SECTION IV
Conclusion
Chapter Twenty-One
Heaven: A Reward for the Faithful
21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the
first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
There
is no doubt that the earth and heavens will literally be destroyed at the end
of time when the Lord returns, the Apostle Peter clearly
teaches this. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which
the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt
with fervent heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be
burned up. Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy
conversation and godliness, looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day
of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat?” (II Peter 3:10-12). At Christ’s return everything that pertains to this physical
universe will cease to exist. Not a
single molecule will remain of the vast universe which, from the dawn of
creation, has awed man because of its incomprehensible size
and complexity.
But
what is this new heaven and new earth which John sees? Will a new physical universe be created at
this time? In the last chapter we
discussed the resurrection of the dead which is also to occur at this very same
time. In speaking of this event, the
Apostle Paul said, “In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at
the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised
incorruptible, and we shall be changed” (I Corinthians
When
we think of the present heaven and earth, we are looking at the whole of man’s
existence. Mankind exists only in this
physical universe, and is powerless to escape it, except through death. So when John speaks of a new
heaven and earth, he is trying to relate to us a description of where man will
live after this world has been destroyed.
It is a new realm of existence for mankind. Although it is not literally a new heaven and
earth, it really means the same thing in that it is the place where man is to
dwell. So what John is really seeing is
what we usually refer to as Heaven.
21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down
from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
This
But
there is also another meaning to the name “
Imagine
taking all of the residents of
The
Bible refers to the Church as the bride of
Christ. All men who
obey God and are pleasing to Him must enter into an intimate relationship with
Him. This relationship is even more
intimate than that of an actual husband and wife. They must submit themselves to Him as a wife
should to her husband, and He will care for them as a husband does his
wife. The Apostle Paul used this
analogy in describing the relationship between Christ and His followers. “Wives,
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of the wife, even
as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the savior of the body. Therefore as the church is subject unto
Christ, so let the wives be to their own husbands in every thing. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ
also loved the church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and
cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that he might present it to
himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but
that it should be holy and without blemish.
So ought men to love their wives as their own bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. For no man ever yet hated his own flesh; but
nourisheth and cherisheth it, even as the Lord the church: for we are members
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.
For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be
joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak
concerning Christ and the church.
Nevertheless let every one of you in particular so love his wife even as
himself; and the wife see that she reverence her husband” (Ephesians
5:22-33).
The
This
is a good point at which to pause and make a few remarks about Heaven. So far
throughout this study, Heaven has been described as a “place.” When most people talk about Heaven they
describe it as a place. We look into the
sky and say Heaven is “up” there somewhere.
But in reality there is no up.
Our planet, solar system, and galaxy are all moving and rotating
continually. So the direction which is
up now will be down or sideways later.
We cannot point in any certain direction and say Heaven is that way.
In
fact, Heaven is not even a
place. When we speak of it as a place we
are simply trying to put it into human terms so we can understand it. A place denotes physicality. But everything material and physical will be
destroyed at the end of time. Heaven
exists in eternity, where there is neither time nor matter. Life and reality as we know it now will not
exist there. It is probably best
described as a condition rather than a place.
It is another realm of existence.
It is not defined by physical properties such as time, space, energy,
mass, direction or any of the other things that totally define our present
state of existence. It is indeed a new
world, one that is totally unlike anything we have ever experienced. As a consequence, it is extremely difficult
for the Lord to convey a description of Heaven to us. Its similar to trying to describe a rain
forest to someone who has lived in the
But
trying to convey a description of Heaven to man is even
more difficult. At least for our two
examples above, the desert dweller has seen rain and plants, and the native of
the jungle has seen liquid water fall from the sky. None of us, however, knows exactly what a
spirit is or how it lives. As a
consequence, God cannot simply describe Heaven for us as it really is. We would not be able to comprehend it. That’s why God uses things that we do
understand to describe for us those things which we otherwise could never
possibly understand. We will still not
have a full understanding, but will at least have the general idea.
For
the sake of clarity the term “church” also needs to be more fully defined than
we have done thus far. So often men tend
to think of church as a place where you go on Sunday morning. But the Lord’s Church is not a
building or any other physical structure or location. Neither is the Church an organization,
society, association, corporation, league, club, order, fraternity, or any
other such thing. The word church is
from the Greek word
“ekklesia,” which Thayer defines as “a gathering of citizens called out from
their homes into some public place; an assembly. Among the Greeks from Thucydides down, an
assembly of the people convened at the public place of council for the purpose
of deliberating. Any gathering or throng
of men assembled by chance or tumultuously.
In the Christian sense, (a) an assembly of Christians gathered for
worship. (b) a company of Christians, or
of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own
religious meetings, and manage their own affairs according to regulations
prescribed for the body for order’s sake.”[1]
In
short, the term church carries no religious meaning of its own. The various shades of meaning of the word
must be determined based on the context.
But in general, a church is a group of people who are brought together
because of a common purpose. The Lord’s
Church is nothing more
than the group consisting of all men around the world who are obedient to
God. In this sense, the Lord has had a
church since the beginning of time. It
was not the Christian Church, but it was a church nonetheless. This is the same principle as the woman we
saw back in chapter twelve. Here in
Revelation we are not just seeing Christians, but all the redeemed from the
earth of all ages. Everyone from the
creation to the
destruction of this world, who has obeyed God, is part of the church or group
which is the Lamb’s wife. With this
established we are now ready to proceed with our study.
21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven
saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them,
and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their
God.
John does not
identify the speaker here, except to say he has “a great voice.” This voice
declares that the “tabernacle of god is
with men.” Tabernacle is from the
Greek word “skene,”
which Strong’s defines as “a tent or cloth hut (literally or
figuratively):-habitation, tabernacle.”[2] So the thought
expressed in this verse is that redeemed man and God will now dwell together in
Heaven. Man will live
with God there throughout eternity.
“They shall be his people.” Man will be the subjects of the King of kings
and the Lord of lords. They will be His
people and will serve and worship Him throughout eternity as we saw in chapter
seven. “Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and
night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among
them. They shall hunger no more, neither
thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the
throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters:
and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes” (Revelation 7:15-17).
21:4 And God shall wipe away all tears from their
eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither
shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.
This
verse shows us some of the wonderful characteristics of life in Heaven. Death,
sorrow, and pain are three of the things which can make our current lives so
difficult at times. These things often
bring sadness to our hearts and tears to our eyes, but in Heaven all of these
things will be absent. The key to
understanding this is that “the former
things are passed away.” By the
former things he means, not only the death, sorrow, and pain, but all things
associated with them. In other words,
the entire physical universe will be gone.
This conclusion is warranted because it is the physical nature of the
universe which leads to death, sorrow, and pain. Here in this life our bodies are subject to
aging, disease and decay, injury, and so many other things. The spiritual bodies which Christians will
have in Heaven will not be subject to these limitations. This is beautifully expressed by the Apostle Paul. “So also is the resurrection of the
dead. It is sown in corruption; it is
raised in incorruption: it is sown in dishonor; it is raised in glory: it is
sown in weakness; it is raised in power: it is sown a natural body; it is
raised a spiritual body. There is a
natural body, and there is a spiritual body.
And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the
image of the heavenly. Now this I say,
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the
The
main reason why Heaven will be such a
wonderful place to live is that it will be completely free from sin. Their will be no lying, jealousy, hatred,
envy, backbiting, or any of the things which at present bring much misery into
the lives of men. In Heaven all will be
love, harmony, peace, kindness, patience, and the many other wonderful things
which can make life so happy and fulfilling.
Man will once again live like Adam and Eve did in the
Garden of Eden before they
sinned. At that time there was no worry
of death or disease or any such thing.
They had access to the tree of live and could have lived for ever in the
Garden. They had virtually a paradise
here on earth. But sin changed
everything. After their sin God denied mankind
further access to the tree of life, when meant all must face physical
death. The tree of life now awaits the
faithful in heaven, as we will see in the next chapter.
21:5 And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold,
I make all things new. And he said unto
me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.
“He that sat upon the throne,” could be
either God or Christ. We have seen
previously that they both occupy the throne together (Revelation
Next
Christ instructs John to write the
things He is about to tell him. Perhaps
John had become so overwhelmed by the vision of Heaven he was seeing
that he had temporarily stopped writing as he had been previously instructed to
do. This is the last of the thirteen
times John is instructed to write, beginning with the initial charge given him
by Christ in chapter one.
Christ also states
that the words He is about to speak are “true
and faithful.” Of course we would
never doubt the sincerity and truthfulness of Christ, but He wants there to be
no doubt. He assures us that the
comments He is about to make are sure and certain. This is just a way of calling attention to
what He is about to say.
21:6 And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end. I will give unto him that is
athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
“It is done.” These three little words carry a very
powerful message. At this point
everything truly is done as far as man is concerned. All of creation, the entire vastness of the universe, much of which
we cannot even behold, has been destroyed.
All of the biblical prophesies have been fulfilled. The wicked are now receiving the reward for
their works, the eternal and unquenchable fires of Hell, and the righteous are
just beginning to enjoy the never ending day of bliss and happiness in the
presence of God.
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end.” This is the third of four
times that Christ refers to
Himself as “Alpha and Omega” in
Revelation. As we have seen before it
simply denotes Christ’s eternal nature.
Just as nothing precedes Alpha or supersedes Omega in the Greek alphabet nothing
preceded or will supersede Christ in existence.
He shares in the eternal nature of his Father, and thus always has been
and always will be. One name that Christ
used for Himself was “I am.” “And
God said unto Moses, I AM THAT I
AM: and he said, Thus shalt thou say unto the children of
Jesus also used the name “I am” to refer to Himself during His
life on earth as a man. “Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years old,
and hast thou seen Abraham? Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto
you, Before Abraham was, I am. Then took
they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going
through the midst of them, and so passed by” (John 8:57-59). You can see from the reaction of the people
that heard Him that they understood what He was saying. And they, not recognizing Him as the Messiah,
thought His speech to be blasphemous.
The term “I am” relates two
things. First it testifies of the self
existent nature of God. He was not
created, nor was He born, He simply “is.”
He needs no one else to survive, whereas man needs God to continue to
exist. Secondly, it speaks of the
eternal nature of God. Christ clearly claims
these things for Himself by the use of the name I am.
@insert
discussion of trinity
“I will give unto him that is athirst of the
fountain of the water of life freely.”
This is the statement that lets us know without a doubt that Christ is our speaker
here. In His conversation with the
Samaritan woman at the well, He spoke of this very same thing. “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest
the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou
wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water. The woman saith unto him, Sir, thou hast
nothing to draw with, and the well is deep: from whence then hast thou that
living water? Art thou greater than our
father Jacob, which gave
us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh
of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinketh of the water that I
shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be
in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life” (John 4:10-14). This “water
of life” is not literal water, but merely symbolizes the eternal nature
which man will enjoy in Heaven as a gift from
God.
21:7 He that overcometh shall inherit all things;
and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
Satan
and all of his evil tricks are what have to be overcome. If a person is able to overcome the evil
enticements Satan has placed in the world and remain faithful to the Lord he
will inherit “all things.” This means he will gain everything that he
could ever need or desire. During His
ministry on the earth, Christ often spoke of
the inheritance which His people will someday enjoy. “In my
Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told
you. I go to prepare a place for
you. And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also” (John 14:2-3). “Then
shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world”
(Matthew 25:34). “And every one that hath forsaken houses, or brethren, or sisters, or
father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my name's sake, shall
receive an hundredfold, and shall inherit everlasting life” (Matthew
Of
course the Lord said one must “overcome”
in order to receive this inheritance.
The Apostle John taught us that man
can overcome only through faith in Jesus Christ. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the
world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he
that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?” (I John 5:4-5).
In
each of the letters to the Seven Churches in chapters two and three of
Revelation, Christ mentioned a
reward for overcoming. “To him that overcometh will I give to eat of
the tree of life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God” (Revelation
2:7). “He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death”
(Revelation
“And I will be his God, and he shall be my
son.” The greatest benefit which the
redeemed will enjoy in Heaven is their
fellowship with God. They will enjoy a
much closer relationship with Him than was ever possible while living on the
earth. He will make them happy for all eternity
as a good father should. And in return
they will worship and praise Him for ever and ever.
The
fact that the redeemed will be considered the sons and daughters of God adds to
the meaning of the inheritance. All
children become heirs and therefore share in their father’s inheritance. While we may not be God’s natural sons’ Paul points out that
through Jesus God has adopted
us. “For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the spirit of
bondage again to fear; but ye have received the Spirit of adoption, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father. The Spirit itself
beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God: And if
children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be
that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together” (Romans 8:14-17).
We may be, as Paul said joint heirs with Christ, but as the first born
He deserves a double portion of the inheritance, following the pattern of the
Old Law. “But he shall acknowledge the son of the hated for the firstborn, by
giving him a double portion of all that he hath: for he is the beginning of his
strength; the right of the firstborn is his” (Deuteronomy
There
is one other aspect of inheritance that needs to be discussed, however. That is the fact that before the children can
inherit their father’s estate that the father must die. In this case it was actually our elder
“brother” who died and made possible our inheritance. “How
much more shall the blood of Christ, who through
the eternal Spirit offered himself without spot to God, purge your conscience
from dead works to serve the living God?
And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by
means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the
first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal
inheritance. For where a testament is,
there must also of necessity be the death of the testator. For a testament is of force after men are
dead: otherwise it is of no strength at all while the testator liveth” (Hebrews
21:8 But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and
all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and
brimstone: which is the second death.
The
Lord now contrasts the fate of the unrighteous with the wonderful things He has
been saying about the righteous. Fearful
is from the Greek word “deilos,”
which Thayer defines as “timid, fearful.
Christians who through cowardice give way under persecutions and
apostatize.”[3] This is the
kind of person Christ described in
His parable of the sower. “But he that received the seed into stony
places, the same is he that heareth the word, and anon with joy receiveth it;
yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation
or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended”
(Matthew 13:20-21).
Unbelieving
is from the Greek word “apistos,”
which Strong’s defines as “disbelieving, i.e. without Christian faith
(specifically a heathen); (passively) untrustworthy (person), or incredible
(thing):-that believeth not, faithless, incredible thing, infidel, unbeliever
(-ing).”[4] Many people
simply never can be convinced of the existence of God or the need to serve
Him. And without that belief or faith a
person is without hope. “But without faith it is impossible to please
him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a
rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).
Abominable
is from the Greek word
“bdelusso,” which Strong’s defines as “(to stink); to be disgusted, i.e. (by
implication) detest (especially of idolatry):-abhor, abominable.”[5] A murderer is,
of course, someone who purposefully takes another persons life. Whoremonger is from the Greek word “pornos,”
which Thayer defines as “a man who prostitutes his body to another’s lust for
hire, a male prostitute. A man who
indulges in unlawful sexual intercourse, a fornicator.”[6] Sorcerer is
from the Greek word “pharmakeus,” which Strong’s defines as “(a drug, i.e.
spell—giving potion); a druggist (“pharmacist”) or poisoner, i.e. (by
extension) a magician: -sorcerer.”[7] The meaning is
someone who deceives people through the practice of magic and witchcraft.
An
idolater is someone who worships a false God or anything other than the true
God. It is a person who allows anything
whatsoever to come before God in their life.
When anything detracts from someone’s service to God, it in essence
takes God’s place, and becomes an idol.
The Apostle Paul even spoke of covetousness
as idolatry (Colossians 3:5). The desire
to possess something can consume a person and become an uncontrollable
obsession. It can in essence become an
idol. Whatever receives the majority of
our time, effort and affection is our God.
A
liar is anyone who tells something which he knows is not true. His intentions are not the issue. There is no such thing as a “little white
lie.” Any lie, regardless of why it was
spoken, is still a lie, and is unquestionably sinful.
The
fate which awaits the people who practice any of these evil things is without
doubt. They “shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.” The lake of fire is eternal Hell. It is also described here as “the second death.” Death is not truly a cessation of life but a
separation. When man dies physically,
which is the first death, he does not cease to exist, but rather his body and
spirit separate. The physical body ceases
to live just as any animal would, but the spirit of man continues to live in
Hades. At the end of time the spirits of
righteous men will gain even greater access to God, while the unrighteous will
be forever separated from Him. It is
this separation from God that is the second death.
@insert
discussion of Hell
21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven
angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked
with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
There
is no great significance in the fact that it was one of the angels which had
the seven vials which came to speak with John. This is
simply given to identify the angel. It
is, however, somewhat appropriate that one of the angels that helped reveal the
ultimate defeat of the apostate Roman Church is the one who
shows John the Lord’s Church, which was so often persecuted by the Great
Whore. This angel told John to come over
to where he was, so that he could show John the bride of Christ, the Church.
Again this is not just the Christian Church, but is the group of
redeemed men from the earth of all ages.
John again makes
mention of the fact that he is in the spirit and is not present
physically. His body never left the
The
angel takes John to the top of a
very tall mountain and from that very lofty perch he beholds Heaven, as it were, descending from above to receive the
Church. The glorious
city of
21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light was
like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Now
John begins his
description of that
The
first characteristic of Heaven we are told
about is that it possesses the glory of God.
Certainly nothing can be more glorious and wonderful than if it
possesses the glory of God. The light of
the city is compared to a precious stone such as jasper. As we saw in chapter four, jasper is a type
of quartz of varying color. But the
light here is said to be clear, which is not a color of the jasper stone. This just serves to reinforce the point that
we are not looking at literal jasper.
The intended meaning is that the light is pure and flawless, much
superior to any light that we could find here on the earth.
During
the times in which John wrote
Revelation any city of note would have a wall around it. The wall served as a barrier against the
outside world. Access to the city could
be controlled if it was walled. A good
wall could keep some people in and others out, whatever may have been the wish
of the ruler(s) of the city. The wall
would also keep wild and domesticated animals out of the city, improving safety
and sanitation. But above all else, a
wall was especially valuable in stopping invading armies, which were so
prevalent in John’s day.
Obviously,
Heaven will not need a
wall or anything else for any of these purposes, or any other for that
matter. So do not expect to see a real
wall in Heaven. The reason it is
mentioned here is that in John’s day a city would have been incomplete without a
wall. So in keeping with the extravagant
illustrations, Heaven is pictured with a wall greater than any other city has
ever dreamed of having. The wall was
great and high, and contained twelve gates.
Each of the gates had an angel standing beside it. Angels would be perfect guardians, only
letting those into Heaven admitted by the Father. There would be no possible way that any
undeserving person could talk or bribe their way into Heaven.
We
also find that on each gate was written a different name of one of the twelve
tribes of
The
city was in the shape of a square and the twelve gates were equally distributed
along the four sides, with three gates being on each side. This would allow for easier movement in and
out of the city, something very important for a real city, but not so for
Heaven. Once Heaven
receives her residents the doors could be closed, locked, and the key thrown
away. No one will be allowed in after
that and everything that will be needed will be right there in Heaven.
In
verse twelve we saw the names of the twelve tribes of
“Twelve
foundations” is an allusion to the perfect strength and durability of the
foundation, the number twelve, like seven, denoting completeness. This wall, or any other structure for that
matter, would have only one foundation.
But since this wall is intended to last for eternity the foundation
needs to be perfect so that it can support the wall without ever failing. The durability of anything built on a
foundation depends more on the foundation than on the structure itself.
While
the Children of Israel presented
Christ to the world,
His message went forth to the world with the work and teachings of the apostles
as a foundation. The Apostle Paul spoke of the
Lord’s Church as being “built upon the foundation of the apostles
and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone” (Ephesians 2:20).
Even today the writings of the apostles are to be used by Christians as
the sole basis or foundation for godly living.
The Papacy built its Empire on an unsure foundation, not on Christ. Jesus Himself warned of this type of
foolishness. “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my sayings, and doeth them, I will
shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man which built an house, and digged
deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that
house, and could not shake it: for it was founded upon a rock. But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a
man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the stream
did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house was
great” (Luke 6:47-49).
The
Apostle Paul said, “According to the grace of God which is given
unto me, as a wise masterbuilder, I have laid the foundation, and another
buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereupon. For other foundation can no man lay than that
is laid, which is Jesus Christ” (I Corinthians
The
angel that had been talking with John had in his
possession a reed, or measuring rod, with which he was able to measure the
dimensions of the city, the gates, and the walls. The measuring reed which the angel has is
said to be made of gold. In reality gold
would be a poor material for a measuring instrument. First of all, gold is very heavy and any
measuring device made from it would be very unhandy to use. Secondly, gold is soft, so the measuring
device could easily be dented or even bent.
And thirdly, gold tends to shrink and expand with changes in
temperature, and thus the length of the measuring reed would change with the
temperature. So all in all, gold is a
very poor choice for a measuring device.
But this is not meant to be taken so strictly. The intent of saying it is made of gold is to
show its worth and value. Such an
instrument would be worthy of measuring something as grand as Heaven and should be
expected to give extremely precise measurements.
“The city lieth foursquare” simply means
the city was a perfect square. The fact
that the length is equal to the breadth is redundant, for if they were not
equal then the city would not be square.
Most large walled cities of ancient times were not squares, but had very
irregular shapes. Their shapes were
determined more by the topography and geography of the area where they were
constructed, as well as the fact that they may have been added on to as the
city grew. There are no such limitations
with Heaven, however, and it will form a perfect square.
When
the angel measured the city with the golden reed it was found to be 12,000
furlongs. A furlong is 606 feet and ⅜-inches.[10]
Twenle-thousand furlongs would be over 1,377 miles! The scale of this city is unimaginable. The city is a perfect cube with the length, breadth,
and height all over 1,377 miles. In a
city of that size every single person currently living in the world, which has
a population of well over six billion people, could have about 65,000,000,000
(sixty five billion) cubic feet of space if it were divided up equally. To put this into perspective a house which is
40 feet wide, 100 feet long, and has an 8 foot ceiling, only has 32,000 cubic
feet of space. This is well over
two-million times smaller. Again it
should be mentioned that Heaven is not a
physical place and will not have physical dimensions. But God has certainly done an effective job
of conveying to us just how impressive Heaven really is.
The
number twelve-thousand that is used here is not arbitrary. Twelve is the heavenly number of
completeness. One thousand , as we have mentioned
previously, is used to convey the magnitude of a large inexact or unknown
number. Taken together as
twelve-thousand we have the idea that Heaven is very large
and just the perfect size. Would we
expect anything less?
Next
the angel measures the thickness of the wall, it was 144 cubits. A cubit is the distance from a man’s elbow to
his fingertips, and is generally taken to be about 18 inches. John makes it clear
that the cubit he is speaking of here is the one measured with a man’s
arm. But with one slight difference in
this case, it is an angel, and not a man, who is doing the measuring. I don’t believe John is implying any
significant difference in the size of a cubit by telling us it is measured by
the angel’s arm. Anything measured with
a human body part would be inherently inaccurate due to the flexibility of
flesh, and more importantly the fact that people are of different
dimensions. The angel, however, being
perfectly proportioned would be able to render a perfect measurement. Smith’s Bible Dictionary gives an exact value
of a cubit to be 19.0515 inches.[11] Using this value
the walls would be over 228 feet thick.
That’s the better part of a football field. Again we see the superiority of Heaven over all
earthly cities, no enemy could ever hope to scale or breech those walls.
The
“building of the wall” means the
material from which the wall was built.
The wall surrounding Heaven is made of
jasper. Jasper being a variety of quartz
is very hard and resistant to weathering.
The “city” would include all
the structures and buildings. All of
these things were made of gold which was clear as glass. Obviously, gold is not clear. The idea is that this gold is so shiny and
glittery and pure that it almost seems transparent. This gold far exceeds any ever seen on the
earth in beauty and value. In reality
gold is gold. Pure gold cannot be made
any purer. This is another item which
lets us know these descriptions are not to be taken literally, but are simply
meant as an attempt to describe the wonders and glories of Heaven in physical
terms, and to show Heaven’s superiority over the earth. Everything in Heaven will be far superior to
its counterpart here on Earth.
21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the
seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a
chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
In
verse fourteen the twelve foundations of the wall were introduced and said to
contain the names of the twelve apostles of Christ. Now we find
that they are garnished or decorated with precious gems. Each foundation was decorated with a
different gem. On earth no one would use
such precious materials to dress up the foundation of a wall. But nothing is too good for Heaven. God is not
limited by money, the availability of materials or labor, or any of the other
problems that an earthly ruler would face when constructing a large city. He can use the best materials and use them in
any amount He wishes, something not true of an earthly city.
Jasper
has already been discussed earlier in the chapter. The sapphire was “a precious stone,
apparently of a bright-blue color, and extremely precious. The sapphire of the ancients was not our gem
of that name.”[12] The term
chalcedony is applied in mineralogy to one of the varieties of agate. It is generally translucent and exhibits a
great variety of colors. So named
because it was found near the ancient
Sardonyx
is “a name compounded of sard and onyx, two precious stones, varieties of
chalcedony or agate. The sardonyx
combines the qualities of both, whence its name. The sardonyx consists of ‘a white opaque
layer, superimposed upon a red transparent stratum of the true red sard.’ It is, like the sard, merely a variety of
agate.”[14] Sardius also
called sardine is “a variety of chalcedony, which the Greeks called sardios and
sardion. Two sorts, distinguished by
their color, were known by the name of sardius: the transparent red being our
carnelian and the brownish red being the variety of carnelian to which we
restrict the name sardius.”[15] Chrysolite is
identical with the modern Oriental topaz, the tarshish of the Hebrew Bible.[16]
“The
beryl is an earthy mineral, having as its chief constituents silica, alumina,
and beryllium. It may be colorless or
aquamarine, bluish green, or various blues and violet, or yellow and brown. It is closely allied to the emerald.[17] “The topaz of
the ancient Greeks and Romans is generally allowed to be our chrysolite, while
their chrysolite is our topaz.
Chrysolite is a silicate of magnesium and iron; it is so soft as to lose
its polish unless carefully used. It
varies in color from a pale-green to a bottle-green. It is supposed that its name was derived from
Topazos, an island in the
These
gates were first introduced in verse twelve.
There it was said that each gate had the name of one of twelve tribes of
We
found back in verse sixteen that Heaven is a cube of
nearly 1,400 miles. Yet here we find
that Heaven has only one street. It is not
“streets,” as so many people often say, but simply “the street.” Again, all of
this is figurative anyway, so we should not try to make something out of the
fact that there is only one street in such an enormous city. The emphasis is not on how many streets there
are, but rather on what it is made from.
In
the days of John the best roads
were made of stones, but the majority of them were simply dirt. To someone living today seeing a street of
gold would be unbelievable, but to someone of John’s day, where most of the
roads were dirt, to see a street constructed of pure gold would be mind
boggling. Imagine the amount of gold it
would take to build something like this!
In truth pure gold would be totally unacceptable material for a street. It is very soft and simply would not last
long at all. But the real intent here is
to show us that in Heaven even the most
basic thing like a street will be something to marvel at. A king who can afford to pave the streets of
his city with gold can certainly take care of his people.
We
have seen the gold in Heaven described as
transparent before. Again this is simply
an attempt to convey to us that it is much superior to any gold found on the
earth.
In
the days of John any important
city where very many Jews lived would
have its own temple or synagogue. The temple
was where the people went to worship or sacrifice to God. But John points out that this wonderful city
he is describing has no temple. Its not
that this city is not important enough to deserve a temple, but that there
simply is no need for one. There is no
need to go to a building somewhere to worship God when you will be eternally in
his presence.
On
this earth man depends on the sun for his very survival. Without the sun we would live in
darkness. Plants and animals could not
live under these conditions. And to top
all of this off the earth would be so cold that everything would freeze solid
anyway. But in Heaven, Christians will not be dependent on physical light
sources. Hot and cold, as well as light
and darkness, as we know them now, will have ceased to exist. God will be the “light” of this
“And the nations of them which are saved
shall walk in the light of it.” This
speaks of the effects Heaven had on the
earth while it was still in existence.
The nations and countries which had many of their citizens in the
“And the kings of the earth do bring their
glory and honor into it.” This does
not mean that the leaders and rulers of secular governments will all be allowed
into Heaven. In fact, it
will tend to be quite the contrary. As
the Apostle Paul pointed out, “For ye see your calling, brethren, how that
not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called”
(I Corinthians
This
verse really contains two distinct but related statements. First of all, the gates of the heavenly city
will never be closed during the day.
Secondly we are told there will never be night there. As we have already seen physical light
sources will not be necessary in Heaven, God will be the light there. Together these two statements tell us the
gates of Heaven will never close. They
do not close during the day, and eternity is just one endless day, therefore
they do not close.
This
tells us a lot about Heaven. The gates of earthly
cities were often closed. The reasons
for closing them were many. To keep out
wild animals or to keep out thieves or other undesirable people, but especially
to seal the city up against enemies.
However, in Heaven these problems will not exist, therefore there will
never be a need to close the gates. This
again points out another way in which Heaven is superior to all earthly
cities. Even the mightiest earthly
cities in history have fallen victims to invasion.
This
verse really just reiterates the thought expressed in verse twenty-four. The Lord’s Kingdom will be superior to all
others in every way. Therefore all other
nations will eventually fall before it and become subservient to it, thereby
testifying to the superiority of Heaven.
Entrance
into Heaven is restricted,
only those deemed worthy by the Gatekeeper may enter. And Christ said, “…I am the door of the sheep. All that ever came before me are thieves and
robbers: but the sheep did not hear them.
I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall
go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:7-9). Only those known of Christ will be admitted.
Only
what is pure and righteous and holy will be allowed to pass through the gates
into the city. Everything that is vile
and base and carnal will be kept outside.
In the next chapter we will see some of the things which will be kept
outside the city. “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers,
and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie” (Revelation