One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb’s bride.” He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
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Revelation 21:9-11 sits inside this longer paragraph.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb’s bride.” He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal; having a great and high wall; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east were three gates; and on the north three gates; and on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. He who spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, its gates, and its walls. The city is square, and its length is as great as its width. He measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand twelve stadia. Its length, width, and height are equal. Its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits, by the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. The foundations of the city’s wall were adorned with all kinds of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each one of the gates was made of one pearl. The street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter. There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Parallel Translations
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One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were loaded with the seven last plagues came, and he spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the wife, the Lamb’s bride.”
He carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, as if it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
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And there cam vnto me one of the vii. angels which had the vii. vyals full of the vii. laste plages: and talked with me sayinge: come hydder I will shewe the the bryde the lambes wyfe.
And he caryed me awaye in the sprete to a grett and an hye mountayne and he shewed me the grett cite holy Ierusalem descendinge out of heven from God
havynge the brightnes of God. And her shynynge was lyke vnto a stone moste precious even a Iaspar cleare as cristall:
Show all 3 translations
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And there came vnto mee one of the seuen Angels, which had the seuen vials full of the seuen last plagues, and talked with mee, saying, Come: I will shewe thee the bride, the Lambes wife.
And he caried me away in the spirit to a great: and an hie mountaine, and he shewed me that great citie, that holie Hierusalem, descending out of heauen from God,
Hauing the glorie of God: and her shining was like vnto a stone most precious, as a Iasper stone cleare as crystall,
Cross-references (35)
- Revelation 21:2 (vv9–10) I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared like a bride adorned for her husband.
- Revelation 19:7 (v9) Let’s rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let’s give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself…
- Revelation 4:6 (v11) Before the throne was something like a sea of glass, similar to crystal. In the middle of the throne, and around the throne were four…
- Revelation 16:1-17 (v9) I heard a loud voice out of the temple, saying to the seven angels, “Go and pour out the seven bowls of the wrath of God on the earth!” The…
- Revelation 17:1 (v9) One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here. I will show you the judgment of the great…
Show all 34 cross-references
- Revelation 22:5 (v11) There will be no night, and they need no lamp light or sun light; for the Lord God will illuminate them. They will reign forever and ever.
- Ezekiel 11:24 (v10) The Spirit lifted me up, and brought me in the vision by the Spirit of God into Chaldea, to the captives. So the vision that I had seen…
- Ezekiel 8:3 (v10) He stretched out the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between earth and the sky, and brought…
- Ezekiel 11:1 (v10) Moreover the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me to the east gate of Yahweh’s house, which looks eastward. Behold, twenty-five men were at…
- Ezekiel 40:1-49 (v10) In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that…
- Acts 8:39 (v10) When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away, and the eunuch didn’t see him any more, for he went on his…
- 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 (v10) I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago (whether in the body, I don’t know, or whether out of the body, I don’t know; God knows), such a…
- Revelation 1:10 (v10) I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice, like a trumpet
- Revelation 17:3 (v10) He carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness. I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet-colored beast, full of blasphemous names, having…
- Revelation 22:1 (v11) He showed me a river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb,
- Ezekiel 3:14 (v10) So the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit; and Yahweh’s hand was strong on me.
- Revelation 4:2 (v10) Immediately I was in the Spirit. Behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and one sitting on the throne
- Revelation 15:1-7 (v9) I saw another great and marvelous sign in the sky: seven angels having the seven last plagues, for in them God’s wrath is finished. I saw…
- Revelation 21:18-19 (v11) The construction of its wall was jasper. The city was pure gold, like pure glass. The foundations of the city’s wall were adorned with all…
- 1 Kings 18:12 (v10) It will happen, as soon as I leave you, that Yahweh’s Spirit will carry you I don’t know where; and so when I come and tell Ahab, and he…
- Isaiah 60:19-20 (v11) The sun will be no more your light by day; nor will the brightness of the moon give light to you, but Yahweh will be your everlasting…
- Ezekiel 1:26 (v11) Above the expanse that was over their heads was the likeness of a throne, as the appearance of a sapphire stone. On the likeness of the…
- Revelation 4:3 (v11) that looked like a jasper stone and a sardius. There was a rainbow around the throne, like an emerald to look at.
- 2 Kings 2:16 (v10) They said to him, “See now, there are with your servants fifty strong men. Please let them go and seek your master. Perhaps Yahweh’s Spirit…
- Job 28:17 (v11) Gold and glass can’t equal it, neither will it be exchanged for jewels of fine gold.
- Isaiah 4:5 (v11) Yahweh will create over the whole habitation of Mount Zion and over her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day, and the shining of a flaming…
- Isaiah 60:1-2 (v11) “Arise, shine; for your light has come, and Yahweh’s glory has risen on you. For, behold, darkness will cover the earth, and thick darkness…
- Ezekiel 28:13-14 (v11) You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, emerald, chrysolite, onyx, jasper, sapphire, turquoise,…
- Ezekiel 48:15-22 (v10) “The five thousand that are left in the width, in front of the twenty-five thousand, shall be for common use, for the city, for dwelling…
- Ezekiel 48:35 (v11) “It shall be eighteen thousand reeds around: and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘Yahweh is there.’
- Revelation 21:22-23 (v11) I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for…
- Ezekiel 1:22 (v11) Over the head of the living creature there was the likeness of an expanse, like an awesome crystal to look at, stretched out over their…
- Ezekiel 43:2 (v11) Behold, the glory of the God of Israel came from the way of the east. His voice was like the sound of many waters; and the earth was…
- Revelation 15:8 (v11) The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God, and from his power. No one was able to enter into the temple until the seven…
34 distinct cross-references across this passage (35 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (22 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv9–10 A transition unto the particular describing of the heavenly…
A transition unto the particular describing of the heavenly Church by the express calling of Saint John in this verse, and his rapting up by the Spirit, in confirmation of the truth of God in the verse following.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv9–11 9 And there came unto me one of the…
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Ver. 9. One of the seven angels] The same, likely, that, Rev 17:1, had showed him the damnation of the whore. So studious and officious are the angels to serve the saints, Heb 1:14.
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The bride, the Lamb’s wife] Uxor fulget radiis mariti, saith the civilian; so is it here.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv9–11 One of the seven angels; one of those mentioned…
One of the seven angels; one of those mentioned Rev 15:6.
I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife; I will show thee the whole church, (invisible heretofore), the glorious state of the church triumphant, under the representation of a great city.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v9 St. John having delivered, before a general account of…
St. John having delivered, before a general account of the saints’ happiness in heaven, descends here to a more particular description of it. Heaven, called the New Jerusalem, is represented by a city, with magnificent gates and walls; and the church, the collective body of glorified saints, is here called the Lamb’s wife, espoused before, but the marriage solemnized now.
Note here, That as the earthly Jerusalem was a type of the church militant, so the church triumphant is called the New Jerusalem, and compared to a great city for the multitude of its members, and styled holy, because sanctity is the special qualification of those who are the inhabitants of it.
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Note, 2. The light which is found in this city; it is not compared to the light of the sun, for that is attended with scorching heat, nor to the light of the moon, which is variable and uncertain, but to the light of precious stones, which is clear and pure, and has nothing annoying in it.
Note, 3. The great safety and security of this city, and of all the citizens inhabiting therein: here is a wall great and high; walls are for defence, (called maenia a muniendo, and the higher the wall the greater the defence: God’s omnipotency is as a wall, and will be an invincible bulwark about his saints in heaven: nothing shall endanger them, nothing shall offend them.
Note, 4. Here are twelve gates for conveniency of entrance into this city on all sides, and to give free and easy access from all parts, east, west, north, and south; to signify that the church in heaven will be made up of persons coming from all parts, as Christ foretold, Mat 8:11; Luk 13:29 They shall come from the east, &c. and shall sit down with Abraham. The triumphant church is a collective body of believers of all nations, kindreds, and people, tongues and languages.
Note lastly, That as the names of workmen are sometimes set upon foundation stones, by which it is well known in after-ages who were the builders; in like manner it is here intimated, that as the ancient Jewish church was founded in twelve patriarchs, so the latter Christian church in and by twelve apostles, Jesus Christ himself being the chief cornerstone, or the foundation of both; he being fundamentum fundans, they fundamenta fundata; teaching us that our faith must be built upon the doctrine of Christ and his apostles, and upon no other doctrine whatsoever, though it has a pretended stamp of infallibility upon it.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v9 We have already considered the introduction to the vision…
We have already considered the introduction to the vision of the new Jerusalem in a more general idea of the heavenly state; we now come to the vision itself, where observe,
I. The person that opened the vision to the apostle - one of the seven angels, that had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, Rev 21:9. God has a variety of work and employment for his holy angels. Sometimes they are to sound the trumpet of divine Providence, and give fair warning to a careless world; sometimes they are to pour out the vials of God's anger upon impenitent sinners; and sometimes to discover things of a heavenly nature to those that are the heirs of salvation. They readily execute every commission they receive from God; and, when this world shall be at an end, yet the angels shall be employed by the great God in proper pleasant work to all eternity.
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II. The place from which the apostle had this glorious view and prospect. He was taken, in ecstasy, into a high mountain. From such situations men usually have the most distinct views of adjacent cities. Those who would have clear views of heaven must get as near heaven as they can, into the mount of vision, the mount of meditation and faith, whence, as from the top of Pisgah, they may behold the goodly land of the heavenly Canaan.
III. The subject-matter of the vision - the bride, the Lamb's wife (Rev 21:10); that is, the church of God in her glorious, perfect, triumphant state, under the resemblance of Jerusalem, having the glory of God shining in its lustre, as uxor splendit radiis mariti - the bride comely through the comeliness put on her by her husband; glorious in her relation to Christ, in his image now perfected in her, and in his favour shining upon her. And now we have a large description of the church triumphant under the emblem of a city, far exceeding in riches and splendour all the cities of this world; and this new Jerusalem is here represented to us both in the exterior and the interior part of it.
1. The exterior part of the city - the wall and the gates, the wall for security and the gates for entrance.
(1.) The wall for security. Heaven is a safe state; those that are there are enclosed with a wall, that separates them and secures them from all evils and enemies: now here, in the account of the wall, we observe, [1.] The height of it, which, we are told, is very high, seventy yards (Rev 21:17), sufficient both for ornament and security. [2.] The matter of it: It was as jasper; a wall all built of the most precious stones, for firmness and lustre, Rev 21:11. This city has a wall that is impregnable as well as precious. [3.] The form of it was very regular and uniform: It was four-square, the length as large as the breadth. In the new Jerusalem all shall be equal in purity and perfection. There shall be an absolute uniformity in the church triumphant, a thing wanted and wished for on earth, but not to be expected till we come to heaven. [4.] The measure of the wall (Rev 21:15, Rev 21:16): Twelve thousand furlongs each way, each side, which is forty-eight thousand furlongs in the whole compass, or fifteen hundred German miles. Here is room sufficient for all the people of God - many mansions in their Father's house. [5.] The foundation of the wall, for heaven is a city that hath her foundations (Rev 21:19); the promise and power of God, and the purchase of Christ, are the strong foundations of the church's safety and happiness. The foundations are described by their number - twelve, alluding to the twelve apostles (Rev 21:14), whose gospel doctrines are the foundations upon which the church is built, Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; and, as to the matter of these foundations, it was various and precious, set forth by twelve sorts of precious stones, denoting the variety and excellency of the doctrines of the gospel, or of the graces of the Holy Spirit, or the personal excellencies of the Lord Jesus Christ.
(2.) The gates for entrance. Heaven is not inaccessible; there is a way opened into the holiest of all; there is a free admission to all those that are sanctified; they shall not find themselves shut out. Now, as to these gates, observe, [1.] Their number - twelve gates, answering to the twelve tribes of Israel. All the true Israel of God shall have entrance into the new Jerusalem, as every tribe had into the earthly Jerusalem. [2.] Their guards which were placed upon them - twelve angels, to admit and receive the several tribes of the spiritual Israel and keep out others. [3.] The inscription on the gates - the names of the twelve tribes, to show that they have a right to the tree of life, and to enter through the gates into the city. [4.] The situation of the gates. As the city had four equal sides, answering to the four quarters of the world, east, west, north, and south, so on each side there were three gates, signifying that from all quarters of the earth there shall be some who shall get safely to heaven and be received there, and that there is as free entrance from one part of the world as from the other; for in Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, Barbarian, Scythian, bond, nor free. Men of all nations, and languages, who believe on Christ, have by him access to God in grace here and in glory hereafter. [5.] The materials of these gates - they were all of pearls, and yet with great variety: Every gate one pearl, either one single pearl of that vast bigness, or one single sort of pearl. Christ is the pearl of great price, and he is our way to God. There is nothing magnificent enough in this world fully to set forth the glory of heaven. Could we, in the glass of a strong imagination, contemplate such a city as is here described, even as to the exterior part of it, such a wall, and such gates, how amazing, how glorious, would the prospect be! And yet this is but a faint and dim representation of what heaven is in itself.
2. The interior part of the new Jerusalem, Rev 21:22-27. We have seen its strong wall, and stately gates, and glorious guards; now we are to be led through the gates into the city itself; and the first thing which we observe there is the street of the city, which is of pure gold, like transparent glass, Rev 21:21. The saints in heaven tread upon gold. The new Jerusalem has its several streets. There is the most exact order in heaven: every saint has his proper mansion. There is converse in heaven: the saints are then at rest, but it is not a mere passive rest; it is not a state of sleep and inactivity, but a state of delightful motion: The nations that are saved walk in the light of it. They walk with Christ in white. They have communion not only with God, but with one another; and all their steps are firm and clean. They are pure and clear as gold and transparent glass. Observe,
(1.) The temple of the new Jerusalem, which was no material temple, made with men's hands, as that of Solomon and Zerubbabel, but a temple altogether spiritual and divine; for the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof. There the saints are above the need of ordinances, which were the means of their preparation for heaven. When the end is attained the means are no longer useful. Perfect and immediate communion with God will more than supply the place of gospel institutions.
(2.) The light of this city. Where there is no light, there can be no lustre nor pleasure. Heaven is the inheritance of the saints in light. But what is that light? There is no sun nor moon shining there, Rev 21:23. Light is sweet, and a pleasant thing it is to behold the sun. What a dismal world would this be if it were not for the light of the sun! What is there in heaven that supplies the want of it? There is no want of the light of the sun, for the glory of God lightens that city, and the Lamb is the light thereof. God in Christ will be an everlasting fountain of knowledge and joy to the saints in heaven; and, if so, there is no need of the sun or moon, any more than we here need to set up candles at noon day, when the sun shineth in its strength.
(3.) The inhabitants of this city. They are described here several ways. [1.] By their numbers - whole nations of saved souls; some out of all nations, and many out of some nations. All those multitudes who were sealed on earth are saved in heaven. [2.] By their dignity - some of the kings and princes of the earth: great kings. God will have some of all ranks and degrees of men to fill the heavenly mansions, high and low; and when the greatest kings come to heaven they will see all their former honour and glory swallowed up of this heavenly glory that so much excels. [3.] Their continual accession and entrance into this city: The gates shall never be shut. There is no night, and therefore no need of shutting up the gates. Some one or other is coming in every hour and moment, and those that are sanctified always find the gates open; they have an abundant entrance into the kingdom.
(4.) The accommodations of this city: All the glory and honour of the nations shall be brought into it. Whatever is excellent and valuable in this world shall be there enjoyed in a more refined kind, and to a far greater degree - brighter crowns, a better and more enduring substance, more sweet and satisfying feasts, a more glorious attendance, a truer sense of honour and far higher posts of honour, a more glorious temper of mind, and a form and a countenance more glorious than ever were known in this world.
(5.) The unmixed purity of all who belong to the new Jerusalem, Rev 21:27. [1.] There the saints shall have no impure thing remaining in them. In the article of death they shall be cleansed from every thing that is of a defiling nature. Now they feel a sad mixture of corruption with their graces, which hinders them in the service of God, interrupts their communion with him, and intercepts the light of his countenance; but, at their entrance into the holy of holies, they are washed in the laver of Christ's blood, and presented to the Father without spot. [2.] There the saints shall have no impure persons admitted among them. In the earthly Jerusalem there will be a mixed communion, after all the care that can be taken. Some roots of bitterness will spring up to trouble and defile Christian societies; but in the new Jerusalem there is a society perfectly pure. First, Free from such as are openly profane. There are none admitted into heaven who work abominations. In the churches on earth sometimes abominable things are done, solemn ordinances profaned and prostituted to men openly vicious, for worldly ends; but no such abominations can have place in heaven. Secondly, Free from hypocrites, such as make lies, say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie. These will creep into the churches of Christ on earth, and may lie concealed there a long time, perhaps all their days; but they cannot intrude into the new Jerusalem, which is wholly reserved for those that are called, and chosen, and faithful, who are all written, not only in the register if the visible church, but in the Lamb's book of life.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv9–11 And there came unto me one of the seven…
And there came unto me one of the seven angels,.... Either the first of them, as one of the four beasts is the first of them, Rev 6:1 or it may be the last, and very likely the same as in Rev 17:1
which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues; that is, the wrath of God poured out by them on the antichristian party; see Rev 15:1.
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And talked with me, saying, come hither; see Rev 17:1.
I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. The "Lamb" is Christ, who is often so called in this book; see Rev 5:6 Rev 19:7 and is the Son of God, the heir of all things, the Maker and Governor of the universe, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; and who, as Mediator, has all accomplishments and qualifications to recommend him as a bridegroom, such as beauty, riches, and wisdom: the bride, his wife, is not any particular believer, nor any particular church; not the Gentile church, nor the Jewish church only, but all the elect of God, consisting of the raised and living saints at the coming of Christ; who will make up one body, one general assembly, and be as a bride, prepared and adorned for her husband: these were first betrothed to Christ in eternity, and were openly espoused by him, one by one, at conversion; and now being all gathered in by the effectual calling, the dead being raised, and the living changed, and all glorified, the marriage is consummated, and they are declared publicly to be the bride, the Lamb's wife; See Gill on Mat 22:2. And now, though John had had a sight of her before, Rev 21:2 yet that was but a glimmering one, at a distance, he being in the wilderness, Rev 17:3 wherefore the angel calls him to him, and proposes to give him a clear, distinct, and particular view of her, in all her glory; and a glorious sight this indeed! to see the bride brought to the King in raiment of needlework, and the queen stand at his right hand in gold of Ophir. This is a sight of a quite different nature from that of the filthy strumpet, which the same angel proposed to give to John in Rev 17:1.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv9–11 And there came one of the seven angels that…
And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven phials - Whereby room had been made for the kingdom of God. Saying, Come, I will show thee the bride - The same angel had before showed him Babylon, chap. xvii, 1, which is directly opposed to the new Jerusalem.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv9–11 Verse 9. The bride, the Lamb's wife] The pure…
Verse 9. The bride, the Lamb's wife] The pure and holy Christian Church.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v9 Rev 21:9-14. And there came unto me one of…
Rev 21:9-14. And there came unto me one of the seven angels — Most probably the same who had (Rev 17:1, &c.) showed John the mystic Babylon and her destruction, and now shows him, by way of contrast, the new Jerusalem and her glory. And he carried me away in the Spirit — The same expression as is used before, Rev 17:3; to a great and high mountain — Thus Eze 40:2, was brought in the visions of God, and set on a very high mountain: and showed me the holy city Jerusalem — The old city is now forgotten, so that this is no longer termed the new, but absolutely, Jerusalem. O how did St. John long to enter in! But the time was not yet come. Ezekiel also describes the holy city, and what belongs to it, (chap. 40.-xlviii.,) but a city quite different from the old Jerusalem, as it was either before or after the Babylonish captivity. The descriptions of the prophet and of the apostle agree in many particulars; but in many more they differ. Ezekiel expressly describes the temple and the worship of God therein, closely alluding to the Levitical service. But St. John saw no temple, and describes the city far more large, and glorious, and heavenly, than the prophet. His description, indeed, is an assemblage of the sublimest, richest imagery, not only of Ezekiel, but of other ancient prophets. Having the glory of God — For her light, Rev 21:23; Isa 60:1-2; Zec 2:5; and her light — Or the lustre thereof, as ο φωστηρ αυτης may be rendered; was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper — For brightness; clear as crystal — The divine shechinah illuminating the whole city, which, as it was represented to St. John pendant in the air, shone with an elegant and amazing lustre, expressive of the perfect illumination, purity, and holiness of its happy inhabitants. And had a wall great and high — To show its strength and security under the almighty protection of its founder and preserver; and had twelve gates — With angels for guards, still waiting upon the heirs of salvation; and names written thereon — On the gates; of the twelve tribes of Israel — To signify that it was the dwelling of the Israel of God, and that such as had been faithful members of the true church had a right to be admitted, and to show also the great glory of that city, where angels were appointed to keep guard; an honour properly due only to the majesty of God’s presence, and to the seat of it. On the east, north, south, and west, three gates — To show that people of all climates and nations may have access to it. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles — Figuratively showing how great dependance the church had on their testimony, what an influence the gospel which they preached had had on raising this divine structure, and that the inhabitants of it had built only on that faith which the apostles once delivered to the saints.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv9–11 And there came unto me one of the seven…
And there came unto me one of the seven angels ... - See the notes on Rev 16:6-7. Why one of these angels was employed to make this communication is not stated. It may be that as they had been engaged in bringing destruction on the enemies of the church, and securing its final triumph, there was a propriety that that triumph should be announced by one of their number.
And talked with me - That is, in regard to what he was about to show me.
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I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife - I will show you what represents the redeemed church now to be received into permanent union with its Lord - as a bride about to be united to her husband. See the notes on ver. 2. Compare Rev 19:7-8.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On v9 I will shew thee the bride, the wife of…
I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb: all the Church triumphant in heaven. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v9 Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5
B.—THE HEAVENLY-EARTHLY, IDEO-REAL PICTURE OF THE NEW WORLD. THE KINGDOM OF GLORY
Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5
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1. The City of God as the Heavenly Jerusalem
9 And there came unto me [om. unto me]1 one of the seven angels which [that] had the seven vials [ins., that were]2 full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife [wife of the Lamb].3 10And he carried me away in the [om. the] spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great [om. that great—ins. the holy] city, the holy [om. the holy] Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God: and [om. and]4 her light [light-giver (φωστήρ)]5 was like unto a stone most precious,12 even like [as to] a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And [om. And] had [having] a wall great and high, and had [having] twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon [inscribed], which are the names [or the names]6 of the twelve tribes of the children [sons] of Israel: 13On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had [having] twelve foundations, and in [upon] them the [om. the—ins. twelve]7 names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15And he that talked [spake] with me had [ins. a measure,]8 a golden reed to [om. to—ins. that he might] measure the city, and the gates thereof [her gates], and the wall thereof [her wall]. 16And the city lieth foursquare [four-cornered], and the [her] length is [is]9 as large [much] as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, [ins. to] twelve thousand furlongs [stadia]. The length and the breadth and the height of it [her] are equal. 17And he measured the wall thereof [her wall], [ins. of] a hundred and forty and four cubits, according to [om. according to] the measure of a man, that is, [om. that is,—ins. which is that] of the [an] angel. 18And the building [structure] of the wall of it [her wall] was of jasper: and the city was pure19 gold, like unto clear [pure] glass. And [om. And]10 The foundations of the wall of the city were garnished [adorned] with all manner of [every] precious stones [stone]. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a [om. a] chalcedony; the fourth, an [om. an] emerald; 20the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a [om. a] topaz; the tenth, a [om. a] chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a [om. a] jacinth; the twelfth, an [om. an] amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate [each one severally of the gates] was [ins. out] of one pearl: and the street [broad-way (πλατεῖα)]11 of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent [translucent] glass.
2. The City of God as the Holy City of all Believing Gentiles
22 And I saw no [not a] temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty [, the All Ruler,12—ins. is the temple of her,] and the Lamb are the temple of it [om. are the temple of it]. 23And the city had [hath] no need of the sun, neither [nor] of the moon, to shine in [that they should shine for (φαίνωσιν)13] it [her]: for the glory of God did lighten it [lightened her], and the Lamb is the light thereof [and herlamp was the Lamb]. 24And the nations of them which are saved [om. of them which are saved]14 shall walk in [by means of] the light of it [her light]: and the kings of the earth do [om. do] bring their glory and honor [om. and honor]15 intoit [her]. 25And the gates of it [her gates] shall not be shut at all by day: for thereshall be no night there [for night shall not be there]. 26And they shall bring theglory and [ins. the] honor of the nations into it [her]. 27And there shall in no wise enter into it [her] anything that defileth [om. that defileth—ins. common], neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie [and that worketh (or the one working) abomination and a lie]: but they which [who] are [have been] written in the Lamb’s [om. Lamb’s] book of life [ins. of the Lamb].
3. The City of God as the New Universal Paradise—Glorified Nature (Rev_22:1-5.)
1 And he showed me a pure [om. pure]16 river of water of life, clear [bright] ascrystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2In the midst of the street of it [her broad-way], and on either side [om. on either side] of the river [ins., on this side and on that side,17] was there the [om. there the—ins. a] tree of life, which bare [bearing] twelve manner of [om. manner of] fruits, and [om. and] yielded her fruit every month [according to each month yielding its fruit]: andthe leaves of the tree were [are] for the healing of the nations. 3And there shall be no more curse [And nothing cursed18 shall be any more19]: but [and] the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it [her]; and his servants (δοῦλοι) shall serve(λατρεύσουσιν) him: 4and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in [upon] their foreheads. 5And there shall be no night there20 [and night shall not be any more21]; and they [ins. have (or shall have) no]22 need no candle [om. no candle—ins. of light23 of lamp], neither [om. neither—ins. and of] light of the [om. the] sun; for [because] the Lord God giveth them light [shall shine upon them]Rev 24: and they shall reign for ever and ever [into the ages of the ages].
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
SYNOPTICAL VIEW
As one of the Angels of Anger, or of the Vials of Anger, showed the Seer the wicked World-city under the figure of the Harlot, so it is now again one of the same Angels who shows the Seer the City of God under the name of the adorned Bride. And it seems as if the Spirit of prophecy would hereby illustrate the fact that the anger of God is a flame, divisible into the lightning of righteousness and the light of love.
The great vision-picture which the Angel exhibits to the contemplation of the Seer, after transporting him to a great and high mountain, the lofty stand-point of a perfected gaze into the region of perfection, is, primarily, the appearance of the new creation, the glorified world of eternal being, which has taken the place of the first creation, the world of temporal becoming. It is, in the next place, that perfected union between Heaven and earth with which the antithesis of life between Heaven and earth, as in accordance with Genesis 1, has become the antithesis of a perfected spiritual communion in love. Even this antithesis, the plastic image of religion, finds its fulfillment here. Heaven has assumed the full, fresh, warm and home-like aspect of a familiar and attractive earth; earth is radiant in the heavenly glory of that Throne of God which has now become visible. The new creation is, further, also the new universal Paradise, which has bloomed from the seed of the first Paradise, buried in the soil of the world’s history. On this very account this new world is no less the realization of the Great City of God, which, first in the camp of Israel and again in the city of Jerusalem, in typical fore-exhibition became a subject of human admiration, longing and hope, and which was subsequently heralded from afar in so many New Testament preludes. But its most glorious name is contained in the title of The Bride; for thereby not only the supremacy of personal life in this new world, not only the perfect unanimity of all blessed spirits, not only their perfect receptivity for the entire self-communication of God, are expressed, but also their Divine dignity, liberty and blessedness in love.
We find in the grand transfiguration-picture of the vision a trilogy, the elements of which are distinctly present even in the Gospel of John: a. Transfiguration of the Theocracy, represented by the heavenly Jerusalem (Rev_21:9-21); b. Transfiguration of the believing Gentile world or the universal new humanity (Rev_21:22-27); c. Transfiguration of all nature, or the appearance of the new Paradise (Rev_22:1-5). The first section justly forms the foundation of the whole, and is therefore the most detailed; it, again, divides into three parts.
The first part of the first section exhibits the holiness of the City of God. In the Doxa of God, or the Shekinah, which diffuses its radiance over the whole City, because it is omnipresent throughout it, the Holy of holies is reflected (Rev_21:11).25 In the high wall of the City, the economical barrier of the Theocracy is reflected; and the true spirit of that barrier, designed, as it was, to mediate salvation to the whole world, finds its expression in the twelve gates, at which Angels are posted, symbolical here, doubtless, of true messengers of salvation; for the gates are open by threes toward all the four quarters of the world. Thus a two-fold effect of holiness is expressed—repulsion of everything unholy by the wall—free ingress for all that tends to holiness, by the gates (Rev_21:12-14).
The second part gives, in the magnitude of the City, an image of the magnitude of the Kingdom of God (Rev_21:15-17). This magnitude is exhibited throughout in forms of perfection. The City has the form of a perfect cube, like the Holy of holies, and appears in this equality of measurement as an expression of the perfect heavenly world.
The third part of the first section unfolds the riches of the City of God in splendor consisting of the most precious materials; these riches, as ideal and spirit-clarified, being exhibited through the medium of precious stones, pearls and shining gold (Rev_21:18-21).
The second section, likewise, is divisible into three parts. The first part is expressive of the absolute spirituality of the new cultus. Since the City has itself become a Holy of holies, a Temple within it would, in comparison with itself, seem like a thing of inferior sanctity—a remnant of the old world. Nevertheless, it has a spiritual Temple which surpasses even the City. God, as the All-Ruler, is the infinitude of this Temple; the Lamb is the present definitude of it (Rev_21:22-23). The second part of the second section characterizes the City as the great, universal, holy World-City, the City of all redeemed nations and kings, the City of sanctified humanity and of all its moral and eternal properties, yea, the City of the whole heavenly spirit-world and of the eternal radiance of day (Rev_21:24-26). The third part represents the separation between the sanctified heathen-world and true heathenism throughout the world, here portrayed by the three characteristics: commonness (bestiality), abominableness (transgression against nature), and falsehood (embracing both the former attributes). There is no longer any question of persons here; they have become neutra through the obliteration of their personality in their vileness (Rev_21:27). The Lamb’s Book of Life has, from the beginning, comprehended this universality of the sphere of salvation.
The third leading section is an unmistakable antitype of the first Paradise. Its general character consists in the fact that all its holiness [Heiligkeit] has become pure health [Heil] and health-productiveness [Heilswirkung]—an infinitely multiplied life-creating, life-renewing and life-preserving Divine life-power. The river of life forms the first fundamental feature. It does not issue merely from an Eden, or land of delight, such as encircled the first Paradise (Genesis 2); nor does it flow merely from the new Temple of Jehovah, like Ezekiel’s river of salvation [or healing], (Ezekiel 47); it pours forth from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev_22:1). The second fundamental feature is formed by the trees of life which are on both sides of the river, making an avenue with an interminable perspective; fruit-trees of life, so intensively salutiferous that they bear new fruits every month, and that even their leaves serve for the healing (θεραπεία) of the heathen [nations]. So absolute is the health-bringing operation of the trees of life in the City, that in this new Paradise nothing banned can arise—much less shall the new humanity here itself be banned, as were its first parents, through the deceit of the serpent and Satan, in the first Paradise (Rev_22:2-3). In the third fundamental feature, the eritis sicut deus is fulfilled in a Divine sense. That which Adam would fain have become, that which he lost in the path of impatience and sin, is now regained in the path of redemption and infinite patience. Now, it is the blessedness of all, that they serve [dienen] God as His servants [Knechte] whilst they see His face as His blessed children, and are able to look upon His face without being terrified like Adam. Again, this blessed relation has become an eternal condition; their holiness has the character indelebilis, the indestructible fixedness of true priests of God.26 Whilst the abolition of night is again announced here, as Rev_21:25, the announcement has here a new significance. In Revelation 21, the reference is to the day of the blessed in a predominantly spiritual aspect and considered in the abstract; here, however, the unfadingness of this day is intended, pre-eminently, in the sense of the eternal day of the glorified world. That, therefore, which is expressed by the name of God on the foreheads of the blessed—viz., imperishable knowledge of God and consecrateness to God—is supplemented by this declaration. Never again does night come to them, nor any deficiency of light, for God Himself shineth upon them for ever. This, again, is the eternal basis upon which they shall reign as kings, in and with the governance of God, in union with His will, and as organs of His will, eternally free in Him from all the world, for all the world, into the æons of the æons.
The magnificence of the entire picture of the new creation, a magnificence which strikes the taste of ordinary humanism as so peculiar, attains for us its entire significance when we look at it in connection with the whole of Sacred Writ—especially that of the Old Testament—as the lofty corona upon the stem of all Biblical typicism.
Our vision, then, is primarily the picture of the consummation and fulfillment of the whole Theocracy.
The revelation of salvation came down from Heaven in many individual items—in voices, in angels, in Theophanies, and lastly in Christ. The fulfillment finally consists in the descent of the entire City of God from Heaven.
The Congregation of God, called into life by the revelation of salvation, was from the beginning destined to be the Bride of God. Now, it is perfected in this destiny.
The high Mountain, upon which the City of God is situate, was prepared by Mount Zion, and imported the wide, overtowering and firm order and might of the Divine Kingdom. Now, this Mountain of the eternal order and fastness of God, in spirit beheld by the Prophets (Isa_2:2; Eze_40:2), towers over the whole world.
The city of Jerusalem, after its building and consecration as the royal residence and Temple city, inherited the ancient typical honors of the previous cities of God, from the camp-city in the wilderness to Shiloh. It was the residence of the Jehovah cultus and of the theocratic constitution. Now, its archetype exists in visible presence—the City in which cultus and culture, in their perfection, have attained their complete union.
The glory of God, the Shekinah, manifested itself of old only in transient appearances. The central place of its manifestations was the Holy of holies. Now it spreads, in eternal radiance, over the whole City of God.27
It was formerly exhibited through typical mediums, through visional angelic forms, through the pillars of cloud and of fire, through the cherubim. Now it beams forth from a permanent nucleus of light (φωστήρ). The Parousia of Christ is the Epiphany of God, in brilliancy like the most precious jewel.
Israel, in order to the securement of its holy destiny, was encircled by a hedge, which was designed to separate from it every common thing of heathenism [or the Gentile nations], and by this very process to mediate the future bringing again of the Gentiles through the blessing of Abraham. This barrier—first, theocratic law—then, churchly confession—here appears ideally realized in the high wall, which, by means of its insurmountableness, excludes everything common, and by means of its twelve gates, kept by Angels, invites and receives all that is akin to God, i. e., all that is akin to God in the twelve-fold character-form of the Twelve Tribes of Israel.
The Tribes of Israel were designed to represent in theocratic ground-forms, the fullness of the different human dispositions for the Kingdom of God. These ground-forms are now all fulfilled in the perfecting of the spiritual Israel. Therefore, the gates are adorned with the names of the Tribes of Israel; they are indicative of the ground-forms of the people of God in the interior of the City, as well as of the ground-forms of the people of God entering into the City of God from all the quarters of the world.
In so far as the restoration of the people of Israel itself is concerned, a restoration of its kernel, on the platform of perfect Christian equality and liberty, is simply expressed with the typical import of its Tribes; any renewal, however, of Old Testament legal prerogatives is precluded by this same typical import. The same remark applies to the description of the Sealed (chap. 7). The sealed ones would not be called after Israel, if Israel were not to form a dynamical power amongst them; the same sealed ones would preclude the idea of elect Gentiles, if they were not to be typically understood.
The gates of the cities of Israel, especially Zion, were, even under the Old Covenant, open to the stranger, if he left his heathen practices without. They became the symbols of ingress into the holy City, into the sanctuary, into the fellowship of the saints (Psa_100:4), as well as the symbols of egress, in order to the conversion of the world (Isa_62:10), and in order to the bringing in of the King of Glory through its gates (Psa_24:7; comp. Gen_22:17 [Comm., p. 468, Am. Ed.]).—The new City of God has twelve of these gates, in accordance with the sacred number of completeness. She is lacking in no gate of ingress or of egress.
The stone at Bethel on which Jacob slept when a wanderer, and where he beheld, in a dream, the heavenly ladder, was consecrated as a monument and altar; the prelude of the foundation stones of the House of God (Bethel, Gen_22:22), and of Christ the Corner Stone (Psa_118:22; Isa_28:16; Eph_2:20). This stone is, in the consummation, divided again into the twelve foundation stones of the wall of the holy City, marked with the names of the Twelve Apostles.
The ground-forms of Christ’s mission to the world, the Twelve Apostles, denote, as Apostles of the Lamb, also the ground-forms of the world-conquering cross, and, as such, the foundations of the City of God.
Sacred measure has, in the history of the Temple, an import similar to that possessed, in the Greek view of the world, by the Platonic Idea or the Aristotelian Form; except that the first unitously represents both the latter in the form of practical energy, as real power (Wis_11:20; comp. the Pythagorean system; Job_28:25-27; Isa_40:12).—This power of Ideal Form pervades, in perfect supremacy, all the parts of the City of God,—the City and its gates and its walls.
The form of the perfect geometric square or cube was the form of the Holy of holies. Now, this same form appears as the symmetry of the City of God. Of old, the Holy of holies was a well-nigh inaccessible sanctuary, guarded by terrors. Here, the great City of God has become a manifest and open Holy of holies.
The magnitude of the City exhibits it, in its length and breadth, as a World-City; in its height, as a Heaven-City.—As the corona of the Temple, the City is the phenomenal image of the Kingdom of God, and thus, at the same time, of the glorified universe.
The holy wall which, as a theocratic and a churchly barrier, is an odium of all philosophy of wildness, commonness and indiscipline—here appears in its consummation, built of the material of the most precious jewel, a fact recognized afar off by the Spirit of Prophecy (Isa_54:11).
The covering of the Ark of the Covenant, which was, so to speak, the most Holy in the Holy of holies, was of pure gold (Exo_37:6). Now, the whole City is constructed of pure gold so pure that it glitters like crystal. The City is thus, in an unapproachable exaltedness of thought, signalized as God’s Sanctuary.
The Jewels worn by the High Priest in his breast-plate, were significant of the idiocrasies, the charismatic aptitudes of the Tribes of Israel; of their value, spiritual and affectional, for the heart of God, Whom the High Priest represented. Such a Divine heart-affection, in the perfection of the ground-forms of human charisms, is now reflected in all the jewels which form the foundation-stones of the City-wall. The whole City is founded, as it were, upon the breast-plate of the real High Priest.
As the precious stone was early constituted a symbol of a personal life, consecrate to God, so the pearl was made a symbol of Divine vital wisdom, of that piety which is concentrated in the knowledge or the righteousness of faith. Thus the value of wisdom exceeds that of pearls (Job_28:18; Pro_3:15, [Rev_8:11]);28 wisdom, however, is also symbolized by pearls and is divided, in its individual traits, into a plurality of pearls (Mat_7:6), whilst, in its consummate spiritual phase, it is concentrated in the One Pearl of great price, whose value surpasses that of all single pearls (Mat_13:46). But how does the pearl enter into a relation to the gate? In Isa_54:12, we read (in accordance with De Wette’s translation): “I make thy battlements of rubies and thy gates of carbuncles (?) and thy whole circuit of costly (precious) stones.” The Septuagint distinguishes jasper for the battlements or parapets, crystals for the gates, precious stones for the walls. As the stone for the gates, אֶקֶדָּה, is one that does not elsewhere appear, and takes its name from the radiance of fire, but is assuredly not a carbuncle, if it be true that the ruby is of like significance with the carbuncle, we might suppose that John apprehended it as a pearl. The generation of the pearl from a wound in the pearl-oyster, its lodgment in the deep, the rarity and difficulty of obtaining it, are obvious symbolical motives for the use of it. The subsistence of each gate in one pearl is a speaking image of that heavenly simplicity which alone finds entrance to the eternal City of God.
In the golden pavement of the streets of the City, the gold of the buildings is raised to an even higher power. Gold like translucent crystal. How far is it from the streets of Jerusalem—consecrated though they were—through Christian city streets and alleys—in which morals and cultivation often, even to this day, carry on a conflict with barbarism—to this goal! Here the lanes and streets are clean; the citizens walk on a pavement of gold, eternally clear and bright as a mirror.
The points which have reference to the perfection of the Theocracy, are followed by the fundamental features of the perfected, believing Gentile world.
As the most pious of the heathen discovered lively signs and traces of the Unknown God, not in their temples, but outside of these, and as the worship of God in spirit and in truth has in all time formed a contrast to the purely local worship on Gerizim and in Jerusalem, so, in accordance with these preludes, a perfect consciousness of the omnipresence of God in His Spirit has been formed. The obscure feeling of God’s omnipresence has continually developed more and more, both outside of the revelation of salvation and within it (comp. Gen_28:16 and Psa_139:7 sqq.). Here this feeling is exchanged for the constant contemplation of the presence of God, or, rather, for the perfect manifestation of God.
The universal natural revelation of God (Rom_1:20) was always, for the heathen, in respect of its fundamental traits, a revelation through the medium, particularly, of the great celestial lights—the sun and the moon. This revelation is now restored and perfected—sun and moon are outshone by the glory of the Lord. In the spiritual radiance which proceeds from God, through Christ His Light-bearer, the lights of Heaven seem, as such, to vanish, because they are for the first time effectual in Him in their full import.
The heathen [or Gentiles] have, in the light of salvation, become nations in the purest sense,—types of peoples, which, in their sanctified idiocrasies, conjoin to form the Kingdom of God. In the blessing of Noah, the first sketch of the variant destinations of the tribes of man appeared; at the foot of the tower of Babel, mankind was divided into gentilisms. The higher charismatic destination of humanity was, however, not only typically symbolized by the Twelve Tribes of Israel and expressed by the idea of the seventy nations and the number of the seventy disciples, but, moreover, it was the constant task of the Christian Church to work out, from the heathen confusion of peoples, the one people of God; but also, however, to work out from the one Christendom the heavenly family of peoples. Here, this heavenly family has attained a visible existence. The nations walk through the light-stream of the Kingdom of God as though they were bathing themselves therein.
Again, that which has ever been represented by kings—that of which bad kings were significant as symbolical figures, and which good kings, heroes, approximately realized, in company with the kingly spirits who ruled right royally, though possessing neither crown nor sceptre (Mat_5:19), potentiated men, as central points of the social organization of humanity—is likewise now fulfilled. The kings of the earth bring all the glory of the earth, their possessions brought under the service of spirit, into the City of God (Isa_49:23; Isa_60:16).
Furthermore, the security which man has now and then enjoyed under the protection of the law, in circles of civilization and on the heights of peace, in the bright day-time in antithesis to the night-time, has always been promoted by the Kingdom of God. Here, at last, in the consummation, the “superb repose of Heaven” prevails, secured by the light of eternal day, in the region of eternal sunshine. The gates of the City of God are not shut, because the day-time is permanent.
As the entire net value of the good things of earth is appropriated to the City of God, so also is the entire net value of humanity, in the glory of the peoples, their manifold and various gifts, the whole treasure of human culture. Israel was chosen to be the people of God, in order that it might make the peoples appear again as peoples, in the blessing of Abraham. It is the task of Christianity to this day to take away the covering of sin, of national corruption, from the beauty of the peoples (Isa_25:7). Here is the fulfillment. In contemplating the one glory of Christ, they all come forth in their glory—the treasure, the harvest of God, the triumphal spoils of Christ.
Real heathenism, however, such as disfigured even Judaism (see Romans 2), is then eliminated forever from the pure Church of God. Its characteristics are commonness [or profaneness, as opposed to consecrateness to God], rudeness, and uncultivation, on the one hand, and, on the other, abomination, transgression against nature, including the perverted forms of mis-culture and over-culture; and the common ground-tone is falsehood—the falsification of the high and holy reality of God, the production of mask-like shadows, which in part appear as rude caricatures of reality, in part as caricatures which ape beauty and holiness. At this process of elimination, humanity, in its higher tendency, has labored, by Jewish laws of purification, Græco-Roman justice and police, and by the Christian administration of the keys [Schlüsselamt], often amid great and gross distortions of the idea of the ban. Here, however, the City of God has attained to an eternal power of purity, in which, with twelve open gates, it still, in dynamical operation, for ever keeps everything common or ban-laden afar off.
As the circle of the Theocracy is surrounded by the circle of holy humanity, so the latter is surrounded by the circle of glorified nature.
Paradise was lost. Lost, however, only as to its visible appearance, and to the world. The grace of God secured the seed of Paradise, and Christ regained that seed for humanity. It lay under the snow, it burst forth again in foretokens and signs in the Promised Land and in Christian civilization.—Here, Paradise is extant again, and how it has grown under the snow! The mysterious garden in Eden has become a glorified universe.
Yonder river of Paradise went out from Eden, the land of delight, and divided into the main rivers of earth. How soon it gathered earthly hues and fell under the doom of transitoriness! And even in Paradise it was no river of life. Gradually, indeed, a fountain of salvation burst forth in humanity—burst forth out of the depths, out of the rock of salvation (Psa_46:5; Isa_12:3; Jer_2:13, et al.), being prefigured by the wells of the Patriarchs and the wells of the desert (Exo_15:27, et al.). Gradually, also, sacred brooks and rivers, Shiloah and Jordan, became streams of blessing, and a great river of life was predicted by Ezekiel.—But here, the mighty, shining river of life bursts forth; it comes from the throne of God and of the Lamb, having, even in this present life, been heralded and opened as a fountain (Joh_4:7); it abides pure as crystal, it pours forth into infinitude through its one deep channel, and is adorned on either side with trees of life.
The one tree of life in Paradise speedily vanished, like a figure in a dream, a celestial apparition. Here it is again. It has become an endless avenue, a glorious grove, and in the plenteousness of its fruits and the healing virtue of its leaves a power of life is expressed which far exceeds all the conceptions of mortal pilgrims. It is the view of a nature completely elevated to the service of spirit, love and life.
Whilst there is here another reference to the fact that nothing banned [cursed] has existence in the City, this is certainly not a repetition of the idea set forth in Rev_21:27. We are rather reminded, within the domain of glorified nature, that, by virtue of patriarchal custom and Mosaic food-laws, a rigorous ban rested upon a large portion of nature. Christianity paved the way for the acknowledgment that every creature of God is clean that is (and can be) partaken of with thanksgiving. Here, there shall evermore be nothing banned (literally, set aside, κατάθεμα, a term which it has been deemed necessary to interpret into κατανάθεμα, leaving out of consideration the textual reference). Paradise itself, in whose first rudiment God did, of old, but walk in mysterious appearances, has become a throne of God and of the Lamb. The Word once became flesh, that all nature might be spiritualized.
And because there is question here of the holy tillage of the eternal garden, as Adam was called to till the garden of Paradise, and because the task of tilling the field was resumed by the Theocracy and by civilization, Christianity next mediating the holy cultivation of the earth, the sons of God can here once more appear in the most dignified form. But as they shall serve [dienen] their God as His active servants [Knechte], so they shall rest in the contemplation of His face and bear His name on their foreheads as a people of high-priests, being ever newly energized by Him through the contemplation of His glory (1Jn_3:2).
And whilst, the cessation of the night-time is again mentioned here, as in Rev_21:23; Rev_21:25, let us recollect that even this semblance of tautology is done away with by a discrimination of the fact that in Revelation 21 the reference was to glorified humanity, but here it is to glorified Nature. The night side of Nature, diminished by the most manifold torches, lights and inventions for the obtaining of light, is here abolished.
And because God will Himself be the eternal Day-Light of the blessed, they need no more be continually sinking back into the bosom of night. Even under the Old Covenant, the prelude of a holy spirit-life, often emblematized by festal illuminations, flashed through the night-times of nature. The holy birth-night [Weihnacht—Christmas] of Christ laid the foundation for the bringing in of eternal day. The Holy Supper became the pre-celebration of the morning of that day. As Christianity is in constant combat with ethical night, so Christendom is in constant combat with the uncomfortable features and distresses of physical night. Here, the eternal Day has dawned in the presence of God; therefore do the blessed reign,—royally free, without ever losing their consciousness in night,—into the æons of the æons.
EXPLANATIONS IN DETAIL
Rev_21:9. Comp. Rev_17:1. Ewald and Düsterdieck have also pointed out the contrast of our passage to that cited, which is couched in similar terms. The Bride.—On the change of designations, see Düsterd., p. 565.
Rev_21:10. He carried me away.—See Rev_17:3 (Eze_3:12; Eze_37:1; Eze_40:2; Act_8:39; 2Co_12:2). In accordance with the passages mentioned, we have to distinguish between purely spiritual transports and such as are also followed by a corporeal removal, accomplished, as it were, in a dream. To a great and high mountain.—According to Düsterdieck, the Seer is taken to this mountain in order that he may obtain a free view of the City. The same exegete remarks that the mountain must be so great in order to be so high. The Seer, therefore [as Düsterd. maintains], stands on the mountain and looks down upon the City. A splendid view, it is true, but too modern. The symbolical expression points, according to Hengstenberg, et al., back to the fundamental passages in the Old Testament, especially Eze_40:2; Eze_17:22-23; Eze_20:40; Psa_48:1-2; also, particularly, Isa_2:2. Descending.—See Rev_21:2. The difficulties which Hengstenb. and Düsterd. discover in the apparent repetition of Rev_21:2 vanish when we consider the parallel relation between the Heaven-picture and the Earth-picture.
Rev_21:11. Having, etc.—Or, possessing. The dim radiance in which a large city is always enwrapped at the beginning of night may, on the one hand, have mediated this view; but, on the other hand, it is based upon the idea that the Shekinah no longer hovers over the holy Temple-mount alone, according to the words of the Prophet (Isa_4:5; Isa_40:5), but shines over the entire Holy City. Her light-giver (φωστήρ—light-bearer).—Düsterdieck opposes the assumption of Züllig, that the Messiah is intended by the φωστήρ, and cites Rev_21:23 in support of such opposition; that verse, however, is favorable to Züllig’s view—as is also Heb_1:3. Like unto a stone most precious.—Comp. Rev_4:3. A jasper stone, clear as crystal.—See pp. 20 and 151. “Comp. Psellus (in Wetstein): ἡ Ἴασπις φύσει κρυσταλλοεισής.” Duesterdieck.
[“Φωστήρ, from Rev_21:23, is the effect of the Divine glory shining in her: see (also) Gen_1:14; Gen_1:16, (LXX.), where it is used for the heavenly bodies.” Alford.—E. R. C.].
Rev_21:12. Having a wall great and high.—The measure of the wall, the gates and the City is qualified throughout by the duodecenary; not, therefore, by the number of complete worldly development, ten, but by the number of perfection of the people of God. Twelve is the number of theocratic perfection; hence it is the number of the Twelve Patriarchs, the Twelve Tribes of Israel, the Twelve Apostles, the perfected Church or heavenly Spirit-World (see p. 15). Here, therefore, there is repeatedly reflected, in all the duodecenaries of the City of God, the quantitative number of completeness and the qualitative perfection of the glorified Church of God. It, however, crosses and blends with the number of the world, the quaternary, and indeed is itself composed of three times four, i. e., the God hallowed world-number. Moreover, the quaternary, as it here appears, continually branches into threes. Thus, we read of twelve gates, distributed by threes on the four sides of the City. And again, the City itself, in its quadrangular form, is thrice quadrangular—in length, breadth and height—and is thus a cube. The duodecenary is repeated a thousand times in the qualification of the stadia. The height of the wall is defined by the number twelve times twelve, or a hundred and forty-four. Even from these numeric proportions alone, the thoroughly symbolic nature of the whole picture of the City is manifest, and the same fact is further evident, in particular, from the height of the City.
And at the gates twelve angels—“Bengel judiciously remarks: ‘They keep watch and serve as ornaments.’ We are not authorized to seek for a knowledge of any more definite relations which they may sustain to the City. So soon as we reflect that the new Jerusalem is no longer menaced by enemies, and that it consequently stands in need of no watchmen at its gates, explanations like that of Hengstenberg arise—viz., that these Angels symbolize the Divine protection against all foes ‘of which the imagination, filled with the terrors resting upon the Church Militant, can conceive.’ ” [Duest.] A most marvellous imagination, truly! As if the blessed inhabitants of Heaven were timid children, or were threatened by empty terrors of the fancy! But even the idea of Angels standing always upon the gates for ornament has a singular aspect, and as watchmen—who, however, would be superfluous after the final judgment—they would be obliged to stand in the gates. We have characterized them above as symbols of the destination of Jerusalem to be the medium of salvation to all the world, to all the four quarters of the world (see Isa_43:5; Isa_49:6; Mat_8:11). De Wette: “Guards, probably after Isa_62:6 and after the type of the Levitic temple-guards [or ‘porters’] (2Ch_8:14).” From this point of view, these Angels would symbolically represent the eternal security and inamissibleness of heavenly prosperity or salvation.29
And names inscribed.—The twelve names upon the twelve gates, as the names of the Twelve Tribes of Israel, denote the whole manifoldness of the idiocrasies of the totality of God’s people. The typical fore-image is to be found Eze_48:30 sqq. Jewish Theology has drawn from this rich symbolism the absurd idea that every Israelitish Tribe of the new Jerusalem shall be permitted to go in and out only of that particular gate which is appointed for it (see De Wette, p. 198). If we were to interpret the sealed out of the Twelve Tribes (Revelation 7) literally, as Jewish Christians, we should here be obliged to go on to the tremendous deduction that the entire heavenly City is to be inhabited solely by Jewish Christians.
Rev_21:13. On the east.—See the above-cited passage in Ezekiel, Rev 48.
Rev_21:14. Twelve foundations [Lange: foundation-stones].—The twelve gates give rise to twelve sections of the wall, amongst which De Wette and Düsterdieck distribute the foundation-stones. In accordance with this disposition, four are “to be conceived of as mighty corner-stones.” Symbolical descriptions, however, should not be pushed beyond the idea which they are designed to convey. It may, at all events, be taken for granted that the twelve foundation-stones are open to view, like cornerstones in the ancient sense of the term. As the whole fullness of the theocratic natural disposition was set forth in the Twelve Patriarchs, so the whole fullness of Christ’s Spirit and salvation was manifested in the Apostles. The Apostle John could not, in modesty, have written this, is the cry of an idea-less, snarling criticism. The symbolic expression of the truth, that the celestial City of God is grounded upon the evangelic foundations of the twelve Apostles, can, however, no more lose its ideal value through the one consideration that the name of John is pre-supposed to accompany the names of the other Apostles, than through the other consideration that the name of Paul seems to be omitted from the group; nor is it a necessary inference from, the citation of the Twelve Tribes of Israel in our passage, that the modifications in their names (Revelation 7) are to be abolished. Comp. Eph_2:20, where a freer apprehension of the symbolic idea already appears: “built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the corner-stone.”
Rev_21:15. He that spake with me (see Rev_21:9) had a measure.—Comp. Eze_40:3; Eze_40:5. The fact that the discourse occurring in symbolical representations must be determined by the fundamental thought thereof, is evidenced by Zec_2:3 sqq. “The angel who shows John the City (comp. Rev_21:9) gives him a perfectly distinct idea of its dimensions by actually measuring it before the eyes of the Seer (Bengel, Ewald, De Wette).” Duesterd.—The measure (see Rev_11:1; Eze_42:16) denotes the ideality of the eternal Church, the Divine knowledge and appointment of it—qualities which are expressed also in John 17; Romans 8; Ephesians 1. The measure is golden: through the Divine faithfulness, the ideal Church has become the actualized eternal Church. The Angel performs the measurement in the true sequence: first, the City is defined, with reference to the fullness of its inhabitants; next, the proportion of the gates and the wall.
Rev_21:16. And the City lieth.—“The fact (Rev_21:16 a) that the City lies (κεῖται; comp. Rev_4:2) four-cornered (like ancient Babylon and the new Jerusalem of Ezekiel), rectangular, and with equal length and breadth, and that therefore the ground-plan of it forms a perfect square (comp. Eze_48:16), is recognized by John even before the Angel begins to measure.” Duesterd.—Twelve thousand stadia, i.e., 300 geographical [German (1384 Eng. statute)] miles. It is a question whether the 12,000 stadia qualify the whole area of the City, so that the dimensions of each side amount, to 3,000 stadia (in accordance with Vitringa, et al.), or whether the 12,000 stadia are to be taken as applying in their entirety to each of the four sides, and as referring also to the height (Bengel, Züllig, et al.). In regard to the former hypothesis, the further question arises, whether the height also is stated at 3,000 stadia, like the length and the breadth. De Wette opposes the idea that the height of the City amounts to 12,000 stadia. The conception would, in such case, he declares, be that of a lofty fortress, whilst it is manifestly a city that is represented, as mention is made of streets (Rev_22:2); he even maintains that the height is determined only by the wall.30 Düsterdieck, on the other hand, finds in the 12,000 stadia the measure alike for length, breadth and height (with Bengel, Hengstenberg, et al.). Whilst the idea is a prodigious one, we must recollect that we have to do with a thoroughly symbolical description. A height of even 3,000 stadia far exceeds that of the loftiest steeples. If, however, we keep strictly to the text, we find that, the measure of the entire square in respect of length and breadth, as the measure of the City, is 12,000 stadia; and, accordingly, the height of the City is to be determined by the quarter of this, as 3,000 stadia. The fact that the wall will then be considerably lower than the height, of the City itself, should not occasion any difficulty. The height of the Kingdom of God towers far above the theocratic barrier. Here, therefore, the typical cube-form of the Tabernacle is realized in the highest sense; and the breadth, length, depth and height of the Divine dispensation of salvation (Eph_3:18) are embodied in symbolical significance, in analogy with the incarnation of the Word. (The Word became flesh [Joh_1:14].)
Rev_21:17. Her wall.—“The height of the City is not the height of the wall, as Bengel also assumes, and therefore maintains that the 144 cubits are equivalent to the 12,000 stadia.” Duesterd.—The measure of a man.—The additional clause: which is that of an angel, occasions difficulty. De Wette: The Angel has made use of human measure. Ebrard: The measure of glorified men is like the measure of the Angel. Hengstenberg (and Düsterdieck): The measure of the Angel, who makes his measurement for men, is like the measure of men. A reminder of the symbolic import of the act of measuring is probably contained in our passage;—the human measure with which the Sanctuary was measured, is here an angelic measure, i. e., it has a symbolic, higher import. The Seer frequently inserts similar reminders of the symbolic nature of his forms of speech; see especially chs. Rev_1:20; Rev_13:18; Rev_16:14; Rev_17:9. Now if the wall denotes the security of the City of God, and the cubit the measure of the Sanctuary, the height of 144 cubits is expressive of the perfect measure of heavenly confirmation or verification: the theocratic twelve of the plan of the Kingdom multiplied by the apostolic twelve of the consummation of the Kingdom in the fullness of the Spirit of Christ. This symbolical nature of the cubit-measure is expressed in the prophecy of Ezekiel by the fact that every cubit there spoken of is a hand-breadth longer than a common cubit. The figure of the wall approaches the idea of Zechariah (Rev_1:5): “For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her;” [Lange (not, G. V.): “and will manifest my glory in her”]. The prodigious extent of the City is also expressive of an idea—or, rather, of the ideal fact that it extends, with unseen limits, through the universe, and towers up into the height of eternity; that it belongs to Heaven, whence it has descended to earth. A discussion of the relative lowness of the wall in proportion to the height of the City, see in Düsterdieck, p. 568.
Rev_21:18. And the structure of her wall.—The materials. On the rare word ἐνδόμησις, comp. the Lexicons. Jasper.—See above, p. 20. The material of the wall is thus of like import with its height,—infinite value in infinite duration, qualities which both appertain to the most precious of precious stones. The city was pure gold.—The material of the houses is absolutely pure gold, similar, in consequence of this purity, to pure crystal or glass.
This may be understood as referring either to the transparency of glass, or to the mirror-like brightness of crystal. We adopt the latter signification, retaining it also when διαυγής is predicated of the golden street-pavement [πλατεῖα] (Rev_21:21). According to Ebrard, there is a prospect that, gold itself will really be translucent in the world to come. The genuine heavenly purity and faithfulness of the inhabitants of the City shall, therefore, be reflected in the golden brilliance of their dwellings.
Rev_21:19. The foundations of the wall etc.—The meaning is, that the foundations or foundation-stones of the City consist of precious stones, as is clearly evident from the following verse (comp. Isa_54:11). “As the twelve θεμέλιοι have nothing to do with the number of the Israelitish Tribes (comp. Rev_21:14), that artificial mode of interpretation by which the stones (Rev_21:19 sq.) are brought into an assumed relation to those worn by the High-priest in his breast-plate (comp. especially Züllig Excursus II., pp. 456 sqq.; also Ewald II., Luthardt, Volkmar), is to be discarded as decidedly as the vain attempt to assign individual jewels to individual Apostles (Andr., Bengel, et al.).” Duesterd. If it be proved that a relation exists between the Twelve Tribes of Israel, whose names the High-priest wore in his breast-plate, and the Twelve Apostles,—a relation as between the theocratic plan and the apostolic development,—a general relation will also be assumable between the jewels in the breast-plate and the jewels which constitute the foundations of the Holy City. But if an individual combination of the Twelve Tribes and the Twelve Apostles is impracticable, it will be still less possible to make out a concordance of the stones in the high-priestly breast plate and the foundation-stones of the New Jerusalem. The general symbolic significance lies in the nature of the precious stones, and also, particularly, in their colors, in the grouping of which they appear as a symbolism of eternal individualities, all, in equal purity, brilliant with the same light, which they refract in the most diverse rays (see Introduction, pp. 20 sq.; Lange’s Miscellaneous Writings, vol. 1. p. 15). The first …. jasper.—Comp. pp. 20 sq. and 151, and Rev_21:11. Sapphire.—Exo_24:10; Exo_28:18; Eze_28:13; see Winer, Title, Precious Stones; [also Kitto’s Cyclopædia and Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible]. “Our sapphire is sky-blue (comp. Eze_1:26), translucent, and harder than the ruby. That which the ancients so denominated, must, according to Pliny (37, 39) and Theophr. (ch. vi. 23, 37), have been the lapis lazuli,” etc. Winer remarks, in conclusion, however, that we must suppose the Hebrew word to denote the true sapphire, as is clearly evident from the passages cited from Exodus and Ezekiel. The opinion of Düsterdieck, therefore, who assumes the lapis lazuli to be intended, is incorrect. Chalcedony.—Not the agate, precisely. Winer: A chalcedony-agate. Emerald.—Grass-green, not very hard, translucent, with double refraction (see Winer, Precious Stones, No. 3).
Rev_21:20. Sardonyx.—See Winer, No. 16; comp. No. Revelation 1 : “Consisting of a combination of onyx and carnelian.” Sardius.—Or carnelian: it is striped with brown and is not very sharply distinguished from the preceding stone. Chrysolite.—See Winer, No. Revelation 10 : “Pale-green, perfectly translucent, with double refraction. According to Pliny, it is of the color of gold, and hence the topaz has been understood by it.” Beryl.—Winer, No. 11. Topaz.—Winer, No. 2. This seems to have been frequently confounded with the chrysolite. Chrysoprasus.—Winer, No. Revelation 15 : “Pale green, shading into yellowish and brown—translucent.” Jacinth [Hyacinth].—Winer, No. 7. Amethyst.—Winer, No. 9.
In respect of color, we distinguish blue stones: Sapphire, chalcedony, amethyst (violet-blue); Green: Emerald, beryl, and, more or less, chrysoprasus; Golden or yellow: Chrysoprasus (see above), chrysolite, topaz; Red: Hyacinth [jacinth], sardonyx, sardius (carnelian). The jasper is, most probably, as a diamond, of the pure hue of light; as an ordinary jasper, it would be non-translucent and of various colors. It is evident from chs. Rev_4:3, Rev_21:12, as well as from the fact that in accordance with New Testament order it stands at the beginning, and in accordance with Old Testament order at the close, that it is to be regarded as the chief or most precious stone. Of the jewels in the breast-plate two names are absent from our catalogue, viz., the ruby and the agate, whilst, on the other hand, the names chalcedony and chrysoprasus are wanting in the breast-plate (comp. Introduction, p. 20). For a comparison of the lists, see Ebrard, pp. 533 sqq.; Hengstenberg, vol. ii, pp. 417 sq. [Eng. Trans.]; De Wette, p. 200.
Rev_21:21. Of one pearl.—Düsterdieck quotes the Jewish tradition from Bava Bathra: “Deus adducet gemmas et margaritas, triginta cubitos longas, totidemque latas.” There is, however, a heaven-wide distinction between a great pearl as modified by Christian symbolism, and a great pearl as modified by Jewish Chiliasm. The broad-way of the city.—Πλατεῖα [i. e., the flat, as opposed to the elevated, the buildings]. Doubtless significant of the pavement or ground of all the streets and alleys; not merely the market-place (Bengel) or principal street (Züllig). [See foot-note† Rev_11:8, p. 231.—E. R. C.]. As it were translucent glass.—We apprehend this not literally, but poetically, of the mirror-like brightness.
Rev_21:22. “The peculiar glory of the City is further described.” Duesterdieck. That is, the pause is unobserved by him.
[In the old Jerusalem the Temple was at once the dwelling-place and the concealer of Jehovah. Though present, He was not visibly present—in a sense He was sheltered by the Temple. The new Jerusalem shall have no place for the shelter of the Lord, for she shall be sheltered by Him. He shall tabernacle over her, Rev_7:15. Her inhabitants shall dwell under His manifest and sheltering light. He shall be her Temple.—E. R. C.]
Rev_21:23. The glory of God lightened her.—See Isa_60:19. On the distinction between this passage and Rev_21:11, see above.
Rev_21:24. And the nations (Isa_2:3; Isa_60:11; Psa_72:11) shall walk by means of [Lange: through] her light.—Significant future. “This description, drawn from the declarations of the old Prophets, does not justify the idea of those expositors who conceive of the heathen [nations] and the kings as dwelling outside of the City (Ewald, De Wette, Block et al.), or who would even attempt to determine what moral condition the heathen [nations] now admitted into the new Jerusalem, occupied during their earthly life (Storr, etc.).” Duesterdieck. Their glory.—That is, that which the kings possessed of glory. The Apocalyptist knows no political partyism. He recognizes a glory of the kings and also a glory of the peoples (Rev_21:26).
[Alford: “If then the kings of the earth, and the nations bring their glory and their treasures into her, and if none shall ever enter into her that is not written in the book of life, it follows that these kings, and these nations, are written in the book of life. And so perhaps some light may be thrown on one of the darkest mysteries of redemption. There may be,—I say it with all diffidence,—those who have been saved by Christ without ever forming a part of His visible organized Church.”
The conclusion may be granted without recognizing the force of the argument. The distinguished commentator takes for granted that the kings and nations are those that lived before the Millennial period, or at least before the great consummation. Is it not rather probable that the great truth is adumbrated in this revelation (see also Rev_20:2, last clause), that, even after the new creation, the human race is to be continued (ever propagating a holy seed, such as would have been begotten had Adam never sinned) under the government of the glorified Church?—E. R. C.].
Rev_21:25. Her gates shall not be [Lange: do not be] shut.—They stand open uninterruptedly, for the bringing in of all the glory of the kings and the peoples (Isa_60:11).
Rev_21:26. And they shall bring.—“An impersonal subject should be supplied to οἴσουσι (comp. Rev_12:6; Rev_10:11 [the reading λέγουσιν]; Luther, Bengel, De Wette, Hengstenb., Ew. II., et al.), not οἱ βασιλεῖς (Ew. I., Züll.).” Duesterd.
Rev_21:27. Anything common.—See Rev_21:8; Rev_22:15; Act_10:14. The elevation of the Apocalypse above Judaistic views is sufficiently evident from this passage alone, which, in connection with the preceding context, thoroughly distinguishes between believing ethnics and the essence of ethnicism, determining the πᾶν κοινόν purely in accordance with moral characteristics.
Rev_22:1. A river.—The water of life is not to be taken here in a purely spiritual sense, at least not, primarily, as in Joh_4:14; Joh_7:38. It denotes the stream of spirituo-corporeal life-power which, as an eternal renewing power, ensures the imperishability and vital freshness of the new world (see Eze_47:1; Zec_14:8; comp. 1Pe_1:4). The unitous spirituo-corporeal operation is especially expressed in the fact that the river proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb—from the living God, through the glorified Christ, in accordance with the heavenly species of His resurrection-life. The properties of the river of Paradise, which operated as a purely natural blessing (Genesis 2), and those of the spiritual fountain of healing, first promised by the Prophets and subsequently opened in Christ, are united in this river. As a river, it is cosmically permanent, and as a river that proceeds from the throne of God, it is absolutely permanent. Its source is not situate under the Temple-mount or under the Temple itself, but in the depths of the Divine revelation of love and life, in the profundities of the Divine government consonant with that revelation. As the trees of life are ensured by this eternally clear river, so the river is ensured by the Divine throne itself.
Rev_22:2. In the midst of her broad-way.—Düsterdieck, with Ewald, refers ἑν μέσῳ to καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ also; but how this view can be accompanied by the conception “that the trees stand on both sides of the river,” is not clear (see Eze_47:7; Eze_47:12).
A tree [Lange: Gehölz=wood] of life.—Ξύλον=a wood, a collection of trees, having the common character of trees of life (see Rev_2:7), “generically denotes the entire mass of trees (Bengel, De Wette, Ewald, et al.).” Duest. De Wette gives: the tree [Baum] of life, and adds: “Which produces twelve fruits, bringing forth its fruit every month (Eze_47:12);” this, however, can only mean twelve fruit-harvests or fruit twelve times. “Twelve kinds of fruits” (Lutheran Version; [“twelve manner of fruits,” E. V.]) are, at all events, not intended. All the fruits are fruits of life.
And the leaves, etc.—These words contain, first, an expression of the highest vital efficacy. Even all the leaves of all these trees possess a vital energy which can be conducive, as a healing power, to the health of even the heathen or nations. As extreme views, are opposed the interpretation of Bengel, who holds that reference is had to the conversion of the heathen to whom in this life the Gospel has not been preached; and the interpretation of Hengstenberg, who thinks that the vital forces of the heavenly Jerusalem are intended, as serving in the present age (!) for the conversion of the heathen (Hengst., vol. II., p. 433 [Eng. Trans.). It is not necessary through fear of an apocatastasis, either to do violence to the text, or to place the hope of an infinite healing operation in the leaves of the tree of life—an operation which is expressed by the river, but does not coincide exactly with the restoration-theory. Another contrast is presented in the inclination of Bleek and De Wette, with Ewald and Züllig(also Ebrard), to find a reference to heathen [nations] dwelling outside of the City, and the view of Düsterdieck, who holds that simply the eternal refreshment and beatification of believing heathen [nations] is made prominent. According to Ebrard, the fruits manifestly serve as food for the inhabitants of the City, and the leaves for the healing of the ἔθνη without the City; the latter, he continues, do not need such a θεραπεία as to be healed of godlessness and converted therefrom, “but they must be brought from the condition of undeveloped and weak faith and dawning knowledge, to the ripeness of the full stature of men in Christ.” It might be queried how does this interpretation correspond with the distinction of milk and strong meat [food]? Taken literally, the leaves might be reckoned as strong meat. But let us recollect that we are at present in the third sphere of our description, in which the transfiguration or heavenly glorification of nature is spoken of. Here the expression denotes the highest sanative operation of nature—even the leaves of the trees whose fruits are the vital nourishment of God’s people, serve for the healing [Therapie] of the heathen [nations]. We apprehend the word [healing] in the wider sense, and observe, with Düsterdieck, that these heathen [nations] have been mentioned before in Rev_21:24. The remark of Düsterdieck, that the heavenly enjoyment of life is contrasted with the lack of vital power under which those referred to labored in this present life, is not in itself incorrect, but it gives rise to the question: wherefore are the leaves mentioned? As the river of life cannot be restricted to the City, so, also, the trees of life, with their fruits and leaves, can be regarded only as a health-giving blessing, stretching out into infinitude; and thus the passage coincides in general with analogous utterances of Paul (1Co_15:26-28). [See additional comment on Rev_21:24, p. 388.—E. R. C.]
Rev_22:3. And nothing cursed shall be any more.—See Syn. View; comp. Zec_14:11.31 Ebrard traces the κατάθεμα directly back to the cherem, distinguishing, however, as cherem, persons and things (in accordance with Lev_27:28 and other passages). There is yet another distinction to be made, however, between the cherem and the κοινόν.
And His servants shall serve Him.—The idea of religious service presented by λατρεύειν does not preclude the idea of a service rendered in the heavenly culture of the new Paradise, because, in the glorified world, cultus and culture shall have become one.
[There seems to be a great and blessed truth conveyed by the conjunction of δοῦλοι and λατρεύσουσιν. His slaves (δοῦλοι) shall be elevated to the dignity of temple-servitors. The idea is akin to that presented by our Lord, Joh_15:15 : “Henceforth I call you not servants (δοῦλοι=slaves), but I have called you friends.”—E. R. C.]
Rev_22:4. His face.—Mat_5:8; 1Co_13:12; 1Jn_3:2.—His name.—See chs. Rev_3:12; Rev_14:1.
Rev_22:5. And night shall not be any more.—This is simply a repetition, according to De Wette, Ebr., Düsterd (see Syn. View). Hengstenb. discovers here an antithesis harmonizing with the Gospel of John, to wit, the antithesis of day as the time of safety and good, and night as the time of peril and evil (?); he remarks, by way of illustration: “Any one who has lived with a wakeful eye through the year ’48 is acquainted with this distinction of day and night.” It might be replied: Any one who has become acquainted with it only under such a date, knows it but very imperfectly, to say the least.
And they shall reign.—“In a still higher sense than in Rev_20:4; Rev_20:6, says De Wette.” To which we query: in what respect? We would remind our readers that reference is here had to the relation of the blessed to the celestial spheres of nature; this fact endows the expression with the import that all dependence upon the power of nature shall be done away with.
Into the ages of the ages.—The antithesis see in Rev_20:10.—In the region of the damned there continues, according to the same passage, the antithesis of day and night. The æons of the blessed are raised above the vicissitudes of temporality, because in God is eternity, the inexhaustible fountain of holy, festal seasons; and Christ has, in reality, freed even time from the curse of temporality, and made it the rhythmic succession of the fullness of eternity, the development-form of eternal life.
[NOTE ON THE NEW JERUSALEM.]
By the American Editor
It was the design of the American Editor to prepare an extended Excursus on this subject. Circumstances, however, over which he has no control, prevent his doing more than present a brief sketch of the views of representative commentators, afterwards indicating those points of his own hypothesis that he did intend thoroughly to discuss.
a. Sketch of Views
So many and variant have been the opinions on this subject that it seems impossible to classify them. The following extract from Elliott will be regarded as a fair exposition of the views of those mentioned by him.
“It has long been a disputed question amongst prophetic expositors, where precisely the New Jerusalem of the 21 and 22 chapters of the Apocalypse is to have position; whether during or only after the Millennium; and if synchronous with it, whether as identical or not with the glorified Jerusalem prophesied in the Old Testament. Of the older Fathers alike the pre-millenarian Tertullian, and the anti-pre-millenarian Augustine, explained the glorified Jerusalem of O. T. prophecy as identical with that of the Apocalypse; the one (Tertullian) however, as symbolic of the risen saints’ millennial glory, the other (Augustine) of their heavenly and everlasting blessedness. Again, of the moderns Whitby and Vitringa, whilst also identifying the two figurations, did yet explain them to signify the millennial earthly blessedness of the still living Christian Church. Faber would separate the two, and make Isaiah’s Jerusalem of the latter day, with its new heaven and earth, alone millennial, that of the Apocalypse post-millennial; to which I may add that some expositors, while explaining one or both to prefigure earthly glories destined for God’s people, make the restored and concerted Jews nationally, not the Church Catholic generally, the grand object and chief intended recipients of the coming glory.”
Elliott himself (5th edition) “supposes the New Jerusalem to have existence from the commencement, and throughout the progress, of the millennial period.” With this opinion the majority of pre-millenarians probably agree, though with vast differences as to particulars. Elliott argues his position from—(1) a comparison of Rev_19:7-8, with Rev_21:2; Rev_21:9; (2) a comparison of Rev_19:10, with Rev_22:8-9, inferring from the coincidence that the same event must have been referred to; (3) what is said concerning the nations, chs. Rev_21:24; Rev_22:2, manifesting that there will be men in the flesh during the New Jerusalem, which, he assumes, could not be, after the General Resurrection; (4) a comparison of Dan_7:18 (where the saints’ everlasting reign dates from the fall of Antichrist) with Rev_22:5. He supposes (after Mede and several of the Ancient Fathers) that the entire millennial period constitutes the day (period) of Judgment; that at the beginning of this day, the great White Throne is set up, at which time occurs a partial conflagration; that at the close shall be the casting of death and Hades into the lake of fire, the great conflagration, the new heaven and earth, and the more complete and perfect establishment of the Kingdom.
Alford writes: “The whole of the things described in the remaining portion of the Book are subsequent to the General Judgment, and descriptive of the consummation of the triumph and bliss of Christ’s people with Him in the eternal kingdom of God. This eternal kingdom is situated on the purified and renewed earth—become the blessed habitation of God with His glorified people.”
Barnes (and with him probably the majority of post-millenarians) looks upon chaps. Rev_21:1 to Rev_22:5, as descriptive of the heavenly state of the entire body of the redeemed. He writes: “The whole of Revelation 21, and the first five verses of Revelation 22, relate to scenes beyond the judgment, and are descriptive of the happy and triumphant state of the redeemed Church, when all its conflicts shall have ceased, and all its enemies shall have been destroyed. That happy state is depicted under the image of a beautiful city, of which Jerusalem was the emblem, and it was disclosed to John by a vision of that city—the New Jerusalem—descending from heaven. Jerusalem was regarded as the peculiar dwelling-place of God, and to the Hebrews it became thus the natural emblem or symbol of the heavenly world. The conception having occurred of describing the future condition of the righteous under the image of a beautiful city, all that follows is in keeping with that, and is merely a carrying out of the image. It is a city with beautiful walls and gates; a city that has no temple—for it is all a temple; a city that needs no light—for God is its light; a city into which nothing impure ever enters; a city filled with trees, and streams, and fountains, and fruits—the Paradise Regained.”
b. Hypothesis of the American Editor
I. The period of the New Jerusalem will be subsequent to the General Resurrection and Judgment of Rev_20:11-15, and the new Creation of Rev_21:1. This is, manifestly, the normal sense of the connection between Rev_22:1-2 of Revelation 21, and is not to be set aside but for most cogent reasons. This view involves no real difficulties; and, still further, the entire description forbids the thought that the even partial sinfulness that will exist in the subjects of the Millennial Kingdom should have existence under the light of the New Jerusalem, or that its glories should be dimmed by the assaults of Satan and the rebellion of Gog and Magog.
II. Its seat will be the New Earth (comp. Rev_21:1-2; Rev_21:24). It is vain for us to speculate as to whether that New Earth will be identical as to substance with the present, or whether it will be different. It is impossible for us to determine whether the present abode of the human race will be simply regenerated by fire, or whether from the universal chaos into which all things may be reduced (2Pe_3:10; Rev_20:11) some entirely new Earth, or dwelling-place for man, may not be brought forth.
III. It will exist—1. As a real City—the glorious home and capital of a glorified Community (the Bride). 2. As a Material Symbol of that Community, its order and glory.32
From the admitted fact that what the Apostle saw was a Symbol, many leap to the conclusion that a real city, or place of abode, could not have been symbolized. It is admitted by all that that which John beheld was a simulacrum. He did not directly look upon that which was not to exist for at least three thousand years—he beheld, merely, a Visional Symbol. But what was the nature of that Symbol? Was it immediate? i.e., did it symbolize a City that is yet to come into existence—or was it mediate? i. e., did it symbolize something else than a City, namely (in this instance), a glorified community? In the judgment of the writer it performed the double office set forth in the last paragraph on p. 146. Primarily it was an Immediate Symbol symbolizing a material City; but, secondarily, as the City was itself to be a Material Symbol, of the inhabiting Community, it was a Mediate (Aberrant) Symbol of that Community.
This double use of the Symbol should occasion no surprise. For, in the first place, it is most common in all languages to denote by the same term, as London, sometimes the City, sometimes the mass of its inhabitants, and sometimes the complex of the two. This was common amongst the writers of the Scriptures—.he Scriptural uses of Zion, Babylon, Tyre, will present themselves as illustrations to the minds of all. And, secondly, a material City is frequently a type of its inhabitants, or of the State of which it is the Capital. No one can visit Rome without being impressed with the fact that, in its combined ruin and grandeur, its death and life, the existing City is itself the type of the existing Roman Church. This in old times was true of Babylon, of Athens, of Tyre, of Rome, and especially of Jerusalem. And, doubtless, it is in great measure owing to this fact that a City and its inhabitants are so generally designated by one and the same name. In the judgment of the writer, as the old Jerusalem symbolized the Israel of which it was the Capital, so the New Jerusalem will symbolize the glorified Community33 of whom it will be the abode and Capital.
Concerning the hypothesis that the New Jerusalem will exist as a great City, it may be said: 1. There are many things in the description that have their most natural (their normal) application to such an abode, as is evident upon the bare perusal. 2. This application is supported by the following considerations: (1) A material dwelling-place is as necessary for resurrected saints as was Eden for Adam, or Canaan for Israel. (2) It should occasion no surprise if the same loving care that will raise and glorify the body should prepare a fitting and glorious abode for it. (3) It should be regarded as no strange thing if He who prepares for the body should grant us an inspiring, though general, description of its future abode. (4) On the contrary, the giving of such a description would be but in accordance with Jehovah’s dealing with Israel before leading them into Canaan, and in continuance of the information given us by the Prophets concerning the Palingenesia, and especially by the Apostle Paul, Rom_8:20-21.
As to the hypothesis that a glorified Community was in some sense symbolized, it may also be said that while there are many things in the description that find their most natural objective in a material City, there are others that cannot be so regarded; as, for instance, that the New Jerusalem is the Bride of the Lamb. We are shut up to the conclusion that a glorified people were contemplated in the exhibition of the Symbol.
In conclusion of this whole matter it may be remarked that the double hypothesis announced by the writer best satisfies the conditions of the problem; is in accordance with the ordinary and Scriptural use of the names of Cities, especially of Capitals; and is precisely analogous to the Divine declarations concerning the old Jerusalem.
IV. We should distinguish between the Material City and the New Earth. The former has its situation in the latter, as London in England. We should also distinguish between the citizens of the City and the nations (Rev_21:24). The former are risen and glorified Saints, who constitute the Bride (Rev_21:9), the governors (Rev_22:5, last clause) of the New Creation (see below in V., VI.). The latter are (probably) men in the flesh, who walk in the light of the City, who bring their glory and honor into it, and who are healed (or kept in health) by the leaves of its tree of life (chs. Rev_21:24-27; Rev_22:2), i. e., who are under its instruction and government (see below in VII.).
V. The term The Bride probably identifies the citizens of the New Jerusalem with the subjects of the First Resurrection (see the Add. Note on the Marriage, pp. 336 sq.). This body, the Bride (identical probably with the 144,000 of Rev_14:1), will probably be completed at the time of the Marriage, Rev_19:7-9. Into that glorious company it is probable that only those who have been partakers of Christ’s humiliation and suffering (either personally in company with Him, or throughout the present æon, the period of the humiliation of His body, the Church, Col_1:24) shall be received (comp. Luk_22:28-30; Php_3:10-11; 2Th_1:5; 2Ti_2:12; Rev_2:10; Rev_2:26; Rev_3:12; Rev_3:21; Rev_6:9-11; Rev_19:4-6; see also the Add. Note on the Marriage, as above.34 These are they who sit on Christ’s Throne, who are united with Him in authority,—who, as related to Him constitute the Bride; as together with Him constitute the Kingdom, i. e., the governing power (see Excursus on the Basileia, II. 1 (4), p. 99).
VI. Rev_21:2; Rev_21:9-10, does not refer to the Marriage—that took place at the beginning of the Millennial period (see Note on the Marriage, pp. 336 sq.), but to a new manifestation of the prophetical Bride, the Wife. Doubtless before, or at the very moment when, “the earth and the heaven fled away” (Rev_20:11), she was rapt away to the secret place of Jehovah. These verses describe her as descending from the bosom of her God, out of the New Heaven, clothed in new beauty, upon the New Creation, over which she is to dominate.
VII. The nations (see above in IV.) will consist (probably) of men in the flesh, freed from sin and the curse, begetting a holy seed, and dwelling in blessedness under the government of the New Jerusalem. They will be, not the offspring of the glorified Saints, who “neither marry nor are given in marriage” (Mat_22:30), but the descendants of those who live in the flesh during the period of the Millennial Kingdom. Brown triumphantly asks, “How the inhabitants of the heavens and earth that now are,’ are tided over this (the) all enveloping, all reducing deluge of fire, into the new heavens and the new earth’?” In answer it may be said, The same Almighty power that conveyed Noah and his family across the waters of the first deluge, can bear other families across the fiery floods of the second, to be the progenitors of the continued race. It may be retorted that there is no promise of such a miracle. That there is no expressed promise is admitted—but the Divine prediction of an event ever implies the promise of a sufficient cause.
VIII. Although the New Jerusalem state is not to be confounded with the Millennial Kingdom, nor to be regarded as a simple continuance thereof, it is to be looked upon as the antitype of that Kingdom. In a sense, it is that Kingdom raised to a higher plane—completely freed, in its territory and its subjects, from all remains of the curse. The Millennial Kingdom is the reign of the Saints over a race and earth freed indeed from the assaults of Satan, but still, in measure, in sin and under the curse; the New Jerusalem period is that of the reign of the Saints over a race and earth perfectly purified.
IX. The City itself, as it will have placed in it the Throne of God and the Lamb (Rev_22:3), will become the noblest of the many mansions of Heaven. Neither it, however, nor the New Earth on which it is situate, including it, will be the totality of Heaven. John saw the Bride descending out of Heaven (Rev_21:2). The New Earth will be one of the loyal provinces of Heaven, under the light of Heaven, governed by the citizens of Heaven; but it will be the abode of men in the flesh. May it not bear to Heaven a relation similar to that borne by Eden before the fall? Although in it there will be no death, possibly from it will be transported to other scenes its blessed inhabitants, when they have passed through their painless, ennobling pupilage. Possibly, its inhabitants may pass away to other mansions in the Father’s House, where dwell, it may be, the Angels who kept their first estate, and the glorified subjects of the Millennial Kingdom, and others glorified who did not attain to the first Resurrection.
X. The prophecies of the Restoration and the Palingenesia (like those of the Advent) have probably a double application. Initially and typically they may refer to the Millennial Kingdom, which is a type of the New Jerusalem. Ultimately and completely, they have respect to the latter, the Kingdom of the Perfect Restoration.
XI. In conclusion, the writer would remark that he feels most keenly that speculation on this subject is dangerous. Speculation, however, to some degree there must be, if there be study,—and study there must be, if we be obedient to the command implied in the benediction, “Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy” (Rev_1:3). It may also be remarked that those who hold the current opinion as to the New Jerusalem, speculate as really as does the writer. The study of the Divinely given Revelation has convinced him of certain facts concerning this great and glorious subject. These facts, together with certain probable implications, he has stated with trembling, and he trusts with becoming modesty. He now submits them to the considerate construction of his readers.—E. R. C.]35
A SONG MADE BY F. B. P.
To the tune of “Diana.”
Jerusalem! my happy home!
When shall I come to thee,
When shall my sorrows have an end,
Thy joys when shall I see?
O happy harbor of the saints,
O sweet and pleasant soil,
In thee no sorrow may be found,
No grief, no care, no toil.
In thee no sickness may be seen,
No hurt, no ache, no sore;
There is no death, no ugly deil,
There’s life for evermore.
No dampish mist is seen in thee,
No cold nor darksome night;
There every soul shines as the sun,
There God Himself gives light.
There lust and lucre cannot dwell,
There envy bears no sway,
There is no hunger, heat, nor cold,
But pleasure every way.
Jerusalem! Jerusalem!
God grant I once may see
Thy endless jovs, and of the same,
Partaker aye to be.
Thy walls are made of precious stones,
Thy bulwarks diamonds square,
Thy gates are of right orient pearl,
Exceeding rich and rare.
Thy turrets and thy pinnacles
With carbuncles do shine,
Thy very streets are paved with gold,
Surpassing clear and fine.
Thy houses are of ivory,
Thy windows crystal clear,
Thy tiles are made of beaten gold;
O God, that I were there!
Within thy gates no thing doth come
That is not passing clean,
No spider’s web, no dirt, no dust,
No filth may there be seen.
Ah, my sweet home, Jerusalem!
Would God I were in thee,
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see.
Thy saints are crowned with glory great,
They see God face to face,
They triumph still, they still rejoice,
Most happy is their case.
We that are here in banishment
Continually do moan;
We sigh and sob, we weep and wail,
Perpetually we groan.
Our sweet is mixed with bitter gall,
Our pleasure is but pain,
Our joys scarce last the looking on,
Our sorrows still remain.
But there they live in such delight,
Such pleasure, and such play,
As that to them a thousand years,
Doth seem as yesterday.
Thy vineyards and thy orchards are
Most beautiful and fair,
Full furnished with trees and fruits,
Most wonderful and rare.
Thy gardens and thy gallant walks
Continually are green;
There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers
As nowhere else are seen.
There’s nectar and ambrosia made,
There’s musk and civet sweet,
There many a fair and dainty drug
Are trodden under feet.
There cinnamon, there sugar grows,
There nard and balm abound.
What tongue can tell or heart conceive
The joys that there are found!
Quite through the streets, with silver sound,
The flood of life doth flow,
Upon whose banks, on every side,
The wood of life doth grow.
There trees for evermore bear fruit,
And evermore do spring;
There evermore the angels sit,
And evermore do sing.
There David stands with harp in hand
As master of the choir;
Ten thousand times that man were blest
That might this music hear.
Our lady sings Magnificat,
With tune surpassing sweet,
And all the virgins bear their parts,
Sitting above her feet.
Te Deum doth Saint Ambrose sing,
Saint Austine doth the like;
Old Simeon and Zachary
Have not their song to seek.
There Magdalene hath left her moan,
And cheerfully doth sing,
With blessed saints whose harmony
In every street doth ring.
Jerusalem, my happy home!
Would God I were in thee,
Would God my woes were at an end,
Thy joys that I might see!—E. R. C.]
SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)
Section Twenty-First
Heavenly-Earthly Picture (Earth-Picture) of the New World. The Kingdom of Glory. (Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5.)
General.—The Kingdom of glory is the Kingdom of consummation; of the consummate development of all the human capabilities of mankind, as born again through Christianity, together with the consummate development of the renewed cosmos of mankind; the Palingenesia of the human world, founded on the holy Birth and Resurrection of Christ—His Primogeniture from the dead—and mediated by the regeneration and resurrection of the faithful.—Relation of the human cosmos to the universe in general.—This relation is modified by the absolute priority of Christ, resting upon His Divine-human nature, the ideal perfection of His life, the holiness of His cross, the glory of His victory. The consummation itself, however, as eternal, is based upon the super-creaturely, God-related, æonic nature of humanity; upon the eternal foundation, the eternal aim, and the eternal value of the life and work of Christ; and upon the covenant-faithfulness of God and the sureness of His promises.
The promises of God, as real prophecies, in nature and in the development of life, as well as in those verbal prophecies of the Kingdom of God which hover above this life, have all aimed at that glorious consummation, at the eternalization of the Christian life and its sphere, the eternal City of God. Hence, the domain of the consummation is at the same time the domain of all fulfillments; it is both of these as the Kingdom of glory, the blessed realm of spirits, filled with the life of the Eternal Spirit.
The Kingdom of glory unfolds in three spheres, appearing (1) as the consummation and fulfillment of the Theocracy, or as the heavenly Jerusalem, the City of God (Rev_21:9-21); (2) as the consummation and fulfillment of all the truth and all the longing contained in the religious history of mankind, or as the holy Home-City of all believing Gentiles [nations] (Rev_21:22-27); (3) as the consummation and fulfillment of all the prophecies of nature, or as the Home-Country of all souls, the universal, new Paradise (Rev_22:1-5).
Special.—The perfected Kingdom of God, in respect of its different designations and imports: Historic form of the Kingdom of God (Rev_21:9-21); the City of God; the heavenly Jerusalem; the Bride.—Blessed prospect of the City of God. Most glorious of all prospects. “Jerusalem, du hoch gebaute Stadt,” etc. [“Jerusalem, thou city fair and high”]. “Ich hab’ von ferne, etc.”—Procession of the City of God: 1. From Heaven to earth; 2. From earth to Heaven; 3. Back again, from Heaven to earth.—[Rev_21:10.] The descending City of God, or perfected communication between Heaven (the starry world) and earth.—Description of the City of God (Rev_21:11-21). Its source of light; its walls; its gates; its dimensions and fundamental forms; its fundamental materials.—Spiritual, universal form of the Kingdom of God (Rev_21:22-27). Its spiritual Temple. Its spiritual Sun. Its spiritual Church. Its spiritual liberty. Its spiritual fullness. Its spiritual purity and consecrateness.—The new Paradise (Rev_22:1-5). The river of life: 1. Where does it appear? 2. Whence does it come? 3. Whither does it flow?—The river of life: 1. In respect of its name; 2. In respect of its beauty (like crystal); 3. In respect of its products.—The trees of life—the manifestation of highest life: 1. From the Fountain of life to the River of life; 2. From the River of life to the Trees of life; 3. From the Trees of life to their fruits; 4. From the fruits to the health-producing leaves.—The perfected, pure, consecrated creature (Rev_22:3).—The laws of purity for creaturely life: a prophecy of the future glorification of the world.—Activity and rest in the Paradise of God (Rev_22:3-4).—Perfect union of culture and cultus in the Paradise of God.—The service (Rev_22:3).—The blessed rest (the beholding of God [Rev_22:4]).—The region of eternal sunshine [Rev_22:5].—The new world shining in the radiance of the glory of the Lord.—The glorious liberty of the children of God (Romans 8), in its eternal duration and renewal.
Starke: [Rev_21:12.] God is a fiery wall and protection to His Church (Zec_2:5).
Rev_21:13. Entrance into the Church is free to all people, in all corners of the world, who will but come to the fellowship of the Church (1Ti_2:4).
Rev_21:14. The one true Foundation of the Church and of eternal blessedness is Christ alone (1Co_3:11). This Foundation is laid solely through the Apostles (Eph_2:20). (The reconcilement of the apparent contradiction is to be found in the fact that Christ has organically unfolded His fullness in the twelve Apostles.)—On Rev_21:23, comp. Isa_60:19-20.—On Rev_21:24, comp. Isa_60:3; see Isa_49:23; Isa_2:2 sq.; Psa_72:10-11; also Isa_52:1; Isa_60:21; Eze_44:9.—Rev_22:2. A contrast to ancient Babylon is here presented. As the Euphrates flowed through the midst of Babylon, and as the river of Babylon dried up (Rev_16:12), so, on the other hand, the spiritual Jerusalem has the river of the Holy Spirit, which brings water through the midst of the City and which shall never dry up.—Christ is the Tree of life, which has life in itself.—On Rev_21:3, comp. Zec_14:11.
W. Hoffmann, Maranatha (Ruf zum Herrn, Vol. VIII. Sermon on 2Pe_3:13-14. P. 180). We shall speak of the new world of the redeemed, as described in our text in the following words: “But we wait for a new Heaven and a new earth.” For the first word of revelation from God’s mouth runs: “In the beginning God created the Heaven and the earth,” and the last word of prophecy is that which we have just read. Thus, between the first coming into existence of Heaven and earth and the last everlasting being of Heaven and earth, all the Divine economy moves.
[From M. Henry: Rev_21:10. They who would have clear views of heaven must get as near heaven as they can, into the mount of vision, the mount of meditation and faith, from whence, as from the top of Pisgah, they may behold the goodly land of the heavenly Canaan.
Rev_21:11. Having the glory of God; glorious in her relation to Christ, in His image now perfected in her, and in His favor shining upon her.
Rev_21:12. Note, 1. The wall. Heaven is a safe state. 2. The gates. It is accessible to all those that are sanctified.
Rev_21:22. There the saints are above the need of ordinances, which were the means of their preparation for heaven. Perfect and immediate communion with God will more than supply the place of gospel-institutions.
Rev_21:23. God in Christ will be an everlasting Fountain of knowledge and joy to the saints in heaven.
Rev_21:27. The saints shall have (1) no impure thing remain in them, (2) no impure persons admitted among them.
Rev_22:1. All our springs of grace, comfort and glory are in God; and all our streams from Him, through the mediation of the Lamb.
Rev_22:3. And there shall be no more curse. Here is the great excellency of this paradise—the Devil has nothing to do there; he cannot draw the saints from serving God to be subject to himself, as he did our first parents, nor can he so much as disturb them in the service of God.
Rev_22:4-5. Note, 1. There the saints shall see the face of God; there enjoy the beatific vision. 2. God will own them, as having His seal and name on their foreheads. 3. They shall reign with Him forever; their service shall be not only freedom, but honor and dominion. 4. They shall be full of wisdom and comfort, continually walking in the light of the Lord.—From The Comprehensive Commentary. Rev_21:9-27. “Glorious things are” indeed here “spoken of the City of God” (Psa_87:3); and the whole is well suited to raise our expectations and enlarge our conceptions of its security, peace, splendor, purity and felicity; but, in proportion to our spirituality, we shall be more and more led to contemplate heaven as filled with “the glory of God,” and enlightened by the presence of the Lord Jesus, “the Sun of righteousness,” and the Redeemer of lost sinners, knowing that “in His presence is fullness of joy, and pleasures at His right hand for evermore.” (Scott.)—As nothing unclean can enter thither, let us be stirred up, by these glimpses of heavenly things, in giving diligence to “cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God;” that we may be approved as “Israelites indeed, in whom there is no guile,” and have a sure evidence that we are “written in the Lamb’s book of life.” (Scott.)—Rev_22:5. In that world of light and glory there will “be no night,” no affliction, or dejection, no intermission of service and enjoyments; they will “need no candle;” no diversions or pleasures of man’s devising will there be at all wanted; and even the outward comforts which God has provided, suited to our state in this world, will no longer be requisite. (Scott.)—From Vaughan: Rev_21:22. The Lord God and the Lamb are the Temple of it. The worship of heaven is offered directly, not only to God, but in God. It is as if God Himself were the shrine in which man will then adore Him. The blessed will be so included in God that even when they worship, He will be their temple.—If we would hereafter worship in that temple which is God Himself, Christ Himself, we must know God now by faith; we must have life now in Christ.—Rev_22:3. If in heaven we would serve God, we must begin to be His servants here.—From Bonar: Chs. 20, 21. What a termination to the long, long desert-journey of the Church of God, calling forth from us the exulting shout which broke from the lips of the Crusaders, when first from the neighboring height they caught sight of the holy city: “Jerusalem! Jerusalem!”]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv9–11 The same angel who had shown John Babylon the…
The same angel who had shown John Babylon the harlot, is appropriately employed to show him in contrast new Jerusalem, the Bride (Rev 17:1-5). The angel so employed is the one that had the last seven plagues, to show that the ultimate blessedness of the Church is one end of the divine judgments on her foes.
unto me--A, B, and Vulgate omit.
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the Lamb's wife--in contrast to her who sat on many waters (Rev 17:1), (that is, intrigued with many peoples and nations of the world, instead of giving her undivided affections, as the Bride does, to the Lamb.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv9–11 c. Description of the capital of the heavenly earth—the…
c. Description of the capital of the heavenly earth—the New Jerusalem, Rev_21:9-27.
9. One of the seven angels—As the millennium occurs between this and the last mention of this angel, it was at least a thousand years ago in the event. But in the narrative of the panorama it was, perhaps, an hour.
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The bride, the Lamb’s wife—The holy Church, which has now passed through the resurrection to her glorified state. Note Rev_19:7.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv9, 11 The Vision of the New Jerusalem, Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5
The Vision of the New Jerusalem, Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5
The Measure of the City, Rev_21:9-17
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9. And there came unto me &c.] As in Rev_17:1. “unto me” should be omitted, so that the sentence as far as “vials” is verbatim the same as there. The identical form of introduction emphasizes the contrast between Babylon and Jerusalem, the harlot and the bride.
full] According to the correct text, this word is made to agree not with “the seven bowls” but with “the seven angels.” But probably it is a merely accidental grammatical inaccuracy of St John’s. There is a much worse “false concord” in Rev_14:19.
in the Spirit] Rev_17:3, Rev_1:10. Cf. Eze_3:14.
to a great and high mountain] Eze_40:2. The preposition rendered “to” plainly implies that St John was set on the mountain; whether the city occupied the mountain itself, or another site within view. In Ezek. l.c. the city apparently occupies the southern slope of the mountain, whence the seer views it.
that great city, the holy Jerusalem] Read, the holy city Jerusalem.
descending … from God] Verbatim the same as in Rev_21:2, according to the true text. The descent described here is no doubt the same as there, but St John’s vision of the descent is not exactly the same. He has seen, as it were in the distance, the appearance of the city: but his attention was absorbed in listening to the sayings of Rev_21:3-8. Now, he is summoned to attend to the other, and finds it at the same stage where he noticed it in passing before.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv9–11 THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM DESCRIBED (Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5).—Before entering upon…
THE HEAVENLY JERUSALEM DESCRIBED (Rev_21:9 to Rev_22:5).—Before entering upon this section it is wise to recall once more that the descriptions here given are figurative, and are not to be understood literally. “There is nothing in it as it seems saving the King.” This remark may well be thought needless; but the misconceptions and misrepresentations of the Christian’s hope have been many and reckless; and, even were this not the case, there is always a certain proportion of people who seem incapable of understanding figurative language. Half the errors of the Church have been due to prosaic-minded men who could not discern the difference between figure and fact; and men of unpoetical and vehement temperament have blundered over these descriptions, and their blunders have discredited the whole Apocalypse in the eyes of some. The following are the features of the heavenly city, which the description seems designed to enforce upon our thoughts. The great and holy community will be one which draws its glory from God (Rev_21:11; Rev_21:23; Rev_22:5). Its blessings are not for a few, but open to all, for its gates lie open to all quarters (Rev_21:12-13). The heavenly and the earthly will be at one; angels, apostles, and patriarchs are there (Rev_21:12; Rev_21:14). Diverse characters will find entrance there; the gates bear the names of the twelve tribes. The door of admission is alike for all, though diverse characters from diverse quarters will enter in (Rev_21:21). It will be the abode of all that is fair and good, and no disproportions will mar its loveliness (Rev_21:17-18). The ancient truths, spoken by various lips, will be found to be eternal truths, full of varied but consistent beauty (Rev_21:14; Rev_21:19-20). The forms and helps which were needful here will not be needful there (Rev_21:22-23); all that the servants of God have righteously hungered and thirsted for here will be supplied there (Rev_22:1-2). There will be blessings, various, continuous, eternal; new fields of labour and new possibilities of service will be opened there (Rev_22:3-4).
(9) And there came unto me one of the seven angels . . .—The words “unto me” should be omitted. One of the seven angels which had the seven vials of wrath had shown to the seer the scarlet-clad harlot, the great and guilty Babylon: so here does one of the same company of angels show him the pure Bride of the Lamb, the new and holy Jerusalem.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv9–11 And there came unto me one of the seven…
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues. Omit "unto me." "Full of" must be connected with "angels." Just as these angels had carried out God"s judgments upon the ungodly, and one of them had exhibited the judgment of the harlot, (Rev_17:1) so now one of them shows the picture of the bliss of the faithful the bride of the Lamb. And talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb"s wife; hither (omitting "come"). The wording of this verse (except the last phrase) is almost identical with Rev_17:1. The last phrase is the great contrast to the former chapter. In Re 17 I was seen a picture of a harlot, the unfaithful part of Christ"s Church; here we have a description of those who have been "faithful unto death", (Rev_2:10) and whose purity and faithfulness are symbolized under the figure of the "wife of the Lamb". (see on Rev_17:1)
Ver.9.-Rev_22:5. The holy Jerusalem.
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Not "the heavenly Jerusalem," the "Jerusalem that is above," of which we read in Heb_12:22 Heb_11:10, 16 13:14 Gal_4:26 the heavenly community of the righteous. Nor the Jerusalem here below, in the present life the Church in her militant state. But the New Jerusalem on the glorified earth, with the introduction of which the others vanish. Now, in the ample and beautiful description of that which as yet is not, we have not merely what may well uplift and make glad our hearts by way of holy anticipation, but also we have portrayed, in beautiful symbol, the pattern of what the true Church of Christ, even now and here, should ever aspire to be. St. John was blessed with the beatific vision of "the holy Jerusalem;" and to this end as when we would well see a great mountain we need to be ourselves on a similar elevation St. John was carried away to a great and high mountain; as Moses on Mount Pisgah, that he might the better see the promised land. But whilst this Word of God tells of the chosen Church in her consummated and perfect, condition before God, it is also a glorious picture, not merely to be looked at and longed for, but, to the uttermost of our power, to be embodied in our own Church life here on earth. Bunyan, in his treatise on the New Jerusalem, has worked out this idea at length; he holding that these chapters tell of not the final condition of mankind, the end of all things for then there will be no longer heathen to be healed, and living yet outside the city but of the perfected Church, perfectly redeemed and restored, and "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing." But what we have here is the description of the true New Testament Church. "As there were three states of Jerusalem, so there are of the Church. The first, for the city, was that under Solomon, and answers to the Church in the days of our Lord and his apostles; the second was Jerusalem"s degraded and captured state, and answers to the Church ever since the apostolic age; the third, of which Nehemiah and Isaiah so largely tell, is her recovered state when the exiles returned and rebuilt their city and wails again." The foundation chapter is Isaiah 60, which was written for the comfort of the captives in Babylon, as is this for the comfort of the Church of today, Rapidly reviewing this glorious promise for Christ"s Church, we are told
I OF HER GLORY. (Vers. 11, 23) This is named first in order, as it is first in importance. It means that the grace of God which is ever in his Church shall appear, be manifest, conspicuous. It is likened to the most precious of stones not the jasper which we know, for that was never most precious nor otherwise such as is here described; but probably the diamond, which does answer to what is here said. Now, this "glory" is the all important thing. (cf. Isa_60:19) In the ideal Church, which comes down from God and is according to his mind, its gracious character, the Christ within her, will be the all conspicuous thing.
II HER SECURITY. (Vers. 12-14; cf. Isa_54:14) The Church is likened to a city for its strength. Isa_26:1, "We have a strong city," etc. The perfect Church shall be impregnable. "No weapon formed against her shall prosper." The Church of today is exposed to all manner of attack, and here and there succumbs. But it is because she lacks this wall. The holy city has many gates, but all are angel guarded. There is freedom of entrance for those who should enter, but none for those who should not. The angel guards keep watch and ward. Believers the seed of believing Abraham, the true Israel of God these, whose names are written on the gates, have right of entrance. But they shall come from no one nation. On either side are three gates. They may, they will, come from every quarter of the earth. (cf. Luk_13:29) And this Church is the "city which hath foundations", (Heb_11:10) and it is "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets" (ver. 14). The blessed doctrine which they taught will be the basis of the Church"s security the Christ they preached, the gospel they proclaimed. (Eph_2:20 Mat_19:28)
III HER FAULTLESSNESS. As in Rev_11:1 the measuring meant inspection and test, so here (vers. 15-17). This city will bear Divine scrutiny; in regard to her people, "the city;" her conditions of entrance, "the gates;" her confident security, "the wall." The whole corresponds to the Divine ideal. What contrast to the Church of today! And this city is built in perfect symmetry. The square was regarded as the symbol of completeness and all perfect proportion. (cf. Eph_3:4, "comprehend... the breadth, and length, and depth, and height," by which St. Paul meant the symmetry and fair proportion of the Christian Church and character) And not perfect only in proportion, but vast in extort. "In my Father"s house are many mansions." The heart of Christ shall "be satisfied," not alone with the beautiful form of his Church, but with its greatness. Such seems to be the meaning of the fifteen hundred miles square which, is said to be the measurement of this city. There never was or could be a literal city so vast. It surpasses all human conception as shall the reality, the Church. The height of it is named only to intensify the ideas of proportion and extent. The wall, compared with the height of the city, is but low. Sufficient for security, but not for obscurity. It would not hide the magnificence of the city as it stood on the sides of the vast eminence on which it was built, but yet the wall would well defend it. "Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth," etc. (Psalm 48). Translated out of metaphor, the meaning is that the Church which fulfils the Divine ideal will commend itself by its moral and spiritual symmetry, its correspondence to the plan of the great Architect its "Maker and Builder," God.
IV ITS ADORNMENTS. (Vers. 18-21) The symbolism of these verses is taken from Isa_54:11, Isa_54:12. The walls and city flashed with light, as the diamond, and like to burnished gold. So that the vision of it would attract, fix, and delight the mind of the beholder (cf. "Let your light so shine before men," etc.). If the jasper or diamond tell of Christ, he being the Cornerstone, elect, "precious," then the Church"s glory (ver. 11), her defence (ver. 18), and her adornment (ver. 19), are alike Christ. And this is so. And the city is like pure gold, for all spiritual riches and treasure are in her. To bring her to this condition involved much refining work. But now no fire can harm her, for her dross is all gone. But the foundations also have their adornment. The apostles were adorned, as are all true ministers of Christ"s Church, with the gifts and graces he bestows upon them many, varied, and all precious; and with the converts to Christ whom they have won. "Ye are our glory and joy," said St. Paul to the Thessalonians. (cf. Dan_12:3, Revised Version) These converts also are all "living stones," but all precious, though varied in every way in which human souls can be varied. The Church of Christ has her bride like adornments (ver. 2), in the grace of spiritual character, the goodly gifts, and in the power to bless others, with which he endows her. Nor must we forget the glory of her gates (ver. 21). "I am the way," said our Lord. He is the Gate of entrance, and he is as a Pearl of great price. Bunyan notes that whilst we are told the measurements of the city and the wall, we are told nothing of the gates. And, he says, "it is because Christ, the Way, is beyond all measurement." And the "unsearchable riches" of his grace are also set forth by the figure of the gates of "one pearl." Who could compute the price of such a pearl? It will be the glory of the perfect Church that "one pearl," and that "the Pearl of great price," even Christ himself, is presented to every man at every entrance to the Church, so that none can come save by him. And even "the street" was of "pure gold." The street, the places of concourse, the ways in which the people of the city walk, are golden. That is, they are ways of holiness, godly ways, ways good and precious, ways of pleasantness and paths of peace. The spiritual glory, beauty, and riches of this way are what is meant, and what each heart knows to be true.
V ITS MATURITY OF SPIRITUAL CHARACTER. As the ordinances of the tabernacle and temple gave way to the ordinances of Christ, so these ordinances will themselves give way to the worship "in spirit and in truth," which shall be the most perfect worship of all. "When that which is perfect is come, then that which is imperfect shall be done away". (1Co_13:10) The temple was to the Jews the means of access to a revelation of, and a place of instruction concerning, God. But in Christ"s very presence no medium is needed, for access is direct to God. And in a Church that aspires after this model there will be not a discarding and rejection of all ordinances and forms, but there will be a growing independence of them. Whilst prized and used, they will not be indispensable. Being what we are, we may be thankful that still the ordinances of religion sacred seasons, sanctuaries, and services are continued to us still. But there, in the holy Jerusalem, they will not be needed. And like as the shrine, the most holy place in the tabernacle and temple, was lit up with no earthly light, but with the Shechinah cloud, the visible glory of God, so shall it be in the city of God. Translated, this means that in the perfect Church the glory of the grace of Christ in her shall render unnecessary all lesser glory, though in the eyes of men such glory should be as the sun and moon for greatness.
VI HER ATTRACTIVENESS. Nations outside the city are clearly supposed. "Nations," not "nations of the saved," is the true reading (see Revised Version). The heathen are meant. Then will be the true missionary age. Then shall be fulfilled, as cannot be now, the promises of the universal spread of the knowledge of the Lord. (cf. Isa_60:11) The heathen shall come and their kings, and they shall consecrate their all to Christ. And this shall continually be going on. For (ver. 27) the gates shall never be shut, but kept ever open for this blessed inflow of all to Christ. She is likened to a city, for cities are centres of influence, and affect for good or ill all around. Think of what London and like cities do in this way. And "the holy Jerusalem" shall thus influence and attract "the nations," who shall gladly walk in her "light." The blessing of God, the absence of which is the meaning of "night" in St. John"s language, shall be ever present. (cf. Joh_13:30, "And it was night Hence the blessed power of this city over the heathen around.
VII HER HOLINESS. (Ver. 27) Note this frequent form of expression. Denying one thing and asserting its extreme contrast. "There shall not enter any," etc., but there shall enter those in the book of life. (cf. Rev_3:5, "I will not blot out... but I will confess," etc.; Rev_20:6, "the second death... but they shall be priests," etc.) The darkness of an evil condition is named to be denied, in order to serve as a foil to the glory of the blessed condition which is affirmed. And so it is here. The perfect holiness of the city is rendered more conspicuous by the denial of entrance to all abomination. Let us remember, therefore, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.
VIII HER PROVISION AND BLESSEDNESS. (Rev_22:1-5)
1. As to the first, this consists of the river (ver. l) and of the tree of life (ver. 2). The provision is plenteous, as is a river for they that would drink, and as are the trees bearing its twelve harvests year by year, and standing on either side the river. Accessible, also; for the river flows through the street of the city, and the trees are on either side. No flaming sword now bars access thereto, but it is in view and in reach of and for the enjoyment of all. By these symbols of the river and the tree are meant as when we read (Isa_33:16) of bread and water being sure all necessary food. But as all here refers to spiritual things, we take our Lord"s own interpretation, and read in the river the fulness of the Holy Spirit"s blessing. Here we receive that blessing as a refreshing dew or as drops of rain, but there it shall flow forth as a river from the throne of God and the Lamb. For the Holy Ghost proceedeth from the Father and the Son; and when Christ spoke of the water that he would give, St. John adds, "This spake he of the Spirit." And as to the tree of life, Jesus said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life; "I am the Resurrection and the Life; and repeatedly, "I am the Bread of life." Himself, then, in his sustaining, strengthening grace; and the Holy Spirit in his sanctifying, refreshing, reviving power; all this in abundance shall be the spiritual portion of the inhabitants of the holy city. And though none there ever have to say, "I am sick," yet there are those outside the city who are, and the leaves of this blessed tree are for their healing. So that it not only blesses those who eat of it, but makes them a blessing to others also.
2. And now, finally, the exceeding blessedness of the people of the holy Jerusalem, God"s servants, is set forth in a series of striking statements.
(1) "There shall be no more curse." Here, again, note the form of expression naming the evil, whilst denying it, to set off more vividly the exceeding good which is affirmed. The "curse" is everywhere here on man, and on the earth, his dwelling place, alike. Death, the most awful form of the curse, "reigns." "But there," etc.
(2) "The throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it." The will of God, his holy Law, his righteous authority, shall be confessed and rejoiced in.
(3) "His servants shall serve him with ease, alacrity, delight, and effect. Not, as here, with a poor, maimed, marred service, and even that too often rendered reluctantly, or from impure motive.
(4) "And they shall see his face." The joy of intimate fellowship shall be theirs.
(5) "And his name... foreheads." They shall be confessed before all, sealed and owned, manifested, as the sons of God.
(6) "And there shall be no night." When the Lord was betrayed, St. John tells that "it was night." Here, in the city and scene of his triumph; he tells us repeatedly that "there is no night." The light of God"s love shall never be lacking.
(7) "And they shall reign forever and ever." What sentences these are! how full, how inexhaustible in their meaning! "Reign so also our Lord said. Yes, the chosen Church shall be the aristocracy, the ruling class, exercising wise, holy, and beneficent rule over the masses of mankind in the kingdom of God. Such rule is ever the greatest blessing to men their real need and right. Wise rule that is what is wanted, and that shall be. It shall be no selfish blessedness which the elect of God shall enjoy, but one that shall flow forth in beneficence for which they will have both the wilt and the power. "Come, kingdom of our God, And raise thy glorious throne, In worlds by the undying trod, Where God shall bless his own. S.C.
Vers. 9-27. The New Jerusalem.
We must see in this a portrayal of that holy community which is "the bride, the wife of the Lamb." It is the ideal representation of vital Christianity Christianity as a system, but as a system embodied in the lives of men. The descriptions are of a glorious character. What can exceed the essential glory of the true Christendom, the true Church, the true bride, the veritable "wife of the Lamb"? It must not be separated from the heavenly, the final Jerusalem, the happy home of every weary pilgrim, the final abode of every spiritual citizen, the final resting place whither the feet of all humble, holy souls tend. But the heavenly begins on earth. And in this vision we must see the heavenly or, the earth. The ornate language suits its heavenly character and its heavenly prototype. Babylon was the scat of the beast; this is the city of the great King. It may be practically impossible to decipher the symbolical writing, especially in its details, and it may be as unwise to attempt it as it is impracticable to accomplish it; but the main features of the symbolical teaching, considered in the light of our previous interpretations, may doubtless be traced. Not without fear that our prepossessions may mislead us, we will attempt to find in the words of this section a setting forth of the essential glories of the true and actual Christianity, however ideally considered.
I ITS FIRST CHARACTERISTIC IS HOLINESS. It is set up in the midst of evil and in opposition to it. It is holy, for it is "from God;" it is holy, for it promotes holiness in its subjects; all who pertain to it are called to be saints. Whatever is not in harmony with true ideas of holiness can have no part in the holy city.
II ITS ORIGIN IS DIVINE. "It cometh down out of heaven from God." The true Church has its fount in him. He calls the first band out of the surrounding darkness. All is of his grace. He gives the Word which is the seed of the kingdom, he is the Father of all. The Church"s grandest idea is that it is of God.
III IT HAS ITS HIGHEST ADORNMENT IN THE MANIFESTATION OF THE DIVINE GLORY. But "the glory of God" is the symbol of God himself. We approach the true Shechinah. The glory of the Church is the presence of God. How near is that manifested glory brought to us in the Incarnation! how near in the abiding Spirit"s presence! This is the true light that shineth over the city.
IV ITS STABILITY, HARMONY, AND ORGANIC UNITY ARE REPRESENTED IN THE FIGURE OF THE CITY. Here are taught the intercourse, the fellowship, the safety, the mutual interest, of the holy ones. What is here ideally presented may not always be actually found. We deal with the patterns of the heavenly things.
V THE FREEDOM OF ITS ACCESS TO ALL NATIONS is here declared. The gates of the city, ever open, stand to the east, the west, the north, the south. But one city; but all may enter.
VI THE CHURCH IS BUILT UPON THE FOUNDATION OF THE APOSTLES AND PROPHETS. All the living Christianity has its basis here.
VII THE SPLENDOUR, BEAUTY, PERFECTNESS, STRENGTH, AND GREATNESS OF THE CHURCH OF GOD the living Christianity of ours and of every day, and the whole idea of the same are set forth in the utmost wealth of symbolical extravagance.
VIII THE INTIMATE ALLIANCE OF THE DIVINE SETS ASIDE THE EARTHLY AND IMPERFECT ELEMENTS. There is no visible temple. "The Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it." The illumination of the whole city is found in the life and grace of Christ.
IX THE UNIVERSALLY DIFFUSED BENEFICENT INFLUENCE OF CHRISTIANITY is declared. The nations walk in the light of it, and
X THEIR RECIPROCAL ACKNOWLEDGMENT is found in that they "bring their glory and honour into it.
XI ITS IMMUNITY FROM THE CONTAMINATION AND DEFILEMENT OF EVIL is indicated. Nothing unclean, nothing untrue, nothing of evil nature, enters it. It is ideal. True. Yet no evil elements shall ultimately be found in the Church of Christ; and, as at first we stated, the earthly is lost in the heavenly, of which it is at once the beginning, the type, and the pledge. R.G.
Vers. 9-21. The spiritual commonwealth of the good.
"And there came unto me one of the seven angels," etc. There is a spirit world. This is a fact, established by conclusive reasoning and accordant with the concurrent beliefs of mankind. This spirit world is a commonwealth. It has a social order. The existence of spirits destitute of gregarious instincts and social affinities is conceivable, and may be perhaps somewhere in existence in the great spirit world the world of which the material universe is the offspring, mirror, and servant. But of such nonsocial beings we have no proof or information. The great spirit world in which we believe, and of which we read, is a community that has its laws of intercourse, sympathy, and cooperation. Hence in Scripture it is frequently figurated as the Jerusalem from above, the heavenly Jerusalem, etc. Jerusalem is its metropolis, the centre of its authority and influence. Now, the magnificent capital of this great commonwealth of the good is the sand picture in this dream, for a dream or vision it manifestly is. Literally, a city like the one here represented has never existed, and, according to the laws of architecture, proportion, and gravitation, perhaps never could exist; and hence prosaic interpreters, however learned, incapable of distinguishing between fact and figure, have, in their expositions of this and other visions, produced such a jumblement of incongruities which disgraces their own common sense and discredits the Scriptures. Taking the vision before us as a parable, or a pictorial illustration, of the social state or order of the good, we may attach to it the following characteristics.
I HEAVENLINESS. Heaven reveals it to man. "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which who had the seven vials bowls full of the who were laden with seven last plagues, and talked with me he spake unto me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb"s wife the wife of the Lamb" (ver. 9). Ministers from the celestial world are represented not only as talking to the author about it, but as inviting him to look at it. All the ideas of men concerning a perfect social state have come to us, not as the deductions of our own reasoning, but as communications from heaven. Heaven enables man to see it. "And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem showed me the holy city Jerusalem, descending coming down out of heaven from God" (ver. 10). It is not until we are elevated into the higher modes of thought and feeling that we have reached a standpoint from which we can command a view of this supernal state. Down in the valley of worldliness, under the shadow of the hills, and amid the exhalations and fogs of sensualities, it would be impossible to catch a glimpse of the King in his beauty, in the land that is afar off. We must climb the mental Pisgah, and reach the Mount of Transfiguration. Heaven brings it down to man. "Descending coming down out of heaven from God." This perfect social state must come down to us from heaven, if we are ever to realize and possess it. Men from ages of false religious teaching have come to regard heaven as something at a distance, as something yonder, not here; something in a certain locality in the universe, not something in a certain state of mind and character. Hence the cry, "Oh that I had wings like a dove! for then would I flee away, and be at rest!" But he who would have heaven in the soul, its perfect state, must bring it down, its sympathies, purposes, down into his own heart. His prayer should be, "Thy kingdom come: thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven." "In sacred silence of my mind, My heaven, and there my God, I find.
II DIVINITY. "Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal" (ver. 11). As the Shechinah lit up the holy of holies in the temple, God"s presence radiates through every part of this spiritual communism of the good. He is its Essence and its Inspiration. He is its Light, transparent as the crystal and beautiful as the gleaming shot from the precious jasper. A poet has spoken of "looking through nature up to nature"s God." He should have said look down on nature through God. God is in his great social system of order what the cloudless midday sun is to our globe. All other lights are buried in the brightness of its rays, and from it all life, and beauty, and motion, and order proceed. Human systems of government, what are they? Black, battling, boundless chaos. But the perfect social order is Divinity itself, all filled with God; he is All in all the Centre, the Circumference, the Beginning, and the End of all. God is the Light of it.
III SECURITY. "And had having a wall great and high, and had having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels," etc. (vers. 12-14). The metropolis of this spiritual commonwealth is abundantly protected. It had a wall "great and high," impregnable and unscaleable. It had "twelve gates," three for each point of the compass "south," "east," "west." "Twelve foundations" also it had, and all the twelve gates guarded by "angels," that excel in strength. The systems of government and social order that men construct, how flail and transient they are! They are constantly changing, breaking up in confusion, and themselves sinking into ruin. "Here a vain man his sceptre breaks, The next a broken sceptre takes, And warriors win and lose; This rolling world can never stand, Plundered and plucked from hand to hand, As power decays and grows.
But here is a kingdom that cannot be moved, a "city that hath foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God.
IV SYMMETRY. "And he that talked spake with me had a golden reed had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof" (ver. 15). The metropolis of this commonwealth is not reared capriciously and without plan. Every material is properly measured and put in its right position. The Architect is of unerring skill. Is there any symmetry in our schemes of government, whether political, social, or ecclesiastic? What one generation has constructed, and admired as just and wise, the next, blessed with a higher education, pronounces both unrighteous and unwise. The Architect of this city measured the whole by "the golden rule." "Thou shall love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and thy neighbour as thyself.
V AMPLITUDE. "The city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large great as the breadth" (ver. 16). The city is of vast dimensions. The walls that enclose it stretch ever about fifteen hundred miles. "The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal." There is nothing limited or narrow in the scheme of social order which God has established for the government of communities; it embraces all, of whatsoever tribe or land, secular condition, or grade of intellect or culture. Look at the political schemes that men formulate! As a rule, they are ever in favour of the rich and the powerful the few, to the disadvantage of the multitudes. Look at the religious schemes! As a rule, how miserably narrow! Officialdom has turned temples into shops, preachers into traders, and the God of infinite love into an object whose approbation is to be obtained by fulsome flattery, whining cajolery, and cringing servility, expressed in prayers and hymns that shock the common sense and conscience of the unsophisticated amongst mankind. Oh that we could "comprehend with all the saints what is the height, the depth, the length, the breadth, of God"s love
VI COSTLINESS. Things that men regard as the most precious and costly are here mentioned as belonging to this wonderful social edifice. "And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold," etc. (vers. 18-21). In the description we have "jasper," "gold," "precious stones," "sapphire," "chalcedony," "emerald," "pearls," etc. The pearl was regarded by the ancients as of all things the most precious. Elsewhere God"s truth, his Word, his moral system, is represented as "more precious than gold, yea, than even fine gold." It is the transcendent good.
1. The greatest thing in the universe is mind. Mind is the maker and manager, the owner and lord, of all material systems.
2. The greatest thing in mind is love. Pure, disinterested, self-sacrificing, Christ-like love, this identifies us with God, makes us one with him. "There abideth," says Paul, "faith, hope, charity; ... the greatest of these is charity." This love is the essence of that social order which God has established in his moral creation. All the precious stones, the gold, the pearls, etc., of the creation, are puerilities compared to this. D.T.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v9 I will shew thee the bride, the Lambs wife.
Rev_21:9-14
I will shew thee the bride, the Lambs wife.
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The glorious bride
I. Who and what she was before she became the bride. She had no high descent to boast of. Her lineage was not royal, but low and mean. Without goodness, without beauty; without personal or family recommendation; unloving and unlovable; an alien, a captive, a rebel. Such were you once, O saint; such are you still, O sinner!
II. How and why she was fixed upon. Of the how and the why of this sovereign purpose, what can we say but this, that in one so unlovable and worthless it found opportunity and scope for the outflow and display of free love, such as could be found in no other? It was the Fathers free choice, and the Sons free choice, that made her what she is now, the bride, and what she is through eternity to be, the Lambs wife.
III. How she was obtained. She is a captive, and must be set free. This the Bride-groom undertakes to do; for her sake becoming a captive. She is a criminal, under wrath, and must be delivered from condemnation and death. This also the Bridegroom undertakes; for her sake submitting to condemnation and death, that so her pardon may be secured, her fetters broken, and life made hers for ever.
IV. How she was betrothed. The Bridegroom Himself came down in lowly guise to woo and win her for Himself. But now He is carrying on His suit in absence, through the intervention of others, as Isaacs proposals to Rebekah were carried on through the faithful Eliezer of Damascus. We tell of our Isaacs noble lineage, His riches, His honours, His worth. We tell of all that He has done to win your love, and set before you the glory of His person, that you may see how worthy He is of all this love; how blessed, how honourable it would be for you to be the bride of such a Bridegroom; and we say, Wilt thou go with the Man?
V. How she is prepared and adorned. It is through the Holy Spirit that this is carried out. This Spirit having overcome her unwillingness, and persuaded her to consent to the glorious betrothment, immediately commences His work of preparation. He strips her of her rags, and puts on royal apparel. He cleanses her from her filthiness, and makes her whiter than snow. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
The bridal city
Not heaven itself, but the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. Not the palace-home, but the bride herself, the Church of the firstborn made perfect, presented under the gorgeous imagery of a magnificent temple-city--an ideal of perfect glory and beauty, safety and fitness--this is the true subject described by John. Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb.
1. Often, in the old days, John had heard from his Master teaching, parabolic and otherwise, which suggested the thought that His saved people should, in their corporate capacity, constitute His bride. This, in turn, would recall to the reverent student of the Old Testament all the bridal imagery of the prophecies--notably of Isaiah and Jeremiah-imagery so curiously and suggestively interlaced with the whole circle of paradise, city, and temple symbolism. Out of all this material, so familiar to him, John had no difficulty in constructing a distinct picture of the New Jerusalem, the virgin daughter of Zion, married as a bride to her Lord. Already Ezekiel, with extraordinary elaboration of detail, had pourtrayed this ideal bridal-city, and not a few of Ezekiels details are transferred, with but little change, to this New Testament picture.
2. It requires no stretch of fancy to believe that John, during his residence in Ephesus, had frequently read the famous circular-letter which Paul sent, first to Ephesus. And it is a significant fact, that in the Epistle to the Ephesians we have precisely the same combination of temple-city and bride which meets us in this chapter. It is a highly figurative picture of a perfected Christ-ideal at present, but an ideal one day to be realised.
The practical use to which the vision may legitimately be turned is twofold.
1. It is an inspiration of hope. You see what is the hope of your calling. To this ye are to come. This is the final destiny of the saints.
2. It is also--and this I believe to be its main purpose--a pattern in the Mount. One of the great peculiarities of the Church of Jesus Christ is this, that its golden age does not lie in the past, but in the future. And when we desire an example--a pattern up to and after which we may work--we find it in the revealed future; and that is the only justification of the revelation of the future--to supply us with a mark for the prize of our high calling.
I. Having the glory of God. The first thing noted is the radiant beauty of the bride--a beauty which consists in the striking resemblance between her and her Lord. The Church, in her ideal condition, has been so long with her Lord, coming up through the wilderness, that she has caught the beauty of His face and form, and is a partaker of the Divine nature, and falls only a little way short of the measure of the stature of His fulness. This is her golden wedding-day-the jubilee of her redemption. We may read earlier in the Book how she was caught up into heaven out of the wilderness, and now she is coming down from God out of heaven, arrayed in garments white and glistening, having the glory of God. The first impression often produced on Church review days--at conferences, and congresses, and unions--is not altogether so noble as this. What an influential Church! So many hundred thousand members! What perfect organisation! What resources of wealth and culture! What buildings! But in the great review-day--the day of the marriage of the Lamb--the first thought will be this, having the glory of God. This is the ideal at which we are to aim. If you desire to form a distinct idea of the glory of God, read the descriptions of Gods glory as seen in ancient times by Moses or Isaiah; as revealed in Gods name, or in ancient song; as shining in the face of Jesus Christ; as manifested in His life and works; as revealed in words fallen from His lips, or written by St. Paul, or pictured in the visions of this Book. Think of the purity, the holiness, and righteousness, of the mercy and truth, of the faithfulness and lovingkindness, of our God and Father! This is the image of God in which we are to be renewed. This is to be the mark for the prize.
II. having a wall great and high. Walls, in ancient times, were for three purposes:
1. Defining. The position of the Church in relation to the world must be clearly defined. Everywhere throughout the Bible this is taught. Having a wall great and high,--a clearly defined creed, resting on foundations of precious stones, bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb; an equally clearly defined discipline; a distinct organisation of fellowship--A wall, built of good stones--well bounded--great and high. Not that the Church is to be narrow, little, without elbow-room, stifled, cribbed, cabined, or confined. The Holy City which John saw--the ideal Church--was vast beyond our poor power to conceive--twelve thousand stadii--all the cities of the earth are mere villages in comparison. By the same measurement, London would be but a small and straightened dwelling-place.
2. Walls were for purposes of enclosure. We are to be an enclosed people. Not nomadic--mere wilderness wanderers, heedlessly roaming hither and thither, like unclean spirits, walking through waterless places, seeking rest and finding none; but a people with a home, a city of habitation, and, therefore, with a work, living for s definite purpose, sharing a common life, helping one another, bearing one anothers burdens.
3. Walls were for defence. If they prevent lawless wandering, they also prevent lawless incursions. The success of Christian work depends very much on the Churches power to protect. And a Church cannot protect unless it has this wall of sound doctrine and faithful discipline, and clearly defined fellowship--a wall great and high. One feature of the Brides resemblance to her Lord--one true sense in which she may have the glory of God--is this, that she is able, not only to save, but also to keep. Like her Lord, she may say, Of all whom Thou hast given me I have lost none, save the son of perdition. I have lost none. A Church cannot say that, if she carelessly allows any part of her protecting walls to be mere mud-heaps, daubed with untempered mortar. And do not lose sight of the adornment--with all manner of precious stones. Do not frighten the people away from the Church by dull, heavy, rough, ugly buildings. You are not rearing a prison, or a criminal lunatic asylum; but a temple, a palace, a bridal city.
III. Having twelve gates. The Church is not to be imprisoned, nor is it to imprison its members, or its influence, its light, its melody. But, at all times, and on all sides, it is to have perfect power to go through the gates. (N. Curnock.)
A sight of the bade
I. Now you know, idle curiosity prompts a great many persons to go and see great sights; and frequently, when persons have been into the metropolis from distant parts of the country, the neighbours ask when they return, Did you see such a sight? Well, what are they after all? the things which are seen are temporal; the eye is never satisfied with seeing, nor the ear with hearing them. But when the soul gets a sight of Christ, he never wants to turn from it. I advise you, as the angel did John, to come hither along with me to this great and high mountain, that we may get this lovely and enamouring sight. The advice, you see, is that of an aspirant--to get away from the position which he was occupying--the low ground of earthly attractions; one of the most important points in our whole Christianity, to get away from things on earth, to rise, and aspire, and soar on high. Moreover, this advice calls for the obedience of faith--obedience to the Divine call. This messenger was one of Gods messengers, an angel sent with a direct errand to John, to tell him to come hither. Now, wherever this obedience is yielded, there is a mighty deliverance, because we are by nature so entangled with the things of the world, so entangled with self-righteousness, so entangled by sin and Satan, that it requires a mighty deliverance to get us away, to draw us from, and bring us out of, our love and practice of the things that are only earthly. But I hasten to remark, that decision is all-important in thin act of obedience to the Divine call. There must be no hesitating about the matter. There must be no looking back, with a lingering, longing look, upon Sedum. Get thee out hence. When Jehovah calls by His messenger, and says,. Come hither, delay is dangerous, decision is important. And then this coming up hither, this aspiring after heavenly things, must be devotional. It is that which is created by the power of the Holy Ghost in the soul, and amounts to nothing less than the aspiring of all the graces in lively exercise. Faith will aspire, and hope will aspire, and love will aspire, and all the graces of the spirit must aspire, as moved, supplied, acted upon, and constrained by the omnipotence of the Holy Ghost. Now glance at this aspiring soul, and see his progress. He is rising and rising, higher and higher every hour; just as you see the skylark ascending from its nest where it had been grovelling; when it first warbles, it seems but a little above your head, but it sings and mounts, and sings and mounts, till it is almost out of sight. Once more observe, that as we rise in knowledge, we shall rise also in enjoyment, we shall rise in love to Him. Then mark, we shall rise in anticipation. Come hither to the top of this great and high mountain, and anticipate the bliss that is to be revealed, that glory that is about to open to view.
II. Now upon this position we may expect the sight which follows, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife. What a sight! Now I want to show you the bride, because there are a great many persons who presume to assume the name to whom it does not belong.
1. And, in the first place, you may know her by her wedding dress. What do you think it is? Why, the imputed righteousness of her loving Lord. And therefore she sings as Isaiah taught the Church to sing in olden time--My soul shall rejoice in the Lord and be joyful in my God, for He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness and clothed me with the garments of salvation, as a bride adorneth herself for her husband.
2. Moreover, I will show thee the bride, the Lambs wife, in her indissoluble union. The husband that is really married has not only a bride, but a wife. Now, before time began, before the world was formed, before angels fell, before sin existed, Jesus and His bride were betrothed in love, and engaged in eternal union. Moreover, this indissoluble union is effected by Him in the fulness of time. I confess I like to talk about this courtship, and this marriage too.
3. Well, let us go on a step further--it is enjoyed. This union which is indissoluble between Christ and His Church, is enjoyed in communion, enjoyed in fellowship, enjoyed in association, enjoyed in every possible expression of affection, enjoyed in mutual help. There are pangs frequently felt in the most affectionate unions upon earth at the idea of separation; but I am persuaded, says St. Paul, that in this union there can be no separation; for neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Is not she a happy bride, then? (J. Irons.)
The Holy City, the Bride of the Lamb
Our great work is to build the city of God upon the earth, and this can be done only through the organised life of the world. We must not be content to go one way, and to allow what we call secular institutions to go another way. We are the salt of the earth. We, through the Spirit of God, are the makers of the new city, and God has given us the old city as the material out of which we are to make the new. It is ours to transform the earthly city so that it shall be glorified into the heavenly.
1. In the first place, it is clear that the ideal city in this character of Bride is in living union with God. So that the figure of the Bride as conceived in the New Testament is one of loving dependence and living unity. She finds her joy, her fulness, her splendour, her very life, in Him for whom she is adorned. She is a very part of His life, and finds her true glory in losing herself in Him. Such is the relation to God of that city that would realise Gods ideal. This is precisely what is implied in the picture before us--namely, that all the vast secular organisations of society must find their ideal in being the Bride of the Lamb. What is thought to be the peculiar characteristic of a number of people that have certain religious and spiritual affinities must come to be recognised as the best thing for all the busy world, and as the normal attitude of the city or State that would attain true and abiding prosperity. We cannot keep the higher ideal in its strength by our religious combinations and assemblies unless we insist upon its maintenance in and for the busy hum of life. The worshipping attitude of the sanctuary is also the ideal attitude for the mart, the exchange, the council chamber, and the senate. But let the Church realise that it is not the ideal of a select coterie, however worthy and however divinely elected, but the ideal that must sweep the world, and sit upon the throne of every State, an ideal that is as good for the market-place as for the sanctuary. Then it will have new power and influence, and our Churches will rise to higher levels of worship and consecration. The old Puritans realised this when they knelt together for prayer in the British House of Commons. They believed that the grandest thing a State could do was to worship God, provided it were done in spirit and in truth, and not by the mockery of mechanical enactments. The city that will not be the Bride of the Lamb shall perish.
2. This condition of living union with God involves the development of holy affinities with God. The ideal city must construct its life and frame its ends according to the pattern on the Mount. If it is to be in living union with God, it must live according to the divinest motives and ideals. The Bride must be adorned for her Husband in the jewels that He loves. Many tell us that the heavenly and spiritual ideas that we place before them are not necessary or suited for the great life and problems of the city. They say that the city has to do with earth, not with heaven; that its development and prosperity and elevation depend upon philanthropies and social revolutions and political changes. For this worship is not necessary, thoughts and hopes of heaven are hampering, and ideas of spiritual renewal, holiness, and Divine peace are altogether Utopian. They tell the Church, in effect, that its ideas are altogether out of place in this world of states and cities. And some good men have unfortunately fallen victims to this modem falsehood. They have forsaken the Christian ideal, and accepted the ideal of the social revolutionist and the secular politician. What they think the gospel cannot do they hope to do by some loud-sounding Ism, and proclaim this as the worlds salvation, rather than the Divine ideals of Jesus Christ. The scornful wisdom of the world will again, as in times past, be brought to confusion. The present glorification of material things and material ends and methods will end in failure. The ideal city will be the Bride of the Lamb. (John Thomas, M. A.)
The bride
I. Come hither and see the bride as thou hast never seen her before.
1. In the enjoyment of nearer communion.
2. Participating in the highest honours.
3. Possessing enlarged knowledge.
4. Entirely absorbed in contemplation of Him.
II. Come hither and see the bride where she never was before.
1. Beyond the tempters power.
2. Beyond the rags of poverty and the experience of famine.
3. Far removed from the darts of the enemy.
4. Away from the vineyard. Toil a thing of the past. The curse revoked.
III. Come hither, and see the bride as she herself never expected to be.
IV. Come hither, and see her as she was decreed to be.
V. Come hither, and see her as she shall for ever remain.
1. Her Husband has paid her debts.
2. Her Husband is unchangeable.
3. No fear of divorce.
4. No fear of estrangement on her part.
5. No death.
VI. Come hither and see her as she should now aim to be. (R A. Griffin.)
That great city, the holy Jerusalem.--
The new Jerusalem
One of the most remarkable paradoxes of the Church of our times is its abhorrence of materiality in connection with the kingdom of Christ and the eternal future, whilst practically up to its ears in materialism and earthiness. No wonder that professed believers of our day are anxious to put off getting into the heaven they believe in as long as the doctors skill can keep them out of it, and finally agree to go only as a last despairing resort. It has no substance, no reality, for the soul to take hold on. It is nothing but a world of shadows, of mist, of dim visions of blessedness, with which it is impossible for a being who is not mere spirit, and never will be mere spirit, who knows only to live in a body, and shall live for ever in a body, to feel any fellowship or sympathy. But such are not the ideas of our futurity which the Bible holds out to our faith and hope. Did men but learn to know the difference between a paradise of sense and a paradise of sensuality, the truth of God would not suffer in mens hands as it does, and their souls would not suffer as they do for something solid to anchor to amid the anxious perturbations of life and death. Did men but rid themselves of the old heresy that matter means sin, and learn to know and feel that there was a material universe before sin was, and that a material universe will live on when sin shall have been clean washed away from the entire face of it, they would be in better position both to understand and to enjoy the fore-announcements of the futurity of the saints which God has given for their consolation amid these earthly vicissitudes and falsities. The New Jerusalem, which we now come to consider, is in the line of these ideas. It stands in antithesis to the final Babylon. That a real city as well as a perfected moral system is here to be understood, I see not how we can otherwise conclude. All the elements of a city are indicated. It has specific dimensions. It has foundations, wails, gates, and streets. It has guards outside and inhabitants within, both distinct from what characterises it as a real construction. Among the highest promises to the saints of all ages was the promise of a special place and economy answering to a heavenly city, and which is continually referred to as an enduring and God-built city.
I. Its derivation. John sees it coming down out of heaven from God. It is of celestial origin. It is the direct product of Almighty power and wisdom. He who made the worlds is the Maker of this illustrious city. No mortal hand is ever employed upon its construction. The saints are all Gods workmanship. They are all begotten of His Spirit, and shaped and fashioned into living stones from the dark quarries of a fallen world, and transfigured from glory to glory by the gracious operations of His hand. They reach their heavenly character and places through His own direct agency and influence. And He who makes, prepares, and places them, makes, prepares, and places their sublime habitation also.
II. Its location. This is not specifically told, but the record is not without some hints. John sees it coming down out of heaven. The idea is that it comes close to the earth, and is intended to have a near relation to the earth; but it is nowhere said that it ever alights on the earth, or ever becomes part of its material fabric. Though coming into the vicinity of the earth, it is always spoken of as the Jerusalem which is above (Gal_4:26).
III. Its splendour. Here the specifications are numerous and transcendent, as we would expect in a city erected and ornamented by Jehovah, and coming forth direct from the heavens. Everything built by Gods direction is the very best and most splendid of its kind. And this city has, and is invested with, the glory, light, brightness, and radiating splendour of God.
IV. Its amplitude. There is no stint or meanness in Gods creations. When He set Himself to the making of worlds, He filled up an immeasurable space with them. When He created angels He added myriads on myraids, and orders on orders, till all earthly arithmetic is lost in the counting of them. When He started the human race it was on a career of multiplication to which we can set no limit. When He began the glorious work of redemption, and commenced the taking out and fashioning of a people to become the companions of His only begotten Son and co-regents with their Redeemer, these pictures of the final outcome tell of great multitudinous hosts, in numbers like the sands of the seashore. And the city He builds for them is of corresponding dimensions. Amplitude--amplitude of numbers, as well as glorious accommodations--is unmistakably signified, in whatever way we contemplate the astonishing picture.
V. Its system of illumination. What is a city without light! The glory of Gods brightness envelopes it like an unclouded halo, permeates it, and radiates through it and from it so that there is not a dark or obscure place about it.
VI. Its lack of a temple. A temple, says the seer, I saw not in it. What a vacuum it would create in every earthly city if its temples were taken away! What would ancient Jerusalem have been without its temple? But it is no privation to the New Jerusalem that there is no temple in it. Nay, it is one of its sublimest peculiarities. Deity will then have come forth from behind all veils, all mediating sacraments, all previous barriers and hidings because of the infirmities of the flesh or the weaknesses of undeveloped spirituality. Himself will be the temple thereof. The glorious worshippers there hold direct communion with His manifested glory, which encompasses them and all their city alike. As consecrated high priests they will then have come into the holiest of all, into the very cloud of Gods overshadowing glory, which is at once their covering, their temple, their God.
VII. Its relation to the world at large. Of old, the song of the Psalmist was: Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King (Psa_48:2). In every land into which the Jewish people wandered, there was a glad thrill upon their souls when they remembered Jerusalem. We cannot look back upon those times, even now, without a degree of fascination which draws like a magnet upon every feeling of the heart. And what was then realised on a small and feeble scale, in the case of one people, is to be the universal experience with regard to this blessed city. It is to be the centre and illuminator of the world.
VIII. Its supreme holiness. (J. A. Seiss, D. D.)
The city of God
I believe that it was a purpose of God in making the world that it should have in it great cities. Wisdom, in the beginning of Gods ways, rejoiced in the habitable parts of the earth, and her delights were with the sons of men. A peopled earth--A city-covered earth--was, I have no doubt, from the beginning part of what God meant should be. Ages of great cities are of His appointment. But sin has spoiled all. Heres the mischief. The only thing to be complained of in London, or any other city, is sin. Now, the thing that sin has spoiled here--the life of great cities--is to be perfectly shown in another world. There is a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. God is not ashamed to be called the God of His saints, for He hath prepared for them a city.
I. The city--what it is. Talk of great London! Rome! Nineveh! Babylon!--the vision of St. John conveys the idea of something much more vast and beautiful in the last home of the saints. City and country, street and garden, Jerusalem and Eden, are mixed in the picture here, to show, I suppose, that heaven will have in it all that is fairest in nature with all that is richest in civilisation. The city is built of precious stones--all manner of precious stones piled together. Precious stones are in themselves more astonishing than any form, however curious and beautiful, into which they can be carved. In their nature they are images of heavenly things. Just think: no objects last so long as precious stones: they are the oldest and the strongest things in nature. No objects are so pure and clear as precious stones. The crystal is purer than the water, when the water is said to be like crystal. No objects are so free from corruption and decay, so utterly beyond the reach of inward stain. And no objects are at once so richly dyed, so rainbow-like in colour, and yet so well seen through, so ready to get and to give light. Are they not striking images of the things of heaven? The lasting nature of heaven! the bright clearness of heaven! the impossibility of staining heaven! the truth, the faithfulness, the love, the justice that dwell and reign in the city of heaven! The life lost by Adams sin is brought back, and perfected and made to last by Christs obedience. Redemption more than repairs the fall; the Lamb has slain the serpent; simplicity has got the better of subtlety; the patience, self-denial, and sacrifice of the atoning Mediator have destroyed the mischief of the tempters pride, selfishness and cruelty; for a heaven better than Eden is opened to men driven from Eden. In the New Jerusalem there are none of the drawbacks and evils of an earthly condition. Especially we are taught that the city is holy. The tabernacle and the temple were patterns of things in the heavens. Now, in every possible way they showed the quality of holiness. In the other world, as much as in this, physical purity as well as moral, moral purity as well as physical, are indispensably needful. A clean heart in a clean house--that is wanted for comfort in this world and in that. Clean hands, pure worship, and a soul full of health and joy--that was the order of things in Jerusalem; so it is in the Christian Church, and will be in heaven. Heaven is pure: it must be so; the necessity is grounded on the deepest reasons. It follows, from its being the habitation of God; of God the holy;--whose eyes are called the eyes of His holiness; whose arm is called His holy arm; whose name is a holy name: who swears by His holiness; who cannot look upon sin; whom to rob of His moral perfection, in our thoughts, is to insult even more than by the denial of His being. It follows, from the perfection of the saints. Any defilement in them would destroy their perfection. Any defilement in their companions would endanger their perfection. It follows, from its being a world of bliss. Sin would spoil the bliss. The consciousness of it would unmake heaven. (John Stoughton.)
Heaven
This figure of heaven suggests--
I. Its relation to gods empire. What the Metropolis is to a country, heaven is to the universe.
1. The central influence of the kingdom.
2. The dwelling-place of its chiefest and strongest.
3. The residence of its sovereign.
II. Its marvellous construction.
1. Heaven is a vast city--a city, not a mere hamlet for a handful of the elect.
2. Heaven is a secure city. Its walls, its gates, etc. Nothing can hurt or destroy.
3. Heaven is a magnificent city. Nothing impoverished, no by-ways of shame, no lurking places of misery; its very streets are of gold.
III. Its famous population. The population is--
1. Immense in number; a great multitude, etc.
2. Honourable in occupation. Jerusalem a city of priests; Athens, of sages; Rome, of soldiers; London, of shopkeepers: heaven, of saints, who serve God day and night.
3. Holy in character. This the glory of the population; they are robed in white. Their moral lustre is their beauty. (Homilist.)
The holy city
This city is not earthly, but heavenly, and is among the heavenly things said by the apostle to be purified by the better sacrifices(Heb_9:23.). Why did such a city need purifying:? Not because unclean, but because sinners were to dwell in it; and they would have defiled it, had it not been for the great sacrifice for the blood does two things--it makes the unclean clean, and it keeps the clean from being defiled.
1. It is a great city. There has been no city like it. It is the city, the one city, the great metropolis of the mighty universe.
2. It is a well-built city. Its builder and maker is God. Its foundations are eternal; its walls are jasper; its gates pearls; its streets paved with gold. It is compactly built together, lying foursquare, and perfect in all its parts, without a break or flaw, or weakness or deformity.
3. It is a well-lighted city. Something brighter than sun and moon is given to fill its heaven. The glory of God lightens it; the Lamb is its light or lamp, so that it needs no candle, no sunlight.
4. It is a well-watered city. A pure river of the water of life flows through its streets, proceeding from the throne of God and the Lamb. What must its waters be! What must be the rivers of pleasure there!
5. It is a well-provisioned city. The tree of life is there, with its twelve variety of fruits and its health-giving leaves. It has more than Eden had. It is paradise restored; paradise and Jerusalem in one; Jerusalem in paradise, and paradise in Jerusalem.
6. It is a well-guarded city. Not only has it gates, and walls, and towers, which no enemy could scale or force; but at the gates are twelve angels keeping perpetual watch.
7. It is a well-governed city. No misrule is there, no disorder, no lawlessness, no rebellion.
8. It is a well-peopled city. It has gathered within its walls all generations of the redeemed. Its population is as the sands or the stars; the multitude that no man can number; the millions of the risen and glorified.
9. It is a holy city. Nothing that defileth shall enter; no spot or speck or shadow of evil. All is perfection there, Divine perfection.
10. It is a glorious city. The glory that fills it and encircles it is the glory of God. Everything resplendent is there. It shines like the sun.
11. It is a blessed city. It is truly the joyous city. It is the throne of the blessed One, and all in it is like Him. (H. Bonar, D. D.)
Twelve gates.--
The manifold Christ
Three gates on each side of the celestial quadrangle. So much as to the accessibility of the heavenly city. Christ is Himself gateway impersonated, what Scripture calls open door. Three gates in each wall. Christ is not only one gate; He is all the gates, and His multiplicity matches our diversity. So that each man to be saved will be saved by his own particular Christ, and enter the kingdom through his own special private portal. We believe in the same Christ, and yet we have not the same belief in Christ--like two men standing on the opposite side of a hill, who have a view of the same hill, but not the same view of the hill. We are in that respect like different kinds of flowers growing out in the sunshine; one flower when it is touched by white light will extract from the white light one particular tint, another flower will extract another particular tint from the same white light, So while we all in a way believe in Christ we each believe in our own way, and He is not the same to any two of us. This leads on to say that Christ as you apprehend Him--not as I apprehend Him, not as your neighbour apprehends Him, hut Christ as you apprehend Him--is your open door. Doubtless, as we come to know Him better and to enter more deeply into the intimacies of His character and spirit, our conceptions of Him will have more and more in common, and we shall draw nearer and nearer to each other in our views and experience of Him. Three gates on a side. The Lord is nigh unto them that call upon Him. Christ, in the conception that you already have of Him, is your gate; no hunting necessary in order to find it; no waiting requisite. The Bible would not say, Choose ye this day if there were anything to wait for. Such words as now and to-day would have to be left out if the gate were anywhere but directly in front of you. This Biblical idea of to-day just matches this apocalyptic idea of three gates on a side, every mans gate close to him. The object of this is not to encourage the notion that it makes no difference how little idea a man has of Christ. Our only point is that the veriest scintilla of an idea, if made available, is enough to begin with. Supposing in a dark, starless night you become lost in the woods. The glimmer of a distant candle reaches your eye, and you are not lost any longer. There may not be light enough about it to show you where you are, but you are not lost any more because there is light enough about it to give you a direction. Any smallest, feeblest conception you may have of Christ will answer every purpose if only you will treat it in the same way that you would treat what appeared to be the glimmer of a distant candle falling upon your eye by night in the midst of a black forest. Light is a sure guide, because, unlike sound, it goes in straight lines. And wherever and howsoever far out upon the circumference of Christs character you take your position and begin threading inward any one of its radiating lines, you are moving by a line as straight as a sunbeam toward the heart and centre of the entire matter. When the disciples were bidden by Christ to follow Him, clearly that meant to them at the outset little more than patterning their fives after Him, going where He went, and doing what He did. That was where they first took hold of the matter. Anything like mere imitation seems mostly to disappear from their life in its later manifestations and farther developments; but it was not much but imitation to begin with. They commenced by obeying Him and trying to be like Him. Christs early instruction to them was in this line. Now, it must needs be said that this obediently doing what God in Christ enjoins upon us, important and indispensable as of course it is, is by no manner of means the best and most distinctive part of the Christian matter. At the same time there are two things to be said about it that are practical and that are in close line with our present thought. The first is that while studiously doing as Christ bids us is not the best part of the Lords matter, it is singularly educating, and contributes with wonderful facility to initiate us into the best part of the Lords matter. Obedience to Christ is only gateway so far as relates to the full meaning of Christ and of Christian life, but it is gateway that portals one of the central avenues conducting directly to meanings that are more essential and complete. The other point is that this matter of taking Christs commands and doing them is not only gateway, but gateway that opens itself immediately in our face. We have not to search around in order to find it. The door is directly in front of us. (C. H. Parkhurst, D. D.)
The many gates
I. The variousness of mens manner of approach to the heavenly city. The gates open in all directions, because an almost infinite variety of travellers, and journeying from most dissimilar regions, are to be gathered there. Said our Saviour to His disciples, Other sheep I have, who are not of this fold. The gospel He proclaimed was not for one nation only, but for the world. And so this New Jerusalem, to which that gospel points the way, must be accessible to men of all languages and lands. But it is not this geographical variousness of approach to the New Jerusalem alone which the fourfold aspect of the heavenly gates suggests to us. There is a moral variousness still greater than any geographical one. The people who gather, are gathered not only out of unlike regions, but out of unlike faiths, ideas, habits, deficiences. Those must needs be, in many respects, very different pathways of approach, intellectually and morally, which are traversed to the heavenly city by one who comes thither out of African ignorance, out of Oriental mysticism, out of Indian savagery, and out of European refinement. How unlike, after all, are the dwellers who live door to door in a city like this; or sit side by side in this Sabbath sanctuary! What diverse dispositions, inclinations, experiences, characters! And in leading men and women so variously constituted to the heavenly Jerusalem, the Spirit of God conducts them in most diverse ways. Here is one who arrives thither through the throes and agonies of an experience as stormy as that of Luther or of Paul. Here is another whose Christian experience is like that of Fenelon or John. Almost natural it seems for this man, when he heard the words, Behold the Lamb of God, to turn and follow Him. Here are those on whom in their journey Zionward the sun always seems to smile. Others come, but it is always under a stormy sky. More and more alone as they go forward, heavier and heavier weighted with suffering and with care, they arrive at last, spent and buffeted, like a shipwrecked sailor, smitten by a thousand seas, stripped and exhausted, at the heavenly refuge.
II. The unexpectedness of the arrival of many there. As many of the travellers to the city were on their way thither, they often seemed at least to be journeying in different directions. Their pathways sometimes ran not parallel but crosswise, and even in contrary courses, according as each was led by the Good Spirit which guided him to one or another of the opposite gates. And it would not be strange if, while they thus crossed and traversed one another, doubt should arise, and even controversy, as to the probability of one anothers arrival. Sometimes the road insisted on has been the road of a particular church organisation. Sometimes the prescribed pathway has been a particular form of some Christian ordinance. How reassuring, in view of an almost interminable catalogue of controversies like these, to remember the many and opposite-looking gates of the heavenly city! How comforting to know that not one road, but many roads, leads thither! And what a suggestion this affords of the surprises which will await those who finally enter; the unexpectedness to multitudes of the arrival of multitudes besides. (Leon Walker, D. D.)
The gates of heaven
The Cashmere Gate of Delhi, where converged a heroism that makes ones nerves tingle; the Lucknow Gate, still dented and scarred with Sepoy bombardment; the Madeline Gate, with its emblazonry in bronze; the hundred gates of Thebes, the wonder of centuries, all go out of sight before the gates of my text.
I. Examine the architecture of those gates. Proprietors of large estates are very apt to have an ornamented gateway. Gates of wood and iron and stone guarded nearly all the old cities. Moslems have inscribed upon their gateways inscriptions from the Koran of the Mohammedan. There have been a great many fine gateways, but Christ sets His hand to the work, and for the upper city swung a gate such as no eye ever gazed on, untouched of inspiration. There is no wood, or stone, or bronze in that gate, but from top to base, and from side to side, it is all of pearl Not one piece picked up from Ceylon banks, and another piece from the Persian Gulf, and another from the Island of the Margarette; but one solid pearl picked up from the beach of everlasting light by heavenly hands, and hoisted and swung amid the shouting of angels. The glories of alabaster vase and porphyry pillar fade out before this gateway. Julius Caesar paid a hundred and twenty-five thousand crowns for one pearl. The Government of Portugal boasted of having a pearl larger than a pear. Cleopatra and Philip
II. dazzled the worlds vision with precious stones. But gather all these together and lift them, and add to them all the wealth of the pearl fisheries and set them in the panel of one door, and it does not equal this magnificent gateway. An Almighty hand hewed this, swung this, polished this. Against this gateway, on one side, dash all the splendours of earthly beauty. Against this gate, on the other side, beat the surges of eternal glory.
II. Count the number of those gates. Imperial parks and lordly manors are apt to have one expensive gateway, and the others are ordinary; but look around at these entrances to heaven and count them. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve. Hear it all the earth and all the heavens. Twelve gates. Gate the first: the Moravians come up; they believed in the Lord Jesus; they pass through. Gate the second: the Quakers come up; they have received the inward light; they have trusted in the Lord; they pass through. Gate the third: the Lutherans come up; they had the same grace that made Luther what he was, and they pass through. Gate the fourth: the Baptists pass through. Gate the fifth: the Free-will Baptists pass through. Gate the sixth: the Reformed Church passes through. Gate the seventh: the Congregationalists pass through. Gate the eight: the Episcopalians pass through. Gate the ninth: the Methodists pass through. Gate the tenth: the Sabbatarians pass through. Gate the eleventh: the Church of the Disciples pass through. Gate the twelfth: the Presbyterians pass through. But there are a great number of other denominations who must come in, and great multitudes who connected themselves with no visible Church, but felt the power of godliness in their heart and showed it in their life. Where is their gate? Will you shut all the remaining host out of the city? No. They may come in at our gate.
III. Notice the points of the compass toward which these gates look. They are not on one side, or on two sides, or on three sides, but on four sides. What does that mean? Why, it means that all nationalities are included. On the north three gates. That means mercy for Lapland, and Siberia, and Norway, and Sweden. On the south three gates. That means pardon for Hindostan, and Algiers, and Ethiopia. On the east three gates. That means salvation for China, and Japan, and Borneo. On the west three gates. That means redemption for America. It does not make any difference how dark-skinned or how pale-faced men may be, they will find a gate right before them. Hear it! oh, you thin-blooded nations of eternal winter--on the north three gates. Hear it! oh, you bronzed inhabitants panting under equatorial heats--on the south three gates. But I notice when John saw these gates they were open--wide open. They will not always be so. After awhile heaven will have gathered up all its intended population, and the children of God will have come home. And heaven being made up, of course the gates will be shut.
IV. The gatekeepers. There is one angel at each one of those gates. You say that is right. Of course it is. You know that no earthly palace, or castle, or fortress would be safe without a sentry pacing up and down by night and by day; and if there were no defences before heaven, and the doors set wide open with no one to guard them, all the vicious of earth would go up after awhile, and all the abandoned of hell would go up after awhile, and heaven, instead of being a world of light, and joy, and peace, and blessedness, would be a world of darkness and horror. So I am glad to tell you that while these twelve gates stand open to let a great multitude in, there are twelve angels to keep some people out. Robespierre cannot go through there, nor Hildebrand, nor Nero, nor any of the debauched of earth who have not repented of their wickedness. There will be a password at the gate of heaven. Do you know what that password is? Here comes a crowd of souls up to the gate, and they say: Let me in. Let me in. I was very useful on earth. I endowed colleges, I built churches, and was famous for my charities; and having done so many wonderful things for the world, now I come up to get my reward. A voice from within says: I never knew you. Another great crowd comes up, and they try to get through. They say: We were highly honourable on earth, and the world bowed very lowly before us. We were honoured on earth, and now we come to get our honours in heaven; and a voice from within says: I never knew you. Another crowd advances and says: We were very moral people on earth, very moral indeed, and we come up to get appropriate recognition. A voice answers: I never knew you. After awhile I see another throng approach the gate, and one seems to be spokesman for all the rest, although their voices ever and anon cry, Amen! amen! This one stands at the gate and says: Let me in. I was a wanderer from God. I deserved to die. I have come up to this place, not because I deserve it, but because I have heard that there is a saving power in the blood of Jesus. The gatekeeper says: That is the password--Jesus! Jesus! (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The gates of the city
Bearing in mind still that this is a description of the ideal Church, we have here four suggestive features presented to our attention.
I. The church is a walled city with many gates. And had a wall great and high, and twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels. Evidently there is no exclusiveness here, but there is protection from unsanctified and unlicensed intruders. The wall is for a bulwark, but not for a barricade; it separates from the world, but it does not shut out the world. And angels stand at the gates-large-hearted, loving angels, not bigoted priests, not stern and crabbed formulators of creeds, but angels with the sweet face of charity; and they stand there, not so much to challenge intruders, as to trumpet forth into every corner of the world their summons, Come in and welcome. A walled city, but with an abundance of open gates. That is the true idea of the Church. Separate from the world, yet always uniting the world; offering freedom of access to all, but license to none. But men have always been trying to improve on this idea. Heavens methods are too simple for their self-conceited ingenuity. The pattern in the mount wants accommodating to the state of things below. Men have always been trying to improve on this idea of the Church, and in improving have defaced and marred and impoverished and corrupted it. On the one side we have the gates of the city closed, and nothing left but some narrow back stairs entrance, and that so covered over with a network of forms and creeds and subscriptions and questions that only the most pliable and yielding souls can worm their way through. But on the other side--and this is by far the greater danger at present--we have not only the gates multiplied, but the very walls thrown down, and the guardian angels dismissed, as though they were no longer needed. Come in where you like, how you like, believing what you like, or as little as you like. Let us take care that we abuse not in this way the sacred name of charity. I am willing to pay a great price for brotherly love, but to buy it at the cost of truth is a losing bargain. There are twelve gates lying open to all the world, and voices on every watch-tower singing the song of welcome: Come in, come in. But come in the name of our Lord and Saviour.
II. A City With Gates On Every Side--not only protesting against exclusiveness by their numbers, but proclaiming the grand catholicity of the Church by their position. On the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. It is another rendering of the Saviours words, They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north and south, and sit down with Abraham in the kingdom of God; and a picture of the same kind as that magnificent vision which floated before the Saviours eyes when He stood under the shadow of the Cross and looked through the scorn and mockery of universal rejection at a world bowing at His feet, I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto Me. All the ages travail for its fulfilment. The gates of this city which point north and west have been crowded for a thousand years.
III. Every gate has its own peculiar beauty and attractiveness. The gates of the city were twelve pearls, every several gate of one pearl; that is, there are no two gates alike, but they are all alike beautiful. Here, firstly, is the carrying out of the thought which runs through the whole description--that the Church below, like heaven above, manifests its life, and power, and graces in infinite variety. There are all manner of precious stones; all manner of fruits; all manner of gates; all imaginable colours and forms. It is Gods vindication of individuality; Gods protest against cramping uniformity--against all attempts to fashion Christians in the same mould and turn them out after the same pattern. It means that Christ, in fashioning men, never repeats a design; that no two Christians are beautiful in exactly the same way; that no two Christians have the same training, the same experience, the same thoughts and feelings, but that God sends every one a different school and subjects every one to a different discipline, that at last He may present every one perfect after a different fashion. All the pictures of heaven which I have seen are gross caricatures, for they represent rows of saints and angels as much alike as rows of pins. God does not fashion His jewels in that way. All very well for pins, but Gods elect are not machine-made, turned out by the gross. They all glow with the same Christ-light, but each of them is cut after a unique pattern. But further: there is a special meaning in the distinction and variety of the gates. It means that men enter the Church by different ways, and are drawn to Christ by various attractions. The promise which brought me peace as I knelt at the Masters feet would perhaps hardly have touched you at all; and the word which thrilled you would perhaps have fallen dull and meaningless on my ears. Christ has a separate song for every heart. Here is a youth, restless, fiery, full of activity, eager for some great field of battle. Christ chants this battle-song to him: Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life. Here is a student panting for knowledge, fired with a passion for truth, ready to suffer martyrdom for it. He hears a voice behind him saying, In Christ are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. Here is a mystic, who longs to break the veil of the unseen, dreamy, idealistic, half inclined to believe in spiritualism, courting fellowship with invisible souls. Christ sings to him thus: Ye are come unto an innumerable company of angels, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant.
IV. The gates are always open. The gates shall not be shut by day. Yes, the gates are open! You have heard of that girl who had left her fathers house and wandered into paths of sin; and one night there came over her a flood of shameful remorse and the agony of a great repentance, and she thought she would go back and look at the old home again, but not to enter. Ah, no! those doors were closed for ever. Just to look--one stolen look--at the old Paradise, and then back into darkness and despair! And with tear-blinded eyes and wearied feet she crept up to the door in the silent midnight hours, and half mechanically put her hand upon the latch; and lo, the door opened, and she entered. For the father had said, It shall be left open night and day; it may be that she will come back again. And there she lay until the morning, and awoke to find him kneeling by her side, kissing her with the sweet kiss of forgiveness. (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)
The heavenly Jerusalem
Let us take up two or three points in the inspired description of the city in this chapter and consider what they really mean.
1. Consider first what is said in verse 13 on the east three gates, etc. What do these twelve gates mean then, three on each side? What, save that the city lieth open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike? Now let us not fail to notice how strongly this contrasts with the character of all human institutions. How obvious it is that they are accessible to the few only, and almost in exact proportion to the advantages they offer is the smallness of the number of those who are admitted to share in them. The prizes of this life are only for the rich, the successful, the talented, the favourites of fortune; only its miseries, its sicknesses, its bereavements, seem the common heritage of all, of rich and poor, high and low, one with another. But it is not thus with the glories of the holy city; they lie equally open towards every quarter, equally accessible to men of every race and clime, and colour, and circumstance. Therefore take courage, O traveller Zionwards; if only thy face be set towards the holy city, thou too shalt surely find a gate open to admit thee, from whatever direction thou shalt come.
2. Consider next what is written about the city in verse 15 that it lieth foursquare, etc. The city is the same in every direction--thoroughly symmetrical, with no inequality about it; all is full, complete, utterly satisfactory, nothing falls behind the mark of the rest. How great and striking, again, is the contrast between this and any human happiness, any earthly good, so unequal, so incomplete as that always is!
If well in one direction, so certainly ill in another; if pleasant for the body, so generally bad for the soul; if wholesome for the spirit, so generally grievous to the mind. But in heaven nothing will be wanting; perfect and equal extension will be the law of being; life will have its threefold expansion, in fulness infinite, in intensity perfect, in duration eternal.
3. Consider, again, how it is written in verse 18 that the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. We shall remember at once that no gold on earth is like this, for it is one of the qualities of gold to be opaque, however thin it may be beaten out; even gold-leaf is not transparent: the beauties of pure gold and of clear glass are never combined in this world. Nor, if they were, would the result be at all desirable for building purposes. For what would be the consequence if a city were made of such material? Why, that every house and every chamber would be transparent, and that one could look through the whole city from side to side. But what does this universal transparency signify in heaven, save that there will be nothing to hide, nothing to keep secret, but that all will be open to all, because nothing will be shameful and nothing selfish? And now, since we have gone round about our Sion, and marked well her bulwarks and considered her palaces, tell me, O my fellow-pilgrims, shall this be really our home? It is ours, no doubt: we are heirs of it, joint heirs with Christ of all that He as man hath won for man; but shall we certainly come into our inheritance? Oh, my fellow-pilgrims, travellers together, as ye say, towards the heavenly Jerusalem; this holy city, this happy city is certainly ours; its joy is our joy, its glory is our glory. Shall a little toil, a little need for earnestness, a little necessity for patience, daunt us and defeat us? Shall we fall short of so great and full salvation for want of a few years careful watching, a few years resolute striving? (R. Winterbotham, M. A.)
The gates of heaven
I cannot help thinking that there is more meaning in the vision than the mere quarter of the earth from which the inhabitants of the New Jerusalem are to come. I believe the gates refer also to the different periods of life at which persons go to heaven. The gates on the east side admit those who enter heaven in the morning of life, when the sun is just rising, and the dew is on the grass, and all is fair and bright, and full of beautiful promise. The gates on the west side admit those who enter heaven with heavy step, at the close of a long life, when the sun is setting, and the sad twilight shadows are gathering and deepening, making the path dim and indistinct, so that there is danger of missing the gates altogether. The gates on the cold, dark, wintry north side admit those who have had few advantages in life, who have been poor and friendless, whose circumstances have been unfavourable, and perhaps through much persecution and tribulation entered the kingdom. While the gates on the warm and sunny south side admit those who had prospered in life, to whom everything had been favourable and pleasant, who had no difficulties to overcome, and no trials to endure. Such, I believe, is a deeper meaning implied in the position of the gates of the New Jerusalem. (H. Macmillan, D. D. , LL. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv9–11 9–14. There came unto me one, etc. This is…
9–14. There came unto me one, etc. This is one of the angels of the vials of the wrath of God. See chap. 16. They did their work as wrath angels before the judgment, and are now seen engaged in other work. I will shew thee the Bride, the Lamb's wife. The glorified church henceforth to be united with her Lord.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v9 The vision of the heavenly Jerusalem:
The vision of the heavenly Jerusalem:
v. 9. And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
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v. 10. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
v. 11. having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
v. 12. and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel;
v. 13. on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.
v. 14. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Although the entire description is given in figures, in type and allegory, yet we are able to form conclusions as to the glory of the marriage in heaven from the glory of the bride, the Church of Christ: And there came one of the seven angels that have the seven vials filled with the seven last plagues, and he spoke with me, saying, Come, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Here is a contrast to the great harlot, the servant of the devil, as she had been pictured in the previous chapters: the holy, immaculate bride of the Lamb, the Church of Christ, cleansed by the blood of Jesus Christ.
It is an impressive scene and a wonderful description: And he took me in the spirit upon a mountain great and high; and he showed me the great city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God; her splendor resembled that of a very precious stone, like jasper, clear as crystal, having a great and high wall, having twelve gates, and upon the gates twelve angels, and names in. scribed, which are the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on the east three gates and on the north three gates and on the south three gates and on the west three gates; and the wall of the city having twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. So John’s mind and spirit was again dissociated, for the time being, from his body, as the angel took him along to give him a full view of the Church’s glory in her state of triumph. The glory of God shone round about her, not from angels, as on the fields of Bethlehem, but from the throne of the Lord itself. This glory will pervade and permeate the Church in eternal life, giving to her a splendor which can be described only by comparing it with the most dazzling of precious stones. The heavenly Jerusalem is safe against all enemies, for her walls are great and high, and her twelve gates are guarded by strong angels. The twelve tribes are mentioned because the Church of Christ is the spiritual Israel in its perfection. And the city is built with a firmness, with a solid foundation which cannot be equaled anywhere else, for it is erected upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief Corner-stone, Eph 2:20. Every one that has based his faith in Jesus Christ, and in Him alone, is built here in time upon the foundation of the Church, and will, in the great beyond, belong to the perfected communion of saints.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9, 11 the bride, the wife of the Lamb
the bride, the wife of the Lamb
The angel speaks of Jerusalem as if it were a woman who is about to marry her groom, the Lamb. Jerusalem is metonymy for those who believers who will inhabit it. (See: Personification and Metaphor and Metonymy)
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the Lamb
This is a young sheep. Here is it used symbolically to refer to Christ. See how you translated this in Revelation 5:6. (See: Symbolic Language)
carried me away in the Spirit
The setting changes as John is taken to a high mountain where he can see the city of Jerusalem. See how you translated this phrase in Revelation 17:3. (See: Background Information)
translationWords
angel
plague
bride
lamb
Holy Spirit
holy city
Jerusalem
heaven
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv9–11 21:9–22:9 This symbolic vision of the new Jerusalem uses…
21:9–22:9 This symbolic vision of the new Jerusalem uses vivid word pictures to describe the bride, the wife of the Lamb—all those who respond to Christ’s message of salvation (see 21:2; 22:17; Eph 5:22-32).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.