Here Comes The Bride!

Take your Bibles this morning and let's turn to Revelation chapter 21. Revelation 21, you follow as I read this passage that speaks of the bride of the Lord Jesus. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

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, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.

And he who was seated on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. Also he said, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. And he said to me, It is done. I am the Alpha and the 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 as 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. 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 four square its length the same as its width And he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand 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, 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 chrysophrase, 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. 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 its light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

By its light the nations will 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. Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb, through the middle of the street of the city, also on either side of the river the tree of life, with its twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His servants will worship Him. They will see his face and his name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.

Let's pray. Father, now, plant in us hope, strengthen it, make us people who are characterized by hope. for what we read here is us. What we read is what you will accomplish. And what we read in this sin broken world with its misery and trouble and heartache and sin what we see in this place is what You will do So we pray, Lord, instill in us a hope that conquers in this broken world.

We thank You for doing that already. Open up to us the glories of that day, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen. I have in my possession a photograph that can really get my heart thumping. It's a photograph of my wife on our wedding day. I mean to tell you, it is a killer photograph.

Yeah, she was gorgeous. In fact, I would say she is even more gorgeous now than she was then, but we always like to look back on that day, don't we? We like to look back on our wedding day and we like to look at all that went on and be reminded again of the vows that we made and so forth. But how would you like to see the wedding album before the wedding?

How would you like to see the beauty of the bride before the day of the wedding even arrives? And to see her in all her beauty. Well, that's exactly what we have in this section that I just read in the book of Revelation. It is the description of the bride of the Lamb in all her beauty. Now last week in the first eight verses we saw that God introduces us to the bride.

He kind of shows us and tells us her name and shows us this new world where she's going to live and so forth. But as you proceed now, all the way through chapter 22, verse 5, you see God now describing in greater detail the nature and the beauty of this bride. He wants us to get a good picture of her. Now why does God open the wedding album before the wedding and its feast?

Why does He open up that album and show us the beauty of the bride and the character of the bride before the wedding day? Because we, here's why, because we as a congregation have been called to conquer. We have been called to conquer the dragon, his allies, the two beasts, and the enticements of the prostitute Babylon And this view of that wedding day will motivate us to do just that To conquer.

That's why this incredibly beautiful picture is open for us. To give us the grace to conquer now in this broken, ugly, miserable world. it will motivate us to conquer by the blood of the lamb it will motivate us to conquer through faithful testimony to our lord it will motivate us even to conquer by dying for the lord jesus if that's what's required that we conquer through our death and we will only conquer through our death if we are motivated by the picture that is given us here that's why it is here That is why all these incredible pictures are here. That is why these two chapters are probably some of the most favorite verses for so many people because it describes a life, it describes a place, it describes all these things.

And we love it because we say that's what we have to look forward to. But it is there so that now we will not be dragged down by the hardship of life in this sin-cursed world. It is there now, so we see the beauty of that, so we are not allured by the enticements of that prostitute, Babylon. That's why it's there. The kind of conquest that God calls us to do requires hope.

It requires hope. And that's why we have these pictures. So let's take a closer look at the bride yet to be revealed, but already pictured for us so that we might find the grace to conquer. Our text is 9-14, so I'm going to read that part again. You follow along. 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 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and on the gates the name of Jesus. 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, 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. Let's take a look at these now. You will find grace to conquer when you recognize the true character of the bride. Okay? You'll find the grace to conquer when you recognize the true character of the bride. John meets one of these angels that he's met before.

This is one of the seven angels. You remember we saw the groups of seven? There were the seven seals, the seven plagues, and then the seven bulls. And these seven angels poured out these bulls. Well, he's met one of these angels before. And that angel shows up again.

And that angel then takes him to a place to see something. Now, something ought to sound familiar. Because we've heard these words before, and John has met this angel before, back in chapter 17. Almost the same words are used. Turn back there. John 17, verse 1.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, note, come, I will show you. He just got done saying that in 21. Come, I will show you. Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.

And He carried me away in the Spirit. Here, not to a high mountain, but to a wilderness. Now isn't that interesting? He uses the exact same words. The same angel is taking him to a place and using that same words. What's going on?

John expects you to remember that other vision. He wants you to realize the true character of this particular woman. He wants you to see the contrast between this woman and the other woman. He wants you to see the contrast between Jerusalem and Babylon. In other words, he wants you to see she is not polluted, but pure. She's not polluted.

She's pure. Now, the beast's whore in all her pollution has been displaced by the lamb's bride in all her purity. That what He wants you to see The overwhelming power and attraction of Babylon the city in which we now live as exiles The allurements and the power of that attractive prostitute is only temporary, while the loveliness of the Lamb is forever.

That should motivate you. That should get you to fight. That should get you to conquer. that even though there's so much that looks good in this world, the entertainment, the sex, the drugs, the drink, all the stuff that she has to offer you as kind of these substitute escapes from the hard world in which you live, that's only temporary. It will not last.

But this one, this pure bride will last forever and her beauty will last forever. And the bride is the people of God who have withstood the enticements of Babylon. Now some of you might be here saying, and I know because I say the same thing to myself, and some have even said that to me this week, you might respond, oh, but I don't know, will I resist Babylon and will I be part of that pure bride?

Will I be one who will be able to make it? And I want you to notice that he says that this is the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Why does He want to communicate that to you? You know what He wants to communicate? The wife of the Lamb has been bought by the Lamb. You have been purchased by the very death of Christ.

You have been purchased from the clutches of this wicked woman and her pimp, the beast. He has rescued you already. And it's a good question to ask. Will I be able to stand? And the answer is, don't look to your own strength to stand. Look at the fact that the Lamb has purchased you and has purchased you from the power and the tyranny of sin.

And you can count on the Lamb coming through for you. Alright? That's what you've got to see. So, find grace to conquer in this vision of the bride as not the polluted one, but the pure one. You know what? She not iffy She certain Now what do I mean by that Well let me illustrate it this way I know of a young bridegroom whose fianc told him the night before they got married that she just wasn't sure if she was going to go through with this.

All right? That young bridegroom was just kind of upset about that. He started packing his clothes and said, well, I can't force you to marry me. But, you know, a discussion ensued, and she relented and determined that, okay, you know this is a good thing after all. But you know the next day that guy did not know whether she was going to show up. And when she did show up, from what I understand, he wasn't sure that she was going to go all the way through with it.

It was pretty iffy, right? It was iffy until the pastor said, I now pronounce you man and wife. Okay? That's not the case with this bride. That is not the case. This is not an iffy deal here.

Why is that? Because this bride had been promised long ages ago. She'd been promised to the Lamb long ages ago. Do you see the Spirit carrying John to a great high mountain? You've already heard about that mountain. You've heard about it today in the reading from Ezekiel.

Because what happened to Ezekiel? The Spirit carried him to a great high mountain, right? And you see that all the way through the Old Testament. It appears that that mountain is the place where the bride makes her entrance. It's going to be the place where the bride makes her residence. That great high mountain.

And it's not surprising, because Israel had for centuries been looking for the future for this temple to descend. For example, let's look at a few passages. Turn back to Isaiah 25. Isaiah 25. again, you're going to see some things that you say, what? I've heard that before. Yeah, you've heard it in the book of Revelation.

Isaiah 25, verse 6. On this mountain... Okay, here we are on that mountain. Mount Zion. On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of rich food, a feast of well-aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine well-refined. and He will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all the peoples, the veil that is spread over all the nations He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces and the reproach of His people He will take away from all the earth for the Lord has spoken See, on this mountain, this city of God's dwelling, with no more curses on that mountain.

Alright? Turn over to Ezekiel again. You heard this this morning, but let's look at it again. Ezekiel chapter 40. Now, by the way, from Ezekiel chapter 40 all the way through 48 you see this vision that Ezekiel has of this great temple and it's measured you noticed did you notice there's a person who appears like bronze what do you think that is that's like an angel who's got a measuring rod which we read about in chapter 21 is going to measure everything well he sees this temple and there's this incredible vision of this temple from chapter 40 all the way to the end of the book is taken up with this future temple.

And look at 40 verses 1 and 2. In the 25th year of our exile, at the beginning of the year, on the 10th day of the month, in the 14th year after the city, that is Jerusalem, was struck down, on that very day, the hand of the Lord was upon me and He brought me to the city. In visions of God, He brought me to the land of Israel and set me down on a very high mountain, there it is, on which was a structure like a city to the south.

And so He describes then he goes on to describe this temple on this high mountain. You see, this is going to be built after Israel returns from its exile. Turn over to the prophet Micah. Okay, here's the challenge. Find Micah. Those minor prophets.

I can't even remember where the Gospels are in order when I'm up here. Okay. okay let me okay i got it now there it is micah chapter four it shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and it shall be lifted up above the hills and people shall flow to it and many nations shall come and say, Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us His ways and that we may walk in His paths. For out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem He shall judge between many peoples and shall decide. for strong nations far away.

And they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken for all the people's walk, each in the name of its God.

But we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever. You get this picture of this ideal life on this mountain, right? well, what do you think he's talking about? This is all fulfilled then. Here, the Spirit takes John to this great high mountain. That ought to tell us something. Aha!

The promise is coming true. This is what they were looking for. Israel looked for a new temple after she'd suffered in exile for her sins. Israel started looking for that temple that Ezekiel talked about and that Micah's talking about and Isaiah talked about where God's glory and His presence would remain forever. And they would no longer be judged for their sins.

It would be this perfect environment. But you remember, recall this history. They looked in vain. You remember when they came back, that first wave of exiles came back to the land and they built the temple. They were disappointed because it was small. It just wasn't as great as Solomon's temple.

And it just didn't meet up to the vision. But you know what? God began to fulfill that promise. he began to fulfill that promise where in Jesus how do I know that when you look at John chapter 1 verse 14 and there you read the apostle John saying that the word tabernacled among us he purposely chose that word God's dwelling place came who was that Jesus and then what happened Jesus became the cornerstone of a new temple.

The church where God dwells. Never to leave. Oh, you see that all over in the New Testament. Can I give you two passages out of about five that says that? Here's one. Ephesians 2, verses 19-22.

So then, you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord In Him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. We are the temple where God dwells. He's fulfilling that promise that He made to Israel. even in speaking to the Corinthians about their party spirit.

Remember, the Corinthians were divided. They were fractious in their congregational life. And the Apostle Paul sent this warning to them. Listen. God said to those Corinthians, do you not know that you, and that you there is plural. So where it's plural, I'm going to use y'all.

Okay? Y'all. Bless my heart. You know, when it comes to the South, I think that's one good thing that came from the South, but that's my prejudices. Do you not know that y'all are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you all? If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him, for God's temple is holy and y'all are that temple.

Alright? You know what he's saying there? We as a congregation are the temple of God. You see, He began to fulfill that promise and Jesus continued to fulfill it in the church as the temple of God. And now, here we see that He will certainly bring it to pass. It will be fulfilled.

You see, that great high mountain symbolizes the fact that, oh yeah, we've been looking for this. Here it is! It's the church now in its glorified state. But you say, wait a minute. Wait a minute, Pastor Tim. This doesn't say temple. it says city, doesn't it?

It says the city. It doesn't say a temple. Isn't this interesting? You know what's interesting? John hears the angel say earlier on, hey, let me show you the wife of the Lamb. And he looks up and what does he see?

A city. You notice that? You know, it's like in chapter 5 where the voice says to him, behold the lion of the tribe of Judah. Do you remember what happens? So John looks up and what does he see A lamb Right Same thing here Behold the bride of the lamb And he looks up and he sees a city Now notice this. In this chapter, what you're going to see, and in the next, is that the glory of God, the glory or the presence of God resides in the entire city, not just the temple.

Verse 11. Verse 11. having this city, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel. Look at verses 22 and 23. And I saw no temple in the city, for the temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, and the city has no need of sun or moon to shine in it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. There's the glory of God again.

In chapter 22, verse 5. And night will be no more. they will need no light of lamp or sun for the Lord God will be their light and they will reign forever and ever. The Lord God's there with His light and His glory. And so, we have this city pulsating with the glory of God. It's not just a temple. The temple in Israel was a temporary place where God's glory dwelled.

But in the new creation, God's presence isn't going to be limited to a temple structure with the people outside that structure. Rather, the people themselves will be both the city and the temple in which God continues to reside forever. Look at chapter 3, verse 12. We should have seen this coming. In chapter 3, verse 12, He says to the church in Philadelphia, The One who conquers, I will make Him a pillar in the temple of My God.

Never shall He go out of it, and I will write on Him the name of My God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven and my own new name. There, temple and city are collapsed into one. Alright? The fulfillment in this chapter shows the city and temple become one. And that's where the glory of God will be.

You will find grace to conquer with the vision of a certain promised bride. It's no if here. It's going to happen. Here another character of the bride Listen carefully She is not a place She is a people Now I want you to hear me out You've got to see then that this symbolizes, this is a symbol, a picture. Remember, Revelation is not photograph, but symbols.

This is a symbol that symbolizes a people, not a place. Just as Babylon is not a literal city. We'd be foolish to look for the Babylon mentioned in this. It's all around us. It's our culture. It represents our culture.

Just as Babylon symbolizes a culture that stands opposed to God and His people, so the New Jerusalem symbolizes the redeemed community that stands with God. This is not a place where we are going to. This new city. This city is us. it represents a people. Okay? Now, this does not mean that there won't be a new heaven and a new earth.

There will be. Alright? But this city is the people of God and not a city. So, some of us are kind of glad about that because I don't like cities. You say, well, you'll be perfect and you won't mind living in a city. Well, it's all moot anyway.

Alright? This represents the bride. This is the church. This is the redeemed community of God. This is the people of God. So God is telling us that the central feature of that new age and the new earth will be His exalted saints living in community, glorifying God in every way because the glory of God will never depart.

That's the symbol. So she's not a place, but a people. And the last thing to see here, The last characteristic of this bride is she is not the church imperfect, but the church perfected. I don't know about you, that gives me hope. That gives me hope. The church, you know, we're going to be perfect.

I'm not just talking about individuals. I'm talking about all of us together will be perfect. Right? How did this book begin? How did it begin? You remember? chapters 2 and 3 very very imperfect congregations right very imperfect congregations.

That's the beginning of the book. At the end of the book, we end up with a perfected church. We will live together, perfectly glorifying God. And just as God's glory is now imperfectly manifested, the glory of God is in this temple, but it's imperfectly manifested because we're not perfect. We are not perfect, are we? Anybody here want to say they're perfect?

If you do, we're going to have an appointment this week. I want to tell you that before you raise your hand. Because this temple is imperfect in structure, it's made of defective building blocks, we don't perfectly manifest the glory of God, but then we will perfectly manifest the glory of God, for we will be perfected. This book begins with the church imperfected, it ends with the church perfected.

And that should motivate you to conquer now. Now, in the rest of the passage, he talks about the beauty of this city bride. You'll find grace to conquer when you recognize the beauty, the true beauty of this city bride. First of all, verse 10, she comes from God out of heaven. She comes from God out of heaven. Here is the new creation.

This is the new creation. God's new creation, beautiful in its renewed state, taking the place of the old, temporary, sin-cursed, worn-out creation. It's taking its place. That old, worn-out, broken, sin-cursed world is gone. And here is the new. It replaces it.

She comes from God out of heaven. She has great walls. Now, you know, guys, some of you aren't married yet. I don't know if you could say to your bride that, man, you've got great walls. This one has great walls, okay? She has great walls.

Walls, what does that represent? Why does this city have walls? Walls always were the protective defenses of a city, right? The cities back in those days, in those cultures for a very, very long time, each city was surrounded by a wall. You know if we would take someone from that time period and bring them and show them Columbus it would blow their minds Not just the size of the buildings or the size of the city but the fact that it looks like the city has no protection Every city had a wall Why?

To protect it from those who would attack her. And so the New Jerusalem, the people of God, will never experience the horrors of defeat ever again. Do you understand that? She is inviolable. These walls are such that nothing will be able to ever conquer this city. What does that symbolize?

It says that our fellowship with one another and with God will never be violated again. What violates our fellowship with God? Sin does. Yeah. It's forgiven and God freely forgives and He says, I love to show mercy to you, but we have to find mercy because our fellowship has been violated by sin. And our fellowship with one another, what violates that?

It's sin. It's not differences of personality. It's not that we're so much alike we don't get along. It's the fact that we're so much alike, we're both stubborn. Right? It's not your personality.

It's sin. What's the point? No sin. there will be nothing to violate our fellowship anymore. And guess what? You know what the final thing that violates fellowship is? Death.

You have fellowship with some very dear people and death comes and seems to permanently sever that fellowship, does it not? Well, since there's no more death, that fellowship will never be violated. This is an unbreakable fellowship. Now notice, in verse 14, This unbreakable fellowship is built on the foundation of the apostles of Jesus. The apostles of the Lamb.

What does that mean? It means this. Unbreakable fellowship is impossible without the Gospel. You see, right now, God is beginning to fulfill that. How? The Gospel has changed us and we love one another.

Now, all of you now, think of your life in the former life you once lived, and think about the people you're sitting with now, would you even give them the time of day in the old life that you came from? And you know you wouldn but now that the Gospel has invaded and changed us we love one another don we And because of the Gospel we not willing to let any relationship go are we We'll do the hard work of saying, I love you, let's get this settled. Well, you know what?

That's built on the foundation of the apostles that brought us to the living Lord Jesus Christ who gives us everything to keep our fellowship from being broken, and on that day, it will never be broken, but it only happens because of them and their witness to the Lord Jesus Christ in the Gospel. Notice this as well. Here's the third beauty of this city bride.

She has beautiful gates. She has beautiful gates. And we'll see even more about those gates as we progress through this chapter. These 12 gates again refer to the promise of God to dwell with His people. How do I know that? because they've shown up before. Turn back to Ezekiel 48.

Ezekiel 48. Now see, if you know your Old Testament, if you know your Old Testament, this would ring a bell. All right? The last chapter of Ezekiel, in the last four verses, in the last five. Verse 30. These shall be the exits of the city.

On the north side, which is to be 4,500 cubes by measure, three gates, the gate of Reuben, the gate of Judah, and the gate of Levi. The gates of the city being named after the tribes of Israel. On the east side, which is to be 4,500 cubits, three gates, the gate of Joseph, the gate of Benjamin, and the gate of Dan. On the south side, which is 4,500 cubits by measure, three gates, the gate of Simeon, the gate of Issachar, and the gate of Zebulun.

On the west side, which is to be 4,500 cubits, three gates, the gate of Gad, the gate of Asher, the gate of Naphtali. Should sound familiar to us. That's what we see in Revelation, doesn't it? The circumference of the city shall be 18,000 cubits. Note, and the name of the city from that time on shall be what? The Lord is there.

Isn't that what we see in Revelation? The Lord is there. That's where His glory is. The Lord is there. But this should ring a bell and say, uh-huh, what Ezekiel saw was the beginning of this vision and this is the final interpretation It the redeemed community of God God has inscribed the names of the 12 tribes of Israel on the gates Folks, I struggled with that one.

I really did. No one gave satisfactory answers. This is what I believe it symbolizes. That entrance into perfect fellowship came to us through God's old covenant people. Because it is through Israel that we receive the Word of God. is that not true? The Word of God came to us through a particular people.

The Israelites. God's chosen people. It is through Israel that we receive the Messiah. Never forget today. Never forget that today the church composed of Jews and Gentiles stands on the foundation of Israel. It is through that people that we receive what we have. so the very first gospel promises came to us through jewish scripture and so we have we enter we begin the entrance to that fellowship to the to this unbreakable fellowship through what israel gave us but notice this now this is what's interesting you would think then then that they would be the foundation wouldn't you you would think they would be the foundation to the walls.

Well, why aren't they? The reversal highlights the fact that the fulfillment of all of Israel's promises comes in Christ through the Lamb's apostles. He, along with the apostolic witness to his work of fulfilling, forms the foundation of a new temple, the new people of God. There's one other thing going on. There's angels guarding these gates, right? Again, that speaks to us of the inviolable nature of our fellowship.

Why? Well, those angels standing at the gates ought to bring Old Testament pictures to mind. Here's the first. When paradise was lost, what happened? God put an angel before the gates, if you will, before the entrance to Eden so that no one could enter Eden again. Right?

You could not go in. And then, that image is carried on. When you read the construction of the tabernacle, the veil in the tabernacle and the temple, the veil that separated that first The holy place, from the holy of holies, the place of God's dwelling, there was a veil. And on that veil was what? Was embroidered two cherubim, two angels. What did that symbolize?

Guarding. You cannot enter before the dwelling place. You cannot enter the dwelling place of God. those angels here are serving the same purpose you cannot come into the presence of god if you don't belong here but you say wait a minute there aren't any sinners there anymore why are those angels there there's no one going to try to get in those gates that don't belong there well it's a symbol what is its symbol it says there's no way that anyone will ever break the fellowship that we have.

Even when there is no enemy out there, there's still angels at the gates. What does it tell you? It tells you that there's going to be a place of perfect, inviolable fellowship. Absolutely nothing will disrupt the perfect fellowship of God's people. Here's the last thing, and I think it's the crown. It's found in verse 11.

It's found in verse 11. that this city has the glory of God its radiance like a most rare jewel like a Jasper clear as crystal she wears the stunning jewels of God's glory here is the crowning beauty of this city bride John says that it shines like the dazzling brilliance of Jasper now if you want you can circle that term clear That not a good translation It shouldn be clear It not transparent It's brilliant. Rather than clear, it should be brilliant, radiant. That's what the word means.

Okay? By the way, this same jewel is used to describe the glory of God in chapter 4. Remember? And He who sat on the throne had the appearance of Jasper and Carnelian and around the throne was a rainbow that had the appearance of an emerald. So it's as if the glory of God is just emanating from this city in the color of jasper. Because God's there.

And His glory just shines out. Now consider what this means. This city adorned with the glory and the presence of God. It means this, that we will love one another on a new earth, accomplishing what God always intended us to do. All of our endeavors, in all of our endeavors, the presence of God will never leave in judgment. God will never leave in judgment.

So what does that mean? It means paradise. This new paradise is living in the presence of God. We're already doing that now. Are you living in the presence of God right now? Absolutely.

But then, you'll know it big time. There's nothing, absolutely nothing to shield that. You will be living in the presence of God all the time. If this city symbolizes us and the glory is always there, then it's saying to us that everything we do will be in the presence of God And it means that whatever endeavor we undertake we will glorify God in that endeavor You know last week I said to you that we going to be doing the things that God always intended us to do.

You know? Whether you're a teacher, Jim Greer himself, remember when he was here, he says, I think I'll be a teacher. Some of you will be mechanics. Some of you will be woodworkers. Some of you will be artists. Some of you will be musicians. some of you will just whatever we will that's the way i believe that's the way we're going to live and what does this symbolize then it says that whatever you do you will do it for the glory of god whatever piece of art you do whatever mechanical thing you come up with it will be unabashedly for the glory of god we do that now but it seems just kind of what exactly does that mean then we're not going to even have a question about it we'll do it it'll be natural right although one of you said to me last week i don't know whether i want to build cars for our eternity okay maybe that won't be there okay but if it is you'll love it it'll be for the glory of god you see so here's the here's this wonderful vision of the beauty of god's city bride and with that we can conquer.

If this is really what's going to happen, then we can conquer now. Right? We can conquer now. You know, open that wedding album. You know, before I married my dear wife, I had doubts. Right?

I'll tell you what. If I could have opened up the wedding album and seen that picture I have said man you are a fool for doubting this That woman is gorgeous Well that what God doing here You know what It doesn matter what comes her way It doesn't matter how bad things are. And it's going to be hard. There is heartache so deep that sometimes we can't express it in words.

How are you going to make it through that? You know, you going to make it through that? Through the grace that comes by remembering what is yet to come. God has opened up that wedding album for us to see the glory of what's coming so that we can conquer now. This week, spend some time looking at that album. And see how God gives you grace.

Lord, we thank You for Your Word. And Lord, it is sure. This is not an iffy proposition. What we have just read and what we have seen in glorious color and beauty is indeed, Father, as sure as anything. It is sure as looking at each other now. That will come to pass.

Lord, give us insight into those pictures. Give us insight into that vision so that we will have the grace to conquer now. Lord God, Lord God, thank You. Give us grace now, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.