Dazzled!

Take your Bibles this morning and turn to Revelation chapter 21. We of course are in this part of the book where God is revealing for us what we have just confessed, the glories that our minds could not even imagine. It starts in chapter 21, verse 1, and goes through chapter 22, verse 5. We want to look this morning at 21, verses 15 through 21, which is, again, a description of the new Jerusalem that has descended from God.

You follow as I read the Word of God. 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 four square its length the same as its width he measured the city with his rod twelve thousand stadia its length and width and height are equal he also measured its wall one hundred and forty four cubits by human measurement which is also an angel's measurement The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first foundation 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, chrysophrase, the eleventh, Jason, and 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, transparent as glass. Father, help us now to understand this text. we want Lord to understand these things that we might have hope so we ask that you would give us that thank you for the revelation you have given us of what is to come Lord, help us now to understand this, that we might live in hope.

We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen. Amen. Chronicles of Narnia Lord of the Rings even Grimm's fairy tales all have something in common and that is all of those books seek to capture your imagination we could add one more book to that list and that is the book of Revelation why do you say that you might ask well the strategy of the book of Revelation as we have seen over all these months, is to create a symbolic world that engages your imagination so that you would respond properly to the world.

It uses symbols so that you get heaven's perspective. It engages your imagination so that you see the reality of the world that you live in now and that you will also see the reality of the world that is yet to come. to resist the powerful allurements of the culture around us, all those things that would draw us away from the love of Christ. God says, use your imagination.

When you look around and see all the wonderful things around you, don't think beauty, think prostitute. Think of the manufactured allurements that a prostitute has. In order that you remain loyal to your Savior, God says, use your imagination. Use your imagination. The world to come is like a beautiful bride. The world to come is like an incredibly glorious city.

You see, God inflames your imagination not with fables, but with unforgettable images of truth. You see? He wants you dazzled by the glory of the new Jerusalem so that you will remain steadfast and loyal in the midst of the seductive culture in which we live He wants you to be astounded by the promise of rest so that you will persevere in suffering and hardship.

And to do that, to keep us loyal, to keep us steadfast in the midst of suffering, he engages our imagination now these symbols represent truth they're not telling us something that's not true but you don't forget those images and when you remember the images you'll remember the truth behind them and that's what's going on in this chapter of revelation god engages our imagination with these dazzling sights so that we will live in hope. So that we will remain loyal when the culture around us looks so beautiful and looks so easy and offers us so much. He engages our imagination to say, no, no, no, no, no, it's a prostitute.

You need to remember there's something better, a beautiful bride yet to come. That's what you need to remember. Now, for the last few weeks through the revelation of God and the use of our imaginations, we have been taking a tour of the city that's yet to come. We have been given the privilege of seeing the bride. The pure bride that will come to earth from God.

Of viewing the dazzling beauty of the new Jerusalem. And so the tour continues this morning in verses 15 through 21. I'm going to read it again. Alright? Even though I don't like reading about all those precious stones. I don't exactly know what they are.

I've done some research on them, but here we go. 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 four square, 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 44 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel's measurement.

The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as 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 and 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, transparent as glass.

Now here's the first thing John tells us, be dazzled by the dimensions of the New Jerusalem. be dazzled by the dimensions of the new Jerusalem. John looks up to see an angel with a measuring rod in his hand ready to measure the new city. Now, he should look familiar to John because a prophet from long ago had met the same creature with that measuring rod.

His name is Ezekiel. And you see it in Ezekiel 40. Turn back there with me. Ezekiel 40. Verse 1, like bronze with a linen cord and a measuring reed in his hands. And he was standing in the gateway.

And the man said to me, son of man, look with your eyes and hear with your ears and set your heart upon all that I shall show you. For you were brought here in order that I might show it to you, declare all that you see to the house of Israel. And then what proceeds for the next nine chapters is a description of this angel measuring the temple and everything that's associated with that temple.

Now here's what's going on. The Israelites are in exile. Jerusalem and the city of Jerusalem is in ruins. They long to return home to find peace and rest. The city and the temple rebuilt and the mercy and presence of God. That is what they're beginning to long for.

And so for the next nine chapters, Ezekiel tells of this angel measuring a new temple and everything associated with measuring the altars, measuring the tables, measuring the rooms, measuring everything associated with that temple. Until he concludes in the very last chapter of Ezekiel. The very last verse. In Ezekiel chapter 48, verse 34. After all that measuring is done, he says, And the name of the city from that time on shall be, what?

The Lord is there. That's going to be the name of the city. The Lord is there. And so a longing developed among the people of God. Someday the temple will be rebuilt. And the name of the city where that temple is will be called, The Lord is There.

But you see, it never happens. Or it doesn't appear to happen. What actually happens is Jesus appears. And He brings peace and rest. And he brings the mercy and the presence of God that was no longer visible in the temple. It came in the person of Jesus Christ who brought all of those things that they were longing for.

And he begins to fulfill those hopes. Actually, by beginning to fulfill, he guarantees that those hopes will someday be realized. he continues that fulfillment in the church which becomes the vehicle then of jesus and the mercy of god and becomes the place of the presence of god and it finds its ultimate fulfillment here in revelation 21 what ezekiel saw now is expanded and now we see the fulfillment of their hopes in the new Jerusalem that comes on account of Jesus. Now I want you to look at the unbelievable proportions of that temple, of that city, I should say, that meets our eyes.

Just look at the city. Verse 16. It is perfectly square. The city is perfectly square with each side measuring 1,380 miles. Alright? So just imagine standing at the corner of the wall.

Okay? You're looking west. The wall of that city disappears over the horizon. It goes on for 1 miles I just trying to imagine that You know the length of that wall would take you 24 hours to drive by car if you didn't stop. Okay, two days if you stopped. It would be from here to Crest and Becca's hometown.

It would be one day's trip and then a little bit past the other side of Denver, the next day's trip. That's how long. That's one side of the city. Okay? That's one side of the city. If you would travel around the city, if you get in your car and travel around the city, that's a trip of 5,520 miles.

That's the size of the city. Now, as you look up at the buildings, they would stretch out of your sight because the buildings are 1,380 miles high. How would you like a penthouse in that place? Right? I remember standing on the top of the Sears Tower in Chicago with Becca. You remember that?

I remember her looking over the edge and going, I don't like this. Because it was like being in a plane, you know? But I mean, can you imagine the buildings going up 1,380 miles? The satellites would bump into the city that are orbiting the earth. All right? And by the way, that makes the city a perfect cube because it's 1,380 miles long, wide, and high.

So the city is a perfect cube. All right? Now the walls and the gates, they don't seem very tall. They're 144 cubits or about 216 feet tall. That's pretty tall. 216 feet, those are pretty tall walls, not compared to the buildings. but I want you to get this.

As you're looking at the gates, you've got a pearl. One pearl. Each pearl. There are 12 of them. Each pearl is 216 feet tall. As one person said, wow, I'd love to see the clams who made those pearls.

Right? I mean, that's a big pearl. And it's on a hinge. You know? that incredible that is unbelievable but he makes the comments now the measurements are the same in both angel and human categories to which we go what What is that all about Well a cubit is about a human forearm That's about a cubit. I wonder how long an angel's forearm is. They're pretty big creatures, you know.

What is he driving at when he says in verse 17, the measurement, the human measurement, are the same as an angel's? John is saying to you by that statement, remember, if you take this literally, it's not going to make any sense. This is a symbol. Now why do I say that? Because there's many places in the book of Revelation that we have seen where he says this is or those are.

So like he says here in verse 17, which is also an angel's measurement. What does he mean by that? Well, turn back. Let me show what I'm talking about. Turn back to chapter 1, verse 20. Chapter 1, verse 20. as for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my saw in my right hand and the seven golden lampstand the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches got seven stars are churches seven lampstands i'm seven stars are angels seven lampstands are churches.

Look at chapter 4, verse 5. From the throne came flashes of lightning and rumblings and peals of thunder, and before the throne were burning seven torches of fire, which are the seven spirits of God. Chapter 5, verse 6. And between the throne and the four living creatures and among the elders I saw a lamb standing as though it had been slain with seven horns with seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God sent out into all the earth.

Drop down to verse 8. And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the 24 elders fell down before the lamb, each holding a harp and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints. You see what he's saying? He's saying this symbol. On one level, you see earthly pictures. You see stars, lampstands, torches of fire, a lamb, bowls full of incense. but the purpose of those pictures is to reveal a deeper truth.

Okay? So here the measurements are human measurements and they don't make sense if taken literally. Alright? So John adds that the vision of the human measurement is to be understood more deeply according to the symbolic or angelic meaning This is a symbol Alright And He wants us to gather and if we're familiar with the Bible, we ought to gather some meaning from those dimensions.

What could be the meaning behind those dimensions? What is God communicating to us? Why has He given us this imaginary, or why has He inflamed our imagination with this cubicle, incredibly large city, with these big gates of pearl and these jasper walls. What is that all about? Well, let me summarize it this way. They mean protection, inclusion, union, communion, and completion.

Okay? At least, and there's more. There's so much in the symbolism, but at least there are these five things. Protection, inclusion, union, communion, and completion. Let's look at them. The very act of measuring the city says God's protection of you will be complete.

The fact that the angel is measuring the city is an action that says God is committed to protecting you fully. Now why do I say that? Because there's only one other act of measuring in the book of Revelation. Do you remember where it is? It's in chapter 11. So turn back to chapter 11 because there's a contrast going on here.

Chapter 11, verse 1, Then I was given a measuring rod. This is John speaking. Then I was given a measuring rod like a staff, and I was told, Rise and measure the temple of God and the altar and those who worship there. See, the people are also measured. But do not measure the court outside the temple. Leave that out, for it is given over to the nations and they will trample the holy city for 42 months.

So you see, the city in chapter 11 remains unmeasured. The trampling under the foot of the nations means that the faithful church, as you read on, is going to suffer. Right? It's going to suffer at the hands of the beast. What is not measured is subject to persecution by the beast. But what is measured, which is the temple, the sanctuary is measured is protection.

The beast can't penetrate that. And that represents, you remember, that in the midst of persecution... the church remains spiritually protected. She's going to suffer. She's going to die. She's going to be trampled under the foot of the nations. In fact, it goes on.

Remember the two witnesses that represent the church end up getting killed and lying in the streets? You see, the city's not measured. The outer courts are trampled. The inner court is not. God keeps us spiritually safe even though now we die. Even though now we suffer, yet in the sanctuary, the worshipers are spiritually protected.

They are kept safe when it comes to their relationship with God. But do you notice here in chapter 11, only the temple is measured, not the city, but what's going on in chapter 21? The entire city is measured. God's people are protected in every way. Our entire environment now has been measured. There is no way that we will ever be touched again by anything that could ever hurt us in any way physically.

He's saying again what he said in verse 4. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain anymore for the former things have passed away. you note that even though we are kept spiritually, there's still pain, is there not? And there is still mourning amongst us, is there not?

But after the measuring, there is no more pain. There is no more death. None of that is there. All tears are wiped away. The measurement of this angel, by the way, far exceeds the measurement of the angel in Ezekiel. And I think he's trying to communicate by that what we have in this city far exceeds anything that anyone ever imagined.

This protection is magnificent in its glory. Imagine! Listen, we don't know this so much in this country yet, but there are people all over the world who if they dare to go to church to worship may end up losing their lives. Right? End up losing their lives for standing for Christ. And the point is on that day in that city you will never that thought will never cross your mind There never in this world even in our country you do pay for being a Christian If you're consistent in your Christianity, people are not going to like you.

Okay? People are not going to like you. I remember a guy calling me a piece of something one time. And, well, I was doing what was right. Okay? You know, I can remember another time where I was challenging someone about obedience to God, and I thought he was going to clean my clock.

I mean, he was that mad. That's not even going to be in our consciousness anymore. None of that. No one's going to die for the faith. This is going to be so, protection is so magnificent that we can't even imagine it. All right?

So the measurement is about protection. The wall speaks of inclusion. The wall speaks of inclusion. Here's why. Solomon's temple, which is the temple that they all held up. As you read the Old Testament, you recall that Solomon gets the job.

David couldn't have it. God didn't give it to David. He gave it to his son Solomon of building this temple, this place where God was going to put his name. You remember the glory of that temple. And you remember that after the Babylonians came and just ripped that Jerusalem and that temple, just made it nothing but a pile of rubble, that the people of God looked forward to another temple, and in the post-exile Israel, they built another temple.

You read about it in Haggai, you read about it in Zechariah, and you read about it in Ezra. And they built another temple. but it wasn't nearly as glorious as Solomon's and they wept about that so that Solomon's temple the post-exilic temple even the temple that Ezekiel sees even the temple that Ezekiel sees are all divided by a wall that separates the inner court from the outer court there's always a wall now the last temple they had was a temple that Herod built it's the temple that Jesus was familiar with. It was the one that was built in his day.

That temple had a court for the Gentiles the uncircumcised And adjacent to that getting closer there was the court of women the court of Israel and then finally the court of the priests So there were more than just one wall. But the point is, there were dividing walls. But this has no dividing wall. There is but one wall. There is no dividing wall any longer.

And you know why that is? Turn back to the book of Ephesians. we're told. The book of Ephesians, chapter 2. Verse 11, Therefore remember that at one time you Gentiles in the flesh called the uncircumcision by what is called the circumcision which is made in the flesh by hands. Remember that you were at that time separated from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.

But now in Christ Jesus, You who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For He Himself is our peace who has made us both one and has broken down in His flesh the dividing wall of hostility by abolishing the law of commandments expressed in ordinances that He might create in Himself one new man in place of the two. So making peace.

You see, Jesus broke down the wall that separated the uncircumcised from the circumcised and made us all the people of God. And that is what's supposed to be seen today in the church. There are no divisions. No racial divisions. There should be no economic divisions. There are no divisions.

There is no wall that divides us. We are all one in Christ. But you know, we don't see that perfectly yet, do we? We don't see it perfectly yet. You know, when I was in Azerbaijan, I got in trouble. with my boss, Dave Durnley. Because I was trying to make a point in one of my lectures.

It was this. Well, let me back up a little bit. You've got to understand that over there, Azerbaijan has been at a state of war with Armenia for a couple decades now, since the communists are gone. Because the Armenians, according to the Azeris, took some of their land. All right? so when you talk to these Aries there is no love lost for the Armenians none I telling you they pretty hot about it still I mean I even saw a map on the side of a building where these disputed territories of course you know what the Armenians say, it's ours, it's not yours anyway.

So, you know how that goes. I remember saying in class one time, you know what, as Christians, there are no difference between Azarias and Armenians. Well, I think that was a good point, but Dave told me, hey, you've got to remember, there may be some people in here, like the secret police, who will hear that and shut this place down. So I don't apologize for the sentiment.

I guess my timing was wrong. But I want you to understand something. Because of nationality, the perfection of what Jesus has accomplished is not seen yet. You see, the Azeris and the Armenian Christians, should be one, should they not? But sometimes nationality intrudes and my country and my land is more important than that relationship. Sometimes that interferes.

Sometimes things interfere with that. And we're not doing that perfectly, but here, here, one wall. There's no dividing wall of any kind in that new Jerusalem. We will see the glorious inclusion that exceeds our imaginations in that day. there will be no more no longer anything that separates us from one another we will truly be in perfection not just in position in position we're all one the armenians and these areas are brothers and sisters in christ doesn't matter what's going on here that's true but then what's true in our position will be true in our practice and in every way we will be one everyone who's a christian will be included and by the way we're not going to be americans anymore we're going to be God's people.

It will be perfect. The height of the city testifies to union. This declares that the union between heaven and earth is now complete. The new Jerusalem descending from God to the new earth now brings heaven and earth together. There will not, and again, this is hard to imagine. Even though it engages our imagination, it's hard for us to imagine there will be no more separation between heaven and earth.

Consider this, if you will. Eden meant what? God with us, right? Adam and Eve won. with God. I just, I've been thinking about that since we talked about this a couple weeks ago, earlier in this chapter, about actually God. God, you imagine God walking with you, right?

And so God was with them in Eden. There was no separation, but sin brings that separation. And so from then on, God is pictured in heaven. From that point on. Now, it isn't that God isn't here. God is omnipresent and all of that is true.

But the picture is one of, there is this division. Right? And sin brings that separation. And that Babel, what did man try to do? In his pride, right, he tried to bring the two together. Now, they weren't trying to actually build all the way up to heaven, but they were going to join heaven and earth symbolically with their temple at the top of the ziggurat.

They were going to bring heaven and earth together, and God destroyed that. In Jesus, the gap is certainly bridged. We have communion with God, but it isn't quite the same, isn't it? It's not quite the same as being with someone. It's not the same. You know, when I first got to know Becca, I got to know her at school.

You know, I got to know this really cool gal and started developing this relationship, and it was really, I thought, hey, this is all right. And then that first summer, I wrote to her, and she actually wrote back. That was a surprising thing. And we just wrote back and forth. Now, listen, those letters are phenomenal, okay? What happened that summer was incredible.

It was unbelievable. Unbelievable, in my book at least. But it wasn't the same as being together. Jesus has bridged the gap. We have wonderful communion with God, but it's not quite the same. In fact, you realize that in the book of Revelation, the glory of God is confined to heaven.

I don't know if you've noticed that. Chapter 4. Chapter 4, that wonderful scene of God on his throne. Where does that take place? In heaven. And the sea of glass is where?

Where everything is tranquil. It's in heaven. And so what happens here is through this symbol through this symbol then heaven and earth are joined together God is in the city. God is in the city now. He's in this city with His rule undeniably expressed throughout the whole realm. So the height, this 1,380 miles, into the sky represents the union of heaven and earth coming together now.

No more separation. And of course, we've seen that. What's the constant refrain all the way through chapter 21? It is what? God is there. Right?

God is there. He's not there. He's there. He's in the city. It's the name of the city. God is there.

And we see that all the way through here. So it's the union of heaven and earth. It's marvelous, isn't it? Can you imagine that? I mean, can you imagine life without prayer? Because we'll be talking to God face to face.

Again, it blows my mind. The perfectly cubed city represents communion. Represents communion. Now why do I say that? Why do you think the city is a cube? Why is that important?

Well, when you look at the Old Testament, when the tabernacle was built, the Holy of Holies was 10 cubits by 10 cubits by 10 cubits. The Holy of Holies was 15 feet by 15 feet by 15 feet. It was a cube. Perfect cube. We come to the temple, and Levi read that this morning from 1 Kings 6, verse 20, gives the dimension as 20 cubits. And so, this one was twice as big, but the Holy of Holies was a cube.

It was 30 feet by 30 feet by 30 feet. Now, what does that tell you? The city is a perfect cube like the most holy place in the tabernacle and the temple. the inner sanctuary was the place what where God dwelt and so the city becomes the place not a temple and not even a room in the temple but now the entire city is the most holy place where God is and where we are Remember, in the Old Testament, you could only go into the most holy place, only one person, once a year, the high priest.

Jesus comes, and we can come before God in the most holy place in heaven, confidently because of the sacrifice of Jesus, but we're not really there. We're there spiritually. Here, we're there with God. We're actually living in the innermost sanctuary. And so God symbolizes the fact that we spend forever in the inner sanctuary of God by making the city a cube.

As Ezekiel wrote, the Lord is there will be the name of the city. This is communion beyond anything that we've ever experienced. Walking, working, sleeping, everything. If we're going to sleep. There's some things I don't know. But all in the presence of God.

You say, but we're already in the presence of God. Yes, but it's going to be in the presence of God in a very real and different way. Everything. The measurements also speak of completion. Why do I say that? Because do you notice, and it's kind of right in the middle of the first section, between 15 and 17?

The measurements, 12,000 stadia and 144 cubits. Now, I'm glad that they didn't write in the 1,380 miles and the 216 feet because something is being said by those numbers. Do you remember where we saw multiples of 12 before? We saw them in chapter 7, okay? Turn to chapter 7, just as a reminder. Verse 1, After this I saw four angels standing at the four corners of the earth, holding back the four winds of the earth, that no wind might blow on earth or sea or against any tree.

Then I saw another angel ascending from the rising of the sun with the seal of the living God, and he called with a loud voice to the four angels who had been given power to harm earth and sea, saying, Do not harm the earth or the sea or the trees until we have sealed the servants of our God on their foreheads. And I heard the number of the sealed 144 sealed from every tribe of the sons of Israel And again look 12 from each of the 12 tribes And as we looked at that you remember what we said That speaks of completion All right? That speaks of completion.

This is the full thing. It's not that there's only 144,000 people who are going to be saved, as Jehovah's Witnesses say. Rather, it's a symbol of the complete, protected people of God. They're complete. Twelve is one of those numbers of completion. And so we have everything here in twelves.

Twelve thousand stadia and 144 cubits is what? Twelve times twelve. Now here's the point. It will be the complete people of God as the new city of Jerusalem. Not one of God's people will be missing. Now let me tell you what that's like.

And I relate to this as a pastor and I know my fellow shepherds and the deacons as well will understand what I'm saying. When someone joins the church, you say, ah, we've added to the people of God, right? But there's always just a little bit of a thing in the back of your mind saying, is this the real deal? Because I've seen people walk away from the congregation of God's people.

Will they stay? will they stay? Or will the allurements of this world three years down the road allure them away from the people of God? And then as a shepherd, we go after them and plead with them and find out what's wrong, what's happening, what's going on in your life. Okay, let's work on that. No, that's wrong. You're going down the wrong path.

Stop. Destruction's at the other end. And they continue to go down that path. and you say, oh, if only the people of God. On that day, no one will be wandering away. All who are the people of God will be there and they will be there to stay. They'll be there to stay.

Again, that just... There'll be no shepherd going after lost sheep. Human or divine. Because they'll all be there. never to wander away again. Complete, absolutely solid. Isn't that marvelous?

From my perspective as a shepherd, It's like, wow, that is great. That is great. From your perspective, that ought to be, wow. There's no way I'm ever going to be gone. I'll be there. Never to leave.

So, God wants you to be dazzled by the dimensions of this city and what that means. See, but you're not only dazzled by the size of the place, added to that dimension is another one, and that's glory. Now, I don't like cities. Okay? I like them for a day. They're cool for one day.

I mean, sometimes I dream about living in a city. It'd be cool to be in a city where you could just walk down the street to a library, you know, or go to the theater over here and see a play, or go to the museum, and eat Italian food one night and German food another night and Thai food another night. All the stuff that goes with the city. But there's one thing I love is when I come up on a city at night.

Like Chicago. In November, I went through Chicago. And every once in a while, I go through there on the way back to where I grew up. And as you come in from the south and the east, you see Chicago at night off in the distance and you see all these lights and you keep getting closer and closer and if you're on 94 you start coming to Chicago and like you're right on the edge and you just see these magnificent buildings with glowing and sparkling with these lights and then you go under the city you come out on the other side and it's still there and only you're a little bit closer and you just look up and you just see all these incredible lights shining through the windows of these skyscrapers.

To me, that's a beautiful sight. As long as I'm not living there, it really looks cool. And it looks beautiful. And it highlights the beauty of that city. And what God says here is, be dazzled by the glory of the new Jerusalem. Now let's say you're driving up to this city.

Look at the composition of the city. As you approach it, the buildings don't have lights shining through them, but the light is glinting off of these... if my imagination is working right the glint of the light is reflected off of these gold buildings It made of gold And the streets blind you because they're made of gold as well. And the walls are gleaming red because they're made of jasper.

And interspersed in that gleaming red are these giant white pearls. Right? And as you look at the foundation stones, you're going to see that each side has three stones. Three foundation stones on each side. And each stone is one of those precious stones. So if I understand the translation here correctly, it's not that you have stones that have amethyst on it and onyx on it.

That is an onyx stone that's a foundation stone. And that's a sapphire giant rock there. That's the foundation. That's what you see as you come close. And the city of gold and pearl and precious stones almost overwhelms you. Well, what's going on here?

What's supposed to be happening here? You're supposed to recognize the dazzling jewels of paradise. The dazzling jewels of paradise. You see, the Jews of John's day thought that all of the precious stones and jewels and metals originated in paradise. Over in Genesis 2, there's a hint of this. In Genesis 2, verses 11 and 12, verse 10, And a river flowed out of Eden to water the garden, and there it divided and became four rivers.

The name of the first is the Pishon. It is the one that flowed around the whole land of Havilah where there is gold, and the gold of that land is good. Bedellium and onyx stone are there and so forth. So they began to think, because they identified Havilah there with part of paradise, that that's where it all originated. And then you come to Ezekiel 28.

Ezekiel 28, which is a lament or a judgment against the prince of Tyre. Now I want you to look at it. And it's the prince of Tyre, it's nobody else, it's the prince of Tyre that this is against. Verse 1. the word of the Lord came to me son of man say to the Prince of Tyre thus says the Lord God because your heart is proud and you have said I am a god I sit in the seat of God in the heart of the Seas yet you are but a man and no God though you make your heart like the heart of a God You are indeed wiser than Daniel no secret is hidden from you By your wisdom and your understanding, you have made wealth for yourself, and you have gathered gold and silver into your treasuries.

By your great wisdom and your trade, you've increased your wealth, and your heart has become proud in your wealth. And because you made your heart like the heart of a God, Therefore, behold, I'm going to bring foreigners upon you, the most ruthless of nations. They'll draw their swords against the beauty of your wisdom and defile your splendor. They'll thrust you down into the pit, and you shall die the death of the slain in the heart of the seas.

Will you still say, I am a God in the presence of those who kill you? Though you are but a man and no God in the hands of those who slay you, you shall die the death of the uncircumcised by the hand of foreigners, for I have spoken, declares the Lord. Why is God so mad at him? here's why son of man raise a lamentation over the king of tyrant stadium thus says the lord god you were the signet of perfection full of wisdom and perfect in beauty you were in eden the garden of god every precious stone was your covering sardius topaz and diamond barrel onyx and jasper sapphire emerald and carbuncle and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings on the day you were created they were prepared now he's not saying that the prince of tyre was actually in Eden, what he's saying is you've amassed this wealth like the wealth of Eden.

And because you responded with ingratitude and violence at God's goodness and your arrogance, I'm going to just wipe you out and your city out. But the point I want you to see there is simply that it identifies all those jewels with Eden as if you possess the wealth of Eden, giving you the idea that these jewels and stuff come from Eden. With that in mind, what God wants you to see as you come to this city is this is Eden again.

This is Eden again. Here is paradise restored. The goodness of God with no sin corrupting it. This is paradise. The way it was supposed to be. You see, the new heaven and the new earth is not this thing that is strange to us.

It's something that should kind of have the ring of familiarity of us. It should be the earth without the curse. It should be paradise as it was always intended And we connected to that And what interesting this is the beauty of paradise unspoiled verse 2, right? It's described in verse 1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. So it's like it's unspoiled.

But, because it's also a city, alright it's not just a pristine new earth but this is the beauty of paradise developed so it's both it's the pristineness of nature as it always was and also paradise as it should be developed and so can I say this and not just because I have a son who's interested in this I've become convinced of this this is the perfect harmony of nature and human culture. You see it again in verse 24 where it says the kings are going to bring in the glories of the earth. Now, that's kind of exciting for me.

It really is. Because the way I look at things now, the way man is and the corruptness of his human nature and his depravity, it just seems like either you're just not doing anything with the earth or you're just rabidly just developing everything you possibly can. But there, there's going to be this perfect harmony between unspoiled paradise and paradise developed.

I can't imagine that. That's what's happening. This is the dazzling jewels of paradise and the dazzling perfection of God's glory. The jasper in the wall? Well, we've met that before. The glory of God is reckoned to be like Jasper and Carnelian that just emanates from the throne.

Well, it's kind of like that glory emanates through the walls so that you've got these pulsating red walls of the glory of God. And the gold? The gold, what's that all about? I think some of us have grown up thinking we're going to walk around streets of gold and kind of just chip off a little bit and stick it in our pocket, you know. Oh, there's a gold cobblestone. and it's kind of loose, you know?

As if, you know, that's kind of the picture we have. But we're missing the point. Levi read today from 1 Kings 6.20. And what you notice is the Holy of Holies is completely covered in gold. Why? Because that really reflects the brilliance of the glory of God.

Several years ago, there was a group. The Fries took us to this place. It was an actual reproduction of the tabernacle, built according to the specifications in the Old Testament. It was really kind of cool. I mean, it's like, this is what the tabernacle actually looked like. And we went into the Holy of Holies without any fear at all.

All right? But even in the tabernacle, it was coated with gold. And we walked in, and it wasn't real gold, obviously, but we walked into this cube that was complete gold all around. Everything. Sides, ceiling, floor, all gold. All right?

Now, why is that? Because that is going to reflect the glory of God. That why the city is gold Because it will then be like the original Holy of Holies and reflect this glory of God And he mentions that if the whole city is made out of gold why even say the streets are made out of gold? You know why? Because the street's been mentioned once before. In fact, the street of Jerusalem's been mentioned once before.

Where is it? Chapter 11. Do you remember the witnesses? They are killed. And they lie in the street. for days, their bodies, you know, in this picture, their bodies rotting on the street as the world rejoices at their humiliation. This street is not going to be a street of shame, but a street of glory.

The path of shame becomes the street of glory. this is the paradise of glory if you would be faithful use your imagination don dream about what you want Rather, fuel your imagination with this revelation from God about this marvelous paradise. This week, you're going to be tempted to disloyalty by the shimmering lights of Babylon. Okay? Imagine again the dazzling beauty of the new Jerusalem.

You're going to be tempted to disloyalty by the hardships that come because you're a Christian. Imagine again the glorious rest of paradise. You see? God gives us this revelation so that our imagination will move us to faithfulness. Father, thank You for the revelation that You've given us. Not a fairy tale, Lord.

Not a fairy tale But these incredible images of the glory and the rest of paradise The new Eden The new Jerusalem All of it in one. Oh, Lord God, help us to live in hope, I pray. Lord, we will be no earthly good unless we are heavenly minded. and so father i pray that you would fuel our faithfulness to you through the revelation of the glories that await us father there are some here today who will not be there unless they repent and entrust themselves to jesus father inflamed their imaginations as well with the glories of your grace, but Lord, also the terrors of your judgment.

Lord God, we pray for faithfulness as we live for the future. We pray this in the name of Jesus. Amen.