The Revelation 21:    

Reading #453  The city of God

This week we come to the fulfilment of the promise made in the Bible, that the meek (the followers of God) will inherit the earth. It is written, “What man is he that fears [respects] the LORD?  Him shall He teach in the way that he shall choose.  His soul shall dwell at ease [in Sabbath rest]; and his seed shall inherit the earth”.  Psalm 25:12-13.   Jesus said it like this; “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth”. Matthew 5:5. 

Now John was shown that time:

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Revelation 21:

1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

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We have seen in a past reading that the waters (i.e. clouds) placed in the sky as protection from the potentially harmful rays of the sun, fell to earth during Noah’s flood and formed the great oceans we now see.  http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/BibleReadings/genesis/genesis_06a.html

(I have found that often the internet screen says that the article cannot be found, but if I close that down by the top right-hand X, then it appears!)

But that was not God’s original intention for them, and in the new world which will emerge from the Lake of Fire they will be back in their allotted place.  It’ll be the same for the waters which were under the earth before the flood. (Genesis 7:11.)  Hence John tells us that in the new world there will be no more impassable seas – there will only be great lakes which we can walk around.

Then the proxy bride appeared:

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Revelation 21:  

2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away”.

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In The Revelation there is not a great deal of differentiation between the temple/sanctuary and the city, for both serve much the same purpose at present.  Therefore when John was given the privilege of seeing the city as it will be when it is brought down at the third advent it is called “the sanctuary”.  He heard the interesting fact that this house of God would remain among the dwellers on earth from then on.  The angel also announced that by this act God the Father was moving His capital centre from heaven to this world in a restructuring move!  I don’t know exactly just what part a city can play in God’s system in the new world because my mind is still flawed with the understanding of the position of cities on this planet, but I know that it will be far from that, for they are counterfeits of the true.  But I do believe that new Jerusalem is not a place in which God’s people will normally reside, for it is for them to work in.    

Thus it is written:

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Hebrews 11:

8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing where he went. 9 By faith he sojourned in the [earthly] land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles [tents] with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: 10 for he looked for a city which has [firm] foundations, whose builder and maker is God [one in which they could dwell forever] . . .

[“For the promise, that he should be THE HEIR OF THE [new] WORLD, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith”.  Romans 4:13.]

13 . . . These [Abraham’s spiritual children, Galatians 3:29] all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims [travellers] on the earth.

14 For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a [heavenly] country. 15 And truly, if they had been mindful of that country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned [they could have gone back]. 16 But now they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly [one]: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for He has prepared for them a city [as the capital of that country].

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Lateral thought:

In the book “Pilgrim’s Progress” Christian leaves his normal place of abode and travels (having various experiences) until he arrives at the celestial city. 

In our text the Son of God spoke to John and assured him that these things would all come to pass, for the city has been in the minds of God’s people from the beginning.  At present it contains the heavenly tabernacle, the one in which the depths of the Son of God’s sacrifice has been played out for the benefit of the heavenly host since sin began.  It is written: “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: We have such a High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a Minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the LORD pitched, and not man. For every high priest [on earth] is ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices: wherefore it is of necessity that this Man have somewhat also to offer”.  Hebrews 8:1-3.  In the reality He has been offering His sacrifice which He made at the beginning of the world, and showing it in picture form in the heavenly sanctuary, as He had in the earthly one. Revelation 13:8.

The physical land of Israel which they took over from the Canaanites, was also meant to be a symbol, but, like lots of other representations in the Old Testament, has become a reality in the minds of many.  Satan has become adept at turning men’s attention from the heavenly to the earthly, even among the professed students of the Bible.

But one day that will all change:

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Revelation 21:  

5 And He that sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new”. 

And He said to me, “Write: for these words are true and faithful”.

6 And He said to me, “It is done.  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end [of the Greek alphabet, our A-Z].  I will give to him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7 He that overcomes [his independence] shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son. 8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”.

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With God all things come about by the power of His word, so when He says “It is done” we can be sure that the thing exists, awaiting only a revealing.  We have already read about the sons of God who have yet to be revealed (Romans 8:19), and here we are told how they will appear.  There is need of a group of people who will so overcome their desire for the world and increase their desire to stay with the Son of God that they will inherit the world while they are alive, by accepting His word in its fullness. 

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Revelation 21:  

9 And there came to me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, “Come hither, I will show you [a close-up of] the bride, the Lamb's wife”.

10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God: and her light was like to a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 and [she] had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 on the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

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The city and the temple have been mentioned before by another prophet.

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Ezekiel 40:

2 In the visions of God He [the Son of God] brought me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south [so he was set down on the mount on the north side of the uncompleted city].  

3 And He brought me there, and, behold, there was a man [an angel], whose appearance was like the appearance of brass [a symbol of humanity], with a line of flax in his hand [for long measurements], and a measuring reed [6 angelic cubits long, about 12ft or 4 metres]; and he stood in the gate.

4 And the Man [the Son of God] said to me, “Son of man, behold with your eyes, and hear with your ears, and set your heart upon all that I shall show you; for to the intent that I might show them to you are you brought hither: declare all that you see to the house of Israel” . . .    

10 [He continued] “You son of man, show the house [the temple] to the house of Israel, that they may be ashamed of their iniquities: and let them measure the Pattern [of My life in it]. 11 And if they be ashamed of all that they have done, show them the [spiritual] form of the house, and the fashion thereof, and the goings out thereof, and the comings in thereof, and all the forms thereof, and all the ordinances thereof, and [then] all the [deeper] forms thereof, and all the [deeper] laws thereof: and write it in their sight, that they may keep the whole form thereof, and ALL the ordinances thereof, and do them”. [We do not need to keep them literally now, but should see them as double experiences in repentance].

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Between those two quotes is a very detailed description and measuring of the temple that should have been built by the Jews after their return from the Babylonian exile to explain in greater detail what the Son of God was doing, first of all in heaven, and then spiritually in each believer.  However, they had preferred to rebuild a smaller and less detailed version of that which Solomon had designed (see Ezra 3:12-13), so the task passed on to the Christians when the Romans destroyed it in 70AD.  Sadly, the early Christians also failed to an even greater degree when they allowed the man of sin to build his tabernacle in their minds in place of God’s. (See Daniel 8:11.)  So the task has now passed down to us who claim to be “the repairers of the breach”.  See Isaiah 58:12-13.  It’s still a spiritual task.  “Know you not that you are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple you are”. 1 Corinthians 3:16-17.

The city has a spiritual meaning too, of course:

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Revelation 21:  

15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lies foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. [A furlong is 660ft or 1/8^th of a mile].  The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal [in proportion].  

17 And he measured the [height of the] wall thereof, a hundred and forty-four cubits [approximately 288ft or 92 metres], according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel [the length of a human forearm from elbow to finger, plus a handbreadth].

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It’s a very large city, built by Jesus as the working place of regenerated humanity.  He told us, “Let not your heart be troubled [rest in the Sabbath rest]: you believe in God, believe also in Me.   In My Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you.  I go to prepare a place for you”. John 14:1-2.  Some have taken the words “length, breadth and height are equal” to mean that the city must be very tall, and this may be correct, but I prefer to read that its height is in proportion to its area.  We’ll have to wait and see which is right! 

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Revelation 21:  

18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like to clear glass.

19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.  The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several [individual] gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.  

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Here we see that the Son of God uses the precious stones of this world in a practical way, not just for decoration.  John also mentions that the wall matches the rest of the city in colour, being made of jasper (a gem of various colours), combined with transparent gold. (Thin transparent gold is used on the faceplates of astronauts’ helmets as protection from the sun’s rays.)  The gates set in the wall are fashioned from pearls; therefore the whole effect is a beautiful sight.

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Revelation 21:  

22 And I saw no temple therein [in the new world the literal building will be outside the city boundary]: for the LORD God Almighty and the Lamb are the [real] temple of it.

23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. [The sun and moon still shine in the new world, but are outshone by God in the city area, as the stars are invisible in today’s cities.]

24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth [amongst them] do bring their glory and honour into it.

25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.  

27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defiles, neither whatsoever works abomination, or makes a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

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Because in the regeneration all symbolic things will become realities, the temple will revert to its normal role and will become the personal house of God.  It is therefore outside of the city as a “country residence”.

We have seen before that the universe is designed for living, not sleeping (which is a little death), therefore there will be no night in the new world.  After the sun sets, the moon, restored to its former glory, will take over, and the “night” will simply be a diminishing of light.  Speaking to the city, in a verse which John is elaborating, God says, “The sun shall be no more your light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light to you: but the LORD shall be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory.  Your sun shall no more go down [in brightness]; neither shall your moon withdraw itself [go out]: for the LORD shall be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended. Your people also shall be all righteous: they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, the work of My hands, that I may be glorified [seen to be righteous]”. Isaiah 60:19-21.  (In the original world the Son of God visited Adam and Eve in the “cool of the day” between sunlight and moonlight.  Genesis 3:8.)

Bye for now,

RonP

Some of the comments in these readings are adapted from books in my library.      No recognition is given because they are not intended as authorities, but are used because they express my understanding clearly.     All the ideas expressed in these readings, right or wrong, are my own.  Some of these readings are available at

http://www.oocities.org/weprotest.geo/BibleReadings/books_index.html

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