Heaven – Part 2
Revelation 21:9 – 22:5
June 11, 2017
Last Sunday morning we actually started our look at Heaven,
But if you will remember, before we made it very far into the description
There was a pause for God to offer yet another invitation.
Revelation 21:3-8 “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, and 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.” 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.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the 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 and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
It was important to God that we all understand
The main point of what we are seeing.
1) All things will be made new.
Nothing from the old is being salvaged, in fact nothing is salvageable. God must start over from scratch and he will.
2) God Himself will dwell among men.
This is certainly something beyond what mankind has ever experienced, and is quite literally beyond our comprehension.
3) Anyone who is thirsty can come and partake in this glorious reality.
Of course the thirst we are talking about is the hunger and thirst for righteousness, which drives men to Christ.
4) Anyone who refuses to overcome their love of this world and love of sin will not be allowed into this heaven, but will instead spend eternity in the lake of fire, which is the second death.
And that was the message God wanted you to know.
When we talk about heaven
We are not talking about universalism.
All people do not go to heaven.
In fact, according to Scripture, most men do not go to heaven.
Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”
According to Jesus many who go to destruction and only a few go to life.
The reason of course is exactly what God revealed.
Even though heaven is great,
There are a host of men who refuse to overcome.
TURN TO: MATTHEW 22:1-14
This is a fitting parable, because like the imagery John is using in Revelation 21, we also here find the imagery of a “wedding”.
• This was the massive celebration that the Father is throwing for His Son, and
literally the call goes out everywhere.
• “Behold, I have prepared my dinner; my oxen and my fattened livestock
are all butchered and everything is ready; come to the wedding feast.”
That is the equivalent to God’s call which we saw last week as God appealed to “the one who thirsts”. Do you want to come? Come on.
However, even though the wedding feast was real and ready and open,
Most declined the invitation.
Why?
• Because they were preoccupied with their own lives and plans.
• They went to their farm and to their business.
• Some were even enraged at the invitation and actually beat the slaves who
invited them.
So, the king attacked those murderers and set them on fire.
That, of course, pictured the rejection of the Jews and the fall of Jerusalem.
After the Jews rejected, then the Gentiles were invited,
(Who are represented by those in “the main highways”)
And the “wedding hall was filled with dinner guests.”
So we have those who responded to the invitation.
BUT THAT’S NOT ALL.
As the king looks over the guests, he finds a strange man in attendance.
(11-12) reveals a man who was not dressed in wedding clothes.
• Did he want to go to the wedding feast? Yes
• Did he try to go? Yes
• But he tried to go on his own terms.
And notice what the king did.
He threw him out.
(14) “For many are called, but few are chosen.”
And if you really want the depth of that statement you’re going to have join us on Sunday nights as we are diving into the truths about God’s sovereign election.
The point you should see again however is that just because heaven is available does not mean that all men are going.
Even though heaven is clearly the better option
It is staggering the number of people who will reject it
In favor of their current lives of pleasure.
That was the announcement that God wanted everyone to understand.
And now that the announcement has been given,
We move back to the description of this wonderful place called heaven.
(9-11) “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.”
That is John’s way of getting us back on track.
Let me get back to showing you this city I saw coming from God.
Up in verse 2 it was described as “a bride adorned for her husband.”
Here in verse 11 it is described as “having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone of crystal-clear jasper.”
The stone we are talking about here is comparable to a diamond.
Clear, unblemished, and sparkling with the very glory of God.
Now we are back to that city.
This morning we are going to walk through what we see,
And then we’ll see if we can’t gain some understanding
As to why men do not choose this place.
But let’s break down what we see into three points.
#1 THE OUTER APPEARANCE
Revelation 21:12-21
The first thing John mentions is (12) “It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels;”
Very interesting that this new holy city actually has a wall around it,
And according to John it is no insignificant structure.
In Bible times walls were for security, but that is not the purpose here,
As you will see later that the gates are never shut.
RATHER, HERE THE POINT IS EXCLUSIVITY.
The presence of a wall and the presence of gates
Indicates the need for access to be granted.
Not just anyone enters this city.
Certainly this is the point of the angels there guarding the gates as well.
In fact, in a moment you will see (27) “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.”
So we have here a walled city.
However on this wall is given an indication
Of exactly who is granted access inside.
Because on each of these gates there are names written.
(12b) “and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelves 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.”
• It is a picture reminiscent of the camping instructions given to the children of Israel as they camped in the wilderness.
• And the fact that the names of the 12 tribes of Israel reminds us yet again that God has never forgotten His covenant with Israel.
• Israel was broken off for a time as we saw in Romans 11, but from the standpoint of God’s sovereign choice, Israel has never been totally forsaken.
• That was clear with the sealing of the 144,000 and it is clear again as we see their names recorded on the gates.
Redeemed Israel will be in heaven.
But those aren’t the only citizens of the city.
(14) “And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
If the twelve tribes represent Israel,
Then certainly the 12 apostles represent the church.
Also present there are the redeemed from among the Gentiles.
And this is nothing new to you at all.
Ephesians 2:19-22 “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit.”
Paul calls us “fellow citizens”.
So there is a wall indicating that not everyone has access,
But certainly the redeemed of Israel and the redeemed church
Do have access into this great city.
And then, as John is looking at the city,
We actually get a surveyor coming to measure.
(15-17) “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 purpose of surveying is to denote ownership.
We see this throughout Scripture.
This is God’s city.
This is the city we heard about in the book of Hebrews,
“whose architect and builder is God.”
And the city measures like a cube.
• 1,500 miles wide
• 1,500 miles long
• 1,500 miles high
We are told that the wall measures “seventy-two yards” which most likely refers to it’s thickness.
That is certainly beyond our comprehension how men live in a cube since all we really understand is surface area, but it is heaven.
What is interesting I think is that the Holy of Holies also measured out as a perfect cube, and that is the best way to see this holy city.
This is God’s dwelling.
This is God’s city.
And it is coming to dwell among men.
And then the MATERIALS being used on the city are described.
(18-21) “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.”
And honestly, this description is beyond us.
All John can really do is describe a new creation with old terms.
The best he can do is describe it using the finest jewels he knows to use.
This is a beaming and glowing city.
A city of “pure gold, like clear glass.”
“the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single Pearl Those are giant pearls!
It is really beyond human description or understanding,
But I think the beauty is an obvious point.
Now, that is John’s description of the outer appearance.
#2 THE INNER TOUR
Revelation 21:22-27
Here John is granted some sort of access
To see beyond the walls and into the city.
And as we mentioned last week, since we so are limited by our own imaginations, it is easier to describe heaven BY WHAT WON’T BE THERE.
(22) “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”
Everything in Jewish culture revolved around the presence of the temple.
• That was their worship site
• That was the place of their sacrifices
• That was the presence of God
And yet, in heaven, there is no temple.
God is not hidden behind a veil, the presence of God is readily accessible.
(23) “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.”
That is probably the best way for the glory of God to be described;
It is so brilliant that it renders the sun obsolete.
We also find some of the business that is occurring in this new holy city.
(24-27) “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.”
What we have here is all “the kings of the earth” and “the nations” bringing “glory” into this new holy city.
Those verses have caused some confusion for many.
• Does that indicate that there will be distinct nations on this new earth?
• Does that indicate that there will be kings (indicating classes of people) in heaven?
Well, the most honest answer is, I don’t know,
Because I’ve never been there.
But the point is, whatever distinct nations there were,
And whatever distinct rulers there were,
There will be no longer for they are all brining their glory and their crowns and laying them at the feet of God.
Everyone who enters this city does that same thing.
The people who don’t submit all glory to God don’t get to enter that city.
So you see the outer appearance – You see the inner tour
#3 THE BENEFIT OF THIS CITY
Revelation 22:1-5
It is obvious that there is tremendous benefit to being in this city
AND THE BENEFIT IS LIFE.
“Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of the street.”
Some question if it is a literal water river since there is no sea in heaven and the water based ecosystem seems to be obsolete, but I don’t think it really matters.
For us (and for John) water represents life
And that is clearly used at the very least as a symbol here.
LIFE IS FLOWING FROM GOD.
And it’s not just the river.
(2b) “On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
WE DON’T JUST HAVE LIFE, WE HAVE HEALTHY LIFE.
“healing” here does not indicate sickness in heaven.
• The Greek word is THERAPEIA from where we get our word “therapy”
• The life God is giving is a life free from sickness or pain.
Life in heaven is not sick and broken life.
I think we can all agree that there are people on earth who are alive, but sickness and pain make life less than enjoyable…not in heaven.
AND IT’S NOT JUST HEALTHY LIFE, BUT EVEN ENJOYABLE LIFE.
(3a) “There will no longer be any curse;”
Adam had an enjoyable life until he sinned and the curse came upon us.
• Then pain entered for the woman and work entered for the man.
• You even have people lamenting how hard life is trying to scratch a living out of the ground which God has cursed.
Well, not in heaven.
Life is easy.
AND LIFE IS FULL OF PURPOSE.
(3b) “and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him;”
Today we see people who just can’t get a handle on their purpose.
What was I meant to do?
NOT IN HEAVEN.
• Life has purpose, and everyone knows what that purpose is.
• It is to enjoy God’s presence and serve Him before His throne.
WE SEE THAT LIFE IS ALSO FULFILLING.
(4) “they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”
Many times today we serve and we give and work
But don’t quickly see the fruit of our labors
Or even feel the satisfaction of our success.
Even serving God, it can certainly feel like we are spinning our wheels.
Perhaps you remember Paul writing about the resurrection in 1 Cor. 15 reminding us that “we know that our labor is not in vain”. But it can feel that way sometimes here.
But not in heaven.
We see the One we serve and we have the immediate fulfillment of His approval and satisfaction.
Life has a purpose and it is fulfilling.
AND LIFE IS CONTINUOUS.
(5a) “And there will no longer be any night, and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them;”
Night time now can certainly represent many things.
It is used as an analogy for the deeds of evil or even the ignorance of man.
But night time also represents the slowing of activity
As humanity goes to bed and takes a break.
Not in heaven.
There is no night.
I can remember as a child (before the hardships of life began to soak in) how much I hated night time or bed time.
The setting sun represented the end to the day and the time to go home.
As a kid you go to bed wishing you’d already slept.
People with that mentality are those who enjoy their life to the fullest. That will be the life of heaven.
BEYOND THAT, IT WILL BE ETERNAL.
(5b) “and they will reign forever and ever.”
It will absolutely never end.
The simplest way to put it is that in heaven there is LIFE!
• Not sickly life
• Not difficult life
• Not meaningless life
• Not unfulfilled life
• Not fleeting life
• Not mortal life
Heaven will be (as Jesus put it) “life and life abundant”.
That is John’s description of the heaven he sees coming down from God.
A glorious city of worship were life is lived the way it is meant to be lived.
BUT AGAIN I WANT TO REMIND YOU THAT
God paused half-way through this revelation to remind us
That the invitation to this city is open and yet there are still many
Who refuse to come because they will not overcome.
AND AFTER SEEING A GLIMPSE OF HEAVEN,
I THINK WE CAN BEGIN TO UNDERSTAND WHY.
1) IN HEAVEN GOD IS THE MAIN ATTRACTION, NOT THE FLESH
Did you notice how everything there is set up to enhance His glory?
• Verse 11 says the city has “the glory of God” and the entire city is built to showcase that fact.
• Verse 18 says “The material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.”
“jasper” was listed earlier to describe the city and it was also said to be “crystal-clear”.
• Then we get all the foundation stones around the wall which would all reflect the light of the glory of God.
• Verse 21 says “And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”
Are you getting the point?
GOD IS THE MAIN AND ONLY ATTRACTION.
EVERYTHING IN HEAVEN IS TO SHOWCASE HIM.
I hear so much talk today about heaven and how so and so is up there playing golf, or fishing (hard since there is no sea) or doing whatever else.
I even hear the outlandish like, smoking a cigar or drinking a beer with his buddies.
All of that is ridiculous, as though the appeal of heaven is to your flesh.
Heaven has nothing to do with appealing to the flesh.
In fact, “flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven.”
THE ATTRACTION OF HEAVEN IS THE NEARNESS OF GOD!
Psalms 73:25-28 “Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. My flesh and my heart may fail, But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. For, behold, those who are far from You will perish; You have destroyed all those who are unfaithful to You. But as for me, the nearness of God is my good; I have made the Lord GOD my refuge, That I may tell of all Your works.”
Asaph understood the attraction and it was all God.
If you’ve noticed, this has been continually pointed out in this chapter.
Revelation 21:3 “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,”
Revelation 21:22 “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”
Revelation 22:3-4 “There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.”
That’s the point.
Christ is the attraction!
The nearness of God is blessing!
And this makes perfect sense.
How often we are told that in this Christian life we suffer the loss of all things that we main gain Christ!
• He is the pearl of great value.
• He is the treasure hidden in the field.
Our inheritance is not some gaudy mansion (the word in John 14 is “rooms”),
Nor is it some beach front property or some manicured golf course.
Our inheritance is God, it is Christ!
Romans 8:16-17 “The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, heirs also, heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him so that we may also be glorified with Him.”
God is the reward!
Listen to what Paul said about heaven.
Philippians 1:23 “But I am hard-pressed from both directions, having the desire to depart and be with Christ, for that is very much better;”
• Do you see the treasure?
• Do you see the attraction?
I THINK YOU’RE SEEING ONE OF THE REASONS
THOSE PEOPLE DIDN’T WANT TO GO TO THE WEDDING FEAST,
AND WHY SO MANY REFUSE TO OVERCOME TODAY.
It is because we have all these people who claim to want to go to heaven
But they don’t even love the One whom heaven is all about.
All they really want is just another place where their flesh can be gratified,
And so they reinvent heaven to be some place
Between Disney World and Las Vegas and then claim to want to go.
THAT’S WHAT PAGANS DO!
• Islam talks of a place where you get your 72 virgins…what could be more
carnal or fleshly than that?
And I simply want you to know
• If your main treasure isn’t God, if Christ is not your sole desire,
• Then let me confidently tell you that you wouldn’t enjoy heaven,
And that’s ok, because if Christ isn’t your sole desire
You’re most likely not going there anyway.
Many today just want this world and they want God to give it to them,
And then they want to go to an even better world called heaven
Where God will give them even better things.
That is blasphemous!
Christianity says on this earth I will suffer the loss of all things that I may gain Christ, and when I get to heaven, Christ is all I long to gain.
There is no doubt who the attraction is.
Let me show you a second reason so many won’t overcome.
2) IN HEAVEN WORSHIP IS THE MAIN ACTIVITY
You saw that when you saw all the nations entering the city.
• They weren’t entering to go shopping…
• They weren’t entering to play golf…
They were entering to bring glory to God.
It was all about worship.
And notice, they were doing it without the presence of a temple.
How often have we found Israel to be so preoccupied with their temple and their ceremonies and yet have absolutely no love for God?
That fact saturates the Old Testament.
“For this people honors Me with their lips, but their hearts are far away from Me.”
And sadly we see this reality all too often in the church.
• We’ll attend (if we don’t have anything else to do)
• We’ll sing (when we feel like it)
• We’ll give (if we have a little extra)
But you let anything at all come up…
• Or you let the air conditioning go out…
• Or you let the weather outside get too bad…
• Or let the song man pick a song you don’t like…
• Or let there be something else you want to do with your money…
AND WE PUT WORSHIP ON THE BACK BURNER
All of that simply screams that we love ourselves more than we love God.
AND THAT IS NOT THE WAY IT WILL BE IN HEAVEN.
In heaven, everything worships!
Psalms 29:9 “The voice of the LORD makes the deer to calve And strips the forests bare; And in His temple everything says, “Glory!”
We certainly saw that with the 4 living creatures in chapter 4 who “day and night do not cease to say, “Holy, Holy, Holy, is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and is and is to come.”
And again I tell you this because
If you don’t have a heart that longs to worship God,
You aren’t going to enjoy heaven in the least.
In heaven, God is the attraction and worship is the action.
Again we see why so many people wouldn’t attend that wedding feast.
They didn’t have time to come and celebrate someone else,
They had their own priorities and desires to fulfill.
And that is why so many won’t accept God’s offer of life in heaven,
Because it interrupts this comfortable life here on earth.
It’s amazing the number of people who say they want to go to heaven.
• They don’t want to be in church
• They don’t want to fellowship with God’s people
• They don’t want to serve God
• They don’t want draw near to God
• But they say they want to go to heaven.
All they are really saying is they don’t want to go to hell.
Heaven is all about worship, if you don’t have a heart of worship
Then you aren’t fitted for heaven.
BUT IT’S CLEAR WHY SO MANY REFUSE GOD’S OFFER
EVEN THOUGH HEAVEN IS CLEARLY BETTER.
It is because they are unwilling to overcome
Their love of self and their love of the world
And become submissive servants and worshipers of God.
OBVIOUSLY THEN MY ENCOURAGEMENT TO YOU IS TO OVERCOME.
In Philippians 3 Paul talked about how
He had suffered the loss of all things, but that’s ok.
He considered all that stuff dung so that he might gain Christ.
And then let me show you his advice to you.
Philippians 3:17-21 “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have in us. For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.”
His advice was that you also overcome your love of the world and your constant desire to gratify the flesh and that you become fitted for heaven.
Those who are inheriting the kingdom of Heaven
Are not those who are currently clinging to this world.
Let me just give you this one last text to chew on.
Hebrews 11:8-16 “By faith Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God. By faith even Sarah herself received ability to conceive, even beyond the proper time of life, since she considered Him faithful who had promised. Therefore there was born even of one man, and him as good as dead at that, as many descendants AS THE STARS OF HEAVEN IN NUMBER, AND INNUMERABLE AS THE SAND WHICH IS BY THE SEASHORE. All these died in faith, without receiving the promises, but having seen them and having welcomed them from a distance, and having confessed that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. For those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a country of their own. And indeed if they had been thinking of that country from which they went out, they would have had opportunity to return. But as it is, they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for He has prepared a city for them.”
