Tonight’s lesson adds to the lesson from last time. The last few lessons have dealt with the fact that the new heaven and earth will have a capital city. This city is called the New Jerusalem. The city is being prepared in heaven and is beautiful beyond description.
Last week we looked at some of the finite details of this beautiful New Jerusalem. Tonight, the Scripture shows us the citizens and the provisions of the great city of God. So this is yet another beautiful passage of assurance of what we can expect as Christians. PRAYER.
Verses 24-27 speak of the citizens of the New Jerusalem. READ. There are six things said about the citizens that we will note tonight.
1. The citizens are from earthly nations it says in verse 24. They are the saved from all the nations of the earth. This shows us, again, that the gospel is universal. Anyone from any nation can be saved. God doesn’t discriminate between people nor show partiality to any person.
2. The citizens walk in the light of the city. Remember, there is no need for manmade light. There will be no need for the sun or moon to provide any light. In the New Jerusalem we will walk in the light of the glory of God. We will walk in the knowledge of God. We will walk in the light of perfection.
3. The citizens are kings who bring their glory and honor into the city. This says two things.
a. Believers will rule and reign with Christ. They will reign as kings for Him. Believers will rule and reign with Christ and serve Him in responsible positions as kings.
b. Believers will bring their glory and honor into the heavenly city and give all their glory and honor to the Lord who bestowed it upon them. Believers owe everything they are to God and Christ. So they are going to acknowledge and praise God for giving them so great a salvation. They will bring this glory and honor into the city.
What this seems to say is that the believers will be serving as kings of nations outside the city. It also seems to say that there will be special occasions when believers will gather in the heavenly city to bring the glory and honor of their nations to God. I don’t fully understand it, but that is how it appears.
4. The fourth thing said about the citizens is that they will have constant unbroken access to God. (v. 25) The gates are never closed and there is no night in the spiritual world. There is always perfect access into the presence of God, and there is no need for sleep or rest. We will have perfect bodies with perfect strength.
In addition to that, the Holy Spirit will fill us to the fullest. The Holy Spirit will give us a perfect knowledge and consciousness of God’s presence. He will focus our hearts and minds on God in a constant, unbroken worship.
Here’s a thought on that. In the new heavens and earth, no matter what work and service we may be doing for Christ, our minds and hearts will be conscious of God’s presence. Every thought of our mind will be a righteous and pure thought, a thought that is either on God or on something that has to do with our daily lives, a thought that will please God.
5. The fifth thing about the citizens is that the believers will bring the glory and honor of their nations into the city. This is a continuation of what was said earlier. This shows that the believers are the kings being spoken about. Again the picture seems to be periodic celebrations of great worship. There will certainly be times when all believers come together from all corners of heaven in a great celebration of worship.
A few chapters earlier, we mentioned that there will be times when we are all called together to the Wedding Supper of the Lamb. And from this, it seems to say that will not be the only times we come together.
6. The sixth thing about the citizens is that believers will be guaranteed a perfect life and service. Believers never have to worry about heaven being imperfect or defiled. God is not going to let an imperfect person into heaven, no matter who he is. He is not going to let heaven become contaminated with a single sin.
Heaven will always be heaven—perfect, absolutely perfect. The only person accepted into heaven is he whose name is written in the Lamb’s book of life. How do you get into that book—by accepting the sacrifice of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ.
So these are some things about the citizens of the New Jerusalem. Now, verses 1-5 in chapter 22 speak of the provisions of the city. READ.
There are seven provisions listed. Let’s discuss them a little.
1. Verse one speaks of the pure river in the city—a river that has the very water of life. Is there a real river in the heavenly Jerusalem or is this to be taken symbolically? Probably both.
Certainly the New Jerusalem, being 1,500 cubic miles, will have the beauty and refreshment of a running river and of many other bodies of water. Too often we spiritualize when we think of heaven, imagining that we will be in some kind of dreamy unreal world instead of a real world. We have to remember that Scripture teaches us that God is going to recreate this earth and the heavens of this universe.
A recreated world would certainly have the same features that this world has with one exception: it will be perfected. The Heavenly Jerusalem is said to have a particular river flowing through it, and the river has the water of life in it. What does mean? The verse tells us. Note the source of the river: the throne of God and of the Lamb.
The water of life flows from God and Christ: they are the source of all life that lives in the city. There will be no life there, no person there, other than those who have drunk of the life that God and Christ give. So the river symbolizes the life that flows out from God and Christ. It will be a constant reminder to us that Jesus Christ is the living water who gives us life.
2. The second provision is the tree of life in the city. (v.2) Remember, the tree of life was also planted in the Garden of Eden. As long as man remained sinless, he was allowed to eat of the tree, but as soon as he sinned, he was not allowed to eat its fruit.
The fruit was nourishment for life. This tree of life is now in the New Jerusalem. The Scripture says two things about this tree of life:
a. The tree of life bears twelve crops of fruit—one crop each month. Some versions of the Bible, like mine, say 12 kinds of fruit. The actual translation reads 12 crops of fruit (NIV, NLT). So it bears fruit all year round. This symbolizes continuous fruit or continuous life. There is no time when the tree doesn’t bear fruit. It provides eternal fruit. So the person who eats of it is nourished by its fruit eternally, he lives forever.
b. The leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. They provide a perfect life. The leaves prevent sickness and disease. They give the person who eats them a perfect body. This symbolizes the perfection that Jesus Christ gives, the perfect healing and deliverance from all suffering that He gives, the perfect body He will provide in that glorious day.
3. There is no more curse in the city it says in verse 3. The earth is cursed to aging, corruption, deterioration, decay, death, suffering, evil, division, disasters, and on and on. It is cursed because man has chosen to make his own life in this world and to reject God’s life. Man chose to die. Man cursed the earth by his rejection of God.
But note, the Heavenly Jerusalem has no curse. This means that it is free of evil and death. It is perfect and will last eternally. There is no curse of evil or death in the city. Its citizens are free of the curse, they are perfected forever and ever.
4. There is the throne of God and of the Lamb in the city. This means two things:
a. The Lord’s servants will serve God and Christ, operating out of the city. The idea is that we will receive our instructions and do our reporting from the very throne of God and Christ. We have access to the very throne of heaven itself.
b. The Lord’s servants will see His face. (v.4) We will see Him face to face, actually stand face to face with our wonderful Lord and God: talk with Him, share with, serve, discuss, worship, praise, and offer thanks throughout all eternity. That is our precious hope.
5. There is the name of God written in the forehead of believers. This means possession and security. We will be wholly possessed by God. We will be His servants and be enabled to serve Him totally. We will belong to Him and be under His care and love, direction and guidance, security and safety—eternally.
6. There is eternal light in the city. (v.5)
7. Lastly, there is eternal rule—work and service—for God and Christ, forever.
We stop here for tonight. Next time we will finish the book of Revelation. Do you realize how long we have spent in this book? I reviewed my notes and my sermon log. We started this study on May 19, 2010. We took a 2 month break from November 2010 – December 2010 then picked up the study again in January 2011. It has taken about 2 years to get through it all.
Next time we will look at verses 6-21 in chapter 22. In these verses we will look at the great message of Revelation. There are eleven stirring facts in these last 16 verses of the book. We will look at each one next time.
