The Eternal City - Part 2

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In the ancient world, Rome was called the Eternal City. And the reason for that was that for 800 years, the city of Rome was absolutely untouchable. Roman coins were stamped with the Latin words, Invicta Roma Aeterna, eternal, unconquered Rome.

But on August 24th, in the year AD 410, an army of 40,000 barbarians led by a warrior named Alaric did the unthinkable. They breached the city walls, and they sacked and burned the city of Rome. When Jerome, who was away in Bethlehem, studying there, heard about the fall of Rome, he sat in stunned silence for three days. And then he wrote a friend these words, “The city to which the whole world fell has fallen. If Rome can perish, what can be safe?” 

You know, the fall of Rome reminds us that there is only one eternal city, and it's the one whose builder and architect is God. It's the one we're studying in the end of Revelation. Let's read together a portion of this account. Last week we began to study the Revelation about this city. It begins in chapter 21, verse 9, and we studied all the way down through verse 21. I'll review that in a moment. But for our reading, let's pick up in chapter 21, verse 22, the passage we'll study together this morning. You follow along as I read. 

I saw no temple in it, [that is, this new Jerusalem, the eternal city] for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And the city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. 

Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. There will no longer be any curse, and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it. 

Through his apostle John, Christ here gives us a detailed description of the eternal capital city of the new world, where every believer will live forever. In this entire passage, beginning back in chapter 21, verse 9 and running down through chapter 22, verse 5, we are discovering several remarkable features of this eternal city where we will live with Christ forever. 

Let me just remind you of what we discovered last week. The first feature we saw last week was its initial introduction in verses 9 through 11 of chapter 21. We first met the tour guides of the city. John's guide was one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with wrath. And then in turn, John became our guide after having had a tour himself. He walks us through what he saw, and of course John is one of the twelve apostles. 

He begins the tour with sort of an overall impression of the city in verse 11. It was “having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.” As we saw last time the entire city looks like one great sparkling diamond. The city is a giant jewel turning and sparkling like a diamond in the sunlight, casting its dazzling refracted colors across the universe. That’s the first glimpse of this majestic city. 

The second feature we examined last time was its architectural details. John drills down a bit and lets us see more of what this city is about. He begins with its walls and gates in verses 12 to 14.

Its massive walls have 12 great gate towers, three of them pointing in each direction of the compass, undoubtedly divided along the length of each city wall. 

Its size and symmetry in verses 15 to 17, we learned that the city is a perfectly symmetrical 14-to-1500-mile cube. On every side, it's the length of the distance from Dallas to Los Angeles: 14 to 1500 miles. It's a perfect cube like the Holy of Holies in the Old Testament temple, because it will be the Holy of Holies for eternity. 

And the city is encased with a wall that is 72 yards thick. In verses 18 to 21, we learned about its materials and its construction. The outer walls were like jasper. In other words, the outer walls were like a diamond. The inner city was pure gold like clear glass. The foundation stones of the city wall were adorned with every kind of precious stone. All the colors of the rainbow as we saw last time. 

The 12 gates, verse 21 tells us, were 12 pearls. Each one of the gates was carved from a single divinely made pearl. Those massive entrance ways into the city. And the city streets, verse 21 tells us, were pure gold like transparent glass. The entire network of intersecting streets and boulevards and avenues across the entire 1400-mile cube will be the highest quality gold so pure it looks like transparent glass. That’s what we have discovered so far about our eternal home. 

But that brings us today to a third feature of this city. And you would expect us to come here, the third feature is its eternal center. Its eternal center. At the center of this eternal city, not surprisingly, is an eternal person. You see, this city is not about diamonds and gold and jewels. Those are just building materials. It's not even primarily about the redeemed saints who will live there. You see, just like the men and women who are recorded in Scripture are not its main characters, you and I will not be the main characters in eternity. God alone is the hero of the story of redemption from its first chapter to its final chapter.

And that's what we learn in our text this morning. In fact, in these verses we're going to examine, John explains to us the various ways that God Himself will be the eternal center of life, the eternal center of the new universe, the eternal center of the new earth, the eternal center of this great eternal city. Let's look at it together.

John first tells us that God will be the eternal center of this city because He is its only temple. He is its only temple. Look at verse 22: “I saw no temple in it,” he says. I saw no temple. By the way, there are fascinating similarities between these verses and the description of the millennium, the thousand-year reign of Christ, which happens before this, in Ezekiel 40 to 48.

There are similarities, but there are also clear differences because they are describing two different time periods: Ezekiel 40 to 48 describing the thousand-year reign of Christ on this earth renewed, which has already happened before what we are studying; and the passage we are studying describes the eternal state. So, they are different time periods, and so there are similarities, but they are different. And the key difference is in Ezekiel, there is a temple. In this city, there is no temple. Why is that?

Well, in the Old Testament, the temple was the place you went to worship. It's the place where God specially manifested His presence. There in the Holy of Holies, that represented the throne room of Israel's king. It's where God displayed His glory. And it's therefore the temple was where you went to worship God, where His presence was manifested. 

But in eternity, Jesus promised to the Samaritan woman in John 4 will be fulfilled. You remember what He said to her? John 4:21, Jesus said, “Woman, believe Me, an hour is coming when neither in this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father.” Verse 23, “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.”

When the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed, God's people kept worshiping because we now worship in spirit and in truth. That's true today, but it will be fulfilled in its richness and fullness in the eternal state. In eternity, we will never leave God's presence. It will fill the city, the earth and the universe. Worship won't be in one place, but in the universal presence of the One with whom we live. Verse 22 says, “For the Lord God, the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.”

There's no temple because we will live in the presence of God. God Himself and the Lamb are personally present. The entire city is the Holy of Holies, and we live there with God. That's why there doesn't need to be a temple. We will live with our God, and we will always be, think about this Christian, we will always be in perfect communion with Him, our hearts overflowing in worship. If you're a believer, you know what it's like to have that moment when you have confessed your sins, when your heart and hands are pure and you can enjoy God, you can fellowship with Him, you can worship Him with your whole heart. Imagine what it will be like when that will be the story of every moment, of every day, of every month, of every year, of whatever calendar heaven operates on forever. As redeemed people, we will forever be the true worshipers that God sought when He saved us. So, He is its only temple.

But secondly, John points out that God is the eternal center of that city because He is its only light. Verse 23, “The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine on it.” There's no need for any cosmic light sources. It's going to be lighted from within. Verse 23 says, “For the glory of God has illumined it.” The blazing, brilliant light that is always the visible display of God's glory, that will be the source of the city's light.

Can you imagine what that will be like? You know, I can't help but think back to last Monday during the total solar eclipse here in Dallas, and that was a magnificent event, wasn't it? Our God is a great God. But think about, and I was struck by this, as the moon covered the sun, and there was just the tiniest sliver of the sun still showing, I was struck by how much light there was still on the earth. It was only when it completely covered the sun that it became dark. Just a tiny little sliver, because that sun 93 million miles away is so intensely bright, just a little fraction is enough to give light to the world.

But God's glory makes our noonday sun look like a glowing spark of an extinguished candle. And it's His glory that will light the city. And the shining of His glory won't be confined to one part of the city, it will shine throughout. In the center, probably, glowing out through that great diamond city. 

Isaiah the prophet prophesied this. I love what he writes. Listen to these words. This is Isaiah 60 verses 19 and 20. He says, 

No longer will you have the sun for light by day, nor for brightness will the moon give you light; but you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light, and your God for your glory. Your sun will no longer set, nor will your moon wane; for you will have Yahweh for an everlasting light.

Notice that then John says in verse 23, “and its lamp is the Lamb.” Now I confess to you that when I read the Bible, there are certain expressions that are intriguing to me, and this is one of them. It struck me as I read this, in the first part of the verse, we're told that the glory of God will replace the sun and the moon. Here we're told that the Lamb, our Lord Jesus Christ, the God Man, will replace a lamp. Now doesn't that strike you as interesting? Why is Jesus like a lamp and not like the sun?

Well, it's possible, and this is how many most commentators would interpret it, it's possible that lamp here is just a synonym for the sun and moon, meaning that Jesus is also a source of light, like they are a source of light. That's very possible. It may stop there.

But I'm also intrigued, and I think it's possible that “lamp” here is used to refer to the human nature of Jesus. Remember, our Lord is fully God and fully man. As fully divine, He along with the Father and the Holy Spirit will blaze in His glory like the sun. But Jesus will forever also have a human nature, and His glorified body will be restricted to one place at a time, just like ours will be. John may mean here that wherever Jesus' glorified body is, wherever His human nature is, at any moment in time in the new world, He will be its lamp. He will light up every place He goes.

But regardless, notice John adds in verse 24, “The nations will walk by its light.” The glory of God will not only illumine the city, but the point is here, it will illumine the entire new earth. And we could add the entire new universe. We shouldn't be surprised by that. I mean, even today, Jesus is the spiritual light of the world That's what He Himself claimed in John chapter 8, verse 12. He said, “I am the light of the world. He who follows Me will not walk in the darkness, but will have the light of life.” Jesus is the spiritual light of the world. But here's what's remarkable.

Jesus is also the spiritual light that has shown in the heart of every believer. Second Corinthians chapter 4, verse 4 says, “the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.”

They're blind, they don't see the light that is Jesus Christ. And then he says this, verse 6, “For God who said, ‘Light shall shine out of darkness,’ is the One who has shown in our hearts to give the Light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” It's a beautiful expression.

Saying the same God who spoke and the sun and light and all that is physical light in the universe came into existence, that same God, one day, Christian, one day you heard the gospel, and through that gospel, that same creating God said, “Let there be light.” And your dark heart was suddenly flaming with light. You saw the truth. You saw the truth of who you are. You saw the truth of who God is. You saw the beauty of Jesus Christ. Jesus is the Light. And He will always be the Light, including of the new Eternal City. 

There's a third way that God is clearly at the center of this city. God is its only glory. God is its only glory. Verse 24, “and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.” And then skip over the intervening verse. Look at verse 26, “and they,”—this is where he completes the thought—"they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations.” The Greek word is ethne, can mean “peoples.” “They will bring the glory and honor of the peoples into the city.”

Now that raises a question. Who are these kings and who are these nations and peoples of the earth? Let me just tell you, there have been a lot of answers that have been given to that question.

And some of them, I'll just be honest with you, are just whacked out. I'm not going to give you all the ones that are out there, but let me give you a couple, for example. Some say that this is just an Old Testament figure of speech that simply means Gentiles will be there. You know, the word ethne is often used of the Gentile nations. And so, they say that all this means is it won't just be Jewish people there, there'll be Gentile people there as well. And certainly, that's true.

I don't think that's what this is saying, but that's a true statement. 

Others say this is referring to non-glorified believers that were born and were saved during the millennium that are simply transferred, un-glorified into the eternal state. And glorified believers live in the city, and the rest of these people live out on the new earth. I don't see that anywhere in Scripture. 

I think another interpretation is far more likely. Think with me for a moment. Clearly, only the redeemed will live in this new universe. Only the redeemed will enter this city, according to verse 27. So, this group, the kings and the nations, is not distinct from the redeemed. They are the redeemed. Redeemed from every tribe and tongue and nation. 

So why then are they portrayed as coming from outside the city? Well, I think you have to put yourself back in the ancient world for a moment. In the ancient world, the city was the anchor point of your life. But during the day, many left the city to carry out their normal daily task, their occupations. I think likely in eternity, we will live in this eternal city, but we will work and serve

across the new earth in a variety of ways, including reigning, we're told a little later in chapter 22. I think one commentator, Fanning, was right when he wrote this: 

It's a picture of vibrant human commerce and interaction across the renewed earth with Jerusalem as its center. These verses reflect lively, productive human life and commerce on a renewed earth. Its redeemed people move in and out of the city that forms the center of God's new creation. They use their creative skills and crafts, and they till and tend the now fruitful earth.

I think that's exactly what's described here. We live in the city, but we're also represented by the kings and the nations because we work and thrive outside the city as well. And the point is this in our text, all our work and all our industry, everything that we accomplish throughout eternity will never be for our own glory. We will bring the glory of all of our work and all of our accomplishments into the city, and we will attribute it all to the Person at the center of that eternal city to our God. I mean, Christian, think about it like this. In this way, there's no difference between now and eternity. The first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism asks this, “What is the chief end of man?” And what's the answer? “To glorify God and to enjoy Him forever.”

That's true now, it will be true then. So whatever glory you and I accomplish in our pursuits in the new world, and we'll talk more about that next week, Lord willing, what we actually do, what we accomplish, we will bring all of the glory and honor that we might receive for that into the city, and we will lay it at the feet of the One who deserves it. 

There's a fourth way that God will clearly be the center of the Eternal City. God is its only security. God is its only security. And because He is its guard, He is its protector, first of all, He will allow no physical threat. Look at verse 25, “In the daytime, (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed.” You understand that in the ancient world, the gates of the city were closed whenever there was a threat. Whether it was during the day, if there was an obvious

threat, and certainly at night, to avoid people using the cover of dark to bring some physical threat to the citizens of the city. The huge gates of this Eternal City will never close because God will never allow any threat to its peace, its prosperity or its security. 

And almost as a parenthetical statement, John tells us there will be no night there. I love that. I don't know about you. I mean, I'm grateful for night. I'm grateful for the opportunity in a fallen world to rest our bodies for the sort of recharge that it provides. But I have said to myself so many times, think about all I could accomplish if I didn't have to sleep. Well, guess what?

In our glorified bodies, we apparently won't need sleep, but we will have boundless energy that will never be exhausted, continually filled with new and fresh vitality to work and to serve and to enjoy relationships and all that the new world holds. 

Not only will there be no physical threat, but He will also allow no spiritual evil, verse 27, “and nothing unclean.” No one who has not been cleansed in regeneration will ever enter this Eternal City. “And no one who practices abomination,”—that is no one whose life is characterized by doing those things God hates. “And lying.” Now, why does he put that in here?

Why does he include lying as a separate line item? I think the sin of lying may be singled out because regardless of how moral a person may appear to be to others, all unbelievers are marked to some extent by lying. I shared with you recently that poll that Americans said that they lie to others on average three times a day. I think they're being really generous with themselves. Lying marks all unbelievers. And notice verse 27, no one marked by those things “shall ever come into” this city. God will never allow a fallen angel. He'll never allow an unregenerate sinner into the Eternal City of the new world. That, by the way, is why the gates are never shut. Because there's no threat. There's no physical danger. There's no spiritual danger. There's no threat at all. So, the gates are never shut.

Who is allowed to enter the city? Verse 27 ends this way, “Only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. I love that. John again reminds us that salvation, eternal life, citizenship in the eternal city, all rest on one thing. They rest on the finished work of Jesus Christ.

Our only hope of ever seeing this city, of ever entering it, of ever living there, our hope rests entirely on Jesus, on His incarnation, on the fact that the eternal Son of God added to Himself full and complete humanity and came into the world. It rests on His perfect life of obedience lived in our place. It rests on His substitutionary death in which He took upon Himself the sins of all His people and there paid the price in full so that God could forgive us.

It rests on His resurrection in which God raised Him from the dead. He is our only hope. Listen, if you're here this morning and you're not a believer in Jesus Christ, in our text, He's making it clear to you that you will never get into this city except through Him. He is the door. He is the gate. He is the way.

He said in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth and the life.” “No one,”—not me, not you, no one—“comes to the Father except through Me.” When I was growing up, Christians often put on their cars a bumper sticker and on their Bibles “One Way” to talk about the exclusivity of the Gospel. Jesus is the only way. It's not really popular anymore in our inclusive age, but it's still true. There's only one way to God. It's through Jesus Christ. My plea to you this morning is to humble yourself, put yourself on your face before Jesus Christ, pleading for Him to forgive you and to reconcile you to your Creator. That's the only way you will ever cast a shadow on this city.

There's a fifth way that God will be the center of this city, God is its only life. God is its only life.

Now this brings us to Chapter 22. This point is illustrated in two elements that John saw in this city. First of all, notice he sees the river of life. Verse 1, “Then he,”—that's the same angel guide that we met back in Chapter 21, Verse 9, same angel—"showed me a river.” This city will have a river that flows through it just like the original Garden of Eden did.

But notice the water in this river is unique. It is the water of life. The water in this river is water that sustains life eternally. Of course, if you've already believed in Jesus Christ, you've already drunk of this water. Chapter 22, Verse 17 says, “Let the one who's thirsty come; let the one who wishes take of the water of life without cost.” Jesus is the water of life, and if you're a Christian, you've already drunk of Him.

Christians now in heaven experience this. Chapter 7, Verse 17, “The lamb in the center of the throne will . . . guide them to springs of the water of life.” But here we learn in eternity, we will enjoy the fullness of the water of life. John adds, notice that this river in verse 1 is clear as crystal. The Greek word for “clear” means “shining or sparkling.” As this river flows, it sparkles like crystal. It will be the cleanest, purest, most refreshing water you have ever tasted. Yesterday I went into a place to get some tea, and they sell themselves as having the purest ice and water that you can get. And I watched this lady carrying these two massive water bottles to get them filled with their water.

Listen, you won't need to do that in eternity. This river will be there. Notice verse 1 says, It's “coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The obvious point is its source is God. It flows from the shared throne of God and of the Lamb. By the way, this reminds us of the nature of our God. We worship one God eternally existing in three co-equal, consubstantial, co-eternal, yet distinct Persons. One God, three Persons. 

Notice this river flows from the throne, verse 2 says, “in the middle of its street.” This crystal-clear river flows from beneath the throne of God down the middle of the city's main street, becoming a cascading course of waterfalls and streams throughout the city. This beautiful river will flow down the middle of Heaven's central boulevard and disperse throughout the city. It will cascade down from one level after another of that great cubed city, creating breathtaking waterfalls, and then flowing out the city to the rest of the New Earth. And we'll have constant access wherever we are to the water of life in this river. 

But John also saw, secondly, the tree of life. Verse 2 goes on, “On either side of the river was the tree of life.” Although there is some ambiguity in the original language, I think the NAS best captures the best understanding of it. The river flows down the middle of the street. So, think of this main street in heaven as a boulevard, a divided boulevard, like Southlake Boulevard here in our city. And it's a divided boulevard with a river that flows down its middle rather than a median. And on the banks on each side of that river, between the river and each side of the boulevard is, notice what he says, “the tree of life.” Now, the wording here is a play on words.

There's not just one tree in eternity like there was in Eden, as becomes clear in just a moment. But the singular alludes back to that one tree in Genesis 2. But it's used here in a collective, singular sense that really means trees. Clearly, the entire river is lined on both sides by trees. In fact, I think even a forest of trees. 

Why do I say that? Well, it's interesting. There's a similar river that will flow from Jerusalem during the millennium, during the thousand-year reign of Christ, before this. And listen to how that river is described in Ezekiel 47, verse 7: “On the bank of the river there were very many trees on the one side and on the other.” Very similar wording in the language. I think that's the idea here in Revelation 22. I think there will be a forest of real trees on both sides of this magnificent river that flows from the throne of God, and those real trees will both provide and symbolize eternal life and blessing. 

Look at verse 2, “bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.” Notice “kinds of” in our translation is in italics. You know this, but when words in our Bible are in italics, it means the translators added them to give clarity. What the Greek literally says is “bearing twelve fruits.”

Now, John may mean that these trees bear twelve different kinds of fruit, a different fruit each month. Kind of a heavenly Harry of David's fruit of the month tree. Speaking of incredible variety, that may be what he means. Or he may mean that these trees bear the same kind of fruit fresh every month. In other words, twelve crops of fruit, not twelve kinds. We can't be sure.

But regardless, the very mention of fruit implies what? That we will eat the fruit. Now, some people are surprised by that. They're like, well, wait a minute, we have glorified bodies. We won't need to eat. Well, it's true. You won't need to eat. But don't forget that others who haven't needed to eat have eaten. Angels ate with Abraham and Sarah in Genesis 18. Christ ate and drank in His glorified body, Luke 24, verses 42 and 43. And Peter says in Acts 10:41, “We ate and drank with Jesus after He rose from the dead.” So, Jesus did. I believe we will as well. We will eat and drink just like He did after we're glorified, not for necessary physical sustenance, but for sheer joy.

Verse 2 goes on, “and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” The nations here again is peoples without distinction. But the big question is why healing? This is the eternal state. Who needs to be healed? There's no sickness there. Well, that's a little misleading because the Greek word is therapeia. You recognize our word “therapy” in it. This word can also refer to something that is “health-giving” or “life-giving.” And I think that's the idea here. This tree will sustain and enrich our lives. Here's the really good news. You won't need a cabinet full of vitamins in the eternal state. The only health-giving, life-giving thing you'll need is the water of the river of life and the fruit of the tree of life. John Walvoord writes, “The leaves of the tree promote the enjoyment of life . . . and are not for correcting ills which do not exist.” You see, every part of these trees will enhance our lives, their shade, their fruit, making our lives rich and satisfying. 

Now folks, step back for a moment and think about what John has shared with us. This magnificently huge city is like a diamond jewel sparkled with all the colors of the rainbow. Streets of gold, transparent gold, foundations of all precious stones. But he goes on to describe here that there will be a major river flowing from God's throne, and that river will run through the entire city with streams and tributaries that spread across that entire 14-to-1,500-mile cube.

And the banks of the river and the banks of the streams will be lined by forests of trees. The entire cube of the Eternal City will be like one massive Grand Central Park. That's what our Lord has prepared for us. It reminds me of Ephesians 2:7. I love that passage. Ephesians 2:7, it says, “He saved us so that in the ages to come, He might show us the riches of His grace in kindness to us in Christ Jesus.” Here's one expression, one massive expression of that kindness. 

There's another important lesson in these verses though, and that is the river of life and the trees of life that line the river serve as eternal reminders that our God and our Lord Jesus Christ are the eternal source of our life. Listen, when you get to heaven, you're not going to be a god like the false teachers want you to believe. You're still going to be human. You'll be a glorified human, but still a human, and you and I will depend forever, every day, on our God to sustain our lives. And this is the promise that He will.

John finishes with this breathtaking statement in verse 3, “There will no longer be any curse.” The curse that God pronounced in Genesis 3 that has marked every person and every moment of human history since the garden will be gone and gone forever. I love the way this ends. Think about it with me for a moment. Look again at Revelation 22, verses 1 to 5. You understand that those are the last verses in the body of the book of Revelation. The epilogue begins with verse 6. So, the last five verses of the body of the last book of the Bible take us back where? To Genesis, chapters 1 to 3. In Genesis 1 to 3, God creates paradise, and he places man in it. And you remember a river flowed out of the garden of Eden, Genesis 2:10. And there was the Tree of Life, Genesis 2:9 And if Adam hadn't sinned, he could have eaten and enjoyed eternal life, Genesis 3:22. But because of Adam's sin, God cursed the entire creation, including with physical death, Genesis 3. In fact, Genesis 3 ends with these tragic words: “God drove the man out [of the garden], and at the east of the garden of Eden, he stationed the cherubim, and the flaming sword which turned every direction to guard the way to the tree of life.” You see, paradise was lost. And it appeared lost forever.

But it's in that context that in Revelation chapter 2, verse 7, Christ makes this promise to us who are His followers. Listen to this: “He who overcomes, to him, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” In other words, Christ promises paradise regained for everyone who loves and follows Him. 

So, in Revelation 22, verses 1 to 5, by God's grace and through the redeeming work of the Lamb, paradise is regained. There's no more curse, no more pain, no more sorrow, no more death. We all drink of the water of the river of life. We all eat of the tree of life forever and ever. That constant access to the river and the tree assures us of everlasting enjoyment of eternal life. Psalm 16:11, “In Your presence is fullness of joy; in Your right hand there are pleasures forever.”

There's one last way, it's clear that God will be the center of this eternal city. It's in verse 3: God is its only King. “And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it.” Folks, that's what makes eternity worth living for and worth dying for. It's the presence of our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ forever. Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you so that I can come and receive you to Myself so that where I am, there you may be also forever.”

Fanny Crosby was a blind hymn writer. She wrote a lot of hymns—I think 3,000 or so. We don't sing many of them anymore, but she wrote a hymn that my dad loved after he came to Christ. He was a music director, and so since he loved it, we sang it often in the churches I grew up in. This is what she wrote: 

When my life work is ended, and I cross the swelling tide, when the bright and glorious morning I shall see, I shall know my Redeemer when I reach the other side, and His smile will be the first to welcome me. Through the gates to the city, in a robe of spotless white, He will lead me where no tears will ever fall. In the glad song of ages, I shall mingle with delight, but I long to see my Savior first of all. 

You know, it's hard to imagine the unimaginable blessing of living in this Eternal City, in paradise regained. But brother, sister in Christ, listen, the greatest blessing of all will be eternal, perfect, unbroken fellowship with our God and with the Lord Jesus Christ, whom we will live with forever, and we will bask in the light of Their glory forever. We will see His face, John writes. That's worth living for. That's worth waiting for. And that's worth dying for. Let's pray together.

Father, thank You for this magnificent description of our eternal home. Thank you for Your grace in letting us see it. Help us like Abraham to live looking for the city whose architect and builder is God. Thank you, Lord Jesus, that You have prepared this place for us who love You so that we can be with You forever. Help us to live in light of that today. Help us to live looking.

Father, I also pray for those who are here who don't know You. Lord, use these two chapters, as You did in my own life so many years ago, to bring them to true faith. Help them to see they have no hope of ever seeing this city, of ever going into it. Their place is in the lake of fire unless they come to the only One who can ensure their eternal presence there, the Lord Jesus Christ. May they do so even today. May they humble themselves and cry out to Him in repentance and faith. We ask in His name.