The Bride of Christ is also New Jerusalem. This devotional reading looks at some of the more familiar aspects of Heaven.
Nuggets
- All are given the opportunity to choose God; however, not all will or won’t completely choose Him.
- The pearly gates are made of a single, unique pearl.
- Since there never will be nighttime, the gates will never close.
- The tour-guide angel held a golden measuring rod in which to measure New Jerusalem.
- The city as well as the street are made of transparent gold.
- We no longer will need a temple in which to go because we will always be in God’s presence.
- Sin is no more, so New Jerusalem will remain pure.
The tour guide was still explaining to John what he was seeing.
Program note: Since this is part 2 of the ending verses of Revelation 21, we were looking at topics instead of going verse by verse as we normally do. That being said, the remaining verses do go in order – with holes from the verses we’ve already discussed.
Let's Put It into Context
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Devotions in the Eternity Begins series
The Gates
“And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl ...” (Rev. 21: 21 ESV)
All are given the opportunity to choose God; however, not all will or won’t completely choose Him.
Each gate is guarded by an angel. We usually think of angels are messengers, but this isn’t the first angel sentry. “He drove out the man, and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim and a flaming sword that turned every way to guard the way to the tree of life” (Gen. 3: 24 ESV).
If sin has already been defeated, who are being kept out? Maybe goats masquerading as sheep.
“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness’” (Mt. 7: 21-23 ESV).
Greenhough noted that the gates again show the city is in the world but not of the world. We are given access but not entitlement.
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Winterbotham brought up a good point. Having gates on all sides meant the city was totally accessible.
Salvation doesn’t have levels. We aren’t saved to different salvations.
Remember. “one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4: 5-6 ESV).
We have to realize what a totally foreign concept this was for Jews in John’s Day. They were taught that they should be separate from other people. Macmillan called them hermits.
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Well, they thought they had exclusive rights to be God’s chosen people. In fact, they read some of the laws to mean that.
We can see by the Jews’ – especially the Pharisees’ – treatment of the Gentiles. They weren’t going to invite them anywhere!
Yes, throughout the Old Testament, it talked of salvation for the Gentiles. They glossed over that.
Does that contradict the narrow gate? “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few” (Mt. 7: 13-14 ESV).
I don’t think so. Yes, few enter, but all have the opportunity to enter. It is their choice to do so or not.
In another sermon, Macmillan took it a totally different way. He thought the compass points equate to what stage of life we are in upon entering Heaven. The east gate was for those in the beginning of their lives; the west gate for those at the end of their lives; the north gate for poor; and the south gate for the rich.
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That may be a reasonable explanation. We’ll just have to put it in the UNR book — understanding not required.
The pearly gates are made of a single, unique pearl.
The gates have a similarity to the foundation gems, but there is also a big difference. While the gates are made only of one gem — pearl — Greenhough said that each pearl is unique. He explained it this way.
“It means that Christ, in fashioning men, never repeats a design; that no two Christians are beautiful in exactly the same way; that no two Christians have the same training, the same experience, the same thoughts and feelings, but that God sends every one a different school and subjects every one to a different discipline, that at last He may present every one perfect after a different fashion.”
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They would have to be really big pearls for the gates to be made from only one.
The Streets
"... the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass" (Rev. 21: 21 ESV)
Is there any significance of the street (singular) being pure gold? Maybe.
“and its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.” (Rev. 21: 25-26 ESV)
Since there never will be nighttime, the gates will never close.
God’s glory doesn’t have a switch that turns it on or off. It never dims and then strengthens.
Because of that, there is no need to close the gates.
Measuring New Jerusalem
“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 foursquare, 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” (Rev. 21: 15-17 ESV)
The tour-guide angel held a golden measuring rod in which to measure New Jerusalem.
New Jerusalem measures the same in any direction: height, width, and depth. This is 1,400 to 1,500 miles, depending on whom we choose to believe. That would make it bigger than India.
That makes it one big city! In order to be home to a multitude, it has to be.
Winterbotham notes that it is “… thoroughly symmetrical, with no inequality about it; all is full, complete, utterly satisfactory, nothing falls behind the mark of the rest.”
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Heaven is perfectly symmetrical. That means careful measuring had to be done.
Thomas thought the measurements of the city were given in symbolic numbers. I don’t see it.
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We may not know what the numbers actually mean, but John did. He gave us what he was given.
The 144 cubits is the thickness of the wall. That equals 216 feet. Those are mighty thick walls!
The City and Street
“... while the city was pure gold, like clear glass” (Rev. 21: 18 ESV)
The city as well as the street are made of transparent gold.
Hmmm. I’ve never heard of clear gold. It is so pure that it is transparent????
That would mean the mansions Jesus is preparing for us (Jn. 14: 1-3) are see through.
Well, there will be nothing to hide in Heaven. Sin won’t be there to conceal. Nothing will be there to make us shameful or selfish.
“... and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass” (Rev. 21: 21 ESV)
Gold is refined in the fire. There are several verses about gold our being refined.
- “For you, O God, have tested us; you have tried us as silver is tried” (Ps. 66: 10 ESV).
- “I will turn my hand against you and will smelt away your dross as with lye and remove all your alloy” (Isa. 1: 25 ESV).
- “He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord” (Mal. 3: 3 ESV).
That is why pure gold is used to signify purification in the fire.
- “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see” (Rev. 3: 18 ESV)
- “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire — may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ” (I Pet. 1: 6-7 ESV).
- “But he knows the way that I take; when he has tried me, I shall come out as gold” (Job 23: 10 ESV).
- “The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts” (Prov. 17: 3 ESV).
- “And I will put this third into the fire, and refine them as one refines silver, and test them as gold is tested. They will call upon my name, and I will answer them. I will say, ‘They are my people’; and they will say, ‘The Lord is my God’” (Zech. 13: 9 ESV).
- “Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction” (Isa. 48: 10 ESV).
- “Each one’s work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done” (I Cor. 3: 13 ESV).
Just think. We go through the valley of the shadow of death to reach the beautiful gates of Heaven.
Think of it this way. Pearls are made from irritations. We may think some trials are irritations. We may think they are so much worse.
But those irritations are how we are working out our salvation.
No Temple in New Jerusalem
“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Rev. 21: 22 ESV)
We no longer will need a temple in which to go because we will always be in God’s presence.
How many worldview people think that church is just the building and the pomp and circumstance that goes on within it?
It isn’t – and I don’t think that was ever God’s intent. God always wanted the relationship.
We see that in the Garden of Eden. “And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day …” (Gen. 3: 8 ESV). God had come to visit Adam and Eve, just as he had done countless time prior to this fateful day.
God always was a hands-on God.
God and His glory are enough to light the city. His glory radiates to every corner of the city.
It seems a little strange that there will be no temple in New Jerusalem as the earthly temple was a copy of the heavenly Temple. “They serve a copy and shadow of the heavenly things. For when Moses was about to erect the tent, he was instructed by God, saying, ‘See that you make everything according to the pattern that was shown you on the mountain’” (Heb. 8: 5 ESV).
But then, it doesn’t seem strange. What is the temple? It is the House of God. It is where He dwells.
God needed dwelling places here on earth — a place where He could meet with His Children. He won’t need that then.
We will be living with God.
New Jerusalem will be God’s Temple. “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he who sits on the throne will shelter them with his presence” (Rev. 7: 15 ESV).
Just think of it. We won’t have to go to the Church building because there is a set aside place to worship God, limiting our worship of Him. We will be expected to serve and worship God everywhere, continuously.
We won’t have to go to see God. We will be continually in His presence.
We won’t have to go before God for forgiveness and reconciliation. We will no longer sin.
I know. There are some that say they don’t like to read or just don’t understand God’s Word when they read it. So, they don’t read.
Some say they can’t sing or don’t like the songs. So, they don’t sing.
But they think the “… but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye …” (I Cor. 15: 51-52 ESV) means we will be changed to like it.
Will we? Or will those be the goats masquerading as sheep?
If we don’t care for worshiping God now, how will we feel when we have to do it 24/7/365/eternity?
Melville made a fantastic observation. In Elaine-speak, he said
- Keeping earthly Sabbaths doesn’t assure salvation, so we won’t need them there. We can go to church and not be saved. That isn’t going to happen in Heaven.
- We are to be holy all the time, not just on Sundays.
- Sin is removed when we get to Heaven.
- Worship will no longer be a reminder to live for God.
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That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t attend worship services now. Our attendance is evidence of our obedience.
But let’s look at it another way. The Church/Temple has accomplished its mission. It has proclaimed the gospel and brought lost souls to Jesus for salvation. All who are going to be saved are already saved and perfected.
A Temple isn’t needed.
“But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Rev. 21: 27 ESV)
Sin is no more, so New Jerusalem will remain pure.
Yay!
But it is more than that. Look what Tupper said. He wrote, “Worshipfulness is a differentiating characteristic of the rightly-constituted soul. And this instinctive worshipful impulse will be more intelligently educated and more reverently developed in the future days of Christianity’s evolution.”
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In Heaven, we will get our full righteousness on. That will be cause for celebration!
Our worship will be exactly what God deserves.
Making the Connections #1
I like what Curnock said going back to the Church being the Bride. He wrote,
“The Church, in her ideal condition, has been so long with her Lord, coming up through the wilderness, that she has caught the beauty of His face and form, and is a ‘partaker of the Divine nature,’ and falls only a little way short of “the measure of the stature of His fulness.” This is her golden wedding-day-the jubilee of her redemption.”
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Wait! What? What is this coming-up-through-the-wilderness business?
Well, that goes back to the story of Satan and the pregnant woman.
- “She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days” (Rev. 12: 5-6 ESV).
- “But the woman was given the two wings of the great eagle so that she might fly from the serpent into the wilderness, to the place where she is to be nourished for a time, and times, and half a time” (Rev. 12: 14 ESV).
The woman is believed to be symbolic for the church. We said the Church is seen as one person because it is to be unified. “There is one body and one Spirit — just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call — one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all” (Eph. 4: 4-6 ESV).
Okay, so if the woman — the Church — was caught up to Heaven, it could be coming down now. Since the Rapture has occurred, this is everyone, not just those who have passed on before.
No, we are going to be standing there watching New Jerusalem descend. That would mean we are in it.
That makes more sense to me now. The Church and the city are one because they are inseparable. We can’t have one without the other.
Making the Connections #2
So, does this mean New Jerusalem is going to be a physical city? How many times have we said that God is more interested in the spiritual than the physical?
And we expect New Jerusalem to be physical!
Greenhough said it probably won’t be a literal city, and John wasn’t leading us to think so. He wrote, “He tells us, for instance, that the twelve foundations bear the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, that God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it, and that it is not lighted by sun or moon, but the Lamb is the light thereof. From all which we conclude that it is not a material but a spiritual city — a city whose stones are living souls, whose pearly gates and streets are resplendent, not with material radiance, but with the more ethereal light of moral and spiritual beauty.”
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Remember, God doesn’t change. If His main focus isn’t our physical lives here, it won’t be there.
This is alluded to in Zechariah. “And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, ‘Run, say to that young man, “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst”’” (Zech. 2: 3-5 ESV)
Does that make the measurements of New Jerusalem symbolic then? Probably.
Making the Connections #3
We’ve talked before that John did the best he could describing something so wonderful beyond imagination.
Macmillan disagreed. He thought John’s vision was linked to what was sacred to first-century Jews.
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The problem for John was that it was the same but different. Things weren’t built from temporary materials.
If that is the case, that is a stronger argument that John did not write symbolically.
This is especially true when we think that John would have worshipped in the temple. He could compare and contrast what he was seeing with what he knew.
In fact, if John did write this in AD 90, the temple would have already been destroyed. He would know what it felt like to not have a temple.
True, they still had their synagogues, but worship centered around the temple in Jerusalem.
John would probably have had the common view on the issue. A city without a temple should be avoided.
God was explaining to John what true worship is.
How Do We Apply This?
- Be pure in thought and look to show our love to God.
- Hate that which is false.
- Live the life we are called by Gd to live.
- Show our love for Gd by being obedient to Him.
- Live our lives in relation to our measuring rod – God’s Word.
- Find pleasure in devotion now as this life prepares us for eternal life.
- Love God and love serving Him.
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Prayer
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What do you think?
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