Revelation 21:2 ESV

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Revelation 21:2

(2) And I John saw the holy city . . .—Better, And the holy city, new Jerusalem, I saw coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared . . . The name John is omitted in the best MSS. The new Jerusalem is more fully described later on (Revelation 21:10 et seq.). The city is also the bride (comp. Revelation 21:9-10). Both images—the “city” and the “bride”—are familiar to the Bible student. The sacred city appears linked to God by a sacred bond. (Comp. Psalms 45:13-14; Isaiah 61:10; Isaiah... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Revelation 21:1-27

Revelation 21:1 While I think of it, why is the sea (in that apologue of Attar once quoted by Falconer) supposed to have lost God? Did the Persians agree with something I remember in Plato about the sea and all in it being of an inferior nature, in spite of Homer's 'Divine ocean,' etc. Fitzgerald's Letters, I. p. 320. Revelation 21:1 Will not one of the properties of the spiritual body be, that it will be able to express that which the natural body only tries to express? Is this a sensual view... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Revelation 21:1-27

CHAPTER XVII.THE NEW JERUSALEM. REV.Revelation 21:1-27; Revelation 22:1-5.THE first part of the final triumph of the Lamb has been accomplished, but the second has still to be unfolded. We are introduced to it by one of those preparatory or transition passages which have already frequently met us in the Apocalypse, and which connect themselves both with what precedes and with what follows: - "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Revelation 21:1-27

CHAPTER 21 Revelation 21:1-8 . And now the eternal state comes into view. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and the sea is no more.” This is the revelation concerning the final and eternal state of the earth. “Thou hast established the earth and it abideth” (Psalms 119:90 ); “But the earth abideth forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4 ). These divine statements are now fulfilled. Many Christians have a very vague conception of the eternal... read more

John Calvin

Geneva Study Bible - Revelation 21:2

21:2 {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.(2) The state of this glorious Church is first described generally to Revelation 21:3-8 , and then specially and by parts, in the verses following. The general description consists in a vision shown afar off, Revelation 21:2 and in speech spoken from heaven. In the general these things are common, that the Church is holy, new, the workmanship of God, heavenly,... read more

L.M. Grant

L. M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 21:1-27

The New Heaven and New Earth Revelation 20:11 has indicated that at the time of the Great White Throne the earth and the heaven flee away. Now John sees a new heaven and a new earth, and the earth had no more sea. The earth is transformed. It is not a different earth, but a renewed earth, just as a sinner being renewed becomes a new creation in Christ. The sea is typical both of the nations in constant tumult (Revelation 17:15) and of the flesh in its swelling unrest and vanity (Isaiah... read more

James Gray

James Gray's Concise Bible Commentary - Revelation 21:1-27

THE SEVEN NEW THINGS The seven “new things” are the new heaven, earth, peoples, city, temple, luminary, and paradise. The “introduction” in this case covers the first two, the new heaven and the new earth (Revelation 20:1-8 ). Observe the sequence of events suggested by Revelation 20:1 : In the present time, we have the church, in the Millennium will be the kingdom, and after that the new world where God shall be all in all (see 1 Corinthians 15:23-28 ). Man’s soul is redeemed by... read more

Robert Hawker

Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary - Revelation 21:1-3

(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. (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. (3) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. Whether what is here said hath... read more

George Haydock

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary - Revelation 21:2

From the seventh verse of the foregoing chapter, begins as it were the third part of the Apocalypse containing the coming of antichrist, the great day of judgment, the punishment of the wicked, and the eternal happiness of God's elect in heaven, or in the celestial Jerusalem, which St. John describes in this chapter as if it were like a large city, beautified and enriched with gold and all manner of precious stones, &c. (Witham) Coming down from God out of heaven. By the city we must... read more

Matthew Henry

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on the Bible - Revelation 21:1-8

1-8 The new heaven and the new earth will not be separate from each other; the earth of the saints, their glorified, bodies, will be heavenly. The old world, with all its troubles and tumults, will have passed away. There will be no sea; this aptly represents freedom from conflicting passions, temptations, troubles, changes, and alarms; from whatever can divide or interrupt the communion of saints. This new Jerusalem is the church of God in its new and perfect state, the church triumphant. Its... read more