Come, sneak a peek through the pearly gates. - Revelation 21:21-27
Does anyone else feel like a vacation might be beneficial? In your home, at the office, out in your community, and even here at your church your life is full of expectations, obligations, and responsibilities and eventually these things leave you feeling like an old mule that has been ridden hard and put away wet. I imagine from time to time everyone here feels like they might benefit from a vacation where they might have a chance to rest relax and recharge.
Hypothetically, if you had a friend who was need of a vacation, where would you tell them to go to get some rest, relax, and recharge? If one of my friends were looking to take vacation abroad, I would tell them to go to Rome. Primarily because Rome is the only vacation I have ever taken abroad, but also because the eternal city has art and culture and history and bacon carbonara. If my friend were looking for a vacation destination that was closer to home, I would tell them to go to either Dauphin Island or the North Georgia mountains. Dauphin Island is in the Gulf of Mexico (or Gulf of America depending on which president is in office when you go). There are no roads to the far west end of the island. It is miles from civilization and a difficult run/hike in the sand to get there, which is why nobody goes there, but when you stand on the tip of the western end with pure white sand between your toes and beautiful blue water all around, you can’t help but be filled with a sense of calm and peace. A similar sense of calm and peace can be found in the north Georgia mountains. My personal recommendation would be to grab a fishing pole, hike into a remote valley, find a cold trout stream to wade into and just listen to the sound of rushing water cascade over the rocks. If you catch a fish fine, but even if you don’t, I assure you, you will be glad you spent the day in the north Georgia mountains.
If you needed to get away to rest, relax, and recharge where would you go? If you were asking saint John that question, he might very well tell you to go to the Island of Patmos. Patmos is a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Last year over 40 million people chose the Greek Islands as their vacation destination. Most of them went to Santorini, Mykonos, Rhodes, Corfu and Crete. The Greek Island of Patmos is not as popular as any of those. Patmos is a small island about 13 square miles in size and is composed almost entirely of volcanic rocks. Today Patmos is pleasant enough place to visit, but when John last visited Patmos, the island was being used by the Romans as a prison where people who were deemed to be disruptive to the empire were exiled. John was one of those people deemed ot be disruptive. The Emperor Domitian declared himself a god and insisted that the people of Rome worship him as such. John, like all God-fearing Christians, maintained that Jesus was the one true God and that “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”[1] As a result Domitian had John exiled to the island of Patmos. John himself tells us, “I, John, your brother and companion in the suffering and kingdom and patient endurance that are ours in Jesus, was on the island of Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.”[2]
The Romans sent John to Patmos to isolate him from society. It was not their intent that the Island of Patmos would be a place where John might rest, relax, and recharge. But Jesus apparently didn’t get the Emperor’s memo because John tells us on the Lord’s day Jesus appeared to him in a vision and shared with John a revelation of “what must soon take place”.[3] As instructed, John wrote down the Revelation Jesus showed him in a book and rather unimaginatively we call that book Revelation. The things John describes in the book of Revelation are both frightening and fantastic and are a constant curiosity for most Christians. Today we are focusing our attention on the end of the book. There Jesus gave John a sneak peek through the pearly gates so that he could see heaven. In Revelation 21:21-27 John describes what he saw.
John begins chapter 21 with a description of, for lack of a better term, heaven’s “exterior”. John describes a sturdy foundation decorated with precious stones and massive walls made of the purest gold. These walls had twelve pearly gates through which God’s chosen people might enter the city. The ground beneath their feet “21… was of pure gold, like transparent glass.” The exterior of heaven was unimaginably magnificent. But it was what John saw or rather what he didn’t see when he peeked through the pearly gates that really caught his attention.
John wrote, “22 I did not see a temple in the city.” This was surprising to John. The temple, like our church, was the place to which a believer would go when they wanted to feel close to God. In the temple God spoke to His people through priests, here He speaks to them through pastor. In the temple sacrifices were performed here sacraments are celebrated and through these means of grace God bestows his favor and forgiveness on His people. In the temple Hallels were sung in our church Hymns are sung as a way for believers to express their gratitude to God. Both the temple and our church are sanctuaries in which the believer enjoyed and enjoy their closest communion with God.
Not seeing a temple in heaven was at first surprising for John, but then John saw there was no need for a temple in heaven “22… because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” In heaven the believer will not need means or minister in order to draw near to God. In heaven the believer will be able to stand in the very presence of God, look upon Him with their own eyes and speak to Him directly. Never again will a believer have to text the preacher for the meaning of a verse in Romans, they can go directly to the author; to the one who breathed the scriptures into the prophets and apostles and ask Him to explain it to them. Never again will the believer have to sit through a sub-par sermon, they can settle in between Mary and Martha and study at the feet of the one who walked on water. Never again will the believer have to be reassured by water, wine, or the word, the hands that created the universe and knit them together in their mother’s womb will be open wide to receive them. In heaven, the believer will need neither temple nor church to feel close to God.
The next thing that John didn’t see when he peeked through the pearly gates was darkness. John wrote, “25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.” The night that does not exist in heaven is not merely a physical phenomenon which effects one’s optical ability. The darkness John did not see in heaven was a spiritual darkness. The absence of spiritual darkness would have been as easily noticed by John as it would be by you. Like you, John lived in a world full of spiritual darkness. People hurt each other, they did shameful things with each other and indulged in all kinds of evil. As a believer, it was as unsettling for John to see what deeds of darkness the unbelievers were capable of as it is for you.
In contrast to the darkness of the world in which both you and John live, heaven is filled with God’s glory. John writes, “23 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.” Jesus once proclaimed Himself to be the light of the world. Jesus promised “whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”[4] Jesus spent 33 years living in this world of spiritual darkness, but Jesus never gave in to that darkness. With His every thought word and deed, Jesus radiated perfection. The heavenly Father saw the light of perfection shining from Jesus and on at least two occasions saw fit to mention it. Once as Jesus stood in the middle of a river and again as He stood atop a mountain the heavenly Father proclaimed, “This is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased.”[5] The perfection of Jesus broke open the seal of a tomb, it chased the shadows of doubt from the hearts of His disciples and it forever fills the heavenly city.
A city free of deeds of darkness and filled with glorious perfection would have been as enticing for John as it is for you. Once John saw it, he probably thought what anyone would think, ‘I want to go there’. However, there was one more thing that John did not see when he peeked through the pearly gates and what he did not see had the potential to fill him with an eternal despair. John did not see any sinners. John wrote, “27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful…”. As long as you have perfectly kept the righteous requirements of the law, as long as you have never trespassed or transgressed you have nothing to worry about. But if you have just once failed to love your neighbor as you should if you have just once failed to fear love and trust in God above all things, I don’t know how you get into heaven. I mean sin is not like trying to smuggle exotic fruits and vegetables through customs. If you have ever done a shameful thing, spoken or even thought a deceitful word, God knows it.
In heaven there are no sinners, which might lead you to believe a sneak peek through the pearly gates is as good as it gets for people like me and you. Thankfully, John saw something that rescued him and all who believe from eternal despair. John saw, “27… the Lamb’s book of life.” In this book is written the names of those whose sins have been paid by the suffering and death of the sinless Son of God and sentence of the guilty has been pardoned by that same Son’s glorious and victorious resurrection from the dead. By the grace of God John’s name was written in that book, and by the grace of God so is yours. Your sins have been paid for. Your sentence has been pardoned. Your name is written in the Lamb’s book of life and one day you will do more than peek through those pearly gates; one day you will pass through them, bask in glorious perfection and stand in the presence of your God.
If the expectations, obligations, and responsibilities of life are causing you to search for vacation destinations you might want to consider going to a place where you can sneak a peek through the pearly gates. For John that place was Patmos. For you I hope that place is here. Over the summer I hope and pray y’all get a chance to get away for a vacation where you can rest relax and recharge. Hypothetically, you might have a friend who is interested in your recommendations. But I do hope and pray out of all the places you go to rest relax and recharge this is one of them. There are more exotic places one can go, places with more culture and better cuisine; places that are more beautiful, but nothing equips you to deal with the expectations obligation and responsibilities of life better than a sneak peek through the pearly gates. Amen
[1] Acts 4:12
[2] Revelation 1:9
[3] Revelation 1:1
[4] John 8:12
[5] Matthew 3:17 & Matthew 17:5