You've heard of heaven's pearly gates and streets of gold, but they're just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the amenities we'll enjoy for eternity. Today, on Turning Point, Dr. David Jeremiah returns to Revelation. to explore more of the fascinating features that await us. and the equally fascinating meaning behind each of them.
With the conclusion of his message, the celestial city. Here's David. And thank you for joining us. This is Turning Point, and we're studying heaven. We're learning what the Bible has to say about where we're going to spend eternity if we know Jesus.
The subtitle of the new book is 31 Ways for You to Get Excited About Heaven. And we want to do that. And we want you to get excited about this book, too, because it contains all the information you're hearing on these daily broadcasts and much more that we don't have time for. We don't have 31 broadcasts, but we have 31 chapters. And we're answering questions that I haven't seen answered in many books on heaven.
We've tried to answer these questions honestly from the Scripture. I think the book will be helpful to you. I believe it will be an inspiration to you. You'll want to share it with others. And you need to get a copy of it.
First of all, you can get the copy of this book from Turning Point by simply sending a gift of any size and asking for your copy of the book on heaven, and it will be sent to you immediately. Or you can go to the local bookstore outlets, Barnes Noble, Target, Walmart. Hobby Lobby has these books. You can find this book in your community and you can get it immediately, and I hope you will do it. The Promise of Heaven.
31 Ways to Get Excited About Your Eternal Home. Here is part two of the Celestial City. What does the city look like? How is it described?
Well, first of all, the Bible tells us it's a holy city. Isn't that a hard thing for us to comprehend? Most of the cities we know of may have good parts in them but If you drive very far, you're going to see the bad parts too. I've been in a lot of the cities of America. We've held rallies in cities all over the United States.
All of them have some good places. All of them have some places you wouldn't want to live. Revelation tells us that this city is a holy city. Then I, John, saw the holy city. New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.
prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. The chief characteristic The New Jerusalem, the heaven where we will spend eternity, is its holy.
Someone has written A holy city will be one in which no lie will be uttered in 100 million years. No evil word will ever be spoken. No shady business deals will ever be discussed. No unclean picture will ever be seen. No corruption of life will ever be manifest.
It will be holy because everyone in the city will be holy.
So, the first thing you note about this city where we're going, this heaven we talk about, it's a holy place. And then the Bible talks about the pearly gates. I know, we hear a lot about the pearly gates. But let's just read what the Bible says about the pearly gates. Also, she had a great and high wall and 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. And he measured its wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man. That is, of an angel. And the construction of its wall was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each individual gate was of one pearl.
Now, apparently, twelve is the number of symmetry because here you have twelve gates. Twelve angels, twelve tribes, twelve foundations, twelve apostles, twelve pearls, and twelve different kinds of fruit. in the city. called the Holy City. As we look at the 12 gates of Pearl, we see the names of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed.
This is a reminder to us that heaven will be populated with people from the Old Testament. They're really a part of the wall that surrounds the city. John gives us another striking detail about the gates of heaven. Its gate shall not be shut at all by day. And there shall be no night there.
In heaven, it's an eternal day. And the gates are never shut because The city of heaven will be on the new earth. Created by God, and everything around it will be holy. Nothing unholy will be allowed to enter the city. Therefore, there will be no need to protect the city with closed gates.
Some people say, are these skates really made of one pearl? Do you know how pearls are made?
Someone said, those are some big oysters.
Well, listen to me. God made the oysters. And if he wants to make a big pearl, he can make it. And the gates will be so brilliantly Adorned when you get there. You will probably say to one another when you first see them, how in the world could that ever happen?
every one of the twelve gates of heaven. will be made out of a single pearl. The gates of heaven will always be open. And that tells us something important. Everyone who belongs to Jesus will be welcome inside.
We won't need a special pass. We won't have to earn our place or prove we're worthy. The only reason we'll be there is because of what Jesus did for us on the cross. And his blood is what opens the gates. Once we're in, we'll have full access to everything the city offers because it's our home.
Dr. Christwell, who was one of my mentors, said, There is a sermon in the fact that the gates are pearl. Heaven is entered through suffering and travail. through redemption and blood. Through the agony of a cross.
A pearl is a jewel made by a little animal that is wounded. Without the wound, the pearl. is never formed.
So just think about that when you think about the gates of Pearl. Reminder to us again. of the price that was paid so that we could go to heaven.
So there's the holy city and the pearly gates, and then the gates. the foundations of precious stones. But the foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. Jasper. Sapphire.
Chalcedony. Emerald Sardonics. Sardius. Crystallite. Burl.
Topaz, Chrysal Praise, jacinth and amethyst. A building's greatest strength is its foundation. And the New Jerusalem is not one foundation, but 12. And I understand this to mean that each foundation is decorated with a different gem. And these foundations are one upon the other.
So when you come to the city and see it, The beauty of the city will be seen as far as the eye can see. The city's first foundation is the familiar Jasper Stone mentioned twice previously. On the top of the Jasper Stone is a second foundation. the sapphire, a stone similar to a diamond in hardness and blue in colour. The third foundation is Chalcedony.
an agate stone from Chalcedon. In Turkey, thought to be sky blue with stripes of other colors running through it. The fourth foundation is an emerald. It introduces a bright green color. The fifth is sardonyx.
It is red and white stone. The sixth foundation, the Sardia Stone, refers to a common jewel of reddish color. The sardias is used with the Jasper in Revelation 4 in describing the glory of God on the throne. The seventh foundation is formed of chrysolite. A transparent stone golden in color.
The eighth foundation, the burl, is sea green. The Topaz, the ninth foundation, is yellow, green, and transparent. The tenth foundation, the cruciferous, introduces another shade of green. The eleventh foundation is adjacent, it is a violet color. And the last stone, the amethyst, is commonly purple.
When you come to the city from afar, You will not only see gates made out of one pearl, but you will see that the foundation of the city is built upon these twelve. 12. Beautiful. beautiful stones. rather than being twelve individual foundations separated from each other, These foundations are probably twelve layers one upon another.
that encircle the whole city. and the brilliant colors will blend together and add to the beauty of the city. as it is viewed from without. Revelation 21, 14 says, That the wall of the city has the names of the twelve apostles written on them. And regarding this, John F.
Walvert has a good explanation. Here, the city recognizes the presence of the apostles representing the church. The body of Christ, and the fact that their names are inscribed upon the foundation symbolically indicates that the church itself. is related to this holy city. Eternity.
Men and women will be a lasting memorial to the redemption. which was provided by Jesus Christ. past the foundations. Walk through the gates, and you will be impressed with the wonderful plan. That made it possible for you to be there.
Everywhere you look will be reminders of how you got there in the first place. Then what about the streets of gold? Oh yes, the streets of gold. Revelation 2:18 and 21 says, And the city was pure gold, like clear glass. and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
If you have looked at pure gold, you know. that it is not transparent. but opaque. But John described heaven's gold as transparent glass. The gold of heaven is so pure.
that men seem to look into it and through its clear depths as they walk upon it. It is finely polished as a mirror, and therefore it is not so much transparent as it is translucent. If you think about this, don't forget that in our glorified bodies, our perceptions will be different.
Something might appear to us then as being both solid and transparent. All I can tell you is, you've never walked on any streets like you're about to walk on when you go to heaven. The streets will truly be gold, according to some experts, transparent gold that you can look all the way through. And then the Bible tells us. That the Lamb is the light.
Verse 11 and 23, Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. This is a fulfillment of Isaiah's prophecy. From Isaiah chapter 60, verse 19: The sun shall no longer be your light by day.
Nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you, but the Lord will be to you an everlasting light. and your God will be your glory. When the Bible says that the city reflects light as a jasper stone, it is comparable to our present-day diamonds. It is full of color and luster. A grand prism of inherent light shining like new sun inside and out.
sending abroad its rays over all the earth and into the depth of space, Making our planet seem so distant as worlds and suddenly transformed into a brilliant. luminary whose brightness never wanes. and at the source of this light. Where the light emanates, where it starts. Is Jesus Christ Himself?
He truly is, at that moment, the light of the world. not just spiritually, but physically. The light in heaven doesn't come from fire or electricity. There isn't any need for any candles or any bulbs. It's not the kind of light that burns out or needs replacing.
This light comes straight from God because God is light. And the lamb is the lamp. This light fills the whole city. It shines into every home and every heart, and it never, ever fades. No wonder Paul described our future like this.
But as it is written, I has not seen. Nor ear heard. nor have entered into the heart of man. the things that God has prepared. for those who loved him.
Paul said, you can't even imagine. what God is up to. what he has planned for those of us who are believers. You have the holy city, the pearly gates, the foundations, the streets of gold, the Lamb who is the light. And then the Bible says in verse 2 of chapter 22 of Revelation.
There is a tree of life. In the middle of this street of gold and On either side of the river was the tree of life. which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
Now this is a picture of paradise regained. The tree of life and the river once guarded by the cherubim with the flaming sword in the Garden of Eden.
Now reappears on the pages of Scripture as part of the heavenly city.
So here again, we come face to face with the question. of food in heaven. Will we eat in heaven? It is almost as if the true joy of heaven is at stake. If we get this answer wrong, many of you will be so disappointed.
Well, let's consider that question for just a moment from just what we read. When the angels were entertained by Abraham, They ate. After Jesus was raised from the dead, He ate. At the institution of the Lord's Supper, Jesus said he would not drink henceforth of the fruit of the vine until the day when he would drink it anew with us in the foundation or the kingdom of our Father. We are going to be at the marriage supper of the Lamb, according to the Bible.
And we're going to eat the 12 kinds of fruit that will ripen each month on those trees of paradise. Yes. Ladies and gentlemen, we shall eat in heaven. And what a joy that will be. In fact, in heaven we will eat the fruit of some tree that nourished Adam and Eve.
The same tree. And the description of the tree of life in Revelation 22.
Well sounds like what was prophesied in the Old Testament. Here's what Ezekiel said about that. He said, Along the bank of the river, on this side and that. will grow all kinds of trees used for food. Their leaves will not wither.
and their fruit will not fail. And they will bear fruit every month because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food. and their leaves for medicine.
So basically, if I could summarize this whole eating thing. In heaven, we will eat for enjoyment. but not for sustenance. It says here, there will be healing in what we eat. I don't know for sure what that means, but the word healing is the word in the New Testament language therapeutia, which is the word from which we get therapeutic.
The leaves of the tree of life promote the enrichment of life. They are for the pure joy of eating. Food won't be needed in heaven, but it will be enjoyed. It will be therapeutic. It will give us even a higher sense of the joy.
that we have in heaven. Along with the tree of life, When you get to this city, you will see the river of life. Revelation 22, 1 and 2. And he showed me a pure river of water of life. clear as crystal.
proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. And in the middle of its street and on either side of the river was the tree of life. which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
John describes a natural wonder in the center of New Jerusalem. He says the river of the water of life Because the city is the center of human life, water will be a big part of it. And the source of this powerful stream is the throne of God occupied by the Lamb. All you will have to do in this great city is follow the water. which is flowing down and you will be led to its source.
the city's centerpiece, the Lamb's throne. This is the river the psalmist was writing about in Psalm 46. He said There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God.
So that's just some of the description of the city. It's holy. It's entered to through pearly gates. Its foundations are precious stones. Its streets are out of gold.
It is lit up by the Lamb of God. It has a tree of life which bears fruit. 12 different fruits for the 12 different months. Instead of having one season of fruit, there are 12 seasons of fruit. and then the river of life.
Now In the description of the city, which is given to us in Revelation 21 and 22. John is very careful to give us everything we need to know. We have the dimensions of the city. The description to the city. And thirdly, the denial to the city.
Here is verse 8 and verse 27. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the abominable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, Shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. but there shall be by no means entering into this city anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie. but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. The Bible says the city four squares not for everybody.
And you may think, oh, what a wonderful place I'm going to go to, and I hope all of you are going to it. But if you haven't made a reservation, you don't get to go. The Bible says You can only go to this city if you have trusted your life to Jesus Christ. Horatius Bonar, who was a great writer. in his volume on Revelation.
Gives us a statement that's pretty long but really worth listening to. Listen to this. How eagerly should we look for this city? How worthy of it. Should we live?
The right of citizenship is to be had now. and they who are to dwell in it are not angels, but men. not unfallen but fallen. It is such that we apply for the freedom of the city. He who is its builder and maker gives it freely.
He who is its prince, whose blood has bought and opened it, gives it freely. He waits to receive applications. He entreats men to apply. He announces that whoever will only take him at his word and trust him for entrance into it, shall have it. He specially proclaims to us His own sacrifice.
His infinite propitiation, His divine blood shedding on the cross. And gives us to know that whosoever will receive the testimony to this great work of atonement shall enter in through the gates into the city. It will be a joy to enter that joyous city. By this joy, we beseech you now to make sure of your citizenship by making sure of your connection with the king. Several years ago, a comedian named Sam Kinnison became very popular.
on the stand-up comedian circuit. Sam grew up with some Christian influences, but he went another route as an adult. He once summed up his own story by saying, I have lived a carnal life. My view of life is: if you're going to miss heaven, why miss it by two inches? Miss it by a whole lot.
Not very long after Kinison was driving from California to Nevada to perform when his sports car collided with a pickup truck. He staggered from the car. sat on the side of the road, and died at the age of thirty eight. I don't want anyone here to miss heaven. By two inches.
Two feet. or two miles. Jesus gave his life on Calvary to forgive sins. And those are the sins that separate you from God. If you don't get forgiveness for your sins, you can't go to God and be in His heaven.
He rose from the dead to give you a resurrection like His. If you don't accept Christ, you can't have a resurrection. a resurrection. He went to heaven to prepare a place for you, and the scripture says he did that.
so that where he is, there you may be also. Jesus Christ wants you to be with him. He offers you the opportunity to make sure you're ready to be with him. You must trust Jesus Christ. It's not enough just to be a church-going person.
Not enough just to be a relatively good person, a moral person. I know many people who are good moral people, but they're not Christians. We will be surprised someday when we discover that many of the people we thought were the best people of all Missed heaven for one simple reason. The only way you can go to heaven is by putting your trust in Jesus Christ. He is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him.
So I hope your only view of heaven Isn't my very inadequate description of it. I hope you get to be there and see it for all its beauty and glory. And if you have put your trust in Jesus Christ, I know I'll bump into you along the Golden Streets sometime in the future, and we will enjoy heaven forever. Amen. Amen.
Most of the things we talk about, we explain by a precedent. This is the way it is, because this is the way it was. But there is no precedent for heaven, there's no way to describe heaven that way. It's all about faith and vision, and the Bible tells us what it's going to be like, and we trust God's Word. And John saw it, and he was.
Faithfully communicating it to us, and in the best way we know how, this is the beauty and majesty of heaven, and it will be much more. I have a little verse that's come alive to me during this heaven series, and this is what it says: I hath not seen nor ear heard the wonderful things that God has prepared for those who love Him. He will Overwhelm us with heaven. We're trying to get a glimpse of it. during these days.
Don't forget to get your copy of the book. You can get that book from Turning Point. All you gotta do is send a gift of any size and say, please send me the book on heaven. It's on its way as soon as we hear from you. Thank you.
For being a part of the Turning Point family, we'll see you next time. Our message today came to you from Shadow Mountain Community Church and senior pastor Dr. David Jeremiah. We always welcome your notes of encouragement.
So please write us at Turning Point, PO Box 3838, San Diego, California 92163. Visit our website at davidjeremiah.org slash radio or call 800-947-1993. Ask for your copy of David's new book, The Promise of Heaven. 31 Reasons to Get Excited About Your Eternal Home. It's yours for a gift of any amount.
You can also stream more than 1200 of Dr. Jeremiah's messages on demand on any screen. With our streaming service Turning Point Plus for a monthly gift of any amount. Visit TurningPointPlus.org for details. This is David Michael Jeremiah.
Join us tomorrow as we continue the series The Promise of Heaven on Turning Point with Dr. David Jeremiah.
