Will you please turn to the book of Revelation? Revelation 21. We will begin with verse 9.
And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.
Her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
having a wall great and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
on the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs; the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal.
And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
And the building of the wall thereof was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass.
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one severally of the gates was one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof.
And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.
And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.
And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day—for there shall be no night there—and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
in the midst of the street thereof. And on this side of the river and on that was the tree of life, bearing twelve manner of fruits, yielding its fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
And there shall be no curse any more: and the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be therein: and His servants shall serve Him;
and they shall see His face; and His name shall be on their foreheads.
And there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun; for the Lord God shall give them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Shall we pray?
Lord, as we are gathered in Thy presence, we praise and thank Thee for giving us such an opportunity that together we may seek Thy face and be made ready by Thee for Thy imminent return.
Lord, it is the cry of our hearts: How long? Wilt Thou not come today? We wait for Thee, Lord. We wonder whether Thou art waiting for us. O Lord, prepare our hearts in such a way that we may be those who hasten Thy return.
Our cry to Thee this morning is, “Come, Lord Jesus, come.” We ask in Thy name. Amen.
Brothers and sisters, we are at the last full day of this conference. It passes so quickly. I hope that through the last few days, as we have heard, God has touched our hearts and made us ready—not only ready, but hastening the return of our Lord Jesus.
Should our Lord Jesus come today, brothers and sisters, what will happen to every one of us here? Can we honestly tell the Lord that, by His grace, we are ready? That because of us, He is hastening in His return?
So, dear brothers and sisters, I really pray that if the Lord should come now, this auditorium will be emptied. We are looking forward to His imminent return. There is nothing that stands in the way of His return except the readiness of His bride.
Should the Lord come today, what will happen to His people? We have mentioned before that the first sign of His return is that, suddenly throughout the whole world, some believers disappear.
Two men were sleeping; one was taken, but unfortunately the other was left. Two women were grinding at the mill; one was taken, and the other was left. Two men were working in the field; one was taken, and the other was left.
The earth is round. That is the reason why, when the Lord returns, some all over the world will be taken. They are the man-child, as we find in Revelation 12.
When the man-child is born, he will be taken immediately to the throne. They will be the welcoming party of our Lord Jesus. After they come to the throne, there will be war in heaven. Michael and his angels will fight against Satan and his followers, and Satan and his followers will be thrown down from heaven, his headquarters, to the earth.
The air will be clear for the Lord to come from the throne to the air. As we have said before, it is invisible. He has come as a thief, stealing the best. Hopefully, by the grace of God, we may be among them.
After Satan is thrown upon the earth, that is the time of the great tribulation of three and a half years—a tribulation that this world has never seen before. What can it be otherwise when Satan is upon this earth?
But, dear brothers and sisters, we have mentioned before that God loves us so much that even those who are left behind are given another chance. They may be faithful to the Lord and be martyrs during the great tribulation. These martyrs will be ranked among the overcomers of the ages.
Towards the end of the great tribulation, there will be a shout and the blowing of a trumpet. All those who have died in Christ Jesus will be raised from the dead, and those who live and remain behind will be changed. All will be raptured—not to the throne, but to the air—because the Lord has already come to the air.
In 1 Thessalonians 4, we find that with a great shout and the voice of the trumpet, God is calling all who are His to come. The whole church at that time will be gathered together with the Lord in the air.
Now, what happens in the air? When the saints are all gathered before Christ in the air, on the earth there will be the seven bowls, the wrath of God. The wrath of God will be poured upon this earth.
But at the same time, when the whole church throughout the centuries is gathered together in the air with the Lord Jesus, that is the time of the judgment seat of Christ.
Dear brothers and sisters, thank God that we who believe in the Lord Jesus will never appear before the great white throne, which decides whether there will be eternal death or life. Christ on the cross has already borne our sins and was condemned to death in our stead. Therefore, we will not be at the judgment of the great white throne.
The judgment of the great white throne is a judicial judgment. It is a judgment of eternal life or eternal death. But we will not be there by the grace of God. Yet that does not mean that God’s people will not be judged. It is a different judgment: the judgment seat of Christ, the bema.
To understand this, I think those from the Orient have an advantage, especially in the old days. When I was a child, we still kept that old custom of four generations living under one roof.
My grandfather took care of everybody—not only our daily food, but all our education and our marriages. He took care of everything. My uncles and their families, my aunts, even a married aunt, came back and lived together. So we were a great family, and everyone had his own quarters.
At lunchtime, servants would come and call us all to the dining hall to eat. After eating, we went back to our apartments. My grandmother took care of everything. She rose very early in the morning. That was the great family.
Of course, because everything was taken care of, some had nothing to do. An uncle would sleep, another would take opium, and the aunts would be gossiping. That was the way the old family was, and I was brought up in such a family.
The bema is a higher place in a room. Once in a while, the head of the family would call a family meeting. He would sit on that bema, and all the members of the family would gather before him, standing.
If you were not one of the family, you were not allowed to be there. Only members of the family could be present, because it was a family meeting. Some in the family, because they had done something that brought glory to the family, would be praised and rewarded. But others who had brought great disgrace to the family would be disciplined.
That is what the judgment seat of Christ is. After the whole church is gathered in the air with the Lord, we will have a family judgment. It is no longer a judgment of eternal death or eternal life. It will be a judgment of reward or discipline.
The Bible tells us in Romans 14:10 and also in 2 Corinthians 5:10 that we shall all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. Everything throughout our life after we believe in the Lord Jesus—whether we are faithful or unfaithful—will be judged at that time.
Again, I say it is not a judgment of eternal death or eternal life. It is a judgment of reward or discipline.
Those who are faithful to the Lord shall reign with Christ for a thousand years. But those who are unfaithful will be cast into outer darkness.
You find that in Matthew 25, in the parable of the ten virgins. The five foolish virgins cannot enter into the marriage feast of the Lamb, and they are cast outside in darkness. There will be gnashing of teeth. In other words, there will be repentance.
Dear brothers and sisters, today, especially in this country, people despise discipline. Even in schools, you are not allowed to discipline your students. In the family, we say, “Let the children grow naturally. Do not discipline them.”
But, dear brothers and sisters, without discipline there will never be maturity. Discipline is absolutely necessary. Why? Because in us there is an Adamic nature, and this Adamic nature is self-centered. It has to be disciplined in order that we may be delivered from ourselves and filled with Christ Jesus.
If today you refuse to be disciplined, thinking that you are wise and clever, that you can escape all discipline and do whatever you want—you may think you are free. But, brothers and sisters, this is most dangerous. At the judgment seat of Christ, you will be disciplined. You will be cast into outer darkness, outside of the coming kingdom of Christ.
We do not know what outer darkness is. People are very curious. They ask, “What is that outer darkness? Where is it? How is it?” So far as I have read, there is only one person who has tried to answer that question, and he is literal in everything. I will not tell you.
But we really do not know where outer darkness is. We only know that during the kingdom age, some Christians will be outside the kingdom, and there will be gnashing of teeth—that is, repentance. They will be disciplined, as it were, during that time.
Thank God, it is not eternal. Through discipline, they will also grow up and be matured.
Why? Because the eternal will of God toward man is such. As you read Romans 8, you find: whom He foreknew, He called; whom He called, He justified; and whom He justified, He sanctified.
Brothers and sisters, it is the will of God, it is the purpose of God, that He wants those who are saved to be conformed to the image of His beloved Son. He wants every one of us to be matured. By maturity, I mean that we have the stature of the fullness of Christ.
When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we have Christ in us. But if we are willing to be under the discipline of the Holy Spirit, Christ will grow up in us until we reach the full stature of Christ.
That is to say, the bride has grown up. The bride has taken upon herself the image of the Bridegroom. It is at that time that you find the marriage of the Lamb.
So, dear brothers and sisters, there is a warning to each and every one of us. But thank God, His eternal purpose is that we shall all reign with Christ for eternity.
When that judgment seat of Christ is going on in the air, what will happen on this earth? It is the time of the seven bowls. The wrath of God will be poured upon the earth.
Then, toward the end, our Lord Jesus will come from the air to the Mount of Olives, and that will be visible. As the lightning comes from the east to the west, everybody will see it. He will come back for His people Israel.
As you read Zechariah 10 through 12, it tells us what will happen at that time. You will find the whole world gathered together under Satan, trying to destroy Israel completely.
But our Lord will come back, and when His feet touch the Mount of Olives, that mountain will be cleaved in two. Scientists have already discovered that there is a line there. When there is an earthquake, the mountain will be cleaved in two. Those in Jerusalem who are left will flee through it, and all Israel will repent and be saved.
Then, as we read in the Word of God, Satan will be shut up in the bottomless pit for a thousand years.
There will be the judgment of the nations—the goat nations and the sheep nations—as you find in Matthew 25:31 onward. The sheep nations will be received into the kingdom of God on earth as the nations on the earth during the millennium. But the goat nations will be destroyed.
All that God has promised to Israel will be fulfilled at that time. God promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, but God’s promises have not been fulfilled even today. Yet whatever God promises, He will keep.
During the millennium, if my understanding is right, there will be two parts: the heavenly part and the earthly part.
In the heavenly part, the overcomers of the church will reign with Christ for a thousand years. What do we mean by that? You remember how the Lord Jesus said to those faithful servants that they should rule ten cities or five cities.
At that time, the overcomers will reign with Christ from the air over this earth. Their domain may be five cities or ten cities upon the earth. They will reign with Christ and for Christ.
Israel will be the center of the nations. Israel will even be used by God to go out and preach the gospel.
If you read Isaiah 11, you will find that at that time there will be such peace upon this earth. Let us read a few verses.
And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall bear fruit.
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
And His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither decide after the hearing of His ears;
but with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and decide with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked.
And righteousness shall be the girdle of His waist, and faithfulness the girdle of His loins.
And the wolf shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.
And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the adder’s den.
They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea.
And it shall come to pass in that day, that the root of Jesse, that standeth for an ensign of the peoples, unto Him shall the nations seek; and His resting-place shall be glorious.
During the millennium, this earth will be ruled by our Lord Jesus. The time of grace is over, but the time of righteousness will be upon the earth. The Lord Jesus will rule this earth with righteousness.
This is the utopia that people have been dreaming about, but it will be a reality when Christ rules over this earth.
As we read the book of Revelation, we find that after the thousand years Satan will be released, and he will entice the nations.
Strangely, you find that many still follow him. They will come and surround Jerusalem and the camp of the saints.
Sometimes we wonder what is meant by the camp of the saints. I will try to use a picture to help us understand it. In the old days in Europe, you had the feudal state. There would be an emperor, and then under him would be dukes, counts, viscounts, and so forth. Every one of these men would have his own dominion.
But they would stay, as it were, with the emperor, and from time to time the emperor would visit their dominions. That is like the camp of the saints.
When Satan is released, he will try to surround Jerusalem and the camp of the saints. But thank God, the Lord will destroy him and put him into the lake of fire.
What will happen after the millennium? We have eternity.
It seems as if there are two marriages of the Lamb: one in Revelation 19, and one in Revelation 21 and 22. That which is in Revelation 19 is at the beginning of the millennium. As we have mentioned before, it is composed of the overcomers who have the wedding garment.
But in Revelation 21 and 22, you find a new heaven and a new earth. Then you find the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven upon this earth. This New Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb.
What is the New Jerusalem? We find that it is the composition of all the work of God throughout the centuries—His work in Old Testament times and His work in New Testament times. Whatever God has done, nothing will be lost.
Everything that God has done upon this earth will be gathered together in the New Jerusalem. This New Jerusalem will be the eternal bride of the Lamb.
Here the apostle John was shown by the angel the New Jerusalem. In Revelation 21:10, he says, “The holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God.”
Brothers and sisters, this whole city, the New Jerusalem, is full of the glory of God.
Glory is a word often used in Scripture, but it is very difficult to describe. The best we know is that glory is the manifestation of God. Whenever God manifests Himself, you see glory. Whenever we manifest ourselves, you see shame.
This New Jerusalem is full of the glory of God. Do you remember in Colossians: “Christ in you, the hope of glory”? This is a promise. But here you find the answer, the result of that promise, because the whole city is full of Christ. It is full of glory.
Its shining is like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal. You remember Revelation 4, where John was given a vision of God upon His throne:
And He that sat was to look upon like a jasper stone and a sardius: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, like an emerald to look upon.
Here you find that the whole city shines like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone clear as crystal. Why is it so? Because it is full of Christ.
Then you have a great and high wall. You know, brothers and sisters, the problem with man is no wall. When God created man and put him in the garden of Eden, it was a beautiful garden and a good garden. But unfortunately, there was no wall.
Why? Because God wanted man to be that wall. Adam and Eve were supposed not only to till the ground, but to guard the garden. Outside the garden was God’s enemy, Satan, trying to get in to tempt man.
Man was given the commandment to guard the garden, to be the wall of the garden. But unfortunately, they did not do it. Satan came, tempted Eve, and man fell into sin.
During the time of the returning of the remnant to Jerusalem, you find that the wall was broken down, and they were under attack from the enemy. Nehemiah went back to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem.
But here you find a wall, a high wall. It is so high because it has the full measure of Christ. With that full measure of Christ, it not only protects those who are inside the wall, but prevents any enemy from coming into that city.
The city has twelve gates, and the gates bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Brothers and sisters, here we find salvation through the Jews. The twelve gates, represented by the twelve tribes of Israel, show that all that God has done during Old Testament times will be there in the New Jerusalem, the bride of the Lamb for eternity.
The foundations bear the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. It is the gathering together of all the work of God throughout the centuries, in both Old Testament times and New Testament times. Whatever God has done will never be lost. It will all be gathered there in the New Jerusalem.
The wall is made of jasper. Again, you find that it is the life of God, the life of Christ, that is the wall we build by the Holy Spirit.
The city is pure gold. There is nothing else but God. God is everything. Christ is all and in all. It is like pure glass. We have never seen gold like pure glass.
God Himself, the glory of God, enlightens the city, and the lamp is the Lamb of God.
In the New Jerusalem, there is a river—the river of life—and there is the tree of life, which covers the whole city. Those who are His servants, including the saints of Old Testament times and New Testament times, will serve the Lamb forever.
Brothers and sisters, this is eternity.
Thank God, we are really not looking for a reward; we are looking for our Lord. The bride will not look at her garment, but she will look at the Bridegroom.
So, dear brothers and sisters, this is the revelation that He has given to us. How glorious that will be!
This should be a help to us in our pressing on to Christ. In the world, we have tribulation, but we are not afraid, knowing that He is with us. He encourages us to press on toward the goal. May the Lord help us.
Brothers and sisters, the Lord is coming. He said, “Behold, I come quickly.” What should be our response? We should respond like John the apostle: “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus.”
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, how we praise and thank Thee for Thy glorious plan of redemption. How we thank Thee that Thy thought toward us is so marvelous, so good.
Lord, who are we? We are but dust, nothing. But Thou dost love us in such a way as to give Thy only begotten Son to us. We thank Thee for saving us. We thank Thee for encouraging us.
May we allow Thy Holy Spirit to work in our lives until Christ is fully formed in each and every one of us. O dear Lord, we want to give ourselves to Thee wholly, completely.
We ask Thee, Lord, that through Thy Holy Spirit Thou wilt transform us and change us from glory to glory, as by the Lord the Spirit. So we worship Thee this morning in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.