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Scripture Reading: Rev. 21; 22:1-2
Revelation 21:1 says, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more.” The main items in the old creation are the heaven, the earth, and the sea. However, in the new creation, there are only the heavens and the earth, and the sea is no more. The sea has been done away with. Verse 2 says, “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The New Jerusalem is something of heaven but does not remain in heaven. It comes down from God out of heaven, out of the place where God is. Furthermore, the New Jerusalem, the holy city, is a bride adorned for her husband. She is a city, yet she is a bride and she has a husband.
Verse 3 says, “I heard a loud voice out of the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they will be His peoples, and God Himself will be with them and be their God.” This city is, on the one hand, a bride, and on the other hand, a tabernacle. In this verse the Greek word rendered tabernacle is used twice, once as a noun and once as a verb. This city is the tabernacle of God through which and within which God tabernacles with man. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only Begotten from the Father), full of grace and reality.” When the Lord, who is the Word, became flesh, He tabernacled among us. The Lord’s human body was a tabernacle in which He tabernacled among the human race. Now the New Jerusalem, the holy city, in principle is exactly the same. It is the tabernacle of God through which God tabernacles with man.
Revelation 21:4-5 says, “He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death will be no more, nor will there be sorrow or crying or pain anymore; for the former things have passed away. And He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He said, Write, for these words are faithful and true.” As we have seen, there are two creations of God in the universe. The first is the old creation, and the second is the new creation. Here we are told that all things of the old creation have passed away and that God has made all things new. In the new creation there is a new heaven, a new earth, and the New Jerusalem. Everything is new. We must remember what the difference between the new creation and the old creation is. The old creation has nothing of God mingled with it, whereas the new creation does have God mingled with it. The old creation was created as an empty vessel, an empty container, with man as the center with a mouth to take in God, so that God might be mingled with man. Therefore, the old creation is an empty vessel without God mingled with it, but the new creation is a new vessel with God contained in it and mingled with it.
Verses 6 through 8 say, “He said to me, They have come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give to him who thirsts from the spring of the water of life freely. He who overcomes will inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he will be a son to Me. But the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all the false, their part will be in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
Verse 9 says, “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.” In these verses we are told clearly that in the new creation, the new universe, there will be a bride, and this bride is the wife of the Lamb. The New Jerusalem is the bride, the wife, the counterpart, of the Lamb, who is the Son of God, the Lord Christ. What is the difference between the bride and the wife? The bride is for the wedding day, but after the wedding day the bride becomes the wife. At the beginning of the coming age the New Jerusalem will be the bride, but after that, the New Jerusalem will be the wife of the Lamb.
Verse 10 says, “He carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” In verses 2 and 10, several words are used to describe this city. It is a new city, and it is a holy city. The New Jerusalem is something new, and it is something holy, something separated from all other things unto God to match God. Moreover, it is something great, not small.
Verse 11 continues, “Having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, as clear as crystal.” The new city, the New Jerusalem, has the glory of God. This simply means that the God of glory shines through her. Her light is like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone. In the figures and types of the Scriptures, what does jasper represent? The explanation is in chapter 4, where verses 2 and 3a say, “Immediately I was in spirit; and behold, there was a throne set in heaven, and upon the throne there was One sitting; and He who was sitting was like a jasper stone.” The One on the throne, who is the Lord God Himself, has the appearance of a jasper stone. Thus, jasper stands for the appearance, likeness, and expression of God. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, has the glory of God, and her light is like a jasper stone, having the appearance, likeness, and expression of God. Her appearance, her shining likeness, is exactly the same as the appearance and likeness of God. Therefore, the holy city, the New Jerusalem is the expression of God. God is expressed through her, and her expression, appearance, and likeness is nothing but God Himself. Therefore, her light is like jasper, shining continually as God does.
Verse 12 in chapter 21 says, “It had a great and high wall and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.” The wall of the city is great and high, not small and low. This wall has twelve gates, and on the twelve gates are inscribed the twelve names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This means that the Israelites are the entrances, the gates, into the holy city, implying that the gospel is out of the Jews. It is the Jewish nation, the people of Israel, who began to preach the gospel from Jerusalem to the uttermost part of the earth to bring people to share and enter into the holy city. Verse 13 says, “On the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.” There are three gates on each of the four sides, comprising the number twelve, which is composed of three times four.
Verse 14 says, “The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” The foundations are also twelve in number, and on the twelve foundations are the names of the twelve apostles. The holy city having twelve gates (the twelve tribes) and twelve foundations (the twelve apostles) clearly indicates that the New Jerusalem is a composition of two groups of people, the Old Testament saints represented by the twelve tribes and the New Testament saints represented by the twelve apostles of Christ.
Verses 15 and 16 say, “He who spoke with me had a golden reed as a measure that he might measure the city and its gates and its wall. And the city lies square, and its length is as great as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed to a length of twelve thousand stadia; the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.” The measurements of the city are composed of the number twelve. The gates are twelve, the foundations are twelve, and the measurement of each dimension of the city is also twelve, but here it is one thousand times twelve. The length is twelve thousand stadia, the width is twelve thousand stadia, and the height is twelve thousand stadia. The city is a cube; that is, it has four sides in three dimensions, once again producing the number twelve. Creation extends in four directions, and the four sides of the New Jerusalem are toward the four directions of the whole universe. Moreover, the three dimensions — length, breadth, and height — imply the Divine Trinity. In the number twelve, four represents the creatures, as with the four living creatures in 4:6-9 and 19:4, and three represents the Divine Trinity, the Triune God. When the Triune God mingles with the creatures, we have twelve, signifying completion in administration. When God, represented by three, is mingled with man, represented by four, we have eternal completion and the eternal government, the eternal administration, represented by twelve.
Verse 17 says, “He measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel.” One hundred forty-four is twelve times twelve, signifying the completion of completions. What then is the meaning of the measure of a man being the measure of an angel? Do not forget that all the things recorded in this chapter are signs. Man is the center of the living things on this earth and the angels are the center of all the things created by God in the heavens. The measurement of a man being the measurement of an angel means that with the holy city, the New Jerusalem, heaven and earth are mingled together. Today there is a difference between heaven and earth and between angels and human beings. One day, however, when the New Jerusalem comes, heaven will be joined with earth, and the things in heaven will be mingled with the things on earth. When that day comes, there will be no more difference between the things in heaven and the things on earth. This very city, this new city, this holy Jerusalem, is the embodiment of the mingling of the things in heaven with the things on the earth. The universe includes time and space. It is a composition of the saints in the Old Testament time and the saints in the New Testament time, and it is also a mingling of the things in heaven and the things on earth. As far as time is concerned, the New Jerusalem is a combination; as far as space is concerned, the New Jerusalem is a mingling. The New Jerusalem is the central item of the whole universe, the center of time and space. In her, the Old Testament saints and the New Testament saints are combined, and the things in the heavens and the things on the earth are mingled as one. However, do not misunderstand; there is still a difference between angels and men, but as far as the mingling of the holy city is concerned, there is no difference between heaven and earth.
Verse 18 says, “The building work of its wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.” Here jasper is mentioned again. The appearance of the city is like the shining of jasper, and the whole wall is made of jasper. The city itself is gold, and the wall built upon it is jasper. When you look at the city from a distance, you do not see the gold. What you see is its jasper wall, for the whole appearance of the city is jasper. As we have seen, jasper stands for the appearance of God. Hence, the city is in the nature of God as gold, and the wall is in the appearance of God as jasper. The young people who are believers in Christ have God within them as the divine nature, the new nature, signified by the gold. I am sure that they have the divine gold within them, but I am afraid that many are barren gold with little of the shining jasper as the appearance of God built upon them. They have the gold, the divine nature of God, within them by regeneration, because when we are regenerated, we receive God as the golden nature. However, after regeneration we need to be built up by transformation to have something of the appearance of God shining as jasper. When you go to certain churches, you can realize that there is something built up that is shining all the time, something that is always attractive. The whole wall of the city is jasper. This means the whole appearance of the city bears the appearance, the likeness, of God. God appears as jasper, and this city also appears as jasper. So, this city has the appearance, the likeness, of God expressed through her.
Verses 19 and 20 say, “The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.” The entire wall is jasper with twelve foundations, and all twelve foundations are precious stones. The first stone of the foundation is jasper, which is the same as the wall. If we consider carefully, we can see that the twelve stones are laid upon each other in layers. The twelve layers of precious stones as the foundation in their respective colors have the appearance of a rainbow. Verse 3 of chapter 4 says, “He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance, and there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance.” The appearance of God in the universe is that of jasper with a rainbow around Him. When the New Jerusalem comes, there is the same picture — a city of jasper with a rainbow. Its appearance is exactly the same as the appearance of God.
The spiritual meaning of a rainbow is seen in Genesis 9:13-17, which says, “I set My bow in the clouds, and it shall be for a sign of a covenant between Me and the earth. And when I bring clouds over the earth, and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living animal of all flesh, and never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all flesh. And the bow will be in the clouds, and I will look upon it to remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living animal of all flesh that is upon the earth. And God said to Noah, This is the sign of the covenant which I have established between Me and all flesh that is upon the earth.” The rainbow is a sign of the everlasting covenant that God will never destroy His living creatures. Hence, the rainbow is a sign of God being the God of covenant, the God of faithfulness, who is faithful to keep the everlasting covenant. That the foundation of this city is a rainbow means that the city is built upon the faithfulness of God. It is a city that can never be destroyed, because it is a city of the everlasting covenant of God. The New Jerusalem is a city which has the foundations (Heb. 11:10), and the foundations are the faithfulness of God, the everlasting covenant of God. The foundation of this city is like a rainbow which reminds us and God that we are safe, that we have eternal security. The city in which we will dwell is a city with a rainbow as the foundation to remind God that it is not lawful for Him to destroy it. He is not allowed to destroy it, and He is bound by His everlasting covenant not to destroy it.
Revelation 21:21 says, “The twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was, respectively, of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” Each of the twelve gates is a great pearl. Here we see three kinds of materials: the city itself is gold, the wall upon it is jasper with different kinds of precious stones as the foundation, and the gates are pearls. As we have seen, these three items are in Genesis 2. There are not two or four kinds of materials, but three, signifying the three persons of the Triune God. The gold, signifying the divine nature, is something of God the Father; the pearl, which forms the entrance, is something of God the Son; and the wall with its appearance is something of God the Spirit. This signifies that the Triune God is mingled with and constitutes all the saved ones.
The city itself is gold, and the street of the city, which is one, not many, is also gold. The wall built upon the foundation is of precious stones, and the gates are twelve pearls. Therefore, there is gold, pearl, and precious stones. Gold is the first item. When building the wall of a house, you first must leave a space for the entrance; in this sense, the entrance is first, and the wall is built around it. Therefore, the second item is the pearls, and the precious stones are third. This is the order of the materials according to the teaching of the apostle Paul. Paul told us that we should build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones (1 Cor. 3:12), and silver signifies the same thing as pearls. Therefore, in Genesis 2 there are three items, in Revelation 21 there are three items, and in 1 Corinthians 3 there are also three items. All three items are for the building up of the dwelling place of God. These three items signify something of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit. The Triune God is mingled with us and wrought into us. In this way, we have the divine building.
Revelation 21:22 says, “I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” This verse speaks of the temple, but it is different from the temple in the old Jerusalem. With the old Jerusalem, there was the city and there was the temple within the city, but the New Jerusalem is a city in which no temple is seen. Since God Himself in Christ is the divine temple, there is no need of another temple. With this city there are both the tabernacle and the temple. As we have seen, the whole Old Testament is a history of the tabernacle and of the temple, and the New Testament is the continued history of the tabernacle and the temple. While the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He tabernacled among men (John 1:14). Furthermore, His body was the temple. This temple, this body, was killed, destroyed, by the Jewish people on the cross, but the Lord raised it up in three days, that is, in resurrection (2:19-21). In resurrection He built up an enlarged temple, which is the church. The ultimate conclusion of all the Scriptures is the city as the tabernacle with the temple. This city is the tabernacle with God in Christ Himself as the temple. Thus, again we have the tabernacle and the temple.
Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” God is the light and Christ is the lamp. God is in Christ shining through Christ, just as light is in a lamp and shines through the lamp.
Verses 24 through 27 speak of the nations, saying, “The nations will walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it. And its gates shall by no means be shut by day, for there will be no night there. And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. And anything common and he who makes an abomination and a lie shall by no means enter into it, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”
Verses 1 and 2 of chapter 22 say, “He showed me a river of water of life, bright as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the middle of its street. And on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life, producing twelve fruits, yielding its fruit each month; and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations.” In these verses there are four items, all in singular number: the throne, the river, the street, and the tree. The throne is one, the street is one, the river flowing in the middle of the street is one, and the tree of life growing in the river is also one. In Genesis 2 there is the tree of life with a river flowing beside it, and in Revelation 22 there is again the tree of life with a river constantly flowing. Here is a throne, and from the throne a river flows in the middle of the street. Verse 2 says that “on this side and on that side of the river was the tree of life,” indicating that the tree of life is on the two banks of the river. This means that the street is the two banks of the river on which the tree of life grows.
How can one street serve twelve gates, and how can we enter into the city? Remember that the city is very high, twelve thousand stadia in height. The wall, which is also high, though not as high as the city itself, is one hundred forty-four cubits. That the throne is in the center of the city means that the throne must be on the top of the center of the city. By this we can see that the street must be a spiral. From the throne at the top of the city, the street constantly spirals until it reaches to the twelve gates. In this way, all twelve gates use the one street. Because there is only one street, no one can be lost in the city. Regardless of which of the twelve gates you enter, if you proceed on the street, you eventually will reach the throne of God. As long as you enter in, you will know the way on the street. Simply go on continually and you will reach the Lord Jesus.
Verses 3 through 7 say, “There will no longer be a curse. And the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His slaves will serve Him; and they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. And night will be no more; and they have no need of the light of a lamp and of the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine upon them; and they will reign forever and ever. And he said to me, These words are faithful and true; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, has sent His angel to show to His slaves the things which must quickly take place. And behold, I come quickly. Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy of this scroll.”
Here, to some extent, we have seen a picture of the holy city. In the next chapters we will continue to see something further.
