What is Heaven Really Like?

Transcript

GRM 829
1/12/2003
What Is Heaven Really Like?
Selected Verses
Gil Rugh

We’ve been looking into what the Word says about Biblical prophecy as we begin a New Year and look at some of the events that are going to unfold in days ahead. I want to talk to you about the most glorious of all future events, and that is what the Bible says about heaven. What will heaven be like? I believe that one of the difficulties that we have as believers is that we have let heaven become some kind of indefinable, indescribable place. As it becomes less and less of a concrete, tangible reality to us, it becomes more difficult to focus on it. Our mind becomes absorbed with other things. But the Bible instructs us as believers to set our mind on heavenly things, on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of His Father in heaven. I really should fill my mind with thoughts of heaven and what the Bible says about heaven.

I’ll say at the beginning, and we’re going to look at several passages, that the Bible indicates that heaven is a real, a tangible place. It exists in a location, if you will, it has substance to it. What I’m trying to say is heaven is not just some kind of other dimension divorced and cut off from everything we know about and there for all eternity we’ll just sort of live in bliss singing songs and doing nothing in particular. Rather the Bible says that heaven is a definite, specific place. It is the place where God manifests Himself and His presence very clearly. One of the things that we sometimes fail to appreciate is that in heaven we will not only see the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who loved us and died for us, we will also see God the Father sitting enthroned in glory. We will also see the manifestation of the Spirit of God in His presence.

Let’s start in the Old Testament, back in the book of Daniel. I’m going to look at just a couple of passages, then I want to go to the book of Revelation. We’re not going to exhaust everything the Bible says about heaven. Again, when the Bible talks about heaven there are three heavens that are dealt with in the Bible. The atmosphere around the earth would be the first heaven, the stars, the planets, the universe heavens, and then heaven the abode of God. We’re focusing on heaven as the abode of God. In Daniel chapter 7 Daniel is given a vision. In verse 9 of Daniel 7 we read what Daniel writes, “I kept looking until thrones were set up and the Ancient of Days took His seat.” The Ancient of Days is God the Father. Here Daniel sees Him sitting on His throne. He can even describe Him. “His vesture was white like snow, the hair of His head like pure wool, His throne was ablaze with flames, its wheels were a burning fire. A river of fire was flowing and coming out from before Him. Thousands upon thousands were attending Him, myriads upon myriads were standing before Him. The court sat, the books were opened.” We’ve come to an awesome scene of judgment.

What I want you to note here, Daniel sees God the Father. We know it is God the Father because God the Son is going to appear before Him in a moment. He describes the throne of God and the appearance of God and the throne in concrete, tangible ways. You don’t find Daniel saying I felt some kind of force or presence, or I saw a vapor or a cloud and knew God was present. He sees the throne of God and God sitting on that throne. He sees innumerable angels gathered around that throne. Now angels are created beings like we are. God is omnipresent, meaning He is present everywhere, and yet He manifests His presence at a given place which is called heaven. Angels as created beings can only be in one place at one time, just like you and I can only be in one place at one time as created beings. Here we see these created beings gathered around the throne of God. Daniel doesn’t even try to estimate—there are thousands upon thousands and ten thousands upon ten thousands.

Then you’ll note in verse 13, “I kept looking in the night visions, behold with the clouds of heaven one like a Son of Man was coming, and He came up to the Ancient of Days.” Here you have the Son of God coming before God the Father. “And to Him was given dominion, glory and a kingdom that all of the peoples, nations, men of every language might serve Him.” Now note this, “His dominion is an everlasting dominion.” We talked about the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ on the earth. But you understand that’s not the completion of the reign of Christ on the earth. He has an everlasting dominion which will not pass away, His kingdom is one which will not be destroyed. I say that because we’re going to be looking at the eternal dimension of that kingdom when we talk about heaven. What I want you to note here in Daniel chapter 7 is that when Daniel is given a vision of heaven, he sees God the Father sitting enthroned, the angels of God around the throne, and the Son of God coming before the throne of His Father.

Look in II Corinthians in the New Testament, II Corinthians chapter 12. The Apostle Paul wants to talk about visions that God had given him, and he talks about a revelation that God gave him some 14 years earlier. He says in verse 2 of II Corinthians 12, “I know a man in Christ who 14 years ago.” And the man he knows is himself, he speaks in the third person here when he’s speaking about himself is clear in the context. Note what he says here, “whether in the body I do not know, or out of the body I do not know, God knows.” Such a man was caught up to the third heaven,” which is called Paradise in verse 4. He was caught up into Paradise. Now you’ll note, Paul says he was transported to heaven, the third heaven, Paradise, the very presence of God. He says “I don’t know whether that happened to me with my body or it was a vision or experience in my spirit.” But the reality of it is unquestionable What I want you to notice, the Apostle Paul believed it was possible he was transported in his physical body to the very presence of God in heaven. It is another clear indication that heaven is a definite place, a definite location where he could have gone in his body. Heaven is just not some kind of atmosphere in another dimension, it is a given location where created beings can gather, where God’s throne is set up and He manifests His very presence in visible form.

In Philippians chapter 3 the Apostle Paul says that as believers our citizenship is in heaven, Philippians 3:20. We all understand that. If you travel in a foreign country and you say I am a United States’ citizen, means what? You belong to that country, that place. Here we’re told in Philippians 3:20, our citizenship is in heaven. That is a place, that’s where we ultimately belong, that is our home. We are eagerly awaiting the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is going to come from that place to this place. When He comes to get us, He’ll transform our bodies, glorify us, and we’ve considered that in the context of the resurrection of the body.

Come over to Revelation chapter 2, and while you do that, I’m going to read John 14. If you want to go to John 14 that’s fine, John’s easy to find. Jesus tells His disciples as He anticipates leaving this earth, this is the last night before His crucifixion, “He says in my Father’s house are many dwelling places. If it were not so I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.” In my Father’s house, that would be heaven, the place where His Father resides and dwells. There are many dwelling places would indicate that there are divisions of some kind in heaven. Heaven is God’s residence, but there are other dwelling places there. Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you. Well I thought heaven is there, what else do we need? He is going to go and prepare a special place in heaven for them. You see heaven is a, I keep using the word concrete meaning it’s tangible, it has substance, it is a place. As we’ll see, when we get there, you’re going to be able to touch things, identify things, it is related to things associated with our life here. But you’ll note here He goes to prepare a place, then He says I’ll come and get you and take you to the place I’ve prepared. It’s in my Father’s house where my Father dwells.

Now over to Revelation chapter 4. John the Apostle in the last revelation, the last revelation God has given in the completing of the revelation of our Bible. He said in Revelation 4:1, “after these things I looked and behold a door standing open in heaven and a voice which I heard like the sound of a trumpet speaking, and he said come up here. Immediately I was in the Spirit.” John says here now I was caught up in my spirit into heaven, so he knows he didn’t go in his physical body. But heaven was a place he could go to. What does he see? “Behold a throne was standing in heaven and one sitting on the throne.” We see here it is very similar to Daniel’s vision in Daniel chapter 7. He sees God the Father sitting on a throne in heaven when he gets there. Same thing Daniel saw. We know it is God the Father because shortly God the Son is going to come before God the Father on His throne, even as He did in Daniel chapter 7.

There was a long time when I thought when I get to heaven, I won’t see God the Father because He’s a spirit and I won’t see Him. I’ll just see God the Son. We’ll know God the Father is there, but we won’t see Him. But we find Daniel when he’s given a vision of heaven, he sees God the Father. When Paul is caught up to the third heaven, He says I saw some things I’m not even allowed to write about. When John is caught up to heaven, the first thing he sees is one sitting on a throne. “And He who was sitting was like a jasper stone.” The jasper stone is our diamond. You’ll see that stone again in a little bit, it is brilliant, a light that gives off. “And a sardius in appearance. There was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne were 24 thrones, and upon the thrones I saw 24 elders clothed in white garments with golden crowns.” You’ll note here this is not just some kind of spirit existence where we are like vapors and clouds and nothing definable. When you get to heaven you find there’s a throne and God the Father is sitting on the throne, and you can even describe what the throne looks like and the rainbow around the throne. There are created beings, the elders, gathered around the throne. You can even tell how they’re dressed and what they’re wearing on their heads. This is a real place, that’s a real existence. I’m greatly comforted to know when I get to heaven I’m just not going to be looking around saying look at, like you see in science fiction, certain of these forms just moving around. You hear all this beautiful music and we’re just going to sing and play harps. I have a hard time getting into that. I’m sure I’ll like it, but maybe for the first 100 million years. But what about after the 2nd 250 billion years. I say wait a minute I find I’m going to a place I’ll be able to see and recognize. There’ll be the throne. They won’t be saying God the Father is here, you can’t see Him, but you know He’s here, you feel His presence. No. I see Him, I can go to the throne.

“From the throne proceed flashes of light,” sounds. “There are seven lamps of fire which are the seven spirits of God.” It is a manifestation of the presence of the Spirit. There are these creatures around the throne described four living creatures. They have eyes, they have an appearance that can be described. Now as we try to reduce this, someone gave me some artist renderings of some scenes in Revelation, and they really help you to think things through. But you know it is hard to describe it. You describe it, but now how would I sit down and create it. Like perhaps when you’ve been on a trip someplace and you see something that is so striking you say I’ll never be able to describe this to people when I get home. I can tell them this is what it looked like, but they won’t be able to reallize. A little bit in Revelation you get that scene. Here it is described, you can see it, but it is hard to convey that to people in a way that they can get their arms around it. But it is there. They’re described.

Verse 6, “before the throne there was a sea of glass like crystal. In the center around the throne four living creatures full of eyes, a lion, a calf, a man, a flying eagle in appearance.” Each of them you see can describe, when you get to heaven it’s not like you’ve crossed a different dimension, nothing relates. One thing that impresses me, in all the descriptions of heaven and we’re going to see the fullest one in a moment, they all relate to things that we relate to. The jasper or diamond, well we can relate to that brilliance. Now one of these living creatures was like a calf. Well, I know what a calf looks like. There was creature there I never saw before, you couldn’t describe it. Another was like a man. Well, we know what that is. I sometimes think heaven is a break and it relates to nothing, we’re just into eternity, we don’t have anything to say about it, we’ll just have to wait. That’s not the way the Bible presents it. I know what a throne is. I may not be able to grasp the brilliance and magnificence of this throne, but I can get something of the description here. I know what it is when someone sits on a throne, I know what a rainbow is, and so on. The four living creatures have six wings and filled with eyes and they’re crying out, holy, holy, holy.

You come into chapter 5 verse 6, “and I saw between the throne and the elders a lamb standing as if it had been slain, having seven horns, seven eyes, seven spirits. He came and took the book out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” And this is according to verse 5, the lion is from the tribe of Judah, the root of David. You see it is very similar to what you have described in Daniel chapter 7. The Son of Man, the Son of David, the Lamb of God is going to come before the throne of His Father and take the book. Now note what he says in verse 7, “He came and took it,” the book that was referred to in verse 1, “the seven-sealed scroll, out of the right hand of Him who sat on the throne.” What is God like? I know He has a right hand, I know He has a head, I know He has hair, at least from the description. Oh, that’s all symbolic, I think it carries symbolic import, but I want to be careful I don’t wash it all away because where do I stop. Well, the throne is not real, it’s just symbolic. The people there aren’t real, they’re just symbolic. The angels there aren’t real, they’re just symbolic. The city we’re going to see is not real, it’s just symbolic. In other words, he’s not really said anything. Did John just see a cartoon? Or did he see reality? I believe he saw reality; I believe what he described is real, the same as what Daniel saw was real. It wasn’t a cartoon, a fantasy created. It is a description and picture of heaven.

Chapters 4 and 5 of Revelation, in verse 11, I looked and heard, in chapter 5, the voice of many angels around the throne, the living creatures. How do you describe them? The number of them was myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. How did Daniel describe them? Thousands of thousands and myriads of myriads. There are thousands of thousands and tens of thousands of tens of thousands. Daniel saw the same thing when he was given a vision of heaven as John saw when he’s given a vision of heaven. I take it that’s heaven, it’s where God resides and manifests His presence.

Come over to Revelation 19. We have to go a little faster, we’re just on the introduction. The first 8 verses of chapter 19 are a description of heaven. You’ll note verse 1 of chapter 19, “after these things I heard as it were a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven.” And here you have created beings who can only be in one place at one time, and they are in the place called heaven. “And they are crying out hallelujah, salvation, glory, power belong to our God. The four living creatures,” verse 4, fall down to worship the one on the throne. There are peals of thunder, we’re ready for the marriage of the Lamb, and so on, and the appearance of Christ from heaven. Heaven opened and a white horse and Christ descends to earth.

We looked at some of these events, we’re going to look at them more closely in a future study. We looked at the millennium, the thousand-year rule of Christ, that’s when Christ sets up His kingdom on the earth. He rules in righteousness. The devil has no influence in the world during those thousand years, but sin is present in the hearts of people. There is a rebellion against Christ, all unbelievers are destroyed, and the Great White Throne judgment was set up when all unbelievers are resurrected from the dead, appear before Christ for their sentencing to hell.

The book of Revelation follows a chronological pattern. We come to chapter 21; we are after the thousand-year millennial rule of Christ. We move into what we call eternity, because there is no end to this now. We’ve crossed our last timeline. Time continues, some people believe that there’ll be no time because the angel will stand at one point in Revelation and say time will be no more. It means time has run out for people on the earth for the judgment of God. It doesn’t mean time will cease to exist because we’re finite beings. We cannot live in the eternal presence, as we speak of God existing in the eternal presence. For us everything has a sequence of events, one thing has to happen after another; and that will be true for eternity. I will never cease to be a created being and we’ll see that’s the indication.

Well how would you know? Look what happens in verse 1 of chapter 21, “and I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away. There is no longer any sea.” What we’re talking about is the earth and the heavens around the earth. He’s not talking about heaven as the abode of God, that will never pass away. He’s created a new earth and new heavens around the earth. Peter tells us in II Peter chapter 3 that the old heavens and earth were destroyed by fire. Now I want you to note something here. We saw a new heaven or new heavens and a new earth. Even when we move into eternity, we haven’t lost the connection with the present. He just doesn’t wipe out the earth and the heavens and now we’re in eternity, whatever that existence may be. For eternity He has created a new earth, and it is connected to this earth because it was renovated by fire. So, this earth was just not annihilated, but there is a connection. It is a new earth, just like we are going to get new, glorified bodies. They are these bodies, but they will be new, they will be suitable for eternity. This earth is going to be made new.

There is one characteristic mentioned here. This new earth will no longer any sea. Just mention Isaiah 65 verse 17 and Isaiah 66 verse 22, 65:17, 66:22. Isaiah the prophet prophesied this very fact, that God would make new heavens and a new earth. You can go back and read Isaiah, all of chapter 65 and 66, you’ll find out the context there is in the context of the promised kingdom for Israel. That’s significant, because the kingdom didn’t cease to exist after the thousand years. We have just moved through a new phase of the kingdom. The first thousand years served to complete God’s program in dealing with sin and removing sin from the earth, and sinners from the earth, if you will. But now we’ve gone to new heavens and a new earth, and the kingdom continues because remember in Daniel 7 the Son of Man is promised an eternal kingdom, a kingdom that will never end. It began with the millennium, but it continues through eternity.

I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. We’ve done the details to some extent in our studies in Revelation and you can get the tapes to work through the details because we only have time to highlight this. You get something of an overview and grasp of heaven. We talked about the new Jerusalem. You know it’s just not a city, this is the new Jerusalem. It has some connection to the old Jerusalem. More spectacular and so on, but at least we have some ideas of Jerusalem, its importance and Jerusalem was promised to be the capital forever. And it will be, but in a state with glory beyond anything that can be conceived. But that will be true of our glorified bodies. But it will be this body, but it will be glorified. We have the new Jerusalem here, and it looks like a bride, adorned as a bride. This concept of the bride of Christ was used in chapter 19 verse 7 in the context of the marriage of the Lamb. That would have to do with the Church as the bride of Christ; and that would be true in chapter 22 verse 17 where the spirit and the bride in our present day are giving an invitation to come to Christ. Drink of the water of life without cost. That’s referring to you and me as the Church, in our reaching out with the gospel of Jesus Christ. But the city is also identified as a bride and it’s important because one of the things going on is the city is the residence of the bride of Christ. We’re going to dwell in this city, you and I as the Church. We’ll say more about that as we move through here, who else will dwell here.

“I heard a loud voice from the throne saying behold the tabernacle of God is among men and He shall dwell among them.” You know what happens with the new Jerusalem, it’s not only going to be the dwelling place of the bride of Christ, it’s the dwelling place of God Himself. What we’re going to see here as we move through, and we’ll look at these verses in a moment, heaven now is the new Jerusalem. It is the place where God’s throne resides, where God Himself manifests His presence, His throne being His glory. You’ll note here the first 8 verses of chapter 21 just give an overview before he goes into detail. He’ll wipe away every tear from their eyes, there’ll be no longer any death, any mourning, any crying or pain. All these first things have passed away. A reminder as we move into eternity, there are certain things that don’t carry over, all the unpleasant things, all the undesirable things, the pain, the sorrow, the disappointments, sin. They’re all gone. Whatever else I know about heaven, I know it’s going to be a wonderful place. No matter how difficult life gets now, I know there’ll come a time when the sorrow will be gone, the pain will be gone, the suffering will be gone. God will dwell among His people. He’ll wipe away every tear, no death, no mourning, no crying, no pain. All gone.

“And He who sits on the throne said I am making all things new.” I love this last statement. “He said write for these words are faithful and true.” We’re going to see that statement before we get to the end of this section as well. What God says, you put my stamp on that, this is guaranteed. You write that these words are faithful and true, there is no chance these are going to be marvelous things He’s going to reveal so don’t try to explain them away, don’t try to spiritualize that these are faithful and true words. They are going to happen.

There’s a promise to the overcomer in verse 7, and there was promised to the overcomers in the letters to the churches in chapters 2 and 3. Who is the overcomer? I John 5, “who is he that overcomes but he that believes that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God.” The overcomers are those who have come to recognize their sin and repent of their sin and place their faith in Jesus Christ. When we talk about heaven, we tend to want to get sentimental, make it an emotional thing. You know what God says when He’s going to talk about heaven? Before we go any further, let me tell you. Not everyone is going to heaven.

He says in verse 8,” but for the cowardly,” those who are afraid to believe, what will family think, what will it cost me with my friends, what will……… “The cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars, their part will be in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death.” That was in connection with the Great White Throne judgment at the end of chapter 20. What a stark contrast. We begin a description of the glories of heaven for the redeemed, before we go any further God says let me tell you not everyone is going to be part of this glorious scene. There are going to be people who are suffering the torments of hell. At this glorious time there is a reminder, this is the promise to the overcomer, promise for the one who has come to believe in Jesus Christ and Him alone.
Now we pick up again with the description of the bride. An angel comes to tell John, verse 10, “he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain, showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.” He’s going to show John, now, the details of this city. We just want to look down. This is the most complete description of heaven we have anywhere, and it is marvelous. The new Jerusalem really is heaven, the place Christ prepared for us. It is the place where God will manifest His presence for all eternity. That makes it heaven, where we’re going to live forever. We talk about we’re going to heaven. Well, that would mean now we’d go to the place of God’s residence, but for future here it is described.

“Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.” There’s that diamond again, just glowing with brilliance, giving off its light. It had a great and high wall. I want you to note, when we’re going to describe the new Jerusalem, the dwelling place of God and His people for eternity, it can be described. It can be measured; you can talk about what the building materials are. It had a great high wall with 12 gates. You see this is not just some indescribable, indefinable place. Let’s describe it. It has a great high wall around it, it has 12 gates, there are names written on them, there’s an angel at each gate, there are names written above the gates. The names are the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. Now we find out this city is going to be the dwelling place of the redeemed of Israel. But you note they haven’t lost their identity as Jews. There are 12 gates, the 12 tribes, so we’ve passed into eternity but that doesn’t mean we’ve lost connection with the past. The 12 tribes of Israel are identified here, they’re going to be residing in this city.

Verse 14, the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones. On them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. According to Ephesians 2:20 the apostles and prophets are the foundation of the Church. The Church will dwell in this city, but the Church and Israel will not be blurred so you don’t know who they are. The distinction is clear. Israel’s marked out, their identity is maintained, the 12 tribes. The Church is here, and it’s marked out and they have an identity. But they will dwell together in this city. The redeemed, glorified Israel and the glorified Church.

We’re told that there are three gates on each side, there are four sides. We’re told in verse 13 there’ll even be directions in eternity. You know there’s going to be an east and a west and a north and a south. How would you know east and west when you’re in eternity? It’s just, you’re in eternity. We have created an eternity that the Bible doesn’t speak about. So here I am and now I’ve come to a city in eternity that I can see that has four sides, that has three gates on each side, that has foundation stones. Verse 15, “the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and its walls.” You can measure this city. You can measure this city. It’s just not some indefinable place. Where I’m going to spend eternity has substance, made of material, I can measure it. I don’t need to; it’s already been done for me but if I’m looking for something to do some day. It’s laid out as a square. Now going into these details but think about it. If you build a house, we sometimes go by and people near us are building a house. You know what I see? I see the people who must be going to live there, they’re there every night. What are they doing here? They were just here yesterday; you don’t do much in a day. But they’re there looking over everything. When I was a kid, we were moving to a house that was going to be built. You know we went over there when there was nothing but a concrete pad. Why? Wanted to walk over it, where is my room going to be? Okay, this is going to be the kitchen. Okay we’re going to walk down here. You go and you’re going over there every day hoping they did something. Why? This is where we’re going to live, I want to know every detail. It’s all significant. Here’s where I’m going to spend eternity and some Christians don’t have the foggiest idea. Here’s the city in which I’m going to live.

You want to know its size? Here it is. The city is laid out as a square, its length is as great as its width, and he measured the city with the rod, 1500 miles. Its length, its width and its height are the same, this city is a cube. It’s the same in its length, in its width, in its height, 1500 miles by 1500 miles by 1500 miles. Oh well this is an angel measuring the city, so we really don’t know how big the city is because angels use angelic measurements and humans use human measurements. God knows the foolishness of our human hearts, so He clarifies things for us in verse 17, “He measure its walls, 72 yards, according to human measurements which are also angelic measurements.” For those of you who might get confused angels measure the same way as humans do. When I talk about 1500 miles I’m talking about human miles because they’re angelic miles. Seventy-two yards are angelic yards. Now you understand we’ve translated this; what we call miles they were called stadia and we’ve carried it over into what the English basic equivalent is. It’s 72 yards, it’s 72 cubits. We’re not saying that the angels used our exact measurements, but we can compare the measurements and transpose them over like we do going from one language to another language anyway. Now we know. I’m glad God put that in because I don’t have to wonder and say I wonder what angelic measurements are, wonder how they’re different. You know what? They’re created beings and finite like us and limited like us. You can use the same measurement, so I know what the size of the city is. That’s a big city, 1500, 1500, 1500 miles. I got a measurement here; I’m going to read it because I don’t want to get into trouble. This is from a book; I wrote it down with the source and everything because if he’s wrong I’m not going to take the blame.

Some of you know Mark Hitchcock, he’s spoken here several times, written some great books on prophecy. I’m not implying he’s wrong because I assume he’s right. But in one of his books, he’s done the dimensions of this city and laid it out, how many square miles it would have in it and so on. His conclusion is there would be enough room to accommodate 100,000 billion people in this city. One hundred thousand billion people. You know sometimes people say well will there be enough room in heaven? Well, there could be a little bit of room there. What’s the population of the world today? Five billion? I don’t know. There’s room in heaven for 100,000 billion. Gives you an idea of the dimension of the city.

What are they going to make it out of? You know we’re going to build a house I want to know what are you going to put on it? Wood siding, permanent siding, brick, stone. Material of the wall. Oh, we’re going to start with my fence. Okay, good. It’s jasper, diamond. The city, pure gold like clear glass. This gold is so pure it’s like you see right through it. It’s like when you see a color, like something gold and looks like you can look into it. This is so pure, this gold, it’s marvelous. The foundation stone. Well, I’m not too interested in whatever you use for foundation. Well, it’s important. You know each foundation is 12 foundation stones and each one is a precious stone. You see what, we can connect that with what we are. We know what gold is, we know what precious stones like diamonds and sapphires and emeralds and so on are. You know we just go on into eternity and nothing now relates to anything we relate to now. I can understand when he describes this city and this is the kind of foundation, that’s spectacular.

The 12 gates, verse 21, were 12 pearls. Each one of the gates is a single pearl. The streets like pure gold, each gate, there are 12 gates, each one is a single pearl. I can relate to that, not that I’ve ever seen a pearl that big, but I know what a pearl is. We know something of the beauty of a pearl and its characteristic and look and you think a whole gate. What we have here goes beyond what I’ve experienced, but it relates to something I’ve experienced. This gate is not just a zigabuldah and we don’t know what a zigabuldah is. It is a pearl. Oh, that big a pearl? But you know what a pearl is, don’t you? What amazes you is there could be 12 of them big enough for a gate. But we understand that.

In spite of this description, clear as it is, let me read you what a couple of men who claim to be Bible-believing Christians have written. “No man can suppose that this is literally true.” This is a man who has edited a commentary on the whole Bible, as far as I know he was a believer. Here’s another man who I believe is still living, written a commentary on Revelation. “Literally there never was, is not now and never will be such a city.” I feel sorry for them. What did God say? Here it is, here are the details, here are the measurements. When we get down to chapter 22 verse 6, “these words are faithful and true.” That’s how he started out, wasn’t it? Here is some poor soul who says this will never happen. In spite of the fact God said these words are faithful and true, don’t expect this city. I expect a city. I’m not sure about him.

Back to chapter 21 verse 22. Know what he says in verse 22? “ “I saw no temple in it for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city has not need of the sun or the moon to shine upon it for the glory of God has illumined it, its lamp is the Lamb.” You see what really happened is heaven has moved to earth. God Himself resides here. You remember in the Old Testament tabernacle and then in the temple you had the holy of holies. You know what the holy of holies was? It was a cube, 60 feet by 60 feet by 60 feet. It was the place where God manifested His presence among the people. You know what the new Jerusalem is going to be? Spectacular holy of holies, the very residence of God is now with His people. The holy of holies of heaven has come to earth and we will dwell in the very presence of God as the glorified redeemed. You don’t need sun or moon; God is light and in Him is no darkness. The glory of God fills this city and illumines it. “The nations shall walk by its light and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it.” You know what? Isn’t it a little strange we’re in eternity and now we’ve found nations, kings. Down in verse 2 of chapter 22 they’re going to talk about the tree of life being available for the health of the nations. What’s going on here? I thought when we get to heaven it’s just everybody’s there. Well, we’ve already seen we come to the heavenly Jerusalem there’s what? Israel has its identity in this city, and the Church has its identity. Now we find outside the city, remember the new Jerusalem came down to the new earth, but the earth is bigger than the new Jerusalem. You can read the books on it; they tell you how big a footprint the new Jerusalem would have on our present earth. From this side of the Mississippi here to here, so you can look at that. I didn't bother bringing those kinds of dimensions. There’ll be much more of the earth. Now remember this earth has no sea, and there are nations and kings on the earth. My understanding of the book of the Revelation’s chronology is at the end of the 1000-year millennium all unregenerate people are destroyed. I take it those who have been living on the earth in their physical bodies will have their sin nature removed and they’ll go on into eternity in their physical bodies. Remember the kingdom promise is eternal. You will have nations, you don’t lose identity, there are nations, distinct peoples, even in eternity.

I find this greatly encouraging because it’s not like why don’t you think about heaven? Because I don’t know anything about it. You know it’s just going to be something out there. It’s going to be a place; it’s going to have connection to here. There will be nations there, kings there. The gates of the city are never closed because they don’t close it in the daytime and there is no nighttime since God is its permanent light. They’ll bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. The nations of the earth are going to be coming up into the new Jerusalem to worship God and honor Him. A reminder again, nothing unclean, no one who practices abomination, only those whose names are in the book of life will ever have access to this city. Now it’s not going to be saying unredeemed people are living on the earth, it’s another reminder like we had in chapter 21 verse 8. He dealt with their destiny at the end of chapter 20. This splendid, beautiful scene don’t get carried away in the emotion and sentimentality of it, not everybody is going to be here. Some are going to be suffering the torments of hell.

“He showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal coming from the throne of God and from the Lamb.” There is water and it’s the water of life that flows from the very throne of God that will sustain. “In the middle of the street and on either side of the river was the tree of life.” Oh wait, tree of life. I remember that. Go back to Genesis chapter 2 and 3 and there’s the tree of life; and here it is bearing 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. Wait a minute, I’m in eternity. What are we doing in months? I thought we didn’t have time anymore. We’re just floating here with nothing to ever identify anything. I don’t even know where I am, there’s nothing to mark anything. We’re just here. No. Every month the tree of life bears a different fruit, and you know what? The leaves were for the healing of the nations. Now wait a minute, the healing of the nations. I thought there was all pain and sickness and suffering and all that’s gone. We get the English word therapeutic from this word, it means the health of the nations. Remember what happened in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve sinned? They were closed out of the Garden with an angel with a flaming sword. Why? Lest they eat of the tree of life and live forever as fallen beings. You know what? Now with redemption completed and done the people of the earth have free access to the tree of life to enjoy all its fruit every month. Because they have life there’ll be no death. What would it have been like if Adam and Eve had not eaten of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, but eaten of the tree of life instead? They would have been confirmed in their holiness. What had God told them to do before the fall? Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth. They would have children without pain. Remember pain was given in Genesis 3 as a result of the curse. In pain you’ll bear children. It doesn’t mean she wouldn’t have borne children if there had been no sin, but she would have borne them without pain and so on. But I take it what we have as we’ve moved into eternity is the original intention of God and placing Adam and Eve in the Garden are now realized. We’ll have people, I take it, having children. What about………will we outgrow the earth? I don’t know. I hope God’s thought of that. Doesn’t bother me a bit because I don’t think it can happen. I think His plan’s included it.

So here we have the months, trees, eating, health, life. You’ll note verse 3 begins, “and there shall be no longer any curse.” He says that in the context of just telling you what? The freedom to eat of the tree of life, there’ll be no curse. What happened in the Garden of Eden? You couldn’t eat of the tree because of the curse. You’re cut off from the tree of life because of the curse, but the curse is now removed. Come eat from the tree of life, come regularly, come every month. The fruit of the tree is for you. So, we have the peoples of the earth living on the new earth. In the new Jerusalem we have the redeemed, glorified saints of Old Testament and the Church dwelling there in their glorified bodies.

What are we going to do? Just look out the windows of the city. No, we have things to do. Look at verse 5, there’ll be no longer night, they shall not have need of a light or lamp or the light of the sun because the Lord God shall illumine them, and they shall reign forever and ever. Look back at the end of verse 3, His bondservants shall serve Him. You know the promises given that we would reign with Christ are eternal promises. We get the idea well that’s for the millennium, then I don’t know what we’ll do in eternity, who would we reign over? Well, it’s laid out very clearly. We reign over a recreated earth. We the glorified saints of God now reside in the very glory of His presence and almost indescribable glory and splendor of the new Jerusalem where God Himself dwells. And yet we serve Him, we reign with Him, there is an earth to be administered, the peoples of the earth. But there won’t be a problem because there’ll be no burdens, no suffering, no difficulty, no sin. But there will be order. What’s to administer? Well, in the Garden of Eden before sin Adam had responsibility, he was to care for the Garden. He didn’t have to toil by the sweat of his brow to do it, but he had responsibility to care for the Garden and so on. There were things to be done. You know it tells something about us, doesn’t it? We can’t even imagine heaven without sin. What will we do if there’s no sin? I just can’t even imagine. What would I do, what’s to administer? I take it there’ll be order. The angels of heaven have no sin, no sin in heaven, but they serve God and do His bidding and so on. We’ll be busy and active. God never created us just to be a bench.

The glory and splendor of heaven, verse 6, “these words are faithful and true, and the Lord sent this word through His prophets to tell us what must shortly take place. Behold I am coming quickly.” When the Bible says set your mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God, we ought to memorize Revelation 21 and the first part of 22. Just roll it over in my mind. People want to talk about where you live. Well, you know I don’t mind telling you where I live, let’s talk about where I’m going to live. This helps put all the problems and trials and difficulties in all of life in perspective. You’re living in a one-room shack, the roof leaks, the furnace doesn’t work, there’s no hot water, but they’re building for you an opulent mansion down the road you’re soon going to move into, you can put up with the inconvenience. You can put up with the problems, you can put up with the things that are unpleasant. Why? There’s going to be a mansion down the road, I’m going to move in there shortly. I’m not really concerned with this shack. But if I’m thinking about that and I have my perspective on heaven, I fill my mind with the description of the place God has prepared for me in the glory of His presence. You know what about this problem, what about that difficulty, what about that unpleasantness? It really doesn’t matter, but you see here’s where I’m going. The difficulties here, the unpleasantness here, I’m getting ready to move any day and here’s where I’m going to live. If I’m doing that you can see why a proper perspective on heaven puts life in proper perspective and gives us endurance and durability and a faithfulness. Why in the world would I pour my life so relentlessly into things when all these things will be burned up, Peter writes. You know what he says? In light of that what kind of godly people ought you to be? You’re a people living for heaven and glory, the other side of the destruction of all these things and the recreation of all things new.

Isn’t it the grace of God that the final revelation from heaven to earth is a gracious invitation. Revelation 22:17, “and the Spirit and the bride say come, and let the one who hears say come, and let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost.” Isn’t that amazing? God graciously says come drink of the water of life, place your faith in my Son and be cleansed, be made new and be assured of eternal glory. What a gracious invitation. Isn’t it almost unbelievable that so many people ignore it, reject it, give it almost no consideration. What a tragedy. The tragedy of that is so enormous we cannot really grasp it. But while we enter into, by the grace of God, the glories of the splendor of heaven, others will have entered into the torment of fire and brimstone forever and ever because they would not take of the water of life which is given without cost to whomever will partake. What a glorious future. Let’s fill our mind with the heaven God has promised.

Let’s pray together. Thank you, Lord, for your grace. Thank you for heaven, thank you for the splendor of your presence, a description that just gives us a small taste of these finite minds of the glory you have prepared for those who love you. Lord, we realize that we are unworthy, undeserving sinners and are saved by your grace. We thank you for Jesus Christ who loved us, gave Himself for us, and is coming someday to bring us into your glory. Pray for those who are here who have yet to respond to the gracious invitation to come and partake of the waters of life. May this be a day of salvation for them. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.