THE NEW JERUSALEM IN DETAIL - REVELATION 21:9-22%

21:9-22:5
The New Jerusalem

In this passage, John reveals a more detailed vision of the new creation. He received the vision as an angel came and carried him away in the spirit to a great, high mountain. (9) This is very similar to Ezekiel’s vision of the new temple. The hand of the Lord was on Ezekiel, he set him on a very hight mountain, and Ezekiel saw a structure like a city. (Ezekiel 40:1-2) Today’s passage has many similarities to Ezekiel 40. That is because they are about the same thing. John saw the new Jerusalem with God in it’s midst. Ezekiel saw a great city with a temple, which represented God’s presence, in it.

The angel with John told him he would show him the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. The Bride of the Lamb is the church.

The angel showed John the holy city Jerusalem coming down from heaven from God. So the city is the Bride. It may also represent the dwelling place of the Bride, the church.  Since there is so much symbolism, it is difficult to draw hard lines between the two.

This city glowed with the glory of God. God’s glory manifests itself in brilliant light.  Paul wrote that God dwells in unapproachable light. (1 Timothy 6:16) The appearance of angels was often marked by brilliant light. The city had the glory of God because it was his creation. He built it for his people, the saints. (I use “saints” in the protestant sense of all believers, not in the Catholic sense of great Christians given a special title.) Verse 27 emphases that they only occupants of the city are whose who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. The church is lovely in the sight of God.

The city radiated God’s glory. It looked like a rare jewel, like jasper, but was clear as crystal. Jasper as we know it today is usually some shade of red. There is a rare green color. It polishes to a high shine. Regardless of the exact color, John saw the city as beautifully radiant and glorious. He was trying to describe what he saw in terms the people of his day could understand, but it was difficult because it was so glorious.

The city also was also encompassed by a great wall. At each of the 12 gates stood an angel. It reminds us of the angel guarding the entrance to Eden. (Genesis 3:24) This tells us the city is safe. No evil person or thing can enter it. The saints were vulnerable on earth, but are not invulnerable under God’s protection. Indeed, verse 25 tells us the gates will never be shut. That is because there is no reason to shut them. Gates of walled cities were usually shut at night so that enemies could not sneak in. But here there will be no night.

The gates are inscribed with the names of the 12 tribes. The foundations, also 12, are inscribed with the names of the apostles. This shows us the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints are together in the church, together experiencing the glorious provision of God for them. Ephesians 2:20 says the household of God is built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. The apostles took the teaching of Jesus and their witness to his resurrection and became the foundation of the church.  Hebrews 11:39 says “And all these (people of faith in the Old Testament), though commended through their faith, did not receive what was promised, since God had provided something better for us, that apart from us they should not be made perfect.” This new creation is the “something better”.

The angel had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, including the walls and gates. (15) This also is similar to Ezekiel 40. There a man of bronze had a measuring reed. He measured the temple, the gates and the wall also.

When the city was measured in chapter 11, the outer court, or court of the Gentiles, was not measured. It symbolized the persecution that would be brought against the church in this age. Here is chapter 21, the entire city is measured, symbolizing its completely safety and security. The angel measured the city for John and showed it to be a cube. The height, width and length are the same (12,000 stadia) (1,365 miles).

Remember that the Most Holy Place in Solomon’s temple was a perfect cube. 1 Kings 6:20. It was 20 cubits long, wide and high, covered in gold. It demonstrated God’s perfection. The same is true of the heavenly city seen by John. The whole city reflects God’s perfection. God will dwell there in the midst of his people as his presence dwelt in the Most Holy Place in Solomon’s temple. The walls of the Most Holy Place were covered in gold. In contrast, the entire heavenly city is pure gold, like glass. (18) It is even more glorious than Solomon’s temple.

The walls were 144 cubits. That is 12 x 12 cubits, again reflecting the church’s existence as all of believing Old Testament Israel and the believers of the New Testament Church. The walls are also very thick, about 216 feet or or 65 meters, showing the safety and security of the city.

Even the foundations are beautiful. They are adorned with jewels of different kinds. The list is similar to the list of stones on Aaron’s breastplate in Exodus 15. Aaron was the first high priest of Israel. This may reflect that all of the members of the church are priests before God. Peter wrote the we are a royal priesthood. (1 Peter 2:9)

Each of the 12 gates was made of one pearl and the streets were made of transparent gold. (21) This is where they sayings “pearly gates” and “streets of gold” comes from.

In the midst of this beauty and radiance, John noticed a few things missing. There was no temple in the city. (22) He tells us it is because the temple is God the Father and Jesus the Son. They dwell in the midst of the city, the saints. Therefore, no temple is needed. All of the new creation is God’s temple.

Also missing is the sun and moon. They are unnecessary because the glory of God will provide all the light needed. (23) This is the fulfillment of Isaiah 60:19, where God, speaking of the glory of the future Jerusalem, said: The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light, but the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.” The nations will walk in this light, believers from all over the world. This is also a fulfillment of Isaiah 60, where God says “nations shall come to your light and kings to the brightness of your rising”. (Isaiah 60:3)

Inside the city is the river of the water of life. (22:1) It flows from the throne of God through the middle of the street of the city. It is the picture of eternal life coming from the Lord. In Ezekiel 47, water flowed from the threshold of the temple through the complex, getting deeper and deeper as it went until it was a river Ezekiel could not cross.

Along the banks of the river grew the tree of life. It has 12 kinds of fruit, one for each month. This again is a symbol of God providing for eternal life and providing all our needs in the new creation. This is also shown by the fact that the leaves of the tree heal the nations.

This again refers back to Ezekiel’s temple in Ezekiel 47. There the river which flowed from the temple was full of fish and trees lined the river bearing fruit for food. It is the picture, in Old Testament terms, of God providing for the saints in eternity. Also, their leaves are for healing. The image in Ezekiel and in Revelation are almost identical.

There is also here a picture of Eden in Genesis 2. It was a garden full of trees that were beautiful to see and filled with fruit good to eat. The tree of life was in the garden. A river flowed out of Eden to water the garden. That garden was ruined by sin and man was cast out. The way back in was barred by a sword wielding angel. Now, the way is open. Eden is restored for men and women. There is no sin to ruin it. In fact, there is no tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Revelation 22:3 says there is nothing cursed there. Again men and women will commune directly with God and worship him. We will see his face! We will be his (his name on our foreheads), he will light our way, and we will reign with him forever and ever, for eternity.

What a wonderful thing to look forward to! It gives us hope for the future.

Tearing Down The House

KNOCKING DOWN A HOUSE

I have been watching a house being knocked down this week. A large front end loader pushed the house over, then tore it into pieces. I was surprised how easily the house collapsed. It had looked ok from the outside.

But, after the house was demolished and the pieces were shoved into a big pile, I saw that a lot of the wood was rotten, some was brittle and some even burned. What looked respectable from the outside was rotten on the inside.

A church can also look respectable on the outside, but be rotten on the inside.  Years of sin and hardened hearts are dressed in nice suits and dresses to hide the interior rot and brittleness.

Selfishness is not revealed until people do not get what they want. Bitterness is hidden in secret thoughts until frustration opens the mouth and the tongue says terrible things. Rebelliousness and dissension arise as people with the same felt grievances band together.

At some point, the scale is tipped. There is more rot than soundness. Then the house comes down. It may just rot until it is an empty, useless shell or someone tears it down. In Revelation, Jesus told a church that if it did not repent, he would come and take away its lampstand. (Revelation 2:5) It was an apocalyptic way of saying he will tear down their house.

We have a concrete example. After many warnings, God sent the Babylonians to tear down Israel’s house, the temple. Centuries later, he tore the house down again, using Roman legions to do such a thorough job no stone was left on top of another. It was never rebuilt.

How do we avoid the rot?

The Christian life is about dying to self. Jesus made it a condition of following him. (Luke 9:23) He said “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me.” He said this in the context of his own death, having just told the disciples he must suffer many things and be killed.

We repeat this verse glibly. We say we will follow him even to death. But we will not deny ourselves in everyday life. We will not give up our Sunday School classroom for someone who needs it more. We will not consent to change the schedule of services by 15 minutes. We will not put up with rowdy kids from unchurched families mixing with our children in order to reach them for Christ.

And, of course, the number one cause of church fights today is church music: traditional hymns vs. contemporary music. A lady once told my wife she would give anything if our church could be united in worship. She followed that by saying: if those young people would only give up that contemporary music we could be united. That is not self-denial. It is selfishness. Self-denial would have at least said I would give up some of my music to blend in some of theirs if it would make us united. Those on the contemporary side are the same way. They will leave and go to another church that is more contemporary.

Selfishness leads to bitterness. When we do not get what we want, we sulk. We complain. We join other complainers.  We get bitter. We also get contentious.

All of these attitudes are condemned in scripture. Paul said the works of the flesh include enmity, strife, fits of anger, dissensions, and divisions. He even says those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5:19-21)

That is strong language. He bluntly says that believers do not do these things. If you do these things, you do not have the inheritance of eternal life.

Paul appealed to the Corinthian church that there would be no divisions among them, but instead they would be united in the same mind and the same judgment. (1 Corinthians 1:10) There is complete unity in the Godhead. Father, Son and Holy Spirit are always in agreement. We only reflect that character of God when we ourselves are unified. We only reflect the humility of Christ when we are humble, putting others before ourselves. We are only obedient to Christ when we are humble and when we are united.

It is useless to pray for revival or even growth if our hearts are not lined up with the heart of Jesus. What is needed is confession and repentance. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9) Then we can walk in the light of God and have fellowship with each other. That fellowship means we share our hearts and spirits, desiring to glorify God, deny ourselves, and follow Christ together. If we do that, the church will live and not rot.

SUFFERING FOR JESUS

As we realize the message of Revelation is that Christians will suffer persecution, but those who endure will receive eternal life, we begin to notice that message elsewhere in the New Testament.

For example, in Matthew 24, Jesus spoke of his coming and the end of the age. He said “Then they will deliver you up to tribulation and put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations for my name’s sake.” (Matthew 24:9) James 1:2 says “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness.”  When Paul told Timothy to continue his work, he told him to endure suffering. (2 Timothy 4:5) 

There is not one passage that says “do not worry about suffering or tribulation, for I will take you away before that happens”. Any theology that teaches that concept is in error and does not prepare the Christian for what is coming. Imagine if Christians in Iraq were told not to worry because God would not let them suffer.

God may or may not call you to suffer. You might be blessed to live in a country where religious freedom allows you to suffer no more than the occasional insult. But God might call you to suffer for him, to fill up the measure of Christ’s sufferings, as Paul would say. If so, endure. Keep the faith! Consider it a privilege to suffer for Jesus. And know that heaven awaits. Eternity stretches before you with the blessings of fellowship with God and fellow believers in a perfect place.

Chapter 21
The New Jerusalem: Bride & Wife of the Lamb

In Revelation 20:11, John recorded seeing the  earth and sky vanish as there was no place for them. That is because the old order or creation must go away or be changed to make way for the new creation. The old creation is infected with sin. It cannot participate in a new order where there is no sin or corruption. Paul explained this is Romans 8. He said the old creation was subjected to futility when man sinned. (Rom. 8:20) It will be set free from its bondage to corruption and obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God. (Rom. 8:22) This is what Revelation 21-22 shows us.

This is also a fulfillment of God’s statement in Isaiah 65:17, “For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth, and the former things shall not be remembered or come into mind.”

John does not tell us how this happens. He just tells us the first creation passed away. He does tell us there is no more sea. This does not mean there will be no large bodies of water in the new creation. Rather, the sea is a symbol of chaos and sin in Jewish writing. For example, Isaiah 57 20-21 says “But the wicked are like the tossing sea; for it cannot be quiet, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. There is no peace, says my God, for the wicked.” In Revelation 4, the crystal sea separates man from God. In Revelation 13, the beast rises out of the sea to oppose Christ and attack the church.

But Jesus destroys all chaos and sin before the new creation begins. There is no longer any separation between God and man. The new creation is where “righteousness will dwell”. (2 Peter 3:12)

The next thing John sees in the new Jerusalem, which he called the holy city, coming down out of heaven. He said it comes down out of heaven. This is the church. It comes down out of heaven because that is where all believers are at that moment. Some say heaven and earth merge at this point.

We see that the new Jerusalem is the church by referring to the language of other scriptures. For example, in Galatians 4, Paul compared Hagar (mother of Ishmael) to Sarah (mother of Isaac). Hagar corresponds to the earthly Jerusalem, born into slavery. Sarah corresponds to the Jerusalem above. Sarah bore Isaac, the child of promise, who begin to fulfill the promise God made to Abraham that he would be a blessing to all nations. The church comes from Isaac, the world from Ishmael.

Hebrews 12:22-24 says to believers, “you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly 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…”

The city coming out of heaven to enjoy the new creation is a picture of the church, all of the redeemed of the ages, coming to live in the eternal dwelling place God prepared for us. Hebrews 11:10 says Abraham was looking forward to the city that has foundations whose designer and builder is God. Hebrews 11 further says all who died in faith desired a better country, that is a heavenly one, so God is not ashamed to be called their God and has prepared for them a city.” (Heb. 11:16)

John also said this city was prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (2) A bride comes to her groom as beautiful as she can be. She prepares herself. She has her hair and make up done. She buys a beautiful, white, gown to wear.

We have seen this metaphor repeatedly in scripture. Revelation 19:7 showed us the marriage supper of the Lamb, who is Jesus. It says the marriage has come and the Bride has made herself ready. We now see the church as the bride come to Jesus as the groom, and he shows her the home he has prepared for them.

When I married my sweet wife, I took her to the home I had prepared for her. It was a small, one bedroom, furnished apartment. I had troubles with the landlord, who had lost our paperwork, and I had to fight for that home so that we would have a place to live, so that she would have a home. Jesus has prepared a home for his bride, also, but this home, as we will see, is beautiful beyond description.

At this point, an announcement is made about the home for the Bride, the New Jerusalem. (21:3-4)

This voice from the throne says:
God will dwell, or tabernacle, with man;
they will be his people;
he will be their God;
He will remove all memory of sadness (wipe away every tear);
He has removed death;
there will be no sadness or pain because he has removed the old creation.  

God gave us types of this dwelling with us. It began with the Garden of Eden, where God dwelt with Adam and Eve before the fall. His presence dwelt in the Tabernacle and then the Temple of Israel. The Holiest Place in both the tabernacle and temple reflected God’s throne in heaven, with curtains patterned after space and cherubim next to the throne.

But it was an imperfect situation. Israel was still sinful and so could not approach God except through the priest. And these dwellings were destroyed because Israel sinned against God and worshipped idols.

But God promised that he would dwell with man in the future. In Ezekiel 37:27, he said My dwelling place will be with them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.”

Then Jesus came. The angel that announced his future birth to Mary called him Immanuel, or God with us. (Matthew 1:23; Isaiah 7:14) Matthew tells us this fulfills Isaiah 7:14, where a child was promised who would be Immanuel.

Through the Holy Spirit, God dwelt with the church, with believers. John 14:16-17. Yet, we still were sinners in a sinful world.

But this dwelling in Revelation 21 is complete and perfect, with God dwelling in our midst in the perfect place he created for us, unmarred by sin and its effects. All sadness, pain and death are removed.

Eden was perfect because God was there. Eden was lost through sin. Eden is now restored.

We will get a more detailed description of the new Jerusalem starting in verse 9. John often does this. He gives a preliminary vision of something then gives more detail later.

21:5-8
God’s Announcement

God announces that he is making all things new. He has completed his redemptive plan and now makes all creation perfect. He tells John to write it down for his words are faithful and true. All embattled churches can know that God will one day makes this imperfect world a perfect world.

God follows this with his description of his work. He says:
It is done!
He is the Alpha and Omega, beginning and end;
he gives eternal life (water of life) without payment;
it is a heritage for the one who conquers;
he will be our father and we will be his children; but
the unbelievers will be in hell.

It Is Done!

These words reflect the words from the voice from the throne when the last bowl was poured out in 16:17. God declares that all he set out to do before the foundation of the world is accomplished. He has made a people for himself redeemed out of mankind, he has defeated all his enemies and he has made a place for his redeemed family to live.




Alpha and Omega

At the end of his work, God declares himself the beginning and the end. He existed before the world was created and he exists now that it is remade. He is eternal. He is sovereign over history and eternity.


He Gives EternalLife

God is the source of life. To have eternal life is to know and be in him. He gave this eternal life to us without payment on our part. We, in fact, had nothing with which to pay, since we could not keep his law. Therefore, this is a statement about his grace. He gave eternal life to us as a gift, not as something we earned.

God used the metaphor of water for eternal life, the spring of the water of life, and thirst for our need. This image will be repeated in chapter 22. It was especially meaningful for desert people for whom water was a precious commodity. Remember in John 4, Jesus told the Samaritan woman at the well “…whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life”. (John 4:12-14)

A Heritage for the One Who Conquers

Here God again gives encouragement to the church in persecution, and a warning to the unbeliever. Remember that each of the letters to the seven churches ended with a promise to “the one who overcomes”. Eternal life is the heritage of the enduring believer. It is our inheritance. Peter called it “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time”. (1 Peter 1:4-5)

He Will Be Our God and We Will Be His Children

We are and will be God’s family. John 1:12 says that those who receive Christ and believe in his name, receive the right to become children of God. He treats a believer as his child for eternity. Think of the most wonderful moments you ever had with your father and it will be many times greater than that. We will fully experience his love and care for us.

Even more than children, God says he will make the overcomer his son. This implies more than just the relation of family. It is the title of the one who rules for the father. The churches were powerless at the time Revelation was written (and largely so now), but believers will rule with Christ over the new creation on behalf of the Father.

But Not For Unbelievers

There is no picture in the New Testament of Universalism, the belief that everyone goes to heaven regardless of whether they profess faith in Christ. Instead, unredeemed sinners have their portion, or inheritance, in the lake of fire. This list of sinners is not exhaustive, but lists examples of sinners. Notice that first is the “cowardly”. The coward is the opposite of the one who endures. Jesus repeatedly says that it is the one who endures who receives eternal life. The second is the faithless. Only those who believe in Jesus for salvation will see this new creation and dwell in it with the Lord.

Happy Birthday, J. I. Packer!

Dr. Packer is 90 years old today. He is a theologian and writer, having influenced several generations of believers.

He is best known for his book “Knowing God”, which was published in 1973. If you have not read it, you should. It is also a good book to give to new believers seeking to grow in Christ.

He is also well known for writing the introduction to the 1958 printing of John Owen’s “The Death of Death in the Death of Christ”. Not many people will read Owen’s book. It is formidable. But Packer’s introduction has become a classic on its own. You can find it online at: www.the-highway.com/Death.html and other places.

Meditation on John 3:16

God sent us out of paradise, into the wilderness, because we sinned. God sent his Son out of paradise, into the wilderness, to bear our sin and bring us to paradise. 

Grieving With Hope

1 Thessalonians 4:13-17 is a passage about the second coming. It says:
But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers, about those who are asleep that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep. For this we declare to you by a word from the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will not recede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the sound of the trumpet of God And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air, and so we will always be with the Lord.

Paul wrote this passage to comfort those believers who had lost loved ones to death. They worried that their loved ones missed the resurrection by dying before the return of Christ. They saw their unbelieving neighbors grieve intensely, for they did not believe there was an afterlife for them. Paul said "don't do that". He pointed them to Jesus' resurrection. He was the first of many who would be raised.

In fact, when Jesus returns, he will bring with him those who have died in faith. That shows us that their souls are already with Jesus in heaven. Otherwise, he could not bring them with him when he returns from heaven. In addition, they will be the first to receive imperishable bodies. Then, those who are still alive at that time, will be raised and changed also. From that point, we will never be separated from the presence of the Lord.

It is appropriate to grieve the loss of one we love. After all, we miss them being with us. Death is not really natural It came as a result of sin. It is the penalty of sin. So we grieve. But we do not despair. We do not rail against God. We know that person is in a far better state than us: they are in heaven with Jesus. And we know that we will all be together with Jesus at his coming.

Therefore, we grieve, but with hope.