Well, as we continue our journey through Revelation 21, we come now to the revelation of the New Jerusalem. A very dramatic passage within the Apocalypse. The dramatic passage where we see this awe-inspiring structure coming down out of heaven. The question that we must ask is, what does this mean? Of course, that's the question that we've been asking all the way through Revelation. And the answer to this question is given to us plainly within this text. This is a picture of the Bride of Christ. And as we examine the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ here in this text, I want to ask you some questions that I've been asking myself. One question in particular, do you love the bride of Christ? It's an important question that we all need to answer, but that we shouldn't be hasty in answering. Because of course the knee-jerk reaction is to say, yes, I love the bride of Christ. But the fact of the matter is, if you listen to most people, even most Christians, we do not speak about the bride of Christ, number one, like it's actually Christ's bride. And number two, like we actually love her. Number three, like we actually belong to her, like we are part of her. We don't speak that way about the bride. Now granted, the bride of Christ at this point in time is not perfect. We see, for example, in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3, that these churches, these seven churches, This number seven, number of completion, representing the church in its totality, in its entirety, is filled with contradiction and difficulty, struggling with hypocrisy, idolatry, having to be corrected having to be warned. We see all of these things there early on, and these things are true of all churches, and these things are true of all Christians. That is not to be denied. However, as we come to the close of the letter, we see another picture of the church. Another picture of the bride of Christ. And as we look at Revelation in its totality, we see the faithfulness of the bride. And lastly here, we see this radiant beauty of the bride of Christ. And I ask you, do you normally talk about the church in terms of what you see in chapters two and three, or in terms of what you see in chapter 21? And the answer for most of us is the former and not the latter. We say things like the world is a mess because the church is not doing what she's supposed to do. Our political structure is all turned upside down because Christians just didn't do what they were supposed to do. Homosexuals hate the church. because Christians don't love them the right way. No more prayer in school because Christians fill in the blank. We blame the Holocaust on Christians. It took the allied forces of the United States, Great Britain, and Russia to defeat Germany and the Third Reich. But if you listen to most Christians, All it took was a few Lutherans in Germany to just be the church, and none of that would have ever happened. We blast the church for what we see coming out of Hollywood. Because after all, if the church would just be the church, Hollywood wouldn't be Hollywood. We blast the church for what we see happening around the globe. Because after all, if the church would just be the church, she wouldn't be exporting all of the terrible things around the world. As though we look at the church as either some political entity, many of us have a Romish view of the church. And we view the church like this. The church is this entity that needs to have a leader, like the Pope, who organizes us all so that we can all move in the same direction and change everything in the world. If we could just get the church mobilized, that's a Romish view. If we could just have the right leader lead the church in the right direction, then the church could exercise her power and her authority, and we could usher in the kingdom. But it's interesting, as I find this war raging in Revelation, there is not a single indication that it's the church's fault. There is a beast. There is a dragon. There is a false prophet. There is a whore of Babylon. All of these things are true. And they actually war against the church. They hate the church. They hate God. And according to Revelation, this is why we see what we see. Not because of the impotence. of the church. Others don't see the church as a political entity but maybe basically as a service organization. Some version of the Red Cross whose goal ought to be meeting the physical needs of those in the community so that people's lives are more comfortable on the way to hell. Again, Christians are imperfect. The church at this moment is imperfect. This book before us has presented that in chapters two and three. Yet there is another reality. And the problem is not that we see things that are wrong and say something about it. The problem is, number one, we see the wrong things that are wrong because of our wrong view of the church. And problem number two, that's all we see. And we never speak about the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ. We never speak about how glorious she is. We never speak about her as though we actually believe she's the bride of Christ. In fact, we talk about Jesus' bride in ways that we would never talk about another man's bride. Amen? People would never come up to me and talk about Bridget the way they come up to me and talk about Jesus' bride. Here's a newsflash for you. You need to be far more afraid of Jesus than me. Amen, somebody. But what do we see here in this text? Well, let's look. Revelation 21, beginning at verse 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. 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 names of the 12 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 12 foundations, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 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 its 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 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 Chrysalite, the eighth Beryl, the ninth Topaz, the tenth Chrysoprase, the eleventh Jasonth, 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 the first question that has to be answered before we look at the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ is whether this is literal or symbolic. Now while I think you know what the answer is going to be if you've been here for any length of time, you need to know that there are those who argue for a literal understanding of even this text. For example, John Walvoord writes, while the beauty of the city may have symbolic meaning, no clue is given as to the precise interpretation. Since it is reasonable to assume that the saints will dwell in the city, it is best to take the city as a literal future dwelling place of saints and angels. Best to take it as a literal future dwelling place. Charles Ryrie. Shaped four square like a cube, the city is 1,380 miles on each face, including height, with a wall 72 yards thick. It has been calculated that even if only 25% of this space were used for dwellings, 20 billion people could be accommodated spaciously." So again, Ryrie and Wohlford, from the dispensational perspective, Take this as a literal city where saints and angels will live. However, as you know, we don't take this literally. Why? Well, first and foremost, because of the nature of the book of Revelation. The nature of the book is that of symbolism. Secondly, the sheer size and scale of the city and its adornments. Thirdly, the number 12 and multiples of the number 12 that we see over and over again and that we've seen throughout Revelation. Fourthly, because of the tribes. And fifthly, because of the apostles. all of these things lead us to interpret this the same way we've interpreted everything else but there is also something else that leads us to interpret it this way and that is if you look there at the first verse then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke to me saying, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. Well, this in itself dictates that we see the city symbolically. because we know who the bride of Christ is. We've seen this throughout scripture. We know, for example, that Ephesians chapter five makes it clear that the relationship between a husband and a wife is a picture of the husband and bride relationship between Jesus Christ and his church, not a city. It's his church. The angel says, I'm going to show you the bride. I'm going to show you the wife of the lamb. And the next thing we see is the new Jerusalem. It is very clear that this is not literal. This is not a picture of the dwelling place of the people of God. And as we've already heard a couple weeks ago, once you start translating these numbers, you lose it completely. It's gone. The meaning is gone once you begin to translate these numbers. Because you lose the symbolic number 12 and its multiples. There's another reason here that we don't look at this literally. And that is because of the obvious connection between this and 17-1. Again, when we were in 17-1, we did this, but we'll do it again because I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget. Amen? So we'll do this again. We'll look at the parallel between the whore of Babylon and the New Jerusalem. If you look there, example in 17.1, in 17.1 we find, then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, here in 19, then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me saying, again, clear parallel. Then, what do they say? Come, in 17, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute. In 19, come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. So one is a prostitute, the other is a bride. In chapter 17, and he carried me away in the spirit into a wilderness. So there is a prostitute who is not a bride and she's in the wilderness. Here in 19, and he carried me away in the spirit to a great high mountain. Again, if you understand the prophetic literature of Israel, you understand the significance of being taken away to a great high mountain. But also, within the context of Revelation, you can't get more different than a wilderness and a high mountain. Amen? Then, the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls. Now in 19, it's radiance like the most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. Chapter 17 ends with Babylon the Great, mother of prostitutes and the earth's abominations. Here in chapter 19, the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. So first and foremost, we see that the bride reflects God's love for his people. It's not literal. This is a picture of the people of God. And this bride terminology reflects the idea of God's love for his people. First, that love for his people is reflected in the distinction between the prostitute who was in the wilderness, who was used by the beast, and then destroyed by the beast, and then contrast that with the idea of the new Jerusalem who was a bride. who is a wife. She is coming to be married and cherished, not used and destroyed. So the first thing that this bride reflects is God's love for his people. We understand that, don't we, from the same passage. Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her. Why? that he might sanctify her by the washing of the water with the word, that he might present the church to himself, that he might do so without spot or wrinkle or any such blemish. Here's the idea of the bride being presented to the son because of the love with which he has loved her. Greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friends, Christ laid down his life for his bride. In Ephesians chapter two, we see this picture of us. We're dead in our trespasses and sins. We're under the influence of the prince of the power of the air. We are by nature children of wrath, even as the rest, but God. Why? Because of the great love with which he loved us. Paul says in Romans, God demonstrates his love for us in this, and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. This picture of the love relationship between the bride and the lamb is a reflection of the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ. The bride is beautiful because she is loved uniquely by the groom. And it is the love of the groom that makes the bride beautiful. In chapter 1, beginning at verse 4 of Revelation, John introduces this idea to the seven churches that are in Asia, and he says, from the one who was and is and is to come, and from the seven spirits that are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. And then he says, after all of that, the one who loves us, and who freed us from our sins by his blood, and who made us a kingdom of priests under his father. This is what the love of Christ has done for his bride. And so first, the bride reflects the love that God has for his people. Secondly, the bride also reflects God's glory. Look again at the text. 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. So what's her glory? Her glory is not our own. Her glory is actually the glory of God. So when we look at this radiant beauty of the bride of Christ, we need to know that she's beautiful because she's reflecting God's glory and our own confession. Chapter 2, paragraph 2 says in part, God having all life, glory, goodness, blessedness in and of himself is alone in and unto himself, all sufficient, not standing in need of any creature which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from him. but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them. He is the alone fountain of all being, of whom, through whom, and to whom are all things. This is our God. God is glorious, and it is because we reflect that glory that the bride is glorious. So when we look at the Bride and when we speak about the Bride, ultimately we are speaking about God. And we are speaking about the glory of God. And what we say about the Bride says something about what we think concerning the glory of God Himself. Because the Bride is glorious. Because God is glorious. It is a reflection of God's glory. Like the moon reflects the glory and the light of the sun, so too we reflect the glory and the light of God himself, because we are the bride of Christ. We know this glory is reflected in the beauty of holiness. In chapter 19, verses 7 and 8, there is a foreshadowing here. Let us rejoice and exult and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready. It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure, for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints. What are these righteous deeds but a reflection of the glory of God Himself. The bride is glorious, but it's God's glory that is reflected. The bride also reflects God's redeeming grace. Look at the next part. It had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates were 12 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, 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. The idea here is there's a picture, there's a parallel between here and Ezekiel chapter 40. And there are those who argue that the temple in Ezekiel chapter 40, and we know that that temple hasn't been built. Those dimensions have never existed as part of a temple that has been built. And there are those who argue that Ezekiel's temple is the great end times temple that must be built in Jerusalem before the end comes. There are people who are sending finances to Israel, even now, in order to fund the building of this temple. When we're in Israel, one of the things that was just astonishing is to see some of the implements of animal sacrifice that have been remade and refashioned in anticipation of the rebuilding of this temple, which is just a little bit problematic because up on the temple mount, there are two mosques. just slightly problematic. But there is the argument that goes like this. If you go up on the Temple Mount and you walk down the Temple Mount, you recognize that the place where the Temple was, where Solomon's Temple was, it's sort of available. So you could actually, theoretically, rebuild Solomon's Temple right there next to that Dome of the Rock thing. yeah that would work Jews and Muslims temples side-by-side but here's the problem Ezekiel chapter 40 is not talking about a literal temple any more than this text based on Ezekiel chapter 40 is talking about a literal city What Ezekiel is seeing is the building of this same thing that John now communicates to us. This is a building of the temple of the body of Christ, the temple of believers. And there's a reason that there's no temple inside this city because this city ultimately is a temple. It is made up of the people of God and God dwells with his people. But the picture of redemption here is a picture that's carrying through this theme of the marriage. There's this idea of the covenant of redemption between the father and the son. The father elects a bride for his son. The son goes to redeem the bride with his own blood. The son returns to the father to wait and intercede for his bride. The spirit applies redemption to all the elect. And in the fullness of time, the son returns, defeats the enemies of both his father and his bride, and the bride now is descending as the son's reward. This is a picture of redemption. And the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ is seen in this redemption. You also see this redemption in this picture of Israel and the church. Notice that you have both the 12 tribes and the 12 apostles. We've seen this before a number of times in Revelation. And we understand that this represents the fullness of the people of God in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. There is a different view, however. Listen to this from the dispensational view. Though both Jewish saints and Christian saints will inhabit the city, the names of the 12 tribes and the 12 apostles are a witness to their continued distinction. I don't just disagree with that. I'm astonished by it. The idea that heaven is going to still have a Jew-Gentile divide. That there is such a commitment to the distinction between Israel and the church that this commitment is carried over into the understanding of eternity. And that we're going to go through eternity with a group of people being identified separately than everybody else because they are genetically connected to Abraham. God help us. God help us. The covenantal view is not so. In fact, it's the exact opposite. That we have the names of the 12 tribes and of the 12 apostles because it represents the people of God in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Because it represents this unity in the history of redemption. Not all Israelites were part of true Israel. We know this. Paul tells us this in Romans 9 through 11. Not all Israelites were part of true Israel. And not all true Israel was made up of Israelites. We see a foreshadowing of this. Zipporah, Rahab, Tamar, Bathsheba. There is not a pure genetic line of Israelites. So there are Gentiles included even before we get to the New Testament. It's ridiculous to think that somehow there's going to be this division even in heaven. Christ broke down this dividing wall. That's why we read in Galatians 3, 28, 29, there is neither Jew nor Greek. There is neither slave nor free. There is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs according to promise. Where's the room there for division between Jew and Gentile in heaven? There is none. Ephesians 2 11 to 22, I'll leave you to read that one on your own, but there is the picture of Christ Breaking down the dividing wall and making the two into one so that we are one in Christ He breaks down the Jew Gentile distinction at the cross it no longer exists and then Ephesians 3 6 this mystery is Is that the gentiles are fellow heirs members of the same body and partakers of the promise In christ jesus through the gospel There is no distinction between us That's why you see the name of the 12 tribes and the name of the apostles on the same structure This is why the church is considered the Israel of God in Galatians chapter six and verse 16. And again, do not fall prey to the whole replacement theology straw man. This is not true and it's never been true. Those with a covenantal view do not argue that the church has replaced Israel, but that the church is true Israel and true Israel is the church. That we are one and that we are all saved by the same blood of the same savior, that we are the people of God. And it's always been that way. There are no distinctions between Jews and Gentiles now in the body of Christ. Certainly there will not be a distinction in the eternal state. The bride also reflects God's faithfulness and protection of his people. Verses 15 to 17. 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. Again, don't translate that. Its length and its width and its 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. Notice something here. First of all, there's a wall. They could have just said there's a city and it has borders. And its borders are. But it doesn't just have borders, it has a wall. The very presence of the wall speaks about the protection of the people of God. That the people of God are protected by the wall. The length of the wall, this is a long wall. Regardless of how long it is, and we've already had something like 1,365 or 1,380 miles or whatever, of course, that's not the point. There is a point that this is a long wall, and it is a high wall. That point certainly is being made. But the number 12,000 is significant because it's 12 times 1,000. We've already seen that 1,000, when you talk about 1,000 years, or 1,000 when you talk about the 144,000, 12 times 12 times 1,000. Now we have 12,000 and 144 in the same passage. Again, this is symbolic. So on the one hand, it's huge. And that symbolizes something, the scope of it. On the other hand, The number is extremely precise, but there is a wall. By the way, the height of this wall would reach up into the orbit of some man-made satellites. It's a big wall. John's point here is not that this is literal. There are also the angels. There are angels on the walls. So we have walls that are high and thick and long and guarded by angels. We got 12 angels. It only took two to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah. We got 12. We're safe. We're secure. What is the meaning? This is the eternal security of the people of God. This is the eternal security of the people of God. Have you ever wondered what is there to stop this thing from starting all over again? You ever wondered about that? I'm asked that sometimes. That's why I love young Christians, both young in age and new to Christianity, because they just ask those kind of questions that the rest of us would think but would never ask. And you just go, wait a minute, okay, so here's Adam, and Adam is here in the garden, and it's pristine, and it's perfect, and Adam fell. And now we see this picture of recreation, so how come all of us won't just mess this thing up again? The wall symbolizes a theological reality. that God erects a permanent distinction and separation between those who are His and those who are not, those who are inside and those who are outside. The heaven is made new, the earth is made new, and through the resurrection of our bodies, we are made new. And when we are made new, we are made like him in a way that Adam never was. Like the resurrected Christ, who is perfect and sinless in every way. The wall symbolizes the theological reality that we are secure in our salvation. By the way, I would argue that because the wall symbolizes the bride of Christ, it's a picture of the security in our salvation that we have now, which carries over into eternity. We have eternal life now as a present possession. And this is a picture of how secure our salvation is. Even in the here and the now, we are secure. This is also a picture of the eternal damnation of God's enemies. The idea here of the wall this long, this high, this thick, guarded by angels, is like the picture of Eden being guarded by angels after man was evicted from it. Now we are in the true Eden and these angels are guarding it so that those on the outside never have an opportunity to enter in. There is no purgatory, people. There is in and there is out. The bride also reflects God's beauty and perfections. Look at the beginning of verse 18. the wall was relatively jasper while the city was pure gold, clear as glass pure gold is not clear as glass the point that he's making here is that the realities that he's seeing are far beyond anything you've ever experienced or could understand the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, 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 jacent, the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl. And the streets of the city were pure gold, transparent as glass. This reflects God's beauty and perfections, first in its dimensions. Its dimensions are not just large, but its dimensions are perfect. Why? Because it's using perfect number. It's the perfect number 12, perfect number of the people of God. What's the bride? The bride is the people of God. This is the perfect church that Christ has built. It's perfect in every way. The thickness of the walls is 12 times 12, 144. And it's not just 12, but 12,000. He could have said 12 stadia and made the point, right? The wall is 12 stadia. Wide and 12 stadia long and 12 stadia high. But he doesn't just say 12, because 12 would have taken care of the symbolic nature of what he's saying. But he doesn't say 12, he says 12,000. Why? Because of the beauty and perfections of God as reflected in the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ. It's 12 times that almost unfathomable number. the materials. There are three possible sources for the Old Testament origin of this use. One, the priest's ephod. Eight of these are absolutely taken from the priest's ephod. We know the priest's ephod had 12 jewels. And depending on your translation and how he's using the name of these jewels, we could argue that what he's doing is he's reflecting actually the 12 jewels on the priest's ephod. There's also Ezekiel's lament over the king of Tyre in Ezekiel 28, 12 to 19. But more likely is Isaiah's prophecy comforting suffering Israel in Isaiah 54, 11 and 12. Listen to this. Oh afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted, behold, I will set your stones in antimony. and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones. The idea here is, though you are sore oppressed, I am going to build you a city that is impenetrable. And that's the idea. We've seen God's people oppressed throughout Revelation, and now all of a sudden we see this structure that is absolutely impenetrable, and barely even fathomable, and completely and utterly beautiful in every way. The best of everything is what is used to make it. There's also the idea that this city is a perfect cube. And this leads us a bit into what we're talking about next week. But there is another perfect cube described in the Bible. First Kings 620. The inner sanctuary was 12 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 20 cubits high. And he overlaid it with pure gold. There's a picture of the Holy of Holies. It's a place that only the high priest could approach. This place where atonement was made. This place that was a prefiguring of Christ and his finished work on the cross. And this place that is a prefiguring of the perfection of the people of God because of the once for all sacrifice of Christ and of the perfection of the worship that they offer to him throughout eternity. This is a picture of the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ for all of these reasons. The question then is, what do we take away from this? A number of things. As a member of the body of Christ, think about yourself in these terms. Understand that this is what it means for you to belong to Christ. This is what's true of you. This is what he's making of you. This is what he's forming in you. This is what you are a part of as a member of the body of Christ. Think on these things. Remind yourself of these things. Remind yourself that you reflect the glory of God, the radiant beauty of God himself. and it is because you belong to Christ that this is true of you. Hold on to this, saints. Hold on to this when you doubt yourself. Hold on to this when you sin. Hold on to this when you have a need to repent and turn to Christ again and again and again, that ultimately this is where you're headed. This is what's going to be true of you. This is what's being formed in you and is in part true of you even now. Remember that. Secondly, remember this when you talk about the church. Remember this when you're in casual conversation and people are throwing around those phrases that we often throw around, if the church was only, if the church would only, as though what Jesus has to come and deal with at the end of the age is not the beast and the dragon and the false prophet, and it's not the whore of Babylon, but that the church is actually the prostitute. The church is actually the problem. The church is the one that he actually needs to come and deal with. That's the way we talk about the church. Beloved, it's not true. And it's not right. And it's not appropriate for us to talk about the church in this way. Do churches have problems? Yes. Do Christians have sins? Yes. Is that true? Yes. All of that is true. That's why we got chapter 2 and chapter 3. It's here. It's true. But the fact of the matter is chapter 21 is as true of us. and it shouldn't be the case that every time we talk about the church, we talk about what she's not. That should not be the case. It must not be the case. Thirdly, when you do see deficiencies in the church, ascribe them to you and not us. He said it again, when you do see deficiencies in the church, ascribe them to you and not us. what I mean by that. It's real easy to talk about what the church is not doing. It's much more difficult to talk about what I'm not doing. Because remember, I am a member of the Bride of Christ. And it's amazing to me how often people will point the finger and say, the church is not this, the church is not that, the church is not so and so forth. And you just look at them and go, well, you're the church, right? How are you doing on those things? Worry about how you can be further conformed to the image of Christ. Finally, un-Americanize your view of the church. This city that comes down, the New Jerusalem, it's not America. It's not even Texas, and that's so hard for me to say. But this is not the New Jerusalem. This is not the be all to end all in God's redemptive plan that he set up everything in the world so that he could ultimately get to America and then finally have America squared away and just go ahead and bring down the city right here. No, this is not the New Jerusalem. We are not the totality of the people of God. We simply are not. And we must stop thinking in this way. Because the fact of the matter is, much of what we say negatively about the church ultimately has to do with this kind of thinking. We think America is the New Jerusalem. And if anything bad is happening in America, it's because we're not acting like what we know we are. That shouldn't happen here. We're the people of God. That shouldn't happen here. This is the promised land. If that's happening here, that's because we're just not doing what we're supposed to be doing. And we need to do what we're supposed to be doing so that won't happen here. There are sinful people. And sinful people do sinful things. And they hate God. And they hate the people of God. and many of them live right here. And the fact of the matter is, America looks a lot more like the Whore of Babylon than she does the New Jerusalem. Yes, I meant to say that. Because it's true. We do. We do. There is a striking resemblance between us and that wealthy woman seated on many waters, who seduces the kings of the earth with her wealth, and who calls them away from the worship of the one true God, to the worship of the beast, to obedience to the false prophet, and who punishes those who refuse to succumb to her temptations we look a lot more like her than we do the New Jerusalem but here's a news flash the New Jerusalem is not about a geopolitical entity but it's made up of a people who find themselves in all geopolitical entities and are yet part of the Bride of Christ. It is not that there is a country or a city that makes up the New Jerusalem. This is the beauty. The beauty of the New Jerusalem is that from all people and all tribes and all tongues and all nations will God bring together this beautiful city that is His Bride. That is why there is a diverse beauty from all types of stones in the New Jerusalem. And my question is this, as you look at this city, do you see your own dwelling place? Do you see yourself as being built up as a part of this city? Do you see yourself as reflecting the glory of God? Do you see yourself as this radiant bride? Do you see yourself as the one redeemed and purchased by Christ Himself? Do you see yourself, and the only way you can see yourself here is if you have come to Him through repentance and faith. Is if you have been united with Christ, that's the only way you can see yourself as part of this city. Because as we've said before, if you are not part of the bride, you are part of the prostitute. There is nothing in between. You have either come to Christ in repentance and faith, and this is not just your dwelling place, but this is you, because you've come to Him in repentance and faith, or you are in Revelation 17, and your doom is sure and almost at hand. If you find yourself in chapter 17 and not in chapter 19, don't stay there. Amen? That's the good news of the gospel. Is that God in Christ takes people from chapter 17 and puts them in chapter 19. That God in Christ takes people away from Babylon and brings them into the New Jerusalem. That's the good news of the gospel. And all of us have a natural tendency toward an affinity for Babylon. Every last one of us. Because that's where we were born, that's where we were raised, and that's what we yearn for. But my prayer for you is that you see the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ and recognize Babylon for who she is. And that you come out of her. That you run to Christ. and be the bride and the wife, not the prostitute. Let's pray. Father, we bow before you as a humble people. Recognizing that we neither see nor appreciate the bride the way we ought to. Not understanding even ourselves to be a part of this fair city. And as a result, we say and think and believe things about the church that simply are not true. And beyond being untrue, they're offensive. Grant by your grace that we might see the radiant beauty of the bride of Christ. that we might personify the radiant beauty of the Bride of Christ. That through being united to Him in repentance and faith, these things may be true of us. Father, I pray for the one here today who recognizes that they look a lot more like chapter 17 than they do chapter 21. I pray that you would grant repentance and faith, that you would call them out of Babylon and into the New Jerusalem. Lord, I pray for the one who struggles with assurance, struggles with being assured that you love them, struggle with being assured that they are saved and remain saved. And I pray that this glorious portrait of your bride would assuage those fears and doubts. that we would see ourselves as secure and protected and loved and redeemed and beautiful. We ask these things because we do believe that their reality brings much glory to Christ. And it is in His name that we pray. Amen.