Revelation 21

Revelation 21:1

No More Sea And there was no more sea.—Revelation 21:1 (AV).Every healthy boy and girl in many countries loves the ocean. You remember when you first saw it. You kept thinking about it, and wanting to go back to look again, there were so many things that seemed hard to explain. The sea is indeed wonderful. I know a boy who thought that if his father would only allow him to become a sailor his life would be an endless round of pleasure.We all love the sea. It has been a very good friend and defender of Great Britain and the United States. Had it not been for the sea, Great Britain might have been a conquered by Germany in either World War. The sea is fun to visit for vacation, unless you happen to live near the sea!

The sea is a family friend and a fun way to relax.I wonder if anything ever happened to make you take a dislike to something you loved very much. You delight in the snow when it comes. Well, I heard of a young country mail courier—he was little more than a boy—being caught in a terrible snowstorm. His “round” was a lonely one among hills, and there were very few houses. When the drifting snow became so trying that he could hardly set his face to it, he did not at first mind it much; after a bit, however, he lost the road and then, big boy though he was, he cried like a child and said, “Oh, I wish this awful snow would stop; I wonder if I’ll ever see my mother again.” It did stop, and he could distinguish fences which guided him back to the road he had lost. At the end of the day he said to his mother, “Mother, I never want to see snow again.”It is a long way from postmen to the Emperor Napoleon, but I believe no man was ever more tired of the sound of the sea than he was.

When young and in the glory of his strength I believe he loved gazing on the sea. It fed his ambition, for as he gazed it reminded him of the strength and glory of a conqueror.

But the day came when Napoleon was a prisoner on a little island. There he never got away from the sound of the pitiless waves as they dashed upon the seacoast. Don’t you think he would hate the sea? It separated him for ever from the attainment of his ambitious plans.It was the apostle John who wrote the text. When he was a boy no one loved the sea better than he did.He grew up to be a fisherman, and because of Jesus Christ the Sea of Galilee had many associations for him. He loved it to his old age. And when the great ocean was pointed out to him from the hills of Judaea, the sight of it would make him wonder what lay beyond. “God,” he would say, “all things were made by him. … In him was life; and the life was the light of men.” John had a wonderful mind.

But his life ended very differently from what he himself ever dreamed it would. Like Napoleon, he was banished for a time to a little island. But, unlike the Emperor, John was sent to Patmos because of his loyalty to his great Master Jesus Christ. In his island prison John was never out of sound of the waves. In this book they can be heard from beginning to end. The voice of the “Son of man” was, in John’s ears, “as the sound of many waters.” When the sea was calm and the sunset very beautiful he thought of the glory of the new Jerusalem. “And I saw … a sea of glass mingled with fire.” Don’t you think you see him dreaming and praying on lonely Patmos?

But sometimes John became possessed with the idea that the sea was separating him from many who were near and dear to him. Then when he pictured the New Jerusalem, it was as a place where there were no separations: “There was no more sea.”Had it not been for John’s banishment to Patmos, and for his feeling of being parted from all his friends, we should not have had this wonderful book of Revelation.

The last chapters are like music, and you know that some birds sing best when they are in a darkened cage. John’s music was the music of banishment. “I was in the Spirit,” he says at the beginning of the book. That means that God was beside him and was speaking to him.You boys and girls can read a lesson from John’s words. Have you any sick schoolfellows? You may know of one who has to be in bed all day. He is not lying there without thinking. He may be feeling very lonely indeed; and through his loneliness he may be learning a lesson. God often comes near to lonely people.Some of you may have to go away from home soon, it may be to school, it may be to a situation.

You will feel lonely at first; home was very different. But God will speak to you. He will tell you secrets, as He told them to John. But to hear Him you must pray. I have known lonely people who felt that the Heavenly Jerusalem was on this earth, and that even here their absent friends were round about them. That is a beautiful idea. Certainly I know that you need never be separated from Jesus Christ.

Revelation 21:19

The Jasper The first foundation was jasper.—Revelation 21:19.Our stone for March is the jasper. I have chosen it because the blood-stone, which is one variety of jasper, is the birth-stone for the month.There was more of the jasper than of any other stone in the New Jerusalem, for not only was the first foundation of the city jasper; and its walls were jasper as well. Then He who sat upon the throne was compared to a jasper; and the light of the city was said to be as the light of a jasper.The stone which the Ancients called jasper may have been a translucent stone—that is to say, one that you can see light through; but the stone that we know as jasper is an opaque stone—one that you cannot see light through. It is a stone of many colors. The most common jasper is yellow, but there is a scarlet jasper, and a red jasper, and a crimson jasper, and a green jasper. There is a jasper in different shades of brown which comes from Egypt, and Siberia gives us what is called ribbon jasper because it is striped like a colored ribbon.

India, too, has a rare green jasper, with little red spots in it. This is known as the bloodstone, and it has sometimes been chosen as the special stone for Easter, because the head of Christ crowned with the crown of thorns has been cut out of it, and the red drops have been used to represent drops of blood.The jasper has been, from earliest times, a favorite, both as a gem and as an ornamental stone in building.

The portraits of the Roman Emperors were carved on it, and the finest intaglio (an intaglio is the opposite of a cameo; it is cut in while a cameo stands out) in the British Museum, the head of the Roman goddess of wisdom, Minerva, is cut out of a jasper. To this day it is a favorite stone for signet rings. If father has a signet ring with a red or green stone in it—a stone you can’t see through—ten chances to one it is a jasper.Large pieces of jasper are used in buildings. The altar in Canterbury Cathedral stands on a platform of yellow jasper, thirty feet long and fourteen wide. Anyone who has been to Italy and has visited her wonderful churches will tell you that they owe much of their beauty to the use of the jasper stone.Jasper is very hard. It is so hard that it cannot be removed from the bed-rock in the ordinary way.

Instead, the workmen bore holes in the rock, and into these they drive wedges of wood which they soak in water. The water makes the wood swell till it bursts the rock.

Then the fragments are carefully collected and sent to be cut and polished.Because jasper is hard and strong it made a splendid first foundation-stone of the Holy City. The other eleven foundations could safely rest on it. Because it is so hard and suitable for foundations it has been called St. Peter’s stone. You remember Christ called Peter a foundation-stone when He said, “Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church.”Now, what is the jasper’s message to us? Is it not this—“Be strong”?1. Be strong in body.—Do you know what makes the red spots in the beautiful blood-stone? It is a stuff called oxide of iron.

Do you know what makes the red in your cheeks? The very same iron. You have heard people speak of having iron in the blood. You must have plenty of iron in your blood if you want to be healthy boys and girls.What gives us that iron? Why, good plain food, and plenty of sleep, and lots of fresh air. Don’t turn up your nose at milk puddings or an honest plate of porridge, and sigh for pies and paste. Stick to the plain fare and you will grow both tall and strong. Don’t want to sit up late at night.

Remember one hour’s sleep before midnight is equal to two after it, and the person who burns the candle late at night will soon have cheeks to match the candle wax. Don’t be afraid of fresh air, or an open window, or a shower of rain. Change your shoes and stockings when they get wet, but be out as much as possible in the open. That will bring to your cheeks roses as red as any in the garden.2. Be strong in your character.—Have good principles and stick to them. Know the right and do it. Don’t be either coaxed or driven into doing the wrong. Be firm and immovable as the jasper rock.

After all, what is the use of knowing the right if you don’t do it?A bright little boy was sent home from school for bad behavior. “Why, Willie,” said a friend, “how did this happen? I thought you had better principles.” “Oh,” said Willie, “it wasn’t my principles; my principles were all right. It was my conduct they sent me home for.” It’s no use merely knowing what’s right. The thing is to do it. And that is what takes real strength of character.3. Be strong for others.—The jasper foundation had to bear the weight of the other eleven foundations, but it was equal to its task. We have often to be foundation- stones. We have to be strong for others.

We have to act as a support to those weaker than ourselves. We have to infuse a little of our own strength into them.A man in the north of Scotland once got the present of an eagle. He was very proud of it, and kept it chained in the courtyard of his house. He fed it and petted it, but the poor bird pined and grew sicker day by day. It looked so heart-broken, with its drooping wings and its film-covered eyes, that at last the owner feared it might die, and he determined to give it its freedom. He took it out to the hillside, and he set it on a rock, and then he lay down in the heather to watch what would happen.Presently he saw it raise its head, open its eyes, and look upwards.

The man himself saw nothing, but the eagle saw something that he could not see, and heard a sound that he could not hear. Later a speck appeared in the sky.

It grew larger and larger, and as it drew near the man saw that it was another eagle coming to the rescue of the sick bird. At last, with a cry of joy, it swooped down beside the invalid. It fanned the poor creature with its mighty wings and lifted it on its broad pinions, till the sick bird gathered strength and courage from its strong friend, and, spreading its wings, soared aloft beside it into the blue sky.Boys and girls, we should be like that eagle. We should be Strength to the weak. We can help those who have little strength in a thousand small ways. We needn’t make a parade of it, but when we see an opportunity of backing someone up, or of lending a helping hand, or of giving a good lead, we should slip in quietly and use the strength God has given us.Do you know that about eleven-twelfths of the people in the world are weak people—not bad people?

They are people who need a strong leader. They are excellent followers if someone shows them the way.

The other twelfth are the leaders, the strong men, those who bear the burdens, those who are the foundation-stones on which others build.If God has made you one of the rare twelfth use the strength he has given you to serve your fellow-men.So doing you will serve Him, and make yourself one with Him. For He came to earth two thousand years ago just that He might help the fallen and be strength to the weak. (The texts of the other sermons in this series are Genesis 2:12; Job 28:19; Proverbs 3:15; Jeremiah 17:1; Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 27:16 (2), Ezekiel 28:13; Matthew 13:45; Revelation 21:19-20 (2).)

Revelation 21:20

The Amethyst The twelfth, amethyst.—Revelation 21:20.Our precious stone for February is the last in the third great list mentioned in the Bible; it is the twelfth foundation-stone of the New Jerusalem— the amethyst. It is also the ninth stone of the High Priest’s breastplate. It is the birth-stone for February, so the boys and girls whose birthday is in February can listen hard.There is one remarkable thing about the amethyst. All the other stones mentioned in the Bible have been argued about by scholars, and articles have been written saying that the word used for the stone did not mean that stone but another. But nobody has ever had any doubt about the amethyst. All are agreed that the amethyst is just the amethyst—true to its name from the very beginning.I need not describe an amethyst to you.

You know it just as well as I do. Indeed, very possibly some of the girls present have an amethyst brooch or an amethyst pendant, for an amethyst is a stone often worn by young people.

There are a great many amethysts in the world, and they are not so costly as some of the other precious stones. That is why we often see them. But, though the amethyst may be inexpensive, it is none the less lovely, and it has always been prized for its exquisite color. It was used as a gem by the ancient Egyptians, and our own forefathers knew it also, for amethyst beads have been found in old Anglo-Saxon graves in England.The stone is a form of crystal, and it is found in Russia, India, Ceylon, and South America. It is also found in this country; but the home specimens are not so valuable as those from abroad.The Hebrew word for amethyst meant “dreams,” for it was supposed that the amethyst brought to its owner sleep. The Greek word is the word we use.

It means “not intoxicated,” because the Greeks believed that the amethyst prevented drunkenness. They even thought that if wine were drunk out of an amethyst cup it could not harm the drinker.

The amethyst, you see, was the symbol for sobriety. To the Eastern it was also the symbol for firm friendship.Now what has the amethyst to say to us? The onyx said, “Choose the best Engraver.” I think the amethyst says, “Be loyal.”1. It is the symbol of sobriety, and as such it says, Be loyal to yourself. What does being loyal to ourselves mean? It just means doing nothing unworthy of the self that God gave us. It means not hurting our body with over-eating, or over-drinking, or overworking, or over-amusing. It means not abusing God’s gift in any way.

It means not condescending to soil our soul with low ideas, or unclean words, or mean actions. In a word, it means being true to the best that is in us.2. The amethyst is the symbol of friendship. As such it says, Be loyal to others. The first necessity of friendship is loyalty. If you are not loyal you are no friend. You are an enemy. Those who run down their friends behind their back are beneath contempt.

Nobody wants their society—we can’t call it their friendship. A friend is one who is loyal through thick and thin, who sticks to you and believes in you whatever others may say.A little boy was once asked to describe a friend, and he gave the best description I know. He said, “A friend is someone what sticks to you even after he has found you out.” That is the kind of friend to have, and the kind of friend to be.3. The amethyst is purple—the royal color—and it is known as the “soldiers’ stone.” As such it says, Be loyal to your king. If we wear the king’s colors we must be his man, his at all costs. We must be loyal not only in name.

We must be ready to prove our loyalty.When the French were invading Russia at the beginning of last century they arrived at a small village. All the inhabitants had fled save one peasant —a woodman, judging from the axe in his belt.

The officer in command of the French troops ordered the man to be shot. The soldiers raised their muskets and prepared to fire, but the peasant coolly looked down the barrels of the guns and never flinched. The officer was so struck with the man’s courage that he commanded the firing-party to lower their muskets, and spare the prisoner’s life. “But,” said he, “we shall put a mark upon him.” They made a branding iron red-hot and placed it on the peasant’s hand. When they removed it something was left there. “What is that?” asked the woodman. “That,” said the officer, “is an N. for Napoleon. You belong to him now.” The man turned, placed the branded hand on a solid place, took his axe from his belt, and with one stroke severed the hand from his arm. “There now!” cried he, “there is not one bit of me that does not belong to the Czar.” That man was truly loyal. He preferred to lose his hand rather than be branded a traitor to his country.

He was willing to give his hand for his king.How much are we willing to give for our country? And how deep does our loyalty go?

We are ready to climb the lamp-post or scale the wall to see the procession, and we shout ourselves hoarser than most, and sing “God save the King” till we feel thrills like little trickles of cold water running down our back. But that kind of loyalty is only skin-deep. The loyalty that is ready to sacrifice everything, if need be, is the true loyalty.4. But the amethyst has one more message for us. It says, Be loyal to your Heavenly King. Boys and girls, that kind of loyalty sometimes costs more than loyalty to your earthly king.

You will find when you grow up and go out into the world that it will often be very, very difficult not to be disloyal. When your companions taunt you about your religion, when they laugh you to scorn and call you coward because you will not join them in some scheme which you know to be wrong, then is the time to set your teeth and say to yourself, “No matter what happens I will be loyal, I will, I will, I will.” And you will.

There’s no doubt about it.There is a beautiful fancy which I came across the other day. It tells what becomes of the gold of the corn and the purple of the heather when the summer is over, and the grain is garnered and the bloom of the heather faded. The gold and the purple are not lost although we see them no more. The angels have taken them to build the golden streets and the amethyst walls of the City of God. And one day, if we are loyal to the King of Heaven, we shall find again in His heavenly city the gold and the purple which we loved and lost on earth. (The texts of the sermons in this series are Genesis 2:12; Job 28:19; Proverbs 3:15; Jeremiah 17:1; Ezekiel 1:26; Ezekiel 27:16 (2), Ezekiel 28:13; Matthew 13:45; Revelation 21:19-20 (2).