REVELATION 21:9-18

The holy city - 21:9-14

vs 9 One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.

 

John refers here to the same angel who talked to him earlier in Revelation 17. There the focus was on the great prostitute who received God’s judgment and punishment, but here it is on the bride of the Lamb.

 

What the angel reveals to John is not a beautiful, marriageable young lady but the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven. The Jerusalem that descends to earth from heaven is the church of the Lord Jesus Christ,

 

It is the imagery of the holy city and the bride mentioned earlier in verse 2 that brings the people of the new Jerusalem and their Lord into an inseparable husband-wife relationship.

 

vs 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

 

The new Jerusalem is called holy, which means that the city has been consecrated by God as a place without sin; in other words, it is perfect in every respect.

 

The privilege of living forever in the presence of God is his gracious gift to us. The citizens of the new Jerusalem have been made immutably holy like the holy angels.

 

It is the city of God that descends to earth, not human beings who decide to link their city to heaven. The old Jerusalem ravaged by sin could no longer be called holy after the death of Jesus. The new Jerusalem is free from sin and resumes the name the holy city.

 

vs. 11 Clothed in God's glory [in all its splendor and radiance]. The luster of it resembled a rare and most precious jewel, like jasper, shining clear as crystal.

 

The church portrayed as the holy city is clothed in God’s glory. The city itself has no source of light but depends for its brilliance on the glory of God.

 

Just as the sun beams its light to the moon, which in turn reflects the light of the sun, so God’s glory illumines the church, which in turn disperses the light. It is the diffused light of God that illumines the city.

 

John compares this brilliant light of God’s glory to that of a precious stone, namely, a crystallized stone called jasper. Crystallized jasper is quartz appearing in a variety of colors that maybe compared to the radiance of a diamond.

 

vss 12 & 13 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 

 

John’s description of the holy city communicates safety, for the wall that is both great and high imparts security.

 

Twelve angels guard the twelve entrances of the city. The number twelve occurs ten times in this chapter. In Revelation, this number always illustrates God, His people, and their dwelling places. It describes the elect of the twelve tribes and the church. It depicts the new Jerusalem with twelve gates, twelve angels, and twelve tribes of Israel; it lists the twelve names of the apostles written on the city’s twelve foundations.

 

vs 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

 

The city wall itself was built on a total of twelve foundation stones, which were partially above ground and exhibited the names of the twelve apostles. With the names of the apostles at ground level and the names of the twelve tribes at the gate level, believers belonging to either the Old Testament or New Testament era were given entrance into the city.

 

The twelve apostles are of the Lamb represent the church that Jesus redeemed by His sacrificial death on the cross. The twelve apostles were commissioned as messengers of Christ’s gospel to the world.

 

The Adornment of the City - 15-21

vs 15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls.

 

The one who spoke with John is one of the seven angels, who had told him that he would show him the bride, the wife of the Lamb (v. 9). Now this angel continues to reveal to John the extent of the city of God.

 

The golden reed harmonizes with heavenly items that are made out of gold: lampstands, harps, bowls, crowns, and incense altar. Even the streets are made out of pure gold. Gold symbolizes the royalty and purity of God. Not John but the angel measures the city with its gates and walls.

 

vs 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long.

 

The city is a picture of a perfect cube like that of the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple. “The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high” (1 Kings 6:20). A cube is a symbol of perfection.

 

Instead of taking these measurements literally we must regard them symbolically as a means of describing heaven in terms of stability and perfection.

 

John is not interested in making the dimensions acceptable to human standards, because for him the measurements are figurative. For instance, a cube has twelve edges: four at the top, four at the bottom, and four on the sides. Each edge is twelve thousand stadia, which multiplied by twelve comes to 144,000. This is the same number as that of the Lamb’s followers who have His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads (14:1).

 

vs 17 He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using.

 

It should be observed that whether John has in mind a thick or high wall, the structure itself appears to be out of proportion with the dimensions of the rest of the city. We should not take the wall to be a defensive structure that surrounds the city proper, for the holy city has no need of defenses. All God’s enemies have been consigned forever to the lake of fire (v. 8).

 

The point is not the width or height of the wall itself but the number 144 as the square of twelve. It is the multiplication of the representative twelve tribes on the gates and the representative twelve apostles on the foundation of the city. Therefore, this number should be understood as a symbolic figure to represent the church comprised of both Old and New Testament saints.

 

vs 18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, like pure glass.

 

In this verse and those that follow John depicts the beauty of the holy city.

 

For the throne room scene John portrays as jasper the one occupying the throne (4:3). This jasper probably is a variety of quartz in the various colors of green, yellow, brown, and red. It reflects God’s glory through this stone; it is truly a picture of indescribable beauty. John pictures utter brilliance, that is, the radiance of God himself in dazzling light.

 

It is possible that John has in mind the gleaming splendor of this metal, because for him gold signifies heaven’s perfection. Also, he uses the word like to indicate that gold was similar to clear glass as a shiny substance.