a sinner. Yes,
you're far from perfect. But this does not negate
the love that God feels for you. And so how can
this truth uphold and strengthen and fortify
you just as it upheld and fortified that small
persecuted and beleaguered house churches in
the first century another application so important
would be to overcome whatever racism that still
has a foothold in our lives the church reaches
out in missions to people of all races and all
nations and all cultures. In Ephesians 2, we
saw how the church has overcome the barrier between
the Jews and the Gentiles. How much more, then,
should it be overcoming the barriers between
us Gentiles? And the city that we saw in this
chapter has its gates open in every direction
24 -7. Our neighbors and all the nations are
invited to come in. What kind of welcome will
they receive in our churches, in our homes and
families? Will they receive a warm welcome or
are we still erecting barriers to discourage
certain races and classes of people from being
in our midst? And then connected to that point,
of course you knew that the final application
was going to be missions, right? Local evangelism,
prayer for missions, prayer for missionaries,
support of missions. These are all things that
this passage calls us to. And of course, Blanca
and I can attest to your faithfulness in praying
for us and supporting us over these last 20 years.
And we trust. That each of you is also reaching
out in some way in this context as well. And
so our prayer is that the building project that
you guys are working on might be accompanied
by an even bigger building project of building
each other up in the gospel in order to be able
to witness faithfully to the people around you.
Congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ, you are
the bride of the Lamb. May you be adorned for
your wedding day with every beautiful jewel as
you purify yourselves and are purified by God
of every kind of evil. May you shine with the
very light and glory of God. May you be built
on the sure foundation of the words and teachings
of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. May
your gates always be open to welcome and receive
people from the north, south, east, and west.
May your gates be open and may you bear fruit,
the fruit of the Spirit for the healing of the
nations. And may the one who sits on the throne
And the Lamb that was slain, be your temple.
May they be your temple, filling you with their
presence by the power of the Holy Spirit now
and forever. And all God's people said, let's
pray.