What is your picture of heaven - fluffy clouds with angels perched on top, playing harps? Endless rounds of singing holy, holy, holy? Is it something you look forward to with great longing, or do you never give it a thought?
We live in an age when people avoid thoughts of death and mortality. We’d rather kid ourselves that nothing can hurt us than think about the fact that this fragile existence is going to end some time soon. Even those people who embark on various risk taking behaviours, driving fast cars too fast, binge drinking, drug taking, extreme sports, etc., give little thought to the possible outcomes of their behaviour. I guess it’s because we have such a fear of death that we prefer not to think about it. After all, as Peanut’s Linus concluded, nothing is so bad that you can’t run away from it.
On the other hand it could be that our great advances in medical science have given us a false hope that life might go on forever, that there’s no problem that medicine can’t fix. So we don’t need to worry about what the future holds for us
Whatever the reason, the result for many Christians is that we stop looking forward to the great promise of our future that lightens up the horizon the way the sun brightens the sky just before sunrise. And when we begin to forget the great promise of eternal life with God our life becomes just that much darker. It becomes just that much harder to persevere in our faithfulness to God.
But let me remind you what Paul thought about the prospect of dying. Here’s what he says to the Philippians as he writes from a prison cell in Rome. (Phil 1:20-24 NRSV) "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put to shame in any way, but that by my speaking with all boldness, Christ will be exalted now as always in my body, whether by life or by death. 21For to me, living is Christ and dying is gain. 22If I am to live in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me; and I do not know which I prefer. 23I am hard pressed between the two: my desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better; 24but to remain in the flesh is more necessary for you." It’s interesting how people in previous ages had a far more realistic view about death and dying. It was just part of life. And for Paul the chances of him being killed either by the Romans or his Jewish enemies were fairly high. But there’s no fear there, is there? Rather there’s an anticipation of what lies beyond death, of the glory of being with Christ in heaven, in the presence of God for eternity.
Well let’s think about what that life with God might be like.
Let me say before we look closely at Revelation 21 & 22 that what we find written here is really only an outline; a shadowy description of the reality. The real thing is beyond human description. It’s beyond words to describe it.
You begin to realise that when you read the section before the part we just had read for us. Look at vs 16-21. First of all the city is a cube 1500 miles long and wide and high. Now that’s pretty high! But you see, the first thing to notice isn’t the actual dimensions of the city. Rather it’s the fact that it’s built as a cube. This is the way the Holy of Holies was built in Solomon’s temple. In other words this new city of God is in fact the new Temple. This is the real place where God has his dwelling. The original temple was just a foretaste, a model of what the reality would be like. The 1500 miles is one of those translations that loses the point of the original. The original measurement was 12000 stadia. When you read Revelation, numbers are always significant. In this case 12 is the number of the tribes of Israel and of the apostles. 1000 is 10 cubed, the perfect number. In other words the dimensions represent the perfect total of God’s people, gathered together in God’s place. And the sheer size of the image is meant to convey the idea that this city is large enough to house all who will come to it.
Again, the wall is measured: it’s 144 cubits. Not very high for a city as large as this one. But 144 is 12 squared. So perhaps it represents the 12 tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles, so both covenants are included. In any case the wall being so small compared to the height of the city perhaps indicates, at least, that it’s not built for defence because the last enemy has been destroyed.
Then we come to the description of the city itself. The wall is built of Jasper and the city itself is pure gold, clear as glass, as are the streets. Again it becomes obvious that John is struggling to express the sheer magnificence of the vision before him. We’re told in ch 4:3 that when John looked at the throne of God, the one who sat there had the appearance of Jasper and Ruby. So maybe this is meant as a way of saying that the wall itself is an expression of God or of his presence surrounding the city. I’m sure he doesn’t mean that the city is made of gold that’s literally transparent like glass. The pure gold that looks like transparent glass is his way of saying how incredibly pure it is. Glass in those days was rarely transparent like we know it today. Only the rarest and most expensive glass had the impurities removed from it so it was transparent. So perhaps this is an indication not just of its purity but of the fact that this city is made of the rarest and most expensive materials you could imagine.
The foundations of the wall are decorated with 12 different jewels, probably corresponding with the jewels that were used to decorate the breastplate of the high priest in Exodus 28. But here’s an interesting fact: these 12 stones are also thought to correspond with the 12 signs of the zodiac, except that when John lists them he puts them in the reverse order. It’s almost as though he’s saying that in this new city of God all human judgements about the way the world works are reversed. God has turned our understanding of the world on its head.
But then as he enters the city all that becomes just interesting information. What really matters is what comes next. For John it perhaps comes as a surprise as he looks around and sees that there’s no Temple in the city. Then he realises. D’oh! Of course there’s no Temple because the whole city is the Temple. That’s what we just concluded from its dimensions. In fact, he says, "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple." The Lamb of course is Jesus, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
Not only does it not have a temple, neither does it need the sun or moon to shine on it because God is its light. In this new creation the light is always present, because God is always present. That’s why we’re told there will be no night there.
And notice that in his vision, although everything appears to be finished, completed, people are still coming into the city. The kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. People will bring in the glory of the nations.
When Di and I went to Tonga a few years ago, we knew the king would be celebrating his birthday while we were there, so we took with us a gift from Di’s School to the king. And when the day came we went with hundreds of other to the main football stadium. A few of the girls from the school were chosen to line up to take our homage to the king, as a sign of the respect in which he was held. That’s the image we have here. All those things that the nations thought made them great will be brought here to pay homage to God, given to him as a gift. All the greatest achievements of humanity will be laid at his feet because he is God Almighty.
But notice that nothing unclean will enter the city and nobody who practices abomination, which probably refers to idolatry, nor anyone who lies. Lying by the way is mentioned in 3 different places in these last 2 chapters as disqualifying a person from entering the city. Why is that, do you think? Is it because lies are the work of Satan while God is truth?
In any case it’s those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life who will enter: that is, those who have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation.
Are you getting a picture of the heavenly city that does justice to the wonder that John is obviously feeling at this point? This huge, awe inspiring, overwhelmingly beautiful city, filled with light that beams out into an otherwise dark world, attracting people from every nation tribe and tongue.
But wait, there’s more. Because as he walks further into the city the angel shows him the river of the water of life: again, so pure that it glows like crystal. And then he realises why it’s so pure. It flows from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And standing on either side of the river is the Tree of Life.
Here is the reality of which Jesus spoke to the woman at the well. Do you remember what he said to her? ’Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ’Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water."’ (John 4:10 NRSV) And in this heavenly city that living water is flowing down the middle of the street, watering the tree of life, in a never ending stream sufficient to satisfy the thirst of all its inhabitants.
The tree of life itself is a wonder, giving a different fruit every month; perpetually productive, providing variety as well as nutrition. And what’s more its leaves are there to bring healing to the nations. How we could use some of those leaves in our world today!
Finally we’re told that nothing accursed will be there, but the servants of God will worship him; they will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
Throughout the history of God’s people there’s been one thing that no-one has been able to do and that’s to look on God’s face and live. Even Moses, when he asked God if he could see his face was told "no one shall see me and live." When someone even touched the Ark of the Covenant without being one of the designated priests he died.
But now we’ll be able to speak to God face to face. God’s name will be on our foreheads. In other words, it’ll have been made clear that we are his people just as he is our God.
But before we finish I’d like to go back to the start of ch21, the part we didn’t have read to us before.
John is there looking at these amazing visions and suddenly he realises that there’s a whole new universe before him. The old universe, the old solar system has passed away and he’s now in a totally new world. The sea has gone. The sea here is representative of the chaos and disorder of this world.
And then as he watches he sees the holy city, the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. And the only way he can describe it is as being like a bride adorned for her husband. This new city is bright and shining, dressed to the nines, ready for her husband who, we’ll discover is God himself.
A voice cries out from the throne announcing the good news: "The home of God is now among mortals."
The creation is renewed. The effects of the fall have been overcome. Look at what he hears, and think about how this relates to the effects of Adam and Eve’s disobedience.
God will dwell with them as their God; they will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them. No longer will we be alienated from God, excluded from his presence. Humanity will be welcomed back into God’s place: no longer a garden but a city, great enough for all the peoples of the world to live together in peace.
"He will wipe every tear from their eyes. Death will be no more; mourning and crying and pain will be no more, for the first things have passed away." All those things that formed part of the curse on Adam and Eve are removed. The pain of childbirth, the sweat of hard work, the friction between husband and wife, brother and sister, even friend and friend. All taken away. Even death is overcome. The old order has passed away. God is making all things new. Does that excite you? The thought that you’ll be part of this new thing, this new creation, where only what is good will be allowed, where all that’s painful and harmful is taken away? It sounds pretty good to me!
And in the end, God’s perfect plan will be complete. His people will gather around him, singing joyful praise to his name. The cries of "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God Almighty" will spring spontaneously from our lips as we stand before the God of all ages, the Lord of the whole earth and are blown away by his greatness and majesty. And then we’ll discover what it really means to be God’s people, living under God’s rule, in God’s place.
And the Revelation of God’s purposes for the world ends with Jesus saying: "See, I am coming soon; my reward is with me, to repay according to everyone’s work. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end." ... "Surely I am coming soon."
And so with all the church in all the ages we cry "Amen. Come Lord Jesus."
For more sermons from this source go to http://home.vicnet.net.au/~sttheos
