The New Jerusalem
(ii) The second background of the conception of the new Jerusalem is entirely Jewish. In his synagogue form of prayer the Jew still prays:
And to Jerusalem thy city return with compassion, and dwell
therein as thou hast promised; and rebuild her speedily in our
days, a structure everlasting; and the throne of David speedily
establish there. Blessed art thou, O Lord, the builder of
Jerusalem.
John's vision of the new Jerusalem uses and amplifies many of the dreams of the prophets. We shall set down some of these dreams and it will be clear at once how the Old Testament again and again finds its echo in the Revelation.
Isaiah had his dream.
"O afflicted one, storm-tossed, and not comforted, behold, I will
set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with
sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of
carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones" ( Isaiah 54:11-12 ).
Foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall
minister to you.... Your gates shall be open continually; day
and night they shall not be shut.... You shall suck the milk
of nations, you shall suck the breast of kings.... Instead of
bronze I will bring gold, and instead of iron I will bring silver;
instead of wood, bronze, instead of stones, iron.... Violence
shall no more be heard in your land, devastation or destruction
within your borders; you shall call your walls Salvation, and your
gates Praise. The sun shall be no more your light by day, nor for
brightness shall the moon give light to you by night; but the Lord
will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory.
Your sun shall no more go down, nor your moon withdraw
itself; for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days
of mourning shall be ended ( Isaiah 60:10-20 ).
Haggai had his dream.
The latter splendour of this house shall be greater than the
former, says the Lord of hosts; and in this place I will give
prosperity, says the Lord of hosts ( Haggai 2:9 ).
Ezekiel had his dream of the rebuilt Jerusalem ( Ezekiel 40:1-49 and Ezekiel 48:1-35 ) in which we find even the picture of the twelve gates of the city ( Ezekiel 48:31-35 ).
The writers between the Testaments had their dreams.
The city which God loved he made more radiant than the stars
and the sun and the moon; and he set it as the jewel of the
world and made a Temple exceeding fair in its sanctuary, and
fashioned it in size of many furlongs, with a giant tower,
touching the very clouds, and seen of all, so that all the
faithful and the righteous may see the glory of the invisible God,
the vision of delight (The Sibylline Oracles 5: 420427).
And the gates of Jerusalem shall be builded with sapphire and
emerald,
And all thy walls with precious stones,
The towers of Jerusalem shall be builded with gold,
And their battlements with pure gold,
The streets of Jerusalem shall be paved
With carbuncle and stones of Ophir,
And the gates of Jerusalem shall utter hymns of gladness,
And all her houses shall say, Hallelujah!
( Tobit 13:16-18 ).
It is easy to see that the new Jerusalem was a constant dream; and that John lovingly collected the differing visions--the precious stones, the streets and buildings of gold, the ever-open gates, the light of God making unnecessary the light of the sun and the moon, the coming of the nations and the bringing of their gifts--into his own.
Here is faith! Even when Jerusalem was obliterated, the Jews never lost confidence that God would restore it. True, they expressed their hopes in terms of material things; but these are merely the symbols of the certainty that there is eternal bliss for the faithful people of God.
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