by Wayne Dobratz

[Suitable for All Saints Day (1 Nov) or the following Sunday]

The telephone rings and you recognize a voice that you haven’t heard in years.
Your old friends are out at the truck stop and they want to know if you live in the same
place and if they can come to see you. After you’ve had some time to get
reacquainted, your friends ask you: "How’s your father doing these days?"
Oh, I guess you didn’t hear about him, did you? Well, he passed away last summer. He
was 92 years old. Oh, I’m sorry to hear that, your friend says. We didn’t know.

Well, how is he doing? He was a Christian all his life and he died trusting in the Lord
Jesus Christ for eternal life. How’s he doing? Today’s text has the answer to
that and a number of other questions you and I have been thinking about for a long time. I
invite you to join me in thinking about :

THE HOLY CITY

1) She’s a beautiful bride

2) There is no danger there

3) Who will live there

We celebrate All Saints day today. Last week we heard about the peace that God gives us
through His Word. Today we learn more about that peace as we see a spell-binding vision of
the heavenly home. The Lord Jesus himself gives this vision through John in the Book of
Revelation. The Lord Jesus shows us how our Christian loved ones are doing there in our
Father’s house. He wants us to feel home-sick for heaven and he wants us to take a
lot of others along with us on this greatest of all sight-seeing trips.

When you’re planning a once-in-a-lifetime trip, you do your homework. If
you’re going to spend two weeks in Europe, you want to see as much as you can,
because you know you may never get a chance to go back. You & I have been planning
this trip to the Holy City for all of our Christian lives. You might say that John was
given a travelogue and he wrote it down for us.

Many Christians won’t even read the Book of Revelation because they’re
frightened at what they read there. While there are some sobering images in this book, we
need to remember that it was written to comfort Christians who were undergoing fierce
persecution. It was written to comfort them. It is written as spiritual medicine. Much of
it has been fulfilled in the last 1900 years; some of the fulfilment remains.

Next to the Gospels themselves and some of Paul’s Letters, the Book of Revelation
is the most comforting book of the Bible. Think of the joy we have at a wedding. This is
the kind of joy the Lord Jesus wants to share by allowing you to see a glimpse of your
future and your departed Christian loved ones’ present.

First, John shows us THE BEAUTIFUL BRIDE: Look at the first paragraph of the text with
me now:

Rev. 21:9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last
plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the
Lamb." 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and
showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with
the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a
jasper, clear as crystal.

The angel who appeared to John promised to show him, THE BRIDE, THE WIFE OF THE LAMB.
We see here the church in her heavenly glory. Think of your Christian loved ones who have
gone on before and look at what you see here! John tell us that we was carried away to the
top of "a great and high mountain."

Much as Ladies who attend a wedding are asked to describe the dress of the Bride and
her bridesmaids, John gives us a description of "the bride, the wife of the
Lamb." Look at the last sentence of the first paragraph to see his detailed
description: It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very
precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

The Holy City shines with the glory of God. The word "glory" always points to
light. John is asking his readers to remember the O.T. Tabernacle. "The glory of the
Lord" was the bright light in which God showed himself to his people in the
wilderness and later on as well. When the tabernacle was dedicated, we are told that
"the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle." The same thing happened when
Solomon’s Temple was dedicated.

John goes on: "its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a
jasper, clear as crystal." The church gets her light from God himself. We are told
later on that "the city does not need the light of the sun or the moon to shine on
it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp."

Darkness and danger were almost the same thing to the ancient people. We enjoy a lot of
artificial light, but they had only hand-held lamps and torches to fight off the attack of
darkness. You won’t have that problem in the Holy City, John is told. No sun or moon
will be needed in this city for God will be its light. Since God is everywhere, this light
will be everywhere. Darkness will be only a memory. And the Lamb is its lamp. This is the
only place in the Bible that Jesus is called "a Lamp." John is being told that
Jesus is the Light of the Heavenly City, just as He is the light of this dark world.

Many Bible Teachers see a reference to Jesus here. "The glory of the Lord and the
Lamb" mean the same thing. Just as Jesus’ face was shining like the sun on the
Mountain of Transfiguration, so he shines in every corner of the Holy City.

That takes us the next thing we learn about THE HOLY CITY.

THERE IS NO DANGER THERE. Study the vacation books about the city you want to visit and
they’ll give you some advice on how to have a safe visit. They’ll tell you to
walk only in lighted areas.

No need for such directions here. John tells us: On no day will its gates ever be shut,
for there will be no night there. The complete safety of those who live there is
underscored. City gates in ancient times were always closed at night because of the danger
of an enemy sneaking in under cover of darkness. Only when the gates were closed could the
city sleep in peace. John goes on to explain why these gates will never be closed: …
Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful,
but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

There won’t be any enemies there. There won’t be any danger there.

Salvation is complete. It has been signed, sealed and delivered. Jesus paid for it on
the cross and he sends out His Ambassadors from that day to this to tell the Good News.
The Good News is that He is our perfect salvation. He not only kept the Law for us
perfectly; he nailed all of our sins with Him to his cross, taking them away forever.

Paul tells us that Jesus has taken sin out of the way, having nailed it to the cross
(Colossians 2:14).

Lloyd John Ogilvie explains: Paul uses two vivid pictures to communicate the power of
the cross for our forgiveness. Both have to do with the custom in his time of writing a
charge list against a person. The list could be of wrongs committed or debts owed. The
charge list was often displayed in a city square or near the town hall where everyone
could read it. The offending person was disgraced.

On a deeper level, God had a charge list against humankind. There was no way we can pay
the debt of sin. In search for images to communicate the grace of Calvary, Paul told the
Colossians that the redemption through Christ was like wiping clean the charge list and
nailing it to the cross.

In Paul’s day writing paper and ink were very different from what they are today.
There was no indelible ink, and parchment was often smooth. Writing could be wiped off
with a damp sponge. In Christ’s death all our trespasses were wiped from our charge
list.

Not only is the charge list wiped clean, it’s nailed to the cross. When a nail was
driven through a displayed charge list, it was proof that the charges had been paid or
canceled. When the nails were driven through Christ’s hands, our debts were canceled.
So whenever we sin, we need to claim that our failure has been nailed – – paid in full.

That’s why the residents of the Holy City wear white robes. Their sins have been
nailed to the cross. The charges against them have been wiped away. "The blood of
Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sins."

Remember that we’re reading from the last part of Revelation now. There is great
peace and calm in the City because the devil, the beast and the false prophets have been
thrown into the lake of fire in total defeat. That’s why the gates are wide open.
That’s why there are no watchmen on the city walls. There’s no danger to watch
for. The city offers complete security to all who are granted the privilege of living
there. What a glorious future John is holding out to the persecuted Christians of his time
who were not safe anywhere from the threat of the cruel Roman Government.

Here’s the last thing Jesus wants to show us. He shows us who will live in THE
HOLY CITY. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or
deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

There’s a song about heaven that many Christians enjoy because of its praise of
heaven. You’ve heard the song THE HOLY CITY. The song has a fatal flaw. After
describing the joys of heaven, it goes on to say: AND NO ONE WAS DENIED.

That’s just not true. The whole idea of holiness is the separation of goodness
from evil. The only people who will be there will be those who have "washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." By nature I am impure and so are
you. Because of my sinful human nature I have done things I should not have done and so
have you. Because of our sinful flesh, we don’t always tell the truth. If our sinful
nature were allowed free course, if Jesus hadn’t stepped in to save us, we would be
included in that awful paragraph in this last part of Revelation: Rev. 22:15 "
Outside are the violent, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the
murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood."

But I fully expect to enter that Holy City and so can you, because your name and mine
are written in the Book of Life. And what is the Book of Life? Jesus is the Book of Life.
Count how many times the Bible tells us that we are IN CHRIST. Because the Holy Spirit has
given us faith in Jesus in our Baptism, your name and mine are written in the Book of
Life. How often have we not sung at the Baptism of our children: "WRITE THE NAME WE
NOW HAVE GIVEN. WRITE IT IN THE BOOK OF HEAVEN. "

John tells us what we will experience there in the HOLY CITY. " Then the angel
showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of
God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the
river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every
month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there
be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will
serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.

There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the
sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever. Seeing
God face to face is the universe’s ultimate experience. Seeing His smile in person is
all you could ever hope for. His smile in His blessing has lighted your Christian life
from Day One. In the Holy City you will see it for yourself and the joy will never end.

There’s healing here for all your hurts. Does your body hurt now? There’s
healing waiting for you in heaven. Do you have emotional wounds and scars? There’s a
tree in Paradise for the healing of your hurts. On each side of the river stood the tree
of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of
the tree are for the healing of the nations.

And it’s all free for the taking. That’s the grace of our God and that’s
the City he has built for those who love Him.

Once there was an old man who everyday would take long walks with the Lord. On these
walks, he and the Lord God would talk about all kinds of things—about the important
times in the old man’s life: when he met his wife, the birth of his children, special
Christmases, etc. One day while they were out walking for an especially long time, the
Lord looked at the old man and said, "We are closer to my house than we are to yours.
Why don’t you just come home with me." And that is what he did!

Lord, give us such a faith as this,

and then whatever comes;

we’ll taste even now

the hallowed bliss

of an eternal home.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

• Wayne Dobratz <>