The book of Revelation chapter
21, and I'd like to read verses 9 through 12. Revelation chapter
21 verses 9 through 12, and I'd like to speak about the light
of the city. As we look at the view of the
church that God gives us here in the book of Revelation, this
is a compilation. This is a view of many places
in scripture about the church, about the saints of the Lord,
the lost sheep that have been found, brought into the fold,
and how they represent the Lord Jesus. We have been predestined
to be conformed to the image. of his son. And truly, that's
what we see here, is that conforming. And the Lord has promised it.
He's working it out. As we noticed in the book of
Isaiah this past Sunday night and the Sunday before when we
looked at it, those critters that are fierce, that are brought
to Christ by the gospel and through the power of the Holy Spirit,
There's a calmness that's brought upon them. And over a period
of time, even the worst take on the appearance of sheep. The
Lord never saves wolves and makes them into sheep. They have the
appearance of wolves. You can't tell the difference
because the blindness of our eyes, but not his blindness.
He knows that they're sheep. And they are ragged, rugged people. But brought into the fold, they
take on a new heart, a new attitude. And they lay down together. And
it's not long. They're all feasting on the same
bread and drinking of the same water. All right, the book of
Revelation chapter 21, verse 9. The scripture says, Revelation
chapter 21, verse 9. And there came unto me one of
the seven angels, which had the seven vials full of the seven
last plagues, and talked with me, saying, come hither. I'll
show thee the bride, the lamb's wife. 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. And we've looked at this lamb's wife, the bride, and we've
looked at this great city, and this holy Jerusalem. And in verse
11, having the glory of God, and her light was likened to
a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Now there's a lot said in the
Bible about light. looked that word light up and
I couldn't get to the end of it. There are just many, many
verses that have to do with light in the scripture. But there is
a light that is mentioned in this passage of scripture as
we find in so many other passages of scripture. And this light
is more than just a visible light. It's more than, and it's more
than just a spiritual sun. It is a knowledge. that's granted
to the sheep. It's a knowledge granted to the
church about the Lord Jesus Christ. That's truly the light. He is
the light. But he grants knowledge about
him. He grants revelation about him. He is the true light to lighten
the Gentiles. And it is a light that opens
up our understanding about God. All religion is an expression
of spiritual darkness. I'll say that again. All religion
is an expression of spiritual darkness. I don't know how many
times I've heard as we've talked, I've got a friend that's going
off into this. How could they? That is so dark. And it's just filled with works
and self-righteousness. And I have a friend that's going
over into this. And I have a friend that's going there. And all religion
is just an expression. And we have, we've categorized
it. We've been taught from our youth
up to categorize religion and put certain religions as really,
really bad. And the other ones are a little
bit better. And then we've got the good religions. Well, they're
all just an expression of spiritual darkness. And the only place
that we will ever have spiritual light is as we are brought into
the church, as we are brought into Christ, as we're brought
into his presence and have an understanding about what salvation
really is and who it comes from. Today I listened to the 42nd
chapter of the book of Job. It was on the internet and there's
a place there you can go have it read to you. And I was just
listening to it. I had prep period and what better
thing for me to do. I didn't have anything else to
do, so I just clicked it off. And in that, the last two or
three chapters of the book of Job, and particularly in the
42nd chapter, we find that Job was instructed by the Lord. All
of his three friends couldn't get to that point. They couldn't
instruct him. They didn't know anything about
it. They were always pointing out, Job, if you hadn't done
something really bad, you wouldn't be where you are. And then someone
comes along and says, you know, all of you are missing the point,
and brought to him the gospel. And then out of the gospel came
the voice of the Lord Jesus and instructed Job. What light was
brought to Job to understand and to comprehend the sovereignty
of God? Job, were you there when I? Job,
were you there when? Job, were you? And Job had to
come to the conclusion, I am a needy creature. I am undone. And then he said, I've heard
of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye seeth light. My eye seeth you. What a revelation,
what an opening up, and that's the light of the city, is the
Lord Jesus Christ as he opens up our understanding about spiritual
things and causes us to see ourself as we are and to see God as he
is. He makes us feel smaller about
ourself and greater about him. That's what it is to have this
light in this city. Would you turn with me to 2 Corinthians
chapter 4. Second Corinthians chapter 4,
and we have this mentioned there, that the Lord God himself is
the light of the city and he's the one that gives us light.
It's not like turning on a light in a room because a lot of blind
people have seen greater things than people that have never been
blind, physically speaking. They've seen great things about
God. They've had their understanding
opened. They've been enlightened. They've been opened up to the
blessed truths of God. And that is the light of the
city. To know God and to know Christ
and to know what it is to have this great salvation and rejoice
in the Lord God, our light. He's the one that lightens the
city. There was light created before
there was a sun and a moon. We relish in that. We delight
in that. I don't understand that. And
then I was thinking in there in my, in my study, you know,
sometimes, sometimes I sit some things and sometimes I just sits.
Well, this evening I was thinking just a little bit. What was it
like before there was light created? And it tells us that God is in
a glory that no man approaches, and yet he created light. I don't
know what it was like before. I have no comprehension. But
I know this, in creation, God said, let there be light. And
there was light. And he's the one that divided
it into darkness. I don't understand all I know
about it. But he is the light of the city. He's the light of
every believer. He's the light of revelation. All right. Let's get over here,
because I think Mike was right on Sunday, wasn't he? Second
Corinthians chapter four, verse three. Second Corinthians chapter
four and verse three. But if our gospel be hid. If
it be hid. Now, I've shared this before,
I'm not sure that the God of this world is the devil. I'm
more convinced every day I live the God of this world is our
old self-will. That's what we really worship.
And we can't be made to worship anything. We can't be made to
eat of the fruit. Adam was not made to eat of that
fruit. Satan beguiled and said it's
good and all these other things to his wife, but he couldn't
be made to eat of that fruit. We can't be made to do, but we do what we want to do
by our nature. Satan doesn't make us do anything.
He is prohibited from that. But we do worship, what's to
say, the God of this world. If our gospel be hid, it is hid
to them that are lost, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
the minds of them. I just can't help but believe
that that's just self-religion has blinded our own minds. Now, I may be wrong. Some of
the commentators don't agree with me, but I don't agree with
some of them. I just come to this conclusion,
the God of this world is just self-religion, self-will, will
and works religion. And then it goes on, the God
of this world blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest
the light of the glorious gospel of Christ. Now that just sheds
on us light, the glorious gospel of Christ. Now, if it doesn't
have Christ, it's not the gospel. If it doesn't have the glory
of Christ, it's not the gospel. If it doesn't have God as the
center of it, it is not the gospel. If God is not the creator of
it, it is not the gospel. If God is not the giver of it,
it is not the gospel. God has a gospel of good news,
and it is the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of
God, should shine into them. But 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. Now, this takes us right back
to Genesis chapter 1 and verse 3. But this is in a spiritual
sense. That was in a real light sense. Before God did a lot of the work,
he created light. And then we find later he created
the sun and the moon. There was light, lots of light. And it was a different light.
And then he created the sun. And it rules the day. And the
moon is like the church, has no light in itself, but must
be given light. We don't have any of our own.
The light of this city is not the people. The light of the
city is not their smarts. The light of the city is Christ
and he gives his light to us. As it says, for God who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. What a light it is to have knowledge
about God given to us. that he's more than our conception
of God. The God of this world gives a
very poor, our religion, our view about ourselves gives a
very poor report about God. It is never a big report. It's always a small report. That's
no wonder why people have a little salvation, because they have
such a little God. And he can't get things done,
and he's not accomplished yet. And even the acts of, they call
it nature, are given credit to nature. God is not ruling over
that. He's not guiding over that. So
he's just a little God trying to get things done. And that's
what our nature tells us. But what a revelation it is to
be given the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ,
this great light. He is God. a revelation that
he is God. He's God in all things and he
has never succumbed to anybody or their will. He is the God
over prayer. He's the God over salvation.
He's the God over the earth. He's the God over the light that
he gives to us. To some he gives more light.
But to everyone, they say, I'm convinced of this in the church,
that whatever light we're given, we rejoice in. We don't get jealous
over what he's given someone else. We just rejoice in what
we've been given. He could have left us in the
dark, but he has solved it to bring his people out of darkness
into a marvelous light. God's people just say, thank
you for the light you've given me. Now, if you be pleased, you'll
give more light. But if not, I'm much better off
than I was. I see things that I didn't see
before. It's a glorious light. It's the
light of the city. It's the light that is Christ.
It is the light that he is and he has created. As it tells us
here in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 and verse 6, it says, the light
of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's truly the light. That's
the light we want. That's the light we want. That's
the light that's going to be there in that great day when
we're with him. That's the light. Oh, the knowledge
of Christ that will be granted to the body to know what it is
to be in his presence, to know as we are known. What a light
of knowledge that will be. Would you turn with me back to
the book of Isaiah, Isaiah chapter 60. Christ is the light of the
church. He alone can scatter the spiritual
darkness that we have by nature. He alone, he alone is able to
scatter the spiritual darkness that we have. And it is a darkness. It's not just being in the dark.
It's a darkness. We'll find a verse of scripture
that speaks of that. It's not just, well, I'm out in the dark.
No, we are in the darkness. It's 10 times worse than we thought.
There is no light of knowledge about God. We can spend all the
time in the woods that we want to, but we'll never come. Oh, thank you, sir. Good thing Brother Rupert's coming. We can spend all the time in
the woods, and we can stare at the stars until we're blind,
but we'll never come to the knowledge of God, that light. It's only
granted as he grants to us the new birth. All right, in the
book of Isaiah chapter 60, Isaiah chapter 60, Verses 1 through
5, Isaiah chapter 60, arise. Isaiah chapter 60 verse 1, rise,
shine, for the light has come and the glory of the Lord has
risen upon thee. The glory of the Lord, that's
our light. It's the knowledge of Christ.
It's the revelation of Christ. the revelation of Jesus Christ. That's the light. That's the
knowledge about the Savior, what he allows us to know about him,
know about salvation, to know about his work of redemption,
to be able to say it is all of Christ takes the revelation,
the light of God. We'll hang on. and make ourselves
part of it until we've seen the light of the Lord Jesus. And
then we realize in the beginning God created the light. God gave the light. We didn't
have it ourselves. We couldn't scratch it out. There
are just not enough candles in the world. There's not enough
fuel. We'll never get it. He is the
light, all right? Isaiah 60 verse 2 says here,
for behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness
the people. But the Lord shall arise upon
thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles
shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy
rising. Lift up thine eyes round about
and see all they gather themselves together. They come to thee.
Thy son shall come from far and thy daughters shall be nursed
at thy side. Then thou shalt see and flow
together and thy heart shall fear and be enlarged because
the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee. The forces
of the Gentiles shall come unto thee. And then drop down to verse
19. The sun shall be no more thy light by day. Now, we have
created our own sun when it comes to spiritual things. By nature,
we've created our own sun. We've got our own ideas. We've
got our own brightness. And we're discussing Sunday night
and all of the the difference between being a this and a that,
because the that is far more intellectual. I'm saying the doctrines of grace
are far more intellectual, and all it does for adopting the
doctrines of grace is promote us. Now, when Christ is revealed
to our heart and we see that he is all in all, it is not doctrine,
it is a person. And we'll see his doctrine, we'll
see his teaching. And his teaching is, I am the
light of the world. Without me, ye can do nothing.
He is the light. He is the light of the city.
He's the light of the church. He's the light of the sheep.
He is the knowledge that God grants about himself. Goes on
here in verse 19, the sun shall be no more the light by day,
neither the 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 no more go down, neither shall
thy moon withdraw itself, for the Lord shall be thine everlasting
light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. We talk about
daylight saving time. We got a little more light in
the evening. Well, it's no more light than
we had. We just changed the clock. But this, spiritually, there
is no more darkness. Once God has revealed his son
to his people, there's no more darkness. Now, we may not understand
all the light, but there is no more darkness. He is the revelation. Turn with me to the book of Luke,
Luke chapter 2. We kind of started here. When
we started the book of Revelation, because it is in this verse of
scripture that we find the same word, apocalypso. I don't know how many times since
we started this book I've heard whether books, television, movies,
preachers talk about the apocalypse, the end, the wars, and the meaning
of the word can't be any different from that, then darkness is to
light. Luke chapter 2, verse 32. The word apocalypso is in here,
which is the word revelation. Luke chapter 2, verse 22. And
when, excuse me, 32, verse 32. A light to lighten. the Gentiles and the glory of
thy people Israel. A light to lighten. He is the
light of the city. That word lighten, a light to
light. He's a light to lighten the Gentiles
or to be revealed to the Gentiles. A light to show the light of
Christ. In the book of John Chapter 12,
would you turn there with me, John Chapter 12. Verse 46, John chapter 12 and verse 46. I am come a light into the world
and whosoever believeth on me shall not abide in darkness. I am come. a light into the world
that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness."
There's no darkness in the people of God. We may not see things
completely, that's true. We may not understand completely,
that's true. But there's no darkness. We're
just getting, as he opens our understanding, opens our comprehension,
opens our spiritual awareness. we get to see more of what we
already have. We're not looking for a second
blessing. We're looking for the 4,700 millionth one. Every day
is a blessing from the Lord to enjoy his light. Now, over in
the book of Exodus, there was a time during those great plagues
that were brought on. It's interesting how people explain
that away. Those ten plagues, it's just so interesting how
people will explain that away. And the reason that people explain
it away is there is no light in them at all. If we're going
to explain away the greatness of God, the mystery of God, then
there is no light. We're in darkness. It's not that
we're in the dark. We are in, we are darkness. It's a serious situation, all
right? In the book of Exodus chapter
10, one of the plagues that came upon Egypt, and it makes such
a difference. We see such a difference as a
picture and as a type and a shadow, such a difference between the
world and the church found in this passage of scripture. In
Egypt, there is absolute darkness. It is a darkness. I read somewhere, it's not even
the darkness of going down into a cave. It is worse than that. It's not even a darkness that
you can feel. It's worse than that. The darkness
that was in Egypt, it is a darkness of a darkness. There is no light at all. Now
notice here, in Exodus chapter 10, verse 21. And the Lord said
unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven, that there
may be a darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness which
may be felt. It is a darkness that is a darkness. I don't understand what it means
to be felt. It's dark, but the point that's
made here, and Moses stretched forth his hand towards heaven,
and there was a thick darkness in all the land of Egypt three
days. They saw not one another, neither rose up from his place
for three days. Now, we mentioned this not too
long ago. It wasn't because they didn't have coal oil and they
didn't have candles. This darkness was a darkness that was so darkness,
but And it's found right there in that verse 23. But all the
children of Israel had light in their dwellings. The world is in darkness, but
all the children of Israel have light in their heart. Light in their soul. Light about
God. Light about God's purposes. Light
about God's salvation. Light about God's revelation.
Light about God's redemption. Light about God's coming again. Light about Christ's reign. Light,
light, light. We're overwhelmed with it. The
knowledge that God has given us is overwhelming. The sovereignty
of God is overwhelming. The depravity of man is overwhelming. Only after we've seen the light
of the glory of God will we even consider the depravity, the total
depravity of man. We'll never see the glory of
God's work before the world began unless he opens our heart to
understand it. We'll never know what it is to
have him watch over us every step of our life, which is called
his perseverance. We'll never know it. We'll not
comprehend any of it. But it's overwhelming when we
get to see it. It is so large and so immense.
The light is so bright. When it talks about the Lord
Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration, not one of those disciples could
stare him down. There was a light that was like
the sunshine, and his clothes were whiter than any bleach could
get them. That's what it was on the Mount
of Transfiguration. And that's what it is to be in
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ spiritually. It is a light
that we can't even come to the conclusion of. We can't discuss
it out. We can't render it out. We can't
talk it out. We can't finish it up. It is
a light that's overwhelming and continues on the revelation of
Jesus Christ. Turn with me, if you would, to
the book of Ephesians, chapter five. It says here, ye were sometimes
darkness. It doesn't say you were sometimes
in darkness. Ephesians chapter five. Oh, the
light of the city, the light of the city is the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the light. The city, the
new Jerusalem is well lit. It is lit. by the Lord Jesus
Christ, and he grants it. There's no switches in it. We
don't turn it on and off. It's not something we cast aside.
It's not something that we know today and tomorrow. Well, I'm
gonna have to review that. It's something God gives us.
It's an overwhelming light. Ephesians chapter five, Ephesians
chapter five and verse eight, it says this. Ephesians chapter
5 and verse 8, for ye were sometimes darkness. As I said, it doesn't
say sometimes in darkness, sometimes darkness. But now are ye light
in the Lord. It doesn't say little light, medium
light, all light. You're light in the Lord. Walk
as children of light. The fruit of the Spirit is in
all goodness and righteousness and truth. Turn with me, if you
would, back to the Psalms, Psalm 27. The light of the city. Christ is the light of the church.
He alone can scatter the spiritual darkness we have by nature and
give us a light that allows us to see the glory of God. All religion is an expression
of spiritual darkness. The word of God, the gospel is
an expression of spiritual light. Psalm 27, verse 1, the psalmist
shares this about the light of the city, the glory of that light,
the revelation, the understanding that we're granted. Now, don't
get me wrong. I believe it's going to be really
bright there. But the brightness of the church now is Christ,
the gospel, the glory of God. That's the brightness. And people
who were blind have got to see that. And people who could see
have been blinded to it. Psalm 27, verse 1, it says, the
Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? The
Lord is my light. He's the one that opened up the
understanding, opened up, created life within us. And in Matthew,
Matthew chapter 17, we just alluded to this, but I'd like to read
that verse about the appearance of the Lord Jesus. The appearance of the Lord Jesus.
Matthew 17 and verse two. It says here, he was transfigured.
17 verse two, Book of Matthew, he's transfigured before them.
And his face did shine as the sun. Now it doesn't say it was
the sun, but it shined as the sun. It was so bright, those
disciples just barely could glance at it. His face did shine as
the sun, and his ring was white as the light. Now there is a
experience found in the Old Testament twice. In the book of Exodus,
it tells us that when all of the material, and it's quite a list of things that needed
to be brought together to make the tabernacle. When you look
at the size of the boards, I don't know where they fell those trees.
They must have cut all the trees down in the Sinai. That's why
there's nothing left. And all the tapestries, and all
the beauty, all the furniture, everything. Now it was made here
and there and yon as God gave wisdom. And according to the
pattern that was in the mount. And when it was all assembled
for the first time, it tells us that the glory of the Lord
filled that house. I think it was bright. It was
bright. Several hundred years later,
after David wanted to and Solomon got to, built the temple. It was symbolic that I've come
to dwell. And when they built that, they
put all the furniture in it, guess what? The same thing happened. The glory of the Lord. It tells
us there that the staves were pulled out of the mercy seat.
That's the first time it ever had happened. Up to this point,
those staves that were used for carrying it were left there.
This is the first time those staves are pulled out and they're
set down. And those priests walked out,
and the glory of the Lord filled that house. I can't help but
think that was bright. Several hundred years later,
it says, when the day of Pentecost was fully come, there was a brightness
that came upon the church. Now, that brightness had always
been with the church. I've read a lot of authors that
said this is where the church started. I'm sorry, I have to
disagree. The church started with the first
person that was saved in the Old Testament. That's where the
church started. But the material is added over
the centuries and here in a glorious symbol that God gave to us The
church was filled with the glory of God. Symbolic of what we see
over there. That's just types and shadows
and pictures. Here's the church being overwhelmed
with the glory of God. And then we go over to the book
of Revelation and it says, there is no need for light in this
city. For Christ is the light of this
city. What a statement God has left
to us. There is no light except in Christ. And there will be no knowledge
of God except in Christ. And he truly is a light to lighten. And without that, we are in darkness. And we are darkness. It's a serious
plight. And after the Lord saves his
people, we look around, see our friends doing what they're doing,
and we have to say, we say, how could they do that? And then
we have to say, except for the grace of God, there go I. I could be going there. I could
be doing that. I've been there and done that
and expected my own works to be my own glory. The God of this
world has blinded the minds. All right. The light of the city,
Christ, he is the light. And this city, New Jerusalem,
is well lit. I have volumes that try to explain
the things about God. They call them systematic theologies. They try to explain things about
God. You know what? The best fall
far short of the light that's in this city.