In Christ's name, Amen. John was carried away, the Scripture
says, in the spirit to a great and high mountain. And he was shown what the Scripture
reveals to be holy Jerusalem, that great city. the city that
is ever-descending from heaven, from God Himself. This city is
the bride herself. It's the church. It's the Lamb's
wife. She's a great and a high mountain,
is the way John described her. Mount Zion. Turn with me to Psalm
chapter 48. Psalm 48. Here is the mountain of God.
Mount Zion. Psalm 48, verse 1, ìGreat is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised in the city of our God in the mountain
of His holiness. Beautiful for situation. The joy of the whole earth is
Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great
King. God is known in her palaces for
a refuge. The city of our God, the mountain
of His holiness. Scripture said in that second
verse, beautiful for situation. It's kind of an unusual term. I've heard it. Beautiful for
situation. What does that mean? Beautiful
for situation. Situation means her elevation
is what the word means. Beautiful is her elevation. The greatness of her height. She is gracefully raised. Beautiful is she elevated. The joy of the whole earth. Now, you know this. The whole earth, without distinction,
is not joyful in the Lord. They don't joy in the Lord. They
don't joy in the God of this Bible. The Scripture says, That
the joy of the whole earth, though, is Mount Zion, meaning that the
delight of the nations, the kindreds, the tribes, and the tongues out
of whom God has called a people, Mount Zion is their joy. The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion, the bride. on the sides of the north." There's
another statement that's kind of unusual. Beautiful for situation,
the joy of the whole earth on the sides of the north. It's
kind of a puzzling description, but this is what that means,
on the sides of the north. It means on the border of the
hidden, on the border of the dark. is on the sides of the
North. Here is what I think is being
said concerning Mount Zion. Where all is hidden from man's
view of God's pleasure to reside with men, the mountain of Zion
is revealed on the sides of the North, on the border of the hidden
where men cannot look, cannot see, cannot perceive. There is
Mount Zion on the sides of the north, on the border of the hidden.
The joy of the whole earth. Mount Zion, great city, because
she is made up of a great number that no man can number. Well,
back in Revelation chapter 21, Verse 11, let's look at verse
11 this morning. John carried away, in verse 10,
the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from
God, having the glory of God. And her light was likened to
a stone, most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as
crystal. Now, understand this. John is
seeing the Blessed Bride as God describes her to be, not only
in this world, but in the world that is to come, in eternity,
where sin will be no more, wherein will dwell righteousness. John
saw that this city was having the glory of God. She holds or
possesses the splendor that God has eternally thought, purposed,
to bestow upon her in His Son. She has the glory of God. Having chosen her in Christ,
and Christ being in her, she in Him, she possesses the very
radiance, the very dignity, the very honor of the blessed God
and Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. I look around this morning. I'm
convinced that some of God's people are here. I'm convinced
of that. I look around and I see human
beings. I see them. We've done the best
that we can this morning to kind of, you know, get cleaned up
and dressed up and fixed up and all this kind of stuff, but I
cannot look and see with spiritual eyes the perception of the glory
of Almighty God. But that's the way he describes
her to be. That's the way John saw her.
His image is now perfected in her. John looks upon her. His
favor shines upon her. And the Scripture says, and her
light was likened to a stone most precious jasper stone, clear
as crystal. Now before we continue with the
description of this holy city, the bride, realize that the description
that is given her in heaven is her description right now as
she is viewed in the Lord Jesus Christ. There is therefore now
no condemnation To who? To them that be in Christ Jesus.
To them who walk, not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. John says her light, or her brilliance,
is the glory of God Himself. Turn with me back over to Revelation. Well, just turn one page. We're
going to look at Isaiah in a minute. Look at Revelation 21-23. Her
light, John says, that we just read. Her light was like unto
a stone. What is the light? Or let me
say this, who is the light of that city? Well, verse 23 in
Revelation 21 says, And the city had no need of the sun, neither
the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten
it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. He is the brilliance
thereof. But to what Does that word light,
the description of the Lord Jesus Christ, actually refer to? We look outside and we say that
there's the sun shining. It looks nice. I can see the
grass. It looks so good. The light is
shining. I see the light, the brilliance,
the luminance. The Scripture says in John 8.12,
I am the light of the world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. So we know
that the Lord Jesus Christ is the light. He is the radiance. He is the one before whom all
men are commanded to bow and to repent before. Romans 1.19,
it says, "...that which may be known of God is manifest in them,
for God hath showed it unto them." We look outside and someone says,
what do you see? Well, I see a tree. I see some
grass. The Scripture says that that's
the revelation of Almighty God in nature. Do men see it? No. Why? Because they're blind. He's the light. Now you that
believe, look out there, you see a tree and what do you see?
Well, you see the branches of which is grafted into the vine. We see Christ in that tree. That's what we see. How do you
see that? The light's revealed it to you.
More than just this thing that we see. You don't see light.
You don't see light. Light is invisible. You see that
which light reflects. I don't want to go into an art
lesson here, but light is refracted. And the reason that you see green
is because there's pigments in there that when invisible light
shines on it, The only thing that is reflected in that is
the yellow and the blue, which makes green. You don't see the
red in that. Now, the reason I see these red
right here is because there's pigments in there that the only
light, the only pigment that is reflected, everything else
is out. It only reflects that. The light
reveals that which by nature is invisible. He is the light. that is referred to as her life. He is the one who in this life
has driven out the darkness of spiritual ignorance, of night
and sorrow, and now is revealed to be the eternal revealer of
himself. Now turn with me to Isaiah 60.
Isaiah chapter 60. Verse 19, the sun, Isaiah 60,
19, shall no more, the sun shall be no more thy light by day,
neither for the brightness shall the moon give her light unto
thee, but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, a
revealer. That's just the light that is
reflected. off of this is the revealer.
That's telling me what's there. The light tells me that this
is a microphone right there. The light told me that. I saw
it and perceived it. The light, Christ Himself, is
the light. Thy everlasting light, thy God
and thy glory. Verse 20, Thy sun shall no more
go down, neither shall the 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. A little one shall become a thousand,
a small one a strong nation. I, the Lord, will hasten it in
His time." God Himself, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the light that
John sees, and her light was likened to a stone, most precious. The Lord is the light of my salvation. He reveals that to me. How do
I know what salvation is? The Lord is my light. How do
I know the way? The Lord is my light. How do
I know that Almighty God has chosen a people before the foundation
of the world? The Lord is my light. How do
I know that God is going to keep His people? The Lord is my light. How do I know? How do I know?
God is my light. He is her light. Having possessed
the glory of God, the thinking of God, the purpose of God, the
opinion of God in the illumination of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
everlasting light Himself, the church shall have revealed to
her in the person of her husband the light She's going to have
God revealed to her. That's what he's saying. John
says, having the glory of God and her light was like unto a
stone. What is she going to have revealed
to her? Everything. Everything. What do you know right now about
God? Tell me what you know about God. Tell me everything you know about
the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Tell me everything you
know. It won't take us long, will it? Job said this, Job 19, 26 and
27, And though after my skin, right here, worms destroy this
body, Yet in my flesh, in my freshness, shall I see God, whom
I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not another. All the hosts of heaven will
be seen as those who have been redeemed by blood, and we'll
know them." The Lord Jesus Christ, the Revealer. I'll teach you all things. Job says, I'm going to see God.
I'll understand. I'll see. On the Mount of Transfiguration,
the apostles Peter, James, and John are standing there. And
the Lord allowed just a little bit. of His radiance, His glory
to shine forth. Moses and Elijah appeared. And they knew Him. They knew
who they were. And the Scripture says, and the
Lord Jesus Christ spoke with them. He spoke to them. And Peter,
James, and John knew who they were. They recognized them. Peter said, let's build three
altars. The point being, they knew who
they were. Well, Noah, all the glorious
fullness of creation as God created this world to be in the person
of His blessed Son shall be revealed to us. We are going to see perfectly
how all things point to Him, all the fullness of the Gospel. I was mentioning to you this
little tree out here. I see this. How do I know the fullness of
what that tree, the depth of the planting of it and the furnishing
of it and the minerals in it and the photosynthesis of it? Man, I may just go on and on
and on. What do I know? The light. In her, the light
was like a stone. Her light. was the Lord Jesus
Christ Himself, the stone, the rock. Psalm 118.22 says, The
stone which the builders refused is become the headstone of the
corner. Christ is the foundation stone
laid in Zion by the Father. It is upon Him that the bride
is built. He is the chief cornerstone from
which all of the lively stones have been laid." 2 Peter 2 verse
4 says, "...to whom coming as unto a lively stone, disallowed
indeed of men, but chosen of God." Precious John said, she
had the glory of God. I saw the opinion. I saw the
purpose. I saw the thinking of Almighty
God Herself. And her revealer, her light,
was likened to a stone. most precious unto you therefore
that believe." He's precious. Precious. And this stone, even
a jasper stone, was clear as crystal. The jasper stone, I
found out, comes in a variety of colors. Just different ones.
Purple, green, blue. Sometimes a brass color. This
jasper stone is described as being one clear as crystal, perfect,
free from any flaws, the stone that was precious in God's sight,
precious in obedience, precious in redemption, precious in reconciliation,
precious in mediation between God and man, her light, her revealer. Who is she? She has the glory
of God about her. She is absolutely having all
things revealed to her. The Lord shall reveal to her
all things providentially. Why do certain things work out
the way that they do? I don't know. I don't know this,
but I'll tell you this. He who is the revealer shall
teach us all things. If we saw the end from the beginning
as He sees the end from the beginning, I see why. I see why we went
through that. I see, I understand why. Here
is the very acceptance of the Bride, the Holy City, the New
Jerusalem, the Light who is likened to a stone, most precious, clear
as crystal. Here is the Bride's righteousness,
the Lord Jesus Christ, Her husband, Christ Jesus the Lord. John said,
ìI saw her.î Iím going to have to stop right here. Weíll get
into the next verse. Here she is. She had the glory
of God. Her light was like unto a stone,
most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. In the next service, John begins
to describe her. her wall, her gates, the angels,
the names that were written. May the Lord, as she reveals
unto us the glory of the blessed city, the holy city, holy Jerusalem,
may the Lord teach us to behold Him who is altogether worthy
of praise and honor and glory in bringing her to Himself.