Fri, 30 December, 2005: Today’s Bible readings.
9 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.” 10 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, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 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– 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 on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 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. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. 19 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, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 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.
22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 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. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day–and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 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.
I’ve always been amazed at how creative some people are in interpreting portions of the Bible. I’ve heard people come to this passage and use it to calculate how many people will be in heaven. The angel measures the dimensions of New Jerusalem. It is now simple to calculate its cubic volume. Assuming a certain volume required for each person, we now know how many people can fit into the heaven that God has prepared.
One problem: That has nothing to do with the passage. The intent of the passage isn’t to give us the number of people in heaven. When we spend so much effort in drawing out of the passage what isn’t there in the first place, we miss what really is there. It is vitally important that we read the scriptures looking for what is there rather than using scriptures as a launch point for our flights of fancy. What is the intent of the passage?
So, again instead of trying to find obscure things from the text, I’ll stick with the very obvious. There is enough in this passage that the obvious things could keep us busy for quite some time if we chose.
What do we learn from this?
This passage speaks of the New Jerusalem as the bride of Christ. What is this? The Church is the bride of Christ. So this passage is speaking about the Church. This passage talks about the beauty of New Jerusalem. Why is she beautiful? Not because of any intrinsic beauty in her. Instead, the Church is beautiful because God has chosen her and He indwells her. He has adorned her with beautiful stones, but more than that, His glory radiates the Church like a most rare jewel. There is no temple or sun or moon in the Church. God is the temple, and His people dwell in His light.
So what is the point? I think we’re wasting our time if we try to find the significance of each type of stone. Instead, the point is that the beauty of the Church isn’t that it is filled with us beautiful people. No. It is God who makes the Church beautiful by His presence. God’s glory adorns the Church and makes it beautiful.
This isn’t something we look forward to. We don’t have to wait until we gather in heaven to be in God’s presence. It is true that we will experience God in a more direct, unmediated way when we are in heaven. But when we gather together to worship God, we are gathering in God’s very presence. This isn’t a future event. This is our experience every Lord’s Day as we meet with God’s people in our local congregations to praise and worship God, and hear His word expounded.
Where is Christ in this passage?
John tells us that 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. But if we are honest, we know we all have done what is detestable and false. Does this mean that heaven is closed to all of us? Are we not able to enter into true worship of God in the Church today, or in heaven in the future?
No. Heaven is only closed to those whose names are not written in the Lamb’s book of life. For all those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life are counted as righteous in God’s sight. He declares them to be in right standing with Him, not because they have never done anything detestable or false, but because Jesus Christ has paid the penalty for the detestable and false things they have done. Their sins are paid for in full in Jesus Christ on the cross, and the guilt no longer remains. Therefore they stand justified before God, and can enter into the true worship of God. They can enter God’s presence and offer worship that is pleasing to God, because of the work of Jesus Christ on their behalf.
