Word of Salvation – Vol. 27 No. 05 – November 1981

 

The City Without A Church

 

Sermon by Rev. H.W. Pennings on Revelation 21:22

Scripture Reading: Revelation 21.

 

If we were to ask the boys and girls, “What has no eye ever seen; no ear ever heard; no person ever been able to understand?” they would probably think it was a new riddle.  But it is not a riddle at all.  The answer to this question comes from this 21st chapter of the book of Revelation.  It is the New Jerusalem which the apostle John saw in his vision (or, dream, if you like).  He saw first a new heaven and a new earth, and then a new city.  The order is quite important.  It was not a better city that John saw.  That is, “better” as we understand things; a city with no social problems, lower taxes, and so forth.  It was a new city in a new world.  It was a world and city from which every trace of sin had been removed.  Can you imagine that?  It would be hard, wouldn’t it?  We have certainly never seen such a city or even heard of it.  If we had, we would be the first to move there.

But we can’t move there yet.  No man can create such a city today, because all men are still sinners.  This city, in the new heaven and new earth, must be God’s new creation.  John saw it in his vision.  And from God’s Word we know that it is sure to come; as sure as winter always follows autumn.

When John started describing this city, he had to describe it so that all the readers of his book could understand it, so that it would make sense to us.  That is probably the reason why he described things that would not be there.  For we can all understand why people cry and why they suffer and why they are in trouble.  It is all related to sin being in the world, but, because there will be no sin in this city, there cannot be any tears or suffering or unhappiness.  On top of that, there will be no temptation to sin.  We won’t want to sin.  Can you imagine that?  No one will say anything which will hurt anyone else.  No one will do anything which will harm anyone else.  There will be no arguing or fighting.  In fact, all things used in war, such as guns, will be melted down to make things that create good rather than bad.  On top of that, lambs and lions will live peacefully side by side, and children will be able to play with poisonous snakes.  What a glorious, glorious city that will be!

This new city, the new Jerusalem, represents the Church throughout the whole of history as it will be when God makes all things new.  Today many people are inclined to be very critical of the Church.  Who can blame them?  For in the Church we see many sinful divisions, lots of corruption, and above all, sinful people – still sinful, though “in Christ”, wholly sinless!  In Scripture the Church is called the “Bride of Christ”.  But when we look at the Church – at ourselves! – it is hard to believe that Jesus would be attracted to a bride so ugly and unfaithful.

Yet He is.  For Jesus looks at the Church differently.  He sees in the Church the New Jerusalem: a city and a people born from above.  For the Church is not just a human organisation of people.  It is God’s own creation.  It exists because of His sovereign love.  The Church has been created in heaven.  It is the work of the Father who creates; of the Son who redeems from the grave of eternal death; of the Holy Spirit who cleanses her from all sin.  In reality, even now, the Church is beautiful beyond description.  We will all be able to see that for ourselves if we look through the glasses of Revelation 21 and 22.  We are a holy and eternal Church; firstly, because of what God has already done, and secondly, because of what God is still going to do.

Because we are looking primarily at only one verse of Rev.21, we cannot describe this new city in great detail.  Yet it is very clear that, as the apostle John was given a glimpse of what it would be like, one particular detail amazed him.  It was one thing he had to mention.  Something, he noticed, was missing.  There was no temple – no church building!

As we travel through the suburbs of many modern cities we will find very few church buildings.  Many of its newest sub-divisions for housing will have no allowance for centres of worship.  That is only to be expected in a basically godless society.  But at first you surely expect the New Jerusalem to be a city of many church buildings.  After all, what would the old Jerusalem have been without its temple?  It would have been just another godless city.  Jerusalem “was’ Jerusalem mainly because of its temple.  It depicted that God was central, at least in theory, in the life of that community of people.

However we know from Scripture that the temple in Jerusalem, however fabulous in architecture, also told God’s people something else.  For there was a veil in the temple.  That veil separated the main part of the temple from the Holy of Holies.  It represented man’s sin.  It was also a silent reminder that there is separation, because of sin, between a holy God and a sinful Church.  Only one person could enter the Holy of Holies, and that only once per year on the Day of Atonement.

But, what happened on Good Friday after Jesus’ death?  Can any of the boys and girls answer that question…?  Yes, that huge curtain was torn from top to bottom.  That was a symbol of the fact that, henceforth, because of Jesus’ sacrifice for sin, all believers for all the time, in Jesus’ name, may come into God’s holy presence.  It was also a symbol of the fact that the Church no longer needed priests, for it no longer needed to make sacrifices of blood.  There would only be one condition for those who wanted to speak to their Lord.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman, “…a time is coming, and now has come, when the true worshippers will worship the Father in Spirit and in truth…!”

Therefore we start to understand that, in the New Jerusalem, there cannot be a temple, and certainly not a curtain of separation.  For the whole city is a temple, and the whole city is the holy of holies.

It is now our God-given privilege that though we may have church buildings, because of Jesus’ finished work of atonement, and because He is our eternal High Priest, we live in a temple-less city.  The Lord challenges us to express ourselves in worship on the first day of the week in honour of Jesus’ resurrection, but more so the whole of the week.  We are to be Jesus’ disciples in worship 24 hours a day and 7 days a week.  Do you understand exactly what this means?  It means that, after we have finished our day of corporate worship on a Sunday, we each go to our homes, our places of work, there to continue our worship service!  Wherever we are we can bear witness to the fact that we are God’s spiritual children.  We have been adopted by the will of our Saviour, who has called us out of darkness – cities with false temples into His marvellous and temple-less light.

Already in these days, then, it is clear from God’s Word that we are preparing ourselves to live in that glorious city that God is to create in time to come.  If we forget that, we are forgetting what worshipping the Lord really means.  If you are a person who has no real desire to live for the glory of the Lord today – and not just on Sundays, mind you! – on this side of the grave your religion is only a Sunday-religion, you will be unable to live with the Lord in the churchless city, the New Jerusalem.  Jesus did not die for all people.  He died for the elect.  Who are the elect?  People whose desire it is to love Jesus more fully, and obey Him more fully, every day of their lives.  It is unfortunately a fact that many people who attend worship services do not live as sons of God, but as enemies of God: not openly, but in their heart.  Their worship is dead; it isn’t real worship, but only going through certain religious motions.

Therefore even this verse of Scripture, about a time yet to come for believers, truly challenges us.  It is a rich blessing that we live in towns and villages where there is no temple.  We are challenged to prepare for the future by living as if the future is already present with us today.  For, in a way, it is.  We are judged already now.  We are either declared to be righteous through a living, daily faith in our Saviour, or we are declared to be God’s enemies because we bow our knee only before our own desires.

From the human point of view, the lifestyle expected from us by the Lord to be holy as He, our God, is holy, is impossible.  How are we, daily sinners, able to perfectly obey everyone of God’s good commandments?  We just cannot, even should we want to!  But then, remember please, that God the Father has sent us the Holy Spirit.  He came upon the New Testament Church first of all on the day of Pentecost, but today too, in the power of the Holy Spirit, and by the grace of God through Christ Jesus, we can be true believers, true followers of Jesus, and we can accomplish all that God requires from us.  This power is given to everyone who meekly comes to Jesus in faith, and who, having become believers, thankfully and boldly seek to live for His glory.  How wonderful all this is we will only fully realise when we are residents of the eternal city which is prepared for us.  For then, everyone who loved the Christ presented in Holy Scripture – all those who died “in the Lord” because they lived for Him – everyone who walked with God, because they kept in step with the leading of the Holy Spirit, will see and experience this four-square city.  It will extend 2000km in all directions, the apostle John tells us.  It will be a city built on a foundation of precious stones and will have 12 gates made from pearls.  This description is symbolic; and, we believe, what the symbolism means is complete perfection.  Even more perfectly holy and beautiful than the Holy of Holies in the old temple in the old city of Jerusalem.  For, not only a high priest, but everyone – all who love the Lord and who delight in His Word – will be invited to enter, and will be escorted in by the messengers of the Lamb who was slain, and who now sits on God’s throne in glory.

Congregation of the Lord, there truly is glory to come.  Tremendous glory!  The sun and the moon will no longer shine.  That will no longer be necessary, for what is their light compared to the light of the Christ which will surround us ?  In this city we will find ourselves back in something that is grander, even, than the Garden of Eden of old, for it will no longer be possible for us to sin; it will not be a place of testing to see if we truly love the Lord.  In another way, however, it will be similar to that ancient garden, for, before they sinned, Adam and Eve didn’t need to have a temple either!  Their communion with God was full and complete.  That’s what it will be again.  The inhabitants of the New Jerusalem will have only one love – love that is then perfected.  That love is to live to God’s glory.

Life today, too, is exciting at times: God’s blessings are pouring down upon us from day to day.  Yet “now” is really only the smallest taste of the glory and excitement that is to come.  The blind will see; the deaf will hear; the crippled will walk again.  Everyone will joyfully work in their Father’s business.  Great is the glory to come.  But, please remember, this glory of the temple-less city is only prepared for those who live a temple-less lifestyle today – that is, whose worship is an everyday joy.

Today, congregation, is another day which God has given us to determine whether or not we will really want to live there.  The signs that Jesus is coming again are visible to all who look for them.  On the one hand, they must fill our hearts with longing.  But on the other hand we also know that there are many who will die into a hell full of temples, because they have refused to live for the glory of God, or because their love for the Lord was untrue; it went cold.  Therefore, while we still have the freedom to obey or to disobey the good commandments of Jesus’ gospel, we must – yes, we must! – use this freedom, to make our election sure.  How do you do that?  Ask the Lord that you may live closer to Him every day.  For Scripture clearly teaches us that nothing unclean will enter the new city without a temple nor anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

Let your worship today prepare you for worship also during the rest of the week, for that is the only preparation which can be made to enter the city of eternal worship.  We are still being put to the test.  Satan and his angels and helpers are hard at work to try to draw even the elect away from the Lord.  Watch and pray that you will always be aware of their deceitful schemes.

Congregation, remain steadfast in your faith.  You are meeting with the Lord Jesus every moment of every day.  Look to Him, and towards the holy city.  Do not allow the temporary pleasures of life now to draw you away from the eternal pleasures of God’s presence in heaven.  Make God’s promises the only foundation of your life and the life of your family and friends.

The apostle John saw something which he could not help but report in his letter to the persecuted churches.  He saw that there was no temple in the New Jerusalem, because its temple are the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb who though once slain to atone for our sins, is her eternal and only King.

Amen.