Server Outage Notice: TheSeed.info is transfering to a new Server on Tuesday April 13th
| Order Of Worship (Liturgy) Song of Adoration: Hymnal #84A:1-3 “O Lord of Hosts, How Lovely” Song of Confession: Hymnal #283 “Fairest Lord Jesus” *Song of Preparation: Hymnal #471 “The Sands of Time Are Sinking” Scripture Passage: Isaiah 54:11-17; Revelation 21:9-22:5 Text: Revelation 21:9-22:5 Message: The New Jerusalem *Song of Response: Hymnal #444 “Come to the Waters” *Doxology: Hymnal #96:1,2 “Sing to the Lord, Sing His Praise” |
Beloved Congregation of the Lord Jesus Christ:
The language used in marriage between a husband and a wife is important. Terms of endearment are special and intimate. I know of men who call their wives, “love”, “dear”, or “honey.” I have never heard anyone refer to his wife as a city, however. Yet, that is the language of our text. John is going to be shown the bride, the wife of the Lamb, she is the New Jerusalem. She is beautiful and glorious. In this symbolic picture of the final state, the believer can say nothing more than, Maranatha, Lord Jesus, come quickly. The best is yet to come.
We will study Rev. 21:9-22:5 under the theme: Our Almighty God ushers in the New Heavens and Earth culminating in the New Jerusalem.
- Its Construction
- Its Glory
- Its River
I. Its Construction
We are reminded that this is a vision that John is seeing. This is not literal. As soon as interpreters forget that fact, they end up with all kinds of off the wall interpretations. The numbers, the pictures, the city are all symbolic, and to take it otherwise is not allowable within the text itself.
The new Jerusalem like the old Jerusalem is a city. Right? Here comes some of the symbolism. In verse 9 the New Jerusalem is called the “Lamb’s wife”, “the bride.” In order to give John a picture of the Lamb’s wife, John is taken upon a high mountain. What does John see? A great city descending out of heaven. It was beautiful. It was a great city having the glory of God. This city was majestic. In fact, she was perfect.
How can a city be perfect? This city has perfect dimensions. It is a perfect cube. Its height, length and breadth. 12,000 furlong on each side. How long is a furlong? It is .125 of a mile. The size of this city is 72% of the lower 48 states. If you made a square from here to Yellowstone West, and the Florida keys South, that is how big this city. Once again, showing its symbolism. Doesn’t matter how tall the mountain, you are not going to look and see Old Faithful or Miami Beach.
This city also has 12 gates, a number of completeness. We have seen twelve many times earlier in Revelation. It is a reference to the Trinity’s power over the whole world, it is complete. However, as we are thinking about the New Jerusalem, we might be wondering, why such a tall wall and gates? It can’t be for protection, can it? Who must they inhabitants be protected from? It is not for protection, but rather, as Hoeksema rightly explains, “this shows that all of the elect are there.” It is complete. Not a single one is missing. All of Israel are gathered together. This is why there are twelve gates.
There are twelve tribes in Israel and there are 12 apostles, both of his had a hand in building the church, we can think, not as two separate things, but by way of emphasis on the covenant made to Israel, and to the Apostles the entrusting of the preaching of the gospel and the discipling of the nations.
These 12 gates are in fulfillment of the promise found in Ezekiel 48:31-34. This city, as we will be seeing, is so different than any other city. Not only its size, its perfections, its gates, its glory, but as we read with longing anticipation, its resident. We are the bride of Christ through faith. We will not only live in, but will be this city.
Our text continues and says that this city is made of pure gold. We see a litany of precious and semi-precious stones adorning the foundation of the wall. The city made of gold looked like glass. The largest chandelier in the world is found in the People’s Palace in Bucarest, Romania and it is made of crystal and gold and it is glorious and bright and it is difficult to take your eyes off of it. Jerusalem will be that times infinity. The beauty will be unfathomable. And the glory of the Lord will shine in all its brightness.
II. Its Glory
The glory of the New Jerusalem is only given in broad detail in our text. The application of all of these truths can fill books. There is much speculation that can and certainly has taken place in many quarters. Let us stick to the text.
In verse 22 we read that there was no temple in the New Jerusalem. Is this surprising? Well, think about the old Jerusalem in Israel. The central place was the temple, first Solomon’s Temple and then later Herod’s temple, which was destroyed in A.D. 70. It was at the temple that all of the commerce was taking place. This is where one went to sacrifice and give their offering, and also it was to the temple that people would go to worship. Are all of these things gone in the New Jerusalem? In the New Jerusalem, Jesus, the Lamb of God, is the temple. He is the one who tabernacled among us in John 1 and in eternity, he will be the central figure.
This city also had no need for lights, not for natural light or artificial light. There is no need for the sun, moon, and the stars for the glory of God will illuminate it. Notice the parallelism between our text and Genesis 1 and the creation. Why would this be the case? Because before the fall, God created all things good. God spoke and they were. He created all that is out of nothing. Now, in the consummation, the New Heavens and Earth, God will once again be creating. He will not be creating out of the nothing. No, the old will be purged with fire, but from the ashes, God will establish the New Heavens and Earth. (For more on that, see Gregory Beale)
Think about the symbolism here as it relates to Old Testament prophecy, especially Isaiah. God promised, after the announcement of exile, that a remnant would return. We read of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem as a fulfillment of the remnant that returned. The problem was, that 400 years later, Jerusalem was once again destroyed. The ultimate fulfillment of the restoration of Israel prophecies and salvation of Israel prophecies are fulfilled in our very text this morning.
The creation which man broke and marred, God will fix. The Jerusalem which man tore down to the ground, will be built by God himself and on the day of its re-establishment, the enemies of God will be everlastingly punished in hell.
Not only will the New Jerusalem be so glorious that there is no temple or no sun, moon, or stars, there is no possibility of sin entering into its realm. The ultimate victory will have already been realized. Read verse 27. There can be no sin in the New Jerusalem, because there will be no possibility of sinners entering in. But wait...what about us? We will be clean, spotless, and perfected and we will ultimately at this time be vindicated. No longer will we struggle with the phenomenon of being justified and yet still a sinner. We will be vindicated and never even able to sin once again.
All the saints of all ages will worship the almighty God who is the glory of the New Jerusalem. All whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will know the eternal and near presence of the bridegroom. The church will be completely and perfectly and spiritually united to her husband, the bridegroom, our Lord Jesus Christ. Its glory cannot compare to anything in this world. Praise God.
III. Its River
I already mentioned that there is some parallelism with Genesis 1. In 22:1-5 it becomes even clearer. In fact, what we will see in those 5 verses is an eternal garden of Eden, only better. This is what Gregory Beale calls the temple-garden. He wrote a whole book on it, we will spend a point of a sermon on it.
In 22:1 we see a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. Notice that this is a life-giving river. It flows from the throne. The throne is rightly central in this picture. This river flows from or out of the throne. It does not flow by the throne or around the throne, but it proceeds from the throne. What does this mean?
The river, the water, is the life-giving spirit of Christ. Read John 7:37-39. This is exactly what our Lord was speaking about. Our life proceeds from the river, from the Spirit. It is a pure and perfect and spotless life. This is why the water is clear as crystal. There is no dirt or mud or imperfection, it is a perfect river for a perfect life for perfected individuals because of their residence in the perfect city of God.
Where is this river coming from? The throne! The throne is its source. The spirit is sent from the Father and the Son and it is comes from the throne. Even in eternity God remains God. What does that mean? He is still the creator and sustainer of all things. He is still the one to be worshipped and adored, etc. He gives freely from the waters that flow forth from Him. Our life comes from Him, without Him, we have no life.
Not only is there a river, but there is also a street and a tree. You see, that the picture of our text refers to a park filled with trees and a beautiful river. There, on both sides of the river is the tree of life. Is there one tree or more? There are many, enough trees for everyone who is there. It is from the tree that they receive life, just as it was in the Garden of Eden. Remember back to that tree. When Adam and Eve were banished from the garden, they were kept from the tree of life, which meant that they had been eating of it in the garden. Remember, there was only one tree they were forbidden to eat from. In our text, the trees line the sides of the river. These trees bear twelve fruits and each tree bears its fruit every month.
The saints in our text continually feed upon the tree. Fruit for everyone, perpetually, year-round, there is never a lack of fruit. The saints forever feed on the fellowship of God, they can feast. This also shows that there is perpetual and on-going life in the resurrected body. Remember there are twelve fruits, enough for the whole church, even the twelve times twelve in all its fullness (Rev. 7).
Resulting from this picture in verses 1-2 of Rev. 22, we can see a 4-fold blessedness.
First, there will be no more curse. We see this from verse 3. Note the irony of the curse. The tree upon which our Savior gave His life, which was a picture of the curse and was a curse to Him, is removed, and we are left with a garden, a forest full of trees, even the tree of life before the throne.
Second, there will be continual vision of God. All of those whose names are written in the book of life will see his face. His name will be on their foreheads, once again hearkening back to Rev. 7.
Along with a vision of God, they will have a knowledge of God. Look at verse 5 (read). Our God will be our light forevermore.
And finally, we will forever reign with God, forever and ever. We will be joint rulers, for we and Christ are joint heirs to the throne.
Brothers and sisters, what a beautiful picture we have here. The city is perfect and beautiful of which we are not only citizens, but we are it, the city itself. It is perfect and therefore every single elect in Christ will be there forever. God Almighty will be its glory, its light with the Son, who is not only the light of the world, but they light of the New World. This garden temple of God will be perfect and sinless and beautiful. We will join our loved ones who have fallen asleep in Jesus, we will gather with the church of all ages and we will worship the lamb, drink from the river and eat from the tree of life forevermore. Amen.
* As a matter of courtesy please advise Rev. Steven Swets, if you plan to use this sermon in a worship service. Thank-you.
(c) Copyright 2025, Rev. Steven Swets
Please direct any comments to the Webmaster
