A Look At Heaven

I invite you to turn in your Bibles this morning to the last book of the Bible as we continue our study, nearing the end of the book of Revelation. And this morning, my title is not, it is what it is, but I maybe would have titled it, A Look at Heaven, since that's what people want to talk about today. And whoever's putting it on the website might write that down, A Look at Heaven. But we're going to consider verses, chapter 20, 21, verses 9 all the way through 22, chapter 5. 21, beginning at verse 9. Let us hear the word of the Lord. 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. 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. Having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, And on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. And on the east, three gates, on the north, three gates, and on the south, three gates, and on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 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. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement. The wall was built of jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass. 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, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprass, the eleventh jacink, and the twelfth amethyst. 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 like transparent glass and i saw no temple in the city for its temple is the lord god the almighty and the lamb and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it for the glory of god gives its light and its lamp is the lamb by its light will the nations walk and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it and its gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there they will bring into it the glory and honor of the nations 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 then the angel showed me the river of the water of life brightest crystal flowing from the throne of god and of the lamb through the middle of the street of the city also on either side of the river the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations no longer will there be anything accursed but the throne of god and of the lamb will be in it and his servants will worship him they will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads and night will be no more they will need no lamp or a light of lamp or sun for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. And there this morning ends the reading of God's word. Well, one of the things that we know that we like to do for people, one of the most enjoyable things is to surprise them with the ultimate gift that would bring them happiness. We love to do that. That's why we like surprise parties and to surprise somebody with some wonderful thing. To see, we want to see the joy of people when they receive it, don't we? The Lord has saved for us the most beautiful description in the Bible of heaven. And to give us some kind of idea of what is to come, he has given us a beautiful description here at the end of the Bible, and particularly the end of the book of Revelation. I find this exciting to preach, but I also found this, of the whole book, one of the most difficult sections to preach, ironically. Forgive me for my feeble attempt to describe your future, okay? Feeble. As hard as I will try to describe this, I'm going to do it by the Lord's strength in such a way that will hopefully give you by the end of this an idea of the glory that is held out for you in heaven. That's one of the great goals here. And that's the intention of Revelation 21. God wants to give you some idea of what awaits you. But even in that, it's going to be such a wonderful surprise, such a wonderful place to enter into. Whatever we're considering here, we just can't quite capture in all of its brilliance and magnificence and glory. He didn't have to tell us this, of course. The effect is, and the purpose of this in the book of Revelation, is very important. It is giving us the single great encouragement to seek this. We heard it from Colossians, set your minds on things above. I'm going to help you think about that this morning on what is above. We're going to do that so our minds would be set there and that we would remember what Peter said, this is reserved for you. It's reserved for you. Well, what is reserved? What is reserved? My daughter the other night at the table said to me, she says, Dad, would you tell us what heaven is going to be like? Well, this is the best attempt and the Bible's most glorious comprehensive description of it that we get at the end of Revelation. The problem is, there is a problem in doing this this morning. The problem is, almost across the board, the way that people in this world and Christians think of heaven is incredibly selfish. That's what makes this a little bit of a challenge this morning. I hope to clear all that away. I hope I'm not bursting anyone's bubble, what they think about heaven. But to give you something that's so beautiful that you would understand it for what it is and appreciate it now. What is given here has the great purpose in the book of Revelation to inspire us to be who we are as the church in the world. Revelation is calling us, it's been calling us not just so much as individuals to overcome, but to overcome as the church. That's important to look at it that way. Revelation is often quoted in very individualistic ways. Revelation shouldn't be quoted in so many individualistic ways. It's calling us to overcome as a people, to overcome as the church. Blessed is he who overcomes in this way. We've already talked about that, but here is the motivation. And the motivation of it all is the glory that awaits you. John is now given a description of the city of God. That's what this is. It's a description of the city of God. All of it in contrast to Babylon and the worldly city and all of its false ideologies and false lusts and false things that it's doing to seduce you away to happiness, which none of it ever accomplishes, but only has the goal we've considered in Revelation of destroying you, of killing you. Well, now we're looking at it. We're looking at the new Jerusalem that was spoken of in the previous verses as coming down out of heaven. And what John particularly does here is describe it as a city. This is important in the Bible because this is what Abraham looked for. This is what those in the covenant of grace have always been taught to look for, a city. It gives us the things that we love about the city to describe the ultimate city that God has for us. And so he really does three things that are before us. There are many ways you could break down this section. There are a lot of things that are said, but I came up with three ways that I thought would be most helpful to you and to look at the city's fellowship, to look at the city's character, and to look at the city's life. If we can somewhat put it in those categories, I think it'll help you get a comprehensive, as much as we can, picture of what is held out for us. The fellowship, the character and the life of the city that awaits us. Again, all of it with the goal of telling us to be courageous as a church, believing that this is where we're headed. Let's begin with where John does and look this morning at the fellowship that is so beautifully described here in verse 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 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 having the glory of god that picks up with verse one of this chapter where john had there described the city's arrival. Behold, I saw the new heavens and the new Jerusalem coming. Notice he says there, coming down. The holy city, verse 2, coming down out of heaven from God. Now what he's doing is slowing down a little bit and looking at the city. The angel who speaks here is the angel who had judged Babylon, an appropriate angel to discuss this. To remember in telling us, that is not your city. That is not where you're going. That is not your destiny. That city is judged, and I've judged her. Here, the angel now is showing us the city of God. I was performing, officiating Joel and Jordan's wedding a week ago, and I noticed at this beautiful place where we had the wedding, there was this drone. It's really amazing to see what they do now with pictures. And these drones fly up, and they come and they capture these pictures. And they're just amazing pictures to look at when you look at weddings. It's remarkable what looking from on high does to give us such a beautiful view of things. Things always look different from on high. And that's what happens here. You'll notice that's the first thing that the angel says to John. John, come here. I want to show you something. So John is carried away in the Spirit to this great high mountain. It's an important mountain. We'll come back to that mountain. To a great and high mountain. And now the angel begins to show John and describe the city. When I speak of a city, or you think of a city, typically we think of cities in certain ways as places that we come and go from. But that's not what John sees. I don't know if you caught the surprising way this is described this morning it really helps the whole interpretation of it john says come the angel says to john come and see the bride the lamb's wife and then he says so i saw the city this is a very important thing that's being said here right out of the gates in describing glory for you. He doesn't want you to distinguish very closely the two. He wants you to see them together. In other words, he wants you to see that the city is who we are. The church and the city are one. What makes the city a city is that it is a people and a place. And so what's described here, You'll notice here as he begins to describe the city for us, we have 12 gates and 12 foundations, and he's doing something very specific in talking about that. He's linking together the people of God throughout history as all participants of this city. It's capturing the Old Testament saints, if we might put it that way, in light of the 12 tribes of Israel. It's capturing the new covenant, the saints of beginning looking at what we've been doing with Acts and the apostolic ministry. The city is full of all the people of God all throughout history. No man can number how many are there. Remember that? It's full. It is absolutely full. Now what's being emphasized up front? What is being emphasized up front? I think it's one of the most beautiful things that we all take for granted and we all fight against in our lives. Fight against a lot. We're all gathered together, aren't we, today? We're gathered. It's a remarkable gathering. Or is it? Notice the emphasis of verse 24. All the nations have been brought together in this city. You see it in verse 24. The nations of those who are saved, All those saved out of the nations are there, walking in the light of this city together. Different peoples, in the beautiful way that God made them all differently, they're all together, raised. Nations and races and people, different from each other, together. We're enjoying this all together. Why? Well, because there is in this city perfect harmony. There is perfect love. There is perfect happiness together. Now, why is that hard for us to consider this? Well, it's because everything in our natures is contrary to what this is describing that we want. This is our battle. This is why people don't want to come to church. Our nature is telling us stay away. Remember when Adam had sinned, and the first thing he did after they sinned, what did he do, boys and girls? He ran away from God, didn't he? And what was God's first question throughout history? Adam, using the old King James, I've got to do it sometimes, where art thou? Where are you? That's the question of history, isn't it? Where are you? What are you doing? Loaded. He had lost fellowship with God and with his wife. That's the very thing we're struggling with, isn't it? We have this autonomous struggle in our lives to be alone. I was at the gas station the other day and this guy pulled up in a big truck playing a country song. So I'm listening to it. And as I was listening to the words, I gotta go write that down. I gotta go find the lyrics to that song. This is too good to be true. I want you to listen to the lyrics of this song. My grandpa taught me about buck knives and shotguns. How to cast an old Zebco. How to work a stick shift. Taught me the Bible. About all the 12 disciples. And he made sure that I know there's life after this with pearly gates, streets of gold. He said, if I just believe, that's where I'll go. But Lord, maybe not the best qualification at that point or negation, but Lord, when I die, I want to live on the outskirts of heaven where there's dirt roads for miles, hay in the fields and fish in the river. Where there's dogwood trees, I don't even know what those are. Honeybees and blue skies and green grass forever. Lord, when I die, I want to live on the outskirts of heaven. Now, it says in the King James, in the Almighty's kingdom, he mentions a mansion that he's built just for me. Now, I'll gladly trade it for a farmhouse with acreage and a backyard that's shaded and a squeaky front porch swing. That's where I want to have my wings, Lord, when I die. I want to live on the outskirts of heaven. I told you it's too good to be true, right? What do you think the guy in the hood feels about that? You want your lifestyle away from me, don't you? You hear the entire spirit of independence in that? I want to be on my own, Lord in heaven. I think a lot of people in the church think this way. When we quote that verse of Jesus, in my Father's house are many mansions, that's exactly how we apply it. And that is not what Jesus said. What Jesus said is, in my Father's house are many dwelling places, many abodes. The first thing that John notices about the city is, it's not that everyone has their own little plots of land and is doing their own thing, but that the city itself, as the people, are identified as one. The complete healing of that division is over. There's no more suburbs. There's no more flight from people who are different than you. There's no more gathering with only those who are like you. There's no more retirements to build your own mansions just away from it all. The foolishness and often very selfish separation of you wanting to be on your own is overcome in glory. How many of you want to get out of California right now? How many of you say it? I want my little piece of land. That's my dream. I want my little piece of land somewhere out in Idaho. I could be a rancher with horses and animals as if that would be a good thing for me. I don't even know how to handle an animal. It's the battle we fight. People want to move and fulfill their dreams. The last thing on their minds is the what? Church. The church is merely used in these scenarios of our designs if it fits into the place that we have dreamed for ourselves. That's how we treat it. That's what we're constantly fighting. Everyone, whoever wants to move, wants to go do that. And you have this question, well, have you thought about the church? And you'd be amazed in my time of ministry how I've seen people go out, build their dreams, and they're then totally disconnected from the church. This is what Satan tempted Adam to in the beginning in Eve. You don't like this, you don't have to follow this design. And he separated them. I think most people think of heaven this way. What do you think the church is? It's the beginning of this. It's the beginning of what you read. It's the introduction to this in life. By the way, this was James Boyce, his dream. I've read it more than a few times in his writings. He prayed again that Christians would change their whole mindsets with regard to the city. And go back to it. To fulfill their witness in it. The city is a people fellowshipping with their God and worshiping Him together and it sounds a little bit like what we're doing now, isn't it? That's why we say there's no salvation outside the church and that troubles people. Why does that trouble people? Because of that individualistic spirit. What do you mean? I can be saved on my own. No, God created a community, a people, and saved them together. What has the gospel accomplished? What has God told you is the goal of redemption for you? That you may have fellowship with the Father and with His Son. And that in that love, now think about the very high priestly prayer we all love. That in that love we may be one as they are one. Father, I pray that they may be one just as you, Father, are in me and I in you. that they also may be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you've given me, I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one. I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one. That's what God's building, a city. That's what he's building. And that you begin to love and enjoy the community redeemed and the fellowship that he has for you in that oneness. So we have to think strongly about what it means if we claim to be followers of Jesus, doesn't it? Doesn't this mean that the priority of our lives is worship? Doesn't it? Think of the imagery when the church gathers, the church locally where God has placed you. God has his church all over the world where God has placed you and the church together is worshiping and you have said, no, I'm going to be on my own. This is what we're going. This is what we're doing. This is what he's creating. A community to be the objects of his love in harmony and peace together. The city of God is a people fellowshipping together. Now what does that tell you about the character of this city? Let's look for a minute at the character of this city. There's a few things that I want to highlight here that will encourage you and then we're going to get a look at the life to close this out. Notice verse 25 that what is said in verse 25 about the city is that the gates are always open. Look at it there in verse 25. And the gates will never be shut by day and there will be no night there. What does he want you to know? There will never be a time throughout eternity that you don't have access and dwell in this city. You're never on the outside. You're not alienated. I'm going to come back to this thought in a minute. The city never closes. And he wants to make sure you understand there's no shortage of space in this city. Did you notice how much emphasis there is on the size, the sheer size of the city? It's a perfect cube. Its length, verse 16, breadth and height are equal at 12,000 furlongs. What it says is that the city is so vast, it's complete in every way. The space is the people. The second thing that is said there is that the city is completely secure. It's hard to talk about walls today, isn't it? I'm going to build a wall, and it's going to be a glorious wall. Well, God has a wall, but it's not a wall between the U.S. and Mexico. John says measure the wall. It's a beautiful wall. Pure jasper, stone like you've never seen. Notice this here. John wants us to understand the city is a place. It's using a figure. The city is a place of complete safety. It's completely safe. Verse 27 says it. There enters nothing ever, ever, ever, ever that could defile or cause abomination. Notice that. Nothing can harm you in this city. Nothing can hurt you in this city. only those who are written in the lamb's book of life never again will you be subject to any harm in this place that was the story of the human race satan slithered right on in to the garden didn't he it can't happen it's a wall saying nothing evil can ever be there again third the lord wants us to understand it's a place that you will never stop contemplating its beauty the character of the city sometimes people wonder well i i can't imagine this isn't all that exciting well you know what are we just going to stand around and worship every day the first part of our struggle when considering heaven is what it is going to be like is that we're trying to consider it with eyes when presently we're living by faith but but if god has made this wonderful eye and think of the marvel of the eye uh think of the marvel of the eye think about it resurrected if you if you can enjoy beauty in this state imagine a resurrected eye what do people do today well even the creation even though it groans it still shows us the glory of god the heavens declare the glory of god and the earth his handiwork we run all over the united states looking at stuff don't we i mean you look at the tourists that will come and stand in front of the sequoia tree over there general sherman snap snap snap oh wow oh wow and they'll do it for hours. We run all over the world doing this with our cameras and our phones. You are going to look at the structure of this. You're going to look at the construction. A lot better even than this, by the way. You're going to look at the construction of the city that God constructed, and you'll have an eternity to glorify Him in enjoying it. Looking at its beauty. That's part of your worship. Looking at its beauty. This is what we're all fighting and wanting to see now, beauty. It gives us the language of the greatest things we know in this life to help us understand that are beautiful. All kinds of precious stones to look at and study. This is what the Psalms say about God's people. The works of the Lord are studied by those who take pleasure in them. That's glory. You'll do it forever. If the heavens declare the glory of God and the earth this handiwork now imagine it all raised and not subject to corruption the city is beautifully serene and wonderful to behold it's full of the people of the land i mean think of what's said to you so far it's always open there's no darkness the nations walk together in love and in harmony no more racial division its glory is forever studied it's secure nothing dangerous i was reading the the huffington post recently a piece that was titled what makes what factors this was the title of the article what factors make a city great listen to this number one culture when a city as a whole can invest in cultural assets like design projects and public parks It's probably succeeding. Number two, buy-in. Diversity doesn't strictly concern different races and ethnicities within a city, though it is a significant factor. They recognize this. The real question is, who is actually participating in this city and how deep does the participation run in all directions? They know that's key to a city. The buy-in is their participation. it's therefore critical that you have a buy-in of the people in the city people want to be true stakeholders in what happens in their areas cities should offer their citizens inclusive opportunities and a sense of personal pride in the overall infrastructure number three connectedness this is critical for the advancement of the city it means that people are in tune with what's going on are spreading it around and want to meet. I'm reading the Huffington Post, by the way. They want to meet the outdoors. Do you actually want to get out in your city? Do people exercise outside of air-conditioned gyms? Are there spectacular views of the architecture? The most important factor, they said, which is included in all of the points above, is clearly a city's people. Quality city building is primarily about quality team building, as well as staying conscious of the people you intend to serve. Why I read that is to say, see what's wired into us? It's wired. The city is wired into us. And we know what would make for a good city. Well, I want to walk with you just for a minute through the city then of God in the time I have left this morning. Let's look at her for a minute. Let's consider her. Let's walk through her. You enter one of the 12 gates, and then you see one major beautiful street of pure gold-like transparent glass. The 12 gates meaning there is abundant opportunity for the best places of gathering. best places of gathering what do you do well look over there at verse 1 of chapter 22 what do you look what do you see first and he showed me a pure river of water clear as crystal proceeding from the throne of god and of the lamb now listen carefully in the middle of the street and it says it here um so through the middle of the street of the street of the city, also on either side of the river, the tree of life with its 12 kinds of fruit yielding its fruit each month. What do we put in cities to make them places of happiness? We all know. A park, that's exactly what's described in the middle of the city. I was thinking a little bit, poor Escondido. The best they can do is Grape Day, you know. If I know that we're looking for a new superintendent right now, and I would encourage all those involved, don't take them to Grape Day. It just doesn't tell the whole story, does it? None of you are planning lunches down there this afternoon, are you? Why? Well, I think you know. The park is run down. something happened to our parks. We've tried hard. We've tried hard. And it accumulates in the middle of our parks all the misery that we know. I find that just striking. So that we're scared sometimes to head down to the park. In this park, there are no homeless. There are no drugs. There are no gangs. Alongside of both avenues, of this river are trees and it's a river like you've never seen before this is the river of life that's been talked about in the bible and you've heard about your whole life captured in the book of ezekiel then he brought me back to the door of the temple and behold water was issuing from below the threshold of the temple and he said to me son of man have you seen this and he led me back to the bank of the river as I went back I saw on the bank of the river very many trees on one side and on the other notice there's not one tree it's many trees and he said to me this water flows toward the eastern region and it goes into the araba and enters the sea when the water flows into the sea the waters will become fresh and wherever the river goes every living creature that swarms will live So everything will live where the water goes and on the banks on both sides of the river there will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither nor their fruit fail but they will bear fresh fruit every month because the water for them flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing. Thus says the Lord God, this is the boundary by which you shall divide the land for the inheritance among the 12 tribes of Israel. here it is. He's picked up on the whole thing. I looked and I saw this magnificent street, pure gold, transparent glass, and river was on both sides, the river flowing out from this garden. And I saw the tree of life, but it was amazing because as I looked, I saw this cluster of trees in the middle and around the river that went, there were trees everywhere. What makes this city so wonderful? Well, I haven't really got there yet, have I? What makes heaven heaven? Clearly, the center of all of this is verse 22. I love seeing your heads go down. That is just wonderful. 22. But I saw no temple in it. The city of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. Notice this. For the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. Such a beautiful verse. The temple is the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb. 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. There's Jesus. There He is. The one you've believed, You've professed all your life. He's in the city. He's seated. He's your light. He's your life. And notice what we're doing. If the Huffington Post can realize it needs the best places to gather, God just told you. Written in natural law, we know this. The best place to gather is right there. where we come to worship Him. And there's no night. There's no weariness. There's no darkness. The Lord's light emanates from that throne, giving light to all. And we reign forever and ever with Him. What makes the city so wonderful is the goal of your salvation, fully realized that we have fellowship because the Lord is in the midst. The Lord is there. And John is describing the absolute happiness of heaven. This has been our entire struggle in this life to glorify and enjoy God. And what's pictured here is the ultimate happiness and desire of wanting to be in front of Him and being there to enjoy Him, His glory. he's it's a light not consuming you but a light of his favor on you forever to fully enjoy his people whom he redeemed as his reward forget that dear angel what is this it's garden avenue it's garden avenue the highlight of it all is there's no more curse what are you looking at paradise restored god is closing his bible to you with the scene he began and opened the bible with when he handed it to you paradise was lost in the first adam now in the last adam paradise is restored and he gives us life forever we live in that life and he holds out for us the ability to eat forever from the tree that Adam was barred from. That's where we are headed. Now doesn't that motivate you to overcome? I think it should. That's held out for you and I'm starting now to understand overcoming as I finally close the Bible. I'm finally starting to understand overcoming. It's not to be distant, is it? It's not to say, I don't want to go to church today. That's not overcoming. It's to say, I want to gather with the people with whom I'm going to spend eternity with and worship the God I'm going to be before forever. That's what worship is. That's coming. That's overcoming. But it's also a message to begin thinking now about the importance in the present of our worship and our service and our love. Isn't that what Jesus prayed? That we would be one in love? That we would look a lot like heaven on earth to a world that sits under judgment? That they would see it. I just have to say that the patterns and convictions in people's life, the priorities show where you are. Do you want to be alone? Think of what you're saying to God. You're saying no thanks to your future. And that's why Jesus talked about hell as a place of outer darkness. Well, I hope by faith you'll say, this is splendid, this is wonderful, this is my future. What a privilege to join the body now. Even in hardship as I live by faith to begin this. And then one day I get to enjoy this by sight and I promise you that's why the scriptures say eye has not seen nor ear heard nor entered in the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those who love him. Praise the Lord. We overcome by the blood of the Lamb as we now learn to enjoy this fellowship with God and his Son and his people. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, thank you for giving us such a glorious picture of heaven. Thank you for helping us. We fully confess we've been selfish about this and if not understand what you're saying to us the way that we should. Give us all a desire and an understanding even now that our love would show that our fellowship would be strong and that we would live realizing where we're headed and what is held out for us overcoming as we learn to love one another fervently with a sincere heart. And thank you for being with us. Even now, we're not alone. You tell us all the time that the essence and happiness of the Christian life is that You're with us. We're not alone. We look forward to that ultimately in glory when we will be with You forever. Encourage Your people with these words. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.