Good morning. How are you all doing today? Awesome. Well, we like to start every
Sunday by saying welcome to any of you that are joining us here for the first
time, whether you're here in our sanctuary or if you're watching online.
Welcome. We're so glad you're here to worship with us here at Hosanna. I am
Pastor Nathan and this morning we are going to be continuing our look into
eternity at the end of Revelation in chapter 21 by looking at the new
Jerusalem. You know, some of you may be familiar with the fact that there's
nicknames for a lot of cities around the world, right? Big cities have nicknames
that kind of reflect the aspects of the city or the qualities or the characters
of the city. You know, New York, it's called the Big Apple, right? Does anybody know why
it's called the Big Apple? No, nobody does except the internet. So I looked it up for
you, okay? That was originally a reference to the fact that New York had big-time
horse racing venues. That's why it's called the Big Apple. Interesting, right?
Chicago is known as the Windy City because, well, it's windy there. All right?
Los Angeles, our city is commonly referred to as the City of Angels and
that's not really a nickname per se but more of a translation of what Los
Angeles means. But Jerusalem, biblically, has a lot of names, nicknames, other
ways of referring to the city. It's called the City of God. It's referred to
as the City of Peace, the City of David, the City of the Great King. It's referred
to as Zion. And Jerusalem is a very special place. It always has been a very
special place. It's a beautiful place but it's also a place of great conflict.
Jerusalem was a place that Jesus visited seven times during his ministry here on
earth and on one of his visits it tells us in scripture that Jesus wept over
the city because he saw its future destruction. And we know historically
that that happened just as he foresaw. But Jerusalem, as we know it today, has
seen war over 35 times in its history. It's under threat right now with what's
going on in the Middle East. Seventeen times Jerusalem has been reduced to
ashes. Eighteen times Jerusalem has risen from those ashes. But the city
Jerusalem always seems to be on the verge of catastrophe and some war, some
difficulty looming on the horizon in one way or another. Biblically, Jerusalem is
kind of the geographic center of the earth. You know, when you read through
scripture, you'll find that when scripture is referring to the compass
points, the north, south, east, and west, Jerusalem is always the center point. It's
always the reference point when the Bible makes reference to north, south,
east, and west. In Ezekiel 5, God said, I have set this Jerusalem in the center of
the nations with countries all around her. In addition to Jerusalem being
somewhat the biblical geographical center of the earth, it's also the
center of the earth spiritually. You see, Jerusalem is where Jesus was crucified.
So it's the epicenter of salvation. It's the epicenter of all that that we hope
for in our faith. It's the only city on the earth where Jesus was crucified. He
wasn't crucified anywhere else. It's the place where the sins of the world were
put upon the Son of God. Prophetically, Jerusalem is the center of much
difficulty. As we've been studying through Revelation, we've seen that
Jerusalem is the center of a lot of the end times drama that takes place through
the tribulation period. It's a place prophetically that deals with a lot of
different judgment and things of that nature and conflict. And governments of
the world have always had their eye on Jerusalem. They're always watching
Jerusalem to see what's going to happen and what's taking place there. And again,
the prophet Zechariah said Jerusalem will be a heavy stone for all peoples.
But ultimately, ultimately, at the end of all things, in the eternal state to come,
Jerusalem will be made anew. Not as a center of geography, not as a center of
politics, not as a center of conflict, but it will be the center of glory for
everything, for the entire cosmos. It'll be the place where the crowned King of
Glory will rule eternity and perfect holiness forever. And it will be a place
that God's people dwell with him in his presence permanently. The end of
Revelation 21 into Revelation 22 describes this new Jerusalem and its
beauty, its glory, its wonder. And that's what we're going to be talking about
today. But first, we're going to spend some time in worship because we want to
worship the King of Glory. We want to praise his name because he is due our
worship. He is worthy of our worship. Our everything, our entire existence, our
life, our purpose is because of him. And so he is worthy of our praise, not just
on Sunday mornings, but all day, every day. But here as we are gathered as his
people, this is a special moment that we come together to say, God, you're awesome.
God, you are glorious. And we love you so much. Amen? Father, we thank you so much,
God, for who you are. We look forward to just being with you in eternity forever,
God. We can't wait to get to heaven. Lord, we're so blessed at this description
you've given us at the end of Revelation, of what the new heaven and the new
earth is going to look at, God. And as we get into this description of New
Jerusalem, Lord, this city, this perfect holy city wherein you dwell with your
people forever, God, that we would just be encouraged and motivated as we look
forward to what is to come, God. But we wouldn't just be focused on what is to
come and forget that we're here still now with a call to share the gospel of
Jesus Christ with those that don't know it. And so God, motivate us today,
encourage us, God. And then today, Lord, as we celebrate together as the body of
Christ in communion and remember what you did for us, Lord, may we be reminded
very powerfully at the cost of our entrance into perfection, into heaven,
into eternity, Lord, and that we would be eternally grateful for you, not just
in words, but in action and in attitude and in our heart, Lord. We love you so
much and we thank you. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Today we are starting
with the, one of the final major sections of Revelation here. It's verse 9 of
chapter 21 and it goes all the way down through verse 5 of chapter 22. And so
it's a pretty straightforward description of this future city called the New
Jerusalem. Now this section is broken up into two parts. And so the first part is
really a description of this beautiful city from the outside. That's what we're
going to be talking about today. And then there's a description of this
beautiful city from the inside and that's what we'll be talking about in
our next study. But at this point in Revelation, we know and understand that
the rapture of the church has already happened. Tribulation has come and gone.
The millennial kingdom is over. Satan has been permanently cast into the Lake of
Fire along with the false prophet and the Antichrist. The final great white
throne judgment on those who have rejected Christ throughout all time is
done and passed. The first creation is gone, has ceased to exist, has been
undone and replaced with a new heavens and a new earth. And now what we have
described for us here in the eternal state that we find ourselves at the end
of all things is really a major element of eternity. It's a major feature of
eternity, if you will. It's the city that comes down out of the transcendent
spiritual realm, down to the new earth wherein the redeemed will dwell in God's
presence and glory forever, the New Jerusalem. And so read with me in
Revelation chapter 21 starting in verse 9. It says, then one of the seven angels
who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke
with me, come I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. He then 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. Now as we get into the description
of this city, this beautiful city, we have to remember that much like much of
Revelation, what we're seeing here is both a literal description that has great
symbolic meaning. We have to understand that. I do believe very strongly that
this is a literal description of a literal city that will exist in the
eternal state. But that doesn't mean that there's not symbolism tied into the
elements of this city. And so although there is this literal city here, that
doesn't mean we cast off symbolic meaning. But it also doesn't mean that we
cast off the fact that it's a literal city and say that it must only be
symbolic. And so John opens this section here seeing an angel that he describes
in a way that tells us this angel hasn't been seen for at least a thousand years,
right? This angel was one of the angels that was pouring out the judgments of
God during tribulation period. And so we know that a thousand years at least have
passed. And so here this angel shows up, an angel that was familiar to John that
he had seen before. And this angel says, I'm gonna show you the bride, the wife of
the Lamb. But then he goes on to describe a city. That's a strange way to describe
a bride, right? It's a strange way to describe a city. What he is doing here
is he is describing the city of God, this holy city of God, in terms of its
occupants, all right? The idea of I'm gonna show you the bride, the wife of the
Lamb, and then to go on to describe the city is what he's describing here, what
he's telling us is that New Jerusalem is a bride city. It's a city that is
occupied by the bride of Christ. This is the place that Jesus had prepared for
his people to be occupied by his people who we know biblically are the bride of
Christ. We see that description throughout scripture many, many times,
that the redeemed are called the bride of Christ. One of those examples is in
2 Corinthians chapter 11 verse 2 where Paul was speaking to the church at
Corinth and he said, for I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy because I have
promised you in marriage to one husband to present a pure virgin to Christ. And
so that's one of those places where we get the idea that the church, the
redeemed, are the bride of Christ. There are other places that describe Jesus as
the bridegroom. In Revelation 19,7 the saints are specifically called his bride
and so I want to point out very clearly in the beginning that the bride is not
the city. It's the city being described in the context of its occupants, the
bride of Christ. We have to understand and I hope you realize and appreciate
that bride, the term bride is one of God's favorite names for you and me. It's
one of his favorite names for the redeemed, his church, his people, all the
redeemed. When he calls us his bride, it's meant to invoke the idea of the closest
possible relationship that we can experience here on earth. It's one of the
closest and most beautiful relationships. In fact, Ephesians chapter 5, it has a
lengthy description and it's one I use when I do marriage ceremonies that talks
about this symbolism of what marriage here on earth between a man and a woman
is meant to symbolize in the relationship that God intends to have
with his creation. That there's a closeness and an intimacy there that is
meant to be symbolized by marriage. Incidentally, it's why I believe Satan
has attacked marriage so aggressively down through the ages, has fought tooth
and nail to redefine it because God said marriage is between one man and one
woman for life. That's his intent and that whole symbolism that is meant to
be a picture of the relationship God wants to have with his people. And so
Satan's like, let's redefine it, let's corrupt it, let's change it, let's do
everything we can because it's meant to symbolize this picture, this relationship
that God wants to have with you and me. But calling us the bride in Scripture is
the idea of closeness and intimacy and connection and unity as God defines it.
That's what this marriage concept is, that's what calling us the bride of
Christ is all about. And then you'll remember in Revelation 21 verse 2 after
the introduction of the new heaven and the new earth, it said, I also saw the
holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God prepared like a
bride adorned for her husband. And so we understand that the city is not the
bride, the city was adorned like a bride, telling us that the city and the
bride connection is a metaphorical connection, it is a symbolic connection,
telling us that the splendor of the city, the glory of the city was a reflection of
its occupants. And then again in Revelation 21 3, he went on to say, then
I heard a loud voice from the throne, look, God's dwelling is with humanity and
he will live with them, they will be his peoples and God himself will be with them
and will be their God. And so again, this city that is adorned in glory like a
bride adorned for her husband, reflecting the glory and the splendor of the
occupants, the occupants there who is the humanity that God is dwelling this,
dwelling with, the whole picture is this closeness and this intimacy and this
connection seen there, that's the point. And where is this connection? Where is
this closeness? Where is this intimacy centered in? It's centered in this place
called the New Jerusalem. Now, I think it's sad but there are many people, many
Christians on the earth today that like to have a long distance relationship with
God. They prefer to have a long distance relationship, they like to keep God at a
distance. He's close enough to feel salvation but he's far enough away to not
affect your behavior. You know, and there isn't much intimacy at all with God.
There's not a whole lot of closeness, right? You know, you haven't read his
Bible in months, years, you know. It has a layer of dust on it, you know, you're
like, what's going on there? Maybe you come to church and you worship and you
hear the word here but then you go right back to your life and you don't really
live the faith that you claim to have. There's little if any conversation with
him, right? You don't hear from him by reading his word. You don't talk to him in
prayer. Maybe you don't express much worship, you know, or adoration for him
and praise and worship and really for some you don't wear your faith outwardly
the way a person wears a wedding ring to proclaim to the world, I'm married. Your
faith is all hidden and inside and you know, that's not the relationship that God
wants to have with us. That's not the relationship that we're going to have
with him into eternity. It's quite the opposite, you know, and yeah, it's
amazing to me that he calls us his bride at all, right? I mean, especially
watching, considering that he's been watching the church for 2,000 years,
right? He sees me, he knows my life and he still calls me his bride. I mean,
it's just amazing when we think of our weaknesses and our struggles and who we
are and yet he goes, yeah, but I still love you. I still call you my bride. He
calls us his bride and he will call us his bride into eternity. That's just a
beautiful thing. His love for us never waxes, never wanes, but is and will be
perpetually at its greatest expression. That's God's love for you. And so when
we're looking at this bride city that he's preparing for us, you know, big
question for us is are we preparing to be residents of the bride city? Is that
how we're living our lives as his people? Are we preparing for that time? Are we
preparing for that closeness? Are we preparing to be there with him or are we
flirting with the world while holding his hand? You know, and it's a question
that every believer has to ask themselves at different times. It's a
question that we see in the different parables and stuff, you know, as the
bridesmaids who weren't ready for the coming of the bridegroom and all
this type of stuff, but this place, this city, it tells us here in Revelation that
it comes down out of heaven. That phrase, it's coming down or comes down out of
heaven is mentioned both in verse 2 and verse 10 of Revelation chapter 21. Now
the fact that it says it's coming down out of heaven, that tells us something
very important, that it's not created in that moment. It's being presented in that
moment. You understand the difference? That it's not being created there. I
believe this New Jerusalem is primarily what Jesus referred to when he said,
In my father's house are many mansions. You remember that? John chapter 14 verse
two, Jesus said, In my father's house are many rooms. And that's really what that
word mansions means. It means rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you
that I'm going to prepare a place for you? It sounds like at this point in
Revelation that the father's house that Jesus had been preparing places for us
within existed already, and now it was ready and now it is being presented to
his people for their permanent habitation with God forever. And so
verse 11 back in Revelation 21, it tells us that the city is arrayed with God's
glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone clear as
crystal. The primary characteristic of the city of God, this New Jerusalem, is
that it has the glory of God. That's the primary characteristic. It has the glory
of God. That word arrayed there, it means to be dressed or to be decorated in
splendid or impressive attire, right? It means that it possesses that which it's
going on to describe. So it says arrayed in God's glory. That means the New
Jerusalem is dressed in or decorated with. It's characterized by the glory of
God. The glory of God permeates this place, as we're gonna see. And this glory,
it said, is described, it's the radiance like a precious jewel, like a jasper
stone. So again, when we're studying through Revelation, we often talk about
what's literal and what's metaphorical, right? One of the clues, not in a
hundred percent of cases, but one of the clues is when it says like a. That means
it's given a metaphorical description of something. So its radiance was
like a precious jewel. And then it describes what precious jewel it's like,
a jasper stone. Now this word radiance means light radiating from an object
that the light is concentrated in. It's the idea of a shining star, right? That
the star itself, the light is concentrated within the star and then it
radiates out from it. In verse 23 of Revelation 21, it tells us this, the
city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it because the glory of God
illuminates it and its lamp is the lamb. And then in Revelation 22, 5, it says
night will be no more. People will not need the light of a lamp or the light of
the sun because the Lord God will give them light and they will reign forever
and ever. So the glory of God illuminates this place. There's no moon
reflecting the sun. There's no sun generating light by nuclear reactions.
There's no need for any of that because the lamb of God is there. Who is God
shining the glory? He is the source of light and it is just illuminating the
entire place permanently. Now it gives us this description, right? Like a
jasper. In modern times, for those of you that are into precious stones and
that type of thing, it's an opaque whitish yellow stone. That's what a
jasper is today. But throughout the ages, the definitions of precious stones have
changed. And in John's time, a jasper is referred to a gemstone that was
crystal clear, all right? It would be closest to what we would call a diamond
today, a clear shining diamond. And so it's describing the glory radiating
from the city. This glory that is radiating out from God in this city
makes the whole city look like a dazzling diamond. I mean, it's just
beautiful, right? It's just the beauty in its purest form is what this city is.
Now, did you know that God loves creative beauty? He does. He loves
creative beauty. I mean, it's evident as we get further into the description of
the city, but think about it. We see it in the first creation, right? The other
night, Irene was leaving her house with Gavin and there was just this
beautiful sunset that had purples and pinks and runes in it and she just goes,
oh, wow, look at the sky, it's so pretty. And we've all seen that, right?
Beautiful sunsets, beautiful sunrises. And we just look in the sky and we're
like, what? Are you kidding me? How can it be that beautiful? We've seen things
like flowers and just stuff that exists in creation that is beautiful,
beautiful to behold. Well, in eternity, it's gonna be demonstrated in a way we
can only imagine here. Think about when you think of this creation, think God
created this creation in six days, right? I believe it was six literal days.
God made the heavens and the earth here, the first creation, right? And we see
that in the first chapter of Genesis, right? God said, light be and light was.
Then he created the earth and the skies and the waters and the plants and all
the animals and all this stuff. Now, in John 14, Jesus said, I'm going to prepare
a place for you. And as of today, that was 2,000 years ago. If God created the
beauty that we see here in the sunsets and sunrises and in the sky and the
sky, if he did that in six days, imagine what the place he is preparing for you
is gonna look like when we get there. And again, we can only imagine because it's
beyond our comprehension. If sunrises and sunsets and the beauty of this place was
accomplished in six days, wow, the New Jerusalem is gonna be amazing. We get a
glimpse of that here, but really, you know, what John is describing is what he's
seeing from the outside. It's like a huge, dazzling, iridescent, gleaming diamond.
The most precious possible beauty that he can imagine. In verse 12, he goes on
to start describing the city. The city had a massive high wall with 12 gates.
Twelve angels were at the gates and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel's
sons were inscribed on the gates. There were three gates on the east, three gates
on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. The city
wall had twelve foundations and the twelve names of the twelve apostles of
the Lamb were on the foundations. So again, he's going on to give us greater
detail about this city, right? It's a straightforward dimensional description
here. It has four sides. There's three gates on each side. Those gates are
inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. What's really
interesting here is here we are in heaven, right? We're in eternity. We're
after everything. And this description of this city is very similar to the camp
layout with the tabernacle in the wilderness. You go into the Old Testament,
you read about when they were traveling through the wilderness and they would
set up the temple, right? The tabernacle where God's presence dwelt. And the
layout is very similar. You had three tribes, like these three gates, on each
side of the camp in the Old Testament. And again, we know that the Bible tells us
that the tabernacle and the temple were foreshadowings to what was going to be
in heaven. And so we see that there's these three tribes representing, and both
in the tabernacle and both in the New Jerusalem, the idea here is no matter
how you enter the city, you're facing towards God, because he is the center of
it all. Now why the names of the twelve tribes? This is one for people who say
Israel doesn't exist in the end and the church has replaced them. I'm like, well
then what's the point here? Right? If the church has replaced Israel and Israel
doesn't exist in the end time scenario, there certainly seems to be a whole lot
of emphasis on the twelve tribes of Israel throughout Revelation. Instead, I
think Israel has a major role to play both in tribulation and through the
millennium. They are God's chosen people. Everybody else that isn't Jewish, we are
grafted into that nation of people. And so we see these twelve tribes here and I
believe that they're inscribed on these gates because they're our heritage. The
Jewish people, Israel, the nation of Israel, they were literally the gateway
to faith. They were the gateway to our faith, right? The Messianic Age was
promised and predicted to Israel and for Israel. The prophets who spoke of all of
this came from Israel. The foundation of the New Testament is the Old Testament
and you can't study one without being able to study the other because they're
so intertwined. They're not to be separated. Now God had and does have a
very unique covenant with Israel specifically, the Jewish people
specifically, and I believe that is recognized and honored here in these
names being inscribed on these gates. But then right after the gates, he says
there's twelve foundations of the city with the names of the twelve apostles. So
as much as the names on the gates celebrates and honors the covenant that
God had with Israel and the Jewish people, these foundations now celebrates
the covenant relationship that God has with the church. The church. Now Ephesians
chapter 2, it tells us that the Gentiles were once excluded from the citizenship
of Israel, foreigners to the covenants of promise, but it says in Ephesians 2,
but now in Christ, you who were once excluded have now been brought near by
the blood of Christ. And it was the blood of the new covenant that opened the door
literally to everybody being a part of this, right? It wasn't just the Jewish
people who were supposed to let the world know about, it was the gospel going
out to the entire planet to everybody, both Jew and Gentile. And so Ephesians
chapter 2, verse 19 and 20 goes on to say this, so then you are no longer
foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of
God's household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ
Jesus himself as the cornerstone. And so our Christian faith today, the
Christianity that we profess as Christians, is built upon the doctrines
and the teaching and the eyewitness accounts of the apostles. Its roots came
from Judaism, but then Christianity was built through the teaching of the
apostles and that's this foundation we see here in the New Jerusalem. They were
the ones who wrote the documents that we have as the Bible, right? The letters
that we study, they're the ones that wrote these in the New Testament. They
organized the first assemblies of Christian believers, right? Sure, the
church started out primarily Jewish, but as it grew, Gentiles were welcomed in.
They were among the first martyrs of the faith. So from a human standpoint, the
apostles were literally the foundation of Christianity. And so in verse 15, now
we go from a kind of broad description of this New Jerusalem to a more detailed
description. He says, the one who spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to
measure the city, its gates and its wall. The city is laid out in a square. Its
length and width are the same. He measured the city with a with the rod at
12,000 stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. See, one of the reasons I
believe he's describing a literal city here is because of how specific this
description is. I mean, it's very specific and very concise. Now, I've been to
Jerusalem twice. I've had the opportunity to go to Israel two different occasions
on a trip and a visit there, and these measurements, I will have to say, are
very different than the place I've been to, right? This is a huge place, very,
very gigantic, right? Now, it tells us that all three dimensions are the same,
right? Its length, width, and height are equal. Now, to understand the size of this
thing, we have to understand what a stadia is. Now, a stadia, nobody is exactly sure
what the measurement of a stadia is, but the best understanding is it's about 600
feet is what a stadia was. And so, 12,000 stadia is about 1,400 miles, all right?
1,400 miles wide, 1,400 miles long, 1,400 miles tall. That's the size of this new
Jerusalem. Now, it tells us there in verse 16 that the city is laid out in a
square. Its length and its width are the same. Now, that word in the Greek is
tetragonis, and it just simply means four-sided, right? So, it says the city
is laid out four-sided. Now, because of that, some people speculate that the city
is a cube, right? Length, width, and height are the same, but some people also see
that it could be a pyramid shape because it says the city is laid out length and
width in a square, but then all it says is that the height of the thing is also
1,400 miles. So, it doesn't necessarily say it's a cube. It could be a pyramid
shape, but the idea is that this is a holy place, and the cube shape is
reminiscent of the holy place in the tabernacle, meaning this whole city is
now the holy place in the presence of God. Now, for reference, just to get an
idea of how big this is, 1,400 miles is about the distance from Santa Monica to
Houston, Texas. That's 1,400 miles. That would be one side of this city, and so if
you went length and width and you did the square miles, it's 2 million square
miles that this city takes up. Now, a mathematician did some math on that, and
he said a city of this size, assuming you dedicated just 25% of it to housing and
the rest of it to infrastructure, right, streets and public buildings and
government structures and all that, so a city of this size could house 20 billion
people with each person having a 75-acre plot. That's a big city. Now, it's possible
since we'll be in glorified bodies, and there seems to be indications that our
glorified bodies aren't going to be limited in their mobility and their
locomotion the way we are now, that it's possible this city might be laid out in
three dimensions, right? That's just a speculative idea that, you know, it's not
just going to be one flat plane, but it'll be on the sides, you know, it's just
interesting to think about. It doesn't say that per se, but it's something to
consider. Now, some use these measurements, 1,400 miles long, 1,400 miles deep, 1,400
miles high to say that's proof that this has to be purely a symbolic thing. There
is no way this could be describing a literal city because 1,400 miles tall
would put the top of the city way out into outer space. You see, there's this
thing called the Karman Line. The Karman Line is considered the imaginary
boundary between Earth's atmosphere and outer space, right? The Karman Line is 62
miles up. That's quite a bit short from 1,400 miles up, right? Like, for example,
somebody did a scale image of this that I have on the screen here. That's the size
of the city to scale to our current Earth globe, all right? You'll see it's
covering up most of the United States, and it goes quite far into the sky, all
right? And some people go, see, that's impossible. No way the city could be
literal. That's impossible. It can't be that big, to which I submit this. Why do
we assume the new Earth is going to be the same size as the old one? There is no
indication that they're the same size, or that the exact physics of this creation
are going to operate in exactly the same way in the new creation. You see, we have
a habit of limiting God by our own understandings, and God is unlimited,
right? What did he say? He said, what's impossible for you is possible for God.
Can God make a city that goes 1,400 miles up from the surface of the Earth into
space and have it work perfectly fine? Absolutely. He's God. Like, if you're
going to go, he can't do that, then you've created a God in your own image
who's not really God, is he? And so we see this really interesting picture, and
let's go on in this description because it gets more interesting. Verse 17, then
he measured its wall, 144 cubits according to human measurement, which the
angel used. The building material of its wall was jasper, and the city was pure
gold, clear as glass. And so there's a wall around this city that is 144 cubits.
That one we do know specifically. It comes out to be 216 feet, okay? That's
this wall. Now, it doesn't say whether 216 feet is the height of the wall or the
width of the wall. It doesn't mention that there. And the reason I bring that
up is because if that's the height of the wall, well, you know, 216 feet is not a
very impressive wall considering the city is 1,400 miles tall, right? Kind of
a little dinky wall. It's more like baseboard around the city at that point.
But then again, it's not a wall needed for defense because there's no enemies
anymore, right? There's nobody attacking. There's nothing like that there. And so
nobody knows for sure. I think it's the width of the wall, but, you know, that's
just a conjecture on my part. But we don't know for sure. But there's a wall
around it that has a measurement of 216 feet. Now, what it does tell us is that
this wall was made of jasper. Now, this is the same word as before, right? But
you'll notice it doesn't say like jasper. It says jasper. So the indication here is
that this wall is actually made of jasper. And jasper of the ancient times,
meaning this wall is made of this clear diamond-like transparent material. Then
he says the city was pure gold, clear as glass, all right? Now, the word pure and
the word clear are the exact same Greek word, all right? Why it's rendered pure in
one place and clear as other, I'm not entirely sure, right? It may have to do
with the first time it's referring to gold and the second time it's referring
to glass. It's kind of weird to say pure glass, right, when you're trying to
indicate something. But the word in the Greek means free from adulterating
matter, clean, pure, without blemish or impurity. What it's meaning is that as a
pure material, all right, the more expensive glass in ancient times had less
debris in the material, right? It didn't have stuff in the material. It wasn't
blemished or scratched or foggy. The more expensive glass was pure. Now,
interestingly enough, absolutely clear glass, clear glass like we understand it
today, was invented in the Roman Empire during the first century. Before that, it
was foggy, right? But in the Roman Empire in the first century, they invented
clear glass. But the idea here of pure gold and clear glass is that the city
was made of a highly valuable material. That's the first indication here. Now,
others see a reference to clarity, though. They go, no, it's referring to a
clarity because if you jump down to verse 21, it tells us that the main street of
the city was pure gold, same word, but then it says transparent as glass. Now,
that word transparent in the Greek is a different word than pure and clear, right?
It's a different word altogether. But guess what the word transparent means in
the Greek? Transparent. It means you could see through it, okay? You could see
through this thing. And so this can be a clue that here in verse 18 when it says
pure gold, clear as glass, that is not just only referring to it's a highly
valuable material, but also that you can see through it. It's a reference to its
clarity. Here's the problem. Gold as we know it is not see-through. It isn't. Gold
as we understand it today is not see-through. But John is recording what
he is observing in the words of his language, right? He is writing down what
he observes and apparently he sees what he's seeing. He recognizes it as gold
because he calls it pure gold, but he wants to make sure that we know it has
this special property, that it is clear as glass, that it is transparent. And so
for those who have a problem with, but gold isn't transparent, this can't be a
literal description. Again, I submit to you, new heaven, new earth, God almighty.
Can God make gold that is transparent? Yes, he can. Do we understand how now? No. But
God created everything. So I have no problem. My faith has no problem going,
this doesn't make sense here in my limited human understanding, consigned
and constrained to this physical creation that exists now, but God says
something that is just absolutely beyond my ability to comprehend. Is it
true? I can't say it's not true because then I'm limiting God. So the radiating
glory of God will travel through this transparent city, its transparent walls,
it'll shine forth into all eternity forever. And I believe the repeated
mention of this clarity, this clearness, this transparency indicates that
the New Jerusalem, this city, is designed to transmit the glory of God
without hindrance. That's the point here. You know, up until this point, every
other location that has ever housed God's glory, it's been constrained
somehow, it's been covered somehow, right? We've mentioned many times, you know,
when Moses said, God, let me see your glory, and God's like, no way, bro, it'll
burn you up, right? You're just gonna be able to see the afterglow because his
unrestrained glory, his perfect glory is just too much for this
creation to hold. And so it was inside the Holy of Holies, it was inside the
temple, it was constrained. And then for us as humans, we have the Holy
Spirit, God himself dwelling within us, but it's still veiled by our flesh in
that sense. But one day, one day it'll be shining without hindrance, without
limitation. And so verse 19, it says, the foundations of the city wall were
adorned with every kind of jewel. The first foundation is jasper, the second is
sapphire, the third is chal...that one. The fourth one is emerald, the fifth one is
sardonyx, the sixth is carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth barrel, the
ninth topaz, the tenth chrysophase, and the eleventh jacquenth, and the twelfth
amethyst. Now I tried to be like, okay, what's the idea here, right? You
know, is there some type of meaning into these words, and you know, there
are specific gems here, and I really couldn't find anything that was like, oh,
here's the great symbolic meaning of this, right? The only other example we
have of these types of gems being laid out is the breastplate of the high
priest. But if you go read about the breastplate of the high priest, they're
different gems. So there's not an exact correlation here. But it does tell us
that these are the foundations of the wall, right, not the city. And so, I mean,
quite simply here, I believe that these precious stones that John has seen here
is just simply another demonstration of the great value of what God has for his
people. I just kind of think it's that simple, right? It's of incredible value,
incredible value here. And so, verse 21, it says, the twelve gates are twelve
pearls. Each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the
city was pure gold, transparent as glass. And so, the end of verse 21 is where he
starts to transition to describing the inside of the city. And that's what we'll
talk about next time. But looking at these twelve gates, these twelve pearls,
considering the dimensions of the city and the dimensions of the wall, these have
to be some pretty massive pearls, right? Pretty huge pearls. Now, I don't
necessarily think these pearls came from giant oysters, right? They were created
by God's hand, you know, prepared as he prepared this city. But it is interesting.
It's an interesting detail that the gates to the city are pearls, right? Twelve of
them, three on each side, as we talked about. What we know about pearls, and you
may not know this, but a pearl, out of all the precious stones that exist in the
world today, pearls are the only one formed through flesh. They're the only
precious gem formed by living flesh. That can't be said of any other gemstone
that exists. And you guys might know the process, right? You have an oyster and an
irritant, a piece of sand gets into the oyster, into the flesh, and it irritates
the oyster. And so what the oyster starts to do is sending out these
secretions, right, to cover the irritant. And it just keeps covering the irritant
over and over and over to smooth it out, to make it less irritating. And as this
stuff spreads over the irritant, covering it layer by layer, eventually
what you have is a pearl, a beautiful smooth pearl, right? And so in that
picture, that which was an irritant, that which caused irritation in the flesh,
that which was causing suffering, if you will, becomes something
valuable and beautiful. So the pearl, the pearl is the answer of the oyster to the
irritation, right? So in a sense, these gates in this city, this
whole city, this New Jerusalem is God's answer to fallen humanity's crucifixion
of His Son. The irritation that sin is and was in our lives. The Old Covenant, he
said, I covered your sin, right, but it wasn't permanent. In the New Covenant, he
came along, Jesus died on the cross, and he said, I've washed you clean of sin,
right? But in both of those pictures, what we see is God lavishing beauty upon
us in spite of our sin, right? We come to Him as sinful, broken people. We come to
Him as irritating people, right? I know we've all said it, if I was God, I'd
strike everybody down with a lightning bolt, right? I'm glad I'm not God because
God is infinitely patient, right? But sin, it's irritating, it causes friction, it
causes all kinds of problem, problem in our lives, and yet God covered it in the
First Covenant. And then in the New Covenant, he washed it away. He deals with
that thing that causes the greatest irritation, the greatest problems in all
of creation. And so those gates, those pearl gates, I think will forever be a
reminder of how God took our sinful lives and made them into something
beautiful. That every single time we enter the gates of this city, we pass by
the reminder that God took our sin, dealt with it, and then made us something
beautiful, made us something able to enter into His presence. It's just this
picture of just amazing suffering that Jesus, that what He went through, the long
suffering with our old sinful ways, be in that picture that the only way to get
into the presence of God was through the suffering of the Lamb. What He did to
make us beautiful, that's the only reason we have entrance to God's presence.
That's the only reason we have admission into this city, and it's a testimony that
will speak for all eternity. Our sin bruised Him, our transgressions wounded
Him, and because He took our place and because He suffered for our sin, our
broken lives are made anew through our faith in Him, through our trust in Him. Our
broken lives are made into something beautiful, allowing us entrance into His
presence. And that's really what communion is all about, right? When we
partake of communion as the church, it's a time where we come together to focus,
to remember what He did for us on the cross. That's what we do in communion.
Communion is where we remember the cost of our admission to heaven. We remember
the price paid for our ticket, if you will, the great cost of our place in the
New Jerusalem forever. We remember what He did to transform the great irritation
of our sin into the beautiful pearl of salvation. And that's why we do this
every month, to remember. And so, everybody in the room here, you should
have gotten one of these communion cups as you came in today. If you did not get
one, please raise your hand. One of our elders will get one for you. So I think
we got everybody covered. Awesome. If you're at home watching online, please
get your communion emblems ready as we partake of communion together. Now, the
cups you have in the room, there's two plastic tabs on the top. There's a very,
very thin one and a thick one. If you pull back the very thin one first, it'll
reveal the cracker here at the top of the cup. You know, we read in the Gospels
that when Jesus took the bread, it tells us that He took the bread, He gave thanks,
and He broke it. And He said to His disciples, this is my body, which is for
you. Do this in remembrance of me. And the reason we do this, we observe this,
we call it an ordinance of the church, is because the point was to never forget
the cost of securing our eternal future, to never forget the great cost paid to
forgive you and me of our sin, the great cost paid that God would be able to see
us spotless and blameless. And it was an incredible cost. And the reason we do
this bread, and it's a certain type of bread without leaven, is because Jesus'
body is represented by this bread. The fact that it's without leaven represents
the fact that Jesus was the perfect atonement, right? The sacrifice laid on
the altar couldn't be a sacrifice full of sin, couldn't be a sacrifice with any
sin, it had to be perfect. And so leaven is a picture in Scripture of puffing up,
right? Because that's what it does to bread, it puffs it up. And so bread
without leaven, bread that's not puffed up, is a picture of that sinless body,
that body of Christ that was without sin, that was given for you. And we remember
in communion that He was the only one that could do that. He was the only one
that could die for us and be the atonement for our sins because He was the
only sinless one ever. You and I were sinful creatures. You and I, we sin
every day. And hopefully we understand that we are forgiven for all of it. And
that's one of the reasons why we do this, to remember. We know that He died so that
we can move forward, so that we could live a life free from the fear of the
condemnation, free from the sense of He's gonna get us. He said, look, I
paid the price, I washed you clean, I gave my body on the altar so you can move
forward and live a life just to honor me and to glorify me and to do what I'm
calling you to do. To live a life that is looking forward to the heaven that
awaits us, the New Jerusalem that awaits us. To live a life that says I'm so
looking forward to that, that I'm preparing for that. And I'm trying to be
who God's calling me to be in this life through the power of the Holy Spirit. To
understand that the New Jerusalem and the heaven that awaits us is as much as
part of the free gift as our salvation is. That is, we'll be there walking through
those pearly gates. We'll always remember the price. To remember that we didn't
earn it on our own because we couldn't, but that He paid the price for us. It was
His sacrifice. It was the Lamb that was slain that unlocked the gates, that
granted us entrance and made possible restored fellowship with our Creator now
and into eternity. And so as we remember and partake of this, that represents His
body given for us, we remember that the power, the sting of death, the eternal
separation from the love of God, that was sin and all that. It was defeated by His
death on the cross. Let us never forget that because that is the very victory we
have to live in now and the hope we have to look forward to. Let's partake
together. There's in the room the bigger tab that's on your cup. Just very
carefully peel that back. It'll reveal the juice here. You know the Gospels
tells us that when Jesus took the cup, He then sent to His disciples, this is the
new covenant in my blood. Do this in remembrance of me. And what He wanted us
to remember is that it is finished. That's what He said on the cross. It is
finished. The price has been paid. The penalty wiped clean. And if you put your
faith in Him and if you've put your faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and
Savior, your penalty is paid. There is therefore now no condemnation because you
are in Christ Jesus. The blood that He shed means we're clean. Placing your
faith in Christ, yielding your life to Him, it means no longer having to atone
for your own sin. Those without Christ, those who perish without Christ, those
who end up in the lake of fire will spend eternity trying to atone for their
own sin. And the sad truth of that is it'll never be enough. But the perfect
sinless blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for you and me did the job.
Accomplished what we cannot accomplish and we're not just covered. Our sin is
not just covered up temporarily but we are fully and finally and completely
washed by His shed blood. That is an ultimate victory. That is an ultimate
freedom that we have here and now. It means you're free to pursue living for
Him without fear of being condemned for stumbling in sin. It means that when the
moment when you sin you can immediately go, God I'm so sorry. Please forgive me.
And He goes, I already did. Let's get up. Let's keep moving. Let's not wallow in sin.
Let's move past it. It means that the justice of God is fully satisfied and
when He looks at you, He sees a spotless, blameless, blemish-free son or daughter
that He loves with an unending love. A love we get to experience a little bit
here and now and I don't think we'll fully understand till we're in His presence
but man I can't wait to be there. I can't wait to experience the full expression
of all that that means. But here and now we get to live as a son or a daughter
knowing that He's preparing a place for us. Knowing that He can't wait to spend
eternity with you because He loves you so much. And so we remember and the idea
here is to never forget that because of your faith in Jesus Christ and what He
did for you by dying on the cross, there is no longer any veil between you and
Him. There is now no barrier of separation. There is nothing between you
and Him. You are being sanctified. You have been justified and one day because
of what He did for you, you'll be fully glorified by and for His glory forever.
That's what we remember when we partake of this. Let's partake together. Father, we
are so grateful that you sent your Son to this earth to die for us. Jesus Christ,
we are so grateful that you went to the cross obediently and willingly to pay
the price for our sin forever. And Jesus, we are grateful that you then ascended to
the right hand of the Father and sent the Comforter to dwell within us, to
teach us, to guide us, to counsel us. God, we trust your plan. We trust your ways.
We trust your purpose, although we may not understand. We thank you. And God, as
people who know you today, that have put their faith in you for their salvation,
trusting in nothing else but your shed blood, we hold on to with great
enthusiasm the hope of heaven. Looking forward to that day when we are with you
in the presence of your glory forever, in the beauty of the New Jerusalem,
reminded of how wonderful you are, how glorious you are, how perfect you are.
That God, when it comes to all things, you are the first and the last. You are the
point and the purpose. We thank you and we love you. It's in Jesus' name we pray.
Amen. Let's worship, guys.