in a world of conflicting values, when questions are more common than answers. God's Word provides everything we need to live a God-centered, truth-driven life. Now, here's the Word for Life broadcast, brought to you by Brookside Baptist Church. Good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining us on this Monday morning, March 10th. I'm Mark Widmer, joining Pastor Ken Keltner on The Word for Life. And we are making progress through the Book of Revelation, in fact, all the way to Chapter 21. And Pastor Ken has called this section of Scripture Eden, Regained, and More. and had a great job of comparing Genesis to Revelation last time. Say, just before I go farther though, I want to give all of you that live in the Milwaukee area a reminder that this weekend, the 14th and 15th, Friday and Saturday, We are having a dinner theater at the church written by one of our ladies that is called The Tale of Two Queens. It's a study of Esther as well as Jezebel and the contrast between the two. If you'd like to come, contact the church office today, brooksidebc.org, brooksidebc, like baptistchurch.org. You can purchase your tickets online. As we get into chapter 21 again, Pastor Ken pointed out last time in verse 9, that this angel that speaks to John is the same angel that spoke to him back in chapter 17, verse 1. Back in chapter 17, Babylon, the city of Babylon was referred to as a harlot. But here, in chapter 21, the Lamb and the Bride of Christ, it has a whole different distinction. We are said to be this faithful wife of Jesus. Going back to verse 2, I'd like to read this, Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, adorned for her husband. And Pastor Ken, can you shed some light on why this city is referred to as a bride? Yeah, bride, you know, I mean, the faithful wife to the true Messiah. It really, I think, Pastor Mark, it's a metaphor of the New Testament church. It draws from the character of the occupants that are in heaven. Its occupants are the eternal bride of Christ. It goes far beyond the church, though, I believe, to encompassing all the redeemed of all the ages. When you go back into chapter 19 and verses 7 to 9, you talk about the bride there and the marriage supper of the Lamb, of course, is referencing the period of time that we know of as the church age, alright? So, it's the bride is the church. and we find that in chapter 5 of Ephesians. But as you move along in the unfolding of the eschatological plan, eschatology being the last days of prophecy of God, the bride seems to enlarge itself, you know, to encompass all the redeemed, meaning the Old Testament saints are there as well with the New Testament saints. And so thus the city is like, you know, there's the simile, is like a bride because the people of God are all there forever, united to God and united to Him through the Lamb, through His shed blood. So different pastors have different ideas, you know, about what he's talking about here with the bride, but I believe it encompasses more than just the church age. I think it's all Old Testament saints all those saints that made it through the tribulation came to Christ during the millennium. But I've noticed, so we had the origin of the city there in verse nine, but now it's going to include the presentation. And the first thing we have that we really see is the illumination of what's taking place here. And that's in verses 10 and 11. So if you could read that for us, Pastor Mark. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. You know, as John really sees it, and if you're just joining us today, we're in the book of Revelation chapter 21. And here in verses 10 and 11, this wonderful illumination of this new Jerusalem. And so John sees it really from above. And the thing that strikes him is the glory of God's light permeating throughout the whole city. It literally is sparkling with light. I mean, whether you might think it's the glitter of diamonds or the glitter of the sunlight on the water of the oceans, you know, it just kind of moves, it just looks like diamonds sparkling out there. This Greek word, ispis, that is translated jasper here in verse 11. It's best understood as referring to that of a diamond. This is a very costly one because John writes that it was clear as crystal. Incidentally, this is the only time in the New Testament that that Greek word kristalizo, for clear as crystal, is ever used. As one commentator wrote, and I quote, he said, Heaven's capital city is pictured in these verses as if it were just a huge, flawless diamond refracting and reflecting the brilliant, blazing glory of God. Notice though how John will move in for a closer inspection of the exterior of the capital city of heaven and he gives us this description. He writes, she had a great and high wall. i mean wall has been and our political jargon for the last several years speaking of the wall to illegals from coming in and usually places uh... whether their importance or not have a wall around them sure we might just have a fence. You know, this is our property, you know, we don't want you to come on. But it's interesting that when he mentions this great high wall, it's really that symbol of security, of stability. And John's going to get more specific about the dimensions of the wall when we get to verse 17. But notice, now the number of gates The number of gates he lists here are 12 gates, which is simply a sign of, it's just easy access. You know, I don't know if you noticed Pastor Mark, but it just seems like, I don't know why, but you pull into a mall or a frontage of stores, and it used to be, to me when I was growing up, it seemed like there were several ways to get in there. Now it's limited. You can really only get in this one way. You can only leave the one way. You know, I tell Naomi often when we get into those, I said, I'm gonna design a parking lot someday. When you get into it, there's no way out. You're just... It's like a maze, you know, like one of those maze, you got to figure how to get out. But here are 12 gates, simple access, the gates are open. Why don't you read that beginning there in verse 12 and the 12 angels at the gates. Also, she had a great high wall, 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. You might be thinking, wow, there really are gates in heaven. Yes, that's what we're told and we're told there's 12 of them. Now notice, Peter is not standing at one of these gates. Poor Peter seems like he's been forever relegated to all kinds of jokes standing at the gate, often with a clipboard. And I'm sure everybody has heard one joke or another of Peter at the gate. But there's 12 gates and God has assigned the angels to stand posted at each gate as eternal greeters. I like that. Someone once asked me, Ken, if you had any ministry within the church that you would love, what would it be? I said, I would love to be a doorkeeper to invite and welcome people as they come to church. I'd like to be a greeter. Better to be a doorkeeper in the house of God than to dwell with anyone there in wickedness. But so God has assigned these angels there not to keep people out, but to welcome people in. He reveals to us that in verse 13, why don't you read verse 13 for us, Pastor Mark. 3 gates on the east, 3 gates on the north, 3 gates on the south, and 3 gates on the west. I would say every direction of the compass has been included here. And the gates are on all four sides of the city, and my friends, they're not just for decoration, but are designed to enter and to exit. One pastor made this comment, and I quote, he said, believers will repeatedly enter through these gates for unique worship before the throne of God. and perhaps for special events and special seasons of corporate worship, and then we'll exit again to serve our God on some appointed task or journey." End of quote. Listen, if you look at a house from the air, you get a big picture over you. However, you'll definitely want a home inspector to make sure the foundation of the home is secure. Look at verse 14 as Pastor Mark reads that for us now. Now the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. Again, the walls are speaking of stability, of security, they're there for protection. For God's people will never have to fear any enemies. No looking over your shoulder wondering, hey, is somebody coming after me to pull me out? The foundations speak also of permanence. in contrast to the tents in which pilgrims and strangers lived. The writer of Hebrews brought that out in chapter 11, but in that Old Testament time, they were pilgrims. And friends, it's as though we're pilgrims, we might not be living in a tent. but we're living in these houses that always have to have some upkeep, always have to have something going on. There, no, it's going to be permanent in the dwelling place of God. On the city gates, there are names of the 12 sons of Israel, and on the 12 foundation stones are inscribed the names of the 12 apostles. You might be thinking, well, 12, I mean, Judas is gone, right? Yeah, so who's the 12th apostle? I'll tell you that I'm absolutely convinced that it's not me, okay? I believe it could very well be Matthias. There they cast lots early on in Acts chapter 1, because I believe he met the qualifications of an apostle as the early believers selected him. But some believe it could actually be the apostle Paul. If it's not Paul, I'm sure that he will not be going around heaven muttering under his breath that he got ripped off. No, he'll really not really care that much about it. The significance of their names is the fact that God is both referencing and distinguishing Israel and the church. And I want to pick up on that as we get into our next session. But my friends, the one thing and the only thing we can take to heaven are other people, especially our family members, as we share the gospel and they come to know that Jesus Christ shed his blood on their behalf also. And so it's heartbreaking to see family members that are not believers that we can be separated from forever and forever. But right now we have opportunities to talk to them. And what a wonderful day it'll be when we all get to heaven and family members have joined right in because we opened our mouth and shared the gospel with them. Alright friends, hope we'll see you in our next broadcast. Thank you for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's program. If you have a question we can answer, or would like information on the Word for Life, would like to donate to continue to produce this broadcast, or need resources for your Christian walk, Contact us at Brookside Baptist Church, 4470 North Pilgrim Road, Brookfield, Wisconsin, 53005. You can also visit us at brooksidebc.org. That's brooksidebc.org. Or call us at 262-783-6180. That's 262-783-6180. Thanks for listening today, and please tune in again as we bring the word of God to your life. you