The New Jerusalem

It's great to worship with you all.

Please turn your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21, verses 9 to 27.

Revelation 21:9–27

If you don't have a Bible, if you raise your hand, we'd love to bring over a copy to you

that you can have and use.

We're getting close to the end of our sermon series in the book of Revelation.

We're in chapter 21 today, verses 9 to 27.

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Sean.

I'm one of the pastors of Trinity Cambridge Church, and it is my great joy and honor to

preach God's word to you this morning.

Let me pray for the reading and preaching of God's word.

Heavenly Father, we humble our hearts before you and incline our ears to you now.

Speak to us from your inerrant, infallible word, and impress deeply upon our hearts your love

for your church.

And captivate us with the beauty and the glory that will be New Jerusalem, that will be ours

in eternity, so that it shapes our perspectives and our priorities here and now.

Meet with us now in your word.

In Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

Please stand and join me as I read out loud Revelation 21, 9 to 27.

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues

and spoke to me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb.

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem

coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare

jewel, like a jasper clear as crystal.

It had a great high wall with 12 gates and at the gates 12 angels.

And on the gates, the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed.

On the east, three gates, on the north, three gates, on the south, three gates, and on the

west, three gates.

And the wall of the city had 12 foundations.

And on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the lamb.

And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates

and walls.

The city lies four square, its length the same as its width.

And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.

Its length and width and height are equal.

He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.

The wall was built of jasper while the city was pure gold like clear glass.

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel.

The first was jasper.

The second, sapphire.

The third, agate.

The fourth, emerald.

The fifth, onyx.

The sixth, carnelian.

The seventh, crystallite.

The eighth, beryl.

The ninth, topaz.

The tenth, chrysoprase.

The eleventh, jacinth.

The twelfth, amethyst.

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.

Each of them, each of the gates made of a single pearl.

And the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass.

This is God's holy and authoritative word.

You may be seated.

Jesus said in Matthew 6, 19 to 21,

Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal.

But throw up your treasures in heaven where the moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal.

For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Jesus teaches us there a very important principle.

He's commanding us, choose your treasure carefully.

Because your heart, the direction of your life, always follow your treasure.

If you treasure climbing the career ladder and being successful and making loads of money,

then that's where your heart, the center of your being, will be preoccupied with.

If you treasure your children above all things,

then all your exerting and spending and warring will orbit around them.

If you treasure the approval and affection of men,

then the bulk of your time and energy and money will be spent around trying to impress other humans.

So choose your treasure carefully.

Make sure that your treasure is in heaven where it will be safe and secure forever rather than here on earth.

And that's what really Revelation 21 and the entire book of Revelation has been about.

It's been portraying to us eternal realities through visual symbols

such as to capture our spiritual imagination.

To tell us, here's something really worth living for.

Here's something really worth treasuring.

Here's something that will never depreciate in value.

A currency that will never expire.

An inheritance that never wears out.

The resurrection life.

The kingdom of God.

A new heaven and a new earth.

The new Jerusalem.

Eternal, unbroken fellowship with the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb.

What we treasure in our hearts, what we love is like a rudder that determines the direction and guides the ship.

Treasure this and your heart will follow.

Treasure this and you will have heavenly perspectives.

Treasure this and then you will have heavenly purposes and heavenly priorities.

And if we don't this morning feel a homesickness for a new heaven and a new earth,

then that may be a warning for us that we are probably not treasuring the things of heaven.

That's the main point of my sermon this morning.

Looking forward to the new Jerusalem in which we will have unhindered fellowship with God.

We should live holy lives and hold on to the testimony of Jesus.

And I'm going to talk about the new Jerusalem in three different facets.

First, it's unassailable in its security.

Second, it is unflawed in its symmetry.

And third, it's unparalleled in its splendor.

First, we can look forward to the new Jerusalem because it will be unassailable in its security.

It says in verse 9,

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues

and spoke to me, saying,

Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

This might sound familiar to you, and that's no coincidence,

because one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls

came and made a very similar announcement about Babylon the great prostitute earlier in chapter 17, verse 1.

He said there,

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me,

Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters.

So these are parallel introductions of two opposite realities.

And it intentionally draws a contrast between the great prostitute and the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

Remember, they're both depicted as women, and they're both depicted as cities.

And that's how we know these are metaphors and symbols,

because you cannot be a woman and a city at the same time.

The great prostitute is Babylon, the city of man.

And the wife of the Lamb is the holy city, Jerusalem, that comes down out of heaven from God.

Babylon has written on her forehead the name,

Babylon the Great, Mother of Prostitutes and of Earth's Abominations, it said in 17.5.

But the New Jerusalem has the name of God and of the Lamb on her forehead.

In Revelation 21, verse 4.

Revelation 21:4

Babylon the harlot is seated on many waters.

That's a symbol of how she committed adultery with the kings of the earth.

Her idolatrous maritime commerce represented by these many waters.

But in stark contrast, the New Jerusalem has only one source of water,

the spring of living water, the river of life that flows from the throne of God and the Lamb

in the new city, the holy city, because she is the faithful one, the faithful bride.

In the end, Revelation 17.16 told us that the prostitute will be made desolate and naked,

but the bride of the Lamb will be clothed in white.

The prostitute is used by men selfishly.

The wife is loved by men selflessly.

He says in Ephesians 5.25,

Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her.

That's what wives deserve.

Do you want to be a prostitute that is used and abused and discarded?

Or do you want to be the bride, the wife of the Lamb, the King of kings and Lord of lords,

and be cherished by him forever?

If you want that, then hold on to the testimony of Jesus and endure to the end and forsake the idolatrous desires of this world.

Early in Revelation 12, the woman who represented the people of God took shelter in the wilderness,

where she was spiritually protected by God, but physically vulnerable and persecuted by the dragon.

But in a new heaven and a new earth, as we see here, we will no longer be in the wilderness.

It says in verse 10,

And he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain,

and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.

We'll be on the mountaintop in eternity.

Throughout scripture, wilderness is the place of journeying.

It's the place of testing.

Think of Israel's journey through the wilderness when they are tested for 40 years,

and finally they arrive in the holy land, in Canaan, Mount Zion, where they worship God in the temple.

Or compare that to Jesus' journey into the wilderness where he is tested and tempted by Satan for 40 days.

And then after that, he begins his ministry and climbs up to give his sermon on the mount.

In scripture, wilderness is the place of not yet.

The mountaintop is the place of finally here.

The mountain is the place of arrival, the place of promise, place of revelation,

the place of God's presence and communion with him.

And that's why Ezekiel 40 verses 1 to 2 prophesied that the end time city and temple

Ezekiel 40:1–2

will be set on a very high mountain.

And so the new Jerusalem is on a great high mountain.

And it says in verse 11 that this holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God

has the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

John reported something very similar in his earlier vision of the throne room of God in heaven in Revelation 4.

He who sat there had the appearance of jasper and carnelian,

and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald.

And before the throne, there was, as it were, a sea of glass like crystal.

The glory of God is resplendent.

It's brilliant.

And on that day, the glory of God will be our glory also.

Know what it says in verse 11.

The new Jerusalem will come down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.

The fact that this new Jerusalem comes down out of heaven from God,

the fact that this new Jerusalem is not built up from the bottom up here on earth,

but whether it comes down from God, shows us that our fellowship with God,

our eternal destiny, is not a human achievement.

It is a gift from God.

And the fact that the glory of the new Jerusalem will not be our own glory,

but the glory of God, it says,

tells us that God's people are those who have humbled themselves before God,

those who do not seek or boast in their own glory,

but rather seek the glory of God alone.

Unlike the city of Babel, remember that?

Genesis 11, which was a monument to human hubris,

built by sinful men who said to themselves,

come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens,

and let us make a name for ourselves.

That was their motivation.

The holy city of Jerusalem, in contrast,

comes down out of heaven from God as a gift.

And it will have the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel inscribed on the gates,

and the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb written on the foundation.

People who have pledged their allegiance to Jesus,

they're the ones who ultimately get their names inscribed forever.

It's those who deny themselves and take up the cross and follow Jesus.

Those who lose their lives for the sake of Jesus,

who ultimately find it.

Brothers and sisters,

where do you want your name to be remembered and inscribed at the end of the ages?

For whose glory are you living?

Do you want to see your name published in the Fortune magazine's 40 Under 40?

Do you want to see your name engraved in Kendall Square's Entrepreneur Walk of Fame

alongside Bill Gates and Bill Hewlett and Bob Swanson, David Packard,

Mitch Caper and Steve Jobs and Thomas Edison?

Listen, I assure you that all of those names will be forgotten one day.

And only the names that are written in the Lamb's book of life,

only those who belong to the church of Christ,

the people of God,

they will have their names inscribed forever on the 12 gates,

the 12 foundations of the New Jerusalem.

Only they will be remembered forever.

So where is your treasure?

Choose your treasure carefully.

Make sure that your treasure is in the new heaven and the new earth

and not on this earth which is passing away.

And don't miss the radical unity of the people of God.

It says both Jews and Gentiles,

the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel,

the old covenant people of God are inscribed on the gates,

and the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb,

are written on the 12 foundations

because it says in Ephesians 2, 19 to 20,

that both Jews and Gentiles are fellow citizens

and members of the household of God

built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets,

Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone.

There are not two segregated cities in the new Jerusalem.

There's only one new Jerusalem

because there is neither Jew nor Greek

for we are all one in Christ Jesus

because we have one body, one spirit,

just as we are called to the one hope that belongs to our call.

One Lord, one faith, one baptism,

which we'll celebrate shortly.

One God and Father of all

who is over all and through all and in all.

Right now, the people of God are plagued

by many kinds of divisions along ethnic lines,

radical, you know, racial lines,

political lines, doctrinal lines,

geographical lines.

And we long for the full expression

of our spiritual unity, which is not yet.

But in the new Jerusalem, we will be perfectly one.

Verse 12 continues the description of the city.

It had a great high wall with 12 gates

and at the gates, 12 angels.

Earlier in verse 10, we were told

that the new Jerusalem sits atop a great high mountain.

And now we are told that on top of that great high mountain,

there's also a great high wall.

As if the mountain itself were in sufficient defense.

And this wall must be exceedingly high

since it's protecting a city

that it says is 12,000 stadia in height,

according to verse 16.

One stadion is about 607 feet.

So that's about 1,400 miles

or 2,200 kilometers in height, this city.

The Burj Khalifa in Dubai, United Arab Emirates,

is the world's tallest building

and it stands 2,717 feet.

The new Jerusalem is 7,392,000 feet tall.

As I said earlier, this is a metaphor.

It's figurative and symbolic.

It's conveying, but it is conveying a spiritual reality.

It's supposed to boggle our minds.

If a city is that tall,

then how tall is the great high wall

that's already sitting on a great high mountain

to protect it?

And that's why I think the measurement of the wall

that's given in verse 17, 144 cubits,

is not referring to its height or the length of the wall,

but to the wall's width, to its thickness,

which is how the NIV translates it.

The Great Wall of China at its widest point,

most of it is much narrower than this,

at its widest point is 32 feet thick,

but 144 cubit wall is 216 feet thick.

That's about the width of a professional soccer field.

So it's going to take us a while

to just walk through the gates.

And the point is this,

this is a completely impenetrable fortress.

Not only that, over each of the 12 gates,

there are 12 angels.

The Lord says in Isaiah 62, verse 6,

Isaiah 62:6

on your walls, O Jerusalem,

I have set watchmen.

These are guardian angels, heavenly sentinels.

If you have been with us

throughout our sermon series in Revelation,

you know how powerful even just one of these angels are.

Can wipe out vast swaths of creation.

One fell swoop with divine authorization.

And there's 12 at each,

one in each gate guarding over the new Jerusalem.

Not that that's actually necessary.

There's actually no need for a wall at all

because all the enemies of God and his people

have been vanquished already.

And that's why later in verse 25,

that it says that its gates will never be shut

because there is no more danger.

But nonetheless, God shows John a vision

of the new Jerusalem with a great high wall

to impress indelibly upon our minds

this picture of an unassailable,

impregnable fortress and city

in order to convey to us the idea

of the eternal security of the saints.

Imagine what a source of comfort

these walls would have been

for city dwellers in the ancient world.

These walls keep wild beasts out of the city.

These walls keep warring intruders out of the city.

It's why they can sleep at night.

And God is sending to us an unmistakable message

to Christians who are persecuted and sorely oppressed.

As we saw in Jesus' seven letters to the seven churches

in chapters two and three,

the church of Christ in the present world

often has little power.

They must face toil.

They bear up on their suffering for Christ's name's sake.

They experience tribulation and poverty.

They are slandered by Satan and his minions.

They are thrown into prison

and sometimes they even face death.

But with this glorious vision

of the new Jerusalem's great high wall,

Jesus is assuring us,

hold on.

Press on in this life,

even though you are reviled,

slandered, imprisoned, beaten, and killed

for my name's sake.

Because in the new Jerusalem,

you will be untouchable.

You will be invulnerable

and you will be unassailable.

There on the great high mountain,

behind the great high wall,

you will finally be safe.

It's only in the new heaven and a new earth

that we will be safe and secure forever.

Our culture today idolizes safety.

So-called safe spaces are sacrosanct.

They are the holy ground

built on the temple of self

upon which everybody else that approaches

and the churches must remove their sandals.

But when did Jesus ever promise us

safety from discomfort and danger in this life?

Jesus said in Luke 21, 12,

they will lay their hands on you

and persecute you,

delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons.

Does that sound safe?

Matthew 24, 9,

they will deliver you up to tribulation

and put you to death

and you will be hated by all nations

for my name's sake.

Brothers and sisters,

don't seek your ultimate safety here on earth.

Where is your treasure?

Is it in the new heaven and the new earth

or is it here?

Your body can be harmed here on earth.

Your feelings can be hurt here on earth.

Your life can be taken here on earth.

But in the new heaven and the new earth,

we will be safe and secure forever.

The new Jerusalem will also be unflawed

in its symmetry.

It's, sorry, in symmetry.

Here in verse 15,

an angel of God uses a measuring rod of gold

to measure the city and its gates and walls.

This is an allusion to Ezekiel 40 to 48

where the prophet Ezekiel sees an end time vision

of a glorious new temple

where the glory of God will dwell.

And an angelic being at that point

in Ezekiel 40, verse 3,

Ezekiel 40:3

takes a measuring rod

and starts to painstakingly measure

every dimension of the new temple.

And the measurements here we see in Revelation 21

are symbolically laden.

It's meaningful.

Verse 16 says that the city lies four square,

its length the same as its width.

And he measured the city with his rod,

12,000 stadia,

its length and width and height are equal.

The meaning of the word four square

is explained in the following clause.

Its length and,

or it's the same as the width,

meaning it's got four equal sides.

It's a square.

And then not only the length and the width,

but it also says that height of the new Jerusalem

are equal, meaning the city is a perfect cube.

And that's significant

because there is no structure in the entire Old Testament

that is shaped as a cube

except for one.

That's the holy of holies,

the most holy place in the tabernacle

and the most holy place in the new temple

and the most holy place prophesied of

in Ezekiel's vision in Ezekiel 41 verse 4.

Ezekiel 41:4

This allusion to the most holy place

indicates that as the new Jerusalem,

we will enjoy perfect fellowship with God forever.

Remember in the old Jerusalem,

only the high priests could enter the most holy place

and that only once a year

and only after making sacrifice for sin.

But in the new Jerusalem,

we will all be in the most holy place.

In fact, we will ourselves be

the holy of holies upon which God dwells.

And this is why in the glorious passage

that Andrew will preach next week,

he says that there is no temple in the city

for its temple is the Lord God,

the Almighty and the Lamb.

And we will see God's face.

We will no longer have a mediated view of God.

We will have a direct, unmediated vision of God

face to face.

But how can that possibly be?

How can sinners like us face the Almighty God

and still live?

How can we possibly be the holy of holies?

It's not because we're so special.

Hebrews 9 reminds us that

in the old Jerusalem temple,

only the high priest went into the most holy place

and he but once a year

and not without taking blood.

But Christ entered once for all

into the holy places,

not by means of the blood of goats and calves,

but by means of his own blood,

thus securing an eternal redemption.

On the cross,

Jesus made the atoning sacrifice

for our sins once and for all

by offering up himself

as the sacrificial lamb.

And then he was raised from the dead

on the third day

and because of that,

that eternal redemption of Christ

secured for us 2,000 years ago

is what guarantees to us

this eternal future

as the new Jerusalem

and being the holy of holies

indwelled by the Almighty God.

This is why the new Jerusalem

is a perfect cube.

But the dimensions of the city,

it's only 20 cubits in the temple,

but it's enlarged to the nth degree

with this glorious eternal city

of New Jerusalem.

The city measures,

I mentioned,

12,000 stadia in length,

width, and height,

which I mentioned to you

is 1,400 cubic miles.

If you plop down a metropolis

of that size

in the middle of the United States,

it would stretch north to south

from Canada to Mexico

and then from east to west

from the Appalachian Mountains

to the border of California.

That's nearly 2 million square miles,

which is over 4,000 times

the size of New York City.

And that's only the ground floor

because remember,

the height is just as tall

as the width.

So if you use standard measurements

and say that every story

is 14 feet tall

or something like that,

this will be a building

about 528,000 stories tall.

Jesus wasn't joking

when he said in John 14,

in my father's house

are many rooms.

If it were not so,

would I have told you

that I go to prepare

a place for you?

And if I go and prepare

a place for you,

I will come again

and will take you to myself.

That where I am,

you may be also.

The sheer scale,

the size of this new Jerusalem

conveys a sense of grandeur

and welcome

and hospitality

because the people of God

in that end,

in the eternity

will be from every nation

and people

and tribe and tongue

will be a numberless multitude

and God's assuring us,

yes, for you,

there is room.

I will dwell with you forever.

But this number

is not meant to be understood

literally,

but figuratively,

like the other numbers

we have seen so far

in the book of Revelation.

The great high wall

of New Jerusalem

is 12 gates

guarded by 12 angels,

has names of 12 tribes

of sons of Israel

as inscribed on it.

It has 12 foundations

which has the 12 names

of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

12, 12, 12, 12.

Why?

Because 12 is a number

that represents

the people of God.

The 12 tribes of Israel

and the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

That's why the dimensions

of the city

is 12,000 stadia,

12 times 1,000

which represents

the multitude.

This is also why

the thickness of the wall

in verse 17

is 144 cubits

because that's

the square of 12,

12 times 12.

All of these measurements

confirms the symbolism

that the New Jerusalem

is the people of God.

So,

don't imagine yourself

not quite accurate

to say

we're going to be walking

on streets of gold

because you are

the streets of gold,

right?

But that's okay.

We mix metaphors

when we talk about this.

And the bride of the Lamb

is going to be

ravishing in her beauty.

I cannot wait to see

the church

in all her splendor.

Look at verse 18 to 21.

The wall was built

of jasper

while the city

was pure gold

like clear glass.

Even the wall

of the city

is made of jasper

which is reminiscent

of the glory of God

from earlier in verse 11.

The city itself

is made of pure gold.

Imagine a city

of this scale

made entirely of gold.

gold.

It's unfathomable

and supposed to be.

And God is so,

the gold is so pure

that it is described

as being like

clear glass.

Who has ever heard

of a gold

that is clear

like glass?

Gold is an opaque metal.

So,

I'm not sure

what that means

but we need to remember

that John's reporting

a prophetic vision

and the beauty

of New Jerusalem

is so transcendent.

It stretches

his imagination.

It stretches

his knowledge

of the material universe.

It stretches

his vocabulary

so that the only way

he could quite

describe something

that is indescribable

is to mash together

two contradictory things

and say this pure gold

is clear

like glass.

We can't quite imagine

how beautiful

this city will be

and that's precisely

the point.

not only is this city

itself made of pure gold

verse 21 says

the street of the city

was pure gold

like transparent glass.

There are temples

throughout the world

that have been made of gold

not purely of gold

but still made of gold

to a certain extent

but I assure you

there are no streets

in any part of the world

that is made of gold.

None.

Because that's just

a little wasteful.

That's too extravagant.

Streets

we walk on that.

You're going to make that

of gold?

Nobody does that

but in New Jerusalem

even the street

of the city

is of pure gold

which highlights

the no expense

spared luxury

and beauty

and glory

of the city.

Similarly

verse 21

says

the 12 gates

were 12 pearls

each of the gates

made of a single pearl.

Some of you guys

have pearl jewelry

someone wearing pearl

right now?

Pearls are

exceedingly rare

and costly

because they're produced

by these shelled mollusks

takes years

to produce.

That's why

even a small pearl

earring

is so expensive

and the larger

the pearl gets

the harder it is

to produce

the rarer it is

and the more

exponentially expensive

it is.

The largest pearl

in the world

is appropriately

named

the Giga Pearl.

It weighs

61 pounds

and is about

the size

of a cow's head.

It's valued

at about

90 million dollars.

That's nothing.

Remember how big

the wall

of the New Jerusalem

is

and how big

this gate is

and it says

that each gate

is fashioned

out of a single pearl.

Not a whole bunch

of little pearls

glued together

a single pearl

like the statue

of David

Michelangelo's David

is made of a single

pearl block.

Not pearl

sorry marble

that cannot possibly

be pearl

sorry

marble

yeah

and the pearls

are not even

the only jewels

in this city.

The foundations

of the wall

of the city

are adorned

with every kind

of jewel

it says

in verse 19

and these jewels

are precious

variegated colors

gemstones

that put the

tawdry jewelry

of Babylon

the prostitute

in Revelation 17

4

to shame.

what's most

significant

about the precious

stones listed

here in verses

19 to 20

is that they

match almost

exactly

and probably

meant to

reproduce

the list

of the 12

precious stones

that were set

on the breastplate

of the high priest

who enters

into the most

holy place

to intercede

on behalf

of the people

of God

in Exodus

28

17 to 20.

those 12

gems

on the breastpiece

of the high priest

had the names

of the 12

sons of Israel

inscribed on them

and like us

we have the names

of the 12

sons of Israel

on the gates

inscribed on the gates

and the names

of the apostles

of the Lamb

inscribed on the

foundation

of this new Jerusalem.

Again

driving home

the point

only the

high priest

wore those gems

you'd think

the common Israelites

could dream

of even one

of those gems

but now

in the new Jerusalem

all of us

all of God's people

we have those gems

we're bedecked

with those jewels

for eternity

and those precious stones

function as a

visible representation

of what God

says to his people

in Exodus 19

5

you shall be

my treasured

possession

among all peoples

do you know

saints of God

every single one

of you

do you know

people of God

how precious

you are to him

the new Jerusalem

is not going to be

constructed

with cheap

plywood

and cold steel

and dull

boring concrete

it's going to be

made up of gold

and crystals

and be decked

with all kinds

of jewels

and that

demonstrates

your inestimable

value to God

you are no

reclaimed good

from dumpster

diving

at the end

of the summer

or beginning

of the summer

you're not

used good

purchased from

Facebook marketplace

you are

God's

treasured

possession

Taylor Swift

Beyonce

Lionel Messi

Cristiano Ronaldo

they're all

lowly

plebes

compared to

who you are

in Christ Jesus

do you believe that?

now don't let it

get to your head

you're

we should be

humble

because we are

sinners saved

by the mercy

and grace of God

but at the same

time have

an amazing

confidence

in Christ

you should all

walk out of here

with your heads

held high

the political

elites

the intelligentsia

the wealthy

1%

the Hollywood

stars

have nothing

they have

nothing

on even

the simplest

and the

most humble

believer

in Christ

they have

nothing

on him

or her

they are

the dwelling

place

of God

the bride

and wife

of the

land

in addition

to being

contrasted

with Babylon

the prostitute

this perfected

bride of Christ

is also being

contrasted

with the still

imperfect

bride of Christ

at the beginning

of the book

that we saw

in chapters 2

and 3

I have this

to show

Revelation

began with

a prologue

and then a

vision of

the imperfect

church

and then a

vision of

God's throne

and Christ's

inauguration

of God's

judgment

and then

at the end

of the book

in matching

reverse order

Revelation

ends with

the vision

of God's

throne

and Christ's

consummation

of his

judgment

and a

vision

of the

perfected

church

followed

by an

epilogue

and this

chiastic

structure

intentionally

highlights

a contrast

between

the still

imperfect

church

and the

future

perfect

church

of Christ

remember

what you

saw

in chapters

2 and

3

that some

churches

today

have

abandoned

the love

they had

at first

that some

tolerate

false

teaching

and false

teachers

that some

have soiled

their garments

by practicing

idolatry

and sexual

immorality

that some

churches

have the

reputation

of being

alive

but are

dead

and they're

spiritually

asleep

some churches

are lukewarm

and neither

hot nor cold

they're self

deluded

and wretched

and pitiable

and poor

and blind

and naked

but incredibly

despite all

of that

Jesus addresses

every single

one of those

seven churches

as his

church

that still

has an

angel

representing

them in

heaven

that still

has the

lamp

burning

before

the throne

of God

Jesus

does

rebuke

some of

those

churches

in utter

sincerity

saying in

Revelation 3

19

those whom

I love

I reprove

and discipline

so be

zealous

and repent

but Jesus

never speaks

derisively

or dismissively

about his

church

why

because he

knows two

things that

we often

forget

he knows

the church's

true identity

that the

church is the

bride

the wife

of the

lamb

and because

two he

knows the

church's

eternal

destiny

Jesus knows

and sees

what she

will be

in the

new

Jerusalem

and will

do well

to keep

these two

realities in

view also

non-Christians

of course

do this

sometimes

but sadly

sometimes

even

Christians

speak in

a demeaning

and dismissive

manner about

the church

of Christ

well it's

because of

hypocritical

Christians

there are

countries

in a

downward

spiral

well it's

the church's

failure of

witness

is to

blame

for the

cultural

decadence

and the

spiritual

degeneracy

all around

us

homosexuals

hate

God

because

of the

church

because

of Christians

if only

the church

would be

the church

then the

world

wouldn't

be

such

a

mess

maybe

there's

a

kernel

of

truth

in

some

of

these

things

but

sometimes

people

make it

sound

like

the

church

is

the

root

of

all

of

the

world's

ills

and

evils

well that's

news

to the

book

of

Revelation

have

you

heard

of

the

great

red

dragon

the

beast

the

false

prophet

and

Babylon

the

great

prostitute

these

are

real

and they

are at

large

in the

world

yes the

church

is

imperfect

I'll be

the

first

person

to

admit

that

and

yes

we are

hospitable

for

sinners

but let's

not forget

that the

church

of

Christ

is

also

the

bride

and

the

wife

of

the

lamb

people

say

things

about

Jesus

wife

to

my

face

that

they

will

never

dare

to

say

about

my

wife

Hannah

and

trust me

Jesus

is a

lot

more

awesome

a lot

more

to be

feared

yes

we must

at times

speak

as a

prophetic

witness

against

the

sins

of the

church

but

when we

do

we

must

do

so

with

profound

humility

and out

of love

not out

of pride

and

immaturity

Jeff

Eorg

who is

the

president

of

gateway

seminary

begins

his

book

the

character

of

leadership

this

way

he

says

quote

in

my

20s

I

was

determined

to

change

the

world

in

my

30s

I

tried

to

reform

the

church

in

my

early

40s

I

discovered

I

was

the

problem

the

church

is

imperfect

yes

why

because

you

and

because

I

am

a

part

of

it

but

even

still

it

is

the

bride

the

wife

of

the

lamb

of

God

so

let

us

treat

her

and

let

us

speak

to

her

and

speak

of

her

with

the

dignity

that

she

deserves

and

secondly

let

us

not

forget

the

church's

eternal

destiny

yes

we're

beset

with

sin

and

sore

oppressed

here

and

now

but

our

eternal

destiny

is

the

new

Jerusalem

made

of

pure

gold

like

jewels

there's

a

fairy

tale

that

I

enjoyed

reading

as a

child

I

didn't

have

that

many

books

growing up

so I

read

this one

over and

over again

it's called

The Ugly

Duckling

have you guys

read that

before

I think

Disney made

a movie

of it

or something

it was

written by

Danish

poet

Hans

Christian

Andersen

in the

19th

century

mama

duck

lays

eggs

and

keeps

them

warm

so

that

they

hatch

and

then

they

all

hatch

except

for

one

which

takes

some

extra

work

it's

an

unusual

looking

egg

and

when

that

egg

hatches

the

duckling

that

comes

out

is

not

like

the

others

he

says

in

the

book

yet

yet

my

goodness

how

different

this

one

looked

he

was

much

larger

than

the

others

he

was

not

yellow

but

dark

gray

all

over

and

after

he

stepped

out

of

his

egg

he

walked

with

a

funny

wobble

one

of

the

yellow

ducklings

pointed

what's

that

he

can't

be

one

of

us

I've

never

seen

such

an

ugly

duckling

said

another

and

this

last

duckling

this

ugly

duckling

doesn't

belong

to

the

brood

and

is

driven

from

place

to

place

suffering

much

verbal

and

physical

abuse

wherever

he

goes

and

when

he

is

swimming

on

a

lake

one

day

as

the

loner

he

is

a

flock

of

swans

come

and

descend

upon

that

lake

and

frolic

around

him

and

by

then

he

is

used

to

being

bullied

and

pushed

around

and

so

he

says

he

anticipates

what

they

will

say

and

he

says

oh

don't

worry

I'm

leaving

I

won't

make

any

trouble

for

you

but

as

he

puts

his

head

down

and

starts

to

swim

away

from

the

flock

of

swans

he

sees

a

beautiful

swan

that

is

following

him

and

he

why

is

this

swan

following

me

so

closely

but

then

he

notices

that

every

time

he

moves

this

swan's

movement

reflects

his

own

movements

and

then

he

comes

to

the

realization

oh

I've

never

been

a

duck

I'm

a

swan

a

beautiful

swan

and

he's

welcome

to

the

flock

and

then

he

soars

and

flies

away

with

the

rest

of

his

family

and

if

those

bullying

animals

knew

what

this

ugly

duckling

was

they

would

not

have

treated

him

that

way

my

brothers

and

sisters

the

church

of

Christ

is

no

ugly

duckling

your

majestic

swan

that

has

not

yet

fully

spread

out

its

wings

to

fly

so

choose

your

treasure

carefully

our

eternal

destiny

is

the

new

Jerusalem

in

a

new

heaven

and

a

new

earth

when

the

United

Nations

the

World

Trade

Organization

and

the

World

Bank

are

no

more

when

Harvard

and

MIT

and

Oxford

are

no

more

when

Apple

Microsoft

and

Amazon

and

Alphabet

and

NVIDIA

are

no

more

when

China

and

the

United

States

of

America

are

no

more

the

church

of

Christ

the

new

Jerusalem

will

stand

forever

that's

why

the

church

is

the

most

important

institution

in

the

world

comparing

the

significance

of

the

United

States

of

America

to

the

significance

of

the

church

is

like

comparing

a

sand

castle

that

a

two

year