01.21. CHAPTER 21.
CHAPTER 21.
Revelation 21:1. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.” In Isaiah 65:17-25 we read of a new heavens and a new earth, but that is clearly a Millennial scene; it is “the time of the restitution of all things” (Acts 3:21), the partial renovation going on to a fuller accomplishment; but there is still death (Isaiah 65:20).
Peter tells us “that one day is with Jehovah as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day;” “but the day of Jehovah will come as a thief in the night” (2 Peter 3:8; 2 Peter 3:10), when the prophecies of the ancient Scriptures will have their accomplishment. This “day of Jehovah” continues for a thousand years: then comes the eternal state, ushered in by “the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless, we, according to His promise, look for ‘new heavens and a new earth, ‘ wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:12-13). The former heavens and earth having passed away before the presence of Him who sat on the great white throne, out of the original elements purified by fire will come a new constitution of things, wherein the waters of the ocean will no longer occupy the position they once held, covering the larger portion of the globe.
Revelation 21:2. “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” From Revelation 21:9 onward the bride is described in connection with the Millennial reign. Here she is seen in association with her Lord in the post-Millennial and eternal reign; she is seen under the emblem of a city descending from heaven— “the holy city, “in harmony with the new heavens and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness.
“New Jerusalem.” Not the earthly Jerusalem of the past, with its long catalogue of sins and woes; not that city over which Jesus wept, where also our Lord was crucified; not the Millennial city so beautifully described in Isaiah 60:1-22, Ezekiel 48:15-35; nor even that heavenly Jerusalem which Abraham looked for—a fixed locality (Hebrews 11:10; Hebrews 12:22; Hebrews 13:14); but as a “city coming down;” for it is a descent—her proper place and her eternal inheritance is in the heavens above.
“From God.” From His immediate presence in highest glory.
“Out of the heavens, “for she is heavenly in her origin and character.
“Prepared as a bride.” In Revelation 19:7 we read that she had “made herself ready” for the marriage; now she has been prepared by God for association with the Lord Jesus in His eternal glory. She had lived and reigned with Him for a thousand years in the Millennial reign; she comes now in all the freshness of the affections of a bride to share with Him His kingdom over a renovated earth.
“Adorned for her husband.” As Bridegroom He had come to receive her to Himself; here His title is that of Husband, in token of eternal relationship. Her adornment is not for her own satisfaction, but “for her Husband, “that He may be glorified.
Descending out of heaven, not to the earth, she occupies an intermediate position.
Revelation 21:3. “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell [tabernacle] with them, and they shall be His people [peoples], and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.’” The voice of one speaking from heaven: “Behold”—take notice; there is something of wondrous import here. “The tabernacle of God;” not the temple, or the city, for it is an earthly scene.
“With men.” This teaches that there will be men on the renovated earth, not a new race of beings altogether. “And He will dwell [tabernacle] with them.” When God planted a garden in Eden, He had His walks with our first parents in the cool of the day, and He will have His Eden walks with men once more on the earth. When God brought Israel out of Egypt, His word was, “Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” This desire of God for fellowship with His favoured people will be here fully accomplished.
“And they shall be His people [peoples]. This word “peoples” in the plural implies distinct nationalities, teaching us that as the nations of them that are saved will walk in the light of the holy city during the Millennial period, so also these peoples on the renovated earth will have the tabernacle of God in the midst of them, and will continue to walk in the light of the holy city. When God brought the deluge of water upon the world, all excepting those preserved in the ark were destroyed; and Peter tells us in his second epistle (2 Peter 3:7): “The heavens and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.” The deluge of water was a foreshadowing of the deluge of fire. Jehovah knows how to deliver His people. As He did with Noah, so He can do with Israel and the living nations, and carry them through the deluge of fire, transplanting them to the new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. The word “tabernacle” implies that the scene is temporary. God’s throne is in the heavens, but He will tabernacle with men. These may enjoy His presence on earth for a while, and then be translated to a heavenly sphere. Thus, it would appear, God will ultimately carry out His original design, as intimated in the case of Enoch, who, when he had completed the cycle of his earthly course—three hundred and sixty-five years, a day for a year—was translated: “he was not; for God took him” (Genesis 5:24).
Revelation 21:4. “‘ And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.’” The bright morning of an eternal day without a cloud now dawns; no trace left of transgression or sin, with their bitter consequences of sorrow, pain, and death; they are gone for ever.
What is spoken of in Romans 8:21, though partially fulfilled in the Millennium, will now receive its full accomplishment— “The creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”
Revelation 21:5. “And He that sat upon the throne said, ‘Behold, I make all things new.’ And He said unto me, ‘Write: for these words are true and faithful.’” In Revelation 21:3 it is a voice from heaven; here it is a voice from the throne—from the Triune God, Jehovah, in His sovereignty and majesty. “Behold”—take notice—He who made all things at the first now makes all things new.
“Write”—leave these things on record— “for these words are true and faithful.” As surely as John saw these visions of bliss, so, if we are redeemed, we too shall see these wondrous realities of coming glory, and share them also. If our faith grasped more fully these true and faithful words, what manner of persons should we be?
Revelation 21:6-7. “And He said unto me, ‘It is done. am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely [gratuitously]. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and He shall be My son.’” The speaker from the throne continues, “It is done.” The former verses of this chapter have brought us to the completion of all things. The prophetic portion of the book, properly speaking, ends here; what is added after is supplementary. The responsibility of the creature is over; angels have failed, and man has failed; all things are henceforth headed up in Christ, the last Adam, “the head of the creation of God, ““the firstborn of every creature.” God, the Triune God, is henceforth all in all; “for of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen” (Romans 11:36).
We have here the application of these truths to the present time— the promise of the Spirit of life to the thirsty, gratuitously— “without money and without price”—and the word of encouragement to the overcomer, who, though he may be called to suffer the loss of all things now, has the promise of an eternal inheritance, as an heir of God and a joint heir with Christ, not simply as one of His people (verse 3), but in the relationship of son, having God for his Father (Romans 8:17).
Jehovah is the fountain of living waters (Jeremiah 2:13). Life and every spiritual blessing originates with the Father, is treasured up in and comes to us through the Son—the “one Mediator between God and man, “in whom “dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily” (Colossians 2:9). This fulness is communicated to us by the Holy Ghost, who is Himself the living waters, coming from a glorified Christ (John 7:35, John 7:39), also symbolised by “the pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb” (Revelation 22:1). But who is the overcomer? It is he who fights the good fight of faith, and lays hold on eternal life, counting all things but dross for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus his Lord, preferring holiness to sin, heaven to earth, and God in Christ to all besides, saying with the Psalmist, “Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none on earth that I desire beside Thee.”
Revelation 21:8. “‘But the fearful [cowardly], and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.’”
What a dark background we have here to those bright and blessed promises in Revelation 21:6-7! The Old Testament closes with the voice of warning (Malachi 4:6), and the Book of the Prophet Isaiah ends with the words, “They shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.” The Lord Jesus used this as a symbol of the eternal torment of the lost in Mark 9:43-46; so the prophetic portion of this book closes with the solemn denunciation here recorded. The fearful or cowardly are those who would say, as in Matthew 25:24-25, “I knew thee that thou art a hard man... and I was afraid, “&c.; who are afraid to trust God, and are overcome by the world, the flesh, and the Devil: these and “the unbelieving” go together.
Faith takes God at His word as Abraham did, and is as bold as a lion. First the timid, next the unbeliever; then follow the abominable, the murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars. Timidity says, “If I take the position of discipleship, I am afraid of the sneer and the laugh.” Those who are afraid to accept God’s truth are ready to receive Satan’s lie, and shall share with him his eternal portion. They inherit death. If these solemn words should meet the eye of one unprepared for eternity, may such an one, by the grace of God, through faith in Jesus, accept and drink of the living waters, whilst now is the accepted time, and whilst now it is the day of salvation.
Revelation 21:9. “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials [bowls], full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, ‘Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’”
“One of the seven angels.” In Revelation 15:7 we read of the giving of the seven golden bowls to the seven angels by one of the four living ones; in Revelation 16:17-19 the seventh angel is spoken of as pouring out his bowl into the air: “and great Babylon came in remembrance before God, to give unto her the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath;” in Revelation 17:1-18 we read, “there came one of the seven angels which had the seven bowls, and talked with me, saying unto me, ‘Come hither, I will shew unto thee the judgment of the great whore.’” He shows to John in the desert the false, apostate Church; one of the seven angels, and probably the same now shows to John the true and faithful Church, the bride.
“And talked with me.” The converse of angels, next to that of the redeemed, will form one element of heaven’s blessedness; they shouted for joy when the foundations of the earth were laid; they were present when the old serpent tempted Eve; they had witnessed the violence of the antediluvian world, and the stupendous catastrophe when the world that then was was destroyed and all therein perished; they had been used by God in the destruction of the guilty cities of the plain; they had been partakers of Abraham’s hospitality, and pulled out of guilty Sodom his nephew Lot; they came from heaven and sang praises to God at the birth of Immanuel, and gazed with adoring wonder at Bethlehem’s manger; they ministered to Christ after His conflict with the enemy of souls, and strengthened Him in the Garden of Gethsemane. He had only to ask His Father, and twelve legions of angels were ready to avenge His cause. They had gathered awe-struck and reverent around the cross of an expiring Redeemer, and witnessed His resurrection and ascension.
“Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” (Hebrews 1:14). Who carry the tidings with joy of another heir of immortal glory having come into existence? These angels are the witnesses of our trials and conflicts: they minister to us times without number; they have not only wings to fly in swift obedience to the will of God, but with twain they cover their feet; they hide their numberless acts of kindness from us now, but we shall hear of them by-and-by, how they bore up our feet lest we should at any time dash them against a stone.
“I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” He does not say, I will shew thee the habitation or home of the bride, but the bride herself, under the emblem of a city. And what emblem could be more appropriate? For what is a city but a large collection of habitations with their inhabitants? And what is the bride but the whole assembly of the redeemed of the present dispensation in their resurrection bodies, each and all clothed upon with their house which is from heaven (2 Corinthians 5:2). Mark the twofold title, “bride” and “wife, “for she is now entering upon the realisation of her new-found joy, in the fulness of bridal affection; it is the joy of marriage, not of espousals, the marriage supper has just taken place—it is the commencement of Millennial blessedness. Added to the joy and freshness of the bride, she has the stately dignity of wife; for the relationship is eternal. As she is here seen associated with Christ in His Millennial reign, so also, as shown in Revelation 21:2, she will be associated with Him in His eternal dominion over the renovated earth.
It is the self-same Lamb which, as the “amnos, “had been sacrificed on the altar, who now appears as the “arnion, “or young Lamb, in the vigour of resurrection life.
Revelation 21:10. “And He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain.”
It was on the Mount Sinai, where the law was given which had a shadow of good things to come, that Moses was shown the pattern of the Tabernacle. From the Mount of Olives the fullest and clearest view of the earthly city, Jerusalem, may be obtained; and in the visions of God the Prophet Ezekiel was set upon a very high mountain, there to be instructed in all the details of the Millennial Temple; and it is to a great and high mountain that John is earned away in the Spirit, there to contemplate the glories of that holy city which is the emblematic representation of the bride of the Lamb; and it is needful for us to rise in spirit above all carnal considerations and earthly associations, in order to form clear and adequate conceptions of these spiritual and eternal realities.
“And shewed me that great city.”
Although the Church on earth, at any given time in comparison with the rest of mankind, may appear as a little flock, yet, when all are associated together, they will form a glorious monument of redeeming love, of the value of the atoning blood, and the mighty workmanship of the Divine eternal Spirit.
“The holy Jerusalem.”
We must carefully distinguish between the holy Jerusalem here mentioned—which is the symbolic representation of the bride, the Lamb’s wife—and “the heavenly Jerusalem” mentioned in Hebrews 12:22 : the city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God, which Abraham looked for (Hebrews 11:10), and which we also seek (Hebrews 13:14): a fixed heavenly locality, the metropolis of “the inheritance, incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven” for us (1 Peter 1:4). The heavenly Jerusalem is a figurative locality, where the redeemed from every country will “sit down with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of the heavens” (Matthew 8:11); whereas “the holy Jerusalem” is emblematical of the Church in glory as the bride of the Lamb.
“Descending out of heaven.” In 2 Corinthians 5:1-3 we read, “For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from HEAVEN: if so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked.” The “earthly house of this tabernacle” is the present mortal body; the “house not made with hands” is the resurrection, incorruptible, immortal body. The “tabernacle” is made from the dust of the earth; the “building of God” is from heaven. The substance of the future resurrection body is not the corruptible material laid in the grave; this Paul demonstrates in 1 Corinthians 15:37-38, “Thou sowest not that body that shall be, but bare grain, it may chance of wheat, or of some other grain: but God giveth it a body as it hath pleased Him, and to every seed his own body.” A grain of wheat is sown; from thence arises, first the blade, then the ear, then the full corn in the ear. An acorn is planted, thence arises in due season the full-grown oak. The bare or naked grain, or acorn, contains the germ, and God gives it a body as it pleases Him, but to every seed its own body; a grain of wheat never produces barley, nor an acorn a cedar. In this present life the particles which compose the human frame, from infancy to old age, are undergoing an incessant change, so that during no two years are the atoms the same; yet there is a characteristic identity maintained throughout. This identity is not an identity of particles, but of personal individuality; so is the resurrection of the dead. Each individual will be raised, but the house or body with which he will be clothed will be a house from heaven, and such as God may be pleased to give.
“Descending out of heaven from God.” In each case when the bride is represented under the emblem of a city, she is seen not in heaven, but descending out of heaven; she had been there, and comes from thence. The marriage of the Lamb had been celebrated in heaven. Her royal palace home, the place which the heavenly Bridegroom is now gone to prepare for her, is in heaven, amidst the many mansions of the Father’s house. But when her Lord condescends to come and reign over a Millennial earth, or over a post-Millennial and eternal world, she accompanies Him.
She not only descends from heaven, where her “inheritance” is “reserved” for her (1 Peter 1:4), but from God, for she had been presented faultless before the presence of the glory with exceeding joy, and it is from His immediate presence that she comes forth to reign with Christ.
Revelation 21:11. “Having the glory of God.” In that marvellous prayer of the Lord Jesus recorded in John 17:1-26 the Lord passes in spirit beyond Calvary and the tomb, and realises the hour of glory come; and as no longer on earth, but having completed the work there given Him to do, He requests of His Father to be glorified, as the obedient Son of Man, with the glory which He had in eternity with the Father as the eternal Son of God. Then He requests on behalf of those whom the Father had given Him out of the world, and for those who should afterward believe in Him through their word, a spiritual oneness even as the Father and the Son are one by one indwelling Spirit, which request was fulfilled when, by the Pentecostal Spirit, they were baptized into one body in fellowship with their risen Head. He then adds, “And the glory which Thou hast given Me (in answer to this prayer) I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one;” that is, that they may not only be one in the Spirit with the Father and the Son on earth, but one in manifested glory when the Son of God appears. Accordingly, the bride here is shown as “having the glory of God.” In this vision is the prayer of the Lord answered; she has not only been with Him, and beheld the glory which the Father gave Him as the Eternal Son before all worlds (John 17:24), but, as the sharer with Him of the glory given Him as the obedient Son of Man, she now comes forth in the full manifestation of that glory.
“And her light [radiance or light-giving] was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal” [Lit. crystallising]. This holy city, emblematic of the bride, has within it the glory of God, “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light [lamp] thereof, “Revelation 21:23; but this glory shines forth through the jasper wall surrounding it with softened radiance and mingled beauty, like a lamp shining through variously tinted crystal. She is conformed in glory to Him that sitteth on the throne (Revelation 4:3), for “He that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone.” The jasper is a precious stone of various colours, and appears to be emblematical of the various perfections of God, which through the eternal Spirit will be manifested in the risen saints, even as the Temple of Solomon was garnished with all manner of precious stones.
Already, “God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels” (2 Corinthians 4:6-7). These gross material bodies are unfavourable mediums for the transmission of this light; not so the resurrection bodies of the redeemed. The light that shines through them, in softened and varied beauty, will be clear as crystal. It is remarkable that in the Greek, the word here rendered “clear as crystal” is a participle—literally, crystallising. Does this imply that the radiance of this holy city will leave its impress on that on which it shines, transfiguring and conforming it to its own spirituality, purity, beauty, and glory? Even as the solar light not only irradiates with its lustre, but expands, beautifies, and fructifies, with its mingled rays of red, yellow, and blue, each having its distinctive property and leaving its permanent results. The Father is the source or fountain of light; this light is manifested in the person of the Son, but is communicated by the Divine, eternal Spirit.
Even now it may be given us to realise the transforming [or transfiguring] power of spiritual light, for “we all, with open [unveiled] face, beholding as in a glass [or mirror] the glory of the Lord, are changed into [transformed or transfigured into] the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Corinthians 3:18).
Revelation 21:12-13. “And had [having] a wall great and high, and had [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: on [from] the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.”
Revelation 21:17-18. “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. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.”
There is a wall surrounding the city, in measure a hundred and forty and four cubits, probably in height and breadth. The building of this wall is of jasper; and it has twelve gates.
It is said of the earthly Jerusalem, “Thou shalt call thy walls ‘Salvation,’ and thy gates ‘Praise’” (Isaiah 60:18). The dwelling is in security, the outgoings in thanksgiving and praise. The wall is also suggestive of separation and distinctness; the Church in glory will ever maintain her distinct position and relationship as the bride of the Lamb, to the honour of the Father— “unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end” (Ephesians 3:21). In the measurement of the wall there is a remarkable combination of the human and the angelic, for the cubit is the forearm of a man, but the measurement is that of an angel, for these are among the things that angels desire to look into. The Church in her distinct position and calling is the revelation of a “mystery, which from the beginning of the world [ages] hath been hid in God, who created all things by [through] Jesus Christ: to the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by [through] the Church the manifold wisdom of God, according to the eternal purpose which He purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Ephesians 3:9-11). The building of the wall is of jasper, for herein is displayed not only the manifold wisdom of God, but every Divine perfection, and the combination and harmony of these Divine perfections will give to the Church’s distinct position its everlasting stability, permanence, and glory.
“Twelve gates.” This wall, great and high, while it clearly distinguishes, does not isolate; for it has twelve gates admitting free egress and ingress. Those who compose the holy city will have free access to all parts of the universe of God—for there are three gates: eastward, northward, southward, and westward, thus facilitating the going forth and returning, the carrying forth tidings of God and of the Lamb, and bringing in praise and thanksgiving.
“And at the gates twelve angels.”
Those ministering spirits who are now sent forth on behalf of the heirs of salvation will still continue to carry out the purposes of Divine love in connection with the saints in glory; they have long been familiar with the scenes of beauty and interest which abound in the material universe, and with its happy and unfallen intelligences, and they will keep themselves ready, in harmony with the Divine will, to accompany the redeemed in their blissful ministrations of love whithersoever God and the Lamb and the eternal Spirit may send them.
These gates have on them “the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” As the title “Holy. Jerusalem” is symbolical, so are the names of the twelve tribes; and as the twelve tribes of Israel constitute it one nation, so the redeemed with all their various diversities of character and qualification for service will constitute one Church, even as the different members form one body, the bride of Christ.
Revelation 21:21. “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.”
According to Matthew 13:45-46, “the one pearl of great price” is the emblem of the Church in its costliness, for it is the purchase of the blood of Christ who loved it and gave Himself for it (Ephesians 5:25-27). Also of its purity and beauty, as sanctified and cleansed and presented without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; and in its oneness, as being the workmanship of the one Divine, eternal Spirit. The twelve gates have one appearance, and this aspect of oneness and purity and beauty appears on every side; for those who will compose the Church in glory have all been redeemed by the same precious blood, and sanctified, perfected, and united in one by the same all- pervading and uniting Spirit.
Revelation 21:14. “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
We here notice another distinction between the heavenly Jerusalem of Hebrews 12:22 and the holy city here described. The heavenly Jerusalem is spoken of as a city having foundations fixed, unmovable, eternal in the heavens. But it is the outer wall surrounding the holy city which is said in Revelation 21:14 to have twelve foundations. As to the Church or city itself, “other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 3:11). That which distinguishes the Church as the bride of the Lamb from all that went before, and from all that will follow after, is that broad line of demarcation consisting in those great truths kept hid from ages and generations, but revealed to, and made known by the apostles of the Lord and Saviour, and especially by the Apostle Paul. He writes in Ephesians 3:2-3; Ephesians 3:5 : “If ye have heard of the dispensation of the grace of God which is given me to you-ward: how that by revelation He made known unto me the mystery; which in other ages was not made known unto the sons of men, as it is now revealed unto His holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;” and, again, in Ephesians 2:19-20 : “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone” These eternal purposes of God concerning the Church were indeed foreshadowed from the very first, as in Adam and Eve in Paradise, and so, in other ways, again and again; but the full revelation was given by the Holy Ghost in apostolic times (see 1 Corinthians 2:7-10).
Revelation 21:19-20. “And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.”
The first foundation was jasper (of various colours).
The second, sapphire (blue).
The third, a chalcedony (grey).
The fourth, an emerald (green).
The fifth, sardonyx (from “sardius” and the “nail “).
The sixth, sardius (blood-red).
The seventh, chrysolyte (gold-stone).
The eighth, beryl (sea-green).
The ninth, a topaz (yellow).
The tenth, a chrysoprasus (gold and a leek).
The eleventh, a jacinth (purple).
The twelfth, an amethyst (violet).
The Greek for amethyst means “not drunken, “hence significant of temperance. The jasper wall surrounding the city studded with twelve pearls of transcendent beauty, and jewelled in its lower rim with gems of every variety of colour and lustre, forcibly reminds us of the words of the prophet concerning the earthly Jerusalem: “Thou shalt also be a crown of glory in the hand of Jehovah, and a royal diadem in the hand of thy God” (Isaiah 62:3). “For they shall be as the stones of a crown, lifted up as an ensign upon His land” (Zechariah 9:16). Such also will the Church appear when the Lord is revealed, for “He shall come to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe” (2 Thessalonians 1:10). The twelve precious stones in the high priest’s breastplate of judgment were significant of the Lord’s estimate of His people, His heart’s secret estimate of their various characteristics and diversities of excellence. The twelve precious stones that embellish the foundations of the wall of the holy city are emblematic of these varied excellences in manifested glory, and they lie at the very foundation of that which distinguishes the Church as the bride of Christ from all beside.
David provided for the house of Jehovah “onyx stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones” (1 Chronicles 29:2); and Solomon “garnished the house with precious stones for beauty” (2 Chronicles 3:6); typical of the fact that the whole of the redeemed in resurrection glory will be resplendent with every excellency, virtue, and perfection of the Divine, eternal Spirit; for the Temple of Solomon includes in its typical representation all the risen saints.
These excellences and manifestations of the perfections of the Spirit of God will also shine conspicuously in the Church as one in the Spirit with her glorified Lord, symbolised by these precious stones in the wall surrounding the holy city.
Revelation 21:15. “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.” With regard to the future earthly Jerusalem, we thus read in Zechariah 2:1-5, “I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, ‘Whither goest thou?’ And he said unto me, ‘To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.’ And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, ‘Bun, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith Jehovah, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.’” The measurements of the Millennial earthly city Jerusalem are given in Ezekiel 48:1-35 : But we have here to do with the holy city, New Jerusalem, of which the earthly city will be a type. The measurement of the temple, in which the abomination of desolation will be set up, is thus referred to in Revelation 11:1 : “And there was given me a reed like unto a rod: and the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.’” When the measurement of the future Millennial temple is described, the Prophet Ezekiel thus writes—(Ezekiel 40:3)— “Behold, there was a man, whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed.” In these instances, as no material is mentioned, it would appear to have been an ordinary measuring reed; but here the angel who talked with John had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates, and the wall, for the standard is Divine, the estimate Divine, not according to human thought, but according to the mind and thoughts of God.
Revelation 21:16. “And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed [unto], twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.” Of the earthly city it is said, “Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together” (Psalms 122:3): and the future Millennial city will also be foursquare, four thousand five hundred reeds each way (Ezekiel 48:16)—the length as large as the breadth. But with regard to the holy city, another thing is mentioned—the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. It is a perfect cube; in this respect it coincides with the most holy place in the tabernacle, which was ten cubits each way, and the holy of holies in the temple, which is twenty cubits in length, breadth, and height. With regard to the measurement of the city there is one thing to be noticed: in the original it reads, “He measured the city with the reed unto [Greek, epi[ twelve thousand furlongs, “as implying that he measured thus far and then ceased. And this reminds us of the apostle’s prayer in Ephesians 3:14-19 : “For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole [or every] family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with [into] all the fulness of God.”
We need the golden measuring reed—that is, to be strengthened with might by God’s Spirit in the inner man—in order to comprehend, in some humble measure, what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height of God’s eternal purposes and plans; and to know in some small degree what is the love of Christ which passeth knowledge; what is comprehended in that word, “saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation.” Loved with a love unchangeable, from everlasting to everlasting; saved from an abyss of endless woe, raised to a height of ever-increasing blessedness and glory, exempted from every evil, and blessed with every spiritual blessing. Herein are depths unfathomable, heights unutterable, breadths and lengths immeasurably vast, the full realisation of which is beyond our power. Like some tiny shell, filled into the ocean depths, or like some little fish swimming in a shoreless ocean. Even so may the soul that receives from “the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, “the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, to know what is the hope of His calling, realise something of those wondrous words, “filled into all the fulness of God;” living, moving, having our being in Him whose wisdom, love, and power are infinite, eternal, and Divine.
While every ransomed soul is loved with the same love, saved with the same salvation, secured by the same almighty power, and equally blessed with all spiritual blessings, yet the relationship of the Church to Christ as the bride of the Lamb is the deep mystery of God, and this is what is symbolised here.
Revelation 21:18. “And the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.”
Revelation 21:21. “And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”
Gold is the emblem of the Divine nature and glory; glass appears to be emblematic of spirituality, purity, and transparency. Thus we read in 1 Corinthians 15:43 of the resurrection body, “it is raised in glory:” and in 1 Corinthians 15:44 “it is raised a spiritual body.” In the city the two emblems are combined; the saints are seen in all the purity and spirituality of their resurrection bodies, but, as conformed to the image of Christ, radiant with Divine glory. For “Christ also loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish” (Ephesians 5:25-27).
How transcendently glorious and beautiful must this holy city have appeared in vision to John, rising upwards and stretching away, far as the eye could reach, in unsullied splendour! In appearance like pure light consolidated into form, with the yellow or luminous ray predominant. The street may be regarded as emblematical of the intercourse or intercommunication of the saints in light, one with another, walking worthy of God in all transparency of character, in simplicity, and godly sincerity.
Revelation 21:22. “And I saw no temple therein: for Jehovah God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” No one part more sacred than another; all the saints in glory dwell in God and in the Lamb; and God and the Lamb, by the eternal Spirit, dwells in them. They worship, serve, and abide in the immediate presence of God and of the Lamb, dwelling in the secret place of the Most High, and abiding under the shadow of the Almighty. God no longer the “little sanctuary, “like the Tabernacle in the wilderness, following them in their earthly pilgrimage; but the Temple wherein they will unitedly assemble and worship God, who is a Spirit, in Spirit and in truth. So also the Millennial Temple will not be in the city of Jerusalem, but distinct from it (Ezekiel 48:1-35), on the mountain of Jehovah’s house (Isaiah 2:2), unlike the Temple of Solomon, that stood on Mount Moriah. In John 17:21-23 the Lord Jesus thus prays on behalf of His blood-bought and Spirit-anointed Church: “That they all may be one; as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be one in Us: that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.” In the holy city we see the complete fulfilment of this prayer. The Church will not only be one as baptized by one Spirit into one body, one Spirit with their risen Lord, but one in manifested glory; as sharing in the glory given by the Father to the obedient Son of Man, made perfect in glory as one with the Father, and one with the Son, by the indwelling of the eternal Spirit.
“There no temple rose before me,
There no glory shone above;
All was temple, all was glory,
All in all was God, and love.”
Revelation 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 [lamp] thereof.” The saints in glory will be independent of external sources of knowledge and enjoyment—of these they have “no need, “for God Himself and the Lamb are their all-satisfying portion; yet, while thus independent of externals, their God will give them all things richly to enjoy, for, as heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ, all things are theirs. Like the earthly Millennial city, the pattern of the holy Jerusalem above, the name of that city from henceforth will be “Jehovah Shammah”— “Jehovah is there” (Ezekiel 48:3-5). They will for ever enjoy the manifestation of God in the face of Jesus Christ, Who is the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person; while the Holy Spirit, Who searcheth all things, even the deep things of God, will be to them the Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him. In Isaiah 60:19-20, it is thus written of the future earthly Jerusalem:—
“The sun shall be no more thy light by day;
Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee:
But Jehovah shall be unto thee an everlasting light,
And thy God thy glory.
Thy sun shall no more go down;
Neither shall thy moon withdraw itself:
For Jehovah shall be thine everlasting light,
And the days of thy mourning shall be ended.” In what manner this prophecy will be accomplished, we may learn from Isaiah 4:5 : “Jehovah will create upon every dwelling-place of Mount Zion, and upon her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming fire by night; for upon all the glory shall be a defence.” The cloudy pillar which accompanied the children of Israel in their wilderness wanderings, and spread itself over their camp in shade by day and light by night—the token to them of Divine protection and care—will again in fuller splendour be the emblem of the manifestation of the presence and glory of God with Israel. In the holy city, New Jerusalem, this glory will be seen in all its unclouded brightness, and without a veil between; for they shall see face to face, and know as they are known. In the holy place of the Tabernacle there was the golden lamp- stand, with its seven lamps, and in the most holy place God appeared in the cloud upon the mercy-seat, and between the cherubim of glory (Leviticus 16:2). In the Temple of Solomon, in the holy place, there were windows above, and ten golden lampstands with their seventy burning lamps; in the holiest of all there were no windows nor lampstand, for God said that He would “dwell in the thick darkness” (2 Chronicles 6:1); but at the dedication of the Temple “the glory of Jehovah filled the bouse of Jehovah” (2 Chronicles 5:14). In the Millennial Temple of Ezekiel there is no mention made of lampstands in the holy place, nor of the ark of the covenant in the most holy place; but Ezekiel in vision saw “the glory of the Elohim of Israel come from the way of the east;” and “the glory of Jehovah filled the house” (Ezekiel 43:2-5). As in the Millennial Temple the presence of the manifested and indwelling glory takes the place of all foreshadowing types, so in the holy city there will be the manifestation of the unclouded glory of the Father in the person of the Son, in the full unfolding of the Holy Ghost, “for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light [lamp] thereof.” And as a lamp cannot burn without oil, so neither can the glory of God be manifested in the person of Christ apart from the illumination of the Holy Spirit.
Revelation 21:24-26. “And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.”
““When the Son of Man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, “and when He shall sit on the throne of His glory, as entering on His Millennial reign, then will He say to those nations whom He has placed on His right hand, who have befriended the persecuted saints in the great tribulation, “Come, ye blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world” (Matthew 25:34). These saved nations will walk in the light of the holy city.
Between the day when the Lord Jesus was raised from the dead and the time when He was received up into heaven, He was seen of His disciples, during forty days, instructing them in the things of the kingdom, throwing light on the sacred page, encouraging and enlightening with Divine and sacred truth; after the same pattern, we may conclude that the risen saints will be made the medium of communications to the dwellers on the Millennial earth of the light of Divine and spiritual truth. And as the Lord Jesus in His intercourse with the two disciples, on the way to Emmaus, appeared to them “in another form, “and not in His risen glory, and hence not recognised at first, even so the glorified saints will not only veil their faces when they worship before the throne, but also veil their glories when they minister to the nations on the earth.
There is a beautiful type of this in the instructions given to the priests of the family of Zadok, in connection with the Millennial Temple, recorded in Ezekiel 44:15-19. Those priests, whose office it will be to minister in the sanctuary and in the inner court, are not to minister to the people in the outer court in the same garments wherein they minister within, but to put on other garments, and thus minister to the people. The risen and glorified ones, who are represented by the holy city, not only communicate to the saved nations of the Millennial earth the light and truth of the Spirit of God, which they themselves enjoy in all its fulness at the fountain head, but through them, as a royal and holy priesthood, the kings and nations of the earth ascribe all glory and honour to God and to the Lamb. (Compare Isaiah 60:11.) And these communications of light and blessing from above, and glory and honour from the earth, go on without intermission—for the gates shall not be shut at all by day, and there shall be no night there.
Revelation 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 Lamb’s book of life.”
Compare with this the earthly counterpart and type (Isaiah 52:1):—
“Awake, awake: put on thy strength, O Zion;
Put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city:
For henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean.”
Those who are represented in emblem as composing the city will not only be pure in themselves, but holy in all their associations, intercourse, and communication with others.
There is a distinction to be kept in mind between the citizens of a city and those visitors or others who may have inter-communion with it. As we have observed, the wall which marks off the city as distinct does not isolate it; there are three gates on each side, and those gates are open continually, and never closed. Redemption through the blood of the Lamb, the name written in the book of the slain Lamb, not only gives a title to “the tree of life, “but also to “enter in through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). That holiness which becomes the house of God for ever (Psalms 93:5), is becoming also to the bride of the Lamb. On its encircling wall, and on its every gate, may well be written the inscription, “Holiness to Jehovah.” Not only is unrighteousness excluded from finding any entrance, but also falsehood in all its varied forms: for God is a God of truth as well as without iniquity.