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I’m by the line, by the line Here I got toured on by the line Everywhere, every time Here it is Here God’s truth on Bibleline. Welcome to Bibleline with Dr. Ralph Yankee Arnold, pastor of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida. Clearly declaring the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the radio and the internet. Your regular prayers and monthly support make it possible for Bibleline to continue on the air. You can reach us toll free at 1-800-576-3771. One-line donations may be made through the Bible-lined website at calbryoftampa.org.

We pray that you will enjoy our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ and that today’s first part of this two-part message will be a blessing to you and your family. in your Bible to the book of Revelation, the book of Revelation and chapter 21, chapter 21. We’re getting close to the end here, ain’t we? But they say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Well, that’s good, but you know, I don’t know if I would trade a picture for the 23rd Psalm or the Bill of Rights.

Not even a thousand words. But you know, I wondered why God never put pictures in the Bible. I mean, He could have. He could have gave us a picture. I wouldn’t mind seeing a few pictures. But sometimes it’s left up to an artist’s rendition of what they think something looks like. And as you read the Bible, you know the importance of trying to visualize it in your mind. And that’s one of the joys of reading a book. Anybody who reads, you can see pictures and stories that really make things come alive.

And so when it comes to the Bible, God says, I have not seen, ear have not heard, neither has entered into the heart of men, the things which God has prepared for them that love them. Now there’s some things, yes, God says, by His Spirit, He had to reveal to us and those are the deep things of God. But He also says the secret things belong unto the Lord. But there’s something that He kind of gives us a glimpse of.

I don’t know how in the Word you could have taken one picture of the Holy City and says this is what it’s all like without the description that God gives in His Word. So as we read about this Holy City, you try to figure out what you think it looks like. How do you think it’s going to be? And I believe that you’re not even going to be able to come close. Have you ever thought about something and you imagine it a certain way and then you see it and it’s not that way at all?

What is heaven going to be like? If it says that the glory in heaven is going to be so big and vast and different than any amount of suffering that we go through down here. The way you word the sufferings of this person time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that we’re going to have. So it means you can’t even compare it. Can’t compare. What is there in this world that we can compare this holy city to?

We cannot imagine what it’s going to be like. So here in Revelation chapter 21 it says, and I saw a new heavens and a new earth coming down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride of doing for her husband. And it says, then I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem. And to think that they actually saw it coming down from God out of heaven. And I’d try to picture that in my mind. To go up on a high mountain.

So how would you be up on a high mountain? Well, you see there in verse 10, he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, showed me that great city. the Holy Jerusalem descending. That means it hasn’t arrived yet, but they can see it on its way. I’ve often wondered what in the world are people on the earth going to think when they see something from coming from out of space? But what I want you to see is the curse is now removed.

God wipes away all tears from everybody’s eyes. And then in verse 90 says, and there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues. talk with me saying, come hither, I will show thee the bride, the lamb’s wife. Now so that you know the lamb’s wife, now who is the lamb? Well that’s Christ. Well who’s the bride? Well that’s us. From Pentecost to the Rapture we are Foreman. The bride.

And we are going to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And we are going to be married to Christ. And so we are the bride. And where are we going to live? Remember in John chapter 14, he says, I go to prepare a place for you. That where I am there, you may be also. And this is typical of the Jewish tradition that the sun would go and prepare a place. And the Father, that’s why Jesus Christ made this statement.

He says, all that the Father, giveth me, shall come to me. So it’s kind of like, you know, God is calling out of people for His name and there’s this perfect bride for the perfect son and they’re going to get married. And so one of the days He’s going to come, but wouldn’t it be great if we could see something happening even before the rapture? Now we don’t know with the exact day or the hour, but I don’t know if there’s anything that says they wouldn’t be able to see.

If they can see them coming in at the end of the tribulation period, and it says, every eye will see them coming in clouds of glory. That’s coming from out of space with the cloud of glory, like the Chicano glory in the Old Testament, talking about the Holy Spirit. You’re talking about they’re being able to detect something coming from out there. I think it’d be wonderful. But I always wondered, God didn’t give us pictures, but He gave us word pictures, so that you can try to imagine what this must be like.

You see, remember the other day I told you about trying to paint a picture of what hell is like, so that people would know what they need to flee from, why they need to trust Christ as their savior. Well, it’s not only that we need to fear what could happen to us if we reject Christ, But what we’re going to get, because we did trust Christ. So one is like fear and the other one is like love. So we’re going to be, I guess, looking forward to the place where we’re going to go.

We’re going to go to a literal place called heaven. And that we’re going to live in the Holy City. So if you’ll notice here in verse 9, I will show thee the bride, the lamb’s wife. So he carried me away and he showed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God. So they will see it coming. I believe this is where the bride of Christ, the wife of the son, is we’re going to live.

I will go and prepare a place for you and in my father’s house are many mansions or many rooms or. Now how big is this holy city? What does it look like? Look at some of the descriptions of this holy city. This is where you’re going to go. I can’t explain all of it. No preacher can. It’s too deep. There’s too many things that we cannot visualize when it says about certain foundations in a wall or a gate, a pearl.

Have you ever figured out how much pearls are worth? I don’t even know if I’ve ever seen a real one. I may have, I don’t know. I have. My wife says I’ve seen a real one. I don’t know if I’ve ever bought her a real one, but I don’t know. I shouldn’t have said that. And you’re one of us, the biggest pearl that could ever be. Well, how big do you think the pearl is that forms the gate and there’s 12 of them?

How rich, how valuable is it? If people down here kill themselves for a few little pearls, and we’re gonna have a gate of pearl and how big this gate is, I haven’t got a clue. But now look what he says. He says here in verse 11, the last part of it, he said, having the glory of God. Now that’s the perfection of God. This is a perfect city for perfect people. And you look over there in verse 27, and there shall in no wise enter into it, anything that they follow, neither whatsoever work of the domination or make of the life, but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

That’s the only one who gets to go into this holy city. But now get this. He says, her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like under a Jasper stone, clearest crystal. Now you can try to explain all you want to, you can get all the commentary, but nobody, you can’t really tell what that looks like. There are word and there’s descriptive, but it kinda leaves you hanging. God dangles truth out. Doesn’t totally satisfy in everything. But knowing that there is a place, that’s the most beautiful place, most wonderful place in all the world.

Whatever heaven is, whatever this holy city is, it’s gonna be worth everything. It will be worth the payment that Christ made on the cross because we are the trophies of His grace. He did all of this for us. He made this world originally for us. Put that garden and put people for us. And he did all of that for us because he loves us. And so he says here in verse 12, and he had a great wall and high.

He had 12 gates at the gate, 12 angels, names written upon, which are the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel. So we got the 12 tribes of Israel covered. In verse 13, and 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 in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So we got the twelve apostles covered.

And God says that the time is coming when all of us doing that thousand year reign upon the earth will all be together. But it does describe about God given the earth to the nation of Israel, and they will rule, and God is promised. So all those promises to Israel are real and they’re literal and they will be fulfilled. But God has promised certain things to the church and that’s why He had blessed us in heavenly places. So that is ours and this is theirs.

And it says that I believe the holy city will hover above the earth and the nations of the earth and there will still be nations, there will still be kings, throughout eternity. they will walk in the light of the Holy City. Look what he says here. In verse 15, and he talked with me, I had a golden reed to measure the city, which is about 10 feet. And the gates thereof and the wall thereof, and the city lie up four square.

So many times you’ll see drawings and it’ll have a square and then on the top of it, like a pyramid. Now, I don’t know if it has a pyramid like on the top of it or not. The Bible described it as a square, square. And it says that the height and the breadth and the length is all the same size. It’s about 1500 miles long, high and wide. That’s a pretty good size city. That is over half the size of the United States, a city.

And look what he says in verse 16, and the city life four square And the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed 12,000 furlum, the length and the breadth and the height are all equal. And he measured the wall thereof, 140 and 4 cubics, according to the measure of a man. That is of the angel or the messenger. They usually kind of a standard. They would say it was between the elbow and the tip of the fingers.

But I don’t know if that would work too good it was a small man or if he was a large man or if that’s just an average man, I don’t know. And then he makes a statement. And the building of the wall of it was of Jasper. And the city was pure gold, like in the clear glass. Now think about this, people down here will kill each other for gold, for treasures, riches. If you want to know how wicked people are really, Maybe they don’t go in and rob banks like they used to and everybody’s on their, you know, they jump on their horses and they ride into this place and they, you know, kill a bunch of people and rob a bank and they ride off into the sunset.

But we have people a day that are dressed in three-piece suits and some of them become politicians, some of them are in stocks and bonds and up there for Wall Street. But we have thieves everywhere that are robbing people blind. Don’t you get tired of every time you turn on the news? Some body is ripped off somebody. They’re ripping off Medicare. They’re ripping off this person. They’re ripping off this. Everybody, ripping off everybody. Everybody’s trying to make as much money as they can.

And it’s like nobody has any decency as far as any character. This is a virtue. It’s like it’s a virtue to be a good thief. Just don’t get caught. And so everybody is so wicked. And that’s the world which we live in. God said, none of that will be in heaven. There won’t be anybody trying to do anybody wrong anymore. Down here you have to watch everything you do because nobody trusts anybody. We’re so untrustworthy. We’re just not trustworthy, not all.

But look what he says. He makes a statement in verse 19, and the foundation of the wall of the city garnish with all men are precious stones. Now some of these various kinds of stone, I ain’t got to clue what they look like. You can look up in a dictionary and see all the things and they got stone. I’ve seen all of that, but I can’t remember that. I cannot imagine what this foundation looks like. I’ve tried to picture all these different kinds of stone.

Is it going to be one layer of this, one layer of that? All I know is it. God is describing it, and John saw it. He’s trying to put it down. No, world is going to look like one city. And then the city is like pure gold, transparent glass. You see what it says here? In verse 21, and the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Every individual gate was one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold as it were transparent glass.

Now God says that there won’t be no temple in it. Looking for 22, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. So it shows you that they are God the Father and God the Son. And that they’re both there. Now are we going to see students always? Am I going to see three of them up there? Or am I going to see just one of them up there? I don’t know and I don’t care.

God is God, and He reveals Himself in three persons. And each one is equally God. And you and I will never this side of eternity ever be able to truly explain it. I try to tell kids. Oh, it’s kind of like you got water, H2O. It can come in solid, liquid, or gas. In regards to the form, it’s still water. But each one of them is not the same at the same time. They’re not all exactly gas at the same time.

The water that’s liquid is not gas. So maybe it can still break down. So I can’t find that perfect illustration. Now I know I’ve sometime referred to here I am. I am my mother’s son. That’s who I am. I am my mother’s son. And I am my wife’s husband. I am my children’s dad. So to them I am different, but I am still only one person. So I guess I could say in all of that, I am still just human, but we can’t come up with a perfect illustration that doesn’t break down somewhere.

I don’t know if you can truly define God until we see Him, and we will see Him as He is. That day is coming. And the Bible says, we shall see Him face to face. God says so far, nobody’s seen Him. But one day, face to face, and we are going to literally see the Lord. And that day is coming. See, look in verse 4 of chapter 22. In verse 4, it says, and they, and you ought to underline this, they shall see his face.

They shall see his face. Now, back to the Revelation in chapter 21. It says there in verse 23, and the city had no need of the Son, Neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the lamb is the light thereof So we don’t have to worry about turn on electricity Now try to picture up how everybody can see everything and there’s no source of light except God is the light He is the light now whether or not we are going to be shining as lights because it talks about that in the book of Daniel in chapter 12 that you know lights and deferment and so forth and Christ says that ye are the lights of the world, so we will be little light bulbs all of them, heaven I don’t know, but I know that we’re going to shine for the

Lord and we’ll be dressed in the perfection of Christ. Will there be any glow about us? I don’t know. It’ll be interesting. But what do you imagine? In your mind as you read this and you think about this, are you trying to picture it what it looks like? Try to put it together. And then I’ll bet you that each person in here has a different view. Oh, that’s not how I see it. That’s not how I see it. Draw the holy city.

Get your piece of paper and a pencil and draw what you imagine if you can. And it’s indescribable. Looking in verse 24. Well, this is why I say there’s certain things that we have not yet been told. and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. So I believe that there’s a holy city and it says it comes down from God out of heaven, but I haven’t found where it actually rests upon the earth.

So maybe it hovers above the earth and the nations of the earth walk in the light of the holy city. I don’t know. I haven’t found anybody who really knows. We can have our opinions and I can have mine, you can have yours. But can we prove the position? Some things are just difficult to prove. But it’s not going to matter to me. One, Iota, whether it’s above the earth or if it sets on the earth. True? It’s not going to matter.

The greatest thing of all is we’re going to be there. And you You know what’s neat about all of this? Is there isn’t anything between now and the time we leave this world that can change that? I like that. Nothing can change it. God can’t change it, and I can’t change it. God can’t alter it. It’s a done deal. I know I’m going to be there. Well, God tells us we’re going to be there, but He also talks about us serving Him and ruling and reigning with Christ.

And here’s nations that are going to be there. Now, are there going to be lost people? I don’t know, but in verse 24, and the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. Are there nations that are not saved and they won’t get to walk in the light of it? I don’t know. See, it doesn’t answer that. But it says everything to us has not been revealed. And I haven’t figured out all of the right sequence of when everything happens.

It appears, and some people believe that the Holy Shit is going to come down and hover above the earth during the kingdom of heaven, the kingdom upon the earth, and it’s going to be there. And that’s where we’re going to be doing the kingdom upon the earth. And there’s still going to be nations here. And blah, blah, blah. Well, I don’t know, but it appears as it’s written here that after the millennial reign of Christ upon the earth, that then there’s the great white throne judgment.

And then after that, then a new heavens and on New Earth and then the Holy City coming down. It seems like that is the proper order. And so what is all going to be taken place for all eternity? What are we going to do? And I’m sure that when we get to heaven, whatever it is that God has for us to do, this is going to be wonderful. We’re talking about paradise. We’re talking about where there is no such thing is any more pain or any more suffrage or anything like that.

There will be no more curse. Look in verse 3 of chapter 22. Look in verse 3. And there shall be, in your underlying, those three words, no more curse. No more. You see, that’s what you find there in chapter 21, when it talks about no more sorrow, no more pain, no more death. Why? Because there’s no more sin. And you and I can’t imagine a world without sin. You can’t do it. It’s all we know. All we’ve been used to as people being born and living a wicked, sinful life and pain and sorrow and destruction and death, disease, wars, that’s our life.

I wonder what it would be like with none of that stuff. You see, in this life, we’ll probably never know that. But look what he says here. In verse 25, And the gate of it shall not be shut at all by day, for there shall be no night there. Have you ever heard me make the statement that we all get to heaven on the same day because there is no night there? So if there’s no night there, it’s just one long eternal day.

And so what time of the day do we get there? If there’s no time? That’s hard to figure out. It’s hard to put God in a little box of time. That’s why he says, when Moses said, well, who do I say sent me? He says, I am that I am. That’s eternal presence. You see, with God, there’s no past, there’s no, it’s all eternal presence. We can’t understand that. You can’t sit here and really fathom in your little brain how God could have always been.

And when did God start thinking about me? He says in the book of 139th Psalm, his thoughts are always about me. How numerous they are. Well, when did he start thinking about me? When did he make me special? Have I always existed in the mind of God? If that’s true, am I as old as God? And how old is God? You can’t fathom the idea that with God, he can’t change. That’s why he says, I changed none. That’s why it’s impossible for God to repent as it says, because he’s not like man.

God can’t change his mind. You say, well, in the Bible talks about how he repented. I know, but he didn’t change his mind. God only has circumstances that change so that it is consistent for him to do what he needs because of circumstances change. See, God may say, I’m going to do this, but because the people did this, then God did that. Not God changed his mind. God is doing what is conditioned upon the circumstances of what goes on.

So God may be going to say, chasing me, but if I correct the problem and confess the sin and do right, God may bless me. But God’s mind has not been changed because God cannot change. Change cannot take place unless it changes for the better or for the worse. Now which way did God go when He’s perfect? Did he change for the worse? It changed for the better. If he changed for the better, are you saying he wasn’t better before?

That God was less, God can’t change the same yesterday, today, forever. God can’t change. You and I can do certain things that will bring you to the blessings of God upon us or the chasing hand of God upon us. So that is consistent with God to do whatever God does because God does not change and you and I ought to be very thankful that God cannot Change He’s made a promise in his word. He cannot change. He cannot lie So anyway here in Revelation He mentions now in verse 20 said and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it and and there shall in no wise enter into it anything day to be followed, neither whatsoever work at the Bominations or make of the life, but they which are written the Lamb’s book of life.

So there’s a lot of things that’s not said, but there sure is a lot of things that is said. And whether or not we can grasp all of them, I doubt it if we ever will, this side of eternity. Now remember whenever we see the Lord, we will be like Him. Turn your Bible to the book of 1 John, 1 John, and 3. 1 John 3, somebody called me up just this week and asked me the question, what are we going to look like when we get to heaven?

I said, well, you’re going to have blond hair, blue eyes. They didn’t think I was funny either. I said, how do I know what you’re going to look like? But I do know that God says this, well are we all gonna be about 30 years of age? I said, that sounds good to me. But there’s see, you got a brand new body. It doesn’t have age. I mean, are you gonna have crow’s feet? You gonna get bad eyesight up there?

I mean, what are you gonna look like? Are we really gonna be that concerned about how we look when we get to heaven? Do you really believe that every morning in heaven, the women have to get up and put on makeup? Wouldn’t that be bad? for eternity. Well, I guess when he put it on once, he could stay there forever, couldn’t it? I should not have said that. Have you ever said something and wish you could bring it back?

You realize I went too far? Okay. You’ve been listening to Bibleline, a teaching ministry of Calvary Community Church in Tampa, Florida with Dr. Ralph Arnold. We pray that you were blessed by today’s message. Part 2 of this, this teaching will conclude with tomorrow’s broadcast. If you have enjoyed our commitment to the clear gospel of Jesus Christ, you can reach Bibleline and pledge your support to keep us on the air in your area by dialing toll free 1-800-576-3771. That’s 1-800-576-3771.

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Thanks for joining us on Bibleline, and now a closing thought from Pastor Arnold. Friends, one day it will happen. The trumpet will sound. We will be changed. Caught up to meet the Lord in the air. So live today and every day, believing that the Lord is coming soon. And just keep looking up.