Word of Salvation – Vol.46 No.29 - August 2001

Jerusalem the Golden

Sermon by Rev L Douma on Revelation 21

Scripture Reading: Revelation 21

Beloved in the Lord...

It’s been said that everyone should have a goal in life, that we should have a reason for living, a hope towards which we reach and even stretch.  Here in Revelation 21 we have one of the most inspiring passages in the Bible.  It gives us the certain goal towards which we, as Christians, long and reach and strive.

What we already now have in principle will, in the time Revelation 21 describes, be completely fulfilled.  It pictures the time after that described in Chapter 20, when Babylon, the beast and the false prophet and even Satan, the dragon are all destroyed, thrown into the lake of fire.  John saw the end of time when all that is evil is destroyed, gone for ever.  And with that done, now he sees the glorious future.

Here in our text John sees his last vision.  He says, “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.”  John sees a new heaven and earth because in Chapter 20:11 we saw that on the great day of judgment the “earth and sky had fled from Christ’s presence.”

The whole of creation had been subject to the curse of sin.  And so it, too, needed to have sin removed, which would occur by purifying fire.  Peter writes in 2Peter 3:10 ff, “...the day of the Lord will come like a thief.  The heavens will disappear with a roar, the elements will be destroyed by fire, and the earth and everything in it will be laid bare...  That day will bring about the destruction of the heavens by fire, and the elements will melt in heat.  But in keeping with his promise, we are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth, the home of righteousness.”  So with the purifying fire every stain of sin, every scar of suffering and wrong, every trace of death has been removed.  So we see in the vision that out of the fire a new universe has been born.

Now the Greek word for ‘new’ here has the sense of ‘renewed’, ‘renovated’, ‘made like new again’.  So it will be the same heaven and earth but gloriously rejuvenated – just like at the great resurrection it will be we ourselves that are given glorious new bodies.  So the same earth, but no longer sin, no longer the weeds and thorns and thistles.  Nature will truly blossom and come into its own.  Its potential fully realised.  The ‘old’ order has gone.  The universe in which the dragon, the beast and the false prophet and the harlot were carrying out their program has all vanished – gone forever.  The sea, John tells us, will no longer be there.

Now, remember, the sea symbolises unrest and conflict.  The sea is always in motion, raging, lots of storm and tempest.  It stands for the nations of the world who are always in conflict.  It was from the sea that the beast came along.  But in the renewed universe all will be at peace – true shalom.  That’s why the heaven and earth and the sea, as they now are, shall vanish.  Everything is going to be gloriously transformed – the same universe – but renewed.

This may seem new to some.  But too much theology has been affected by the dualism of Greek philosophy in which salvation is about the flight of the soul from the (evil) earth to the eternal and spiritual.  The earth in itself is not evil.  “God saw all He had made and it was very good.”  And when He re-makes it all, it will again be “very good.”

Now having seen the new creation, John says he saw “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.”  The bride imagery reminds us of Chapter 19 and the wedding supper of the Lamb.  So we are talking here about the church, God’s people.  As Babylon the prostitute was a city, so we see that God’s people form the city of Jerusalem.

Why is the church seen as the city?  Well because the bride of Christ is not one person, but millions and millions of people.  The city symbolises God’s people as a community.  We live and grow and develop together.  Christianity is not about me and Christ alone.  Nor is the final goal about my soul alone with Jesus.  The church is a community.  And the final goal is the communion of the saints.

We live together; we use our unique gifts and talents for the service of each other.  Besides, the city symbolises the more developed, cultural life.  It’s in the city that we develop our arts and science and technology.  The vision of the Holy City gives meaning to our current work and cultural development.  The end goal is not the garden, but the city.

Now the city, as John ‘sees’ it, is totally awesome.  He tells us that “one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb’.”  So one of the angels who dished out the punishment on Babylon, the worldly city – which shows the stark contrast between that so-called great city and the Holy City – “carried him away in the spirit” -- in other words, in the vision, not actually – “to a mountain great and high to show him the Holy City Jerusalem”.  John needs to get up to this high point to get the best position to see and grasp this unbelievable scene.  As you read the description you can sense that John uses the most wonderful descriptions he can think of – the most expensive materials known to him – but it all seems an inadequate description.

John sees the “Holy City coming down out of heaven from God.”  It is suspended in air – it’s coming down.  And it’s from heaven.  In other words, this city is God’s doing.  The city represents the people of God – but the city is not of their doing.  Just like all of salvation is not our doing, but God’s through Christ, through His death and resurrection.  We have forgiveness and life as a gift of grace.

So is this city a gift of grace.  It reflects the wonder of God.  Notice how John puts it in verse 11, “It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper clear as crystal”.  We get the impression of a pure, sparkling diamond.  All is perfect.  It dazzles with the glory of God.

Dazzle as it does because of God’s glory it is the city of the people of God.  Notice the wall around it.  Verse 12, “It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates.”  The mention of the wall does not imply that the people needed to take security precautions.  On the new earth there will be no evil, nothing to fear The Wall, the angels as watchmen on the gates, were simply part of the description of an ideal city as conceived by people in John’s day.

Now we see that “on the twelve gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel”.  The twelve gates symbolise abundant entrance – free coming and going, each tribe able to go to its allotted land.  The reference to the tribes symbolises the continuity of God’s people – the Old Testament folk are of the same church, the same people of God, as the New Testament folk.

Notice that the wall of the city “had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” That reminds us of Ephesians 2, where Paul writes to the Ephesus church, “you are no longer foreigners and aliens, but fellow citizens with God’s people and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Himself as the chief cornerstone.  In Him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.”  It’s by the faithful preaching and teaching of the prophets and apostles that the church is built.

Now this amazing city, coming down from heaven, is of enormous size.  John tells us that, “The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its wall.  The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide.  He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length and as wide and high as it is long.”

12,000 stadia is about 2200 kilometres.  That’s like Adelaide to Darwin.  Half of all Australia square and then 2200 kilometres high.  That is an unbelievably huge city.  And why cubic?  Well, remember the inner sanctuary of the temple was a perfect cube, each dimension being 20 cubits (1 Kings 6:20).  The inner sanctuary was the Holy of Holies – the place of the divine presence – where God dwelt in Israel.

In other words, the Holy City is the place where God has taken up residence with His people.  That’s why it’s so brilliant.  The wall is made of jasper, the city of pure gold as pure as glass.  The foundations of the city were decorated with every kind of precious stone.  And as if that’s not enough, notice again the gates – they are each made of a single pearl.  If we have a pearl the size of a marble we are rich.  Jesus spoke of the pearl of great price for which a man sold everything.  Here are twelve gigantic pearls the size of the entrance to the walled city.  Is John dazzling us with wealth?  No, he’s overwhelmed by the beauty of new Jerusalem and tries to describe it in the terms of what is most precious.

The place is astonishingly brilliant because God is present.  He dwells with His people.  That’s why John says, “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”  In the Old testament God dwelt in the temple in Jerusalem.  In Jesus’ time God dwelt with us in the flesh – “Immanuel”.  After Christ’s resurrection God dwells in us by His Spirit.

The church is the temple of God.  Now at the end we see God living with His people face to face.  That explains the total brilliance of the city – like gold clear as glass.  Not a flaw in it.  Pure.  That’s how our relationship with God will be then – He and us together – pure in worship and adoration.  No flaw, no weaknesses, no sin.  There God will be in His splendour and we will bask in it.

Notice how John says, “The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb is its lamp.”  This does not tell us anything about the sun and stars in the new universe.  It’s describing the wondrous presence of God and Jesus with the church.

That is the whole wonder of the Holy City, the new Jerusalem.  Jerusalem has always been special because it symbolised God’s presence in the temple.  It symbolised the church gathering for worship.  It symbolised the covenant of grace with the ark in the Holy of Holies.  With God’s covenant He had made promises.  And do you remember the underlying promise, the basic theme throughout the Old Testament (and the New)?  Note Leviticus 26:11-12 (and many other places) “I will make my abode with you...  and I will be your God and you shall be my people.”

Now here in this last vision of John we see it fulfilled.  Verse 3: “I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.  They will be his people and God himself will be with them and be their God.”  So the “dwelling place of God” will no longer be away from the earth but on the earth.  Since where God dwells, there is where heaven is, we see that in the New Jerusalem, heaven and earth will no longer be separated but will merge.  So the people of God will continue in heaven as they live on earth.  God’s covenantal promises to His people had always included a land – a home – and here it is: the new earth, the Holy City, the new Jerusalem.

And what a life it will be as God takes up his eternal residence with his people.  Note verse 4: “God will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”  Gone forever are all the dreadful effects of sin.  Sorrow, death, mourning, pain are all part of the old order of things which are now past and gone.

John’s beautiful picture of God gently wiping the tears and forever removing our pain suggests far more than they actually say.  Never again that which causes suffering - war and brutality, fatal accidents, incurable diseases and dreadful handicaps, no more failing each other, no more funeral services, no more final farewells.  On the new earth all those effects will be gone.  We will be complete and whole.

Then we will live together in perfect harmony, never again needing to forgive or be forgiven.  Never again failing God in our worship and lives, never again failing our children, our spouses, our own integrity.  Then we will have everlasting fellowship, perfect togetherness with God and each other, including dear ones and friends we have loved and lost a while.

John’s vision is a picture so wonderful, that our aching, longing hearts yearn for it.  But doubt creeps in and says, could it really be true?  Will it happen?  As so often happens, when we have our doubts, God makes a declaration, a guarantee (like the Lord’s Supper).  In verse 5 we see that, whereas God has not spoken directly throughout all Revelation, now His silence is broken by a declaration.  Notice what he says in verses 5 and 6 (read it).

God makes sure that John gets these words written down.  The church has to know these.  The awesome God who sits on the throne and rules over everything says, “I will make everything new”, i.e., “I will do it”.  In fact, God says for Him it is already done.  “It is done”.  How can he say that?  Because he is the beginning and the end”.  He is not only the creator of all, He is over all time.  He is already there at the end.  His will can never be broken.  For God, this is not just a vision to come, but a reality.  He is there with the new heavens and new earth.

God is already there and guarantees it to the church.  Question is, will you and I be there, part of the church, the glorious new Jerusalem.  God says, “To Him who is thirsty I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.  He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son.”

Do you accept Jesus as Saviour and lord?  Do you long – do you thirst to be closer to God, despite your failures and your doubts?  We will never be perfect this side of heaven.  But God asks us to hang on in faith to Jesus – to persevere even if it costs us – as it did cost dearly the church in John’s day.  John warns the church of his day – and us – that “the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile,” etc, they will miss out.  It’s not the particular sins that John points out – but their unbelief and the lifestyle that matches it.  The cowardly refer to those who gave up the faith.  It is so important that we trust God, believe and have others believe.  That is our mission, our calling: to believe, and have others believe.

One last thing!  Don’t think that evangelism is our only calling.  God’s renewing the creation shows that all of life is important to God.  The mountains and rivers, the birds, animals, plants are all important.  So, this vision gives direction for our living now.  We must care much for all God’s creatures and not abuse and rape the environment.

And we should think carefully about how we develop our culture, art, technology, economics.  God, in Genesis, calls people to “subdue the earth”.  We were called to develop the creation, to find its God-placed potential and develop it.  That calling is confirmed as we see that on the new earth we do not go to the garden but the city.  God made us to be creative.  And what we do in Christ’s name for His glory – in whatever part of life – will not be lost.  Verse 24 tells us that.  “...the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into” the Holy City.  Verse 26 says, “The glory and honour of the nations will be brought into it”.  Abraham Kuyper writes:

“If an endless field of human knowledge and of human ability is now being formed by all that takes place in order to make ... nature subject to us, and if we know that this dominion of ours over nature will be complete in eternity, we may conclude that the knowledge and dominance we have gained over nature here can and will be of continued significance, even in the kingdom of glory.”

What meaning to life that gives.  Work is not an endless drudgery, living life to go to heaven.  What I strive to do for God now will bear fruit in eternity.  And what I fail to do now, because of sin, disease, poverty, I will have an eternity on the new earth – in the new Jerusalem – to explore, to love, to be fully who I am as God’s loved creature, in true worship to Him.

What a vision is set before us in these scenes of “Jerusalem the Golden.”  May it deeply inspire and give hope.

Amen.