Revelation 21:9-27

It will be better to read the description of the city of God as a whole before we deal with it in detail.

21:9-27 9 There came to me one of the seven angels who have the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me. "Come," he said, "and I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a 10 great and lofty mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, and it had the glory of God. 11 Its light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, glittering like crystal. 12 It had a wall great and high with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels. There were names written on the 13 gates which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. On the east were three gates, and on the north were three gates, and on the south were three gates, and on the west were three gates. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 He who was speaking with me had a golden measuring rod, that he might measure the city and its gates and its walls. 16 The city lies four-square, and its length is the same as its breadth. He measured the city with his measuring rod, and the measurement was twelve thousand stades. Its length and breadth and height are equal. And he measured its wall, 17 and the measurement was one hundred and forty-four cubits, by the measurement of a man, that is, of an angel. 18 The building material of the wall was jasper, and the city was of pure gold like pure glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was a jasper; the second, a sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, 20 an emerald; the fifth, a sardonyx; the sixth, a carnelian; the seventh, a chrysolith; the eighth, a beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprase; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates consisted of a single pearl. The street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, is its temple, and the Lamb. 23 The city has no need of the sun or the moon to shine for it, for the glory of God illumines it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth 25 will bring their glory to it. Its gates will never be shut by day, 26 for, as for night, there will be no night there. They shall bring 27 to it the glory and the honour of the nations; but nothing unclean shall enter into it, nor shall he who practises abominable things or uses falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.

The Bringer Of The Vision ( Revelation 21:9-10 )

The personality of the bringer of the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem must come as a surprise. He is one of the angels who had the seven bowls filled with the last seven plagues; and the last time we met such an angel he was the bringer of the vision of the destruction of Babylon, the great harlot. It is extraordinary that in Revelation 17:1 the invitation of the angel is: "Come, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot," and that in Revelation 21:9 the invitation, perhaps even of the same angel, is: "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb."

No one can say for certain what much of the symbolism of this chapter stands for. John must have meant something by making the same angel the bearer of such different messages. It may be that John wishes us to see that the servant of God does not choose his task but must do whatever God sends him to do, and must speak whatever word God gives him to speak.

The angel, says John, carried him away in the Spirit to a high mountain. It is in this way that Ezekiel also describes his experience. "He brought me in the visions of God into the land of Israel, and set me down upon a very high mountain" ( Ezekiel 40:2 ). H. B. Swete points out that it is wrong to take this literally; the lifting up stands for the elevation of spirit in which a man sees the visions and hears the words which are sent to him by God.

The City's Light ( Revelation 21:11 )

There is a certain difficulty of translation here. The word used for "light" is phoster ( Greek #5458 ). The normal Greek word for "light" is phos ( Greek #5457 ), and phoster ( Greek #5458 ) is normally the word used for the lights of heaven, the sun, the moon and the stars, for instance, in the Creation story ( Genesis 1:14 ). Does this, then, mean that the body which illumined the city was like a precious stone? Or does it mean that the radiance which played over all the city was like the glitter of a jasper?

We think the word must describe the radiance over the city; it is later quite distinctly said that the city needs no heavenly body like the sun or the moon to give it light, because God is its light.

What, then, is the symbolism? H. B. Swete would find a hint in Philippians 2:15 . There Paul says of the Christians at Philippi: "You shine as lights in the world." The holy city is inhabited by thousands and thousands of the saints of God, and it may well be that it is the light of these saintly lives which gives it this glittering glow.

The Wall And The Gates Of The City ( Revelation 21:12 )

Round the city is a great high wall. Again John is thinking in terms of the prophetic pictures of the re-created Jerusalem. The song of the land of Judah will be: "We have a strong city; God sets up salvation as walls and bulwarks" ( Isaiah 26:1 ). Zechariah hears God say: "I will be to her a wall of fire round about" ( Zechariah 2:5 ). The simplest interpretation of the wall is that it is "the insurmountable bulwark of faith." Faith is the wall behind which the saints of God are secure against the assaults of the world, the flesh and the devil.

In the wall are twelve gates, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. The word for gate is interesting. It is not the normal word which is pule ( Greek #4439 ); it is pulon ( Greek #4440 ). The pulon could be either of two things. A large house was built round an open courtyard. It opened on to the street by a great gate in the outer wall, leading into a spacious vestibule. That could be the picture here. Pulon ( Greek #4440 ) can also mean the gate-tower in a great city, like the gate leading into a battlemented castle.

There are two things to note.

(i) There are twelve gates. Surely this stands for the catholicity of the Church. A man can come by many roads into the kingdom, for "there are as many ways to the stars as there are men to climb them."

(ii) On the gates are the names of the twelve tribes. Surely this stands for the continuity of the Church. The God who revealed himself to the patriarchs is the God who also, and far more fully, revealed himself in Jesus Christ; the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament.

The Gates Of The City ( Revelation 21:13 )

There are three gates on each of the four sides of the city of God. Part at least of that picture John got from Ezekiel ( Ezekiel 48:30-35 ). What John meant to symbolize by this arrangement other than the catholicity of the Church we do not know. There is one symbolic interpretation which was unlikely to be in his mind, but which is none the less very beautiful and very comforting.

There are three gates on the east. The east is the place of the rising sun and the beginning of the day. These gates could represent the way into the holy city of those who find Christ in the glad morning of their days.

There are three gates on the north. The north is the cold land with a certain chill in it. These gates could stand for the way into the holy city of those who come to Christianity by the intellectual exercise of thought, and have found the faith through their minds rather than through their hearts.

There are three gates on the south. The south is the warm land, where the wind is gentle and the climate soft. These gates could stand for the way into the holy city of those who have come to Christ through their emotions, whose love ran over at the sight of the cross.

There are three gates on the west. The west is the land of the dying day and the setting sun. These gates could stand for the way into the holy city of those who come to Christ in the evening of their days.

The Measuring Of The City ( Revelation 21:15-17 )

John takes his picture of the man with the measuring rod from Ezekiel 40:3 .

(i) We must note the city's shape. It was four-square. It was common enough for cities to be built in the form of a square; both Babylon and Nineveh were like that. But the holy city was not only square; it was in the form of a perfect cube. The length, breadth and height were the same. This is significant. The cube was the symbol of perfection. Both Plato and Aristotle refer to the fact that in Greece the good man was called "four-square" (Plato, Protagoras 339 B Aristotle, Nicomachean Ethics 1. 10. 11 ; Rhetoric 3.11).

It was the same with the Jews. The altar of the burnt offering, the altar of the incense, and the High Priest's breast-plate were all in the form of a cube ( Exodus 27:1 ; Exodus 30:2 ; Exodus 28:16 ). Again and again this shape occurs in Ezekiel's visions of the new Jerusalem and the new temple ( Ezekiel 41:21 ; Ezekiel 43:16 ; Ezekiel 45:2 ; Ezekiel 48:20 ). But most important of all, in Solomon's temple the Holy of Holies was a perfect cube ( 1 Kings 6:20 ).

There is no doubt of the symbolism which John intends. He intends us to see that the whole of the holy city is the Holy of Holies, the dwelling-place of God.

(ii) We must note the city's dimensions. Each side of the city was twelve thousand stades (compare Greek #4712 ). A stade is very nearly a furlong; therefore, each side was 1,500 miles long, and the total area of the city was 2,250,000 square miles. The rabbinic dreams of the re-created Jerusalem were vast enough. It was said that it would reach to Damascus and would cover the whole of Palestine. But a city with that area would stretch nearly from London to New York. Surely we are meant to see that in the holy city there is room for everyone. Men are so apt to limit their Churches, to shut out those who do not believe as they do or who do not administer as they do.

Strangely enough it is different when we come to the wall. The wall is 144 cubits high, that is, 266 feet, not very high. The wall of Babylon was 300 feet high, and the walls of the porch of Solomon's temple were 180 feet high. There is no comparison between the height of the wall and the size of the city. Again there is symbolism here. The wall cannot be for defence, for all hostile beings, spiritual and human, have been obliterated or cast into the lake of fire. The only thing the wall can do is delimit the area of the city; and the fact that it is so low shows that delimitation is comparatively unimportant. God is much more eager to bring men in than to shut them out--and his Church must be the same.

The Precious Stones Of The City ( Revelation 21:18-21 )

The city itself was of pure gold, so pure that it seemed like transparent glass. It is possible that John is here accentuating a feature of the earthly Jerusalem. Josephus describes Herod's temple: "Now the outward face of the temple in its front lacked nothing that was likely to surprise either men's minds or their eyes; for it was covered all over with plates of gold of great weight, and, at the first rising of the sun, reflected back a very fiery splendour, and made those who forced themselves to look upon it to turn away their eyes, just as they would at the sun's own rays. But this temple appeared to strangers, when they were at a distance, like a mountain covered with snow, for as to those parts that were not golden, they were exceeding white" (Josephus: Wars of the Jews 5.5.6).

John goes on to speak of the twelve foundations of the city. Between the twelve gates there were twelve spaces, and the idea is that between these spaces there was one vast foundation stone. Again John may have been thinking of the vast stones in the foundations of the Jerusalem Temple. In the passage which we have just quoted Josephus speaks of stones in the Temple foundation walls of almost 70 feet in length, 8 feet in height, and 9 feet in breadth. In verse 14 John has said that the stones are inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles. They were both Jesus' first followers and his ambassadors, and they were literally the foundations of the Church.

In the city of God these foundation stones were all precious stones. The jasper was not the modern opaque jasper but a translucent rock crystal, green in colour. The sapphire appears in the Old Testament story as the stone of the paving on which God stood ( Exodus 24:10 ). Again, it was not the modern sapphire. Pliny describes it as sky-blue, flecked with gold. It was most likely the stone now known as lapis lazuli. The chalcedony was a green silicate of copper, found in mines near Chalcedon. It is described as being like the sheen of green on a dove's neck or in a peacock's tail. The emerald was the modern emerald, which Pliny describes as the greenest of all green stones. The sardonyx was an onyx in which the white was broken by layers of red and brown; it was specially used for cameos. The sard or carnelian took its name from Sardis. It was blood-red, and was the commonest of all stones used for engraving gems. The identification of the chrysolite is uncertain. Its Hebrew name means the stone of Tarshish. Pliny describes it as shining with a golden radiance. It could be a yellow beryl or a gold-coloured jasper. The beryl was like an emerald; the best stones were sea-blue or sea-green. The topaz was a transparent, greenish-gold stone, very highly valued by the Hebrews. Job speaks of the topaz of Ethiopia ( Job 28:19 ). The jacinth is described by ancient writers as being a violet, bluish-purple stone. It is likely that it was the equivalent of the modern sapphire. The amethyst is described as being very similar to the jacinth, but more brilliant.

Have these stones any symbolism?

(i) It may be noted that eight of them are the same as the stones in the breast-plate of the High Priest ( Exodus 28:17 ). John may simply have used the breast-plate as his model.

(ii) It may well be that the only intention of John is to stress the splendour of the city of God in which even the foundations were stones beyond price.

(iii) There is another interesting possibility. In the east there was the idea of the city of the gods in the skies. There the gods dwelt; the sun and the moon and the stars were its lights; the Milky Way was its great street; there were twelve gates through which the stars went in and out upon their business. Connected with the city of the gods there are the signs of the Zodiac, the signs of the parts of the heavens through which the sun passes. The curious thing is that the signs of the Zodiac have as their corresponding precious stones exactly these twelve.

The table is as follows:

The Ram -- amethyst.

The Bull -- jacinth.

The Twins -- chrysoprase.

The Crab -- topaz.

The Lion -- beryl.

The Virgin -- chrysolite.

The Balance -- carnelian.

The Scorpion -- sardonyx.

The Archer -- emerald.

The Goat -- chalcedony.

The Water-carrier -- sapphire.

The Fishes -- jasper.

There is at least the possibility that John was thinking of the city of God as the consummation of the old idea of the city of the Gods, but far outshining it.

But there is one curious point. If that be so, John gives the signs of the Zodiac in precisely the reverse order! What the symbolism of that would be it is impossible to tell, unless it is John's way of saying that the city of the gods is made new in the city of God.

The most staggering use of precious stones in this picture is that the gates of the city of God each consist of one vast pearl. In the ancient world pearls were of all stones most valued. All his life the merchantman would seek the pearl of great price and then count it worth selling all his possessions to buy it ( Matthew 13:46 ). Gates of pearl are a symbol of unimaginable beauty and unassessable riches.

The Presence Of God ( Revelation 21:22-23 )

In Revelation 21:22 John lays down a unique feature of the city of God; in it there is no temple. When we remember how precious the Temple was to the Jews, this is amazing. But we have already noted that the city is built in the shape of a perfect cube, indicating that it itself is the Holy of Holies. The city needs no temple because the presence of God is continually there.

Here is symbolism which is plain for all to see. Buildings do not make a Church nor liturgy, nor form of government, nor method of ordination to the ministry. The one thing which makes a Church is the presence of Jesus Christ. Without that there can be no such thing as a Church; with that any gathering of people is a real Church.

The city of God needed no created light, because God the uncreated light was in the midst of her. "The Lord," said Isaiah, "will be your everlasting light" ( Isaiah 60:19-20 ). "In thy light," said the Psalmist, "do we see light" ( Psalms 36:9 ). Only when we see things in the light of God, do we see things as they are. Some things which seem vastly important are seen to be unimportant when seen in the light of God. Some things which seem permissible enough are seen to be dangerous when seen in the light of God. Some things which seem unbearable are seen to be a path to glory when seen in the light of God.

The Whole Earth For God ( Revelation 21:24-27 )

A passage like this enables us--and even compels us--to redress a wrong which is often done to Jewish thought. Here is a picture of all nations coming to God and of all kings bringing him their gifts. In other words, here is a picture of universal salvation. It is often said that the Jews looked for nothing but the destruction of the Gentiles. It is true that we find sayings like: "God created the Gentiles to be fuel for the fires of hell." It is true that there is a strain of Jewish thought which expected the annihilation, or at least the enslavement, of the Gentiles; but there is much on the other side, and voice after voice speaks of the time when all men shall know and love God.

Isaiah has a picture of the day when all nations will go up to Mount Sion to be taught the law and to learn to walk in the ways of God ( Isaiah 2:2-4 ). God will set up an ensign to which all the nations will come ( Isaiah 11:12 ). It is God's word of privilege to Israel: "I will give you for a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" ( Isaiah 49:6 ). The isles will wait upon God and in his arm will they trust ( Isaiah 51:5 ). Nations who never knew God will run to him ( Isaiah 55:5 ). The sons of the stranger will learn to love God and to serve him. God will gather others to him ( Isaiah 56:6-8 ). It is Israel's task to declare God's glory among the Gentiles ( Isaiah 66:19 ). The ends of the earth are invited to look to God and to be saved ( Isaiah 45:22 ). All nations shall be gathered to Jerusalem, and shall recognize it as the throne of the Lord, and will no more stubbornly follow their evil heart ( Jeremiah 3:17 ). The Gentiles will come to God from the ends of the earth, confessing and repenting of the previous errors of their ways ( Jeremiah 16:19-21 ). All peoples, nations and languages will serve the one who is like a son of man ( Daniel 7:14 ). All men shall worship God, everyone from his place, even all the isles of the heathen ( Zephaniah 2:11 ). God will give all men a pure language in which they may with one consent call upon him ( Zephaniah 3:9 ). All flesh will be silent before God ( Zechariah 2:13 ). Many people and the inhabitants of many cities will come to Jerusalem. People of all races and tongues shall "take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you" ( Zechariah 8:20-23 ). The day will come when the Lord will be king over all the earth; in that day there will be one Lord ( Zechariah 14:9 ).

What is true of the Old Testament is true of the literature between the Testaments. The vision in Tobit is:

A bright light shall shine unto all the ends of the earth; Many nations shall come from afar, And the inhabitants of the utmost ends of the earth unto thy holy

name; With their gifts in their hands unto the king of heaven ( Tobit 13:11 ).

All the nations which are in the whole earth, all shall turn and fear God truly, all shall leave their idols ( Tobit 14:6 ).

Enoch writes nobly of God's chosen one:

He shall be a stall to the righteous whereon to stay themselves

and not fall,

And he shall be a light of the Gentiles,

And the hope of those who are troubled of heart.

All who dwell on earth shall fall down and worship before him,

And will praise and bless and celebrate with song the Lord of

Spirits (Enoch 48:4-5).

The writer of Enoch hears the voice of God say: "All the children of men shall become righteous, and all nations shall offer adoration, and shall praise me, and shall worship me" (Enoch 10:21).

The Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs is full of this universal hope. When the Messiah comes "in his priesthood the Gentiles shall be multiplied in knowledge upon the earth, and enlightened in the grace of the Lord" (Testament of Levi 18:9). It is the word of God: "If ye work that which is good, my children, both men and angels will bless you; and God shall be glorified among the Gentiles through you." It is Israel's task "to gather the righteous from among the Gentiles" (Testament of Naphtali 8:3, 4). God will save all Israel and all the Gentiles (Testament of Asher 7:3). The Sibylline Oracles has a noble passage which tells of the reaction of the Gentiles when they see the goodness of God to Israel:

Then all the isles and the cities shall say, How doth the Eternal

love those men! For all things work in sympathy with them and

help them, the heaven, and God's chariot the sun, and the moon.

A sweet strain shall they utter from their mouths in hymns. Come,

let us all fall upon the earth and supplicate the Eternal King, the

mighty, everlasting God. Let us make procession to his Temple,

for he is the sole Potentate. And let us all ponder the law of the

Most High God, who is the most righteous of all upon the earth.

But we had gone astray from the path of the Eternal, and with

foolish heart worshipped the work of men's hands, idols and images

of men that are dead (Sibylline Oracles 3: 710-723).

Nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see the glory of God (Wis 17:34).

When John pictured the nations walking in the light of the city of God and the kings bringing their gifts to it, he was foretelling the consummation of a hope which was always in the hearts of the greatest of his countrymen.

Reception And Rejection ( Revelation 21:24-27 Continued)

We gather up three further points before we leave this chapter.

(i) More than once John insists that there will be no night in the city of God. The ancient peoples, like children, were afraid of the dark. In the new world the frightening dark will be no more, for the presence of God will bring eternal light. Even in this world of space and time, where God is, the night is as bright as the day ( Psalms 139:12 ).

H. B. Swete sees further symbolism here. In the city of God there will be no darkness. Again and again it has happened that an age of brilliance has been followed by an age of darkness. But in the new age the darkness will be gone and there will be nothing but light.

(ii) John, like the ancient prophets, repeatedly speaks of the Gentiles and their kings bringing their gifts to God. It is true that the nations did bring their gifts to the Church. The Greeks brought the power of their intellect. To them, as Plato said, "the unexamined life was the life not worth living," and so the unexamined faith was the faith not worth having. To the Greeks we owe theology. The Romans were the greatest experts in government the world has ever seen. To the Church they brought their ability to organize and to administer and to formulate law. When a man enters the Church, he must bring his gift with him; the writer his power in words, the artist his power in colour, the sculptor his mastery of line and form and mass, the musician his music, the craftsman his craft. There is no gift which Christ cannot use.

(iii) The chapter ends with a threat. Those who will not lay aside the evil of their ways are barred from the city of God. There is a sinner who sins against his will; there is a sinner who deliberately sins. It is not the repentant sinner, but the defiant sinner, who is barred from the city of God.

-Barclay's Daily Study Bible (NT)