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A Revelation Revelation

Recently, I got the opportunity to attend a Charles Simeon Trust conference on Biblical Exposition in Bristol, Wisconsin. I went with 8 other men from Parker Hills Bible Fellowship, and I almost feel like the trip was worth it just from the fellowship with those brothers alone. 

At first I was nervous to go, and wasn’t sure that I wanted to. Here I was, a teacher at trade, yes, but with massively less experience than almost everyone around me. And then I heard the book being used at the conference was Revelation.  Whoo boy. 

Everyone attending the conference had to prepare a five minute presentation on two different passages from Revelation.  I got Revelation 8:6-12 and all of chapter 21.  We were given questions to help us and guide us through our preparation, things like “What is the structure of the Passage”, “How does this passage relate to History of the time, other parts of the bible, and the passages around it?” and the $50,000,000 question: “How does this passage relate to the message of the Gospel?”.  And I’ll tell you something – I got schooled. In a good way though, especially on 8:6-12.  My small group leader was David Helm, who was no nonsense, but incredibly awesome and pretty funny. He had no problem saying “Nope, you missed the point” but also pointing out some things that he really liked about your work.  For Revelation 8, it was how I pointed out the importance of trumpets throughout history, using their heralding calls to signify something important, that should be paid attention to. Overall an incredible experiance.  While I don’t see myself preaching too often, it’s now something that I feel I better know how to prepare for, and am far less intimidated by it.  But My biggest takeaway from it was learning how to READ the Bible. Not just read the words and move on, but to fully grasp what all a passage is trying to tell us, what is the authors main purpose and message, which is something that I never really had before.

Upon returning, Josh, the lead elder and pastor at Parker Hills, arranged “Revelation Night” where all Eight men would share for ten or so minutes on one of their passages. I chose to present on Revelation 21.  I’m still working on finding the audio from that evening, but here are my thoughts on Revelation 21.

 

Throughout Revelation thus far, we’ve seen encouragement and warnings to the seven churches in Asia, we’ve seen the de-creation of the earth and the totality of the judgment of God.  In Revelation 21, we see the tone begin to swing in a different direction, towards the consummation of God’s covenant, through the description of new Jerusalem, and in the bride of the Lamb.  And straight away, there’s a bit of irony in this passage. Do you see it? In verse 2, the city of new Jerusalem is described as a person, emphasizing the comfort that comes from God, and in verse 9 describes the Bride of the Lamb as a city, showing us the beauty and awe that comes from God. And we are going to dip our toe into these two ideas tonight.       
    
    21:3 “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, an death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”

    This, written to churches and Christians who were undergoing trials, and persecution and suffering, and his message isn’t just “stick with it, it’ll get better.” But it goes deeper then that. It’s “Stay the course, because God will dwell with men, he is our comforter, and through him, all the death and pain and hurt and crying will be wiped away.”  And in my mind there as I read, I think “Wow, what a great and uplifting way to end.”  But there is a warning to us in verses 6-8. “And he said to me, ‘It is done! I am the alpha and omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God and he will be my son.  But for the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.’” The only thing that can free us from these things is Jesus Christ, and the good news of the Gospel. That’s it. Nothing else. With out him being an advocate on our behalf, we are destined for destruction. But through him, there is comfort and peace.

    But Revelation is apparently similar to Lord of the Rings: Return of the King and has a bunch of endings. That’s still not the end. We see in verses nine through 26 the description of the Bride of the Lamb. And it is such a powerful and vivid description.

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
 
And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies 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. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 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.”   Revelation 21:9-21

    12,000 Stadia is about 1500 miles, or the distance from Lisbon, Portugal to Warsaw, Poland,  Denver to Philadelphia, and when you find the area of the City, its a city the size of India. So pretty big.  And the city gates are each made from a single pearl. Think of the size of that pearl!  How big must that oyster have been to make a pearl big enough to be made into a city gate?!

But this description, as striking as it is, isn’t even the most awesome part. Look at verse 22.  

And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 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. 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.”    Revelation 21:22-27

‘And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 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. 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. ‘ Revelation 21:22-27 https://www.bible.com/bible/59/REV.21.22-27

God’s glory is so magnificent, so total, that there is no need for a sun or moon or lights, no shadow, no darkness, and it illuminates everything so there is no night, and so pure that nothing evil or unclean can ever enter the city.  There’s almost no need for gates at that point right? How convicting this description is. Verse 27 “Nothing unclean will ever enter, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”  

Because of sin, none of us can ever get there on our own. We will never get to walk alongside God or experience the radiance of his glory. Except by one way. Because of Christ’s sacrifice, his death and resurrection on the cross, our sins have been washed away, and our names written in the book of life.  There is no more need for the Temple or High priest in order to commune with God, because he now dwells among his people. And we can walk with God, free from sorrow, pain, and death, illuminated by his Glory.  Because Christ died on the Cross.