Introduction THE NEW JERUSALEM (Rev. 21-22) One of the most precious promises we have is the one Jesus gave us in John 14:1-3: Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. (NIV) We talk about going to Heaven when we die, and we will, but Scripture tells us that we won t be there for long and that Heaven will not be our eternal home. To make sure we are all on the same sheet of music, let s review what happens when we die. 1
Rebelliou s Person Old Testament Natural Faithful Person THE FIRST D E A T H DESTINY FLOW CHART Paradise in Heaven with Christ Joy & fellowship Does not receive Christ New Testament Natural Person Receive s Christ The First Resurrection Rev. 20:6 Resurrection Bodies 1 Cor. 15:50-54 Phil. 3:20-21 Acts 1:11; 1 Thess. 3:13; Titus 2:13 Bema Judgment of Believers Rom. 14: 10b, 12 2 Cor. 5:10 New Heaven & New Earth Rev. 21-22 Paradise Comfort & fellowship GREAT GULF Physical bodies decompose GREAT WHITE THRONE JUDGMENT Rev. 20:11-13 Sheol/Hades Suffering & torment 2 The Second Death Rev. 20:14-15; 21:8
When a believer dies, (like the believing thief on the cross in Lk. 23:42-43) he or she goes immediately to Paradise which is now in Heaven with Christ. At the time of the Rapture, we will be resurrected and given our new, glorified bodies, and we will continue to enjoy the fellowship of the Lord in Heaven while Earth goes through the seven-year Tribulation period. At end of the Tribulation will be the Battle of Armageddon and the Second Coming of Christ when Jesus, along with all of us, will return to Earth to establish His 1,000 year millennial reign. At the end of the Millennium, Satan will be released from his prison, will lead a rebellion against Christ, and Jesus will close the curtain on this current world. In fact, the Earth and the entire physical universe will be uncreated. Then will occur the Great White Throne Judgment when all those who have followed of Satan in this life will follow him into his eternal condemnation to Hell. Every person who has not trusted Christ for their salvation will stand before Him to be judged for what they have done and be assigned their places in the Lake of Fire. At this point in time, the purpose of the original creation has been completed; man s great test is over, and the first universe has been destroyed. God has separated the sheep from the goats (Matt. 25:31-46), the wheat from the tares (Matt. 13:24-30), and the rebellious have gone with Satan, the Anti-Christ, and the false prophet to an eternal Hell. Jesus will then create a new universe, a new Heaven and a new Earth, and it is on this new Earth that we will have our eternal home. The passage in John 14 tells us that our future home is being or will be created by Christ, Himself in Heaven. That new home is the New Jerusalem. Interestingly, God hasn t just left us with vague hints about where are going; He has given us a lot of information about it, so thinking about that glorious new place that awaits us must be important. The last two chapters of the Bible contain some of the most detailed description of the New Jerusalem, so let s look there for our study this morning. Open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21, and follow along as we work our way through this chapter. You will not need to worry about taking notes; I will make a complete set available on the JH website, and the audio recording will be available there, too. 3
LESSON Rev. 21:1 New Heaven and New Earth God will create a new universe (the Greek phrase Heaven and Earth means the entire physical creation, i.e., the whole universe). o In Isa. 65:17, God says, See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. (NIV) He used the Hebrew word bara ברא) bara) create ; it is the same word used in Gen 1:1 to describe God s original act of creation. o We don t know much about what this new universe will be like, but we think it will be similar to the present universe with galaxies, stars, planets, and moons. o We know that where we will live will be on a planet, and it will be called the New Earth. This makes us think that it will be at least somewhat like the present Earth, but many things will be different (see v. 4, below). The First Heaven and the First Earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. o This present creation will have been uncreated or destroyed at the time of the Great White Throne Judgment (see Rev. 20:11). 1 V. 2 The Holy City, the New Jerusalem o The New Jerusalem is a holy City. - There are many marvelous and beautiful cities on Earth, today, but none of them are holy. - Holy (hágios) is usually translated holy, but it can also mean saint when referring to a human being. Holy means dedicated to God or set aside for Him and His service; it also carries the meaning of pure, perfect, worthy of God. 1 Note: John is not saying that what Paul calls the Third Heaven (2 Cor. 12:2) will pass away. The Third Heaven is the place where God s throne is and where the believers have been with Christ during the Tribulation, and this is the place from which the New Jerusalem descends in the next verse. 4
- The New Jerusalem is holy; it is dedicated to God; it is set apart for His use; it is pure and perfect. - Note: even the first Jerusalem was called the holy city (Rev. 11:2; Mt. 4:5; 27:53; Ne. 11:1; Isa. 52:1; Da. 9:24). Even though its people were far from holy, the first Jerusalem was holy in that it was set apart for God s use. The New Jerusalem and its people will be holy. - This is the City for which Abraham looked (Heb. 11:8-10). - This is the City for which the Old Testament saints were longing (Heb. 11:13-16). - We are even now citizens of that City. We are not citizens of this present Earth, but of the holy City, the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4:25-26; Php. 3:20; Heb. 12:22-24). We look forward to that City to which we belong (Heb. 13:14). Coming down out of Heaven o The New Jerusalem comes down from Heaven; John saw it actually descending from Heaven. - John does not say he saw it being constructed or created; it had already been completed by this time. Jesus told us in Jn. 14:2-3 that He, Himself is building the New Jerusalem, and Paul told us that the New Jerusalem was in Heaven at that time (Gal. 4:26). From God o We marvel today at the awesome beauty, complexity, and intricacy of the present universe God has created. We will marvel even more at the new universe He is going to create. o The Old Testament told us that this present universe was created by God (Gen. 1:1), but in the New Testament, we learn that the Member of the Godhead who was the direct Agent Who created it is the Son (Col. 1:16-17). o As marvelous as this present creation is, He is holding His best until last. o This new universe will be as much greater and more glorious than the first universe as our new, resurrection bodies will be greater than our present bodies. The old universe was created for man s probationary state; the new universe will be for man s perfected state. 5
o The Old Earth versus the New Earth: The Old Earth Was created by God as a probationary order God created the world to be full of challenges; it is a world needing subduing (Gen. 1:28; note: this was the case even before the Fall). Is suffering under God s curse. 2 Because of Adam s and Eve s rebellion, God cursed the Earth on their behalf (Gen. 3:17-19). Since the Fall, the Earth has been a more difficult place for us to live in. Chaos and disorder are more common. The present Earth itself is suffering under this curse, and anxiously awaiting its liberation (Rom. 8:19-22). Is a place of suffering (Rom. 5:3; 8:17-18). The New Earth Will be created for man in his perfected state; there will be no sin there (Heb. 12:22-23). Will not be under a curse (Rev. 22:3a). Will not know suffering, but will be a place of joy (Isa. 65:17-19). Is a place of death (Rom. 5:12-14). Will not know death (2 Tim. 1:10; Is under the evil influence of Satan (Jn. 12:31; Eph. 2:2); the world is rife with sin. Is a temporary creation created to serve a purpose for a limited time; after it has served its purpose, it will cease to exist (Rev. 21:1). Rev. 21:4). Will be where God dwells with us (Joel 3:17; Rev. 22:3b). Will endure eternally (Isa. 66:22). o The New Earth will be the crown of Jesus new universe, and the New Jerusalem will be its crowning jewel! Prepare to be even more amazed! A bride o Throughout Scripture, God has used the metaphor of the bridegroom and bride to picture the intimacy and personal nature of His relationship to His people. o In the Old Testament Isa. 54:5-7; Hos. 2:19-20. o In the New Testament Matt. 22:1-14; 25:1-13; Mk. 2:19-20; Eph. 5:31-32. 2 Given our record as stewards of God s Earth, fallen man, himself, may be the curse on the Earth. 6
o In Revelation: - Rev. 19 The Bride is all of the redeemed believers who come with Christ at His second coming and share in the wedding supper of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6-9). - Rev. 21 The Bride is seen to be the New Jerusalem, which is the City filled with all the people God has redeemed from all ages (Rev. 21:2, 9-10). beautifully dressed for her husband o The New Jerusalem (the term includes her people) is dressed in the white robes of righteousness provided for her by Christ (see discussion on Rev. 19:7-9). o She is beautiful o She is prepared for her Husband; it has taken all of Earth history to prepare her, but she is now ready for God s future purposes. o This points out that the New Jerusalem has been created primarily for Christ and not for us. She is the bride and He is the Bridegroom. This doesn t mean that He needs it as a place to live like we do, but that it is for His glory and for His purposes. He and the Father will set up their throne in the City and will dwell there with us (Rev. 21:3; 22:3). The New Jerusalem, like everything else, is not about us; it is about Him. It is His inheritance, but we share in His inheritance (Rom. 8:17) because of His redeeming grace. o Of course, the whole New Heavens and New Earth (i.e., new universe) will be created by Him and for Him (like the old one, our present one, was Col. 1:16-17), but the New Jerusalem is a special place. V. 3 A loud voice from the throne o The voice speaks from the throne in Heaven. o As it speaks of God in the third person, it is probably the voice of an angel, perhaps the same angel who spoke from the throne in Rev. 16:17 and 19:5. 7
Now the dwelling of God is with men o The word we translate dwelling reflects, Israel s nomadic heritage; it is the Greek word (skaná) which originally meant tent (or in King James English tabernacle ) 3 but came to mean any kind of dwelling. The verb to dwell is a form of the same Greek word, so it literally means to set up a tent to live or to tabernacle. o In the Old Testament, God promised that He would make His dwelling with His creatures (e.g., Zec. 2:11). - A partial fulfillment of this promise happened when God had Moses set up an elaborate tent during their wilderness wanderings (Ex. 25-26); we know it as the tabernacle. It was the place that God said He would dwell with them (Lev. 26:11-12). But in Old Testament times, God only dwelled with men temporarily. - A greater fulfillment of the promise was the incarnation. Jesus prophetic name, Immanuel, means God with us (Isa. 7:14; Mt. 1:23). In Jn. 1:14, it says that the Word [Jesus] became flesh and made his dwelling among us. This description of Jesus incarnation uses the same Greek word, so it literally says that He set up His tent to live with us or tabernacled among us. - Rev. 21:3 is the final fulfillment of God s wonderful promise to dwell with us. His presence with us in the New Jerusalem will bring many changes to our lives; changes about which we cannot even begin to guess. (Rom. 8:18; 1 Co. 2:9; 1 Jn. 3:2 They will be His people o The word for people, (laoi) is plural, because people from many nations will be part of the New Jerusalem. God himself... will be their God o One change is that we will finally and unreservedly let God be God in our lives. o Presently, even the holiest of us continually struggles with our desire to be god in our own lives. That is a consequence of the Fall, and that is what it means to know good and evil (Gen. 3:5). That was what Satan tempted 3 Here is a good Internet source for the modern meanings of words in the King James Bible which have changed their meanings since 1611 AD: http://www.christiananswers.net/dictionary/kjvwords.html. 8
us with, and that is what we got: we have an overwhelming drive to be god in our own lives and to marginalize the real God. o What joy it will be to no longer live in the midst of that struggle! (Rom. 7:14-25) V. 4 God will... o Others changes will follow, too: - There will be no sorrow He will wipe away every tear. There are many reasons for believers to shed tears soon after we arrive: Sorrow at the memory of spurning the Father s love and rebelling against Him. Pain from having adding to the pain Christ had to suffer on the cross. Remorse at having lived so much of our Christian lives for ourselves. Shame at having given in so willingly to Satan s temptations. Embarrassment at having been such poor followers of Christ. Hurt at the loss of people we loved who have been condemned to an eternal Hell. For some, the memory of suffering for Christ (e.g., the Tribulation saints will experience great horrors). He will wipe all these tears away - There will be no more death literally, death will be no more, death itself will be eliminated; this will truly be eternal LIFE! In all the universe and throughout all the ages to come throughout eternity, no one will ever die again. - There will be no more mourning no more losses and separations; we will all be together forever! We will be able to communicate perfectly and instantly with no need for cell phones (telepathy); perhaps it will be something like twoway praying. We will be able to fellowship with each other anytime we want (teleportation); just think ourselves from one place to another instantly, throughout the whole universe. 9
- There will be no more crying or pain no more suffering of any kind. These were tools for our instruction and perfection during our Earthly life remember, God created our present world as a training and proving ground full of many challenges. But in the New Jerusalem, we will be fully what God planned for us to be. We won t need this kind of environment any more. (I am not saying that we will not learn and grow in eternity!) The old order of things has passed away o All the things above (e.g., sorrow, death, mourning, crying, pain, our old, sinful natures, and our dangerous environment) have characterized our present world since the Fall, but none of them will even exist in the New Heaven and the New Earth. o Isa. 65:17 says that the concerns of this life will no longer be remembered. I don t take this to mean that we will have them erased from our minds, but rather that their importance will be so reduced that they will no longer concern us. This related to the idea that the center of gravity of our lives will be in eternity. earthly life ETERNAL LIFE Δ o This passing away of the old order is nothing less than the final removal of the great curse pronounced against all mankind and even against the Earth itself after the Fall (Gen. 3:17-19). - God can remove the curse without violating His own nature as perfectly just only because of the terrible price paid by His Son, Who was made to be sin and a curse for us (2 Co. 5:21; Gal. 3:13). Jump ahead to verse 9. V. 9 One of the seven angels... said Come and I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. o An angel offers to show John the New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb. 10
V. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a mountain great and high o Probably not up on a real mountain, for there is no mountain big enough to overlook the New Jerusalem, but like being up on a mountain looking down on the City below. o Indicates that the angel was giving him an opportunity to see the big picture. The Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God o The New Jerusalem had been created in Heaven (in Paradise) by the Lord Jesus (Jn. 14:2; Heb. 11:16). o It was now completed, and everything was ready, so it was lowered down out of Heaven to the surface of the New Earth. o In the rest of the chapter, John attempts to describe in human language something too glorious for words. V. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel o The Holy City, the New Jerusalem, will be like no other city. The greatest human city in history will be Babylon the Great; 4 it had been decorated lavishly with gold, precious stones, and pearls and with purple and scarlet (Rev. 17:3-5). The New Jerusalem will far outshine that pitiful city; the New Jerusalem will shine with the very glory of God. - The Shekinah 5 glory of God: When Moses built the Tabernacle in the Wilderness of Sinai, it had been filled with the Shekinah glory of God (Ex. 40:34-35). When Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem and dedicated it to 4 The capital city of the Anti-Christ during the Tribulation Period. By the time the events John is describing in the New Jerusalem take place, Babylon will have been destroyed for over a thousand years. 5 Shekinah (= presence ) is a Hebrew word which is not found in the Bible but was used by later Jewish teachers to refer to what the Bible describes as the glorious presence of Yahweh. It was the Shekinah that occupied the Tabernacle in the Wilderness and the Temple in Jerusalem. It was the Shekinah that empowered the prophets to speak for God. In the New Testament, the Shekinah becomes the indwelling Holy Spirit Who empowers the believer to follow the Lord and do His will. 11
God, the Shekinah glory of God filled the Temple (2 Ch. 5:11-14). The glory of the Lord was described as a cloud, and it was so great and so bright that people could not even stay in the building. This was the manifest demonstration of God s presence with them and reminded everyone who saw it of His glory and awesome nature. We see this Shekinah glory also in the burning bush where Moses met the Lord for the first time (Ex. 3:2), and in the pillar of fire and cloud that guided the Israelites through the 40 years in the desert (Ex. 13:21). When Jesus came to Earth, He manifested the glory of God in a different way (Jn. 1:14), but He revealed the glory of God and was the manifestation of His presence with us. When He ascended to Heaven, Jesus sent the Holy Spirit to us (Jn. 14:16-20; 16:7). The Holy Spirit s indwelling presence in the believer is the manifestation of God s presence and glory; He indwells us as His temple (1 Co. 6:19). o The New Jerusalem shines with the Shekinah glory of God. - It shines with the brightness of the personal presence of God (cf. vv. 22-23). - Its brilliance outshines anything man has ever made. - It will last forever as long as God Himself endures. Like a Like no other city, clear as crystal o The city walls are as transparent as a clear gem, so the Shekinah glory of the Lord shines through it. The clear jasper in this verse may actually refer to diamond; if so, the wall would be made of pure diamond. o The city walls will be like four giant picture windows with the brightness of God s Shekinah glory blazing out from the City and through the transparent diamond wall in all directions. You will be able to see it from space; it will be the brightest thing on the surface of the New Earth. Vv. 12-13 12 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. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 12
o Gates in ancient cities were not like we picture in a medieval castle or like something out of the Lord of the Rings. o Ancient gates were more like entire buildings or even complexes of buildings. o o o o o o o o Model of the city Gate in ancient Megiddo on Israel o In the New Jerusalem, the wall and gateways are not for protection. - The gates are always open (v. 25); they may be more like passageways than gates which close. Maybe we should refer to them as gateways? - There are no more enemies and there never will be again, so there will never be a need to close them. - Henry Morris says, the wall may be as much for its transcending beauty than for anything else. 6 6 Henry M. Morris, The Revelation Record (Wheaton, Il: Tyndale House, 1983), 447. 13
o The twelve gateways were equally spread out around the City, three on each side. o We are not given the dimensions of the gateways, but they must be ample to allow numbers of people to stream in and out as we are told they will. Morris suggests that the gateways may be nearly as tall as the wall itself allowing easy access to any level of the City. 7 o Each gateway bears the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel. It will be interesting to see which names are included as the list changed somewhat after both of Joseph s sons were counted as being separate tribes (e.g., Ge. 29-30 and Nu. 1). These names remind us that the Jews, as God s chosen people, will have a central and unique part in God s eternal Kingdom. They will not simply be absorbed into the Church. o Each gateway will be attended by an angel; his purpose is not to be a guard but to be a greeter to welcome and assist all who enter. The angels will continue their role as ministering spirits to those who have inherited salvation (Heb. 1:14). V. 14 The wall of the City had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. o Twelve foundations; speaking as an engineer, Morris suggests that there will probably be one foundation at each City corner and two on each wall centered between the gates. 8 The foundations needed to support this vast structure will be immeasurably beyond what any human engineer, now or in the future, would be able to construct. The City will be miraculous. It was miraculously made by Christ Himself in Heaven (Jn. 14:2); it will miraculously descend from Heaven to the Earth (Rev. 21:2); and its dimensions and every other aspect are miraculous. Just because one has difficulty conceiving of a structure as mind-bogglingly huge as this should not cause one to doubt its physical reality. It will be miraculous; and what is unconceivable for us is child s play for the Creator of the universe. o Each foundation bears the name of one of the twelve apostles. As with the names of the Israelite tribes on the gateways, it will be interesting to see whose names are included on the foundations. The original twelve 7 Ibid., 448. 8 Ibid. 14
included Judas Iscariot, whose name will certainly not be on one of the foundations. - Will the twelfth be Matthias who was chosen by lot by the eleven apostles in the upper room shortly after Jesus ascension (Ac. 1:15-26)? Some have suggested that the apostles made a mistake by doing this and that is why we never hear of Matthias again. But most of the apostles are never mentioned in the Bible after Ac. 1:13. - Or will the twelfth be Paul who was called to be an apostle to the gentiles by the Lord (Ac. 9; 26; Ro. 1:1)? o Note also Paul s statement in Eph. 2:19-20 about the foundations of God s household. o Writing the names of the apostles on the foundations of the City makes it clear that those who trusted Christ will have a special place in the eternal Kingdom of God. So, both the Jews and the Church will share the Kingdom and the New Jerusalem; each will maintain their own distinctiveness, but one will not have an advantage over the other. V. 15 The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. o Now, the angel measures the City for John and gives him and us specific facts about it. This emphasizes that this is a literal City and not simply an allegory of some spiritual reality. o The City described by the angel is so amazing, so vast, so beautiful, so magnificent as to be beyond comprehension. The City is so large that it took an angel to measure it; John could not have done it. V. 16 The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. o The Greek word is (tetrágōnos) = four-angled. The City plan or footprint is a tetragon, a square with four equal corners and with four sides of equal length. 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. 15
12,000 stadia in length o Stádia plural form of stádion (NIV) or furlong (KJV and NKJV) στάδιον (stádion). A stádion was a little over 1/10 th of a mile or about 640 ft. o 12,000 stádia is about 1,400 miles. And as wide and high as it is long. o A cube, 1,400 miles on a side. o Why a cube? - Some have suggested that the City should be understood to be pyramidal in shape, i.e., having a square base with four sides that slope in to a pinnacle at the top. - Morris argues that the pyramid has always been associated with paganism, whereas the cube shape is associated with the worship of the true God. 9 - The Holy of Holies in the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, who dimensions were specified by God to Moses, was a cube (Ex. 26), and the Holy of Holies in Solomon s Temple which was modeled on it, was also a cube (1 Ki. 6:20). - The square shape also characterized many things associated with the worship of Yahweh. In the Tabernacle in the Wilderness, both the bronze altar for burnt offerings (Ex. 27:2) and the incense altar (Ex. 30:1-2) were square. The High Priest s breastpiece was square (Ex. 28:15-16). The altars in the temple described by Ezekiel were also square (Eze. 41:22; 43:16). o The utility of the cubic layout of the City is easier to understand when one remembers that the glorified bodies of the saints will be able to move in all dimensions as easily vertically as horizontally. For people with the ability to teleport, the cubic layout will offer the best utilization of space. o How could such a cube house all the redeemed in one place? Morris discusses this question: 10 - He projects that, given the current population of the Earth and assuming the soon return of the Lord, the New Jerusalem would have to accommodate around 20 billion persons. - He also assumes that only 25% of the space would be devoted to housing, i.e., the (monaí) = residences (NIV rooms; KJV 9 Ibid., 450. 10 Ibid., 451. 16
mansions ) of Jn. 14:2. He assumes the rest of the space would be used for passageways, parks, public buildings, etc. - He calculates that this would allocate to each resident a cube approximately 1/3 of a mile in each direction for their personal space. He adds, Some, no doubt, would have larger amounts, some smaller, but this would be about the average size. o Assuming these dimensions are to be taken literally, that it will be centered on Jerusalem, and in an east-west orientation, the New Jerusalem could be positioned like this. o Laid out on a flat map of the world, it would look like this: 17
THE NEW JERUSALEM 1,400 MILES ON A SIDE - It covers most of the Middle East including Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, half of Saudi Arabia, and most of Iraq. - Note: This places the location of destroyed Babylon just outside the eastern wall. 18
o To get an idea of the size of the City, if it was laid out over the western United States, it would look like this: 19
o The height of the City is hard to imagine. - The City will protrude far out of the Earth s atmosphere into space. - Satellites orbit the Earth between 300 and 600 miles, but the City will extend to 1400 miles. A T M O S P H E R E N E W J E R U S A L E M 20
o Spaciousness of the New Jerusalem - Will there be room to fit in all the redeemed from all the ages? SIZE SURFACE AREA (footprint on the New Earth) VOLUME TOTAL USEABLE SURFACE AREA If divided into levels 1,000 feet high (7,392 levels) SPACE AVAILABLE PER PERSON (using the current population of the Earth of 4.6 billion) NEW JERUSALEM 1,400 miles on each side 1,960,000 square miles Almost 2 million sq mi 2,744,000,000 cu mi 2 ¾ billion cu mi 14,488,320,000 sq mi Almost 14 ½ billion sq mi 3.15 square miles/person 2,000 acres/person WHOLE EARTH (based on dimension of present Earth) 78,225 miles in circumference 197 million sq mi total 57 ½ million sq mi land area 0.0125 square miles/person 8 acres/person V. 17 Wall of the New Jerusalem He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man's measurement, which the angel was using. 144 cubits thick o 1 cubit = approximately 18 inches o The cubit was one of the earliest known units of measurement used by ancient peoples and represented the distance from the longest finger to the elbow. In actual practice, it varied between 17-20 inches in length. The Roman cubit, of use in Israel during the first century, was about 17.5 inches long, so an average of around 18 inches or 1 ½ feet is a good approximation. o 144 cubits = approximately 216 feet thick (over 70 yards or 2/3 the length of a football field) 21
o The Greek word translated cubit is ς (péchus). o The English word cubit comes from the Latin cubitus which means elbow. o The passage indicates that the angel was using the commonly accepted cubit, not an angelic cubit (i.e., the distance from the angel s finger to elbow). By man s measurement which the angel was using (NIV) According to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel (KJV) According to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel (NKJV) According to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements (NASB) o Since the cubit was based on the length of a forearm, and this measurement was being taken by an angel, John had to specify that this was the same size cubit his readers were used to. o Height or thickness of the wall? - Many interpreters think that this 144-cubit measurement refers to the height of the wall, rather than it thickness. The language of the text does not specify which it is (see the NKJV and NASB for example). If it is height, it would only be about 216 feet high. Some have commented that this would mean that the wall would not obscure the beauty of the City, but we have already seen than the wall is transparent. - It would seem to be silly to call a wall great and high (v. 12) when at 216 feet it would be microscopically dwarfed by the 1400 mile high City. Consequently, I take the measurement to refer to its thickness, as do the NIV translators, and it is reasonable to assume its height to be somewhat proportional to the height of the City itself. - However, a wall even 216 feet thick would appear flimsy next to the towering City. It would be about 1/40,000 th as thick as the wall was high. To try to visualize what that means, if we say the height of the City is represented by the length of an 8 ½ X 11 sheet of paper, then the thickness of the wall would be a lot thinner than the piece of paper itself. It would be more like the thickness of a thin coat of paint. - How could one engineer and support a wall like this (or a City 1,400 miles high, for that matter!)? This is way beyond anything we can even conceive of. - So, it may make more sense to say that 216 feet is its height rather than its thickness. You pay your money and take your choice. 22
V. 18 The wall was made of jasper o The Greek word (endómasis) 11 means material or construction; this indicates that the wall is constructed out of jasper, not decorated with jasper. o Although we cannot be certain what jasper actually is, it may well be diamond, and it fits the description of diamond. If so, the wall is made of diamond; not decorated with diamonds, but made of diamond (cf. v. 11). The city of pure gold, as pure as glass (see also v. 21) o Is this transparent gold? The NKJV says the city was pure gold, like clear glass. Some taken this to mean that the gold of the City was so pure that it was transparent. 12 - The Greek word here translated pure or clear is the word (katharós) which literally means clean or pure. The word can simply mean that an object is clean, i.e., not dirty. Mt. 27:59 uses it this way to describe the cloth with which Joseph of Arimathea wrapped Jesus body in for burial; the cloth was a clean cloth. The word also can carry the sense of ritually clean. Paul has this meaning in mind in Ro. 14:20 when he points out that all food is clean in the sense of ritually clean and available for Christians to eat. - I take the meaning here (and in v. 21) to be describing the gold of the City as both pure gold 13 (i.e., without impurities) and pure in the spiritual sense of worthy to be associated with God. I see nothing to require the interpretation be transparent. The comparison to pure glass I take to be a reference to something (glass) that the people would understand as being without contaminants because they could see that it was pure, i.e., as pure as glass is pure. o The City itself is made of this pure gold. - Verse 21 tells us that the street is paved with gold. The verse only refers to a single street, but that does not mean that the other streets 11 This word is found only here in the New Testament. 12 David Jeremiah, Escape the Coming Night (Dallas: Word, 1990, 1997), 245. Steve Gregg, ed., Revelation, Four Views: A Parallel Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1997), 496. 13 Katharós is used by the LXX in translating Ex. 28:13-14 where the High Priest s breastplate is said to be of pure gold. Stephen S. Smalley, The Revelation to John (Downers Grove, Il: InterVarsity, 2005), 556. 23
were not also paved with gold. Perhaps it refers to the main street or the street leading to each gate (which the verse was just describing). Perhaps with our new bodies, we will not need a lot of streets to get around in the City, so maybe there is only one street! In any event, gold is everywhere. - As Morris remarks, In the present world, gold is the most precious of metals, the standard of all currencies and the greatest of all objects of human greed and conflict.... The most beautiful and valuable of metals is now the most abundant of metals! 14 - Note on purity: even with modern technology, we cannot produce absolutely pure gold (especially in any quantity). Our gold is always contaminated with other metals. 24 karat gold is gold that is supposed to be 24/24ths pure gold, but even 24 karat gold has impurities. Most 24 karat gold bullion is only 99.99% gold. Canada claims to have minted the world s purest 24 karat gold coin: 99.999%. But the gold in the New Jerusalem is a true 100% pure gold. Vv. 19-20 The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone (see v. 14, above and Isa. 54:11-12) o These twelve foundations are spread around the City and can be seen supporting the wall at each corner and between each gateway. o Decorated, literally adorned with precious gems. The Greek word is (kosméo) from which we get our word cosmetic. This adornment is purely for beauty. These foundations are not hidden underground but appear prominently to all observers. o Each of the twelve massive foundations seems to have been made of a specific precious stone and then decorated with other gems. o Although the exact identification of some of these gems is uncertain, here are our best guesses: o 1. Jasper = (iáspis) was a transparent gem of various colors which could be quartz or diamond. This Greek word is found in the New Testament only in Revelation; it comes from the Hebrew word (yashepha) and was used to describe one of the gems in the breastplate of the High Priest (e.g., Ex. 28:20). 14 Ibid., 452-53. 24
2. Sapphire = (sáphiros) was a blue transparent precious stone and could have been sapphire or perhaps even lapis lazuli (although that is not transparent). The Greek word comes from the Hebrew (sapper), another gem in the High Priest s breastplate (e.g., Ex. 28:18). 3. Chalcedony = (kalkedón) is used only here in the Bible, and it is uncertain which gem it refers to. 4. Emerald = (smáragdos), like our emerald today, it is a transparent, green gem. 5. Sardonyx = (sardónyx) may have been a semiprecious stone like an agate or onyx. 6. Carnelian = (sárdion) or sardius was a reddish-colored precious stone. 7. Chrysolite = (crusólithos) was a yellow topaz or peridot. 8. Beryl = (bárulos) was the same as our aquamarine beryl, a sea green colored precious stone. 9. Topaz = (topádzion) was a bright yellow topaz. 10. Chrysoprase = (crusóprasos) was an apple-green, translucent form of quartz called hornstone. 11. Jacinth = (hákinthos) was a hyacinth-colored precious stone that may have been turquoise or aquamarine. 12. Amethyst = (améthustos) was the same as our transparent, purple amethyst. o Although the gateways are numbered, the order does not seem to have any significance nor do the gemstones listed seem to be associated with a particular tribe. o These precious stones are all either transparent or translucent, so the foundations will also glow with the light of the City. These foundations will be brilliantly colorful and dramatic and will contrast with the clear, transparent wall they support. 25
V. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls (see vv. 12-13 and 25) o These are the pearly gates of many stories and jokes about Heaven. o As mentioned in the notes on vv. 12-13, these passages may not even close and be more like gateways than literal gates that close and lock. We shall continue to call them gateways to emphasize this. o Remember: - There are three gates spread out on each side of the City. - Each gate bears the name of one of the tribes of Israel. - Each gate has an angelic greeter. - They will never be shut. - They are probably wide and high to facilitate a lot of traffic. each gate made of a single pearl o If these gateways are anything at all like the gates in ancient cities in Bible times, they will be more like enormous buildings than simply openings in the wall. Passing through one would be like walking through a great, enclosed football stadium with giant openings at each end. o Pearls are not like gemstones; they are not formed by geological processes. They are made by living organisms. How God will produce these enormous pearls, I cannot begin to guess, but this verse says they are pearls, not-pearl-like, or pearly, but pearls. It will be marvelous to see. o Each of these great building/gateways is made of a single, humongous pearl. As you approach the gate, its two towering doorposts, its broad sill, and its lofty lintel reflect the pearly light from the City. As you pass into and through the building/gateway, its lustrous, silky smooth walls beckon you toward the City. Soft light is reflected from every surface all around you. The great street of the city was of pure gold, as pure as transparent glass. o See notes on v. 18, above. o The word great does not appear in the Greek and was added by the NIV translators to show that they believed that this was referring to a (the?) main street of the City. o The description of the street, following right after the description of the gates, leads me to believe that John may be describing what the City 26
looked like to him as he entered one of the gates. If so, it would seem that there is a main street connecting to each gate. o Henry Morris has a wonderful description of approaching the City: Through these pearly gates, at many levels, will pass for endless ages streams of holy angels and glorified saints, going in and out on the business of the King. One can picture, for example, the delightful homecoming of one of the King s servants (Revelation 22:3) who has been dispatched on a mission of exploration and development in some distant galaxy. After a long absence, he begins the long journey earthward. Traveling through space at angelic speeds, far greater than the velocity of light, though still at some finite speed, he enters the Milky Way galaxy and soon approaches the solar system. Slowing down in order to better savor the beauty of the earth as he draws near to it, he soon sees the fair planet with its soft vistas of blue and green beckoning him. And then he sees the City! One would have to view it from a distance, of course, really to see it in its full grandeur. The City is far too large for one to see the whole of its beauty otherwise. From the outer reaches of the new heavens, however..., he will be able to revel in its magnificence. The great jasper wall, clear and glowing white in its soft, yet shimmering, hues, with the jeweled foundations imparts unimaginably beautiful rainbow colorings along its lower reaches. The shining pearl entrances, traversing its height through the intervals between the foundations, all will display the most beautiful panorama to be found in the entire universe, welcoming home the trusted emissary of the mighty King. 15 V. 22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. o In the New Jerusalem there will be no temple needed. - Both the Father and the Son (and presumably the Holy Spirit) will reside in the New Jerusalem; Their throne will be there (Rev. 22:1). - All the reasons for having a temple in the past have now been fulfilled. A place to meet God A place to worship God A place to offer sacrifices for sins A place to pray A place to honor and praise and worship God - The human residents of the City will have direct, personal access to all the Persons of the Godhead, so no temple building will be needed. 15 Ibid., 454-55. 27
Rev. 21:23-27 is in specific fulfillment of the prophecies in Isa. 60: Rev. 21 Isaiah 60 V. 23 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. V. 24a The nations will walk by its light, V. 24b and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. V. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. V. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. V. 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. V. 19 The sun will no more be your light by day, nor will the brightness of the moon shine on you, for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your glory. V. 3 Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn. V. 5d to you the riches of the nations will come. V. 11 Your gates will always stand open, they will never be shut, day or night, V. 5d to you the riches of the nations will come. V. 21a Then will all your people be righteous and they will possess the land forever. V. 23 The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it o Because of having other illumination, the City does not need the sun or moon to give it light as ancient cities did. o This does not necessarily mean that there will be no sun or moon, only that their light will not be needed. 16 o The City will be so bright that the light of the sun and moon and stars will not be noticed there. o But they will continue to give their light to the rest of the Earth away from the City. For the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp o The entire City will be filled with the shekinah 17 glory of the Father and the Son. 16 Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Revelation, Everyman s Bible Commentary (Chicago: Moody, 1968), 122. 17 See p. 54, above, for a discussion on shekinah. 28
o That will be all the light we need in the City to see perfectly well. There will be no dark corners. o That the Father and Son should illumine the City when They indwell it should be no surprise. - God is light, and there is no darkness in Him (Ps. 76:4; 1 Jn. 1:5). - God lives in unapproachable light (1 Ti. 6:16). - God is the source of all light (Ge. 1:1; Ps. 18:28; 27:1; Ps. 104:2). - Jesus came to be a light to the world (Jn. 1:4-9; 8:12; 9:5; 12:46). - It was prophesied that Jesus the Messiah would be a great light (Isa. 9:2) and especially a light to the Gentiles (Isa. 42:6-7; 49:5-6). - This reminds us of John s first overwhelming sight of the glorified Christ in Rev. 1:12-17. o And that we belong in that City of light should be no surprise either. - We are children of light (Jn. 12:36; 2 Co. 6:14; Eph. 5:8; 1 Th. 5:5). - We are the light of the world (Mt. 5:14). V. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. o As the Greek word (éthnā), here translated nations can also mean peoples without a specific national entity being implied, one need not conclude that there will be actual nations on the New Earth. This may simply be pointing out that the people of the New Jerusalem will come from all people groups (Rev. 5:9). o As only the redeemed will survive the Great White Throne Judgment, only the redeemed will enter the New Earth and the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:27). And as these kings do enter the New Jerusalem, they must be redeemed and therefore also be residents themselves of the City. o So what is it they are bringing into the City? V. 26 explains that The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. - Smalley, based on the language of the passage, takes this to mean that the people are giving themselves and the praise and worship they are offering to God and the Lamb, and that it does not have to means goods and wealth as seems to be the case in Isa. 60:11. 18 18 Stephen S. Smalley, The Revelation to John (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2005), 558. 29
V. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. o As we said above, 19 these gates are not for protection. There are no enemies any more. The only beings around are angels and residents of the City (as well as the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, of course!). o These gateways stand open because all who approach are supposed to be there and are welcome. o In ancient times, cities had gates which were shut each night for protection from enemies and wild animals. In the New Earth, they will never need to be shut, and they never will be. They may not even have closeable parts; they may be more like passageways (hence, gateways ) than old-style gates. For there will be no night there. o Not that there will be no night anywhere on the Earth, but here in the City of Light, it will never be dark, so there will never be a need to close any gates. o All around the rest of the New Earth, we can expect that there will be the normal 24-hour sequence of day and night. V. 26 (See v. 24, above.) V. 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. o There are no sinners around to bring anything bad or impure or immoral into the City what an incredible contrast that is to cities today! o Nothing deceitful will enter the City; there will only be truth there. All that is less than the truth comes from Satan he is the father of lies (Jn. 8:44) and he and all his followers have been eliminated, permanently. 19 Vv. 12-13, 21. 30
o The only ones who will enter the City are its residents those who names are written in the Lamb s Book of Life (see notes on Rev. 17:8), and those whose names are recorded in that Book have not only been redeemed, they have been glorified and no longer have their old natures. Rev. 22:1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life o Not actually the water of life: - The Greek text has no definite article here; 20 it is water of life not the water of life. - I think this emphasizes how common this substance will be in the New Jerusalem, but we must not minimize its significance, as we will see below. o Earlier in Scripture, water of life was a symbol of eternal life, and here this wonderful image becomes embodied in an actual river. So in a very real sense, Jesus promise to give water of life to believers (Jn. 4:10, 13-14) is both figuratively and literally fulfilled. as clear as crystal o The water is pure, clean, sparkling, and perfectly transparent. o It reflects the lights of the City around it, and it probably shines with light from beneath it, as everything in the City seems to shine with light. flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb o The Source of this water of life is God Himself; the river flows from the throne. o The throne in the New Jerusalem belongs to and is occupied by both the Father and the Son. This picture is important as it shows Their relationship into eternity; it is the goal toward which all things are moving, so it helps us understand how They relate to each other. 20 The word the is a definite article and indicates that a specific thing is being referred to not just some general thing; e.g., the man means a specific man, not just any man or men in general. 31
V. 2 down the middle of the great street of the city o In the New Jerusalem, water of life is so plentiful that it flows down the main street like a canal. o If this main street runs through the entire City, then the river of water of life is at least 1400 miles long. That s about the length of the Colorado River that flows from northern Colorado to the Gulf of California. On each side of the river stood the tree of life o Literally, a tree of life. o In Ge. 2:9 and 3:22-24, we find the original tree of life in the Garden of Eden where it was a source of eternal life from which human kind in our fallen state had to be protected. For this reason (and not for punishment), Adam and Even were forced to leave the Garden and were prevented from returning to it. o At long last, man, being redeemed and glorified, is given free and unlimited access to the tree of life because God is pleased for us to live eternally in our blessed state (Rev. 2:7). bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. o Rev. 2:7 Jesus promised the overcomers that they would be able to eat from the tree of life in the paradise of God. The New Jerusalem is certainly a paradise, and here God has provided to all the citizens of the City these fruit bearing trees that bestow immortality. o The monthly crops emphasize that the trees produce all the time, not just during the harvest months. - Some have understood this to mean twelve different kinds of fruit, 21 but it could easily be the same fruit each month. - Incidentally, the reference to months gives support to our idea that the new starry heaven will be much like the present astronomical universe with a moon circling the New Earth, marking off the months. 21 Rev. 22:2 in The Holman Christian Standard Bible (Nashville: Holman, 2006). 32