A Tour of The New Jerusalem | Revelation 21:9-27 | Pastor Daniel Batarseh (10/18/26)

Portion is in this life. Can you pause here with me for a moment? Do you recognize one of the characteristics of an unbeliever according to David who is being led by the Holy Spirit in this song? This may startle some of you. One of the marks of somebody who is an unbeliever is that they believe their greatest contentment can only be found in this world.

He calls them wicked. The wicked... Look at the end of verse 14, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. If you think the greatest ecstasies and the greatest bliss and the greatest satisfaction can only be known in this world, David says, you're carnal, you're worldly, wicked. And then he sets a contrast.

Notice what he says about himself. Verse 15, As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness. When I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness. What is he speaking about here? Well, as he's ready to be facing persecution potentially at his own peril, he makes a statement of faith.

Even if I should die, that's the best thing that could happen to me. That's what he means here when he says, when I awake. That's referring to his transition from this life to the next. He likens death to sleep. We find that in the New Testament, don't we?

When I awake, I shall be what? Satisfied. Notice the parallel. Notice he says here, beholding your face is connected to being satisfied with your likeness. Seeing something of you that I cannot now, only when you grant me the righteousness that gives me the ability to do so, when I get to that point I will be what?

Satisfied. As I behold you, I know a gratification that this life cannot offer. So there's something here for us to consider about the glory of everlasting life that awaits us. Beauty, which is a very difficult word to describe as well, try to define beauty. Add that to your lunch conversation.

Once you've settled glory, let's talk about beauty. How do you define beauty? Well, here's the thing. Beautiful things have a way of awakening in our satisfaction, right? That as you encounter something that is beautiful, it does something to you on the inside.

It creates praise. It allows you to know some rush of delight. It stabilizes you in many ways, and I'm convinced that there is a component of great beauty when it comes to the glory of God. I mean, think about it this way, if a sunset has a way of keeping us on our feet and staring at the sky uninterruptedly to talk about it, to take pictures of it so that we can show others. What about the Creator Himself?

If we are surrounded by so much beauty on a daily and nightly basis, what about the one who created it all? Surely that is connected to his glory. And that's why it's no wonder that when John sees this new Jerusalem from that high mountain by the Spirit, he's doing his best to bring together the right words to to try to describe it. And what does he say? It's like.

He keeps saying that. It's like. It's like. It's like a most rare jewel. Jewels are beautiful, aren't they?

God's glory is far greater. And you and I in that place will marvel at His glory in an unending way. We will be satisfied as we behold Him. We'll be constantly faced with His beauty no matter what direction we turn and it will always fulfill us. After a thousand years go by, ten thousand years after that, and a million years, you will never know a moment where your soul feels empty.

The glory of the New Jerusalem. But now John grabs us by the hand as he is being led by this angel and brings us a little closer. He sees it from the high mountain, but then he zooms in and we look at the gates and the foundations of the New Jerusalem. Let's read it together here in verses 12 through 14. After describing the glory of God, having the glory of God, he says this, it had a great high wall in verse 12, with 12 gates, and at the gates 12 angels, and on the gates the names of the 12 tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed.

On the east, three gates, on the north, three gates, on the south, three gates, and on the west, three gates. And the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and on them were the 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. Walls, gates, foundations, those are not uncommon to ancient cities. What does stand out here apart from the angelic security measures are the inscriptions on it. John tells us that with the 12 gates bearing the names of the 12 sons of Israel, as you look down at the foundation, he sees 12 stones that also carry the names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.

And as we consider this, we might be thinking, what can this possibly be referring to? What does this actually convey in terms of its message? Well, you have to remember here very importantly the last part of verse 14. The 12 names of the 12 apostles of the Lamb. If you can please find in your copy of God's word, the book of Revelation, and let's meet together now in chapter 21.

Did you know that in all of scripture, the most extensive detailed feature that is described to us is not about the characteristics of our resurrected bodies. It's not about the different activities that we will engage in, nor is it about the wide range of interactions that we will have with one another and even with heavenly creatures. Surprisingly, the most detailed picture that we are given about the new heaven and the new earth is a sketch of the capital city. That's remarkable. And I believe one reason why the Holy Spirit brings us to that and grants us so much attention describing what will be known as the center of the new world is because He wants to remind us that eternal life will be very real, tangible, and physical.

Again, you heard me say this before, allow me to repeat it. Many people, including Christians, have this idea that the story with the redeemed ends with us becoming disembodied spirits, removed from this planet that will be pummeled by God's judgment as we now abide in some immaterial dimension forever and ever. That is not how the Bible describes your future and mine. And we've seen that already in the beginning of this chapter, and what we're about to be reminded of is that the Lord is not only going to glorify our bodies, He's also going to renew this universe totally and completely. And not only is He going to create a perfect environment for us to live in, but it will also be the habitation in which you and I will dwell with God in it forever and ever.

And we got a glimpse of that together last week, but this prophetic picture becomes even more clear as John by the Spirit now is led to zoom in closer into what He witnessed and allowed us to witness with Him, and that is the New Jerusalem descending from heaven to the new earth. In Revelation chapter 21, for the remainder of this chapter, John takes us on a tour of the capital city of where we will be spending eternal life, and it is rich with detail. It's actually astonishing to see how much is dedicated to it. Look at it here, just a quick glance from verse nine of chapter 21 onward, all of that is devoted to the New Jerusalem. And what the Spirit of God does is gives us the city's dimensions, walls, the description and the measurements of all these architectural designs, the gates, the streets, even its ecosystem.

And so we look at this and we think to ourselves, wow, this is this is marvelous, but what do we take from it? And I wanna let you know that this exhaustive portrait offers more than just a reinforcement that our physical resurrection will be known in a very physical place. That makes sense. Now the New Jerusalem has much more to teach us than that and we're about to see that together here briefly. But I wanna also say just from a practical standpoint, whenever you come to a passage like this, it can be quite intimidating with numbers and again measure