Series on Revelation
III The Victory
Text: 21:9-22:5
Introduction
It cannot escape your notice that this is the end of the Bible. It is, therefore a summary. The Bible is about the Triune God, but it is an historical book. Consequently, It is Jesus the Son of God who entered history that becomes the primary focus. Here you are brought to the climax of all that has been written. Earlier in our studies we heard Paul’s statement in II Corinthians 1:20, For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Everything is focused on God in Christ reconciling the world to Himself whether it is the law or the prophets or the writings, the gospels or the epistles. This is the goal. The Son of God made everything because we read in John 1:3 of the Word made flesh, Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. The Son of God redeemed the whole creation as Paul notes in Romans 8:22 and 23, We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption to sonship, the redemption of our bodies. And now we see this brought to a climax as God brings all things together under Christ. Here we have a picture of the true Church under the figure of the city which was already spoken of in verses 1-8 of this chapter, but is now described in exquisite detail. Where is this Church now?The thought Of chronology must be banished from this book. The Apocalypse is a series of visions intended to exhibit certain great truths connected with the revelation of the Eternal Son of God in their ideal form. Although they appear in history, they do not appear there in their ultimate and completed form. Here we see them in their real and essential nature, and as they are, in themselves, whether we think of evil on the one hand, or of good on the other. In this treatment of them chronology disappears. Thus this is the city of God as it was, as it is and as it shall be. The city is a people. Did not Jesus say to His disciples in Matthew 5:14, You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. We are the city of light. This is the way the prophets represented the people of God. Ezekiel in his vision of the great restoration after the captivity in 40-48 sees beyond to the future and he writes in 40:2 of the new temple and city, In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city. And so John is taken to a very high mountain to behold the same city; the city of God. It is the same city the prophets beheld and it is the ideal people of God, past, present and future. We are the New Jerusalem and the New Testament bears constant witness to this fact. The Church is seated, not in earthly, but in “the heavenly, places “with her Lord. Our “citizenship” is declared to be “in heaven;” and we are even now “come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to innumerable hosts of angels, and to the general assembly and Church of the first-born, who are enrolled in heaven.” There are distinct indications as William Milligan states, “in this apocalyptic vision which leave no interpretation possible except one; that the New Jerusalem has come, that it has been in the midst of us for more than eighteen hundred years, that it is now in the midst of us, and that it shall continue to be so wherever its King has those who love and serve Him, walk in His light, and share His peace and joy.” Now that we understand what we are looking at let us observe its descent, description, dimensions, destination and dedication.
I Descent
In verses 9 and 10 the city comes down from God because it has always been with Him. 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.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. Everything good comes down. Bethel, or House of God, is where Jacob saw the ladder with angels of God ascending and descending. The folk song, “We Are Climbing Jacob’s Ladder,” completely misses the point. Redemption is not about anyone climbing up. Jesus came down. The Holy Spirit came down. In fact the triune God came down to dwell in the midst of the camp of Israel and He comes down now to dwell with us collectively and individually. This is grace. It always descends. As James 1:16-18 says, Don’t be deceived, my dear brothers and sisters. Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first-fruits of all he created.
II Description
The description is found throughout beginning with verses 11-14, It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. After an interlude describing the measurement of the city and its walls the description continues in verses 18-21, The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. Some people wonder about streets of gold. Again it is symbolic what men live and die for here as being precious is walked on in this city, and trodden under foot. Remember that we are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold but with the precious blood of Christ as a Lamb without blemish or spot. Let us make important observations about this description. In this description we see two things: The city is consecrated and the city is complete.
A Consecrated
In general the description resembles the visions of the throne of God in the prophets and earlier in the book of Revelation. We are in the Holy of Holies. In other words the city was represented in the most sacred place in the tabernacle and temple. There the furnishing were overlaid with gold. Here, even the streets are gold and the gold is so pure that it is like glass. Of course gold is opaque, so this is symbolic of the purity of the place where God dwells. That is the most important thing. The wealth and beauty are not intended to be decorative. They are a reflection of God’s dwelling there. Furthermore, the city is the bride, and the bride of Christ is the church, so this is telling us that in the sight of God, His bride is all beautiful and pure. He dwells in her with delight because she is cleansed by His blood as Paul makes clear in Ephesians 2:25-27, Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. The Lord Almighty is the husband who takes back his wife with deep compassion and then lavishes upon her sparkling jewels and precious stones in Isaiah 54:11–12, O afflicted city … I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones. This is what we are right now. We stand amazed and wondering how a holy God could inhabit us and His church since we are so sinful. The answer is that the power of the blood has redeemed us and made us a fit dwelling.
B Complete
We must also observe the gates and foundations. The gates are labeled with the names of the twelve tribes and the foundations with the names of the twelve apostles. In Ephesians 2:20 and 21 Paul says that the Church is, Built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. There is continuity between the people of God in the Old testament and the people of God in the New Testament. They are one holy dwelling for the Triune God. They are the bride, and the wife of the Lamb now as well as in this vision.
III Dimensions
In chapter 11 John Was given a reed like a measuring rod and was told, “Go and measure the temple of God and the altar, with its worshipers. But exclude the outer court; do not measure it, because it has been given to the Gentiles. They will trample on the holy city for 42 months.” There he is measuring the sanctuary in which God dwelt in the midst of his people, but in an alien world filled with the ungodly. Here an angel comes to measure the city. One structure in the Old Testament is mentioned as a cube in shape, namely, the Most Holy place in the temple described in 1 Kings 6:20, The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar. Here the cubic shape indicates that the entire city is a sanctuary and partakes of the holiness of the ancient inner shrine. We read in verses 15-17, The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 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. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. 12,000 stadia is about 100 miles, but it would be a mistake to take this measurement literally. It is obviously symbolic because of the recurrence of the number 12 corresponding to the 12 gates and foundations. The size of the city which is a perfect cube suggests that the vision is intimating that the city stretches from earth to heaven, and so unites them into one, which would make perfect sense. It is interesting to note that a 100 miles is approximately where the earth’s atmosphere ends and how far our astronauts have to go in order to obtain orbit. At 144 cubits the wall is also a perfect multiple of 12 and the original Greek text simply gives the dimension and does not say “thick.” It may be high. That would be about 216 feet, but the actual height is beside the point because it is the symbolism that matters, for the wall cannot be for defense when, “On no day will its gates ever be shut.” The purpose of making these measurements is the same as in chapter 11, to define an area that is holy from what is profane; measuring means to protect God’s temple, altar, and people. The vision safeguards that which is holy and shields it from intrusion and desecration. The place where the people are safe is God’s temple. Furthermore, as Milligan reminds us, “In the new Jerusalem, therefore, we have essentially a picture, not of the future, but of the present; of the ideal condition of Christ’s true people, of His “little flock” on earth, in every age. The picture may not yet be realized in fulness; but every blessing lined in upon its canvas is in principle the believer’s now, and will be more and more his in actual experience as he opens his eyes to see and his heart to receive. We have been wrong in transferring the picture of the new Jerusalem to the future alone. It belongs also to the past. and to the present. It is the heritage of the children of God at the very time when they are struggling with the world; and the thought of it ought to stimulate them to exertion and to console them under suffering.” Thus the measurement is describing our present security in Christ.
IV Destination
That this holy city is a destination becomes clear in verses 22-27, I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 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. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Later we read that the leaves of the tree are for the “healing” of the nations. Clearly, the city is a place where people come. The nations bring their glory and honor into it. Only those who acknowledge the Lord can come in and nothing impure or not washed in the blood can enter. This describes the present mission of the church for we are taking the gospel to all nations according to Jesus command to make disciples of all nations in Matthew 28:19. On every other occasion where the word “nations” meets us, it means pagan unconverted, not converted, nations; and here it can mean nothing else. Were the nations spoken of converted, they would be a part of that new Jerusalem which is not the residence of God’s people, but His people themselves. They would be the light, and not such as walk “by the light” of others. They would be the healed, and not those who stand in need of “healing.” These “nations” must be the unconverted, these “kings of the earth” such as have not yet acknowledged Jesus to be their King.
V Dedication
The purpose of the city is fully revealed in 22:1-5, 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. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. The ultimate purpose of this city is to glorify God. It is a place of worship where all are healed for there is no more curse; where there is no hunger or thirst because Paradise is restored; where fellowship is unbroken because they see God’s face and His name is on their foreheads; where understanding abounds because the Lord God gives them light; and where man’s purpose, to rule over and subdue the earth, is fulfilled as originally given in the garden of Eden because they reign forever and ever. This fulfills God’s purpose in creation and redemption. It is all for His glory. It is also now because Christ has brought it to pass by his death and resurrection. We must reiterate that in the new Jerusalem we have a picture, not of the future, but of the present; of the ideal condition of Christ’s true people, of His “little flock” on earth, in every age. We ought not transfer the picture of the new Jerusalem to the future alone. It belongs to the children of God at the very time when they are struggling with the world; and the thought of it ought to stimulate them to exertion and to console them under suffering. Thomas Jefferson said, “A little rebellion now and then is a good thing.” That is an apt axiom for this present evil world. It is true of the city of man, but as we see from our text it has no place in the city of God
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