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,
And he carried me away in the spirit – Gave him a vision of the city; seemed to place him where he could have a clear view of it as it came down from heaven. See the notes on Rev 1:10.
To a great and high mountain – The elevation, and the unobstructed range of view, gave him an opportunity to behold it in its glory.
And showed me that great city, … – As it descended from heaven. See the notes on Rev 21:2.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 10. To a great and high mountain] That, being above this city, he might see every street and lane of it.
The holy Jerusalem] See Clarke on Re 21:2.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And he carried me away in the spirit; in a trance or ecstasy, as before.
To a great and high mountain; from whence men use to have the best prospect of cities, or other places.
And showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God; there he caused me to see the whole triumphant church, answering as the antitype to Jerusalem, but more holy; being not of the earth, earthly, but from heaven, heavenly; founded, built up, and adorned by God.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
10. The words correspond to Re17:3, to heighten the contrast of the bride and harlot.
mountainCompare Eze40:2, where a similar vision is given from a high mountain.
that greatomitted inA, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and CYPRIAN.Translate then, “the holy city Jerusalem.”
descendingEven in themillennium the earth will not be a suitable abode for transfiguredsaints, who therefore shall then reign in heaven over the earth. Butafter the renewal of the earth at the close of the millennium andjudgment, they shall descend from heaven to dwell on an earthassimilated to heaven itself. “From God” implies that “we(the city) are God’s workmanship.”
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And he carried me away in the Spirit,…. John was in an ecstasy, as in Re 1:10 and in the thoughts and apprehensions of his mind and spirit, it seemed to him as if he was carried away from one place to another; for this was not a corporeal sight, nor were any of the visions he had, but what was represented to his mind or spirit; it being with him as it was with the Apostle Paul when he was caught up to the third heaven, who knew not whether he was in the body or out of the body. The Ethiopic version renders it, “the Spirit brought me”; not the evil spirit Satan, who took up our Lord corporeally, and carried him to an exceeding high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of this world, and their glory, Mt 4:8 but either a good angel, or the Spirit of God:
to a great and high mountain; to such an one was Ezekiel brought in the visions of God, when the frame of a city and temple was shown him, with their dimensions, Eze 40:2 as here a city is shown to John, with its wall, gates, foundations, and their measures: and he was brought to such a place, partly that he might have the more plain and full view of it; and partly to suggest unto him, that now the church of Christ was established upon the top of the mountains, and exalted above the hills, and was a city on a hill, which could not be hid, Isa 2:2.
And showed me that great city; which is no other than the church, the bride, the Lamb’s wife; just as the apostate church, all along in this book before, is called the great city, Re 11:8 but now that being demolished, there is no other great city in being but the church of Christ, called a city before; Re 21:2 here a “great one”, not only because of its prodigious large dimensions,
Re 21:16 but because of the number of its inhabitants, being such as no man can number; and because it is the residence of the great King, the tabernacle of God will be in it; though this epithet is left out in the Alexandrian copy, and in the Vulgate Latin and all the Oriental versions: “the holy Jerusalem”; called “the new Jerusalem”,
Re 21:2 here “holy”, in allusion to the city of Jerusalem, which was called the holy city, Mt 4:5 on account of the temple in it, the place of divine worship; but here this city is so called, because it is the residence of the holy God, Father, Son, and Spirit, inhabited only by holy men, made perfectly so, and encompassed by holy angels.
Descending out of heaven from God; [See comments on Re 21:2].
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
He carried me away in the Spirit ( ). See same language in 17:7 when John received a vision of the Harlot City in a wilderness. Here it is “to a mountain great and high” ( ). So it was with Ezekiel (Eze 40:2) and so the devil took Jesus (Mt 4:8). It was apparently not Mount Zion (14:1), for the New Jerusalem is seen from this mountain. “The Seer is carried thither ‘in spirit’ (cf. Rev 1:10; Rev 4:1); the Angel’s is a sursum cor to which his spirit under the influence of the ‘Spirit of revelation’ (Eph 1:17) at once responds” (Swete).
And he shewed me ( ). First aorist active indicative of , just as he had said he would do in verse 9 ( , I will shew thee). Precisely the same words about Jerusalem as in verse 2, save the absence of (New).
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
In the Spirit. See on ch. Rev 1:10.
Mountain. Compare Eze 40:2.
That great city, the holy Jerusalem. Omit great. Render the article as usual, and not as a demonstrative pronoun, and construe holy With city. So Rev., the holy city Jerusalem.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And he carried me away in the spirit,” (kai apenegken me en pneumati) “And he bore me away in spirit,” in control of the spirit, Rev 1:10; Rev 17:3.
2) “To a great and high mountain,” (epi oros mega kai hupselon) “Upon a great and high mountain; It was high enough to behold the beauty, symmetry, and dimension of the holy city, fresh from the hand of her Creator, without the aid of human hands, celestial in origin, 1Co 2:9.
3) “And shewed me the great city,” (kai edeiksen moi ten polin) “And showed to me the city;” the great city, central place of the Dwelling place of God, the Lamb, and the church, in the eternal ages, Eph 3:21; Rev 20:2.
4) “The holy Jerusalem,” (ten hagian lerousalem) “Which is, exists as, the holy Jerusalem,” the sanctified Jerusalem, which is said to be the bride, (the church), the Lamb’s Wife, Rev 21:1; Rev 21:9. The Bible begins with a garden and ends with a Holy City in which a paradise garden grew.
5) “Descending out of heaven from God,” (katabainousan ek tou ouranou apo tou theou) “Coming down (descending with grandeur) from God out of heaven,” where the marriage of the Lamb to the bride had occurred; Rev 19:6-9; Joh 14:1-3; adorned as a bride, in whose presence Nations shall walk in her light, her influence, Rev 21:24. This Holy City, the Bride, is the antithesis, the opposite of Babylon the adulterous, idolatrous, pagan city.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
(10) And he carried me away in the spirit . . .Better, He carried me away in spirit on to a mountain, great and high. It is not merely that the height gives a fine view-ground, the symbolism carries us further. The glimpse of Gods coming glories is best gained from the consecrated heights of self-surrender and prayer. On a mountain apartthe mountain of supplication and separation from the worldis the light and glory of God best seen. There are Beulah heights and transfiguration heights from which we may gain glimpses of the city and the glory of the Lord of the city. (Comp. Mat. 17:1-4.) The angel carried away the seer to a mountain great and high, and showed him (not that great city, but) the holy city Jerusalem descending out of the heaven from (having its origin from) God. The tempter showed to our Lord the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them; the comforting angel shows to our Lords prophet the city that hath the foundations, and the glory of itthe city that is of God, its builder and maker. (Comp. Heb. 11:10, where the right rendering is not a city, but the city which hath the foundations.)
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
10. In the spirit In the visional trance.
Great and high mountain Not as the place on which the city was built, but as the standpoint of his survey of the city. So one gets a view of the old Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives.
It would doubtless require a very high mountain to afford a clear view of this metropolis of heaven. Apparently on a vast plain of the heavenly land, it rose up before the seer a stupendous luminous cube. It stood upon the surface 375 miles square, and towered up into the pure space 375 miles high! Of this cube the sides were jasper; a softly green transparency. And, as the divine Essence was centralized in the city, so this city cube was a vehicle of his glory which radiated a soft, vernal day over this heavenly earth. It was a great Kohi-noor, throwing light and life over the celestial world. Of this cubic city twelve layers of precious stones formed the basement; each layer of different hued radiance. So that this basement presented to the eye so many horizontal streaks of various brilliant colours.
Into each of the four walls there opened three lofty gates; each gate made of one massive pearl. The material of the solid city structure was a transparent gold, divided by streets and squares and places. No grander conception of the kind ever proceeded from the genius of poet or painter. And if the extraordinary height seems enormous, we must remember that it is a capitol as well as a capi tal. The angel-like citizens of the land of the resurrection, to whose will gravitation is subordinate, have no difficulty with its lofty chambers; and here may be laid up the books (Rev 20:12) of the universal library, and the archives of the divine Sovereign over the nations of this wide and glorious monarchy.
We have narrated in such order as might give a united impression of this cube-city. The seer, however, narrates in the order that the perceptions of the distant object dawned upon his eye. Note, Rev 1:12-15. First the general contour of jasper-hued walls, with the gates and foundations, 11-14. Then a regular measurement of its magnitudes, 15-17. Then a detailed picture of the many-coloured foundations, 18-21. Then its illumination, irradiating the nations, who frequent it from afar, 22-27. Last, are the throne, and the tree and river of life, Rev 22:1-5. And that closes this apocalypse in triumphal glory. Old Babylon has been sent to hell, and New Jerusalem brought from heaven.
Descending This resplendent block, itself of mountain size, John sees (so he declares in Rev 21:2) descending from the opened firmament, and taking its position on the plane of the celestial earth.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
10 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,
Ver. 10. To a great and high mountain ] As Moses was carried up into Mount Nebo that from thence he might view the promised land. He that would contemplate heaven must soar aloft, fly a high pitch, &c. Take a turn with Christ in Mount Tabor, and be transfigured.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
A fresh vision, marked by a new transport of ecstasy ( cf. Eze 3:14 ; Eze 11:1 , etc.). , the vantage-ground of elevation from which the seer views the site and buildings. If the hill is the site of the city, it is a truncated cone like Cirta, or a terraced zikkurat . Ezra sees the vision of the descent of the new Jerusalem in a field of flowers ( cf. 4 Esd. 9:26 f., 13:35 f.), but John follows either the older tradition of Enoch (En. xxiv., xxv.) who visited a high mountain which, as his cicerone Michael explained, was the throne of God “where the great and holy One, the Lord of glory, the King of eternity, will sit when he shall descend to visit the earth with goodness,” or more probably the primitive association of paradise with a mountain ( cf. Oesterley’s Evol. of Mess. Idea , 129 f., Volz, 375).
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
spirit. App-101.
that great. The texts omit, and read “the holy city Jerusalem”.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Here we shall see a picture of what the Church of God is to be in the latter days; but inasmuch as this vision came out of heaven, it gives us an idea of what is in heaven already. Crowded as it is with almost impossible beauties, this description is given to us to let us think, and by faith conceive, of the glories of the future state.
Rev 21:10-11. 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;
But what the glory of God may be, what mortal mind can imagine. All the imagery which the Apostle uses must fall far short of that simple expression, Having the glory of God. That glory is to be upon the Church, and upon every individual member of it. The glory of every believer shall be nothing less than the glory of God.
Rev 21:12-13. And had a wall great and high. and had twelve gates, and at the gate twelve angels, and names written thereon, 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.
From every quarter of the world Gods chosen shall come and find a gate straight before them, an entrance into heaven. Die at the Equator, or die at the Pole, there is an immediate entrance into the rest of God from any place where we may die. Blessed be the name of God for this.
Rev 21:14-16. 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 thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
This is an idea scarcely to be grasped, to see a city which is as high as it is broad. Such cities cannot exist on earth. They are meant for that glorious future state. They will exist under the new heavens and in the new earth, for which we look at the coming of our Lord.
Rev 21:17-18. And be measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four 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 of pure gold. like unto clear glass.
All these joys are without sediment of sin. Gold on earth is a dull thing. You cannot look into it. But the joys of heaven, if compared to gold, must be diaphanous. Pure gold like unto clear glass all the earth taken out of it, from all its earthly grossness quit. The joy of heaven is divine.
Rev 21:19-20. 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, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
See how lovingly our Apostle counts the foundations. He might have run them all into one, and said, The foundations were of these twelve stones, but it must be the first foundation, the second, the third, the fourth. He dwells on every one. The joys of heaven will bear dwelling upon; they will bear reflection. Here our joys, when they are over, leave but a handful of thorns but a handful of ashes like thorns that crackle and blaze under the pot, and leave little behind them. But the joys eternal and spiritual will bear for us to go into detail, and each one shall be most precious.
Rev 21:21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls.
Whoever heard of such pearls? In what ocean but in the depth of God could such pearls be found? The twelve gates were twelve pearls.
Rev 21:21. Every several gate was one of pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Streets are used for fellowship. There men meet each other, and the fellowship of heaven will be golden, bright, clear, perfect. Here, when we meet with one another, we soon display and discover our mutual faults, but there they shall delight each other with their common beauty, all the beauties being borrowed from the Lamb, who is the glory of the place.
Rev 21:22. And I saw no temple therein.
For it was all one temple.
Rev 21:22-23. 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 thereof.
Let us be going that way soon, brothers. Ah! my brothers, may we all meet there. What must it be to be there!
Rev 21:24-27. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour 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 honour of the nations unto it. 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 Lambs book of life.
This exposition consisted of readings from Rom 8:26-30; Rev 21:10-27; Revelation 22 :l-5.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
he carried: Rev 1:10, Rev 4:2, Rev 17:3, 1Ki 18:12, 2Ki 2:16, Eze 3:14, Eze 8:3, Eze 11:1, Eze 11:24, Eze 40:1-3, Act 8:39, 2Co 12:2-4
that: Rev 21:2, Eze 40:1-49, Eze 48:15-22
Reciprocal: Deu 34:1 – showed him 1Ki 11:36 – the city Ezr 3:11 – because Psa 46:4 – city Psa 48:1 – city Psa 87:3 – Glorious Psa 122:3 – builded Son 4:9 – my spouse Son 6:9 – The daughters Son 6:10 – Who Isa 2:2 – the mountain Isa 49:16 – thy walls Isa 62:4 – Beulah Jer 31:4 – build Jer 33:2 – the maker Eze 20:40 – in mine Eze 40:2 – a very Eze 42:20 – a separation Dan 9:20 – for Hos 2:19 – And I will Zec 2:5 – the glory Zec 8:3 – the holy Mat 5:35 – the city Joh 14:2 – my Eph 5:27 – glorious Phi 3:20 – conversation Heb 12:22 – the city Rev 3:12 – the city
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Rev 21:10. He carried me away was not literal because John never actually left the isle any time throIsa 2:2 scenes of this book. The sense in which it was done is signified by the words in the spirit. These extra visions injected into the over-all picture of this book, may be illustrated by certain special items called “insets” that are often seen within the scope of some large picture. They serve as explanations of some outstanding feature. In this special vision John saw a mountain from the top of which he could get a good view of what the angel wished him to see. The angel told John he would show him the bride, the Lamb’s wife, and when he looked he saw a city instead. That is because the bride is the church (Eph 5:25-33), and also the church is likened to a city (Heb 12:22-23). Having transferred the imagery from a woman to a city, the following passages will be a description of a beautiful city. , It is called holy Jerusalem because that title is attached to the church “which is the mother of us all” (Gal 4:26). Descending out of heaven from God. That was very appropriate because while the church is composed of men anRev 12:6 on the earth, the deMat 24:16 origin of it were from the dwelling place of God.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
Verse 10.
2. And he carried me away in the spirit unto a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God–Rev 21:10.
The phrase in the spirit here is the same expression as that used in Rev 1:10 and it did not refer to the Holy Spirit in either of the passages, but rather indicated the visional rapture in which John was shown these things. It was in the spirit–his own spiRev 21:11 he was carried away to the place where these things were unfolded to him in vision.
The visional point to which he was carried was a great and high mountain. This apocalyptic panorama was a part of the imagery of the exaltation of the Jerusalem Bride. The same metaphorical language was used by Isaiah in a prophetic description of the pre-eminence of the church in its spiritual elevation above the level of all institutions of men. “The mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.” (Isa 2:2) In the same figurative character and language, John was carried in spirit to the mountain. It was not a mere mountain upon which the church was to be established in Isaiah’s prophecy, but in the top of the mountains; and it is altogether fitting that John should be transported in spirit to a great and high mountain to be shown the grandeur and glory of the triumphant church.
From this eminent visional peak John saw the holy Jerusalem descending. It was designated the holy Jerusalem in contrast with the harlot Jerusalem. No greater or more impressive attributive title could have been ascribed to the Bride oRev 21:11 than that of the Holy City Jerusalem.
In this vision of elevation the entranced Seer saw that great city descending–it had not already descended, the events were yet in process, but the end was in sight. It was about to be the culmination of the entire apocalypse.
The Holy City was descending out of heaven from God–Rev 4:3 s, the visional emergence of the Woman from that place prepared of God mentioned in Rev 12:6, and compared with Mat 24:16 in the comments in chapter twelve on these two related passages. Eph 3:21 city, the church, was seen descending from God–that is, from the place prepared of God where God had protected her and preserved her in that period of tribulation. Upon the lofty mountain height, from a position where the Seer could descry the distant descent of the marvellous City, as if to discover by the eye an object at far focus and observe its approach, this vision of the New Jerusalem was unfolded to the revelator.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 21:10. The Seer is carried in the spirit, for this purpose, to a great and high mountain. The object is that he may command a more uninterrupted view of the holy city as she descends in all her glory from heaven to earth. It was from the top of an exceeding high mountain that Satan showed our Lord all the kingdoms of the world and the glory of them, and for a similar purpose, that he may see more clearly the grandeur of the spectacle before his eyes, is St. John elevated to this height. Comparison of Eze 40:2, Isa 2:2, and Heb 12:22 makes it probable that the city was situated upon the mountain, and we are therefore to understand this word not in the sense of a solitary peak but, as often in the Gospels, in that of a range of mountains where from peak to peak the view is less hampered than in the plain. The harlot in chap. 17 was a city, Babylon; the Lambs wife is a city, New Jerusalem.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
John did not need a high vantage point to see the harlot but does to see Jesus’ bride. The word “great” is not in the original. She is holy in that she is separated from sin for God’s purpose. Her glory is not her own but solely from God. (Compare Exo 40:34 ; 1Ki 8:11 ; Eph 2:22 ; Eph 3:21 .) She radiated light from the Father like a jasper stone, which may have been a diamond. ( Rev 4:3 )
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Verse 10
And showed me that great city, &c. He represents himself as having previously seen the city descend; but now the scene is suddenly changed, and the same image appears to his view under another aspect. These cases of incoherence in the train of images, which are very common in this book, add to the rhetorical beauty of the work, considered as a composition,–such incoherence being essentially characteristic of visions and dreams.
Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament
21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and {7} high mountain, and shewed me {8} that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
(7) He means the place and stately seat of the Church, foreshadowed in a mountain.
(8) A type of that Church which is one, ample, or catholic, holy celestial, built by God, in this verse: and glorious in the verse following Rev 21:11 . This type propounded generally, is particularly declared; Rev 21:12 .
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
John entered a fresh state of prophetic ecstasy and saw a new vision (cf. Rev 1:10; Rev 4:1; Rev 17:3). The angel took him to a high vantage point from which he could see the New Jerusalem (lit. city of peace) descending out of heaven from God (cf. Rev 21:2; Eze 40:2). John received a fresh revelation that expanded something he had already witnessed in an earlier scene (Rev 21:2-8; cf. Rev 16:19; Rev 17:1).
"The holy city descending from God out of heaven should be understood as a ’real event’ within the visionary experience. . . . The descent is an announcement in visionary terms of a future event which will usher in the eternal state. That the city comes down from God means that the eternal blessedness is not an achievement of man but a gift from God." [Note: Mounce, p. 378.]