Sermons

Pinebrooke Community Church                                 27 July 2025      “Jerusalem the Bride”                                       Revelation 21:9-22:19

         You have probably heard the wisdom of Solomon quoted many times “without a vision, the people perish.”  I think Solomon recognized the nature of man as created in the image of God.  When we gather up the stories of God with His people or the way that Jesus taught His audiences with parables that they could envision or how God has chosen to reveal His story about history now through Revelations we see how vision is essential for living fully to the glory of God, which is why we are here.                             

We have been given a visual picture throughout this final letter in God’s revelation to humankind.  It is important that we grow to see the forest for the trees.  I’ve been reading a fascinating text by Temple Grandin, The Autistic Brain.  As an autistic person herself she was a university professor in animal biology in her teaching days and one of her great gifts from God is that she has an amazing ability to view a series of structures and reproduce them from memory in perfect detail.  She carries a visual picture in her brain that is extraordinary.                                                    

I suspect that it is God’s desire that we carry the vision that He has communicated to us through this visual expression of His will and plan for the redemption, judgment, and restoration of creation.  I think it is God’s intent that Revelation is given to us to help reshape our perceptual framework, the way we see things.

Revelation 22:1-12

         Scene 8 opens (21:9).  The angel…usually in the Bible seven is the number of completions, but in this vision of John’s there is an 8^th, Scene.  For theologians who study this sort of thing they question why is there an eighth Scene in the Revelation?  Sometimes there is much to be gained through how the Bible uses numbers as symbols of things.  The seventh day was designated the Sabbath, the high and holy from creation forward, but Sunday, the eighth day did more than provide rest.  Sunday proclaimed Christ to be “Son of God in power… by His resurrection from the dead: Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom. 1:4).                                                                    

The first day of a new week was in fact the first day of a new age.  “Small wonder, then, that the pattern laid down in creation and amplified in redemption should reappear in the last chapters of the Bible, in connection with what Christ calls the new world, (Matt. 19:28).                                          

C.S. Lewis brings out the meaning of the eighth Scene in The Last Battle: “… All their life in this world and all their adventures in Narnia has only been the cover and the title page: now at last they were beginning Chapter One of the Great Story which no one on earth has read; which goes on forever: in which every chapter is better than the one before.” (p.208).                                                                                                            

The bride…the angel introduces the bliss of heaven; the bride tells of those fortunate souls who are to enjoy it.  The bride of Christ is the people of God in all ages.  And in this passage the nuts and bolts of Christian living, have receded from view while the immense drama has unfolded (p. 208).  The bride first appeared in Scene 1 of Revelation and the letter concludes with the destiny of the bride.  It is also true that every one of these revelations has had practical lessons to teach us from seals to now revelations.                                                                                                              

We come to the first revelation here: God’s city (21:1-21).  What about the city that John is meant to notice in particular and why?  She, the city, is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (21:2).  As the bride, “the churches of John’s day, the churches of our own day, all of us are looking into a mirror in these verses.  We are not merely spectators – we are the spectacle: it is we who are God’s building.  Remember 1 Cor. 3:9, “For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building.” We are the building.  “The city shown to us here is what we shall be in the age to come, what in a sense we already are, on the level of the heavenlies, and what in our earthly experience God is presently making of us.” (p.207).           

The gates and the walls; the gates and the walls stand for the city’s security, the means of access to it, and the limits of it.  The gates stand open for those who come from north, south, east, and west.  Then, the beauty of New Jerusalem is portrayed.                                                                            

The 2^nd Revelation: God’s dwelling (21:22-27).  This revelation sums up the gospel.  The gospel is the divine message which bring men back into relationship with God, and with the promise that He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people (21:3). (p. 210).  There is no need for a temple, because merely being in the city is being with Him.  “His glory pervades every nook and cranny of the city, everything else is seen in light of that.  Total interpenetration between man and God.”  Let me say that again.  Imagine that wow!                                                                                      

Despite what those called Witnesses say, Jehovah is Jesus; only he is the light of the world, and only the ones who follow Him will have the light of life, John 8:12.  It is a glorious gospel.  In the words of our mentor,  “The glory and honor of the nation’s contribute to the magnificence of the city; all that is truly good and beautiful in this world will reappear there, purified and enhanced in the perfect setting the Maker intended for it; nothing of real value is lost (p.211).”                                                                                  

It is a gospel of holiness and a gospel of salvation.  “The only thing that disqualifies a person from entering the presence of God is sin; the only thing which will qualify him to enter is to have his name written in the book of Life of the slain Lamb.”  These are two sides of the same coin.  Either he trusts in the crucified Christ for the forgiveness of his sins, or he is excluded from the Presence.” (p. 211).                                                                        

The 3^rd Revelation: God’s world is renewed (22:1-5).  The miraculous river flows through the length of Scripture.  It nourishes the godly life of the O.T. saints (Ps. 1:1-3) and is explained by our Lord as the life-giving Spirit who is to be received only from Him, “… but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst.  Indeed, the water I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”                                                        

The angel here connects the creation story of Genesis 1 with the revelation at the end of Scene 7…” the former things have passed away…. Behold I make all things new: (21:4-5).  According to Matt. 19:28, “Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on His glorious throne…”  This word, renewal is the word for “genesis.” The first chapter of the Bible describes how God made the world; this last one shows how He will remake it.                                             

Through the plan of Satan, a curse came upon the human race, and the nations made up of humans will need healing.  That is why the original creation has had to be remade.                                                                           

The 4^th Revelation: God’s Word is validated (22:6-10).  Revelation is a doctrine of how God makes Himself know to humankind.  In a nutshell the doctrine was stated at the end of Scene 7: “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true” (21:5).  Whether the angel is speaking or Jesus is speaking the message is the same, keep the words of the revelation.  The term used for “keep” is common in John’s Gospel.  It means to observe, fulfill (that is to act on it), pay attention to its laws or teachings.  This

keeping is not stuffing our minds with its knowledge but filling our hearts with its spirit of aliveness.

                                                                          

The 5^th Revelation: God’s work is completed (22:11-15).  The judgment of God is final.  The writer of Hebrews 9:27 makes the judgment clear, “Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment….” It is clear, there is not a second chance as our Catholic brethren have been led to believe.  The final state is directly related to this present life.  What we have done with Christ and what we have allowed Christ to do through us is the issue.  The criterion is established on the day of judgment, for as Jesus says here, I am the Alpha and the Omega – the beginning and the end.  The subsequent question is simple, “What are you doing with Jesus?”  Verses 14 & 15 makes plain who belongs in the city and who will be left outside.  It always has to do with Jesus’ way, truth, and life.                                                                                                       

The 6^th Revelation: God’s final blessing (22:16-17).  This is the glorious crescendo to the divine symphony.  He encompasses the whole of history.  As the “bright Morning Star” he heralds the dawn of eternity, telling us that this life is only the prelude to the real life of the world to come; and by sending his angel with this testimony, he shows the love, power, and wisdom of the God who wants to reveal these things to His creatures. (p. 218).                                                                                                                     

The 7^th Revelation: God’s final curse (22:18-19).  The emphasis is simple, “Don’t mess with what God as reveled here regarding salvation and truth.” Don’t add or take away.  The way of evil is to massage what God has said to fit a preferred message.  The consequences will be stark if you mess with it in any way to make it more palatable.                                  

What is the way, truth, and life for us to take away from these words and this picture?  To begin with, God draws lines that do not move.  The Scene we have just taken in is about eternity and it is for our benefit to keep the picture in mind as we live out the vision for our lives.                                   

In this the invisible becomes visible if we trust the message.  We need a vision of the not yet but genuinely real.  “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.” Another wisdom from history’s wisest man.                                                   

Pay attention to the whole of Scripture - God does.  There is a continual theme from beginning to end, the purposes of God in relation to His creation, the advent of evil, and the redemption and restoration power of God to accomplish His ends.                                                                        

It is important for us to see the forest when we are in the midst of the trees.  Don’t forget what you now know.                                                      

The book of Revelation is a gift given to us by God and we now have the opportunity to develop a new perceptual framework (the way we see things) for the remaining years of our lives.  We are offered a picture of where things are in the invisible world and where things are going apart from our control and what we are to engage in as we represent the light of the world every day of our lives.  Live with the power of the end in sight.  If we can see the Throne and anticipate the affirmation, “well done good and faithful servant…” Be the soldier that the Commander can count on!

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