Church: Reformed Baptist Church of Franconia | Text: Revelation 21 | Date: June 11, 2017 | Speaker: Fred Zaspel

Open with me in God’s Word to Revelation chapter 21. We’re continuing our series on the Bible’s story of salvation. What we are trying to do, before we get to specific doctrines that are taught and summarize them, is to see how the Bible itself is a story of redemption that centers in Jesus. That story—that single story that takes us from the beginning to the end of the Scriptures—is carried through the Scriptures by several different themes.

And we have seen several of them now. We’ve seen kingdom and life. We even saw last time the destruction of the serpent theme that carries the story. Today we look at the theme of temple; the presence of God returned. Revelation chapter 21, I’ll begin with verse 1, we’ll read through chapter 22 and I think verse 7:

“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be with them as their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.’

And he who was seated on the throne said, ‘Behold, I’m making all things new.’ Also he said, ‘Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.’ And he said to me, ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the spring of the water of life without payment. The one who conquers will have this heritage, and I will be his God, and he will be my son. But as for the cowardly, the faithless, detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death.’

Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me saying, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great high wall with 12 gates, and at the gates were 12 angels, and on the gates, the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed. On the east, three gates. On the north, three gates. On the south, three gates. On the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies four square, its length the same as its width, and he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement.”

And then in verses 18 and following, we have listed and itemized for us the various precious stones which adorn the city, and then verse 22:

“And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day, and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations, but nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, bright as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb through the middle of the street of the city. Also on either side of the river, the tree of life, with its 12 kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit each month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be anything accursed, but the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and his servants will worship him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads, and night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever.”

And he said to me, “These words are trustworthy and true. The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets has sent his angel to show his servants what must soon take place. Behold, I am coming soon. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”

Let’s bow together for prayer. Our Father, we’re grateful for this passage of Scripture. we’re grateful for this great theme that runs through the Scripture that culminates in this passage. We ask that your Spirit would go before and with and behind your Word this morning, that you would give us a clear understanding, and through that, hearts more filled with worship and appreciation for the great work that you have done for us in Jesus Christ and the great hope that awaits us in him. We pray in his name, amen.

The Significance Of The Tabernacle

Well, as I’ve mentioned, this passage brings to culmination a theme that has been running through the Scriptures, and that is the theme of temple. You might remember that Old Testament tabernacle; prior to the construction of the temple, the tabernacle played a very important role, a central role in the life of Israel. Played a central role in the life of Israel.

You might remember that in Exodus chapters 25 through 40, God gives Moses meticulous, detailed instructions regarding the construction of the tabernacle—down to the boards, the decorations, the curtains. All that had to do with it was meticulously, every detail meticulously laid out in all of those chapters, chapter 25 through 40, minus a couple in the middle, detailing the construction of the tabernacle. Whatever else you don’t know about the tabernacle, you already get the hint that this is big. This is important.

And you might remember the tabernacle in the Old Testament was a huge tent, a wooden structure, wooden posts, but a huge tent structure then, with canvas and skins draped over it, elaborately decorated with gold and silver and precious stones, the curtain with embroidered cherubim on it, guarding the most holy place, and so on. The entrance of the tabernacle was on the east. Just outside the tabernacle proper in the outer court was the altar and the laver. The overall dimensions of the tabernacle proper was 10 by 30 cubits, three times longer than wide.

This structure, 10 by 30, was divided into two rooms. The first room was 20 cubits by ten. That was the holy place, as it’s called. Inside that were the lampstand, the table of showbread, and the altar of incense. And then there was this curtain, and beyond the curtain there’s another room, the most holy place: ten by ten. Actually, 10 by 10 by 10, a perfect cube-shaped room. This was the most holy place, and in the most holy place, or the Holy of Holies, was the Ark of the Covenant overlaid with the mercy seat, where once a year atonement was made, as we find detailed in Leviticus chapter 16. The curtain that divided these two rooms was a beautiful curtain—heavy, thick, beautifully embroidered, again with the cherubim on it, guarding the most holy place and the presence of God.

Well, the significance of the tabernacle was exactly that. It was the dwelling place of God. It’s the throne room. In fact, in all the ancient world, temples for the gods were seen as both because it was the residence of the deity; it was the palace and the temple. The palace, the place of residence; the temple, the place of worship. And so with Israel’s tabernacle as well. This most holy place was the palace, if you will, the residence of God himself. Now, of course God is omnipresent, but here we have a localized, a special manifestation of the presence of God, and because of that, it is a holy place, and it becomes a temple, the place of worship as well. This is the residence of God himself.

So God says to Moses in Exodus 25 and verse 8, “Have them make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell with them.” And that is the significance then of the old tabernacle and later the temple as well. It is a specialized, localized manifestation of the presence of God. And so the word “glory” is a word that you start to see a lot with regard to the temple. Early on, before the tabernacle itself was constructed, there was the more temporary tent of meeting. And we read that in the tent of meeting, it was the place where Moses would meet with God and God would give instruction. And we read there in Exodus that this place where God appeared to Moses, the glory was so intense that Moses’ own face shined with the glory of God reflecting on it.

We find in Exodus chapter 40 at the dedication of the tabernacle that when the tabernacle was completed, the glory cloud settled in. We’re not given a great description of it, but a glory cloud—you get the impression, I think, of this cloud with the light bursting out from the backside—the glory cloud filling the tabernacle. And in fact, we read that Moses could not enter it because the glory of the Lord filled the place. Here’s the presence of the glory of God dwelling among his people in the tabernacle.

A Copy Of The True Tabernacle

Now what’s interesting is that the Old Testament tabernacle was not the original. We tend to think of the tabernacle as the original, the temple as the copy, but the Scripture indicates for us that the tabernacle itself was a copy. And in fact, there are several indications of that throughout the Scriptures—most prominently in the, I suppose, in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament as well—that it is a copy of the temple of heaven. God dwells in the heaven. Here is his throne room, as it were. This is his palace. This is his temple. And the Scriptures make clear then that the tabernacle was a copy of the throne room of heaven.

So for example, in Hebrews chapter 8, I would love to take time to turn there, but we can’t. In Hebrews chapter 8, we are told we have a high priest who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in heaven. So here’s Christ fulfilling the symbolism of the priestly work, and he has entered into the holy place, which is in heaven. A minister in the holy places in the true tent, that the Lord set up, not man. And so in Hebrews 8 and verse 5, it tells us that in this earthly tabernacle, they served as a copy and a shadow of heavenly things. A copy and a shadow of heavenly things.

In chapter 9 of Hebrews, in verse 9, it says that it was symbolic. The Old Testament tabernacle was symbolic for the present age. A parable, if you will, of the real temple in heaven itself. In chapter 9, again speaking of the work of Christ as our great high priest, we read that he then entered through the greater and more perfect tent, not made with hands, that is not of this creation; he entered once for all into the holy places. And again in chapter 9, verses 23 and 24, it describes the Old Testament tabernacle as copies of heavenly things, and again, copies of the true tabernacle.

We have other glimpses of that as well in the Scriptures. Isaiah chapter 6 is a famous one where Isaiah sees God exalted in his temple and the glory filling the place. Another marvelous example of it is in Revelation chapters 4 and 5. In chapter 4 we find God seated on his throne in the temple and all the rulers of the earth worshiping him. God seated serenely in majestic splendor ruling over all of his creation. And then chapter 5, God handing the scroll to the Lamb who then carries out the will of the Father and carries out the course of world history and God’s purpose in salvation and judgment. And the whole point of that scene is to set the stage for the events of chapter 6 and following of Revelation where God’s purpose is being carried out. But there we have God in heaven. We have him in his throne room and in his temple. We have another hint of it in Revelation chapter 6 where we find the souls under the altar—it says the souls under the altar praying, “Oh Lord, how long before you avenge us?”

And there are other hints of it here and there through the Scriptures. You find it with regard to the throne in heaven and things like that in the Old Testament as well. Well, it shouldn’t surprise us that heaven is described as a temple. It is, after all, the abode of God, and evidently then, in working with the angels and so on in heaven, it is a localized special manifestation of his glorious presence.

The Garden Of Eden And Temple Terminology

Now, what may be surprising to you then is to learn that the Garden of Eden is also described in temple terminology. The Garden of Eden is described with temple terminology. That is at least, if not from the beginning, at least looking back at the Garden of Eden from the standpoint of the tabernacle and the temple and the new temple according to Ezekiel and so on. Looking back from all of this at the Garden of Eden, we can see that it was described in temple terminology.

And so this was in the Garden of Eden. It is the place where God walks in the cool of the day. His presence is there. The entrance to the garden, significantly, was from the east. We find the cherubim guarding the entrance. And we find the Tree of Life in the garden, which stands as the prototype, evidently, of the lampstand in the tabernacle. It is a place of gold and precious stones, just like the tabernacle and the temple. And we find in Ezekiel, when he prophesies the new temple to come, he speaks of it in terms of the river flowing from the temple, evidently pulling again from the imagery of Genesis and the Garden of Eden with its river there.

And also of real significance is the fact that Adam is tasked with a specific responsibility when he is created, and that is to serve and to guard the garden. To serve and to guard the garden. The only other times we find that pair of words in terms of descriptive of someone’s responsibility—the only other time we find them paired up like that in the Pentateuch—is with reference to the priests and the Levites and their work in the tabernacle and the temple.

So Eden is evidently a reflection of the heavenly tabernacle. But now God has made his presence among his created world and his creatures, his human creatures: Adam and Eve. So God’s temple has come to earth. God, as we have seen, his intention was to bless creation with his presence. But of course, it was a project that seemingly failed. Again, we follow the story. Adam and Eve did not serve and guard the garden, but they listened to the serpent. And as a result, they were cast out of the garden. They were exiled from the presence of God. Humanity now has no access to the presence of God. And significantly, the cherubim are placed at the entrance of the garden on the east side of Eden with their flaming swords, preventing anyone from returning back into the presence of God. Exiled, rejected from the presence of God.

And that, of course, is the great human problem. We have rebelled against God, we’ve broken his law, we’ve fallen under his condemnation, and now, as a result, have no access and no right to his presence. And so it was a real moment in the history of redemption when God gave all of these instructions to Moses to build a tabernacle. The significance is God is moving back in. God is establishing residence among his people. And so Exodus 25 in verse eight, again: “Have them make a sanctuary for me and I will dwell with them.” God is reestablishing his presence among his people. Heaven again is returning to earth.

And again, we find the glory theme coming and the glory of God filling the place and the glory of the presence of God in the tabernacle. And so that’s why then we have this elaborate system of worship in the Old Testament tabernacle. The whole question now is: how is it that this God can dwell among us? How is it that a holy God who has been offended, whose law has been broken—how is it, on what terms can this God dwell among a sinful people? And the answer is the sacrificial system. If you can find a substitute adequate to stand in for the people, and if the sin can be given to this adequate substitute and transferred to him, and sacrifice made, sin is atoned for, God’s justice is satisfied, and God now, on those terms, can dwell among a sinful people. And his glory then fills the place.

In time, the tabernacle is replaced. You remember David wanted to do that; wanted to build a tabernacle for God. God had other plans. “You will not do it. You’re a man of war. Solomon, your son, will build the temple.” And you remember the account then in the Book of Kings how Solomon then builds, and in Chronicles how Solomon builds the temple for God—a more permanent dwelling place for God. The same function as the tabernacle, but a magnificent kind of edifice, one of the wonders of the ancient world, a magnificent place. You might remember that the Queen of Sheba wanted to come and see it and so on.

And the true glory of the place, if you pardon the pun, the true glory of the place was the glory of the presence of God. Again, this is the place of his residence. And so we find an echo of Exodus 40 where the glory of God filled the tabernacle. We find an echo of that in 2 Chronicles 6 through 8. At the dedication now of the temple itself, the fire of the Lord consumed the sacrifice and his glory filled the temple. And because of the glory filling the temple, the priests were unable to enter. And you see this, get this picture of the glory of God so intense in the temple now because God is there, that the priests are just unable to go close.

And so you have words like “glory.” The glory of the place is God is there. You also have themes like “holy.” It is a holy place precisely because God is there. It is his dwelling. And so we have a holy temple. We have holy priests who serve in the temple. We have holy utensils that are used in the service of the temple. And we have a holy hill on which the temple stands and so on. Jerusalem itself is a holy city because it is the place of the temple of the residence of God. It is important that the faithful make a pilgrimage three times a year back to Jerusalem because this is the place of the presence of God. And it was the peculiar privilege of Israel that God dwelt among them. And that was the significance of the tabernacle and now of this magnificent edifice, the temple itself.

But again, human sin seemed to threaten the entire project. We find in Kings that Solomon himself, 1 Kings 11, Solomon himself built pagan temples on a hill east of Jerusalem. 1 Kings chapter 22, Israelite religion had sunken so low that when they wanted to find a copy of the law, God’s law given to them—when they wanted to find a copy, they had to conduct this great investigation, this search among the accumulated clutter of the temple and finally find a copy of the law. And all through the history of the kings, it is one long story of continued rebellion of kings and of priests and of people alike.

And so the prophets come along and tell us that God is so sickened by it that he’s going to remove the people from their land. And as a preliminary, God himself moves out. You might remember that dramatic picture in Ezekiel chapter 10, that vision of Ezekiel where he sees the glory of God lifting off of the temple and departing from Jerusalem. God leaving the place because of Israel’s sin. And then finally 586 BC, the people are captive, driven out, their temple is destroyed and lies in ruins. Again, it seems that the whole creation project of God dwelling among his people has fallen.

A Coming Temple

And yet we find, reading forward in the story, God sends prophets who tell us of a coming temple. Now the most dramatic of that is Ezekiel chapter 40 through 48. A long, detailed description of a new temple and a new Jerusalem coming. Fantastic dimensions are given. Evidently, I think, to be understood figuratively, symbolic of a new temple, a new city, a new dwelling place of God to come. God will again, the promise is, God will again come and dwell among his people. And we find other hints of that, direct prophecies of it in the prophets. For example, I’ll read for you Isaiah chapter 2 verses 2 through 4:

“It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains and shall be lifted up above the hills and all the nations shall flow into it. And many people shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord and to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.’ For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations and shall decide disputes for many peoples, and they shall beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. And nations shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.”

And so we have described for us a new temple in a new city, a new dwelling place of God that has worldwide impact. And the nations themselves will be blessed—not just Israel, but spilling out to all of the nations is this blessing of the presence of God. It sounds like God has still not given up on his project.

Reading the story further, we next come then to the days of Ezra and Nehemiah, where they come back to rebuild the temple. And it is a wonderfully significant event that God moves in the hearts of even pagan kings to make it happen as he said he would, as was prophesied hundreds of years before. And wonderfully significant as it is, this rebuilt temple under the days of Ezra and Nehemiah—wonderfully significant as it is—it’s just a shadow of what it once was. And what is conspicuously absent in this temple that is made now after the exile, under Ezra and Nehemiah—what is conspicuously absent in the account is any mention of the glory of God filling the place.

Next step in order, we come to the time between the Testaments and leading up into the early parts of the Gospel accounts: King Herod takes on this massive building project for the temple, restores it, enlarges it. It is a magnificent place. 46 years it takes for the completion of it all. We read of it in the Gospels, but again, significant as it was, there was no glory there. And in fact, the Gospels present to us a temple now, beautiful as it was externally, a temple with a sham worship on the inside, such that when Jesus comes, twice in his ministry—early and late—twice in his ministry, he cleanses the temple, driving people out as a sign of how bankrupt the worship of the temple had become.

Well, what then has come of God’s project to dwell with his people? What has come of this purpose to be a temple among his people and dwell with them? Well, we have an important turn of events, of course, in the incarnation of Jesus. It’s described for us in just these terms in John chapter 1 and verse 14. It’s a verse you’re familiar with. John, in chapter 1 of his Gospel, introduces Jesus as the Word of God. This is God making himself known, God speaking as it were. This is God making himself known, and “in the beginning was the Word.” When all of this began at the beginning in creation, the Word was already there with God from eternity. God himself, and yet with God—and we’ve got the rudiments of Trinitarian theology there. The Word of God, glorious second person of the eternal Godhead who made everything that is, who’s the light of all that is light, the one who gives life to all that has life. The Word, verse 14, “was made flesh, and tabernacled among us,” dwelt among us. And he uses this tent language again, this tabernacle language. “He dwelt among us and we beheld his glory.” There it is. And he doesn’t expand on the significance of that, but it’s massively suggestive. What’s going on here but that God himself has come to dwell among his people?

And so God in human flesh becomes the temple par excellence. We have reflections of that kind of thinking in the New Testament—that kind of what we call high Christology in the New Testament elsewhere as well—where Jesus is spoken of in terms of the fullness of the glory of God dwelling in bodily form. We find a glimpse of it at the Mount of Transfiguration where Jesus stood there praying, you remember, and suddenly his clothes became bright as a flash of lightning, and his face shined like the sun: the glory theme again. And in fact, Jesus describes himself in Matthew chapter 12 as one who is greater than the temple.

And then a most significant turning point in the story, informing the story, is John chapter 2. Remember, Jesus cleanses the temple, and they come back to him: “Who do you think you are? Show us a sign that you have the authority to do this kind of thing.” And Jesus, of course, is not about to give them a sign that they can control. What you remember is a strange response: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I’ll raise it up.” And, of course, there’s no way in the world they could understand that except in terms of destroying this beautiful building that Herod has built. “It took 46 years building. You think you’re going to destroy this and raise it up in three days? Who do you really think you are?”

And of course they misunderstood, but the symbolism of Jesus’ language goes several layers deep. On the one hand—and we’re told this explicitly—on the one hand, he’s speaking not of the temple building, but of his body. “Destroy this body, and in three days I’ll raise it up.” Which, of course, is what happened. But Jesus does not say, “Destroy this body.” He says, “Destroy this temple.” And there Jesus brings together this kind of looking at the Old Testament that we’ve seen so many times; just as he is the priest, just as he is the sacrifice, just as he is Noah and Jonah and all of these prefigurements of what is to come, so the temple foreshadowed what is brought in reality in Jesus. He is the dwelling place of God. He is the meeting place of God with men.

But the symbolism goes deeper still. Jesus does not say, “Destroy this body.” But neither does he say, “I am the temple.” What he says is, “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.” That is to say, it is his death and resurrection specifically that constitute him as the temple. It is through his destroyed and risen body that Jesus becomes the meeting place of God with men. How is it that God will meet with a sinful people? Through sacrifice. That’s what the whole temple and its worship were meant to symbolize. And Jesus now says all of that culminates in me. “Destroy this temple and in three days I’ll raise it up.” There’s a sign of authority. And here now is the meeting place of God with men established.

That, of course, is the significance that when Jesus died, the temple curtain was torn in two from top to bottom. Now the entrance into the holy place is open. The book of Hebrews, the writer there, picks up on this terminology and speaks of Jesus’ body as the curtain—torn body—and through that we have access into the presence of God. And then the writer of Hebrews not only speaks in those terms, but speaks in terms of the true tabernacle, the true temple in heaven. That Jesus, when he offered his sacrifice, did not go into the holy place made with hands, but has offered his sacrifice in the very presence of God in heaven. Not just the lamb or a bull, not just a priest and not a temple or a tabernacle made with hands, but the priest par excellence, the sacrifice par excellence, enters into the temple par excellence through his own sacrifice.

And so we have with Jesus a complete transformation of the system of worship. The tabernacle, the temple, the priesthood, the sacrifice—all of it is prospective, looking ahead to what is accomplished in him, so that now in Jesus, the real dwelling place of God with men, we now have access into the presence of God. And so in the Gospels, we read not just of Jesus cleansing the temple, but of his prophesying that the temple will be destroyed. And not only destroyed, but replaced.

And so, for example, in John chapter 4, Jesus is speaking to a Samaritan woman, and very quickly into the discussion, the discussion digresses. “Well, your people worship in this mountain. Our people, the Samaritans, we worship Mount Gerizim.” There’s this rival. “Well, which is it going to be?” And Jesus says, “You don’t get it. The day is coming when all of those kind of questions will have been rendered obsolete. We’ll worship in spirit and in truth and the presence of God in Messiah will universalize the presence of God in the earth.”

In Acts chapter 6 and 7, we find a glimpse of this as well. Stephen, you remember, this preaching deacon, gets into trouble with the religious authorities in Judaism. And their specific charge was, you remember, “This man never ceases to blaspheme this holy place.” He’s blaspheming the temple. Now what do you think lies behind that? You think he stood there and said, “Cursed is the temple”? He preached what Jesus preached: that there’s a better temple that is here now and that has rendered this all obsolete. All of this points forward to a reality that has come about in Jesus. And for that, he was martyred.

The Church Itself Described As The Temple Of God

And then the story takes another turn when we come to the epistles in the New Testament. And here we find the church itself described as the temple of God. And I don’t mean the building. The people, the church, are described as the temple of God. So in 1 Corinthians 3, “You are God’s temple.” And here we have the closeness of God’s presence among his people emphasized. 2 Corinthians 6, “We are the temple of the living God.” The point of it all is that in union with Jesus Christ—with that union established by his Spirit who indwells—we have become the dwelling place of God. And he dwells among his people.

1 Peter chapter 2: “You have come to him, a living stone rejected by men but in the sight of God chosen and precious. You yourselves are like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” Again, Ephesians chapter 2, the church is described as this great temple founded on Christ and growing into this worldwide edifice in which God dwells. And of course you find many other passages that reflect that teaching of the church as the temple of God.

And so God’s creation project has not failed after all, but God is finally dwelling among his people and it’s moving worldwide. And God dwelling among his people then is described in the experience of the believer in wonderful graphic terms. What is it like to be the dwelling place of God? And not only the church corporately, but the Christians individually are described as the temple of God. What is it like? What is that experience of God dwelling in us and with us? And of course, many of the blessings of it are itemized in the New Testament, probably chief of which is the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. And there’s the sense of acceptance as sons and his Spirit dwelling witness with our spirit that we are his children. There’s this peace of God, this joy of God that is ministered to all of God’s people by his Spirit, and this sense of belonging—God dwelling with his people, his blessed presence made known.

And yet, and yet, even I suppose the most mature of Christians could be excused for saying something like, “Is that all? Isn’t there going to be something more?” And then we remember the prophets who prophesied a greater temple in the age to come. Worldwide blessing. The nations blessed by its presence in the world. And of course that is where we began in Revelation chapter 21. You can’t help but see here some reminiscences of Genesis. No more curse, no more the effects of the curse, the Tree of Life, the river. “The dwelling place of God is with men. He will dwell among his people. They will be his people. He will be their God.”

All of this Eden and temple terminology brought to its climax in the book of Revelation. And not only that, but the nations will walk into it. The nations find their blessing in it. There is an interesting progression of thought in Ezekiel’s prophecy that John follows in his prophecy in the book of Revelation. We don’t have time to track it out now. But in Ezekiel’s prophecy, we have the rebellion of Gog and Magog, for example, and we find that itemized for us in Revelation 19 and 20. And then following that in Ezekiel, we have the description of this great temple with all the fantastic dimensions, Ezekiel 40 to 48, and it seems we find that now. Coming to its culmination in Revelation 21, where it says in 22, God dwelling with his people, and specifically, “There was no temple there. For God and the Lamb are its temple.”

And so because God has established his residence, his dwelling place among men in its final climactic way, it’s not surprising then that there’s no more curse, and no more crying, and no more death, and none, none of the effects of the fall. God’s creation project complete, the presence of God reestablished with men in a redeemed world.

What we’ve been trying to show in all of this is that we have this story of the Bible tracked through under these various themes, in each of which central is the redemptive work of Christ who establishes the turn on which the story moves and which God brings about his purpose blessing for creation. The kingdom of God, the new creation, eternal life, righteousness, and now temple as well. Same story, different theme, and again there’s the now and the not yet of it. The now, wonderful as it is, is not all there is to it; it is of a piece with what is to come, just a sampling of the great blessedness to come.

And so Christ is the forerunner of our salvation and his resurrection has passed into the age to come and he has taken us with him into the very dwelling place of God and we enjoy that in measure now. And that is the glory of salvation today. But it is also the glory, the full glory of the age to come. And again, it drives us to the church’s cry, “Come, Lord Jesus, bring about what you have promised.” Amen.

Let’s pray. Our Father, we love, we enjoy, and we rejoice in the glory of your presence among your people today. Individually and corporately, we rejoice in the glory of God with us. And in all of its wonderful manifestations of joy and peace and assurance and confidence, we sense even that you have taken us into your presence through Jesus. And yet, Lord, we long for the culmination of it in that age to come, in that day of glory when our Lord returns. We ask that you would hasten that day. For your glory, we pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Please take out your RBC songbook. Oh, yes. Yes, okay. Remain seated. During this final song, guys, tell me if I got this right. During this final song, we will be collecting the special offering for the Estradas, correct? Okay. Remain seated. Turn to number 164. “There Is A Higher Throne.” 164, RBC songbook.

There is a higher throne than all this world has known, where faithful ones from every tongue will before the sun will stand, faith faultless through the Lamb, believing hearts find promised grace. Hear heaven’s voices sing, their thunderous anthem rings through emerald courts and sapphire skies. All glory, wisdom, power, strength, thanks, and honor are to God our King, who reigns on high.

There we’ll find our home. Our life before the throne, we’ll honor him in perfect song. As thirst and hunger die, the Lamb becomes—
[Heaven’s voices sing]
[Their thunderous anthem rings]
[Through emerald courts and sapphire skies]
[Their praises rise]
[All glory, wisdom now]
[Strength, thanks, and honor now]
Who reigns on high forevermore.