Turn please to the end of the Bible to Revelation 21. Jesus said, Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but store up for yourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy and where thieves do not break in and steal." And then he added, For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."
That last aphorism, where your treasure is, there your heart will be also, is sometimes misunderstood. It is taken to mean that followers of Jesus should guard their hearts, or they will be misfocused on purely transient treasures, Now that's a true thought. Elsewhere, the scripture does say, guard your heart, for out of it are the wellsprings of life. But strictly speaking, it is not what this text says. This text does not say, guard your heart. It says, rather, secure your treasure, for your heart will follow it. Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
In other words, what we value will tug our hearts in that direction. That is what we will think about. It is what we will daydream over. It is what we will work for. It is what we will pursue.
If what your heart is set on is a new house, or the excellent education of your children, then you will pursue those matters. And within certain limits, there is nothing wrong with either of those matters. But if that is where your ultimate heart's treasure is, then in fact your heart, your whole being, will pursue something of merely transient significance.
So it is extremely important then for Christians to maintain a high valuation of our ultimate destiny, of what is transcendentally and eternally important, if our hearts, our whole beings, are to pursue those goals. In other words, by constant reaffirmation, by constant meditation on these things, what we treasure most must be secured in heaven, or that's not the direction in which our hearts will naturally gravitate.
Few passages will prove more helpful in establishing this high valuation of the new heaven and the new earth more than this one before us. It is full of symbolism like so much else in the book of Revelation, In apocalyptic language, it focuses on the end of history, on the dawning of the consummation. It tells us what is new, chapter 21, verses 1 to 8, what is symbolic, verses 9 to 21, what is missing, verses 22 to 27, and what is central, 22, 1 to 5. We'll follow those four points.
6 · Carson begins the first major section by reading Revelation 21:1 and immediately locating it within the canonical stream of new creation promises
First, then, what is new? Chapter 21, verses 1 to 8. What is new? It is nothing less than a new heaven and a new earth. Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. This is picking up the language of Scripture. Isaiah 65, 17-19 foresees the coming of a new heaven and a new earth. Romans 8 insists that this present universe is groaning in travail, waiting for the final consummation. In Peter's second epistle, he speaks of the new heaven and the new earth, the home of righteousness.
7 · Carson expounds the absence of the sea in Revelation 21:1 by decoding its apocalyptic meaning
Now, exactly what does this entail? Undoubtedly, it is beyond our capacity to grasp it. Nor can we fully unpack the precise relationship between the new heaven and the new earth and this old, dying heaven and earth. We know some things. We know, for example, about the resurrection body still to come. But John does not specify the mechanics. He's interested in the central thrust. The one detail he does here specify is that there is no more sea. But of course, in the language of apocalyptic, this isn't talking about the hydrological arrangements of the new universe. In the language of apocalyptic, that is saying that there is nothing more of a fallen order. Passages like Isaiah 57, which I quoted last night, the wicked are like the tossing sea which cannot rest, whose waves cast up mire and mud. The sea in Revelation 4, the distances drawn from the throne, the sea out of which the first beast comes in Revelation 13, they're all gone. That is, the entire fallen order has disappeared.
8 · Carson reads Revelation 21:2 and immediately addresses a potential misunderstanding: the New Jerusalem is not a separate entity from the new heaven and earth, nor a mere geographical location within it
Then in verse 2, the metaphor changes. I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride, beautifully dressed for her husband." Now, this is not meant to be something other than the new heaven and the new earth, or only a part of the new heaven and the new earth, or one geographical location in the new heaven and the new earth. No, no.
9 · Carson traces the theological genealogy of the New Jerusalem symbol
The notion of a new Jerusalem unveiling Messiah's coming finds its roots in the return to Jerusalem after the exile. If the return to Jerusalem spells the coming again of the kingdom in some small way after the exile, so already Jews of Jesus' day were talking about the new Jerusalem as the ultimate fulfillment of all of their hopes. In a document, for example, written about the same time as the New Testament documents were written, in what's called the Testament of Dan, the New Jerusalem is a place in which the saints rejoice and enjoy the glory of God forever. In another document called 2 Ezras, the New Jerusalem is not just the old city rebuilt, but a new one built to a heavenly pattern. You see, this is the symbolism drawn from the return to Jerusalem, but now picking up everything. The New Testament does the same thing in Galatians 4, verse 26. Our home is the Jerusalem above. In Hebrews, we belong to a city whose builder and maker is God. In Revelation 3, verse 12, those who remain faithful in Philadelphia are inscribed with the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem which is coming down out of heaven from my God.
10 · Carson synthesizes what the New Jerusalem symbol carries: both backward reference (to Jerusalem's historical role as covenantal and royal center) and forward movement (as God's sovereign new creation descending from heaven)
The vision of a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven embraces intrinsic elements. On the one hand it's pointing back to Jerusalem which was the covenantal center, it was the tabernacle center, it was the head of the kingdom, it was the place where the king dwelt. But coming out of heaven, this is an act of God, this is a new creation, this is a whole sovereign work which brings about the consummation.
11 · Carson unpacks the city metaphor's theological significance
And it is a city. It is a social construct. It is not just salvation for individuals, a lone ranger Christianity. No, no. Christians don't exist in splendid isolation. We think of large cities as cesspools, sinkholes of iniquity, ghettos, yes, with sophistication perhaps, but with a concentration of evil. The more people, the more sin. And this view is even reflected in the book of Revelation. The city in chapter 17 is Babylon the Great, the mother of harlots, the mother of all abominations. In fact, some have written along these lines, the contrast between the earthly city as harlot and the heavenly city as bride is obvious. Some have said that the book of Revelation could almost be called a tale of two cities. There's the city of Babylon and the city of the New Jerusalem. There's the harlot and there's the bride. There's this sinkhole of iniquity and there's God's own creation, the New Jerusalem, coming down.
12 · Carson addresses the symbolic fluidity where city becomes bride, explaining that this is typical of apocalyptic (just as the Lamb was the Lion in Revelation 5)
Nothing other than the very consummation of all of our hopes. And then the metaphor changes again right at the end of the verse. It's a city, but it's a bride. Well, a city is not a bride. But just as in chapter 5 the Lamb was the Lion, so also here, the new heaven and the new earth is the city, and the city is the bride. Do you see? And the reason for this, again, is steeped in Old Testament language, drawn through the New Testament, and anticipating the consummation. In the Old Testament, God's covenant people constitute the bride of Yahweh. And when the bride turns away from him, it's a spiritual adultery. That is the very heart of the book of Hosea, is it not?
13 · Carson traces the bride metaphor into the New Testament (2 Corinthians 11, Ephesians 5), showing how Paul reframes human marriage as a model of Christ's union with the church
And in the New Testament, what does Paul say? I have pledged you as a pure virgin to your groom, Jesus Christ. So what do you have now? The consummation. What is the most intimate act human beings can know? It is finally the sexual union of a man and a woman brought together in holy matrimony with minds and hearts and bodies linked as one. And that is the language that the Bible dares to pick up because in one sense that is merely a model of the most wonderful intimacy of all, the intimacy between God and His people. Isn't that picked up explicitly in Ephesians 5? Husbands, love your wives as Christ loved the church and gave himself for her. That means husbands are to love their wives self-sacrificially and for their good. As Christ loved the church self-sacrificially and for the church's good. And the union between the husband and the wife, this is a great mystery, Paul says, wandering back and forth between the two, back and forth between the two. Do you realize that your home, your union with your spouse, is to be in a small way, still only a very small way, an anticipation of the bliss of intimacy, with the Supreme Bridegroom, Christ Himself, in the consummation.
14 · Carson signals a shift in the text from vision to divine speech
What does all this mean? It's almost as if the images are too much and a voice needs to explain it. Verse 3, a loud voice from the throne. Now, as it were, not simply angels explaining things, but God Himself speaking clearly, lest there should be any misunderstanding. A loud voice from the throne speaking.
15 · Carson demonstrates John's literary technique of repeated emphasis (verses 3, 5, 6) to underscore that these are God's direct words
In fact, John wants to stress the point. Verse 3, a loud voice from the throne. Verse 5, he was seated on the throne. 5b, then he said. Verse 6, he said to me. He wants it to be very clear that what is being said now is nothing other than the words of God in spectacular announcement of the glories of the consummation.
16 · Carson expounds Revelation 21:3 by tracing the theme of God dwelling with His people through redemptive history
What does he say? Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." There is, of course, a sense in which God has always dwelt with his people. Wasn't that the purpose of the tabernacle and the temple? Didn't it lie at the heart of the incarnation? Isn't it true as God, the triune God, mediates Himself by His Spirit today in the church? But it is always a qualified dwelling until the consummation, when there are no more qualifications. And already the anticipations are there throughout the Old Testament. Leviticus 26, I will put my dwelling place among you and I will not abhor you. I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people. I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians. I broke the bars of your yoke and enabled you to walk with heads held high. Jeremiah 31, with respect to the New Covenant. I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God and they will be my people. Ezekiel 37, my dwelling place will be with them. I will be their God and they will be my people.
17 · Carson synthesizes the redemptive-historical trajectory: what was partial and qualified throughout history is now complete and unqualified
And now, without qualification, without any future anticipation of something other than what has now already been received, God says, now the dwelling of God is with men. They will be His people. God will live with them and be their God.
18 · Carson expounds Revelation 21:4 as the necessary consequence of God's perfect dwelling: sin, evil, and all their effects are abolished
So perfect is this dwelling of God with His people, so consummate is this relationship that no sin or evil, nor any result of sin and evil can possibly tarnish it. Hence verse 4. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.
19 · Carson explains the theological necessity of negative description: the new creation's glory is more easily grasped by negating the old order's evils than by positive description of what remains inconceivable
Eternal blessedness is here couched in negation. That is what it is not. It is not a place of death, it is not a place of tears, it is not a place of mourning. In part because the new and glorious order is more easily pictured in terms of what it replaces than by an explicit account to unpack what is still largely inconceivable to us in our present state. This too arises from the language of the Old Testament prophets, does it not? Isaiah 35.10, the ransom of the Lord will return. They will enter Zion with thanksgiving and everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them. And sighing and sorrow will flee away.
20 · Carson uses the personal story of Sir Norman Anderson, who lost all three children through tragic and surprising deaths, to make visceral the reality of suffering in the present order
Some of you have been bereaved in this last year. Some of you will be bereaved next year. Some of you, I suspect, have cancer at the moment. If not, some of you will have it soon. Live long enough in this fallen and broken order and you will suffer. Your friends will die off. If you live long enough, your children will die off. In England, a friend of mine, Sir Norman Anderson, lost all three of his children. The first was a medical missionary, a daughter, in what was then the Congo. She was raped in the Congo Rebellion. She came home to recover, came to California for a little further training before she was going back to Africa as a missionary. She tripped, fell down the stairs and knocked herself out and drowned in her own spittle. The second died an equally surprising death. And the third? The third was a boy, Hugh. He died when he was an undergraduate at Cambridge University, just about the time I was arriving in 1972. He died of a brain tumour. He was already considered so bright he was being touted as a possible future Prime Minister of England. Six cabinet ministers attended his funeral. They lost all three children. Live long enough, you will watch your children die. Or they'll watch you die.
21 · Carson pivots sharply from the illustration's pathos to the consummation's promise
But now there is no more death. No bereavement. No mourning. No tears. None. Isaiah 25 says God will swallow up death forever.
22 · Carson expounds Revelation 21:5, emphasizing the comprehensiveness of God's renewal
God still speaks in verse 5. I am making everything new. It is as if everything connected with the old order has so been tarnished, so corrupted, so connected with death and decay and transience and mourning that God must start over. He makes everything new.
23 · Carson notes the divine command to write (Revelation 21:5b) and interprets it as God's pastoral concern that Christians have reliable grounds for comfort
And so that Christians may take comfort, he tells John explicitly, John, I've just made an announcement, write this down! For these words are trustworthy and true.
24 · Carson expounds the 'it is done' declaration (Revelation 21:6), resolving the temporal paradox: from God's eternal perspective the consummation is accomplished, while from our temporal perspective it remains future
Then he said, it is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. He is not saying yet that the consummation has already arrived, because in the rest of that verse, it's clear that he's still making the announcement of the free offer of salvation. In the vision, it's arrived. In God's mind, it has happened. Just as the Lamb was slain before the foundation of the earth, so far as God was concerned. So now God has provided for everything. The new heaven and the earth has been purchased. It has been secured. It has been announced. And in John's vision, it is here. But in reality, it is not yet here. From God's perspective, however, He says, it is done. And hence the announcement, to him who is thirsty, I will give to drink without cost from the spring of the water of life.
25 · Carson expounds the multiple descriptions of the redeemed in Revelation 21:6-7 (those in the Lamb's Book of Life, the thirsty who drink, those who overcome) and warns against moralistic misreading
You can look at these people from a variety of ways. They are in this chapter described as those whose names are written down in the Lamb's Book of Life. Here they're described as those who are thirsty and who drink. In the next verse, they're described phenomenologically as those who overcome. It is not as if only the good people go to heaven and only the bad people don't. Paul reminds us when he writes with this long list of negations to the Corinthians, such were some of you, but you were washed. You were justified. So also here, they come. They drink of the water of life without cost, which reminds us of Isaiah 55. They overcome. That is, they persevere. They press on. And they inherit all of this. In fact, although they can be viewed corporately as a city, they are also viewed individually. I will be His God and He will be my Son.
26 · Carson reads Revelation 21:8's vice list and clarifies its function: not exhaustive but typical
By contrast, the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars. It's not an exhaustive list, merely a typical list. Their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. They are the cowardly,
27 · Carson unpacks 'the cowardly' by distinguishing between ordinary timidity and spiritual cowardice—the failure to persevere under pressure
This is not simply talking about those who are less than heroic on the bravery front. It means they are so timid, so frightened of the world around them, that they do not persevere in the grace and demands of the gospel. They are the cowardly. They are like the seed sown on stony ground, which crops up and promises so much, but under the first whiff of pressure and persecution, it just keels over and dies. No staying power. Some small touch of grace displayed in their life, but not the kind of grace that so transforms that it perseveres.
28 · Carson rapidly expounds the remaining categories in the vice list, sometimes pairing external action with internal disposition ('explicitly and in their hearts'), sometimes adding theological clarification ('interested in the supernatural, but not in the spiritual')
The unbelieving. They have never learned to trust the provision God has made and the God of the provision. The vile. It's a catch-all description of all that God detests. The murderers. Explicitly and in their hearts. The sexually immoral. Explicitly and in their hearts. Those who practice magic arts. Interested in the supernatural, but not in the spiritual. The idolaters. That includes all coveters. All liars. Those who don't deal in truth.
29 · Carson addresses the doctrine of hell, rejecting annihilationist interpretations by appealing to Revelation 14:11
Their place will be in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. I did not have time to expound Revelation 14, but it is Revelation 14 that includes the most terrifying description of hell in the New Testament. There is a marked movement afoot in some evangelical circles today to think of hell as a place with variegated suffering until all who are in it are consumed. In that sense, hell is final, but there is no eternal suffering. I do not see how the language of Revelation 14 can be reconciled with that interpretation. What do we read? And the smoke of their torment rises forever. Chapter 14, verse 11.
30 · Carson refutes popular trivializations of hell ('all their friends are going to be there') by insisting that hell involves the continuation of sin and punishment in an eternal present
People make jokes about hell. It's the place they like to go to because all their friends are going to be there, they tell us. Things like that. But there are no friends in hell. Sin continues, punishment continues. This is the place of all that is vile. Do you remember how the book of Revelation ends? Let him who is filthy be filthy still. Let him who is righteous be righteous still. The ideas of a continuing now that stretches into eternity.
31 · Carson summarizes the first major section by recapping what is new: new heaven and earth, new city, new intimacy with God and the Lamb
So what is new? What is new is a new heaven and a new earth. It's the consummation that we have been looking for. It is a new city. It is a new arrangement of the most intimate sonship with God, the most intimate union with God and with the Lamb.
32 · Carson signals the second major structural move and previews its content: the symbolic elaboration of the New Jerusalem's dimensions and materials
Now more quickly, what is symbolic? Verses 9 to 21. There is a sense, of course, in which there have been many symbols in the first verses. But verses 9 to 21 pick up one or two of the symbols of the first section and then load them down with a whole lot of symbols. It's almost as if there are symbols upon the symbols. We pick up with this language of the bride and of the city, and then the city is more fully described. I do not have time to go through all of this language, but let me direct your attention to some of it.
33 · Carson tracks the repeated references to the Lamb through Revelation 21:9–22:3, showing how the Lamb becomes increasingly central as the vision progresses
In verses 9 and 10, once again, the new Jerusalem is the wife, the bride. What is now made explicit, though it was hinted earlier, is that the groom of the bride is, in fact, the Lamb. It is explicitly the Lamb. And now, for the first time in this chapter, the Lamb is introduced and recurs again and again and again. Verse 14, the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And then, Verse 22, the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Verse 23, the Lamb is the city's light. Verse 27, whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. Chapter 22, verse 1, the throne of God and of the Lamb. Verse 3, the throne of God and of the Lamb. They will see His face. Do you see? The Lamb, the Lamb, the throne of God and the Lamb, God and the Lamb. Here we have, in truth, the triumph of the Lamb. It is the consummation of all the movement in the entire book from Revelation 4 and 5, where it is the Lamb that secures all of God's purposes for redemption and judgment.
34 · Carson clarifies the function of the 'great high mountain' (Revelation 21:10)—it is not a geographical location within the new creation but a symbolic vantage point for the vision
Now look at the city in particular. One of the angels now is doing his interpreting job. He carries me, John says, in the spirit. to a mountain great and high, not because there is some physical location now in the new heaven and the new earth that stands outside the new heaven and the new earth. This is simply part of the symbolism of the vision that enables John to get a vantage point in which to see everything. We're not to think in terms of concrete geography now, but in terms of the nature and the import of the vision. He carries me then to this mountain, great and high, so that John can have a good view, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
35 · Carson clarifies the relationship between Revelation 21:2 and 21:10—they describe the same descent from different angles
This is not a new descent. This is exactly what was going on in the first verses, where he says, verse 2, I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven. Do you see? So the same vision, thus, is being picked up. But now it is being explained, and there are more details, and the dimensions of the city are unpacked, and the building materials of the city are unpacked. So you begin with the symbolism of the city, and now there are symbols of the construction and the size of the city, do you see? That is why I have called this section, What is Symbolic?
36 · Carson expounds the city's radiance (Revelation 21:11), connecting the jasper imagery back to the throne room in Revelation 4
What then do we read in the symbolism used to describe this city? Verses 10-14 in the original constitute one long sentence. And what is said is very remarkable. Jerusalem comes down from heaven. It shone with the glory of God. Don't forget, this Jerusalem is The consummated church. And it shone with the glory of God. It is our abode where God dwells. And it is heaven. It is also the bride, the actual people who actually have consummation with God Himself. Do you see? And it shines with the glory of God. There is so much down here that shines with anything but the glory of God. It shines with glitter. It shines with fleas. It shines with fake luminescence that distracts. But in the new heaven and the new earth, everything shines with the glory of God. Its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper. You will recall that the very throne room of God is made up of Jasper. The throne of God is like Jasper in chapter 4. Almost certainly a white stone, an opal, or a diamond in the days before diamonds were cut perfectly symmetrically and could be clear. Clear as crystal is not, in my view, a good translation. Crystal in the ancient world was not clear. They didn't know how to make it yet. It means sparkling like crystal. It is full of light and sparkling and luminescence.
37 · Carson expounds the twelve gates (with the twelve tribes) and twelve foundations (with the twelve apostles) as signifying the unity of old and new covenant peoples in the consummation
It had a great high wall with twelve gates and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, three on the west. The wall had twelve foundations and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the land. Here you have then the old covenant people of God and the new covenant people of God. Do you see? Brought together once again. This too is in part language drawn from Isaiah. What does the prophet say in Isaiah chapter 60? Arise, shine, for your light has come, he says, addressing Zion. And the glory of the Lord rises upon you. Now all of Isaiah's hopes are in the consummation of the last day. The presence of the glory of the Lord means the presence of the Lord Himself. Isn't that what Ezekiel 43 is about? Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court and the glory of the Lord filled the temple.
38 · Carson offers brief exegetical notes on the twelve angels (echoing Isaiah 62:6's watchmen) and the high wall (signifying majesty and security, not defense)
This is wonderful language. The twelve angels, the gatekeepers, probably reflect the pattern of Isaiah 62.6, of watchmen on the walls of Jerusalem. The high wall itself is not assuming some defensive posture against attacking hordes. There are no people who are going to attack this city. It is merely part of the picture of an ancient, monumental, majestic, secure city.
39 · Carson expounds the cubic dimensions of the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:15-17), identifying the key symbolic meaning: the city is designed like the Most Holy Place
In verses 15-17, an angel then proceeds to measure the city using a golden measuring rod. The reed, this rod, was just over 10 feet long. That means this size is enormous, which suggests there is room for all. But above all, notice, this city has a strange design. It is built like a perfect cube. It is as long and as wide as it is high. Have you ever seen a city built like that? Oh no, the symbolism is clear to those who know their Old Testaments. Where is the one cube in all of Scripture? It is the most holy of holies, the holy place in the tabernacle and in the temple.
40 · Carson unpacks the theological implications of the cubic city
You see, this is another way of saying that the entire city is the most holy place. The entire city is where God dwells. The entire city is full of the Shekinah glory of Almighty God. There is no restriction now so that the priest enters just once a year. There is no restriction now so that anyone who peeks behind the veil without proper authorization now will immediately be struck down. There is no distinction between priest and all of the others who may not enter. Now all the people of God live in the city of God, which is itself in the very presence of God. This is the most holy place.
41 · Carson explains the symbolic arithmetic behind 12,000 stadia: 12 (edges of cube) × 12,000 = 144,000 (the elect in Revelation 14)
12,000 stadia we read. In most of the Bible, the numbers are not symbolic. But in Apocalyptic, they are. A cube has 12 edges. 12 times 12,000 is 144,000. The number of God's elect in Revelation 14. And that doesn't mean that there are only 144,000 elect, as in Jehovah's Witnesses. Again, it's symbolic. Twelve, the number of the people of God, times twelve, times ten raised to the third power. Ten times ten times ten. The completeness of all of God's people made up of the Old Covenant community and the New Covenant community. The completeness of all of God's people. That is what is at stake.
42 · Carson concludes the exposition of the city's dimensions by emphasizing symbolic meaning over literal measurement
John, as someone has said, is struggling to express by symbols the vastness, the perfect symmetry, and the splendor of the New Jerusalem. The wall measures 144 cubits, we're told. People dispute whether that's 144 cubits wide or 144 cubits high. It's not clear, but 144 is again 12 times 12. What's the point? Again, all the people of God are under the old covenant and under the new. The city itself, if you translate stadia into miles, is about 1400 miles on edge. But the point is not its dimensions. The point is its perfect symmetry, its perfect completeness, embracing all of the people of God and reflecting nothing other than the most holy place where God in His Shekinah glory meets with His people.
43 · Carson begins expounding the building materials (Revelation 21:18-21), immediately flagging that these are symbols, not literal construction materials
Verses 18-21, spectacular building materials used. The wall was made of pure jasper. You can't really build a wall of these dimensions of jasper. It is symbolism. The city of pure gold. Gold is not a construction material. No, no, no, the idea again is of purity. As pure as glass again suggests, it is burnished and bright and sparkling and wonderful.
44 · Carson unpacks the twelve foundation stones (Revelation 21:19-20), noting their connection to the high priest's breastplate and offering a striking observation: when arranged according to the compass points in verse 13, the stones reverse the zodiac order
The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. People have disputed exactly the significance of this list. Many on the list are the stones akin to the stones used on the breastplate of the high priest. Someone has also pointed out, it is very remarkable, that if you take these twelve stones and lay them out in the order in which the points of the compass occur in verse 13, Did you notice verse 13? The 12 gates? Three on the East, three on the North, three on the South, three on the West. If you lay out the stones in the order in which they're given, in the order of these four points of the compass, which is a strange order, East, North, South, West. That's not the way we talk. It's not the way the ancient world talked. East, North, South, West. Do you know what you get? It's quite remarkable. you get exactly the reverse order of the stones associated with the signs of the Zodiac. Almost as if John is saying, listen, what I'm talking about is not astrological smarm. This is not some sort of spooky stuff. This isn't connected with superstition. This is the exact opposite of that. This is reality. It might be symbol-laden, but it is not unreal, and it is not mere superstition.
45 · Carson wraps up the exposition of building materials by noting additional symbolic possibilities (pearl gates possibly alluding to Jesus's parable, gold streets recalling priestly temple service)
In some, the New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb, is steeped in symbolism. The gates made of great pearl, possibly an allusion to Jesus' parable, The Pearl of Great Price, I'm not sure. Walking on streets of gold like priests in the Old Testament in the course of their temple work, 1 Kings 6. This is some of the symbolism that John uses, inspired by the vision that is provided for him, that we might better have a taste of what heaven is like.
46 · Carson signals the third major structural move: from symbolic description to what is absent in the new creation
Then in the third place, there are some things missing in heaven. Chapter 21, verses 22 to 27. What is missing? And there are four things missing.
47 · Carson expounds the first absence: no temple (Revelation 21:22)
First, there is no temple. There's no temple. I did not see a temple in the city because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The precise language is changing again. Typical of apocalyptic. There's a sense in which the whole city, because it's a cube, is the most holy place. Now, in case that lesson hasn't been learned, the language shifts a bit. And God and the Lamb are the temple. There is no need for mediation. God and the Lamb live there. There is no need for a temple structure. It's another way of saying the same thing. This is the place of God's presence.
48 · Carson expounds the second absence: no sun or moon (Revelation 21:23)
There's no sun or moon, we're told. Why? Again, this is no more establishing the precise nature of the astronomy of the new heavens and the new earth, and the want of water is establishing the hydrological principles. No, no, no. The point, again, is that so much of the light we receive here is transitory. Day, night, day, night, day, night, day, night, winter, summer, winter, summer, winter, summer, winter, summer. And in any case, it's secondary. But here, the unshielded glory of God. Who can look on God and live? No one can see my face and live. But now, all of God's people stand in the unshielded radiance of the glory of God, and no other light is needed. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
49 · Carson expounds the third absence: no night (Revelation 21:25)
And then there's no night! The night was associated with danger. Night was when you closed the gates of the city. Isaiah 60 had prophesied, you will one day be so secure that your gates shall be opened continuously.
50 · Carson continues expounding Revelation 21:24-25, clarifying what the 'always-open gates' symbolize
Now the language is picked up here. The nations will walk by its light and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut for there will be no night there. Again, this is not trying to establish Here is heaven, or the New Jerusalem, and then outside is something else that you go in and out to. That's not quite the point. That's making the symbolism walk on all fours. The point is that the gates are always open because there is no succession of good and bad, night and day. Nothing of that. There is always bounty, always security, always the blessing of God, and never any fear, and never any terror, and never any cycles of history.
51 · Carson expounds the fourth and climactic absence: no impurity (Revelation 21:27)
But above all, there is nothing impure there. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. No impurity at all.
52 · Carson steps out of exposition into direct pastoral address, speaking to the weariness believers feel in their ongoing struggle with sin
And every genuine believer necessarily says, even so come Lord Jesus. Every genuine believer is so tired at times of struggling with his or her own impurity. Is that not the case? I know that with John Newton we can look back and we can say, I am not what I was. I am not what I ought to be. I am not what I one day will be, but by the grace of God I am what I am. Yes, we do see the changes, but the closer we draw to the living God, the more we are aware of the dirt too, the double standards, the shifting motives. But there, there will be no impurity. None.
53 · Carson signals the fourth and final structural move: what is central
And that brings me to my last point. What is central? It's almost as if John has to cycle around the same themes again and again to make sure they come home. He introduces the vision of the city, the new heaven, the new earth, the bride. Then he unpacks it in the endless symbolism, the long stream of symbols. And then he comes back to saying the same sorts of things by describing what isn't there. Now he has one more run at it.
54 · Carson begins expounding Revelation 22:1-2 by highlighting the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and the Lamb
All this the angel provides, John, that we might have better anticipation of heaven. We read, Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. What do you have here? The water of life from the throne of God and of the Lamb. The water of life from the throne of God and of the Lamb. This is a return to paradise. In fact, it eclipses the old paradise, for this is eternal. There is no possibility of fall here.
55 · Carson unpacks the theological significance of the provision's source: the throne of God and of the Lamb
And it comes from the throne because it is all God provided. But it is not just the throne of God the Father. It is the throne of God and of the Lamb. Because all of God's purposes in redemption and judgment have been secured by the Lamb. Here is the tree of life. Producing fruit all the time, all year round, so that there is never any possibility of death. It is another way of saying that eternal life in consummated glory with resurrection bodies in the new heaven and the new earth is secured by God Himself and the work of the Lamb. Nor is there any question of difficult access. It flows right down the main street.
56 · Carson announces the sermon's theological climax: the beatific vision
But above all, Above all, what is central is not simply this matchless provision, this water of life from the throne of God on the land. What is central is what some have called the beatific vision, the vision of God. Verse four, they will see his face.
57 · Carson delivers a stark propositional claim: without God and the Lamb, even paradise would be hell
If God and the Lamb were not in heaven, heaven would be hell.
58 · Carson offers a pastoral corrective to sentimental notions of heaven
That's the burden of all of this chapter. You hear some Christians talk as if the only reason they want to get to heaven is to see their dear departed mama. Well, there is joy and anticipation in the fact that Christians never say their last goodbye. But that's not what's central.
59 · Carson introduces a personal anecdote about his varied listening habits while driving, setting up the illustration from Roger Whitaker's song that will follow
driving over here from Chicago. I always bring a whole lot of tapes with me and stuff one in after the other in the tape deck. And my interests are very varied. You listen to Mozart, then you listen to Mars Hill tapes, then I listen to some contemporary hymns sung by Welsh choirs, then I listen to some English folk music. I keep changing. My tastes are broad. I'm probably not disciplined enough.
60 · Carson quotes Roger Whitaker's song to illustrate a misguided notion of heaven—one that places God alongside other beloved realities (romantic love, geographical place) rather than recognizing God as the supreme and singular good
I was listening to a tape by Roger Whitaker. He was singing a song of Cape Breton. The last verse runs, If my time could end perfectly, I know how I'd want it to be. God's gift of heaven would be made up of three. My love, Cape Breton, and me.
61 · Carson refutes Whitaker's vision with blunt force: a heaven composed of God plus other things would be hell because it fails to recognize God as the supreme good
my dear Roger Whitaker, thou would be hell.
62 · Carson synthesizes the sermon's central claim by quoting a hymn ('Face to Face') that expresses the longing for the beatific vision
For the heaven that we long for is to see God face to face in the most perfectly intimate union that those made in the image of God can finally enjoy. face-to-face with Christ my Savior. Face-to-face. What will it be when with rapture I behold Him, Jesus Christ, who died for me? Only faintly now I see Him, with a darkling veil between. But a better day is coming when His glory shall be seen.
63 · Carson applies the vision by quoting 1 John 3:3: the hope of seeing God purifies believers now
Everyone who has this hope in him purifies himself as he also is pure.
64 · Carson returns to the sermon's opening text (Matthew 6:21) and applies the vision of Revelation 21-22: this new creation, supremely the beatific vision, must be where our treasure is located
Here, brothers and sisters in Christ, is where our treasure must lie.
65 · Carson offers a pastoral diagnosis of contemporary evangelicalism: the church has moved from excessive eschatological speculation to eschatological neglect
There was a time when the Church disputed endlessly over the details of eschatology. That time, thank God, has slipped past. Now we do something worse. We don't live in the light of the end.
66 · Carson closes with a comprehensive statement of the vision's pastoral function: it signals the Lamb's triumph, establishes our ultimate prospect, locates our treasure, and demands homesickness for heaven
This vision signals the triumph of the Lamb, our ultimate prospect, the place of our treasure, and calls us onward, demanding that we be homesick for heaven, so that with the saints in every generation, we too cry, even so come, Lord Jesus. Amen.
67 · Carson concludes with a liturgical affirmation ('Amen'), sealing the sermon's argument and inviting the congregation's assent
Amen.