Revelation 21
- “A place called Hope”
Introduction
Bill Clinton was born in Hope, Arkansas. Later he turned this into a life saying:
​“I believe in a place called Hope.”
So do I.
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What is heaven like?
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It impossible to describe – Paul, who had been allowed to see into the seventh heaven, said:
“Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has entered into the heart of man the things that God has prepared for those that love him.” I Cor 2:9
Therefore everything in Revelation 21 is symbolic. Nothing is literal. So John use three great symbols in an attempt to describe heaven:
A New Creation,
A New City,
And a Beautiful Bride
1. A New Creation
v1 - "I saw “a new heaven and a new earth”
Note: God is not just creating a new heaven, he is also creating a new earth.
v24 – “The kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.”
We will bring the best from this world into the next. There will be a continuity between this world and the next. We will feel at home there - it will be familiar to us. All the good that humankind has achieved will be imported into heaven. I will still be me; you will still be you, but gloriously improved and purified. We will recognise each other. Peter, James and John recognised Elijah and Moses in their transfigured form.
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There will be enough of this earth in heaven to enable us to feel at home. It will be familiar, but breathtakingly beautiful. It will be everything we could hope for in this world and much more. The prayer we have prayed so often will come true – “Thy kingdom come on earth.”
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Many ancient religions had their own creation stories, but without exception, the perceived this world to be intrinsically evil. Only the creation story of the Bible perceives the world to be originally good, and human beings to be originally very good. So earth will be part of heaven because earth is made in the image of heaven, just as we are made in the image of God.
As C S Lewis said: “Heaven is not a shadowy version of earth; earth is a shadowy version of heaven.”
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Think of the thing you most prize in this world, then you have a shadowy picture of heaven. and you can take it with you.
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When we were in our 30s, our Bilble Study leader asked a question: "If money and pasports were no problen, where would you choose to live?" I chose a house called "Cloud Nine" (it really exists) on the hill above Sedgefield in the Cape. It has a 360degree view of mountains, forests, lakes and sea. And its where I've spent the happiest times of my life. I even got to paraglide over it. That is the shadowy version of what I'll have in heaven.
But there will be certain things that won’t be in heaven:
There will be no more sea (v1).
Remember that the sea for Israelites represented that which was foreign and dangerous – the place that the Beast rises from. So they will be no sea in heaven. "Nothing impure will ever enter it"(v27).
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And there will be no more pain.
v4 - “There will be no more death, nor mourning, nor crying, nor pain, for God will wipe every tear from their eyes” (v4).
Note: While everything else in this chapter is figurative, this is literal. there really will be nomore pain.
2. A New Jerusalem
Revelation is “A tale of two cities.”
Revelation is a book of 2’s:
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Two kingdoms: The kingdom of this world and the kingdom of our God;
Two women: The Harlot and the Bride;
Two marks: The mark of the beast and the mark of the Lamb
Two cities: The city of Babylon and the city of Jerusalem.
It is a book of choices.
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Note: Babylon has three meanings:
It represents the Babylon that oppressed the Jews on destroyed jerusalem in 587BC.
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It represents Rome - the current oppressor of Jews and Christians.
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And it refers back to Babel in Genesis11, where people arrogantly tried to reach God in their own strength, and God punished them by scattering them acraoss the world
Jerusalem in the Bible always represents God’s presence.
If you ask an Orthodox Jew why he prays on the left-hand side of the Western Wall he will answer, “It is the closest I can get to The Presence.”
Here you see the Western Wall on the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles - what the Bible calls "The last and greatest day of the Feast"(Jn 7:37). We were there.
The prized place is to the left - the closest spot to "The Presence"
On the far side of the square, you see the Western Wall (The Wailing Wall). It is the last vestige of Herod's temple. In the background on the left you see the Dome of the Rock - the third-most holy site in Islam - built right on top of where the Holy of Holies used to be. Jews are not allowed up there, so the closet they can get to "The Presence" is on the left side of the Western Wall.
You don't have to be Jewish to pray at the Wall - as long as you wear a yamulka, no-one question you.
Notice: it will be a city, not a place in the country.
This does not mean it will be a crowded Manhattan full of skyscrapers.
But it does mean that it will be a place of community. The idea of Christians not part of a church community is foreign to the New Testament. Human beings were not designed to live in solitude – “It is not good for the man to be alone - Gen 2:18.” The Tower of Babel (another word for Babylon) caused people to be scattered and disconnected. The New Jerusalem will bring people back together.
My uncle Percy was a missionary in Japan during the war, and was interred for three months in solitary confinement. By the end of that time he wished someone would just come in and beat him up so that at least he could see another human being, so gteat was the awfulnes of being alone. We are not designed for solitude.
Notice the use of the number 12
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There will be 12 tribes, 12 apostles, 12 angels, 12 gates, 12 foundations, 12 precious stones, 12 pearls; the walls will be 12x12 cubits thick, the sides of the city will be 12,000 stadia.
Why did God love the number 12 so much? It is one of those symmetrical, flexible numbers it can be 12x1; 2x6, 3x4. It is an extremely useful member in management – it’s a good number for group discussion, it’s a good number for delegation – a manager can keep good relations with 12 people, but not many more.
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The 12 tribes of Israel represent all believers before the time of Christ; the 12 Apostles represent all believers after the time of Christ.
Together we make a great host of the redeemed. ALL – not one will be lost.
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The 12 foundations are a symbol of the utter solidity of the kingdom of God. You can trust the Gospel - it's all true.
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The walls12x12 cubits (65 m) thick represent utter security.
The 12 gates represent the extraordinary accessibility of the kingdom of God; that they are always open represents the freedom and safety of the kingdom of God.
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On the issue of safety and secuity: When our Bible Study leader asked us, "Where would you like to live?" and we were giving our wonderful, extravagant answers, There wa a woman in the group who had recently been attacked in her home.
She simply said: “Anywhere, so long as it’s safe.”
Notice that the city is a cube. It's Length, breadthand height of the city will each be 12,000 stadia. That is 2200 km – more than the distance from Durban and Cape Town. The kingdom of God is enormous - not in physical size (everything is symbolic), but the vastness indicates that heaven has space for multitudes that no-one can count - the multitudes who will be in heaven. And not one will be missing.
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It’s symmetrical and it’s three-dimensional, showing how spacious, symmetrical and pleasing it will be.​
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​But there is greater significance in the cubic shape. When Solomon constructed the temple according to the specifications God had give to his faher David he buillt the Holy of Holies as a perfect cube. That was a place so sacred that only the high priest could go, and only once a year. Now, we are going to live permanently in the Holy of Holies in intimate and open relationship with God.
Notice the symbolism of Light:
v23 - The city does not need the sun or the moon, for the glory of God gives it light.”
We must not think nine simply as brilliant white. White light refracts into all the colours of the rainbow. One of the things in heaven that is going to stagger us will be the variety of colours – colours we have never seen or imagined before.​
The thing with the colours of the rainbow is that they only represent a tiny part of the Light Spectrum. Visible light only makes up 0.0035% of the total light spectrum. We only see three thousandths of all light. No wonder Paul said "Eye has not seen..."
Imagine our amazement one day when we can see the whole spectrum - when our vision is increased three thousand times!
The closest to our visible spectrum are infrared and ultraviolet. Under ultraviolet all sorts of things change their appearance.
One of the remarkable things about the 12 precious stones in in Revelation 21 is that all of them are beautifully transformed under ultraviolet light. How did the writer know this? It’s a small miracle.
But to me, the most remarkable is Onyx. It completely changes colour, and reveals beauty of which we had no conception.
For me this is a parable. You look at me now. I hope you'll some good points, but I'm painfully aware of others I'm not proud of.
But one day I will be transformed under the light of God to be all the best that I can be.
3. A Beautiful Bride
Rev 2:2 - "I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband."
The holy city looked like a bride - now there's a mixed metaphor for you - typical of apochlyptic writing. But it doesn't easily translate into our culture.
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Here is my beautiful bride. (No comments needed about what the years have done to me!)​
I don't think she looks much like a city.
Imagine she had arrived at the top of the aisle and I had said, "Darling you look beautiful. You remind me of Boksburg"!
But we need to look at the symbolism.
Is anything more beautiful bride? Especially a bride with a slight blush on the cheeks because she has kept herself for this day and for this man. What does A wedding , a marriage represent? It represents relationship, love, devotion, companionship, faithfulness, commitment, pleaure and intimacy. The most precious things in the world.
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We were created for intimate, companionable , pleasurable relationship with God. In Eden, “The Lord God walked in the garden in the cool of the day” seeking fellowship with Adam and Eve. How sweet that must have been. But they lost it. Humankind lost the capacity for close relationship with God. But now it will be fully restored, and it will be the best thing in heaven, the best thing we've ever experienced. I will be able to experience fully all that I was created for.​
​Nearness to God is our greatest good” - Rabbi Sobel,