Full Transcript

Welcome to Share the Word. We are at episode 271, and Pastor Paul is covering chapter 21 of the book of Revelation. A new heaven, a new earth, streets paved with gold. Well, as we get to the end of Revelation, I am clear about one thing. There has been a lot to take in, and my plan is to go back and listen to it all over again. But not now.

After I listen to this episode. Here we go. Revelation 21. The New Jerusalem. I have the best memories of the church I grew up in, and I don’t mean the buildings, but the family of believers and followers of Jesus Christ I was surrounded by then. That was my church.

When I was a little kid, and for many years, my family lived almost across the street from the building where our church met. And in my memories, it seems like I spent as much time there with our extended Christian family as at our own house with my natural family. That’s only because they are such good memories. To this day, things cause memories of special people I remember from that time to pop into my mind. It happens often, and it did again during the last couple days as I’ve been thinking about Revelation 21. Chuck Huffmaker.

He’s the memory I remember him best as our church’s choir director. He was a younger man at that time, 30s, early 40s maybe, had young kids, a couple near my age. As a kid, I always admired Mr. Huffmaker because he was, well, handsome and talented. How’s this for a random memory? I had a baseball card of a pitcher on the White Sox who, in his pose on the card anyway, looked just like Chuck Huffmaker.

Odd what we remember, isn’t it? Anyway, Chuck was a talented singer, and I wanted to be a good singer, so I was always tuned in when he sang a song, a special song at one of our church services. It was common in our church at the time for to have someone sing just before the pastor got up to preach. Don’t worry, I’m finally to the particular memory of importance here. Yesterday, I had this memory surface, this scene, and even the associated feelings which were lodged somewhere back in my memory. They emerged of a Sunday morning church service when Chuck sang a solo, an arrangement of a song called The Holy City.

It’s an old but beautifully written song from the Victorian era of religious ballads. The song, the lyrics anyway, described three scenes, one in each of its verses. In the first verse, the scene is of Jesus riding into Jerusalem triumphantly to the cries of children singing Hosanna on Palm Sunday morning. The lyrics say, Methought the voice of angels from heaven in answer rang, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, lift up your gates and sing. But then there’s a musical transition to verse two in a more minor key, and it goes on, And then methought my dream was changed. The second verse, a darker, heavier one, describes a very different picture.

In the lyricist’s words, The streets no longer rang, hushed were the glad hosannas the little children sang. The sun grew dark with mystery, the morn was damp and chill, then the shadow of the cross arose upon a lonely hill. But as the song progresses to the third verse, once again the scene was changed. New earth there seemed to be. I saw the holy city beside a tideless sea. The light of God was on its streets.

Its gates were opened wide, and all who would might enter, and no one was denied. In the final chorus breaks out, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, sing, for the night is over. Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna forevermore. What I remember, what was lodged in my mind from 60 years ago, is not just the song or even that Chuck sang it effectively. What I remember is by the time he got to the final verse and chorus about the new Jerusalem, the bright and better age coming, he was struggling to sing at all because he was so moved, so emotional.

As a 10-year-old kid, 12-year-old kid, however old I was at the time, I didn’t understand that. Mr. Huffmaker crying up there singing this song. Why? I understand now. I have no idea what he exactly at the time was going through, what loss or struggles, but that song spoke to him because I was a kid.

I didn’t have any cares in the world, but he is a grown man, stuff going on in his life, I’m sure. I mean, now as I think back on it, as this memory came back, I understand he was singing that morning with stuff heavy on his heart. What he was feeling, honestly, these days I think I feel as well. The big idea in chapter 21 is John’s vision of what he calls the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Listen to the opening verses. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away.

There’s no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death. There will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away.

What John is seeing is not a renovation project like one I’m involved in at my house right now, you know, trying to make an old house look better on a budget. No, this is something entirely new, he stresses. Remember, last chapter we are told the old earth and heaven will be uncreated at some point after the tribulation, around the time of the great white throne judgment, apparently. Second Peter 3 describes it as the old order passing away with a roar, the elements being destroyed with intense heat, and the earth and everything on it burnt up. And you hear that roar as God incinerates all that has existed in our world since creation to clear the way for the brand new world that is coming. So when John says he saw the new Jerusalem, he doesn’t mean the ancient city in Israel spiffed up.

This brand new city, for lack of a better term, is coming down into his view from God in the highest heaven. This is the place Jesus promised his disciples he was going away to prepare for them. Verse five goes on, And he who sits on the throne said, ‘Behold, I am making all things new.’ And he said, ‘Write, for these words are faithful and true.’ Apparently John was so mesmerized by this scene, watching the New Jerusalem descending, he’s just standing there, his head craned back, his mouth agape, and God has to command him, Write about this. Get this down, John.

Then he says, I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of water of life without cost. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But for the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, sexually immoral persons, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The New Jerusalem is for God’s own redeemed people. It’s not that most of us weren’t at one time also unbelieving and immoral and liars and more, but now we are God’s redeemed people, washed, sanctified, justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God.

Those of us who have returned to God through repentance and faith, the way Jesus made possible for us, God doesn’t remember who we used to be. He sees us now as overcomers, as beyond all that, as His own. And if you’re listening to this and you’re spiritually thirsty, you can join us as part of this eternal family of God by simply but sincerely repenting of sin, receiving Christ as your Savior, turning your life toward following Him. The gates are still open wide at this point. By coming back to your Creator by faith in Jesus Christ, this amazing place John sees here will become your future home as well. At verse 9, it says that one of the powerful angels who had dumped bowls of wrath on the rebellious old earth earlier approached John and said essentially, Come with me.

Let’s get a closer look. Then John goes into an astounding description of what he was shown next: the New Jerusalem, the new heaven, and what will be the capital of the new universe that will exist throughout eternity future. I’ll try and help you imagine what John saw, but my words won’t be adequate, and I’m sure John felt the very same way as he wrote all this. In the first place, the new heaven, the new Jerusalem, will be absolutely huge by our measurements: 1,400 miles long by 1,400 miles wide by 1,400 miles high. So actually, it will be in the shape of a perfect cube. To try to get a feel for that, I did some calculating.

Let’s try to get a feel for the size of this place by picturing 1,400 miles going west from, say, Jacksonville, Florida, on the east coast, which would put you in west Texas near the New Mexico border. But remember, the heavenly city will be cube-shaped, so three-dimensional. That means we have to then think of it as extending north from that place out west as well, which would mean 1,400 miles up to Quebec, Canada, and then extending west 1,400 miles from there to Edmonton, Alberta. I’m sorry if you don’t live in North America and can’t get a feel for this, but if we drew that square from Jacksonville, Florida, to Texas-New Mexico border, then north to Edmonton, Alberta, and back to East Quebec, Canada, and back down south finally to Jacksonville again. What a huge piece of real estate that is. But wait.

Again, a cube means it will extend up the same distance, 1,400 miles higher. So the New Jerusalem could well have layers, like floors, like thousands of planes atop each other. The dimensions John is shown means it’s around 2 million square miles of surface area at its base, at level one. If there are levels going up, levels atop levels, atop levels, atop levels, extending 1,400 miles high, yeah, I’m trying to blow your mind. John describes this heavenly megatropolis, I just made up that word, as amazingly brilliant, with the all-over appearance of a stone-like crystal-clear jasper. So picture something like brilliant cut glass, as light bounces off its prismed walls, except this is stone, so they are made of something durable like multifaceted polished diamond.

Since God is in the midst of this place, the brightness of His glory radiates throughout it, and even from it, and so all around it. John also sees that it has twelve large gates, gates which appear to be made of solid pearl, three located across each long vertical wall. Now remember, the length of these walls is 1,400 miles. So these gates are, I’m sure, each massive access points to the city, and each is guarded by a powerful angel. And interestingly, each gate has a name on it, a name of one of the patriarchs of the twelve tribes of Israel. So, the Judah gate, the Levi gate, the Manasseh gate, and so on.

John also sees it as twelve massive, colorful foundation stones: a solid amethyst one, a solid sapphire one, a solid emerald one, and so on. And on these is written the name of one of the apostles of Christ. So, the Andrew stone, the Matthew stone, the Thomas stone, etc. You find this interesting? Well, what I’m sure it signifies is that this is the eternal home for all of God’s people from the Old Testament era as well as the New, the age that we’re now in. I’m certain that this is what these named gates and foundation stones mean.

This place is compared to God’s own bride, not just because it is dazzlingly beautiful as John sees it coming down, not just this awesome physical structure. No, it’s more than that. It’s in who lives here. That is, all the redeemed people of God throughout all of the ages now joined as one big family to God. In the Old Testament, the Jewish people are called the wife of God by many prophets, and in the New Testament, the church is called the bride of Christ. But in eternity, we will all be one people loved by and joined to Almighty God.

Looking inside the New Jerusalem, John realizes its streets and structures are made of what appear to be translucent gold to him. And interestingly, he sees no temple there. The temple in the old order was always the center of things, but it was distant for most, and even for those living near it, the part where God dwelt was unapproachable. But there will be no temple in this place because, and John is told this three times, God will be among us, God Himself among us. Verse 22 says, The Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its sanctuary.

So unlike Old Testament times when God’s people were told this or that holy festival is coming up, you need to go up to the temple to approach God, or even unlike New Testament times where God is no longer in temples and we worship Him in spirit and in truth, as Jesus put it, the immediacy of God among us in heaven will be one of its most amazing features. Can you imagine being in a gathering for worship then with God actually visibly there among us? And for that matter, just going with friends to a park in heaven to play or to relax and running into Jesus there. I’m not trying to be funny or certainly irreverent. He will really be among His people then. No barriers, no distance.

Awe. Yes, I’m sure plenty of awe. That will never change. But no fear when you run into God Himself somewhere in the New Jerusalem. He will be among His people. So John sees this massive, dazzling city of God coming down, apparently suspending over the new recreated earth.

We will try and imagine more about the new earth when we will get together next time from the next chapter. But verse 24 in our chapter says, The nations will walk by its light, the light emitted from the glory of God in the New Jerusalem, he means. There won’t be any sun or moon. The glory of God will provide its light. So then he goes on, The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. The kings of the earth.

This is not nearly as fully described as I wish it was. A there will apparently be easy access between the New Jerusalem, that is the new heaven, and the new earth. I imagine having a small apartment in the new heaven, in New Jerusalem. You’ll have to find it by going in the central east gate, the Manasseh gate, and then going up, up, up, up, up to floor 8,246. But also, I imagine having a larger place on the recreated earth. By the way, this chapter says there will be no oceans on the new earth.

Did you notice that? And oceans take up about three-quarters of our planet now. So with no oceans, only freshwater lakes, rivers, streams, springs, there will be plenty of room on the new earth for all of us to have our own place there too. I was thinking about this with my best friends the last time we were together, and I asked them where they would like to live then. And one of them said, Next door to you guys, of course. And the more we talked about it, yeah, that’s the plan.

Long as there is a really nice golf course nearby and a great fishing lake in the area. This is where our limited minds go now. But in reality, this coming world that God has planned for us will far exceed anything we can imagine. That’s the tantalizing promise God has made us. I don’t want too much of a damper to put on these amazing images about the world that’s coming, but every time I think about these things, one of my first thoughts is how much I want all those I love and care about to be there with me. An old gospel quartet song stuck in my head from years ago asks, Will heaven be heaven without you?

The answer to that is yes, but I feel the songwriters’ point: I badly want all those I love to be there. To think they might not be is really, honestly, an unbearable thought if I dwell on it. It’s why God will find it necessary then, when He makes all things new, to wipe away every tear, as verse 4 says. Which brings me back to where we started, to Chuck Hathmaker and his trying to make it through the final verse of the Holy City, the verse where the songwriter did his best to capture with music and with what words we have what John writes about in Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem. This fantastic place Jesus has been preparing for almost 2,000 years now, this enduring world of the future for the people of God.

It’s going to be amazing, yes, but I believe we will realize then that the best part of all of it is God Himself will be among us, and He will wipe away every tear from our eyes and will no longer allow anything like death, mourning, crying, pain. In that world, our eternal home, all that will be wiped away. I don’t know what’s on your mind as you listen to this, what’s worrying you, what fears you have, what pains you feel, what losses you may be grieving. I know I certainly have mine. Tony has his. Margie has hers.

But I sincerely hope that what John sees here lifts you up, that this encourages you to keep running your race with endurance, to being an overcomer. There is up ahead of us a rest for the people of God at our new place in the New Jerusalem. Thanks for listening. This has been Paul for Share the Word. Thanks, Paul. A new place for those who believe.

Keep in mind that what we do here at Share the Word is following what Jesus commanded us to do, and that’s the Great Commission. To bring the good news of the gospel to the ends of the earth so that everyone gets a room. Seems like more and more people have someone close to them, a family member or a friend who doesn’t believe. Are you in that boat, and have you spoken to them? Ask them what kind of room they would want in heaven, and who would they want living close to them. That should raise a question or two, don’t you think?