The New Jerusalem - Part 2 - Revelation 21:9-27
INTRODUCTION:
The new Jerusalem, the capital city of the new heaven and the new earth will be a wonderful place of beauty and joy. The most wonderful feature of it is that God Himself will dwell there and we His children will dwell there and God Himself will be among us. This is a truth that I cannot even begin to comprehend, what will be like to have God among us and to be able to have perfect fellowship, to worship and serve Him perfectly because there will be no sin to be a barrier between us and God. I am excited for my future and looking forward to experiencing all that the new Jerusalem will have for us and to dwell in the presence of my God.
Last Sunday we began looking at a passage where John was describing the new Jerusalem for us and we looked at the first of three features that John described, first how the city is like a bride, the wife of the Lamb because it has taken on the character of its citizens. Next John described for us the walls and gates of the city. Then last week we ended with John giving us the dimensions of the city and learned that it was in the shape of a huge cube to remind us of the most holy place in the temple where God dwelled in the midst of the people of Israel, this city is the most holy place because God will live there among us.
This morning we are going to look at the rest of chapter 21 and four more features that John describes for us about this city, the new Jerusalem. Let’s pray and then read our passage of Scripture.
--PRAY--
SCRIPTURE:
Turn in your Bibles this morning to Revelation 21:9-27, I am going to read the whole passage again to set the context, but we will focus this morning on verses 18-27. Please stand if you are able in honor of the reading of God’s Word, and as you listen try to imagine that this will be your future forever home if you have put your faith in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Revelation 21:9-27,
“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its wall. The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as the width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards, according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements. The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Revelation 21:9–27, NASB95)[1]
THE BEAUTY OF THE CITY (Revelation 21:18-21)
In verse 18 John begins to describe for us the beauty of the city and how it is built to reflect the glory of God. The first thing that John describes is the wall of the city and he says the material of the wall was jasper, the same diamond-like stone that John had used to describe the whole city as he saw it descending out of heaven from God. This wall like clear glass would reflect the glory of God, but also allow God’s glory to shine forth from the city lighting everything around the city.
Next, we are told that the city within the city walls is pure gold, like clear glass. We have no gold that pure on this earth. John Walvoord writes, “This description would indicate that it is gold in appearance but like clear glass in substance, glass with a gold cast to it.”[2] We must remember that John is trying to describe the appearance of the city to us, but what he sees in most respects transcends earthly experience, so he is using human words to try and describe what does not exist at this time. The constant mention of the transparency of the material that the city and its walls are made of is designed to transmit or radiate the glory of God in the form of light without hinderance.
After describing the wall and the city, John turns his attention to the twelve foundations that have the names of the twelve apostles written or inscribed on them. John describes these foundations as layers built upon each other extending around the four sides of the city. That is why I think that the translation should be foundations and not foundation stones. The word in Greek is a noun meaning foundation. John tells us that the twelve foundations of the city wall are adorned with every kind of precious stone, and he then list for us the stones that adorn each foundation. Now the names of some of these stones have changed through the centuries and because of this it is difficult to identify them all with complete certainty. But these brightly colored stones catching the light of the glory of God and refracting it in a spectrum of brilliant color certainly describes for us the beauty of this city shining with God’s glory in a rainbow of colors as the light of His glory takes on the colors of the precious stones of the foundations and flashes from the new Jerusalem throughout the recreated universe.
John continues his description of the beauty of the city and he directs our attention again to the twelve gates. Before he had told us that each of the twelve gates had the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel written on it, with twelve angels, one stationed at each gate. John now tells us that the twelve gates are twelve pearls. Pearls were highly prized and worth a lot of money in John’s day. But these pearls that made up these twelve gates were like no pearl ever produced by an oyster, these pearls were huge as a single pearl was large enough to be an entire city gate.
Looking through a gate of the city, or possibly even being taken through one of the gates of the city by his angelic escort so that he could have a look inside the city, John tells us that the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. The streets of the new capital of the new creation are paved with the highest quality of pure gold, and like everything else in the city was like clear or transparent glass. As I said earlier, translucent gold is not a material that we have on this present earth. But as I also said earlier, everything in the new Jerusalem is transparent to let the light of God’s glory blaze unrestricted.
Now that John is in the city he begins to note some features of the inside of the city.
THE TEMPLE OF THE CITY (Revelation 21:22)
John begins by saying “And I saw…” which indicates for us a new and important phase of the divine revelation and shows us that John is taking in all that is being revealed to him. What was it that he saw? He says that he saw no temple in the new Jerusalem. Earlier in heaven we had seen a temple, in the Old Testament the people of Israel first had the tabernacle and later the temple. During the Tribulation a temple will be built and defiled by the Antichrist. Then during the millennial kingdom a temple is built. Each of these are built for the worship of God.
John explains to us why there is no temple building, here in the new Jerusalem all the shadows are dispelled, and John tells us that the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of the new city. No longer is a structure necessary; the saints are in the immediate presence of the Lord with no need for an earthly mediator or for types of things eternal. We will dwell in the most holy place with God, the Almighty among us. We will have the most sacred, intimate fellowship with the Lord our God beyond what we can understand in our sinful state, but then we will be glorified and absolutely sinless and enjoy fellowship and worship like never before. Constant access to the Lord God and the Lamb at all times.
THE LIGHT OF THE CITY (Revelation 21:23-24)
Not only is there no temple in the new Jerusalem, but also, we are informed that there is no need for the sun or the moon. We have been talking constantly about the light of the glory of God filling the new Jerusalem. John now tells us that the glory of God will light the new Jerusalem and that the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ will be the lamp. John in his first epistle in chapter 1, verse 5 tells us that God is light and in Him is no darkness at all. Jesus Christ declared when He came the first time in John 8:12, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the Light of life.” (John 8:12, NASB95)[3] It is clear from Scripture that the glory of God and the Lord Jesus Christ is seen as light. This passage does not say that there will be no sun or moon, but that they are not needed as lights to light the earth. I believe it infers that they will not be a part of the new creation. The whole city is designed to transmit the light of the glory of God in all the beauty and color that we have already discussed. Not only will God’s glory and the glory of the Lamb be the light for the new Jerusalem, but they will be the light for the new heaven and the new earth.
Verse 24 speaks of the nations of the earth and kings walking by the light of the glory of God. This is a very difficult verse to interpret, the word translated nations is a word that means peoples and is a word often used in Scripture to refer to Gentiles. The meaning of this verse does not mean that different political groups will walk in the light of the glory of God, but instead it is speaking of saved Gentiles coming into the city, those Gentiles not numbered among either Israel or the church. These are those who were saved before the creation of the nation of Israel, or the Gentiles that were saved during the Tribulation or the millennium, being born during the millennial kingdom. They are not part of Israel and they are not part of the church, but they belong to the people of God, they too will enter the new Jerusalem to dwell with their God. Among those who are saved are those who had honored positions on the earth, Gentile kings and heads of state, they will recognize that their glory and honor was bestowed upon them by God and they will credit or ascribe what was once theirs to their Lord and their God. Understand that these peoples and these kings are Gentiles who were saved outside the church age and not Jewish by birth so do not belong to Israel. Nevertheless, these are people who have put their faith in Jesus Christ and are saved by grace through faith just like anyone else, thus have access to the city, as do any who are God’s people.
ACCESS TO THE CITY (Revelation 21:25-27)
John gives us one more feature in this chapter in regard to access to the new Jerusalem. He tells us that in the daytime the gates to the city shall never be closed, but along with that he informs us that in the new Jerusalem it will always be day time and never night because the light of God’s glory is constant. Remember what John said in 1 John 1:5, “This is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is Light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5, NASB95)[4] and because it is always light the gates will always remain open and the nations, again this should be translated Gentiles will bring all glory and honor to the One who purchased their salvation. The new Jerusalem will be a place where there will be no social or class structure, all who are there have come the same way, by the grace and mercy offered to us through the death of Jesus Christ, so all glory and honor, all worship goes to Him and He alone is the One worthy of it.
John ends this chapter, by reminding us that no one who is unclean, no one who practices abomination and lying (anything that is detestable, any kind of evil) will ever enter the city. Remember all those whose lives were characterized by these things showing that they had rejected God’s mercy and grace through Jesus Christ had been cast into the lake of fire forever and ever. All that will live in the eternity of the new heaven and the new earth are those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ. John writes that only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life shall enter the new Jerusalem, will live on the new earth.
How do you know that your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life? There is only one way that your name can be written there. It is when you agree with God that you are a sinner, you have either thought, said, or have done something that has broken God’s perfect standard, we all have. Romans 3:23 says, “…for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” (Romans 3:23, NASB95)[5] To fall short of the glory of God is to not measure up to His standard of righteousness, no one can because we are all sinners. When you realize this and agree with God that you are a sinner and that you are helpless to do anything to change that sin condition, then you realize that you need someone to save you, you need a Savior. Jesus Christ became your Savior, by becoming your substitute and paying the penalty for your sin. On the cross He suffered God’s wrath against sin in your place. When you believe that He did this for you and that He was buried and the third day after His death He rose alive from the dead then your sins are forgiven and your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. You will be a citizen of the new Jerusalem where you will dwell with God forever and ever.
CONCLUSION:
For each person who has put their faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ knowing that He paid the price for our sin, we have an indescribable future ahead of us. Jesus Christ promised that He would prepare a place for us in His Father’s House, which I believe is the New Jerusalem. It will be a place of immense beauty and overwhelming joy as we live with God, the Almighty and the Lamb who died so that we could be there with Him. What should this information cause you to do? It should cause you to seek to live pure and holy lives as you wait for Christ’s return for the church which could be at any time. It should cause you to be purposefully sharing Christ with others. Are you praying for five unsaved people? Are you praying that God would specifically use you in their lives to be a witness to them? You may be the only person in their life that will share the love of Christ with them.
[1]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[2]Walvoord, John F., The Revelation of Jesus Christ. Chicago, IL : Moody Press, 1966
[3]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[4]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995
[5]New American Standard Bible : 1995 Update. La Habra, CA : The Lockman Foundation, 1995