Dimensions and Details of the Holy City

Transcript

GRM 1075
03/18/2012
Dimensions and Details of the Holy City
Revelation 21:22-22:7
Gil Rugh

We’ve been studying what the bible has to say about future things. And the most important and exciting thing that God says about the future is what He says about our future as His people. It is a future of glory beyond compare. We’ve been at the end of the book of Revelation in chapters 21 and 22 in your bibles. The end of the book of Revelation takes us back to the beginning of the bible in the opening chapters of the book of Genesis. And God ties the beginning to the ending. And you can’t understand the ending without understanding something of the beginning. And you don’t appreciate God’s plan to bring to fruition what He planned in the beginning if you don’t understand the ending. And sadly, many people are confused on those two parts, the beginning of the bible and the ending of the bible. And yet, they put it all together and tie it in a package that is complete.

In the opening chapters of Genesis, we have the record of creation. Why don’t you turn back to Genesis 1. In Genesis 1 you have the unfolding of creation over six days. I understand it to mean six literal days God created everything. The culmination of His work of creation is in verse 26, when He says, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over” the rest of creation. Then verse 27 says, “God created man in His image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them. God blessed them; and God said to them, ‘Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it, and rule over’ ” the rest of creation basically. Then verse 31, “God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.” All that God has created, very good, it was as He intended it to be.

Now man, male and female, was the climax of His creating work, and man was to rule over the rest of creation. And so, when you come into chapter 2, you’ll have God going back and filling in the details of what was involved in creating man. First in creating of the male, and then the creating of the female. When you come through chapter 2, everything is as it ought to be.

But then when you come to chapter 3, something terrible happens. Man sins, disobeys God, rebels against Him and his relationship with God is broken. Sin enters the world and with sin comes death and all the trouble and sorrow and heartache and burdens that are a result of sin entering the world. In verse 16 of chapter 3, God says to the woman, “I will greatly multiply your pain in childbirth, in pain you shall bring forth children.” Verse 17, to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife… cursed is the ground because of you; in toil you will eat of it… thorns and thistles it shall grow.” “By the sweat of your face [brow]”, verse 19, “you will eat bread, till you return to the ground”, from which you were taken. “For you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” You’re going to die physically. Spiritual death impacted him; now physical death that is associated as a result of spiritual death will consume them. You see pain, suffering, toil. The beauty of the garden and its tranquil environment was lost to them. In verse 8 of Genesis 3 -- before the fall, God came to walk with them in the garden, in the cool of the evening -- but as a result of the fall, they were afraid and hide from God. That relationship has been broken.

Where do we go from here? The rest of the story of creation is a story of what? Man’s rebellion against God. The suffering, the pain and the endless deaths that occur right down to our day. Pain, suffering, hardship, disease, death, nobody avoids it, no one escapes it. It’s ruined, the beauty of the creation that God made, but not totally. And it hasn’t brought an end to God’s plan. And that’s what happens when we get to Revelation. We see the fulfillment of what God intended when He created the world and all that’s in it, and man to rule over it.

We come to Revelation 21, and it opened up with, “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.” One change in characteristic. And we’ve noted there’s a connection to the old earth and the old heavens around the earth, but this is new. And there will be no sea. And there is a new capitol city, if you will, center, the new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven. And that’s what we’ve been looking at.

The significance here is -- remember when God created Adam and Eve in the garden; in the cool of the evening He could come and walk with them. And they in beautiful harmony and fellowship would walk in intimacy with the God who created them. Now, when we come to Revelation chapter 21, that which was marred and broken is now restored. So, we read in verse 3 of Revelation 21, “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 shall be among them.” In chapter 22:4, the servants of God, we’re told, “will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.” And the end of verse 5, “they will reign forever and ever,” what God created them to do, rule. Now we see a final realization of all that God has promised.

The new Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven here that enables God, in verse 3, to tabernacle among men. Heaven comes down to earth is what is happening here. We are told who will be a part of this glorious place and who will not. Verse 8, all unredeemed sinners will have their part “in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” That was talked about at the end of verse 20. Only people who have experienced the power of God’s salvation, through faith in Him and His provision for them, will be part of this new creation. Then in verse 10 and following, he’s been given a description of the new Jerusalem, which is so important, because this is our dwelling place.

Keep a finger here and come back to Hebrews, a passage we looked at in our previous study. Hebrews 12, just a little bit before the book of Revelation, toward the end of your New Testament. Hebrews 12:22, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” You see, there’s a connection, there’s a new earth and new heavens, but it’s connected to the old earth. We are talking about Mount Zion, we know where Mount Zion is, that’s where Jerusalem is, that’s where the new Jerusalem will be on, the new Mount Zion. The heavenly Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem we are looking at, that comes down out of heaven in Revelation 21. Who dwells in this city? This is the city of the living God. This is where God dwells. You come “to myriads of angels, to the general assembly and church of the first-born.” So, you have the church which will have been resurrected and glorified. And you have the “the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.” So, in this city, you have God dwelling, God the Father and God the Son. You have the angels dwelling. You have the church that has been glorified living. And you have Old Testament saints and tribulation saints living there in their glorified bodies. The new Jerusalem is the dwelling place of God and all believers who have been given glorified bodies. Now, keep that in mind. That’s believers who have received glorified bodies, whether Old Testament saints or members of the church. And angels will be here as well.

Come back to Revelation 21, because there are more people here than just these. But he describes this city and tells us that it is 1500 miles square and high, so it’s a cube. It has 12 gates, because there’s a wall around the city, and the gates enable you to come into the city. And then the city has foundation stones. He gives us some detail here. The splendor of the city is something we can only try to imagine.

There are 12 gates, and on each of the 12 gates (3 gates on each of the 4 sides) you have the names of the tribes of Israel. And we noted, when we come into eternity Israel still has its distinct identity in 12 tribes. So, that redeemed Israel and glorified Israel belong in this city. We saw in Hebrews 11:10 that Abraham “was looking for the city which has foundations, who architect and builder is God,” so the new Jerusalem. That’s where all glorified saints will be going.

Each of the gates is one solid pearl, remarkable! The foundation of the city, there are 12 foundation stones, one stone each, 12 foundation stones around the city. On each of the foundation stones, the name of the 12 apostles, one on each of the stones. Indicating that this city belongs to the church.
The glorified saints from the church will be in here. It’s the bride city and the church was identified as the bride in chapter 19 of Revelation, identified also in Ephesians 5. Old Testament saints and church saints dwell in the new Jerusalem in their glorified bodies, but the church has the place of honor. We noted John the Baptist said, I’m not the bridegroom, I’m a friend of the bridegroom, noting the honored position that has been given to the church.

I was going to show you the 12 foundation stones last week, but we couldn’t get it up. So, why don’t you put those 12 foundation stones… These are the 12 stones, just get some idea of the beauty. Not every stone could we be absolutely sure. We noted there is some discussion about the jasper stone, what color it might be, but there are a number of commentators who associate it with one of the variations in green. I told you I picked that because it’s my favorite color. Sapphire, the color here, chalcedony, again you’ll see a lighter shade of green. Come on up with the next ones, if you have them, there we go. The emerald, of course we’re familiar with and the beauty of the green of that stone. Sardonyx is somewhat mixed in color, and you can see the brown flavors going through it, variations in it. Sardius, brownish red. Chrysolite, it has a color green in it. Some associate the jasper as a variation between some of these other stones that have a green in it. Beryl, and something of the clarity of it. Topaz, a stone we’re familiar with. Chrysoprase, jacinth, amethyst. You can check these out in a bible encyclopedia or something like that, that has color pictures. It will give you an idea, just of the kind of stone. Now, keep in mind, each of these foundation stones, 12 foundation stones, so these will be large stones, spread around the city, and they are exposed. And each one of the foundation stones is one of these gemstones. And it has the name then of one of the apostles inscribed on each one. That’s all 12, right? We covered 12, right? But that gives you an idea.

Alright, I want to say a little bit more about the city. We talked about the fact that it is a cube down in verse 16. The fact that the city is a cube, that it’s called the tabernacle of God, takes us back to the Old Testament. Remember, God gave Moses the model for a tabernacle, which is just a tent structure, a portable worship center, the tabernacle and the various pieces of furniture associated with it, the book of Genesis. You have that first slide, yes… this is a basic layout of the tabernacle. Basic layout of the temple as well, as we’ll note. Now, outside here, there’s a structure going around, and you enter, and you have a laver and an altar. And you come in, and this outer place is called the holy place, we usually distinguish it, and this is called the holy of holies. This cube back here in the tabernacle, it’s a cube 15 by 15 by 15, 15 feet square and 15 feet high. The hoy place out here, is 30 feet long. So, this whole structure here, from end to end, is 45 feet long, in the tabernacle, and it’s portable. It could be taken down and moved as Israel moved, of course. That’s true for everything around, but this is the center part of it here. So, this cube here is where God manifested His glory. It’s what we call the shekinah glory, the glory of the presence, the Hebrew word for presence, it’s God manifesting His presence. There’s a curtain here, and only the high priest was allowed to enter here, and only once a year, on the Day of Atonement. And here, over the ark of the covenant, were the cherubim and their wings cover over the mercy seat, which is the lid on this chest, is where God’s presence is fully manifested. Now, when He manifests His presence here, sometimes the glory of His presence really overwhelms the structure. But the important thing is here, this is the holy of holies, God is dwelling among His people.

Now, when David comes on the scene and they have God’s appointed king, he desired to build a permanent structure. Israel was now resident in the land. The tabernacle worked when they were a mobile people. And then they come into the land, and they are conquering the land, and moving about. Now, Israel is settled down, they have a king, they have a capitol city in Jerusalem. David desires to build a temple. God says, no, but your son can build it, and so, the temple is built by Solomon. It is of the same structure, it’s the same layout you can see here. This is that outer, holy place, then back behind the temple, there is also here, a door is built, but the curtain becomes the key. Then here, you can see behind it would be the ark of the covenant, where the presence of God was manifested. In Solomon’s temple, this area has been expanded. In Moses’s tabernacle, this area, this is still a tabernacle tent. Ok, come up to the next slide. We come to Solomon’s temple (this is too light to see) What we’re interested in is this structure back here. In the temple there were rooms built along the side, they are laid out here as well. But it’s just this inner structure that we are concerned about. And here, you have the curtain and the wall, and you come back into the holy of holies. In the tabernacle, it was 45 feet long, 30 and 15 feet. 30 feet for the holy place, 15 feet square cube for the holy of holies. Solomon’s temple doubles it. Now, this structure, the temple, is 90 feet long. 60 feet for the holy place and 30 feet for the holy of holies.

Come to 1 Kings 6. If you want the dimensions for the tabernacle, you go to Exodus 26. And you have to look a little bit at the measurement s there, because they don’t just give you the total measurements like you’re looking for, as clearly, but it tells you how high the boards are for the height of the holy of holies. And then how wide the boards are that make, and you put that together, so you get the dimensions there. But in 1 Kings 6, look at verse 2, “As for the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits and its width twenty cubits and its height thirty cubits.” A cubit is 18 inches, so when its 60 cubits long, that’s 90 feet. You have a foot and a half, make a cubit, 18 inches. So, what you have now, we’re told total area. Go to the next slide, if you would, see if I get a little better picture. I have another slide there. This would be Solomon’s temple here. So, we’re talking about this structure here. There’s a porch out in front now, and these rooms along the side that I referred to that he builds, but they are not part of the temple, holy place and holy of holies. So, now we’re going to have 90 feet, totally, 60 and then 30 back here, for the holy of holies. In chapter 6, come down to verse 16, “He built twenty cubits on the rear part of the house with boards of cedar.” 20 cubits would be 30 feet, cubit would be 18 inches in our measurements, we would be at 30 feet. He built the walls of the house on the inside, boards of cedar from floor to ceiling, overlaid the walls with wood. And it tells you the makeup of it. The inner sanctuary, at the end of verse 16, on the inner side and inner sanctuary, even as the most holy place. So, this is the holy place out here, outside this sectioned off area that we saw the tabernacle, and here you have it. This we have the holy place. This is the most holy place or what we call the holy of holies. Verse 17, the nave he puts on and he tells the rest.

So, what you have here is this 30-foot cube in Solomon’s temple. The shape is the same, the size of the shape has been expanded, it’s been doubled. From the tabernacle, which is a 15-foot cube for the holy of holies, now we have Solomon’s temple which is a 30-foot cube. Later, the temple will be destroyed, then with the return, Zerubbabel will rebuild Solomon’s temple. But the people were grieved that had lived long enough to see Solomon’s temple before it was destroyed by the Babylonians, and then the temple that was rebuilt under Zerubbabel didn’t attain to the same glory and splendor. I mean, the gold, everything is overlaid with gold here, and then the silver. We’re talking about billions and billions of dollars of gold in today’s money. We have tons and tons of gold. They give you the gold that is laid out here, everything is overlaid with pure gold. When it’s rebuilt under Zerubbabel, it doesn’t have anything of that former glory. Herod, that we know as Herod the Great, when he came on the scene he wanted to take Zerubbabel’s temple but redo it to the glories of Solomon’s day. So, you have the temple of Herod is in existence when Jesus is on the earth, which is the temple of Zerubbabel, but greatly renovated, if you will, and built with an attempt to bring something of its former glory.

What we’re interested in, in all this, is the holy of holies, back here, this cube where God’s presence will be most fully manifested among His people. I think I have one other slide on here. This is the temple mount in the days of Herod. And I just mention this because sometimes we’re reading the bible and get into portions… The temple mount, some of you have been to Israel and been up on the temple mount, now we have a Muslim mosque here and another Muslim mosque here, but in Herod’s day the temple was here. You had this same basic structure here and it will be divided in the back, the same way of course, because it has to follow the biblical pattern. Why we are looking at this, is to come back to Revelation 21.

And we read in verse 3 of Revelation 21 that “the tabernacle of God is among men.” That’s crucial, God’s residence among His people in the Old Testament was in the tabernacle and in the holy of holies. Now, He’s tabernacling among men, He will dwell among them according to chapter 21:3. That’s connected with the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem coming down to the new earth. Interesting, when we’re given the dimensions of this city in verse 16, it’s a 1500-mile cube, the shape stays the same as it was in the temple, as it was in the tabernacle under Moses, its just greatly expanded. Just like when you went from the tabernacle under Moses to the temple built by Solomon, the shape stays the same, it’s a cube, the holy of holies. It’s just expanded. Now, you come to the new Jerusalem, and we find, it is a cube. And we looked in previous studies of the book of Revelation where the tabernacle of God was in heaven. Heaven is where God most fully manifests His presence among His creation. The angels in heaven serve before the very throne of God, the presence of the glory of God. Now what happens is that dwelling place of God, in the fulness of His manifestation among His creation, comes to earth. And so, you have this 1500-mile cube, 1500-miles square, 1500-miles high, a city of overwhelming splendor now dwelling on the earth. Mount Zion is its dwelling place. It’s identified, as we saw, in Hebrews.

So, the description of it with its glory, these foundation stones, these gates, the wall around it, I mean, how do you describe the glorious dwelling of God? The dwelling in heaven, the temple of God in heaven, was created for Him, to manifest His presence among His creation, remember. That would include the angels, because before He created everything, He needed not to have a place to manifest Himself, He’s the omnipresent God - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So, heaven was created as a dwelling place for God among His creation, the focal point for the manifestation of His presence.

We’re going to pick up with verse 22, where we left off when we overviewed these verses. “I saw no temple in it,” in this city, “for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” So, this huge city, 1500 miles, like from New York to Denver in length, and you square that, and that high as well, has no temple in it wherein that city you would go to worship God because this is God’s temple. God and the Lamb dwell here. They make it the temple. What was the temple? Or the tabernacle? It was the place where God was manifesting His presence. What is this city? It is the place that God manifests His presence. So, there is no temple, this city is the temple, because of the presence of God. Verse 23, “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is he Lamb.”

Now, we’re going to talk… Can you put the first slide back up? What we have here is the new Jerusalem. Now, we just have this right here, that square, 1500 miles now as a cube, coming down on the new earth. That’s not all there is, there is the new earth. Around this cube, we will have the wall of jasper, remember. And there will be 12 gates, 3 gates on each side. Then outside that wall of jasper, we are going to have the new earth, all out here. This becomes important to have fixed in our mind. Now, when it says here, that “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,” you see here the deity of Christ. Because the same thing said of God the Father is said of God the Son. Now, I want to say, and don’t get confused here with this picture, we’re concentrating on this, cause this rest doesn’t exist. Because this is all you need here, now this is it, there’s nothing else as a temple here. Because you have, not only the dwelling place of God among men, you have the wall around it, but you have the gates that provide 24 hour access into the presence of God. Before, access was only to one person, one time a year, the high priest on the Day of Atonement. In eternity, there’s going to be a wall and gates, but the gates are never closed, so the access can continue.

And it’s never nighttime. Now note, it says in the city it’s not. Some take this to mean, on the new earth, there will never be darkness or night. I don’t know whether that’s true, I can’t say for certain. It seems to me, that what he talks about here is the condition in the city. Now, is says here, verse 24, “And the nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it.” That’s something else going on here that we have seen. There are nations outside the city, who are going to come into the city and bring their glory into it. Verse 25 says, “And in the daytime (for there shall be no night there).” So, again, I get the idea that there is constant light here, because this is where God fully manifested His presence. That would not exclude there being night and day out here in the new heaven and new earth, it wouldn’t seem to me. Now, some commentators, when they go back to Genesis, associate darkness with sin. And some that you may read put the fall of Satan between Genesis 1 and 2, and so say, sin had entered, and that’s why God created darkness. I don’t think that fits Genesis 1 and 2. As far as I can tell, when God gets done with the 6 days of creation, He says its very good, there is no sin yet present. I take it, Satan falls after the 7 days of creation. So, darkness itself is not bad, it was part of God’s original creation before sin came in. You don’t need the sun and the moon, so whether they will be present or not, they don’t need to be present, because God made light and darkness before He made the sun and the moon later. So, we are told there will be no night in here for sure.

And we’re told the nations and the kings of the earth… Wait a minute, now we not only have nations, we have kings. They are bringing their glory into it. They reside outside the walls of this city on the new earth. They are saved people, but they are not in glorified bodies. The glorified saints live in this city. They go out, we’ll see that in a moment, but this is where they reside, but they can go out here. Others reside out here, but they can come into here. There are nations and there are kings. So, you see, there is a connection with where we are and where we’re going with what God originally intended, when He created the earth. And what God brings to completion when we move into eternity.

When they bring their glory into it, I take it, they will come into the presence of God in the new Jerusalem. You can put that down now, I don’t want you to get confused looking at the picture. But that’s what we have now come into worship Him. They bring their glory into it, whatever glory. They’ve come to worship Him there, to give Him all the honor and glory. But whatever blessings they are enjoying in the new earth, they come to worship God. What all that will entail we aren’t told. But all the glory is given to Him. But there is glory, the benefits that God is bestowing upon them. They come into the new Jerusalem for worship. And they can come anytime of day. And its 24 hours of light. We have that in… we still use the same picture, you go to a city, you hate to use it, but Las Vegas, well, you know they keep the lights on at night. But activities here, its all open. I remember when I moved to Nebraska, we went out west and it would be evening. And I would say, lets go downtown and walk around. I come back, and I say, Marilyn, they close the sidewalks here in the evening, I mean, there is nothing. You know, I used to go to school in downtown Philadelphia, night and day, you know, I say, what in the world do people do? You know, its just a different world. Well, here, you know, this is daytime all the time. But it doesn’t say its daytime all the time, but they can come anytime. Want to come at 3 AM? The city is open, the gates never close. The light is there. I mean, that’s the picture.

Verse 26, “And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.” So, stressing here “the glory and the honor of the nations.” Who are the nations? My understanding would be, that remember, people came through the tribulation, that 7-year tribulation, in their physical bodies. There are believers in that group. So, they went into the millennium in their physical bodies. They had children. Some of those children became believers in the millennium. All those people come to the end of the millennium, which was the first phase of the kingdom, in their physical bodies. I take it, they go on into eternity in their physical bodies. The sin nature completely removed. Not so surprising. God has cleansed us from the power and control of sin. He can finish that process with them by removing all taint of sin. But they go on in their physical bodies. What is happening in the new heavens and the new earth is what God originally intended for His creation, is being fulfilled. There God came in the cool of the evening, in personal fellowship with Adam and Eve, but sin broke that kind of relationship. Now, the nations, I take it these are people in physical bodies that haven’t been glorified, but they are saved people. They will live forever in their physical bodies. They bring the glory of the nations into it. There’s something going on, the nations are prospering, they are benefiting, they come in to worship God and give Him honor. Because there is no sin out there. So, all come to worship Him.

We’re reminded, verse 27, “nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it.” That doesn’t mean there are sinful people outside the new Jerusalem. Its just a reminder, where are the sinful people? Well, we read that back in verse 8, their part is in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone forever and ever, and we’re told how they got there at the end of chapter 20. “Only those”, at the end of verse 27, “whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” We saw that at the end of the millennium, that vison that took place, on all whose names were not in the book of life were cast into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and ever. So, just a constant reminder of the contrast here. The glory and splendor of God’s presence for eternity, or separation from God’s presence in the torment of hell forever and ever.

Then the description goes on. Revelation 22:1, “Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” Now you see the throne of God and the Lamb at the same time, because there is only one God, eternally existing in three persons, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. But now only one throne identified here. The water of life, clear as crystal, comes from the throne, flowing out through the city. How it goes and that, we don’t know. The water of life is crucial. It was mentioned in chapter 7:17, it’s mentioned again in chapter 22:17, “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 take the water of life without cost.” You can partake of the water of life now by faith in Christ. Remember the woman at the well, the Samaritan woman in John 4, she talked about the physical water. Jesus said, I can give you water, if you partake of it, you’ll never thirst again. He’s talking about the water of life. John 7:38, the one who believes in Christ, out of “his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water, but this he spoke of the Spirit,” who’s going to indwell believers. The life that God gives in the power of the Spirit of God. This water comes flowing out from the throne of God, in the middle of the street. Evidently it comes down from the throne, down the middle of the street. Evidently the street, down on both sides, the river in the middle. And then evidently the tree of life on each side of the river. So, you’d have the street, the tree of life, then the river flowing. “On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.” Wait a minute, now we know that we not only have nations, we not only have kings, but we have time as we know it. Think, when we move into eternity, you know, all the markers that we’re familiar with will be gone. But God uses them here. He measured the city’s footprint for us. And how high it was in measurements we could know. We are reminded the measurements of angels are the same as human beings. They may tie, because angels are tied to human beings, creation. They are servants of God for the benefit of God’s children, as Hebrews says.

Now, here we’re told there are 12 months and the fruit trees are going to bear fruit each month. Now wait a minute, 12 months, that’s a year. And I guess the cycle will go on. So, it’s not like, well, we have no way to measure eternity. We will. Keep in mind, created beings are always bound by sequence with time. Only God is infinite and timeless. We can speak of God dwelling in the eternal present. I don’t know what to say about that. My mind can’t grasp that. And created beings, one thing always happens after another, that sequence is what makes time, right? Next, next, next. So, here we are in eternity, and we’ve got fruit trees. And they are bearing fruit, a different fruit every month for 12 months. God is keeping the same pattern going. It was part of His original creation, remember, starting with what? Seven literal days, and the cycle. So, we’re in a new heaven and new earth, in that all sin has been removed. Certain characteristics of the old earth are gone, like the sea. But we’re just not now out into something that we can have no relation to right now. No, we are. And there are 12 months. There is a year. We have fruit trees. Every month is marked off.

“The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” That word “healing,” we get the English word “therapeutic” from it. It’s health giving, the well-being, the health of the nations. Doesn’t mean there won’t be sickness or anything. The ability to freely partake of the tree of life indicates what? The benefit they have of God’s life. The water of life is freely flowing. The tree of life is available to them. And they can come in anytime and share in the fruits and the water.

Come back to Genesis 3, see what happens here. Genesis 3, after pronouncing the curse on man for his sin, God graciously, verse 21 in Genesis 3, “The Lord God made garments of skin for Adam and his wife, and clothed them.” They had clothed themselves in leaves, but that’s not enough, the wages of sin is death. And here you have the provision of animals to provide the skins, a sacrifice will have to be made, a penalty has to be paid. God indicating His mercy and grace would intervene on their behalf. Then you’ll note verse 22, “Then the Lord God said, ‘Behold, the man has become like one of Us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might stretch out his hand, and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever’” It would be terrible! Why? He’s a fallen, sinful being. To eat of the tree of life in his fallen condition would forever confirm him in his lostness. Verse 23, “Therefore the Lord God sent him out from the garden… He drove the man out…” verse 24, “He stationed the cherubim and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” No access to the tree of life in your condition.

Now, we come over to Revelation 22, and we have the dwelling place of God on earth again. We have a wall around a city, but it’s not to keep people out, because the gates are always open 24 hours a day. People can come in and partake of the tree of life freely. And there is different fruit every month, so they can come every month and take the new fruit. And it shows the freedom now, the life that now is there by the grace of God, that provision God has made for them. It’s for the health, the well-being of the nations. Reminding us of the fact that they will never again suffer any of the impact of the ravages of sin. That is all gone. There will no longer be any curse. You see the connection, the trees are for the healing or the health of the nations, and there will no longer be any curse, they go together, the positive side and the negative side. No longer any curse, so no longer any disease, sickness, illness. The positive side, the freedom of the tree of life. There will no longer be any curse. The throne of God and the Lamb will be in it. We’re constantly reminded of this; this is the throne room of God; this is the throne room city. “His bondservants will serve Him.” Important. What are we? We’re the servants of God, right? The word “servants,” “doulos,” the slaves of God, he uses it here. His servants, His slaves, those who belong to Him, they will serve Him. That word translated, “serve”, we get the words liturgy, liturgical, we just transliterate this word over basically. Often used of priestly service. We use it of religious activity, religious service. So, here, His servants will serve Him, His slaves will serve Him, do their priestly work, serving in the presence of God. And what will they do? Well, the end of verse 5 says, “they will reign forever and ever.” It was promised, we will reign with Him, we will reign with Him.

So, we have the nations of the earth all scattered out there, outside the new Jerusalem. Kings out there, an earth to be administered. No sin present. But they restore organization, just as there is organization among the angels, even the angels that have not fallen. There is structure and organization. We will be about the Lord’s work. Our home will be the new Jerusalem as glorified saints, but we will go out through the new earth, carrying out the work of God, among the people that are dwelling throughout the earth. We’ll serve Him. We’ll reign with Him.

Look at verse 4, the end of verse 3, “His bond-servants will serve Him; and they shall see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads.” You note, we have the throne of God the Father and the Lamb here. We’ve seen in the book of Revelation, when we’ve studied it, in a study together, that you see God the Father on the throne in the book of Revelation. Moses could not see the face of God and live. But in eternity, in our glorified bodies, and saints in bodies not tainted with sin, we’ll be able to come into the very presence of God, and we will see the manifestation, I take it, as we see in the book of Revelation, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. So, here, they will see His face, they will be right in His presence. What a privilege given to us. That’s where we’re going.

Verse 5, “There will no longer be any night; and they will not have 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.” Again, some would take this to mean that’s throughout the earth. For sure its within the new Jerusalem that this light is shining in the very presence of God. God is the light that spreads throughout the earth. I would have no problem with that, whether it’s limited to the new Jerusalem in the plan of God. It would seem to me, I would prefer that, in my understanding of it.

You know, this gets to be -- how can you think of a city so wonderful, so spectacular? That’s where we’re going. And then he says in verse 6, “ ‘These words are faithful and true;’ and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show to His bond-servants the things which must soon take place.” You read this, there is much here that’s, you know, how do I picture this? And it will be more glorious. How do you picture in your finite, fallen mind the glorious presence of God? And the splendor that He creates to manifest His glory among His creation? I mean, you know, we get an idea, the throne, the river coming out, the streets of pure gold, the tree of life. Even though it says tree of life, singular, it may be just referring to the kind of tree we’re talking about here.

Come back to Ezekiel 47, then we’ll be done. I want you to see the connection. Again, this comes back to the Old Testament. And in the millennial kingdom, the first thousand years of the eternal kingdom, that’s being talked about in the last chapters of Ezekiel. And you have a temple there. But there will be no temple because the new Jerusalem, the heavenly Jerusalem, the heavenly temple of God is now on earth. But note what is said in the first thousand-year phase of this kingdom. Verse 12 of Ezekiel 47, “By the river on its bank, on one side and on the other, will grow all kinds of trees for food. Their leaves will not wither and their fruit will not fail. They will bear every month because their water flows from the sanctuary, and their fruit will be for food and their leaves for healing.” Sounds like we just read that in Revelation 22, doesn’t it? Because you see, this is all anticipation. What’s going on in the millennium in the first thousand years, is not just something totally disconnected from the rest of the eternal kingdom. Here you get a picture, and the tree of life, I take it we’re talking about the kind of tree, like you might go out and somebody has a group of pear trees planted over here, and you say, that’s the pear tree. Over here is the peach tree. Over here is the plum tree. Or you’re talking about the kind of tree, not that there is just one tree of each. But that area, that’s plum trees. This area is orange trees, whatever. So, you talk about the tree of life, I take it in light of here, there are trees that line that water. These trees are trees of life, they have different kinds of fruit coming out every month. They are for the healing. The same thing going on in the millennium. But that’s just in anticipation, just like the tabernacle in the holy of holies was just an anticipation of the coming temple. We’re just in anticipation of the coming millennial temple. Just as in anticipation of the full realization of it all in the new Jerusalem. So, we have the glory of what God has prepared for us.

Verse 7 of Revelation 22 says, “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is he who heeds the words of the prophecy of this book.” You say, oh that’s prophecy. You know, here we are, thousands of years later, still hasn’t happened. Just be practical, live for today. God considers this very practical. He pronounces blessings that we’ve seen on those who heed. Well, how am I to heed this? I live in light of it, that conditions all I do. That’s what Peter says in 2 Peter 3 (verse 11), knowing all these things are being destroyed, we are to live as a holy people, right? We are a holy people, destined to live in the presence of a holy God. This world is not our home. That conditions everything we do. My life is shaped by this, the reality of it.

These are days of God’s salvation. Understand, there will be no evangelism going on in eternity. There will be no one to evangelize. Unique opportunity given to us in this period of time to carry the gospel to the lost. There won’t be any opportunities for that in eternity. The lost will be in eternal hell. I want to seize the opportunity we have, knowing the future that God has prepared for those who love Him. And the future that God has prepared for those who do not love Him. And we have the gospel of God’s salvation.

Let’s pray together. Thank You Lord, for Your grace, love and mercy. Thank You that these are days of salvation, days when men, women and young people are privileged to hear of Your love, the provision of Your Son, who loved us and died for us. The offer of the free gift of eternal life to all who will believe in Him. Lord, may we as Your people be taken up with the truths of what You have revealed, and live in light of them, heed them, keep them, so that our lives are conducted according to Your purpose for us. Use us, these days of darkness in the world, to bring the light, the truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ to men, women and young people, that they might come to Your salvation. We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.