Because you have a small God doesn't mean you are right. Because you have misdefinitions about deity, Doesn't mean that that's the way it is. And most people have messed up views of what it means to be divine. And if you're going to learn what it truly means, you have to receive revelation. It has to come.
from heaven down, not from man up. Mankind is warned to choose their beliefs very carefully, for their eternal state is at stake. Hmm. This is Cross-Reference Radio with our pastor and teacher, Rick Gaston. Ricky is the pastor of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville.
Pastor Rick is currently teaching through the book of Revelation. Please stay with us after today's message to hear more information about Cross-Reference Radio, specifically, how you can get a free copy of this teaching. But for now, let's join Pastor Rick in the book of Revelation, chapter 21, as he begins his message, New Jerusalem. Revelation 21. We're going to try to finish the chapter.
And if you have your Bibles, please turn there and stand for the reading. We'll take verses 10 through 12, Revelation 21. New Jerusalem is the title. We begin in verse 10. through twelve.
And he carried me away In the spirit to 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 like the most precious stone, like A jasper stone clear as crystal. Also she had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates. and names written on them, which are the names Of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
A very difficult chapter. to teach from I think probably the most difficult In the Revelation for a few reasons, and maybe I'll get to them, but My question would be: Was God more interested In exciting wonder in us as we read this 21st chapter about New Jerusalem. more than answering Questions satisfying our curiosity. Because there's so much in here that you just can't get your head around. The gates and the high walls, the gates made out of pearl.
What kind of oyster was that? And it just creates this. struggle to Identify what is symbolic, what is literal. Where are we? And I default To answer that question, I default to the first chapter the revelation of Jesus Christ in the first verse And it says he sent and signified it by his angel to his servant John.
The reality behind the symbol is always greater than the symbol.
So if you see uh A sign that says, you know, shark infested water.
Well, the sign is not going to hurt you. And maybe if it blows over in a hurricane. The shark is what's going to do the damage.
So the symbol is not as great as what it is pointing to, and that is the book of Revelation. The symbols in the book are pointing to something far greater. And we get to the stones that are on the wall, the size of the city just becomes overwhelming. And I think part of the intention of the Holy Spirit is that this should be emotional. It's something that's exciting.
Not emotional ism. But it's okay to feel it. and to enjoy it. What's coming? New Jerusalem.
It is going to be an extension of heaven overall. It is still heaven. And by this time, Historical Jerusalem, millennial Jerusalem, they're gone. The earth, the universe that we have now, it's all gone. and God has created a new heaven and a new earth.
The writer to Hebrews said for Here we have no continuing city, but we seek The one to come.
Well, this is it. John's giving us the most detail about it.
So, this objective approach to an abstract revelation is challenging. New Jerusalem descending from Heaven. It's heaven mobile. descending from heaven to this new earth. And God in this twenty first and the beginning of the next chapter is telling us About its appearance.
the inhabitants, its descent, its exquisiteness, the measurements, the precious jewels that belong to it. How are those jewels going to reflect light? How's all this going to come together? the inner purity of the city. and the life that is found there.
Now if you're a novice If you're new to Christianity, A lot of things are over your head. That does not excuse you. from learning. from experiencing them. from catching up.
Heaven is accessible. It is a place where God dwells, and it is a place where He wants His people to be with Him. Romans Paul talking about our salvation, he says now having been set free from sin.
Now not the presence of sin, because we're born in sin. The fight is to obey God, but it is a fight. and having become slaves of God, You have your fruit to holiness. And the end, everlasting life.
Well, this is it, this is that everlasting life in heaven. That's what this chapter is telling us about. And God wants everybody to be in heaven. He's not going to get his way, not with that. There's the permissive will, there's the perfect will of God.
The perfect will of God, He always gets His way. When He says the sun will rise and the Sun will set, nobody's going to mess with that. But There are other things. that God will just You can say tolerate, accept, and that souls will be lost. Not the ideal.
So when he says, God gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, well, people are going to perish because they're not going to believe in him. In Second Timothy, Paul says, God desires all men to be saved. That's what he wants. But those who do not want His salvation, those who do not want his Son. will disqualify themselves, So, with that, we look at the first verse.
Then, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me. saying, Come, I will show you the bride. The Lamb's Wife.
So when the wrath of God was poured out under the seventh trumpet, and those seven bowls that were pouring out the wrath. That John could see, revealing to him what's coming to earth.
Well, one of those angels.
Now circles back to John.
So let me show you some other things. These are really nice. Like nothing happened. Weren't you the guy that was pouring out there? That was my duty.
Now, let me show you what this is.
Well This he says, saying, Come, I will show you the bride. The Lamb's wife. He shows him well It's a city, not a wife. but it's referred to as the bride. making a distinction between The great harlot of Revelation 17, and of course, those beloved believers who are joined to God.
Forever. A trustworthy companionship. The first purpose of marriage is companionship. It is not good that man should dwell alone. I'm not going to make any comments.
I want my tires to not be flat when I leave here. Old Testament, New Testament saints. Merged into one. That's what's going on here, and that's why he's going to tell us about the tribes. and the apostles.
The symbolism Thus, the tribal gates and the apostolic foundations in verses twelve and fourteen.
Now, verse ten, 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. This is going to happen. As sure as you are going to be where you are right now. This is going to happen in the future.
It's very far off. The detail that he's giving here about New Jerusalem began back in verse 2. And now he's coming back to it. And he's saying this city is going to make a grand entrance as brides do. We stand for the pride.
The music starts. We all look at the bride coming down the aisle. as she comes to make her vows before the Lord. and before witnesses. This also calls to mind the Shekinah.
The visible Manifestation of the presence of God, not His. Person like a Christophany, but a theophany, using a created item to signify he is with you. And for the Jews, of course, it was a pillar of a cloud during the day, and it was fire. By night, the dwelling with the Israelites. New Jerusalem And new earth.
Are going to be united. We don't know much more than that about the new earth.
Now, you have to ask: Does anyone scoff at the idea of God bringing this enormous city?
Now, this city is. There's more than half the size of the United States. And we're going to get those numbers.
Well, how could you scoff at that when you look at the planets that are out there? and how they all behave themselves. They don't slam into one another. They stay where they're told. Who does that?
Not Starlink. It's God that does that. This is a cakewalk. to bring down this new Jerusalem. You know, trying to be objective with things that are Just almost surreal, they're divine.
They're incredible.
So it is nothing for God, who suspends the stars and the planets in space and have them work in rhythm with each other to do this. And if you have a problem with that, you have a problem. And reason is one of them. And a lot of Unbelievers. pride themselves in being rational.
An objective. But when you cancel out God, objectivity, and reason. are lying to you. It's man-made objectivity. It's man-made reason in a universe that God owns.
And so it is that knowledge of the Holy One, as the proverb says. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. It's hard enough getting things right with God. Having God as your Savior. then not having him, God has granted what we call Common grace.
It is the ability for humanity to not self-destruct. To be able to progress and to develop. And without that grace, that kind of grace. Humanity would not exist. It would be chaos.
God has given that. Then there's special grace, which is the salvation part, what happens to the souls. Under Heaven. to God's authority. If your idea of God is defective, It does not mean you are right.
Because you have a small God doesn't mean you are right. Because you have misdefinitions about deity doesn't mean that that's the way it is. And most people have messed up views of what it means to be divine. And if you're going to learn what it truly means, you have to receive revelation. It has to come.
from heaven down, not from man up. Mankind is warned to choose their beliefs very carefully, for their eternal state is at stake. Verse 11, having the glory of God, her light was like. A most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.
So the city will be a jeweled monument. Of divine architecture, divine engineering, and what happened. What happened to the people? How did everybody get there or not? And John is trying his best to tell us what he saw.
Without leaving out key parts of the puzzle, but it's fragmented. How could he possibly have captured it all? I mean, he sees the city coming down. There's 1,300, or let's just say round it up: 1,400 square mile, cube, cubed. City coming to earth.
And he talks about the gates, three gates on each side.
Well, he can't see the gates on the other side. He can only see probably one gate. How does that work? Because the revelation is the impartation. of things not seen.
We have a taste of that when we dream. We dream and we know who characters are. We just know these things. In the dream. And it's almost as though God is saying there are ways to impart information to you.
that are beyond anything you have control of. I can give information any time I want.
So that you'll know what's going on. And a lot of that belongs to this revelation because, again, trying to be objective. And you know, the size of this oyster to produce such an enormous gait The gold, the transparent gold streets, the city is made of gold. How heavy is that by our standards? There must be other materials because gold is not transparent.
And they use it in heaven as asphalt. A whole nother world for us. We just get a glimpse. of what's coming. to excite us.
And I don't think we should read the 21st chapter of Revelation in prose. It is poetic. It is exciting. It merits, you know, kettle drums and French horns to go with it. It's a thunderous experience.
And so John has tried his best.
Now these walls mentioned herein.
So throughout this Section here, they symbolize. Access welcomed. The righteous will not be barred out, but they could have been. That's a reality, that's a fact. But evil no longer exists, so the walls are not there to keep anything out, they're there to make a statement.
Each a reminder that Heaven could have been closed to sinners, could have walled us out, could have shut the gates. Not only are the gates wide open, they are ordered by God to remain open. In verse 12, Also, she had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates. And the names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. Again, the city is feminized.
It is personified as a bride. She had. as it tells us here. Also, she had a great high wall. There is a touch of love there.
When God gave Adam Eve or when he gave Eve to Adam It was for companionship, for love, for other things.
Well, this city is personifying that very thing. As I mentioned, it is a city of exclusion. Because not everybody's going to be there. It is also a city of inclusion. having these open gates in every direction.
God is making statements throughout this, or it means nothing. It's meaningless stuff. If there is not a point that He is making in this revelation of New Jerusalem, then it is pointless. But it is not pointless. We know what these things mean.
Twelve, that number of Divine an established government. Everything is perfected, or a perfected government. And so the ideals have been now reached that were introduced on earth with the 12 tribes and the 12 apostles. And it is repeated over and over in this perfected chapter because this city is perfected. It lacks nothing except evil.
I don't know if you could say that's a lack, but evil's not there.
Now it says twelve angels at the gates. Angels are a wonderful fact of heaven. of creation. The word biblically inspires us. that God has created a link.
A ladder going from heaven to earth and Satan has one going from earth to hell. And God uses angels on behalf of his people in a fallen world. He makes his ministers. Messengers of fire. And the names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
Now, the names aren't written on the angels, that would be tattooing. And. I don't think that's gonna happen. And that's all I'll say about that. That should have got a better chuckle.
All right. How are we going to make it if you guys don't wake up? I think when I get to heaven, God's going to say, hey, here's a list of the jokes that I kind of liked when I heard you say them. I don't know what was wrong with those other pastors. But anyway, back to this.
Yeah. I don't know what I was saying. Oh, the city is referred to as the woman exclusion. I mentioned that, the 12, the gates that are named and the foundations that have the names, not the angels. And it says, and names written on each of them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.
The work of Christ to get souls will not be forgotten. All that God put into saving people after Adam fell along with Eve into sin, all the work Christ put into that will not ever be lost. There will be useful memory. We will retain useful memories. There'll be nothing in our memory bank to create sorrow.
Now, these things show up in the prophets, Daniel, and Ezekiel, Isaiah. They show up in the New Testament and Matthew and Corinthians and Thessalonians, but you just can't cross-reference all of it. You never get out of here. But you new believers, Or new to the Bible, you should understand that when you're reading, wherever you're reading in Scripture, everything is pointing to Christ. The Old Testament is pointing forward to him.
The New Testament is pointing backwards, present, and future to him.
So the representation of the Old Testament and New Testament believers are in the gates and the foundation. And by the Old Testament came the prophetic utterances from God to man concerning His will, concerning His Messiah. He opened the gate of information. to come through Israel, through the Jewish people primarily. And that's a very primarily By the New Testament comes the application of those Old Testament oracles, the laws that God once.
gave to the Jewish people, he perfected in the church. The Messiah has arrived. Twelve tribes represent Promises of Messiah. came from the Jews. to the nations.
The people, all people. By Israel, the church entered into faith in Acts chapter seven. Stephen giving A killer sermon Literally. They killed him for this sermon. And when he gets to a part about Moses, he says, The one who received the living oracles to give to us.
Us who? 'Cause he's a Jew. Does he mean the Jews? Yeah, well he's preaching the Jews, but it goes beyond them. to the church.
Church doesn't have any Jews or Gentiles in it. It just has Christians in it. Get to that quote soon.
So, there would be no New Testament believers without God working through the Jews. This is why it's important that God is saying to us. I've not forgotten this. The foundations and the gates will be marked with the twelve tribes of Israel's and the apostles. By the blood Bought church.
Souls enter the kingdom of heaven. and New Testament theology. came to the gates. of Old Testament prophecy. The reality behind the symbol is greater than the symbol.
And all that the prophets symbolize in their preaching, there was one coming that is greater. Jesus Himself, He said, Solomon in all of His glory was not arrayed. Such as one of these, talking about the flowers. Then He says, One greater than Solomon is here. Speaking about himself.
the greater reality. The Almighty God. Verse 13. Three gates on the east side, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
Now, again, these are open gates in every direction, symbolic all by itself. The city is too large to see all of this at one time. But it's there. And I already commented on that, verse 14.
Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And we know the Lamb. Talking about the symbols again. The lamb symbolizes the Christ.
Well, Christ is much greater than any Lamb. But the symbolism is not lost because of the laws of sacrifice in the scripture. Ordinary foundations are usually not visible and they are usually unsightly. You don't put any effort to making them look good, you're going to cover them up with dirt. Here they are visible, they are attractive, and they are commemorative.
1 Timothy 3, this all ties in to us. And this part is about us. The house of God. said Paul. which is the church.
of the living God, the pillar and the ground of the truth.
Well, that's what the church should be.
So, when a pastor comes up and says, Good morning, welcome to the house of the Lord, there's just one place right there, which is a proof verse. the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth. I'd like to serve with inspiration. But I don't always get to do that. But I always get to serve with truth.
That's raw service. I'd rather have them both. But long as I have the truth I can serve. But if I don't have the truth, Have you tingles? The way it should not go.
Ephesians chapter 2.
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners. This is Paul writing to the church at Ephesus, which was loaded with Gentiles. He says, but fellow citizens. With the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone. There's nothing built without him, without his holding it up.
without his supporting it. He is the pillar and the ground of truth. That Paul was talking about, and we are also in a lesser sense. Jesus said, I am the light of the world. That's in the fullest sense.
But in the lesser sense, he then says to the believers, You're the light of the world. on the foundations. That these foundations that John is seeing signify the contribution of the apostles. Through the Holy Spirit.
Now the apostles of the Lamb. We've already covered who that is, the sacrificial lamb. sacrificed on behalf of sinners and many sinners mock that Teams, are you keeping up with me? These are vital points that go to your faith. You should be saying.
Got that. What else she got, Pastor? Try to keep up because when you get older, you'll be scrambling to say, Now, what did he say 20 years ago? Yeah. This has been Cross Reference Radio with Pastor Rick Gaston.
This program is a radio outreach of Calvary Chapel, Mechanicsville, in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Pastor Rick has been teaching through the book of Revelation, but if you're interested in learning about a different book of the Bible, we have hundreds of past episodes available to listen to on demand. Just visit us online at crossreference radio.com and you'll find an archive of Pastor Rick's past teachings. While you're there, you can also find links to follow our program on your favorite podcast app, as well as links to get connected with us on Facebook and YouTube. There's also an interviews tab where you can learn more about Pastor Rick's heart for ministry.
Well, we hope you'll join us next time here on Cross Reference Radio. Hello.
