“Revelation 21:9-14”

Thursday, February 01, 2018

“Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And 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 brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel. There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west. And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

---End of Scripture verses---

One of the seven angels “carried” John UP to a mountain to show him a vision of the “the wife of the Lamb” “coming DOWN out of heaven…” (verses 9-10). Notice that this “holy city, Jerusalem” was not brought down to rest upon the earth because John’s best vantage point to view her splendor was atop “a great high mountain” as she was “coming down”. The heavenly Jerusalem will not be an earthly city as many in the religious world claim, and verse 10 is a very shaky “proof text” for their position. We must keep in mind that the holy apostle is being shown heavenly visions in signs and symbols. The kingdom delivered up to God in all its glory is depicted as a beautiful bride, magnificently adorned and arrayed on her special day of marriage, and also as a radiant city having sturdy walls and a firm foundations.

The angel promised to show John a bride, but what he actually observed was a city. “The precise phrase, ‘new Jerusalem,’ occurs only twice in Scripture, both times in Revelation (3:12; 21:2). ‘The holy city’ occurs three times (11:2; 21:2; 22:19), and ‘the beloved city’ once (20:9). It is now called ‘the holy city Jerusalem,’ not ‘great’ as in the KJV. The ‘great city’ is applied nine times to the harlot city Babylon, the world city… One is great, the subject of the wrath of God; the other is holy and beloved, the object of His favor.” (Hailey) “Having the glory of God, her brilliance was like a…crystal-clear jasper” (verse 11). “The ‘jasper’ is the same stone that represented God in 4:3. Scholars have generally concluded that in Revelation the jasper stone is the same as a diamond. The beauty and grandeur of the city reflect the glory of God. Its brilliant light is pure and perfect, for the Lord God gives the light (22:5).” (Harkrider)

The beautiful city of God “had a great and high wall” (verse 12). Walls were built around cities to fortify and protect them from enemy invasion. But this wall is merely a symbol for the total and perfect security provided by God for all His saints in glory because all of their enemies will be completely destroyed when the Lamb receives His bride. Cut within the “great and high wall” were “twelve gates”. Homer Hailey wrote: “Ezekiel’s city likewise had three gates on each side; but in Ezekiel’s vision the gates were ‘egresses,’ exits through which each tribe went out to possess its inheritance (Ezek. 48:30-35). In John’s vision the gates are portals of entrance, identified with the twelve tribes of Israel and by which each enters the city.”

The “twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” may imply that God’s faithful children under His previous covenant arrangement unite with the holy ones called by the Gospel of Christ to comprise “the Jerusalem above” (Galatians 4:26). The “twelve angels” standing at the gates are there as “ministering spirits” (Hebrews 1:14) and not sentinels standing guard, for their will be nothing wicked remaining to assail the saints of God. That three gates are situated on the east, north, south and west (verse 13) likely indicates that people of faith from all nations and tribes and all points of the compass are welcomed by God and dwell freely in the eternal city. These are the ones who walked by the faith that was built upon the “foundation” of the Gospel of Christ which was proclaimed by “the twelve apostles of the Lamb” (verse 14; Ephesians 2:19-20; 1 Corinthians 3:11).

Please read Revelation 21:15-21 for tomorrow.

Have a great day!

-Louie Taylor

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