Speaker: David Mitchell

Passage: Revelation 21:9-22:4

REVELATION 21:9-22:4

All right, hey, good morning, everybody. It’s good to be with you. My name is David. As we have moved to three services, one of my boys sincerely asked me before church, he said, Dad, what’s it like having to repeat the same thing three times in a row? 

And I said, Child, parenting has uniquely prepared me for this moment. I am overqualified to repeat myself three times. And so, as I would say to my children, Church, for the third and final time today, okay? I don’t want to repeat myself, okay? Or I will turn this car around, okay? A car has never been turned around with that threat, all right? No one’s ever turned the car around. 

But hey, we’re in Revelation. There are twenty-two chapters in Revelation. We are in chapter 21 and the first part of 22 today. And what this journey has been like, I think, for us, collectively as a church, is in essence rediscovering this ancient letter that we may have looked at twelve, eighteen months ago as something that was purely about some distant future that we could sit back, sip a cup of coffee, and think, Wow, that’s crazy. Won’t that be interesting one day? To rediscover it as a letter, that while it wasn’t written to us, it certainly is written for us. 

Written to a group of believers two thousand years ago under the empire of Rome, an empire that was hostile to the Gospel of Jesus, that impacted how they could engage each other, how they could engage the economy, how they could work, how they could serve, etc. 

It was written to them in a time of persecution and a call to them to be faithful in the midst of persecution. It was a call to them to be obedient in the midst of distraction, a call to be pure in the midst of temptation. And so, this letter is relevant and essential for us to engage today. 

REVELATION 21:9-27

So, we’re in Revelation 21, verses 9-27. We’ll begin there. It says, “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ He carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 

“The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx, ruby, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, turquoise, jacinth, and amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass. 

“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” 

So, while this passage, first and foremost, is about Heaven, is about the City of God and how He builds that, what I want us to consider together as a church is how we might not only learn from the imagery and the hope that it gives us and the insight into who God is, but also that we might look about how we might apply it to our own lives. 

If this is how God builds His Kingdom, then the question for us to ask is, how am I building my life? If this is how God builds His marriage, how am I building mine? 

So, years ago, growing up in England, there was a TV show called Through The Keyhole. And the premise of the show is that the host would go with a camera crew into somebody’s house, right? It was a famous person, but you didn’t know who it was at the beginning of the show. 

And they would go around and go into different rooms, and you’d be looking at clues, right? There’d be memorabilia on the wall, decor, there’d be instruments or trophies or things that gave us insight into who this person is and what their character is and what they’re all about. And at the end of the house part of the show, the host would say, Who would live in a house like this? 

And then we go back to studio guests, and they’d sort through all the clues. Revelation 21 is us going through the keyhole into the City of God, His eternal home. And it is us asking the question, then, Who would live in a house like this? We see His character, we see what He values, we see the focus point. And there is lots for us to learn, not only about Him, but also about how we are to order our lives today. 

THE BRIDE

So, first and foremost, we see the bride. We get this imagery throughout all of Scripture, of where the collection of believers, both past, present, and future, together form the Body of Christ and together form what we see in Scripture as the Bride of Christ. 

Jesus is the Bridegroom. He has come for His bride, right? He has come to redeem her and return her to her honorable place. We see that Jesus is obsessed with His bride. He sees her in purity. He sees her adorned in beauty. 

Look, for us to get a glimpse of the bride we see in Revelation 21, He says, “Come up here to a mountain high.” You cannot even see the bride unless you elevate your perspective. That is how He has placed us, and that is how He sees us.

Now, first and foremost, I want us to recognize, individually as believers and collectively as a church, how He sees us. And then I also want to say, would we have the same eyes that He has to see the Church as He does? That He wanders throughout the churches in Revelation. It says in Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, that He is walking amongst the lampstands. 

He sees His bride– the church. He is firm but never harsh. He is clear but always kind. He calls her to repentance, He calls her to holiness, He calls her to worship. It says both day and night, right? In times of great success and also in times of great hardship. That is what He calls His bride to.

When His bride is faithless, He remains faithful. When His bride loses sight of her first love, He never loses sight of His. Church, that is His adoration and eyes on us, the Church, the Bride of Christ. And it is also the way that we are to see the church. That too often, we can look at things with such critical eyes that we run away from the thing that is so valuable to Him. 

My friend David Kinnaman leads this research organization called BARNA, and for forty years, they have been doing research on the church and on the rise and fall of faith throughout time, both in America and overseas, in the workplace, in the church, and beyond. 

Their most recent study, which came out just a few weeks ago, and you can find if you’re interested, the link in the study notes that are on the website. They were tracking the number of US adults who say, Hey, I have made a commitment to Jesus, and He has an important part in my life. Right now, there’s a spectrum of that. 

But what they found was, in 2021 and 2022, those numbers hit the lowest levels ever recorded, and in 2025 they hit the highest numbers ever recorded. That we see that there are at least signs and clues that we are undergoing some revival in our nation. Now, there is much to be done, but that is something worth celebrating. 

And yet, in that data, what they also found is an increase in the number of those who say, I am spiritual but not religious, which is often code for, I want a relationship with Jesus, but I want nothing to do with His church. 

And if you and I are to follow in the footsteps of Jesus in Revelation, we see that He never walked away from the church, He walks amongst the church. Not out, but amongst. It’s not our job to do the job of Jesus, right? 

It’s not our job to wander about and do what He did by pointing out all the things that are wrong. It is our job to commit to lives of holiness. It is our job to commit to lives of righteousness. It is our job, when prompted by the Spirit of God, to call others to repentance, to call others to change their ways.

But it is to follow in the footsteps of Jesus and to choose as a group of people whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, as Revelation 21 says, We are going to be as dedicated to the Bride of Christ as He is. We are going to commit ourselves to this body, commit ourselves to His bride. 

We see, by the way, in that data, that the biggest increase in those making commitments to Jesus are men aged in their 20s and 30s. Worth celebrating, right? In raising a modern-day knight, they say that to be a man is to accept responsibility, to reject passivity, and to live for the greater reward. 

And so, we need to be a nation, a church, a community, a city that cultivates the revival that is going on in our nation. The bride. To see His bride is to be called up to a mountain high, a bride adorned in beauty, covered in purity, because of what the Bridegroom has done for her. 

THE CITY OF GOD

So, we see idea number one, the bride. We see idea number two, the City of God, the Kingdom of God, is not defensive or fearful. 

It says this city in Revelation 21, it has twelve gates, three on each side. Now, if you were building a city, the thing you want to minimize are the number of gates, because the gate is the weakest point of the wall. 

And so, you want to limit the number of gates because you’re afraid of who might come in and what might come in. It allows you to defend yourself more strategically. But we see that this city in Revelation 21 breaks those rules. It puts gates on each side, right? Three on each side, three by four, is twelve gates in total because this is not a kingdom that is afraid, this is not a kingdom that is playing defense. 

This is a Kingdom that is open to every nation, every tribe, and every tongue. Those who choose to stay outside are choosing, they are not locked out. Does that make sense? The gate is open. The Call of the Gospel goes out to all nations. 

We see that in Revelation, the numerology, the meaning of the numbers, right? I don’t want to pretend I’m an expert in any of those things, but three is the number of completeness or perfection, and four is the number of creation– north, south, east, west– four. So, we see that on each side, this call is going out to all creation. The Gospel is not just trying to change you or this city, this Gospel– this Kingdom– is expanding to all creation, that all things would be made new. That’s the picture that we get in Revelation 21. 

THE FOUNDATION

We see also the foundation of this Kingdom. It is a foundation of righteousness, it’s a foundation of holiness, and it’s a foundation of the extravagance of God. He builds this Kingdom on a foundation. 

Did you see the twelve precious stones? You say, Wait a second. You could use concrete. You could use wood, okay? You could use all these kinds of things. He does not spare expense when it comes to His Kingdom, He builds extravagantly. 

And so, the question for you and I, as we see how God builds His Kingdom, is to pause for a moment, look in the mirror, and say, If that’s how He builds His Kingdom, how am I building my life? Are you building your life on the extravagance of God, or are you building on things that are cheap and will decay and will disappear over time? 

We see His pursuit of His bride. We see that He creates this space for the expansion of His Kingdom. We see that He adorns His bride in beauty. We see that He creates this city with these gorgeous stones around it. And you and I need to be so focused on this that we would say, If that’s how He builds, how am I building? How am I allowing Him to build my life the same way? 

So, seven years or so ago, Joelle and I have been married for fourteen years, and seven years or so ago, we went to marriage counseling for about two to three years. A quick side note on going to a counselor: there are many great counselors out there. It describes Jesus, one of His names, as being the Wonderful Counselor. If you’re going to a counselor who is not first getting their counsel from Him, that’s a bad place to go, okay? 

I’m tired of having friends who come to me, and they’re in trouble, and we’re walking together, and they’re like, Well, my counselor told me this. I said, Look, your counselor is an idiot. All right? That is bad counsel, okay? We are to get our counsel from Him and those who are submitted and surrender to Him.

But we go to marriage counseling seven years ago with a great Christian man, and one of the first things he asked us is, Hey, how would you rate your marriage on a scale of one to ten? Okay, I said seven, and Joelle said three. And I said, Wait a second, is one high or one low? And did my wife understand the question correctly? And so, right there we bought a ten pack because they were discounted. So, we said, We’re going to be here for a while. 

But the difference was that gap, that we needed a stronger foundation, and we needed to excavate what was currently there and replace it with His foundation, God’s foundation, right? 

So, He builds on an extravagant, delightful foundation. He builds on a foundation of righteousness. He builds on a foundation of holiness. The City is described as a perfect cube, right? As high as it is, as wide as it is, as long as it is, it’s a perfect cube, which in Scripture, in Revelation, is a picture for us of perfect holiness. 

And that is how we are to build our lives. It says that it’s built on these twelve foundations, and notice how each of them has these twelve stones, but it also has– on each of the foundations– it has the name of one of the apostles of the Lamb. 

And so, our minds can go to Ephesians 2, verse 19 onwards, where it says, you are His household, we’re making up this temple, and it says, “Built upon the apostles and prophets.” In other words, we are to have our lives built on the teaching of the apostles and prophets. That’s how He builds His Kingdom. He builds it on truth. 

Is your life built on truth? You know, I remember hearing this story of this guy who was touring this building, and it was the time of postmodern building. And this building was built in such a way to reflect the postmodern, sort of relative truth idea. And it was built in such a way that you couldn’t quite see the structures of it. 

And the tour guide was happily saying, Yeah, you can see above, all of this design was built on this postmodern premise. You know, truth is relative. We don’t have to follow the same rules. And somebody raised their hand and said, Hey, did he build the foundation the same way? No, no, no, the foundation was built on the enduring principles of what is true. 

We live in an era where we are obsessed with platforms, the things above ground: social media platforms, Hey, I want a business platform, I want a speaking platform, I want a whatever it is. Stop obsessing about platforms, and start focusing on your foundation; not what’s above ground, but what’s below it.

And if what’s below it needs to be excavated out so that your foundation begins to look more like His foundation, then today is the day that we get to work. Why? Because we reject passivity, we accept responsibility, and we live for the greater reward. 

So, we see this challenge to us, as we consider the magnitude of how He builds His Kingdom, that one of the lessons might be, how are we building our own lives? 

We also see in Revelation 21 not only what His Kingdom has but also what His Kingdom does not have. It does not have a sea, right? There’s no chaos or fear in it. There’s no death, no physical Temple because He is the Temple, no sun or moon because He is the light. No enemies or no fear of enemies. The gates are open, they’re not shut. It says there is nothing impure, shameful, or deceitful. 

First and foremost, we worship that that is our Heavenly home, that we enter a place where the Lord of the house has said, Nothing impure comes in here, nothing deceitful comes in here, nothing shameful comes in here. 

Church, when the disciples came to Jesus and said, Lord, teach us how to pray, He said that things would be here on earth as they are in Heaven. We are getting a picture of Heaven, we are getting a picture of how things are to be in our homes, in our churches, in our communities, in our lives, that nothing impure, nothing shameful, nothing deceitful, that the gates are open and those things need to be pushed out. 

REVELATION 22:1-5

Let’s go on in Revelation 22, the first five verses say this: “The angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river, stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign forever and ever.” 

Revelation chapters 21 and 22 are informed, or point back to these prophetic words in Ezekiel 47 and Ezekiel 48. So, if you’re in Ezekiel and you’re like, What the heck is this about, in 47 and 48? It makes sense through the lens of Revelation 21 and 22, or it makes sense when you have a friend called Dustin who helps you make sense of these things. 

And so Ezekiel 47 is a picture of a river, right? See how Revelation 22, the title of it– in my version, at least– is Eden restored. This is all creation being made new. If there are parts of you, as there are parts of me, that have not yet been made new by the Gospel of Christ, it’s time today for them to be made new. He’s in the business of making all things new, and He restores this picture of Eden.

THE RIVER FLOWING FROM THE THRONE

And in Ezekiel 47, the prophet is taken to a vision of the Temple, the same as in Revelation 21, and it says, “I saw a river flowing from the side of the temple.” It’s this imagery, this picture for us, of this River of Life flowing from the side of the Temple. 

Jesus described himself as the Temple. He said, “This temple would be torn down and in three days rebuilt.” They didn’t understand, they were thinking of the physical Temple. No, He was speaking of Himself, His own body. His body was crucified. 

And as they came to Him, as He was dying on the cross, they pierced His side, and from His side flowed water and blood separated, showing His death. It’s a picture in Ezekiel 47 of the River of Life flowing from the side of Jesus that all of life is made new because of the cross of Christ. 

That’s why this city has twelve gates in it, because they’re not afraid of the enemies because the battle has already been won. The victory of Calvary is what allows this City to be built in all its glory. 

And so, we see the River, and what happens in Ezekiel 47, is the prophet begins to wade into the River, the symbol of the love of God. It begins at his ankles, it gets deeper, he gets to his knees, it gets deeper, he gets to his waist, and it gets deeper until he’s fully immersed in it. 

Where are you with the love of God today? If you’re at your ankles, get to your knees. If you’re at your knees, get to your waist. If you’re at your waist, get to full immersion. You know, the quickest way to get fully immersed in a river is to stop standing tall and to lay flat down. Today, to surrender yourself into the love of God, that all things would be made new in this River that flows from the Throne of God. 

In Ezekiel 48 again, begins to unpack this picture, but in Revelation 22, we see the River of 

Life flowing from the Throne. This River, it takes us back to early in Revelation, when Jesus is both edifying, building up, and admonishing, correcting the church in Laodicea. 

Remember that church? They had a water problem. Where they were geographically located, they were far from a source of water, and so they had to get water brought in by an aqueduct. And by the time the water had reached them, it had been calcified, which meant it smelt bad, and it had disease in it, and bacteria in it, and it was lukewarm. It wasn’t hot, so it couldn’t bring healing. It wasn’t cold, so it couldn’t bring refreshing. It was lukewarm. It was far from the source, and it was diluted and mixed up. 

That can be our lives too often. We’re too far from the source of the river, that by the time it reaches us, it’s mixed up with all the things of this earth. It’s calcified, it’s blocked, and it’s become useless and dangerous. 

And Revelation 22 points us to the source of all life, that you and I are not called to be far from the source, we’re not called to get our water from aqueducts that calcify and get blocked. We’re called to be so close to Jesus that we’re at the very spring where it first begins to flow. 

And as those people, as they are there, it says this in Revelation 22, that by the banks of the River, the trees are growing, and there’s fruit being produced. The water is flowing, and because those who are close to the water, the fruit trees grow up, they’re lives of fruitfulness. 

That’s how you can tell how far you are from the water source: is there fruit growing? If the fruit is not good, get closer to the source. Stop being content with your ankles getting wet, get fully immersed. 

THE HEALING OF THE NATIONS

And it says that they produce leaves that are for the healing of the nations. See, if you want healing, it’s about getting close to Him, the source of life. And then, if your life is transformed and begins to produce fruit, guess what? You’ll begin to produce leaves that heal others too, that bring shade to others, that bring healing to others. 

Isn’t that what we want our lives to be about? That we have been so healed and transformed by the full love of God that just by being around others, we’re able to bring healing to them. And that’s this picture. 

So, church, let me challenge you to take this picture of Revelation 21 and 22 and say, not just Wow, is this a remarkable picture of the future? Yes, it is, but it challenges us to consider the foundation of our lives. 

Is it built on righteousness and holiness and extravagance? If not, get people around you to excavate that land and replace it with Him. Are you close to the source of all life? Are you wading into the deep waters of the love of God? That’s what we’re called to. 

And church, are we, as the Bride of Christ, taking in humility the place of elevation? Are we playing down in the dirt of this earth, or are we allowing ourselves as the bride to be seen in His eyes? He says, “I want to show you my bride.” And He goes up to the top of the mountain, to her place where He has placed her. 

Let’s stand together, and we’ll pray together. Father God, help us to build our lives on truth, righteousness, and holiness. Jesus, help us to build our lives with You as our chief cornerstone, setting the structure and direction of our lives. Jesus, help us to surrender the building to You. You are the One who builds. We turn our lives over to You. We thank You for this word, for Your word. In Jesus’ name, amen.