Right now, if you go outside, there are innumerable stars in the sky. But you can only see one of them – our sun. That is because the light from the sun is so bright that none of those other stars in the sky can be seen during the daytime. But if we wait until the sun sets tonight, we’ll be able to see quite a few stars with our naked eye and many times more if we were to look through a telescope.
But there is a day coming when even the brightness of the sun will be obscured by something that will be infinitely greater – the glory of God. As we cover the last part of Revelation 21 this morning, we’ll get a glimpse of how God’s glory will completely outshine everything else in the new heaven and new earth that we were introduced to last week. So go ahead and take your Bibles and turn to Revelation 21 and follow along as I begin reading in verse 9:
9 Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed - 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day - and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Wow! Perhaps that is all that really needs to be said about this passage. Wow! I don’t think our puny little human minds can even begin to comprehend what God has in store for his children. But we can understand enough to both cause us to long for our eternal home with all of our heart and then do whatever we can right now to prepare for that day.
Last week we were introduced to the New Jerusalem, which will, in effect, be the capital city of the new heaven and earth. In the passage that we’re looking at this morning, we’re given much more detail about what that city will be like. We’re going to review several attributes of the city briefly and then we’ll spend most of our time focusing on what is undoubtedly the defining attribute of the city and the life that will be experienced there.
The New Jerusalem:
• Is a real place
Although some commentators view this description of the New Jerusalem only as a symbol of a state of existence for the believer, we’re going to take the same approach that we have followed throughout our journey and take this passage literally since there is nothing within the passage or surrounding context that would lead us to believe that it should be taken symbolically or figuratively.
In our Monday morning Bible study one of the questions that we pondered is “Why is there so much detail in this passage?” And the conclusion we came to was that God provides all this detail, including exact measurements, to emphasize that this is a literal place and not just a state of being.
I am also convinced that the words of Jesus require us to take this literally. Just prior to going to the cross, Jesus spoke these words to His followers:
In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also.
John 14:2, 3 (ESV)
The words translated “rooms” and “place” in this passage both refer to physical places. Jesus doesn’t say he is going to prepare a state of being or some other kind of non-physical existence for His followers. It seems only fitting that Jesus, who in the flesh was a builder of houses, is now in heaven building a new city which includes a room, or a dwelling place, for each one of its residents.
• Is a big place
The measurements taken by the angel show that the city is a perfect cube with the length, width and height all being equal – 12,000 stadia, or roughly 1,400 miles in each direction. And just to make sure that we get an accurate picture of the size of the city, God reveals that the angel is using human measurements when he measures the city. This also leads us to take this passage literally.
Here you can see what that city would look like if it were sitting on top of the United States [show map]. Another way to think about the size of the city is to compare it to the moon. [Show drawing].
That’s pretty big isn’t it? But let’s make this even more personal. A scientist named Henry Morris did some calculations assuming that the city would need to accommodate about 20 billion residents – a figure arrived at by assuming that 20% of everyone conceived from the time of Adam through the end of the Millennium would commit their lives to Jesus. He further assumed that only 25% of the city would be used for dwelling places, with the rest reserved for streets, parks, public buildings, etc. That’s not going to leave much space for each of us, is it? You’re right – that would only leave each of us a cube that is about 1/3 of a mile in each direction.
We also see that the wall of the city measures 144 cubits – or about 216 feet. Although we cannot be totally sure, that is probably not a reference to the height of the wall, but rather to its thickness.
• Is a place of order
Everything about the New Jerusalem demonstrates that it is a place of order. Everything is laid out in a completely symmetrical manner. The city itself, as we have seen, is a perfect cube. There are twelve gates – three on each side – and twelve foundations adorned with twelve stones.
This is consistent with the nature of God that is demonstrated throughout the Bible. In particular, the description of the New Jerusalem reminds us of the detailed instructions that God gave His people regarding the construction of the tabernacle, which was also characterized by its order. That really shouldn’t be a surprise since the writer of Hebrews describes the tabernacle as a shadow of the reality of things in heaven:
They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, “See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain.”
Hebrews 8:5 (ESV)
This is most clearly seen in the cubic shape of the New Jerusalem which mirrors the perfect cube of the Holy of Holies within the tabernacle.
We could easily identify a number of other characteristics of the New Jerusalem, but I’m going to wrap up a number of those details into what I believe is the primary attribute of the New Jerusalem, since they are merely aspects of this defining attribute of the city:
The New Jerusalem is primarily a place where God’s glory is magnified
This passage is more or less framed by God’s glory. In verse 11, we see it described as “having the glory of God” and then in verse 23 we see that it is the glory of God that gives light to the city.
The glory of God – that’s a term that we throw around a lot as Christ followers, but I wonder how well we really understand it. If I were to ask you to give a definition of the glory of God, could you do it? Perhaps that’s not really a fair question. The word glory is a lot more like the word beauty than it is like the word basketball. Most of you could give me a definition of a basketball – it’s a spherical object, about 30 inches in circumference, constructed out of leather, rubber or synthetic material and filled with air so that it bounces.
But trying to define beauty is a whole other story. We intuitively know what it is when we see it, but it’s really hard to define it. God’s glory is a lot more like that. But let’s see if we can’t make an attempt to at least understand God’s glory a bit better, even if we can’t fully define it.
When the prophet Isaiah was taken in a vision into the throne room of God, he observed the angels making this proclamation:
“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts;
the whole earth is full of his glory!”
Isaiah 6:3 (ESV)
We see in this passage that there is a connection between God’s holiness and His glory.
Not surprisingly we see a similar connection in Revelation 4:
“Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord God Almighty,
who was and is and is to come!”
And whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to him who is seated on the throne, who lives forever and ever, the twenty-four elders fall down before him who is seated on the throne and worship him who lives forever and ever. They cast their crowns before the throne, saying,
“Worthy are you, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power…
Revelation 4:8-11 (ESV)
So given what we learn from these passages, we can now make an attempt to define God’s glory:
God’s glory = the manifestation of His holiness
As we’ve discussed before the basic meaning of the word “holy” is “separated from the common”. God’s holiness means that he is completely different than anything or anyone else – He is truly “one of a kind”. And the way that God manifests or makes known that holiness is by His glory.
Throughout the Bible, God’s glory is most frequently displayed in the form of light, which is entirely appropriate given that the Greek word translated “glory” can indicate magnificence and brightness. One familiar example would be the transfiguration of Jesus where Peter, James and John were given a glimpse of the glory of Jesus as His face shone like the sun and His clothes became white as light. But even then, the full glory of God was not on display.
Jesus also makes a connection between light and God’s glory when He explains the purpose of doing good works in His name:
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
Matthew 5:16 (ESV)
But again, whatever glory God receives from our good works is obscured to some degree because of our humanity.
In the New Jerusalem, however, God’s glory will no longer be obscured and it will be on full display for eternity. And everything in the New Jerusalem is designed to magnify and disperse that glory throughout the new heaven and new earth:
• The city walls are comprised of jasper. Although the exact identification of all the jewels in this passage is not possible since the meanings of these particular words has changed since the first century when the book of Revelation was written, it is likely that the jasper here is equivalent to today’s diamond. That would certainly explain how the light from within the city was so bright that there was no need for the moon or sun. Notice that John does not say there won’t be a sun or moon – just that they won’t be needed for light. God’s glory will be so bright that it will completely outshine the light from our sun in much the same way that our sun now outshines the light of other stars during the day.
The walls consisting of something like a diamond would not only permit the glory of God to shine through, but would intensify and bring even more attention to that glory.
• The foundations of the city are also adorned with jewels. Precious jewels are merely reflectors. They don’t give off their own light. In the New Jerusalem their purpose will be to reflect and magnify God’s glory.
• The street that makes its way through the city is made of gold that is as transparent as glass. The wedding ring that I wear on my finger is pure gold – at least I thought it was until I read this passage. But the gold that is used to construct the street in heaven is going to be even more pure than anything we find on earth and it will be transparent so that it won’t in any way obscure God’s glory, but rather intensify it.
• Earlier I mentioned that the cube shape of the city is pictured by the Holy of Holies within the tabernacle. That is the place within the tabernacle where God made His presence manifest. But in the New Jerusalem there won’t be a need for a tabernacle or a temple because God’s presence and his glory will continually fill the entire city.
In the New Jerusalem, God’s glory revealed as light will be full and limitless and unconfined. And because of that…
In the New Jerusalem, the glory of man will dissolve into the glory of God
Verses 24-26 are consistent with what we have seen over the last couple of weeks. In some respects they raise more questions than they answer. Perhaps this is the picture of those who have committed their lives to Jesus during His millennial reign and who now receive their glorified resurrection bodies so that they can enter into the New Jerusalem. But it’s not possible to be dogmatic about that.
But what is clear from these verses is that all of mankind will take whatever glory that they might have received in their lives and lay it before God. As a result there will be absolutely no divisions in heaven. Although we will all have different tasks given to us by God, there will be no ethnic groups, no political parties, no social strata to divide us because all attention will be given to God and not to what distinguishes us from other humans.
So given that our eternal existence is all about the glory of God, how do we prepare for that right now?
WE PREPARE FOR LIVING IN THE NEW JERUSALEM BY MAKING THE GLORY OF GOD OUR SUPREME PASSION
We often talk about glorifying God, but what does that really mean? After all we certainly cannot add to God’s glory because He is already perfectly holy and infinitely glorious. But if we truly make the glory of God our supreme passion, it will completely revolutionize the way that we live our lives. In particular, that kind of passion will impact these two aspects of our walk with Jesus:
A supreme passion for the glory of God will revolutionize:
• The goal of my ministry
The goal of my ministry as a Christ follower must be that God’s glory be proclaimed, reflected, upheld and adored. The driving force in my life must be a desire to see the words that we saw earlier in Isaiah 6 fulfilled – that the earth would be full of God’s glory.
The ministry that God has given to us is to declare His glory among the nations:
Oh sing to the Lord a new song;
sing to the Lord, all the earth!
Sing to the Lord, bless his name;
tell of his salvation from day to day.
Declare his glory among the nations,
his marvelous works among all the peoples!
Psalm 96:1-3 (ESV)
That ministry is not about us. It is not even about the people around us although it impacts them. Ultimately our ministry is about God and His glory.
An anonymous missionary wrote the following words which were published in the Fall 2000 edition of the “Founders Journal”. I think they express quite well how making the glory of God our supreme passion will drastically impact the goal of our ministry:
We urgently need to recapture the centrality of glorifying God in our lives and work. Too much of what passes for evangelical Christianity in America is man-centered or even self-centered. God is reduced to a means to some other end, whether it be my own self-fulfillment or the welfare of others. The results are disastrous for worship, for discipleship, and for witness. Worship either becomes tepid, or it becomes an experience we offer to people as a sort of consumer product rather than adoration and consecration we offer to God. Discipleship becomes a self-help program that leaves huge areas of life untouched, rather than a life-long love affair with God that lays every area of life on the altar to be consecrated to Him and to be conformed to His image. Witness becomes an invitation to sample a product rather than a royal summons to flee to a sovereign Savior. In effect, we reduce the Good News to mere good advice.
When the glory of God becomes our supreme passion, then nothing will delight us more than reflecting His glory to the world around us and nothing will horrify us more than doing anything that will in any way diminish that glory.
• The manner in which I pursue my ministry
Making the glory of God my supreme passion will not only impact the goal of my ministry, it will also greatly affect the manner in which I carry it out. The best illustration of this principle is seen in the life of Jesus while He was here on this earth.
Shortly before going to the cross, Jesus prayed out loud in the presence of His disciples. Near the beginning of that prayer we find these words relating to the glory of God:
I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.
John 17:4, 5 (ESV)
Although we want to use this passage to help us learn about the manner in which we pursue our ministry, we would be remiss if we didn’t focus first on the fact that Jesus, in His deity, had infinite glory even before the world existed.
First of all that confirms the point I made earlier, that it is nearly impossible to define God’s glory. The definition that we arrived at – the manifestation of God’s holiness – is not completely accurate because as we see here, God’s glory, and that of His Son, Jesus, existed even before creation. At that time there was no one or nothing to which God could manifest His glory.
When we consider that, it makes Jesus’ incarnation even more amazing. To think that Jesus left His home in heaven, where His glory was uninhibited, to set aside that glory and come to earth, where He was ridiculed and persecuted and put to death in the most cruel and undignified manner possible is more than our human minds can fathom.
But for the purpose of application this morning, what I want us to see is how Jesus was able to bring glory to His Father through His earthly ministry. He brought glory to His Father by accomplishing the work that the Father had given Him to do. And the gospels are a record of the manner in which He did that.
From the time we see Him in the temple at the age of twelve, sitting among the teachers and asking questions until his last breath on the cross everything Jesus did was part of accomplishing the work that the Father had entrusted to Him. Jesus never compartmentalized His life into the “secular” and the “sacred” or into “ministry” and “personal”.
It was just as much a part of His Father’s work when He sat down and had a conversation with a Samaritan woman at a well in the town of Sychar as when He picked up the scroll of Isaiah and read it in the synagogue. He was doing His Father’s work when He ate a meal with a cheating tax collector named Zacchaeus and his sinner friends and when He was preaching the Sermon on the Mount. He was carrying out the ministry given to Him when He had a discussion with a Jew named Nicodemus in the middle of the night and when He celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples.
If we truly have a passion for the glory of God, then it will redefine the manner in which we pursue our ministry as well. If our goal is to glorify God then we won’t attempt to separate our personal lives from our work lives or our church lives. It is our job to glorify God in every area of our lives – from the way we spend our money to the time we spend in God’s Word, from the way we treat our spouses, children and co-workers to the way we pray, from the way we treat our bodies to the way we worship with others at church each week.
A passion for God’s glory also serves as a safeguard from the temptation to take shortcuts or to utilize worldly means or to follow our own plans in the pursuit of our ministry. We must always ask the question: “If this effort is successful who is going to get the glory – us or God?” And if the answer isn’t “God”, then we better reevaluate what we’re doing.
For those who have committed your lives to Jesus, one day you will spend eternity in the presence of His glory that is so bright that it will outshine even the light of the sun. Have you made that glory the supreme passion of your life? Does your passion for the glory of God impact both the goal of your ministry and the manner by which you pursue it?
