Revelation 21:0 - Homiletics

The holy city; or, the Church triumphant.

Whether by intuition or otherwise, we know not, but certain it is that Plato seized hold of and expressed a profound truth when, in his 'Phaedo,' he maintains that "things are the passage to their opposites." The seven angels with the seven last plagues having set before the vision of the apostle scenes of awe and terror, he is now carried forward to the vision that lies beyond them all—even to the glory that is yet to be revealed. When the warrior hath done with fighting, it must be pleasant for him to lay aside his armour; when the mariner has been often tempest tossed, he must be glad to reach the desired haven. So it is here. In going through the homiletic exposition of the plan of this book, we have found ourselves, as it were, in incessant conflict; and if one struggle passed, it was but followed by another and another still. But now "the war is over." The harlot is judged. The dragon is defeated. The first and second beasts are cast into the lake of fire. Hades and death are no more. The resurrection is past. The judgment is ended. The award is made. And now a voice is heard from the throne, "Behold, I make all things new." In the twenty-first chapter, and in the first five verses of the twenty-second, we have a glowing picture of the new state of purity and bliss which awaits the redeemed from among men. We will try and indicate in outline—for this is all we can do—the features of the new state and the new place. Let us "look" in by faith now, and, by and by, the Lord grant that we may go in! We have set before us—a new sphere of life, a new abode of life, and new conditions of life. Undoubtedly there is a very large amount of symbolism in the three sketches; but the symbolism is such as to indicate an unspeakable measure of glory.

I. THERE WILL BE FOR THE GLORIFIED CHURCH A NEW SPHERE OF LIFE . "A new heaven and a new earth" is a phrase which certainly conveys the idea of locality; of a place for the righteous, in which and on which their inheritance finds its ground. To the meaning of the phrase, "a new heaven," we have scarcely any clue. Often heaven means the surrounding atmosphere. The rabbis taught that there were three heavens—the first, where the birds fly; the second, where the stars are; the third, where God is. Here it signifies apparently the surrounding atmosphere of the new earth on which the righteous dwell; or, it may mean, that there shall be new spiritual environments to correspond with changed physical conditions. This latter phrase, "the new earth," seems to mean this earth renovated and purified by the fires of the last day; retouched and beautified by the hand that built it first. It is not unreasonable to suppose that the same earth, which was the theatre on which the Saviour suffered, should be also the scene of his final triumph. How far the expression, "the sea shall no longer be," is to be taken literally, we cannot tell. As the definite article is used, the phrase may be equivalent to "that sea," i.e. the tossing, restless sea of former days. Even then it may also be symbolical, and may thus mean that the restless tossing to and fro of this world's surging strife shall be no more. Certainly the more we let the literal and material sink into the background, and the more that which is spiritual comes into fuller prominence, the more power and glory will this vision have for us. For whatever interest—and it is not slight—the question of place has for us in reference to the next life, the question of state is so immeasurably greater, that, compared with it, the other is of no consequence at all. If men are but free from sin, and forever with the Lord, what matters it where God appoints their abode? All space is his; and in any section of it he can prepare a heaven for the glorified.

II. IN THESE REALMS THERE IS A NEW ABODE OF LIFE . Within the new heaven and on the new earth there is "the holy city." Let us gather up one by one the features which mark it.

1. Its name. It is called "New Jerusalem." Before the apostle was prisoner under Domitian, the Jerusalem of olden time had fallen. And many a devout Jew would be almost heartbroken to think that the sacred walls, and the still holier lane enclosed therein, for him existed no more. And, with a wondrous touch of tenderness, the apostle points them far ahead to a new Jerusalem, in which all that was precious in the past shall be reproduced and exceeded—a Jerusalem which should indeed be "holy," which should be free from an alien's tread, and which should endure forever. For whatever the olden city might have of the glory of the Lord, the new Jerusalem shall have the Lord in his glory.

2 . Its wall. The city of the saints is safe against all assault.

3 . Its entrance gates. Here there are two remarkable features. Where the protection of the walls ceases—at the gates—there is another guard, even "at the gates twelve angels," so that none can enter with hostile aims. And not only so, but on the several gates the name of a tribe of Israel is found. None but Israelites enter there.

4 . Its foundations. ( Revelation 22:14 .)

5 . Its citizens. These are from "the nations," but not as of earthly nationality. This is past. They are the nations of the saved (verse 24, Authorized Version). We have brief hints as to their character ( Revelation 21:6 , Revelation 21:7 ; Revelation 22:14 , Revised Version). Brief as these expressions are, they are enough; specially when we read the list of the excluded ones ( Revelation 22:8 , 27). Only holy ones are in the holy city. The separation from the unholy is complete and final.

6 . Its magnitude. It is measured. The measuring reed was a golden one, and showed its size—12,000 stadia in length. Alexandria, according to Josephus, was 30 stadia by 10; Jerusalem was, in circuit, 33 stadia; Thebes, 43; Nineveh, 400; Babylon, 480; the holy city, 48,000! How puny are the measurements of earth's great cities compared with those of the great city of God! There will be room in the holy city for men from every nation, and kindred, and people, and tongue. None of the artificial divisions or nomenclatures of ecclesiastical boundaries will count for anything there. Only love and life will enter there.

7 . Its glory. Revelation 22:11 , "Her light is like unto a stone most precious;" "The glory of God cloth lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." We could almost say, with Payson, "Lord, withhold thy hand, and show us no more, or we shall be overpowered by the splendour of the vision!"

III. IN THIS HOLY CITY THERE ARE NEW CONDITIONS OF LIFE . Here, too, we can but analyze and arrange the description before us, dropping a hint or two as we advance.

1 . There is one comprehensive, all-embracing condition which covers the whole ground. Revelation 22:3 , "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with [the] men," etc., i.e. with the sanctified men who are in this holy city. The home of God is there. Their spirits are at home in God. The work of redemption is perfected. The communion is entire and complete; never to be interrupted for a moment, nor to be marred by one sin. The revelations of the past secured an approximation to this. The earthly worship was an earnest of it; Ephesians 2:22 ). These passages are but specimens of many more which show that the whole drift and aim of the gospel redemption has been to bring together God and man in sublimest fellowship. The perfection of this is realized in "the holy city;" and it is the one condition of blessedness which includes all else.

2 . There is a double set of detailed conditions of life, which follow on the complete realization of this full redemption.

(a) No more death. When the redemption in Christ has done its work on the body at the resurrection, there can be no more dying. No element of perishableness will exist in the "spiritual body." It is "incorruptible." Death will have been swallowed up in victory.

(b) No mourning nor crying. No physical distress nor spiritual ill shall grieve. Joy shall have no shade. The day of eternity will know no cloud.

(c) No pain; no tension from excessive exertion; no aching from disease; no disappointment at the failure to realize our ideal; no cutting off of work ere it can be completed.

(d) No more curse. No condemnation will press on the conscience, nor will any sin pollute the soul.

(e) No alien. "There shall enter nothing that defileth." There will be no intrusion of aught that is evil within or without.

(f) No night there. No pause in the activities of life, because no weariness will ever be felt. There will be constant work and constant worship.

(g) No temple. Not only will hindrances which existed here be banished there, but helps which were precious here will not be needed there. If, as one has said, the most exquisitely tender text in the Bible is, "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," surely the most far reaching text given through an inspired pen is, "I saw no temple therein." No forms will be wanted when the ideal of worship is perfect and permanent. No place for worship, when every spot is holy ground. No day for worship, when every moment is sanctified. No external acts of worship, when every act is "holiness to the Lord." Many a thinker is yearning for the pure thing in itself without form. Here it is. Their yearnings were anticipated eighteen hundred years ago. And to it we are pressing on by stages.

(h) No light of the sun. No lamp. No artificial light kindled by man, nor even the present forms of light created by God. "The city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the Lord God giveth them light," etc. What meaneth this? Surely nothing less than that created media will not be needed to intervene between us and God. We shall need no borrowed light when we see face to face the Light! We shall see him as he is! What life is this! No moon, no sun, no night, no temple, no curse, no pain, no tears, no sorrows, no death! All these things will have passed away. Happy state, even if known only by such negatives as these!

(a) The river ( Revelation 22:1 ). In Eden was a fertilizing stream. Israel drank of the river which followed them. "There is a river, the streams of which make glad the city of God." The good Shepherd now leads his flock beside still waters. And in the heavenly world he leads them still by the fountains of the Water of life. The water of life shall no more have its purity marred by coming through earthen channels. There we shall be at the fountainhead.

(b) The tree (or trees) of life. In Eden the tree of life would have counteracted the tendency to decay and death. But from this man was debarred when he fell. Christ has restored it to us. And he will himself give it to the victor. Full supplies of heavenly food ensuring immortality will be given by Christ's own hand.

(c) The throne of God is there. Another symbol to indicate the immediateness of relations to God in the heavenly state. No intervening authority of priest or king; but close and absolute allegiance to the Eternal.

(d) The service ( Revelation 22:3 ). Service in the sense of worship. "They serve him day and night in his temple."

(e) The sight ( Revelation 22:4 ). "They shall see his face" (cf. 1 John 3:1 , 1 John 3:2 ; 2 Corinthians 3:18 ). This sight will have transforming power.

(f) The royalty. "They shall reign forever and ever" ( Revelation 22:5 ). This "reigning" is not the preliminary and limited one referred to in Revelation 20:4 ; but the final, the complete one, to which no ending is assigned (cf. Revelation 3:21 ). Well may we say with one, "I am content that I have seen the city, and without weariness will I go nearer to it; not all my life long will I suffer its bright golden gates to disappear from my sight" (Hengstenberg).

IV. THE GLORY OF THIS CITY LIGHTS UP WITH ITS BRIGHTNESS THE LIFE THAT NOW IS . At any rate, it ought to have this effect, for most assuredly this is the intent of the disclosures. We shall do our God a wrong, and ourselves too, if we pursue our course here as if it were meant to end in gloom, or as if we were left in uncertainty as to what lies beyond it, or whether there is anything at all. Note:

1 . Let us recognize the glory of life's goal, if properly spent, as the working out of Divine grace, love, and faithfulness.

2 . If we are indeed the children of God, we have even now the earnest of the Spirit, and are being wrought for that selfsame thing.

3 . Let us bless God for the progressiveness of revelation and of redemption. The whole of the sacred Word is threaded by one infallible clue. It opens by showing us "Paradise lost." It closes by showing us "Paradise regained." And the intervening stages, taken chronologically, show us the Divine advance on the first, and the Divine preparation for the last.

4 . If even now we have a vision so glorious of the holy city, let us go in the strength of it to work, to toil, to suffer, and to die, pressing forward to the glory yet to be revealed.

5. Seeing that in that future home nothing can enter that defileth, let us ever swear eternal enmity to sin, cultivating all the graces of the Spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God, for only so can we have any reasonable hope of finding our place at last in the inheritance of the saints in light.