Revelation 21:21 - Exposition

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl . The pearl was known to the ancients from the earliest times, and was always held in high honour by them (cf. Revelation 17:4 ). And the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass (cf. Revelation 21:18 ). The brilliancy was so far beyond ordinary gold as to make it apparently transparent like glass. "The street" is not merely one street, but the whole collective material of which the streets are composed.