Okay, Revelation 21, and Lord
willing, we'll try to finish this chapter here. Revelation
21, and we'll look at verse 10 down through the end of the chapter.
Now, this is the second part of the message from last week
about the glorious city of God. It's called New Jerusalem. the
bride adorned for her husband, the glorious city of God, which
is a true picture of the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, as
we're blessed in him with all spiritual blessing in the heavenlies
in the Lord Jesus Christ, according as he has chosen us in him before
the foundation of the world. In these verses, the Lord of
glory, that is the Lord Jesus Christ, gives us a glimpse into
the state of his glorified church. called his wife, called his bride. Notice as it says in verse 9,
And he talked with me, that is, this angel, messenger, son of
God, talked to John, saying, Come hither, and I'll show thee
the bride, the bride, the Lamb's wife. Now he's talking about
the church of the firstborn. talking about believers in Christ,
called His Church, His Wife, His Bride, that is seen and viewed
as this beautiful, magnificent, holy city coming from God out
of Heaven. It's called a New Jerusalem. It's called a Great City. It's
called Holy Jerusalem. The Bride, the Lamb's Wife, the
Church, and the City This great city are all different descriptions
of the exact same thing. Every believer chosen, bought,
and washed, redeemed by the blood of the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ,
are born into this city, born into this kingdom as citizens
of the heavenly Jerusalem called Mount Zion, the city of the living
God. The city of the living God. You
remember from reading in Hebrews chapter 11, Talks about Abraham
dwelling as a stranger here, looking for a city whose builder
and maker is God. That's what we're looking for.
That is, the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, upon this rock I'll
build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against
it. Now, I told you last week there's
a tenfold description in this vision of the glorified, blood-bought
church. Last week we looked at the first
three, and today we'll look at the next four that's given in
this chapter. And then, Lord willing, next
week in chapter 22, We'll look at the last two descriptions
of that city of God in Christ Jesus. Now let me go back for
just a moment. I know some of you were not here
last week, but let me go back for just a moment and look at
the first three. I'll give them to you quickly.
The first thing we see, that great city of God built by the
Lord Jesus Christ was founded upon His redemptive effectual
priestly work that he has done for us. This great city, holy
Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. That tells us
that salvation is not from the bottom up. Salvation is from
the top down. It's saying the same thing as
we often said, that salvation is of the Lord. So this great
city is built upon the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
It's not built upon our doing, our giving. It has nothing to
do with us. everything to do with him as
far as the performance of it, the accomplishment of it. The
second thing we talked about last week, this city, his church,
has much like much light, look at verse 11, having the glory
of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even
like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Now the reference there
is to Revelation chapter 4, where it describes the Lord Jesus Christ
as the Lamb of God on the throne, With this jasper stone, He is
all light. God is light and in Him is no
darkness at all. It says in 1 John. Look over
at verse 23. Revelation 21 verse 23. And the
city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine
it. For the Lord, for the glory of God, did lighten it, and the
Lamb is the light thereof. The light we need because by
nature we're in the dark. By nature we're ignorant and
in darkness. And then look at verse 5 in Revelation
22. And there shall be no night there,
and they need no candle, neither light of sun, for the Lord God
giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever." He gives
us light. He commands the light of the
gospel to shine in our darkened dead heart that we might see
the glory of God that shines in the face of Jesus Christ.
The Lord has called, He said, I am the bread of life. I am
the way, the truth, the light. The Lord said, I am the light.
I am the light in this dark world. Now the third thing we talked
about This city has the abiding and complete presence of the
Lord of glory. As it says there in verse 3 and
again in verse 22. Look at verse 3, Revelation 21. I heard a great voice out of
heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men. He will dwell
with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall
be with them and be their God. This city, this church, The redeemed
have the abiding presence of the Lord of glory. Now in verse
22, Revelation 21 verse 22, And I saw no temple there for
the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the dwelling of it. Or the temple of it. We have
our dwelling in Christ Jesus. We have His abiding complete
presence with us now, and eternally in Him. Now, in the rest of this
chapter, I want to look at four other descriptions of this bride,
the Lamb's wife, the church, as it's redeemed and glorified
in the Lord Jesus Christ. So the fourth thing we want to
look at, this city, the city of God, New Jerusalem, has complete
and total security by this great high wall. Look at verse 12. And had a great wall high, twelve
gates, and the twelve gates had twelve angels, and the names
written thereon were the names of the twelve tribes of the children
of Israel. Now look down at verse 17. And
he measured the wall thereof a hundred and forty-four cubits
according to the measure of a man, that is, of the messenger of
God, verse 18, and the building of the wall of it was of jasper,
and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. This city has complete and total
security. Now, we hear a lot about people
talking on the news about building walls. This wall here is not
something that's a structure, a stone structure. It's symbolic
of that security we have in the Lord Jesus Christ. This wall
can never be torn down. This wall can never be breached.
It's controlled by God. Like the six cities of refuge
talked about in Numbers 35, the six cities of refuge were established
by the law of God to protect His people. Remember when you
were in trouble and you had done something you shouldn't have
done, they were designated to run to that city of refuge, and
once inside that city, you were safe, you were protected, and
that's a picture of what we have in Christ. Those cities of refuge
were a type and picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, our strong
and secure refuge. Now we read about the refuge
we have in Christ many times through the book of Psalms, but
one of my favorite Scriptures in Psalm 46 verse 1, God is our
refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. God is our refuge,
He's our strength, very present help in trouble. But how much
more are we secure today in Christ our refuge? He saves us with
an everlasting salvation, which we cannot lose, there's no possibility
of believers losing their salvation because he gives them eternal
life and they shall never perish. He saves them with an everlasting
salvation. Our total security in that day
is just a continuation of our total security we have in the
Lord Jesus Christ right now. He's able to keep us from falling
and to present us faultless before the presence of God's glory with
exceeding joy, to the only one God our Savior, to Him be glory
and power both now and forever. We are secured in Christ by His
purpose, by His purchase, by His power, and by His promise. And all those things are in Christ.
Now, I thought about this. We are secure in Christ by His
purpose. We know He worketh all things
according to His own will and purpose. God does everything
He does on purpose. God never saves a sinner by accident,
by purpose. His purpose and grace is given
us in Christ before the foundation of the world. We are secure in
Christ not only because of His eternal purpose, which cannot
change, but because of His purchase, which is an eternal purpose.
An eternal purchase. Remember we read about the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world? He bought us with
His own blood. Those for whom He bought, they
cannot perish. We are secured in Christ. He
obtained for us eternal redemption. So we're His by purpose, we're
secured by His purchase, and then we are kept by His power.
He said, you're no more your own, you're kept by the power
of God. The gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ is the power of
God and the salvation. You see how secure we are in
Him? His purpose, it cannot be changed. His purchase, He bought
us. He's going to take us home. His
power, the gospel is the power of God and the salvation. God
has given Him, the Lord Jesus Christ, power over all flesh
that He should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given
Him. And then His promise. His promises are certain and
sure. All that God has promised, He's able to bring to pass. Not
one promise of God has ever failed. Not one. All the promises of
God in Christ or in Him are yes and amen and to the glory of
God by the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what it says in 1 Corinthians
1 verse 20. We have these exceeding great
and precious promises in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I call
that security, don't you? And He's not talking about a
material wall. He's talking about the wall of His power, the wall
of His purpose, the wall of His grace, the security we have in
the Lord Jesus Christ now and forever, forever and ever. Now here's the fifth thing. The
city of God has a solid foundation, a glorious and strong foundation. It says here there's twelve foundations. Now, don't get distracted here. Now look at verse 14. I will come back to the gates
in just a minute. The wall of the city had 12 foundations. And in them, the name of the
12 apostles. Down at verse 19, the foundations
of the wall were garnished with all manner of precious stones.
It gives us those 12 different stones there in verse 20. All
symbolic of the glorious attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ. This
solid foundation, on Christ the solid rock I stand, all other
ground is sinking sand. Now if you're going to build
a building, we talked about that earlier. If you're going to build
a building, you better have a solid rock to build upon. If you don't,
the building is not going to stand. It won't stand. We've
seen that so many times. Now we've seen various numbers
that the Lord is pleased to use in this revelation of himself
in this book. We know that six is the number
of man, it's the number of the beast. Six is the number of failure. Six, six, six. That simply means
that man is a total failure. Total. Totally depraved. And
then we've seen the number seven. The number seven is the number
that symbolic of the complete and finished redemptive work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I lay down my life for
the sheep and they shall never perish. And this number 12 is
a number of and symbolic of the complete and sovereign rule of
the Lord Jesus Christ. His perfect government rests
upon his shoulders. Now the government of men and
of mankind is corrupt. That is corrupt. I'm not even
talking about our government. It's corrupt. Because it's filled
by men who are depraved. Corrupt. The only perfect government
we have is in the Lord Jesus Christ. You remember that scripture
over in Isaiah 9 where it talks about a child is born, and a
son is given, and the government shall be upon His shoulders. His name shall be called Wonderful
Counselor of the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father. and the
Prince of Peace. Now, why does it say foundations? Twelve foundations. We know that
there's just one foundation, right? All the twelve apostles
all agreed that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only foundation.
Now, I read last week from Ephesians 20. Now, therefore, you are no
more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the
saints into the household of God, and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself is the chief
cornerstone." So all the prophets of the past, to him give all
the prophets witness, all the apostles in the New Testament
day, they all said there's one foundation. The twelve apostles
all said with the prophets there's one foundation. They all preached
the Lord Jesus Christ as the only foundation to rest upon.
Each of the 12 apostles preached Christ crucified as all our foundation
upon which we can build. Isaiah 28 verse 16, God said,
behold, I lay in Zion for a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone. He that believeth on him shall
not be forced out. And then the Apostle Paul said,
other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid. And
Peter said on the day of Pentecost, he said, neither is there salvation
in any other than the Lord Jesus Christ. And then he writes in
his epistle to whom coming as into a living stone, disallowed
of men, It's a stone of rock of stumbling, but chosen of God
and precious. You also, as living stones, are
built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual
sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ, elect and precious. He that believeth on him shall
not be confounded. To you who believe on him, he
is altogether precious. Precious, precious. In verse 19, it talks about the
foundation of the wall are garnished with all these precious stones,
12 precious stones. And if you go back to the Old
Testament priest, on his breastplate, He had 12 stones mirroring these
12 stones, and we know the 12 stones on that breastplate are
the Old Testament high priest. When he went into the holy place
and the Holy of Holies, he was representing the names of those
12 tribes of Israel, symbolic and symbolized with those 12
precious stones. The 12 precious stones garnish
the foundation of the wall, are symbolic of the glorious attributes
of God our Savior. His holiness, his righteousness,
his love, His mercy, sovereign mercy, sovereign grace, sovereign
power, total power, His all glory given unto Him, His eternality,
His unchangeable, unchangeableness, and His faithfulness. Now we
could spend the rest of the day talking about those different
attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I think that these
different stones here are symbolic of the glory of the Lord Jesus
Christ. His power, His grace, His mercy,
His love. all through the scriptures are
given unto us. Now here's the sixth thing we
want to look at. The city also had the great wall
with 12 gates of pearl. In verse 12, go back to verse
12, and had a wall great and high and had 12 gates And the
gates were twelve angels, messengers, and names written thereon, which
are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On
the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south
three gates, and on the west three gates. Again it says in
verse 21, And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, every several,
or every one, Every one gate was one pearl, and the street
of the city was pure gold, as it were, transparent glass. And
then verse 25, And the gates of it shall not be shut at all,
day by day, at all by day, for there shall be no night. No night
there. So, the gates of the city. Now
normally, and we have to think in a realm of where we live.
We can identify with a foundation. We can identify with a wall.
And if the wall has a gate, what do you use the gate for?
You use the gate to get through the wall, don't you? Well, normally
gates are used to gain lawful access into the city. We know
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the only door, the only gate,
into this spiritual kingdom. The Lord said, I am the door
by me. If any man enter in, he shall
be saved. He shall go out and in and find
pasture out of death into life. Verse 27 of the text said, only
the elect of God enter in whose names are written in the land
book of life. They have the right to enter
into these gates by the grace of God. Each gate was named for
the twelve tribes of Israel. Three gates on each side of the
four sides of that city wall. The elect of God are gathered
from the four corners of the earth. Four, in scripture, is
the number of the earth. East, West, North, South. Remember the Lord told the disciples,
the risen Lord said, go into all the world and preach the
gospel to every creature. So each gate was named for the
12 tribes of Israel. These three gates. We know from reading the scripture,
God has an elect from every tribe, kindred, nation, tongue, and
their heaven. We know, we read in Isaiah 43 that he's going
to gather the elect from the north, the south, the east, and
the west. He's going to bring them unto
himself. And notice it's three gates on
each side. Why not two? Why not five? Why not one? Three, in scripture, is the number
of deity. Deity. Trinity. The Lord Jesus
Christ. So 1 is the number of God, 2
is the number of witness, 3 is the number of deity, 4 is the
number of the earth, 5 is the number of grace, 6 is the number
of man, 7 is the number of completeness, and you can do a whole study
on these different numbers. But they're symbolic of things. 4 is the number of the earth.
That's why the Lord told those disciples to go into all the
world and preach the gospel to every creature. All the world. God has an elect everywhere.
Each gate had 12 angels, messengers of the gospel, declaring the
message of the gospel, saying the Lord Jesus Christ is the
only Savior. We preach the gospel and tell
sinners to look to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the gate. He's the
way. He said, I'm the way, the truth,
the light. No man comes to the Father but by and through me.
He's the gate. He's the foundation. He's the
wall. He's everything. Christ is all
and in all. In Him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we're complete in Him. These 12 gates,
as it says in verse 21, turn back over there, the 12 gates
were 12 pearls. Every several, every one gate
was one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as
it were transparent as glass. Twelve gates, twelve pearls,
on each gate one pearl. Now people often talk about and
sing about the pearly gates. saying the pearly gates. I guess
it comes from that, what we just read. But remember, this is a
symbolic picture of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
I don't expect to see a street of gold or pearly gates. I expect
to see the Lord Jesus Christ face to face. You see, He's the
fulfillment of all this. Now remember, the Lord gave this
parable in Matthew 13, verse 45 and 46. is called the parable of the
pearl of great price. He said, the kingdom of heaven
is likened to a merchant man seeking goodly pearls, who when
he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that
he had and bought it. You see, Christ is that one precious
pearl that we must have. And we say with the Apostle Paul,
we count everything else lost, dung, ruined, that we may win
Christ and be found in Him. He's all my righteousness before
God. He is that pearl that I need. He is that pearl that I need
to enter into this city and to enjoy the Lord Jesus Christ forever.
Here's the seventh thing. The glorious city had but one
street of pure gold, clear as glass, as it says in the last
part of verse 21. And the street of the city was
pure gold. I remember years ago, I used
to work with a very religious man. And he was always trying
to catch me at something. He was trying to trip me up.
He said to me one day, and I've never forgotten it. I went and
looked it up. He said, you know, the Bible
doesn't say anything about streets of gold. I said, yes, it does. The Bible talks about streets
of gold. He said, you're wrong. And I went and looked it up,
and he was right. It doesn't say streets of gold,
does it? Street. Now, why make a big deal
about that? There's just one way of salvation.
Now, salvation is not like some say they have this mountain theology.
You've heard of the mountain theology? Here's God on the top
of the mountain. And we have all these different
streets, all these different ways. We're all trying to climb
up this mountain a different way to get to the top. That's
the theology of demons. That's the theology of works.
There is just one way and Christ is that way. I am the way, the
life, the truth. This glorious city has but one
street of pure gold. It's a perfect way. It's a perfect
street, never needs no potholes, straight as an arrow. Never needs
repaving. This street is a perfect street
of gold. Running through the city would
lead to the throne of grace. And again, symbolic language
denoting the purity, pure as glass. The way of salvation in
Christ is a perfect way. clear as glass, clear as crystal
to those who have eyes to see Christ as everything in salvation. Now make sure you understand
this point, there's just one way of salvation. In Christ,
by His grace. We read Ephesians 4, there's
one Lord, one faith, one gospel, one way. There's just one way
that leads to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one way of
grace. Now, I'll tell you a story Braxton
can get a hold of. I'm going to tell you a story,
Braxton. I know a friend of mine had a
grandson about your age. And he was riding along with
his grandpa one day and he saw a traffic sign. And the traffic
sign said, one way. One way. How many of you have
seen a one way sign? You better not go the other way.
You get in trouble. One way. It goes this way, right
here. And the little boy said to his daddy, he said, look,
grandpa, he said, there's the gospel. And he said, what do
you mean? He said, see that sign? One way.
Salvation, one way in the Lord Jesus Christ. One way, that's
right. One way in the Lord Jesus Christ. To go some other way, is destruction. There's just one way to this
celestial city. And that one way is the Lord
Jesus Christ alone. Now, I want to close this message
by looking at verse 22 and then verse 27. John said, I saw no
temple therein for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb, the Lamb's
dwelling of it. the temple of it, the Lamb. John
in this vision does not see any temple or tabernacle, but rather
the Lamb of God as our eternal dwelling place. The message of
the whole Bible is the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God. I had it on the radio program
this morning. I don't know if you caught the radio message
at 8.30 today, but when I started listening to it, they repeated
the message from last week. Hebrews 9.26. And I used to get
upset when they did that. I sent them a new message for
this Sunday, and they played the message from last week. By
the providence of God, that's what I needed to hear. Because
in that message, I had this statement about Isaac and Abraham going
to Mount Moriah to worship God. And Isaac said to his father,
where's the Lamb? The whole Bible is describing
the Lamb of God, the Lord Jesus Christ. The whole message of
the Bible is the Lamb. And Abraham responded back to
his young son Isaac, God will provide Himself as the Lamb. What did John say? Behold the
Lamb of God that takes away our sin. All through the Revelation
we've studied here in this book is about the Lamb of God. 27
times, at least that many times, maybe more. We see the Lamb who
is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. We see the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lamb upon the throne. The Lamb characterized in His
sacrificial character. Isaac knew you couldn't approach
God without a sacrifice. with our Lamb appointed, designated
of God. That Lamb is Christ and Him crucified. Christ and Him crucified. He
is the Lamb of God. The Lamb slain before the foundation
of the world. Now, look at verse 24 and 25 and 26.
And the nations of them which were saved justified by the blood
of the Lamb shall walk in the light of that, Christ in Him
crucified, and the kings of the earth, that is, believers who
have been made kings and priests unto our God, to bring their
glory and honor or their worship unto our God, worthy is the Lamb,
and the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there
is no night there. And they shall bring the glory
and honor of the nations of those who were saved into this city,
and worship the Lamb. Verse 27, And there shall 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. in the Lamb's Book of Life. Nothing and no one will enter
into that city, that spiritual kingdom, but those whose names
are recorded in the Lamb's Book of Life. Look right across the
page in chapter 20 verse 15, Revelation 20 verse 15, Whosoever
was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the
lake of fire. Now, that lake of fire is the
eternal wrath of God. Eternal wrath of God. Now, I
want to close with this. Who are these people? Who are
these people whose names are written in the Book of Life?
Of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Who are these people?
Sinners chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world.
Who are these people? Sinners redeemed by the blood
atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. Who are these people? Sinners
who were justified in Christ by the free and sovereign grace
of God. For this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation,
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Who are these people? Sinners who have been granted
faith in Christ and repentance toward God and faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ. These people are those who have
been granted and ordained to eternal life and have been given
faith. As many as were ordained to eternal
life, those are the ones who believe. Who are these people?
Sinners who call upon the name of the Lord. Whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I'm one of those
whosoevers. I call upon the Lord for all
my salvation. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call upon Him
in whom they have not believed? How shall they believe in Him
of whom they have not heard? How shall they hear without a
preacher? How shall they preach except they be sin of God. There
is a necessity, it please God, through the foolishness of preaching
to save them that believe. God saves sinners by the preaching
of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our Lord prayed in John
17, Lord, sanctify them by Thy truth. Thy Word is true. That
is, save them by Thy truth. God doesn't use the lies of men
to teach the truth. Can you teach the truth by telling
a lie? You can't do that. God uses the truth to teach men
the truth. And that truth is salvation in
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, on the front page of your
bulletin, don't look. Don't look at your bulletin.
But on the front page of your bulletin is this verse that's
been there for 29 years. We preach not ourselves, but
Christ Jesus the Lord and ourselves, your servant for his sake. That's
our message. We're preaching Christ. Preaching
Christ as everything in salvation. We're not preaching ourselves.
We're preaching Christ.