Revelation 21, the city of light. We're just going to close out
this chapter and most of everything that is said here is a symbolic,
metaphorical description of the glory of Christ. That's what
this is. When it talks about the city
of light, we're talking about the new Jerusalem. We're talking
about the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom of God, the church.
We're talking about the glorified saints in Christ. And as he closes
out this description before the last chapter, he says in verse
21, and the 12 gates, remember there were 12 gates to this city. And these 12 gates were 12 pearls,
made of pearls, what it means. And you remember the number 12.
That represents the completed, finished, perfected government
of God. And therefore, it translates
down into the fact that every one of God's chosen people who
were redeemed by the blood of Christ, justified based on His
righteousness imputed, they are complete, they are citizens of
this city, there's no vacancies, there's no one missing. It's
all complete in Him. That's what the number 12 represents.
That's the covenant number. The 12 tribes of Israel, remember,
we talked about that. Uh, the 12, uh, uh, uh, patriarchs,
the 12 apostles, all that number 12 goes all the way through the
scripture to continually remind us that this is a complete salvation
for all the people of God. God's not willing that any of
them should perish. but that all should come to repentance.
That's what that passage in 2 Peter 3, 9 means. It doesn't mean God
is trying to save everybody. It means that everyone whom God
intends to save will be brought to repentance. And so when you
see the number 12, that's this city. This is the population
of the city of God. And he says these 12 gates, the
gate represents the way into the city. And that's Christ. He is the way in. He said, I'm
the door. He said that I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. There's only one way to enter
this city. Now 12 gates, that doesn't mean
12 different ways to enter the city because the gates are all
made of pearl. And pearls in the Bible, pearl
represents something of great value. That's what that means.
You all remember the parable of the pearl of great price. And you know what that parable
is actually teaching. I used to think that that represented
a sinner seeking Christ who is so valuable. But I've come to
believe now that what that's talking about is Christ seeking
his people. Because remember it says the
merchant sold everything he had and he bought the pearl. Well,
we don't buy Christ. He redeemed us, he bought us.
But the pearl is something of value. Now, as sinful people,
we have no value. We have no intrinsic value. So
where does that value come from? We'll look at it in verse 22.
He says, and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every several gate
was of one pearl. You see there, one pearl. Now
here it's talking about Christ. And it says, and the street of
the city was pure gold. That's divine. That's the streets
of the city where we walk. This is not, you know, people
talk about heaven, you know, having gates of pearl and, and
streets of gold. That's not, this is not literal
language. This is symbolic language. And
this is the new Jerusalem. And this is the city of God.
It's made of pure gold, and look at the gold. It says, as it were,
transparent glass. Now, I can't explain that. I've
seen gold before, and you can't see through it, but what he's
talking about is something that is so pure, so righteous, that
it's clear there's no contamination, there's no corruption, there's
no impurities. This is the city wherein dwelleth
righteousness. Peter talked about that in 2
Peter. He said that this old corrupt world is going to burn
up. And we're going to inhabit a new heavens and a new earth
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Now, that righteousness is the
same as it always was. It's the imputed righteousness
of Christ. But at that time we will be made
perfect in ourselves in our glorified bodies. We won't have the remaining
corruption of the flesh. We won't have contamination.
Pure thoughts, pure motives, pure everything. And I want to
tell you something now. You and I have absolutely no
idea what that's like. Ain't that right? Now you think
about it. People say, well, I imagine,
will we remember this? Well, I don't know. I don't know
how it's going to work out. And you don't either. And we
can't turn to a chapter and a verse that tells us that. That's just
curiosity. And there's, you know, I remember
in the book, What is Salvation? When I got to the glorified realm,
that part four, the glorified realm, I opened up and said,
look, there are more questions that you'll have and I'll have
than there are answers. in that realm. But I just know
this, that however Christ himself in his perfect, sinless humanity
was and is, that's the way we'll be as far as our thoughts, our
view of things. But think about that. Do we have
any inkling of an idea of what it means to have a pure, sinless
thought? And the answer is no. We just
don't know what that's, it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, John said. But that's what's being described
here. He says in verse 22, now getting
back to the pearl and the value of it, and this is Christ, he
says in verse 22, he said, I saw no temple therein. There's no
physical temple here. For the Lord God Almighty and
the Lamb are the temple of it. the tabernacle of it, the dwelling
place of God. The glory of God shines through
the Lord God Almighty as he reveals himself in the lamb, the lamb
slain. Somebody asked me one time, said,
do you think we will remember our life here on earth and the
sin of it when we get to heaven or when we get on the new earth
or whatever? I said, I don't know how we'll remember those
things and how we'll think, but I do know this, it seems to me,
if you look at passages like this and Revelation 5, worthy
is the Lamb, we will always know that we were redeemed, that we
are there because of His righteousness and not our own. Now how that'll
play out in our minds, I don't know. how we'll think about that
and remember that. I know this, however we think,
it'll be with an incorruptible mind, an incorruptible glorified
body. But the lamb, the lamb is, how
far back do you go when you talk about the lamb? Well, Revelation
13 says our names were written in the lamb's book of life. Well,
when were our names written in the Lamb's Book of Life before
the foundation of the world? Somebody said, well, he wasn't
slain before the foundation. No, he wasn't. He was slain about
a little over 2,000 years ago on Calvary's cross. But my friend,
it was always in the mind and purpose of God. He's always been
the Lamb. Christ has. He's always been
the surety. Our sins were always imputed
to him. and his righteousness to us.
Now that doesn't mean he didn't have to come in time and die.
He had to. He had to pay the price. He had
to pay the debt. He had to satisfy justice. God
has to be just when he justifies. And so that which he accomplished
translates down to spiritual life for us. And that's the temple
here. It's Christ. He tabernacled among
us. Now he's in glory. And that's
his whole glory there. The lamb being joined here with
the Lord God Almighty shows his equality with the Godhead. In
him dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, and you're
complete in him. Verse 23 says, 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.
Isn't that a beautiful verse? What is the light of this city? The glory of God. The manifestation,
the working out of everything that God is in his pure, holy,
absolute, sovereign character. His nature. You see, the value
here is not in us intrinsically or naturally, You know, somebody
would talk about, well, the value of a human soul. Okay. What is the value of a human
soul? It has nothing to do with us
in ourselves, but only as it glorifies Christ. That's the
value. You know, the Bible says in the
book of Romans, let me read this over here so I won't misquote
it. Romans chapter eight. It says in verse 31, what shall
we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? He that spared not his own son, but delivered him
up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us
all things? If you want to know the value
of the human soul, you look at it this way. That God spared
not his own son. But why did he do it? Because
he felt sorry for us? Or because he's responding to
us? No, he did it for his own glory. And his glory is the light thereof.
The summation of the light of the glory of God is in that term
a just God and a Savior. In Jesus Christ, crucified and
risen from the dead, the righteousness of God, we see every attribute
of God manifested, honored, working consistently together in the
salvation of sinners. And that's the beauty of it,
that's the value of it, that's the light of it. And it all comes
through the Lamb, Christ the Lamb. You know, when you think
of Christ as being the Lamb, don't think of Him as being weak.
He's also the Lion, isn't He? He's the Lion of the tribe of
Judah, and He's also the Lamb. And nobody could have forced
Him as a sacrificial Lamb to go to that cross. And now what
he said in the book of John, he said, nobody takes my life
from me. I lay it down of myself. He was
the voluntary lamb. He was willing because he, because
he loved his father and his people is what the scripture says. So
the lamb here doesn't mean a weak lamb. This is the same lamb who'll
set it set in judgment against the world. Look at verse 24.
It says, and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in
the light of it. Now that tells you. 1 John 1, salvation means to walk in the
light, not to walk in darkness. Now, somebody says, well, does
that mean we know everything? No, we'll never know everything.
Did you hear what I said? Somebody said, well, when we
get to heaven, we're going to know everything. No, you won't. Only God knows
everything. We're not God. We'll know more
than what we know now, won't we? We'll see, today we see through
a glass darkly, but then we'll see perfectly. But the thing
about it is here, when he says the light of it, he's talking
about the light of the glory of God revealed in the lamb, in
the face of Jesus Christ. They'll walk in the gospel. the
gospel life. Everything about the glory and
light and value of this city can only be determined by how
the Lord God Almighty is revealed to his people through the Lamb. That involves who Jesus Christ
is. He's God in human flesh without
sin. What did he accomplish? He secured
the entire salvation of his entire race, the elect of God, unto
glory. Why he did it? For the glory
of God in salvation. Where he is now? Seated at the
right hand of the Father. So in other words, I'll tell
you what now, this is how the light and glory and value of
the Lamb goes. To say that anyone for whom the
lamb sacrificed himself could end up in eternal damnation is
to deny the light, is to deny the glory of God. God's glory
is wrapped up. Look at John 17. In the book of John, this is
Christ's high priestly prayer. He's interceding for his disciples,
for his people. In verse one of John 17, he says,
these words, John 17 one, these words spake Jesus and lifted
up his eyes to heaven and said, father, the hour has come. Now
listen to the language here. Glorify thy son, that thy son
also may glorify thee. Now that sets the purpose of
everything that he's doing. It's ultimately to the glory
of God. You see, it's all about God. It's all about Christ. It's not all about me and you.
And that's why you've heard the term humanism. Humanism basically
is a philosophy that talks about how the world revolves around
man. It's all for me, it's all for us. And we've got to do everything
we can do to better society. I'm gonna talk to you a little
bit about that in the message today. You know, we've made a
lot of scientific medical advances since the beginning of time,
haven't we? And I thank God for those, don't you? Especially,
you know, if you have to go in and have a heart procedure. I
thank God they can do things now that they couldn't do 20,
30, 40, 50 years ago. We made a lot of advances. But
in all of those scientific advances, Has man gotten any better? And
the answer's no. We're still sinners in need of
salvation by God's grace through Christ. Just as much as the first,
as Adam did when he fell. We're no better off in that sense,
you see. So, but humanism has crept into
the false church what is called Christian in name only. Because
you think about it, their theology, their philosophy, their sermons,
it's all about us. It's all about man, you know.
Where do you go to church? Well, basically, wherever I can
meet my felt needs. Well, that's an abomination.
You see, God's not about meeting your felt needs. Because by nature,
what we feel is an abomination to God. The natural man receiveth
not the things of the Spirit. You understand what I'm saying?
You know, where I fit in. Salvation's not about you fitting
in. Well, where we've got common
likes and dislikes. Salvation's not about that. Salvation
is about this right here. Glorify thou the Son, that thy
Son also may glorify thee. It's the glory of God. And then
look at verse two of John 17. As thou hast given him power
over all flesh, now look at that he should give eternal life to
as many as thou hast given him. There it is. That's the glory
of God is founded upon this great certainty. The Son of God giving
eternal life to as many as thou, as God the Father had given him.
That's the elect, isn't it? And how's he gonna do it? Verse
three, this is life eternal, that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. That's the
new birth. That's salvation under the preaching of the gospel,
where sinners are taught of God and come to know God as a just
God and a savior. And what's the foundation of
it, the ground of it, the cause of it? Verse four, I have glorified
thee on the earth. I have finished the work which
thou gavest me to do. It was all conditioned on Christ.
It's all about him. Go back to Revelation 21 now. So verse 24, the nations of them
which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings
of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. Now there's
some separation among gospel commentators on the kings of
the earth bringing their glory and honor to it. The psalmist
wrote this, I've referenced this in your lesson, Psalm 72, 11.
When he says, yea, all kings shall fall down before him, all
nations shall serve him. Now, some commentators believe
that this is describing all the elect of God, all the redeemed
of the Lord, as per Revelation 1-6 and Revelation 5-10, where
it talks about we are made kings and priests unto the Lord. In
other words, what that means, Christ is the king of kings,
scripture says. Whenever we are brought in submission
to the king of kings, we are in essence ambassadors for the
king, so that we witness and live and preach the word of the
king, so that we represent a higher authority. In other words, when
I preach to you, or when any of these men preach to you, or
when you hear a true gospel preacher, it's not the authority of their
word, or their reputation, or their years of ministry, or their
eloquence, or their personality. It's the authority of the king.
And in that sense, we're made kings and priests unto God. I believe that's basically what
this is talking about. But now other commentators will
say that This is the literal kings of this earth who've been
saved from the deception of the great whore and brought to Christ.
It could be, there's not whole, there's not too many of them
that have been, that we can see that have gone that way. But
here's what he's, here's a bottom line for you. There's no kingdom
on earth that is not in subjection to Christ, the king of kings. And he is the mighty conqueror.
And so, Every king, even the rebellious kings, every knee's
gonna bow and every tongue's gonna confess that Christ is
Lord. All right, look at verse 25.
The gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there
shall be no night there. You know, somebody said, well,
there's never gonna be night in glory. Well, I know this is
symbolic language. But the night is a symbol for
insecurity. Most of you probably lock your
doors at night, don't you? Why do you do that? Because you
want to keep thieves out, you want to keep burglars out. If
you go away, you lock your doors for security. Usually when thieves
do their work, usually, When do they do it? In the night,
not in the broad daylight because they don't want to be seen. And
that's what I believe this is talking about. What he's saying
here is this city for the people of God in Christ is so secure
and so safe that we won't even have to think about shutting
our doors and locking our doors and all that. That's what I believe
this is talking about. I don't know if there's gonna
be day and night and all that, I don't know. I kind of think
there will be, but I don't know. But I do know this, whether it's
day, night, winter, summer, spring, fall, I don't even know if there'll
be seasons, I don't know. But it'll be safe and it'll be
secure in the glory and power of Christ. Verse 26, they shall
bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. The glory
and honor, what is the glory and honor of the nations? Turn
over to Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians chapter one. And I've got this referenced
in your lesson. Look at verse 18. He's talking about the work,
in chapter one he's talking about the work of the Father in salvation. the work of the Son in salvation,
and the work of the Holy Spirit. And in Ephesians 1.18, listen
to this, he says, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened,
that you may know what is the hope of his calling, and what
the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, you
see that? He says, and what is the exceeding
greatness of his power to usward who believe, According to the
working of His mighty power, which He wrought or worked out
in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, there's that righteousness
established again, isn't it? set him at his own right hand
and in heavenly places, far above all principality and power and
might and dominion in every name that is named, not only in this
world, but also in that which is to come, and hath put all
things under his feet, gave to him to be head over all things
the church, which is his body and the fullness of him that
filleth in all." That's what I believe it's talking about.
It's talking about God's elect out of every tribe, kindred,
tongue, and nation, being brought under subjection to him as the
Lord our righteousness. And so that's the accounting
of his people. Now look at the last verse of Revelation 21,
verse 27. He says, and there shall in no
wise enter into it anything that defile it. Nothing that defiles. There'll be no sinners there.
No sin there. There'll be sinners saved by
grace. made righteous in him and glorified in themselves,
no taint of sin, were all cleansed by the blood of Christ, clothed
in his righteousness, and made new in a perfect way. He says,
neither whatsoever worketh abomination. There'll be no one in this city
who denies, dishonors, or misrepresents the God of all glory in Christ.
There'll be no lies here, there'll be no idolatry. And he says,
or maketh a lie, that all be gone, but they which are written
in the Lamb's book of life. Now who's that? Well, that's
God's elect. That's those whom God chose before
the foundation of the world, those whom he justified based
on the imputed righteousness of Christ, those whom Christ
redeemed by his blood on the cross, those whom the Holy Spirit
regenerated and brought to Christ in salvation, and those who will
ultimately be glorified together with Him.