[Originally preached 7 March, 2004]
Revelation 21.1-2; 9-21
I can remember studying the novel back in high school English class. We talked about things like plot, tone, theme, climax and denouement. Those sorts of things apply to our study of Revelation. We have arrived at and passed the climax of the book. The great battle between Christ and Satan, and his agents, has occurred. We saw how Jesus has won. Satan is defeated and has been hurled into the lake of fire. The war that has lasted centuries is now over and done. The climax has been passed. Now, we come to the denouement of the book. This is where everything is resolved. Here, John tells us what happens after the war has been fought and won. This is where John writes about eternity for the saints.
Now, since this is the book of Revelation, John’s explanation of the resolution will be a little involved. Let me try to explain. The summary of this resolution is contained in chapter 21.1-8. But the fuller expression of that resolution is contained in the rest of Revelation 21 and 22. So, again, since this is Revelation, the summary and the fuller explanation are each divided into seven parts with the first part of the summary tied to the first part of the fuller explanation and on through all seven. Now, what that means is that what John writes in Revelation 21.2 about eternity is explained more fully in Revelation 21.10-21. So, this morning we’ll take a look at this first part of John’s vision of eternity for the saints as he wrote it in these two passages.
John is given a vision of the new Jerusalem. Now, what is that? What is the reality behind the image? This is the Church, the people of God. This is you. The new Jerusalem is you. It is you and all of the saints who have ever lived. The age in which we now live, what John calls the first heaven and the first earth, has been dramatically changed, renovated, fixed, purified. Jesus has brought in the new heavens and the new earth. Our text is pointing to the time when the age to come has begun. And at the beginning of this new age the Father presents the Church, the Bride of Christ. The wedding day of the Lamb has finally arrived. This is the day that Christ has looked forward to with great longing. It is a day of great excitement. John then, in Revelation 21.10-21, describes the Church, the new Jerusalem, with a multitude of images. I would like to focus your attention on one thing about the Church that is being pictured in our text. And that one thing is beauty. The Church is beautiful.
John tries to describe this vision of the new Jerusalem. I think that it must have been a little frustrating. But one thing is clear. John is struck by its beauty. It has the radiance of rare jewels and gems. He even tells us that it has the glory of God. If you think about it, this is a very fitting description. You men who are husbands, think back to your wedding day. When you saw your bride on that day as she stood about to process down the aisle, wasn’t there something within you that said, ‘Wow!’ You were struck with the beauty of your bride. That’s what’s going on in our text. John writes about the beauty of Jesus’ bride. And she is dazzling. The Scriptures had pictured before the beauty of the Church in different ways. Consider the tabernacle and then the temples, both Solomon’s and Herod’s. These were beautiful structures along with striking furnishings. They were made of gold, silver, precious gems as well as other expensive materials. These were faint pictures of the beauty of the people of God when this age fades into the age to come. And John tries to give us some sense of that here. Our text is a promise written in pictures. It is the promise of the Gospel that you, individually and corporately, will be beautiful as you finally walk down the aisle to be wed to your husband, our Lord Jesus. The wedding day of the Lamb will be a day of glory.
Now, having said that, what have I said? What is John talking about as he describes the beauty of the Church? What does it mean to be beautiful? Our culture has missed it here. When it comes to beauty, the world focuses on the wrong thing. Listen to a Proverb.
Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion. Proverbs 11:22
What a jarring image! But the point is clear. Outward beauty that is not matched with inward beauty is no beauty at all. Real beauty is, first of all, inward. And here our world has missed it entirely. Our world is so focused on what is merely outward. As a result, what we see so often is ugliness. The Psalms talk about the beauty that really matters.
Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:1-2
The true beauty of a woman is the beauty that is from within, the beauty of holiness. If that beauty is there then it will show as outward beauty also. The beauty of the Church, the beauty that will dazzle Christ will be an inward beauty. It will be the beauty of holiness.
Now, if you follow that along and see it in the context of other Scriptures what you get next is Ephesians 5.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27
Here is Jesus’ bride, the bride who will be presented to Him in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; the bride who will be holy and without blemish. According to Ephesians 5, Jesus is working to sanctifying His bride, to make her beautiful. Our text in Revelation is the promise that Jesus will most assuredly achieve His goal. He will have a beautiful bride on the first day of eternity. And the beauty of His bride will not be something merely outward. She will have the beauty that is inward, the beauty of holiness.
But now comes a question. We are not now beautiful. There is still the ugliness of sin. There is the blemish of a lusting heart, the wrinkle of a lack of trust, the spot of angry spirit. The potential for splendor is there, but there is still much that mars it. How will Jesus make us into the beauty that we will most certainly be? Consider a sculptor. How does a sculptor take a block of granite and transform it into a beautiful statue? He takes a hammer and chisel and bangs away. Then he carefully chips off smaller pieces, a little here, a little there. Then there is the sandpaper. And bit by bit the plain block of marble becomes something striking, something that moves us, something beautiful. Jesus is in the process of making us into something beautiful. And so, He bangs away at our sin using the hammer of suffering and the chisel of pain. He uses beasts and demons and affliction and struggle. He uses life. The process is hard but the end result is glorious.
I am finding that many Christians assume that once they get to heaven everything will start from scratch. Life there will start over from the beginning as if this life never happened. I really don’t think so. The age to come is not something completely new. It is tied to this age. Scripture uses the language of redemption and renewal and not of creation when it refers to the age to come. The things of that age will be the things of this age renovated. This age is very much connected to that one. So, what happens here affects what will happen there. As you face the hardships of this age and deal with them by faith in the Gospel, Jesus is in the process of changing you. He is making you into someone beautiful. The process will last a lifetime. But the assured promise of the Gospel is that when you get to that age you will be radiant and beautiful with a beauty that starts from within and shows on the outside. You will become a beauty who will make Jesus say, ‘Wow!’ As the Father walks the bride – you – down the aisle you are going to see this very large smile on Jesus’ face as He sees His beauty, as He sees you.
Now, let’s ask the next question. Why was this revealed to John? Why is he telling us this? What are we supposed to get out of it? The point of our text is encouragement. And we need all the encouragement we can get. We’ve worked our way through almost all of Revelation. You have seen how this book portrays the saints. How are they pictured? How are they described? According to this letter of John, being a Christian is hard. There are battles with Satan and his agents, battles with our own sin. To transplant something from the Gospel’s, the picture that we see is that being a Christian is a matter of self-denial and cross bearing. And sometimes it gets to be a bit much. ‘Lord, what in the world is going on?!?’ But the Scripture answers that question. Our text is part of the answer. Jesus is in the process of beautifying His bride so that she will be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; so that she might be holy and without blemish. The strife of this life is the hammer and chisel by which He is creating something quite striking. Scripture helps us to understand what is happening in this life. By doing that Scripture also encourages us in the face of these difficult facts. Scripture tells us that it’s all worth it. The process of becoming a beautiful bride is worth it. The chiseling is worth it. At the end of the process we will be radiant with the radiance of holiness. Imagine never having to deal with sin ever again. And I’m not just talking about other people’s sin. Imagine never having to deal with your own sin ever again. That’s part of the beauty of holiness. That’s what Jesus is up to in your life.
But here I would mention a potential problem. There are so many Christians for whom the beauty of holiness in the age to come is not all that enticing. They are quite content to stay here for as long as possible; the longer, the better. There is no yearning for heaven. And one big reason is that they are being fooled by the superficial beauty of this age. Heaven will not be something that you long for until you see fairly clearly the ugliness of this life. It is an ugliness of sin. And it is an ugliness that is being covered over so that the beauty of here is only an outward beauty. This age is the age of sin. That age is the age of holiness. Now really, where would you rather be? Does this mean that there is nothing good and enjoyable here? Absolutely not! God has given us many good things to enjoy. But we need to see those things in their proper light. Those things are not intended to cause us to be rooted to this age. They are intended to picture for us the beauty of the age to come. Enjoy them all. But remember that the best things of this age are still poisoned by sin. It is only in the age to come when the beauty of holiness will consume all.
As you pursue faithfulness with Christ more and more you will find Him chiseling away more and more. When you find yourself in that situation, feeling the hammer blows, remember what those blows are doing. One day will be our wedding day. One day Jesus will come back and the process of becoming beautiful will be over. It will be completed. One day we will be able to worship the Lord in the full beauty of holiness, there to enjoy life without even a hint of sin. Pray for grace that you might believe this part of the Gospel and endure to the end. He who endures to the end will be saved.
Revelation 21.1-2; 9-21
I can remember studying the novel back in high school English class. We talked about things like plot, tone, theme, climax and denouement. Those sorts of things apply to our study of Revelation. We have arrived at and passed the climax of the book. The great battle between Christ and Satan, and his agents, has occurred. We saw how Jesus has won. Satan is defeated and has been hurled into the lake of fire. The war that has lasted centuries is now over and done. The climax has been passed. Now, we come to the denouement of the book. This is where everything is resolved. Here, John tells us what happens after the war has been fought and won. This is where John writes about eternity for the saints.
Now, since this is the book of Revelation, John’s explanation of the resolution will be a little involved. Let me try to explain. The summary of this resolution is contained in chapter 21.1-8. But the fuller expression of that resolution is contained in the rest of Revelation 21 and 22. So, again, since this is Revelation, the summary and the fuller explanation are each divided into seven parts with the first part of the summary tied to the first part of the fuller explanation and on through all seven. Now, what that means is that what John writes in Revelation 21.2 about eternity is explained more fully in Revelation 21.10-21. So, this morning we’ll take a look at this first part of John’s vision of eternity for the saints as he wrote it in these two passages.
John is given a vision of the new Jerusalem. Now, what is that? What is the reality behind the image? This is the Church, the people of God. This is you. The new Jerusalem is you. It is you and all of the saints who have ever lived. The age in which we now live, what John calls the first heaven and the first earth, has been dramatically changed, renovated, fixed, purified. Jesus has brought in the new heavens and the new earth. Our text is pointing to the time when the age to come has begun. And at the beginning of this new age the Father presents the Church, the Bride of Christ. The wedding day of the Lamb has finally arrived. This is the day that Christ has looked forward to with great longing. It is a day of great excitement. John then, in Revelation 21.10-21, describes the Church, the new Jerusalem, with a multitude of images. I would like to focus your attention on one thing about the Church that is being pictured in our text. And that one thing is beauty. The Church is beautiful.
John tries to describe this vision of the new Jerusalem. I think that it must have been a little frustrating. But one thing is clear. John is struck by its beauty. It has the radiance of rare jewels and gems. He even tells us that it has the glory of God. If you think about it, this is a very fitting description. You men who are husbands, think back to your wedding day. When you saw your bride on that day as she stood about to process down the aisle, wasn’t there something within you that said, ‘Wow!’ You were struck with the beauty of your bride. That’s what’s going on in our text. John writes about the beauty of Jesus’ bride. And she is dazzling. The Scriptures had pictured before the beauty of the Church in different ways. Consider the tabernacle and then the temples, both Solomon’s and Herod’s. These were beautiful structures along with striking furnishings. They were made of gold, silver, precious gems as well as other expensive materials. These were faint pictures of the beauty of the people of God when this age fades into the age to come. And John tries to give us some sense of that here. Our text is a promise written in pictures. It is the promise of the Gospel that you, individually and corporately, will be beautiful as you finally walk down the aisle to be wed to your husband, our Lord Jesus. The wedding day of the Lamb will be a day of glory.
Now, having said that, what have I said? What is John talking about as he describes the beauty of the Church? What does it mean to be beautiful? Our culture has missed it here. When it comes to beauty, the world focuses on the wrong thing. Listen to a Proverb.
Like a gold ring in a pig's snout
is a beautiful woman without discretion. Proverbs 11:22
What a jarring image! But the point is clear. Outward beauty that is not matched with inward beauty is no beauty at all. Real beauty is, first of all, inward. And here our world has missed it entirely. Our world is so focused on what is merely outward. As a result, what we see so often is ugliness. The Psalms talk about the beauty that really matters.
Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings,
Ascribe to the LORD glory and strength.
Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name;
Worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness. Psalm 29:1-2
The true beauty of a woman is the beauty that is from within, the beauty of holiness. If that beauty is there then it will show as outward beauty also. The beauty of the Church, the beauty that will dazzle Christ will be an inward beauty. It will be the beauty of holiness.
Now, if you follow that along and see it in the context of other Scriptures what you get next is Ephesians 5.
Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the Church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish. Ephesians 5:25-27
Here is Jesus’ bride, the bride who will be presented to Him in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; the bride who will be holy and without blemish. According to Ephesians 5, Jesus is working to sanctifying His bride, to make her beautiful. Our text in Revelation is the promise that Jesus will most assuredly achieve His goal. He will have a beautiful bride on the first day of eternity. And the beauty of His bride will not be something merely outward. She will have the beauty that is inward, the beauty of holiness.
But now comes a question. We are not now beautiful. There is still the ugliness of sin. There is the blemish of a lusting heart, the wrinkle of a lack of trust, the spot of angry spirit. The potential for splendor is there, but there is still much that mars it. How will Jesus make us into the beauty that we will most certainly be? Consider a sculptor. How does a sculptor take a block of granite and transform it into a beautiful statue? He takes a hammer and chisel and bangs away. Then he carefully chips off smaller pieces, a little here, a little there. Then there is the sandpaper. And bit by bit the plain block of marble becomes something striking, something that moves us, something beautiful. Jesus is in the process of making us into something beautiful. And so, He bangs away at our sin using the hammer of suffering and the chisel of pain. He uses beasts and demons and affliction and struggle. He uses life. The process is hard but the end result is glorious.
I am finding that many Christians assume that once they get to heaven everything will start from scratch. Life there will start over from the beginning as if this life never happened. I really don’t think so. The age to come is not something completely new. It is tied to this age. Scripture uses the language of redemption and renewal and not of creation when it refers to the age to come. The things of that age will be the things of this age renovated. This age is very much connected to that one. So, what happens here affects what will happen there. As you face the hardships of this age and deal with them by faith in the Gospel, Jesus is in the process of changing you. He is making you into someone beautiful. The process will last a lifetime. But the assured promise of the Gospel is that when you get to that age you will be radiant and beautiful with a beauty that starts from within and shows on the outside. You will become a beauty who will make Jesus say, ‘Wow!’ As the Father walks the bride – you – down the aisle you are going to see this very large smile on Jesus’ face as He sees His beauty, as He sees you.
Now, let’s ask the next question. Why was this revealed to John? Why is he telling us this? What are we supposed to get out of it? The point of our text is encouragement. And we need all the encouragement we can get. We’ve worked our way through almost all of Revelation. You have seen how this book portrays the saints. How are they pictured? How are they described? According to this letter of John, being a Christian is hard. There are battles with Satan and his agents, battles with our own sin. To transplant something from the Gospel’s, the picture that we see is that being a Christian is a matter of self-denial and cross bearing. And sometimes it gets to be a bit much. ‘Lord, what in the world is going on?!?’ But the Scripture answers that question. Our text is part of the answer. Jesus is in the process of beautifying His bride so that she will be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing; so that she might be holy and without blemish. The strife of this life is the hammer and chisel by which He is creating something quite striking. Scripture helps us to understand what is happening in this life. By doing that Scripture also encourages us in the face of these difficult facts. Scripture tells us that it’s all worth it. The process of becoming a beautiful bride is worth it. The chiseling is worth it. At the end of the process we will be radiant with the radiance of holiness. Imagine never having to deal with sin ever again. And I’m not just talking about other people’s sin. Imagine never having to deal with your own sin ever again. That’s part of the beauty of holiness. That’s what Jesus is up to in your life.
But here I would mention a potential problem. There are so many Christians for whom the beauty of holiness in the age to come is not all that enticing. They are quite content to stay here for as long as possible; the longer, the better. There is no yearning for heaven. And one big reason is that they are being fooled by the superficial beauty of this age. Heaven will not be something that you long for until you see fairly clearly the ugliness of this life. It is an ugliness of sin. And it is an ugliness that is being covered over so that the beauty of here is only an outward beauty. This age is the age of sin. That age is the age of holiness. Now really, where would you rather be? Does this mean that there is nothing good and enjoyable here? Absolutely not! God has given us many good things to enjoy. But we need to see those things in their proper light. Those things are not intended to cause us to be rooted to this age. They are intended to picture for us the beauty of the age to come. Enjoy them all. But remember that the best things of this age are still poisoned by sin. It is only in the age to come when the beauty of holiness will consume all.
As you pursue faithfulness with Christ more and more you will find Him chiseling away more and more. When you find yourself in that situation, feeling the hammer blows, remember what those blows are doing. One day will be our wedding day. One day Jesus will come back and the process of becoming beautiful will be over. It will be completed. One day we will be able to worship the Lord in the full beauty of holiness, there to enjoy life without even a hint of sin. Pray for grace that you might believe this part of the Gospel and endure to the end. He who endures to the end will be saved.
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