Well, today we are actually going to pick up right where we left off last week. We are discussing the new heavens and the new earth. The place, as Peter said, in which righteousness dwells. The place the earth was longing to become in Romans 8. The place where we this morning will find our eternal home as the children of God. And we're going to do that by as quickly as we can going through the last two chapters of our Bibles. And because we have so much to cover in such a short amount of time, we'll try and hit it all. But let's pray first. Father, we thank you for this morning. We thank you for the truth of your word. We thank you for eternal life and your son who perfectly kept the law for us. And Lord, I pray, as we'll see today, We thank you for the grace that is to be seen and revealed in heaven, our eternal home. Lord, would you help to fix our minds and hearts there even now in these moments as we come to understand your truth. I ask that you would be with me as I come to these people, not as anything but a mere mouthpiece for them and for your namesake. Lord, apply this word in our hearts and help us to walk in a manner pleasing to you. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Okay, well, we're going through the last two chapters of our Bible. You can turn there to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. The first thing we have to recognize regarding the eternal state is the new versus the old. The new versus the old. John says, beginning in verse 1, Revelation chapter 21, Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and there will no longer be any death, there will no longer be any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I am making all things new. The reality of the newness versus the oldness of the eternal state is the first thing we should recognize. In just five verses, John uses the word new four times. As we learned last week, it's the word kainos. It's new in terms of quality. I like to use the phrase of the same, but different. It's of the same kind of earth, but different. It's of the same kind of heavens, but different. It's a different quality. And as we ended last week, we can relate to that. We are still ourselves, yet new creatures in Christ. We have been born again, transformed, changed, given life, different. But we're still ourselves. And after the resurrection, we will still be ourselves in these glorified bodies. just different. And this earth and these heavens will be much the same way too, of the same but different, meaning that while it will be a new and different earth, we can look around today and see parallels of it here. We can look into the sky and understand in part what the new heavens and new earth will be like. So John takes up that task for us, the task of showing us what this newness of life is like in the eternal state. But he doesn't do that in the way we would imagine. Instead of saying, it's like this, or it's like that, he most often doesn't do that. He shows us what it isn't like. He shows us what's missing. He shows us what isn't there. He uses the negative contrast to show you the positive reality. And he does so first, beginning in verse one, you can see it there, and there is no longer any sea. So we asked this morning, along with pastors, theologians, scholars of all the ages, what does John mean when he says there will no longer be any sea? Will there no longer be any sea? I tell you this morning, I can't say with 100% certainty, but only with the authority of the word of God, the text seems to say, no, there won't be any sea. And the text doesn't give us any indication of being able to question that. It doesn't say it was like there was no sea. It tells me there was no longer any sea. In other words, I take this to mean that this new earth is not dependent on water. And that is drastically different than life we know today. You remember in Genesis 1, God made the earth. He formed it out of water and by water. We even talked about it last week. Still today, the majority of our planet is made up of water. You, yourself, sitting there, are mostly water. Everything on this earth revolves, really, around water. It's what this whole world is dependent on. But this new earth is different. And we need to think about seas. John says, seas. Not only does the world depend on water, but in the context of the original audience, Revelations Day, most readers at the time had a healthy fear of the seas. One example we have is the Apostle Paul, shipwrecked. Paul would have had a healthy fear of the seas. They're unpredictable, uncontrollable, and without a God-instructed ark, as a few of us got to see yesterday, it can be a pretty fearful thing, even with an ark, I would add. Not only that, but seas also separate. They divide peoples and lands and nations and countries. And for someone of Revelation's day, crossing those seas, continuing with what we just said about the fear, it could be most frightening to try and get to a foreign land by that sea, having to navigate huge bodies of water. And this earth has no need of that fear. It has no need of separation. This is hugely significant. This is a hugely significant something missing from the new heavens and new earth. Going down a different thought, one pastor remarks that no longer any sea takes the reader all the way back to the flood and shows that the flood will no longer, the scars on the earth, will no longer be there in the new eternal state. If we remember what we learned last week, 2 Peter 3, this earth will be destroyed, not annihilated, but dissolved. It will be stripped down, laid bare, made new. That makes perfect sense. This new earth will not have the scars of the flood. But don't confuse no longer any sea to mean no longer any water. That would be to imply what isn't there. And we're going to stay with what the Word of God says. We won't go beyond it. I think the fact that there is no longer any sea only amplifies the reality of the water that is there in the new heavens and new earth. The river of the water of life flowing down from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This water that I believe is real water. This water that I believe is symbolic. of the thirst-quenching life of God to the human soul. Don't make no sea to mean no water. What else is missing from the new heavens and new earth? What else entails this newness of life? Verse 4, there is no longer death, no longer any crying, mourning, pain. And the voice speaking those wonderful words sums all that up by saying, the first things have passed away. Look at chapter 22, verse 3, probably just a page over. Verse 3, there will no longer be any curse. Something I know about every single one of you in here this morning as a Christian, as a believer in Christ, you are ready for the day when sin and its effects are done away with. There are so many days you just want to crawl in a corner and ball up. Because you fight sin and you fail. And you fight sin and you persevere. And you fight and you fight and you fight. And so much of your lives is a fight. It's enough to cripple you. Sometimes the battle and pains of this life crush you under their weight. The sorrows and pressures of tight finances. The heartbreak of an argument with your spouse. The grief of losing someone you love. You long for the first things to pass away. You long for the end of the curse. And that's what isn't there in the eternal state, the curse. The curse and its effects have passed away. And not only have they passed away, but the one on the throne says, behold, I'm making all things new. It's life, but it's life like we know life, but in a different way than we will ever know in this fallen world. It's life like we know life, but it's not anything like what we understand. It's new. And there's joy in that. You will never again endure the loss of a loved one. There will be no more bedside sorrows, no more waiting for that last breath. You will never again roll out of bed with shooting pains throughout your body. You will be able to sing and dance and rejoice and run. Maybe, you will. You will never again get into an argument with anyone. You will get along with everybody perfectly. And that can kind of sound boring, like man, be perfectly along with everybody, but it won't be. And we can't understand that because we don't understand it now. We will perfectly love our neighbors as ourself. I think Nathan would say that. You will never again groan over your family member that rejects Christ. You will never feel sadness again, because in his presence there's fullness of joy at his right hand, pleasures forevermore. This is an eternity of rejoicing in the grace that God has given you. And to show you that, we're gonna sidestep, go to Ephesians 2. Ephesians 2. What will you be doing in heaven? What is your loved one doing in heaven? Verse 4 of Ephesians 2, But God, being rich in mercy because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ. By grace you have been saved and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And here it is. Why is all this happening? Why did God do all this? Verse 7, So that in the ages to come, He might show the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us in Christ. Jesus, that is heaven. The redeemed of all ages ever being shown and revealed the surpassing riches of His grace and kindness towards you in Christ. What is your loved one doing? They are soaking in the glory of God's grace through Christ's work. They are marveling at so great a redemption and salvation that we have through his beloved son. Do you remember Nathan's illustration from just a couple weeks ago with the bucket of sand? Heaven is like taking the sand bucket to the surpassing riches of God's grace and scooping and scooping and scooping and never emptying the sand pile. There's always more to see. It's like taking a spoon to the ocean, expecting to drain it. Immeasurable, surpassing, abundant riches of grace, always and ever being more and more marveled at, more and more revealed and gloried in, more and more cherished in the very depths of Christ's work for you. Well, sidestep over. Okay, let's go back to Revelation 21. Let me show you what is there in heaven. the most joyous and greatest reality of what is there in heaven. Chapter 21, verse 3. Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. God among men. The holy amid the sinners count of righteous. That's incredible that God would be among us. It's incredible that that will be right and natural, God among men. And something so incredible there, we can't separate Genesis from this, this is what Adam and Eve experienced. You remember back, they heard God walking in the garden. It was right for God to be among men. He didn't dwell there, but he was among them. I hope you get that. It would be normal for you to look over and see Christ one day, to see his glory radiating. You'll be used to that, and not used to that, you could ever get used to it, but that will be normal to you. In heaven, God will be among us, God will be with us, Emmanuel. But our text doesn't just say that God is among men, does it? It says the tabernacle of God is among men, and that he will dwell with man. What John has seen and heard is that God not only walks among men, he lives with men, and men live with him. We will share an eternal home with God. Do you remember our first lesson? I took you back to 2 Chronicles. Who takes anybody to 2 Chronicles? I did. 2 Chronicles, what did Solomon keep poking at? Chapter six, verse 18, but will God indeed dwell with mankind on the earth? All of history has been looking forward to this, to the day when God indeed dwells with mankind on the earth. I've got to ask you, do you understand the weight of that? We can nod our heads. She'll never be able to fully understand the weight of that. This is what we're gonna keep marveling at, that since before time began, God decided to create a creature for himself and for his own good pleasure, and he would give that creature the ability to know and to love and to fellowship with one another, but more importantly, to know and to love and to worship and to have fellowship with him, all out of the glory of his infinite magnificence and grace. God made us and gave us the opportunity. Highlight that, bracket it, underline it. The opportunity to know Him. Do you get that? He didn't have to. He didn't have to make us. He didn't get lonely. He gave man the chance to know Him. He gave us the opportunity to go back to the first lesson and see Him as the ultimate value in the universe. He gave us a chance to worship Him, to see those surpassing riches of His grace and kindness toward us. And what did we decide to do with it? He walked among us, Adam and Eve, and tempted by our own lusts, we sinned against Him. And this holy God, who in all justice could have sent Adam and Eve to hell directly, without any equivocation, with no hope, instead He exercised patience. He exercised grace, and He sent that man out of the garden, and on man's way out, slowly began to reveal year after year, book of the Bible after book of the Bible, the eternal plan of God in the gospel of His Son. Think of the catechism. He revealed it in the seat of woman. He proclaimed it through the line of Judah. He proclaimed it through the prophet Isaiah. He foreshadowed it, as I didn't catch. He foreshadowed it through the laws in Leviticus. He portrayed it there. But he sends us out, he sends Adam and Eve out, because he can't tolerate sin. Sinners can't stand in the midst of a holy God, and instead of bringing him honor and glory, we now stand separated from the life of God, dead in our sin. But he continues to exercise that patience and grace and mercy and kindness, not contingent on us. He does it based on his character, based on his attributes. And eventually God, as we'll see next week in the catechism, fulfills that plan of redemption through his son, Jesus Christ. He sends that mediator between God and man into the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin. And he condemns sin in the flesh. He keeps the law perfectly. He loves the Lord with all his heart, soul, mind, and strength. He loves his neighbor as himself. And that neighbor, us, we crucified him. The very same creature that he created out of his own good pleasure killed him. And he still didn't wipe us out. The worst thing that's ever happened and the most glorious thing that's ever happened. Instead, he ordained and used that death to do a double imputation, an imputation of righteousness to you, an imputation of your sin to him. When he looks on you, he sees Christ. When he looks on Christ, he sees your sin paid in full. Jesus Christ purchased for himself a people for his own possession. He purchased the redeemed of all ages so that one day in the eternal state, they may not only walk with God, but that God may dwell among men. We should fall down and worship. Go back to the beginning and ending of our first lesson, the ultimate value in the universe, we get God. We get to live with Him. He'll be our God and we will be with Him. We'll be His people. He will be among us. We will dwell with Him. Chapter 22, verse three, go back there. There will no longer be any curse and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it and His bondservants will serve Him. Verse four, they will see His face and His name will be on their foreheads. His throne in the midst of man, no curse. Us serving Him. Us seeing His face. You remember the Beatitudes. You will see God. You will see God. And that isn't a one-time look. That's beholding the Master. His name on our foreheads. That's possession. That's intimacy. That's sonship. This isn't God dwelling with some random people. These are His people. This is us, as we have been foreknown, predestined, elected, called, regenerated, sanctified, glorified. These are golden chain saints, beholding, serving, and rejoicing. His forever, only his, who the Lord and me shall part. All with what a rest of bliss Christ can fill the loving heart. Heaven and earth may fade and flee. Firstborn light and gloom decline. But while God and I shall be, I am his and he is mine. It's the Beatitudes again. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God. That's us, that's you, that's me. Only and always by His grace. It's the one who by faith in Jesus Christ has overcome. 1 Psalm 4, 1 Psalm 5, look at Revelation 21 7. He who overcomes will inherit these things. and I will be his God, and he will be my son. Sons and daughters of the Most High, children, possession, love, cherished, heirs, heirs of an inheritance, an inheritance of what, I remind you, somebody say it, the earth. for our possession, our enjoyment, our responsibility, and not only this earth, but a place on the earth, a city. Back up to verse 2 of chapter 21, And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. This new earth has a capital city. This is part of your inheritance, the new Jerusalem, and it comes down from the third heaven. We know those heavens now. This is from the third heaven, and it rests upon the new earth, I believe, right where the original Jerusalem would have sat. But this time, it is the new, glorious Jerusalem. Jesus said in John 14 3, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself. Nathan referenced it. That where I am, there you may be also. John says this city was made ready, etimazo in the Greek, prepared, provided in the same way of a bride. Let's use John's illustration. Ladies, think of your wedding day or your future wedding day. Men, think of your wives or your future wives on that day. I can tell you from experience, they will be put together to a tee. Sometimes the lady gets a spray tan, not always. The hair is beautiful, not one out of place. The makeup is immaculate. She is treated with care and precision for the beautiful bride that she is. And all of this to prepare her for the moment when she is presented before her husband. And John says that is how this city's been prepared. adorned for her husband, put together orderly and perfectly for the enjoyment and delight of the husband." And John picks up that idea in verse 9 of 21 when the angel says to him, come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And you know what we're called as a church? We're the bride of Christ. This place is identified with us. This is our place. And it is in one sense for us, it's our home. But how much more with that understanding, this place, just as we are, is for Him. Just as we are His bride. And that's incredible. This city prepared by Him and for Him. These redeemed people here this morning prepared by Him and for Him. This is the place perfectly prepared for the people of God. Sorry, that's a mouthful. This is the place perfectly prepared for the people of God to dwell with God forever. But I submit to you, it's a city. I believe it's a city like we think of cities. It's new, of the same, but different. And we'll get a closer look at it shortly, but I believe it's the city Abraham was looking for in Genesis 12, as the author of Hebrews tells us. He gave Abraham a promise God did. You guys remember the promise? You'll inherit a land. He was promised a land, a land of glory, a land of blessing. And so he goes out in obedience to God and he gets to the place. He got to the land. but he lived there as a foreigner. He lived there, not in a building or in a house, but dwelling in tents, like it wasn't permanent, like it was temporary, along with other heirs of the very same promise. So he's in the promised land, but something's off. It isn't permanent, and Abraham knows it isn't right. Sure, this place is a great place, but it isn't the ultimate satisfaction of blessing and glory that he thought it was gonna be. It really hadn't lived up to what God had said to him. Was Abraham just being ungrateful? No, he was looking for the city which has foundations, the city whose architect and builder is God. Abraham wasn't being selfish. He desired a better country, a better country, a heavenly country. And the author says right after that, he has prepared a city for us and for them. He desired the very city we're seeing this morning, the new Jerusalem. You see, Abraham understood this. that here we do not have a lasting city. We wait for the city which is to come. We're seeking that. And in case anybody were to doubt this, in John's day or in our day, 2,000 years later, this very morning, if anyone's having second thoughts about the validity of this account, the one on the throne makes a point to tell John to tell you, right, for these words are faithful and true. That is biblical authority. You don't need to question it. This is truth. True truth. Right, he says. For these are words you can trust in. You can put your head on the pillow of this truth. They're a lamp to your feet, a light to your path. But for those who rest in that unbelief, the one on the throne also says this. He says who these things aren't for, verse 8 of 21. But for the cowardly, the unbelieving, abominable, murderers, immoral persons, sorcerers, idolaters, all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, the second death. Some enter eternal glory by God's grace, that city, this new earth, and some enter eternal damnation for their unbelief. This isn't their city. But let's look at that city, the new Jerusalem, our eternal home, the place you've been waiting to hear all about. Verse nine. Then one of the seven angels, who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, came and spoke to me, saying, Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal clear jasper. The first thing John sees is the glory of the city. This is a city like we know cities. It's of the same, but different. And the first difference is the containing of the glory of God. Now that's not a glory that this city possesses itself. Sure, this is a beautiful place, as we'll see, but this is a glory that bursts out, it bursts forth from it as God dwells in its midst. You take God out, no shining, but you put God in, and this city beams with his glory. And this gleaming city isn't fogged up like a headlight, like some of your headlights. You know what I mean by that? When that film builds up on your headlights and that light that's still inside that headlight cover is now dimmer than it used to be, cloudier than it used to be. But John says her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal clear jasper. This city is transparent. It's like a diamond. And like a diamond, if I shine a light into it, it refracts and reflects all out into the surrounding area, radiating out, it illuminates. Like a clean headlight, the light bulb within pops with clarity. And I place God inside that unblemished, squeaky clean diamond of a city. Make God your headlight in the headlight cover, and that glory shines out all throughout the new creation. John addresses this idea later in the chapter, verses 23 and 24. And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. The city has no need of the light of the sun or the moon, no celestial light even needed. I don't know how our eyes will be able to take in such a brightness of glory. We'll probably need some glorified sunglasses. But God's glory will burst through this jewel of a city and refract and reflect the magnificence of him who dwells within it, even to the ends of the earth. The nations walk by its light. Look at verse 25. In the daytime, for there will be no night there, its gates will never be closed. We pause this morning and say, no night. That's not heaven. No way. I was going to catch up on that sleep. I know that's what my wife's thinking. You won't need it. You won't need blackout curtains. You won't need nighttime. You will have perfect energy as a glorified saint. So when you're tired, I told Emily this. I took it out, but I put it back in. When you're tired, don't tell somebody you need sleep. Tell them you need a glorified body. Probably start a conversation. inexhaustible energy, no obstruction of darkness to hinder you from your task of glorifying God in your proper service and responsibility. Look at chapter 22, verse 5. and there will no longer be any night. And they will not have the need of the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illumine them, and they will reign forever and ever. Not only do you not need the light of the sun, but you don't need your phone's flashlight to figure out where you put your glasses when you fell asleep. God will illumine it to you. Now just think about this, no night, no darkness, only brightness. There's two towns in northernmost Alaska, I could not pronounce them, so I'm not gonna try. For 85 days straight, the sun does not fully set. 85 days. Not only is this light much brighter than that, incomprehensible light. This is light like we don't know. This is like getting up in the middle of the night and seeing sun in the sky, light unending. And that is just a mere glimpse of the light which will radiate from this city as it contains the one who is light. There will be no more rummaging around the bed, no more shining your phone to find those glasses, perfect brightness, perfect glory to enable you to reign forever and ever with God in Christ, serving Him with perfect clarity. This is the city of glory, the city which God has made for us, the city which contains God, verse 12. It had a great and high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates, 12 angels. And names were written on them, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east, and three gates on the north, and three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb." Now, we need to just pause for a moment, because those are some pretty pregnant verses. Walls? In heaven? Gates? In heaven? Here you go. Israel? In heaven? What's going on, John? You know, me and my all-male buddies don't really have a room for that in our theology. We can't get down with that one. Why do we have walls surrounding the city? Why do you have walls surrounding cities now? They're a sign of security, the eternal security of the redeemed. Golden chain saints, as we said earlier, held fast within these walls. No one's penetrating. And not only that, but there's no one anymore to penetrate those walls. Walls are a sign of belonging. Within this border, you belong here. You belong to this place. We have a wall also because most cities of that day have walls of the same, but different. And this is a city like we know cities. What about gates? Why do we have gates today? So that we can come and go. They signify entry and exit. They signify welcoming and rejection. But we already read something important. Look at verse 25 again. In the daytime there will be no night there. The gates are never shut. Now let me ask you a question. When are we going to have nighttime? Never. The gates will never be shut. We are free to come and go from this place. The nations, we already saw the kings of the earth will bring their glory into the city. This place is the place of freedom of the glory of the children of God. Cities in that day shut their gates at night to keep out robbers, keep out thieves from coming into the city. Those ones on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho. But with eternally open gates, we have no worry there. This is a place where you don't have to lock your front door at night. And some of y'all don't do that now, and you need to. Who's at those gates? Twelve angels. Not Peter getting ready to let you in or to tell you gotta go back the other way. It's not God having that big screen TV right there and a bowl of popcorn on his left. It's not that. And it's not just one gates. It's not even just a few gates. There's 12 gates and there's nobody there that's going to frisk you like at an airport. You don't have to take your shoes off. You don't have to put your arms up and stand in front of that thing and then walk through. You don't have to wait in the long line. There's three gates on each side of the city. One pastor comments here that three gates on each side points back to the way the 12 tribes of Israel camped around the tabernacle. You can go back to Numbers chapter 2 and see it there. There are reasons to the numbers and details. But now, the controversial part of heaven, the gates possess the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel. And we don't have time to fully work through that. This city is not only the city of the church, the bride of Christ, but all those redeemed by the blood of Christ, and that includes elect Israel. This is not a text that is showing us that the church and Israel are the same thing. The tribes aren't written there for you to imagine that we're true Israel. We're the church. They're Israel. There's still a distinction in heaven. But we don't live in that distinction. We live together with God and with each other. The church and Israel, God's elect. Just think about Abraham. He was promised a city. A city that all those saints of Hebrews 11 were looking forward to. They weren't New Testament church Christians. They were those who by faith clung to the seeds of the gospel, and they have a city and a fulfillment of the promise there. And the millennial kingdom elect have a city, a fulfillment of the promises there. And we have a city, a fulfillment of the promises there together. Back to the wall for a moment, verse 14. And the wall of the city had 12 foundation stones, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. And I don't know about you guys, but when I hear that, I think of Ephesians 2.20, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and the prophets. And who is Paul talking about there? The church. Yet again, John shows this distinction. Yet this uniformity as both Israel and the church elect of God. And if I can run the risk of over-spiritualizing this for a second, we walk through Israel. We walk through the promises made in the Old Testament. We walk through the truth revealed by the holy prophets. And we stand firm on the foundation of the apostles. We stand on the shoulders of those men, those 12 men, and then Paul, that Christ appointed to be his intimate disciples. And we rest in the faith once for all delivered to the saints by those very men he called to himself. When I say we walk through Israel and that we stand on the foundation of the apostles, don't hear this. Don't hear no Christ. Look at this, verse 21. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each one of the gates was a single pearl. Are the gates like the sea actual pearls? I would remind you of what I said earlier. This text doesn't give me room to equivocate. And I say, yes, they're pearls. But regardless of that, we know what they represent because we know how pearls are made. When an oyster is put under immense pressure, it's damaged, it's hurt, it secretes a material to protect it. It kind of blocks it off. And over time, that secretion balls up and it becomes a pearl from damage, from distress, beauty. These gates remind us of the very atoning sacrifice of Christ by which we can walk through those gates. Pain and suffering to glory. While John continues at verse 15, this city can be measured by a measuring rod, though it's got to be a divine measuring rod because look at this number, 1,500 miles. Its length, its width, its height are the same. 1,500 miles, it's laid out as a square that shows perfect symmetry. It mimics the symmetry of the Holy of Holies. There's the possibility that this is in the shape of a diamond if we lean toward the more jewel-esque conversation in this chapter. Just for reference, from here to Salt Lake City, 1,600 miles. This is pretty big. Bigger than that, or almost as big as that. This city I have in here, if it was woke, it could identify as a country. This city is massive. It's grander than anything we've ever seen. And the fact that it's 1,500 miles high only tells me there's a really good chance you'll be able to fly, or if not, poof, and you're up there somewhere closer to the top. High Street will have a whole new meaning. Verse 17, the wall is nearly 200 feet thick, 72 yards. Football-loving folks, he says yards. He also says they're angelic measurements, and you already knew that. Maybe you'll have sideline season tickets to the Glory Niners. Then we come to verse 18. The material of the wall was jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. I don't know if you've ever seen gold before, but it doesn't look clear to me. This is a purity of gold that we have no concept for. Transparent gold. A wall 200 feet thick that still allows for the glory of God to shine through it in its transparency. Verse 19, the foundation stones of the city were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation stone was Jasper. The second, Sapphire. The third, Chalcedony. The fourth, Emerald. The fifth, Sardonyx. The sixth, Sardius. The seventh, Chrysalis. The eighth, Beryl. The ninth, Topaz. The tenth, Chrysoprase. The eleventh, Jason. The twelfth, Amethyst. Each foundation stone, one for every apostle, shimmering with the hues of these stones as the glory of God burst from them. It also parallels the breastplate of a high priest, which would share many of these gems, just further reminding us that this is the place where God dwells, this place which we call home. Verse 21, the streets are pure gold, like transparent glass. Verse 22, I saw no temple in it for the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The new earth doesn't need a temple to mark out God's presence, the place where we go to worship. He fills all of this new earth with His glory. This God, the Almighty, the Lamb, or its temple, this is the place where God dwells with man and man worships Him from wherever. Well, we have to skip over a few verses. Chapter 22, verse one. Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." Is it a real river? I think so. Is it symbolic? Absolutely. As this new earth no longer depends on water, it does still flow with living water, water in which man can drink and be satisfied. This water, which flows directly from the very throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of the city, and it flows outward even beyond the gates into the new earth for whoever would drink of the life of God. And on either side of the river, there in the city, the tree, the tree of life. We've said it today, we've said it in every lesson, I think, you cannot separate Genesis from this account. They're connected. And this tree of life produces fruit. It produces fruit each month. Each month. I hear that and I say, is there time in heaven? I don't get that. Regardless, it certainly seems to indicate that, but it definitely shows variety. The eternal state isn't boring. There's newness always being brought into this place. Just wait a month. But John adds this, the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. That word healing, we get our word therapy from it. We know we don't need food in our glorified bodies. Jesus didn't have to eat, but he ate. We can still enjoy food. And somehow, as John MacArthur adds, he describes, we can be enriched by it. We get to enjoy the provision of God's grace. But not just that, I think part of our service might just be leaf and fruit delivery. Not just to us in the city, but for those that have gone out there on the earth. But whatever our service, verse three, we will serve him. In verse five of chapter 22, we will reign forever and ever over this earth. Well, we're almost out of time, and I want to finish with two quick things. God wants you to be there. He offers this to you this morning. Verse 17 of chapter 22, the Spirit and the bride say, come. And let the one who hears say, come. And let the one who is thirsty come. Let the one who wishes to take the water of life without cost come drink the water of salvation and be satisfied in Christ. And with it, all this that we've learned today and over the last four weeks. And I pray you will do that. But I want us to end here, 2 Corinthians 5, 6 through 8. Therefore, being always of good courage, knowing that while we're at home in the body, we're absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. For we are of good courage, I say, and prefer rather to be absent from the body than to be at home with the Lord. I hope you look forward to this home with the Lord, and if you do, we should remember verse 9 that we haven't read yet. Therefore, we also have as our ambition, whether at home, there, or absent, to be pleasing to Him. We've got a long way. You can get there today. Lord willing, maybe it'll be 50 years from now, but we need each other. We need to build one another up in a manner worthy of the calling in which we've been called. Let's be pleasing to him. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for these studies in heaven. We thank you for your grace in the immeasurable, innumerable, surpassing riches of grace in kindness toward us in Christ. Who is sufficient for these things? Not us. Yet out of your own good pleasure you created us, you gave us a chance to know you. We sinned against you, yet you have given us the ministry of reconciliation and you will bring us back to yourself. Not only do you make us new creatures, but one day we will not only walk among you and you with us, but we will dwell with you. What a privilege we have. Change our hearts. Fix our minds on the things above, not on the things of this earth. This life is fleeting. It hurts. It's hard. And we need you. Fill us with your spirit. Lead us and guide us in your truth. Hold us fast. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.