The Way It's Supposed to Be: Church
Thesis: The Church is supposed to be an amazing thing that everyone should WANT to be a part of!
Objective: Call believers to recognize the church as more than just a brick-and-mortar location, but as an ideal which can only be realized in and through their ever-deepening relationship with God, pursuit of holiness, and works of service.
- The Church belongs to God (9-14).
- She is Jesus' bride (“I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (9); The Church – not the individual Christian – is the bride of the Lamb. If we want to maximize our relationship with Jesus (because remember, the husband-wife relationship is to be the most intimate, fulfilling human relationship we have) then we must be active in the church. It is the Church that Jesus loves. The Church that Jesus gave His life for. The Church that Jesus would take home with Him.).
- She is built by God (“the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God” (10); The Church is truly constructed by God, not men. Our efforts can be misguided or unsuccessful, but God's never are. We like to take credit for the construction of the Church, but in reality, if the Church is growing or being effective, etc., it's because God is working through us. We are merely the tools – the hands and feet – with which He works, so just like the hand doesn't claim ownership of the painting, we can't claim ownership of the Church.).
- She shines with God's glory (“It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel” (11); The Church's glory is not full pews, massive budgets, impressive buildings, etc. The Church's glory is God's glory shining through her. If she's corrupt and broken, that glory is refracted and obscured. Ultimately, it will be made perfect.).
- She opens by God's people (“...with twelve gates...” (12-13); The Church is protected and secured by God and His angelic hosts. The way into the Church is through gates bearing the names of the people of God. Isaiah 49:6 declared that the Israelites, God's people, would be “a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring my salvation to the ends of the earth,” and in Matthew 5:14, that same call was extended to us when Jesus announced, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden.” God may have built the Church, but the way into it is through us.).
- She's built upon God's people (“The wall of the city had twelve foundations...” (14); God uses the labors and sacrifices of His people in the construction of His Church. In fact, He bases the entire thing on our labors and sacrifices. Paul spoke of this in 1 Cor 3:9-15: “For we are God's fellow workers; you are God's field, God's building. By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames.” Are we contributing to the construction of the Church work which will survive as gold, silver, or costly stones, rather than be burned up as wood, hay or straw?).
- God's Church is awesome (15-21).
- She's measured with gold (“a measuring rod made of gold” (15); Who in their right mind uses gold to build a measuring rod? In the Church, gold is just another ordinary tool. That's how spectacular the Church is!).
- She's massive (16-18; At 12,000 stadia long, wide, and high, New Jerusalem measured more than 386 quintillion cubic feet in volume. If everyone was given a 15,000 sq ft home in the city, there would be space for more than 1.25 quadrillion people. Considering that only 100-115 billion people have EVER lived, TOTAL, there is more than enough room for everyone we can invite!).
- She's spectacular (18-21; With a wall constructed of jasper, a precious stone, the city itself (including the streets) of pure gold, foundations of more precious stones, and gates of massive pearls (the largest pearl known to man was found in the Philippines in 1934 and weighs just 14 pounds), there could be no disputing that the Church in its perfected state is going to be a sight to see! The colors, the value, the splendor will be breathtaking! And the thing is, the Church as it is today is all this; its just mired in ore just yet! The Church is a spectacular thing, of absolutely immeasurable worth! You just have to be a part of it!)
- God's Church is where God is (22-27).
- God is in the Church (22; There is no need for a single temple for the people of the Church to go to for worship. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are right there, in the Church, to serve as the temple.).
- God illuminates the Church (23; When the Church is finally perfected, it will depend solely on the glory of God as its source of knowledge and direction.).
- God guides the nations by the Church (24; The Church is designed to be a beacon to direct the nations.).
- God welcomes the nations (25-27; The Church is where God will meet all who are clean and holy, whose names are recorded in the Lamb's book of life. NOTE: Everyone's name is initially recorded in the book of life, but according to Exodus 32:33, everyone who sins against God will be blotted out of it. ALSO NOTE that John points out that entire nations will be brought into the Church. Clearly, getting in isn't hard. It's just a matter of repentance.).
Ryrie
(11) “The city will shine with the glory of God, clear as crystal, which will allow that glory to shine brilliantly.”
(12-14) “Though both Jewish saints and Christian saints will inhabit the city, the names of the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles are a witness to their continued distinction.”
(16-17) “Shaped foursquare like a cube, the city is 1,380 mi (2,220 km) on each face, including height, with a wall 72 yd (66m) thick. It has been calculated that even if only 25 percent of this space were used for dwellings, 20 billion people could be accommodated spaciously.”
(19-20) chalcedony was “probably a greenish-blue agate stone. (The exact composition and color of all these precious stones is unknown.)”
(19-20) sardonyx was a “red and white stone.”
(19-20) carnelian was “bright red.”
(19-20) chrysolite was golden
(19-20) beryl was sea greenish
(19-20) topaz was yellow-green
(19-20) chrysoprase was apple greenish
(19-20) jacinth was blue
(19-20) amethyst is purple
(24) “Whether these nations and kings are millennial people or resurrected people in the eternal state is unclear. In either case, only the redeemed will be allowed to enter the city.”
Henry
“God has a variety of work and employment for his holy angels. Sometimes they are to sound the trumpet of divine Providence, and give fair warning to a careless world; sometimes they are to pour out the vials of God's anger upon impenitent sinners; and sometimes to discover things of a heavenly nature to those that are the heirs of salvation. They readily execute every commission they receive from God; and, when this world shall be at an end, yet the angels shall be employed by the great God in proper pleasant work to all eternity.”
“Those who would have clear views of heaven must get as near heaven as they can, into the mount of vision, the mount of meditation and faith, whence, as from the top of Pisgah, they may behold the goodly land of the heavenly Canaan.”
The Lamb's wife is “the church of God in her glorious, perfect, triumphant state, under the resemblance of Jerusalem, having the glory of God shining in its lustre, as uxor splendit radiis mariti—the bride comely through the comeliness put on her by her husband; glorious in her relation to Christ, in his image now perfected in her, and in his favour shining upon her.”
“now we have a large description of the church triumphant under the emblem of a city, far exceeding in riches and splendour all the cities of this world; and this new Jerusalem is here represented to us both in the exterior and the interior part of it.”
Around New Jerusalem, a wall was erected to provide security. “Heaven is a safe state; those that are there are enclosed with a wall, that separates them and secures them from all evils and enemies.”
The wall is thick enough to be beautiful AND strong.
The wall is constructed of jasper, making it “a wall all built of the most precious stones, for firmness and lustre. This city has a wall that is impregnable as well as precious.”
The wall's form “was very regular and uniform: It was four-square, the length as large as the breadth. In the new Jerusalem all shall be equal in purity and perfection. There shall be an absolute uniformity in the church triumphant, a thing wanted and wished for on earth, but not to be expected till we come to heaven.”
The wall about the city was plenty large to hold many, many mansions.
“The foundations are described by their number—twelve, alluding to the twelve apostles (v. 14), whose gospel doctrines are the foundations upon which the church is built, Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; and, as to the matter of these foundations, it was various and precious, set forth by twelve sorts of precious stones, denoting the variety and excellency of the doctrines of the gospel, or of the graces of the Holy Spirit, or the personal excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ.”
It's important to see that, although the wall was impressive, there were still gates in it. “Heaven is not inaccessible; there is a way opened into the holiest of all; there is a free admission to all those that are sanctified; they shall not find themselves shut out.”
“All the true Israel of God shall have entrance into the new Jerusalem, as every tribe had into the earthly Jerusalem.”
“Their guards which were placed upon them—twelve angels, to admit and receive the several tribes of the spiritual Israel and keep out others.”
“The inscription on the gates—the names of the twelve tribes, to show that they have a right to the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city.”
“The situation of the gates. As the city had four equal sides, answering to the four quarters of the world, east, west, north, and south, so on each side there were three gates, signifying that from all quarters of the earth there shall be some who shall get safely to heaven and be received there, and that there is as free entrance from one part of the world as from the other; for in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free. Men of all nations, and languages, who believe on Christ, have by him access to God in grace here and in glory hereafter.”
“The materials of these gates—they were all of pearls, and yet with great variety: Every gate one pearl, either one single pearl of that vast bigness, or one single sort of pearl. Christ is the pearl of great price, and he is our way to God. “
“There is nothing magnificent enough in this world fully to set forth the glory of heaven. Could we, in the glass of a strong imagination, contemplate such a city as is here described, even as to the exterior part of it, such a wall, and such gates, how amazing, how glorious, would the prospect be! And yet this is but a faint and dim representation of what heaven is in itself.”
“The saints in heaven tread upon gold.”
“There is converse in heaven: the saints are then at rest, but it is not a mere passive rest; it is not a state of sleep and inactivity, but a state of delightful motion.”
The residents of New Jerusalem “walk with Christ in white. They have communion not only with God, but with one another; and all their steps are firm and clean. They are pure and clear as gold and transparent glass.”
“There the saints are above the need of ordinances, which were the means of their preparation for heaven. When the end is attained the means are no longer useful. Perfect and immediate communion with God will more than supply the place of gospel institutions.”
“God in Christ will be an everlasting fountain of knowledge and joy to the saints in heaven; and, if so, there is no need of the sun or moon, any more than we here need to set up candles at noon day, when the sun shineth in its strength.”
It's also important to note the occupants of New Jerusalem. They are described as entire nations, implying vast numbers; by their dignity, noting that there are, people from all walks, including kings and queens; and their unrestricted ability to enter into New Jerusalem.
“There is no night, and therefore no need of shutting up the gates. Some one or other is coming in every hour and moment, and those that are sanctified always find the gates open; they have an abundant entrance into the kingdom.”
“Whatever is excellent and valuable in this world shall be there enjoyed in a more refined kind, and to a far greater degree—brighter crowns, a better and more enduring substance, more sweet and satisfying feasts, a more glorious attendance, a truer sense of honour and far higher posts of honour, a more glorious temper of mind, and a form and a countenance more glorious than ever were known in this world.”
“There the saints shall have no impure thing remaining in them. In the article of death they shall be cleansed from every thing that is of a defiling nature. Now they feel a sad mixture of corruption with their graces, which hinders them in the service of God, interrupts their communion with him, and intercepts the light of his countenance; but, at their entrance into the holy of holies, they are washed in the laver of Christ's blood, and presented to the Father without spot.”
“There the saints shall have no impure persons admitted among them. In the earthly Jerusalem there will be a mixed communion, after all the care that can be taken. Some roots of bitterness will spring up to trouble and defile Christian societies; but in the new Jerusalem there is a society perfectly pure.”
To say that the people of New Jerusalem will be completely pure is to say that New Jerusalem will be free from such as are openly profane. There are none admitted into heaven who work abominations.” Also, it will be “Free from hypocrites, such as make lies, say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. These will creep into the churches of Christ on earth, and may lie concealed there a long time, perhaps all their days; but they cannot intrude into the new Jerusalem, which is wholly reserved for those that are called, and chosen, and faithful, who are all written, not only in the register if the visible church, but in the Lamb's book of life.”
(12) “the number 12 probably emphasizes the continuity of the NT church and the OT people of God.”
(15) The measurements of the city “symbolizes the size and symmetry of the eternal dweling place of the faithful.”
(16) The city's measurements in all three dimensions were the same, making it a perfect cube, just “as the Most Holy Place of the tabernacle and the temple.”
(17) 144 cubits is appr. 200 feet
(20) The NIV text note points out that “the precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain.”
(27) The Lamb's book of life. “A divine ledger is first mentioned in Ex 32:32-33. It was a register of all citizens in the kingdom community. To have one's name erased from this book would indicate loss of citizenship.”
- Ryrie, Charles C. Ryrie Study Bible Expanded Edition. Chicago: Moody Press, 1994.
- Henry, Matthew. Commentary on the Whole Bible.http://www.ccel.org/ccel/henry/mhc6.Jam.iv.html
- Barker, Kenneth, ed. Reflecting God Study Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House, 2000.