Revelation 21. I'd like for us to look at verses
18 to 20 this morning. Before we do, let's ask our Lord's
blessing. Our Father, we thank You this
morning for another blessed privilege. that you've given us a heart
to want to be here as a miracle of your grace. We ask you to
bless this Word, bless it to our hearts, bless the preaching,
bless the hearing, grant us understanding. For Christ's sake we ask these
things. Amen. The apostle was told by the angel
in verse 9 of this chapter that there was a city and the gates, the walls, foundations was measured by a golden reed. I said 9, meant
15. And that golden reed we looked
at, realized, was the Word of God. God's Word is the measurement. We judge everything. by God's
Word. Heaven and earth is going to
pass away, but His Word endures forever. The Scripture says,
we looked at last time, it was four square. Verse 16 told us
it was perfect in all of its dimensions. The width, the breadth,
the height, was all the same, setting forth the exactness of
Him who has built this city, God Himself. Abraham looked for
a city that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. The city was measured in furlongs,
which was the measurement of a race. It was the layout by
which A race is run. Paul set forth, he said, I finished
my course, I finished my race. The wall itself was measured
in cubits. He found out that cubit means
the mother, means the measurement that is the standard by which
all other measurements are set forth. The wall of this city,
the Lord Jesus Christ Himself for the security, the protection,
and the comfort of the bride is set forth. Now this morning
I'd like for us to look for a few minutes at these three verses,
18, 19, and 20. And these scriptures sets forth
actually the material of which the wall was built. I mean, the
Scriptures are so explicit. It says there is a wall. Then
it says this is the measurement of the wall. Now it says this
is what the wall is made out of. It says in verse 18, ìAnd
the building,î or that is the material, the building, the material
of the wall, of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, likened
to clear glass, and the foundations of the wall of the city were
garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation
was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth
emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh
chrysolite, the eighth, beryl, the ninth, topaz, the tenth,
chrysoprosus, the eleventh, jacenth, the twelfth, amethyst. It says that the building of
the wall was jasper. Now, before we finish with these
particular verses 18, 19, and 20, I'm going to tell you right
now that there are some of these stones that I could not find
the meaning of. But it's just like the 144 cubits. I could read a lot of speculation
on 144 cubits, but I can tell you this, if the measurement
of the wall was 144 cubits, And cubit means the mother measurement.
And cubit was the way by which the ark was built. That was the
mother measurement. I can come to this conclusion.
Whatever 144 means, it means exactly whatever was required
for God Almighty to be the wall of His people. Now, there are
some things I could find, and those I'll share with you. And
the rest, I'll be honest and say there are some things that
I don't know. But let's see what we do know.
It says, The building of the wall was of Jasper, or was Jasper. The word of there is in italics. This first mention of this stone
or this gem was upon the breastplate of judgment of the high priest.
That's the first place. For the sake of time, I won't
go back and read it, but I'll just tell you back in the book
of Exodus that that was one of the stones that was on the breastplate. This stone, Jasper, was mentioned
in Ezekiel 28, 13 as one of the precious stones that was referred
to as the covering, setting forth the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. But especially is this stone
and its meaning revealed Revelation 4, 2 and 3. Turn back there. Revelation 4, verse 2 and 3. John says, And immediately I
was in the Spirit. And behold, a throne was set
in heaven, and one sat on the throne. And he that sat was to
look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone. And there was a rainbow
round about the throne in sight, likened to an emerald. Now, John's
vision sets forth that there was a throne and that the appearance
of him that sat upon the throne, the first thing that is told
is that he was to look upon like Jasper. Revelation 21.11 says
that the light of the bride is likened to a stone most precious,
even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. So obviously, this
jasper that we look upon in Revelation 21, verse 18, sets forth the
powerful splendor which beamed from Him who sat upon the throne. It is a description that sets
forth the radiance of the Lord Himself, the glory of the bride
that is robed in His righteousness." That's what's set forth. The
Jasper. Jeremiah 23, verse 6 says, "...in
His days Judah shall be saved, and Israel shall dwell safely.
And this is His name whereby He shall be called the Lord our
righteousness." So John looks in verse 18. It says, "...the
building of the wall, the material of the wall, is the glory, is
the righteousness, is the radiance of the Lord God Himself who sits
upon the throne. And the city was pure gold, like
unto clear glass. Now here is the essence of the
city. It's mentioned. It talks about
the wall was built of jasper. Here is the city. It says she
is pure gold. Turn to Revelation 3.18. Revelation
3.18, the scripture says, and this is the
Lord writing to the seven churches, and he says to this church, I
counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou
mayest be rich. I'll stop right there. Gold tried
in the fire is the pure gold. The pure gold, the gold tried
in the fire. Christ Himself tried and proven
as God's sacrifice for His people. The city is what she is by the
grace of God. John says, I looked in verse
18, the building of the wall of it was of jasper. And the city was pure gold, like
unto clear glass. This city is what she is by God's
grace and by the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ imputed
to her. 1 John 4, 17, Here is our love
made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.
Think of this statement, herein is our love made perfect, that
we may have in the day of judgment, we have boldness in the day of
judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. Is He righteous? Yes. He's Jasper. He's the glory. He's the radiance. He's God Himself. As we are in Him, we are righteous. It's not that we're looked upon
as being righteous, though we are. We are righteous in Him
as He is. So are we in this world in the
person of her husband, her Redeemer, her surety. The bride is partaker. of the divine nature, holy as
He is holy. Can we dare say that we are holy
before Almighty God? If we are not, then there is
condemnation. To be no condemnation, we must
be holy as God Almighty is holy. His righteousness charged to
us. We are sons. By adoption, He
is the Son of Almighty God. As He shall appear the second
time without sin, His people in Him will be shown to be before
heaven, before earth, before hell, to be without sin. I realize that in this life we
possess The old man, he is there, that old heart, that old nature.
Paul says, I see in me no good thing. Who shall separate me
from the body of this death? Who shall? Oh, but in that day
we shall be raised incorruptible, undefiled. The bride here is
set forth as being pure gold, likened to clear glass, clean. transparency, while in this life
we attempt to hide our guilt. And we do. We attempt to hide
our frailties and our failures, our weaknesses. But in the day
of that city, the purity of God's holiness is the very description
of the bride herself. The Foundations, verse 19. of the wall of the city were
garnished, the scripture says, with all manner of precious stones. Now, we looked last week at these
foundations. Remember, the scripture says
that Abraham looked for a city that had foundations. Remember
that? Foundations. The foundations
are the setting forth of the attributes of the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is the one foundation. There is only one foundation,
and it is Christ Himself. These twelve precious stones
that are set forth, just like the twelve precious stones that
were borne upon the breastplate of the high priest, set forth
exactly what Almighty God has provided in the person of our
substitute. All that was required for our
justification is set forth in those precious stones. And the
names of God's elect are written in those attributes. That is
what they are for. Who He is, is for us. has set forth some of these stones. Here, I will show you that which
I've been able to find. It says that the first, in verse
19, about halfway down, the first foundation was Jasper. Now, that word first right there
means the foremost. The foremost. Remember, these
foundations set forth the attributes of the Lord Jesus Christ, His
character, who He is. It says the first foundation
is Jasper. We look back at Revelation 4
a while ago, and it was a description, that's what it says, of him that
sat on the throne. He that sat upon the throne was like to look
as Jasper, a sardine stone. And knowing that Jasper sets
forth his glory, here is the first foundation attribute. He's God. He is God Almighty. What did Thomas say when he came
to the Lord? And the Lord told him, He said,
Fill my hands and fill my sight. What did Thomas say? My Lord,
my God, my God. Men today are worshiping a little
g God of their imagination. They have made up someone in
their mind If one God Almighty, He is God. John says, I looked,
and the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with
all manner of precious stone. And the foundation, the first,
the foremost foundation, was jasper. In the beginning was
the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. Here is the foundation attribute
that is set forth. God is holy. That is where it
starts. You are holy. Holy. The second, it says, was Sapphire. Now, Ezekiel 1.26 says, And above
the firmament that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne,
as the appearance of the sapphire stone, Ezekiel 126. Here's another
attribute that I find, that He's the King of kings and the Lord
of lords. He rules over all things. Here's
the foremost attribute. You're holy. You're holy. Here's the next one. You're the
King. You're the Lord. Oh, what comfort
there is in knowing that our God rules all things. Here's the king. He is the one
who's in control. He does as He does because of
who He is. I realize I get up every morning.
Things happen. Stuff. And the comfort that I
know is this, that Almighty God does all things well. He rules
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and no man stays His hand. No man asks Him. He does what
He does because of who He is, because of what He's purposed.
That's what's set forth in the sapphire stone. He's the King. He's the Lord. The third that
I could find was Chalcedony. The third was that precious stone. Now, I will tell you this. based upon what I could find
as far as the order of the stones that were upon the breastplate
of the high priest. Those stones were not set in
just random order. You know that. I mean, they were
set there. They were placed there. They
had the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. But as much as I could
find, the stones were set in order based on the birth date. of the sons, the tribes of Israel. The Chalcedony stone probably,
and I say that because there are some things, Brother Scott,
I just cannot know. I don't know, but probably the
stone was of the tribe of Judah. Now that makes perfect sense
to me because the Lord Jesus Christ did not come from the
tribe of Levi. He came from the tribe of Judah. Our hope and security is not
through the law. The tribe of Levi was the Levitical
priesthood. He came through the tribe of
Judah. So as near as I could find, this
stone was probably the stone of Judah. But here's one thing
I do know. And of the rest of the stones,
they're mentioned one time in the Scripture. All the rest of
those concerning those particular stones in their orders. I do
know this. Whatever the stones represent,
I can set forth with clarity that they set forth the attributes
of the Lord Jesus Christ. I know He's holy. I know He's
the King. I know He's the fulfillment of
all of the law of God. I know He's good. I know He's
righteous. I know He is everlasting. I know,
name anything you want to name concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. And though I'm not able to set
forth by finding in Scripture exactly what that stone means,
secret things belong to God. But I do know this, they are
descriptive of the foundation Himself. And for that, I can
rest. All that He is, all that we are,
as being found in Him, I know is written in those foundations. That foundation Himself is the
Lord Jesus Christ. The foundations are the attributes
of Him. who sits on that throne. With
that, we'll stop for this portion.