Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #40 of Revelation, chapter 21.  We will read Revelation 21:25-27:

And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

We are going to begin with Revelation 21:25:

And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

This is speaking of the holy city, New Jerusalem, made up of God’s people.  It is the new heaven and new earth and God says the gates of that glorious, holy city will “not be shut at all by day.”  As long as it is day the gates are open and then He gives the additional information that “there shall be no night there.”  This tells us that the gates of heaven will forever be open because they are open by day and the new heaven and new earth is like an “eternal day.”  It is a place of eternal light.  We are not surprised at this because it is exactly what God told us in Isaiah 60:19-20:

The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but JEHOVAH shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for JEHOVAH shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. 

God will be the light of His people and that is what it said back in Revelation 21:23:

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

By the way, this is another proof verse that the Lord Jesus is Eternal God.  He is the everlasting Light that will lighten eternity future and the new heaven and new earth and the holy city Jerusalem.  And because He is an everlasting light, God says, “And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day.”  The Lord Jesus is typified by the “day.”  The physical sun that rises and shines upon this earth has always been a picture of Christ and, therefore, the “day” identifies with Christ.  Night identifies with the kingdom of Satan and the kingdom of darkness.  Darkness and sin and death relate to “night,” so God says, “there shall be no night there.” 

Notice what God says in 1Thessalonians 5:5-7:

Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the day: we are not of the night, nor of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep, as do others; but let us watch and be sober. For they that sleep sleep in the night; and they that be drunken are drunken in the night.

God’s people are not of the “night.”  God’s people are of the “day,” or of Christ, so in that wonderful new heaven and new earth, it is always “day” and that is all the children of God have ever wanted, where there is no more night and no more darkness or things that accompany darkness, like tears and sorrow and pain and death.  Those things were a result of sin. 

So this is really a tremendous statement God makes as He talks about the “gates of heaven.”  Throughout the history of this world, God had much to do with opening and shutting the gates of heaven.  The opening of the gates of heaven (as God has done at various times) has identified with salvation and the shutting of the gates of heaven (as God has done at significant times) involves a means of judgment and bringing His wrath upon sinners.  For instance, He shut the gates of heaven to the churches and congregations at the end of the church age and He shut the gates of heaven to all the unsaved of the world on May 21, 2011.  These are acts of God’s wrath and judgment and they are designed to punish the sinners.  Because they loved darkness, God devised a punishment that involved darkness: “You love darkness.   Very well, you will be cast into outer darkness and there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

It is the final judgment of God at the present time because the door of heaven is shut, but once God completes this outpouring of His wrath in this prolonged period of judgment day and He destroys this world and creates the new heaven and new earth, never again will there be a need to shut the door of the gates of heaven.  That means there can be no more sin.  There will be no rebellion against God.  None of those that have been glorified in their new resurrected bodies and have entered into the new heaven and new earth will ever rebel against God and bring the terrible destruction that rebellion brings.  God says it will never happen and He knows because He has an eternal perspective.  God is infinite in His being and He “inhabits eternity,” according to Isaiah 57, and He not only knows the end from the beginning in this world, but God is able to look into the everlasting future and He knows what He is going to do in that eternal future.  He can see into the depths of that future without end and He declares that His people will always be righteous.  His elect people will always walk uprightly and they will always be perfect, holy and just beings.  There will be no error or fault of any kind in thought, word or deed against God Almighty.  Therefore, it is said there is no night there and the gates will forever be open.

It goes on to say in Revelation 21:26:

And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

This refers to the “nations of them that are saved” and they are entering into this kingdom of God which the Bible has told mankind about.  God moved prophets of old to declare the things He wanted to be said and in His holy Book He has laid out these incredible truths concerning eternity future, eternal life and the eternal perfect habitation called the new heaven and new earth.  And, yet, it has always been “future” and off in the distance.  Of course, God’s elect that lived and died in the past and whose souls went to be with the Lord in heaven know they are in heaven and they realize that all the things God has promised He will bring to pass. 

But those of us that remain on the earth are reading about it in this special, holy Book and we can know that this Book is exactly what it claims to be, if only based upon the tremendously angry response of unsaved man toward it.  Of all the books in the world (and there are many religious writings), it is this holy Bible that causes mankind to go crazy about and spend their lives trying to disprove it.  They try to distort the Bible and show it is not true, but they do not bother to do that with fairy tales.  Some charge that the Bible is full of fairy tales, but they do not bother to do that with lies from other religions, but they do that with this Book because it shines the light upon their sins and points a finger at the hearts of men.  Deep down, they know the Bible is God’s Word, so they try to discredit it and dismiss it.  They keep trying and trying.  They have been trying to do this ever since the Bible came into existence, but it never succeeds because God’s Word endures forever. 

It is this Word that tells of the glorious eternal city that is just off on the horizon, since Judgment Day is already here.  There is nothing else that has to be fulfilled, so it is as almost as near as it could be and soon will come the actual time of the fulfillment of all things in His Word when He brings His people to heaven.  His people have trusted His Word and looked forward with great expectation to these things and God will shortly bring it to pass.  Then there will be that glorious moment (but we cannot call it a “moment” because there will be time no more) when the children of God will be equipped with their new resurrected bodies in the presence of God in the new creation and, glory be, it will have come to pass exactly as God has said.  We are right on the “edge” of this world and of God fulfilling all things. 

At that point, “the glory and honor of the nations” will enter in.  To what does that refer?  God identifies the elect as “gold, silver, precious stones.”  When David made preparation for Solomon’s temple, he put aside gold, silver and rare stones and that was a picture of God bringing His elect into the temple.  Concerning Zerubbabel’s temple, which was not considered to be as beautiful as Solomon’s temple, it says in Haggai 2:6-9:

For thus saith the LORD of hosts; Yet once, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and the dry land; And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come: and I will fill this house with glory, saith JEHOVAH of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, saith JEHOVAH of hosts. The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith JEHOVAH of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith JEHOVAH of hosts.

Here, God speaks of gold and silver in connection with filling His house with glory and “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former.”  Historically, that does not make sense because Solomon’s temple was tremendous.  David had made preparation for quite some time and the kingdom of Israel was very wealthy and Solomon was a great king of wealth and spared no expense in building the temple.  Later, the Babylonians came and destroyed Solomon’s temple and carried the Jews captive into Babylon and when the captives finally came out and returned to Jerusalem, they were given permission to rebuild and they were given supplies, but there was no comparison to the former temple.  Certainly, the generous kings of the Medes and Persians that gave them supplies for building did not give them nearly the materials Solomon had when he built the temple the first time.

We read in the Book of Ezra that when they were building the temple, there was “weeping” due to the lack of glory of this second temple.  It says in Ezra 3:11-13:

And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto JEHOVAH; because he is good, for his mercy endureth for ever toward Israel. And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised JEHOVAH, because the foundation of the house of JEHOVAH was laid. But many of the priests and Levites and chief of the fathers, who were ancient men, that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, wept with a loud voice; and many shouted aloud for joy: So that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people: for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the noise was heard afar off.

They had seen Solomon’s house and already with the laying of the foundation, they could see that this house would be nothing like it, but there was joy because at least they had a house.

So it does not make sense, historically, when it says in Haggai 7, “The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former, saith JEHOVAH of hosts: and in this place will I give peace, saith JEHOVAH of hosts,” until we understand the spiritual house of God is in view, as we read in Hebrews, chapter 3 that the Lord Jesus would build His house, “whose house are we.” It is the construction of the spiritual house of all those God has saved that is the more glorious house than the earthly type and figure and that is what God has in view when He says He will bring glory into that house and it will be “greater than of the former” house.  It is a very God-glorifying thing that God has finished His house and He has entered into it.  The glory of JEHOVAH is in the midst of it and “the glory and honour of the nations” bas been brought into it – the gold and silver and precious stones.  Ultimately, God is going to destroy everything in this world.  He is going to destroy the land, the mountains, the seas, the trees, the houses, the boats, the cars and the electronics.  He is going to destroy the unsaved people of the earth, but what is the one thing God is not going to destroy?  It is all those He has saved and that is what the gold and silver point to and it represents that which is precious, enduring and valuable and God’s people will go through the fire.  They are the “third part” that God refers to in Zechariah 13, which He brings through the purifying fire.  They are the only thing that will come forth from this world, as it says in 1Timothy 6:7:

For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out.

When the city of Jericho was destroyed, God commanded His people to take nothing from that place because Jericho was a picture of this world.  Sadly, Achan did not hearken to God and he took a goodly Babylonish garment and a wedge of gold and hid it.  It is a foolish thing to think that we can take anything out of this world.  The things of this world are going to perish.  This is why God says to us, for our own benefit and welfare, in 1John 2:15-17:

Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

God is making a contrast.  Out of this entire world, nothing will survive and the only thing eternal that is part of this world is the children of God.  They will abide forever because God has saved His elect and God brings His treasure that He has purchased for Himself and they will enter into the new heaven and new earth and everything else will be gone.  The world will be annihilated and the unsaved people will “die in like manner,” we read in Isaiah.  They also will be annihilated, but God’s elect bring the “glory and honour of the nations” into this holy city.