New Jerusalem
Revelation 21:10, 22 – 22:5
In this book of so many visions, we arrive at the final vision; final not only because it is the last in this book, but final because here we see the ultimate destination to which God will bring the world. As we saw in John’s vision last week, God has brought heaven down to mankind, so that He could dwell with them for an eternity. He has made all things new, not just replaced with some different things but rather everything that was created by God for man, has been re-created, has been made to be new again, transformed, including man himself.
The Believers that have “fallen asleep” have been transform when they died and live with God in Heaven. Those that are alive at the 2nd coming are made new and transformed when the second coming of Jesus ushers in the New Heaven and the New Earth, and God comes to dwell with mankind in Eternity. Today we have the opportunity to know more about what our eternal home is and how we co-exist with the Creator. It is the home that we have earned through our belief and faithfulness to God through the challenges that we have faced.
John tells us, our eternal home will be New Jerusalem which is also called the Holy City, the City of God and the Celestial City and it is literally heaven on earth. We start our lesson today with John saying that “one of the seven angels comes to him and carried him away, to a mountain great and high” from there John is shown New Jerusalem coming out of the heavens and he marvels over what he sees. He tells us that New Jerusalem, our Eternal Home is a fantastically huge city. In fact it is nearly 1,400 miles long, wide and high, it is a perfect cube. Perfection is the order of the day for New Jerusalem, a perfect God, perfect Home filled with perfected beings!
The city is dazzling in every way. It has twelve foundations, bearing the names of the twelve apostles, and they are “decorated with every kind of precious stone”. It has twelve gates, and on each gate is a single pearl, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. The streets are made of pure gold. Friends, New Jerusalem, our new home, is stunning and awe inspiring!
In our lesson today, John is struck by not only what he sees but also, ironically enough, it is something that it does not see, that catches his attention. “I did not see a temple in the city” John writes.
As we know, for the Jews, the temple was the center of community, life, death and spirituality. At that center, there was this omnipresent glow from the fires in the Temple, as the priests tended to the people’s offered sacrifices to God. That faint glow represented and testified to the presence of God with the Jews. But John writes that in New Jerusalem, a temple structure is not needed to represent God’s presence but rather the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its’ temple.
No temple, no place, no building is needed to go to offer sacrifices to God, because God’s own pervasive presence is everywhere always and that divine presence fills this city with a constant brilliant, celestial Light. Believers no longer must go to God to worship him because he has come to us. He is everywhere, within us, around us, and among us. We see that the people and God will live together in an intimate and constant relationship of praising, worship and loving.
John tells us that New Jerusalem, our Eternal home, has no need of the sun or the moon to provide light with which to see. God’s words about being The Beginning and the End ring true again. In the beginning, in the Genesis story, God brought matter into existence before light or order, He then brought light to overcome the darkness. In the new creation, God permanently dispels all darkness, so that the cosmos is forever basking in eternal light.
And so then, you might wonder, without a Sun or moon, what is the source of light for our new home? God Himself provides the light once more. To be more specific, the brightness God’s glory will be the light of all creation. Theologian John Piper tells us “God’s glory is the radiance of His holiness, the radiance of his manifold, infinitely worthy and valuable perfections”.
His glory is the visible exhibition of His presence and in New Jerusalem God’s glory will be our light. Friends, in New Jerusalem, the Celestial City of Light, the very light by which we behold all things will be the rays of glory emanating from God in our midst. New Jerusalem, our eternal paradise, glows because of the very presence of God.
God’s radiance is everywhere and always, illuminating everything that man has, does or needs. Light represents what is good and darkness represents evil. This omnipresent light overcomes all darkness. It will never be night there because the dark is always overcome by the continual glow from the glory of God.
As a contextual note, in Biblical times, cities closed their gates at night because there was always danger lurking in the dark. Even today, we close and lock our doors at night because of threats that thrive in darkness. But John tells us that the twelve gates in New Jerusalem, our Eternal security, will never be shut because there is no night, no threat of evil lurking to harm us, so there is no need for protection. There is nothing to destroy or harm us in this new world to come. Nothing impure will enter because only the redeemed will be admitted.
The casting away of all darkness is symbolic of the removal of evil, sin, and all its’ effects. Death shall be no more. Pain will be vanquished because sin does not exist. Violence, disease, and mishaps will no longer be existent. Tears and mourning will be things of the past, simply distant memories lingering vaguely upon the horizon of eternity. As we know from last week, “The old has passed away; everything and everybody has been made new”!
Nothing impure will ever enter the city’s gates. Only those whose names are in “the Lamb’s book of life“, those that belong to God because of repentance, forgiveness and redemption can enter. These people saved by Christ’s sacrifice have their names written in the Lamb’s book of life, it is the full listing of the universal church. It contains the name of every follower of Christ who ever lived.
And access to New Jerusalem, the city of the redeemed, is their exclusive right. They are able to enter only because of Christ, they are no longer unclean, detestable, and false. They are clothed in white robes made clean through the righteousness of Jesus Himself, which offers them unencumbered entrance into the presence of God’s glory. Those that did not hear, receive and accept the Gospel message, will not be admitted and they will find eternal residence somewhere else, somewhere separated from God, somewhere in which pain, agony, sorrow and loneliness remain. Friends the only way to participate in the future city is to turn one’s total loyalties to the Lamb now!
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. These words from John are the inspiration for our opening hymn:
Shall we gather at the river, where bright angel feet have trod, with its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God? Yes, we’ll gather at the river, the beautiful, the beautiful river; gather with the saints at the river that flows by the throne of God. Soon we’ll reach the shining river, soon our pilgrimage will cease; soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody of peace. Friends the River of Life brings us renewed life and eternal spiritual refreshment.
Then on each side of the river stood the tree of life. The tree of Life is a symbol of Jesus himself and was found in the Garden of Eden. It is right there, along with the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. But here it is back again and the tree of life flourishes among the people again. The Tree of Life lost to mankind with Adam’s and Eve’s sin but now in New Jerusalem, the city of paradise, the promise of the original Garden of Eden, an eternity in the presence of God is fulfilled for the Children of God.
Finally, with all the profound images in John’s vision, that pile up as high as this city’s walls, the climax of it all comes in verse 4 of chapter 22. John tells us that in this time and in this place the redeemed we will see the face of God. Not even Moses saw the face of God, but rather basked in his radiance, but here, by God’s grace, humanity reaches its intended goal and completion, to dwell in God’s presence and we will see our Father, creator and re-creator of the universe face to face In New Jerusalem!
Hear the Good News my friends……….
From God comes light; from God comes the tree of life; from God’s throne flows the water of life; God is the temple, perfecting the entire community; and God’s own presence is overwhelming, enduring and sustaining. John’s vision promises us that we know His presence in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. We know that presence of God at the river of living water, and the table of his sacrifice for us and in the proclamation of good news about resurrection.
Brothers and sisters, New Jerusalem will be a place of unimagined blessing. The New Jerusalem is the ultimate fulfillment of all God’s promises to be with us, and sustain us, and love us. New Jerusalem is God’s goodness made fully manifest to and for His people. Place your hope in your walk with Christ today. Live today and each day with the promise, hope and blessings that are found in our ultimate residence among all the believers in New Jerusalem, the City of Glorious Light, and the River of Eternal Life for ever and ever. Amen.