Join us as we explore the heavenly city as described in the Book of Revelation. What is this enigmatic city like beyond the clouds and harps stereotype? Discover the grandeur and brilliance of a city designed by God himself, painted vividly in Scripture. This episode uncovers not just an ethereal escape, but a magnificent city beyond our wildest dreams.
I noticed that many songs about heaven have dates on them that are kind of interesting. They are times and periods of time of great trial. In this songbook, there’s a lot of old ones that many of you probably sang when you grew up. There’s a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar. For the Father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there, in the sweet by and by. I mean, that to me is good news, because right now we have the nasty now and now. But soon we’ll have the sweet by and by, and we shall meet on that beautiful shore, it says.
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What will heaven be like? Some picture clouds, harps floating around in white robes. Others think of gates and angels and a quiet, peaceful glow. Those are nice thoughts, but they’re really far too small. Because heaven, the real heaven, is described in the book of Revelation. Not as a dreamy escape, but as a radiant city. A place designed by God himself. A city with brilliance beyond anything our eyes have ever seen. Today we’re beginning a message taken from Revelation chapters 21 and 22. It’s titled, The Heavenly City. And what will heaven truly be like? Well, get ready. This is Hope for Today with David Hawking, and we’ll be in in just a moment. First, let me tell you about the Hope for Today Media Center at davidhawking.org. This is a dedicated section of our website for video-on-demand Bible study. Here you can watch full teachings from David Hawking anytime on your own schedule. Deep studies straight from God’s Word, available 24 hours a day. And all of it is there to help you grow in your knowledge of Scripture and your walk with the Lord. Visit DavidHawking.org and check out the Media Center today. Let’s turn to Revelation 21, verse 9, and here’s David Hawking with day one of The Heavenly City.
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The Weekly World News from Canada. The front page says, Heaven photographed by the Hubble Telescope. You know, some of you are laughing, but you’re going to be surprised. I shall just read a bit. Days after the space shuttle astronauts repaired the Hubble Space Telescope, the giant lens focused on a star cluster at the edge of our universe and could very well have photographed heaven itself. That’s the word from researcher Marcia Mason, who quoted highly placed NASA insiders as having said that the telescope beamed hundreds of photos back to the command center at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, on December the 26th. The pictures clearly show a vast white city floating eerily in the blackness of space. An expert quoted NASA’s sources as saying that the city must be heaven because life as we know it couldn’t possibly exist in that icy, airless space. Through an enormous stroke of luck, NASA aimed the Hubble telescope at precisely the right place at precisely the right time to capture these images on film. Mason said, I’m not particularly religious, but I don’t doubt that somebody or something must have influenced that decision to aim the telescope at that particular area of space. Was that someone or something God himself? Given the vastness of the universe and all the places NASA could have targeted for study, that would certainly appear to be the case. NASA spokesmen declined to comment, saying it was pending further analysis of the amazing photographs they received on December 26th. In spite of the official silence, Agency insiders have conceded that NASA has indeed discovered something that could alter the future of all mankind. The Hubble Space Telescope was designed to photograph images as far away as the edge of the universe, but a lens flaw prevented it from doing so until the shuttle astronauts corrected the defect. When they finished their work, the telescope trained its enormous glass eye on the outer reaches of our universe. The first images it received were nothing more than kaleidoscopic bursts of color and light. But as they made adjustments to the telescope and the focus sharpened, NASA analysis couldn’t believe their eyes. They checked and rechecked the data. They have concluded that the images are indeed authentic. And they also stated that it is a city that could not possibly be inhabited by life as we know it. The only logical explanation, says one NASA observer, is that the city must be inhabited by souls of the dead. As one of the other sources put it, we found where God lives. Vatican sources will not confirm or deny it and remain silent. Dr. Masson has obtained copies of a single photograph from NASA sources. And the space agency has informed her that the next move will be most revealing. This is a chance, folks, for NASA to come clean with the public and tell us everything it knows about this amazing discovery in the universe. Now, I want you to know that it may not be the heavenly city for a lot of reasons. But isn’t it interesting that the Bible speaks about signs and wonders that can deceive in the end time? I just wonder. We also are told that they will exist in the heavens. And you couldn’t find something more that would attract people if NASA does come out and state what they have seen. And I don’t know when they’re going to do it. They’re continuing to research the matter. But you could see how we could easily be deceived. I doubt seriously that they have seen heaven. But they could very well have seen another one of the satanic counterfeits and a portrayal of that that would deceive people. We need to understand that the Bible is to be taken literally and there will be signs and wonders in the heavenlies, in the sky, in stellar space, according to the Bible, that is going to deceive people. It’s a very interesting thing that has happened. But I say something far more interesting is reading what the Bible says. Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21. the heavenly city. Revelation 21, verse 9, down to 22, 5. There came unto me one of the seven angels who had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come here, I will show thee the bride, the lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God, and her light was like a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written on the gates, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city and the gates of it and its wall. And the city lieth four square, and the length is as large as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed, 12,000 furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall of it, 144 cubits, according to the measure of a man that is of the angel.” And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold like clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardunce, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprasus, the 11th Jason, the 12th Amethyst, and if you don’t like the way I pronounce it, you do it. And the 12 gates were 12 pearls. Each one of the gates was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 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 of it. And the nations of them who are saved shall walk in the light of it, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. 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 honor of the nations into it, And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither he that worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but they who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bore twelve kinds of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall serve him, and they shall see his face. And his name shall be in their foreheads, and there shall be no night there, and they need no candle, neither light of the sun, for the Lord God giveth them light, and they shall reign forever and ever. And all God’s people said… Well, this is indeed a spectacular passage. I have in my hands here an old hymn book, real old. And it’s amazing how many songs in this hymn book are about heaven. I compared it with modern hymn books, and there are more in the old hymn books than there are in the modern ones. Here’s one called The City of Gold. Have you heard this one? There’s a beautiful city that lies far away from the earth with its burdens of tears, where the night never enters, but shadowless day shines on through eternity’s years. Chorus says, O beautiful city, city of gold. O beautiful city, treasures untold. O beautiful city, city of gold. When shall I rest in that beautiful city of gold? Lots of stanzas related to it. And on and on it goes. I just was amazed at how many songs. He, the pearly gates will open. Just a continuous parade of them. In this songbook, there’s a lot of old ones that many of you probably sang when you grew up. There’s a land that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar. For the Father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling place there, in the sweet by and by. I mean, that to me is good news, because right now we have the nasty now and now. But soon we’ll have the sweet by and by, and we shall meet on that beautiful shore, it says. I noticed also that many songs about heaven have dates on them that are kind of interesting. They are times and periods of time of great trial. For instance, even in our country, many songs about heaven, interestingly, have dates on them in the 1860s. I remind you that we had a civil war in this country. I was also fascinated to see how many songs have the dates on them that represent the First World War from 1914 to 1918. Kind of interesting, isn’t it, that people in times of great tragedy and war and turmoil and struggle in the world had a tendency to long and write more about heaven to anticipate that sweet day when we will be with the Lord. Well, this is one of the most exciting passages you can study in the Bible. And I want to break it down for you in… Just four ways. First of all, we want to look at the invitation to see this city, mentioned in verses 9 to 11. And then the impact of that city upon John, in verses 11 to 21. And then the ingredients that make this city so wonderful, verse 22 to chapter 22, verse 2. And finally, time permitting, the involvement of believers in this heavenly city in the future from chapter 22, verse 3 and 5. So let’s take a look again at 21, 9 to 11, the invitation to see the new Jerusalem. I want you to see three things. There’s an announcement of the angel. One of the seven angels, verse 9, he said, come here and I’ll show you the bride, the lamb’s wife. Now back in chapter 4, if you turn back there quickly, verse 1, There was a door opened in heaven, says chapter 4, verse 1, and a voice, as it were, a trumpet talking with John, who said, Come up here, and I’ll show thee things which must be hereafter. So John’s heard this invitation before. Come here. And now it’s done again in chapter 21, verse 9, and he’s going to be shown the bride, the lamb’s wife. Back in chapter 19, verse 7 to 9, We were told to be glad and rejoice, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they who are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God. Now in chapter 21, he says the city is the bride. Interesting, isn’t it? The city is the bride’s home, according to the Bible, and in a fundamental sense, is the bride. When we look at the ability of John to even see this thing, can you imagine living in the first century A.D.? In verse 10 it says, “…he carried me away in the Spirit and showed me that great city.” Now that’s a phrase that’s appeared often here. Go back to chapter 1, verse 10. How was John able to see this? 44 times in the book, he has a distinct vision from God and says, I saw it. I was there. Well, in chapter 1, verse 10, he said, I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day or the day of the Lord. John was there and observed the events of the day of the Lord that the Hebrew prophets had predicted. Very fascinating. And he said, I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, or that day that is uniquely described as the day of God, the day of the Lord. In chapter 17 of Revelation, verse 3. John says, so he carried me away in the spirit into the wilderness, and there he sees this woman sitting on the beast with seven heads and ten horns, a woman whose name is Mystery Babylon the Great, mother of harlots and abominations of the earth. John’s ability to see it was because he was in the spirit. And the point of that phrase is in contrast to being in the flesh. Paul even wrote in 2 Corinthians 12, after he was stoned to Lystra, we presume, he said whether in the body or out of the body, he was transferred to the third heaven where an abundance of revelations were given to him. And those are recorded now in the New Testament. It’s very interesting as you just think about what is being said there. John says, I was in the spirit. And here in chapter 21, same thing. He carried me away in the spirit. It was in a different realm and I actually saw all of this. Now the overall appearance of the city is mentioned in the opening of verse 11. It says, having the glory of God. Back in chapter 15, verse 8 says, the scene was in heaven, and we saw the martyred souls standing on the sea of glass and singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. And in verse 8 of chapter 15, it says, the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. And here a city comes from the same place out of that heaven, and the Bible says it has the glory of God. On the Mount of Transfiguration, we read in Matthew 17 that Jesus was transfigured before them and they saw his glory. Peter wrote in his epistle, we were eyewitnesses of his majesty when we were with him on the holy mount. The glory of God. The one great picture of this city is it has the glory of God. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the firmament shows the work of his hands, Psalm 19.1. Well, friends, if the universe, the material, physical universe that we observe… shows the glory of God, his greatness, his nature, his power. What do you suppose it’s going to be like, the heavenly city that comes out of heaven, where one little description is, it has the glory of God in it. Amazing.
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That’s Bible teacher and author David Hawking, and this is Hope for Today. David will be back in a moment to put the finishing touches on today’s lesson, so stay with us. First, Matt’s here, and we’re going to share this year’s special Hope for Today Christmas Bible study package with you. We’re calling this Jesus Christ, the Reason.
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Matt? Jesus is the real reason for the season. We often hear and see this stated right about now as we’re rushing about shopping, trying to figure out what our loved ones might want, how much we dare spend, how we’ll possibly manage all the details. Right, Jim? And Matt, I think you would agree it can leave us far short of the blessing God wants for us at this holiday season.
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Yeah.
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You know, in our hearts, how do we experience the joy, marvel, and wonder of the Christmas season? I mean, that true blessing that warms our hearts during the season. And how do we make this the best holiday ever? Yeah. Well, Jim and I recommend this 2025 Hope for Today Christmas Package. Inside, you’re going to find…
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David Hawking’s booklet. This is such a beautiful book, Jesus Christ, the reason. And it starts with a Christmas story, but then it unveils God’s plan from all eternity, salvation and redemption that really accelerated into motion at the incarnation. And we have a three message special audio series also titled Jesus Christ, the reason. Get the package today and make Christmas this year truly Christ-centered. A wonderful study. Just $20. Again, this is an 87-page booklet. Jesus Christ, the Reason. And then the three-message series by David Hawking. Together, the whole package, just $20. And your purchase is going to also help the ministry of hope for today.
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And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. No one has seen God at any time. The only begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, he has declared him. John 1, 1-5, 14 and 18. This is the Christ of Christmas, isn’t it?
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Amen. Discover him in a deeper, more special way this season with the Hope for Today Christmas Package.
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Again, the package is my dad’s booklet, Jesus Christ, The Reason, plus his three-part miniseries also titled Jesus Christ, The Reason, and it’s just $20 this month.
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And when you make this purchase, consider adding a special year-end donation with your order, or maybe send a donation all by itself. Either way, your gift to Hope for Today will help us finish the year and get a strong start for the new year. And remember to please pray for Hope for Today. Well, Matt, I also want to tell folks quickly about a very special recording that your dad put together a few years ago. It’s called A Reading of the Psalms. With this resource, your dad reads through the Psalms, and we mixed in beautiful worship music in the background to accompany him. A reading of the Psalms is perfect for your devotional time or when you’re in the car, maybe cooking a meal, whenever you want to be ministered to by the Word of God and by praise music. David’s reading through the Psalms with the worship music is just $10. You can get this resource or the Hope for Today Christmas package and other resources by going to davidhocking.org. or call us at 1-800-75-BIBLE, that’s in the U.S., or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada, and Bible is 242-53. And just before David returns, you can support this ministry as the year comes to an end by writing to us at Hope for Today, Box 3927, Tustin, California, 92781. In Canada, you can send your donation by mail to Hope for Today, Box 15011, RPO, Seven Oaks, Abbotsford, Abbotsford is A-B-B-O-T-S-F-O-R-D, You can also donate securely online at davidhawking.org or calling us at 875-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada. And your gift now helps us continue proclaiming God’s Word in the new year to as many people as possible. Well, once again, here’s David.
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Thanks for listening to Hope for Today. I hope you’re enjoying this as much as I am teaching it. Oh, my. We’re told that this is the Lamb’s wife. Did you catch that? It’s the bride. It’s the home of all believers. Wow. Wow. And the husband here is our blessed Lord Yeshua, Jesus Christ our Lord. Now, John is being shown this great city, the holy Jerusalem, which comes out of heaven from God. Wow. Time will tell when we actually see it what it’s going to be like. I can hardly wait. It has the glory of God. The whole light of the city is like a jasper stone, probably a diamond, clear as crystal. Wow. What a blessing this is going to be. I hope that everyone listening to our broadcast knows that you will be there. The assurance comes from the Holy Spirit when we turn our lives and hearts over to the Lord completely. Are you trusting Him for your salvation? He’s the only answer, friends. God bless you. Thanks for listening. We’ll be back the next broadcast.
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Well, thank you, David. And friend, if you’d like to know more about a relationship with Jesus Christ according to the Bible, let us send you David’s booklet, What Is Christianity? and a Bible study by mail. Both are free if you’re not yet a Christian, but you’re curious, or if you’re new to the Christian faith. Call us at 800-75-BIBLE in the U.S. or 888-75-BIBLE in Canada to get yours. Or go to our website davidhawking.org and use the contact form. Well, next time we continue our study of the heavenly city and discover what it means for God himself to dwell with his people forever. Wow, can you imagine that? Well, be sure to invite a friend to listen along with you right here on Hope for Today. Hope for Today
