A City

1. "Few predictions about the future seem to get it right. One prediction, however, that has been consistently correct, is the rapid rate at which the world's population is moving from the countryside in small towns, into the cities."

2. "The story of the Bible begins in a garden, but it does not end by returning there. The story of the Bible ends in a city."

3. "Cities here may be marked by death, by shadows, by corruption. But in this vision, John sees a city which isn't. In this cosmic renewal which John has seen, it's expressed on a very human level. Every tear from their eyes is wiped away. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain."

4. "Everything that is good in this world, and every part of this world, among every people on this globe, all of that that is good will be brought into the city and will be present there and will be reflecting the glory of God himself."

5. "If there's something else you've been interested in Christianity for, this ultimately will have to interest you, or I promise you, you're not interested in Christianity. At the very heart of it is this desire to be with God."

6. "Faith is just what we have to have in a fallen world. But there we can see with our eyes we will be beyond doubt and dispute. There will be an immediacy to our knowledge of God that escapes us in this life."

7. "Have you never felt that homesickness for a place you've never been before?"

8. "Those who fear the threats of the beast more than they trust the love of Christ may be bold or timid as people, but they lack the genuine commitment to continue to endure whatever may come."

9. "If you remove this book of revelation, if you remove the note of hope from the Christian faith, this life will become like driving a speeding car on a dark night without headlights."

10. "We as Christians actually believe the resurrection from the dead has begun with Jesus. We make no pretenses of everything in this life being good, but we have no doubt that God is good. And because we know that God is good, then we can have a hope in what this good God will do for us."

Observation Questions

1. In Revelation 21:1-2, what two specific things does John say he saw? What details does he provide about each?

2. According to Revelation 21:3-4, what significant announcements are made about God's relationship with humanity, and what specific changes will occur?

3. In Revelation 21:22-23, what is notably absent from the city, and what provides light for its inhabitants?

4. Looking at Revelation 21:12-14, what symbolic numbers are repeated, and how are both Old and New Testament figures represented in the city's structure?

5. From Revelation 22:1-2, describe the location and characteristics of the Tree of Life. How does this connect to Genesis 3?

6. In Revelation 21:6-8, what contrast is drawn between those who will and won't enter the city? What specific promises and warnings are given?

Interpretation Questions

1. Why does the Bible's story begin in a garden but end in a city? What might this progression reveal about God's plan for humanity?

2. The city is described as a perfect cube (Revelation 21:16), matching the dimensions of the Holy of Holies in Solomon's Temple. What does this symbolic connection suggest about the nature of our eternal dwelling with God?

3. Why is it significant that the names of both the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles appear on the city's structure? What does this tell us about the unity of God's people?

4. How does the description of "no more night" (Revelation 21:25) and "no more curse" (Revelation 22:3) relate to the effects of the Fall in Genesis 3?

5. What is the significance of the city being described as both a place (Revelation 21:2) and a bride (Revelation 21:9)? How do these images complement each other?

Application Questions

1. When was the last time you experienced a deep thirst for God's presence like the one described in Revelation 21:6? What triggered that spiritual thirst?

2. In what specific ways have you noticed yourself putting your hope in earthly cities or institutions rather than in the heavenly city?

3. The sermon mentions feeling "homesick for a place you've never been before." When have you experienced this spiritual homesickness, and how did it affect your daily choices?

4. Think about your closest relationship. How does the promise of seeing God "face to face" (Revelation 22:4) challenge or enhance your understanding of intimacy with God?

5. The heavenly city has gates that never close (Revelation 21:25), suggesting perfect security and welcome. Where in your life do you need to trust God's protection and acceptance more fully?

Additional Bible Reading

1. Ezekiel 47:1-12 - This vision of water flowing from the temple presents an earlier picture of the river of life and its life-giving properties, prefiguring the eternal city's abundance.

2. Hebrews 11:8-16 - Abraham and other patriarchs lived as foreigners, looking forward to the heavenly city. Their example shows how faith shapes our view of our earthly and heavenly homes.

3. Psalm 46:1-11 - This psalm celebrates God's presence in his city, providing a preview of the security and joy found in dwelling with God eternally.

4. Philippians 3:17-21 - Paul contrasts earthly and heavenly citizenship, reminding us where our true allegiance should lie while we await the transformation of our lowly bodies.

Sermon Main Topics

I. Failed Predictions and the Reality of Urbanization

II. The City of Good Times (Revelation 21:1–22:6)

III. The City of God (Revelation 21:3, 22–27)

IV. The City of God’s People (Revelation 21:2, 12–14)

V. Call to Repentance and Embrace the Heavenly Hope

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Detailed Sermon Outline

I. Failed Predictions and the Reality of Urbanization

• A. Historical fascination with predicting the future

• 1. Examples of failed predictions (Wilbur Wright, Arthur Summerfield, Arthur C. Clarke)

• 2. Human predictions often reflect their own cultural context rather than the future

• B. Urbanization as a fulfilled prediction

• 1. Rapid global migration to cities (e.g., Mexico City, Bangkok)

• 2. Cultural pessimism toward cities (e.g., Tolkien’s Shire, William Morris’s poetry)

• 3. Modern urban challenges: homelessness, crime, moral decay

• C. Biblical tension around cities

• 1. Cities as symbols of judgment (Babel, Sodom, Babylon)

• 2. Contrast with the Bible’s final vision: a redeemed city (Revelation 21)

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II. The City of Good Times (Revelation 21:1–22:6)

• A. Four transformative differences in the heavenly city

• 1. Death replaced by life (Revelation 21:4)

  • a. No more tears, mourning, or pain

  • b. The reversal of the curse of sin

• 2. Night replaced by light (Revelation 21:23–25)

  • a. God’s glory as eternal illumination

  • b. The nations’ cultural contributions brought into the city

• 3. Corruption replaced by purity (Revelation 21:27)

  • a. Exclusion of impurity and deceit

  • b. Holiness as a prerequisite for God’s presence

• 4. Curse replaced by blessing (Revelation 22:3)

  • a. Free access to the Tree of Life

  • b. Healing for the nations (Revelation 22:2)

• B. The fulfillment of God’s promises to the faithful

• 1. Promises to “him who overcomes” (Revelation 2–3)

• 2. The cosmic renewal of creation (Revelation 21:1, 5)

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III. The City of God (Revelation 21:3, 22–27)

• A. God’s presence as the defining feature

• 1. “The dwelling of God is with men” (Revelation 21:3)

• 2. The Lamb as the temple (Revelation 21:22)

• B. Symbolism of the city’s design

• 1. Cubic shape reflecting the Holy of Holies (Revelation 21:16)

• 2. Precious materials (gold, jewels, pearls) signifying divine glory (Revelation 21:11, 18–21)

• C. Theological significance of God’s presence

• 1. Intimacy over exclusivity (Revelation 21:9–10)

• 2. The culmination of biblical history: from Garden to City

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IV. The City of God’s People (Revelation 21:2, 12–14)

• A. Inclusivity of the redeemed

• 1. Gates named after the 12 tribes of Israel (Revelation 21:12)

• 2. Foundations named after the 12 apostles (Revelation 21:14)

• 3. A multinational community (Revelation 7:9)

• B. The cost of entry

• 1. For the thirsty and repentant (Revelation 21:6, 22:17)

• 2. Exclusion of the unrepentant (Revelation 21:8, 22:15)

• C. The church’s role as the bride (Revelation 21:2, 9)

• 1. Purity through Christ’s sacrifice

• 2. Eternal unity with the Lamb

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V. Call to Repentance and Embrace the Heavenly Hope

• A. The urgency of the gospel invitation

• 1. “These words are trustworthy and true” (Revelation 22:6)

• 2. The resurrection of Jesus as the foundation of hope

• B. The Christian’s proper desires

• 1. Craving God above worldly pursuits

• 2. The promise of seeing God’s face (Revelation 22:4)

• C. Final exhortation

• 1. Reject fear and idolatry; trust in Christ

• 2. The free gift of the water of life (Revelation 22:17)

Well, we're almost to the end of 2001, and all of the dire predictions about the year 2000 you remember about what would happen at midnight December 31, 1999, about everything from aliens to the computer failures, from the return of Christ to social meltdown, have not eventuated. Indeed, they themselves now seem part of a distant past, an alien time.

Of course, the future has always been an inviting place for our thoughts. I read recently that simply between the years 1888 and 1900, over 150 novels were published set in the year 2000, just from 1888 to 1900. Their visions of the future, of course, usually said more about their own times than than about the future. Predictions have always been difficult at best. Wilbur Wright once said in 1901, I said to my brother Orville that man would not fly for 50 years.

Ever since, I have distrusted myself and avoided all predictions.

But even if Wilbur Wright swore them off, others have continued predicting. So Arthur Summerfield, US postmaster under President Eisenhower, said in 1959, before man reaches the moon, your mail will be delivered within hours from New York to Australia by guided missiles. We stand on the threshold of rocket mail.

Well, let's give him some credit. The trend that he thought of was correct. Speedier communications. It was only the means that were off. I mean, he couldn't have conceived of the Internet and email.

Electricity and light would take our mail as bits of information rather than steel and gasoline as pieces of paper. Here's another one Arthur C. Clarke, famous science fiction writer, said in Vogue magazine back in 1966, by the year 2000, houses will be able to fly. The time may come when whole communities may migrate south in the winter or move to new lands whenever they feel the need for a change of scenery. Well, we could go on, but you get the point.

Few predictions about the future seem to get it right. One prediction, however, that has been consistently correct, is the rapid rate at which the world's population is moving from the countryside in small towns, into the cities. Urbanization, as it's called, is perhaps the single most important prediction about the future that has come true. It is a fact of modern life. Over half the world's population now live in cities around the world.

The rate of urbanization is astonishing. Cities like Mexico City and Bangkok have between half and three quarters of millions of people added to their population every year. Now, for many people, this is all a reason for despair. Many are convinced that cities are bad places. So if you've read J.R.R.

tolkien's vision of the Shire in the Hobbit. Or seen it in the Lord of the Rings, the new movie. Well, that's a picture of the world in which the countryside is idyllic and the towns and cities are at best confused and suspect and at worst evil. Many people have shared such wariness of cities. William Morris, an English poet and artist of a century ago, limited the growth of London with these.

Forget six counties overhung with smoke. Forget the snorting steam and piston stroke. Forget the spreading of the hideous town. Think rather of the pack horse on the down and dream of London, small and white and clean and clear. Thames bordered by its gardens, green.

Now, Morris is popularly known today for his patterns in fabric and wallpaper and style and interior decorating that became known as the Arts and Crafts movement that Morris founded. But he was, as I say, just one of many to lament the growth of urban sprawl across the land. Aided by railways and the telegraph, universal education, and the growth of commerce, cities expanded enormously. Suburban tentacles seemed to reach out and devour huge sections of the countryside. And their expansion was noted by many people with alarm.

And who can blame them for being alarmed? The reality of life in the city is often not very pleasant. When the Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev visited the United nations, he was reported to say, I don't like the life here in New York. There's no greenery. It would make a stone sick.

Well, one city which has gotten more than its fair share of abuse, I think, is Cleveland. I read recently of a contest announcement which read, first prize, a week in Cleveland. Second prize, two weeks in Cleveland.

No offense to visiting family from Cleveland. More seriously, Ralph Waldo Emerson commented that I always seem to suffer from loss of faith on entering cities. And, you know, if Emerson would say that a century or a century and a half ago, what would he say? Imagine his reaction to the problems that today's cities face. Homelessness, gangs that are addicted to a vicious spiral of drug abuse and violent crime, including even murder.

The social and economic infrastructure falling apart through a damning combination of unemployment and immorality. As a whole, great edifice seems bound up in terminal decline. Cities seem to be bad places. They're so bad, we might even want to characterize them as godforsaken, as if there were some specially potent version of the curse from the Garden of Eden laid on these cities and pronounced on them. I mean, surely throughout the Bible we see just such godforsakenness in God's judgments on Babel, on Sodom, on Gomorrah, on Jerusalem itself, and in this book of Revelation on Rome, pictured as Babylon.

Doesn't the Bible itself lend weight to the idea that cities are godforsaken? And if that's the case, then isn't it really indisputable that cities should simply be avoided, especially by God's people? If they are such God forsaken places, places of such moral and physical pollution, places which seem to be so unrelated to God's creation, places which seem so often to be in such open revolt against his truth, his concerns, his justice. Surely such places are places that should simply be avoided, especially by God's people.

Well, with all this in mind, it is particularly interesting to turn to one more prediction about the future, but this time from a man who really did see the future. And to hear what John saw in this last and perhaps greatest vision in the Bible. In this vision, John didn't see the end of history as the eternal state, a kind of disembodied shades inhabiting clouds and reclining in everlasting indolence. A kind of rural idol in the sky, the shire as heaven. No, what John saw was an entirely new creation.

But primarily, do you know what he saw? He did not see the Garden of Eden revisited. He saw the heavenly city. The story of the Bible begins in a garden, but it does not end by returning there. The story of the Bible ends in a city.

That's what we see in this vision. This city where there are good times, this city of God, the city of God's people. You know, years earlier, John had heard Jesus speak of the renewal of all things when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, judging the 12 tribes of Israel. Now the elderly John is being granted a vision of it. Let me read for you now this last vision in the book of revelation, beginning chapter 21, verse 1.

Revelation, chapter 21, verse 1. You take your pew Bible, you'll find it there right at the end of the Bible. Depending on what Bible you have with you, there may be a concordance or a map, but other than that, it's the last book there. Chapter 21, verse 1.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven. And the first earth had passed away and there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, now the dwelling of God is with men and he will live with them. They will be his people and God himself will be with them and will be their God.

He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away. He who was seated on the throne said, I am making everything new. Then he said, write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. He said to me, it is done.

I am the alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. He who overcomes will inherit all this, and I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.

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. 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 12 gates and with 12 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. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its wall. 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.

He measured its wall, and it was 144 cubits thick by man's measurement, which the angel was using. 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 chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl.

The street of the city was of Pure gold, like transparent glass. 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. 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 12 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 forever and ever.

The the angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place.

Well, we want to consider this morning the city. First, as the city in which there are all of these good things, the City of Good Times. And then as the City of God, and finally, as the city of God's people. And as we do, I pray that we'll all learn something about this city and see if we've found a place that we would like to call home forever.

First, this city is unquestionably a city of good times. I mean, in this series, we didn't take time to go over the seven letters to the churches back in chapters two and three of Revelation. But if you look at them, you'll find that in each one of them, they end with a promise to him who overcomes. Now, among other things, they are promised that they will eat of the Tree of Life, that they will not be hurt by the second death. They will be dressed in white.

They will have their name in the Book of Life. They will be made a pillar in the temple of God. That's what awaits those who don't forsake the worship of false gods. Well, then, when we come to the end of the book, chapter 21, we see these things fulfilled. Chapter 21 begins with these immense changes you see there in verse one.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. Now we've seen this image of the seemingly immovable elements in the creation fleeing away in the Revelation's earlier sections on judgment. In fact, we've seen it repeatedly. Now, here it is in this final vision, presented as part of the cleansing of creation in preparation for the coming of the new.

And what John sees is absolutely amazing. Cities here may be marked, as we said a few minutes ago, by death, by shadows, by corruption. But in this vision, John sees a city which isn't. I want you to notice four things about this city which make it different than ours. First, death is replaced by life.

Here in chapter 21 and verse 4, in this cosmic renewal which John has seen, it's expressed, you see, on a very human level. Every tear from their eyes is wiped away. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain. In some, the old order of things is done. It's passed away.

Now, you know, when Christians have wanted to describe God, we've always had recourse to negations, to saying what God is not. So we say God is immortal. He doesn't die. We say he's invisible. You can't see Him.

Well, so too, with this heavenly city and with its blessings which are known, they will be so different from our life here and now that they're practically inconceivable. The only way we can describe them and express them is to negate some of those painful things that we know in this life. So the chief one of those we see here is death. And we find in this city there will be no more death.

Something else which has changed, we find down in verse 23. Here in chapter 21, verse 23, night is replaced by light. Look at verse 23. 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. We're told that there is no night, not because there were superstitious associations of the night with evil, but because God's glorious presence will never leave the city. The very thing which gives light, the presence of God, will never be absent. That's what we're being told by that light being always present in the city.

So we Note in verse 24, the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. And then down in verse 26, the glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. And he'd taken this to say that the. To indicate that the glories of human culture will all be represented in this city, coming to be seen for what they've always been, part of God's goodness to his people. So everything that is good in this world, and every part of this world, among every people on this globe, all of that that is good will be brought into the city and will be present there and will be reflecting the glory of God himself.

Night is replaced by light. And this city, a third difference, corruption, is replaced by purity. Look at verse 27. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful. As the prophet said in his prayer to God of old, O Lord, are you not from everlasting?

My God, my Holy one, Your eyes are too pure to look on evil. You cannot tolerate wrong.

In some, the divine curse is replaced by the divine blessing. We sing the words far as the curse is found, you know, enjoy to the world this time of the years. And I'm sure many people have no idea what curse they're referring to. Seems like a strange thing to have in a Christmas song about a happy time of year. What is this curse everybody's referring to?

Oh, this curse is. Is the first curse. It's the first thing that we find in the Bible almost. It's back in the beginning of the book of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. It's where God has cursed mankind, denying them access to the tree of life, and so making the hardness of life in this world, from childbirth to farming, a constant reminder of human sin, of human alienation.

The Bible says that we've all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Now, says John here in chapter 22, verse 3, no longer will there be any curse. So the tree of life in the middle of the city is there. And not only is there not an angel with a flaming sword to keep us away from it, but we are invited to take it. And there seem to be actually a lot of them because they are bearing fruit every month of the year along this great river.

So the tree that we once wrongly sought seems to be now the thing that's freely offered and in greater quantity and variety than was ever the case in the garden.

So this is the city that's the great thing that's in the future before us. But what's done all this? Well, it is the city of these good times, because secondly, it is the city of God. That's why it's like this. John hears in chapter 21, verse 3 that the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them.

They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. The promise, you see, that God has made again and again to his people through Moses, through the prophets, which began to be fulfilled in the first coming of Christ and in the pouring out of God's spirit on his church, that promise now will be fulfilled, accomplished, completed. God himself will be with them. The incarnation of God in Christ, when he became our Emmanuel, points forward to God's being with us on this grander scale that we read about here. After these words of divine promise, John is offered something of a tour of the city he's just seen from a distance and heard about.

The invitation comes in the same way. The invitation to view the city of destruction of the Antichrist came back in chapter 17, verse 1. Back in 17:1, we read, One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, come, I will show you the punishment of the great prostitute. Well, now, here in chapter 21, verse 9, we read, 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 you know, it's interesting to me that this same angel who's been an agent of God's wrath, now is showing God's grace and displaying it to John, sort of as if underscoring the fact that there's no contradiction between these two.

This one who's had the wrath of God that he's poured out, and the one who shows John the heavenly city. God knows no contradiction between those two things in his justice and in his mercy. Anyway, the pattern that we've come to expect in this book is here too. John hears, and then he sees. So what John hears in these first verses in chapter 21 is reinforced and expanded by what he sees in these middle verses in verses 9 to 22.

About the City and the chief attribute, the chief characteristic of this city is none of the negative attributes that I've just been considering. It's the positive attribute of being the home of God. That is the most important thing about this city that's envisioned here. It is presented as being the home of God. And we see this throughout the passage.

I mean, we see it in the city's brilliant appearance. If you let your eyes scan down verses 9 to 21, look at the description given there. And Starting in verse 10, we read the city was coming down out of heaven. Verse 11. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a Jasper, clear as crystal.

Then on down to verse 18, the wall was made of Jasper and the city pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. And then John goes on to describe the splendor in terms of 12 different precious stones. And then in verse 21, the 12 gates were 12 pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

And back in verse 15, even the angel's measuring rod is golden. This is a brilliant city that's being presented here. Now, what do you think all of this brilliance is to indicate? Simply that heaven's going to be really pretty or that we'll all be very, very rich in heaven. You know, the street's made of gold.

If you need some, just pick up a brick and you've got all the money you'll need. I mean, is that what we're supposed to take from all this brilliant description? Well, if you think of it in this book of Revelation, the only thing we have like this that sounds like this as you look back through it, is in the vision of the throne room of God back in chapter four. Four and five are the great vision of God's heavenly throne room. And it's described with a similar kind of brilliance.

In fact, the brilliance like this is typical throughout the Bible as a way of describing the presence of God in terms of a brilliant, multicolored, spectacular of sparkling, shining light. You go to the vision in Ezekiel. If you go to this vision, Revelation 4, this is the kind of thing you find in these descriptions. This city glows with the very glory of God. It's magnificent beyond description.

That this city is the city of God is also indicated by the city's unusual shape. Did you notice that? Look down at verse 16. 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. Now, as wide as it is long is amazing right there. The length of it is amazing. Being as wide as it is long is even more amazing. But being as high as it is wide and long is certainly the most amazing.

Now, what does this mean that skyscrapers finally went out? That the way of future urban development is upwards? Well, I think the fact that this city was the city of God, if it for any reason had escaped the notice of John's readers, I think all John had to do was recount the shape of the city and, and that would drive the point home. Can you think of why that would be? Where else in the Bible, or what else in the Bible is in the shape of a cube?

The holy of holies in the Temple. In the Old Testament, it's a perfect cube, as wide and long as it is high. And do you remember what the holy of holy in the middle of the Temple was? You can read more about it if you want in 1 Kings 6 later. It was the place of God's special presence.

So this brilliant cube would certainly have brought into their minds the holy of holies. The only difference is what in the past the high priest alone could do, and that but for once a year in a model, now all of God's people are invited to do forever for real, to live inside the holy of holies with God. Now, this is kind of the climax of the Bible. Okay, we're going to be on it for a few minutes here because he keeps giving these sort of superlative statements. But friends, it doesn't get any better than this.

If there's something else you've been interested in Christianity for, this ultimately will have to interest you, or I promise you, you're not interested in Christianity. At the very heart of it is this desire to be with God. And the very supreme promise that we have in the new reality that's to come is that we live with God, we have that intimate relationship with Him. And that this is the city of clearly of God is clearly stated here in these verses. But it isn't indicated as it was in Ezekiel's famous vision of a new Jerusalem in chapters 40 to 48 of Ezekiel by the the famous temple.

Now here we read that this temple was replaced by the very thing that it always stood for. It says, by the presence of God. Look in chapter 21, verse 22, I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. So the presence of God in the city, in fact, the fact that it is the city of God is why it is the city of so many blessings. Think.

Of course, it's the presence of God that abolishes death. Remember, according to the Bible, death is the result of sin. Well, with sin gone and judged, it's to be expected then that death will be gone. It's the presence of God that abolishes night. Look again at verse 23.

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it. Why? For the glory of God gives it light. And the Lamb is its lamp. This light will never leave the city.

The glory of God will remain there forever. So there's no shadow or darkness there. And it's the presence of God which assures purity. That's why it says in verse 27, nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, because God in his presence will admit no unholiness like that. In fact, it's the presence of God which reverses all the effects of the fall.

You see, in these closing words of the Bible, you have the final revoking of the divine curse as God completes his merciful work of bringing the children of Adam back into fellowship with himself. The presence of God is what people have always sought throughout the Old Testament. The people of God had desired his presence with them. So we read in Exodus 33:15 of Moses, prayer to the Lord in the wilderness. If your presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.

This passage is certainly a contrast with Solomon's prayer, the dedication of the Temple in Second Chronicles 6, when Solomon wisely prayed that God. Will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built. But even then, God did honor it with his presence.

And after that temple was destroyed and when the people were in exile in Babylon, God gave Ezekiel the great vision that I mentioned a few minutes ago of his bringing him back to that place. Ezekiel is often called the sort of book of revelation of the Old Testament. And so the final verse in the book of Ezekiel, as Ezekiel concludes, telling of his vision of the new Jerusalem is the name of the city from that time on will be. Do you remember the name of the heavenly city in Jerusalem? The Lord is there.

The presence of God is the very center of paradise. In his Gospel, John wrote those words that we read earlier in the service. The word became flesh and lived For a while among us, we have seen his glory. And Jesus taught, where two or three come together in my name, there I am with them. Now, here in this passage, the presence of God is finally fully with men.

Friends, this is why, as Christians, we take time in our lives to contemplate God, to read His Word and meditate on Him. And that's why in the story of the Gospels, where you have Mary and Martha, it's not simply the one who does the cleaning up and getting ready that's doing the right thing, as if God is always in favor of our activity, but it's the one who's stopping and concentrating on and drinking in with their eyes and ears, God Himself. That's closer to the essence of the Christian faith. Now, if you do that, certainly other things will be done, but those other things are not the Christian faith. It's that love of God in the heart that knows a stillness and a contentment in quietness before him, with him, that's at the very core of our hope.

Now, two images have been used to convey this to John in this book. First, the false city has given way to the true city. The true king has revealed his city by judging the one and taking up residence in the other. And the false lady has given way to the true lady. The true husband has revealed one to be a prostitute and the other to be a bride.

And in this final section, the wedding imagery is fulfilled. Perhaps earlier in John's vision, you know, the wedding imagery was employed to stress exclusivity, that God's people should be allied to God alone and to the Lamb, and to reject any other claimants as false. But here I think the point of this wedding imagery isn't just exclusivity, because the opposition's already been judged. There's no competition here. The point of this wedding imagery is intimacy, that there will be that closeness and depth of a relationship between God and his people, to be joined indissolubly together forever, and yet wonder upon wonder.

The closeness of this relationship with God isn't simply a matter of a personal thing. It's extended to the whole community by the very image of the city. So you have this thing that's just unthinkable to us, great intimacy. And yet with this whole city, God with his people, friends, I hope you see that our relationship with God is the central component of the Christian vision of heaven. The Bible teaches that heaven is not simply a shadowy place of the departed, either a kind of heavenly living room or a shade tree made of cloud to give You a restful spot for eternal indolence.

No, it's not a mere Muslim like or Mormon style continuation of of an earthly paradise. It is not Hindu reincarnation or Buddhist personal obliteration. Rather, according to the Bible, the very center and heart of heaven is an immediate relationship with God himself. As Jesus himself said to one, you shall be with me. And as Paul said, now we see but a poor reflection, then we shall see face to face.

Now I know in part, then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And so we read what must be the climax of our passage, indeed the climax of the whole Bible there in chapter 22, verse 4. I do think out of the whole Bible this phrase is the climax of the whole thing. 22, verse 4 of the book of Revelation. They will see his face.

The very thing that had been denied at the fall, the very thing which had eluded God's people throughout our long history. This is the crowning glory of this city, that it will be a place where we no longer need faith. It's not that Christians just love faith. Actually, I think we kind of don't like faith. Faith is just what we have to have in a fallen world.

But there we can see with our eyes we will be beyond doubt and dispute. There will be an immediacy to our knowledge of God that escapes us in this life. When we fumble about with feeble faith, then we will see God as we return to the presence of God, the presence that our first parents knew in the garden. Only when we return and are finally intimately readmitted into his presence, we find ourselves no longer in a garden, but as I say, in a city not just with two, but with millions from every tribe and nation and people and language. Friends, this is truly the city of God.

Finally, though, let's note who this city of God is for.

It's for God's people. Look at chapter 21, verse 2. What John saw was the holy city, the new Jerusalem, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband, the people of God. Yet they're not here, simply a voluntary earthly community, as it may look like as we look around us this morning. Now it says here they were coming down out of heaven from God.

Now you know when we've seen the redeemed throughout the book of Revelation, they're always there with the Lamb. They're in heaven. Heaven in the company of the Lamb. We saw that last week as we looked at chapter seven and 14, the 144,000, the great multitude without number. They're standing there around The Lamb.

If you read this passage, you see that they are with him because they were made by him and were made for him. You may even conclude in reading this passage that it's just as accurate to understand God's people as being the holy city as it is to understand them as living in it. This city is and is for the people of God. And not only that, notice all these numbers. Did you notice the 12 gates, 12 angels, 12 foundations, names of 12 tribes of Israel, the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

We find in verse 10 that the city was 12,000 stadia in length and width and height. And again, the point here is not about this city being hundreds of miles long and wide and high, but that it's, it's 12 times 1,000. That's kind of like 12 completion times a thousand times an infinity. So it's just immense. It is absolutely gigantic.

It is complete. So the wall is 12 times 12 cubits high, which if you count that's just like 216ft. And when this thing is hundreds of miles, that's a precious low wall for such a huge city. So you see the point again in this vision, as we've noted every time in this study, is not to figure this out physically, it's to think of it as the vision that it is and try to understand. Okay, well then what is clearly being communicated in this.

Well, it's all overwhelmingly magnificent. It's four sided. I mentioned last week that four, remember, is often used to stand for the whole earth, just like we might say the four points of the compass or the four winds or the four corners of the earth. And we've noticed that seven in this book. John describes an international company seven times in this book with four words describing it, people, language, tribe and nation.

For example, he may use four other words. So again, like we see this image from chapter seven, we see that these gates are the names of the tribes of Israel. Welcome all the people whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life from around the world. So you see what you're seeing here is the promises of God to his people in the Old Testament are fulfilled to God's people in the New Testament. John's vision here is a vision of the unity, of the fulfillment of all God's promises.

The Old Testament promises apply then to all the nations, to all those who will know Christ and be led by Him. All of this represents completeness. We see here by the presence of the names of both the, the tribes of Israel and the apostles. Those have come together here in the heavenly city. So this city is not just for God's people, it's for all God's people.

That's what this city is for. Now, some of you may well ask, given the society that we live in, isn't everybody, by creation, God's people? Isn't everybody included then in this city?

No. You can't simply expect to inherit this prime property by virtue of your humanity, and you can't buy your way into it with your money. In this book, the good things of this vision of this city are not mentioned as being for everyone. You see that here very clearly. I could try to tell you something else and you might like it better, but I need to tell you what's here.

You have no reason whatsoever to be interested in what I personally would say. You have a great deal of reason to be interested in what the Bible says. So that's what I'm telling you. If you look Here in verse 6, you see that he says he will give the water of life to whom? To him who is thirsty.

That this great inheritance is coming. To all those who overcome, who own him as their God, who forsake their faith and worship false gods. But he says in verse eight, on the other hand, the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars, their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Now, people who have practiced any of those things can actually be in the city.

But they would have to have repented of these things and to trust in Christ and God's salvation provided by his death on the cross in Christ. Those, however, who refuse to repent of their sins and continue to be more allied to those sins and others like them rather than to Christ, they will have no place in this city. There are no promises like this for them. Those who shrunk back from following Christ because of the persecutions, who had polluted themselves with worshiping the emperor, who had given themselves over to the immoral rites of pagan worship, had called on other gods, those who had rejected, in short, the author of life himself would know another death beyond death. These are those, as one writer put it, who fear the threats of the beast more than they trust the love of Christ.

They may be bold or timid as people, but they lack the genuine commitment to continue to endure whatever may come, the genuine desire to keep on. And so, as Jesus parable of the Sower indicates, time will tell. As with everyone, they become like the God they Worship opposed to the true God lying ultimately and forever without Him. Those who overcome are not so much the strong as they are the faithful. Those who continue to hunger and thirst after God.

And so God fills them more than they hunger and thirst after the other things around them. And this image of thirst would have been much more powerful to them than it is to us. I don't know how many of us have ever really been thirsty. Not really thirsty. But then, you know, in arid climates where people's very existence was much more obviously dependent upon knowing where there were sources of water, people on long journeys or during droughts, or even in exile like John or in prison could well have known very serious thirst.

And thirst would conjure up images of intense yearning, of a craving desire. Friend, if you're really a Christian, that's what God works in your heart for Himself more than for all of his blessings for Himself. You may have heard of the mother who was asked by her teenage son, puzzling what he was going to get his girlfriend for her 16th birthday, mom, if you were going to be 16 tomorrow, what would you want? And the mother replied with a far away look in her eyes, not another thing, son, not another.

What is it that captivates your heart that could give you that kind of faraway look? Is it youth? Our culture tries to pedal youth. Is it youth? Is it appearance?

Is it respect for your job or the amount of money you earn? For some of you, maybe it's to add a few years, find a spouse. For some, perhaps it's a job or having a particular virtue or that possession to. To live here or travel there to get that thing done, or this paid off. What is it that you deeply desire and crave?

What about the things that John's recording here that I've been talking to you about for half an hour? What about those things? Do they elicit anything from you more than polite interest?

Have you never felt that homesickness for a place you've never been before? Thomas Aquinas said that we need to know three things in order to be saved. What we ought to believe, what we ought to do, and what we ought to desire.

Here in chapter 21, verse 6, we read to him, who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. Friend, turn from your sins to Christ. Even at the cost of his own life on the cross, he will care for you as you were made to be cared for. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost. From the spring of the water of Life.

Well, we need to draw our study of this book to a close look at the last verse of our passage. Over in chapter 22, verse 6, the angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophet, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. He says clearly what the purpose of his whole vision has been to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Not to make a doubtful prediction, but to inform us about what will soon, soon take place.

Now we need to know this. We need to know the truth about the future in order to be encouraged, in order to be hardened, in order to have hope to be strengthened, in order to be given joy for the journey. If you remove this book of revelation, if you remove the note of hope from the Christian faith, this life will become like driving a speeding car on a dark night without headlights. We are not called to live like that. We are not called just to cultivate virtue for some social utility or some happiness we may get right now hoping that something good will come of it.

No, as Christians we're actually told where we're going. And the certainty and confidence of that is to give us a light handedness with things of this world and a carefulness for the things of God that brings joy to us and to others as we treat this world finally, as it's meant to be treated, not as our creator, but simply as a part of creation, ultimately standing under the judgment of God. Some people are fearful of hopes. They fear that like bad predictions, hopes are uncertain, feeling that they just reveal what we value, but that basically the only kind of hope we humans can know are simple projections of our own desires. What we wish would be the case.

But the book of Revelation says no, no, against such skepticism, he says it is false. We can know the future. In fact, we need to. In fact, it's been revealed exactly for us because we need to know it. Chapter 22, verse 6.

The angel said to me, these words are trustworthy and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to show his servants the things that must soon take place. Friends, this is not simply a fond wish. The great victory over death has already begun in Jesus resurrection. If you're here this morning as a non Christian and this sounds just like a bunch of strange stuff to you, let me suggest you look at the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

I'll happily point out a good book or two on the bookstall about it. We as Christians actually believe the resurrection from the dead has begun with Jesus. Resurrection from the dead. We believe, according to the New Testament, that we are in the last days now. We don't know how long they're going to be.

So you might not like us using the word last about it, but the New Testament does that, I think, to show us our contingency, that we can't know how much longer they're going to be. We shouldn't trade on them and assume them. You see here as Christians, we're not involved in some kind of eternal repression, some spiritual suicide. We make no pretenses of everything in this life being good, but we have no doubt that God is good. And because we know that God is good, then we can have a hope in what this good God will do for us.

The only genuine hope, in fact, that we can have must come from God. And that's exactly where this vision of the future comes from. It's no publicity brochure for a new real estate development in Florida. There's nothing John's trying to sell anybody. There's no line of products.

There are no tie ins to other things by which he can make some profit off of this. This is simply the vision that God gave him. There's no action figure to be sold at Burger King that goes along with Revelation 21 and 22. There's no marketing angle on it. The only things to commend the truth of this vision to us this morning, if we are in any doubt, are the evident sincerity of John and the audience that he wrote to as they suffered for this faith, the life of the amazing lamb that was slain and yet who is alive.

And the people sitting on every side of you this morning who claim to know that one and to love him and to serve him. These are the witnesses that we have of this coming city where all God's people will live in his presence. I'm sure that many of you have heard of the army captain who, when told by his assistant that the enemy had outflanked them and that in fact they were now on every side facing them, responded, ha. Now we have them surrounded. They'll never get away from us this time.

Now that's kind of the spirit that John has in this book of Revelation. You've got to remember who John was. He was an old man. He was in exile. He was writing to a still small band of persecuted believers.

It's amazing when you think of it, that this band of persecuted religious believers didn't simply turn inward and ignore the hostile world outside. They didn't simply Denounce them all and call down judgment on their heads. But what John is doing, this old prisoner, he's actually issuing warnings to the world, calling their persecutors to repent, holding out to them the hope that they could still be included in the kingdom of God. Just as Moses stood practically alone in front of the most powerful man in the world and told him to release his enslaved laborers. And just as Jesus stood before Pilate and informed him that it was not in Pilate's power to take his life unless he first laid it down.

So this message from an aged political prisoner comes to you this morning with no claims of authority other than the authority of God himself. And so those calls throughout this book should be heard by some here this morning one more time. Imagine being called to account by a small minority or being threatened by a lamb.

We can't say for how much longer the offer stands, but at least for this moment, the words that the Lord spoke to John are still true. To him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life. As John echoed those words in this last chapter of the Bible, whoever is thirsty, let him come. And whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life. What better gift could you desire?

Let's pray together.

God, we do praise you for your splendor and your magnificence. We recognize your utter holiness. It's represented in the brilliance of the city and its purity. And Lord, we do confess our own sin. We know that we have sinned against you.

We have done what we have desired rather than what you have commanded. And Lord, we have done so knowingly. Again and again we give you praise for being such a gracious God that you would send the Lord Jesus Christ, that you would come and take on flesh yourself as we read about in John 1. And that you would bear our iniquities, that you would bear the sins and transgressions of all those who would ever turn in trust in you, oh God, we do pray you would cause each one of us here to repent of our sins, to turn from them and to turn to you, and to trust you for the salvation and the new life, for the forgiveness that you have for us. In Christ, in his name we pray.

Amen.