An Apocalypse for the Church
A Tale of Two Cities, Part 2: Jerusalem
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”1a for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,b and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City,c the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,d prepared as a bridee beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.f They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.g 4‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.h There will be no more death’2i or mourning or crying or pain,j for the old order of things has passed away.”k
Throughout this Revelation of Jesus Christ, this apocalypse penned by the pastor/prophet John for the seven churches in Asia Minor under his care, we have experienced this undeniable theme of connecting our realities with the realities of Heaven.
Back in chapter 4, the Revelator was confronted with a door, and “in the Spirit” was welcomed into Heaven, to see things as Heaven sees things, to view time from the perspective of timelessness. Most of the pages of the apocalypse are written from that Heavenly perspective.
Now in Chapter 21, in the final pages of the apocalypse, our reality is overwhelmed with the reality of Heaven.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,”1a for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away,b and there was no longer any sea.
You can see that we titled this sermon: A Tale of Two Cities – Part 2: Jerusalem. Last week was Part 1: Babylon. These are not merely the tale of two cities, but are just as much a tale of two women: the great prostitute who stands in opposition mocking God, and the Bride of Christ eagerly waiting for God’s rule. It is a tale of two kingdoms: the kingdom of evil, and the kingdom of God.
Before the “new heaven and new earth” could be ushered in, the old was destroyed. The polite language here in the beginning of Chapter 21 (for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away) is preceded by more vivid and violent imagery in the Chapters 19 and 20.
Babylon, the whore-city focused on evil, was put to an end with violence.
“Hallelujah!b
Salvationc and glory and powerd belong to our God,
2 for true and just are his judgments.e
He has condemned the great prostitutef
who corrupted the earth by her adulteries.
He has avenged on her the blood of his servants.”g
3And again they shouted:
“Hallelujah!h
The smoke from her goes up for ever and ever.”i
The “King of Kings and Lord of Lords,” with His Word as His only weapon, put an end to evil.
11I saw heaven standing opena and there before me was a white horse, whose riderb is called Faithful and True.c With justice he judges and makes war.d 12His eyes are like blazing fire,e and on his head are many crowns.f He has a name written on himg that no one knows but he himself.h 13He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood,i and his name is the Word of God.j 14The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen,k whitel and clean. 15Coming out of his mouth is a sharp swordm with which to strike downn the nations.
This is the end, an end in which both kingdoms are prominent. The kingdom of evil is vanquished by the Kingdom of God. The people of God, those purchased by the Blood of the Lamb, this very bride of Christ, are invited to both wedding and war. In this scene there are vibrant images of two suppers: the marriage supper of the Lamb, and a super of wild birds who gorge themselves, picking over the carcasses of the defeated.
The Gospel in these chapters, the good news that should cause us all to take heart, now and throughout the ages, is that evil is totally defeated. In these chapters every scheme, system, and spirit of evil is judged and contained to destruction forever.
Now with evil gone, we go to 21:2
I saw the Holy City,c the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,d prepared as a bridee beautifully dressed for her husband.
With the whore-city destroyed, the bride-city enters the scene.
We may be so use to this language of a new city, a new Jerusalem, that we gloss right over it. We are familiar with these words of Scripture, and other romantic words describing God’s city. We’ve heard songs and such so that we’re used to the idea.
But think about it for a minute… Heaven is introduced to us in the form of a city?
I’m not sure about you, but for me, in the moments when I’ve honestly thought, “this must be a bit like Heaven,” I’m not talking about any city. In fact, it is usually when I am most removed from the city that I feel like I’m in Heaven. A leisurely hike next to a mountain stream or a glacier-fed lake, that is something like Heaven (notice I said leisurely hike, not one of those ground pounding endurance hikes some of you are so fond of). When winding through hills and farms on a warm day on a motorcycle, this must be something like Heaven. Standing over a vista of well manicured fairways and greens just before I take that tee-shot, that is something like Heaven (notice that it was before the shot, what happens after the shot is often something not at all like Heaven). But Heaven, for me at least, isn’t found in my experience in the confines of a city.
The headquarters of evil, Babylon, being a city makes all sorts of sense. We collect our evil in our cities. Both the blatant evils and the more subdued and insidious evils are cataloged in our cities. In our cities we find the sins of the flesh, but more prominently are the sins of pride and self sufficiency proudly on display in our gleaming, yet predominantly gray, cities.
We Christians are notorious for our disregard for the city. We generally avoid, or all together abandon, the city. We generally get out of the city, fleeing for suburbia. The churches that remain in the city are sometimes not much of an expression of the church at all, embracing a form of social justice that emphasizes doing good with no gospel. Sometimes we buy into the lie of the city, thinking that we too can apply our technology, sweat, and morality to the city without the gospel.
Yet when God overwhelms us with Heaven, it is pictured as a city. Redeeming everything that is redeemable, the new Jerusalem, the bride-city, is established for all eternity.
We can probably learn something about what God has in mind regarding the Church, especially as it worships throughout eternity. Not a flat, spread out, rural church in a vast array of points of isolation, but a tightly intertwined, interdependent, urban community with God at the center, and permeating every corner.
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.f They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.g 4‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes.h There will be no more death’2i or mourning or crying or pain,j for the old order of things has passed away.”
It is here that we will worship forever. Run over and through with the glorious light of the Lamb and the Father, it is here where we will enjoy God’s presence in the endless now that is eternity.
In verse 10, we have another one of those “in the Spirit” moments that indicates a change in perspective.
“Come, I will show you the bride,b the wife of the Lamb.” 10And he carried me awayc in the Spiritd to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.e 11It shone with the glory of God,f and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper,g clear as crystal.h 12It had a great, high wall with twelve gates,i and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.j 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations,k and on them were the names of the twelve apostlesl of the Lamb.
15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rodm of gold to measure the city, its gatesn and its walls. 16The 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 stadia1 in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits2 thick,3 by humano measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall was made of jasper,p and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass.q 19The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone.r The first foundation was jasper,s the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby,t the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.4 21The twelve gatesu were twelve pearls,v each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.w
22I did not see a templex in the city, because the Lord God Almightyy and the Lambz are its temple. 23The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of Goda gives it light,b and the Lambc is its lamp. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it.d 25On no day will its gatese ever be shut,f for there will be no night there.g 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.h 27Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,i but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.j
It is a city like none we’ve ever experienced. A brilliant city built out of walls and foundations of the testimony of those that have gone before us.
It is described as a gigantic, glorious cube, measuring some 3.2 million cubic miles (half the volume of the moon).
Our cities are spectacular, but when we think about it, we realize that they are generally made of various shades of gray. Concrete sidewalks, asphalt pavement, steel buildings, gray, gray, gray… light eating colorlessness that ingests light rather than reflects it. But the Holy City is altogether different, made of the precious stones that have historically marked priestly garments. These materials don’t absorb the light, but rather clarify and reflect the light in brilliant color. A precious stone is precious because it makes light all the more dazzling, showing us the full spectrum, revealing light’s beauty.
Just as an aside… aren’t you sick of gray Christians? There are so many of us that are colorless, so many of us who have settled for a gray, light absorbing existence. There are whole denominations and movements that seem resolute to rid us of the full spectrum of Christian life, and beat us down into a bland, gray, joyless experience. It may be as if there is something from the full spectrum of this life that could compete with Heaven. Silliness really. We are at our best when we are the precious stones God intends us to be, reflecting and clarifying His light, together exposing the full spectrum of His glory.
Let’s pause, now, and ask ourselves the big question:
So What?
As we’ve walked through this apocalypse, Revelation, we have insisted that it is more than an apocalypse for a church, or even seven ancient churches, but for the church. We have found that this final book in our Bibles is relevant; it is for us and if given an opportunity will shape our hearts, and minds, and service.
For the so what today, let’s jump back up to 21:5-8.
For a quick three point outline, you could think in these terms:
1. God Will Finish
2. Salvation is Sure
3. Judgment is Final
I’ll try not to dwell too much on the first two… because I want to be careful not to preach Ron’s sermon for next week.
But let’s start with #1: God Will Finish.
5He who was seated on the thronel said, “I am making everything new!”m Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”n
God’s story, found between the covers of our Bibles, doesn’t merely end, it finishes. It doesn’t just run out of religious stuff to say, it completes God’s plan with purpose.
What started with creation in Genesis, creating the heavens and earth and light, comes to completion here in Revelation, creating a new heaven and a new earth and being the light.
When we find ourselves thinking that all of this life is pointless, we are wrong. We are part of God’s great story… a complete story of purpose.
#2: Salvation is Sure
6He said to me: “It is done.o I am the Alpha and the Omega,p the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without costq from the spring of the water of life.r 7Those who are victoriouss will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children.t
These words are true: salvation is sure.
What was inaugurated on the Cross of Calvary, what was started for us and in us with the God’s Holy sacrifice of the Lamb, Jesus… what started there some 2000 years ago is completed in this final act of salvation.
We who are thirsty, even suffer for a little while, are made clean and given white robes to where for eternity, because of what Christ has done. His Word has already conquered our hearts, and His Word will ultimately vanquish evil in the end.
Finally, #3: Judgment is Final
8But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liarsu—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur.v This is the second death.”w
I’m going to make a confession that is an accurate picture of my heart… but is really crummy theology, especially for a pastor, one who fulfills this role in which I’m supposed to represent God’s love to all.
When I look at verse 8, I don’t have equal concern for all those listed. I’m really not proud to admit it, but I feel far less compassion for “the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all the liars.” I do care… but I really don’t care all that much. There is some sense that those in these categories have made their beds and now they can lie in them. There is some sense that they made choices against God and they deserve what is coming to them. Like I said, it is crummy theology. I know it; you don’t have to correct me… but you can certainly continue to pray for me.
But what of these others that are identified as “the cowardly, and the unbelieving.” Is it OK that I feel more compassion for these? More than that… Is it OK that I feel more responsibility for these?
One of the metathemes found throughout Revelation, and especially these last two sermons (Tale of Two Cities) is the contrast between good and evil, the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world, the bride-city and the whore-city. The apocalypse, in most vivid terms, exposes the dramatic, even cosmic, differences. We can see the stark contrast, and should even be able to sense a bit of it when we come together to worship.
But most research reveals that to the general observer, there isn’t much difference between the Church and the world. The stats on morality, things like divorce, and tax fraud, and infidelity, are scarcely different. We run our organizations in much the same way. Many of the hottest trends in church leadership are rooted in the latest trends in business leadership. Sometimes it seems that what appears to be our most vibrant churches, are taking their cues more from the Starbucks on the corner rather than anything that is found in the book of acts.
Please don’t misunderstand, I count myself guilty of all this too. Doubly guilty, in some ways, since in addition to being a pastor I’ve been one who leads in the institutions that are supposed to be training pastors.
I feel responsible for “the cowardly, and the unbeliever” because I know that I have failed to present the Church, the Bride of Christ, in all of her beauty to an unbelieving and cowardly world. The coward and the unbeliever have not been compelled. They have not seen anything attractive, nor anything worth sacrificing for.
I guess we are, too often, the gray Christians who absorb the light rather than clarify and reflect light’s true beauty. We love the light, soaking it in, but not displaying the light in all its beauty.
We are, of course, not total failures in this, we have reflected a measure of God’s beautiful light. I am especially proud of this Churches genuine love for God and love for one another. This Churches pursuit of Truth through diligent study of His Word is beautiful and compelling. The selflessness portrayed by so many as we give time and treasure to help the poor and reach the lost is truly wonderful. But we cannot rest on the bit of good we have done and are doing.
Cowards and unbelievers abound, and we have a role in catching their attention and exposing the beauty of Christ. We probably won’t find our greatest success in cleaver arguments, slick marketing, or bludgeoning discourse. We’ll have our greatest success when we take on the characteristics of the new Jerusalem, worshiping God in Truth and Spirit God, and letting His great light shine in us and through us.
Truth is, such a beautiful compelling Church could play a role in turning many from all the categories:
the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars
In the end, in that great eternal city, there will only be room for the redeemed, those who belong to Christ. Only those who courageously believe will be fit for that great city in the end… but it is not yet the end.
Let’s pray that God will give us grace to more perfectly worship Him, displaying His marvelous beauty through us His people.
As we pray, consider yourself this morning.
Are you among those listed in the Book of Life, are you among the Bride of Christ?
Could it be that you’ve seen something real here today, something that exposes cowardice and unbelief in you? I’d like to pray with you today.
And for the rest of us. Let’s lay down our pride, throwing ourselves on God’s mercy, relying on His grace to make us all that He calls us to be. Father, help us, make us into precious stones that reveal your goodness and light to an unbelieving and cowardly world. Let us not be gray. Let us not be paralyzed with fear, or stifled by our own twinges of cowardice and unbelief. But give us gifts of courage and faith. Refine us, removing every impurity and false motive, so that we may more perfectly show the world Your beauty, Your love, Your grace, mercy and forgiveness.
