The Celestial City | Dr. David Jeremiah | Revelation 21 & 22

Revelation 21:14 says that the wall of the city has the names of the twel apostles written on them. And regarding this, John F. Walbert has a good explanation here. The city recognizes the presence of the apostles representing the church, the body of Christ, and the fact that their names are inscribed upon the foundation symbolically indicates that the church itself is related to this holy city.

Eternity, men and women, will be a lasting memorial to the redemption which was provided by Jesus Christ. Pass the foundations, walk through the gates, and you will be impressed with the wonderful plan that made it possible for you to be there. Everywhere you look will be reminders of how you got there in the first place. >> Thank you for watching Turning Point.

Here is Dr. Jeremiah with his message, the celestial city. Our world is filled with great cities. If you rank cities in the order of land space, one of our largest cities in the United States is Juno, Alaska. It covers 3,081 square miles, 2593 square miles of land, and 487 square miles of water.

Juno is larger than the entire state of Delaware. If you keep looking in the lower 48 states, Jacksonville, Florida, covers 841 square miles. I think they annexed everything they could find. And the biggest city in the USA from the standpoint of population, of course, is the Big Apple, New York City, boasting a population of nearly 8.5 million people.

While New York is massive, several cities are significantly bigger. You know, Tokyo leads the way with 37 million people, followed by Delhigh with 34 million and Shanghai with 30 million. Cairo, S. Paulo, Mexico City each have more than 20 million residents, proving that mega cities span the globe.

They're everywhere. To give all of this perspective, the largest city in AD 100 was Rome, Italy. And the population of that largest city in the whole world was 450,000 people. Today, more than 150 Chinese cities have populations of over 1 million people. The Americas boast about 60 such cities.

Europe about 35 and Africa close to 100. According to the experts, the world's urban population will grow from 4.8 8 billion in 2025 to 5.7 billion by 2050. At which time nearly 70% of the world's inhabitants will be living in cities. It's not surprising then that God is designing a city as a part of the ultimate plan for his children.

And the city God is building will dwarf the cities of today. 12 times in Revelation 21 and 22, the place where God and his people will live together is called a city. This is not a figure of speech, but a reference to an actual physical place. Since we will be in our physically resurrected bodies, we will need a physical place in which to live.

And the longing for a future glorious city of God can be traced all the way back to Abraham. From the book of Hebrews, we learn this about the patriarch. Hebrews 11:10 says, "He waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God." The Hebrew Christians were told, "But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels."

In the book of Revelation, we read, "He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go out no more. 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 out of heaven from my God, and I will write on him my new name.

Many theologians refer to the new Jerusalem as the crown of the new creation. It is paradise regained, a holy and beautiful abode of which the Garden of Eden was only an imperfect emblem. That is exactly what the new Jerusalem is. It is not heaven itself, but the incredible capital city of heaven.

Revelation 21:2 says, "Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." The Bible says that the Apostle John saw the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. He didn't say it was being created.

He said it already was prepared, suggesting that the city is complete and waiting. Hebrews calls God the architect and builder of this city. Hebrews 11:10. And Hebrews 12:22 and 23 describes it as the heavenly Jerusalem already filled with angels. The church, God himself, right now it exists in heaven.

But one day when God creates a new heaven and a new earth, this glorious city will descend and become the eternal home of his people with his throne at the center of the city. It is surely this city that our Lord was talking about when he told his disciples that if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be.

Also, let me just try to wrap our arms around some of the details of this city. First of all, the dimensions of it. Revelation 21:15 and 16 describes it. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out as a square.

Its length is as great as its breadth. and he measured the city with the read 12,000 furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. FW Borum was a brilliant 20th century pastor who carefully considered the size and capacity of the great city. In one of his writings, he tells of discussing the city with a man named Tomas, who was an Australian engineer and a member of his church.

Boram shared the dimensions of the celestial city with Tomas asking him, "Did you ever think about the size of the city of God that he has prepared for the future?" Tomas replied, "Man, it's amazing. It's astounding. It beats everything I ever heard of." John says that each of the walls of the city measures 12,000 furongs.

Now, if you work that out, it will give you an area of 2,250,000 square miles. Did you ever hear the like of that? London covers an area of 140 square miles. But this city, the city for square is 15,000 times as big as London. It is 20 times as big as all New Zealand.

And it's 10 times as big as Germany, 10 times as big as France. It is 40 times as big as all of England. And it's ever so much bigger than India. Why? It's an enormous continent in itself. Working it out on the basis of the number of people to the square mile in the city of London, the population of the city four square comes out at a 100,000 million, 70 times the present population of the whole world.

What does the city look like? How is it described? Well, first of all, the Bible tells us is a holy city. Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The chief characteristic of our holy city, the new Jerusalem, the heaven where we will spend eternity, is its holy.

And then the Bible talks about the pearly gates. Also, she had a great and high wall and 12 gates and 12 angels at the gates. and names written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. And he measured its wall, 144 cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is of an angel.

And the construction of its wall was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl. Now apparently 12 is the number of symmetry because here you have 12 gates, 12 angels, 12 tribes, 12 foundations, 12 apostles, 12 pearls, and 12 different kinds of fruit in the city called the holy city.

As we look at the 12 gates of pearl, we see the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed. This is a reminder to us that heaven will be populated with people from the Old Testament. They're really a part of the wall that surrounds the city. John gives us another striking detail about the gates of heaven.

Its gate shall not be shut at all by day and there shall be no night there. In heaven, it's an eternal day and the gates are never shut because the city of heaven will be on the new earth created by God and everything around it will be holy.

Nothing unholy will be allowed to enter the city. Therefore, there will be no need to protect the city with closed gates. The gates of heaven will always be open. And that tells us something important. Everyone who belongs to Jesus will be welcome inside. We won't need a special pass.

We won't have to earn our place or prove we're worthy. The only reason we'll be there is because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. And his blood is what opens the gates. And once we're in, we'll have full access to everything the city offers because it's our home.

So there's the holy city and the pearly gates and then the foundations of precious stones. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. Jasper, sapphire, caledoni, emerald, sardonics, sardius, cryslite, burl, topaz, crystal praise, jent, and amethyst. A building's greatest strength is its foundation.

And the new Jerusalem is not one foundation, but 12. And I understand this to mean that each foundation is decorated with a different gem. And these foundations are one upon the other. So when you come to the city and see it, the beauty of the city will be seen as far as the eye can see.

Revelation 21:14 says that the wall of the city has the names of the twel apostles written on them. And regarding this, John F. Walbert has a good explanation here. The city recognizes the presence of the apostles representing the church, the body of Christ, and the fact that their names are inscribed upon the foundation symbolically indicates that the church itself is related to this holy city.

Eternity, men and women, will be a lasting memorial to the redemption which was provided by Jesus Christ. past the foundations, walk through the gates, and you will be impressed with the wonderful plan that made it possible for you to be there. Everywhere you look will be reminders of how you got there in the first place.

Then what about the streets of gold? Oh yes, the streets of gold. Revelation 2:18 and 21 says, "And the city was pure gold like clear glass, and the street of the city was pure gold like transparent glass." If you have looked at pure gold, you know that it is not transparent but opaque.

But John described heaven's gold as transparent glass. The gold of heaven is so pure that men seem to look into it and through its clear depths as they walk upon it. It is finally polished as a mirror and therefore it is not so much transparent as it is translucent.

If you think about this, don't forget that in our glorified bodies, our perceptions will be different. Something might appear to us then as being both solid and transparent. All I can tell you is you've never walked on any streets like you're about to walk on when you go to heaven.

The streets will truly be gold. According to some experts, transparent gold that you can look all the way through. And then the Bible tells us that the lamb is the light. Verse 11 and 23. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The lamb is its light. This is a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy from Isaiah 60:e 19. The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you, but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.

Where the light emanates, where it starts is Jesus Christ himself. He truly is at that moment the light of the world. Not just spiritually, but physically. The light in heaven doesn't come from fire or electricity. There isn't any need for any candles or any bulbs. It's not the kind of light that burns out or needs replacing.

This light comes straight from God because God is light and the lamb is the lamp. His light fills the whole city. It shines into every home and every heart and it never ever fades. You have the holy city, the pearly gates, the foundations, the streets of gold, the lamb who is the light.

And then the Bible says in verse two of chapter 22 of Revelation, there is a tree of life. In the middle of this street of gold, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. Now, this is a picture of paradise regained. The tree of life and the river once guarded by the cherubim with the flaming sword in the Garden of Eden now reappears on the pages of scripture as part of the heavenly city.

And the description of the tree of life in Revelation 22 sounds like what was prophesied in the Old Testament. Here's what Ezekiel said about that. He said, "Along the bank of the river on this side and that will grow all kinds of trees used for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail and they will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary.

Their fruit will be for food and their leaves for medicine." So basically if I could summarize this whole eating thing in heaven we will eat for enjoyment but not for sustenance. It says here there will be healing in what we eat. I don't know for sure what that means but the word healing is the word in the New Testament language therape which is the word from which we get therapeutic.

John is saying that the leaves of the tree of life promote the enrichment of life. They are for the pure joy of eating. Food won't be needed in heaven, but it will be enjoyed. It will be therapeutic. It will give us even a higher sense of the joy that we have in heaven.

Along with the tree of life, when you get to this city, you will see the river of life. Revelation 22:1 and2. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the middle of its street, and on either side of the river was the tree of life, which bore 12 fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month.

The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. John describes a natural wonder in the center of New Jerusalem. He says the river of the water of life because the city is the center of human life. Water will be a big part of it and the source of this powerful stream is the throne of God occupied by the lamb.

All you will have to do in this great city is follow the water which is flowing down and you will be led to its source, the city's centerpiece, the lamb's throne. This is the river the psalmist was writing about in Psalm 46. He said, "There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God."

So that's just some of the description of the city. It's holy. It's entered through pearly gates. Its foundations are precious stones. Its streets are out of gold. It is lit up by the Lamb of God. It has a tree of life which bears fruit, 12 different fruits for the 12 different months.

Instead of having one season of fruit, there are 12 seasons of fruit and then the river of life. Now in the description of the city which is given to us in Revelation 21 and 22, John is very careful to give us everything we need to know. We have the dimensions of the city, the description to the city and thirdly the denial to the city.

Here is verse 8 and verse 27. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolattors, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. But there shall be by no means entering into the city anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

The Bible says the city four square is not for everybody. And you may think, oh, what a wonderful place I'm going to go to. And I hope all of you are going to it. But if you haven't made a reservation, you don't get to go. The Bible says you can only go to this city if you have trusted your life to Jesus Christ.

Jesus gave his life on Calvary to forgive sins. And those are the sins that separate you from God. If you don't get forgiveness for your sins, you can't go to God and be in his heaven. He rose from the dead to give you a resurrection like his. If you don't accept Christ, you can't have a resurrection.

He went to heaven to prepare a place for you. And the scripture says he did that so that where he is there you may be also. Jesus Christ wants you to be with him. He offers you the opportunity to make sure you're ready to be with him. Ladies and gentlemen, you can come to church until you're blue in the face and still miss heaven.

But you must trust Jesus Christ. It's not enough just to be a church-going person. Not enough just to be a relatively good person, a moral person. I know many people who are good, moral people, but they're not Christians. We will be surprised someday when we discover that many of the people we thought were the best people of all missed heaven for one simple reason.

The only way you can go to heaven is by putting your trust in Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life. And no one comes to the father except through him. So, I hope your only view of heaven isn't my very inadequate description of it.

I hope you get to be there and see it for all its beauty and glory. And if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, I know I'll bump into you along the golden streets sometime in the future. And we will enjoy heaven forever. Amen. Amen. If you have never taken the step to believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, you can do that today if you will allow us.

Dr. Jeremiah would like to send you two resources that will help you. The first is a booklet called Your Greatest Turning Point, which will help you as you begin your relationship with Christ. And the second is our monthly devotional magazine, Turning Points, to give you encouragement and inspiration throughout the year.

These resources are yours completely free when you contact Turning Point today. >> Thank you for being with us today. Join Dr. Jeremiah next time for his series, The Promise of Heaven, here on Turning Point. ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing)) ((applause)) ((music playing))