I want you to turn tonight to
the book of Revelation and chapter 21. When I was thinking about this, I thought in my mind that there was some city in the
world that was called the City of Lights. So I turned to my trusty phone
and Googled it, and I was right. The city of Paris is called the
City of Lights. Lights having to do with education
and art and architecture and philosophy. It's a city of lights. But I've been there. And all I could see was darkness. Just a lot of darkness. But the city I want to talk to
you about tonight could be called, and really is called, the City
of Light. Singular. The City of Light. And here in the book of Revelation,
this book God uses a lot of symbolic language. And when you begin to read, you
find out that the new Jerusalem that is spoken of, this holy
city, and the bride, they're the same. I'll never forget the
first time the Lord showed me that and caused me to understand
it. I was laying on the bed and parsonage
of a church and false religion. And he opened my eyes to see
that. And if you look in verse 2 of
chapter 21, you see it. And I, John, saw the holy city,
New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as
a bride adorned for her husband. Verse 10 says, And he carried
me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed
me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of
heaven from God. He goes on to describe that city,
that bride, with all her glorious perfections. not only as it is, but as it
shall be, glorious, a city triumphant, and a city of light. But in verse 23, when you look
at it, it says, and the city had no need of the sun, neither
of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." This city is described
as having not natural light, no sun, no moon, but nevertheless
it is not dark. As a matter of fact, the people
of God are the saints in light. You read in Colossians where
he says, giving thanks unto the Father which hath made us meet
to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. God's elect are in light and
they are the only ones that are. But when you remember and take
all of this symbolic language into consideration, you need
to go back to verse 1 in chapter 1 and read what this book is
all about. It is the revelation of Jesus
Christ. It is going to pertain to the
Lord Jesus Christ in everything and every way. It says the glory
of God did lighten it. Not only then, not only in the
future, but right now the glory of Jesus Christ is the light. Now when you speak of glory,
glory in some cases has to do with praise and honor and worshiping,
giving glory to someone. But also to glorify means to
reveal or to make manifest what is already real. It has to do, oftentimes, with
the truth. In other words, when God is glorified,
that which is true of Him and true about Him is revealed and
made manifest. Like on the Mount of Transfiguration,
when the Lord Jesus Christ went up with those men on the mount. But it says that he was transfigured,
or he was made manifest, all the glory, or I should say just
a part of his glory, and he's shown with brightness as the
God that he is. And in the Bible, oftentimes,
we find light as being used to represent truth. Light is truth. Whenever the Israelites were
in Egypt, I notice that it says in the
scripture, when that great darkness fell over all of Egypt and the
death angel passed through there and there was nothing but darkness. It says that in the land of Goshen,
in the houses of those Hebrews, there was light. There was light. And that's the way it is with
the church, with the people of God, because they have light,
they have the glory of God manifested to each of them in their hearts. So what is the glory of God? You remember Moses. That was
his request. He asked God to show him his
glory after all that he'd seen. And God said to him in so many
words, this is my glory. I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. God's glory is the glory of His
sovereign grace in Jesus Christ. Because that is exactly where
all of His glorious grace, all of the light of the truth concerning
God, concerning His way of salvation is manifest in the Lord Jesus
Christ Most particularly, as the Lamb. Look at verse 23 again. The last part says, the glory
of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. He's not a light. And there is
no glory of God, especially in grace apart from Him. The Lamb
is the light in it. That is, in this heavenly city,
in this bride of Christ, in this church of the living God. And it is the glory of the devil. to do everything he can to diminish
the glory of Christ and to conceal the glory of Christ as he is
as the Lamb, most particularly. Religion oftentimes talks about
Jesus. Religion oftentimes gives him
as an example, or as a martyr, or as something like that. The
real thing that Satan desires to shield from men is the glory
of Christ as the Lamb, as the Savior, and as the sacrifice. Turn over to 2 Corinthians 4. 2 Corinthians 4, and listen to
what Paul says beginning in verse 3. He says, but if our gospel
be hid, it is hid to them that are lost. In other words, if
God never reveals the gospel, the true Christ, this salvation,
which is the glory of God, if God never reveals that to a person,
they're lost. They'll be lost. He says, in
whom the God of this world hath blinded the minds of them which
believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ,
who is the image of God, should shine unto them." What does he
want to do? He wants to blind men to the
light of the truth of the glory of God in Jesus Christ. But he says, for we preach not
ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servants,
for Jesus' sake, for God who commanded the light to shine
out of darkness. In other words, God in the natural
creation was giving an example of what it would take in the
spiritual creation. He said, let there be light,
or light be and light was. And that same God in greater
power than was necessary to create light in the midst of the darkness
comes to a sinner and says, light be, and light was the light which
reveals the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. For God, who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Now, I want you to notice there,
this is not a mere experience. Because it has to do with knowledge. It has to do with knowledge,
which is called truth, which is called light. And we have
light and knowledge and truth in proportion to the revelation
of Christ in us and to us. He said he shined in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God in the face or in the person of Jesus Christ. That's why we preach Christ. And that's why we have this treasure. But we have this treasure. in
earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God and
not of us." I've often said that I want to
be a preacher to God's people as a man of one finger. Just a one-finger preacher. And
with that one finger, point men and women to the Lord Jesus Christ
as the only righteousness, as the only way of salvation, as
the only one to be trusted and believed, such as was John the
Baptist. It was said of John, This man
did no miracle. Think about all the prophets
that had come before him, all the miraculous things they had
been able to do. But they said of John, this man
did no miracle, but the things he said about Jesus Christ were
true. They're true. And that being so, he said, behold
the Lamb of God which takes away the sin of the world. That's the way he announced him.
He announced him in this character of the Redeemer. And the glorious
gospel of the first herald of the gospel, which was John the
Baptist, who announced his public ministry, said this. The next day, John seeth Jesus. coming unto him, and saith, Behold
the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. And
looking upon Jesus as he walked, he saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, that is his glory, as the Savior and Redeemer and sacrifice
of his people from their sins. And you know what folks did? They didn't exalt John. They didn't build a monument
to John. They didn't establish a website
with his name on it. They did not promote him as above
anybody else. They, it says, they followed
Christ. Instead of following John, they
followed the Lord Jesus Christ. But Christ's glory as the Lamb
of God did not simply begin with John. In other words, he was
glorious as the eternal Lamb of God. Look at verse 27. And there shall in no wise enter
into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination,
or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book
of life." Now, I heard a preacher say,
on the radio one time, he said, if you'll believe on the Lord
Jesus Christ, he'll write your name in the Lamb's Book of Life. But the Lamb's Book of Life had a beginning much, much sooner. In other words, the Lamb's Book
of Life, we read in Revelation chapter 13, 8, something like
this. Speaking about the beast, speaking
about this one that describes all of false religion and antichrist
and all these beasts, all anti-God. It says, and all that dwell upon
the earth shall worship him whose names are not written in
the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. Everybody will be deceived Everybody
will bow to these religious figures and these false gods, believe
these false messages, false gospels, except those whose names were
written in the Lamb's Book of Life from the foundation of the
world. Listen to this, our Lord praying
in John 17. He says, Father, I will that
they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that
they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou
lovest me before the foundation of the world, And I have declared
unto them thy name, and will declare it, that the love wherewith
thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them." In other
words, Christ's light as the Lamb, it did not begin to shine
when He was born or even when He went to the cross. He has
been the Lamb from old eternity, and oftentimes the prophets spoke
of that which would be at His coming and His revelation, such
as in Isaiah chapter 60. Verse 19 says, the Son shall be no more thy light by
day, neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee,
but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall go no more down,
neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be
thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall
be ended. thy people also shall be all
righteous, they shall inherit the land forever, the branch
of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified." In other words, every day of
light that we experience in this world. And every night of moonlight
that we experience in this world, they come and they go and they
will end. But this is the city of light. And the Lord God, the Lord Jesus
Christ himself, will at all times and forever be their everlasting
light. Why? Because of the Lamb. If he were to be identified by
any other character, we would not be able, as sinners, to have
any hope of light. The first lamb, slain by the
hand of God himself, showed light to Adam. The next lamb that was slain
was slain by, that we have record of, was slain by Abel. And therefore,
Abel had light rather than Cain. The Passover lamb that was slain,
just like I made mention of, was slain and it was darkness
in all of Egypt, but it was light to God's people. How was it light? Because they
were to take that Passover lamb, take it out, watch it, make sure
it was spotless, and they were to shed that blood and sprinkle
that blood on the lintels and doorposts of their homes. And the death angel passed by
them. Why? the death had already occurred
in a substitute. The light of how God saves sinners
was made fast there, made manifest there, and His distinguishing
grace made manifest there. It wasn't for any of the Egyptians. It was for Israel. It was a sacrifice. It was the blood. That's the
way God shows us how He saves us from sin. That's light. That's truth. And Christ, as the Lamb, is God's
glory, as I said, because of this sacrificial, redemptive
character as the Redeemer of His people, and that's what they
all acknowledge. Hold your place and look back
at Revelation chapter 5. Now, I mentioned that what that
hymn writer had said about the old, old story being the new
song. Look at here. Revelation chapter
5 and verse 6. And I beheld, and lo, in the
midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, in the midst of
the elders, stood a lamb. as it had been slain, or newly
slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. That's just simply
the perfections of Christ. And he came and took the book
out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne, And
when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty
elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps
and golden vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the
saints, and they sung a new song. Well, it's going to be something
different and it's going to be something, oh, it's going to
be new every day. New for eternity. Thou art worthy
to take the book and to open the seals thereof for thou was
slain and has redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every
kindred and tongue and people and nation and has made us unto
our God kings and priests and we shall reign on there. They all cried out, worthy is
the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and
strength and honor and glory and every blessing. Why? Especially to them. They
say because thou hast redeemed us. You made us children of the light. You revealed to us the light
of how you saved us. You revealed us the glory of
Christ in his sinless and spotless and undefiled perfection as was
pictured in all the Old Testament sacrifices. You redeemed us and
showed us how Christ is that lamb without spot and without
blemish. and kept us from dying in our
darkness. You see, those that God saves, they will behold His glory. They will give all the glory
to Him. They will be brought to the light. I don't know how I know this,
but somewhere in the past that I heard it. The man Hank Williams, you remember
Hank Williams? You country music lovers probably
remember Hank Williams. He wrote a song. And that song was entitled, I
Saw the Light. I wandered in darkness. I saw
the light. And one day at the Grand Ole
Opry, supposedly, the woman called Minnie Pearl
was commenting to him when he came off about how good that
song was and how well he had done and all that. His response to her was, Minnie,
there is no light. There is no light. You see, a man can have natural
light to write a song, even a hymn. and not have spiritual light,
which is the light of Christ. He died drunk, devastated, never
saw the true light. But Simeon, old Simeon of old,
in Luke chapter two, he's just a man that was waiting for something
that God had promised him. And when he looked down in the
face of that child Jesus, he could really see God in his face. Now, I'm afraid all you mothers,
all you fathers, all you baby lovers, you look in the face
and you see all just perfection. But you'll find out later it's
not true. But here was a man who actually
looked at the Lord Jesus Christ in his infancy, you might say,
and said, mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast
prepared before the face of all people a light to lighten the
Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel." He saw the light. He saw more
than a baby there. Saul of Tarsus, on the road to Damascus, when he was smitten, he began to see the light, though
blinded, because he said, who are you,
Lord? In other words, I'm not exactly sure who you
are yet, but whoever you are, you're the Lord. You're the Lord. And the Lord
did open his eyes, spiritually and physically, and he believed
on Christ. I'll just say in closing, where
the true church gathers, The Lamb is always in the midst. That's what Christ said. Where
two or three have been gathered in my name. I remember when the Lord first
showed us the real thing there, Brother Rupert and I, we were
studying and looking at all these things and He said, and it says
actually Where two or three are gathered in the midst, shall
have been gathered in the midst, I'll be in the midst also." Well,
the gatherer of the church is the Spirit of God. And where
the Spirit of God is, He always takes the things of Christ, the
light, and shows them to you. And so in the midst of the true
church, this city of light, this new Jerusalem. The Lamb is the
light, the glory, the center of attraction, the emphasis,
and where this is not the case, there is no church. Just it. Where Christ is not preached,
There's no light. He said, to the law and to the
testimony, if they speak not according to this book, it's
because there is no light in them. We have a more sure word of prophecy,
where unto you do well to take heed as unto a light that shineth
in a dark place until the day dawn and the day star arise in
your heart. It's a dark night until God through
his word by His Spirit causes the sunrise that never goes down,
the sun of righteousness that rises with healing in His beams. That is none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ. And God's preachers in this church,
in this city of light, they're like John the Baptist was. They
bear witness of the light. They can't give any person light. They bear witness to the light.
And some people don't understand what that means. A blind man,
you can change it from a 20 watt to a 40 watt bulb and it won't
make any difference to him because he doesn't have sight. But he'll have sight. when God gives him sight. We'll
see. when our eyes are opened, our
hearts are regenerated, and we are given faith to believe, to
see, to embrace the Lord Jesus Christ. That of God are ye in
Christ Jesus, who is made of us, made unto wisdom and righteousness
and sanctification and redemption, that according as it is written,
he that glorieth, Let him glory in the Lord. Glory only in the
Lamb. This is a city with one light
that never goes down, never diminishes and dims. And so when all this darkness
that's around us In light of it all around us,
when men don't know this and they don't know that and they
don't know God, they don't know what's true, they say there's
no such thing as absolute truth, you can't know this and you can't
know this about God. When they have false views of
themselves and imagine themselves righteous and they have false
phony views about how God saves people through all these other
sacrifices and priests and whatever. God's people are not in the dark.
In the city of God, in the city of light, in His heavenly Jerusalem,
they, to some degree, see because of the light that is given to
them. And all that light reflects the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Father, we thank you tonight
and we pray that your word, your truth, would shine in our hearts
by the enablement of your spirit that we would see more of the
glory of your grace, of the glory of this lamb, of the glory of
the Godhead, of the glory which belongs to
you alone. We lift up all of these in their
sicknesses, afflictions, trials, troubles, those who are burdened
of heart, depressed, sick, whatever the case. We know Thou art able. And what
will work for Your greater glory, we pray that You might do it. Help us all. Grant that we might
know Your forgiveness, Your protection, Your provision, and all that
we have because of our glorious Savior. We thank You in His name
and pray. Amen.