Perfect City of God
Notes
Transcript
Sermon Tone Analysis
A
D
F
J
S
Emotion
A
C
T
Language
O
C
E
A
E
Social
Here, we’re describing a beautiful picture of when this is all over. I’m really looking forward to that day. I don’t have a long introduction today. Let’s get started.
Hear now the true word of the Living God:
9 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10 So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel).
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. 27 Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
9 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10 So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel).
rev 21.9-13
There’s a lot of measuring and symbolism here. Let me just cut right to the chase to tell you what it means:
The bride of Christ is the Church catholic. And we are described together as this incredibly beautiful city- the most splendid and beautiful city that has ever existed, and if you are in Christ, that’s who you are. you are the most beautiful creation that God can conceive of. Christ gives you his own righteousness in exchange for your sinfulness.
And the people of God are measured by God. They are owned, protected, and claimed by God. That’s what measuring means. The whole picture being shown here is on of security, complete security forever. There are twelve gates, the city is built on twelve foundations, you are perfectly secure forever. See, John didn’t write this in English, obviously. He wrote in Greek.
And so he uses some numbers here, and when we come to numbers in the book of Revelation, we weigh them, not measure with them. He is using numbers to communicate a message in this passage. So John says that the walls are 12,000 stadia long and 144 cubits thick.
These are multiples of twelve, and there’s a lot. See, the image isn’t so much about describing a city as much as it is about describing a people.
That’s the perfectly complete people of God. Everyone that should be there will be there.
Everyone needs a little security.
[I’d rather see a sermon illustration?]
That story has been shared with millions of people, so to me, it sounds like the middle eastern gate is going to be pretty crowded, so I’m heading to the western northern gate.
The walls are perfectly high, and thick. There is perfect security forever and the whole city is a cube exactly like the Holy of Holies in the Temple. We are invited into the Holy of Holies to live with God forever.
There is security and peace forever.
28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, 29 for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.
John 10:28-29
In Christ, there is eternal security. Jesus will never let you down or disappoint you or let you down. People will let you down. I'll let you down, you’ll let me down. Jesus will never let us down, and will never lose us.
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
Rev 21.18-
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
rev 21.
Is the message of the streets of gold literal? No! It's saying that the most valuable thing on earth is only good enough for our feet in heaven! In heaven, the people of God lack NOTHING.
If you are in Christ, this is how you are seen. You are beautiful. But more than that, you yourself are a priest, responsible for bringing the grace of Jesus to this world. You are a priest. This shows up in the stones we see John says are our foundation. We are in God’s sight, precious jewels in their complete form that words cannot express.
In , Moses is commanded by God to write these same stones as what belongs on the priest’s ephod, the chest piece they were to wear when performing their priestly duties.
John is saying: you are priests. You are responsible for ministry. You are responsible for making disciples, for growing, for baptizing, for teaching them the words of Jesus. It has always been a community effort - certainly there were and should be leaders- but these responsibilities have always been shared by the community. We’re in this together for the glory of God and the growth of his kingdom.
17 Mount four rows of gemstones on it. The first row will contain a red carnelian, a pale-green peridot, and an emerald. 18 The second row will contain a turquoise, a blue lapis lazuli, and a white moonstone. 19 The third row will contain an orange jacinth, an agate, and a purple amethyst. 20 The fourth row will contain a blue-green beryl, an onyx, and a green jasper. All these stones will be set in gold filigree.
17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
18 Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off 19 and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” 20 Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.”
Can you imagine if we all worked on this together. What if all of us just made one disciple in the next year. What if we all committed to be the priests we have been called to be and preached the gospel consistently to one person?
We may be a small church now, but God uses small things to grow huge things. All it takes is a little mustard seed sized faithful action, and God will cause it to grow.
It’s going to take a good seed. We need to be people committed to faithful action. What Jesus says, we must be committed to do.
Ex 29
It’s going to take good soil. We need to work on our hearts.
It’s going to take watering the seed. We need to be in the Word of God and using it for every situation in our lives.
16 All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is true and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right. 17 God uses it to prepare and equip his people to do every good work.
We need to focus on health. Healthy things grow. Unhealthy things die.
We are priests. And if we all collectively understand that, and follow the Shepherd, his flock will grow.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. 27 Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.
rev 21.22-
Twelve layers describe the brilliance with which God sees his people as a result of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. We are in God’s sight precious jewels in their complete form that words cannot express.
Complete protection/complete relationship between God and his people.
This is the church. The bride is the church. The Holy City, Jerusalem is a metaphor for all those who belong to God.
In verse 11, we see jasper. Where have we seen this? . The throne. God's people sort of look like him.
(Verses 15-17) We're measuring again (like ). "I own this. I protect this. This is mine. In its complete beauty, it is mine. Measure it."
Now to translate it like the NLT does here is to UTTERLY DESTROY what John is attempting todo here.
Notice the completion numbers. It's complete, complete, a lot.
Complete protection/complete relationship between God and his people.
Twelve layers describe the brilliance with which God sees his people as a result of what Jesus accomplished on the cross. We are precious jewels in their complete form that words cannot express.
At this point, there’s no need for a temple because the Temple is where heaven and earth intersect. This is where people come to know God. Right now, that’s us. Then, it will be all of God’s people dwelling face to face with the God who intimately knows you from the thoughts you think to the hairs on your head, and yet loves you.
He wants to live face to face with you. He doesn’t care about the things you’ve done, he offers forgiveness and grace, if you only accept it.
Why is there no temple? What is the temple? (Where heaven and earth intersect.) We are where heaven and earth intersect. We bear the presence of God to communicate with the world what he wants to say to them. If God here in is dwelling now on the earth, what would be the point of a temple? Do you see what's happening here?
Why is there no temple? What is the temple? (Where heaven and earth intersect.) We are where heaven and earth intersect. We bear the presence of God to communicate with the world what he wants to say to them. If God here in is dwelling now on the earth, what would be the point of a temple? Do you see what's happening here?
The Lamb's book of Life is the Lamb's deeds. We are not judged on what we have done if we accept his grace, confess our sin, and submit to him in baptism. Those who don’t accept his grace are judged by their own deeds. If that’s you today, you don’t know the grace of Jesus, you need it. Today’s as good a day as any to repent of your sins, and trust in Jesus. If that’s you, I want to talk to you. I’m gonna keep it short today.
There's no more night- no evil (or secret, or conspiring). Gates will never be shut- security.
Don’t bear the weight of your own sin. You can’t stand under it.
There's no more night- no evil (or secret, or conspiring). Gates will never be shut- security.
The Lamb's book of Life is the Lamb's deeds. We are not judged on what we have done, like those who reject Jesus. We are judged by what Jesus has done.