"And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal."—Revelation 21:1-11.

We are now going to use a number of verses from this 21st chapter of Revelation; also some from the 22nd chapter. I would like, by way of introduction, to point out this one specific fact. John said two things, rather the Holy Spirit inspired the Apostle John to record two things, about the city of God, the Holy City: first, it is designated as "the New Jerusalem," and secondly, it was "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Those are the two things I would like to introduce at the very beginning of this discussion.

The New Jerusalem, the city "prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Someone asked me one time: "Brother Cox, is the City of God a prepared place for just anybody?" And of course I said "No," for the simple reason that the City of God is a PREPARED city for a PREPARED people.

In the Gospel of John, chapter 14, Jesus is talking to His disciples, and beginning with the first verse, said, "Let not your hearts be troubled: ye believe in God believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to PREPARE a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also" (John 14:1-3).

There has been much controversy raged around the first three verses of this 14th chapter of John. There are two schools of thought concerning these Scriptures: one school of thought is that certainly Heaven cannot be improved upon—keep in mind that we are not talking about Heaven in this particular text; the other school of thought is that Jesus actually went into Heaven to improve Heaven itself.

I deny both for the simple reason that John, writing by inspiration of the Holy Spirit in Revelation 21 and 22, is not talking about Heaven, but he is talking about the City of God—the saints’ final destiny and dwelling place.

Certainly I would not be so bold, or have the rank audacity, to say that Heaven isn’t perfect, that it can be improved upon, certainly not. We are talking about the City of God, the city that even old Abraham looked and longed for. In Hebrews 11:10 Paul said, "Abraham looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God."

That’s the city right here, the City of God, a PREPARED city—prepared. Certainly Jesus told the disciples He was going to prepare a place for them, and if He WASN’T going to prepare a place for them, then WHY would the Lord make such a statement? But Jesus said that He WAS going to prepare a place for them, and THAT place is the New Jerusalem, the City of God.

Then I want you to notice some things about the City of God. You know, I have never believed that ultimately we are going to dwell on some remote planet far removed from this earth, as some people would have you believe. I have always believed that the saints of God (believers), prepared by the power of an Almighty God, are going to dwell eternally upon this earth in the City of God, PREPARED by God for His prepared people.

God didn’t waste His time creating earth, for in Isaiah 45:18 we see that God created the earth for a specific purpose, and that purpose was that earth should be inhabited by man; therefore, the earth will be my eternal home, when JESUS COMES.

In Revelation 21:10, the Apostle John said that he saw the New Jerusalem "DESCENDING from God." The city, therefore, will come to EARTH, a new city and a new earth. What will HAPPEN to the old earth? Turn to II Peter 3:10-13: "But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought i/e to be in all holy conversation and godliness, Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

The old earth will be cleansed by the power of God. God’s purifying fire will burn upon the old earth and consume everything that is ugly, unwholesome, sinful, dirty and unholy. The earth will be regenerated and made like it was before Adam ever transgressed: and then the city will come down. What a fitting climax to the purpose of God!

Now notice some things about the SIZE of the City of God. It is tremendous in size. In Revelation 21:15-17, the angel measured the city and gave John the dimensions thereof, and it was a cube, over thirteen hundred (1300) square miles, the City of God—a tremendous city, because we have a tremendous GOD.

Several years ago I was reading some articles on the "Consummation of the Ages" and the "Second Coming of Christ," and the editor of the articles asked the question: Have you ever stopped to figure out the size, the actual dimensions of God’s City and the materials He used? He went on to say, how for years he had labored to find the size of the city. So thinking about this, I got my pencil and paper to calculate the dimensions of the city. You know, the angel told John it was twelve thousand furlongs and the height and the breadth and length were the same. A furlong is 582 feet, so the city itself was over thirteen hundred (1300) miles square, and the walls going all the way around the city were 216 feet wide. Tonight when you get home read the 21st and 22nd chapters of Revelation concerning the City of God.

Now let’s notice the MATERIALS used in the building of the City of God. In Revelation 21:18, John said the city itself, the city proper, was made of pure GOLD, Think about that, beloved, a city thirteen hundred square miles, and made of pure GOLD! Only GOD can do that, and God DID it.

In Haggai 2:8 God says, "the silver is mine, and the gold is mine.

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills."—Psalm 50:10.

All the SILVER and GOLD, all the WEALTH of the universe belongs to God. Why then should it seem incredible that God, who made this old earth, created everything upon it, made the stars of the heavens and hung them out in space, why then, I say, should it seem incredible that God could make a city thirteen hundred square miles of pure gold? Why men should think so is beyond me.

Here is something else: Even the STREETS are pure GOLD. Just recently I was up town carrying my recording to the radio station. If you have been up town lately you know how crowded it is, how terrible the traffic gets sometimes. I stood there on Union Street trying to get across while the cars were coming in both directions (actually I was jaywalking, because I wasn’t in the proper lane). When I made my way across the street and stepped upon the curb, a thought struck me: here is a city of some five hundred thousand people and about eighteen or twenty miles square, and the streets are concrete; but the God I love, the God I serve, has prepared a city that will descend upon this earth, a city that is thirteen hundred miles square and made of pure GOLD.

You know, beloved, I have not seen much gold in my lifetime. In fact, I don’t recall having seen a gold piece in the last thirty years, but here is a whole CITY made of pure gold, a PREPARED city for a PREPARED people. It passes all human comprehension when you read the 21st and 22nd chapters of Revelation.

There will be no TEMPLE in the City of God. Notice in the 22nd verse of Revelation, there will be no temple in the City of God, because God’s Word declares: "God and the Lamb are the TEMPLE thereof." It is almost inconceivable to think of living in a place where no temple spires can be seen, but you know, we will not think over there as we think here. We will have infinite minds like the mind of Christ. We will THINK as God wants us to think, and our minds will be cleansed and purified of all evil thoughts. We will have redeemed bodies, bodies fashioned like unto the glorious body of our Saviour. When we dwell in that city where there is no temple, we will recognize the fact that GOD is the ONLY temple we need. We are going to worship the Lord; therefore, there will be no TEMPLE in the City of God.

Not only that, there shall be no need of the SUN. You know, people’s conception today of God is sometimes warped and twisted. In many instances, they fail to see the glory of God and fail to recognize the supremacy of God; but not in the BOOK of God, for John said, "There will be no NEED for the sun because God’s GLORY shall lighten it, and JESUS shall be the LIGHT thereof" (Revelation 21:28).

The ONLY light we will ever need throughout a never-ending eternity will be the PRESENCE of God and the Lamb of God. Oh, I tell you, beloved, in the City of God, the home of the saved, the final destiny of every saint of God, we shall walk in the most radiant, brilliant light that one can imagine, because we shall be in the very presence of God. We shall walk in the light of our Lord Jesus Christ, and HIS light will be so much more brilliant than the moon or even the sun itself; therefore, there shall be no SUN.

God gave us a little preview of His glory in the Book of Exodus when He commanded Moses to come up to Mount Sinai to receive the Commandments and the Law. Old Moses climbed the Mount, and God showed him part of His glory and it blinded Moses. When he came down the Mount, the people of Israel could not look upon the face of Moses because the reflection of the glory of God shone upon his face: it had rubbed off on him. This is a little preview of what we may expect in the City of God. There God, Himself, will LIGHT the city, and the light of the city shall be the Son of God. You and I will walk up and down the streets of pure gold, seeing the light of Jesus every moment, all the while, throughout a never ending eternity.

Notice the CHARACTERISTICS of the City of God. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." (Revelation 21:3).

Today the Lord dwells in His church by proxy of the Holy Spirit, and He dwells in the hearts of believers by proxy of the Spirit (Eph. 2:22). But listen to me, beloved, God is going to dwell with us NOT by PROXY of the Holy Spirit, but you and I are going to bask in the very PRESENCE of GOD, the presence of God, Himself, and we are going to be His people and He shall be our God.

Did you ever stop to think about living throughout all eternity with God? Think about that, living everlastingly in the presence and sunshine of the Light of glory, who redeemed us from sin! It is overwhelming to think of it. Dwelling everlastingly with God; living in Beulah Land, dwelling with God, dwelling with GOD—DWELLING with God.

But WHO is going to DWELL with Cod? Only those who KNOW the Lord in the free pardon and forgiveness of sins. THEY, and they alone, will DWELL with the Lord.

Now notice another thing—and get this: "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away" (Revelation 21:4). God shall wipe away every TEAR from every eye.

Someone said, "I didn’t think there would be any tears in the other world." Right here there must be some, or else how could God wipe them AWAY? It has a twofold meaning: the very moment a tear appears in the eyes of a saint, God shall wipe it away; and not only that, it shall NEVER return. God shall wipe them away, every last one, and they shall be forgotten.

There have been enough tears shed in this old world to almost make a river flow. Old David went throughout life crying out to God and saying, "Night after night I water my couch with my tears." Jeremiah said, "Behold, come and see if there is a man anywhere that has tears like unto my tears." This life is filled with disappointments, burdens and sorrows that can only be expressed in tears, but in that city, the City of God, men shall not cry; God shall wipe away every tear from every eye, and they shall not return.

I stood one day at the side of a grave as they lowered the casket in which was the remains of a saint of God. The wife was standing there by the open grave crying, the tears running down her cheeks onto the ground itself. She said to me, "I don’t see how I can go home without my husband; the children need him; I need him, and even the church needs him." I touched her on the shoulder and said to her, "There is coming a time when every saint will get HOME, and God will wipe away every tear from every eye, and no MORE will men cry as they walk up and down the streets; no MORE will we be burdened and bowed down with sorrow; no MORE will hearts break and bleed, for GOD will wipe away every tear from every eye." BUT only the SAINTS OF GOD shall experience this; only GOD’S CHILDREN will experience it.

Not only that, but there will be no more DEATH. As I said this morning, "It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). There is no escaping death, the hard beaten pathway that can only end in the dark dungeon of the tomb. EVEN Jesus Christ, the very Son of God, went down the winding pathway to the dark dungeon of the tomb: but DEATH could not HOLD the Divine Son of God. He came forth victorious, triumphant over DEATH, HELL AND THE GRAVE, and said, "I am ALIVE forever more.

In that city of God there shall be no more death; death will be a thing of the past, and there shall be no more funeral processions. Death shall be swallowed up in VICTORY, the victory of the Lamb of God, who overcame for US.

Looking over my books the other day, I found that I have conducted between three hundred and four hundred funerals in the last ten or twelve years. I have held funerals until the heart grows sick. I have been asked, "Brother Cox, don’t you get tired and weary holding funerals?" And I honestly do. I hate death above everything in this world. Death is an enemy of mankind, and EVEN an enemy of God. In I Corinthians 15:25-26, Paul said that Christ must reign until He had put all ENEMIES under His feet, and the last ENEMY to be destroyed shall be DEATH. Paul said that death is an enemy, but the enemy, DEATH, shall one day be destroyed. In the City of God there shall be no DEATH.

One of these days this preacher, or the remains of this preacher, shall be carried to the silent city of the dead; BUT I’m going to a city, I want you to know, where there will be no DEATH. I’m going to the City of God, and there will be no death. No longer will Wayne Cox be called upon to conduct a man’s funeral; no longer, for death will be a thing of the past.

Then notice another thing about the City of God: No SORROW or PAIN there. You know, beloved, in these days when there is a constant threat of war, men and women have intense sorrow in their hearts because they have sons and daughters eligible for service, and we are not far removed from the threat of war. But did you know that in the City of God there will be no SORROW?

Back in the days when I was a little boy, I used to visit one set of grandparents and then the other. You know, I don’t see how they lived in those days; they worked just about day and night. I used to visit my grandmother who had a large family, and she worked sometimes until two o’clock in the morning sewing and patching clothes for her family of twelve. Her hands were gnarled as a person with arthritis—although she didn’t have it. I would sit at her feet and ask her, "What about it, grandmother, don’t you get awful tired of this?"

She used to cry and say, with a smile on her face, "I do get tired and weary and sorrow fills my heart," and she would pray for her sons and daughters, trying to win ‘them to Christ. "But," she said, "one of these days I’m going to the City of God, and there will be no sorrow and pain, nor toiling day and night; but we shall rest forever, rest in the presence of God."

Paul said, "There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God" (Heb. 4:9). I tell you, beloved, those who have toiled here on this earth—those who belong to the family of God—shall someday lay down their working tools and go to be with the Lord Jesus Christ; and when the City of God comes down to this earth, they shall everlastingly live in a land where there will be no toiling, nothing but happiness and bliss.

Every day as you walk down the streets you see evidence of stark poverty. When we were on our vacation last year we went down to Mexico, and I saw something I cannot get away from: children on the streets, dirty, ragged, barefooted and filthy. Do you know what they were doing? They were robbing the garbage cans for food. I looked at this and I thought: "My God, my God! How much longer until this is all over?" Then I thought: one of these days we will live in a city where they will no longer roam the streets and eat from garbage cans. We will not see the ragged, barefooted little urchins of the streets, but they will be priests of God, robed in the righteousness of Christ—if they believe in Christ. No longer will they be hungry in the City of God. No longer will there be sorrow and pain.

Then notice one thing else about the City of God: No more CURSE on earth. "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" (Revelation 22:3).

What are you ‘talking about, John? Go back to Genesis 3:17 and you will find what he is talking about. God said to Adam, "Because you have done this thing, CURSED is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life; Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth. . ." This is why the weeds and thorns spring up when you ‘try to raise a little food. This is why weeds will grow where nothing else will come up. This old earth is under the curse of God, and only GOD can remove it; but in the City of God there will be no more curse.

In bringing this message to a close, let me answer these questions: (1) What will we be DOING in the City of God? Serving JESUS. John said in Revelation 22:3, 4, "And his servants shall SERVE him, and they shall see his face." We will serve the Lord—serve Jesus, we, His servants. (2) What is the most haunting thing about the City of God? It is our ETERNAL HOME; we are going home.

You know, there is something about the word "home" that always strikes a responsive, tender chord in our hearts, and that’s what the City of God will be—HOME.

". . . and we will see his face . . ." (Rev 22:4). I ask you, beloved, what could be more thrilling than to look upon the brow that wore the crown of thorns for US, and to see the nail-prints in His hands, the wound in His side that was put there because of OUR sins? What could be more glorious than to see the precious face of JESUS?

Who, then, is going to SEE Him? Only those that are PREPARED. Prepared HOW? By faith in Jesus. Jesus said in John 17:24, "Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."

Wonderful, isn’t it? Wonderful to be with Jesus and see His glorious face, to bask in His marvelous presence and have the opportunity to serve Him everlastingly—everlastingly serve Jesus.

I ask you, beloved, what could be more of an incentive for living right NOW for the Lord? What could be a stronger incentive to get out and witness for Jesus than to know, one of these days, we are going to see Him, to live with Him, worship and adore Him. Home, home, HOME is where Jesus is, that’s home.

Then let me ask you this: "Have you been prepared for the city that Jesus went to prepare?"

You might say, "Brother Cox, I am not quite ready."

Listen, beloved, you can be prepared tonight. Jesus said in John 3:16, "He that believeth on me HATH everlasting life . . ."

May the Spirit enable you to trust Him and confess Him as your Saviour, so that you may be prepared for the city that Jesus went to prepare. the city that some day will descend upon this earth, where ALL the saints of God (the redeemed) shall live throughout all eternity with Christ. Amen.