The City has 12 Gates!

None of which are closed, ever!

Plus, no darkness ever envelopes the special Place!

Not very favorable conditions for any kind of deceptive access to New Jerusalem! (Furthermore, there’s an angel posted at each Gate!)

Yet Revelation 21:27 still 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.”

Only saved people can go into Heaven, the eternal City. (Technically, I should say the New Heaven!) God has totally rebuilt His everlasting Abode!

No filth there! The word for “abomination” in Greek is awkwardly spelled “bdelugma” and means “stinking, detestable, repulsive.” Almost nauseating!

Nothing “plain” or “common” as well! The expression “any thing that defileth” uses the verb “koinoo,” anything “made average.” Actually, “ordinary,” not sanctified! Belonging to the crowds, the non-redeemed crowds! Not having been consecrated! EVERYTHING ENTERING THERE WILL BE SPECIAL, OR NOT ADMITTED AT ALL! Listen to Zeachariah (14:20) talk about the “gear” men put on “horses” during the Millennium. “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar.” Everything, in other words, is made holy! Godly frying pans!

And of course … no lies … in God’s Revelation 21 City! The noun is “pseudos,” and explains itself. (A “psuedomyn” is a name some author takes other than his own! A false identity!) Only truth where the Lord of Truth lives!

This too. Access is granted only to those who are “written” in a Special Book! “Grapho” in Greek can mean “described” or “engraved” …  as well as merely recorded by pencil or pen! Notice … it here does not say their NAMES are written there, but THEY are written there! Isaiah graphically puts it this way, with God talking: “Behold, I have graven thee (His people) upon the palms of my hands.” This Prophet too wrote with a City in the back of his mind, Isaiah 49:16.

Our Text for today, again: “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.”

The word “Lamb” is a diminutive noun specially meaning “little lamb!” A term of endearment as well as a grammatically precise designation! God’s Darling Lamb! Jesus Christ our Lord!

By the way, back to “are written” … a construction (a “perfect participle”) that suggests ongoing action! People’s names (presumably through the Tribulation and Millennium too) were STILL being written in that amazing Book of Life! Oh, how God loves to save the lost!

Normally now, having reached the end of a Chapter of Scripture … our series of studies would have concluded. But in this case we need to continue into Revelation 22 … for just a few more days. The first five verses there clearly “link” to the continuing description of this City (a Place we’ve grown to love more than ever)!

So, Monday morning we shall reverently tread into that final paragraph!

Something about a River!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell