Revelation chapter 21 and verses
10 through the last part of this chapter, verse 27, really have
to share with us a beautiful, symbolic picture of the church
of God. And when we keep in mind that
this is symbolic, this is language that symbolizes some wonderful
things about God's people and the Lord uses this about himself.
I am the bread of life. Now that's in symbolic language.
I am the door. I am the shepherd. Now I don't
record or find recorded anywhere in the Bible that Jesus ever
herded one natural sheep. But he says I am the good shepherd.
So he uses those symbolic pictures for us. We realize our mind converts
it. Our mind puts it into, oh, that's
a neat illustration. That's a wonderful way of saying
that. And so as we go through this 21st chapter of the book
of Revelation, I hope we're able to say, wow, that's a neat way
of saying that. Instead of spending pages and
pages and paragraphs and paragraphs explaining what it is, we have
symbolic language that does it quite quickly. And then we get
to spend a lot of time ruminating on how that applies to us. This
picture, this symbolic picture of the Church of God, the Bride
of Christ, as God views her. Now this is God's view. John
gets to see it. But it is God's view of His people. It's God's view of the Church.
And we are privileged by God's grace to see this symbolic view
of the assembly God calls His lost sheep to. Now it is a group
of saints that God calls all his lost sheep to. Now who was
the first one? We don't know for sure, but Abel
was pretty close. If Adam and Eve were in it, that's
great. But all of the rest have been
added to that one. the first one, and all the rest
will be added. Now, as we get to looking at
the Bride, and we're not going to go into that today, but the
Bride, the reason the Bride of Christ is such an important,
such a valuable lesson for us is that it is a before eternity
began love affair. And that just gladdens the heart
to realize that God and His Son Christ Jesus had an eternal love
for a people and He has betrothed them. He has, I'm going to marry
them, I'm going to make them mine in a reality. We are engaged,
we might say, now, but as we've looked at some verses just in
the past, just recently, there's a reality of seeing Him face-to-face
that is going to be so much different than it is right now. When we
see Him, not through a glass darkly, but see Him face-to-face,
and we shall know Him as He is, for we shall... we will know
Him as He knows us. And right now He has perfect
knowledge of us. and then there will be perfect knowledge of
Him, and then revealed over eternity. These lost sheep are brought
into the bride, they're brought into the church, they're brought
into this assembly, they're brought into the fold, and as they are
added, they take on characteristics of Christ. We have been predestined to be
conformed to the image of the Son. So as we're brought into
the bride, as we're brought into the church, we take on, spiritually
speaking, and as God sees it, we take on the characteristics
of the One that brings us in, God. We let this mind be in you,
which is also in Christ Jesus. We take on the characteristics.
Now, we have trouble seeing that sometimes because we're still
in the flesh, and we still know more about us than we want anybody
else to ever know. We have problems, and sometimes
we have this conflict, and maybe it's all the time, we have this
conflict that Here I am in the flesh and I have all of this,
and yet over here, God says, I have all this. I have all this
conflict in me, I have all this sin, I have all this recognition.
I think the more we grow in grace, the more we realize that, and
we come to the conclusion, as Paul did, chiefest of sinners.
And then, on the other hand, we have all of the spiritual
blessings that are in Christ. So there is this constant conflict
going on. We know what we are, and yet
the Lord reveals, this is what you have. And we have been given
His characteristics. We've been given His blessings. We've been given Him. And we've
been predestined to be conformed to His image. And it's just an
ongoing, and then we shall see Him face to face. The body of
Christ, the church, is a reflection of the Savior. So when God tells
us what the church is, we're seeing a reflection of Christ. as he is given to his lost sheep. And as they're made alive in
him, here's the reflection. You have his righteousness. You
have his love. You have his peace. You have
his compassion. You have his love. And on it
goes. So it's just, we're looking at a reflection of Christ, and
this is a view that God has of the church. Now, it's very descriptive,
and it's very symbolic. But that's what really lets us
go off and ruminate. Now that song we sang, I don't
know how long it's been since we've sang that song. There's
some symbolism in there. There's some room for rumination
in that song. Just the words cause you to go
off and say, I think I want to spend a little time thinking
about this. What a beautiful way. And so often poets catch
what theologians miss. And that's the way it is with
this. Theologians are going to miss this. Christ gave this to
John to give to us so that we can see how God views us. And
that truly is a blessing, that God would view us in this manner.
Now, turn with me, if you would, to Ephesians 5. Ephesians 5. Keep your finger there in Revelation,
and we'll get there. Ephesians 5. The book of Ephesians has quite
a bit to say about this church that's mentioned here in the
book of Revelation. The first chapter of the book
of Ephesians shares with us how the church is created. a new
creation. And it was purposed before the
world began. It was purposed in the love of
God. It was purposed through the redemptive grace of God.
And that chapter 1 shares a lot about it. Chapter 2 shares with
us how he does that. And you who were dead in trespasses. By the grace of God, for by grace
are you saved. This is how God does this. This
is how God moves us from the lost sheep state to the saved
sheep state and get to be incorporated into his body and taking on his
characteristics. That's beyond me to comprehend
how people are privileged to take on the characteristics of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But it is so true and it's so
beneficial to us. All right, fifth chapter of the
book of Ephesians, verse 31. It says here, for this cause
shall a man leave his father and mother and shall be joined
unto his wife. Now, the whole scheme of husband-wife
relationship, that is one reason that we see... Now, I think it's
happened in many generations. I don't think we're the first
generation. I think there have been generations in the past,
and if God tarry, there'll be generations in the future that
have a low esteem of marriage. We're not the first. You study
a little bit about the Roman Empire, you're going to find
out some of the same kind of stuff. But people have a low
esteem of it because it is a picture of Christ and His bride. That's what he tells us. And
anytime there's something that is spiritual, there's going to
be a revolt against it. Anytime there is something that
is brought out about God, there's going to be a revolt against
it. God said because man was created in the image of God,
when a man murders another man, this is what I expect to take
place because this is his private way of getting back at God. Getting
back at his fellow man. He's created in the image of
God. That's what God tells us in the book of Genesis. So, what
our view is, that's just what God said. You've taken it out
on God when you take it out on your fellow man, because he's
created in the image of God. Well, that's one reason that
we find such an attack on this created relationship in our world
today. And I think we just have, it's
cyclical. It's been cyclical, but there's
an attack right now. It's not that important. It's
not that valuable. It can be between two of the
same. All that stuff goes on. Because
this is. It goes on to tell us, The man
leave his father and mother and shall join unto his wife and
they shall be one flesh. He's talking here about Christ
and his body. There's such a relationship here.
It's a spiritual relationship, but if a lost sheep has been
raised from the dead and brought into this fold, then they have
new life flowing through them. They have this living characteristic
of God. It goes on in verse 32. This
is a great mystery. Let's not try to explain it,
but let's reflect on it. It is a mystery, but I speak
concerning Christ and the Church. That's what we're looking at
over here in the book of Revelation. It is God's view of the Church
in symbolic language, but we also find it here in the book
of Ephesians. I speak to you about a mystery. This mystery is concerning Christ
and the church. Now there's a relationship there
that in this life we will not understand. As close as we can
get to it is the relationship between a man and a woman in
a marriage relationship. This is how it is intended to
be. And then he goes on to say, nevertheless,
let every one of you, in particular, so love his wife, even as himself,
and the wife see that she reverence her husband. So this is the relationship
of Christ and the church. Christ and the church. Our responsibility
is to reverence Christ. That's our responsibility. Chapter
3 of the book of Ephesians. Chapter 3, verse 4. Chapter 3
and verse 4. whereby, when we read, ye may
understand my knowledge in the mystery of Christ, which in other
ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now
revealed unto his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit, that
the Gentiles should be fellow-heirs, and of the same body. partakers of his promise in Christ
by the gospel partakers Fellow air partakers of his promise
in Christ now, that's what we get We get to take on the characteristics
of the Son partakers of Christ he becomes everything that we
want to be, but he also gives us the ability to become that
in eternity. And then in verse 14 and 15 of
that same chapter, For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven
and earth is named. the whole family. There's a family
relationship here in this body. Well, in this body there are
no aunts and uncles though. All brothers and sisters. Now,
the older sometimes we give them the mother and the father respect,
and the younger ones sometimes we give the sons and daughters
respect, but the family is really all brothers and sisters. That's
the family. It's a family unit that Christ
is being described here in the book of Revelation chapter 20.
It is the body of Christ. It is the church of the living
God. It is the called out ones. It is the lost sheep brought
in and made aware. And when the last lost sheep
is saved, the bride will be complete and there is no need to go any
further. There will be no more time. it
will be eternity then. Alright, over in the book of
Revelation chapter 21, Verse 10, it talks a little bit here,
and I would encourage you to read this 10 through the rest
of the chapter. And if you want to do it now,
that's fine. I'm not going to spend my time on the whole chapter.
But let's look here at verse 10. 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 took
me into an exceeding high mountain, and we looked a little bit about
that last week, that this is symbolic. The only place that
we'll ever see this view is in Christ. He is the only one that's
high enough. Now, we are stuck in a pit, so we can't see. And
if we look at some symbolic language found in the New Testament, a
lady that was all bowed over and couldn't straighten herself,
there we are. Now it goes on to tell us that
we're dead all bowed over and can't straighten ourselves in
a pit. All of the other ways that it's described in the scriptures
are what we are, but we cannot see the glory of God. We cannot see the church. We
cannot see the scene. It is hidden from us until we're
placed in this mountain. Now, he went into a high mountain
and was transfigured before them and the disciples saw something
then that they had never seen prior to that time. They saw
something then that was Christ in his glory. Three of them got to see it,
Peter, James, and John. The rest got to hear about it,
and we're still hearing about it. But it was a place. This
place that we get to go to see this scene is Christ. We'll never
see Him outside of Christ. We'll never see this scene outside
of Christ. We'll never see... Now we can
see, oh, now, let's see, that pearly gate. Oh my goodness,
that takes a big oyster. Oh, that's after the radiation
hits all the earth and the oysters grow large. Foolishness on top
of foolishness. And the streets have gone, oh
my goodness. Don't take any with you because
that's just paving material up there. How foolish. It's talking
about the glory of God, the glory of Christ, the glory of the church
in all of those symbolic terms. Time to ruminate, folks, what
we got in Christ. Now, the Church of God is described
as a city, and it's described as a holy city. The Church is
a community of men and women who have fellowship with God
in the Lord Jesus Christ. It's a community. It's a fellowship.
It's a group of living stones. That's what Paul was used to
write. It's a group of living stones. lost sheep that have
been quickened and brought into the sheepfold. They're called
living stones and everyone touches the foundation in a miraculous
way. It's the only building where
all the living stones, all the stones of the wall, touch the
foundation. It is called a holy city because
it has been purified and made holy by the blood of Christ.
Now, there's some things about holiness. We had a message at
camp one time that I just really enjoyed. Todd Nyberg brought
it, and he talked about what holiness is. Now, we've got the
holiness movement. That's not it. It's not getting
perfect. by our effort. It is being made
perfect by Christ. But holiness is a position that
Christ puts us in that makes us at one with God. Now, there's only one place this
will ever happen. Outside of Christ, we are diametrically
opposed. It's called enmity. And I don't
understand all about that. But I know it's not good, and
I know I've been there. Enmity with God is anger with
God, mad at God. It's just what we got by nature.
And whether we admit it or not, that's what God said about it.
Now, this position that we have, this holy position, turn with
me if you would to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1. 1 Peter chapter 1, one of the
guys that got to go up on the Mount of Transfiguration, and
he made a statement, and the Lord was so gracious and kind
to correct him. He could have left him and said,
go ahead, prove how foolish you are. But Peter, out of honor,
built three tabernacles up there. The Lord was gracious and said,
this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him. Peter was just showing what we
do when we are not spiritually led. We come to wrong conclusions. When we are spiritually led,
we come to the right conclusion. And thank God that that's one
of the characteristics that we are given. when we're brought
to Christ and placed in the church, we have the spirit of truth,
and the spirit of truth will lead us into all truth. And it
will never lead us contrary to the glory of God and to the person
of Jesus Christ. Alright, 1 Peter, this guy that
was up there made that statement, is called on to be a secretary
and write these words. 1 Peter chapter 1. Verse 16, "...because it is written..."
Well, let's read verse 15, "...but as he which hath called you is
holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation, or in your whole
manner of life, because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am
holy." Now, we are called unto be holy. Can you get there? Have you ever tried? Spend a
lot of time trying to get there. Get better. Get holy. There's only one way. And this
is a quote from the book of Leviticus. He calls on those Jews to be
holy, for God is holy. Now, what he's saying there,
it goes beyond. It means more than just being
set apart. It does mean that, but it means
more. It's not only just venerable. It's not only pure or clean. It's not just that. There's also
this holiness and that holy city. There's one thing about this
holy city. There's many things, but I won't use this. There's
one thing about this holy city. It is at one with God. There is a perfect fellowship
that the Spirit leaves with us. And that's what this word holy
is. It is a oneness. A perfect oneness with God. No arguing. No put-downs to God. I don't think you know what you're
talking about. That doesn't go through the mind
of the church. The church is at oneness with
God. It is perfect oneness. It is
a holy city. Now, our flesh may buck against
it, but our spirit does not. And in eternity, there will never
be a question about this. There is a perfect harmony. There is a resonant frequency. I saw that Narrows Bridge reach
a resonant frequency with a wind. Now, I don't know what the speed
of the wind was, but it's just going like this. It's in harmony
with the wind. Now, it caused that great bridge
to fall. Have you ever been downtown and
see a stop sign with its resonant frequency just going like this?
If it's a little faster, it'll stop. If it's a little slower,
it'll stop. It'll just stop. But if it meets
its resonant frequency, it'll just go like this in the wind.
And I'm sure after a time there will be some fatigue fracture.
But resonant frequency. Now I said that to say this.
There is a resonant frequency that God has with his church.
It is in harmony. I used to love to listen to the
Statler brothers. Now they weren't that good looking. But the harmony,
the harmony, it was, to my ear, it was impeccable. Now I'm sure
some people say, oh, they missed a little bit right there, but
to me it was just perfect harmony. Christ and His church is in perfect
harmony. There is nothing out of order. It is a holy city, it is at oneness
with God. It is at oneness because of redemption. It is oneness because of blood.
It is oneness because of righteousness. It is oneness because of eternality. It is oneness because of God's
purpose of grace. It is at oneness with God. There
is no longer any enmity, but it is in perfect harmony. And the church bows to God because
He asks us The church loves because he asks
us and he's created that in us. In Leviticus it says, Be ye holy.
Now turn with me to Amos. Amos chapter 3. It's an interesting verse of
scripture here in Amos. If I can find it. Amos Obadiah. Amos 3. Now this just really
helps us with that oneness. What does it say about the Holy
Spirit? The Holy Spirit walks beside us. The Holy Spirit is
called a paraclete, one that walks beside. The Holy Spirit
directs us. The Holy Spirit leads us into
all truth. The Holy Spirit walks beside. Now Amos chapter 3, now this
just shares with us what this holy city is. This is a holy
city. It is perfect before God. Sin has been put away, therefore
there is perfect harmony. It is an absolute perfect harmony
with God. God can move his vocal cords
and all the vocal cords of every member of the body hum. He hits a resonant frequency.
It's involuntary. Our vocal cords, spiritually
speaking, hum because He hums. He's reached resonant frequency. Every part of our being has met
resonant frequency, our spiritual part. Now our flesh is a catastrophe. And God never said that he is
going to give the flesh new birth. We're going to get a new body.
But that spiritual part that is in control by God is in perfect
harmony. Alright, Amos 3.3. This doesn't
just have to do with being friends with people or husbands and wives. It's part of that, but notice
this. Can two walk together except they be agreed? Now there's this resonant frequency. I don't know of anybody that
would not like to have that perfectly played out in our marriage. We would love to have perfect
resonant frequency. Perfect, what's it say? Agreement. Now the problem is we have men
wanting their way and women wanting their way. And so we try to come
to a compromise. There is none of that with God.
He never asks us to compromise. Because that would mean He's
going to have to assume that He's going to become part sin
so we can become part holy. He doesn't ask us to compromise.
He just says, give up. Take me. Total and perfect substitute. All right, perfect harmony, perfect
resonant frequency. Now this word that's found in
Amos 3.3, can two walk together except they be agreed? In Exodus
21, that word is betrothed. It's translated betrothed. Can
two walk together except they be betrothed? And that's the
relationship between Christ and His church. Can the Holy Spirit
walk with the church except they be betrothed? except they be
engaged. God is going to have a perfect
relationship with this church. It's called Holy City. It is
a oneness. Turn over there with me to Exodus
21. Exodus 21 verses 8 and 9. In
each of these verses, both verses, this word betrothed is mentioned
and it is here agreed and in It is synonymous. It has some feelings to us about what
this word holy is. Yes, it is to be set aside. Yes, it is to be venerated. Yes,
it is to have a special state. But that is all based upon one
thing. the relationship that God has
with us in oneness. How? We have an illustration. There was absolute oneness between
the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. In fact, we have
the angels in the Old Testaments as holy, holy, holy is the Lord
God Almighty. They are in such perfect oneness,
unity, There is no disagreement whatsoever. And the Son and the
Father were never in disagreement. So it's a oneness. They walked
together because they were agreed. And the Church and the Holy Spirit
and the Son and the Father walked together because God has made
us to agree. And over here in the book of
Exodus 21 and verse 8, Exodus 21 verse 8, it says, If she pleased
not her master who hath betrothed her, that's the same word for
agreed. There's an agreement. Betrothed. And that's the relationship between
Christ and His church right now. There's an agreement. A betrothment. Why? He has convinced us in the
new birth that He is God and beside Him there is none else. He has given us a new birth. And in verse 9 it says, And if
he hath betrothed her unto his Son, this word betrothed, Now,
one other place I'd like to look over here in the book of Exodus
chapter 25 and verse 22, this word is there, I will meet. How
could God meet with Israel? Only at the mercy seat. That's
what he said he would do, he would meet. Exodus 25 verse 22. This is the same word over there
that's mentioned, can two walk together except they be agreed,
betrothed. And here, 25, verse 22, it says,
and there I will meet, there I will meet, that's the same
word, with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy
seat. Take that to the book of Revelation.
I will meet with thee and commune with thee. He had to break down
the old man. He had to break down the old
nature. He had to get rid of the old nature. Because that
was enmity. But here there is this harmony,
community, fellowship that God has established with His church.
And that's why it is called holy. It is in agreement with the God
who is holy. Let's read the rest of that verse
Exodus 25 verse 22. It says, And there I will meet
with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy
seat, and from between the two cherubims, which are upon the
ark of the testimony of all things, which I give thee in commandment
unto the children of Israel. Who is our mercy seat? Where
do we go? Where's our mercy seat? We're going to find out here
in the book of Revelation chapter 20. It's Christ. That's where
we commune. That's where God communes with
us, is in Christ. It's the only way we'll ever
see this sight is from this exceedingly high mountain, the Lord Jesus.
Now, back to the book of Ephesians, if you would. And this holy city
is based on this, Ephesians chapter 4. It made knew this passage of
scripture. Holy city, holy Jerusalem, a
oneness, a harmony, a resonant frequency has been met. When
God hums, the church hums. When God sings, the church sings.
When God speaks, the church speaks. It's just so... We're just lip syncers. It's
all we do, we're just lip syncers. He speaks we speak when he's
silent. We're silent What a oneness what
a holiness All right Ephesians chapter 4 verse 1 there I therefore
the prisoner of the Lord beseech you that ye walk worthy of the
vocation where with you are called Boy, that looks like a whole
bunch of labor on our part. I I'm thankful the Lord takes
care of it, because I don't have the ability of doing that. I'm
dependent upon Christ. The moment I try to make myself
do righteous things, I'm doing it for the wrong reason. And
there's no harmony. I mean, you've heard me. I can't carry a tune in a five-gallon
bucket. There is no harmony with the
music. We're contrary to the music of
God by nature. He's got to tune us. All right,
and then it goes on to say, with all loneliness, with meekness,
with long-suffering, forbearing one another in love, endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit and the bond of peace, there
is one body. Holiness. There is one holy city. Oneness and one spirit oneness
Holiness There is only one spirit and this spirit does not lead
every group in a different direction If the house be divided That's
a reply. This is where it is. It's not
going to lead people in different directions There's one body the
church and one spirit even as you're called in one hope of
your calling. It is a holy calling. It is a
one calling. It is a oneness calling. One
Lord. All bow. One faith. Not many faiths. One faith. It is a holy faith. It is a holy
Lord. And one baptism. Now the rest
of these, and Brother Lance did a wonderful job of going over
this, the rest of these are all spiritual, so this one is too. There's a spiritual baptism.
Now we reflect it when we go down into the waters, the watery
grave and baptism, but The thief on the cross had this baptism,
but he never went down into the watery grave. He had the new
birth. He had that oneness with God.
One baptism. One God. And Father of all, who
is above all, and through all, and in you all. Oneness, oneness,
oneness, oneness, holiness, holiness, holiness, holiness unto the Lord.
Be ye holy as God is holy. Be ye one as He is one. And that's
the only place it ever happens is when we're brought out of
darkness to Christ. An exceeding high mountain to
see this. Every one of us is given grace according to the
measure of the gift of Christ. So a holy city, holy because
of Christ, holy because he's holy. And as a result of this
holiness, he gives a resonant frequency to all of his children.
The word takes on a oneness. We have a view of God's Word
that we never had. We have a view of sin. God's
view of sin that we never had. We have a view of heaven and
hell that are different altogether. Hell is not what we're saved
from. We're saved from sin. That's a consequence of sin.
He's not going to just save us from a consequence. He's going
to save us from sin. the very nature of it. And so
it's all this oneness. One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
one hope of your calling. One, one, one. Holy City. There's
a holy city. And as we continue to look at
here, next week we'd like to look at the bride, the lamb's
wife, this relationship. And we've touched on it in the
past, but it is a wonderful position to be in. To be taken out of
Lodibar. And then the following week,
Lord willing, is to look at the light of the city. This is, every
bit of it is Christ. And there's a oneness between
those who are in the church and the one who created the church.
A oneness. One Lord, one faith. Can two
walk together except they be betrothed? Except they be agreed? Except he meets with us. We'll be contrary to him until
he straightens us. And when He straightens us, it
is on a permanent basis. He does not relinquish His hold. All right, going back to the
book of Revelation, chapter 21, verse 10. It 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. Having
the glory of God, and her light was likened to the stone most
precious. even like a jasper stone, clear
as crystal, and had a wall great and high, had twelve gates, and
at the gates were twelve angels, and the names written thereon.
were the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. And on the
east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the
south three gates, and on the west three gates, and we're going
to stop there, but everybody comes the same way. He didn't
have on the north side seven, and the other side one, and this
side... It's an equality that we'll never
find anywhere else. This is equal. And he calls his
people out of every kindred, nation, people and tongue. The
four winds he calls his people to him. And the gates are the
same all the way around. The message is the same all the
way around. Not different messages. And the
oneness is the same. There is a harmony with God in
this body that will never be found in any body on the face
of the earth. a harmony, a oneness, an agreement,
a betrothment, a meeting. I will meet with you. The only way he can meet with
us is sin has been put away. All right, we'll stop there tonight
and look forward to looking at some more of this God's view
of the church. Before we dismiss my prayer,
are there any other prayer requests that you wish to mention?