REVELATION 21:19-27
The Holy City Continued - 21:19-21
vss 19-20 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third white agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.
The emphasis on the number twelve relates to both the foundation stones and the precious stones, which are a reminder of the breastplate the high priest wore when he entered the Holy of Holies.
Each of the twelve stones had the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, so that when the high priest entered the Holy of Holies he represented all God’s people.
The connection of the breastplate to the foundation stones of the holy city appears to lie in the prophecy of Isaiah 54:5-7, 11–12 concerning the restoration of Jerusalem.
5-7 For your Maker is your husband — the Lord Almighty is his name — the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; he is called the God of all the earth. The Lord will call you back as if you were a wife deserted and distressed in spirit — a wife who married young, only to be rejected," says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion I will bring you back.
11-12 O afflicted city, lashed by stones and not comforted, I will build you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with sapphires. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones.
In context of Isaiah 54, the Lord Almighty is the husband who takes back his wife with deep compassion and then lavishes upon her sparkling jewels and precious stones. John adopts Isaiah’s symbolism of wife and city in terms of God’s people and the new Jerusalem.
Between the twelve gates of the holy city were twelve foundation stones. Each one of these stones had a name of one of the twelve apostles written on it. The decorating of these foundations with twelve kinds of precious stones is not so much a reference to the splendor and wealth of the holy city as to the glory and holiness of God.
vs 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass.
The jewels of these gates are pearls, one for each of the twelve gates. And again John expects the reader to understand his description symbolically.
The emphasis ought not to be placed on the literal size of a single pearl from which a gate was made or on the monetary value of this pearl. John is speaking figuratively and conveys a picture of perfection. “Gates of pearl are a symbol of unimaginable beauty and immeasurable riches.”
The street of the city appears to be the main corridor and is used here as an example of all the streets. This street was made of pure gold symbolizing heaven’s perfection. John compares it with transparent glass denoting perfect purity. Its clarity was of such a degree that it was completely free from any defect. All the inhabitants of this city were without flaw.
Whereas only the priests were allowed to walk on the gold-covered floor of Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 6:30), in the new Jerusalem all the saints walk the streets of gold.
The Light of the City - 21:22-27
vss 22-23 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.
Throughout Revelation, John has mentioned the presence of a heavenly temple. He repeatedly depicted the temple as the very place where God dwells, but now when God takes up residence in the new Jerusalem, John writes that the holy city itself has become the temple.
The Holy of Holies in Solomon’s temple was constructed in the form of a cube (1 Kings 6:20); now the holy city itself is a cube where God dwells and which he fills completely with his sacred presence. The saints in this city are never outside his presence, for God never departs from his people. They have immediate and direct access to him and no longer need Christ as the intermediary (Hebrews 9:24).
Christ’s mediatorial role as the Lamb has come to an end, for now he functions as bridegroom in a marital relationship with his people.
The fulfillment of the ideal temple is reflected in God’s promise to live among his people forever. Paul taught his readers that they as the church were God’s temple.
John mentions the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb in the context of the temple. When God and his people are forever together, then the Old Testament prophecies concerning the ideal temple will be completely fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Then the presence of God and Christ serves as their temple. God is their sovereign Lord, the Almighty, who dwells with them in the new Jerusalem.
The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb share the same glory, for here the Lamb is the source of light and in 22:5 it is God (the Father) himself. This divine light dims all other sources and renders them obsolete. The sun, moon, and stars will cease to function in eternity. There will be no more night (no more darkness), therefore, John writes “there is no night there”.
vss 24-26 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.
Throughout Revelation, the term the nations normally refers to the Gentiles, who because of their opposition to God deserve his wrath. However, in three occurrences, the term nations refers to the redeemed nations in the new Jerusalem.
The inhabitants of the new Jerusalem originate from every tongue, tribe, and nation; they were purchased with the blood of the Lamb. They are part of the great multitude that no one could number.
The kings of the earth are among those who have the privilege of ruling with Christ because they did not receive the mark of the beast on their foreheads or their hands (20:4, 6). Certainly, these nations and kings are citizens in God’s kingdom and do not live outside the city, “for outside the city of God there is nothing—except the lake of fire.”
The saints in the holy city never need rest, and there is no darkness anymore within its walls. Angels who partake of eternity worship God day and night without resting (4:8); by contrast, worshipers of the beast in hell have no rest day and night (14:11). John uses the cosmic terms of day and night, but he points out that in eternity the saints bask in eternal light and implies that they never experience the eternal darkness of those who die a second death.
Everlasting openness of the city gates signifies not that some undesirable beings, human or angelic, can enter it. On the contrary, the open doors suggest that the residents are absolutely safe from all the evil forces that have been consigned to the lake of burning fire.
vs 27 Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.
John issues a warning by telling his readers that they are still living in the day of grace. When the consummation comes, no opportunity will be given for repentance and acceptance into heaven. Spiritual renewal takes place in the present life, not in the afterlife. Now is the time to heed the warning, repent, and wholeheartedly follow the Lord by doing his will.
The word unclean refers to any unholy being or anything impure. It is a ritual expression transmitted from Judaism to Christianity. Old Testament rules and regulations prohibited anyone who was physically or spiritually unclean to enter the temple courts, and in New Testament times anyone who refuses to acknowledge Jesus as Lord is barred from receiving baptism and partaking of communion; and any member who refuses to repent faces discipline. Those who speak deceitfully have Satan as their father (John 8:44); they are excluded from God’s kingdom.
By contrast, those people whose names are recorded in the Lamb’s book of life are free to enter the holy city; they possess life eternal and belong to their faithful Savior Jesus Christ. The Lamb, who bought them with his blood, will never blot out their names from his book and will grant them the right to the tree of life and entrance into the city (22:14).
