Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #41 of Revelation, chapter 21.  I will be reading the last verse in this chapter, Revelation 21:27:

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.

Throughout this chapter God has been describing the new heaven and new earth that awaits His people and in this closing verse of Revelation, chapter 21 God says that nothing will enter in “but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”  We know He is referring to His elect people that were predestinated to salvation from before the foundation of the world.  Jesus bore their sins at the point of the world’s foundation when He died and made payment for them.  They are the ones that the Word of God sought out as it went forth to the nations.  God sent forth His Word to seek only the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  The “nations of them which are saved” heard His Word and became saved as He created a new spirit within them and brought them into the holy city, spiritually.  He did this in every generation until May 21, 2011 when the last name written in the Lamb’s Book of Life was found and the entire body of Christ was now gathered, in a sense, as “one,” and they were all “living stones” in the house of God.

Before we move on to Revelation, chapter 22, let us think a little bit about what God is saying in this verse when He says, “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.”  He is saying that there are those that will not enter into it, but there are those that will enter into it.  The only difference between these two “nations” is that the latter had their names written in the Lamb’s Book of Life by the good pleasure of God’s will.  He made sovereign choice and He determined, for example, to save “Jacob” and bestow His grace upon him and, at the same time, God chose not to save “Esau” and not to love Esau, but to hate him.  This is what has separated mankind throughout the history of the world. 

One nation (the nations of the world) are those that this verse says are guilty of “defiling” or “working abomination” or “making a lie.” We will not look at all three of these evils that God mentions, but we will look at what God means when He says, “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth.”  We do not have to look too far to see what He means.  We see the same Greek word that is translated as “defileth” used a few times in Matthew 15:15-20:

Then answered Peter and said unto him, Declare unto us this parable. And Jesus said, Are ye also yet without understanding? Do not ye yet understand, that whatsoever entereth in at the mouth goeth into the belly, and is cast out into the draught? But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies: These are the things which defile a man: but to eat with unwashen hands defileth not a man.

Again, God said in our verse that nothing that defiles shall enter into the new heaven and new earth, the kingdom of heaven.  What defiles a man?  It is that which comes forth from the unsaved heart of individuals.  What comes forth from them is all kinds of evil, like murder, adultery, fornication, and so on, and it flows forth from the heart of men.  Basically, in our verse God is saying that there will in no wise enter into it anything that defiles, He has in view the “stony heart” and the desperately wicked heart of unsaved man.  That is what defiles and all of their sins are simply evidence of their wretched hearts.  The unsaved heart of the sinner cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  That is why Jesus said, “Ye must be born again.”  He made that statement to Nicodemus in John, chapter 3.  Notice what Christ said to him in John 3:5-6:

Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.

Unless you are born again, you cannot enter into the kingdom of God.  Why?  It is because of the process that God uses to make someone “born again.”  He removes their heart of stone and gives a heart of flesh.  God removes the desperately wicked and deceitful heart and gives a new heart and new spirit that is perfect and without sin and, therefore, that “heart transplant” qualifies a person to enter into God’s kingdom.  They no longer have a heart that gushes forth with iniquity and which defiles.  If a person has their “old heart” they will in no wise be able to enter in.

That was the problem for Esau and it is the problem for every unsaved individual. The problem is not that a person was not water baptized or did not partake of the Lord’s table.  The problem always comes down to the “heart.”  If they still have that old heart, then God did not perform the work of salvation within them and it would mean that they were not His elect and, therefore, they can never enter into His kingdom.

Let us go back to Psalm 118 and we will see that God has long spoken of entering into His holy heaven and who will be able to do so.  It says in Psalm 118:19-20:

Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise JEHOVAH: This gate of JEHOVAH, into which the righteous shall enter.

It is only the “righteous” that enter and it is by the obedience of one, the Lord Jesus Christ, by which many were made righteous.  It was His obedience in taking the sins of His people upon Himself and enduring the wrath of an angry God that made payment for sin.  Then He arose again, after going through the fire of God’s wrath.  They are cleansed of all iniquity and all evil is removed from them and this makes the elect “righteous” and it provides them entry through the “gate,” who is the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the “door” to heaven and the Bible says, “There is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  He is the way, the truth and the life.  We go to the Father only through Christ.  He brings the righteous into the kingdom.

It says in Isaiah 26:2:

Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation which keepeth the truth may enter in.

So, once again, now we can understand this verse perfectly.  The righteous (by the obedience of one) is the “nation of them which are saved” or the nation of God’s elect and they are the “righteous nation which keepeth the truth” and they may enter in.  They have access through Christ.

You know, people complain and accuse God of this and that and they do not like His salvation plan.  To them, it is not fair that He only saved certain ones or it is not fair that He shut the door of heaven and ended His salvation program.  Yet, what is not fair?  His Word, the Gospel, was always meant for the “nations of them which are saved.”  It was always the plan of God to seek the lost sheep of the house of Israel.  Jesus said, “I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” The lost sheep of Israel, spiritually, included the Gentiles and the Bible says, “until the fullness of the Gentiles become in,” and then all Israel shall be saved.  And that could be read as, “the fullness of the nations,” and that was the purpose He gave to His people as He sent them into the world to minister the Word as messengers of the Gospel.  God did save the last of His elect and the entire “righteous nation” has entered into the kingdom of heaven, so what is left?  Why do some people think the “option” for salvation must remain available to the rest of mankind? “You must tell them it is still the day of salvation.  It is not fair that these others do not have that opportunity.”  But they completely misunderstand God’s program of salvation and His purpose in sending forth the Gospel.  The Gospel never went forth into the world as some sort of “soothing ointment” to appease the minds of natural men or to be some kind of psychological crutch: “You can feel good about yourself because God is still saving.”  Far be it for us to take that option off the table and say, “God is no longer saving.”  God is not concerned with the unsaved people of the world.  They are the rebels and they are the ones that offended Him.  The Gospel is not for them.  The Gospel has something to say to them, especially now in the Day of Judgment, but they are words of wrath, judgement and condemnation.  God is not going to keep the door open when there are no more sheep to be found.  There are no more elect to come into the holy city, so what would be the purpose of it?  It serves no purpose whatsoever and it is not how God does things.  He sent forth the Gospel for a specific purpose and once the purpose was accomplished, there was no more reason to send forth the Gospel (unto salvation).

Let us look at Matthew 5:20:

For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.

The scribes and Pharisees were renown for trying to keep the “letter of the law” and to to attain righteousness through their own efforts to keep the Sabbath and to follow this law and that law, so to say that you must exceed their righteousness would seem impossible until we understand that it is only Christ’s righteousness that can save anyone and it is His righteousness that is imputed to His elect.  It is accounted to the elect and it does exceed all of man’s righteousness. 

What does the Bible tell us about man’s righteousness?  The Bible says that “all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”  When we try to walk uprightly based on our own efforts to keep the Law of God on any point, we will fail.  If we are not looking to Christ as our pure, white garment, but we are trying to turn away from this sin or that sin and we may start feeling righteous when we think we have not committed a particular sin in a couple of years, but “all of our righteousnesses are as filthy rags” in the sight of God.  Our righteousness is not based on our “good works” or our attempted obedience to the Law of God.  If it is genuine righteousness that the “righteous nations” possess, it is only the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is His completed work and we cannot lose or tarnish that righteousness in any way because it is not our righteousness.  Every sin that the child of God has done has been paid for by Christ and that is why we can never do anything that would cause the perfect robe of Christ’s righteousness to become imperfect.  Of course, the big condition is that we must be one of God’s elect to whom He has granted His righteousness.  That is between the individual and God, but if we are one of His elect, then we do not have to worry about trying to do “good works” in order to become saved and attain to righteousness.  It is not even in the picture because we are made righteous by Christ and He did the work long ago at the point of the world’s foundation.

It says in Matthew 7:13-14:

Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

Christ is the gate.  How do you enter through that gate?  The world’s religions think they have an answer for you and they will tell you if you give them a chance.  If you follow what they say, you will go far to the left or far to the right of the narrow gate and end up on the broad path that leads to destruction.  God is not with them and they do not have the truth, so they will give you “works” to do (like accepting Christ) in order to enter in, but anyone that follows such an abominable lie will never enter into heaven.  The only way is through the Lord Jesus Christ and His salvation that has already been bestowed upon everyone that is elect.

It says in Matthew 7:21-23:

Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.

Christ sees the heart.  He sees the heart that defiles the man and continues to gush forth with all manner of evil.

Let us look at just one more passage in Luke 13:24:

Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able.

It is God that gives access and entry to whom He will.  It is all in His hands.  What He opens, no man can shut.  If God has opened the gate of heaven to an elect person, who can take him out of that holy city or forbid entry?  No man can do this.  At the same time, God shuts the door to heaven and that is what this verse is telling us about.  At the time of Judgment Day, which we are now in, God is telling us that many shall seek to enter in, but they shall not be able to do so.  It goes on to say in Luke 13:25:

When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:

There is nothing that anyone can do when God has shut the door.  He cannot be manipulated to open it because He is God.  Once the blessing was given to Jacob, Esau sought the blessing carefully with tears.  He tried to manipulate his father, but God was working behind the scenes and He did not allow Esau to obtain the blessing.  Likewise, once the blessing of salvation been given to all of God’s elect, there is no more blessing, no matter in no matter how people may seek it.  No matter how much they argue and fight and resist the teaching of the Bible, they cannot enter in “once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door.”

And this is what God is saying in our verse in Revelation 21:27:

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.

To put it another way, a true man will be able to enter in, but someone that has “guile” within will not be able to enter in.  That is how it has always been all through history, when it comes to the salvation of God.