34-Chapter 2. The New Jerusalem
Chapter 2. The New Jerusalem The goal is reached. The Consummation has come. The heavenly Jerusalem descends to the earth. The capital of heaven becomes the capital of earth, and the “heavenly” Jerusalem ... the original of the earthly ... becomes “new” Jerusalem, the glorifying of the earthly, a heaven in this world. The designation “heavenly” Jerusalem is to be distinguished from the designation “new” Jerusalem. Both describe the same “city” with (finally) the same inhabitants. But “heavenly” Jerusalem refers to the city of God as the capital city in heaven, as the “mother” of the church, as the original of the earthly Jerusalem, until the glorifying of the universe (Hebrews 12:22; Galatians 4:26). “New” Jerusalem describes it in contrast to the “old” Jerusalem, in Palestine, as the latter’s goal, perfecting, and glorifying on the new earth (Revelation 3:12; Revelation 21:2). It is as “new” Jerusalem that the “heavenly” Jerusalem descends to the earth. From the “wilderness” John saw Great Babylon, the harlot (Revelation 17:1-3), from “a mountain great and high” New Jerusalem, the bride (Revelation 21:9-10). “Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” The Bible gives a threefold description: as the new Jerusalem that descends from heaven (Revelation 21:9-27); as the perfected Temple of God, the actual eternal Holiest of all (Revelation 21:15-16; Revelation 21:22); as the glorified Paradise, the super-historical perfecting of the earliest beginnings of history (Revelation 22:1-5). The Bible describes the first of these in a magnificent picture. It shows (1) its glory, (2) its foundations, (3) its jasper wall, (4) its pearly gates, (5) its inhabitants, (6) its municipal life, (7) its size.
[1] The Glory of the City
“Glory is holiness displayed.” Holiness is the soul of true beauty. Beauty is only beautiful if it is the radiance of truth.
Therefore Jerusalem is glorious (Psalms 87:3). Therefore it shines in heavenly gold. Therefore it is, as it were, a translucent sunlit palace of crystal (Revelation 21:18; Revelation 21:21; Revelation 21:23-24). For Jerusalem is the city of perfection, the spiritualized Paradise, the illuminated, God-pervaded “Holy City” (Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:10; Revelation 21:27).
Therefore the Bible paints it in the most glorious colours. Therefore it takes the most precious things of earth ... gold, pearls, precious stones ... and uses them as a prophecy of the still more precious things of heaven, the original of all splendour, the coming city of God.
Hence its talk of the golden streets, the foundations of precious stones, the gates of pearl, the wall of jasper, and the crystal river of life. For the goal of all redemption is holy transfiguration: a holy transfigured humanity on a holy transfigured earth under the radiance of the glory of God which transfigures it by holiness (Revelation 21:23-27).
[2] The Foundations of the City
“And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” And the foundation stones were adorned with all kinds of precious stones, as with jasper, sapphire, emerald, with sardius, chrysolite, amethyst (Revelation 21:14; Revelation 21:19-20).
Why this foundation? Why precisely the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb as inscription?
Because the Lamb is the foundation of the heavenly city, because the One crucified by the old Jerusalem is the crowned One in the new Jerusalem, because the apostolic message of the Lamb is the bejewelled foundation of all heavenly glory (comp. Ephesians 2:20). In his picture of the new Jerusalem John seven times names the “Lamb” (Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-21). The word is literally “little lamb,” thus everywhere in the Revelation ... 29 times. It sets the apparent weakness of the Crucified over against His triumph. To John the Lamb is:
1. The foundation ... for the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are on the foundation (21:14).
2. The guard ... for only those whose names are in the Lamb’s book of life are permitted to enter the city (21:27).
3. The spring of life ... for the river of life comes out of the throne of God and the Lamb (22:1).
4. The Light ... for the Lamb is its light, like jasper, as clear as crystal (21:23,11; Isaiah 60:19).
5. The Beloved ... for the city is the wife of the Lamb, prepared as a bride adorned for her bride-groom (21:9,2; comp. 2 Corinthians 11:2-3; Ephesians 5:31-32).
6. The Temple ... for the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple; therefore there is no other temple in it (21:22).
7. The King ... for the throne of God and of the Lamb is in the city: His servants will do Him service (22:3).
[3] The Jasper Wall
“And it had a wall great and high ... and he measured its wall a hundred and forty-four ells (250 ft.) according to the measure of man, which is also the angelic measure” (21:12,17).
1. Its height. The wall is great and high, nearly 250 feet, almost four times as high as an ordinary modern house in a large city. Naturally the figures are to be taken as symbolic, and from the standpoint of the conditions of the civilized world of John’s time the symbolism meant that the wall was not to be scaled by any human effort. Into the heavenly Jerusalem no one can enter by human progress, or ascent of culture, or climbing upward of man’s spirit, of self-redemption by his own powers. The wall is too high. One must enter through the gates of pearl. But these are guarded by angels. Only the redeemed of God have access.
2. Its lowliness. And yet compared with the city itself the wall is low. About 250 feet to about 1,500 miles, as if a house in a big town 65 feet high had around it a railing about one-fortieth of an inch high. But this is indicated: So safe is Jerusalem! No enemy can disturb it, no adversary can disquiet it, so completely are all enemies of the Crucified conquered. Jerusalem shall be inhabited as an “open” city (Zechariah 2:4), with doors open all day long (Revelation 21:25). Between the wall “salvation” and the fortress “rock of eternity” the redeemed shall dwell in safety (Isaiah 26:1-4; Psalms 122:7). The Lord Himself is the wall (Zechariah 2:5; Psalms 125:2), and no one can storm Him. “The Father is greater than all” (John 10:29; Psalms 46:6; Psalms 48:14).
3. Its Building material. “The wall was of jasper,” which allows the light of glory to pass through. The new Jerusalem radiates light over the whole earth. It does not retain its light; others share it. The glory of God is appointed for all. Therefore the peoples walk in the light of the city and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it (21:24). The city which has the Lamb as its sun (21:23) becomes itself a sun (Matthew 5:14).
4. Its preciousness. On every side the wall is 12,000 furlongs, that is, 1,500 miles long, all of jasper, thus 6,000 miles of jasper, everywhere 250 feet high. What are all the jewels of earth in comparison? The largest of all diamonds yet known, from Borneo, weighs 367 carats (2½ ozs.). Kohinoor (mount of light) has been famed for long centuries. It is today among the British crown jewels. It weighs 106 carats (not quite 1 oz.). Orlow, the diamond on the point of the sceptre of the former Russian emperors, weighs 195 carats (about 1½ ozs.). 79 But here is a wall of precious stone some 6,000 miles long and 250 feet high, all of crystal! Truly all things earthly pale before the heavenly, and become simply nothing. They sink into insignificance. In fact, not only the sufferings of this world but also its glories are not worthy even to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed to usward (Romans 8:18). Therefore says the Lord: “Thou miserable, storm-tossed, uncomforted! See, I will set thy stones in antimony and lay thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy pinnacles of rubies and thy doors of carbuncle and all thy borders of precious stones” (Isaiah 54:11-12).
Footnote 79: In greatest diameter is less than 1½ inches, and its greatest height is not even 1 inch.
[4] The Gates of Pearl
“And it 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 . . . and the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the several gates was of one pearl” (Revelation 21:12; Revelation 21:21). They are:
1. Gates which are open ... for the cross has unlocked them (John 1:51; Acts 7:55; Isaiah 26:2; Isaiah 60:11; Psalms 100:4). The pearl is itself an emblem of redemption. It originates through specially strong secretion of mother of pearl by the pearl shell-fish as a reaction against injury from without, as by the inrush of inanimate objects, conferva (threads of seaweed), water-mites and the like. It is thus the answer of a wounded life to injury from without. So also the opening of the pearly gates of heaven is the answer of the fatally wounded life of the Redeemer to the sin at Golgotha, even the murder of Himself, the Son of God.
2. Gates towards all quarters of heaven .... for salvation is for all (Revelation 21:13; Isaiah 45:22, comp. 43:5-7; Ezekiel 48:30-35). Toward each of the four quarters of the earth are three gates: for the Divine glory (3) is appointed for the whole world (4).
3. Gates with the mild radiance of pearls, not with the flashing gleam of the diamond ... for they are gates of grace (Revelation 21:21; Matthew 11:28-30; Ephesians 2:5; Ephesians 2:7-8).
4. Each gate of one glorious pearl ... for they lead to glory (Revelation 21:21; comp. Isaiah 60:18).
5. Gates for the people of God only ... for their number is twelvefold (Isaiah 33:24; Revelation 21:13; Revelation 21:27), which is the number of the people of God, comp. pp. 194.
6. Gates under the holy guard of angels ... for the angel of the Lord guards them (Revelation 21:12; Psalms 34:7; Isaiah 62:6). These angel guards at the open gates of pearl stand in blessed contrast to the cherubic guards at the closed gate of Paradise (Genesis 3:24).
7. Gates with the names of the people of Israel ... for salvation comes from the Jews, as Jesus Christ Himself said (John 4:22, comp. Romans 11:18; Hebrews 11:10). Abraham is the father of all believers. Only he who has entered by the Messianic door has entrance to the gate of pearl. The nations will benefit by the heavenly city through submission to the converted, renewed, and glorified Israel on the new earth. Jesus, the Son of David (Mark 10:47; John 10:9) says: “I am the door: if any one has enters through me, he shall be saved.” Only he who has entered through the “narrow gate” (Matthew 7:13-14), secures “wide” entrance into the kingdom of heaven. Only he who has found “the pearl of great price” (Matthew 13:46), only to him opens the door of pearl above.
[5] The Inhabitants of the City Who dwell in the city?
1. God and the Lamb. “The throne of God and the Lamb is in it” (Revelation 22:1; Revelation 22:3). “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men!” (21:3).
2. Myriads of angels. “Ye are come unto mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and myriads of angels, the general festal assembly” 80 (Hebrews 12:22-23; Revelation 21:10-12).
Footnote 80: The Greek paneguris, meaning festal assembly, is more than ecclesia, assembly, church.
3. The redeemed of Israel. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel stand on the doors (Revelation 21:12) In the new Jerusalem dwell the “remnant” of Israel of the time of the new covenant (Romans 11:4-5; Revelation 7:3-8) as also the believers of the preceding Old Testament time , who “without us shall not be made perfect” (Hebrews 11:40; Galatians 3:9; Galatians 3:14). It is the city which Abraham awaited, of which God is architect and builder (Hebrews 11:10), and for the sake of which the “perfected righteous” (Hebrews 12:23)—that is, the Old Testament saints—were prepared to be only guests and strangers on earth (Hebrews 11:13). “Wherefore God is not ashamed of them, to be called their God, for He hath prepared for them a city” (Hebrews 11:16).
4. Those out of the peoples of the world who through the gospel are called into the church. The new Jerusalem is the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26). We also have come unto the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:11; Hebrews 12:23). For us also it is the city which we seek, the future city (Hebrews 13:14). Also upon the overcomers from among the nations the name of the eternal city of God shall one day be written (Revelation 3:12).
[6] Life in the City
Now are they all there, the redeemed of all times, the prophets and apostles, the martyrs and witnesses, the far off and the near, all who on their different ways inquired after Him and in their several places bowed to His truth. There they are now as palm-bearers and harpists (Revelation 7:9; Revelation 15:2), crowned with golden crowns (Revelation 4:4), adorned with white robes (Revelation 7:9), clothed with the wedding garment of righteousness (Revelation 19:8). There they stand now before the throne of the Lamb, as His servants who serve Him, as His holy ones who see Him, as His priests who worship Him and sing eternal praise to Him (Revelation 22:3-4; Matthew 5:8). And He Himself is there, the sun of the whole scene (Revelation 21:23), the centre of the universe, the heaven of heaven. Truly, “If the Lord the prisoners of Zion will redeem, then shall we be as those who dream; then shall our mouth be full of laughter and our tongue be full of praise”(Psalms 126:1-2). Then shall we see them, the golden streets, the bejewelled foundations, the gates of pearl, the golden radiance of the city, the crystal river of life (Revelation 22:1).
Then shall we see them, the myriads of angels (Hebrews 12:22; Revelation 21:12), the saints gone on before, the perfected righteous (Hebrews 12:23), all who had washed their robes, and whitened them in the blood of the Lamb (Revelation 7:14). There shall we see Him, the King in His beauty (Isaiah 33:17), the Lamb that was slain, the Victor of Golgotha (Revelation 5:5-10). This is Jerusalem. She is built as a city where they come together. It is the goal of redemption, the longed-for of mankind, the seen from afar, the light-flooded pilgrim goal of the world. It is the inheritance preserved in heaven for the holy (1 Peter 1:4; Colossians 1:5; Matthew 5:12), Paradise lost, refound, glorified. And these are the blessings which the redeemed enjoy:
1. A holy walk in the sunshine of God. “Gold” is, so to speak, crystallized sunlight, the visible image of the sun. The “street” is the picture of the “walk,” the life-movement and activity. The “golden streets” signify therefore the movements of the holy life in sunny clearness, the God-moved spiritual life in the light of eternity, the holy walk in the sunlight of perfection.
2. Harmonious variety. Each one shines, yet each differently. Each of the twelve foundations is adorned with a different jewel (Revelation 21:19-20). The twelve gates of pearl are inscribed with twelve different names (21:12). The perfected kingdom of God is the glorifying of all Old Testament and New Testament variety. This is shown by the various names of Israel on the gates of pearl, and the various names of the apostles on the jewels of the jasper foundations. Not dissolution but redemption, not elimination but setting in service, not abolition but transfiguration of the human personality in God’s goal in glorifying. Holiness is at the same time strongly marked personality. Therefore the picture of a “city” of God; for in the ideal sense a “city “ is not an indistinguishable mass of people but a fellowship of members, an harmonious organism, a multiplicity in unity, a conjoining of numerous individual powers into so much greater total energy. At the same time the names of the twelve tribes of Israel signify the variety of glory of the inner life of the redeemed.
3. Happy harmony. Yet in spite of all variety there rules wondrous unity. Therefore the city of God is called also the city of peace, Jerusalem, for in heaven is the perfected fellowship of the holy. That ancient oriental prince, in the period before Abraham, who called his settlement Urusalim, 81 Castle of Peace, City of Peace, stood, without knowing it, under Divine over-ruling. For from then on Jerusalem, simply because of its name, was through centuries long, a prophecy of the city a peace in heaven, the common life of the glorified in holy harmony. 82
Footnote 81: This is the name of the city in the Canaanitic-Egyptian “Tel-el-Amarna Letters,” about 1300 B.C.
Footnote 82: Comp. the Messianic typical significance of the name in Hebrews 7:2. The history of Jerusalem in reference to the history of salvation runs through seven periods.
(a) The heavenly Jerusalem: the original.
(b) The ancient Semitic Jerusalem: 2300-2000 B.C. As its Semitic name shows Jerusalem was founded by Shemites before the Hamitic Canaanites (according to Genesis 10:6, Canaan was a son of Ham) took possession of the land (Genesis 10:15-19), therefore between the Flood and Abraham.
(c) The Jerusalem of the Hamitic Canaanites; 2000-1000 B.C., ending with the driving of the Hamitic Jebusites out of the citadel of Zion by David: 2 Samuel 5:6-9; Genesis 10:16.
(d) The Israelite theocracy in Jerusalem: 1000 B.C. to A.D. 70.
(e) Jerusalem controlled by the nations. A.D. 70 to the Millennial kingdom (Luke 21:24). In this period Jerusalem conquered more than twenty times, and so today covered here and there with 90 feet of rubble.
(f) The Messianic Jerusalem, in the Millennial kingdom.
(g) The “new,” eternal, heavenly Jerusalem: on the new earth. Shall we know each other again? Without a doubt! We know each other here, and certainly we shall not be more foolish in heaven than we are now. Did not the rich man, even in his torment , recognize Abraham, whom he had not before known, and likewise Lazarus (Luke 16:23). Did not Peter on the mount of transfiguration recognize Moses and Elijah, whom likewise he had never before seen (Matthew 17:3-4)? NO; in heaven we shall assuredly not be wandering hieroglyphs, but one will recognize the other, yes, look into the very depths of his soul; indeed, in a sense, only there will he, for the very first time, really see him. For on earth no man has ever truly “seen” his fellow-man. What we now so term takes place only through the clay covering of the body, the fivefold door of eyes, voice, action, countenance, and bodily form. But there it will be a perception from spirit to spirit, that is, by intuition; no more evasion, no hide-and-seek of the thoughts, no untransparency, but all things perfectly clear as transparent gold, a lightning perception of crystal-clear personalities.
What joy to cultivate fellowship with all the saints who had gone on before, with Abraham and Moses, with Elijah and Isaiah, with John and Peter, with Augustine and Luther; with all the great and the small in the annals of the kingdom of God; with all we knew, who loved us and whom we loved; with all whose names are written in heaven (Php 4:3; Luke 10:20). Yes, what an intense joy to greet them all, and in one united chorus to praise the Redeemer!
“Yet each his own sweet harp will bring, And his own special song will sing.” And the centre of the whole will be the Lord Himself.
4. Holy Worship. Here especially are four heavenly rays which constitute the glory of the heavenly saints: in relation to the majesty of God— holy worship (Revelation 7:9-10; Revelation 15:2-4): in relation to His nature— conformity to the image of His Son (Revelation 22:4; Romans 8:29); in relation to His life— creaturely sonship 83 (Romans 8:23): in relation to His kingdom— reigning with Christ (Revelation 22:5).
Footnote 83: [Such sonship as created beings can receive, in distinction from the eternal sonship of the “only begotten Son.”] But what is common to all, the heart of it all, is that they see His face. “Blessed are the pure in heart; for they shall see God” (Matthew 5:8; Revelation 22:4; 1 John 3:2). “Thine eyes shall see the King in his beauty” (Isaiah 33:17). To see Jesus, our Saviour and Deliverer, to see Him the Lamb of God, with the wound marks of His love (Revelation 5:6)—that will be the all-inclusive happiness, the bliss of all bliss, the heaven of all heavens!
[7] The Size of the City
“In My Father’s house are many dwellings” (John 14:2). In heaven there is room for all. This is expressed figuratively by the gigantic measurements of the new Jerusalem—1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles broad, 1,500 miles high, that is say, 3,000 millions of cubic miles in the whole. All the buildings in the world, all houses and halls, all cities and villages, everything which the 2,000 millions of men today inhabit, taken together do not make 300 cubic miles. Thus there is room in the heavenly Jerusalem for hundreds of thousands of generations, and yet, according to Biblical chronology, only 200 generation have passed since Adam. But the numbers are not to be taken literally. What matters is the colossal vastness and the symbolic meaning of the sacred number twelve. Even while holding firmly the embodiment of spirit, it must be said that the figurative mirror of the eternal is by no means the same as the essence and content of the eternal. John himself testifies that the measure which the angel has is a human measure (Revelation 21:17), that is, that the angel employed human measures and forms, so as to bring the infinite to the consciousness of the finite spirit. He spoke to him in pictures of human conception, but the eternal itself is inconceivable, beyond our perception, super-earthly, super-worldly, simply “the other.” The reality of its substance is therefore far from denoting the verbal literality of its measurements. The form in which its spirit embodiment is presented is figurative, the spirit embodiment itself is actual. 84 The revelation therefore does not claim to give a description but only a hint of the eternal; what matters is not the form but that which forms it; the meaning is the ultimate, not its symbol. [Thus the tabernacle made by Moses was not a copy of the actual true sanctuary in the heavens but of a pattern of the latter: the original was the important matter, rather than the copy (Exodus 25:40; Hebrews 8:5).]
Footnote 84: Therefore the changes in the self-revelation of the unchangeable. Thus the angel of Jehovah appears now as flame (Exodus 3:2), now as voice (1 Samuel 3:2-9), now with a form of light, now as an ordinary man (Genesis 18:1-8), and similarly angels in general (Daniel 10:4-6; comp. Hebrews 13:2). So also the cherubim appear now with four wings (Ezekiel 1:6), now with six wings (Revelation 4:8), now with four faces (Ezekiel 1:6; Ezekiel 1:10), now with one face (Revelation 4:7). Far from seeing here any “contradictions,” we rather perceive in this a proof that the form of prophetic revelation and presentation is symbolic, and also of the susceptibility of heavenly material to change of form, that is, of the freedom of the spirit in its spirit body. The ruling basic number twelve: twelve foundations, twelve precious stones, twelve names of the apostles, twelve gates, twelve angels, twelve inscriptions on the gates, 12 times 12 the height of the wall, 12,000 furlongs the extent of the city on all sides. But why this precise number everywhere? Three is the number of God; four is the number of the world. 85 Three plus four (3 + 4) is the number of the covenant between God and the world, therefore seven is the number of salvation’s history. 86
Footnote 85: Four “building stones” of the universe (number, time, space, material), 4 quarters of the heavens, 4 seasons of the year , 4 dimensions (according to the old conception—length, breadth, depth, height: Ephesians 3:18), 4 elements (according to the old conception—fire, water, earth, air; Nahum 1:3-6), 4 world empires (the 4 beasts of Daniel; the life of the world in its estrangement from God: Daniel 7:1-28), 4 cherubim (the 4 living creatures of Ezekiel—the life of the world in the service of God: Ezekiel 1:10; Revelation 4:1-11), 4 Gospels (the message of salvation for the whole world).
Footnote 86: Therefore 7 days of creation (including the sabbath), 7 seals, 7 trumpets, 7 bowls of wrath, 7 thunders, 7 stars.
Three times four (3 multiplied by 4) is the number of the world so far as it is made fruitful by God, so far as it is His vineyard and tilled land, His seed and His harvest; the earthly (4) multiplied by the heavenly (3), the creation developed and blessed by the Creator. This means that 12 is the number of the people of God, and therefore the number of the communion of saints. Therefore 12 tribes, 12 princes, (Numbers 1:44), 12 stars (Revelation 12:1), 12 loaves of shewbread, 12 apostles, 12 thrones (Matthew 19:28). Therefore the heavenly Jerusalem is ruled by the number 12, because it is the dwelling place of the redeemed church. But yet more. In the number 12,000 which the book of the Revelation gives as the measure of the Heavenly City, twelve is further multiplied by a thousand, that is , by the result of multiplying the number ten three times by itself (12 by 10 by 10 by 10). So the number 12,000, according to the Biblical symbolic language, presents itself as the result of multiplying the number of the people of God (12) by the number of completion and conclusion (10), 87 and this three times (three being the Divine number). By this it indicates that in the heavenly Jerusalem the people of God, the church, will have reached its God-appointed goal in full glory and perfection, it will be the eternally glorified church.
Footnote 87: Ten is the last of the numerals, therefore the number of conclusion, of completed unfolding, the end of development. Noah is the tenth from Adam, Abraham the tenth from Noah; the fourth antichristian empire ends as a ten-horned kingdom (Daniel 7:24); 3 and 7 are numbers of God, 4 and 10 numbers of the world. And that the City is represented as a cube, being in all its dimensions (Ephesians 3:18) ruled by the same number 12,000 (Revelation 21:16), expresses likewise the idea of perfection: it is proportionate on all sides, symmetrical in all its parts, one harmonious whole, the eternal glory.