Revelation 21

     There is a fork in the road.   One fork is the broad way that leads to Babylon, the great city (cf. Rev. 17-19).  The other is a path that looks difficult, but eventually leads to the New Jerusalem.  Babylon is the great harlot who sits on many waters.   She is clothed with luxurious garments and jewels.   She is as tasteful as Las Vegas and has the morality of a slot machine.  The New Jerusalem that comes down out of heaven is a pure bride made ready for her husband, a holy city resplendent in the glory of God.  Babylon’s lovers turn on her, burn her with fire, and the smoke of her burning rises forever.  Jerusalem’s husband is the King of kings, who is faithful and true, and the bride reigns with him forever.  “…New Jerusalem, the bride of Christ and glory of God, is an everlasting monument to the grace of God” (Prutow).  

     Rev. 21:1-22:5 describes the holy city, drawing a multitude of symbols from the OT.

     21:1.  The old things have passed away, and there is a whole new creation for new creatures in Christ.  No longer shall they dwell in a besieged land surrounded by a sea of unbelief.  The waters where the harlot once sat are gone (see 17:15; please read Is. 17:12-14).

     21:2-4.  The true church always descends out of heaven from God.  She is made ready for her husband by the Holy Spirit, and adorned with a clean white robe washed in the blood of the Lamb (2; 7:14; 19:8).  God consummates his covenant of grace.  Like a husband, he comes to take his bride, and the old life lived under the curse of slavery to sin, pain, and death are passed away (3, 4).

     21:5-8.  If I had been assigned red letters duties, they would probably be used here indicating the words of Christ.  God is speaking, but the second Person of the trinity is the Word of God by whom all things were created.  God always speaks to us through Christ the mediator.  He is seated on the throne with the Father.  He says many of the same things here that he said about himself in chapter one.  But red letters or not, he and the Father are One.  The important thing is to believe the faithful and true things he commands John to write.  That would include the whole God given book of Revelation, whether a direct quote from Christ, or the messages delivered by his angel (cf. 1:1).

     21:9-11.  One of the seven angels who poured out the bowls of wrath had shown John the judgment of the great harlot, Satan’s antibride. One of the seven bowl angels now shows him the bride, the wife of the Lamb (9; cf. 17:1; 19:10 and 21:9; 22:9).

     I take v.10 to mean that John is taken to the holy mountain of God (cf. Ezek. 40:2), spiritual Mount Zion, high and lifted up, and sees New Jerusalem, the bride, come down out of heaven upon it.  The church is the city set on a hill that cannot be hidden (Mt. 5:14).  She is bright with the glory of her luminary (11, margin), which v.23 tells us is the glory of God, and the Lamp from which it shines is the Lamb.

     21:12-27.  “Encompass Zion, count her towers, and mark her bulwarks well; Consider ye her palaces; To sons her story tell” (Ps. 48:12-13, from The Book of Psalms for Singing; cf, Ezek. 40; Neh. 3).

     21:12-14.  The New Jerusalem (a name which means foundation of peace) is the home of all God’s people.  The number twelve is the symbol for God’s people.  There are twelve gates with twelve guardian angels.  The gates have the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on them (12; cf. Rev. 7:1-8), three on each side (13; cf. Nu. 2, Israel camped three tribes to a side in the wilderness).  There are twelve foundation stones marked with the twelve names of the twelve apostles (14; cf. 1 Cor. 3:10; Eph. 2:20; the foundation of the church is the testimony of the apostles about Jesus, who is the chief of the corner).

      21:15-20.  The gold measuring rod used to measure the city is the word of God.  Everything must be measured by it (15; cf. 11:1).  The city is a cube, equal on all sides (16).  The English translation in the NASB text is useful to show the gigantic proportions, but unfortunately destroys the symbolism.  The symbol is the number twelve thousand stadia (margin).  Laid out as a square, it thus equals 144,000,000 square stadia (cf. this symbolic number to the total of the “twelve tribes” bearing the seal of God, in Rev. 7).  The city’s height is equal, twelve thousand stadia.  The tabernacle and the temple also had equal sides and height measurements for the Holy of Holies.  That is what this city is.  It is the true holiest place, where our High Priest entered with his own blood of the sacrifice once for all to make atonement for his people.  The result of this is made clear in vv. 3 and 22.  God himself has become our temple, and dwells in intimate communion with his people.  It is the consummation of the covenant of grace.  The true Husband has taken his bride.

     The point of v.17 is that these human measurements are spiritually understood, and thus are also angelic.  The wall protecting the city measures 144 cubits (which is twelve multiplied by twelve).  It is a city well fortified and strong to protect God’s people.

     Hendriksen believes that the material the city wall is made of should be translated diamond.  It is described as crystal-clear in v.11, and very costly.  On the other hand, even the gold the city is made of is as transparent as glass (18, 21).  Remember, we are dealing with symbols.  They represent a reality that often can’t be explained any other way, but since they are symbols and not the reality, they sometimes gain strength by breaking the rules of real things to make a point.  Near God, everything becomes transparent.  It is beyond price, but crystal clear.

     Compare the first foundation stone (19) to Peter’s testimony, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the Living God,” and what Jesus said about the testimony.  “…upon this rock I will build my church…” (Mt. 16:16,18).  (“This rock” is Peter’s testimony, not the man Peter.)

     Precious stones adorn the foundation stones bearing the names of the twelve apostles.  “…if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to that which we have preached to you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8).  “If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?”  (Ps. 11:3).  (Cf. also Ex. 28:17 ff., the high priest’s breast piece with twelve precious stones, one for each tribe.) 

     21:21-27, Each gate into the city is a single pearl.  For a pearl of great value, Jesus said a merchant would sell all he had to buy it (Mt. 13:45-46).

     The glory of God shines from the lamp of the city, which is the Lamb.  Jesus is the light of the world, and in him is no darkness at all.  ”  ‘The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord, and of his Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever’ ” (11:15).  The nations bring their glory into the commonwealth of the Israel of faith, “no longer strangers and aliens, but…fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone….”  (Eph. 2:19-20).  The gates of the city are never closed, but nothing unclean and no one uncleansed of his sin and the devil’s deceit shall ever enter in, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.