Gooding, David: 12 - Revelation and the Tabernacle

Long ago, so long ago it could have been last Saturday, you will have received a sheet of notes. I think it was numbered number two. And if by any chance you could retrieve it and cast your eye along it now at this juncture, it would help us as we come to this final study of the book of the Revelation. The sheet, when you find it, is entitled Strategic Themes. And we notice that from the middle of the book onward, we have three major sections to the book in which women are prominent. In section four it is a question of the woman and the male child in contest with the dragon, and finally we see the dragon raise up his beast and the false prophet. In section five we meet another woman, and this time it is the impure and false woman, Babylon. And along with her, we read of the scarlet beast with his seven heads and his ten horns, and how the woman tried to ride the beast and managed to do so successfully until the beast turned round on her and not only tried to, but actually destroyed her. Now, as we move to the climax of the second half of the book, and indeed to the climax of the whole book. We meet another woman. But first we meet the warrior king, contrasting with the beasts, and coming out as a powerful warrior to subdue his enemies under his feet, namely the beast and the false prophet and the dragon himself. Coming, disposing of his enemies, that then he might take his bride, his loved and longed-for bride, the wife of the Lamb. And when we see that, we can't help reminding perhaps, reminding ourselves perhaps of that lovely psalm in the Old Testament, which is Psalm forty five, written, so the scholars tell us, to celebrate a royal wedding. And it begins by those lovely words, my heart overfloweth with a goodly matter, I speak of the things which I have made touching the king, and goes on first to describe the wonders and the glories of the king that presently is to be married to his wife. They describe him as fairer than the children of men, graces poured into his lips. God has blessed thee, they say, forever. And now they invite him, gird thy sword upon thy thigh, O mighty one, thy glory and thy majesty, and in thy majesty ride on prosperously because of truth and meekness and righteousness, and thy right hand shall teach thee terrible things. Thy thrones are, thy arrows are sharp, the peoples fall under thee. They are in the heart of the king's enemies. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. A scepter of equity is the scepter of thy kingdom. Thou hast loved righteousness and hated wickedness. Therefore, God, thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. All thy garments smell of myrrh and aloes and cassia. Out of the ivory palaces, stringed instruments have made thee glad. And we catch the excitement and the wonder and the joy and the sparkle and the majesty and the dignity of this glorious occasion. The king is coming, and he's going to be married, but first he puts down his enemies, is invited to gird on his sword, and then they remember the wonderful excellency of their king. His throne, they say, thy throne, O God, addressing him as God, is forever and ever a scepter of equity, is the scepter of thy kingdom. He is a right to rule because he has loved righteousness and hated iniquity, and when he rules, his kingdom will be just. But first he must put down his enemies, and his right hand has taught him terrible things. His arrows are sharp in the king's enemies as they are subdued under his feet. Having described the warrior king, now the psalm turns to the other side. King's daughters, it says, are among thine honorable women. At the right hand does stand the queen in gold of Ophir. Oh, what a delightful psalm it is. There is his majesty the king, fresh from all his triumphs, his enemies under his feet, and here stands his charming wife. And she shall be brought unto him. She stands in gold of Ophir. And now the psalmist has a little advice for the, for the king's wife. Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear, forget also thine own people and thy father's house. So shall the king desire thy beauty, for he is thy lord, and worship thou him. The psalm, so the scholars tell us, was written to celebrate weddings, royal weddings of kings long sis- since turned to dust and ashes. But as we read it, we have the permission of the New Testament to rethink that the Holy Spirit, even as he inspired the psalmist, had things in mind, had a personage in mind far greater than those original kings that now had vanished. Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. It might have seemed a colossal exaggeration when it was first used of the kings of David's line in their palaces, but as we see another figure come looming through the glory and stand in his brightness, we recognize him to be the Jesus Christ of the New Testament, of whom Hebrews chapter one says, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever. He's a right to rule, has he not, my brethren? Large parts of the book of the Revelation has been devoted to the songs of triumph that celebrate the rights of the blessed Lord Jesus to rule. He loved righteousness. He hated iniquity while he lived. All this vision of a coming reign of the Lord Jesus is not a wishful thinking, a kind of a fairy story we tell ourselves when we go to bed to save us from being afraid of the dark. We have seen this king on earth. The historical record tells us how he behaved and all how he loved righteousness. His moral teachings stand like the eternal snows of Mount Everest above the pollution of this world. And how he hated iniquity. But he loved righteousness and hated iniquity, not merely in his speaking. He showed it in his doing. He loved righteousness, the righteousness of God to him was his joy, delight, and constant goal. Never an iota would he diminish from the righteous standards of a holy God. And he hated iniquity, not with that fitful and varying hatred with which we treat iniquity, some days hating it and some days liking it a little bit. He hated iniquity. Then, however, could the likes of us have expected to be the bride of that majestic king? I'll tell you the love story. He loved us without declining one little bit from his hatred of sin or his love of righteousness. He loved us and paid the price of his love. When he hated sin, yet bore it for our sakes on Calvary and owned the righteousness of God. And when they nailed him to a tree and he cried in his forsakenness, "O God, why hast thou forsaken me?" He followed in those hours of darkness with the words of the rest of the words of that Psalm twenty two. "But thou art holy." One day he shall take his bride, and for all eternity never shall he be ashamed of her, that out of favoritism he excused her sins. His love is perfectly holy and right. He loved us to Calvary. He will love us eternally. And now, like the warrior king he is, he must come forth to put down his enemies with a very sharp sword of his mouth. Then comes the bride, in the order of these final chapters of the book of the Revelation. She stands before him dressed in gold, and the king greatly desires her beauty. You could think that was a bit of a fairy tale if you knew who the bride was. What you and me. Who can credit this bit? That the king would desire our beauty. I can't explain it. I but repeat in your ears the most marvelous fact. He desired your beauty, and desired it when we were all unlovely, wrinkled, sore-ridden, perverse. While we were yet sinners, ungodly, iniquitous, and enemies, then he loved us and gave himself for us. And if he loved us then, my brethren, my sisters, oh, you may draw the deduction by the Holy Spirit's permission that if he loved you while you were a sinner, he will never cease to love you all through the endless ages of a long eternity. So then we come to the climax of some of the strategic themes in the book of the Revelation. And on sheet nine of your notes, I have listed out for you the constituent parts of this final section. They are four. There is a major vision in which John sees the heaven opened, and a rider on a white horse comes out to execute the judgments of God on an evil and apostate world. Secondly, there is another major vision. It is the vision of the new heavens and the new earth, and the glorious city of the new Jerusalem that shall fill that new heavens and that new earth. And when those two major visions are over, there follows some comments, some testifying by the Lord Jesus in the third position, twenty two verses sixteen to twenty. And When the threefold testifying of the Lord Jesus is finished, John pronounces the grace of the Lord Jesus to be with all the same. That, as I read it, is the composition of the last and final section of the book of the Revelation. But I'm aware that in many circles and by many elegant and able scholars, my structural analysis of the book of the Revelation would be, in all gentlemanless and Christian spirit, hotly disputed. And in particular, my analysis of this final section of the book. In the first place, they would say, but my good sir, you have made an obvious and elementary blunder. A book of the Revelation that is so filled with sevens upon sevens upon sevens upon sevens, must surely have seven major sections. How did you not notice it? Your analysis only has six, you'll see. It's an obvious blemish, isn't it? And then, of course, bigger things hang upon the analysis of this part of the book of the Revelation. I scarce know another point of scripture where literary analysis so soon gets caught in, caught up into arguments about theological questions. And the reason why literary analysis here gets involved with deep and profound and important theological questions is because in this section of the book, however you analyze it, one is to read about the thousand-year reign of Christ. There it stands in chapter twenty, verses one to six, where John says he saw an angel coming down out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand, and he laid hold on the dragon, the old serpent, which is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years. John tells us that then he saw thrones and the resurrected saints who reigned with Christ for a thousand years. Though the rest of the dead did not live until a thousand years were finished. Then in verse seven he tells us that when the thousand years are finished, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison and come forth to deceive the nations. He shall succeed in some part, and fire will come down from heaven and consume all his hosts at the, uh, uh, uh, as a result of his final rebellion, and Satan shall be cast into the lake of fire. That, as you will know, surely, is a passage much argued about by Christian men and women. And the question is, how is it to be interpreted? Is it to be understood literally? That is, when our blessed Lord appears in power and great glory and puts down his enemies, will his coming be followed by a literal reign of Christ over the earth for a thousand years, before the world is brought to its end. Is it to be understood literally? Many of the earliest church fathers that followed the apostles believed it would be, and should be interpreted literally. Then a reaction set in, and people came to question whether it was ever meant to be understood literally. And so they, uh, interpreted it in spiritual fashion, that the thousand-year reign of Christ is not some literal reign of Christ in the future. It is to be explained in spiritual ways of the spiritual reign of Christ. Various versions of the spiritual interpretation have been in vogue. I mention just two of them. One is that the binding of Satan happened at Calvary, when our Lord bound the strong man and set free those who were chained in his power. Satan was bound so that he should not deceive the nations anymore, and that because the gospel was going forth. And if from time to time he is seen to be bound on a very long chain and wandering about still, nevertheless, uh, that is perhaps because we, his people, do not claim the victory that we should keep him, that if we did claim, would keep him bound in his abyss. And that the thousand years is a symbolic way of referring to this present age, from Calvary, or at least Pentecost, until the coming of our Lord at the end of the world. When his reign comes to an end, that will be the end of the world. There will be set up the great white throne of the final judgment, and heaven and earth shall flee away. That is a view that for many centuries was, and in, I suppose, still is, I suspect, the majority view in Christendom. The millennium to be understood in some spiritual fashion of the reign of Christ now. In more recent years, another alternative interpretation has been reasserting itself, and that says, yes, there will be a time of wonderful peace and plenty in the future that you may call the millennial reign, but it will not happen after the coming of Christ, but before it. It will not be Christ, by his coming, that will institute this marvelous period of bliss and wonder upon the earth. It will be the church who will bring it into fruition. Inspired and le- led by the Holy Spirit, by some final outpouring of the Spirit of God in the last days, the church will be so powerfully equipped that she will become the dominant force in the world, and under her influence the nation shall cease their warings, turn their swords into pruning hooks. There will be introduced a reign of peace and plenty, and only when it ends shall the Lord Jesus come, and that will once more prove to be the end of the world and the beginning of the new heavens and the new earth. On either of these two views, my analysis will not be approved of, and particularly on the first one that says that the millennium is to be understood as a spiritual reign beginning with Calvary or Pentecost and extending to the end of the world. And the reason why my analysis wouldn't be approved of is that if we take the thought flow in chapter nineteen from verse eleven onwards and through, we read how the rider on the white horse destroys, or at least he takes the beast and the false prophet who deceive the nations, and he puts them direct into the lake of fire. Then, and only then, according to this chapter, does an angel come down from heaven and bind Satan, who was the active spiritual power behind the beast and the false prophet. Well, now, if the binding of Satan happened at Calvary, then if you take this thought flow as being continuous throughout the end of nineteen and on into twenty, you will arrive at a situation that there must have been a beast and a false prophet deceiving the nations before our blessed Lord went to Calvary. And somehow they were put in the lake of fire at Calvary, and then Christ's spiritual reign began when the devil was put into the abyss and bound. And the question would arise, who were these beasts and false prophets that deceived the nations before Christ came? And is it credible that John, in his prophecies in the middle of the book that prophesies the rise of the beast and the false prophet, is not prophesying at all, but is telling us what happened before Jesus Christ was born. That would scarce be credible, would it? And so other analyses are found that get rid of that difficulty. The idea then is that chapter nineteen and the section verses eleven to twenty one end a major section of the book. And then chapter twenty verse one begins another, and in fact the last section of the book, so that the end of chapter nineteen takes us, like so many of the other sections have, up to the coming of the Lord Jesus. But then chapter twenty begins a brand new section that goes back into history and follows its own theme until the final judgment and the new heavens and the new earth. Now, in one sense, that would be a very reasonable suggestion, wouldn't it? We have found in our studies of the sections that contain the seals, the trumpets, and the vials, that each section follows its theme, sometimes right onto the eternal state, and then the next section will come back again and start somewhere along the line and in its turn pursue its theme to finality. And theoretically it could be, I suppose, that chapter uh twenty thus begins a new section, and as these people claim, goes back to, well, they say it goes back to Calvary, where Christ bound Satan for the rest of the Christian period. I therefore, if I'm going to contend that the last section of the book of the Res- uh, Revelation extends from nineteen eleven to the end of the book, must attempt to demonstrate at least my reasons for thinking so. As you see, a lot depends on it theologically, and I'm aware that different people have different analyses of different books, uh, one and the same book. I speak with all due deference to my brethren who believe differently. Let me say publicly, I deplore the way these subjects have sometimes been discussed amongst Christian people. Those who hold the literal millennium view and those who hold the spiritual view, those who hold the m- millennium is future and those who hold it is present. I deplore the way that sometimes that has been discussed, and good Christian men and women have grown angry and heated and denounced the other side as though the other side were heretics, and banished them from fellowship, and made what they feel is orthodoxy on these things be a condition of Christian fellowship in the church. That is lamentable. That kind of conduct more agrees with unregenerate men and women than with those who love the Lord Jesus and shall be together one day in the heavenly city of the New Jerusalem. We are to think, we are to argue vigorously, we are to remain Christian, my brothers and sisters, when we discuss these things. But now, if you ask me some of my reasons for analyzing the literary structure of this last section of the book as I have, let me in the first place ask you, uh, to, uh, look back, if you will. In preceding evenings and mornings, we have noticed that when you put section two of the Revelation alongside section si- section 4, there are vivid formal similarities, and there are also very clear sharing of themes between section two and section four. Then yesterday we noticed that if you take section three and you compare it with section five, there is a complete correspondence in the formal layout of the material, and once more those two sections are shown to be symmetrical in their theme. I wonder then what would happen if you took my section six and compared it with the only other one that is left in my scheme, with section one. Let us look at section six for a moment before we turn to section one, just to repeat our observations. In section six there are four elements. First, the rider on the white horse coming out to clear all his enemies, to make way for the new heavens and the new earth. One major vision, followed by a second major vision, which is the vision not of the bridegroom, but of the bride, the new heavens and new earth, and the new Jerusalem city. Two major visions, one of Christ, one of his redeemed people. After that, there is the threefold testifying of Jesus, and finally John pronounces the grace of the Lord Jesus upon his fellow believers. Keep that on one side of your desk, and put alongside of it on the left hand side the analysis of section one. It begins with a statement of the contents and nature of the book, and we are told that John is here recording for us the testimony of Jesus Christ. Section one, paragraph one, subsection two. the testimony of Jesus Christ. There follows greetings and grace pronounced on John's fellow believers by John himself. These are comparatively short passages. Then there follows the first of two major visions. It is the vision of the Son of Man first amid the golden candlestick, and after that there follows another major vision. It is the vision of Christ's churches. So in section one, two major visions, one of the Lord and one of his people, introduced by the testifying of the Lord Jesus and the grace pronounced by John. Compare, if you will, the two sections. You say you've got them upside down. Well, I didn't write the book. I'm just noting their contents. Just as there are two visions in section one, one of Christ and one of his people, one of Christ and one of the church. So in the last section, there are two major visions, one of Christ and one of his people, the Lamb's wife, which will include the church. And the other two things in section one, they come at the beginning, the testifying of Jesus and the grace pronounced by John. And the other two things in section six come at the end, as is appropriate in the book, is the testifying of Jesus and the grace pronounced by John. And when you look more closely, as we did the other, other day, you will see that the description of our blessed Lord in section one, the first major vision, has, amongst other things, the fact that out of his mouth was proceeding the sharp two-edged sword. He stood as in all his official glory and robes, as the judge of the church, about to pronounce with his sharp two-edged sword his appraisal and indeed his judgment on his people. In the first major vision, in section six, the rider on the white horse is described, and among other things, it is said of him that out of his sha- mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword wherewith he is about to judge and destroy his enemies. In the second major vision, in section one, Christ's appraisal of his churches, he pronounces rewards on those who overcome, and we noticed how many of those rewards refer to things that are eventually described in the second major vision of section six. so that these two sections stand as a symmetry, and not only a literary symmetry, but they, uh, uh, agree in thought patterns, the one with the other. My first defense of my own analysis, and now my second. In studying any book of literature, you must give attention not only to structure, but preeminently and above all other things, if I may say so, to thought flow. Study of structure without thought flow can be dangerous and can lead to wrong results. Thought flow is the first, and thought flow is the last of all the things that must control our exposition of a book. We start at this point, and from the very moment we're asking, and how do you proceed to the next point? By what logical progression of thought do you rece- you proceed to the next point? And how far does the flow of thought extend down this passage? And how far does it go on? Does it end at the begi- end of the first paragraph, and a completely new set of thinking start in paragraph two? There's no reason why it shouldn't. But the first basic exercise is to see how far does the thought flow extend? And of course, that is not only important for the, uh, studying of the book, it is tremendously important in the preaching of it. For it is when we have perceived the unmoving of the thought flow of any passage that we can begin to preach it with confidence. It ceases to be our sermon about the Bible and becomes the Holy Spirit's own sermon as we follow the thought flow of the Holy Spirit and the way with divine skill he piles up observation upon observation, argument upon argument, this feature on that, and so develops the powerful points he is wanting to make. How will these passages, uh, fare if we study now their thought flow? I have tried to indicate that on the sheet you have before you. It is sheet nine. and I want you to notice that in the first part, the vision of the rider on the white horse, there are two tightly controlled trilogies, and both of them are interrelated. So first, in chapter nineteen verse eleven to sixteen, there is a picture of a rider on the white horse coming out to judge. In, in justice, in righteousness doth he judge and make war. He is coming to war. What kind of a war? It is said that his garment, there's a name on it, is the word of God, and out of his tongue proceeds a sharp two-edged sword. And some people have said this isn't the second coming of Christ at all, you know. This is a picture of a very highly figurative picture. This is a picture of what happened upon our Lord's ascension. He ever since, so to speak, by his spirit is going, has been going forth to war. He's been going forth with the word of God, for the Bible is his great sword, and he's been going forth to his spiritual enemies to thrust them through with moral conviction by the authority and sharpness of his word, and thus to slay them in the spirit, in other words, to lead to their repentance and regeneration. This, they say, is a magnificent description of the going forth of the gospel by the preached word of the risen Lord. That's the sense in which the warfare is to be understood. Oh, well, it can hardly be that, can it? Because, you see, you look at the next little paragraph, verses seventeen to eighteen: I saw an angel standing in the sun, and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the birds that fly in midheaven, come and be gathered together unto the great supper of God, that you may eat the flesh of kings and the flesh of captains and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses and of them that sit thereon, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. And pray, what has that little paragraph got to do with the former one? The rider comes out to make war. What has this invitation to the birds got to do with his making war? Is there any connection of thought? Well, of course there is. Because in the ancient world, when kings went out to battle and multitude of men were slain, many of the bodies were left dead upon the fields, and the carrion birds of the heaven came and cleared up the mess and gobbled up the flesh, the putrefying flesh of those that had fallen in battle. And the connection of thought between that first bit and the second bit is that the rider is coming out to war. He will slay his enemies, there will be bodies around, and the very birds of heaven are asked, invited to come, and as healthy scavengers clear up the putrefying flesh. You say, aren't you taking leaps and leaps and leaps of imagination? No, because, um, now, of course, in the next third of the trilogy, nineteen to twenty one, the war starts. In the first paragraph, the Lord came out to war. In the second, the birds were asked to come and be ready. In the third paragraph, the war starts. I saw the beast and the kings of the earth and their armies gathered together to make war against him that sat upon the horse and against his army. Now the war starts, the war that was announced in the first bit. And the rider on the white horse, of course, takes the beast and the false prophet and puts them in the lake of fire. And the rest were killed with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, even the sword which came forth out of his mouth. Killed in what sense? You converted to Christ by the gospel? Well, hardly. But look what follows next. And all the birds. Oh, here come the birds of paragraph two. You see how the narrative, the thought flow goes through the narrative. All the birds were glutted with their flesh. Those three little paragraphs stand as a trilogy, and they are in con- are connected. First, the rider come to do war, then the birds are called, then the war takes place, and the birds deal with the consequences. The thought flow, to my mind, is indisputable, tightly controlled. This is not a description of our blessed Lord preaching the gospel and men being converted to God, for when men are con- killed in that sense, if that's a right metaphor to use, when people are slain with the gospel and brought to their need- knees and trust the Savior, no bird of the heaven has come, is invited to come and glut itself on their flesh, surely. This is far more solemn. This is a highly pictorial description, but it's a description of our Lord's coming in power and great glory to put down the beast. And how do we know it is so? We can apply to the theologian Paul, can't we? Who tells us when it's going to take place. When shall the beast be struck down? Oh, Thessalonians two tells us the answer. He shall be destroyed by the brightness of our Lord's second coming. Very good, but now we have to ask another thing. The second trilogy that I have put in the first great part of section six. Has that anything to do with what has immediately gone before? Or are we now changing to a completely different subject, so different that you could regard chapter twenty as starting a completely new section of the book? Well, chapter twenty is about, uh, an angel coming down out of heaven, key of the abyss, he puts Satan in it and binds him. Why should anybody talk about Satan? And what's it got to do with what's gone before? Well, a child's reading of the Revelation would give you the answer, wouldn't it? Or if the beast, a false prophet, have just been taken and consigned to the abyss, don't you want to know what happened to the dragon who inspired both of them? Section four has told us explicitly it was the dragon who came and stood on the seashore and engineered the rise of the false prophet, uh, to support his beast. And people worshiped the dragon. He wasn't bound up in an abyss while they worshiped him, was he? When he's put in the abyss, he's put there so he shouldn't deceive the nations. Now, the fourth section of the Revelation has told us of that ghastly period of time when Satan, the old dragon, will bring up the beast and his false prophet, and with hideous deception he will deceive them. So now, when the beast and the false prophet are taken and consigned to the lake of fire, reason has it that the story is going on relentlessly. This is not a new section beginning some other topic that hadn't been mentioned so far. This is what is done to the third of that evil triumvirate, the dragon, the beast, and the false prophet. The beast and the false prophet being disposed of. The dragon is now dealt with. Therefore, my argument is it follows chapter twenty is not the beginning of a new section in the book of the Revelation. The thought flow demands that it is in strict continuation with what has immediately gone before. And now three things are told us about Satan, three paragraphs. First, his binding, one to three. Uh, thirdly— secondly, four to six, the reign of Christ with his resurrected people, and thirdly, verses seven, uh, to ten, what happens after the thousand years are fulfilled, when Satan stages a final rebellion. And notice now, there's no talk of the rider coming out on the white horse to destroy Satan and his hosts at the final rebellion. No figure that could be used of com- the coming of Christ. Simply fire comes down from heaven and destroys them. Christ is not pictured as coming at the end of the millennium, not here at any rate. He comes at the beginning, not the end. When it comes to the end of the world, Christ doesn't come. He sits upon the throne of his majesty as the judge. He doesn't come to collect the criminal. He sits on the throne, and the criminals are brought to him, and that is proper in any court of law. It leaves us, therefore, with this, these verses, this trilogy of verses on the millennium. It begins with the coming of Christ to put down the beast and the false prophet, at which point also Satan is bound for a thousand years. And the next thing is that Christ and his people reign for a thousand years. And after the thousand years is fulfilled is the final rebellion. You ask about my beliefs on chronology in, in, in the, in the book of the Revelation. Well, here you may know them as you see. I believe in the chronology here given is to be understood perfectly literally. It is a chronological sequence with a before the thousand years, the duration of the thousand years, and after the thousand years. It is a chronology telling us that before Christ winds up our universe, he is going to reign, he's going to rule with a rod of iron, says scripture, and he shall judge the nations, and as a potter breaks potsherd vessels into smithereens, so he shall rule. Sometimes the millennium is spoken of, the millennial reign of Christ, as though it were a sort of an almost paradise. Well, perhaps it shall be. But the descriptions that are given of it here in the New Testament, of a reign of Christ that is rigorous, and when it comes to dealing with evil, is severe. He rules the nation with a rod of iron. So much then for the thought flow that is relevant to the topic of the millennium. More than that, I don't wish to say at this juncture. Of course, the whole question of the millennium is also, must also consider the theolo- theology of such a reign as we gather it from the rest of the Bible. That's another big story that I must leave to the systematic theologians. You'll excuse me saying it once more, won't you? But what I do like to do when I'm talking to the systematic theologians is to remind them that while my grasp on theology needs to be improved, they in their turn must start with the literary structure of the work they are considering and must be prepared rigorously to analyze and defend their literary analysis, if they have one. Because on literary analysis and on the reading of the thought flow of the book as it stands must be built our theological system. If they're built anyhow else, they are liable to be defective. And now we're going to turn to much pleasanter things. When all the enemies are put down, and the old heaven and earth flee away, and there's no place for them, and there comes the great harvest of time, and what God has been at, what has been close to his heart, and what he now produces as the product of all the long years of Earth's history, the product of the plans of God and the sufferings of Christ, and the power of the risen Lord and the workings of his spirit. We are for a few moments this evening to consider it as it is depicted here in the book of the Revelation. But before we do it, let's take a break and sing a hymn together. We are to think presently of the foundations of the heavenly Jerusalem. Let's sing, therefore, the hymn fourty four, and we shall sing the whole four verses of the hymn. The church is one foundation is Jesus Christ the Lord. Hymn forty four, we shall rise to sing. We come now to consider the second major vision of the last and final section of the book of the Gene- Ge- uh, Revelation, that glorious vision that is given to us of the eternal city. Its description of the jewels and the gems and those lovely statements that describe the blessedness of those who shall be there have not only charmed the imagination of generations of believers, but have been of tremendous comfort and solace as they have gone through their fires of affliction and have nerved their hearts to cur- courage and endurance. As one of our English hymns puts it, the eternal glories gleam afar to nerve my faint endeavor. So now to walk, to work, to war, and then to rest forever. Lovely things then, and going beyond our great, our imagination, but God in his mercy has contrived by well-chosen symbols to give us at last at least some comprehension of what it will be like to dwell above. All my brother and sister, God help us now in these next few moments. The rumor is that we're going to spend a long time with the Lord. Ah, we're going to spend the whole of eternity with him. It wouldn't be a waste of time, do you think, to give a little time on earth to thinking what it's going to be like. What will it be to dwell above and with the Lord of glory reign? Is it possible that even here, with our human limitations, some concept can be given of what the eternal world will be for those that love the Savior? Notice that in these majestic and wonderful and spiritual things, yet the Holy Spirit adheres to his orderly presentation. So now turn to your sheet of notes, if you will, and look at the second major vision, and watch how it is done. There are seven major elements to this third trilogy. First, we have the description of the great white throne, heaven and earth flee. If any not found written in the book of life, it is said, he is cast into the lake of fire. Why start the story here? Why not append that bit to what has gone before, the settling of all the ugly crimes of earth? Why not settle that and get it out of the way, and then forgetting it forever, start out on the eternal city with all its undiminished joy and gladness. But notice how the text will not allow us to do that. Look how it begins in chapter twenty and verse eleven: I saw a great white throne and him that sat upon it, from whose face the heaven, the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. If you are to understand the New Jerusalem and the new heavens and new earth, you must understand how the old heavens and old earth came to be removed. They fled, said John, at the very face of him who sitteth on the throne. Oh, what majesty there must lie in that face. And when we consider whose face it was, 'tis the face of the blessed Lord Jesus Christ. We shall know him when we see him. The face that was once marred more than any, as evil, filthy men spat their dirty spittle in his cheek, and blindfolded him and smote him with a reed upon the head, and said, prophesy now to us, you Galilean, who it is that smote you, and you don't know, do you, you empty, witless prophet? The man whose eyes were then blindfolded and saw more than any of his contemporaries, one day sit upon the great white throne, for the Father judges no one, but has given all judgment into the Son. So majestic then will his face be that the old heaven and earth, with all their sorry tale, scurry away, never to be seen again. When we come to the description of the new heaven and earth, look at how chapter twenty one introduces it. I saw a new heaven and a new earth. And John can't let you forget, for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away. He needn't have said that there, need he? But he does. He wants to keep up the flow of thought. You won't forget, will you, that the first heaven and earth fled away, and now you know why and how, don't you? It was at the great white throne. Why preface the story of the New Jerusalem with the story of the great white throne? Why, it's going to tell us, amongst the other things it says, who do not get in to the heavenly Jerusalem, who they will be that are rejected and are sent to the lake of fire. So notice that remark, we shall come back to it, that ends the first paragraph, eleven to fifteen of chapter twenty. and if any was not found written in the book of life, he was cast into the lake of fire. In the second place comes the holy city down out of heaven and welcomed with a great voice saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall dwell with them, and they shall be his peoples, and God himself shall be with them and be their God, and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the first things are passed away. So much for the description of the New Jerusalem and its function to be a tabernacle for God. Then there comes a comment by, uh, him that sits on the throne, verses five down to verse eight, a comment. And it is said there, we notice at the end, he that overcometh shall inherit these things, and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But for the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, which is in the second death. And we recur to the theme, don't we? We're not being allowed to forget it. But now, against the negative, those whose names are not found written in the book shall be cast into the lake of fire. Here comes a glorious statement of the positive. He that overcometh shall inherit all these things. He shall not merely get into the city either, he shall have it as his inheritance. Lovely thought. The overcomer will inherit all these glorious things. To that is added the warning, not merely that liars shall be sent to the lake of fire. Notice the wordage, their part, their inheritance shall be in the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone. And now we come, uh, to paragraph four. It is a long, long paragraph. There comes, came, says John, verse nine of twenty one, one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls laden with the seven last plagues, and he comes to conduct John around the holy city to view the bride of the Lamb. And he describes its beauty, the foundations and the gates, and not only the foundation and the gates, but how the foundations were adorned, if you please, with all manner of jewels. And then presently he excites our imagination as he says twice over, verse twenty four, and the kings of the earth do their bring their glory into it. And again, verse twenty six, and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. Lovely ideas. Not only does the city stand upon solid foundations and has these lovely gates, but the place is adorned. And, uh, who supplied the ornaments, uh, the silver and the gold and the precious stones, who supplied them? I'm tempted forthwith to quote a scripture to you. Other foundation can no man lay than is laid, which is Jesus Christ. But if any man build thereon, the day shall declare what kind of work it is. And if any man build thereon gold, silver, and precious stone, then his work shall survive the fire, and he shall receive a reward. But if the building proves to have been wood, hay, and stubble, it shall be built up, burnt up, though he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. What building? You say, Mr. Preacher, those words you just quoted are come from one Corinthians three, do they not? They do. And is that not a description of the local church? It is. Well, you say it's a local church and not heaven. Are you really telling me, my dear brother, that all you've built into the local church shall perish with this world, and nothing of it will survive to the world to come? All that gold and silver you've built into it? Oh, brother, my brother, see the importance of your work that you do in the church which now forms the temple of the living God, building upon the very foundation your gold, silver, and precious stones, and you build not in vain, or you shall see it again when your eyes catch sight of that glorious city coming down from God, and you see the redeemed community there and all its spectacular foundation, its solid gates, and the wonders, and you see this jewel and that jewel, and you run along in your inquisitiveness, if you're allowed to behave like that in heaven. Oh, look at, look at that, that that's a special looking jewel, that is. Wait a minute, wait a minute. I think I've seen it before somewhere. That looks to me uncommonly like the jewel. I nearly rubbed my fingers out polishing that jewel. It was, uh, you should have seen it when I got it first, you know, it was a diamond, but it had a lot of rough edges, and I spent a lot of time on my knees praying, and I spent a lot of time in personal counseling, and I spent a lot of time in visitation, and I wept and I cried and I laughed and I jo- and I joked with them and I taught them the word of God, and little by little I saw the old rough edges, uh, playing down, and I saw the very light of God begin to sparkle in that one tiny bit of clay. And look at it, it's there, that's my jewel. All the joy of it to see life's work built upon the foundation, the gold, the silver, and the precious stone, and to see it pass the critical eye of the blessed master builder himself, and him to say, well done, good and faithful servant, delighted to have your contribution to the adorning of the eternal city. Oh, what a marvelous possibility. What a light it sheds upon life and its significance, doesn't it? You will see, just as when God gave, uh, directions for that, uh, tabernacle to be built, eventually Israel went to it, and they built the tabernacle. The women wove, and, uh, they embroidered, and the men who were carpenters, uh, ca- ca- shaped the wood, and the goldsmiths did their part, and the jewelers theirs. And eventually the day came when all was complete, and they brought it to Moses, and Moses took it, and he set it up. Moses looked, of course, inspected to see they'd done it right, they'd done it as the Lord commanded, because you see, if anybody, uh, is in a race, he has to keep the rules, doesn't he? Yes. But, uh, having been satisfied it was all done as was commanded, Moses erected it, and the crowning glory was this, that the presence and glory of God came and filled it. And that was only a little picture. Oh, what will it be to see the redeemed masses of people that form the holy and eternal city, to see what your handiwork has contributed, and the blessed Savior approve of it and built it into his eternal city, and God himself, wonder of wonder, deigning to come down and dwell in it and express himself through the redeemed that are his people, as his eternal light is diffracted through the many different colored stones of the personality of the redeemed. Oh, what unspeakable glory. The Holy Spirit will not let us forget. The kings of the earth bring their glory and honor to it, but, but, but, but there shall never anything enter into it that loveth or maketh a lie. Here every jewel must be genuine and every bit of gold pure. No distortion, no lie. All the distortions and the unrealities of Earth's history, all for the fearful lie when men worshipped and served the creator, create creature rather than the creator. All for that fearful abomination that was the man of sin and his false prophet with their deceiving lies. Thank God, God has opened our eyes in time to see what is the truth, and we're bound for the eternal city. Nothing inside it will make a lie. Blessed are those that enter. Why blessed? For all the glories that are there. And blessed again, because outside is an unimaginable hell of twisted, perverted humanity that have chosen to remain so and cling to their lie rather than to accept God's blessed truth. That then is the sketch of the eternal city. As you see, it is a trilogy, and when it is finished, there come, uh, uh, three statements at the end of the description that make up the seven elements of the description. This final section has a section of seven elements in it. We come back then and go swiftly over those items again. First of all, those who miss the eternal city, the great white throne. It is said that on that occasion the dead are judged out of the books. You see, the books were opened, and the dead were judged out of the books according to their work. But now let us immediately notice what is the decisive thing that determines whether any one person is or is not sent to the lake of fire. I notice it because these words are penned with exceeding care and accuracy. It is not said that when the dead are judged according to their works, if anybody's works don't come up to standard, they are cast into the lake of fire. That will not be the criterion. Are their works good enough? The only criterion that the passage mentions for being sent to the lake of fire was this, if any was not found written in the book. That is the criterion. You say, why da- why is the question of works brought in at all then? Why, because they who are sent to the lake of fire shall not be punished with one uniform. The thing that decides, I repeat, whether they go to the lake of fire is this, is their name in the book. If not, they must be sent to the lake of fire. But then the measure of their punishment will be determined by their works. It will not be one blanket punishment. And our blessed Lord is on record of saying it shall be more tolerable for some than for others. Let that answer some of the difficulties that press around our hearts on times, as though those, as best they knew, honest people that just didn't receive the gospel, though they knew it, are going to be punished with the same punishment as the hideous dictators of this world. That is not true. All whose names are not in the book, I say again, shall be cast into the lake of fire. The degree of their punishment thereafter, according to their work. It is true on the other side, isn't it? They that are introduced to glory, they are introduced on the ground that their name is in the book of life, and all who believe shall be there in the city. But then the rewards and the stations of glory will be different, won't they? They too will be measured according to a believer's. But here the blank statement that anybody's name was not found written in the book. He was cast into the lake of fire. Oh, my brothers, I must stop and bid you rejoice. Your name in the book, and you know it. Oh, how wonderful is your privilege. The disciples came back from one of their missions on one occasion, all full of excitement, like returned missionaries are liable to be sometimes. And with excitement, they told the Lord. This is the first missionary journey they'd ever been on, and they just discovered the wonderful joy of working and witnessing for the Lord. And with great excitement, they came and they said, Lord, you know what, Lord, Lord, even the demons are subject to us in your name. Oh, they felt powerful and important. Wow. And our Lord, never one to discourage missionaries, but this time he thought he'd better teach him a little thing of proportions. He said, very good, very good, but in this rejoice not, not really, but in this other thing, rejoice in this. Your names are written in the citizen lists of heaven. Oh, why should you not allow yourself to rejoice this very minute as you sit at that table and you contemplate life fast going by with all its successes, if you are, but outshining them at all is this, your name written in the book, and one day you shall be there. Is your name in the book? This is a Christian conference, isn't it, that I never care to take risk. Now we're not at this very moment. Pause and make sure. Oh, my dear friend, are you sure your name is written in the book? And if it should be you have any lingering doubt on it, God give you the grace and the wisdom to see that before this day ends, you've been given the certainty by the Lord himself that your name is in the book. Then the second element, um, uh, the new heaven, John sees the holy city coming down. I like its direction. You know, some people have the idea that, uh, when at last we go to heaven and get in the New Jerusalem, we shall get into the New Jerusalem here on earth, and when the signal is given, the New Jerusalem will rise up from earth, and we shall lean out of its windows as we see the earth disappearing, and we'll say, bye-bye, earth, good riddance to you, we had enough of you, I can never see you again. We're going all to heaven, we shall never come back. That isn't quite the vision John saw, is it? He saw the new heavens and a new earth. God is always going to have a material expression of his purposes and not content himself with what is spiritual only. And I, John, saw the holy city not going up from earth to heaven, but coming down from heaven to earth. Yes, this great city is going to be the metropolis of God's new universe, the center where he dwells, that men and women may dwell with him, and he make himself known through this great city. You'll see, when God came down in this tabernacle of old and dwelt among the Israelites, you couldn't have seen God himself. He is invisible. But you could have come into the tabernacle, and if you were a priest, you could actually have come inside somewhere, and you could have looked at the colors, and you could have seen the cherubim, and you could have stood in front of the veil and said, mm-hmm, mm-hmm. Ah, well, I can begin to see what God is like anyway. For if God, if his idea of beauty is this beautiful curtain here, pooh, it is magnificent, isn't it? And what are these cherubim things? Ah, ooh, ooh. And to look around and see cherubims on the roof and on the walls and all the way around, cherubims galore, you say, I'm in some company now. Yes. And you could have got an idea of God through what the colors and the holiness and the marvelous perfumes of the holy place. But that had its limitations. You couldn't go out up to an old curtain and say, hi, curtain, you've been hanging here a long while, curtain, and you've got some nice designs on you. Tell me a little bit more about the Lord who dwells behind you, please, you curtain. And God is not going to dwell in that eternal state in a tabernacle made with hands, only figures of the true. He's going to dwell in a tabernacle formed of his redeemed people. Oh, that's going to be fun. In between the hymn singing and all the rest of it, you know. To be able to wander around this great new Jerusalem and to come across a living stone, a precious stone on the building, and say, hello, precious stone, uh, what part of the old universe did you come from? Oh, I see, I see, I see, from Germany. Well, that's not a bad place to come from, uh, you will say. Yes, and now tell me, tell me what you know of God. And if you're prepared to stand there a few of your forty years out of eternity and listen, they'll begin to tell you what I knew of God, you see, and the experiences of God I had, and oh, as they begin to tell you, the very light of the uncreated God will come through them, mediated through your fellow redeemed person to you. And each stone with a different message to tell and a slightly different angle and appreciation of the Lord. Oh, what will it be to dwell above and to be part of the great and eternal tabernacle where God dwells and through which he manifests his glory. God himself shall be with them and be their God. And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the first things are passed away. And he said, he that sits on the throne said, behold, I make all things new. And he said, write, for these words are faithful and true. He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, and I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. On what terms? He who overcomes shall inherit all these things. We have to pause to understand the term. Go to it. What does it mean to overcome? Does it mean that there are some believers who overcome and they shall be part of the eternal city and inherit it, and there are other over believers, because they fail to overcome, they shall not be allowed into the city, and they won't inherit it? Of course not. It is in the writings of John that we come across this concept of overcoming, isn't it? And he uses it in various senses and degrees. In one John chapter five he uses it of its foundational sense. Who is he that overcomes the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God. Everything that is born of God, says John, overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even your faith, and what a victory faith is in this world of great powers as they compete, as we have been hearing throughout this week, Satan and his hosts competing for the belief and allegiance of men, and offering men and women all his temptations and his giddy pleasures to lead them on to perdition. Oh, what a victory it is to have heard the gospel, to have heard the truth, and not only have heard it, but to have dared believe it. This is the victory that overcomes the world, even our faith. And then, and then, and then, everyone that is born of God, by definition, overcomes. It is the characteristic mark of believers that they do overcome. Sure, from time to time, we all of us fail, but the characteristic of a believer is that they overcome. Mercifully, we have a great high priest who, when we fall, is there to restore us. John reminds us, if somebody permanently lives a sinful life and makes no attempt to repent and lives that way constantly, then that man is not an overcomer. He is not even a true believer. He that overcomes then shall inherit these things, but all these other types shall have their part. Oh, what a chilling word it is. Their inheritance. What shall they inherit? They shall inherit the lake of fire. They shall inherit the character they formed on earth. That shall be their part. They are abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and liars. That's what they were. That is what they shall inherit. It isn't that God takes a lot of innocent, nice, healthy, beautifully smelling people, and in his arbitrariness punishes them. They that are consigned to the lake of fire inherit what they were on earth. We reap what we sow. Now we come to the city itself. The angel shows John the foundations and the gates. The foundations have the name of the apostles written on, for neither a foundation can that be laid, but what is Jesus Christ, as preached to us by his holy prophet, of holy apostles. While the foundation is Jesus Christ preached by the apostles, yet surely the Old Testament saints shall be part hereof, will they not? Hebrews chapter eleven tells us that Abram looked for the city that had the foundations whose builder and maker is God. And indeed, if you will listen to the Apostle Paul expounding the Christian gospel, he will tell you that the foundation of all things is taught us in the life of Abraham. For the great foundation of the city is justification by faith, is it not? Taught us in the life of Abraham and Sarah. These are the great foundations of the eternal community. Then there are the gates, and on them is written the name of the sons of Israel. Interesting that, because the Old Testament tells us how the sons of Israel got their names. It's a very interesting story. Jacob had four wives, don't you copy him there. Well, two wives and two handmaidens, we'll say. And, uh, one by one they produced his sons. It was rough going, I tell you, sometimes for his wives, dear soul, uh, you know, to live in competition with each other in Jacob's home, Jacob of all men on earth. I wonder what it's going to be like, what what it was like. And when it came to their family life, these women took it to God, you know, birth of their children and how many they had. And in those days when you had to compete to be the loved wife and have most children of all, you see. Well, if you didn't have children, that was difficult. And these dear women took the whole thing to God, and they prayed about their family life and about their children's life. And when God, uh, answered their prayers and gave them children, they named the children with names that encapsulated their experience of God. God has heard my prayer, said one of them, and she named her son Shimaon to record how God had heard her prayer. And those names that summed up and encapsulated the experiences of those women are going on the gates of glory. Well, of course they are. It isn't just the great exploits of the pioneer missionaries that shall make their mark in eternity, but the faithful walking with God of the women who bore the children and ran the family, and in it all had experience of God that shall be built into the eternal city. And the gates of the city, there are twelve of them. And like the gates of any city in the ancient world, they are not places where you go in and come out merely. In an ancient world, the elders sat in the gate to govern the place. That's why when Jacob saw his vision of the angels of God ascending and descending upon the ladder and God at the bottom of the ladder. He said, this is the very gate of heaven. For what he'd seen was not the way into heaven. He wasn't hoping to go there very shortly. He'd get married before he went to heaven. And, uh, he he he was saying, I found the the very situation of the government of heaven. Look at God and his angels all flying to do his will and coming back and roaming the whole universe through, doing the governing of God. I found the very gate of heaven. The gates of the eternal city shall be the center of the eternal administration for the universe that then shall be. Whose names did you say going there? Ah, you'll see. There's a rumor going around that if we suffer with Christ, we're going to reign with him and be part of his eternal administration and the qualification is being achieved now, as in our daily life we learn to live and walk with God, and through life's experiences he trains us for the glory that shall yet be. And with that, give me a few more moments while I go over some of the jewels. There were these gates, and says John, you'll see the gates, each gate was of one pearl. One pearl? What, a whole gate made of one pearl? Not studded with millions of little pearls. One gate, a whole pearl the size of a gate of this colossal great city. Oh, some pearl it was, wasn't it? And I'm tempted to say with Churchill, some oyster. The pearls, they told me, are when a grain of sand gets inside an oyster and it secretes a substance to ease the pain, and it forms into a pearl. And the gate into the city, each gate, one pearl. Some pearl, some oyster, some pain. Oh, my brothers, my sisters, the way into the eternal city, the way in is through the sufferings of Christ, isn't it? And then I think again, the way into the city, by faith, certainly, not by works. But then Paul had to admonish his fellow believers that through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom. Thy sufferings and ours, each in their respective sphere, but they're working for us a far more and exceeding and eternal weight of glory. And getting inside the the g- gate, John, uh, fastens his attention, you'll see, on the street. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent. You get inside the gate of an ancient city, then there'll be a big road, and what you expect is that the road will lead you ever deeper and deeper and deeper into the heart of the city, so that the way into the innermost part of the city is down this road, the way into ever deeper experiences of God in that city. Pray, what is it made of? Gold, says John. So tried and purified it was as transparent glass. I suppose it's not to be taken literally, is it? It is a metaphor like the rest. And if it is a metaphor, the metaphor that is used elsewhere that com- uh, compares with it is what Peter says, doesn't he, to his fellow believers. The proving, the trying, the testing of your faith, so that in the end what it comes through purified is of more value than gold, to be found to praise and honor and glory at the coming of Christ. The testing of our faith here and now is so that in the day to come, our faith, having been purified, shall help us to grasp ever more deeply the great wonders of God. People object to me when I say that we shall need faith in heaven. They say, sure, we won't. The Bible says we walk by faith now, but then, and not by sight, but when we get home to glory, we shall see everything, so we shan't need faith. Ah, well, we shall see a lot of things that we can't see now. But let me put it to you. When you get home to glory, will you still have to trust the Lord? I mean, you trust him now, don't you? Is it true that when you get home to the, the, to glory, you won't have to trust the Lord anymore? Poor you then. Of course not. When we get home to glory, we shall have to trust the Lord. Surely we shall. That is why God spends so much time purifying our faith in the here and now. You walk along the city to the center, expecting perhaps to see a great temple somewhere. Where is God in all this place, you say? Where is his temple? You get to the middle and find there isn't one. And then it dawns on you. You are already in the temple. There's no other. You are in the presence of the Lord. You are at home with the Lord. And the Lamb is the temple, and you are part of the temple. You are with the Lord. Would almost make you want to go, wouldn't it? Like it made Paul, you see. We're in this body, we're absent from the Lord, he said, but to be absent from the body is to be at home with the Lord. And they don't need, uh, any lamp thereof, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp is the lamp, the lamb thereof. You know, in this world, you need the sunlight to bring out the best of things, don't you? I have visitors come and stay with me in Northern Ireland sometimes, and I take them round to see the glories of the place, and we have some glories when you can see them. There are mountains and rivers and a marvelous coastline, but more often than not, it happens that as we drive along, I have to say, well, now, if it weren't for the rain, sorry it's raining today, and it mostly is, if it weren't raining, this would be beautiful. There's a big mountain here, you'll see, and all the colors are superb, you see, but you just have to imagine it, you see. Without any light, you can't see anything. And you know, when we get home to glory, and uh, how shall folks be able to see all that's in us? They need no light, no lamp, for the Lord is their lamp and the Lamb thereof. And in the shining of their glory, my brother, oh, how you're going to sparkle, and you, my sister, it brings out every facet of your redeemed humanity. Oh, how lovely it's going to be. And the kings of the earth, they, they dwell in the light of it, and they bring their glory unto it. You say, could anybody contribute anything to that glorious city? I like the analogy that we have in the book of Chronicles, you know, when Solomon was in all his glory and the kings heard of his wisdom, they came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and as they came, they brought presents, you see. And the Queen of Sheba came to learn the wisdom of Solomon, and she brought an enormous present, and she brought, among other things, some almug trees, whatever almug trees are, and the experts in Solomon's palace, they had a look at this almug wood, and they said, your majesty, that would be useful for making musical instruments out of. He said, well, make some musical instruments out of them then. So they made these musical instruments, and you should have heard the music. There was music in Solomon's court that was absolutely exotic. When people asked where it came from, they said this wood comes from, ooh, Ethiopia somewhere all a way, long way away, you'll see. Yes. What are you going to take to glory with you, my good sir? You're going to take some stuff that will enhance the music of heaven? From all our outlandish places and our marvelous experiences. Oh, there's going to be music up in heaven, such as angels never knew, as the wealth of experience is brought in to the holy city. And time has defeated me, and I mustn't say more along that line, though more and much more remains to be said. And I must bring myself now to the serious and practical thing. Three statements are made when the angel finishes his description of the city. And first of all, there is verses six to seven where he reminded John, these words are the faithful, are faithful and true. The Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent his angel to sow unto his servants the things which must shortly come to pass, and behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy of this book. We shall turn perhaps.