Revelation 21
CHAPTER 21
The new Jerusalem
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2 And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride, adorned for her husband. 3 And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people; and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4 And He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more. The first things are passed away.
5 And he that sits on the throne said: Behold! I make all things new. And he said: Write! For these words are faithful and true. 6 And he said to me: They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to him who is thirsty from the spring of the water of life. 7 He that overcomes shall inherit these things, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. 8 But for the fearful and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their share shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur; which is the second death.
9 And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spoke with me, saying: Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. 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, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 She had a wall great and high, having twelve gates; and at the gates were twelve angels, and the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel written thereon. 13 On the east were three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates and on the west three gates. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 And he that spoke with me had for a measure a golden reed to measure the city and the gates of it, and the wall of it. 16 And the city is laid out as a square, its length is as great as its breadth, and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand stadia. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured the wall of it, one hundred and forty four cubits according to the measurement of a man, which is also an angel's measurement. 18 And the building of the wall was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like pure glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper. The second, sapphire. The third, chalcedony. The fourth, emerald. 20 The fifth, sardonyx. The sixth, sardius. The seventh, chrysolite. The eighth, beryl. The ninth, topaz. The tenth, chrysoprase. The eleventh, jacinth. The twelfth, amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls. Each of the separate gates was of one pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, as if it were transparent glass.
22 And I saw no temple therein. For the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple of it. 23 And the city has no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine upon it. For the glory of God did light it, and the lamp of it is the Lamb. 24 And the nations shall walk by the light of it, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. 25 The gates of it shall in no way be shut by day (for there shall be no night there). 26 And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it. 27 There shall in no way enter into it anything unclean, or he that makes an abomination and a lie, but only they that are written in the Lamb's book of life.
Commentary
21:1 Heaven and earth are often used in the Bible to describe a system of things on earth; the ‘heaven’ can refer to those in power, and the ‘earth’ to the ordinary people. There is no need for God to destroy and replace literal Heaven where He dwells.
21:3 This is the hope which Job had- to actually see God in person (Job 19:27). God therefore exists in a personal form; and ultimately we shall see Him. Heaven will be transferred to earth- hence the Kingdom of God on earth is sometimes spoken of as “the Kingdom of Heaven”. Not the Kingdom in Heaven, but Heaven’s Kingdom coming onto earth.
21:17 A man... an Angel- In the Kingdom of God, we shall be made equal to the Angels (Lk. 20:35,36), who cannot sin any more and who share God’s eternal nature.
21:24 When Christ returns, we shall be resurrected, judged, and made the rulers in His Kingdom which He will establish upon earth (5:10). We will rule over the ordinary mortal people who are alive on earth at the time of His return. The rulers of this world will bow before us and give all their glory to us- we who in this life are as nothing. We shall be the light of the world in that we shall teach the nations the light of Christ, who is the light of the world. But we must be and want to be the light of the world now if we are to be it in the future age.
