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 show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
The Vision of the New Jerusalem, Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5
The Measure of the City, Rev 21:9-17
9. And there came unto me &c.] As in Rev 17:1. “unto me” should be omitted, so that the sentence as far as “vials” is verbatim the same as there. The identical form of introduction emphasizes the contrast between Babylon and Jerusalem, the harlot and the bride.
full ] According to the correct text, this word is made to agree not with “the seven bowls” but with “the seven angels.” But probably it is a merely accidental grammatical inaccuracy of St John’s. There is a much worse “false concord” in Rev 14:19.
in the Spirit ] Rev 17:3, Rev 1:10. Cf. Eze 3:14.
to a great and high mountain ] Eze 40:2. The preposition rendered “to” plainly implies that St John was set on the mountain; whether the city occupied the mountain itself, or another site within view. In Ezek. l.c. the city apparently occupies the southern slope of the mountain, whence the seer views it.
that great city, the holy Jerusalem ] Read, the holy city Jerusalem.
descending from God ] Verbatim the same as in Rev 21:2, according to the true text. The descent described here is no doubt the same as there, but St John’s vision of the descent is not exactly the same. He has seen, as it were in the distance, the appearance of the city: but his attention was absorbed in listening to the sayings of Rev 21:3-8. Now, he is summoned to attend to the other, and finds it at the same stage where he noticed it in passing before.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
And there came unto me one of the seven angels … – See the notes on Rev 16:6-7. Why one of these angels was employed to make this communication is not stated. It may be that as they had been engaged in bringing destruction on the enemies of the church, and securing its final triumph, there was a propriety that that triumph should be announced by one of their number.
And talked with me – That is, in regard to what he was about to show me.
I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife – I will show you what represents the redeemed church now to be received into permanent union with its Lord – as a bride about to be united to her husband. See the notes on ver. 2. Compare Rev 19:7-8.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Rev 21:9-14
I will shew thee the bride, the Lambs wife.
The glorious bride
I. Who and what she was before she became the bride. She had no high descent to boast of. Her lineage was not royal, but low and mean. Without goodness, without beauty; without personal or family recommendation; unloving and unlovable; an alien, a captive, a rebel. Such were you once, O saint; such are you still, O sinner!
II. How and why she was fixed upon. Of the how and the why of this sovereign purpose, what can we say but this, that in one so unlovable and worthless it found opportunity and scope for the outflow and display of free love, such as could be found in no other? It was the Fathers free choice, and the Sons free choice, that made her what she is now, the bride, and what she is through eternity to be, the Lambs wife.
III. How she was obtained. She is a captive, and must be set free. This the Bride-groom undertakes to do; for her sake becoming a captive. She is a criminal, under wrath, and must be delivered from condemnation and death. This also the Bridegroom undertakes; for her sake submitting to condemnation and death, that so her pardon may be secured, her fetters broken, and life made hers for ever.
IV. How she was betrothed. The Bridegroom Himself came down in lowly guise to woo and win her for Himself. But now He is carrying on His suit in absence, through the intervention of others, as Isaacs proposals to Rebekah were carried on through the faithful Eliezer of Damascus. We tell of our Isaacs noble lineage, His riches, His honours, His worth. We tell of all that He has done to win your love, and set before you the glory of His person, that you may see how worthy He is of all this love; how blessed, how honourable it would be for you to be the bride of such a Bridegroom; and we say, Wilt thou go with the Man?
V. How she is prepared and adorned. It is through the Holy Spirit that this is carried out. This Spirit having overcome her unwillingness, and persuaded her to consent to the glorious betrothment, immediately commences His work of preparation. He strips her of her rags, and puts on royal apparel. He cleanses her from her filthiness, and makes her whiter than snow. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The bridal city
Not heaven itself, but the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. Not the palace-home, but the bride herself, the Church of the firstborn made perfect, presented under the gorgeous imagery of a magnificent temple-city–an ideal of perfect glory and beauty, safety and fitness–this is the true subject described by John. Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
1. Often, in the old days, John had heard from his Master teaching, parabolic and otherwise, which suggested the thought that His saved people should, in their corporate capacity, constitute His bride. This, in turn, would recall to the reverent student of the Old Testament all the bridal imagery of the prophecies–notably of Isaiah and Jeremiah-imagery so curiously and suggestively interlaced with the whole circle of paradise, city, and temple symbolism. Out of all this material, so familiar to him, John had no difficulty in constructing a distinct picture of the New Jerusalem, the virgin daughter of Zion, married as a bride to her Lord. Already Ezekiel, with extraordinary elaboration of detail, had pourtrayed this ideal bridal-city, and not a few of Ezekiels details are transferred, with but little change, to this New Testament picture.
2. It requires no stretch of fancy to believe that John, during his residence in Ephesus, had frequently read the famous circular-letter which Paul sent, first to Ephesus. And it is a significant fact, that in the Epistle to the Ephesians we have precisely the same combination of temple-city and bride which meets us in this chapter. It is a highly figurative picture of a perfected Christ-ideal at present, but an ideal one day to be realised.
The practical use to which the vision may legitimately be turned is twofold.
1. It is an inspiration of hope. You see what is the hope of your calling. To this ye are to come. This is the final destiny of the saints.
2. It is also–and this I believe to be its main purpose–a pattern in the Mount. One of the great peculiarities of the Church of Jesus Christ is this, that its golden age does not lie in the past, but in the future. And when we desire an example–a pattern up to and after which we may work–we find it in the revealed future; and that is the only justification of the revelation of the future–to supply us with a mark for the prize of our high calling.
I. Having the glory of God. The first thing noted is the radiant beauty of the bride–a beauty which consists in the striking resemblance between her and her Lord. The Church, in her ideal condition, has been so long with her Lord, coming up through the wilderness, that she has caught the beauty of His face and form, and is a partaker of the Divine nature, and falls only a little way short of the measure of the stature of His fulness. This is her golden wedding-day-the jubilee of her redemption. We may read earlier in the Book how she was caught up into heaven out of the wilderness, and now she is coming down from God out of heaven, arrayed in garments white and glistening, having the glory of God. The first impression often produced on Church review days–at conferences, and congresses, and unions–is not altogether so noble as this. What an influential Church! So many hundred thousand members! What perfect organisation! What resources of wealth and culture! What buildings! But in the great review-day–the day of the marriage of the Lamb–the first thought will be this, having the glory of God. This is the ideal at which we are to aim. If you desire to form a distinct idea of the glory of God, read the descriptions of Gods glory as seen in ancient times by Moses or Isaiah; as revealed in Gods name, or in ancient song; as shining in the face of Jesus Christ; as manifested in His life and works; as revealed in words fallen from His lips, or written by St. Paul, or pictured in the visions of this Book. Think of the purity, the holiness, and righteousness, of the mercy and truth, of the faithfulness and lovingkindness, of our God and Father! This is the image of God in which we are to be renewed. This is to be the mark for the prize.
II. having a wall great and high. Walls, in ancient times, were for three purposes:
1. Defining. The position of the Church in relation to the world must be clearly defined. Everywhere throughout the Bible this is taught. Having a wall great and high,–a clearly defined creed, resting on foundations of precious stones, bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; an equally clearly defined discipline; a distinct organisation of fellowship–A wall, built of good stones–well bounded–great and high. Not that the Church is to be narrow, little, without elbow-room, stifled, cribbed, cabined, or confined. The Holy City which John saw–the ideal Church–was vast beyond our poor power to conceive–twelve thousand stadii–all the cities of the earth are mere villages in comparison. By the same measurement, London would be but a small and straightened dwelling-place.
2. Walls were for purposes of enclosure. We are to be an enclosed people. Not nomadic–mere wilderness wanderers, heedlessly roaming hither and thither, like unclean spirits, walking through waterless places, seeking rest and finding none; but a people with a home, a city of habitation, and, therefore, with a work, living for s definite purpose, sharing a common life, helping one another, bearing one anothers burdens.
3. Walls were for defence. If they prevent lawless wandering, they also prevent lawless incursions. The success of Christian work depends very much on the Churches power to protect. And a Church cannot protect unless it has this wall of sound doctrine and faithful discipline, and clearly defined fellowship–a wall great and high. One feature of the Brides resemblance to her Lord–one true sense in which she may have the glory of God–is this, that she is able, not only to save, but also to keep. Like her Lord, she may say, Of all whom Thou hast given me I have lost none, save the son of perdition. I have lost none. A Church cannot say that, if she carelessly allows any part of her protecting walls to be mere mud-heaps, daubed with untempered mortar. And do not lose sight of the adornment–with all manner of precious stones. Do not frighten the people away from the Church by dull, heavy, rough, ugly buildings. You are not rearing a prison, or a criminal lunatic asylum; but a temple, a palace, a bridal city.
III. Having twelve gates. The Church is not to be imprisoned, nor is it to imprison its members, or its influence, its light, its melody. But, at all times, and on all sides, it is to have perfect power to go through the gates. (N. Curnock.)
A sight of the bade
I. Now you know, idle curiosity prompts a great many persons to go and see great sights; and frequently, when persons have been into the metropolis from distant parts of the country, the neighbours ask when they return, Did you see such a sight? Well, what are they after all? the things which are seen are temporal; the eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing them. But when the soul gets a sight of Christ, he never wants to turn from it. I advise you, as the angel did John, to come hither along with me to this great and high mountain, that we may get this lovely and enamouring sight. The advice, you see, is that of an aspirant–to get away from the position which he was occupying–the low ground of earthly attractions; one of the most important points in our whole Christianity, to get away from things on earth, to rise, and aspire, and soar on high. Moreover, this advice calls for the obedience of faith–obedience to the Divine call. This messenger was one of Gods messengers, an angel sent with a direct errand to John, to tell him to come hither. Now, wherever this obedience is yielded, there is a mighty deliverance, because we are by nature so entangled with the things of the world, so entangled with self-righteousness, so entangled by sin and Satan, that it requires a mighty deliverance to get us away, to draw us from, and bring us out of, our love and practice of the things that are only earthly. But I hasten to remark, that decision is all-important in thin act of obedience to the Divine call. There must be no hesitating about the matter. There must be no looking back, with a lingering, longing look, upon Sedum. Get thee out hence. When Jehovah calls by His messenger, and says,. Come hither, delay is dangerous, decision is important. And then this coming up hither, this aspiring after heavenly things, must be devotional. It is that which is created by the power of the Holy Ghost in the soul, and amounts to nothing less than the aspiring of all the graces in lively exercise. Faith will aspire, and hope will aspire, and love will aspire, and all the graces of the spirit must aspire, as moved, supplied, acted upon, and constrained by the omnipotence of the Holy Ghost. Now glance at this aspiring soul, and see his progress. He is rising and rising, higher and higher every hour; just as you see the skylark ascending from its nest where it had been grovelling; when it first warbles, it seems but a little above your head, but it sings and mounts, and sings and mounts, till it is almost out of sight. Once more observe, that as we rise in knowledge, we shall rise also in enjoyment, we shall rise in love to Him. Then mark, we shall rise in anticipation. Come hither to the top of this great and high mountain, and anticipate the bliss that is to be revealed, that glory that is about to open to view.
II. Now upon this position we may expect the sight which follows, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife. What a sight! Now I want to show you the bride, because there are a great many persons who presume to assume the name to whom it does not belong.
1. And, in the first place, you may know her by her wedding dress. What do you think it is? Why, the imputed righteousness of her loving Lord. And therefore she sings as Isaiah taught the Church to sing in olden time–My soul shall rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in my God, for He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness and clothed me with the garments of salvation, as a bride adorneth herself for her husband.
2. Moreover, I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife, in her indissoluble union. The husband that is really married has not only a bride, but a wife. Now, before time began, before the world was formed, before angels fell, before sin existed, Jesus and His bride were betrothed in love, and engaged in eternal union. Moreover, this indissoluble union is effected by Him in the fulness of time. I confess I like to talk about this courtship, and this marriage too.
3. Well, let us go on a step further–it is enjoyed. This union which is indissoluble between Christ and His Church, is enjoyed in communion, enjoyed in fellowship, enjoyed in association, enjoyed in every possible expression of affection, enjoyed in mutual help. There are pangs frequently felt in the most affectionate unions upon earth at the idea of separation; but I am persuaded, says St. Paul, that in this union there can be no separation; for neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is not she a happy bride, then? (J. Irons.)
The Holy City, the Bride of the Lamb
Our great work is to build the city of God upon the earth, and this can be done only through the organised life of the world. We must not be content to go one way, and to allow what we call secular institutions to go another way. We are the salt of the earth. We, through the Spirit of God, are the makers of the new city, and God has given us the old city as the material out of which we are to make the new. It is ours to transform the earthly city so that it shall be glorified into the heavenly.
1. In the first place, it is clear that the ideal city in this character of Bride is in living union with God. So that the figure of the Bride as conceived in the New Testament is one of loving dependence and living unity. She finds her joy, her fulness, her splendour, her very life, in Him for whom she is adorned. She is a very part of His life, and finds her true glory in losing herself in Him. Such is the relation to God of that city that would realise Gods ideal. This is precisely what is implied in the picture before us–namely, that all the vast secular organisations of society must find their ideal in being the Bride of the Lamb. What is thought to be the peculiar characteristic of a number of people that have certain religious and spiritual affinities must come to be recognised as the best thing for all the busy world, and as the normal attitude of the city or State that would attain true and abiding prosperity. We cannot keep the higher ideal in its strength by our religious combinations and assemblies unless we insist upon its maintenance in and for the busy hum of life. The worshipping attitude of the sanctuary is also the ideal attitude for the mart, the exchange, the council chamber, and the senate. But let the Church realise that it is not the ideal of a select coterie, however worthy and however divinely elected, but the ideal that must sweep the world, and sit upon the throne of every State, an ideal that is as good for the market-place as for the sanctuary. Then it will have new power and influence, and our Churches will rise to higher levels of worship and consecration. The old Puritans realised this when they knelt together for prayer in the British House of Commons. They believed that the grandest thing a State could do was to worship God, provided it were done in spirit and in truth, and not by the mockery of mechanical enactments. The city that will not be the Bride of the Lamb shall perish.
2. This condition of living union with God involves the development of holy affinities with God. The ideal city must construct its life and frame its ends according to the pattern on the Mount. If it is to be in living union with God, it must live according to the divinest motives and ideals. The Bride must be adorned for her Husband in the jewels that He loves. Many tell us that the heavenly and spiritual ideas that we place before them are not necessary or suited for the great life and problems of the city. They say that the city has to do with earth, not with heaven; that its development and prosperity and elevation depend upon philanthropies and social revolutions and political changes. For this worship is not necessary, thoughts and hopes of heaven are hampering, and ideas of spiritual renewal, holiness, and Divine peace are altogether Utopian. They tell the Church, in effect, that its ideas are altogether out of place in this world of states and cities. And some good men have unfortunately fallen victims to this modem falsehood. They have forsaken the Christian ideal, and accepted the ideal of the social revolutionist and the secular politician. What they think the gospel cannot do they hope to do by some loud-sounding Ism, and proclaim this as the worlds salvation, rather than the Divine ideals of Jesus Christ. The scornful wisdom of the world will again, as in times past, be brought to confusion. The present glorification of material things and material ends and methods will end in failure. The ideal city will be the Bride of the Lamb. (John Thomas, M. A.)
The bride
I. Come hither and see the bride as thou hast never seen her before.
1. In the enjoyment of nearer communion.
2. Participating in the highest honours.
3. Possessing enlarged knowledge.
4. Entirely absorbed in contemplation of Him.
II. Come hither and see the bride where she never was before.
1. Beyond the tempters power.
2. Beyond the rags of poverty and the experience of famine.
3. Far removed from the darts of the enemy.
4. Away from the vineyard. Toil a thing of the past. The curse revoked.
III. Come hither, and see the bride as she herself never expected to be.
IV. Come hither, and see her as she was decreed to be.
V. Come hither, and see her as she shall for ever remain.
1. Her Husband has paid her debts.
2. Her Husband is unchangeable.
3. No fear of divorce.
4. No fear of estrangement on her part.
5. No death.
VI. Come hither and see her as she should now aim to be. (R A. Griffin.)
That great city, the holy Jerusalem.–
The new Jerusalem
One of the most remarkable paradoxes of the Church of our times is its abhorrence of materiality in connection with the kingdom of Christ and the eternal future, whilst practically up to its ears in materialism and earthiness. No wonder that professed believers of our day are anxious to put off getting into the heaven they believe in as long as the doctors skill can keep them out of it, and finally agree to go only as a last despairing resort. It has no substance, no reality, for the soul to take hold on. It is nothing but a world of shadows, of mist, of dim visions of blessedness, with which it is impossible for a being who is not mere spirit, and never will be mere spirit, who knows only to live in a body, and shall live for ever in a body, to feel any fellowship or sympathy. But such are not the ideas of our futurity which the Bible holds out to our faith and hope. Did men but learn to know the difference between a paradise of sense and a paradise of sensuality, the truth of God would not suffer in mens hands as it does, and their souls would not suffer as they do for something solid to anchor to amid the anxious perturbations of life and death. Did men but rid themselves of the old heresy that matter means sin, and learn to know and feel that there was a material universe before sin was, and that a material universe will live on when sin shall have been clean washed away from the entire face of it, they would be in better position both to understand and to enjoy the fore-announcements of the futurity of the saints which God has given for their consolation amid these earthly vicissitudes and falsities. The New Jerusalem, which we now come to consider, is in the line of these ideas. It stands in antithesis to the final Babylon. That a real city as well as a perfected moral system is here to be understood, I see not how we can otherwise conclude. All the elements of a city are indicated. It has specific dimensions. It has foundations, wails, gates, and streets. It has guards outside and inhabitants within, both distinct from what characterises it as a real construction. Among the highest promises to the saints of all ages was the promise of a special place and economy answering to a heavenly city, and which is continually referred to as an enduring and God-built city.
I. Its derivation. John sees it coming down out of heaven from God. It is of celestial origin. It is the direct product of Almighty power and wisdom. He who made the worlds is the Maker of this illustrious city. No mortal hand is ever employed upon its construction. The saints are all Gods workmanship. They are all begotten of His Spirit, and shaped and fashioned into living stones from the dark quarries of a fallen world, and transfigured from glory to glory by the gracious operations of His hand. They reach their heavenly character and places through His own direct agency and influence. And He who makes, prepares, and places them, makes, prepares, and places their sublime habitation also.
II. Its location. This is not specifically told, but the record is not without some hints. John sees it coming down out of heaven. The idea is that it comes close to the earth, and is intended to have a near relation to the earth; but it is nowhere said that it ever alights on the earth, or ever becomes part of its material fabric. Though coming into the vicinity of the earth, it is always spoken of as the Jerusalem which is above (Gal 4:26).
III. Its splendour. Here the specifications are numerous and transcendent, as we would expect in a city erected and ornamented by Jehovah, and coming forth direct from the heavens. Everything built by Gods direction is the very best and most splendid of its kind. And this city has, and is invested with, the glory, light, brightness, and radiating splendour of God.
IV. Its amplitude. There is no stint or meanness in Gods creations. When He set Himself to the making of worlds, He filled up an immeasurable space with them. When He created angels He added myriads on myraids, and orders on orders, till all earthly arithmetic is lost in the counting of them. When He started the human race it was on a career of multiplication to which we can set no limit. When He began the glorious work of redemption, and commenced the taking out and fashioning of a people to become the companions of His only begotten Son and co-regents with their Redeemer, these pictures of the final outcome tell of great multitudinous hosts, in numbers like the sands of the seashore. And the city He builds for them is of corresponding dimensions. Amplitude–amplitude of numbers, as well as glorious accommodations–is unmistakably signified, in whatever way we contemplate the astonishing picture.
V. Its system of illumination. What is a city without light! The glory of Gods brightness envelopes it like an unclouded halo, permeates it, and radiates through it and from it so that there is not a dark or obscure place about it.
VI. Its lack of a temple. A temple, says the seer, I saw not in it. What a vacuum it would create in every earthly city if its temples were taken away! What would ancient Jerusalem have been without its temple? But it is no privation to the New Jerusalem that there is no temple in it. Nay, it is one of its sublimest peculiarities. Deity will then have come forth from behind all veils, all mediating sacraments, all previous barriers and hidings because of the infirmities of the flesh or the weaknesses of undeveloped spirituality. Himself will be the temple thereof. The glorious worshippers there hold direct communion with His manifested glory, which encompasses them and all their city alike. As consecrated high priests they will then have come into the holiest of all, into the very cloud of Gods overshadowing glory, which is at once their covering, their temple, their God.
VII. Its relation to the world at large. Of old, the song of the Psalmist was: Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King (Psa 48:2). In every land into which the Jewish people wandered, there was a glad thrill upon their souls when they remembered Jerusalem. We cannot look back upon those times, even now, without a degree of fascination which draws like a magnet upon every feeling of the heart. And what was then realised on a small and feeble scale, in the case of one people, is to be the universal experience with regard to this blessed city. It is to be the centre and illuminator of the world.
VIII. Its supreme holiness. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The city of God
I believe that it was a purpose of God in making the world that it should have in it great cities. Wisdom, in the beginning of Gods ways, rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and her delights were with the sons of men. A peopled earth–A city-covered earth–was, I have no doubt, from the beginning part of what God meant should be. Ages of great cities are of His appointment. But sin has spoiled all. Heres the mischief. The only thing to be complained of in London, or any other city, is sin. Now, the thing that sin has spoiled here–the life of great cities–is to be perfectly shown in another world. There is a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. God is not ashamed to be called the God of His saints, for He hath prepared for them a city.
I. The city–what it is. Talk of great London! Rome! Nineveh! Babylon!–the vision of St. John conveys the idea of something much more vast and beautiful in the last home of the saints. City and country, street and garden, Jerusalem and Eden, are mixed in the picture here, to show, I suppose, that heaven will have in it all that is fairest in nature with all that is richest in civilisation. The city is built of precious stones–all manner of precious stones piled together. Precious stones are in themselves more astonishing than any form, however curious and beautiful, into which they can be carved. In their nature they are images of heavenly things. Just think: no objects last so long as precious stones: they are the oldest and the strongest things in nature. No objects are so pure and clear as precious stones. The crystal is purer than the water, when the water is said to be like crystal. No objects are so free from corruption and decay, so utterly beyond the reach of inward stain. And no objects are at once so richly dyed, so rainbow-like in colour, and yet so well seen through, so ready to get and to give light. Are they not striking images of the things of heaven? The lasting nature of heaven! the bright clearness of heaven! the impossibility of staining heaven! the truth, the faithfulness, the love, the justice that dwell and reign in the city of heaven! The life lost by Adams sin is brought back, and perfected and made to last by Christs obedience. Redemption more than repairs the fall; the Lamb has slain the serpent; simplicity has got the better of subtlety; the patience, self-denial, and sacrifice of the atoning Mediator have destroyed the mischief of the tempters pride, selfishness and cruelty; for a heaven better than Eden is opened to men driven from Eden. In the New Jerusalem there are none of the drawbacks and evils of an earthly condition. Especially we are taught that the city is holy. The tabernacle and the temple were patterns of things in the heavens. Now, in every possible way they showed the quality of holiness. In the other world, as much as in this, physical purity as well as moral, moral purity as well as physical, are indispensably needful. A clean heart in a clean house–that is wanted for comfort in this world and in that. Clean hands, pure worship, and a soul full of health and joy–that was the order of things in Jerusalem; so it is in the Christian Church, and will be in heaven. Heaven is pure: it must be so; the necessity is grounded on the deepest reasons. It follows, from its being the habitation of God; of God the holy;–whose eyes are called the eyes of His holiness; whose arm is called His holy arm; whose name is a holy name: who swears by His holiness; who cannot look upon sin; whom to rob of His moral perfection, in our thoughts, is to insult even more than by the denial of His being. It follows, from the perfection of the saints. Any defilement in them would destroy their perfection. Any defilement in their companions would endanger their perfection. It follows, from its being a world of bliss. Sin would spoil the bliss. The consciousness of it would unmake heaven. (John Stoughton.)
Heaven
This figure of heaven suggests–
I. Its relation to gods empire. What the Metropolis is to a country, heaven is to the universe.
1. The central influence of the kingdom.
2. The dwelling-place of its chiefest and strongest.
3. The residence of its sovereign.
II. Its marvellous construction.
1. Heaven is a vast city–a city, not a mere hamlet for a handful of the elect.
2. Heaven is a secure city. Its walls, its gates, etc. Nothing can hurt or destroy.
3. Heaven is a magnificent city. Nothing impoverished, no by-ways of shame, no lurking places of misery; its very streets are of gold.
III. Its famous population. The population is–
1. Immense in number; a great multitude, etc.
2. Honourable in occupation. Jerusalem a city of priests; Athens, of sages; Rome, of soldiers; London, of shopkeepers: heaven, of saints, who serve God day and night.
3. Holy in character. This the glory of the population; they are robed in white. Their moral lustre is their beauty. (Homilist.)
The holy city
This city is not earthly, but heavenly, and is among the heavenly things said by the apostle to be purified by the better sacrifices(Heb 9:23.). Why did such a city need purifying:? Not because unclean, but because sinners were to dwell in it; and they would have defiled it, had it not been for the great sacrifice for the blood does two things–it makes the unclean clean, and it keeps the clean from being defiled.
1. It is a great city. There has been no city like it. It is the city, the one city, the great metropolis of the mighty universe.
2. It is a well-built city. Its builder and maker is God. Its foundations are eternal; its walls are jasper; its gates pearls; its streets paved with gold. It is compactly built together, lying foursquare, and perfect in all its parts, without a break or flaw, or weakness or deformity.
3. It is a well-lighted city. Something brighter than sun and moon is given to fill its heaven. The glory of God lightens it; the Lamb is its light or lamp, so that it needs no candle, no sunlight.
4. It is a well-watered city. A pure river of the water of life flows through its streets, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. What must its waters be! What must be the rivers of pleasure there!
5. It is a well-provisioned city. The tree of life is there, with its twelve variety of fruits and its health-giving leaves. It has more than Eden had. It is paradise restored; paradise and Jerusalem in one; Jerusalem in paradise, and paradise in Jerusalem.
6. It is a well-guarded city. Not only has it gates, and walls, and towers, which no enemy could scale or force; but at the gates are twelve angels keeping perpetual watch.
7. It is a well-governed city. No misrule is there, no disorder, no lawlessness, no rebellion.
8. It is a well-peopled city. It has gathered within its walls all generations of the redeemed. Its population is as the sands or the stars; the multitude that no man can number; the millions of the risen and glorified.
9. It is a holy city. Nothing that defileth shall enter; no spot or speck or shadow of evil. All is perfection there, Divine perfection.
10. It is a glorious city. The glory that fills it and encircles it is the glory of God. Everything resplendent is there. It shines like the sun.
11. It is a blessed city. It is truly the joyous city. It is the throne of the blessed One, and all in it is like Him. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Twelve gates.—
The manifold Christ
Three gates on each side of the celestial quadrangle. So much as to the accessibility of the heavenly city. Christ is Himself gateway impersonated, what Scripture calls open door. Three gates in each wall. Christ is not only one gate; He is all the gates, and His multiplicity matches our diversity. So that each man to be saved will be saved by his own particular Christ, and enter the kingdom through his own special private portal. We believe in the same Christ, and yet we have not the same belief in Christ–like two men standing on the opposite side of a hill, who have a view of the same hill, but not the same view of the hill. We are in that respect like different kinds of flowers growing out in the sunshine; one flower when it is touched by white light will extract from the white light one particular tint, another flower will extract another particular tint from the same white light, So while we all in a way believe in Christ we each believe in our own way, and He is not the same to any two of us. This leads on to say that Christ as you apprehend Him–not as I apprehend Him, not as your neighbour apprehends Him, hut Christ as you apprehend Him–is your open door. Doubtless, as we come to know Him better and to enter more deeply into the intimacies of His character and spirit, our conceptions of Him will have more and more in common, and we shall draw nearer and nearer to each other in our views and experience of Him. Three gates on a side. The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him. Christ, in the conception that you already have of Him, is your gate; no hunting necessary in order to find it; no waiting requisite. The Bible would not say, Choose ye this day if there were anything to wait for. Such words as now and to-day would have to be left out if the gate were anywhere but directly in front of you. This Biblical idea of to-day just matches this apocalyptic idea of three gates on a side, every mans gate close to him. The object of this is not to encourage the notion that it makes no difference how little idea a man has of Christ. Our only point is that the veriest scintilla of an idea, if made available, is enough to begin with. Supposing in a dark, starless night you become lost in the woods. The glimmer of a distant candle reaches your eye, and you are not lost any longer. There may not be light enough about it to show you where you are, but you are not lost any more because there is light enough about it to give you a direction. Any smallest, feeblest conception you may have of Christ will answer every purpose if only you will treat it in the same way that you would treat what appeared to be the glimmer of a distant candle falling upon your eye by night in the midst of a black forest. Light is a sure guide, because, unlike sound, it goes in straight lines. And wherever and howsoever far out upon the circumference of Christs character you take your position and begin threading inward any one of its radiating lines, you are moving by a line as straight as a sunbeam toward the heart and centre of the entire matter. When the disciples were bidden by Christ to follow Him, clearly that meant to them at the outset little more than patterning their fives after Him, going where He went, and doing what He did. That was where they first took hold of the matter. Anything like mere imitation seems mostly to disappear from their life in its later manifestations and farther developments; but it was not much but imitation to begin with. They commenced by obeying Him and trying to be like Him. Christs early instruction to them was in this line. Now, it must needs be said that this obediently doing what God in Christ enjoins upon us, important and indispensable as of course it is, is by no manner of means the best and most distinctive part of the Christian matter. At the same time there are two things to be said about it that are practical and that are in close line with our present thought. The first is that while studiously doing as Christ bids us is not the best part of the Lords matter, it is singularly educating, and contributes with wonderful facility to initiate us into the best part of the Lords matter. Obedience to Christ is only gateway so far as relates to the full meaning of Christ and of Christian life, but it is gateway that portals one of the central avenues conducting directly to meanings that are more essential and complete. The other point is that this matter of taking Christs commands and doing them is not only gateway, but gateway that opens itself immediately in our face. We have not to search around in order to find it. The door is directly in front of us. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
The many gates
I. The variousness of mens manner of approach to the heavenly city. The gates open in all directions, because an almost infinite variety of travellers, and journeying from most dissimilar regions, are to be gathered there. Said our Saviour to His disciples, Other sheep I have, who are not of this fold. The gospel He proclaimed was not for one nation only, but for the world. And so this New Jerusalem, to which that gospel points the way, must be accessible to men of all languages and lands. But it is not this geographical variousness of approach to the New Jerusalem alone which the fourfold aspect of the heavenly gates suggests to us. There is a moral variousness still greater than any geographical one. The people who gather, are gathered not only out of unlike regions, but out of unlike faiths, ideas, habits, deficiences. Those must needs be, in many respects, very different pathways of approach, intellectually and morally, which are traversed to the heavenly city by one who comes thither out of African ignorance, out of Oriental mysticism, out of Indian savagery, and out of European refinement. How unlike, after all, are the dwellers who live door to door in a city like this; or sit side by side in this Sabbath sanctuary! What diverse dispositions, inclinations, experiences, characters! And in leading men and women so variously constituted to the heavenly Jerusalem, the Spirit of God conducts them in most diverse ways. Here is one who arrives thither through the throes and agonies of an experience as stormy as that of Luther or of Paul. Here is another whose Christian experience is like that of Fenelon or John. Almost natural it seems for this man, when he heard the words, Behold the Lamb of God, to turn and follow Him. Here are those on whom in their journey Zionward the sun always seems to smile. Others come, but it is always under a stormy sky. More and more alone as they go forward, heavier and heavier weighted with suffering and with care, they arrive at last, spent and buffeted, like a shipwrecked sailor, smitten by a thousand seas, stripped and exhausted, at the heavenly refuge.
II. The unexpectedness of the arrival of many there. As many of the travellers to the city were on their way thither, they often seemed at least to be journeying in different directions. Their pathways sometimes ran not parallel but crosswise, and even in contrary courses, according as each was led by the Good Spirit which guided him to one or another of the opposite gates. And it would not be strange if, while they thus crossed and traversed one another, doubt should arise, and even controversy, as to the probability of one anothers arrival. Sometimes the road insisted on has been the road of a particular church organisation. Sometimes the prescribed pathway has been a particular form of some Christian ordinance. How reassuring, in view of an almost interminable catalogue of controversies like these, to remember the many and opposite-looking gates of the heavenly city! How comforting to know that not one road, but many roads, leads thither! And what a suggestion this affords of the surprises which will await those who finally enter; the unexpectedness to multitudes of the arrival of multitudes besides. (Leon Walker, D. D.)
The gates of heaven
The Cashmere Gate of Delhi, where converged a heroism that makes ones nerves tingle; the Lucknow Gate, still dented and scarred with Sepoy bombardment; the Madeline Gate, with its emblazonry in bronze; the hundred gates of Thebes, the wonder of centuries, all go out of sight before the gates of my text.
I. Examine the architecture of those gates. Proprietors of large estates are very apt to have an ornamented gateway. Gates of wood and iron and stone guarded nearly all the old cities. Moslems have inscribed upon their gateways inscriptions from the Koran of the Mohammedan. There have been a great many fine gateways, but Christ sets His hand to the work, and for the upper city swung a gate such as no eye ever gazed on, untouched of inspiration. There is no wood, or stone, or bronze in that gate, but from top to base, and from side to side, it is all of pearl Not one piece picked up from Ceylon banks, and another piece from the Persian Gulf, and another from the Island of the Margarette; but one solid pearl picked up from the beach of everlasting light by heavenly hands, and hoisted and swung amid the shouting of angels. The glories of alabaster vase and porphyry pillar fade out before this gateway. Julius Caesar paid a hundred and twenty-five thousand crowns for one pearl. The Government of Portugal boasted of having a pearl larger than a pear. Cleopatra and Philip
II. dazzled the worlds vision with precious stones. But gather all these together and lift them, and add to them all the wealth of the pearl fisheries and set them in the panel of one door, and it does not equal this magnificent gateway. An Almighty hand hewed this, swung this, polished this. Against this gateway, on one side, dash all the splendours of earthly beauty. Against this gate, on the other side, beat the surges of eternal glory.
II. Count the number of those gates. Imperial parks and lordly manors are apt to have one expensive gateway, and the others are ordinary; but look around at these entrances to heaven and count them. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Hear it all the earth and all the heavens. Twelve gates. Gate the first: the Moravians come up; they believed in the Lord Jesus; they pass through. Gate the second: the Quakers come up; they have received the inward light; they have trusted in the Lord; they pass through. Gate the third: the Lutherans come up; they had the same grace that made Luther what he was, and they pass through. Gate the fourth: the Baptists pass through. Gate the fifth: the Free-will Baptists pass through. Gate the sixth: the Reformed Church passes through. Gate the seventh: the Congregationalists pass through. Gate the eight: the Episcopalians pass through. Gate the ninth: the Methodists pass through. Gate the tenth: the Sabbatarians pass through. Gate the eleventh: the Church of the Disciples pass through. Gate the twelfth: the Presbyterians pass through. But there are a great number of other denominations who must come in, and great multitudes who connected themselves with no visible Church, but felt the power of godliness in their heart and showed it in their life. Where is their gate? Will you shut all the remaining host out of the city? No. They may come in at our gate.
III. Notice the points of the compass toward which these gates look. They are not on one side, or on two sides, or on three sides, but on four sides. What does that mean? Why, it means that all nationalities are included. On the north three gates. That means mercy for Lapland, and Siberia, and Norway, and Sweden. On the south three gates. That means pardon for Hindostan, and Algiers, and Ethiopia. On the east three gates. That means salvation for China, and Japan, and Borneo. On the west three gates. That means redemption for America. It does not make any difference how dark-skinned or how pale-faced men may be, they will find a gate right before them. Hear it! oh, you thin-blooded nations of eternal winter–on the north three gates. Hear it! oh, you bronzed inhabitants panting under equatorial heats–on the south three gates. But I notice when John saw these gates they were open–wide open. They will not always be so. After awhile heaven will have gathered up all its intended population, and the children of God will have come home. And heaven being made up, of course the gates will be shut.
IV. The gatekeepers. There is one angel at each one of those gates. You say that is right. Of course it is. You know that no earthly palace, or castle, or fortress would be safe without a sentry pacing up and down by night and by day; and if there were no defences before heaven, and the doors set wide open with no one to guard them, all the vicious of earth would go up after awhile, and all the abandoned of hell would go up after awhile, and heaven, instead of being a world of light, and joy, and peace, and blessedness, would be a world of darkness and horror. So I am glad to tell you that while these twelve gates stand open to let a great multitude in, there are twelve angels to keep some people out. Robespierre cannot go through there, nor Hildebrand, nor Nero, nor any of the debauched of earth who have not repented of their wickedness. There will be a password at the gate of heaven. Do you know what that password is? Here comes a crowd of souls up to the gate, and they say: Let me in. Let me in. I was very useful on earth. I endowed colleges, I built churches, and was famous for my charities; and having done so many wonderful things for the world, now I come up to get my reward. A voice from within says: I never knew you. Another great crowd comes up, and they try to get through. They say: We were highly honourable on earth, and the world bowed very lowly before us. We were honoured on earth, and now we come to get our honours in heaven; and a voice from within says: I never knew you. Another crowd advances and says: We were very moral people on earth, very moral indeed, and we come up to get appropriate recognition. A voice answers: I never knew you. After awhile I see another throng approach the gate, and one seems to be spokesman for all the rest, although their voices ever and anon cry, Amen! amen! This one stands at the gate and says: Let me in. I was a wanderer from God. I deserved to die. I have come up to this place, not because I deserve it, but because I have heard that there is a saving power in the blood of Jesus. The gatekeeper says: That is the password–Jesus! Jesus! (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The gates of the city
Bearing in mind still that this is a description of the ideal Church, we have here four suggestive features presented to our attention.
I. The church is a walled city with many gates. And had a wall great and high, and twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels. Evidently there is no exclusiveness here, but there is protection from unsanctified and unlicensed intruders. The wall is for a bulwark, but not for a barricade; it separates from the world, but it does not shut out the world. And angels stand at the gates-large-hearted, loving angels, not bigoted priests, not stern and crabbed formulators of creeds, but angels with the sweet face of charity; and they stand there, not so much to challenge intruders, as to trumpet forth into every corner of the world their summons, Come in and welcome. A walled city, but with an abundance of open gates. That is the true idea of the Church. Separate from the world, yet always uniting the world; offering freedom of access to all, but license to none. But men have always been trying to improve on this idea. Heavens methods are too simple for their self-conceited ingenuity. The pattern in the mount wants accommodating to the state of things below. Men have always been trying to improve on this idea of the Church, and in improving have defaced and marred and impoverished and corrupted it. On the one side we have the gates of the city closed, and nothing left but some narrow back stairs entrance, and that so covered over with a network of forms and creeds and subscriptions and questions that only the most pliable and yielding souls can worm their way through. But on the other side–and this is by far the greater danger at present–we have not only the gates multiplied, but the very walls thrown down, and the guardian angels dismissed, as though they were no longer needed. Come in where you like, how you like, believing what you like, or as little as you like. Let us take care that we abuse not in this way the sacred name of charity. I am willing to pay a great price for brotherly love, but to buy it at the cost of truth is a losing bargain. There are twelve gates lying open to all the world, and voices on every watch-tower singing the song of welcome: Come in, come in. But come in the name of our Lord and Saviour.
II. A City With Gates On Every Side–not only protesting against exclusiveness by their numbers, but proclaiming the grand catholicity of the Church by their position. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. It is another rendering of the Saviours words, They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north and south, and sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of God; and a picture of the same kind as that magnificent vision which floated before the Saviours eyes when He stood under the shadow of the Cross and looked through the scorn and mockery of universal rejection at a world bowing at His feet, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. All the ages travail for its fulfilment. The gates of this city which point north and west have been crowded for a thousand years.
III. Every gate has its own peculiar beauty and attractiveness. The gates of the city were twelve pearls, every several gate of one pearl; that is, there are no two gates alike, but they are all alike beautiful. Here, firstly, is the carrying out of the thought which runs through the whole description–that the Church below, like heaven above, manifests its life, and power, and graces in infinite variety. There are all manner of precious stones; all manner of fruits; all manner of gates; all imaginable colours and forms. It is Gods vindication of individuality; Gods protest against cramping uniformity–against all attempts to fashion Christians in the same mould and turn them out after the same pattern. It means that Christ, in fashioning men, never repeats a design; that no two Christians are beautiful in exactly the same way; that no two Christians have the same training, the same experience, the same thoughts and feelings, but that God sends every one a different school and subjects every one to a different discipline, that at last He may present every one perfect after a different fashion. All the pictures of heaven which I have seen are gross caricatures, for they represent rows of saints and angels as much alike as rows of pins. God does not fashion His jewels in that way. All very well for pins, but Gods elect are not machine-made, turned out by the gross. They all glow with the same Christ-light, but each of them is cut after a unique pattern. But further: there is a special meaning in the distinction and variety of the gates. It means that men enter the Church by different ways, and are drawn to Christ by various attractions. The promise which brought me peace as I knelt at the Masters feet would perhaps hardly have touched you at all; and the word which thrilled you would perhaps have fallen dull and meaningless on my ears. Christ has a separate song for every heart. Here is a youth, restless, fiery, full of activity, eager for some great field of battle. Christ chants this battle-song to him: Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. Here is a student panting for knowledge, fired with a passion for truth, ready to suffer martyrdom for it. He hears a voice behind him saying, In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Here is a mystic, who longs to break the veil of the unseen, dreamy, idealistic, half inclined to believe in spiritualism, courting fellowship with invisible souls. Christ sings to him thus: Ye are come unto an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant.
IV. The gates are always open. The gates shall not be shut by day. Yes, the gates are open! You have heard of that girl who had left her fathers house and wandered into paths of sin; and one night there came over her a flood of shameful remorse and the agony of a great repentance, and she thought she would go back and look at the old home again, but not to enter. Ah, no! those doors were closed for ever. Just to look–one stolen look–at the old Paradise, and then back into darkness and despair! And with tear-blinded eyes and wearied feet she crept up to the door in the silent midnight hours, and half mechanically put her hand upon the latch; and lo, the door opened, and she entered. For the father had said, It shall be left open night and day; it may be that she will come back again. And there she lay until the morning, and awoke to find him kneeling by her side, kissing her with the sweet kiss of forgiveness. (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)
The heavenly Jerusalem
Let us take up two or three points in the inspired description of the city in this chapter and consider what they really mean.
1. Consider first what is said in verse 13 on the east three gates, etc. What do these twelve gates mean then, three on each side? What, save that the city lieth open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike? Now let us not fail to notice how strongly this contrasts with the character of all human institutions. How obvious it is that they are accessible to the few only, and almost in exact proportion to the advantages they offer is the smallness of the number of those who are admitted to share in them. The prizes of this life are only for the rich, the successful, the talented, the favourites of fortune; only its miseries, its sicknesses, its bereavements, seem the common heritage of all, of rich and poor, high and low, one with another. But it is not thus with the glories of the holy city; they lie equally open towards every quarter, equally accessible to men of every race and clime, and colour, and circumstance. Therefore take courage, O traveller Zionwards; if only thy face be set towards the holy city, thou too shalt surely find a gate open to admit thee, from whatever direction thou shalt come.
2. Consider next what is written about the city in verse 15 that it lieth foursquare, etc. The city is the same in every direction–thoroughly symmetrical, with no inequality about it; all is full, complete, utterly satisfactory, nothing falls behind the mark of the rest. How great and striking, again, is the contrast between this and any human happiness, any earthly good, so unequal, so incomplete as that always is!
If well in one direction, so certainly ill in another; if pleasant for the body, so generally bad for the soul; if wholesome for the spirit, so generally grievous to the mind. But in heaven nothing will be wanting; perfect and equal extension will be the law of being; life will have its threefold expansion, in fulness infinite, in intensity perfect, in duration eternal.
3. Consider, again, how it is written in verse 18 that the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. We shall remember at once that no gold on earth is like this, for it is one of the qualities of gold to be opaque, however thin it may be beaten out; even gold-leaf is not transparent: the beauties of pure gold and of clear glass are never combined in this world. Nor, if they were, would the result be at all desirable for building purposes. For what would be the consequence if a city were made of such material? Why, that every house and every chamber would be transparent, and that one could look through the whole city from side to side. But what does this universal transparency signify in heaven, save that there will be nothing to hide, nothing to keep secret, but that all will be open to all, because nothing will be shameful and nothing selfish? And now, since we have gone round about our Sion, and marked well her bulwarks and considered her palaces, tell me, O my fellow-pilgrims, shall this be really our home? It is ours, no doubt: we are heirs of it, joint heirs with Christ of all that He as man hath won for man; but shall we certainly come into our inheritance? Oh, my fellow-pilgrims, travellers together, as ye say, towards the heavenly Jerusalem; this holy city, this happy city is certainly ours; its joy is our joy, its glory is our glory. Shall a little toil, a little need for earnestness, a little necessity for patience, daunt us and defeat us? Shall we fall short of so great and full salvation for want of a few years careful watching, a few years resolute striving? (R. Winterbotham, M. A.)
The gates of heaven
I cannot help thinking that there is more meaning in the vision than the mere quarter of the earth from which the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem are to come. I believe the gates refer also to the different periods of life at which persons go to heaven. The gates on the east side admit those who enter heaven in the morning of life, when the sun is just rising, and the dew is on the grass, and all is fair and bright, and full of beautiful promise. The gates on the west side admit those who enter heaven with heavy step, at the close of a long life, when the sun is setting, and the sad twilight shadows are gathering and deepening, making the path dim and indistinct, so that there is danger of missing the gates altogether. The gates on the cold, dark, wintry north side admit those who have had few advantages in life, who have been poor and friendless, whose circumstances have been unfavourable, and perhaps through much persecution and tribulation entered the kingdom. While the gates on the warm and sunny south side admit those who had prospered in life, to whom everything had been favourable and pleasant, who had no difficulties to overcome, and no trials to endure. Such, I believe, is a deeper meaning implied in the position of the gates of the New Jerusalem. (H. Macmillan, D. D. , LL. D.)
Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell
Verse 9. The bride, the Lamb’s wife] The pure and holy Christian Church.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
One of the seven angels; one of those mentioned Rev 15:6.
I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife; I will show thee the whole church, (invisible heretofore), the glorious state of the church triumphant, under the representation of a great city.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
9. The same angel who had shownJohn Babylon the harlot, is appropriately employed to show himin contrast new Jerusalem, the Bride (Re17:1-5). The angel so employed is the one that had the last sevenplagues, to show that the ultimate blessedness of the Church is oneend of the divine judgments on her foes.
unto meA, B, andVulgate omit.
the Lamb’s wifeincontrast to her who sat on many waters (Re17:1), (that is, intrigued with many peoples and nations of theworld, instead of giving her undivided affections, as the Bride does,to the Lamb.
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
And there came unto me one of the seven angels,…. Either the first of them, as one of the four beasts is the first of them, Re 6:1 or it may be the last, and very likely the same as in Re 17:1
which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues; that is, the wrath of God poured out by them on the antichristian party; see
Re 15:1.
And talked with me, saying, come hither; see Re 17:1.
I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The “Lamb” is Christ, who is often so called in this book; see Re 5:6
Re 19:7 and is the Son of God, the heir of all things, the Maker and Governor of the universe, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and who, as Mediator, has all accomplishments and qualifications to recommend him as a bridegroom, such as beauty, riches, and wisdom: the bride, his wife, is not any particular believer, nor any particular church; not the Gentile church, nor the Jewish church only, but all the elect of God, consisting of the raised and living saints at the coming of Christ; who will make up one body, one general assembly, and be as a bride, prepared and adorned for her husband: these were first betrothed to Christ in eternity, and were openly espoused by him, one by one, at conversion; and now being all gathered in by the effectual calling, the dead being raised, and the living changed, and all glorified, the marriage is consummated, and they are declared publicly to be the bride, the Lamb’s wife; [See comments on Mt 22:2]. And now, though John had had a sight of her before, Re 21:2 yet that was but a glimmering one, at a distance, he being in the wilderness, Re 17:3 wherefore the angel calls him to him, and proposes to give him a clear, distinct, and particular view of her, in all her glory; and a glorious sight this indeed! to see the bride brought to the King in raiment of needlework, and the queen stand at his right hand in gold of Ophir. This is a sight of a quite different nature from that of the filthy strumpet, which the same angel proposed to give to John in Re 17:1.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
| The New Jerusalem. | A. D. 95. |
9 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 show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 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, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 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. 17 And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19 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; 20 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. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 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. 24 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. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 27 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.
We have already considered the introduction to the vision of the new Jerusalem in a more general idea of the heavenly state; we now come to the vision itself, where observe,
I. The person that opened the vision to the apostle–one of the seven angels, that had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, v. 9. God has a variety of work and employment for his holy angels. Sometimes they are to sound the trumpet of divine Providence, and give fair warning to a careless world; sometimes they are to pour out the vials of God’s anger upon impenitent sinners; and sometimes to discover things of a heavenly nature to those that are the heirs of salvation. They readily execute every commission they receive from God; and, when this world shall be at an end, yet the angels shall be employed by the great God in proper pleasant work to all eternity.
II. The place from which the apostle had this glorious view and prospect. He was taken, in ecstasy, into a high mountain. From such situations men usually have the most distinct views of adjacent cities. Those who would have clear views of heaven must get as near heaven as they can, into the mount of vision, the mount of meditation and faith, whence, as from the top of Pisgah, they may behold the goodly land of the heavenly Canaan.
III. The subject-matter of the vision–the bride, the Lamb’s wife (v. 10); that is, the church of God in her glorious, perfect, triumphant state, under the resemblance of Jerusalem, having the glory of God shining in its lustre, as uxor splendit radiis mariti–the bride comely through the comeliness put on her by her husband; glorious in her relation to Christ, in his image now perfected in her, and in his favour shining upon her. And now we have a large description of the church triumphant under the emblem of a city, far exceeding in riches and splendour all the cities of this world; and this new Jerusalem is here represented to us both in the exterior and the interior part of it.
1. The exterior part of the city–the wall and the gates, the wall for security and the gates for entrance.
(1.) The wall for security. Heaven is a safe state; those that are there are enclosed with a wall, that separates them and secures them from all evils and enemies: now here, in the account of the wall, we observe, [1.] The height of it, which, we are told, is very high, seventy yards (v. 17), sufficient both for ornament and security. [2.] The matter of it: It was as jasper; a wall all built of the most precious stones, for firmness and lustre, v. 11. This city has a wall that is impregnable as well as precious. [3.] The form of it was very regular and uniform: It was four-square, the length as large as the breadth. In the new Jerusalem all shall be equal in purity and perfection. There shall be an absolute uniformity in the church triumphant, a thing wanted and wished for on earth, but not to be expected till we come to heaven. [4.] The measure of the wall (Rev 21:15; Rev 21:16): Twelve thousand furlongs each way, each side, which is forty-eight thousand furlongs in the whole compass, or fifteen hundred German miles. Here is room sufficient for all the people of God–many mansions in their Father’s house. [5.] The foundation of the wall, for heaven is a city that hath her foundations (v. 19); the promise and power of God, and the purchase of Christ, are the strong foundations of the church’s safety and happiness. The foundations are described by their number–twelve, alluding to the twelve apostles (v. 14), whose gospel doctrines are the foundations upon which the church is built, Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; and, as to the matter of these foundations, it was various and precious, set forth by twelve sorts of precious stones, denoting the variety and excellency of the doctrines of the gospel, or of the graces of the Holy Spirit, or the personal excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2.) The gates for entrance. Heaven is not inaccessible; there is a way opened into the holiest of all; there is a free admission to all those that are sanctified; they shall not find themselves shut out. Now, as to these gates, observe, [1.] Their number–twelve gates, answering to the twelve tribes of Israel. All the true Israel of God shall have entrance into the new Jerusalem, as every tribe had into the earthly Jerusalem. [2.] Their guards which were placed upon them–twelve angels, to admit and receive the several tribes of the spiritual Israel and keep out others. [3.] The inscription on the gates–the names of the twelve tribes, to show that they have a right to the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city. [4.] The situation of the gates. As the city had four equal sides, answering to the four quarters of the world, east, west, north, and south, so on each side there were three gates, signifying that from all quarters of the earth there shall be some who shall get safely to heaven and be received there, and that there is as free entrance from one part of the world as from the other; for in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free. Men of all nations, and languages, who believe on Christ, have by him access to God in grace here and in glory hereafter. [5.] The materials of these gates–they were all of pearls, and yet with great variety: Every gate one pearl, either one single pearl of that vast bigness, or one single sort of pearl. Christ is the pearl of great price, and he is our way to God. There is nothing magnificent enough in this world fully to set forth the glory of heaven. Could we, in the glass of a strong imagination, contemplate such a city as is here described, even as to the exterior part of it, such a wall, and such gates, how amazing, how glorious, would the prospect be! And yet this is but a faint and dim representation of what heaven is in itself.
2. The interior part of the new Jerusalem, v. 22-27. We have seen its strong wall, and stately gates, and glorious guards; now we are to be led through the gates into the city itself; and the first thing which we observe there is the street of the city, which is of pure gold, like transparent glass, v. 21. The saints in heaven tread upon gold. The new Jerusalem has its several streets. There is the most exact order in heaven: every saint has his proper mansion. There is converse in heaven: the saints are then at rest, but it is not a mere passive rest; it is not a state of sleep and inactivity, but a state of delightful motion: The nations that are saved walk in the light of it. They walk with Christ in white. They have communion not only with God, but with one another; and all their steps are firm and clean. They are pure and clear as gold and transparent glass. Observe,
(1.) The temple of the new Jerusalem, which was no material temple, made with men’s hands, as that of Solomon and Zerubbabel, but a temple altogether spiritual and divine; for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof. There the saints are above the need of ordinances, which were the means of their preparation for heaven. When the end is attained the means are no longer useful. Perfect and immediate communion with God will more than supply the place of gospel institutions.
(2.) The light of this city. Where there is no light, there can be no lustre nor pleasure. Heaven is the inheritance of the saints in light. But what is that light? There is no sun nor moon shining there, v. 23. Light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun. What a dismal world would this be if it were not for the light of the sun! What is there in heaven that supplies the want of it? There is no want of the light of the sun, for the glory of God lightens that city, and the Lamb is the light thereof. God in Christ will be an everlasting fountain of knowledge and joy to the saints in heaven; and, if so, there is no need of the sun or moon, any more than we here need to set up candles at noon day, when the sun shineth in its strength.
(3.) The inhabitants of this city. They are described here several ways. [1.] By their numbers–whole nations of saved souls; some out of all nations, and many out of some nations. All those multitudes who were sealed on earth are saved in heaven. [2.] By their dignity–some of the kings and princes of the earth: great kings. God will have some of all ranks and degrees of men to fill the heavenly mansions, high and low; and when the greatest kings come to heaven they will see all their former honour and glory swallowed up of this heavenly glory that so much excels. [3.] Their continual accession and entrance into this city: The gates shall never be shut. There is no night, and therefore no need of shutting up the gates. Some one or other is coming in every hour and moment, and those that are sanctified always find the gates open; they have an abundant entrance into the kingdom.
(4.) The accommodations of this city: All the glory and honour of the nations shall be brought into it. Whatever is excellent and valuable in this world shall be there enjoyed in a more refined kind, and to a far greater degree–brighter crowns, a better and more enduring substance, more sweet and satisfying feasts, a more glorious attendance, a truer sense of honour and far higher posts of honour, a more glorious temper of mind, and a form and a countenance more glorious than ever were known in this world.
(5.) The unmixed purity of all who belong to the new Jerusalem, v. 27. [1.] There the saints shall have no impure thing remaining in them. In the article of death they shall be cleansed from every thing that is of a defiling nature. Now they feel a sad mixture of corruption with their graces, which hinders them in the service of God, interrupts their communion with him, and intercepts the light of his countenance; but, at their entrance into the holy of holies, they are washed in the laver of Christ’s blood, and presented to the Father without spot. [2.] There the saints shall have no impure persons admitted among them. In the earthly Jerusalem there will be a mixed communion, after all the care that can be taken. Some roots of bitterness will spring up to trouble and defile Christian societies; but in the new Jerusalem there is a society perfectly pure. First, Free from such as are openly profane. There are none admitted into heaven who work abominations. In the churches on earth sometimes abominable things are done, solemn ordinances profaned and prostituted to men openly vicious, for worldly ends; but no such abominations can have place in heaven. Secondly, Free from hypocrites, such as make lies, say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. These will creep into the churches of Christ on earth, and may lie concealed there a long time, perhaps all their days; but they cannot intrude into the new Jerusalem, which is wholly reserved for those that are called, and chosen, and faithful, who are all written, not only in the register if the visible church, but in the Lamb’s book of life.
Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary
One of the seven angels ( ). As in 17:1 with the same introduction when the angel made the announcement about the harlot city (Babylon), so here the description of the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem, is given by one of the same group of angels who had the seven bowls. Thus the (Bride) is placed in sharp contrast with the (Harlot). The New Jerusalem was briefly presented in verse 2, but now is pictured at length (21:9-22:5) in a nearer and clearer vision.
The bride the wife of the Lamb ( ). Twice already the metaphor of the Bride has been used (Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2), here termed “wife” (), mentioned proleptically as in 19:7 if the marriage is not yet a reality. For the use of the same metaphor elsewhere in the N.T. see on 19:7.
Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament
Unto me. Omit.
Vials. Properly bowls. See on ch. Rev 5:8.
Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament
1) “And there came unto me one of the seven angels,” (kai elthen eis ek ton hepta angelon) “And there approached me one (out) of the seven angels; one of the seven of heaven’s judgment messengers and servants that I had formerly seen and heard, Rev 15:1.
2) “Which had the seven vials,” (ton echonton tas hepta phialas) “Of those holding the seven vial-like bowls,” Rev 15:7; Rev 16:1-3; Rev 16:8; Rev 16:10; Rev 16:12; Rev 17:1.
3) “Full of the seven last plagues,” (ton gemonton ton hepta plegon ton eschaton) “Of those bowls that had been filled to the brim with the seven last plagues, ” Rev 15:1; Rev 15:6; Rev 16:21.
4) “And talked with me, saying,” (kai elalesen met’ emou legon) “And spoke (communicated) with me, saying,” Note John claimed to represent, to write, exactly what he saw and heard regarding the Revelation of Jesus Christ in his coming glory. This is Inspiration’s recorded message, Rev 1:1-3; Rev 1:11; Rev 1:19.
5) “Come hither, I will shew thee the bride,” (deuro deikso soi ten numphen) “Come (John), I will show (to) you the bride; the church in her married glory to Christ, Joh 3:28-29; who had “made herself ready” for the marriage union, Rev 19:7-9; Mat 25:1-13; 2Co 11:2; Rom 7:4.
6) “The Lamb’s Wife,” (ten gunaika tou arniou) “The Wife of the Lamb This is the church of Jesus Christ, called “his body,” Eph 1:22-23; assembly, his “house”, 1Ti 3:15, made up, or composed (not of all believers) but of believers only who have been saved, baptized, and become members of a local New Testament church, in worship and service, 1Co 12:13; 1Co 12:20; 1Co 12:27-28.
Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary
Strauss Comments
The Vision of the New Jerusalem
Chapter Rev. 21:9-27
Rev. 21:9
The heavenly messenger who bore the seven bowls of anger appeared again. John was invited to see the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Keep in mind that John saw the new Jerusalem coming downas a bride having been adorned for her husband. Now, John is commanded to Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
This verse through Rev. 22:5 gives us the description of the city.
Rev. 21:10
What did the angel show John on the great and high mountain? Here we have a clear identification of the Church of Jesus Christ as being object of the imagery of New Jerusalem (also the bride). New Jerusalem is no utopia where men live in peace which they have created by intelligent planning, and rational discussion; it is rather the body of Christ His triumphant Church. (See Rev. 17:7 where John speaks of his vision of the great harlot city).
Rev. 21:11
The city of the redeemer has a permanent quality which all mortal cities lack. Having (permanent possession) the glory (this is the very presence of the living God Exo. 40:34) of God; the light of it was like . . . jasper. The jasper was the last stone on the breastplate of the High Priest. It was used in the walls of New Jerusalem Rev. 21:8; and also the foundation of the city where new men dwell.
Rev. 21:12-27
The following block of scripture, in which we find the figurative description of the house of the holy, is largely self-interpreting. All of the things which men value are used in the construction of the city. (See Eze. 48:31 ff.) The number twelve appears repeatedly throughout this section. It was probably a symbol of perfection. The measurements given are unfamiliar to most of us. Rev. 21:16 mentions 12,000 furlongs. This distance would be approximately 1238 miles. Rev. 21:17 speaks of 44 cubits. Originally a cubit was represented by the distance between the elbow and the tip of the middle finger (approximately 18 inches).
Only the ones having been written in the Lambs scroll of life shall inhabit the holy city.
We shall provide a skeleton outline of the chapter.
I.
The Description of the Spiritual Conditions which exists in the City Rev. 21:2-8.
1.
From God, not man; Rev. 21:2.
2.
Tabernacle of God among men, Rev. 21:3.
3.
No Pain nor sorrow, Rev. 21:4.
4.
New Rev. 2:5.
5.
Eternal Life, Rev. 2:6.
6.
For those who are more than conquerors, Rev. 2:7-8.
II.
Physical Description of the City, Rev. 21:9 to Rev. 22:5.
1.
The Bride, the wife of the Lamb, Rev. 22:5.
2.
Perfect Cube of 1500 miles, Rev. 22:16-17.
3.
12 Gates represents 12 tribes of Israel, Rev. 22:12-13.
4.
12 Foundations, 12 Apostles, Rev. 22:14.
5.
No physical Temple, Rev. 21:22.
6.
Glory of God lights the city, Rev. 21:23; Rev. 22:5.
III.
The Unique Marks of Identification of the City.
1.
The City of God, place where the saved dwell.
2.
The Body of Christ.
Discussion Questions
Chapter 21
1.
What is the origin of the holy city according to Rev. 21:2?
2.
What other N.T. book uses the metaphor of the church as the bride see Rev. 21:2?
3.
Discuss the relationship of human efforts to create a better world and the fact that only God can make things new Rev. 21:5.
4.
What does Rev. 21:7 say for or against the denominational doctrine of once in grace always in grace?
5.
Are the bride and the new Jerusalem the same Rev. 21:9?
6.
What other city did John see in a vision Rev. 21:10?
7.
Discuss the physical imagery John used to describe the spiritual city of God in chap. 21.
8.
What hope would chp. 21 have given the persecuted Church in the 1st century? What hope does it give us today?
Special Study
Jerusalem in History and Imagery
Jeremiah cried outIs it nothing to you all ye who pass by (Lam. 1:12) as he observed the city of Jerusalem in ruin. The greatest events in human history have occurred in that city.
The twentieth century mans eyes are filled full of slain cities. The city of Jerusalem has been slain often. God chose to erect the throne of His kingdom outside the walls of that city. Jerusalem (in fact all of Palestine) is strategically (geographical) located (see F. M. Abel, Geographie de la Palestine, 2 volumes, Paris, Libraire Lecoffre, and his Historie de la Palestine depuis la conqute dalexandre jusqua lenvasion Arabe, 2 vols, Paris, 1952. The religious significance of Salem of the Jebusites is of the utmost importance in biblical history. The Archaeological and topographical importance of the city of David is beyond dispute. Contemporary Jerusalem is symbolic of divided mankind. The city of the great king is now dominated by those who reject Him as Lord.
Jerusalem is mentioned six hundred and forty four times in the O.T. alone. It is, without question, the most important city in both the O.T. and N.T. Before Jerusalem became the biblical symbol of the City of God (Rev. 21:1 ff) it was populated by the Jebusites (see Jos. 15:36; Jdg. 19:10-11; 1Ch. 11:4). The Jebusites either retook the fortification, or else had never lost it, because David took the strong hold (2Sa. 5:6-7). Solomon made bond servants out of the Jebusites (1Ki. 9:20).
The Hebrew etymology of Yerushalaim is impossible to determine with certainty. But it is clear that part of the word is composed of shalem, peace.
Ancient Jerusalem stood on four different hills. Contemporary topographical research has necessitated that many traditional terms and identification be corrected. There are three valleys which surround Jerusalem. The Kidron (or the valley of Jehoshaphatsee Joe. 3:1 ffthis valley is the valley of Gods judgment) is three miles long and divides Jerusalem from the mount of Olives. The valley of the cheesemakers (The Tyropoean valley) separates the western and eastern hills. The Hinnom valley was the western and southern boundaries of Jerusalem. It is called the valley of the sons of Hinnom (Ge-Hinnom). This valley was the central location of Molech worship; and later it became the place where the city refuse was burned. (Note this imagery in order to better understand why it was one of the N.T. words for Hell!)
Archaeological excavation has enabled scholars to basically reconstruct the pre-Israelite period of the city. The Israelite period can be reconstructed both from the biblical records and the illumination which archaeology provides. The major excavations have been carried on by Wilson-Warner (186770), Schick-Guthe (188081), Bliss-Dickie (189497), Parker (190911), Weill (191314, 1923), Macalister-Duncan (192325), and Cranfoot (192728).
Archaeology and exegesis of the biblical text are complimentary in asserting that ancient Jerusalem was on Ophel. The writer of Chronicles states that Ophel was strongly fortified (2Ch. 27:3). Manasseh built an outer wall to the city of Davidand compassed Ophel about with it and raised it up to a very great height (2Ch. 33:14). Excavators have uncovered long stretches of the walls of the city. Josephus (Antiquities, chp. 7, iii, 2) states that David surrounded this city with walls, and named the city after himself (the city of David). Some of the unearthed walls run the length of Ophel, and are twenty four feet thick in some places. (We cannot here consider the more complicated problem of the range of application of the term Zion, but see the bibliography below.)
Jerusalem was rebuilt on the old location after the exile (Neh. 2:11-15, and chp. 57). After the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 A.D. by Titus, the Roman generalJerusalem has anew history which is not our concern in this brief appendix.
The city of the great King provides a vantage point for looking eastward and westward. This is the point at which God chose to enter human history in the fullness of time (Gal. 4:4). It was the point of origin of the church, the place where the Gospel was first preached. Christ told His disciples to begin at Jerusalem and go to the uttermost parts of the earth (Act. 1:8). The way of the witnesses began at Jerusalem!
Both the city of Jerusalem and The Temple play a great part in the imagery of etchings, great music, and for our special concern, The Revelation. (For excellent introductions to The Temple see Parrots work listed in the bibliography and G. Ernest Wrights The Temple in Palestine Syria, pp. 169 reprinted in The Biblical Archaeologist Reader, edited by G. Ernest Wright and David Noel Freedman, N.Y. Doubleday and Co., Inc., (paperback).
Jerusalem is called The Holy City in Mat. 4:5; Mat. 27:53. This secondary name was utilized by the author of beautiful song, The Holy City. Note the imagery in the words!
Last nite I lay asleeping, there came a dream so fair,
I stood in old Jerusalem, beside the Temple there,
I heard the children singing, and ever as they sang
Methought the voice of angels in heaven in answer rang,
Methought the voice of angels in heaven in answer rang,
Jerusalem! Jerusalem, Hark, how the angels sing,
Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna to the King!
And then me thought my dream was changed,
The streets no longer rang,
Hushed were the glad hosannas the little children sang.
The sun grew dark with mystery, the morn was cold and chill,
As the shadow of a cross arose upon a lonely hill,
As the shadow of a cross arose upon a lonely hill,
Jerusalem! Jerusalem, Lift up your gates and sing,
Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna to your King.
And once again my dream was changed,
New earth there seemed to be,
I saw the Holy City, beside the tideless sea,
The light of God was on its streets, its gates were open wide,
And all who would might enter in, and no one was denied,
No need for moon or stars my night, nor sun to shine by day,
It was the New Jerusalem that would not pass away,
It was the New Jerusalem, that would not pass away,
Jerusalem! Jerusalem, Sing for the night is oer,
Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna for evermore,
Hosanna in the highest, Hosanna to your King!
The words of our Lord show His compassion, yet stern judgment of the Holy City. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, that killeth the prophets and stoneth them that are sent unto her. Behold, your house is left unto you desolate (Mat. 23:37 f). The Holy Spirit directed John to use the imagery of the holy city or the new Jerusalem in Rev. 21:1 ff). It was in Jerusalem that The Temple, as place of worship, existed; the place of sacrifice was established; the Sanhedrin, Priests, Prophets, Apostles, and our Lord walked. God chose this point as the center from which biblical Christianity was to be taken into all the world. Jerusalem, thus began as a Jebusite fortification and ended up as the symbol of the City of God. In this city there is no sin present. The great victory of God in Christ has enabled the conquerors through Christ to dwell in the city where there is no death, tears, nor fears. Paradise Lost (Genesis, chp. 3f) has now become Paradise Regained through the atoning power of the blood of the Lamb. Only they that are written in the Lambs book of life shall inhabit the new Jerusalem!
Bibliography for Further Study
Check the Westminster Atlas new edition, and Grollenberg, Atlas of The Bible. The following Journals are in imperative minimum for relevant, recent information. The Israel Exploration Journal; Journal of Near Eastern Studies; Palestine Exploration Quarterly; Revue Biblique; and all relevant information from The Palestine Department of Antiquities, Jerusalem, Israel.
J. Simons, The Geographical and Topographical Texts of The O.T. 1958, E. J, Brill, Netherlands, Leiden.
J. Simons, Jerusalem in The Old Testament Researches and Theories, E. J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands.
L. H. Vincent and A.M. Steve, Jerusalem de lAncien Testament, Vol. 1 Archaologie de la Ville 1954 Vol. II Le Temple, Evolution historique et Monumentale de la ville. E. J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands.
M. Avi Yonah, editor, The Book of Jerusalem, Vol. l, The Natural Conditions and the History of the City from Its origins to the destruction of the second Temple 1956, E. J. Brill, Leiden, Netherlands.
(The older works of G. A. Smith, Jerusalem, From Earliest Time to 70 A.D. 2 vols. and J. W. McGarvey, Land of The Bible, are no longer adequate for serious advanced study of this subject, but can be consulted with profit by those studying in this area for the first time.)
Note: Sermon Suggestions
The Seven Matchless Marvels of The City of God
(See Edward A. McDowell, The Meaning and Message of the Book of Revelation, Broadman, pp. 212).
These seven characteristics can be developed individually or as a theme sermon discussing all seven features.
1.
The New Jerusalem is perfect in her glory. One could study the O.T. and N.T. doctrine of the glory of God, the dwelling place of God, etc.
2.
The New Jerusalem is a city of perfect worship. (See the Special Study on Worship). Study the O.T. and N.T. teaching about Gods revealed form and content of worship which is acceptable to him. Study also non-biblical forms of worship and non-Christian religions and their forms of worship.
3.
The New Jerusalem is perfect in its universality. All you who accept Jesus as Lord shall dwell here regardless of nationality, education, degree of wealth, or color.
4.
The New Jerusalem is perfect in its holiness. The inhabitants are all pure because Christ has presented His spotless bride to the Father. This city is not a utopia which has been created by social engineering, but rather is the city of God. God has eliminated all traces of sin, both in man and the whole of creation (see Rom. 8:18-25the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. More than man was effected by the Fall, the whole creation was involved).
5.
The New Jerusalem is the city of perfect life. What would a perfect life be like? What do we think would be involved in a perfect life in Christ? List both positive (things that would be) and negative (things that would not be) characteristics.
6.
The New Jerusalem is the city of perfect light. The metaphor of light is used in non-Christian religions, in the literature of the Qumran Community (Dead Sea Scrolls), and in the Word of God. John said in him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness Rev. 21:9 There was the true light even the light which lighteth every man, coming into the world. (Joh. 1:4-5; Joh. 1:9.) Jesus Christ said, I am the light of the World(See also the theme of Light in I John).
7.
The New Jerusalem is the city of perfect dominion. Originally God gave man dominion over all creation. Sin came and marred this God given right to reign over the things of creation. Now, in the city of God, sin has been cast out. Perfection is regained. Man now serves and worships the Lord God of creation and redemption. They shall reign forever and ever.
Note: An excellent study of the Biblical Theology of Newness can be found in Roy A. Harrisville, The Concept of Newness in the New Testament, an Augsburg Publishing House Theological Monograph, Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1960.
Concerning the biblical vocabulary for newness there has been propagated some erroneous lexicographical information through R. C. Trench, Synonyms of The New Testament, 9th edition, Eerdmans, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1953, pp. 219225; Hermann Cremer, Biblico-Theological Lexicon of New Testament Greek, T. T. Clark, Edinburgh. This lexicon gives the Hebrew (O.T.) Word and the Greek Word used to translate it. It is now dated by Kittels Wrterbuch, but is an excellent beginning study in vital Biblical Theology Vocabulary, as it enables one to begin tracing biblical terms from Hebrew O.T. through Septuagint to the New Testament.
Johannes Behm wrote the article covering the vocabulary kainos and neos in Kittels Theologisches Wrterbuch zum neuen Testament, Stuttgart, Germany and its deficiencies demanded further investigation. Dr. Harrisvilles work fulfills that need. The Following data shows the content of the monograph. There is much excellent preaching and teaching data in this work.
Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series
THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM DESCRIBED (Rev. 21:9 to Rev. 22:5).Before entering upon this section it is wise to recall once more that the descriptions here given are figurative, and are not to be understood literally. There is nothing in it as it seems saving the King. This remark may well be thought needless; but the misconceptions and misrepresentations of the Christians hope have been many and reckless; and, even were this not the case, there is always a certain proportion of people who seem incapable of understanding figurative language. Half the errors of the Church have been due to prosaic-minded men who could not discern the difference between figure and fact; and men of unpoetical and vehement temperament have blundered over these descriptions, and their blunders have discredited the whole Apocalypse in the eyes of some. The following are the features of the heavenly city, which the description seems designed to enforce upon our thoughts. The great and holy community will be one which draws its glory from God (Rev. 21:11; Rev. 21:23; Rev. 22:5). Its blessings are not for a few, but open to all, for its gates lie open to all quarters (Rev. 21:12-13). The heavenly and the earthly will be at one; angels, apostles, and patriarchs are there (Rev. 21:12; Rev. 21:14). Diverse characters will find entrance there; the gates bear the names of the twelve tribes. The door of admission is alike for all, though diverse characters from diverse quarters will enter in (Rev. 21:21). It will be the abode of all that is fair and good, and no disproportions will mar its loveliness (Rev. 21:17-18). The ancient truths, spoken by various lips, will be found to be eternal truths, full of varied but consistent beauty (Rev. 21:14; Rev. 21:19-20). The forms and helps which were needful here will not be needful there (Rev. 21:22-23); all that the servants of God have righteously hungered and thirsted for here will be supplied there (Rev. 22:1-2). There will be blessings, various, continuous, eternal; new fields of labour and new possibilities of service will be opened there (Rev. 22:3-4).
(9) And there came unto me one of the seven angels . . .The words unto me should be omitted. One of the seven angels which had the seven vials of wrath had shown to the seer the scarlet-clad harlot, the great and guilty Babylon: so here does one of the same company of angels show him the pure Bride of the Lamb, the new and holy Jerusalem.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
c. Description of the capital of the heavenly earth the New Jerusalem, Rev 21:9-27 .
9. One of the seven angels As the millennium occurs between this and the last mention of this angel, it was at least a thousand years ago in the event. But in the narrative of the panorama it was, perhaps, an hour.
The bride, the Lamb’s wife The holy Church, which has now passed through the resurrection to her glorified state. Note Rev 19:7.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Vision 10 The Bride, the New Jerusalem ( Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5 ).
‘And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me saying, “Come this way and I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb”. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven, having the glory of God.’
It is fitting that one who poured out the bowl of the wrath of God, and who showed to John the great harlot city (Rev 17:1), should now also reveal the opposite side of the picture, the glorious privileges of the redeemed and the holy city. Here we have clearly confirmed that the New Jerusalem consists of the people of God. It is they who are the bride of the Lamb (Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2).
‘He carried me away in the Spirit.’ This is a new vision. Once again John is borne by the Spirit as Ezekiel was before him (compare Rev 17:3; Rev 1:10; Eze 3:12; Eze 3:14; Eze 11:1; Eze 11:24; Eze 37:1; Eze 43:5).
‘To a great and high mountain’, compare Eze 40:2 where it is the place where Ezekiel will see the new Temple. Here we have in the New Jerusalem the final fulfilment of Ezekiel’s vision. The phrase suggests that the watcher will see something special, a glorious panorama.
‘The holy city Jerusalem coming down from God out of Heaven, having the glory of God.’ Compare Eze 21:2. This holy city is the bride of Christ, the people of God. But John is now about to receive more detail about this ‘city of God’. In Eze 43:2; Eze 43:4-5; Eze 44:4 it is the new Temple that has the glory of God, but as John has already told us, it is this city (the new Jerusalem) which is now to be the dwelling place of God (Eze 21:3) (as the Temple and Tabernacle were previously seen as being, if only temporarily. Compare 1Ki 8:11; 2Ch 5:14; Exo 40:34-35). Thus the glory of God is revealed (Isa 40:5; Isa 60:1) and signals His divine presence.
Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett
The vision of the heavenly Jerusalem:
v. 9. 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 show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
v. 10. 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,
v. 11. having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
v. 12. and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel;
v. 13. on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
v. 14. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Although the entire description is given in figures, in type and allegory, yet we are able to form conclusions as to the glory of the marriage in heaven from the glory of the bride, the Church of Christ: And there came one of the seven angels that have the seven vials filled with the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Here is a contrast to the great harlot, the servant of the devil, as she had been pictured in the previous chapters: the holy, immaculate bride of the Lamb, the Church of Christ, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is an impressive scene and a wonderful description: And he took me in the spirit upon a mountain great and high; and he showed me the great city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God; her splendor resembled that of a very precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal, having a great and high wall, having twelve gates, and upon the gates twelve angels, and names in. scribed, which are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on the east three gates and on the north three gates and on the south three gates and on the west three gates; and the wall of the city having twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So John’s mind and spirit was again dissociated, for the time being, from his body, as the angel took him along to give him a full view of the Church’s glory in her state of triumph. The glory of God shone round about her, not from angels, as on the fields of Bethlehem, but from the throne of the Lord itself. This glory will pervade and permeate the Church in eternal life, giving to her a splendor which can be described only by comparing it with the most dazzling of precious stones. The heavenly Jerusalem is safe against all enemies, for her walls are great and high, and her twelve gates are guarded by strong angels. The twelve tribes are mentioned because the Church of Christ is the spiritual Israel in its perfection. And the city is built with a firmness, with a solid foundation which cannot be equaled anywhere else, for it is erected upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone, Eph 2:20. Every one that has based his faith in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone, is built here in time upon the foundation of the Church, and will, in the great beyond, belong to the perfected communion of saints.
Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann
Rev 21:9-27. There came unto me one of the seven angels, &c. A more particular description is now given of the new Jerusalem. One of the seven angels (and most probably the same who had, ch. Rev 17:1, &c. shewed John the mystic Babylon and her destruction,) now sheweth, by way of contrast, the new Jerusalem and her glory. For this purpose, he carried him away in the Spirit, &c. (Rev 21:10.) in the same manner as the prophet was brought in the visions of God, Eze 40:2 . to see the frame of the city and temple: and this description of the new Jerusalem is an assemblage of the sublimest and richest imagery of Ezekiel and other ancient prophets. The glory of God, or the divine Shechinah, illuminates the city, Rev 21:11. It has a wall great and high, to shew its strength and security; and twelve gates with angels for guards, three on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west, (Rev 21:12-13.) to shew that people of all climates and nations may have access to it. On the twelve gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel, as on the twelve foundations are inscribed the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, (Rev 21:14.) to signify, that the Jewish and the Christian church are now united, and built upon the foundation of the apostles, &c. Eph 2:20 . The angel has a measuring reed, (Rev 21:15.) as the angel had likewise, Eze 40:3 . and the measures of the city and walls are formed by the multiplication of twelve,the number of the apostles, Rev 21:17.The city lieth four-square, the length as large as the breadth, Rev 21:16. according to the pattern of Jerusalem in Eze 48:16 . and the length, and breadth, and height of the walls and buildings, are every way of the same beauty, strength, and proportion. It is built and garnished with precious stones, Rev 21:18-21. as the richest emblems of Eastern wealth and magnificence; the stones resembling those on Aaron’s breast-plate, to denote that the Urim and Thummim, the light and perfection of God’s oracles are there. It has one remarkable peculiarity, Rev 21:22. that there is no temple therein, for the whole is the temple of God and the Lamb. The glory of God and the Lamb shines in it, Rev 21:23. with a lustre far superior to the sun. And all they who are saved, walk continually in the light of it; for the gates are never shut, and no night is there, Rev 21:24-27. It is the centre of glory and honour; all the wicked are excluded, and only the faithful saints are admitted.
Inferences.Who can conceive the immense felicity and glory of the church triumphant in heaven! All the images of light, beauty, honour, and grandeur, and of riches, safety, and delight, which we are acquainted with, are but faint representations of it. It is all new and surpassing every thing that can be found, or imagined, in the present frame of the universe. It is the holy city of the living God, shining in all his glory; a city built on Christ, who was laid, as its only foundation, by the ministry of the twelve apostles; and its inhabitants consist of the whole number of the faithful saints as collected together, and brought into it from all nations of the earth; its gates being open to them, who were typified by the twelve tribes of Israel. It is a state of complete and immortal bliss, absolutely secure and free from all darkness, pain, and uneasiness of every kind, and from death itself; those former things being passed away: and it is enlivened with all the joys and honours of a public solemnization of Christ’s marriage with his church: it is inexpressibly more glorious than the most splendid city of beautiful, strong, and lofty walls, erected on solid foundations, and all embellished as with the most precious glittering stones; and magnificently adorned, as with gates of the most costly pearl, at which angels stand, like officers of state; and as if its streets were all over paved with the finest polished gold. All the riches and grandeur of the greater monarchs, and of all nations of the earth, are so far exceeded by it, swallowed up in it, and cheerfully resigned for it, as not worthy to be compared with its heavenly treasures. It is illuminated, honoured, and blessed with the immediate presence of God and the Lamb, as shining with amiable and divine majesty on their throne of glory, and as the beginners and perfecters of its happiness; insomuch that it needs no creature-enjoyments, like the sun and moon; nor any ordinances, like the temple at Jerusalem, to assist its heavenly entertainments: for God in Christ will be their God, and the everlasting fountain of all that is great and good; and they shall inherit all things, to the utmost of their wishes, as the gift of his free grace; and shall live together in holy, harmonious, and transporting fellowship with God, and Christ, and one another, in its ever-shining and unclouded light. But, alas! all that are ashamed of, or afraid to own the Lord, and every unbeliever and liar, with all other impenitent sinners who are abominable in god’s sight, shall be utterly excluded from the heavenly state, and have their portion in everlasting burnings, which is the second death. These are the true and faithful sayings of God, which shall certainly have their full accomplishment, to the insupportable misery of impenitent sinners, and the consummate joy of the saints, for ever and ever.
REFLECTIONS.1st, The last glorious period now commences, of the heavenly felicity of God’s saints; if that may be so called, which, though it has a beginning, never will have an end.
The blessedness of this heavenly state is described under the most august representations.
1. A new heaven and a new earth arise, where there is no sea; all storms, calamities, and troubles, being at an end, and an eternal rest remaining for the people of God.
2. A glorious city appears in view, such as earth never beheld, the new Jerusalem, whose maker and builder is God, beautiful as a bride adorned to meet the bridegroom, the emblem of the church of the faithful, who will then be consummately perfect in holiness and happiness for ever.
3. The unutterable felicity of God’s saints is described by a voice from heaven, declaring, (1.) The residence of God in the midst of his people, admitting them into the nearest relation with his blessed Self, taking them for his own, and offering himself as their eternal portion. (2.) He will for ever banish sin, sorrow, and death from the celestial mansions; the former imperfect state is passed away, and that of perfect happiness is come.
4. The certainty of this bliss and blessedness is confirmed by the word of him that sitteth on the throne, Behold, I make all things new. And again he said, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he added, It is done, the work of redemption is completely finished. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the Author and Finisher both of the old and new worlds, and of the happiness of my faithful saints; and am unchangeably existent, from eternity to eternity the same. I will give unto him that is athirst, of the fountain of the water of life freely; I open the springs, and they shall flow in abundance; and let every humble soul that desires it, freely come and quench his thirst.
5. The dreadful ruin of the wicked shall be as sure as the happiness of the saints: they are described as fearful, ashamed of the cross of Christ, and dreading the sufferings of his service; unbelieving, distrustful of his promises, and rejecting his word; abominable, the slaves of corrupt affections: all these, as well as murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, are doomed to suffer endless torment in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death. Woe to those on whom these sins are found; they are assuredly brands for the burning.
2dly, One of the ministering spirits who had lately been employed in pouring out the vials of wrath, leads the enraptured John to a nearer view from a neighbouring mountain, of the glorious city, the emblem of the church, the Lamb’s wife, which he saw descending from heaven.
The glory of God, the divine Shechinah, was visible in the midst of her, affording her the brightest light, Jesus the Sun of righteousness shining upon her. A vast high wall encompassed her: and angelic guards waited at her gates, which were inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes: all of which denoted her invincible defence and security. The gates flood three on each side, looking to the four quarters of the heavens, open for the faithful who should come from all lands. The twelve foundations of the walls bore the names of the apostles on whom the church is built, Jesus Christ himself being the chief Cornerstone. The city being measured, appeared four-square, to signify the perfection, stability, and uniformity of the church above: it was fifteen hundred miles on each side, intimating the vast extent; and the height of the walls proportionable to its length and breadth, even one hundred and forty-four cubits: the building of the wall of it was of jasper; and the city was of pure gold like crystal, denoting its magnificence, durability, and glory; and the foundations were garnished with every precious stone, far brighter than those which glittered in the high-priest’s breast-plate (Exo 28:15-21 .): and the gates were each of one massy pearl; and the street of the city was of burnished gold, polished like crystal. Every thing excellent and dazzling in the sight of mortals, is here heaped together with amazing profusion; and yet how faintly can all these images convey the delights, blessedness, and perfection of the heavenly state, where such good things are prepared as pass man’s understanding!
3dly,
1. No temple was found in this celestial city, immediate communion with the eternal God being here enjoyed, which renders needless all the present ordinances of approach to God.
2. No sun nor moon was wanted, where the uncreated Light himself abode: the glory of God and the Lamb, one in essential union with the Father and Spirit, is the light thereof.
3. There all the nations, saved through the atoning blood of Jesus, walk in the light of the Lord; and the potentates, who through grace partake of his salvation, bring thither their glory and honour, counting that they reign indeed when made kings and priests unto God in this eternal state of blessedness.
4. The gates stand open continually by day, and there is no night there, nor fear of invading foes. All that has ever appeared valuable and glorious among the nations here, is found there with infinitely surpassing excellence; and every thing defiling is forbidden admission: no liar, no idolater, can enter there, but only those whose names are written in the book of life of the Lamb. Note; Into the present church upon earth, hypocrites will insinuate themselves; but in heaven nothing unholy or impure can possibly be admitted
Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke
to Rev 22:5
Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5 . One of the seven vial-angels, another of whom had shown John the judgment of the great harlot, [4281] now carries the seer to a high mountain, in order to afford him a close view of the new Jerusalem. Then there follows the special description which portrays in brightest colors the final goal of Christian hope, and thus puts the glorious end of what is to happen [4282] at the close of the peculiarly revealed visions.
[4281] Rev 17:1 .
[4282] Cf. Rev 4:1 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
Rev 21:9-10 . , . . . The uniformity of the description makes prominent the contrast with the judgment presented to view (Rev 17:1 ). [4283]
, . It belongs to the contrast with the woman representing the worldly city, that here the holy city, wherein the holy Church of God dwells, appears as the bride, the wife belonging to the Lamb. [4284]
-g0- -g0- . Cf. Rev 17:3 ; Eze 40:2 .
-g0- -g0- -g0- . “Great” in circumference must the mountain be in proportion to its height; but the height assures the seer of the complete view of the city spread out before him, which at all events does not lie upon the mountain. [4285]
, . . . Hengstenb. [4286] finds that described here for the first time in proper terms which previously designated, by way of introduction, Rev 21:2 ; but Rev 21:10 cannot have the same relation to Rev 21:2 as, e.g., ch. 15 Rev 21:5 has to Rev 21:1 , for, in this connection, already at Rev 21:2 reference was made to the descending Jerusalem. The scene is thus to be regarded in the way that the descending of the city (Rev 21:2 ), which gives occasion for the speeches of Rev 21:3-8 , has already begun, but Rev 21:10 proceeds further, so that, while the city is sinking down from heaven to earth, and here finds its place, John is carried by the angel to the mountain, and thence gazes upon the city now found upon earth.
[4283] Cf. Ewald.
[4284] Cf. Rev 21:2 ; Rev 19:7 .
[4285] Against Hengstenb. and Luthardt.
[4286] On Rev 21:1 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
B.THE HEAVENLY-EARTHLY, IDEO-REAL PICTURE OF THE NEW WORLD. THE KINGDOM OF GLORY
Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5
1. The City of God as the Heavenly Jerusalem
9And there came unto me [om. unto me]1 one of the seven angels which [that] had the seven vials [ins., that were]2 full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lambs wife [wife of the Lamb].3 10And he carried me away in the [om. the] spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great [om. that greatins. the holy] city, the holy [om. the holy] Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God: and [om. and]4 her light [light-giver ()]5 was like unto a stone most precious,12 even like [as to] a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And [om. And] had [having] a wall great and high, and had [having] twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon [inscribed], which are the names [or the names]6 of the twelve tribes of the children [sons] of Israel: 13On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had [having] twelve foundations, and in [upon] them the [om. theins. twelve]7 names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15And he that talked [spake] with me had [ins. a measure,]8 a golden reed to [om. toins. that he might] measure the city, and the gates thereof [her gates], and the wall thereof [her wall]. 16And the city lieth foursquare [four-cornered], and the [her] length is [is]9 as large [much] as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, [ins. to] twelve thousand furlongs [stadia]. The length and the breadth and the height of it [her] are equal. 17And he measured the wall thereof [her wall], [ins. of] a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to [om. according to] the measure of a man, that is, [om. that is,ins. which is that] of the [an] angel. 18And the building [structure] of the wall of it [her wall] was of jasper: and the city was pure19 gold, like unto clear [pure] glass. And [om. And]10 The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished [adorned] with all manner of [every] precious stones [stone]. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a [om. a] chalcedony; the fourth, an [om. an] emerald; 20the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a [om. a] topaz; the tenth, a [om. a] chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a [om. a] jacinth; the twelfth, an [om. an] amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate [each one severally of the gates] was [ins. out] of one pearl: and the street [broad-way ()]11 of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent [translucent] glass.
2. The City of God as the Holy City of all Believing Gentiles
22And I saw no [not a] temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty [, the All Ruler,12ins. is the temple of her,] and the Lamb are the temple of it [om. are the temple of it]. 23And the city had [hath] no need of the sun, neither [nor] of the moon, to shine in [that they should shine for ()13] it [her]: for the glory of God did lighten it [lightened her], and the Lamb is the light thereof [and herlamp was the Lamb]. 24And the nations of them which are saved [om. of them which are saved]14 shall walk in [by means of] the light of it [her light]: and the kings of the earth do [om. do] bring their glory and honor [om. and honor]15 intoit [her]. 25And the gates of it [her gates] shall not be shut at all by day: for thereshall be no night there [for night shall not be there]. 26And they shall bring theglory and [ins. the] honor of the nations into it [her]. 27And there shall in no wise enter into it [her] anything that defileth [om. that defilethins. common], neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie [and that worketh (or the one working) abomination and a lie]: but they which [who] are [have been] written in the Lambs [om. Lambs] book of life [ins. of the Lamb].
3. The City of God as the New Universal ParadiseGlorified Nature (Rev 22:1-5.)
1And he showed me a pure [om. pure]16 river of water of life, clear [bright] ascrystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2In the midst of the street of it [her broad-way], and on either side [om. on either side] of the river [ins., on this side and on that side,17] was there the [om. there theins. a] tree of life, which bare [bearing] twelve manner of [om. manner of] fruits, and [om. and] yielded her fruit every month [according to each month yielding its fruit]: andthe leaves of the tree were [are] for the healing of the nations. 3And there shall be no more curse [And nothing cursed18 shall be any more19]: but [and] the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it [her]; and his servants () shall serve() him: 4and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in [upon] their foreheads. 5And there shall be no night there20 [and night shall not be any more21]; and they [ins. have (or shall have) no]22 need no candle [om. no candleins. of light23 of lamp], neither [om. neitherins. and of] light of the [om. the] sun; for [because] the Lord God giveth them light [shall shine upon them]Rev 24: and they shall reign for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
As one of the Angels of Anger, or of the Vials of Anger, showed the Seer the wicked World-city under the figure of the Harlot, so it is now again one of the same Angels who shows the Seer the City of God under the name of the adorned Bride. And it seems as if the Spirit of prophecy would hereby illustrate the fact that the anger of God is a flame, divisible into the lightning of righteousness and the light of love.
The great vision-picture which the Angel exhibits to the contemplation of the Seer, after transporting him to a great and high mountain, the lofty stand-point of a perfected gaze into the region of perfection, is, primarily, the appearance of the new creation, the glorified world of eternal being, which has taken the place of the first creation, the world of temporal becoming. It is, in the next place, that perfected union between Heaven and earth with which the antithesis of life between Heaven and earth, as in accordance with Genesis 1, has become the antithesis of a perfected spiritual communion in love. Even this antithesis, the plastic image of religion, finds its fulfillment here. Heaven has assumed the full, fresh, warm and home-like aspect of a familiar and attractive earth; earth is radiant in the heavenly glory of that Throne of God which has now become visible. The new creation is, further, also the new universal Paradise, which has bloomed from the seed of the first Paradise, buried in the soil of the worlds history. On this very account this new world is no less the realization of the Great City of God, which, first in the camp of Israel and again in the city of Jerusalem, in typical fore-exhibition became a subject of human admiration, longing and hope, and which was subsequently heralded from afar in so many New Testament preludes. But its most glorious name is contained in the title of The Bride; for thereby not only the supremacy of personal life in this new world, not only the perfect unanimity of all blessed spirits, not only their perfect receptivity for the entire self-communication of God, are expressed, but also their Divine dignity, liberty and blessedness in love.
We find in the grand transfiguration-picture of the vision a trilogy, the elements of which are distinctly present even in the Gospel of John: a. Transfiguration of the Theocracy, represented by the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev 21:9-21); b. Transfiguration of the believing Gentile world or the universal new humanity (Rev 21:22-27); c. Transfiguration of all nature, or the appearance of the new Paradise (Rev 22:1-5). The first section justly forms the foundation of the whole, and is therefore the most detailed; it, again, divides into three parts.
The first part of the first section exhibits the holiness of the City of God. In the Doxa of God, or the Shekinah, which diffuses its radiance over the whole City, because it is omnipresent throughout it, the Holy of holies is reflected (Rev 21:11).25 In the high wall of the City, the economical barrier of the Theocracy is reflected; and the true spirit of that barrier, designed, as it was, to mediate salvation to the whole world, finds its expression in the twelve gates, at which Angels are posted, symbolical here, doubtless, of true messengers of salvation; for the gates are open by threes toward all the four quarters of the world. Thus a two-fold effect of holiness is expressedrepulsion of everything unholy by the wallfree ingress for all that tends to holiness, by the gates (Rev 21:12-14).
The second part gives, in the magnitude of the City, an image of the magnitude of the Kingdom of God (Rev 21:15-17). This magnitude is exhibited throughout in forms of perfection. The City has the form of a perfect cube, like the Holy of holies, and appears in this equality of measurement as an expression of the perfect heavenly world.
The third part of the first section unfolds the riches of the City of God in splendor consisting of the most precious materials; these riches, as ideal and spirit-clarified, being exhibited through the medium of precious stones, pearls and shining gold (Rev 21:18-21).
The second section, likewise, is divisible into three parts. The first part is expressive of the absolute spirituality of the new cultus. Since the City has itself become a Holy of holies, a Temple within it would, in comparison with itself, seem like a thing of inferior sanctitya remnant of the old world. Nevertheless, it has a spiritual Temple which surpasses even the City. God, as the All-Ruler, is the infinitude of this Temple; the Lamb is the present definitude of it (Rev 21:22-23). The second part of the second section characterizes the City as the great, universal, holy World-City, the City of all redeemed nations and kings, the City of sanctified humanity and of all its moral and eternal properties, yea, the City of the whole heavenly spirit-world and of the eternal radiance of day (Rev 21:24-26). The third part represents the separation between the sanctified heathen-world and true heathenism throughout the world, here portrayed by the three characteristics: commonness (bestiality), abominableness (transgression against nature), and falsehood (embracing both the former attributes). There is no longer any question of persons here; they have become neutra through the obliteration of their personality in their vileness (Rev 21:27). The Lambs Book of Life has, from the beginning, comprehended this universality of the sphere of salvation.
The third leading section is an unmistakable antitype of the first Paradise. Its general character consists in the fact that all its holiness [Heiligkeit] has become pure health [Heil] and health-productiveness [Heilswirkung]an infinitely multiplied life-creating, life-renewing and life-preserving Divine life-power. The river of life forms the first fundamental feature. It does not issue merely from an Eden, or land of delight, such as encircled the first Paradise (Genesis 2); nor does it flow merely from the new Temple of Jehovah, like Ezekiels river of salvation [or healing], (Ezekiel 47); it pours forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1). The second fundamental feature is formed by the trees of life which are on both sides of the river, making an avenue with an interminable perspective; fruit-trees of life, so intensively salutiferous that they bear new fruits every month, and that even their leaves serve for the healing () of the heathen [nations]. So absolute is the health-bringing operation of the trees of life in the City, that in this new Paradise nothing banned can arisemuch less shall the new humanity here itself be banned, as were its first parents, through the deceit of the serpent and Satan, in the first Paradise (Rev 22:2-3). In the third fundamental feature, the eritis sicut deus is fulfilled in a Divine sense. That which Adam would fain have become, that which he lost in the path of impatience and sin, is now regained in the path of redemption and infinite patience. Now, it is the blessedness of all, that they serve [dienen] God as His servants [Knechte] whilst they see His face as His blessed children, and are able to look upon His face without being terrified like Adam. Again, this blessed relation has become an eternal condition; their holiness has the character indelebilis, the indestructible fixedness of true priests of God.26 Whilst the abolition of night is again announced here, as Rev 21:25, the announcement has here a new significance. In Revelation 21, the reference is to the day of the blessed in a predominantly spiritual aspect and considered in the abstract; here, however, the unfadingness of this day is intended, pre-eminently, in the sense of the eternal day of the glorified world. That, therefore, which is expressed by the name of God on the foreheads of the blessedviz., imperishable knowledge of God and consecrateness to Godis supplemented by this declaration. Never again does night come to them, nor any deficiency of light, for God Himself shineth upon them for ever. This, again, is the eternal basis upon which they shall reign as kings, in and with the governance of God, in union with His will, and as organs of His will, eternally free in Him from all the world, for all the world, into the ons of the ons.
The magnificence of the entire picture of the new creation, a magnificence which strikes the taste of ordinary humanism as so peculiar, attains for us its entire significance when we look at it in connection with the whole of Sacred Writespecially that of the Old Testamentas the lofty corona upon the stem of all Biblical typicism.
Our vision, then, is primarily the picture of the consummation and fulfillment of the whole Theocracy.
The revelation of salvation came down from Heaven in many individual itemsin voices, in angels, in Theophanies, and lastly in Christ. The fulfillment finally consists in the descent of the entire City of God from Heaven.
The Congregation of God, called into life by the revelation of salvation, was from the beginning destined to be the Bride of God. Now, it is perfected in this destiny.
The high Mountain, upon which the City of God is situate, was prepared by Mount Zion, and imported the wide, overtowering and firm order and might of the Divine Kingdom. Now, this Mountain of the eternal order and fastness of God, in spirit beheld by the Prophets (Isa 2:2; Eze 40:2), towers over the whole world.
The city of Jerusalem, after its building and consecration as the royal residence and Temple city, inherited the ancient typical honors of the previous cities of God, from the camp-city in the wilderness to Shiloh. It was the residence of the Jehovah cultus and of the theocratic constitution. Now, its archetype exists in visible presencethe City in which cultus and culture, in their perfection, have attained their complete union.
The glory of God, the Shekinah, manifested itself of old only in transient appearances. The central place of its manifestations was the Holy of holies. Now it spreads, in eternal radiance, over the whole City of God.27
It was formerly exhibited through typical mediums, through visional angelic forms, through the pillars of cloud and of fire, through the cherubim. Now it beams forth from a permanent nucleus of light (). The Parousia of Christ is the Epiphany of God, in brilliancy like the most precious jewel.
Israel, in order to the securement of its holy destiny, was encircled by a hedge, which was designed to separate from it every common thing of heathenism [or the Gentile nations], and by this very process to mediate the future bringing again of the Gentiles through the blessing of Abraham. This barrierfirst, theocratic lawthen, churchly confessionhere appears ideally realized in the high wall, which, by means of its insurmountableness, excludes everything common, and by means of its twelve gates, kept by Angels, invites and receives all that is akin to God, i. e., all that is akin to God in the twelve-fold character-form of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
The Tribes of Israel were designed to represent in theocratic ground-forms, the fullness of the different human dispositions for the Kingdom of God. These ground-forms are now all fulfilled in the perfecting of the spiritual Israel. Therefore, the gates are adorned with the names of the Tribes of Israel; they are indicative of the ground-forms of the people of God in the interior of the City, as well as of the ground-forms of the people of God entering into the City of God from all the quarters of the world.
In so far as the restoration of the people of Israel itself is concerned, a restoration of its kernel, on the platform of perfect Christian equality and liberty, is simply expressed with the typical import of its Tribes; any renewal, however, of Old Testament legal prerogatives is precluded by this same typical import. The same remark applies to the description of the Sealed (chap. 7). The sealed ones would not be called after Israel, if Israel were not to form a dynamical power amongst them; the same sealed ones would preclude the idea of elect Gentiles, if they were not to be typically understood.
The gates of the cities of Israel, especially Zion, were, even under the Old Covenant, open to the stranger, if he left his heathen practices without. They became the symbols of ingress into the holy City, into the sanctuary, into the fellowship of the saints (Psa 100:4), as well as the symbols of egress, in order to the conversion of the world (Isa 62:10), and in order to the bringing in of the King of Glory through its gates (Psa 24:7; comp. Gen 22:17 [Comm., p. 468, Am. Ed.]).The new City of God has twelve of these gates, in accordance with the sacred number of completeness. She is lacking in no gate of ingress or of egress.
The stone at Bethel on which Jacob slept when a wanderer, and where he beheld, in a dream, the heavenly ladder, was consecrated as a monument and altar; the prelude of the foundation stones of the House of God (Bethel, Gen 22:22), and of Christ the Corner Stone (Psa 118:22; Isa 28:16; Eph 2:20). This stone is, in the consummation, divided again into the twelve foundation stones of the wall of the holy City, marked with the names of the Twelve Apostles.
The ground-forms of Christs mission to the world, the Twelve Apostles, denote, as Apostles of the Lamb, also the ground-forms of the world-conquering cross, and, as such, the foundations of the City of God.
Sacred measure has, in the history of the Temple, an import similar to that possessed, in the Greek view of the world, by the Platonic Idea or the Aristotelian Form; except that the first unitously represents both the latter in the form of practical energy, as real power (Wis 11:20; comp. the Pythagorean system; Job 28:25-27; Isa 40:12).This power of Ideal Form pervades, in perfect supremacy, all the parts of the City of God,the City and its gates and its walls.
The form of the perfect geometric square or cube was the form of the Holy of holies. Now, this same form appears as the symmetry of the City of God. Of old, the Holy of holies was a well-nigh inaccessible sanctuary, guarded by terrors. Here, the great City of God has become a manifest and open Holy of holies.
The magnitude of the City exhibits it, in its length and breadth, as a World-City; in its height, as a Heaven-City.As the corona of the Temple, the City is the phenomenal image of the Kingdom of God, and thus, at the same time, of the glorified universe.
The holy wall which, as a theocratic and a churchly barrier, is an odium of all philosophy of wildness, commonness and indisciplinehere appears in its consummation, built of the material of the most precious jewel, a fact recognized afar off by the Spirit of Prophecy (Isa 54:11).
The covering of the Ark of the Covenant, which was, so to speak, the most Holy in the Holy of holies, was of pure gold (Exo 37:6). Now, the whole City is constructed of pure gold so pure that it glitters like crystal. The City is thus, in an unapproachable exaltedness of thought, signalized as Gods Sanctuary.
The Jewels worn by the High Priest in his breast-plate, were significant of the idiocrasies, the charismatic aptitudes of the Tribes of Israel; of their value, spiritual and affectional, for the heart of God, Whom the High Priest represented. Such a Divine heart-affection, in the perfection of the ground-forms of human charisms, is now reflected in all the jewels which form the foundation-stones of the City-wall. The whole City is founded, as it were, upon the breast-plate of the real High Priest.
As the precious stone was early constituted a symbol of a personal life, consecrate to God, so the pearl was made a symbol of Divine vital wisdom, of that piety which is concentrated in the knowledge or the righteousness of faith. Thus the value of wisdom exceeds that of pearls (Job 28:18; Pro 3:15, [Rev 8:11]);28 wisdom, however, is also symbolized by pearls and is divided, in its individual traits, into a plurality of pearls (Mat 7:6), whilst, in its consummate spiritual phase, it is concentrated in the One Pearl of great price, whose value surpasses that of all single pearls (Mat 13:46). But how does the pearl enter into a relation to the gate? In Isa 54:12, we read (in accordance with De Wettes translation): I make thy battlements of rubies and thy gates of carbuncles (?) and thy whole circuit of costly (precious) stones. The Septuagint distinguishes jasper for the battlements or parapets, crystals for the gates, precious stones for the walls. As the stone for the gates, , is one that does not elsewhere appear, and takes its name from the radiance of fire, but is assuredly not a carbuncle, if it be true that the ruby is of like significance with the carbuncle, we might suppose that John apprehended it as a pearl. The generation of the pearl from a wound in the pearl-oyster, its lodgment in the deep, the rarity and difficulty of obtaining it, are obvious symbolical motives for the use of it. The subsistence of each gate in one pearl is a speaking image of that heavenly simplicity which alone finds entrance to the eternal City of God.
In the golden pavement of the streets of the City, the gold of the buildings is raised to an even higher power. Gold like translucent crystal. How far is it from the streets of Jerusalemconsecrated though they werethrough Christian city streets and alleysin which morals and cultivation often, even to this day, carry on a conflict with barbarismto this goal! Here the lanes and streets are clean; the citizens walk on a pavement of gold, eternally clear and bright as a mirror.
The points which have reference to the perfection of the Theocracy, are followed by the fundamental features of the perfected, believing Gentile world.
As the most pious of the heathen discovered lively signs and traces of the Unknown God, not in their temples, but outside of these, and as the worship of God in spirit and in truth has in all time formed a contrast to the purely local worship on Gerizim and in Jerusalem, so, in accordance with these preludes, a perfect consciousness of the omnipresence of God in His Spirit has been formed. The obscure feeling of Gods omnipresence has continually developed more and more, both outside of the revelation of salvation and within it (comp. Gen 28:16 and Psa 139:7 sqq.). Here this feeling is exchanged for the constant contemplation of the presence of God, or, rather, for the perfect manifestation of God.
The universal natural revelation of God (Rom 1:20) was always, for the heathen, in respect of its fundamental traits, a revelation through the medium, particularly, of the great celestial lightsthe sun and the moon. This revelation is now restored and perfectedsun and moon are outshone by the glory of the Lord. In the spiritual radiance which proceeds from God, through Christ His Light-bearer, the lights of Heaven seem, as such, to vanish, because they are for the first time effectual in Him in their full import.
The heathen [or Gentiles] have, in the light of salvation, become nations in the purest sense,types of peoples, which, in their sanctified idiocrasies, conjoin to form the Kingdom of God. In the blessing of Noah, the first sketch of the variant destinations of the tribes of man appeared; at the foot of the tower of Babel, mankind was divided into gentilisms. The higher charismatic destination of humanity was, however, not only typically symbolized by the Twelve Tribes of Israel and expressed by the idea of the seventy nations and the number of the seventy disciples, but, moreover, it was the constant task of the Christian Church to work out, from the heathen confusion of peoples, the one people of God; but also, however, to work out from the one Christendom the heavenly family of peoples. Here, this heavenly family has attained a visible existence. The nations walk through the light-stream of the Kingdom of God as though they were bathing themselves therein.
Again, that which has ever been represented by kingsthat of which bad kings were significant as symbolical figures, and which good kings, heroes, approximately realized, in company with the kingly spirits who ruled right royally, though possessing neither crown nor sceptre (Mat 5:19), potentiated men, as central points of the social organization of humanityis likewise now fulfilled. The kings of the earth bring all the glory of the earth, their possessions brought under the service of spirit, into the City of God (Isa 49:23; Isa 60:16).
Furthermore, the security which man has now and then enjoyed under the protection of the law, in circles of civilization and on the heights of peace, in the bright day-time in antithesis to the night-time, has always been promoted by the Kingdom of God. Here, at last, in the consummation, the superb repose of Heaven prevails, secured by the light of eternal day, in the region of eternal sunshine. The gates of the City of God are not shut, because the day-time is permanent.
As the entire net value of the good things of earth is appropriated to the City of God, so also is the entire net value of humanity, in the glory of the peoples, their manifold and various gifts, the whole treasure of human culture. Israel was chosen to be the people of God, in order that it might make the peoples appear again as peoples, in the blessing of Abraham. It is the task of Christianity to this day to take away the covering of sin, of national corruption, from the beauty of the peoples (Isa 25:7). Here is the fulfillment. In contemplating the one glory of Christ, they all come forth in their glorythe treasure, the harvest of God, the triumphal spoils of Christ.
Real heathenism, however, such as disfigured even Judaism (see Romans 2), is then eliminated forever from the pure Church of God. Its characteristics are commonness [or profaneness, as opposed to consecrateness to God], rudeness, and uncultivation, on the one hand, and, on the other, abomination, transgression against nature, including the perverted forms of mis-culture and over-culture; and the common ground-tone is falsehoodthe falsification of the high and holy reality of God, the production of mask-like shadows, which in part appear as rude caricatures of reality, in part as caricatures which ape beauty and holiness. At this process of elimination, humanity, in its higher tendency, has labored, by Jewish laws of purification, Grco-Roman justice and police, and by the Christian administration of the keys [Schlsselamt], often amid great and gross distortions of the idea of the ban. Here, however, the City of God has attained to an eternal power of purity, in which, with twelve open gates, it still, in dynamical operation, for ever keeps everything common or ban-laden afar off.
As the circle of the Theocracy is surrounded by the circle of holy humanity, so the latter is surrounded by the circle of glorified nature.
Paradise was lost. Lost, however, only as to its visible appearance, and to the world. The grace of God secured the seed of Paradise, and Christ regained that seed for humanity. It lay under the snow, it burst forth again in foretokens and signs in the Promised Land and in Christian civilization.Here, Paradise is extant again, and how it has grown under the snow! The mysterious garden in Eden has become a glorified universe.
Yonder river of Paradise went out from Eden, the land of delight, and divided into the main rivers of earth. How soon it gathered earthly hues and fell under the doom of transitoriness! And even in Paradise it was no river of life. Gradually, indeed, a fountain of salvation burst forth in humanityburst forth out of the depths, out of the rock of salvation (Psa 46:5; Isa 12:3; Jer 2:13, et al.), being prefigured by the wells of the Patriarchs and the wells of the desert (Exo 15:27, et al.). Gradually, also, sacred brooks and rivers, Shiloah and Jordan, became streams of blessing, and a great river of life was predicted by Ezekiel.But here, the mighty, shining river of life bursts forth; it comes from the throne of God and of the Lamb, having, even in this present life, been heralded and opened as a fountain (Joh 4:7); it abides pure as crystal, it pours forth into infinitude through its one deep channel, and is adorned on either side with trees of life.
The one tree of life in Paradise speedily vanished, like a figure in a dream, a celestial apparition. Here it is again. It has become an endless avenue, a glorious grove, and in the plenteousness of its fruits and the healing virtue of its leaves a power of life is expressed which far exceeds all the conceptions of mortal pilgrims. It is the view of a nature completely elevated to the service of spirit, love and life.
Whilst there is here another reference to the fact that nothing banned [cursed] has existence in the City, this is certainly not a repetition of the idea set forth in Rev 21:27. We are rather reminded, within the domain of glorified nature, that, by virtue of patriarchal custom and Mosaic food-laws, a rigorous ban rested upon a large portion of nature. Christianity paved the way for the acknowledgment that every creature of God is clean that is (and can be) partaken of with thanksgiving. Here, there shall evermore be nothing banned (literally, set aside, , a term which it has been deemed necessary to interpret into , leaving out of consideration the textual reference). Paradise itself, in whose first rudiment God did, of old, but walk in mysterious appearances, has become a throne of God and of the Lamb. The Word once became flesh, that all nature might be spiritualized.
And because there is question here of the holy tillage of the eternal garden, as Adam was called to till the garden of Paradise, and because the task of tilling the field was resumed by the Theocracy and by civilization, Christianity next mediating the holy cultivation of the earth, the sons of God can here once more appear in the most dignified form. But as they shall serve [dienen] their God as His active servants [Knechte], so they shall rest in the contemplation of His face and bear His name on their foreheads as a people of high-priests, being ever newly energized by Him through the contemplation of His glory (1Jn 3:2).
And whilst, the cessation of the night-time is again mentioned here, as in Rev 21:23; Rev 21:25, let us recollect that even this semblance of tautology is done away with by a discrimination of the fact that in Revelation 21 the reference was to glorified humanity, but here it is to glorified Nature. The night side of Nature, diminished by the most manifold torches, lights and inventions for the obtaining of light, is here abolished.
And because God will Himself be the eternal Day-Light of the blessed, they need no more be continually sinking back into the bosom of night. Even under the Old Covenant, the prelude of a holy spirit-life, often emblematized by festal illuminations, flashed through the night-times of nature. The holy birth-night [WeihnachtChristmas] of Christ laid the foundation for the bringing in of eternal day. The Holy Supper became the pre-celebration of the morning of that day. As Christianity is in constant combat with ethical night, so Christendom is in constant combat with the uncomfortable features and distresses of physical night. Here, the eternal Day has dawned in the presence of God; therefore do the blessed reign,royally free, without ever losing their consciousness in night,into the ons of the ons.
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev 21:9. Comp. Rev 17:1. Ewald and Dsterdieck have also pointed out the contrast of our passage to that cited, which is couched in similar terms. The Bride.On the change of designations, see Dsterd., p. 565.
Rev 21:10. He carried me away.See Rev 17:3 (Eze 3:12; Eze 37:1; Eze 40:2; Act 8:39; 2Co 12:2). In accordance with the passages mentioned, we have to distinguish between purely spiritual transports and such as are also followed by a corporeal removal, accomplished, as it were, in a dream. To a great and high mountain.According to Dsterdieck, the Seer is taken to this mountain in order that he may obtain a free view of the City. The same exegete remarks that the mountain must be so great in order to be so high. The Seer, therefore [as Dsterd. maintains], stands on the mountain and looks down upon the City. A splendid view, it is true, but too modern. The symbolical expression points, according to Hengstenberg, et al., back to the fundamental passages in the Old Testament, especially Eze 40:2; Eze 17:22-23; Eze 20:40; Psa 48:1-2; also, particularly, Isa 2:2. Descending.See Rev 21:2. The difficulties which Hengstenb. and Dsterd. discover in the apparent repetition of Rev 21:2 vanish when we consider the parallel relation between the Heaven-picture and the Earth-picture.
Rev 21:11. Having, etc.Or, possessing. The dim radiance in which a large city is always enwrapped at the beginning of night may, on the one hand, have mediated this view; but, on the other hand, it is based upon the idea that the Shekinah no longer hovers over the holy Temple-mount alone, according to the words of the Prophet (Isa 4:5; Isa 40:5), but shines over the entire Holy City. Her light-giver (light-bearer).Dsterdieck opposes the assumption of Zllig, that the Messiah is intended by the , and cites Rev 21:23 in support of such opposition; that verse, however, is favorable to Zlligs viewas is also Heb 1:3. Like unto a stone most precious.Comp. Rev 4:3. A jasper stone, clear as crystal.See pp. 20 and 151. Comp. Psellus (in Wetstein): . Duesterdieck.
[, from Rev 21:23, is the effect of the Divine glory shining in her: see (also) Gen 1:14; Gen 1:16, (LXX.), where it is used for the heavenly bodies. Alford.E. R. C.].
Rev 21:12. Having a wall great and high.The measure of the wall, the gates and the City is qualified throughout by the duodecenary; not, therefore, by the number of complete worldly development, ten, but by the number of perfection of the people of God. Twelve is the number of theocratic perfection; hence it is the number of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Twelve Apostles, the perfected Church or heavenly Spirit-World (see p. 15). Here, therefore, there is repeatedly reflected, in all the duodecenaries of the City of God, the quantitative number of completeness and the qualitative perfection of the glorified Church of God. It, however, crosses and blends with the number of the world, the quaternary, and indeed is itself composed of three times four, i. e., the God hallowed world-number. Moreover, the quaternary, as it here appears, continually branches into threes. Thus, we read of twelve gates, distributed by threes on the four sides of the City. And again, the City itself, in its quadrangular form, is thrice quadrangularin length, breadth and heightand is thus a cube. The duodecenary is repeated a thousand times in the qualification of the stadia. The height of the wall is defined by the number twelve times twelve, or a hundred and forty-four. Even from these numeric proportions alone, the thoroughly symbolic nature of the whole picture of the City is manifest, and the same fact is further evident, in particular, from the height of the City.
And at the gates twelve angelsBengel judiciously remarks: They keep watch and serve as ornaments. We are not authorized to seek for a knowledge of any more definite relations which they may sustain to the City. So soon as we reflect that the new Jerusalem is no longer menaced by enemies, and that it consequently stands in need of no watchmen at its gates, explanations like that of Hengstenberg ariseviz., that these Angels symbolize the Divine protection against all foes of which the imagination, filled with the terrors resting upon the Church Militant, can conceive. [Duest.] A most marvellous imagination, truly! As if the blessed inhabitants of Heaven were timid children, or were threatened by empty terrors of the fancy! But even the idea of Angels standing always upon the gates for ornament has a singular aspect, and as watchmenwho, however, would be superfluous after the final judgmentthey would be obliged to stand in the gates. We have characterized them above as symbols of the destination of Jerusalem to be the medium of salvation to all the world, to all the four quarters of the world (see Isa 43:5; Isa 49:6; Mat 8:11). De Wette: Guards, probably after Isa 62:6 and after the type of the Levitic temple-guards [or porters] (2Ch 8:14). From this point of view, these Angels would symbolically represent the eternal security and inamissibleness of heavenly prosperity or salvation.29
And names inscribed.The twelve names upon the twelve gates, as the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, denote the whole manifoldness of the idiocrasies of the totality of Gods people. The typical fore-image is to be found Eze 48:30 sqq. Jewish Theology has drawn from this rich symbolism the absurd idea that every Israelitish Tribe of the new Jerusalem shall be permitted to go in and out only of that particular gate which is appointed for it (see De Wette, p. 198). If we were to interpret the sealed out of the Twelve Tribes (Revelation 7) literally, as Jewish Christians, we should here be obliged to go on to the tremendous deduction that the entire heavenly City is to be inhabited solely by Jewish Christians.
Rev 21:13. On the east.See the above-cited passage in Ezekiel, Rev 48.
Rev 21:14. Twelve foundations [Lange: foundation-stones].The twelve gates give rise to twelve sections of the wall, amongst which De Wette and Dsterdieck distribute the foundation-stones. In accordance with this disposition, four are to be conceived of as mighty corner-stones. Symbolical descriptions, however, should not be pushed beyond the idea which they are designed to convey. It may, at all events, be taken for granted that the twelve foundation-stones are open to view, like cornerstones in the ancient sense of the term. As the whole fullness of the theocratic natural disposition was set forth in the Twelve Patriarchs, so the whole fullness of Christs Spirit and salvation was manifested in the Apostles. The Apostle John could not, in modesty, have written this, is the cry of an idea-less, snarling criticism. The symbolic expression of the truth, that the celestial City of God is grounded upon the evangelic foundations of the twelve Apostles, can, however, no more lose its ideal value through the one consideration that the name of John is pre-supposed to accompany the names of the other Apostles, than through the other consideration that the name of Paul seems to be omitted from the group; nor is it a necessary inference from, the citation of the Twelve Tribes of Israel in our passage, that the modifications in their names (Revelation 7) are to be abolished. Comp. Eph 2:20, where a freer apprehension of the symbolic idea already appears: built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the corner-stone.
Rev 21:15. He that spake with me (see Rev 21:9) had a measure.Comp. Eze 40:3; Eze 40:5. The fact that the discourse occurring in symbolical representations must be determined by the fundamental thought thereof, is evidenced by Zec 2:3 sqq. The angel who shows John the City (comp. Rev 21:9) gives him a perfectly distinct idea of its dimensions by actually measuring it before the eyes of the Seer (Bengel, Ewald, De Wette). Duesterd.The measure (see Rev 11:1; Eze 42:16) denotes the ideality of the eternal Church, the Divine knowledge and appointment of itqualities which are expressed also in John 17; Romans 8; Ephesians 1. The measure is golden: through the Divine faithfulness, the ideal Church has become the actualized eternal Church. The Angel performs the measurement in the true sequence: first, the City is defined, with reference to the fullness of its inhabitants; next, the proportion of the gates and the wall.
Rev 21:16. And the City lieth.The fact (Rev 21:16 a) that the City lies (; comp. Rev 4:2) four-cornered (like ancient Babylon and the new Jerusalem of Ezekiel), rectangular, and with equal length and breadth, and that therefore the ground-plan of it forms a perfect square (comp. Eze 48:16), is recognized by John even before the Angel begins to measure. Duesterd.Twelve thousand stadia, i.e., 300 geographical [German (1384 Eng. statute)] miles. It is a question whether the 12,000 stadia qualify the whole area of the City, so that the dimensions of each side amount, to 3,000 stadia (in accordance with Vitringa, et al.), or whether the 12,000 stadia are to be taken as applying in their entirety to each of the four sides, and as referring also to the height (Bengel, Zllig, et al.). In regard to the former hypothesis, the further question arises, whether the height also is stated at 3,000 stadia, like the length and the breadth. De Wette opposes the idea that the height of the City amounts to 12,000 stadia. The conception would, in such case, he declares, be that of a lofty fortress, whilst it is manifestly a city that is represented, as mention is made of streets (Rev 22:2); he even maintains that the height is determined only by the wall.30 Dsterdieck, on the other hand, finds in the 12,000 stadia the measure alike for length, breadth and height (with Bengel, Hengstenberg, et al.). Whilst the idea is a prodigious one, we must recollect that we have to do with a thoroughly symbolical description. A height of even 3,000 stadia far exceeds that of the loftiest steeples. If, however, we keep strictly to the text, we find that, the measure of the entire square in respect of length and breadth, as the measure of the City, is 12,000 stadia; and, accordingly, the height of the City is to be determined by the quarter of this, as 3,000 stadia. The fact that the wall will then be considerably lower than the height, of the City itself, should not occasion any difficulty. The height of the Kingdom of God towers far above the theocratic barrier. Here, therefore, the typical cube-form of the Tabernacle is realized in the highest sense; and the breadth, length, depth and height of the Divine dispensation of salvation (Eph 3:18) are embodied in symbolical significance, in analogy with the incarnation of the Word. (The Word became flesh [Joh 1:14].)
Rev 21:17. Her wall.The height of the City is not the height of the wall, as Bengel also assumes, and therefore maintains that the 144 cubits are equivalent to the 12,000 stadia. Duesterd.The measure of a man.The additional clause: which is that of an angel, occasions difficulty. De Wette: The Angel has made use of human measure. Ebrard: The measure of glorified men is like the measure of the Angel. Hengstenberg (and Dsterdieck): The measure of the Angel, who makes his measurement for men, is like the measure of men. A reminder of the symbolic import of the act of measuring is probably contained in our passage;the human measure with which the Sanctuary was measured, is here an angelic measure, i. e., it has a symbolic, higher import. The Seer frequently inserts similar reminders of the symbolic nature of his forms of speech; see especially chs. Rev 1:20; Rev 13:18; Rev 16:14; Rev 17:9. Now if the wall denotes the security of the City of God, and the cubit the measure of the Sanctuary, the height of 144 cubits is expressive of the perfect measure of heavenly confirmation or verification: the theocratic twelve of the plan of the Kingdom multiplied by the apostolic twelve of the consummation of the Kingdom in the fullness of the Spirit of Christ. This symbolical nature of the cubit-measure is expressed in the prophecy of Ezekiel by the fact that every cubit there spoken of is a hand-breadth longer than a common cubit. The figure of the wall approaches the idea of Zechariah (Rev 1:5): For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her; [Lange (not, G. V.): and will manifest my glory in her]. The prodigious extent of the City is also expressive of an ideaor, rather, of the ideal fact that it extends, with unseen limits, through the universe, and towers up into the height of eternity; that it belongs to Heaven, whence it has descended to earth. A discussion of the relative lowness of the wall in proportion to the height of the City, see in Dsterdieck, p. 568.
Rev 21:18. And the structure of her wall.The materials. On the rare word , comp. the Lexicons. Jasper.See above, p. 20. The material of the wall is thus of like import with its height,infinite value in infinite duration, qualities which both appertain to the most precious of precious stones. The city was pure gold.The material of the houses is absolutely pure gold, similar, in consequence of this purity, to pure crystal or glass.
This may be understood as referring either to the transparency of glass, or to the mirror-like brightness of crystal. We adopt the latter signification, retaining it also when is predicated of the golden street-pavement [] (Rev 21:21). According to Ebrard, there is a prospect that, gold itself will really be translucent in the world to come. The genuine heavenly purity and faithfulness of the inhabitants of the City shall, therefore, be reflected in the golden brilliance of their dwellings.
Rev 21:19. The foundations of the wall etc.The meaning is, that the foundations or foundation-stones of the City consist of precious stones, as is clearly evident from the following verse (comp. Isa 54:11). As the twelve have nothing to do with the number of the Israelitish Tribes (comp. Rev 21:14), that artificial mode of interpretation by which the stones (Rev 21:19 sq.) are brought into an assumed relation to those worn by the High-priest in his breast-plate (comp. especially Zllig Excursus II., pp. 456 sqq.; also Ewald II., Luthardt, Volkmar), is to be discarded as decidedly as the vain attempt to assign individual jewels to individual Apostles (Andr., Bengel, et al.). Duesterd. If it be proved that a relation exists between the Twelve Tribes of Israel, whose names the High-priest wore in his breast-plate, and the Twelve Apostles,a relation as between the theocratic plan and the apostolic development,a general relation will also be assumable between the jewels in the breast-plate and the jewels which constitute the foundations of the Holy City. But if an individual combination of the Twelve Tribes and the Twelve Apostles is impracticable, it will be still less possible to make out a concordance of the stones in the high-priestly breast plate and the foundation-stones of the New Jerusalem. The general symbolic significance lies in the nature of the precious stones, and also, particularly, in their colors, in the grouping of which they appear as a symbolism of eternal individualities, all, in equal purity, brilliant with the same light, which they refract in the most diverse rays (see Introduction, pp. 20 sq.; Langes Miscellaneous Writings, vol. 1. p. 15). The first . jasper.Comp. pp. 20 sq. and 151, and Rev 21:11. Sapphire.Exo 24:10; Exo 28:18; Eze 28:13; see Winer, Title, Precious Stones; [also Kittos Cyclopdia and Smiths Dictionary of the Bible]. Our sapphire is sky-blue (comp. Eze 1:26), translucent, and harder than the ruby. That which the ancients so denominated, must, according to Pliny (37, 39) and Theophr. (ch. vi. 23, 37), have been the lapis lazuli, etc. Winer remarks, in conclusion, however, that we must suppose the Hebrew word to denote the true sapphire, as is clearly evident from the passages cited from Exodus and Ezekiel. The opinion of Dsterdieck, therefore, who assumes the lapis lazuli to be intended, is incorrect. Chalcedony.Not the agate, precisely. Winer: A chalcedony-agate. Emerald.Grass-green, not very hard, translucent, with double refraction (see Winer, Precious Stones, No. 3).
Rev 21:20. Sardonyx.See Winer, No. 16; comp. No. Revelation 1 : Consisting of a combination of onyx and carnelian. Sardius.Or carnelian: it is striped with brown and is not very sharply distinguished from the preceding stone. Chrysolite.See Winer, No. Revelation 10 : Pale-green, perfectly translucent, with double refraction. According to Pliny, it is of the color of gold, and hence the topaz has been understood by it. Beryl.Winer, No. 11. Topaz.Winer, No. 2. This seems to have been frequently confounded with the chrysolite. Chrysoprasus.Winer, No. Revelation 15 : Pale green, shading into yellowish and browntranslucent. Jacinth [Hyacinth].Winer, No. 7. Amethyst.Winer, No. 9.
In respect of color, we distinguish blue stones: Sapphire, chalcedony, amethyst (violet-blue); Green: Emerald, beryl, and, more or less, chrysoprasus; Golden or yellow: Chrysoprasus (see above), chrysolite, topaz; Red: Hyacinth [jacinth], sardonyx, sardius (carnelian). The jasper is, most probably, as a diamond, of the pure hue of light; as an ordinary jasper, it would be non-translucent and of various colors. It is evident from chs. Rev 4:3, Rev 21:12, as well as from the fact that in accordance with New Testament order it stands at the beginning, and in accordance with Old Testament order at the close, that it is to be regarded as the chief or most precious stone. Of the jewels in the breast-plate two names are absent from our catalogue, viz., the ruby and the agate, whilst, on the other hand, the names chalcedony and chrysoprasus are wanting in the breast-plate (comp. Introduction, p. 20). For a comparison of the lists, see Ebrard, pp. 533 sqq.; Hengstenberg, vol. ii, pp. 417 sq. [Eng. Trans.]; De Wette, p. 200.
Rev 21:21. Of one pearl.Dsterdieck quotes the Jewish tradition from Bava Bathra: Deus adducet gemmas et margaritas, triginta cubitos longas, totidemque latas. There is, however, a heaven-wide distinction between a great pearl as modified by Christian symbolism, and a great pearl as modified by Jewish Chiliasm. The broad-way of the city. [i. e., the flat, as opposed to the elevated, the buildings]. Doubtless significant of the pavement or ground of all the streets and alleys; not merely the market-place (Bengel) or principal street (Zllig). [See foot-note Rev 11:8, p. 231.E. R. C.]. As it were translucent glass.We apprehend this not literally, but poetically, of the mirror-like brightness.
Rev 21:22. The peculiar glory of the City is further described. Duesterdieck. That is, the pause is unobserved by him.
[In the old Jerusalem the Temple was at once the dwelling-place and the concealer of Jehovah. Though present, He was not visibly presentin a sense He was sheltered by the Temple. The new Jerusalem shall have no place for the shelter of the Lord, for she shall be sheltered by Him. He shall tabernacle over her, Rev 7:15. Her inhabitants shall dwell under His manifest and sheltering light. He shall be her Temple.E. R. C.]
Rev 21:23. The glory of God lightened her.See Isa 60:19. On the distinction between this passage and Rev 21:11, see above.
Rev 21:24. And the nations (Isa 2:3; Isa 60:11; Psa 72:11) shall walk by means of [Lange: through] her light.Significant future. This description, drawn from the declarations of the old Prophets, does not justify the idea of those expositors who conceive of the heathen [nations] and the kings as dwelling outside of the City (Ewald, De Wette, Block et al.), or who would even attempt to determine what moral condition the heathen [nations] now admitted into the new Jerusalem, occupied during their earthly life (Storr, etc.). Duesterdieck. Their glory.That is, that which the kings possessed of glory. The Apocalyptist knows no political partyism. He recognizes a glory of the kings and also a glory of the peoples (Rev 21:26).
[Alford: If then the kings of the earth, and the nations bring their glory and their treasures into her, and if none shall ever enter into her that is not written in the book of life, it follows that these kings, and these nations, are written in the book of life. And so perhaps some light may be thrown on one of the darkest mysteries of redemption. There may be,I say it with all diffidence,those who have been saved by Christ without ever forming a part of His visible organized Church.
The conclusion may be granted without recognizing the force of the argument. The distinguished commentator takes for granted that the kings and nations are those that lived before the Millennial period, or at least before the great consummation. Is it not rather probable that the great truth is adumbrated in this revelation (see also Rev 20:2, last clause), that, even after the new creation, the human race is to be continued (ever propagating a holy seed, such as would have been begotten had Adam never sinned) under the government of the glorified Church?E. R. C.].
Rev 21:25. Her gates shall not be [Lange: do not be] shut.They stand open uninterruptedly, for the bringing in of all the glory of the kings and the peoples (Isa 60:11).
Rev 21:26. And they shall bring.An impersonal subject should be supplied to (comp. Rev 12:6; Rev 10:11 [the reading ]; Luther, Bengel, De Wette, Hengstenb., Ew. II., et al.), not (Ew. I., Zll.). Duesterd.
Rev 21:27. Anything common.See Rev 21:8; Rev 22:15; Act 10:14. The elevation of the Apocalypse above Judaistic views is sufficiently evident from this passage alone, which, in connection with the preceding context, thoroughly distinguishes between believing ethnics and the essence of ethnicism, determining the purely in accordance with moral characteristics.
Rev 22:1. A river.The water of life is not to be taken here in a purely spiritual sense, at least not, primarily, as in Joh 4:14; Joh 7:38. It denotes the stream of spirituo-corporeal life-power which, as an eternal renewing power, ensures the imperishability and vital freshness of the new world (see Eze 47:1; Zec 14:8; comp. 1Pe 1:4). The unitous spirituo-corporeal operation is especially expressed in the fact that the river proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lambfrom the living God, through the glorified Christ, in accordance with the heavenly species of His resurrection-life. The properties of the river of Paradise, which operated as a purely natural blessing (Genesis 2), and those of the spiritual fountain of healing, first promised by the Prophets and subsequently opened in Christ, are united in this river. As a river, it is cosmically permanent, and as a river that proceeds from the throne of God, it is absolutely permanent. Its source is not situate under the Temple-mount or under the Temple itself, but in the depths of the Divine revelation of love and life, in the profundities of the Divine government consonant with that revelation. As the trees of life are ensured by this eternally clear river, so the river is ensured by the Divine throne itself.
Rev 22:2. In the midst of her broad-way.Dsterdieck, with Ewald, refers to also; but how this view can be accompanied by the conception that the trees stand on both sides of the river, is not clear (see Eze 47:7; Eze 47:12).
A tree [Lange: Gehlz=wood] of life.=a wood, a collection of trees, having the common character of trees of life (see Rev 2:7), generically denotes the entire mass of trees (Bengel, De Wette, Ewald, et al.). Duest. De Wette gives: the tree [Baum] of life, and adds: Which produces twelve fruits, bringing forth its fruit every month (Eze 47:12); this, however, can only mean twelve fruit-harvests or fruit twelve times. Twelve kinds of fruits (Lutheran Version; [twelve manner of fruits, E. V.]) are, at all events, not intended. All the fruits are fruits of life.
And the leaves, etc.These words contain, first, an expression of the highest vital efficacy. Even all the leaves of all these trees possess a vital energy which can be conducive, as a healing power, to the health of even the heathen or nations. As extreme views, are opposed the interpretation of Bengel, who holds that reference is had to the conversion of the heathen to whom in this life the Gospel has not been preached; and the interpretation of Hengstenberg, who thinks that the vital forces of the heavenly Jerusalem are intended, as serving in the present age (!) for the conversion of the heathen (Hengst., vol. II., p. 433 [Eng. Trans.). It is not necessary through fear of an apocatastasis, either to do violence to the text, or to place the hope of an infinite healing operation in the leaves of the tree of lifean operation which is expressed by the river, but does not coincide exactly with the restoration-theory. Another contrast is presented in the inclination of Bleek and De Wette, with Ewald and Zllig(also Ebrard), to find a reference to heathen [nations] dwelling outside of the City, and the view of Dsterdieck, who holds that simply the eternal refreshment and beatification of believing heathen [nations] is made prominent. According to Ebrard, the fruits manifestly serve as food for the inhabitants of the City, and the leaves for the healing of the without the City; the latter, he continues, do not need such a as to be healed of godlessness and converted therefrom, but they must be brought from the condition of undeveloped and weak faith and dawning knowledge, to the ripeness of the full stature of men in Christ. It might be queried how does this interpretation correspond with the distinction of milk and strong meat [food]? Taken literally, the leaves might be reckoned as strong meat. But let us recollect that we are at present in the third sphere of our description, in which the transfiguration or heavenly glorification of nature is spoken of. Here the expression denotes the highest sanative operation of natureeven the leaves of the trees whose fruits are the vital nourishment of Gods people, serve for the healing [Therapie] of the heathen [nations]. We apprehend the word [healing] in the wider sense, and observe, with Dsterdieck, that these heathen [nations] have been mentioned before in Rev 21:24. The remark of Dsterdieck, that the heavenly enjoyment of life is contrasted with the lack of vital power under which those referred to labored in this present life, is not in itself incorrect, but it gives rise to the question: wherefore are the leaves mentioned? As the river of life cannot be restricted to the City, so, also, the trees of life, with their fruits and leaves, can be regarded only as a health-giving blessing, stretching out into infinitude; and thus the passage coincides in general with analogous utterances of Paul (1Co 15:26-28). [See additional comment on Rev 21:24, p. 388.E. R. C.]
Rev 22:3. And nothing cursed shall be any more.See Syn. View; comp. Zec 14:11.31 Ebrard traces the directly back to the cherem, distinguishing, however, as cherem, persons and things (in accordance with Lev 27:28 and other passages). There is yet another distinction to be made, however, between the cherem and the .
And His servants shall serve Him.The idea of religious service presented by does not preclude the idea of a service rendered in the heavenly culture of the new Paradise, because, in the glorified world, cultus and culture shall have become one.
[There seems to be a great and blessed truth conveyed by the conjunction of and . His slaves () shall be elevated to the dignity of temple-servitors. The idea is akin to that presented by our Lord, Joh 15:15 : Henceforth I call you not servants (=slaves), but I have called you friends.E. R. C.]
Rev 22:4. His face.Mat 5:8; 1Co 13:12; 1Jn 3:2.His name.See chs. Rev 3:12; Rev 14:1.
Rev 22:5. And night shall not be any more.This is simply a repetition, according to De Wette, Ebr., Dsterd (see Syn. View). Hengstenb. discovers here an antithesis harmonizing with the Gospel of John, to wit, the antithesis of day as the time of safety and good, and night as the time of peril and evil (?); he remarks, by way of illustration: Any one who has lived with a wakeful eye through the year 48 is acquainted with this distinction of day and night. It might be replied: Any one who has become acquainted with it only under such a date, knows it but very imperfectly, to say the least.
And they shall reign.In a still higher sense than in Rev 20:4; Rev 20:6, says De Wette. To which we query: in what respect? We would remind our readers that reference is here had to the relation of the blessed to the celestial spheres of nature; this fact endows the expression with the import that all dependence upon the power of nature shall be done away with.
Into the ages of the ages.The antithesis see in Rev 20:10.In the region of the damned there continues, according to the same passage, the antithesis of day and night. The ons of the blessed are raised above the vicissitudes of temporality, because in God is eternity, the inexhaustible fountain of holy, festal seasons; and Christ has, in reality, freed even time from the curse of temporality, and made it the rhythmic succession of the fullness of eternity, the development-form of eternal life.
[NOTE ON THE NEW JERUSALEM.]
By the American Editor
It was the design of the American Editor to prepare an extended Excursus on this subject. Circumstances, however, over which he has no control, prevent his doing more than present a brief sketch of the views of representative commentators, afterwards indicating those points of his own hypothesis that he did intend thoroughly to discuss.
a. Sketch of Views
So many and variant have been the opinions on this subject that it seems impossible to classify them. The following extract from Elliott will be regarded as a fair exposition of the views of those mentioned by him.
It has long been a disputed question amongst prophetic expositors, where precisely the New Jerusalem of the 21 and 22 chapters of the Apocalypse is to have position; whether during or only after the Millennium; and if synchronous with it, whether as identical or not with the glorified Jerusalem prophesied in the Old Testament. Of the older Fathers alike the pre-millenarian Tertullian, and the anti-pre-millenarian Augustine, explained the glorified Jerusalem of O. T. prophecy as identical with that of the Apocalypse; the one (Tertullian) however, as symbolic of the risen saints millennial glory, the other (Augustine) of their heavenly and everlasting blessedness. Again, of the moderns Whitby and Vitringa, whilst also identifying the two figurations, did yet explain them to signify the millennial earthly blessedness of the still living Christian Church. Faber would separate the two, and make Isaiahs Jerusalem of the latter day, with its new heaven and earth, alone millennial, that of the Apocalypse post-millennial; to which I may add that some expositors, while explaining one or both to prefigure earthly glories destined for Gods people, make the restored and concerted Jews nationally, not the Church Catholic generally, the grand object and chief intended recipients of the coming glory.
Elliott himself (5th edition) supposes the New Jerusalem to have existence from the commencement, and throughout the progress, of the millennial period. With this opinion the majority of pre-millenarians probably agree, though with vast differences as to particulars. Elliott argues his position from(1) a comparison of Rev 19:7-8, with Rev 21:2; Rev 21:9; (2) a comparison of Rev 19:10, with Rev 22:8-9, inferring from the coincidence that the same event must have been referred to; (3) what is said concerning the nations, chs. Rev 21:24; Rev 22:2, manifesting that there will be men in the flesh during the New Jerusalem, which, he assumes, could not be, after the General Resurrection; (4) a comparison of Dan 7:18 (where the saints everlasting reign dates from the fall of Antichrist) with Rev 22:5. He supposes (after Mede and several of the Ancient Fathers) that the entire millennial period constitutes the day (period) of Judgment; that at the beginning of this day, the great White Throne is set up, at which time occurs a partial conflagration; that at the close shall be the casting of death and Hades into the lake of fire, the great conflagration, the new heaven and earth, and the more complete and perfect establishment of the Kingdom.
Alford writes: The whole of the things described in the remaining portion of the Book are subsequent to the General Judgment, and descriptive of the consummation of the triumph and bliss of Christs people with Him in the eternal kingdom of God. This eternal kingdom is situated on the purified and renewed earthbecome the blessed habitation of God with His glorified people.
Barnes (and with him probably the majority of post-millenarians) looks upon chaps. Rev 21:1 to Rev 22:5, as descriptive of the heavenly state of the entire body of the redeemed. He writes: The whole of Revelation 21, and the first five verses of Revelation 22, relate to scenes beyond the judgment, and are descriptive of the happy and triumphant state of the redeemed Church, when all its conflicts shall have ceased, and all its enemies shall have been destroyed. That happy state is depicted under the image of a beautiful city, of which Jerusalem was the emblem, and it was disclosed to John by a vision of that citythe New Jerusalemdescending from heaven. Jerusalem was regarded as the peculiar dwelling-place of God, and to the Hebrews it became thus the natural emblem or symbol of the heavenly world. The conception having occurred of describing the future condition of the righteous under the image of a beautiful city, all that follows is in keeping with that, and is merely a carrying out of the image. It is a city with beautiful walls and gates; a city that has no templefor it is all a temple; a city that needs no lightfor God is its light; a city into which nothing impure ever enters; a city filled with trees, and streams, and fountains, and fruitsthe Paradise Regained.
b. Hypothesis of the American Editor
I. The period of the New Jerusalem will be subsequent to the General Resurrection and Judgment of Rev 20:11-15, and the new Creation of Rev 21:1. This is, manifestly, the normal sense of the connection between Rev 22:1-2 of Revelation 21, and is not to be set aside but for most cogent reasons. This view involves no real difficulties; and, still further, the entire description forbids the thought that the even partial sinfulness that will exist in the subjects of the Millennial Kingdom should have existence under the light of the New Jerusalem, or that its glories should be dimmed by the assaults of Satan and the rebellion of Gog and Magog.
II. Its seat will be the New Earth (comp. Rev 21:1-2; Rev 21:24). It is vain for us to speculate as to whether that New Earth will be identical as to substance with the present, or whether it will be different. It is impossible for us to determine whether the present abode of the human race will be simply regenerated by fire, or whether from the universal chaos into which all things may be reduced (2Pe 3:10; Rev 20:11) some entirely new Earth, or dwelling-place for man, may not be brought forth.
III. It will exist1. As a real Citythe glorious home and capital of a glorified Community (the Bride). 2. As a Material Symbol of that Community, its order and glory.32
From the admitted fact that what the Apostle saw was a Symbol, many leap to the conclusion that a real city, or place of abode, could not have been symbolized. It is admitted by all that that which John beheld was a simulacrum. He did not directly look upon that which was not to exist for at least three thousand yearshe beheld, merely, a Visional Symbol. But what was the nature of that Symbol? Was it immediate? i.e., did it symbolize a City that is yet to come into existenceor was it mediate? i. e., did it symbolize something else than a City, namely (in this instance), a glorified community? In the judgment of the writer it performed the double office set forth in the last paragraph on p. 146. Primarily it was an Immediate Symbol symbolizing a material City; but, secondarily, as the City was itself to be a Material Symbol, of the inhabiting Community, it was a Mediate (Aberrant) Symbol of that Community.
This double use of the Symbol should occasion no surprise. For, in the first place, it is most common in all languages to denote by the same term, as London, sometimes the City, sometimes the mass of its inhabitants, and sometimes the complex of the two. This was common amongst the writers of the Scriptures.he Scriptural uses of Zion, Babylon, Tyre, will present themselves as illustrations to the minds of all. And, secondly, a material City is frequently a type of its inhabitants, or of the State of which it is the Capital. No one can visit Rome without being impressed with the fact that, in its combined ruin and grandeur, its death and life, the existing City is itself the type of the existing Roman Church. This in old times was true of Babylon, of Athens, of Tyre, of Rome, and especially of Jerusalem. And, doubtless, it is in great measure owing to this fact that a City and its inhabitants are so generally designated by one and the same name. In the judgment of the writer, as the old Jerusalem symbolized the Israel of which it was the Capital, so the New Jerusalem will symbolize the glorified Community33 of whom it will be the abode and Capital.
Concerning the hypothesis that the New Jerusalem will exist as a great City, it may be said: 1. There are many things in the description that have their most natural (their normal) application to such an abode, as is evident upon the bare perusal. 2. This application is supported by the following considerations: (1) A material dwelling-place is as necessary for resurrected saints as was Eden for Adam, or Canaan for Israel. (2) It should occasion no surprise if the same loving care that will raise and glorify the body should prepare a fitting and glorious abode for it. (3) It should be regarded as no strange thing if He who prepares for the body should grant us an inspiring, though general, description of its future abode. (4) On the contrary, the giving of such a description would be but in accordance with Jehovahs dealing with Israel before leading them into Canaan, and in continuance of the information given us by the Prophets concerning the Palingenesia, and especially by the Apostle Paul, Rom 8:20-21.
As to the hypothesis that a glorified Community was in some sense symbolized, it may also be said that while there are many things in the description that find their most natural objective in a material City, there are others that cannot be so regarded; as, for instance, that the New Jerusalem is the Bride of the Lamb. We are shut up to the conclusion that a glorified people were contemplated in the exhibition of the Symbol.
In conclusion of this whole matter it may be remarked that the double hypothesis announced by the writer best satisfies the conditions of the problem; is in accordance with the ordinary and Scriptural use of the names of Cities, especially of Capitals; and is precisely analogous to the Divine declarations concerning the old Jerusalem.
IV. We should distinguish between the Material City and the New Earth. The former has its situation in the latter, as London in England. We should also distinguish between the citizens of the City and the nations (Rev 21:24). The former are risen and glorified Saints, who constitute the Bride (Rev 21:9), the governors (Rev 22:5, last clause) of the New Creation (see below in V., VI.). The latter are (probably) men in the flesh, who walk in the light of the City, who bring their glory and honor into it, and who are healed (or kept in health) by the leaves of its tree of life (chs. Rev 21:24-27; Rev 22:2), i. e., who are under its instruction and government (see below in VII.).
V. The term The Bride probably identifies the citizens of the New Jerusalem with the subjects of the First Resurrection (see the Add. Note on the Marriage, pp. 336 sq.). This body, the Bride (identical probably with the 144,000 of Rev 14:1), will probably be completed at the time of the Marriage, Rev 19:7-9. Into that glorious company it is probable that only those who have been partakers of Christs humiliation and suffering (either personally in company with Him, or throughout the present on, the period of the humiliation of His body, the Church, Col 1:24) shall be received (comp. Luk 22:28-30; Php 3:10-11; 2Th 1:5; 2Ti 2:12; Rev 2:10; Rev 2:26; Rev 3:12; Rev 3:21; Rev 6:9-11; Rev 19:4-6; see also the Add. Note on the Marriage, as above.34 These are they who sit on Christs Throne, who are united with Him in authority,who, as related to Him constitute the Bride; as together with Him constitute the Kingdom, i. e., the governing power (see Excursus on the Basileia, II. 1 (4), p. 99).
VI. Rev 21:2; Rev 21:9-10, does not refer to the Marriagethat took place at the beginning of the Millennial period (see Note on the Marriage, pp. 336 sq.), but to a new manifestation of the prophetical Bride, the Wife. Doubtless before, or at the very moment when, the earth and the heaven fled away (Rev 20:11), she was rapt away to the secret place of Jehovah. These verses describe her as descending from the bosom of her God, out of the New Heaven, clothed in new beauty, upon the New Creation, over which she is to dominate.
VII. The nations (see above in IV.) will consist (probably) of men in the flesh, freed from sin and the curse, begetting a holy seed, and dwelling in blessedness under the government of the New Jerusalem. They will be, not the offspring of the glorified Saints, who neither marry nor are given in marriage (Mat 22:30), but the descendants of those who live in the flesh during the period of the Millennial Kingdom. Brown triumphantly asks, How the inhabitants of the heavens and earth that now are, are tided over this (the) all enveloping, all reducing deluge of fire, into the new heavens and the new earth? In answer it may be said, The same Almighty power that conveyed Noah and his family across the waters of the first deluge, can bear other families across the fiery floods of the second, to be the progenitors of the continued race. It may be retorted that there is no promise of such a miracle. That there is no expressed promise is admittedbut the Divine prediction of an event ever implies the promise of a sufficient cause.
VIII. Although the New Jerusalem state is not to be confounded with the Millennial Kingdom, nor to be regarded as a simple continuance thereof, it is to be looked upon as the antitype of that Kingdom. In a sense, it is that Kingdom raised to a higher planecompletely freed, in its territory and its subjects, from all remains of the curse. The Millennial Kingdom is the reign of the Saints over a race and earth freed indeed from the assaults of Satan, but still, in measure, in sin and under the curse; the New Jerusalem period is that of the reign of the Saints over a race and earth perfectly purified.
IX. The City itself, as it will have placed in it the Throne of God and the Lamb (Rev 22:3), will become the noblest of the many mansions of Heaven. Neither it, however, nor the New Earth on which it is situate, including it, will be the totality of Heaven. John saw the Bride descending out of Heaven (Rev 21:2). The New Earth will be one of the loyal provinces of Heaven, under the light of Heaven, governed by the citizens of Heaven; but it will be the abode of men in the flesh. May it not bear to Heaven a relation similar to that borne by Eden before the fall? Although in it there will be no death, possibly from it will be transported to other scenes its blessed inhabitants, when they have passed through their painless, ennobling pupilage. Possibly, its inhabitants may pass away to other mansions in the Fathers House, where dwell, it may be, the Angels who kept their first estate, and the glorified subjects of the Millennial Kingdom, and others glorified who did not attain to the first Resurrection.
X. The prophecies of the Restoration and the Palingenesia (like those of the Advent) have probably a double application. Initially and typically they may refer to the Millennial Kingdom, which is a type of the New Jerusalem. Ultimately and completely, they have respect to the latter, the Kingdom of the Perfect Restoration.
XI. In conclusion, the writer would remark that he feels most keenly that speculation on this subject is dangerous. Speculation, however, to some degree there must be, if there be study,and study there must be, if we be obedient to the command implied in the benediction, Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy (Rev 1:3). It may also be remarked that those who hold the current opinion as to the New Jerusalem, speculate as really as does the writer. The study of the Divinely given Revelation has convinced him of certain facts concerning this great and glorious subject. These facts, together with certain probable implications, he has stated with trembling, and he trusts with becoming modesty. He now submits them to the considerate construction of his readers.E. R. C.]35
A SONG MADE BY F. B. P.
To the tune of Diana.
Jerusalem! my happy home!
When shall I come to thee,
When shall my sorrows have an end,
Thy joys when shall I see?
O happy harbor of the saints,
O sweet and pleasant soil,
In thee no sorrow may be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.
In thee no sickness may be seen,
No hurt, no ache, no sore;
There is no death, no ugly deil,
Theres life for evermore.
No dampish mist is seen in thee,
No cold nor darksome night;
There every soul shines as the sun,
There God Himself gives light.
There lust and lucre cannot dwell,
There envy bears no sway,
There is no hunger, heat, nor cold,
But pleasure every way.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
God grant I once may see
Thy endless jovs, and of the same,
Partaker aye to be.
Thy walls are made of precious stones,
Thy bulwarks diamonds square,
Thy gates are of right orient pearl,
Exceeding rich and rare.
Thy turrets and thy pinnacles
With carbuncles do shine,
Thy very streets are paved with gold,
Surpassing clear and fine.
Thy houses are of ivory,
Thy windows crystal clear,
Thy tiles are made of beaten gold;
O God, that I were there!
Within thy gates no thing doth come
That is not passing clean,
No spiders web, no dirt, no dust,
No filth may there be seen.
Ah, my sweet home, Jerusalem!
Would God I were in thee,
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see.
Thy saints are crowned with glory great,
They see God face to face,
They triumph still, they still rejoice,
Most happy is their case.
We that are here in banishment
Continually do moan;
We sigh and sob, we weep and wail,
Perpetually we groan.
Our sweet is mixed with bitter gall,
Our pleasure is but pain,
Our joys scarce last the looking on,
Our sorrows still remain.
But there they live in such delight,
Such pleasure, and such play,
As that to them a thousand years,
Doth seem as yesterday.
Thy vineyards and thy orchards are
Most beautiful and fair,
Full furnished with trees and fruits,
Most wonderful and rare.
Thy gardens and thy gallant walks
Continually are green;
There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers
As nowhere else are seen.
Theres nectar and ambrosia made,
Theres musk and civet sweet,
There many a fair and dainty drug
Are trodden under feet.
There cinnamon, there sugar grows,
There nard and balm abound.
What tongue can tell or heart conceive
The joys that there are found!
Quite through the streets, with silver sound,
The flood of life doth flow,
Upon whose banks, on every side,
The wood of life doth grow.
There trees for evermore bear fruit,
And evermore do spring;
There evermore the angels sit,
And evermore do sing.
There David stands with harp in hand
As master of the choir;
Ten thousand times that man were blest
That might this music hear.
Our lady sings Magnificat,
With tune surpassing sweet,
And all the virgins bear their parts,
Sitting above her feet.
Te Deum doth Saint Ambrose sing,
Saint Austine doth the like;
Old Simeon and Zachary
Have not their song to seek.
There Magdalene hath left her moan,
And cheerfully doth sing,
With blessed saints whose harmony
In every street doth ring.
Jerusalem, my happy home!
Would God I were in thee,
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see!E. R. C.]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Twenty-First
Heavenly-Earthly Picture (Earth-Picture) of the New World. The Kingdom of Glory. (Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5.)
General.The Kingdom of glory is the Kingdom of consummation; of the consummate development of all the human capabilities of mankind, as born again through Christianity, together with the consummate development of the renewed cosmos of mankind; the Palingenesia of the human world, founded on the holy Birth and Resurrection of ChristHis Primogeniture from the deadand mediated by the regeneration and resurrection of the faithful.Relation of the human cosmos to the universe in general.This relation is modified by the absolute priority of Christ, resting upon His Divine-human nature, the ideal perfection of His life, the holiness of His cross, the glory of His victory. The consummation itself, however, as eternal, is based upon the super-creaturely, God-related, onic nature of humanity; upon the eternal foundation, the eternal aim, and the eternal value of the life and work of Christ; and upon the covenant-faithfulness of God and the sureness of His promises.
The promises of God, as real prophecies, in nature and in the development of life, as well as in those verbal prophecies of the Kingdom of God which hover above this life, have all aimed at that glorious consummation, at the eternalization of the Christian life and its sphere, the eternal City of God. Hence, the domain of the consummation is at the same time the domain of all fulfillments; it is both of these as the Kingdom of glory, the blessed realm of spirits, filled with the life of the Eternal Spirit.
The Kingdom of glory unfolds in three spheres, appearing (1) as the consummation and fulfillment of the Theocracy, or as the heavenly Jerusalem, the City of God (Rev 21:9-21); (2) as the consummation and fulfillment of all the truth and all the longing contained in the religious history of mankind, or as the holy Home-City of all believing Gentiles [nations] (Rev 21:22-27); (3) as the consummation and fulfillment of all the prophecies of nature, or as the Home-Country of all souls, the universal, new Paradise (Rev 22:1-5).
Special.The perfected Kingdom of God, in respect of its different designations and imports: Historic form of the Kingdom of God (Rev 21:9-21); the City of God; the heavenly Jerusalem; the Bride.Blessed prospect of the City of God. Most glorious of all prospects. Jerusalem, du hoch gebaute Stadt, etc. [Jerusalem, thou city fair and high]. Ich hab von ferne, etc.Procession of the City of God: 1. From Heaven to earth; 2. From earth to Heaven; 3. Back again, from Heaven to earth.[Rev 21:10.] The descending City of God, or perfected communication between Heaven (the starry world) and earth.Description of the City of God (Rev 21:11-21). Its source of light; its walls; its gates; its dimensions and fundamental forms; its fundamental materials.Spiritual, universal form of the Kingdom of God (Rev 21:22-27). Its spiritual Temple. Its spiritual Sun. Its spiritual Church. Its spiritual liberty. Its spiritual fullness. Its spiritual purity and consecrateness.The new Paradise (Rev 22:1-5). The river of life: 1. Where does it appear? 2. Whence does it come? 3. Whither does it flow?The river of life: 1. In respect of its name; 2. In respect of its beauty (like crystal); 3. In respect of its products.The trees of lifethe manifestation of highest life: 1. From the Fountain of life to the River of life; 2. From the River of life to the Trees of life; 3. From the Trees of life to their fruits; 4. From the fruits to the health-producing leaves.The perfected, pure, consecrated creature (Rev 22:3).The laws of purity for creaturely life: a prophecy of the future glorification of the world.Activity and rest in the Paradise of God (Rev 22:3-4).Perfect union of culture and cultus in the Paradise of God.The service (Rev 22:3).The blessed rest (the beholding of God [Rev 22:4]).The region of eternal sunshine [Rev 22:5].The new world shining in the radiance of the glory of the Lord.The glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8), in its eternal duration and renewal.
Starke: [Rev 21:12.] God is a fiery wall and protection to His Church (Zec 2:5).
Rev 21:13. Entrance into the Church is free to all people, in all corners of the world, who will but come to the fellowship of the Church (1Ti 2:4).
Rev 21:14. The one true Foundation of the Church and of eternal blessedness is Christ alone (1Co 3:11). This Foundation is laid solely through the Apostles (Eph 2:20). (The reconcilement of the apparent contradiction is to be found in the fact that Christ has organically unfolded His fullness in the twelve Apostles.)On Rev 21:23, comp. Isa 60:19-20.On Rev 21:24, comp. Isa 60:3; see Isa 49:23; Isa 2:2 sq.; Psa 72:10-11; also Isa 52:1; Isa 60:21; Eze 44:9.Rev 22:2. A contrast to ancient Babylon is here presented. As the Euphrates flowed through the midst of Babylon, and as the river of Babylon dried up (Rev 16:12), so, on the other hand, the spiritual Jerusalem has the river of the Holy Spirit, which brings water through the midst of the City and which shall never dry up.Christ is the Tree of life, which has life in itself.On Rev 21:3, comp. Zec 14:11.
W. Hoffmann, Maranatha (Ruf zum Herrn, Vol. VIII. Sermon on 2Pe 3:13-14. P. 180). We shall speak of the new world of the redeemed, as described in our text in the following words: But we wait for a new Heaven and a new earth. For the first word of revelation from Gods mouth runs: In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth, and the last word of prophecy is that which we have just read. Thus, between the first coming into existence of Heaven and earth and the last everlasting being of Heaven and earth, all the Divine economy moves.
[From M. Henry: Rev 21:10. They who would have clear views of heaven must get as near heaven as they can, into the mount of vision, the mount of meditation and faith, from whence, as from the top of Pisgah, they may behold the goodly land of the heavenly Canaan.
Rev 21:11. Having the glory of God; glorious in her relation to Christ, in His image now perfected in her, and in His favor shining upon her.
Rev 21:12. Note, 1. The wall. Heaven is a safe state. 2. The gates. It is accessible to all those that are sanctified.
Rev 21:22. There the saints are above the need of ordinances, which were the means of their preparation for heaven. Perfect and immediate communion with God will more than supply the place of gospel-institutions.
Rev 21:23. God in Christ will be an everlasting Fountain of knowledge and joy to the saints in heaven.
Rev 21:27. The saints shall have (1) no impure thing remain in them, (2) no impure persons admitted among them.
Rev 22:1. All our springs of grace, comfort and glory are in God; and all our streams from Him, through the mediation of the Lamb.
Rev 22:3. And there shall be no more curse. Here is the great excellency of this paradisethe Devil has nothing to do there; he cannot draw the saints from serving God to be subject to himself, as he did our first parents, nor can he so much as disturb them in the service of God.
Rev 22:4-5. Note, 1. There the saints shall see the face of God; there enjoy the beatific vision. 2. God will own them, as having His seal and name on their foreheads. 3. They shall reign with Him forever; their service shall be not only freedom, but honor and dominion. 4. They shall be full of wisdom and comfort, continually walking in the light of the Lord.From The Comprehensive Commentary. Rev 21:9-27. Glorious things are indeed here spoken of the City of God (Psa 87:3); and the whole is well suited to raise our expectations and enlarge our conceptions of its security, peace, splendor, purity and felicity; but, in proportion to our spirituality, we shall be more and more led to contemplate heaven as filled with the glory of God, and enlightened by the presence of the Lord Jesus, the Sun of righteousness, and the Redeemer of lost sinners, knowing that in His presence is fullness of joy, and pleasures at His right hand for evermore. (Scott.)As nothing unclean can enter thither, let us be stirred up, by these glimpses of heavenly things, in giving diligence to cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God; that we may be approved as Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile, and have a sure evidence that we are written in the Lambs book of life. (Scott.)Rev 22:5. In that world of light and glory there will be no night, no affliction, or dejection, no intermission of service and enjoyments; they will need no candle; no diversions or pleasures of mans devising will there be at all wanted; and even the outward comforts which God has provided, suited to our state in this world, will no longer be requisite. (Scott.)From Vaughan: Rev 21:22. The Lord God and the Lamb are the Temple of it. The worship of heaven is offered directly, not only to God, but in God. It is as if God Himself were the shrine in which man will then adore Him. The blessed will be so included in God that even when they worship, He will be their temple.If we would hereafter worship in that temple which is God Himself, Christ Himself, we must know God now by faith; we must have life now in Christ.Rev 22:3. If in heaven we would serve God, we must begin to be His servants here.From Bonar: Chs. 20, 21. What a termination to the long, long desert-journey of the Church of God, calling forth from us the exulting shout which broke from the lips of the Crusaders, when first from the neighboring height they caught sight of the holy city: Jerusalem! Jerusalem!]
Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange
(9) 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. (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, (11) Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Reader! let you and I bless God, for this precious discovery, made to John, for the Church’s joy, of the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife. Here is represented, under the similitude of a temple, (Psa 144:12 ) the whole body of Christ, the Church; even every individual, which was given to him by the Father, and betrothed by him before all worlds, and now, through sovereign grace, are brought home to that glory, which was from all eternity the first in God’s designs, and now finished, in his final decree, according to his eternal purpose. The invitation the angel gave to John, methinks, I would humbly hope, is given to all the companions of John; (Rev 1:9 .) and therefore, by faith, I would accept the invitation; come up hither, and behold the Lamb’s Wife!
What a sweet, thought it is, that when God the Father first presented the Church to his dear Son, before all worlds; she was then beheld by Christ, as she really was, in all that beauty, and glory, in which God presented her, and as she stood before him in his divine mind, holy and without blame before him in love, Eph 1:4 . And though, in this time-state of the Church, she is sunk into such sin and misery, that all her features are changed; yet, I say, it is a blessed thought, that she was not so at the first, neither is she to be so at the last, and forever. And, therefore, God’s first, and original design, must be accomplished. She shall be before him holy, and without blame in love. This Church then, this King’s daughter, (Psa 45:17 ) it should be remembered, hath lost nothing of her relationship by sin. A King’s daughter she still was, and is, during the whole of this time-state. And a King’s daughter, and a King’s wife, she will remain, to all eternity. Sin destroys not this affinity. All the water of the sea, cannot wash away the relationship. In this betrothing, and union, Christ received her at the hands of his Father; and she became the object of his desire then, and must, and will remain so, to all eternity.
Well but, say you, she hath fallen into foul dishonor, shame, and misery, since. Yes! she hath. But that did not alienate the affections of her Husband from her. For these are his own words to her. Thou hast played the harlot with many lovers; yet return again unto me, saith the Lord, Jer 3:1 . And, since nothing but his own grace, put into her heart, would bring her back; that grace the Lord hath given her, and made her willing in the day of his power. Hence, this state of sin and misery, afforded a blessed opportunity, for the display of his love. And Jesus came into this our world, in quest of her, he died for her, shed his blood for her, and washed her from all her sins in his blood; and having clothed her with the robe of his own righteousness, she is now more beautiful than ever and he hath presented her to himself, a glorious Church, not haying spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing, but is holy and without blemish, Eph 5:27 .
It is impossible for the imagination to form to itself anything more blessed, than the contemplation of Christ, and his Church, in the manner, and way, the Angel described it to John. In the opening of this Chapter, he saw in a vision, the Church coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; but this view was in one mass. Here, the Angel brought John to a nearer, and more distinct apprehension. The Church is here said to have had upon her the glory of God. And John’s mind seems to have been somewhat in the frame that Paul’s was, when caught up to the third heaven, 2Co 12:2 etc.
I do not presume to enter into the full extent of what is here meant by the expression of having the glory of God. But as I am inclined to think, that what is here said of the Church, during the thousand years reign of Christ, relates to those, who are said to be blessed and holy, in having part in the first resurrection; and of consequence form part of this Church; the glory of God is upon them, both in body and soul. It should seem, that this thousand years reign is intended for some great and special purposes, in relation to the Lord’s kingdom. And as such, those who constitute the kings and Priests of our God in that assembly, will be in a state of perfection, as well in body as soul; and therefore, will be under the continual manifestations of the glory of God. And, if the Shechinah was frequently in the Church in the Wilderness, and Moses was admitted into a more familiar manner than others, to behold the glory of the Lord, until the skin of his face shone, from the reflected brightness; it should seem, that no objection can be supposed to arise, for the saints of God, in this Millennium state, to be brought under such displays of glory, in the prospect also, of the near approach to the eternal kingdom. But I speak only presumptively.
Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 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.
Ver. 9. One of the seven angels ] The same, likely, that, Rev 17:1 , had showed him the damnation of the whore. So studious and officious are the angels to serve the saints, Heb 1:14 .
The bride, the Lamb’s wife ] Uxor fulget radiis mariti, saith the civilian; so is it here.
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
9 22:5 .] More particular description of the heavenly Jerusalem . And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, which (namely the angels, however strange it may seem) were full of the seven last plagues (one of these angels had before shewn the Apostle the great harlot, ch. Rev 17:1 . The contrast to that vision is maintained throughout these opening verses), and he talked with me, saying, Hither, I will shew thee (hitherto verbatim as in ch. Rev 17:1 ) the bride, the wife of the Lamb (here likewise note the contrast to the succeeding context in ch. Rev 17:1 , in the faithfulness and purity implied in these words). And he carried me away in the spirit (ch. Rev 17:3 ) to ( , as we say in some parts of England, on to , combining motion towards and position upon) a mountain great and high (so likewise when the vision of the heavenly city is vouchsafed to Ezekiel, Eze 40:1-2 ), and shewed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (this vision had begun in Rev 21:2 , but the Apostle is now carried to this “specular mount” to have a nearer and fuller view of it. The city must not be conceived of as on or covering the mountain, but as seen descending to a spot close by it: so in Eze 40:2 , whether we read “by” or “upon” as in our margin), having the glory of God (i. e. not merely brightness of a divine and celestial kind, but the glorious presence of God Himself, the Shechinah, abiding in her: see Rev 21:23 ; also ch. Rev 15:8 ): her brightness (henceforward the description goes on independent in construction of , and changes several times: so in ch. Rev 1:15 ff. See Winer, edn. 6, 59. 11. , from Rev 21:23 , is the effect of the divine glory shining in her: see reff. Gen., where it is used of the heavenly bodies) ( was ) like to a stone most precious, as it were to a jasper stone, crystal clear (Wetst. quotes from Psellus, . See this “crystallizing” jasper discussed in note on ch. Rev 4:3 . Ebrard thinks it is the diamond); having (on the construction, see above) a wall great and high, having ( also ) twelve gates (see Eze 48:30 ff., where the same features are found in the description), and at the gates (dat. after , of close juxtaposition, primarily of addition ) twelve angels, and names inscribed (contrast to the , ch. Rev 17:3 ), which are [ the names ] of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel (it does not follow from this description either, 1. that the angels must necessarily be guardians, seeing that no foes remain to be guarded against: they are for the completeness and adornment of the city after the idea of a beautiful fortress, adopted to set it forth: or, 2. that, as in the Jewish books (see De Wette here), each gate is to be imagined as used by each tribe: the twelve tribes of Israel represent the whole people of God, and the city the encampment of Israel: see below). From (on the side entering from) the sun-rising three gates (Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, in Eze 48:32 . In ch. Rev 7:6 , Manasseh is substituted for Dan, which is omitted. See there), from the north three gates (Reuben, Judah, Levi), from the south three gates (Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun), from the sun-setting three gates (Gad, Asher, Naphtali: Ezek. ibid. In Num 2 , the order of encampment is thus set down: East , Judah, Issachar, Zebulun: South , Reuben, Simeon, Gad: West , Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin: North , Dan, Asher, Naphtali). And the wall of the city (the wall surrounding the city) having (had: for masc. of the part., see ch. Rev 4:1 reff.) twelve foundation-stones (i. e. probably, each portion of the wall joining two gates had a conspicuous basement, of one vast stone. Four of these, as Dsterd. observes, would be corner-stones, joining the third gate on one side to the first gate on the next), and upon them (gen. over them, perhaps extending all their length) twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (cf. Eph 2:20 , where however the ruling idea is a different one, see the interpretation in the note. No inference can be drawn as has been drawn by some from this that the Writer was not himself an Apostle: see prolegg. i. 84 ff.).
Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament
NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Rev 21:9-14
9Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. 12It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. 13There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. 14And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Rev 21:9 “one of the seven angels” This is the exact description of the angel in Rev 15:1; Rev 15:6-8; Rev 16:1; and Rev 17:1 who poured out the seven bowls. There is a tradition in rabbinical Judaism that there are seven Angels of the Presence who serve God. Here, there is one angel for each plague.
Rev 21:10 “And he carried me away in the Spirit” This is a literary technique to show the different visions (cf. Rev 1:10; Rev 4:2; Rev 17:3; Rev 21:10).
“to a great and high mountain” Many believe that this is in direct antithesis to the great whore who was on the plain. However, John alludes to many OT passages, so here he may be referring to the mysterious northern mountain where God lives (cf. Eze 40:2; Isa 2:2; Isa 14:13; Mic 4:1; I Enoch 18:8; 25:3). It is even possible that it alludes to Satan’s temptation of Jesus in Mat 4:8.
“and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven” This is heavenly Jerusalem, a metaphor of God’s presence (cf. Rev 21:2). The earthly sinful Jerusalem was discussed in Rev 11:1-13. The capital city of David has become universalized into the end-time abode of all of God’s people (cf. Joh 14:2-3).
Rev 21:11 “Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper” The city (cf. Rev 21:11-27) is described in very beautiful, physical, and moral terms. Like all of the book of Revelation, this chapter is symbolic. Humans’ sinful, finite minds simply cannot comprehend the ultimate joy and glory of the presence of God (cf. 1Co 2:9). Literal jewels and a fantastic ancient city may be good metaphors, but they are not ultimate reality! Heaven is really both a person (Jesus), and a place (for fellowship with the Triune God).
Rev 21:12 “with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels” This is an allusion to Eze 48:31-34. The number “twelve” occurs again and again in the remainder of this chapter and the first few verses of chapter 22. It is the biblical numerical symbol of organization (twelve months, twelve tribes, or twelve apostles) or of God’s people. See Special Topic: the Number Twelve at Rev 7:4.
“and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” The list of the twelve tribes in Rev 7:5-8 is slightly altered to show their symbolic nature. Here, it is very important to note that the OT people of God, described as gates in Rev 21:12, are united with the NT people of God, described as foundation stones, in Rev 21:14. There has always been only one people of God, but this mystery was not clearly revealed until the gospel (cf. Eph 2:11 to Eph 3:13).
Rev 21:14 “the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb” All of these metaphors allude to Ezekiel’s end-time temple (cf. Ezekiel 40-48).
Many commentators have asserted that this verse shows that the author cannot have been John the Apostle. However, Paul uses a similar phrase in Eph 2:20.
Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley
unto me. The texts omit.
seven . . . plagues. See Rev 16:1.
talked. App-121.
bride. Greek. numphe. See Rev 21:2. Mat 10:35. Luk 12:63. Joh 3:29. Joh 18:23; Joh 22:17. The “wife” and the “bride” here must not be confused with “the wife” of Rev 19:7. The wife of Rev 19:7 is Israel, called out from all the nations for blessing in the Land, the earthly consort of “the great King” (compare Psa 45. Jer 3:14). The “bride, the Lamb’s wife” here is still of Israel, but that Israel of the “heavenly calling” (Heb 3:1); all those connected with the “heavenly” country and “the city which hath the foundations”, for which “they looked” (Heb 11:13-16). See App-197.
wife. Greek. gune, always rend. “wife”, or “woman”. The wife of Rev 19:7 is not called numphe. Here she is both numphe and gune (first occurrence Mat 1:20). See App-197.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
9-22:5.] More particular description of the heavenly Jerusalem. And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, which (namely the angels, however strange it may seem) were full of the seven last plagues (one of these angels had before shewn the Apostle the great harlot, ch. Rev 17:1. The contrast to that vision is maintained throughout these opening verses), and he talked with me, saying, Hither, I will shew thee (hitherto verbatim as in ch. Rev 17:1) the bride, the wife of the Lamb (here likewise note the contrast to the succeeding context in ch. Rev 17:1,-in the faithfulness and purity implied in these words). And he carried me away in the spirit (ch. Rev 17:3) to (, as we say in some parts of England, on to, combining motion towards and position upon) a mountain great and high (so likewise when the vision of the heavenly city is vouchsafed to Ezekiel, Eze 40:1-2), and shewed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God (this vision had begun in Rev 21:2, but the Apostle is now carried to this specular mount to have a nearer and fuller view of it. The city must not be conceived of as on or covering the mountain, but as seen descending to a spot close by it: so in Eze 40:2, whether we read by or upon as in our margin), having the glory of God (i. e. not merely brightness of a divine and celestial kind, but the glorious presence of God Himself, the Shechinah, abiding in her: see Rev 21:23; also ch. Rev 15:8): her brightness (henceforward the description goes on independent in construction of , and changes several times: so in ch. Rev 1:15 ff. See Winer, edn. 6, 59. 11. , from Rev 21:23, is the effect of the divine glory shining in her: see reff. Gen., where it is used of the heavenly bodies) (was) like to a stone most precious, as it were to a jasper stone, crystal clear (Wetst. quotes from Psellus, . See this crystallizing jasper discussed in note on ch. Rev 4:3. Ebrard thinks it is the diamond); having (on the construction, see above) a wall great and high, having (also) twelve gates (see Eze 48:30 ff., where the same features are found in the description), and at the gates (dat. after , of close juxtaposition, primarily of addition) twelve angels, and names inscribed (contrast to the , ch. Rev 17:3), which are [the names] of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel (it does not follow from this description either, 1. that the angels must necessarily be guardians, seeing that no foes remain to be guarded against: they are for the completeness and adornment of the city after the idea of a beautiful fortress, adopted to set it forth:-or, 2. that, as in the Jewish books (see De Wette here), each gate is to be imagined as used by each tribe: the twelve tribes of Israel represent the whole people of God, and the city the encampment of Israel: see below). From (on the side entering from) the sun-rising three gates (Joseph, Benjamin, Dan, in Eze 48:32. In ch. Rev 7:6, Manasseh is substituted for Dan, which is omitted. See there), from the north three gates (Reuben, Judah, Levi), from the south three gates (Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun), from the sun-setting three gates (Gad, Asher, Naphtali: Ezek. ibid. In Numbers 2, the order of encampment is thus set down: East,-Judah, Issachar, Zebulun: South,-Reuben, Simeon, Gad: West,-Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin: North,-Dan, Asher, Naphtali). And the wall of the city (the wall surrounding the city) having (had: for masc. of the part., see ch. Rev 4:1 reff.) twelve foundation-stones (i. e. probably, each portion of the wall joining two gates had a conspicuous basement, of one vast stone. Four of these, as Dsterd. observes, would be corner-stones, joining the third gate on one side to the first gate on the next), and upon them (gen. over them, perhaps extending all their length) twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb (cf. Eph 2:20, where however the ruling idea is a different one, see the interpretation in the note. No inference can be drawn as has been drawn by some from this that the Writer was not himself an Apostle: see prolegg. i. 84 ff.).
Fuente: The Greek Testament
Rev 21:9-22. 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 Lambs 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; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates 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. 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. And he 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 pure gold, like unto 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, 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. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
The less there is of true religion, the more there usually is of outward ritualism. When true religion shall fill every heart, and God shall be the supreme joy of his people, they will need no temple.
Rev 21:23. 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.
Outward means are abolished when their mission is accomplished.
Rev 21:24. 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.
The Church shall be the metropolis of the world; it shall be honoured and esteemed among the nations of mankind. When men are godly, then will they reverence the abode of God, namely, the living Church, built up of living stones, upon the one foundation, Jesus Christ.
Rev 21:25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
There will be no need to shut out enemies at night, for the day shall last right on. The Churchs most intimate intercourse with God, her constant commerce with the skies, will have begun then.
Rev 21:26-27. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into 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.
Into this holy city, the graceless, the Christless, the faithless shall never come. Here, we have a mixture of light and darkness; but, in those better days, it shall be all light, and the darkness shall have fled far away for ever.
Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible
Rev 21:9-27
3. THE HOLY CITY DESCRIBED
Rev 21:9-27
9 And he spake with me.–The speaker here was one of the seven angels that poured out the seven plagues. This final appearance of a plague angel indicates that the visions in 17:1 to 22:5 form a continuous revelation that comes under the period covered by the seven plagues. This, of course, puts the millennium before Christ’s personal coming, for the plagues bring us to the judgment. (Rev 16:17-21.) In this paragraph we have a most graphic description of the final state under the emblem of a glorious city. The vision again mingles the figures–city and wife. See notes on verse 2 and Rev 19:7. Different figures are sometimes used in close connection to present different features of the same subject. For example, shepherd and door both refer to Christ. (Joh 10:1-12.) The false church was called a harlot and Babylon (Rev 17:5-6) ; the true church is then appropriate. represented as a holy city and a true wife.
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high.–In some kind of mental ecstasy John was transported to the mountain and saw the new Jerusalem appear to descend from heaven. This but repeats what is stated in verse 2. That may be a kind of brief introductory expression while verse 10 introduces a detailed description of that city.
11 Having the glory of God.—-In the descending city which John saw in the vision there was God’s glory; its light was like a precious stone clear as crystal, dazzling bright. Truly an appropriate appearance for the dwelling place of God.
12 Having a wall great and high; having twelve gates.–A great wall indicates that the eternal city of our God will be securely protected–no enemy can ever touch the redeemed again. Angels at the gates carries the same idea of protection or being safely guarded.Possibly there is here an allusion to the Cherubim and flaming sword that protected the tree of life in Eden.(Gen 3:24.) “Twelve tribes” taken literally and spiritually include God’s people in different ages.
13 On the east were three gates.–If there is any spiritual significance in placing three gates on each side, it probably indicates that entrance was open to those from all quarters.
14 Twelve foundations.–Expositors have offered different plans for the arrangement of the twelve foundations, but with nothing to support their views except supposition. It is not a question of enough importance to justify speculation. The simple statement is sufficient. The names of the apostles on the foundations agree with Paul’s words in Eph 2:20 regarding the church. Occupying a position of authority in the church, it follows that those in the glorified church would be there because of their dependence upon the apostles; or heaven will be peopled with those who have obeyed the apostles, if old enough to be responsible.
15 Had for a measure a golden reed.–He that talked with John was the angel. See verse 9. On the measuring reed see notes on Rev 11:1. A golden reed corresponds with the grandeur and value of the city. The object of measuring the temple, worship, and worshippers (Rev 11:1-2) was to enable those in the restoration work to reproduce congregations just as they existed in the apostolic days; here the measurement will show that the eternal city is according to divine plans and spacious enough for all the saved.
16 And the city lieth foursquare.–We should constantly remember that the description we are reading is what John saw in the vision; what it signifies is a different thing. The city which the apostle saw measured was not only foursquare, but was a cube–length, width, and height equal. Again we find commentators disagreed regarding the measurement. All agree that 12,000 furlongs equal 1,500 miles, but the difficulty comes in applying the figures. If the 12,000 furlongs applied to each side of the cube, then the city was 1,500 miles in every direction. But some view the 12,000 furlongs as the distance around the city. If that be correct, then each dimension was 375 miles. In either case, if the city be understood literally, it will be entirely too large to be in Palestine, for the whole country is not that large. That this number should be taken symbolically seems to be unquestionably demanded. Such an enormous city, all beyond human imagination, if taken literally, indicates the ample provisions our God had made for the final home of his obedient children.
17 And he measured the wall thereof.–A wall was necessary to make the vision correspond with cities of that age. It also carries the idea of protection. That would be the significance here unless it is just a part of the symbolic imagery and used only to make the picture harmonious. The whole measurement is in multiples of twelve, which would indicate not only symmetry but perfection. According to the measure of a man evidently means that the reed used was the same length that man would use. Since the vision was for men, the standard measuring lengths had to be used.
18 And the building of the wall thereof.–The wall above the foundations was of jasper–at least, so it appeared to John ; the edifices of the city appeared to be of pure gold, shining with the brilliancy of pure glass. Of course, this description need not be taken literally, but it does show that earth’s richest jewels and most precious metals are but symbols of the richness of God’s provisions for the saved in heaven. What more compelling inducement could be offered to earth’s weary and heavy-laden?
19, 20 The foundations of the wall of the city.–Even the foundations of the wall were adorned with twelve manner of precious stones.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls.–Among ancients pearls were considered of the highest value among precious stone because their beauty was entirely natural and without effort of art. Each gate appeared to be of one pearl, possibly because so adorned with them that it had the appearance of being one. The street of the city was pure gold. That literal metals could be meant is true, of course, when we remember the infinite power of God. But as the picture that John saw is clearly symbolical, there is no logical need for saying that what he saw were the real metals and stones. It is enough to meet all the demands of emblematic figures to say that they had the appearance of such objects.
22 And I saw no temple therein.–Under the Jewish system the most holy place of the temple was where God met the high priest, as representative of the people; in the Church–the true tabernacle–all are kings and priests and worship God; it is the place where he meets them spiritually. In the heavenly Jerusalem he will meet the saved personally; there will be no special place for a tabernacle, for the whole city will be the temple; or, in another view, God and the Lamb will be the temple. In 7:15 it says that in the final state we will “serve him day and night in his temple.” There is no conflict here, for the presence of God throughout the city makes a temple of it. The most holy place of the Jewish temple was a cube. The holy city being in the same form may suggest the idea that it is temple. The presence of God and the Lamb is further justification for saying that the whole city will be a temple.
23 And the city hath no need of the sun.–Ordinary cities known to men must have lights both natural and artificial. Not so will it be in the new Jerusalem. The glory of God and the presence of the Christ will be all the light needed.
24 And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof.–Evidently this means that the saved from all nations will be in that city. That is clear from the answer to the question as to who will be there. See Rev 7:13-15. The prophet said that all nations would flow into the mountain of the Lord’s house. (Isa 2:2.) The redeemed will come from all nations, but in heaven will be spiritual beings with all national distinctions blotted out. To carry out the same figure kings–the rulers of nations–will bring their honor into it. They will not there be acting as kings, but rather will themselves become subjects to God and give him all the glory that once they received.
25 And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut.–Ancient cities shut their gates by night and opened them by day. In God’s eternal city there will be no night, for the glory of God and Christ will give it perpetual light. The open gate is another emblem of security. The closed gate with a guard indicates protection, but the gate open continually shows that nothing harmful will enter.
26 This verse is a repetition of the thought of verse 24.
27 And there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean. –This verse is substantially the same in thought as verse 8 with the additional statement that none can enter except those written in the “Lamb’s book of life.” This is both inclusive and exclusive—encouraging the faithful by the fact that no wicked can enter. Those who desire to enter must be righteous ; in heaven they will be free from vexations due to the sins of men.
Commentary on Rev 21:9-27 by Foy E. Wallace
(3) The description of the massive dimensions of the great city, the holy new Jerusalem-Rev 21:9-17.
The original designation for Jerusalem was the name Salem, mentioned Psa 76:2, and it meant the possession of peace, or the inheritance of peace. It was the most important city of biblical history, and the most sacred and the most desecrated of the whole world. The Psalmist of Israel sang its praises; but Christ the Saviour wept tears of sorrow over its apostasies, unfaithfulness and approaching desolation. (Mat 23:37-38)
The Jerusalem of the time of Christ and the apostles and people of the New Testament lies buried beneath the ruins of the succeeding centuries; and the Jerusalem which was the city of David is buried far deeper below the surface of modern Jerusalem. In the fifteen centuries of its existence from its first appearance in Old Testament history until its destruction in A. D. 70 it had been besieged some fifteen or twenty times, was twice razed and burned, and twice its walls were crumbled by enemy attacks. There is not the slightest feature remaining today of its ancient glory.
Under Solomon the city of David attained its highest fame and greatest grandeur, as the result of the wise kings accomplishments of the building of the magnificent temple and royal palace, and the extension and strengthening of its massive walls. With a vast army of skilled craftsmen the enormous workmanship that entered into its erection was completed, and the venerated temple with its splendorous sanctuary was dedicated within seven and one-half years. This was in wide contrast with the gradual work on Herod’s temple, standing in the time of Christ, which required forty and six years to complete. (Joh 2:20) It was in king Solomons reign, due to these accomplishments, that Jerusalem became the one central place of all the world for the true worship of God. It was the Mecca of the Jews, the holy city, and whether near or far, at home or in foreign land, the devoted Jew prayed with his face toward Jerusalem.
Captured by the Roman Pompey in B. C. 63, the land of the Jews was again subjugated and became a province of the Caesars. Approximately twenty years later, B. C. 40, the city fell to the Parthians, under Antigonus; but only one year later Herod the Great laid siege to the city, and supported by the Roman army the citadel and the temple were recaptured by storm; and Herod was afterward made king of Judea by the Romans. He at once improved and beautified the city, and initiated the enlargement and refurbishing of the temple without and within, requiring the period of forty-six years as mentioned in the gospel record of John. Under the rule of Herod the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple approximated their ancient magnificence.
The Jerusalem of the New Testament times stood with all the imposing grandeur and strength to which it had been brought by Herod through nearly a half-century of workmanship, with all of its multiple walls and structures. It was after the death of Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, that the province of Judea was again ruled by oppressive provincial Roman procurators, and Jerusalem became the ground for the scenes of discontent, violent insurrections and political rebellion. It is no wonder that her apostasies and abominations should become the object of the Patmos visions to signify the Harlot; and it is not strange that the once holy city should be the type of the New Jerusalem, the Bride and church of Christ the Lamb.
With this excursion we return to the apocalyptic description of the GreatCity, the Holy New Jerusalem, which begins with verse nine of chapter twenty-one.
This vision of the Holy City was in contrast with the vision of Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth of chapter seventeen. There one of the angels of judgment showed John the Harlot City (the old Jerusalem) which had become the mother of the abominations of the earth (Palestine) by her many apostasies; as lamented by Jesus Christ himself in the twenty-third and the twenty-fourth chapters of Matthew.
In the vision of chapter twenty-one, now under consideration, the same angels showed John the Holy City. They were hitherto the executioners of divine wrath and judgment; but here they were the administrators of divine love and reward. In comparison, the angels in the two chapters (17 and 21) used the same identification in the language describing their functions, but for a different mission. In chapters seventeen to nineteen these angels were on the mission of pronouncing judgment upon the Harlot Woman; but in chapter twenty-one the mission of the same angels was to exhibit the Holy City, the Bride.
It was appropriate that the angels pronouncing the doom on the old Jerusalem of Judaism should also announce the blessings of triumph awaiting the New Jerusalem Bride. The chapter is a continuation of the vial-angel visions, culminating in the glorious success of the church in the heathen world.
1. Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife-Rev 21:9. This beckoning of the angel is another proof, among the many others in the contexts of these chapters, that the descriptions of the holy city were not visions of heaven the home of the soul, but of the glorious church of Christ, designated the bride and the wife of the Lamb, redeemed from tribulation, but yet to fulfill her divine mission on the earth.
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 spirit–that 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 Lords 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 Isaiahs 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 of Christ 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– that is, 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. The holy 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.
3. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal-Rev 21:11.
The attribute of glory here ascribed to the holy church in descent was an allusion to the cloud of glory that covered and filled the tabernacle at its completion– the Shekinah, that divine manifestation through which Gods presence was made known. The light of the City was like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. In Rev 4:3 the One on the throne had this appearance of crystal jasper; so the vision here is that the Holy City represented the resplendent glory of God Himself, as Paul affirmed of the church in Eph 3:21 : Unto him be glory in the church by Jesus Christ throughout all ages, world without end.
The force of this descriptive attribute of the Holy City was the ultimate in glory and grandeur. The ancient crystal jasper was pellucid in its transparency and diaphonous in its translucency. As the sun is the luminary of the heavens, the glory of God Himself illumined this descending Holy City, the New Jerusalem church, with the divine effulgence of his presence.
4. And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. . . . And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb-Rev 21:12-14.
The great wall of this vision was symbolic of security, and represented the protection from all the foes by which the church has been assailed; and which had assured them of the complete victory that was here envisioned. The massive walls with the huge gates were necessary to the ancient cities. Upon the outer wall of ancient Babylon three horse-drawn chariots could drive abreast; in the walls were twenty-five great brass gates; and upon the walls were two hundred fifty gigantic towers for the guard of watchmen.
Jerusalem had twelve gates in its wall, with the gateman at each station, and the watchmen in its towers. In this mountain-top vision the wall of the Great City had twelve gates; and at these gates twelve angels at guard. It was the symbol of the continued success of the cause of Christ, the security from all past hazards of persecution, and the freedom from the assaults from the dragon-beast as the personification of Satan in the imperial persecutors.
The word gates has been rendered portals, which in the singular means the door of a gate; or in the plural, the portal of a city. The numeral twelve as applied here, and in Mat 19:28 to the twelve tribes and the twelve apostles, represented completeness, the whole church, joining the old and the new in type and antitype. The twelve gates and the twelve foundations, bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb, were the emblems of Gods people as a whole in the old and new testaments. It symbolized the full and complete plan of God envisioned in the perfection of the church as the product of all divine revelation through the prophets of Israel and the apostles of Christ.
The vision further described the City as having three gates on each side–twelve gates. The eye-witness historian, Josephus, described the old Jerusalem as having three gates on four sides (B J 5, 4, 2). The vision taken together with the twelve foundations bearing the tribal and apostolic names represented, as previously explained, the two economies of the old and the new testaments having been completed in the church as the whole people of God, which fulfilled the purpose of God in the redemption of mankind, brought together in the figure of the one new man (Eph 2:14-16)–the church. The New Jerusalem with its twelve walls and twelve gates and twelve foundations was here envisioned as the embodiment of the divine unity of all revelation. The teaching of the twelve apostles uphold and support the church, which in the vision was so guarded by the twelve angels as to keep it aware of all error and that the forces of the hadean world could never prevail against it.
5. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof-Rev 21:15.
The measuring rod in the hand of the angel was a reed of gold, which was symbolic of the divinity of that which was to be measured–the city was divine. The city had perfect quadrangular dimensions–it was foursquare.
The word foursquare was a Greek term used to denote perfection in any form. The immensity of the Holy City was signified by the mathematical figure of twelve thousand furlongs, or approximately fifteen hundred cubic miles, expressed in the words of the text: The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. It has been calculated that the measure of the twelve thousand furlongs in English miles computed 1378.97 exact English miles– the figure having been reckoned by a biblical commentator of England. Whether exactly or approximately it was the symbolism, first of the spiritual perfection of the church and, second, of its universality–that it was destined to fill the whole earth. The prophet declared (Isa 11:9) that the knowledge of God would cover the earth; and Jesus said in the beatitudes (Mat 5:5) that his disciples would inherit the earth–that is, fill the whole earth with his teaching. That has ever been and shall ever be the mission of his church, and that purpose was symbolized in the descriptions of the New Jerusalem.
The measurement of the wall of the Holy City was said, in Rev_2117, to be according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. The stadia of the angel was after the manner of a man–no different from that of a man and within human understanding, though it was of the angel. The angel had used mans standard of measurement, but it was symbolically, not literally, applied. It meant that the stadia employed by the angel was on a scale of measurement that was not unknown to man. The literal view of these measurements as being descriptive of the exact plan and size of the New Jerusalem as a city would destroy the sublimity of the apocalyptic picture and pervert the symbolism of the vision. In the comparison of the dimensions of the city and the wall surrounding it, the vision represented that the eminences within the wall of the New Jerusalem were so lofty that its highest summits and pinnacles were as many furlongs above the base of the wall as the length of the wall itself. The vision was symbolical of great and grand magnificence. To the eye of John from the summit ranges, floating down from God, was a view of splendor the magnitude of which was indescribable. But the figurative description, according to the measure of a man, was not grotesque or disproportioned. God was the architect and builder of the Holy City (Psa 12:1-87:1); which was the manifestation of his divine wisdom, as a building exhibits the skill of its designer (Eph 3:10-11; Eph 3:21); and in it his own glory will be exhibited through time and in eternity world without end. In the symbolism of the New Jerusalems dimensions was signified that it is the will of God that the church should include the whole multitude of the saved–its entire aggregation.
(4) The indescribable grandeur and magnificence of the new Jerusalem-Rev 21:18-21.
It would be impractical, if not entirely futile and frustrating, to attempt a descriptive application of each precious stone which decorated the Holy City. There is no singular meaning or definition that can be imparted to these jewels of adornment, but altogether the enumeration of all existing precious stones presented a vision so exquisite in the extreme as to exceed all human imagination or contemplation.
The sublime apocalypse portrayed the New Jerusalem as being the church of the firstborn ones (Heb 12:22-23), the citizens of which have their names inscribed in the registry of heaven. Its citizenry consisted in a kind of firstfruits of all of Gods creatures (Jas 1:18)–they are his choice creation. Its structure was itself constructed of pure gold; its streetway, or passage system, was the same as of the city–of solid gold, and transparent. The expression pure gold means unalloyed, without the comparative carats in weight or measure or degree of content; but in purity no mixture or alloy. The eye of man has discovered and discerned pure gold, but no man has ever seen transparent gold, a description that adds visional resplendence to the delineations.
The portals of the City were composed of pure pearls, each gate consisting of one solid pearl; and its twelve foundations were garnished with twelve rare jewels of glistening beauty, which in the order from one to twelve were: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, an emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprasus, jacinth and an amethyst. With vast clusters of edifices within the high wall the super-structure of the City was embellished by whatever materials were known to man to be the most estimable and resplendent of earths treasures–and these all were adapted to enhance the glorious majesty of the New Jerusalem, the Lambs Bride–the church of Christ.
(5) The constituent spiritual characteristics of the glorious new Jerusalem-Rev 21:22-27.
According to Webster the word constituent is indicative of elements that form, or compose, or make up an existing thing; and characteristic is defined as distinctive, or serving to constitute the character of anything. On the high mountain outlook the vision not only exhibited to John the outward glories of the Holy City but displayed also the inward spiritual peculiarities of the City of the Lamb. In it there was no temple (Rev 21:22), for there was no veil between God and the Redeemed, as in the temple that had been taken away (Mat 27:51); and because the church itself is the temple of God. (Eph 2:21; Rev 7:15) The old temple had been a type of the new, and there was no place in the vision for a symbol of that which had passed away.
And there was no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it (Rev_2123), for God was the light and Christ was the lamp of the New Jerusalem, which had emerged from the darkness of tribulation into the light of deliverance and redemption. Here the same figure was utilized that was used by the prophet in a similar description of Israels return from the Babylonian exile: The sun shall no more be thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. The sun shall no more go down; neither shall the moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended– Isa 60:19-20.
Even the casual reader, if not biased by a continuous-history theory, can discern the similarity between these passages and the Revelation descriptions. The prophet Isaiah foretold the deliverance of Israel from exile nearly two hundred years before its occurrence, and he adapted the same figures to describe their restoration to their land that the Seer of Revelation applied to the emergence of the church from the tribulation period.
As of restored Israel in their own land again, so of the New Jerusalem–the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. These are the figures for the source of all spiritual knowledge and illumination in the City of the Lamb; there can be no alternation of light and darkness; no mixture of truth and error; for God is the source of the light of truth reflected through Christ in the church. The apostle of the Hebrew epistle (Heb 1:3) affirmed this vital truth in the reference to this Father and Son relation: Who being the brightness (effulgence) of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high. It was this presence of God and of Christ in the New Jerusalem that would be its sun, its moon and its light.
In the order of both prophecy and apocalypse the old temple had been destroyed, and its furnishings were no longer recognized. The new temple, the church itself, had no such temporal structure and physical adornment as that which had featured the old; for the old rites were gone with the old city and its temple which had passed away– and Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which represented the church of the Lamb, was spiritual only and was the new habitation of God through the Spirit (Eph 2:22).
This spiritual light of the Holy City would extend to the whole world of darkness: the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it-Rev 21:24. This part of the vision represented the saved as having come from all nations, that the Jew and Gentile together should walk in the light of the gospel.
The language has its counterpart in the descriptions of Isaiah (Isa 2:2-5; and Isa 62:1-2) which were the prophecies of the new Jerusalem of the new covenant which would include all nations. The prophet said: O house of Jacob, come ye, and let us walk in the light of the Lord. This prophecy was made by Isaiah in connection with the establishment of the new institution on the top of the mountains, and the promulgation of the new law from Jerusalem. It is the same imagery in Rev 21:4 of this vision: And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. In the prophecy of Isa 62:1-4, the prophet declared that the Gentiles shall see thy righteousness, and all kings thy glory. And in this vision the Seer said: And the kings of the earth do bring glory and honor into it. It was the vision of all nations yielding to the influence of the gospel, as if the kings of the nations had brought the glory of their crowns and scepters and treasures into the kingdom of God and of Christ by the conversion of the people of the whole world. The vision here is the extension of Rev 11:15 : The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ. All of these verses and visions referred to the universal expansion of Christianity in the spread of the gospel over all the world.
In verses Rev 21:25-26 the vision represented the gates of city as being always open: for there shall be no night there. The gates of the ancient cities were closed at night, and there was no admission to strangers without the city. But the gates of New Jerusalem should not be shut at all by day, therefore entrance to the city was always accessible. The vision was based on the destruction of the beasts of persecution which had been cast into the brimstone lake, and there were no enemies remaining to threaten the citizenry of the city. In the period of persecution the church had been hindered in the propagation and the proclamation of the gospel, but the night of tribulation had ended. The figure was related to the motion of the globe in orbit; its diurnal revolution causes the daily and annual changes in the sun which produce the alternation of light and darkness. But spiritually there would be no such rotation, for the night of the tribulation had come to end; there was no longer the hindering power of the heathen persecutors in the spreading of the light of the gospel–the darkness had been dispelled and the day had dawned for the church. It can be seen again that the literal application of these figures of speech would demolish the beauty of the vision as well as its truth in the spiritual application of the symbols.
In Rev 21:26 the Seer saw the Gentile world entering into thechurch through its open gates under the world-wide commission: Go ye therefore, and teach all nations; and, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature. (Mat 28:19; Mar 16:15) And the stipulated terms upon which men of all nations should enter into the spiritual refuge of the city of the Lamb are included in the commands of the commission itself: He that believeth (the gospel) and is baptized shall be saved; and, Baptizing them in (into) the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost (Spirit).
The vision represented the inclusion of the nations among the blessed saved in the church. The glory and honor of the nations, of Rev 21:26, as in Rev 21:24, referred to the conversion and Christianization of the heathen world. The fact that the vision represented that these kings would still be kings is yet another indication that it was not a vision of heaven. It meant that the heathen would find their way out of the darkness of paganism into the light of Christianity under the sway of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ, the King of kings and the Lord of lords. The New Jerusalem would co-exist with the nations as all nations flow unto it; and accept Him who came to fulfill the desire of all nations (Hag 2:7) for the glory of God. The kings of the earth contributed to His glory in the conversion of the people of their nations to the Christ of this apocalypse.
The pristine purity of the church of the Lamb was pictured in Rev 21:27 : 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.
These terms and phrases and words describe the whole category of the moral and spiritual corruption of heathendom. The first chapter of Romans is an inspired commentary on the depths of degradation into which the heathen world had sunken by these practices because, said Paul, they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. But these impurities of heathenism could gain no admission or entrance into the realm of the Lambs Bride. The defiled could not enter, because the gospel removed all moral defilement. The paganistic abominations could not enter, for the gospel separated from all heathen idolatry. The deceivers who by making a lie had seduced the inhabitants of the earth into emperor-worship could not enter, for the gospel destroyed the doctrines of antichrist. Wherefore, only they which are written in the Lambs book of life– whose names were entered into the registry of the New Jerusalem by doing his commandments could enter in through the gates into the city.
Commentary on Rev 21:9-27 by Walter Scott
THE BRIDE IN GOVERNMENTAL
AND MILLENNIAL SPLENDOUR
THE ETERNAL AND MILLENNIAL STATES.
The history of the race and of the ways of God with men is finally closed. The first eight verses of our chapter present some of the characteristics of the unchanging state, both in positive and negative statements, the latter more especially. The eternal blessing of the saved and the eternal doom of the wicked are set in sharp contrast. In the eternal state all is fixed. God Himself has irrevocably settled the condition of every human being. The volume of history is closed. In the scene just described the Lamb is not once named nor witnessed. God is all. God in the activity of His nature brings about an eternal calm and a deep profound sense of holy repose.
Righteousness dwells in the everlasting regions made new. But in the millennial kingdom Christ as Lamb of God and Son of Man arrests the gaze and captivates the heart. It is the shining forth of His glory. It is the sceptre in His hand. It is many diadems on His head. It is the overwhelming splendour of His reign. It is the munificent blessings He scatters in blest profusion throughout the earth. It is Christ thus and in a thousand other and varied ways and actions which makes the millennial state so magnificently grand. It is the Lord Jesus taking up the broken threads of history and weaving them all into a perfect whole. Neither Adam, Moses, Solomon, Israel, nor the Church has maintained the testimony committed to them. Every steward of grace, law, or government has proved unfaithful; every vessel of testimony has broken down. But it will be seen in the millennial kingdom that Christ, the vessel of Gods glory, is the only ONE Who has ever been faithful. He receives the kingdom from God (Luk 19:12), and after its administration for a thousand years He delivers it up to God (1Co 15:24), not only in the perfection in which it was received, but in enhanced glory.
The Church is the result of Gods counsel in eternity and of His creation in time. The Church is both millennial and eternal in destiny (Eph 3:21), and essentially heavenly in character. The Church, next to God and to the Lamb, is the most distinguished object both in the eternal and millennial states. The Church is the bride and wife of the Lamb, and is displayed as such when Christ takes His throne and reigns. She shares His glory and throne. Her relationship as wife is an eternal one (Rev 21:2). But in the eternal state the relation of the Church and saints to God as His tabernacle is the prominent thought in the first eight verses of the chapter. In it He dwells. The eternal state is, of course, the more profound of the two.
A MILLENNIAL SIGHT OF THE BRIDE.
Rev 21:9-10 – And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke with me, saying, Come here, I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife. And he carried me away in (the) Spirit, (and set me) on a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the Heaven from God. After a passing allusion to the millennial reign of Christ and His heavenly saints (Rev 20:4-6) we are brought back from the consideration of the eternal state to a lengthened description of the bride, the Lambs wife, in her millennial relation to Israel and to the world at large. In this, the last prophetic section of the book, we see the true union of Church and state. The turning back to fill in the details of the general statement contained in Rev 20:4-6 is by no means an arbitrary arrangement. We have several examples of a similar character in previous parts of the book. Besides, let our readers trace the sequence of events from the fall of Babylon celebrated in Heaven (Rev 19:1-21; see Rev 19:1-3) on till the eternal state (Rev 21:1-27; esp. Rev 21:1-8), and further carefully examine those eight verses, comparing them with what is said of the millennial state of things, and we are satisfied that they will see the suitability and scriptural arrangement thus indicated.
The place of the Church in her millennial association with Christ is not only in accordance with the purpose of God (Eph 1:22-23), but is His answer to her reproach and contemptuous treatment on earth.
We have no angelic ministrations in the scene of eternity; here they are prominent. It is one of the Vial angels who shows the bride to John, as it was one of the same angels who showed him the harlot and her doom (compare Rev 17:1-3 with Rev 21:9-10). The bride and the harlot are also respectively spoken of as a city, the former as Jerusalem, the latter as Babylon. It must be borne in mind, however, that the term city in this connection is but a symbol. Jerusalem (Rev 21:1-27) and Babylon (Rev 17:1-18) respectively represent a religious body of persons. The idea of city conveys the thought of an organised system of social life and activity of government, of united interests, of mutual goodwill; this and more characterize the church city of millennial and eternal days.
From Rev 21:9 we gather that there are two indispensable conditions ere one is competent to view things or objects as God presents them. John was carried away in the Spirit and set on a great and high mountain. His natural powers were held in abeyance while dominated and controlled by the Spirit. Then the point of view must be in keeping with the grand sight. Similarly the Spirit, and not the natural mind, was the supernatural power and capacity by which he beheld the harlot according to the thoughts of God, and most fittingly in a wilderness, for while decked out in the worlds tinsel and glory it was all a desert to God, and, of course, to every spiritual mind (compare with Rev 4:1-2).
What the Seer beheld was the holy city, Jerusalem, (Jerusalem simply, the epithet new is added when the eternal state is in question (Rev 21:2).) coming down out of the Heaven from God. Twice she is said to come down. Her first descent (Rev 21:9) is to tabernacle over the earth, her second to the new earth (Rev 21:2-3), a thousand years subsequently. She comes from the Heaven, her home, and from God, the source of her being and happiness.
THE CITY: ITS GLORY.
Rev 21:11 – Having the glory of God. What in Rom 5:2 is presented as a matter of hope has here become a reality. What God can communicate of moral and external glory is beheld covering the city. She is not only the vessel of Gods glory, but is the reflector of it to the world. The city bride as a glorious canopy of light and unfading beauty and brightness over the millennial scene will be the grandest sight ever beheld, and will continue to elicit for a thousand years the admiration of the world. In a lesser degree Israel will reflect the glory of Jehovah to the surrounding nations and peoples (Isa 60:1-22). The Church will be a bright witness of Gods glory and moral likeness.
THE CITY: ITS LIGHT.
Rev 21:11 – Her light (Light shining, or luminary, is only elsewhere employed in the New Testament and that to set forth the Church as a light-bearer in this world (Php 2:15).) (was) like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone. In the glory of God the city shines, that glory is her light. The harlot shone in the glory of man. The bride stands out in the glory of God. In herself she is destitute of beauty. She shines only in the glory of Another. Her shining, or light, is compared to a crystal-like jasper stone.
Amongst precious stones the jasper and sardius are remarkable for their brilliancy. These hard and indestructible gems are fit emblems of incorruption in the glorified state (1Co 15:50). The blue wavy colors of the rainbow in the one, and the red of the other, are flashed out in wondrous beauty. Both stones are employed to set forth the glory and majesty of God on His throne (Rev 4:3). The jasper is solid, transparent, and brilliant as crystal, which is a native production. (See remarks on Rev 4:2, and on Rev 21:14 for further remarks on these precious stones; also on Rev 4:6, on the distinction between glass and crystal symbolically employed.) There are three lists of precious stones which respectively set forth the communicable glory of God: In creation (Eze 28:13), in which the jasper is named sixth in the list; in grace (Exo 28:17-20), the jasper is last mentioned; in government (Rev 21:19-20), the jasper is first named. The jasper is also mentioned three times in the detailed description of the heavenly city; first, as her light (Rev 21:11); second, as her security (Rev 21:18); third, as the first foundation of the wall (Rev 21:19). Thus the glory of God is the light, the security, and the foundation of the glorified Church.
THE CITY: ITS WALL.
Rev 21:12. – Having a great and high wall. The wall is a solid, massive, and brilliant structure. It is made of jasper (Rev 21:18). It cannot, therefore, be broken down, nor can it be scaled, as its height forbids – 144 cubits, or 216 feet (Rev 21:17). The wall round about the city, enclosing it on all sides, denotes the most ample security (Isa 26:1; Zec 2:5). It guards and separates Gods glory; guards the city and separates it from all outside. God Himself is the defense and safety of His Church. He stands between it and every hostile power, moral and physical.
The glorious wall which reflects the splendor of the city inside, telling of divine protection and absolute safety, reposes on twelve foundations (Rev 21:19-20), each foundation being one stone, solid, immense, and precious. Each foundation stone is of rarest value, of priceless worth, of incomparable beauty, and of unfading lustre; the twelve together forming a magnificent combination of varied and brilliant hue and tint. No building on earth can be for a moment compared to this for weight, size, and splendor. The Builder and Maker is God. The great and high wall not only bespeaks the security of those within, but guards the city from the intrusion of those without (Rev 21:27).
THE CITY: ITS GATES.
Rev 21:12 – Having twelve gates. The administrative number twelve enters largely into this description. Thus there are twelve gates, twelve angels, twelve names of Israel, twelve names of the apostles, twelve foundations, twelve pearls, while the measurements of the wall and city are multiples of twelve. The millennial Jerusalem on earth has its twelve gates (Eze 48:31-34). Twelve signifies the perfection of government on or towards the earth. No symbolic or other numbers are spoken of in any reference to the eternal state, because earthly government, as such, is then over. Righteousness dwells, not reigns. On the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes, and at the gates stand twelve angels (Rev 21:12). The administration of Israel proceeds from the heavenly city, and this, we judge, will be in the hands of the Lords twelve apostles – the fulfilment of Mat 19:28, Ye shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. This they will do from their seat and place on high. The saints in general shall judge the world and angels (1Co 6:2-3), but the judgment of Israel seems special and apostolic. The angels at the gates, but not inside, are servants in waiting. The perfection of angelic position is to serve. In the old economy the angels were the administrators; here it is the glorified saints (Heb 2:5). The angels are stationed at the gates so as to carry out the behests issued from the city. The gate was the place of public assembly. As to the location of the gates, east, north, south, and west (v. 13), the east is first named in the enumeration of the tribes surrounding the tabernacle; while in Eze 48:1-35, in the millennial arrangement of the tribes, the north is first mentioned. Dan, from whom it is thought that the Antichrist will proceed, is omitted in the sealing of the tribes for millennial preservation (Rev 7:1-17), is, however, first named of the tribes when the land is parceled out (Eze 48:1-2); but while the idolatrous Dan is remembered in grace, yet he is farthest off from the millennial temple. The order in which the seed of Israel is restored is east, west, north, and south (Isa 43:5-6). The specification in our chapter does not agree with any of the foregoing. There are no doubt divine reasons for these variations of the geographical locations in the different passages.
THE CITY: ITS PEARLS.
Rev 21:21 – The twelve gates (were) twelve pearls, every several gate was of one pearl. The pearl denotes unity, purity, beauty, and preciousness. Those gates of pearl remind us of the Lords thoughts of love and beauty towards the Church. The cost of the one beautiful pearl of great value (Mat 13:45-46) is beyond all telling. The Lord sold all that He had and bought it. But the pearl must have a setting worthy of its value, and so the gates of pearl are enclosed in the jasper wall, emblematic of the divine glory. They are also set in the four sides of the wall, so that in all parts of the earth the beauty of the Church will attract the gaze and win the admiration of the world. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day, for night shall not be there (Rev 21:25). The ever-opened gates speak of perfect freedom. (The gates always open and facing the four quarters of the earth would also intimate direct relations between the heavens and the earth, between the heavenly and the earthly Jerusalem. It is not said of any of the heavenly saints that they shall stand on the earth in millennial times, but that is not necessary; they may go to it without actually placing their feet upon its defiled surface.) It is usual to close the gates of a city at night lest an enemy steal a march unawares. But the gates of the heavenly city are never closed, for nights shadows never rest upon it.
THE CITY: FOUNDATIONS OF THE WALL.
Rev 21:14. – The wall of the city had twelve foundations. These are enumerated in verses 19 and 20. Each one of these stones is of vast size, of marvelous solidity, and of surpassing splendor. On the gates are the names of the tribes, while on the foundations are the names of the apostles. This latter fact recalls to mind the words of the apostle, built upon the foundation of the apostles (Eph 2:20). Both the gates and foundations have the administrative number twelve. In the structure of the city the apostles are named. Israel has no part in this. But in the power and governmental actions of the city going out through the gates Israel is prominent. The roads leading from a city are not called after the city itself, but after the places (Thus in modern Jerusalem the west gate is the Jaffa gate, though Jaffa is forty miles away; the north gate the Damascus gate, though Damascus is one hundred miles away. No doubt these gates, through the attendant angels, did administrating with the tribes whose names they bear.) to which they lead, and often the gates are named in the same manner, so it is here. The city is in communication with Israel, as those who rule with Christ must be, but it is distinct from Israel, and built on a foundation which exclusively characterises the Church. (The Lords Coming, Israel, and the Church, p. 289. – T. B. Baines.)
The foundations were garnished, or adorned, with precious stones (Rev 21:19), the same words used to describe the bride made ready for her husband (Rev 21:2). Bengel justly remarks: Not only did each precious stone form an ornament in the foundation, but it constituted the foundation itself. Each of the twelve foundation stones reflected some particular aspect of the divine glory. Combined they present God in the glory of His nature and Being, as constituting one foundation of incomparable strength and grandeur. One stands amazed at the moral truth conveyed: God Himself in the greatness and diversified glory of His Being, the foundation of the Church in the blessed day about to dawn. There is but one stone used in the building of the wall, jasper, probably the most valuable and brilliant of all. The jasper is the first foundation stone. The color of the sapphire, which is the second foundation, is a pure blue or deep azure; the third, chalcedony, is a grey color, with purple, blue, and yellow; the fourth, the emerald, is green. This was the appearance of the rainbow which John saw around the throne of God. It is a fit emblem of the peace and benignity of the saving grace of God. The fifth is sardonyx, it is bluish white, or it is the onyx, with red veins, called the sardonyx, as if it were a mixture of the sardius and onyx. The sixth, sardius, is blood red; the seventh, chrysolite, blood green or golden color; the eighth, the beryl, transparent, bluish green; the ninth, the topaz, a pale green or golden color; the tenth, chrysoprasus, of bluish hue, a beautiful green mingled with yellow; the eleventh, a jacinth, violet or red with a mixture of yellow; twelfth, amethyst, of purple color, or a mixture of strong blue and deep red. (The Cherubim and the Apocalypse, p. 385. – Alexander Macleod.) These massive stones of divers colors sustain the wall. Thus are portrayed the varied glories of God throughout.
THE CITY: ITS MEASUREMENTS.
Rev 21:15. – And he that spoke with me had a golden reed (as) a measure, that he might measure the city and its gates, and its wall. In Rev 11:1-2 the temple, altar, and worshippers (all on earth) are measured, signifying that they are His, they belong to God. But here the measuring of the heavenly city is above. In the former the Seer measured; in our text the angel measures. The measuring reeds, too, are different. The millennial Jerusalem on earth with its temple, courts, etc., is measured with a line of flax (Eze 40:3). The city of gold is fittingly measured with a golden reed.
The city, wall, and gates were to be measured, but the result as to the latter is not stated, only that of the city and wall. The gold signifies divine righteousness, as the jasper divine glory. What the gold is amongst metals, the most valuable, so is the jasper amongst stones the most precious. The city measured by the standard of divine righteousness answers to it. It is a cube showing its perfectness on all sides, four-square. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. In whichever way it is viewed it is perfect and complete. The unity, perfection, and divine symmetry of the Church in glory are assured. Every part is perfect, all is harmony. One has said, It is described as being a cube, and thus presenting a square in every direction. And by this is signified that it is the ne plus ultra of perfection in the symmetry of its construction. The measurement of the city, twelve thousand furlongs – 1500 miles – in length, breadth, and height, is of such vast dimensions that in size and peculiarity of structure it leaves every earthly city far, far behind. It is alike vast and perfect, and all measured and owned of God. The wall is measured separately, but its size is quite disproportionate to that of the city (Rev 21:17); that we can understand: it is a mans measure. The wall of jasper, signifying the divine glory as the defense of the city, does not need to be of gigantic size.
THE CITY: ITS GOLD.
Rev 21:18. – The city was pure gold like unto pure glass. The city itself is the display of divine righteousness. We have divine righteousness now in our complete justification; it is also wrought in us so that the new nature may practically express it in a scene of contrariety, but the city itself, from its center to its circumference and utmost bounds, is all pure gold, transparent, too, like pure glass. The Church, not angels, is the answer to the divine nature. All is according to Him in righteous character. In the eternal earth righteousness dwells, but the Church itself is that – is the living, glorified expression of divine righteousness. Oh, with what glory is the Church invested! the reflex of the nature of God. Marvellous truths are these! The street (not streets) of the city pure gold, as transparent glass (Rev 21:21). Not only will the Church itself reflect the glory of divine righteousness, but her walk and ways will agree therewith. Righteousness is now upon us (Rom 3:22), also wrought in us (Eph 4:24); we are in glory the display of it (Rev 21:18), while it is that on which we walk (v. 21). The street, like the city of pure gold, signifies that in all our walk holiness and righteousness characterize it, ennoble it, beautify it. As transparent glass means that the righteous walk and ways of the Church will reflect the glory of what she is, not only in Gods sight, but actually in display and expression – the righteousness of God (2Co 5:21).
THE CITY: NO TEMPLE.
Rev 21:22. – And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. A temple necessarily confines the presence of God and introduces the thought of near and more distant worshippers. No temple signifies that full and free access to God is equally granted to all. Immediate access to God without the intervention of priest or mediator is open to every one. Jehovah is the expression of moral relationship; God, El, the mighty One, the creatorial Name of power and sovereignty; the Almighty, omnipotent in all circumstances and over all opposing authority, and the Lamb added to these divine names and titles, form the temple. If God is in the city, and the Lamb Who has made good His glory, and in Whom the Godhead dwells (Col 1:19), and by Whom God is expressed (Joh 17:23), a Scripture which has its application at the time contemplated in our text: What need of a temple? God in the greatness of His Being, and as the One Who has acted and ruled of old, is now revealed in glory by the Lamb. The divine presence is equally diffused. God and the Lamb make themselves known throughout every part of the vast city of gold.
THE CITY: NO CREATED LIGHT.
Rev 21:23. – And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof (is) the Lamb. No independent yet created light as the sun, nor borrowed light as the moon, is required in the heavenly city. God is the source of her light, and the Lamb Who died for us is the lamp of the divine glory. It is He who diffuses the light throughout every part of the city. It is concentrated in God, it is made known by the Lamb, the remembrance of whose sacrifice is eternal.
THE CITY: ITS RELATION TO NATIONS AND KINGS.
Rev 21:24. – And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it. (The Authorised reads: The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it. The words we have italicized should be deleted; also in Rev 21:24; Rev 21:26, into it should read to it.) It is the Lamb Who scatters the rays of light and reveals the glory of God in the midst of and to the glorified Church, but the Church is the medium of light to the world outside. By its light the nations walk. Then kings and nations pay court and homage to the heavenly city; they bring their glory and honor to it (Rev 21:24-26). The rule of the heavens is acknowledged. The seat of government is in the midst of the city, and millennial kings and nations, then basking in the bright light and sunshine of the ever-glorious city, gladly bring the tribute of their grateful hearts to it. But enter it they never shall. The Church is the light and the dispenser of blessing to the world, the capital seat of all rule and government over the earth at large.
THE CITY: NO NIGHT.
Rev 21:25. – Night shall not be there. The city itself shall be one great body of light and glory, without and within, a light which shall never wane, and a glory which shall never fade. One perpetual high noon. No cloud shall ever cross its sky, no shadow ever rest upon it. No night with its darkness, its fears, its terrors. The long, dark night of the Church is past. She has now entered upon an eternal day which for her knows no setting sun.
THE CITY: NO DEFILEMENT.
Rev 21:27. – And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it; but those only who (are) written in the book of life of the Lamb. Sin in every phase and form is excluded from the holy city. The least spot or taint of evil could not stand the glare of the divine glory. Those who enter in and share in the heavenly blessedness are those only who are written in the book of life of the Lamb. The Church is in view in all this intensely beautiful description, that is, the complement of saints from Pentecost (Act 2:1-47) till the Rapture (1Th 4:1-18). Is there not in these closing words an intimation that other heavenly saints shall enter into the city? The Church is formed and complete, and, in fact, measured by God as such, so that no addition to its numbers can be thought of. Its unity and perfection as a whole are amply secured before those named in verse 27 enter into it. We judge, therefore, that Old Testament saints and the martyrs of the coming crisis shall enter into the city, that is, while not forming part of it, shall yet enter into its blessedness and glory, and share with the Church association with Christ in His universal rule and government – all constituting Gods tabernacle (v. 3).
The Church has been viewed and described under the symbol of a city, but it is the bride, the Lambs wife, which has been pictured in vision. That magnificent chapter, Isa 60:1-22, the finest literary production ever penned, is the correlative in many respects of the heavenly city, Jerusalem. The description of Israels future in her land, in restored Jerusalem, and gathered on both sides of her millennial temple, etc., supplies much of the imagery employed in our chapter, and in the first few verses of the concluding one.
Commentary on Rev 21:9-27 by E.M. Zerr
Rev 21:9. The original angel who came to John at the beginning of the vision has not left the isle, but occasionally there will be an extra conversation permitted for some one Joh 2:20 of the other persons introduced from time to time. For instance, one of the elders (Rev 5:5), the beasts or living creatures (Rev 6:1; Rev 6:3; Rev 6:5; Rev 6:7), the voice from heaven (Rev 10:8), one of the seven angels (Rev 17:1) and the one in our verse. John heard many other voices from time to time, but the ones to which reference is made talked to him. This angel of our verse invited John to see a vision of the bride, the Lamb’s wife
Rev 21:10. He carried me away was not literal because John never actually left the isle any time through the 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 and women on the earth, the origin of it being from the dwelling place of God.
Rev 21:11. Having the glory of God, because anything that comes from heaven would be adorned with the glory of God. The glory of the city was so great that John likens it to the rays of a precious stone. There is something most significant about using precious stones as symbols in describing the splendors of the celestial city. We have all beheld diamonds and other precious jewels and admired their glittering brilliance. However, we have observed also that the greatest degree of their beauty is caused by the light that is reflected upon them from some outside source. So with these precious stones, that bedeck the city of God; they obtain their glow from the light that radiates from the throne of God. The one named in this verse is only referred to for a comparison, but the actual use of the stones themselves will be described in a later place in this chapter. The jasper that is used to compare the brilliant light is described as being clear as crystal. That is a description of a diamond which is among the most attractive of stones.
Rev 21:12. The dimensions of the wall will be noticed at Rev 21:16-17, but here they are briefly stated to be great and high. In old times the most important cities were surrounded with walls, hence it is a desirable asset to say this city was walled. It is significant that it was great and high. That would indicate good protection from the enemies, since the wall was too high to be scaled and too great or strong to be penetrated or beaten down. Among the numerical symbols that have been very prominent in this book are four and its multiples, twelve and four and twenty. Four was the number of the living creatures that represented the redeemed from the four corners of the earth. Twelve was used if the organized systems that God has had are being considered from one dispensation alone, either the Mosaic or the Christian. That is because there were twelve tribes in the one and twelve apostles in the other. Hence it is appropriate that John should see the twelve gates to this city representing the twelve tribes of Israel. The twelve apostles will be pointed out later, but it was in order to show the twelve tribes first because the Mosaic system was first given.
Rev 21:13. The tabernacle of the Mosaic system had much beauty in its formation, and also in the garments of the priestly service. That was not as an encouragement to vanity or doing something for show. But God is the designer and maker of all things, and those that are seen in the universe that are beautiful are not so by accident. Among the items that contribute to the beauty of any structure is the symmetry of its arrangement. A city that is foursquare should not have a varying number of gates in its walls. There are twelve gates to this city and the equal distribution of them in sets of three is very appropriate. It might have seemed sufficiently clear to say that the gates were equally divided amidst the four sides of the city. However, this is supposed to be a somewhat poetical or picturesque description of a very superb spot, and it is fitting to go into these details.
Rev 21:14. This completes the full representations corresponding to the four and twenty elders. The twelve gates stand for the tribes of Israel, and here are the twelve original apostles of Christ. There is nothing said about angels in connection with the twelve apostles as there was with the twelve gates. That is doubtless be-cause gates call for guards at the entrance of an important city, while a foundation is a more fixed part of a structure and all for super-vision. In literal architecture there would be actually only one foundation to a building. Yet it might be built of several stones as was this one, and each stone is spoken of as a foundation. In literal language it would be one foundation but composed of a number of stones. In truth that is the way Paul speaks of the church in Eph 2:20 where he says Christians are built upon the foundation (singular) of the apostles and prophets. It is common to see important names engraved on stones composing a building. It generally is of persons who have made valuable contributions to the structure. From that standpoint it is significant to have the names of the apostles on these stones.
Rev 21:15. He that talked with me means the angel who had been sent to give John the vision. This angel had the measuring reed and he did the measuring. A reed in nature is produced on the banks or near the edge of bodies of water and the stems are used for various purposes. The one the angel had was an artificial one and was made of bright and precious metal. Such an instrument was proper for the important matter of measuring divine things. We are not told the capacity of this measuring rule as we might do in the case of a literal measuring stick, such as a yard or foot measure. We have only the computation after the angel did the measuring.
Rev 21:16. The city was a cube, the length and breadth and height being equal. The measurement was twelve thousand furlongs, which is fifteen hundred miles. For an approximate estimate to help us visualize the size of that city, let us think that if a man were to start at the Gulf of Mexico and travel to the Great Lakes, he would have made the journey along one side only of the city. It is true that the eternal city will not be restricted to miles as we measure distances, but the figures are intended to give us some impression of the abundant provision that God has made for the saved of all ages.
Rev 21:17. In the precedingverse (Rev 21:16) the angel measured the city which gave the length of it. In this verse he measured the wall which necessarily means the thickness of it. The measurement was a hundred and forty and four cubits, another multiple of one of our promises. Measure of a man, that is, of the angel. This unusual language only means that the angel used the same action in measuring the wall that a man would use in such a situation. The usual length of a cubit is eighteen inches, hence this wall was two hundred and sixteen feet thick. Such would be a proper thickness to be proportionate to such a height.
Rev 21:18. The body of the wall was of jasper, which we realize in Rev 21:11 is a substance that is “clear as crystal” thus describing a diamond. Let us try to see with our mind’s eye a diamond that is fifteen hundred miles in diameter and we will have a mental picture of one side of this city. City was pure gold means the street of it according to Rev 21:21. Gold is a metal (not a stone), hence the likeness to clear glass is explained in Rev 21:21 as of transparent glass. Literal gold is one of the most condensed of metals and hence would naturally be the opposite of transparent. So we should understand that the metal was so pure and the texture so fine that it would take on a very high polish. It was so much that way that in looking upon it one would really seem to see a substance that his eyes were penetrating (as if they were performing the action of an X-ray), when in reality he was beholding something with an incomprehensibly high gloss.
Rev 21:19. The foundation stones of the wall were garnished (decorated) with all manner of precious stones, which means with stones of various descriptions. The first was jasper which we have previously learned h like a diamond. Sapphires are of several varieties and no special one is named, but the general description in the English dictionaries shows them to be brilliant gems inclined to be transparent. A chalcedony is a stone with a blue tint and a glossy surface. Emerald is a stone with rich coloring of green and very much prized as a precious stone.
Rev 21:20. A sardonyx is described by Thayer as follows: “A precious stone marked by the red color of the carnelian (sard) and the white of the onyx.” A sardius is a flesh-colored stone. Thayer says a chrysolyte is “a precious stone of a golden color,” and he says a beryl is “a precious stone of a pale green color.” A topaz is a stone of a greenish-yellow color as given by Thayer. Chrysoprasus. Thayer defines this as follows: “A precious stone in color like a leek, of a translucent [transparent] golden-green.” A jacinth is also the name of a flower (commonly called a hyacinth). The color of it and the stone by the same name is dark-blue, almost black. Thayer says an amethyst is a precious stone of a violet and purple color.
Rev 21:21. Every seveRev 21:18-21 of one pearl. There is nothing said nor intimated that the gates resembled pearls or were merely as beautiful as pearls. No, the first phrase is, the twelve gates were twelve pearls. And we should take for granted that the Lord would not use any but genuine pearl, but He would also Use the best of it for the construction of a city to be the eternal home of the redeemed, where they are to share the glory with Him and all the celestial beings that He has created. I will quote from Smith’s Bible Dictionary information about pearls: “The finest specimens of the pearl are yielded by the pearl oyster . . . the oysters grow in clusters on rock in deep water, and the pearl found inside the shell, and is the result of a diseased secretion caused by the introduction of foreign bodies, etc., between the mantle and the shell . . . The size of a good Oriental pearl varies from that of a pea to about three times that . . . Pearls have been valued as high as $200,000 apiece.” Now let us do some calculating and try to form some idea of the beauty and value of just the gates to the celestial city. Everything thus far has been in the proportions that would be required for beauty, hence these gates would be of the width and height that would not be out of proportion. In a wall fifteen hundred miles high and two hundred and sixteen feet thick, any opening of ordinary dimensions would look like a tunnel more than an entrance to a city of residence. We are not given the actual dimensions of the gates, but in order to bring them near enough for us to do some kind of calculating, we know they would not have been less than a hundred feet wide and two hundred feet high. If a pearl three times the size of a pea is worth two hundred thousand dollars, then one pearl as large as I have suggested (and doubtless these gates were larger) would be worth many times more than all the wealth of the world, and besides this, there were twelve of these costly gems. I would be willing to give a year or more of the severest kind of service just to see one of those gates.
Rev 21:22. I saw no temple. John was thinking of the temple that was in the literal city of Jerusalem, and was contrasting that situation with what he saw in the vision. Even that temple which was built for the service to God was not good enough nor big enough to contain Him (1Ki 8:27; Act 7:47-50), much less would He need a temple to confine him when He is already occupying the whole city.
Rev 21:23. The moon and stars were necessary to give light upon the earth, but that planet will have passed away- The light that would be adapted to glorified residents of the eternal city would need to be more brilliant than a multitude of suns such as we now see. But the city will not be without light for the glory of God and the Son will lighten it- Think of a Being so bright and glorious that its rays would reach from wall to wall in a city 1,500 miles wide. No wonder Moses was not permitted to come within the rays of that glory.
Rev 21:24. Nations and kings of the earth will come into the city literally, for those relationships are of a temporal nature. This verse is based on the practicein ancient times that required a captive city tribute to a city that had overcome it. Doubtless there will be men who had been kings, and others who were citizens of the nations ruled by these kings, who will have become servants of God and who will be amoRev 21:26 ny thousands who will throng that city.
Rev 21:25. The gates shall not be shut at all by day (or day by day). This also is based upon the practice of ancient cities closing their gates at the approach of night (Jos 2:5). John says there will not be any need for such a performance, for there shall be no night there. It is his way of emphasizing the absence of night, for there will be no enemy who could enter the city any way.
Rev 21:26. This is the same as verse 24.
Rev 21:27. There shall in no wise enter. That which is sinful or unclean shall not be allowed to enter, neither whatever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Even those who die in their sins will not be allowed to enter, if they never repented and/or obeyed the gospel which is the power of God unto salvation (Rom 1:16).
Commentary on Rev 21:8-27 by Burton Coffman
Rev 21:9
And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
Some have tried to separate this description of the new Jerusalem by an artificial division between Rev 21:1-8, and the rest of the prophecy. However, Wilcock demonstrated that the balance of this prophecy is a close-up elaboration of exactly what is included in Revelation 1-8 :[21]
Rev 21:2 = Rev 21:10-12, the revelation of God’s city.
Rev 21:3 = Rev 21:22-27, the revelation of God’s dwelling.
Rev 21:4-5 a = Rev 21:1-5, the revelation of God’s world renewed.
Rev 21:5 b = Rev 22:6-10, the revelation of God’s word validated.
Rev 21:6 a = Rev 22:11-15, the revelation of God’s work completed.
Rev 21:6 b,7 = Rev 22:16-17, the revelation of God’s final blessing.
Rev 21:8 = Rev 22:18-19, the revelation of God’s final curse.
In the light of this very logical analysis, we must reject the view of Morris that, “John rounds off his book with a series of somewhat miscellaneous observations,”[22] as well as the interpretation which sees, “Two descents of the city, the first in relation to eternity, the second in relation to the millennium.[23] “It is therefore natural to assume with the vast majority of commentators that Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5 supplies an extended exposition of that paragraph (Rev 21:1-8).[24]
One of the seven angels … “We should not overlook the fact that this angel is exactly the one who showed John the judgment of the great whore (Rev 17:11).”[25] It is probable that this truth, in some way, is important. “It may be that John wishes us to see that the servant of God does not choose his task, but must do whatever God sends him to do.”[26]
I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife … This word makes it mandatory to interpret the new Jerusalem as representing the glorified church of Christ.
[21] Michael Wilcock, I Saw Heaven Opened (Downers Grove, Illinois: Inter-Varsity Press, 1975), p. 199.
[22] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 257.
[23] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Revelation (Chicago: Moody Press, 1968), p. 120.
[24] G. R. Beasley-Murray, op. cit., p. 315.
[25] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 248.
[26] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 208.
Rev 21:10
And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
A mountain, great and high … John had needed no such vantage point as this for viewing the great whore (Rev 17:3); but it was only from such a lofty pinnacle as this that he could behold the glory of the Lamb’s wife. “The heavenly city is to be described only from an exalted viewpoint, perhaps the high point of faith.”[27]
Coming down out of heaven from God … What an incredibly wonderful thought is this! That the church, which is made of ordinary mortals who came through the toils, struggles, temptations, and sorrows of life shall at last possess and exhibit the very glory of God himself – this indeed is the reward of the saints. “Till the dawn of eternity itself, this holy Jerusalem can never appear any other way than as ‘coming down out of heaven from God’; for it owes its total existence to the condescension of God, and not to the works of men.”[28]
[27] Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 249.
[28] G. B. Caird, The Revelation of St. John the Divine (New York: Harper and Row, 1966), p. 271.
Rev 21:11
having the glory of God: her light was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal:
A jasper … clear as crystal … See more on this stone under Rev 4:3, above. “The jasper, which probably represents the modern diamond, is the characteristic of him who sat on the throne (Rev 4:3).”[29] Thus, the redeemed church will have the same appearance as that of the Lord himself.
ENDNOTE:
[29] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 511.
Rev 21:12
having a wall great and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
A wall … gates … These coincide with the description of any city at the time when John lived. Walls and gates were for safety and security. See under Rev 21:17, below. “In Eze 38:11, Gog and Magog preyed upon the unwalled cities.”[30] Here, the vulnerability of those contrasts with the safety of this.
Having twelve gates … Certainly not too many, as the size of the city would place even these at a distance of 500 miles apart! Of all the outlandish notions ever advocated from the basis of these twelve gates, the most bizarre is that which concludes that, “A man can come by many roads into the kingdom, for there are as many ways to the stars as there are men to climb them.”[31] There are not many ways into the kingdom; Christ alone is the way (Joh 14:6); and it is the abuse of literalism to conclude otherwise on the basis of there being twelve gates mentioned here.
Twelve angels … Apparently this is an inert element in the vision, the gates of all ancient cities being presided over by some powerful representative of the central government.
And names … of the twelve tribes … of Israel … This shows “the continuity of the family of God in the New Covenant with that of the Old.”[32]
[30] Ibid.
[31] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 210.
[32] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 179.
Rev 21:13
on the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
East … north … south … west … The order of the mention of these is intriguing:
In Num 2:3 ff, the tribes are arranged in a square, the sides of which look ESWN, in Ezekiel NESW, in Revelation ENSW, a change that seems deliberate.[33]
“Both John and Ezekiel seem deliberately to have avoided having the gates in the order observed in the astrology of the day.”[34]
[33] Ibid.
[34] J. W. Roberts, The Revelation of John (Austin, Texas: R. B. Sweet Company, 1974), p. 187.
Rev 21:14
And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Twelve foundations … “This is an obvious allusion to the theology of the church, which is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets (Eph 2:20).”[35]
On them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb … “The apostles are mentioned here in their collective and official, not in their individual, character.”[36] It is pointless to ask if Matthew or Paul is included or left out. Just as “Roman terms `decemviri’ and `centumviri’ came to be official terms without regard to the precise numbers,”[37] the term “apostles” came to be used in the same way.
Despite this, we still think it pertinent to ask if Peter’s name had 265 successors engraved after it.
[35] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 281.
[36] Charles H. Roberson, op. cit., p. 180.
[37] Isbon T. Beckwith, The Apocalypse of John (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Book House, 1919), p. 759.
Rev 21:15
And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
A golden reed to measure the city … “The intent of the measuring would seem to be to heighten the enormity, the symmetry and beauty of the holy city.”[38] It is interesting that although the gates are mentioned as going to be measured, their dimensions are never given. Only a “golden reed” was used here, whereas, a “reed like unto a rod” (Rev 11:1) was used to measure the world city. That reed seems to have been an ordinary stick!
ENDNOTE:
[38] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 188.
Rev 21:16
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal.
Twelve thousand furlongs … “This is roughly fifteen hundred miles!”[39] The astounding thing about this is that it is the height also, as well as the length and the breadth. See sermon on “Heaven” in chapter introduction.
And the city lieth foursquare … When the measurements are considered, it appears that the external shape of the city is that of a perfect regular hexahedron. From the standpoint of the length and breadth it lay “foursquare.” “Both Plato and Aristotle refer to the fact that in Greece the good man was called foursquare.”[40] There might be the spiritual application that this is the city of the “good.”
We believe, however, that it is the “bigness” of heaven that is symbolized by these dimensions; although, of course, they also show the symmetry, perfection, and completeness of God’s eternal designs as well. The view of scholars, generally, who follow this thought, usually resembles this from Hendriksen:
Twelve thousand is the product of three (for the trinity) times four (for the universe) times ten times ten times ten (for reduplicated, ultimate completeness and perfection). Hence this number expresses the complete and perfect result of the saving power of the Triune God operating in the universe.[41]
For this writer, such numerological exercises raise more questions than they answer. We might also arrive at the number 12,000 by dividing 26 by two, subtracting two from the remainder, adding one, and multiplying by (30 10:30 + 100)! This is not intended to deny the mystical use of numbers by the Jews and others of antiquity, a usage that does appear extensively in the sacred Scriptures.
Many have also pointed out that this cubical shape of the city was like that of the Holy of Holies (1Ki 6:20).
[39] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 211.
[40] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 188.
[41] William Hendriksen, op. cit., p. 244.
Rev 21:17
And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.
One hundred and forty and four cubits … The problem here is that a wall 266 feet high seems totally out of proportion for a city more than 30,000 times that high! Beckwith applied the dimension only to the thickness of the wall. “The height of it is included in the height of the city in Rev 21:16.”[42] This, however, helps very little, because a wall of such thickness could not sustain itself at a height of 30,000 times its thickness, except in the event of the wall being a shield affixed to and part of the city itself. Perhaps that is the way we should view it, the fact of its being made of jasper (the diamond, which is the hardest of all material substances) adding some logic to such an interpretation.
According to the measure of a man … This just means that John was not referring here to any trick measurements.
ENDNOTE:
[42] Isbon T. Beckwith, op. cit., p. 760.
Rev 21:18
And the building of the wall thereof was jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto pure glass.
Jasper … See under above verse. This is the appearance of the whole city (Rev 21:11), again suggesting that the wall is a solid diamond 266 feet thick encompassing the entire city in all dimensions as a protective shield or armor-plate. At least, this interpretation of it gives effective imagery. In that case, it would not need to be any thicker than 266 feet.
Pure gold, like unto pure glass … The exceeding preciousness, beauty, purity, holiness, and glory of the city are indicated by this.
Rev 21:19
The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
These twelve precious stones making up the foundations of the wall are:
JASPER, usually thought to be the diamond.
SAPPHIRE, or “lapis lazula” (ASV margin).
CHALCEDONY, “a green silicate of copper found in mines near Chalcedon.”[43]
EMERALD, the same as our modern gem.
SARDONYX, “an onyx in which white was broken by layers of red and brown.”[44]
SARDIUS, The name of this was derived from Sardis; it was also called a carnelian. “It was blood red, and the commonest of all stones used for gems.”[45]
CHRYSOLITE, “Its Hebrew name means the Stone of Tarshish, described by Pliny as shining with a golden radiance.”[46]
BERYL, “a variety of emerald, though not as green.”[47]
TOPAZ, This was a stone of a greenish gold color, highly valued by the Hebrews.
CHRYSOPRASE, “the equivalent of our aquamarine, another variety of emerald.”[48]
JACINTH, the modern sapphire (ASV, margin).
AMETHYST, the same as the common amethyst today.
What can be the meaning of all these precious stones? Certainly, one of the legitimate meanings is that of the eternal beauty and value of the church of the living God; but there is another very curious and intriguing possibility. Charles pointed out that the twelve signs of the zodiac are represented by these same stones:[49]
The Ram — Amethyst The Bull — Hyacinth The Twins — Chrysoprase The Crab — Topaz The Lion — Beryl The Virgin — Chrysolite The Balances — Sardius The Scorpion — Sardonyx The Archer — Emerald The Goat — Chalcedon Water-carrier — Sapphire The Fish — Jasper
Now the original order of these, that given above, is the order in which the sun passes through the constellations indicated. The apostle John exactly reversed that order! “He is repudiating all heathen concepts; he is expressing the thought that in the end God reverses human judgments.”[50] This says in tones of thunder that there is absolutely nothing to astrology, a lesson that currently needs emphasis.
[43] William Barclay, op. cit., p. 213.
[44] Ibid., p. 214.
[45] Ibid.
[46] Ibid.
[47] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 512.
[48] Ibid.
[49] Charles as quoted by Leon Morris, op. cit., p. 252.
[50] Ibid.
Rev 21:21
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.
Twelve gates were twelve pearls … The gates of admittance are all one, as far as their character is concerned; one is not of lead, another of brass, etc. All who enter must meet the same requirements and enter by the gate of pearl, a symbol of the Christian’s “overcoming.” See sermon on “Heaven” in chapter introduction.
And the street … was pure gold … It is said also that this was, as it were, “transparent glass.” What kind of gold is that? Roberts thought that, “These symbols have no special significance”;[51] but it seems important that the very thing people worship on earth should at last have found its place under foot instead of upon the throne. “The street,” as used here, does not mean that there was only one street. “The street here is not one street, but all streets.”[52]
[51] J. W. Roberts, op. cit., p. 190.
[52] @@
Rev 21:22
And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof.
No temple … All devices for communicating with God will be unnecessary in the glorified state. In a sense, the entire eternal city will be the dwelling place of God (Rev 21:3). A very interesting fact revealed from the Dead Sea Scrolls is that, “A prominent Jewish sect rejected the established temple,”[53] a position fully in harmony with the view we have taken of it throughout this series.
The Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb … These are the temple thereof. Christ is the only true temple of God that this earth ever saw; and it includes also his spiritual body the church. This is the temple which God promised David that “his seed” would build (2Sa 7:12-13).
ENDNOTE:
[53] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 283.
Rev 21:23
And the city hath no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb.
No need of sun … nor moon … Note the powerful emphasis upon the Lamb throughout. “The lamp thereof is the Lamb.” “The Lamb is at the center of things throughout this book.”[54]
ENDNOTE:
[54] Leon Morris. op. cit., p. 254
Rev 21:24
And the nations shall walk amidst the light thereof: and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.
The nations shall walk amidst the light thereof … “These words deal with the present order.”[55] They are somewhat parenthetical in this vision of the eternal state. “The history of man has verified John’s prophecy, and its fulfillment continues till this day.”[56] Of course, “Many feel that the time referred to here is the millennium”;[57] but such views come of a failure to observe John’s method. In this great vision of the ultimate glory of the church, the apostle injected these words to show that some of the glories will also pertain to the church’s present existence. Upon the coronation of George VI of England, the magnificent folio published for the occasion praised the king and his dynasty as being “Among those kings who brought their glory into God’s kingdom.” Their interpretation of this passage was correct, whether or not their application of it is allowed. At the post-resurrection time symbolized by this vision, “there are no literal kings remaining on earth,”[58] any more than there are “dogs and sorcerers” on the outside trying to get in, as in 22:15. The words of this verse are both retrospective and prophetic.
[55] Charles H. Roberson. op. cit., p. 184.
[56] Ibid.
[57] Charles Caldwell Ryrie, op. cit., p. 122.
[58] A. Plummer, op. cit., p. 513.
Rev 21:25
And the gates thereof shall in no wise be shut by day (for there shall be no night there):
“The perpetually open gates symbolize perfect safety.”[59] “And there shall be no night there …” These precious words have been sung by the saints of all ages. Darkness is a time of danger, fear, and the works of darkness; but no such things shall any longer exist at the time foretold here.
ENDNOTE:
[59] James William Russell, op. cit., p. 654.
Rev 21:26
and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it:
See under Rev 21:24 for comment on the same thought expressed again here.
Rev 21:27
and there shall in no wise enter into it anything unclean, or he that maketh an abomination and a lie: but only they that are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Ladd’s comment on this verse also illuminates Rev 21:24; Rev 21:26.
The flexibility of apocalyptic language allows John to use contemporary earthly idiom to describe future eschatological situations. Those who now are unclean and practice abominations or falsehood will have no access into the heavenly city.[60]
The abominations spoken of here are probably the unspeakable perversions and sensualities practiced in the rites of heathendom; but, of course, they are not limited to that.
The chapter division here is capricious, for the next chapter is a continuation of exactly the same line of thought as here. The glory of the eternal state is the subject.
ENDNOTE:
[60] George Eldon Ladd, op. cit., p. 285.
Commentary on Rev 21:9-27 by Manly Luscombe
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, Come, I will show you the bride, the Lambs wife. We now meet one of the angels that poured out the bowls of the wrath of God. He now invites John to see the bride, the wife of the Lamb of God. The Lamb of God is Jesus. (Joh 1:36). The bride is the church. John is invited to see the church now. Not the church on earth with it hypocrites and pretenders. Not the church with flaws and imperfections. But the church with no spots, no wrinkles, no blemishes. This is the church pure, all dressed and prepared for the wedding feast.
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, John was taken to a great and high mountain. The church is so widespread that you need a high vantage point to take it in. The phrase in the Spirit is inserted to show that this is still part of the vision. He is not literally taken off Patmos to some high mountain. He is given a spiritual view of the grand and glorious church. Repeated from verse 2, John sees the church coming down out of heaven. Heaven is bigger than the church. The church is a part of heaven.
11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. The church, the true and faithful church, has the glory of God. The church was planned and built by God. The church was designed to spread the light of the gospel. (Eph 2:10). We are not sure about the jasper stone, some believe it might be the diamond. It is bright, precious and clear as crystal.
12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the westThe church is further described as having a high wall with 12 gates. There is a angel at each gate. The 12 gates have the names of the 12 tribes of Israel written on them. There are three gates on each side of the holy city. You can approach the city (church) from any direction and find access. The wall of a literal city was it primary defense against attack from the outside. If one is inside the wall, there is safety and protection. God has promised to protect those who are His. He offers security and safety to the church. NOTE: This is not heaven. This city came down out of heaven. John is describing the church, the bride of Christ.
14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The city has 12 foundations. The church was built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets. (Eph 2:19-20). The gates were labeled with the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. The 12 foundations are also labeled with the names of the 12 apostles.
15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The angel who was serving as Johns guide asked him to measure the city, the gates and the wall. The measurements are made with a golden reed. The measurements are figurative and not to be taken as literal.
16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. The city is a cube. The three dimensions are equal. The length, width and depth are the same. The measurement is 12,000 furlongs. In modern measurements a furlong is about 220 yards. 12,000 furlongs would be about 1,500 miles. This would make the city 1,500 mile long and wide. It would also make the city have walls that are 1,500 miles high. I believe that the number, like most numbers in Revelation, should be taken in its figurative sense. The number 12 is the number that represents organized religion. The 12 tribes of Israel represent Judaism. The 12 apostles represent the New Testament church. If you take this number and multiply by 1,000, the number of completeness, you have the sum completeness, the grand total of all who have ever lived lives of faithful obedience to God. Thus, 12,000 represent the total of all who have been obedient to God. Remember this is the spiritual city, the New Jerusalem.
17 Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. Since the height of the wall is described in the previous verse, it is clear that this verse is measuring the thickness of the wall. The wall is 144 cubits thick. This would be about 72 yards in thickness. Again, I do not believe we should take this a literal. The number 144 is the total of 12 multiplied by 12 (12 X 12 = 144). Since 12 is the number for organized religion, we are looking at a multiple of Judaism times Christianity. This is the similar to the number 144,000 in Rev 14:1. The measure of a man means that this was a measurement which man could understand.
18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The wall is of jasper (perhaps diamond) and the city is pure gold. The gold is so pure that it is clear like glass. In our understanding of the terms clear as glass and pure gold are not synonyms. How can it be both? I would remind you that John is attempting to describe that which is beyond our ability to describe. He is trying to paint a picture of what we can not even imagine.
19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The walls are decorated with all kinds of precious stones. The 12 foundations (labeled with the names of the 12 apostles) are made of precious stones. We are not sure of the meaning of some of these terms. Here is what we do know. These are precious stones. They are used to decorate, thus, are brilliant and beautiful.
21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. The gates on which are the names of the 12 tribes of Israel are now described. The 12 gates are made of 12 pearls. Each gate was one pearl. The street (singular) of the city is of such pure gold that it is clear like glass.
22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Under the Law of Moses the tabernacle, and later the temple, represented the presence of God. Now, the presence of God is in the hearts of his people. (2Co 6:16-17) God has promised to dwell with us, walk with us, and be our God. There is no need for a temple. We ARE the temple of God. (Eze 37:27; 1Co 3:17) God is present in His people.
23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. The church in not dependant on external light sources. God is the light. The sun is not needed to shine. We do not need stars or the moon. Gods glory lights up or lives. Jesus is the light of our life. (Joh 8:12). The primary task of the church is to take this light into a world dark with sin.
24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. People from all nations shall flow into the church. (Isa 2:2). The church is the body of the saved. Kings cannot bring their glory and power into heaven for eternity. They can, when converted, bring their glory into the church.
25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). The church is a pure place. It is safe from sin. There is no darkness of sin allowed in the church. Those in the church have been forgiven and died to a life of sin. Walled cities always closed their gates at night. If you were outside the city when the gates were closed, you could not enter. However, in the church it is never night. There is never a time when the opportunity to obey the gospel and be immersed is closed. I have baptized people at all hours of the day and night. The invitation to obey the commands of God is never closed. You can enter the church at anytime.
26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. This opportunity to become a citizen in the holy city is open to people of all nations. It is not limited to one race, nation or language. Peter said that in every nation if one believes and obeys God is accepted into the city.
27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lambs Book of Life. The church must remain pure. We must not allow sin or anything that defiles us to enter our lives. We must purge out the old leaven. We must separate from sin. Come out from among them and be separate.
Sermon on Rev 21:9-27
The City of God
Brent Kercheville
The first eight verses of chapter 21 (Rev 21:1-8) described the new heaven and the new earth. We noticed that the new heaven and new earth are symbolic images just like the rest of the book. The new heaven and new earth are not geographic concepts suggesting that we will still live on the earth after Christ returns. Rev 21:1-8 teaches the new heaven and new earth are relational images. When Christ returns then we will be able to fully be with God. Then we will be able to receive all the eternal rewards and blessings promised to the faithful. Then we will find comfort in the arms of the Lord who wipes away our tears that we have from living in this present heaven and present earth. When Christ returns there will be no more mourning, no crying, no pain, and no grief. These former things have passed away with the present heaven and present earth. Passages like Isa 65:17, Isa 66:22, and 2Pe 3:11-13 confirm our understanding of the new heaven and new earth as the time when righteousness rules. This world, with all its evil, pain, and difficulties, has passed away. Now we are at home with the Lord (2Co 5:8).
The Bride (Rev 21:9-10)
Rev 21:9 John sees one of the seven angels who had poured out one of the bowls of wrath. The angel tells John that he is going show him the bride, the wife of the Lamb. We already know from the scriptures what is going to be described to us. Rev 19:7-8 told us that the marriage of the Lamb has come and the bride is ready. The bride is defined for us as the saints, Gods holy people, and the fine linen the bride is wearing represents the righteous deeds of the saints. Paul makes the same connection, describing how husbands love their wives as how Christ loves the church. Christ is the husband, the groom and the church, the people of God, are the wife, the bride. The description the angel gives is not a description of a literal new city to be built in Palestine. The city, new Jerusalem, represents the people of God. Notice the other New Testament authors who make the same connection. The apostle Paul described the Jerusalem that is from above as the children of promise, the people of God (Gal 4:21-31). The writer of Hebrews spoke the same of new Jerusalem.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel. (Heb 12:22-24 ESV)
The angel carries John away in the Spirit to show him the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. Being carried in the Spirit reminds us that John continues a visionary sequence (Rev 1:10; Rev 4:2). John has not been literally carried anywhere. He is seeing a vision from God. The holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven connects back to Rev 21:2. We saw the new heaven, new earth, and new Jerusalem introduced. Rev 21:3-8 gave more details about the new heaven and new earth. The rest of the chapter gives more details about new Jerusalem.
New Jerusalems Walls and Gates (Rev 21:11-14)
John sees the new Jerusalem having the glory of God, full of radiance like a rare jewel, clear as crystal. The picture is likely the gleam and shimmer of a beautiful diamond. The eople of God are symbolized as a great city coming down from heaven, shining with the glory of God.
Rev 21:12-14 describes the walls and the gates of the city. The great, high wall represents how the unclean and wicked cannot enter into fellowship with God. Notice this point is clearly made in Rev 21:27. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lambs book of life. The walls show that no one can enter unless they are in fellowship with the Lord. The walls and gates also pictures the prophecy that Isaiah made.
In that day this song will be sung in the land of Judah: We have a strong city; he sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks. Open the gates, that the righteous nation that keeps faith may enter in. (Isa 26:1-2 ESV)
The other prophetic references come from Ezekiels vision of the new temple in Ezekiel 40-48. In Ezekiels context the physical temple has been destroyed and the people carried into captivity. Ezekiel in a vision is taken to a very high mountain like John was for this vision in Revelation. Ezekiel sees a great new temple. Revelation borrows many images and descriptions from Ezekiels vision showing the fulfillment of what Ezekiel prophesied. Ezekiels vision describes the actual presence of God within the temple of the new community. John sees twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. Inscribed on the gates were the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. Ezekiel saw the same thing (Eze 48:30-35). There are three gates on each side of the city, each inscribed with a name from sons of Israel. In addition to the twelve gates, there are twelve foundation stones. On the foundation stones were inscribed the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The apostles were the foundation of the city of God, the new Jerusalem. Jesus sent his Holy Spirit to the apostles who were guided into all truth (Joh 16:13). When we obey the teachings of the apostles recorded for us as these holy scriptures, then we will become part of the household of God and citizens in this great and glorious city of God. As the apostle Paul said to the Ephesians,
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. (Eph 2:19-20 ESV)
The inclusion of the names of the twelve sons of Israel with the names of the twelve apostles shows the ultimate fulfillment of Gods plan. The faithful people of God from both the covenants are part of Gods family and are in fellowship with the Lord.
New Jerusalems Measurements (Rev 21:15-17)
John now sees the angel with a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. When Ezekiel saw this vision he also saw an angel with a measuring rod in his hand (Eze 40:3). Eze 40:5 shows this angel going around the outside of the temple area and measuring the various aspects of the temple. The measuring of the city (and the temple in Ezekiels vision) is to show the security found in this city. We saw this symbol in Rev 11:1-2 where the measuring of the temple by John should the security of that temple while the courts outside the temple were not measured because they were to be trampled and destroyed. We noted that temple in Revelation 11 to refer to the holy people of God who were spiritually secure while the physical city was destroyed by the Gentiles. The same meaning exists here in Rev 21:15-17. These vast measurements of the city are to show that the people of God are secure and safe.
The length, width, and height of the city measure to 12,000 stadia. Many translations convert this measurement for us to help us understand the size of the city. The NRSV and NASB read 1500 miles while the NET and NLT read 1400 miles. Notice the measurements of the city are also perfect in dimension. These measurements should immediately cause us to realize that we are not looking at a literal city that would 1400-1500 miles high. The perfection of the city is being emphasized with this power numbers. We have noticed in our study of Revelation that 12,000 is a powerful, perfect number. We saw that the number of the servants of God sealed from each tribe was 12,000, bringing the number to 144,000. The number 12,000 shows grand and perfect completeness. There was only one other thing that was in perfect dimension of Gods buildings. The Holy of Holies in Solomons temple was perfectly square (1Ki 6:20). The Holy of Holies was 20 cubits long, wide, and high and was overlaid with God. This room represented the presence of God. This city with its perfect dimensions in equal length, width, and height represents Gods presence with his people who have been made perfect (Heb 12:22-24). Thus, a human measurement is the same as an angelic measurement because God is dwelling with his perfect people.
New Jerusalems Building Materials (Rev 21:18-21)
The description of the building materials for new Jerusalem are simply amazing. The walls are like diamonds, clear as glass, while the city was made of pure gold. Just as the Holy of Holies in Solomons temple was overlaid with gold and the whole temple was laid with gold (1Ki 6:20-22) so also is new Jerusalem made of pure gold. The various precious stones continue to amplify the beauty and glory of God with this city. Many precious stones from the high priests breastplate are identified here, perhaps indicating the whole of Israel, Gods holy people, represented in this city. We may also be seeing another fulfillment of Isaiahs prophecy.
Afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels and all your walls of precious stones. All your children will be taught by the LORD, and great will be their peace. (Isa 54:11-13 NIV)
This is the city that reflects the glory of God. This is the dwelling place of God. The twelve gates were twelve pearls and the street was the city was made of pure gold, transparent as glass. Everything is perfect. Nothing is marred in this city. The holy people of God are with the Lord in perfect fellowship where there is nothing evil.
New Jerusalems Temple (Rev 21:22-27)
Now John sees something very unusual about this holy city. There is no temple in the city. The reason is that the temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. There is no need for an intercessor between us and God. God is the temple. We have direct access and fellowship with the Lord. This is the reality of what the prophets promised.
And when you have multiplied and increased in the land, in those days, declares the LORD, they shall no more say, The ark of the covenant of the LORD. It shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed; it shall not be made again. At that time Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD, and all nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the LORD in Jerusalem, and they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil heart. (Jer 3:16-17 ESV)
For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts. The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts. The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the LORD of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the LORD of hosts.’ (Hag 2:6-9 ESV)
The New Testament has taught us the same imagery.
This Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone. (Act 4:11 ESV)
So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone. (Eph 2:19-20 ESV)
Further, the city has no need for the sun or moon because the glory of God gives it light and the lamp is the Lamb. The glory of God is incomparable to any source of light. Gods glory is sufficient for us for living. Once again, the imagery of verse 23 shows the fulfillment of Isaiahs prophecy.
The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give you light; but the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. (Isa 60:19 ESV)
The chapter concludes revealing that this great glory, security, and fellowship are available for all people. The nations walk by its light and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. They will bring the glory and the honor of the nations (Rev 21:26). Isaiah also prophesied of this moment.
3 And nations shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising.
5 Then you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the nations shall come to you.
11 Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession. 12 For the nation and kingdom that will not serve you shall perish; those nations shall be utterly laid waste. (Isa 60:3; Isa 60:5; Isa 60:11-12 ESV)
Those who do not submit to God will not be allowed to enter through the gates. Only those who are written in the Lambs book of life can enter into this glorious fellowship with God and receive the eternal blessings and rewards. These images portray the glory and blessings we will enjoy in full fellowship with God in the age to come after Christ returns.
LESSON 25.
A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH
Read Rev 21:1 to Rev 22:5
1. What appeared after the final judgment? Ans. Rev 21:1.
2. To what does John compare the new Jerusalem? Ans. Rev 21:2.
3. What message was proclaimed by a great voice out of the throne? Ans. Rev 21:3.
4. Name some things that shall pass away. Ans.Rev 21:4.
5. What did the one on the throne order John to do? Ans. Rev 21:5.
6. What is promised to those who thirst? to those who overcome? Ans. Rev 21:6-7.
7. Who shall have their part in the lake of fire and brimstone? Ans. Rev 21:8.
8. Who promised to show John the bride, the wife of the Lamb? Ans. Rev 21:9.
9. Where then was John carried and what did he see? Ans. Rev 21:10.
10. Describe the new Jerusalem. To what is her light compared? How many gates, where located. and what was written on them? How many foundations and what was written on them? Give the dimensions of the city. Tell of the walls of the city. Ans. Rev 21:11-18.
11. Name the twelve kinds of stone that composed the wall. Ans. Rev 21:19-20.
12. Describe the twelve gates and the street. Ans. Rev 21:21.
13. How was the city lighted? Ans. Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5.
14. Why will the gates of the city never be shut? Ans. Rev 21:25.
15. What will not enter the city? What will enter? Ans. Rev 21:27.
16. Give a full description of the river of the water of life. Ans. Rev 22:1; Rev 2:17. Whose throne will be in the new Jerusalem? Ans. Rev 22:3-4.
E.M. Zerr
Questions on Revelation
Revelation Chapter Twenty-One
1. Tell what John saw next.
2. What had become of the first ones?
3. Name the city John saw.
4. From where was it coming?
5. How was it prepared?
6. From where did he hear a voice?
7. What had come to be with men?
8. Who will dwell with them?
9. State the relation to exist between them?
10. Tell the service God will do for them.
11. What will former things have done?
12. Among these will be what?
13. Tell what will be made new.
14. Who declared this to be so ?
15. Why was John told to write?
16. What was said next?
17. Tell the description of the speaker.
18. What will he give freely?
19. To whom will he give this?
20. Who shall inherit all things? .
21. What will God be to him?
22. Where will the liars have their part?
23. What death is this called?
24. Tell who will share this with the liars.
25. Who came to John now?
26. What did he promise to show him?
27. By what was he carried away?
28. What did he show him?
29. From where was it descending?
30. What glory did it have?
31. Describe her light.
32. And what kind of wall did it have?
33. How many gates?
34. Who stood at the gates?
35. What names were written?
36. How were the gates distributed?
37. State the number of foundations.
38. By what were they named?
39. What did the angel hold in his hand?
40. For what was it to be used?
41. What was the form of the city?
42. State its dimensions.
43. What was the size of the wall?
44. Of what was the wall made?
45. Of what was the city made?
46. How was the foundation adorned?
47. With how many stones?
48. Of what were the gates made?
49. With what were the streets paved?
50. What furnished the light?
51. Why was there no temple seen?
52. Who will walk in the light of the city?
53. What will the kings bring into it?
54. At what hour will the gates be closed?
55. Why will this he?
56. What shall not be allowed to enter?
57. State who will be permitted to enter.
Revelation Chapter Twenty-One
Ralph Starling
John saw a new heaven and a new earth described,
Adorned in splendid attire like that of a bride.
Places prepared for God’s people
Where there would be no death, sorrow, pain or weeping.
The former things are passed from view,
For God said “I’ll make all things new.”
Only those who overcome will not be left,
But fro the unbelievin & ungodly the 2nd death.
Now John is shown “God’s Retirement Home,”
Prepared by Jesus for those who belong.
With brilliance and beauty to startle the eye
And identified to be the Lamb’s wife.
It was a city 1500 mile square & streets of gold,
With walls of jasper & gates of a single pearl,
The foundation of the walls were deep and strong,
And garnished with 12 different jewels of stone.
John said, “I saw no temple or church
For God and the Lamb were there to be worshipped.”
With God always there’s no need for light,
For the glory of God kept it always bright.
The 12 gates of pearl were never shut day or night.
No one could enter but those named in the book of life.
For those taht defiled with ungodly ire,
Were banished forever in the lake of fire.
Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary
The Holy City
Rev 21:9-27
The new Jerusalem is the redeemed Church united with her Lord in the act of governing the whole world. A city is obviously the seat of imperial rule. In that blessed condition the saints will rule the earth as the powers of darkness rule it now. We shall enjoy the fellowship of the good and great of every age. In a literal sense we shall be fellow-citizens with the saints. All ages and dispensations will blend there. Angels at the gates; the names of the twelve tribes and twelve Apostles engraved in imperishable characters to indicate the blending of the dispensations; the differing stones, representing variety of character and function but all blending in the light of the Lamb on the throne.
The happy throngs pour through the gates with never-ending rapture. Those gates, facing every quarter, stand always open; but none desire to go forth, except commissioned on some errand by the King. All the glory and honor of the world are gathered within those walls, because Jesus will be king over every department of human life. There will be room for all beauty, art, and culture in the city of eternal light and love.
Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary
Chapter 54
Christ and the holy city, the new Jerusalem
‘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’
Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5
Throughout the Book of Revelation we have seen vision after vision of the Lord Jesus Christ in his redemptive, saving, preserving grace. Every vision seen and recorded by John sets forth the whole history of redemption from the incarnation of Christ until the final consummation of all things at his glorious second advent. Each vision is historical, current, and prophetic. And, as you read through the Book, you get a sense of anticipation. Everything appears to be moving in one direction, with steady pace, toward a particular end. Really, history is not circular, but linear. All of history moves in a direct line to one, glorious end to accomplish one object. And that object is the complete revelation of Gods glory in the salvation of his elect by Christ Jesus. This is the vision which John describes in Rev 21:9 to Rev 22:5.
In this passage of Scripture we have a beautiful, symbolic picture of the church of God, the Bride of Christ, as God views it. It is the holy city, the new Jerusalem. Remember, the picture is altogether symbolical. It is a picture of the church of God in her eternal, heavenly glory. But this vision of the churchs triumphant glory is also a vision of the churchs present glory in Christ. In Christ, by virtue of our union with him, the church of God and every member of it is perfectly and eternally complete (Col 2:10). In this passage, John tells us twelve things about the church of the living God as she shall be in that glorious state called ‘the holy Jerusalem.’
1. The church of God is described as a city, the holy city, the new Jerusalem (Rev 21:10; Rev 21:16; Rev 21:18)
The church is a community of men and women who have fellowship with God in the Lord Jesus Christ. This community will, in its ultimate fulness, be an enormous, flourishing city. It is called ‘the Holy City’ because it has been purified and made holy by the blood of Christ. It is called ‘the new Jerusalem’ because it has been renewed by the grace and power of God the Holy Spirit. It is called a ‘great city’ because it is made up of a vast multitude which no man can number. The New Jerusalem is a radiant, highly valued city, a city of pure gold because God considers his church the most valuable thing in his creation. And it is described as a city four square (1400 miles high, 1400 miles long, and 1400 miles wide), complete and in perfect cemetry because it is altogether perfect (Psa 48:12-14)
2. This holy city, the church, is the bride of Christ (Rev 21:2; Rev 21:9)
The people of this city are the objects of his eternal love, the choice of his heart, the bride to whom he is betrothed, for whom dowry of righteousness and redemption has been paid, whom he is coming to wed
3. This city, the new Jerusalem, is a well lit city (Rev 21:11; Rev 21:23; Rev 22:5)
The Lord God himself, as he is revealed and known in the sin-atoning Lamb, is the light of the city. Christ the Light drives out the darkness of ignorance and the night of sorrow. It is only in Christ that the glory of God is seen in this world (2Co 4:4-6). And it is only in Christ the glory of God can be seen in everlasting glory (Isa 60:1; Isa 60:3; Isa 60:5; Isa 60:19-21). God is Spirit. We cannot see a spirit. But we shall see all the fulness of the triune God in the person of our Savior, when we see him face to face (Joh 1:18).
4. The church is the temple of God, but here John tells us that God is the temple of his church (Rev 21:22)
It is true that God dwells in us. But understand this: we dwell in God! And in eternity, we shall have the full manifestation and enjoyment of the atmosphere of Gods being. The radiance of Gods being shall fill the entire city of God. It shall be fully manifest everywhere, to everyone. There shall be no back settlements in the heavenly Canaan, no dark corners in the New Jerusalem. All Gods elect shall forever dwell in the immediate, direct, presence of God.
5. The new Jerusalem is a divinely secured fortress of grace (Rev 21:12; Rev 21:17-18)
Round about this city is a great high wall, a wall with four sides. It is an unseen wall, but it is a very secure wall. The wall of our salvation is our great God (Zec 2:5). We are secured from all harm and all real danger by the purpose, purchase, power, and promises of our God.
6. The foundations upon which this city is built are the twelve apostles of Christ (Rev 21:14; Rev 21:19-20)
Men and women come into this city, come into this church of God, and enter into glory at last, by the preaching of the apostles, by the message they delivered – The gospel of Christ. The apostles were the messengers of the Lamb. Their foundations are really one – Jesus Christ himself (Eph 2:20; 1Co 3:9). In this great foundation, all the glorious attributes of God are revealed and set forth by the many precious stones.
7. This great city has twelve gates of pearl (Rev 21:12-13; Rev 21:21; Rev 21:25; Rev 21:27; Rev 22:14-15)
There are plenty of open gates on every side for all who will enter. But the gates are made and opened for a specific people. They are the ones whose names are inscribed upon them, ‘the twelve tribes of the children of Israel,’ that is to say, Gods elect. At every gate there is an angel, a messenger, calling for men to enter into the city. These messengers represent Gods preachers. The gates are pearls, one pearl, even the Pearl of Great Price, Jesus Christ. He is the door, the only door, by whom we enter the city. The gates to the City Beautiful are never shut. Christ is an open door by whom sinners draw near to and find acceptance with the eternal God.
8. The street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass (Rev 21:21)
There is but one street running through the city. It leads from every gate right up to the throne of God, the river of the waters of life and the tree of life. And that street is the pure, transparent, golden gospel of Christ. This street represents the gospel, the only way to God. It is pure and transparent. It has nothing to hide. And it is more valuable than all the gold of the earth.
9. This great city is supplied with life by the river of the water of life, proceeding from the throne of God (Rev 22:1; Psa 46:4)
The source of life is the throne of God. And the River of Life is the Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior.
10. In the midst of the city is the Tree of Life (Rev 22:1-3)
This represents the cross of Christ, the message of blood atonement by the crucified Substitute (Gal 3:13). It bears regular, appointed fruit (Isa 55:11). It bears abundant fruit. Its leaves (doctrines) are for the healing of the nations. The message of redemption by Christ is the means by which God heals the souls of men (Joh 3:14-16).
11. In the new Jerusalem God sits upon his throne (Rev 22:3-4)
There his sovereignty is acknowledged. His will is obeyed. And his face is seen.
12. The inhabitants of the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, are Gods elect (Rev 21:24; Rev 21:27)
All whose names are written in the Book of Life (all the elect), all who were redeemed by the blood of Christ, all who are justified and sanctified (saved and made holy) in Christ by the grace of God, all who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be in the New Jerusalem and shall reign forever and ever with the Son of God! Will you be among the inhabitants of that city?
Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible
which: Rev 15:1-7, Rev 16:1-17
the Lamb’s: Rev 21:2, Rev 19:7
Reciprocal: Psa 45:9 – queen Son 4:9 – my spouse Son 6:9 – The daughters Isa 61:10 – as a Isa 62:4 – Beulah Hos 2:19 – And I will Mat 25:1 – the bridegroom Mar 2:20 – the bridegroom Joh 1:29 – Behold Joh 3:29 – hath Rom 7:4 – that ye Rev 15:7 – seven Rev 17:1 – one Rev 22:17 – the bride
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
THE BRIDE OF CHRIST
The Bride, the Lambs wife.
Rev 21:9
The Church, the Bride of Christ, is not called into existence simply for itself; it is called into existence for the sake of the Bridegroom. The work of the Bride of Christ: Ye shall be witnesses unto Me. A husband and wife ought to be one in thought, in character, in work. And that is the idea, that the Church of Christ should be one in thought, in character, and in work with Jesus Christ. What is Jesus Christs character? That should be the character of His Church and the different parts of the Church. What is the thought of Jesus Christ? That should be the thought of the Church, the different parts of the Church.
I. The work of the Bride.Just think of the love of Jesus Christ for the world! Can we estimate it? Can we picture it? Can we even imagine it? And yet if we are one with Him and His Bride, there ought to be in us that same spirit of love and devotion, that keenness for the work that characterised Him.
II. The position of the Bride.When you are united to Jesus Christ in the closest of all ties as His bride, think what a claim you have upon Him, think what a claim He has upon you. If you are His bride, what has He a right to expect from you? Loyalty to Himself, nothing coming between. What have you a right to expect from Him? Everything. And yet, unfortunately, what do we see over and over again? Men and women not living up to their rank, not realising their privileges.
III. The ambition of the Bride.Just as a wife looks up to the husband, so the Church must look up to Jesus Christ. Jesus only! That is the cry of the Church, that is the cry of the Christian. Jesus only!
Rev. J. E. Watts-Ditchfield.
Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary
Rev 21:9. The original angel who came to John at the beginning of the vision has not left the isle, but occasionally there will be an extra conversation permitted for some one Joh 2:20 of the other persons introduced from time to time. For instance, one of the elders (chapter 5:5), the beasts or living creatures (chapter 6:1, 3, 5, 7), the voice from heaven (chapter 10:8), one of the seven angels (chapter 17:1) and the one in our verse. John heard many other voices from time to time, but the ones to which reference is made talked to him. This angel of our verse invited John to see a vision of the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Comments by Foy E. Wallace
(3) The description of the massive dimensions of the great city, the holy new Jerusalem–Rev 21:9-17.
The original designation for Jerusalem was the name Salem, mentioned Psa 76:2, and it meant the possession of peace, or the inheritance of peace. It was the most important city of biblical history, and the most sacred and the most desecrated of the whole world. The Psalmist of Israel sang its praises; but Christ the Saviour wept tears of sorrow over its apostasies, unfaithfulness and approaching desolation. (Mat 23:37-38)
The Jerusalem of the time of Christ and the apostles and people of the New Testament lies buried beneath the ruins of the succeeding centuries; and the Jerusalem which was the city of David is buried far deeper below the surface of modern Jerusalem. In the fifteen centuries of its existence from its first appearance in Old Testament history until its destruction in A. D. 70 it had been besieged some fifteen or twenty times, was twice razed and burned, and twice its walls were crumbled by enemy attacks. There is not the slightest feature remaining today of its ancient glory.
Under Solomon the city of David attained its highest fame and greatest grandeur, as the result of the wise king’s accomplishments of the building of the magnificent temple and royal palace, and the extension and strengthening of its massive walls. With a vast army of skilled craftsmen the enormous workmanship that entered into its erection was completed, and the venerated temple with its splendorous sanctuary was dedicated within seven and one-half years. This was in wide contrast with the gradual work on Herod”s temple, standing in the time of Christ, which required “forty and six years” to complete. (Joh 2:20) It was in king Solomon’s reign, due to these accomplishments, that Jerusalem became the one central place of all the world for the true worship of God. It was the Mecca of the Jews, the holy city, and whether near or far, at home or in foreign land, the devoted Jew prayed with his face toward Jerusalem.
Captured by the Roman Pompey in B. C. 63, the land of the Jews was again subjugated and became a province of the Caesars. Approximately twenty years later, B. C.Revelation 17 fellRevelation 21 ians, under Antigonus; but only one year later Herod the Great laid siege to the city, and supported by the Roman army the citadel and the temple were recaptured by storm; and Herod was afterward made king of Judea by the Romans. He at once improved and beautified the city, and initiated the enlargement and refurbishing of the temple without and within, requiring the period of forty-six years as mentioned in the gospel record of John. Under the rule of Herod the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple approximated their ancient magnificence.
The Jerusalem of the New Testament times stood with all the imposing grandeur and strength to which it had been brought by HerRev 21:9 gh nearly a half-century of workmanship, with all of its multiple walls and structures. It was after the death of Herod Agrippa, the grandson of Herod the Great, that the province of Judea was again ruled by oppressive provincial Roman procurators, and Jerusalem became the ground for the scenes of discontent, violent insurrections and political rebellion. It is no wondRev 21:10 er apostasies and abominations should become the object of the Patmos visions to signify the Harlot; and it is not strange that the once holy city should be the type of the New Jerusalem, the Bride and church of Christ the Lamb.
With this excursion we return to the apocalyptic description of the Great City, the Holy New Jerusalem, which begins with verse nine of chapter twenty-one.
This vision of the Holy City was in contrast with the vision of Babylon The Great, The Mother Of Harlots And Abominations Of The Earth of chapter seventeen. There one of the angels of judgment showed John the Harlot City (the old Jerusalem) which had become the mother of the abominations of the earth (Palestine) by her many apoEph 5:25-33 lamented by Jesus Christ himself in the twenHeb 12:22-23 the twenty-fourth chapters of Matthew.
In the vision of chapter twenty-one, now under consideration, the same angels showed John the Holy City. They were hitherto the executioners of divine wrath and judgment; but here they were thGal 4:26 strators of divine love and reward. In comparison, the angels in the two chapters (Revelation 17 and Revelation 21) used the same identification in the language describing their functions, but for a different mission. In chapters seventeen to nineteen these angels were on the mission of pronouncing judgment upon the Harlot Woman; but in chapter twenty-one the mission of the same angels was toRev 21:10 the Holy City, the Bride.
It was appropriate that the angels pronouncinRev 1:10 om on the old Jerusalem of Judaism should also announce the blessings of triumph awaiting the New Jerusalem Bride. The chapter is a continuation of the vial-angel visions, culminating in the glorious success of the church in the heathen world.
1. Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife–Rev 21:9. This beckoning of the angel is another proof, among the many others in the contexts of these chapters, that the descriptions of the holy city were not visions of heaven the home of the soul, but of the glorious church of Christ, designated the bride and the wife of the Lamb, redeemed from tribulation, but yet to fulfill her divine mission on the earth.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Rev 21:9. At chap. Rev 17:1 one of the angels that had the seven bowls had come to the Seer and shown him the great harlot that sitteth upon many waters, the mystic Babylon. In like manner one of the same group of angels, but more fully described as one of the seven who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues, now shows him the city that was in every respect the contrast of Babylon, not Babylon but the New Jerusalem, not a harlot but the bride the Lambs wife. The fuller description of the angel brings out more completely the fact that the last plagues were over, and that nothing remained to be exhibited to the Seer but the glory of the redeemed in heaven. The combination of the terms bride and Lambs wife is remarkable. The Church is not only espoused but married to her Lord, yet she remains for ever in a virgin purity.
Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament
St. John having delivered, before a general account of the saints’ happiness in heaven, descends here to a more particular description of it. Heaven, called the New Jerusalem, is represented by a city, with magnificent gates and walls; and the church, the collective body of glorified saints, is here called the Lamb’s wife, espoused before, but the marriage solemnized now.
Note here, That as the earthly Jerusalem was a type of the church militant, so the church triumphant is called the New Jerusalem, and compared to a great city for the multitude of its members, and styled holy, because sanctity is the special qualification of those who are the inhabitants of it.
Note, 2. The light which is found in this city; it is not compared to the light of the sun, for that is attended with scorching heat, nor to the light of the moon, which is variable and uncertain, but to the light of precious stones, which is clear and pure, and has nothing annoying in it.
Note, 3. The great safety and security of this city, and of all the citizens inhabiting therein: here is a wall great and high; walls are for defence, (called maenia a muniendo, and the higher the wall the greater the defence: God’s omnipotency is as a wall, and will be an invincible bulwark about his saints in heaven: nothing shall endanger them, nothing shall offend them.
Note, 4. Here are twelve gates for conveniency of entrance into this city on all sides, and to give free and easy access from all parts, east, west, north, and south; to signify that the church in heaven will be made up of persons coming from all parts, as Christ foretold, Mat 8:11; Luk 13:29 They shall come from the east, &c. and shall sit down with Abraham. The triumphant church is a collective body of believers of all nations, kindreds, and people, tongues and languages.
Note lastly, That as the names of workmen are sometimes set upon foundation stones, by which it is well known in after-ages who were the builders; in like manner it is here intimated, that as the ancient Jewish church was founded in twelve patriarchs, so the latter Christian church in and by twelve apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, or the foundation of both; he being fundamentum fundans, they fundamenta fundata; teaching us that our faith must be built upon the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, and upon no other doctrine whatsoever, though it has a pretended stamp of infallibility upon it.
Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament
This may be the same angel as in Rev 17:1 . It appears the rest of this chapter and most of the next are a more detailed view of things discussed in verses 1-7.
Fuente: Gary Hampton Commentary on Selected Books
Rev 21:9-14. And there came unto me one of the seven angels Most probably the same who had (Rev 17:1, &c.) showed John the mystic Babylon and her destruction, and now shows him, by way of contrast, the new Jerusalem and her glory. And he carried me away in the Spirit The same expression as is used before, Rev 17:3; to a great and high mountain Thus Eze 40:2, was brought in the visions of God, and set on a very high mountain: and showed me the holy city Jerusalem The old city is now forgotten, so that this is no longer termed the new, but absolutely, Jerusalem. O how did St. John long to enter in! But the time was not yet come. Ezekiel also describes the holy city, and what belongs to it, (chap. 40.-xlviii.,) but a city quite different from the old Jerusalem, as it was either before or after the Babylonish captivity. The descriptions of the prophet and of the apostle agree in many particulars; but in many more they differ. Ezekiel expressly describes the temple and the worship of God therein, closely alluding to the Levitical service. But St. John saw no temple, and describes the city far more large, and glorious, and heavenly, than the prophet. His description, indeed, is an assemblage of the sublimest, richest imagery, not only of Ezekiel, but of other ancient prophets. Having the glory of God For her light, Rev 21:23; Isa 60:1-2; Zec 2:5; and her light Or the lustre thereof, as may be rendered; was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper For brightness; clear as crystal The divine shechinah illuminating the whole city, which, as it was represented to St. John pendant in the air, shone with an elegant and amazing lustre, expressive of the perfect illumination, purity, and holiness of its happy inhabitants. And had a wall great and high To show its strength and security under the almighty protection of its founder and preserver; and had twelve gates With angels for guards, still waiting upon the heirs of salvation; and names written thereon On the gates; of the twelve tribes of Israel To signify that it was the dwelling of the Israel of God, and that such as had been faithful members of the true church had a right to be admitted, and to show also the great glory of that city, where angels were appointed to keep guard; an honour properly due only to the majesty of Gods presence, and to the seat of it. On the east, north, south, and west, three gates To show that people of all climates and nations may have access to it. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles Figuratively showing how great dependance the church had on their testimony, what an influence the gospel which they preached had had on raising this divine structure, and that the inhabitants of it had built only on that faith which the apostles once delivered to the saints.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Rev 21:9-17. (b) The Measuring of the City.
Rev 21:9. seven bowls: cf. ch. 16.
Rev 21:10. to a mountain: as in Eze 40:2.
Rev 21:11. jasper stone clear as crystal: possibly the stone indicated is a diamond or opal (Rev 4:3*).
Rev 21:12. twelve gates: cf. the description in Eze 48:31 ff.
Rev 21:14. twelve apostles: cf. Eph 2:20, built on the foundation of the apostles; but it is not stated here that the apostles constituted the foundations, but that the names of the apostles were inscribed on the foundations.
Rev 21:15. Cf. Eze 40:3 and Rev 11:2, where, however, the city is destined to destruction, the Temple and altar being measured for preservation.
Rev 21:16. The city is not merely a square, but a perfect cube, length, breadth, and height being equal. 12,000 furlongs: lit. stadia, i.e. nearly 1500 English miles. This figure might be intelligible when applied to the length and breadth, but when applied to height it becomes inconceivable. Such dimensions defy imagination and are permissible only in the language of symbolism (Swete).
Rev 21:17. 144 cubits: about 216 feet. If this figure refers to the height of the wall, it seems out of all proportion to the height of the city, which was over 7,000,000 feet high. The wall and the city, therefore, do not correspond, and this is another indication that the figures are not to be taken literally.
Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible
21:9 {6} 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.
(6) A transition to the describing of the heavenly Church, by the express calling of John in this verse, and his enrapturing by the Spirit, in confirmation of the truth of God in the verse following.
Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes
John’s guide to the city 21:9-10
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
One of the angels with the seven bowls of judgment served as John’s guide in this part of his vision (cf. Rev 17:1). The fact that one of these particular angels helped John understand both the mystery of Babylon and that of the New Jerusalem sets these two cities in stark contrast.
"It is impossible to dwell both in Babylon and in the new Jerusalem." [Note: Morris, p. 248.]
It is quite clear that the "bride," the wife of the Lamb, is the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:10; cf. Rev 21:2). Contrast the harlot of Rev 17:1 (cf. Rev 19:7; Rev 21:2). From the description that follows it also seems clear that the New Jerusalem is a city. It is not just a person or a group of people, such as Christians. Some have identified it as the church. [Note: E.g., Robert Gundry, "The New Jerusalem: People as Place, not Place for People," Novum Testamentum 29:3 (July 1987):256.] This is the first of seven references to the Lamb in this section (Rev 21:9; Rev 21:14; Rev 21:22-23; Rev 21:27; Rev 22:1; Rev 22:3). He becomes increasingly prominent as the book draws to a close. "The Lamb is all the glory in Immanuel’s land." [Note: "Immanuel’s Land" by Anne Ross Cousin.]
Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)
3. John’s second vision of the New Jerusalem 21:9-22:5
God now provided John with more information about the New Jerusalem (Rev 21:2). Similarly Rev 17:1 to Rev 19:10 expanded the announcement of Babylon’s fall in Rev 16:19. The chronological progression of the revelation in Rev 19:11 to Rev 22:5 locates the New Jerusalem in the new creation, not in the Millennium.