This transcript was generated by whisper.ai.

I'm glad you're back for day four of our look through Revelation 21. Who
wouldn't be back for this tour together through what heaven's going to be like?
And we get some very exact descriptions in the verses we're going to look at
today.

We've talked about then the fact that there's going to be a new heaven and a new
earth. And then the fact that God's dwelling is going to be with us. And then in
verse two and then skipping down to verse nine, then there's going to be a new
Jerusalem.

Let me read for you those verses. Verse two and then verses nine and ten. "I saw
the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared
as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband.

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues
came to me and said, 'Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. '
And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain, great and high, and he
showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. " We're
going to find as we walk through these next few days that most of the verses in
chapter 21 focus on the new Jerusalem.

There's deep, significant focus on what God is going to do in this new
Jerusalem. And there's a reason for that. I mean, if I was writing Revelation
21, I would have talked maybe more about the new earth and what it's going to be
like.

But the new Jerusalem, a lot of what is talked about and shown in what God's
going to do in the new Jerusalem is a fulfillment of what he has said. He's
promised he's going to do all throughout the scripture. A lot of what he tells
us here is going to happen in the new Jerusalem fulfills much of what the Old
Testament tells us of what God has promised he's going to do in the future.

So God is just showing us here he's going to fulfill his promise in the end. And
it's interesting here the focus on the new Jerusalem. New Jerusalem history
begins in a garden and it ends here in a city.

And there's something amazing about that. There's something amazing about the
fact that it's a city. We just looked a couple of chapters ago at a city by the
name of Babylon.

It was called a harlot. It was the ways of this world. It was the ways of
selfishness.

And here you have a different city, Jerusalem, and it's called a bride. It is
the bride of Christ. For you and I, when we think about a city, many times we
think of it as a place where we feel further from God rather than closer to God.

But here the new Jerusalem is a place of glory alongside the new heaven and new
earth. They're all there in this new creation. Is the place of deepest
association with the presence of God.

When you want to get closer to God today, just think about your life. Would you
say I'm going to go to the heart of Los Angeles or New York? Would you say I'm
going to go up to the mountains?

I'm going to go to the lake? When we want to feel closer to God today, we get
out into nature. We get into a garden.

In fact, many people today even feel cut off from God in the city. We're
surrounded by people and steel and concrete. So we want to get back to nature to
get closer to God.

But here in eternity, it's right in the middle of a city where God's people are,
where God's presence is most intimately felt. That's how different heaven is.
You don't have to get away from people in order to feel closer to God in
eternity.

In fact, the closer you get to people in eternity, the greater concentration
there is of people, the closer you feel to God in one sense. I don't know if you
can feel closer. You just feel close the whole time because that's what heaven
is like.

Human history began in a garden. It ends here in a city. People celebrating
together who God is.

And we get this description of the city, what it's going to be like. Now people
get caught up in is this an exact description? Is this a symbolic description?

It's what John saw. And John saw it so he could pass it along to us. And he
passes it along to us so that you and I can realize what eternity is going to be
the promise of eternity.

Let's just these next few days, starting today, just go through this description
almost line by line. What's the New Jerusalem like? First on its gates, there
are the names of the 12 tribes of Israel.

Let me read for you verses 11 to 13. It shone with the glory of God. And its
brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as
crystal.

It had a great high wall with 12 gates and with 12 angels at the gates. On the
gates were written the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. There were three gates
on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west.

Gates of pearl we're going to look at in a few minutes. The most valuable stone
in the ancient world. And three gates on each side showing there was abundant
entrance for all.

And on the gates there were the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. This looks
back to all those in the Old Testament who followed God's ways because of the
love for God and the fact that they're going to be a part of this New Jerusalem,
this place of God. But there's more even here than that.

Before we talk about all that this means, you've got to look at verse 14 too. On
its gates were the names of the 12 tribes. On its foundations are the names of
the 12 apostles.

The wall of the city had 12 foundations and on them were written the names of
the 12 apostles of the land. The 12 gates are the 12 tribes. The 12 foundations,
they're the 12 apostles.

That represents the joining of the Old Testament and New Testament. All
believers of all ages are going to be there in heaven. It's very clear.

Now it's not talking about people who believe in anything. These are true
believers who have followed the God of the Old Testament when others were
following idols and these are true believers who followed the Jesus of the New
Testament when others were following their own ways. This is the incredible
symbolic nature of what's happening here with the 12 apostles and the 12 tribes.

But I want you also to think of the personal nature of this. Think for a moment
with me of the people whose names are on that foundation or on those gates. The
symbolism is powerful.

The personal is also powerful. You're one of Jesus' disciples and you get to
heaven and there's your name on one of those foundation stones. You're Peter who
constantly stuck his foot in his mouth while he was following Jesus.

You're James and John who went to Jesus and said, "Hey Jesus, could we sit
beside you on the thrones? If I were Jesus I wouldn't give them this kind of
honor. " Jesus says, "They followed me and in following me I'm going to honor
them in all of eternity.

" There are the 12 apostles, there are also the 12 tribes. The 11 sons who sold
Joseph into slavery in the book of Genesis, remember that story? The 11 who had
no faith and in fact wanted to kill their brother and then sell him into
slavery, their names are on these 12 gates.

Normal human beings, human beings who have made great mistakes in their lives,
their names are on heaven's gates. That is the glory of God. That is the
redemption of God.

And from north, south, east and west we arrive at all directions through the
testimony of God's people, Israel, the testimony of God's bride, the church, and
we enjoy God's eternity forever together. That's the gates. That's the
foundation.

But we're not through. Its size is talked about, 12,000 by 12,000 by 12,000
verses 15 and 16. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to
measure the city, its gates and its walls.

The city was laid out like a square as long as it was wide. He measured the city
with a rod and he found it to be 12,000 stadia in length and as wide and as high
as it is long. So that means same width and length and height.

That means that it's a perfect cube. There's something amazing about this. That
means it is just like the Holy of Holies in the temple of God.

The Holy of Holies was 2,700 cubic feet. The New Jerusalem is going to be
3,225,000 cubic miles. The Holy of Holies was 30 feet on each side.

The New Jerusalem is 1,500 miles on each side. What does this represent? The
perfect cube.

It represents a perfect place of God's presence. And in the New Jerusalem, it
represents a perfect place of God's presence is big enough for all. It's of this
amazing size.

The Holy of Holies, that 30 feet on each side, place of God's presence, you
could enter it only once a year. The New Jerusalem, all can enter it and live
there and for all eternity we're going to be there together. That's the meaning
of the measuring of this city.

And then its wall. Its wall is 144 cubits thick. Cubits are, the last time you
heard about those were with the ark.

But here they are in this New Jerusalem, verse 17. He measured its wall and it
was 144 cubits thick by a man's measurement, which the angel was using. 144 is
12 times 12.

There's a lot of 12s here, aren't there? Remember 12 is a number of perfection.
So the gates, perfect, 12 of them.

The foundation, perfect, 12 stones. The measurement, perfect, 12,000 by 12,000
by 12,000. The walls, perfect, 12 by 12 thick.

Now that also exemplifies what a thick wall that is. That exemplifies the
protection that we have with God in all of eternity. We are safe in his hands,
safe in his arms for all of eternity.

It is perfect protection. It is a perfect place of God's dwelling. It is a
perfect foundation.

It is a perfect place of entrance. It's perfect. Heaven is perfect.

You may or may not have experienced something that seemed to be perfect on this
earth. A few people have, but it wasn't perfect. The only thing that's perfect
on this earth is the son of God who lived on this earth.

And if you'd lived during the days of Jesus, you would have experienced it then
if you'd seen him and touched him. And we experience it in our relationship with
God now. But the things on this earth, the relationships on this earth, none of
them are perfect.

They're better sometimes than others, but they're not perfect. Heaven, perfect.
Let's pray together.

Lord, we don't even know how to look forward to perfection. So often in our
lives today, we settle for less. We don't want to be disappointed.

We don't want to expect something that is not going to happen. We don't want to
assume that you're going to do something that you have not yet promised to do in
this world. Lord, I pray in my life, I pray for each of our lives today, that
you help us to live with an expectation of perfection.

Not here. Not now. But then.

And I pray that that expectation then would come into our lives today, so that
instead of trying to make this world perfect, we could live with it as it is,
serve you in it as it is, love you in it as it is, knowing that we're looking
forward to something far better. Something perfect. Jesus, give us this strength
today, we pray.

In your name, Amen. Tomorrow we're going to complete these descriptions of
heaven.