The New Jerusalem II

I. Introduction
A. We continue this morning on John’s vision of the New Jerusalem in Rev.21. This is the third of five sections of this glorious vision in Rev.21:1-22:6.
B. It began with the vision of a city – which was also a bride – descending from heaven.
C. Last week we talked about the 12 foundation stones of the city (the 12 apostles) – and its 12 gates (the 12 tribes of Israel), as well as its great wall.
D. In this section, again, there is a lot about architecture, construction, and building materials.
1. Walls, gates, foundation, size, borders, streets, lights
2. Some of us might not have much interest in architecture, construction, and building materials.
3. And that’s often the way it is with Scripture. Studying Scripture involves learning about literature and grammar and history and culture and language and warfare and animals and geography and government and human relations and many other things.
4. And many of us are not naturally interested in these things. But if they open the door to being able to understand God’s word, then we become interested in them.
5. My favorite analogy about this is if you found out there was gold under your back yard. Whether you had any natural interest in mining, you would suddenly become interested in it.
6. And so it with the treasures of God’s word.
7. So, don’t be put off by the construction details. There are treasures in them.
II. Revelation 21:15-21 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 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. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.
A. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 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, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
B. The two things I’d like to hone in on today are the cubic shape and the enormous size of the city.
III. Cubic shape
A. 15-16 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 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.
B. 16 Its length and width and height are equal.
1. The city is actually cubic, since its length, width and height are equal. And that’s significant, because it reminds us of the Holy of Holies, also called the Most Holy Place or the inner sanctuary, in the tabernacle and the temple, which was also cubic (1Kg.6:20).
2. The dimension went from 10 cubits in the tabernacle to 20 in the temple. But it remained a cube. So, the cubic shape was important – presumably because it represented perfection.
C. Lets talk more about the holy of holies.
1. After God led the Israelites out of Egypt on their way back to the promised land, He taught the people how He wanted them to approach Him. Just as they were living in tents as they journeyed through the wilderness, so He commanded they build a tent for Him, where they could meet with Him: the tabernacle, the tent of meeting.
2. Later, after the Israelites had settled in the promised land, David and his son Solomon worked to replace the tabernacle with a temple for God in Jerusalem. That’s why Jerusalem was known as the city of God.
3. But both the temple and the tabernacle were divided into two rooms, with only one access. The outer room was called the holy place, and the inner room was called the Most Holy Place or the Holy of Holies. These two rooms were divided by a thick, heavy curtain.
4. Only the priests were allowed in the outer room, the Holy Place, where there were several pieces of furniture for ceremonial use: the altar of incense, the table of showbread, and the lampstand or menorah.
5. However, God’s presence dwelt behind the curtain — in the inner room, the Holy of Holies, where the glory cloud of God’s presence hovered over a gold box called the ark of the covenant. This is why the Holy of Holies was the central feature of the tabernacle/temple.
6. As Hebrews 9:1-14 tells us, only the high priest was allowed to slip through the thick curtain and enter the Holy of Holies, and that just once a year – on the Day of Atonement – to sprinkle sacrificial blood on the mercy seat, which was the space between two golden cherubim (angels) on the cover of the ark.
7. The holy of holies was the place where heaven and earth came together, and yet it also showed how many barriers remained between God and man.
8. The Holy of Holies was itself constructed on the pattern of the heavenly Holy of Holies.
a. Hebrews 8:5 [The priests] 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.” (Exodus 25:40)
D. Outside these two rooms there were other areas and chambers of the temple complex.
1. Court of the Gentiles (God-fearers, where God is)
2. Then you went up a few stairs onto another level where only Jews could go.
3. There you would find two regions:
a. Court of women
b. Court of Israel where only Israelite men could go (If a Gentile entered the Court of Israel, it was a capital offense. In order to appease the Jews, the Romans allowed this penalty even for Roman citizens. To prevent Gentile entrance, notices were posted in Greek and Latin which warned of unlawful entry. Archeologists have found two of these notices, which read: "No foreigner may enter within the barricade which surrounds the temple and enclosure. Any one who is caught trespassing will bear personal responsibility for his ensuing death.") See Acts 21:17-36.
4. Then, inside the court of Israel was the court of the priests, where only priests could go. The priests would work at the altar, and tend to the sacrifices, and the laver.
5. Porch of the temple itself
6. Holy place
7. Holy of holies
8. Getting into the holy of holies was harder than getting into the Oval Office at the White House.
a. Some have claimed that a rope was tied around the high priest’s ankle when he entered into the room on the day of atonement in case he died in the Holy of Holies – since that would be the only way to retrieve his body because no one was allowed in and on no other day and for no other purpose.
b. The people of Israel are the only ones in the whole world who had any access at all to the very presence of God. But, in one sense the tabernacle/temple structure and all the rules forbidding access were given to remind them that there were still barriers between them and God, that their access to Him was blocked (Heb.9:8), and that the way to God had not yet been opened up.
c. This structure of the tabernacle/temple also showed them that their only hope of being able to enjoy free and full access to God’s favor and fellowship was through the high priest and through sacrificial blood.
9. Of course, all this was in preparation for the coming of Jesus.
a. What happened when Jesus sacrificed Himself on the cross? The final barrier to the Holy of Holies was removed, for at the moment of Christ’s death, the curtain was torn from top to bottom! (Mark 15:38)
b. “He entered once for all into the holy place of God’s presence, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Heb.9:12-14)
c. Now by His death Christ has broken down the barrier that kept us away from God.
d. “We can now confidently come before the throne of grace, not because of what we have done, but because of what Christ has done.” (Hebrews 4:16)
e. The door is open. Christ has broken it down. So now, spiritually, we can enter.
f. But we still live here on the earth. We are still affected by sin. We are still in cursed bodies. We are still mortal.
10. But here in Rev.21 we find out that one day we’ll have a new Holy of Holies in a new Jerusalem.
11. But not just have it, we will live in it. We will not just visit it, we will dwell with God in His very presence.
E. And this explains why it has to be so enormous.
1. BIG city: 1500 miles by 1500 miles
a. Imagine if one corner of the new Jerusalem were right here in Gainesville. You look SW down the wall 1500 miles and you see the next corner – in Mexico. Now you look NW and that corner is almost all the way to the province in Canada called the Northwest Territories. And that leaves the farthest corner of the city in Nevada, not quite all the way to California. That’s a big city!
2. TALL city: 1500 miles (the world only has a few buildings taller than 1500 feet, planes fly around 6 miles up)
a. Mt. Everest is just under 6 miles high, from sea level. This city is 1500 miles high.
3. Why is the city so big? It has to be because it has to hold people from every tribe, nation and tongue, from every age and every corner of the earth.
4. The one who was laid in a manger and had only a few visitors will one day dwell with His worshipers in an immense city! And not just a multitude of angels but a multitude of people will sing His glory!
IV. After this, there is a description of the material which composes the city.
A. Revelation 21:18-22 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 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, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
B. Why is the city built with precious stones?
C. It’s easy to think that the new Jerusalem is made of these materials because it’s such a spectacular and elegant place. And that’s certainly true. But there’s more to it than that.
D. When God created the world, most of the stuff He created was rather ordinary: rocks, dirt, sand, etc. But He also made some pretty special things which more vividly reflect His glory, things like flowers and sunsets and waterfalls – and gemstones. (Right in the creation story of Genesis, there is mention of gold, bdellium & onyx stone. Gen.2:12. See the description of Adam in Ezek.28:13.)
1. These extraordinary things God created receive a lot of attention from mankind because of their beauty, their permanence, their rarity, the way they’re different from the normal stuff.
2. It’s almost like they’re exotic things from another world. And that’s exactly why God put them here, it seems.
3. And it’s not surprising that He has them used in the creation of holy things like His temple and the ephod of the high priest.
E. But they seem to be abundant in the new Jerusalem. Each one of the gates was a single pearl.
1. And gold is one of the primary building materials. Even the streets are paved with it!
F. But what’s the point of a gold and jewel-bedazzled city?
1. Let me ask you this: Most of the things in Revelation are symbolic. What do these beautiful and precious materials symbolize?
2. Well, the 12 foundation stones were the 12 apostles, like we talked about last week. But now they’re each not just foundation stones but gemstones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
3. And the 12 sons of Israel were pearls.
4. So the precious stones are people. And that reminds us that in 1Pet.2:4-7 it says that just as Christ was “a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious,” so we also are living stones being built into a spiritual house. So, Christ, the stone the builders rejected, has become the cornerstone not of a physical house but a spiritual house. And where is this house? In Zion. And what’s another name for Zion? Jerusalem.
5. So, these gemstones are the people who make up the new Jerusalem. It’s you and me and millions of others who knew and loved Jesus down through the ages, even before He came.
6. We’re not called jewels in our present condition, but one day that’s just what we’ll be.
7. So, we ARE living stones, but we will one day be living gold bars and gemstones (Rev.21:11).
G. Now, let me ask you this: How is a jewel formed? How are these precious gemstones formed?
1. It doesn’t come easy. They are formed by pressure and heat over a long period of time.
2. And so how are we being made into gemstones? By pressure and heat over a long period of time!
3. It’s actually a beautiful work God is doing, a glorious project God is working on! But there are times when it’s really hard, aren’t there? times when we really feel the heat and the pressure.
4. But it’s well worth it. And when all is said and done, we will radiate the glory of God.
5. Romans 9:21-23 tells us that God is a potter creating vessels. Though many of the vessels He makes for dishonor, like a washbasin or toilet, some vessels He makes for honor.
6. And that’s what we’re talking about here. Right now we are clay pots which hold a precious Treasure (2Cor.4:7).
7. But through fire and pressure we are being fashioned by God into precious treasures – vessels of beauty – that we might come to see the riches of His glory and grace.