Revelation 21–22

The previous chapter closed with the solemn scene of eternal judgment. Now a vision of the cloudless beauty of the eternal state of blessedness opens before our eyes. The contrast is as sudden as it is magnificent.

Today righteousness suffers. In the millennial day it reigns. But in the eternal day it dwells happily; it is quite at home... This is not what Isaiah refers to (Isa. 65:17). His new heavens and new earth are only new in a moral sense, to suit the millennium. The sea also exists there, for he speaks of "the coastlands far away."

During millennial days, we read that "a king will reign in righteousness, and princes will rule in justice" (Isa. 32:1). In the eternal state, righteousness will dwell. Ruling supposes there is evil to be repressed. In the eternal state there will be no sin to mar the new heavens and the new earth.

No doubt the new heaven and earth will be made out of the old. By the power of God, the resurrection body will be formed out of our present lowly body. The present earth and heavens are destined for a similar change. After the dissolution they will reappear in the form of the new heavens and earth.

You cannot call a renovated thing a new thing, and an earth purified by fire would simply be renovated. In Revelation 20:11 the earth and the heaven flee from the sight of Him who sits on the great white throne, and no place is found for them. A renovated earth must have a place found for it.

Fire brings about this dissolution, not annihilation (2 Peter 3:10). Scripture says nothing about any future act of creating material in a literal sense. It says nothing either about what some foolishly argue for: annihilation, the total extinction of being... Our planet will be put in the crucible, altered, changed, and made new, to remain for ever.

As a question of exact translation... if the Greek word for sea had no article, the older translation would have been justified. As it stands, the right reading is "the sea was no more", whatever the interpretation. In verse 4 of the same chapter, the same rule about the article shows the right reading to be "death shall be no more."

The sea forms a barrier to contact. So the first and most obvious thought is that there will then be no more separation. Then we remember the symbolic meaning of earth and sea in this book. The earth speaks of ordered government. The sea speaks of unorganised masses of people or nations that are not in subjection. It teaches that every part of the new earth will be in ordered subjection to God, under His governmental control.

One broad physical fact marks off the eternal state from everything that has ever been: the sea is gone. As the world now is, the loss of the sea would be fatal to all natural life. How vast the change then! The fact is that all mere nature will have completely passed away. The course of God's dealings through the ages is then over. All will be fixed for ever.

All is new. All is according to God in His nature. All is fixed... This is not the scene of the Lamb fulfilling purpose and prophecy. It is not the kingdom Christ holds as Mediator, nor the reign of righteousness. It is the kingdom handed over, and God all in all.

The scene in verse 10 of this chapter comes a thousand years before this one in verse 2. In verse 10 John sees the "holy city, Jerusalem" in her glory during the thousand years, in relation to the earth of that day. In verse 2 that thousand-year kingdom has passed away for ever. John now sees the "holy city" coming down from the place she held during the kingdom, to take up her appointed place on the new earth. It is the "holy city," holy according to the nature of God. And it is "new Jerusalem," not the old one described in the Old Testament.

To grasp its meaning we must first clear our minds of one idea that sentiment has encouraged. It is the idea that the holy City is a literal description of the eternal home of believers. In a book where all the other visions are symbolic, it is unlikely that in this vision symbols should give way to literal description. Scripture names the City in so many words: "the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." So it is clear that the City is a symbol of the Church in glory. Yet many details show that it is not only a symbol of the saints themselves. It is a symbolic description both of the Church in glory and of her eternal home.

In the future the Church is pictured as a Woman and a City… The Bride is spoken of as the Lamb's Wife, and is likewise described as "that Great City, the Holy Jerusalem." It is interesting that Revelation 17 presents the doom of the false bride, and chapter 18 of the false city — the Christian world that has abandoned the faith in the last days.

It descends "from God," since it is all His own workmanship. And it comes "out of heaven," for its calling was from heaven. To heaven it had gone when the Lord Jesus came for all His saints.

Earlier she was only coming down from heaven towards earth. Now she comes right down to earth, because God has suited the new earth to this heavenly city… I have seen a good many brides in my day. I have met them a few years later, and what lines are on the brow, what cares are plain on the face, and how soon grey hairs have appeared… But what does John see? He sees, coming down from heaven, the one who has been the Lamb's wife for a thousand years, and she looks as bright, as beautiful and as fresh as the day she went up. Not a grey hair, not a wrinkle can be seen.

The bride is more an object for the affections. The wife speaks of a vessel fully fitted to be a helper to the man… In her eternal place she is seen as "a bride adorned for her husband", and the term wife is not used. It suggests the closest possible relationship. It shows the place of favour and nearness we shall have with the Son throughout that eternal day.

"Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband!" Let us think about these last four words. In the light of them, could we bear the thought of being indifferent to His wishes now? Thank God, SHE will be for HIM then.

Moses says, "The LORD is my strength and my song, and He has become my salvation; I will prepare Him a habitation," a tabernacle. But God says, I will prepare Myself a tabernacle. At the end of the times, after the millennium, this desire of God will come true, just as Revelation 21:3 says. The word tabernacle always has the sense of a habitation of God with men.

The tabernacle was God's first dwelling place on earth among His people Israel, after He redeemed them out of Egypt. While still in the wilderness... the LORD gave this promise, a promise conditional on their obedience: "I will make my dwelling among you... And I will walk among you and will be your God, and you shall be my people" (Lev. 26:11-12). This promise, because of Israel's transgressions, was never entirely fulfilled... Coming to our scripture, we find almost the same words again. Only now they are not a promise, but a statement of fact and accomplishment.

I understand that the New Jerusalem is the tabernacle of God. It is where He lives in a very special sense. And this tabernacle of God comes down out of heaven to be with men. The heavenly saints make up the tabernacle of God. Those on the new earth are simply called "men."

They are not, as the church is, the dwelling place of God, but their place and blessing are as perfect in their relationship as the church's are in hers. There are differences which God in His sovereignty has been pleased to make, but these only illustrate His own perfections and grace.

"He shall tabernacle with them." This emphatic statement is an advance on the previous one. There we read, "The tabernacle of God is with men"; now, "He shall tabernacle with them." In the one case it is the tabernacle. In the other it is Himself. What an amazing truth, that God, the very God, the Maker and Sustainer of heaven and earth, will actually and really dwell with men on earth.

God dwelling with men — not merely as a visitor, as He was with our first parents in the garden of Eden, but as one who lives there.

In the eternal state, when everything will be according to God's mind, nationality will be gone. The distinction between Jew and Gentile, between one nation and another, will have perished. All the redeemed, with one heart, one object, and one occupation, will be "HIS people."

"They shall be His people" — that is, God will take the eternal dwellers on the new earth for Himself. Israel of old was the LORD's people. Now the name "His people" takes on a breadth and depth of blessing completely unknown in Old Testament times... "And God Himself will be with them as their God." In this marvellous statement God, so to speak, comes out of His tabernacle and is personally with His people. Nothing is mentioned here that stands between God and His people — no tabernacle, nothing at all. He is "with them," apart from any covering or outward means of communication.

It is remarkable that Revelation 21:22 uses the word "temple" for the church in millennial display. But when we come to the fixed eternal state, we get the word "tabernacle."... The last glimpse we have is of God dwelling among His people for eternity. May we anticipate that day by taking up the divine thoughts even now.

There will be no question of a distinction between light and darkness. There will be no possibility of anything contrary intruding... No shrine is seen, for the glory of God shines from every atom of its constitution. There is no holy place nor holy of holies, for every part of it is new creation, in which righteousness dwells!

Only in the eternal state does God remove every physical and moral effect of sin. The thousand-year reign, as we have seen, is not a perfect condition. Even under the good rule of the Lord people will still weep on earth. The words, "He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes," are repeated word for word in Revelation 7:17. There, however, it is a millennial scene; here it is the everlasting state. Neither here nor in the earlier scene is the wiping away of tears the work of the Lamb. God does it. If He wipes away every tear, then He removes every cause and occasion of sorrow.

Not a trace of former sorrow shall remain, and God Himself will remove it. What infinite tenderness that God Himself will do this! A mother gently wipes away her child's tears. In the same way God Himself will delight to wipe away all tears from the eyes of His people. And once wiped away they can never return, for "death shall be no more." Think how many tears death has drawn from grieving people in this world!

God had gone to the source of everything that brought in sorrow, and swept it away in the judgment of the cross. The former things had passed away. God once had to drive the man and the woman out of Eden in tears — the garden He had made for them before they fell. Now He can meet us at the door of a new heaven and a new earth as the One who wipes all tears from our eyes.

Not only has He taken away the evil, but it is never to be any more. That is, there is now full and perfect security and blessedness. All the evil is gone. So are all the trials that tested man and brought him to the point where he could truly meet God. The love of God takes the place of everything. He fills all things with Himself, so evil can never enter again. That is the opposite of the old paradise man was given.

Death, and all the trials, pains, and griefs bound up with human life in this world are gone, abolished for ever. Sin has now been taken away (John 1:29; Hebrews 9:26). That is the final result of the death of Christ on the cross. So death is gone from the scene, and with it all the other bitter fruits of sin. Life has swallowed them up in victory. It is not the positive side of eternal blessedness, but the negative.

And He reveals all this to us now, so that we may live in its light through faith. In it we find a remedy for present trials. We also find a rich encouragement to set our minds on things above, where Christ is sitting at the right hand of God.

Notice that it is God who is prominent through this section... The One who sits on the throne speaks. We do not get the Lamb mentioned. It is the glory of God in the fullest possible sense that we have here. And He said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end." No doubt Christ is the Alpha and the Omega too, as we find in Revelation 22:13. But it is not the Lord as such who acts and speaks here. It is God.

He who acts, to produce these new creation things, is the One "who was seated on the throne" — our Lord Jesus Christ. He acted to bring into existence the old creation, according to Genesis 1. He acts again to bring into existence the new. As before, so here, the word of His power is enough. In the past, "He spoke, and it came to be" (Ps. 33:9). Now again He speaks and His words are, "It is done." Both are accomplished with equal ease.

God on the throne of all power, of absolute sovereignty, declares His will — all things new. The old order of things is not improved. It is not carried over into the eternal state in any way, because that state demands a condition of things that fits it. God is the measure and source of the whole eternal state, whether of persons or things. Nothing short of what suits God can appear in the unchanging state.

In the eternal state everything will be new in the fullest sense of the word. The material heavens and earth will be new, and "all things" found in them will be new. All those things that we know at present, spoken of as "the former things," will have passed away.

The One who sits on the throne declares that He makes all things new. "New" here is a very distinct word. It does not mean "new" as opposed to "old." It means "new" as never having been in existence before, either in kind or in itself, and never getting old. Nothing and nobody can ever get old in new creation.

Today, the men of the world are trying to get rid of "the former things." They are seeking to "make all things new." They can break hearts and fill the earth with death, sorrow, crying, and distress. But they cannot end the sorrows of the world. They cannot "make all things new," or bring in a new order, as they dream in vain.

This sentence fixes the character of the eternal state. Grand words indeed, and worth recording! God also confirms His own magnificent declaration by adding, "for these words are trustworthy and true." He demands our attention, and claims our whole-hearted and unqualified agreement... This is not a promise. It is God's own assertion of what will be fact when the moment comes for it to happen.

In the new heaven and new earth all will be new. Everything will then be on the basis of "new creation." It will suit the full and unrestrained expression of all God's nature. It will be the fulfilment of His eternal purpose. We, thank God, are on that basis now as "in Christ" (see 2 Cor. 5:17).

Our verse begins, "And He said to me, 'It is done.'" These words seem to announce the curtain coming down after the grand and terrible scene has passed before the eye. Then follows the declaration, "I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." The end has arrived — "it is done!" The last seal had been broken, the last trumpet blown, and the last bowl poured out. The power of Satan had been crushed and the folly of man rewarded. The kingdoms of this world had become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ. The false prophet and the beast had received their doom. Satan had been thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone. The Great White Throne had pronounced its irreversible sentence on the wicked dead, and Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.

The first and last letters of the Greek alphabet are followed by the explanatory phrase, "the beginning and the end." They show that all testimony on earth had its origin in God, and that its end is His glory. Creation, providence, promise, history, prediction, prophecy, testimony, love, and grace each have their source in God and in Him their end. Nothing on God's side ends in failure. God triumphs at the end.

It is God who is prominent through this portion... The One who sits on the throne speaks. We do not get the Lamb mentioned. It is the glory of God in the fullest possible sense that we have here... No doubt Christ is the Alpha and the Omega too, as we find in Revelation 22:13; but it is not the Lord who acts and speaks here; it is God.

This is present, not future. No one will hunger or thirst in the "new heaven" and "new earth." The splendid list of negatives in verse 4 rules out the thought of thirsty ones in the eternal state, except in the lake of fire. The heart of God overflows with pity and tenderness towards the needy and unsatisfied sons and daughters of men. The "fountain," the source of life itself, is promised to the thirsty. It is God's gift, and freely given, as all His gifts are.

Not of the river, or the stream, note that. The river of life will flow out in a mighty volume in the coming age, but now men are invited to the Fountain. The river has been polluted. Men's opinions and "doctrines of demons" have been poured into it, and the error has spread as the stream has flowed on.

"But," you say, "how can I be sure it means me? Perhaps I am not thirsty enough, not anxious enough, for salvation." Very likely; no one ever was as anxious as he should have been... But the point is not the measure of your anxiety, but the fact of your being thirsty or willing at all... "I will give... freely." That is God's side. "Let him take... freely." That is your side. God gives; all you have to do is take what He gives.

Hear these gracious words! They are placed right beside that awful verse about the lake of fire. God has set them side by side: the fountain of living waters, and the lake of fire... But those who despise the open fountain of living waters must be thrown, with all their evil, into the lake of fire.

All God's people must be overcomers. They are passing through a hostile world, open to every trick and all the malice of a powerful enemy. An earlier chapter gives us a glimpse of a faithful remnant in conflict, and of them we read, "They overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives even unto death." (Rev. 12:11) As to the world, John writes, "This is the victory that has overcome the world — our faith." (1 John 5:4) These two scriptures give us the means of victory. The passage in front of us brings encouragement while the fight is still on.

From the grace of verse 6 we pass to the overcoming of verse 7. At first sight it looks like a complete change. But no one overcomes except those who have received the grace. This is the last mention of overcoming, or victory, in the book of Revelation, which is the book of victory. The victorious saint will enter into full possession of the inheritance. But no saint at all would overcome if the Lamb had not prevailed (the same word), as we see in chapter 5.

The promises to the overcomer in the early part of the book (Rev. 2 and 3) concern special circumstances, and have special rewards in view. But here the encouragement to keep going to the end in the general battle of life is fuller. The rewards are fuller too than the ones mentioned earlier. "The one who conquers will have this heritage" — the things just named. But a still deeper and richer blessing is in store for the overcomer, one of a personal kind: "I will be his God." He gives Himself to the conqueror over life's sorrows. In our judgment this remarkable statement goes even beyond Paul's triumphant words, "the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me" (Gal. 2:20). But the tale of grace is not finished, for we read, "he will be my son." Sonship, then, is an eternal relationship. The overcomer has God, and God has the overcomer as son.

The conflicts of the past are over for ever now. We recall humbling failure and defeat on our part, but His only memory of them is the final overcoming, the fruit of His grace and power. "And I will be his God, and he will be my son," in all the intimacy of an individual relationship enjoyed by all.

The overcomer will inherit all things (v. 7), for he becomes by faith a joint heir with Christ, into whose hands the Father has entrusted everything (Rom. 8:17, John 3:35). This is the only time in John's inspired writings that the believer is said to be a son ("huios") of God. "Son" indicates a position of dignity, liberty and trust. John's usual word for believers is "children." This one exception fits, because eternity is in view. It stresses the dignity of having part with God in eternal glory, not just the family relationship.

The list of those who fall under this doom teaches a sad lesson. It begins with the fearful and unbelieving. Being without faith, they feared man and did not confess Jesus as their Lord. The overcomers of verse 7 are sons of God. The damned of verse 8 proclaim themselves sons of the evil one. They share his doom.

God is the Speaker here, as in the earlier statements. In those earlier declarations God speaks as love. In this final statement of eternity He speaks as light. God never gives up His character as Judge of evil. The lake of fire is an actual and eternal place of punishment. We do not know where in the universe it is. Some today deny eternal punishment. This solemn passage gives them no support. It gives absolute condemnation. The eighth verse is as distinctly eternal as the first or the second.

Who praises the coward? Sadly, he stands at the head of the dark list of the lost in Revelation 21:8. "The fearful" here means those who are afraid to confess Jesus as Saviour and Lord, from fear of the consequences. They are cowards when it comes to Christ. In God's sight this is a sin of the meanest and blackest character. Such people know something of Christ and of His goodness, and yet they are ashamed of His name before others.

"The unbelieving" are those who refuse God's testimony. That testimony was the only thing that could have kept them out of the company of "the abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars." Every unbeliever chooses such company, and he or she will have a part with them in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. This is the second death — not annihilation, but separation (the basic meaning of death) — separation from God in eternal torment.

The list of those on whom this doom falls is sadly instructive. It begins with the fearful and unbelieving… Next come those who bore the character of the devil, who is a murderer. They were marked by lust and dealings with the powers of darkness. The list finishes with "all liars." Lying is another characteristic of the devil, and deceit takes many subtle forms. The overcomers of verse 7 are sons of God. The condemned of verse 8 show themselves to be sons of the evil one. They share his doom.

Sorcerers are those who claim to have dealings with spirits. Death was the appointed penalty under the law for those who practised spiritualism in those days (Deut. 18:10-12). The lake of fire is God's appointed doom for all who practise witchcraft, spiritualism, devil worship, and other forms of sorcery.

The "lake" burns. Its fire is never exhausted. "Fire and brimstone" symbolise torment and agony of a fearful kind (Isa. 30:33)… "Which is the second death." The first death separates soul and body. It is not the ending of existence, and not unconsciousness, as many imagine. Luke 16:19-31 is not said to be a parable. Both it and Revelation 6:9-11 show that the spirit is conscious and active in that state. The lake of fire in its never-ending agony is the second death.

The misery of the unbeliever is brought in again here, as it seems to me, so that there might be no room for a question about how long their condemnation lasts. Can anything be more conclusive? Be assured, there is no coming out of that pit. It is impossible, for divine judgment and righteousness have put them there. Scripture gives no warrant for a purifying fire after death. Would the blessed Lord have repeated five times within a few verses, "where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched," if He had not meant to show the final and eternal doom awaiting the guilty and lost?

One great feature of the seven bowls was the fall of Babylon. That fall prepared the way for the marriage of the Lamb and the appearance of the bride. So the angels who poured out these bowls are fitting messengers. They were sent to show first the judgment of the false wife, and next the glories of the true... The similarity is not accidental. It shows a link that sharpens the contrast between the two things pictured.

Babylon had claimed to be the bride of Christ, but the claim was false. The angel had shown her in her true character, and the judgment from God that would finally overwhelm her. After her destruction the marriage of the Lamb took place in heaven. Now the true bride, the Lamb's wife, is shown in all her beauty. She expresses the thoughts of God, as Babylon had expressed the thoughts of man.

The scene and the person change suddenly. That shows this is not a continuation of the vision we have just been looking at. A new person comes as John's guide... This guide opens a new sight to him. He had already seen it in a general way in his vision of the eternal state. But now its detailed glories will be unfolded before his eyes.

We are brought back from the eternal state to a long description of the bride, the Lamb's wife. Here we see her relation to Israel and to the world at large during the thousand-year reign.

The church is called the Lamb's wife, because He suffered for her. It is impossible without suffering to bring out the fulness and savour of love.

Both "bride" and "wife" appear in this same verse, and a careful look at the Scriptures helps us tell the two thoughts apart. As "wife" she stands related to Him as "the Lamb." As the Lamb He walked a path of humility and suffering, even to death. Now, in His exaltation, He will have at His side in the running of the kingdom one who is in every way morally fitted to share His throne. "The Lamb's wife" suggests that she has known the path of suffering herself, in sympathy with the One she loves. Scripture holds to a principle: suffering comes before glory.

As with Babylon, so here two symbols are brought together — a woman and a city. On the surface they look like a mismatch, but not once we come to their meaning. The one shows what the church will be to Christ; the other, what she will be for Him. As the bride, she is the object of His love. As the city, she is the centre from which His powerful rule will go out.

As the Bride of the Lamb, the Church is viewed as wholly for Christ the object of His love, and care, and delight. It is this aspect of the Church that we desire briefly to consider. It is an aspect of the Church that, in a special way, brings into display the love of Christ, and for this reason appeals very directly to our hearts.

The bride presents the church as the object of Christ's intimate love. As such He loved it and gave Himself for it. As such He has nourished and cherished it in tender love all through its wilderness journey. The church may be weak, failing, persecuted, scattered and broken. Yet it has never ceased to be the object of His love and affection.

Babylon claimed to be the bride of Christ, but the claim was false... Now the true bride, the Lamb's wife, is shown in all her beauty — the expression of the thoughts of God, as Babylon had been the expression of the thoughts of man. To view Babylon, John was carried in spirit into the wilderness, a scene of moral drought and desolation. To see the holy city Jerusalem he was carried away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain. Moses looked out over the promised inheritance from Mount Pisgah. In the same way John is allowed to see promise and prophecy fulfilled in this glorious city, from the high place where the angel set him.

It is striking how different the standpoints are from which John views each vision as it passes before him in this book. Each place suits what he sees. He stands on the "sand of the sea" to see the beast rise "out of the sea"... The "wilderness" is a fitting place from which to see the symbolic Babylon, drunk with the blood of saints and martyrs of Jesus.

It takes no great moral height to spot and name evil. A man of the world can go far in condemning the corruptions of Christendom. But the natural mind is completely unable to enter into the things of God. Even true believers will only value the coming glories of "the bride, the Lamb's wife" as they are lifted above the things of earth and walk apart from the corruptions of Christendom.

As far as the bride of the Lamb is concerned, "the great city" is left out by everyone who claims to give the best reading from the most ancient authorities. They read Revelation 21:10 as "showed me... the holy city Jerusalem." It is not a question of greatness for her even when glorified, but of holiness. What Babylon aims at and wins — at the cost not only of herself but of truth, grace, and Christ Himself — is present earthly greatness.

It seems clear that this New Jerusalem is not a real city. It is described not as the home of the bride, but as the bride herself, and her marriage to the Lamb has already been celebrated in heaven. Its shape too, shown in the verses that follow, is a beautiful symbol of the divine symmetry of the true Church. But no real city could have that shape.

We judge from many a detail that it is not solely a symbol of the saints themselves, but rather a symbolic description both of the Church in glory and of her eternal home.

The one sets out what the church will be to Christ. The other sets out what it will be for Him. As the bride, she is the object of His love. As the city, she is the centre from which His powerful rule will go out.

"Holy" describes its state. Then other marks follow. It "descends out of heaven" — its source stamps its character — "from God." It might have been from God, and earthly. It might have been heavenly and angelic. It was neither. It descended out of heaven from God.

This heavenly Jerusalem — the bride, "descending out of heaven from God" — does not come to the earth. She is let down so that the earth may see her glory, the glory of God displayed in her.

The first thing that strikes the reader is the designed contrast between this scripture and the one in Revelation 17, where an angel calls John to see the judgment of the great prostitute who sits on many waters. That chapter shows us Babylon; Revelation 21 shows us the new Jerusalem. The first is man's city, the second is God's. One expresses what man is. The other is the perfection of God's thoughts, robed in the glory of God… One more thing must be noted: the city is the bride, the Lamb's wife. This settles its character. It is the Church, which Christ has now presented to Himself as a glorious Church, without spot or wrinkle or anything of the kind, holy and without blemish, beautified with His own beauty, and having the glory of God.

This clearly cannot be the essential glory of God. It means, I think, that the glory was not human but divine. There is in God what He can give to the creature, and there is what cannot be shared. The glory meant here is divine glory, set against creature glory — not a glory that takes away from His majesty, but one that reflects it.

Greatness was the mark of the prostitute city, Babylon. Coming from God is the mark of the bridal city, New Jerusalem. So it is holy and heavenly, and it has the glory of God — not the glory of man. Because of this, it comes down over the earth as a light, and its shining is compared to a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Jasper appears three times in the description of the city. The word turns up only once more in this book: in the description of the One who sits on the throne in Revelation 4:3. What describes God describes the city.

She has the glory "of God," and yet it is called "her light." Why is this? Suppose God has produced the graces of Christ in the saints here. Pure grace has done it, yet He has counted it to them. So here: if the church has the glory of God, it is still her light, and by His grace… In the same way, in Revelation 19:8 His wife was granted fine linen, white and clean, and that linen is called the righteous acts of the saints — though His own grace in her produced all of it.

The word translated light, or shining, is the one found in Philippians 2:15, applied to believers — "among whom you shine as lights in the world." It is the word used of the lights in the sky. So we learn this: what believers should be now in character, the holy Jerusalem will be in fact in the coming age. And all the light of testimony that goes out now, from the saints or from the whole Church, comes from the same divine source as the "shining" of the holy city in the future day of glory.

"Having the glory of God." What Romans 5:2 presents as a hope has here become a reality… She is not only the vessel of God's glory. She also reflects that glory to the world. The city bride will be a glorious canopy of light, unfading beauty and brightness, over the scene of the thousand years. It will be the grandest sight ever seen.

The city will be four-square, facing without fear or shame every point of the compass. It will be equal on every side, and on every side there will be three gates... A great city like London keeps its gates open all the time, because it depends on every part of the earth for its very life. Supplies pour into it from north, south, east, and west. But the gates of the holy city will open for the opposite reason. They will open not to let supplies flow in, but to let blessing flow out — blessing for the whole earth.

The wall has four sides, and in it are twelve gates — three gates on every side, for going out and coming in. This city is the home of a life that never stops working. The number 12 is stamped on the whole city. It is an expanded 7, with the same factors (4 × 3 instead of 4 + 3), and it is the sign of open divine government, with God clearly supreme here... The 12 here is the usual 4 × 3. The 3 still speaks of God showing Himself, while the 4 shows that this is universal, the sides facing every way.

Walls are to keep out what ought to be out. On the other hand, its twelve gates are to allow in what ought to be in... Three gates stand on each side of the city (v. 13). This reminds us how the tribes of Israel camped around the tabernacle in the wilderness (Num. 2:1-31).

It also has twelve gates. Since the city is foursquare, it looks the same from every side you approach it, and the way in is generous. If the wall had no gates it would be a poor thing.

In cities on earth people often name the main streets after the towns those streets lead to. In the same way, the gates of the heavenly city carry the names of the tribes that its blessings flow to. That blessing will reach every quarter of the globe in equal measure, because there are three gates on each of the four sides of the city.

As for the twelve tribes of Israel, their names are only written there, nothing more. Nothing at all suggests that they make up the city; their names are simply inscribed on the outside. That city will be a constant reminder of those who came before restored Israel on earth, and it will certainly be used for their blessing during the thousand years — but not for theirs alone. On the contrary, we shall find that the city looks out toward the whole universe, and yet Israel has its special place there.

In Ezekiel the city is also four-sided, with twelve gates, three on each side, named after the twelve tribes of Israel. (Ezek. 48:30-35.) In both cases there is complete order and symmetry, and in both cases a connection between the city and Israel. But in Ezekiel's city the connection is earthly. In the city of Revelation the connection is heavenly, for twelve angels stand at the gates.

The names of the twelve apostles connect the City with the foundation work of the apostles at Pentecost. Their work, under the control of the Holy Spirit, formed the Church on earth as the House of God where God dwells, rules and blesses. So a sphere of heavenly blessing and rule came into being on earth. That work began on earth through the apostles, and the City in glory shows it completed.

The names on the foundations show that the truth of God about His Son Jesus Christ, ministered by the apostles, is the solid basis of true separation according to God. Each apostle received his own line of ministry, so that together they might form a well-balanced foundation that cannot fail.

The city is clearly the fruit of His own work. Its foundations begin with Him: twelve foundations, with the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb on them. The names written there are the names of the sent ones of the Lamb who once suffered as a sacrifice. Had there been no Lamb there would have been no apostles. And if each foundation had one apostolic name on it, then every one of the twelve was a reminder of the Lamb whose apostles they were.

The wall is what fences a city off from the world outside. The gate is what gives it contact with the world outside. The apostles appear in what marks the Church as distinct and set apart. The twelve tribes appear in what marks its relationship with the world. This is because the apostles are the foundation course of the Church, while Israel is always God's first thought in His government of the world.

They have laid the foundations, and their names are stamped on their work. We are surely not to imagine any individualising here, as if any one foundation could be assigned to any one apostle. Nor is the number twelve itself anything but characteristic... It is remarkable that almost the same difficulty comes up with the twelve tribes of Israel. They often exclude and often include the tribe of Levi... Why may not the apostles, despite the addition of Paul to their number, be counted here as twelve?

The City does not show the Church as the Apostle Paul presents it — in its close relations to Christ as the body of Christ, or in its privileges of access to the Father's house. It is the aspect of the Church presented by the twelve apostles: the vessel for the display of the glory of God before the world.

The names of the apostles are engraved on the foundations of the Church, but Christ Himself is the true foundation. In the high priest's breastplate, the perfections of Christ gleamed in the precious stones. Those stones were linked with the tribes whose names were cut on them. In the same way, the many perfections, beauties and glories of Christ, the true foundation, bear up the Church in its heavenly brightness.

In Revelation 11:1-2 the temple, altar, and worshippers are measured — all of them on earth. This signifies that they are His; they belong to God. But here the measuring of the heavenly city is above. In the first case the seer measured; in our text the angel measures. The measuring reeds, too, are different. The millennial Jerusalem on earth with its temple, courts and so on, is measured with a line of flax (Ezekiel 40:3). The city of gold is fittingly measured with a golden reed.

The golden (divine) reed measures the city, its gates, and its walls — that is, the place where many live, its way in, its way out, and its defences.

Here, as in Revelation 11, the measuring signifies owning on the part of God, with the added idea that He takes it for Himself. The thing measured is according to His mind. He owns it to be so, and claims it as His. And the measuring rod being golden testifies that it is in righteousness that He stamps the city, its wall and gates, with His approval.

Gold is the well known symbol of Divine righteousness. So the City measured by the golden reed shows that everything is tested by Divine righteousness. The result is that the City, the gates and the walls fully meet what Divine righteousness requires. The City is therefore the display of the righteousness of God in Christ — the answer to the cross of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).

The angel who had spoken to John had a golden reed to measure the city. It was not a reed like a rod (Revelation 11:1), because in that city there is no longer any need to strike with the rod. Instead, the glory of God (gold) has triumphed over evil, and that glory will be displayed in the entire city. Yet the city is measured: God does not display His glory without limit, for no man could endure that (1 Timothy 6:16). The city has limits, so it cannot fully show a God who is infinite.

I do not mean that we should take this description as if it were of a literal city. I consider it a purely symbolic picture of certain relations of the bride, the Lamb's wife. Scripture itself says very plainly that this is not the dwelling place of the redeemed, but the bride herself, described as a city.

In both cases the measuring means owning on the part of God, with the added idea of appropriation. The thing measured is according to His mind. He therefore owns it to be so, and claims it as His. And because the measuring rod is golden, it testifies that He stamps the city, its wall and gates, with His approval in righteousness.

It was a cube. Now a cube is the most perfect figure, being equal on every side — finite perfection. It has what you call finality. It is the most comprehensive, and holds the most — nothing contains as much as a cube. So it is given here as the expression of perfection. Notice, it is finite perfection, divinely given. I do not say it is divine perfection, because that is God Himself; but it is divinely given perfection. The Spirit of God delights to show the absolute perfection of the place in glory which the saints have before God, on the ground of divine righteousness.

The cube speaks of substance, reality. This is the eternal sanctuary, and the full enjoyment of every hope of the saint. Further, the measurements, though surely symbolic, still wait for their interpretation.

As in the tabernacle in the wilderness, the most holy place formed a perfect cube inside… The result of God's work is perfect without adding anything or taking anything away. Everything is ordered according to the mind of the Divine Architect. The New Jerusalem is, so to speak, a great most holy place where God can dwell, just as He dwelt in the inner sanctuary of the temple. This is because everything in her answers to His holiness and His righteousness. … God's sanctuary is the Church in glory!

In Ezekiel the measuring reed is of ordinary construction, suited to an earthly city; in Revelation it is a golden reed, the type of divine righteousness, suited to the dwelling place of God. In Ezekiel the city is large, as fits a splendid earthly capital; in Revelation the city is vast beyond all possible earthly limits. In Ezekiel it is the four-sided form, often used in Scripture to show perfect earthly symmetry. In Revelation there is another dimension: a height equal to the length and the breadth. This shows a perfect cube, a still higher order of symmetry, heavenly in character, and clearly unsuited to the earth.

A furlong (or stadium, as the word is) was about 200 yards, so 12,000 would equal about 1,375 miles. Its height matches its length and breadth. This helps to confirm the thought that we are dealing with symbolic language, not literal language. In this measurement we again meet with twelve, the number of administration, and the very street of the city is gold like transparent glass. In earth's cities the street is where dirt gathers. There all is divine purity and transparency, and as is the city, so is the government that proceeds from it.

It seems to indicate that the Church is the greatest thing of all God's handiwork, and yet, vast as it is, it has limits and can be measured.

In Ezekiel the measuring reed is an ordinary one, fit for an earthly city. In Revelation it is a golden reed, the picture of divine righteousness, fit for the dwelling-place of God... In Ezekiel the city is a square, a shape Scripture often uses to show perfect earthly symmetry. In Revelation there is one more dimension: a height equal to the length and the breadth. That makes a perfect cube — a higher order of symmetry, heavenly in kind, and plainly unsuited to the earth.

The wall speaks of security and exclusion. The wall is "great," so the City is safe from every assault of the enemy. It is "high," so all evil is shut out. The great wall cannot be broken down; the high wall cannot be climbed... The wall separates the City from everything outside. If the Church had kept a holy separation from the world, it would have stood safe against the attacks of the enemy and against evil getting in.

The wall is not there to shut a single saint of God out of that city, for everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's book of life will go in. The wall will be a wall that includes. Everyone whom sovereign grace has chosen and called to heavenly glory, everyone whom the blood of the Lamb has redeemed — its shining embrace will hold them all... When a man buys an estate and puts a wall around it, he says, "That is mine; I want that for my own pleasure" — and so it is here.

The wall measures a hundred and forty-four cubits, twelve times twelve. So every detail displays the governmental character of the city, and shows it to be divinely perfect.

In Scripture the standard was the cubit, from a word meaning "mother." It was the length of the "mother-arm" — the forearm, the main part of the arm, from the elbow to the fingertip. That is the part we use in all our work. So the standard was taken from man; it was not set above him. God's requirements are entirely reasonable and righteous. They do not ask more than a human being can give. And yet not one of the fallen sons of Adam could measure up to that perfect human standard: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But God delights in man, and even the heavenly city is measured by the human standard... If God's creatures are to grasp Him at all, it cannot be in that glory and infinity beyond words, which no one knows but the Son. It must be in the One who humbled Himself and was found in human form.

The measure of the wall is a size we can take in... A hundred and forty-four cubits is about 250 feet, and that is something we can grasp... I do not think any architect has yet designed a city twelve thousand stadia high (though some have the ambition). It is something immense, but not infinite. Grace lets us look at something vast. That is what God keeps putting before us: the immensity of the blessing, the fullness of God's grace and the glory of His grace.

If this measurement is the thickness of the wall — which the text does not otherwise state — it has been suggested that the wall was not there for protection against an enemy. As a whole the city was a cube. It could not be infinite, but it was finite perfection. So there is a completeness and perfection about it, fitting for that day and for ever.

"The wall of it was jasper." From Revelation 4:3 we learn that jasper is a figure of the divine glory of Christ. It is His glory that excludes all evil from the City. The deeper our sense of the glory of the One who dwells in the Church, the more we should see that evil can never be linked with His Name. The glory secures the exclusion of all that defiles.

The jasper is solid, transparent, and brilliant as crystal. It is also mentioned three times in the detailed description of the heavenly city: first, as her light (v. 11); second, as her security (v. 18); third, as the first foundation of the wall (v. 19). So the glory of God is the light, the security, and the foundation of the glorified Church.

Jasper, as we have seen, is symbolic of "the glory of God." Gold stands for the righteousness of God — not in His government, but in His nature. So the Church shares the righteousness that belongs to God. The saints are made morally "partakers of the divine nature." (2 Peter 1:4.) The glory of God, the jasper wall, also fences the city in. It defends the city from all intrusion of evil, and keeps it in the holy separateness that suits His chosen dwelling. In Israel the dwelling place He took was a cube completely covered with gold. A cube of "pure gold, like clear glass" is the symbolic picture of the "holy temple," the "dwelling place of God by the Spirit," set before us here in the heavens.

"The city was pure gold, like clear glass." This shows the absolute righteousness and holiness that marks the City. We know the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness. But much about believers now still speaks of the "old man" and his ways. In every child of God there is the real gold, but with some alloy of baser metal. In the City the dross will be gone. There the gold is pure without alloy. There too all will be transparent like clear glass. Nothing will be unclear — no hidden motives.

The building of the wall is of jasper, clear and transparent as the city itself, for the wall is not intended to hide anything. The city is of pure gold, like clear glass (v. 18). Gold is not transparent in nature. But the symbols teach us spiritual facts. The pure gold speaks of God's glory shown there in the person of the Lord Jesus. The clear glass shows that transparent truth will mark the city. Everything will be open and above board: there will be no wickedness thriving under cover.

The city itself is the display of divine righteousness. We have divine righteousness now in our complete justification. It is also worked in us, so that the new nature may express it in practice in a world that opposes it. But the city itself is all "pure gold" from its centre to its outermost bounds, and transparent too, like pure glass. On the eternal earth righteousness dwells, but the Church itself is that — the living, glorified expression of divine righteousness. Righteousness is now upon us (Rom. 3:22), also worked in us (Eph. 4:24); we are in glory the display of it (Rev. 21:18), while it is that on which we walk (v. 21).

Next, the foundations of the wall are adorned with precious stones. Besides the general idea of every character of beauty, the stones have a special character, noted elsewhere. Light transforms itself into a varied display of colours when it is seen through a medium. So it is when God is revealed in and by the creature, or in connection with his state: in creation, in priestly representation, and here, in glory.

The jasper and the sardius are hard and indestructible gems, fit emblems of incorruption in the glorified state (1 Corinthians 15:50). The jasper is also mentioned three times in the detailed description of the heavenly city. First, as her light (v. 11). Second, as her security (v. 18). Third, as the first foundation of the wall (v. 19). So the glory of God is the light, the security, and the foundation of the glorified Church.

The names of the apostles are engraved on the foundations of the Church, but Christ Himself is the true foundation. In the breastplate of Israel's high priest, the perfections of Christ gleamed in the precious stones, and each stone carried the name of a tribe cut into it. In the same way, the many perfections, beauties and glories of Christ, the true foundation, hold up the Church in its heavenly brightness. The foundation of all is jasper, "the glory of God."

When Moses and the elders went up the mountain to God, "there was under His feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone" (Exodus 24:10). In Ezekiel's vision, above the expanse, there was "the likeness of a throne, in appearance like sapphire" (Ezekiel 1:26). It was one of the stones in the breastplate, and it is a symbol of heavenly glory.

Many of these precious stones are not found anywhere else in Scripture, so it is difficult to say what they are. This may be an indication that there are many glories that we are not even aware of that will be displayed. 1 Corinthians 13:9 reminds us, "we know in part".

The names of the stones are then given, beginning with the jasper and ending with the amethyst. Compare the list with the twelve precious stones on the breastplate of the high priest (Exodus 28). The jasper comes first in our scripture, but it comes last on the breastplate. This may mean that the church begins with the glory in the Person of the Head, while for Israel it lies at the end. Morally the stones show the history of souls — as creatures, then as objects of grace taken up and placed on the heart of Christ, and finally as seen displayed in all His various beauties in the glory.

We may learn from this that in every variety of beauty God will clothe His people in that day of glory. There will be different rays of His glory reflected through them, set forth by these different precious stones. In God's own case it is not so. His essential glory is not described in this way. It is full concentrated light.

Although we are all partakers of the grace of God, that grace will shine through each differently, and no two are alike. It would be an immense pity if all the saints were like a cart-load of bricks — all the same shape and colour.

As far as I understand it, precious stones are the result of two things: heat and pressure. It seems to show that if we are to display in any way the glories of Christ, we will have to pass through heat and pressure. What is both precious in God's sight and precious in testimony is the result of the various exercises we pass through.

We will not try to give the spiritual meaning of each of these precious stones. Still, we may learn from them that God will clothe His people in every variety of beauty in that day of glory. There will be different rays of His glory reflected through them, set forth by these different precious stones. In God's own case it is not so. Scripture does not describe His essential glory this way. It is full, concentrated light. Unlike the glory He gives to the church, it is not broken up into a variety of hues.

The foundations were "adorned with every kind of jewel." There is variety in the stones, but all are precious. The stones are not a source of light, but they reflect and refract light and so display the beautiful colours of light. Christ is the light. In Him all excellencies combine in perfection to form the light. In His people every excellency is set forth in detail to display, as it were, the colours of the light.

These precious stones appear in Scripture three times. In the garden of Eden we see them in connection with creation. Then in Exodus 28 we see them in the breastplate of the high priest, and there it is clearly a question of grace for a failing people. But when we see these same stones in the foundation of the heavenly city, the thought suggested is permanent glory… Put a light through an emerald, and it is quite different from the light through a ruby. We are all partakers of the grace of God, yet that grace will shine through each of us differently, and no two are alike. It would be a great pity if all the saints were like a cartload of bricks — all the same shape and colour. All are alike in being saved by grace, but all are different in the expression of that grace.

The names of the apostles are engraved on the foundations of the Church, but Christ Himself is the true foundation. In the breastplate of the high priest, the perfections of Christ gleamed in the precious stones, and those stones were linked with the tribes whose names were cut into them. So here too the many perfections, beauties and glories of Christ, the true foundation, hold up the Church in its heavenly brightness.

One of the precious stones in the breastplate. Exodus 28:17; Exodus 39:10. It also adorned one of the foundations of the holy Jerusalem. Revelation 21:20. It was one of the stones that covered the king of Tyre (no doubt picturing Satan before his fall). Ezekiel 28:13. In heaven the One who sat on the throne "had the appearance of jasper and carnelian." Revelation 4:3. It is thought to be the sard, a superior variety of agate, of various colours, some blood-red, and others of a golden hue.

Scripture mentions the sardonyx only once — in the fifth place, in the foundations of the wall of the heavenly capital in Revelation 21:20. There it shines as a symbol between the emerald and the sardius.

The fair conclusion from God's word is this. Unlike the Jerusalem in Palestine, this city is not of man and not of the earth. It is heavenly and divine. So it has the glory of God, and God describes it in pictures that go deliberately beyond anything in the first creation... Think of jasper clear as crystal, gold transparent as glass, and each gate of "one pearl"! It is all above nature... We must not think of material beauty in the heavenly city; it is a symbolic description.

Why was every gate a pearl? Remember the heavenly merchant in Matthew 13. He was "seeking fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it." You may say that is a sinner seeking the Saviour. Really? A sinner selling? What has a sinner got to sell but his sins? No — the pearl of great price is not Christ, but the Church, the Church in its unity. Christ is the one who went and sold all that He had. He gave up everything for the Church.

The pearl is lifted out of the deep sea. It is taken out of the rough shell it first grew in, and the creature that gave it life dies in the taking. So the pearl is a fitting picture of those who have been drawn out of the sea of the nations, and out of their rough natural condition, at the cost of the life of Him in whom they were seen and chosen before the foundation of the world.

A pearl is a fitting picture of the Church. It is the result of some foreign substance coming under the oyster shell and causing an injury. The oyster then makes a substance called "nacre," or mother of pearl. Layer after layer it wraps the offending object, until it builds up into a beautiful pearl. We are the offending object. But God's grace covers us and makes us accepted "in Christ," with a beauty that delights His heart of love... But grace is not selfish: it delights to show itself to others, as these open gates suggest.

The street of the city is of pure gold, like transparent glass; no defilement is any longer possible. Jesus will no more have to wash our feet in order that we may enter into the presence of God for our worship. In the glory we shall be standing on purity... This is great rest to anyone who loves holiness.

In the east above all, the street is the place of trade. It is where need and greed keep meeting. But here every circumstance, every dealing, the whole setting, is pure holiness and truth. It is fit for the presence of God, and filled with it.

The city has only one street — there will be no systems, sects, divisions and subdivisions there. The prayer of our Lord, "that they may all be one" (John 17:21), will yet be answered in glory. Dwelling on this with joy would do much to stir up a longing in us now, by God's Spirit, for the unity of God's people.

Why is there no temple? Because worship is all that is here; it gives character to the whole scene. A Jew could hardly understand how there could be no temple. The temple gave character to his relationship with God. There God dwelt, shut away from every gaze, to be reverenced. But if He shut Himself up within the veil, He shut man out! He could not be there. How different this wonderful scene of glory is. There is no concealment of it. The unveiled mystery of God is there, and the heart has nothing to do but adore.

By its very nature, a temple keeps the presence of God within limits. It brings in the thought of nearer and more distant worshippers. "No temple" means that full and free access to God is granted equally to all. Immediate access to God, without a priest or mediator coming between, is open to everyone.

Jehovah is the expression of moral relationship. God, El, the mighty One, is the Creator's name of power and sovereignty. The Almighty is all-powerful in every circumstance and over every opposing authority. Add the Lamb to these divine names and titles, and together they form the temple… God and the Lamb make themselves known throughout every part of the vast city of gold.

On earth, coming into God's presence had to follow set rules. That need is gone. Now there is free and unhindered fellowship with God and with His ever-blessed Son, the Lamb. It is precious to hear Him mentioned again as the Lamb. His blessed work, which He accomplished, can never be forgotten by the saints in glory.

Instead of Jehovah's house being the centre of attraction, there is no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. This is a complete contrast with the Jerusalem of that day. There the temple, with its rules and officials, fills by far the largest part of Ezekiel's last great vision (Ezek. 40 – 47)… The difference turns on relationship to Christ. The new Jerusalem is His heavenly bride, and reigns with Him. The earthly Jerusalem is the city of the great King, and He reigns over it.

No temple is seen here, because all are at home with God and the Lamb. A temple always gives the idea of the worshipper being at a distance from God; He is, as it were, enshrined, because of His holiness. Even now a temple is out of place for those whom the blood of Christ has brought near. Through the torn veil they have the right and title to approach God Himself.

The Christian world has walked very little in the light of the City. That is clear, because people have set up "temples" again after a Jewish pattern, with priests standing between the people and God. In this way it has completely lost the true idea of the Church, with Christ in the midst.

Created light, as we learn from Genesis 1, is for earth. But after Adam's fall, the only moral light, even for the earth, came from the revelation of God... So where God is fully revealed, there could be no need of created light. And "the glory of God" simply means the display of all that God is, as revealed in redemption, before His redeemed.

As for the earthly land and city, the moon will have her light increased to that of the sun, and the sun shall be sevenfold. But here there is neither; and this again is evidence of gain, not of loss... Creature lights are gone.

The heavenly city needs no created light of its own, like the sun, and no borrowed light, like the moon. God is the source of her light, and the Lamb who died for us is the lamp of the divine glory. It is He who spreads the light through every part of the city. It is concentrated in God; it is made known by the Lamb.

Revelation 21:23 is no exception. If the glory of God gave light to the heavenly city, the Lamb is the "lamp" through whom that glory shines. Even now all its rays shine concentrated on His face for faith (2 Corinthians 3:18). Only in this indirect way could the divine glory ever be seen.

Christ will always be the One in whom God is revealed. And He is presented as the Lamb, because as the Lamb He not only declares the glory of God but also fits His people for the glory. The sun and the moon did declare the glory of God in His handiwork in their time (Psalm 19). But in the church in glory, the Lamb will be the everlasting witness to the glory of God.

Never throughout the unending ages shall the cross of Christ be forgotten. Never shall the burst of melody die down. The countless crowds He has ransomed will always adore Him. He once hung on Calvary's cross to redeem them.

The sun and moon are natural lights, symbols of the natural mind of man. Such light will not be there. Where all will have the mind of Christ, it will not be needed. God is the light and the Lamb is the "Light-bearer" through whom the light reaches the City. The City reflects the light of Christ and the nations walk in the light of the City... God will be perfectly revealed in Christ, reflected by the Church and seen by the nations.

It is the light that has already made everything so bright for our hearts — "the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God." It is the glory of God in the face of Jesus. God is always to be known in Him, the One in whom He was revealed in humiliation, the Man Christ Jesus. And we can look at the brightness of glory without being dazzled. We see it in the face of Him "who loved us and has washed us from our sins in His own blood."

These verses prove beyond contradiction that the heavenly city is shown here in connection with the millennial earth. There are no "nations" in eternity, and no "kings of the earth" to bring their glory and honour to it. If people had noticed this, they would have avoided the mistake, and they would have gained a valuable key to understanding the dispensations… The nations living during the millennial kingdom will be those spared in the judgments connected with the day of the Lord, brought in at the appearing of Christ.

"And the nations shall walk in the light of it." It is plain that they are not in this city. "The kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour unto it" — not into but unto. That is, it is simply an expression of the homage that they pay.

They thereby acknowledge the heavens, and the heavenly kingdom, to be the source of all they possess and enjoy; they render homage to Him who is the Source.

There is no need at all for the New Jerusalem, which receives the homage, and the nations with their kings to be alike or in the same state… Why should the nations and their kings not be in an earthly condition, while the New Jerusalem is glorified? Why should the city not match the transfigured Moses and Elijah, and the nations and kings match the disciples, still unchanged on the holy mountain? … The simple, natural meaning of the passage joins two different states together: a higher, heavenly one, and a lower, though blessed, earthly one.

"Of them that are saved," as is well known, has no authority, and it is "by," or "by means of," rather than "in," as in the received text. The world should have been able to walk by the light of the church now. "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." … But when the Lamb is the Lamp, the faithful and true Witness if all else has failed, the church will do its work for the nations as God intends. In glory it will become the perfect vessel for displaying the light by which they walk.

The holy city will hang above the earthly Jerusalem. It will send out the rays of the glory of God, which fill and surround it completely… The city enjoys the direct light within; the world gets the light of the glory passed on to it.

Just as the light of God streams out of the heavenly city, so into it shall flow the glory and honour of the kings of the earth and of the nations. In Revelation 17:2 we saw the kings of the earth trading with the false Babylon before the coming of Christ. They have now gone to their doom, along with the nations who forgot God. The kings and nations of our chapter are those who have passed into millennial blessedness in happy subjection to the Lord.

"Its gates will never be shut by day — and there will be no night there." Perfect security — no need to shut those gates; and there is no darkness there. In John's writings, darkness means ignorance of God. Where does doubting come from — where uncertainty? From ignorance of God. All is gone now, and "there is no night there."

During the night, and even when the least trace of darkness lay on the scene, the gates had to stay closed. Otherwise evil, and evil men who always love darkness rather than light, would slip in and corrupt the city. Later, when the gates of Jerusalem began to grow dark before the Sabbath, Nehemiah ordered them shut and told his men to keep them shut until the Sabbath was over. Servants of the enemy were always watching for a chance to slip in unnoticed and tempt the Jews to break the Sabbath day. So when Scripture says there will be no night in the heavenly city, the contrast teaches us that all evil is gone, and the gates will never be shut.

The light of an endless, unclouded day is sure protection for the entrance to the city, and it is enough. God already gives us that same light as the Christian's armour — "the armour of light." (Rom. 13:12.) For "anything that becomes visible is light." It detects and exposes everything unsuited to itself. So it guards the ways into the heart against anything that would spoil our enjoyment of the presence of Him who is light — and that is where He has set us.

A great city like London keeps its gates open all the time. It depends on every part of the earth for its very life. From north, south, east, and west, supplies pour into it without stopping. But the holy city will open its gates for the opposite reason: not for supplies to flow in, but for blessing to flow out to the whole earth. This city of God will look out in every direction, and wherever it looks it will pour out its blessing.

Light and blessing pass out through the gates to the world. Yet Scripture assures us that "nothing unclean will ever enter it." Today we can become defiled by the world while we claim we are carrying blessing to it. In the day of glory the world will receive blessing through the church, and the world will leave no stain on the church.

These verses show beyond contradiction that this passage links the heavenly city with the millennial earth. There are no "nations" in eternity, and no "kings of the earth" to bring their glory and honour to it.

Its gates are never shut, for inside it is continuous day. If we compare this with Isaiah 60:11, we find an instructive contrast. In that glad day the gates of the earthly Jerusalem will also stand open all the time. But there will be night there, for Isaiah says they shall not be shut day or night. The wealth of the nations, and their kings, will be brought into that city. So on earth things will be on a lower footing.

These verses show beyond argument that the heavenly city is presented here in connection with the earth of the thousand-year kingdom. The reason is plain: there are no "nations" in eternity, and no "kings of the earth" to bring their glory and honour to it. ... The nations living during that kingdom will be those spared in the judgments of the day of the Lord, which begins when Christ appears. ... The kings of the earth will bring some of their wealth, like the Queen of Sheba when she came to Jerusalem, as offerings that show their submissive homage.

The word translated "into" should be given as "to," or "unto." Otherwise it would seem as if the kings of the earth had access into the heavenly city! ... The kings of the earth will pay their homage by bringing their glory and honour to it as offerings. In this way they recognise it as the object of God's delight, and as the place where God displays His presence and glory, because the throne of God and the Lamb are there.

They will not come into the city. They will show their allegiance to it by willing tribute. Zechariah 14:16-19 explains this further. It shows that the nations must send representatives to Jerusalem on earth every year to keep the Feast of Booths. Jerusalem in Israel will be God's centre on earth. By recognising this, the nations own their allegiance to the heavenly city, the capital of heaven and earth, for God dwells there.

In verse 24 it is the kings of the earth who bring their glory and honour. In verse 26 it is the glory and honour of the nations that are brought. The same distinction appears in the thousand-year kingdom. Of the honour to be given to the Messiah, Psalm 72:11 says, "May all kings fall down before Him, all nations serve Him!" Both the rulers and their peoples will be of one mind... Now kings and nations serve and exalt themselves. But then... rulers and their subjects will present their glory and honour to the heavenly Jerusalem. They will own their allegiance and pay their tribute to the exalted King of kings and Lord of lords!

It has no temple, for "its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb." But to it, as to a temple, the kings of the earth bring their glory and honour. And the kings are not the only ones who come to it this way: they bring the glory and honour of the nations to it.

No danger threatens the city; on the contrary, "They shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations to it." ... "But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life." So God's holiness is given the fullest scope. The impure, the detestable and the false are shut out from His presence. They are unfit for it morally and in every way. Yet His sovereignty is kept intact.

Heaven is acknowledged as the source of all light, glory and blessing... And to it they bring honour and glory. The open gates, never closed, mean security. They also suggest contact and exchange with the earth.

No evil. "Nothing unclean will ever enter it." There will be no intrusion of the flesh to defile. There will be nothing that can raise an idol between the soul and God — no abomination. There will be nothing that deceives — no lie. And it is not only that the flesh, with its defilements, abominations and lies is not here, but that it can never enter there. This was never said of the garden of delights on earth. There everything was perfect as God created it. But of Eden it was never said that evil could never enter. In the City we have not only a City of perfection, but a City beyond the possibility of defilement.

The character or qualifications of those who will enter this city of pure gold must be left in no doubt. So it is put in two ways. First comes what disqualifies a person, then the absolute and unassailable title. Three kinds of people will never pass through those gates of pearl. No one with the guilt of sin still on him, for it is sin in its many forms and expressions that defiles. No one who has an evil nature, for it is sin in the flesh which, breaking out, works abomination. And no one who is morally of the family of Satan, who is a liar and the father of lies (John 8:44).

The verse solemnly condemns moral unfitness; but it declares sovereign grace as well, in the last clause. Only those who were objects of God's love could be admitted here.

The book of life records the names of saints for eternal life in glory. It is called the book of life of the Lamb, and of the Lamb slain. The book is His because He was slain. That is His right according to God's eternal purposes: He died to mark out those who are His own and to secure their eternal interests.

The Lamb's book of life contains names written in it before the founding of the world... This is the book of the counsels and purposes of God, who knows the end from the beginning... The Lamb's book of life is the record of reality, and out of that book no name is blotted out.

God is "of purer eyes than to see evil." If believers are saved, it is only because He has qualified them "to share in the inheritance of the saints in light." No evil can exist in the presence of His light... None can be there but those written in the Lamb's book of life — those whom He has fitted by His own grace for His own presence.

I take Revelation 21:27 in a general way as stating who they are that have to do with the New Jerusalem — those written in the Lamb's book of life. We must always remember that the Church, or the bride, is that holy city. The city is not merely the region of our future glory.

Today, under the excuse of carrying blessing to the world, we may become defiled by the world. In the day of glory the world will receive blessing through the church, and the church will be unsullied by the world.

The opening verse lays down a beautiful truth. At the point intended, the throne is now called the throne of God and the Lamb. It was not so before He came to reign. It will not be so when He hands over the kingdom to God the Father, when God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit — shall be all in all. And out of this throne, now called for the first time the throne of God and the Lamb, comes a river of life bright as crystal. It is the full, unhindered power of enjoying that eternal life which the believer has here in utter weakness and with many hindrances. Such is its source, its character, and its time.

"The throne of God" expresses eternal stability. The presence of the Lamb marks it as resting on the immediate ground of accomplished redemption. It is not God's throne in creation, nor in providence, but in redemption. When I see the Lamb, I know its connection with me as a sinner. "The throne of God," on its own, would only frighten me away. But when God reveals Himself in the Person of the Lamb, He draws the heart and quiets the conscience.

First, there is "the river of the water of life" (v. 1), a symbol of the fulness of life in the Spirit flowing from the throne. Earlier in Revelation, John was caught up to heaven. He records that lightning, thunder and voices came out of the throne — fitting symbols of the holy judgments of God that were about to come from it. Here we have passed beyond the judgment. We learn that the throne which dealt out judgment to the nations has become the source of unceasing blessing to the City. For the City, the judgments of the throne were exhausted at the Cross.

No earthly throne — not even the best of them — has proved itself to be a fountain of life. Their rule has been too harsh or too weak. Or their decisions have passed through lesser human channels and reached the people polluted. Here at last is a throne of absolute righteousness, exercised in kindness, and life is the result. What is more, nothing defiling can touch the city from which it flows out to men, so no pollution reaches it as it flows.

Any small reflection of Christ seen in one another will help to sustain the new life. But in ourselves the stream is often fouled and muddied with the things of earth, so it reflects little of the loveliness of Christ. In Christ the river of water of life is "clear as crystal."

Notice there is only one river here, and only one tree. You will remember Genesis 2. There were four rivers there, and two trees — the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, and the tree of life. When man sinned, he was driven out, so that he could not touch the tree of life. But when he was driven out of the earthly paradise, God opened a heavenly one to him.

In each fresh feature of the heavenly city, we have seen the same thing. What glory pictures, the Holy Spirit has already made true to faith in the Christian... The Holy Spirit has come from the glory where Jesus is, and He lives in us. In the knowledge of Him, He brings into our hearts more than all the joy of the feast of tabernacles in the coming kingdom. He makes us channels of the living waters now.

Second, we learn that in the midst of the street of the City and on either side of the river is the tree of life (v. 2). The river speaks of the Holy Spirit as the Water of Life; the Tree speaks of Christ as the Food of Life. The City will stay fresh for ever as it drinks from the River of Life and feeds on the Tree of Life. The River will never fail, the Tree will never wither and the City will never grow old.

In Eden's paradise there was no "healing" power; there was the tree of life, but only death for the disobedient. Man on the earth has his portion in the goodness of a God who is showing His kingdom openly. From the heavenly city comes provision for healing the nations.

Both trees in Paradise find their answer in Christ, and in Him they agree: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, sometimes called the tree of responsibility, and the tree of life. On the cross He took up the question of man's responsibility and settled it for ever, as the claims of God's glory required. Then, risen out of death, He became the tree of life for all His people.

The words "manner of" are omitted because they misrepresent the fact stated. It is not twelve kinds of fruit. As the next clause shows, it is twelve fruits: one crop gathered every month, a picture of fruitfulness that never ends.

The fruits speak of the varied glories of Christ. It is not enough to know and feed upon Christ in one aspect. We need Christ in His fulness. The City will stay fresh for ever as His graces and excellencies unfold one after another.

For long centuries the nations have been torn by strife and violence. They will find healing when they come to appreciate the beauty of Christ, for the leaves show His outward beauty. A leaf from the Tree of Life will end strife and conflict, jealousy and distrust. Christ seen in the perfection of His way will end strife among the nations, just as knowing Christ in His graces brings healing among the Lord's people today.

The tree of life is there, on either side of the river of life. No other tree stands there to threaten death. The tree of life bears full, varied and constant fruit for those inside. It also gives gracious help to the need of those outside: its leaves are for the healing of the nations.

While we feed on the fruit of it, "the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations." When the church is in glory, it will not lose the character of grace. God now gives us the bread of life to feed on. Our first delight must be in God. Then, in second place, comes the joy of love when He makes us ministers of blessing to others.

This glorious tree again bears the mark of the number twelve. Its fruit comes in twelve kinds, and it yields twelve times a year. The fruits seem to be for the heavenly city, but even its leaves bring healing to the nations. The mention of months, of nations and of healing shows that the whole scene belongs to the millennium and not to the eternal state.

When sin entered the world the serpent, its source, was cursed (Genesis 3:14), and the ground too (verse 17). Cain, who added to his father's sin and completed it, so to speak, was also cursed (Genesis 4:11). All who are under the works of the law are under the curse (Galatians 3:10). But in the heavenly Jerusalem there is no more curse with its long train of ills and miseries. Neither the curse nor its dreadful effects can ever enter the holy city of God, surrounded by His glory.

And then, there is to be no more curse — God and the Lamb shall be in it. The Lamb bore the curse. Thorns the earth was to bring forth, as the product of the curse, and thorns were pressed onto His holy head. He bore the curse that He might remove it.

Now that the curse is gone, all is unmixed blessing in the city. The throne of God and of the Lamb ensure perfect truth and righteousness, yet with perfect grace in administration (v. 3). During the thousand year reign (the Millennium) the curse of Genesis 3:17-19 is largely removed from the earth, but not completely. Isaiah 65:17-25 says so, and verse 20 in particular. Only exceptional cases will call for a curse.

Note here, the throne of God and the Lamb are now in it. That throne, which was acting in judgment to bring about blessing, was now fixed in the heavenly city; but it is not the seat of judgment now. The Lamb still holds its place in the scene, and it is the throne of the Lamb as well as of God. The reader will notice that now for the first time it is called the throne of the Lamb.

The reason given here is that "the throne of God and of the Lamb" is in it. That throne is supreme, and all own it as supreme. Its perfect government therefore secures a state according to God. God's holiness, shown in His throne, will be the eternal guarantee of the happiness of the redeemed. And His love, and the love of the Lamb, will be their eternal and satisfying portion.

They are His servants, and now no one else divides their allegiance with Him. Without reserve "they serve Him." Serve whom, it may be asked — God or the Lamb? Here, as often in his writings, John draws no distinction; he speaks of both as one. There is but one throne named, but One whom they serve, but One whom they see, but One whose name is written on their foreheads.

Ours will be a service without stopping, without weariness, without flagging energy. In joy and freedom our service then will be one of pure love, without a flaw, and without one legal thought. How varied the character of service will be! How gladly the whole being enters on an eternal life of service to Him!

They shall serve and they shall reign at the same time. They shall then be openly priests and kings. But grace has already made them so. Knowing this, they have the privilege of drawing near by faith to that glorious place where they will one day truly stand. Our best instruction is gathered by looking forward.

Then comes that glorious statement, "they shall see His face." His face and His glory go together in the revealing of Himself. The law was given, and broken. Then Moses found grace in God's sight, and this made him bold, so he said, "Please show me your glory." The answer was: "You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live." Under grace the contrast is great. Now we can say, "God … has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." But what we have here goes far beyond that. Brought into favour, we shall live in the full light of the knowledge of God, perfectly revealed in Christ. The prayer of our Lord will be fulfilled: "that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory." We shall see the face of God for ever, as we behold Him.

"They shall see His face," that face once covered so shamefully with the spit of men, now radiant with the glory of God. The best wine of the kingdom is being poured out. We shall see His face.

They shall moreover see His face. We read that the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. David, on the other hand, gave orders about Absalom: "Let him return to his own house; he is not to come into my presence." So to see the Lamb's face in glory means close approach and the enjoyment of His presence. It is a place of nearness, and of honour and blessing too. This alone tells us of the saints' perfect condition, just as John writes: "We know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is."

We have already seen that the name worn on the forehead first means ownership: it marks out those who have it as belonging to Christ. This says a great deal. To be His is the sum of eternal blessedness, for it brings us into everlasting association with Him, both now and in heaven itself. There is, however, another thought. In chapter 14 the Name is "written" on their foreheads; here it is only said to be there. We gather from this distinction that here the leading feature is moral conformity to the One whose name they bear. … What joy it will be to the Lord Himself, as He looks over the countless crowds of His glorified saints, to see His own likeness shining from every face!

They will see His face and He will be seen in their faces… The names we have borne on earth will have passed forever. No more will "thief" be written on the brow of the saved criminal, nor "sinner" on the woman of Luke 7:36-39, nor will "Pharisee" be seen on the face of Saul of Tarsus. These names will have passed with the lives that earned them, and the Name of Christ alone will be written on every sinless brow.

His name will be stamped on our foreheads. That is the opposite of the number of the Beast stamped on the foreheads of the ungodly (Rev. 13:15-16). This should speak to us now. It should encourage us to give the world a clear confession of His name in both our words and ways.

This is, so to speak, the summary of the blessings the heavenly saints, the Church, enjoy in the state of the thousand-year kingdom. And what a summary! All darkness gone for ever. God Himself is their blessed source of light — not now through instruments, but in His own person. He shines upon them in all His glory, and they are able to rejoice in the glory.

Not only will the light of the City never cease, it will never grow dim. Darkness is ignorance of God even as light is the knowledge of God. Today our light is often hindered by our ignorance. Our ignorance comes mostly from trying to walk in the light of our own reason, instead of walking by the light of Christ and so having His mind.

This verse repeats the fact that there is no night there. So evil gets no chance to work under cover of darkness, and there are no times of dark, dismal experience.

Man makes the "lamp," and God has made the "sun," but there is no need for either there. Everything that suits this world, and everything it needs, is past for the heavenly saints — the Bride, the Lamb's wife — and they "will reign forever and ever."

The sun stands for God's natural mercies. He is so full of tenderness and mercy that He gives us these things richly to enjoy. He did not spare His own Son, so will He not with Him freely give us all things? These natural gifts are, in a way, light to us. But suppose we lost them. What then? Suppose every natural joy, every comfort, every earthly ray of light were gone. Suppose we also lost everything we have made for ourselves, which is what the lamp pictures. Could we still say, "The Lord God gives us light — He is enough"?

There is no night there, and no need of light, for the Lord God gives it. As to their state, they reign — not for the thousand years, as they do over the earth, but for ever and ever.

The expression "to the ages of the ages," I believe, carries its strongest sense here. It does not refer only to what we call "the kingdom," though of course the reigning begins then. In 1 Corinthians 15:24 Christ delivers up a kingdom at a definite point called "the end."

These people were once sinners — slaves of Satan, and of the lusts he held them by. The priceless blood of Jesus has set them free and brought them into the communion with the Father and the Son shown here. How could words less glowing than these describe their condition? They need no lamp or light of the sun, because the Lord God gives them light; and they reign forever and ever.

We cannot forget that service matters just as much in our lives as reigning. Both will be in perfect balance in that day.

We have several solemn statements about the faithfulness and truth of God in His words and ways: by saints (Rev. 15:3; Rev. 19:2); by the altar (Rev. 16:7); by God Himself (Rev. 21:5); and here by an angel. These prophetic visions, one by one and as a whole, call for our closest and deepest attention. Not because of how they bear on us, but because the glory of our Master and the blessing of the world are bound up with the faithfulness and truth of what God here unfolds about the future.

Here we are looking at glories that stretch out into eternity. They would be beyond belief if they were not guaranteed to us as "faithful and true."

The Lord God directed and controlled the feelings, the hopes and the varied experiences of the prophets of old. He was with them, as He is with us. This unity of moral action links us with the prophets of old, in how we walk and in how we grasp the hopes revealed then and now.

"The Lord God of the spirits of the prophets" — the reading now generally admitted to be right — emphasizes for us the presence of the living God as what was for these the constant realization in all the shifting scenes of human history... God in past history, God in the events happening under our eyes, His judgment therefore of everything while controlling everything for His own glory and for the blessing of His people.

The names "Lord God," Jehovah Elohim, must take us back to the Old Testament ground of prophecy. The reason is that the faithful remnant in this book, after the church is gone, will be Jewish, under law, and held up by Jewish hopes... The term "the holy prophets" points to the same conclusion, and "the spirits of the prophets" — if we take the reading mentioned — points to it more sharply still.

Here we return to the announcement of the first chapter. The book is, above all, a practical book. It is not for theorists or dreamers, but for servants. These are words to keep, and to apply in their service in the Church and in the world.

For many people this is a mysterious and confusing book, and they call it all kinds of unflattering things. But it is a revelation of Jesus Christ... Anyone who is not a true bondman of the Lord Jesus, who has not been bought by Him, and who has not realized that we are His to serve Him, will not gain much from Revelation.

In the Old Testament the events foretold are described as far off. Here they are things that "must soon take place." The reason is that the Church period always stands outside the course of time. It is an interval, a break in the count, which grace may lengthen, but which may end at any moment. So believers are to be constantly expecting the coming of the Lord.

Our centuries are only so many minutes on God's great clock! We are inclined to think, though, that this word also means that when God acts, He acts swiftly... When Jesus comes it will not be a slow, drawn-out event, but like a flash of lightning.

The angel speaks in verse 6. Now the Lord Himself speaks through the lips of the angel, because the testimony is His own. This move from the prophet to the One whose messenger the prophet was is often found in the Old Testament.

"Behold, I come quickly." It is the voice of Christ we hear. It is not the announcement of a prophetic event, but the authoritative word of the Lord Himself. Three times, in different settings, He announces His coming (vv. 7, 12, 20).

The word translated "shortly" is almost the same as the word translated "quickly" in the next verse... Our centuries are only so many minutes on God's great clock! We also think this word is meant to show that when God acts, His action is marked by swiftness... When Jesus comes, it will not be slow and drawn out. It will be like a flash of lightning.

How can "quickly" fit with a long delay of nearly two thousand years? We have to adjust the way we count, and measure time as the Lord does. "Beloved, do not overlook this one fact, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day" (2 Peter 3:8).

"He" (not "they," as in Rev. 1:3) "who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book" is called "blessed." So the blessing at the beginning of the book is repeated at the close, only here it seems more personal... To keep these words is to treasure them, to prize them, and to act on them.

Keeping these blessed words means more than believing them. Their power is to shape our conduct and walk. What godly lives God's people would live, what unselfish and sacrificing lives, if they always remembered the One who says three times in the last chapter of the Bible, "Behold, I come quickly." Look at the terrible results in the Christian world today, because people have not kept the sayings of the prophecy of this book.

We will only value the sayings of this prophecy as our souls live in the faith and enjoyment of the great truth of the Lord's coming. No one will interpret Revelation rightly unless they believe and cherish the truth of the second coming of Christ.

So we are warned not to neglect Revelation, as if what it contains were a matter of idle curiosity with no bearing on our daily Christian lives. We are urged to heed and treasure the truths it speaks of. Only as we do so will our spirits be kept calm while the turning away from the faith grows in the Christian world.

Those who keep it are the people the book is about, who are warned that Christ will soon be there. No doubt we can all profit from it, but we are not in the scenes it describes... Verse 7 was a warning, in the form of a blessing, to those in the circumstances spoken of, to keep the sayings of the book.

To have any thought other than that Jesus is coming quickly is to lose the blessing of keeping the prophetic sayings of this book. It is good to read the signs of the times in the light of these words... But it is a mistake and a misuse to treat such signs as obstacles to the coming of the Lord — to say, until I see this or that forerunner arrive, I cannot expect Jesus in my heart.

The name John occurs five times (Rev. 1:1, 4, 9; Rev. 21:2; Rev. 22:8), three times at the beginning and twice near the close of the book... It seems foolish to raise any question about the John of Revelation. There is only one John. The Christian heart turns at once to the beloved apostle, the disciple whom Jesus loved. There was only one such person, and without doubt God granted him these visions and messages. John is the writer of the book.

When John heard and saw these things, he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them. He had done so before (Rev. 19:10). The greatness of the vision may have led him to think that it was Christ Himself taking that form. But the angel corrects him at once... instead of being the Lord and an object of worship, the angel was the fellow-servant of John, and of John's brothers the prophets.

Remember that the Lord Himself had spoken in person through the angel. John may have been so absorbed with this one voice, "Behold, I am coming soon," that for the moment he forgot the messenger through whom He had spoken. But even if that is so, it could not be allowed.

This warns us of the mistakes that the holiest of men can make when they are most caught up with heavenly things. John falls at the angel's feet to worship him. But the angel refuses it. He claims no higher title than fellow-servant with John himself, with his brothers the prophets, and with all who keep the words of this book. And he adds, "Worship God" — worship, that is, no creature.

John tells us that he saw and heard these things, and the effect was overwhelming... Again we find this honoured man at the angel's feet, worshipping that bright messenger who had shown him these things. Again the honoured messenger came between him and the Lord. He makes an idol of the instrument. He worships the creature, though he did it without knowing.

The impulse to worship was doubtless right, though falling at the feet of the angelic messenger was wrong. The angel refused it at once, for he took the place of a servant only, and in that respect stood on a level with John, or the prophets, or indeed with all who obey the word of God. Worship belongs to God alone. No holy angel will accept it, though it is the dearest desire of Satan, the great fallen angel, as Matthew 4:9 shows.

Though the angel has brought God's message, John must not treat him as God. He is John's fellow-servant, a dependent creature, but one who keeps the truth which God has given. John must worship only God (v. 9). In Revelation 1:17 John lies at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and there the Lord fully receives his worship, for Christ is God. But no creature must dare to accept such worship.

It is all the more striking, with this on record, that the worship of angels crept into the Church so early — long before this book was written. (See Colossians 2) So it is possible that John's mistake, made twice, was recorded to condemn a widespread practice, and also to teach plainly that no beings, however exalted, must ever come between God and the souls of His people.

When John heard and saw these things, he fell down to worship at the feet of the angel who showed them to him. He had done so before (Revelation 19:10). Perhaps the splendour of the vision led him to think it was Christ Himself taking that form. But the angel corrects him at once.

Once before, the visions had so overwhelmed John that he fell down to worship the angel (Revelation 19:10). It may surprise us that he did again what was forbidden then. But remember: the Lord Himself had spoken in person through the angel. John may have been so absorbed with that one voice — "Behold, I am coming soon" — that he forgot for the moment the messenger through whom the Lord had spoken.

John had heard wonderful words and seen marvellous visions. The glory and dignity of the speaker added to them. In John's eyes this gave the angel a right to be worshipped. But the most exalted of God's creatures themselves worship God. No angel, however high his standing, would accept divine worship... angels are very jealous to maintain the rights of God and of Christ... Creature worship is a sin against God, an affront to the Majesty of the Lord of hosts.

This is commonly taken as if the angel had the testimony of Jesus, and was himself one of the prophets. But it seems to me the sense is simply this: "I am only a fellow servant of you, and of your brothers the prophets." The words pair you with the prophets, not the angel with the prophets.

The impulse to worship was doubtless right, though falling at the feet of the angelic messenger was wrong. The angel rejected this at once. He took the place of a servant only. In that respect he stood on a level with John, or the prophets, or indeed with all who take the place of obedience to the word of God. God alone must be worshipped. No holy angel will accept it, though it is the dearest desire of Satan, the great fallen angel, as Matthew 4:9 shows.

The angel is John's fellow servant, a dependent creature, but one who keeps the truth which God has given. John must worship only God. In Revelation 1:17 John falls at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and there Christ fully receives his worship, for Christ is God. But no creature must dare to accept such adoration.

The angel takes the opportunity to declare his own true character. He presses home the truth that worship is due to God alone. With this on record, it is all the more remarkable that the worship of angels crept into the Church so early — long before this book was even written (see Colossians 2). So John's mistake, made twice, may well be on record to condemn a widespread practice. It also gives plain instruction: no beings, however exalted, must ever be allowed to come between God and the souls of His people.

The command given here does not refer to any one prophecy, but to all that the book contains. There is a deliberate contrast with the command given to Daniel: "Shut up the words, and seal the book, until the time of the end" (Daniel 12:4). Here it is "do not seal the words"; there, "seal the book." The reason Daniel gives is that the time of the end was then far off. The reason John gives for not sealing the words of the prophecy is that "the time is near." … We are living in the time of the end. So all prophecy lies open. What was sealed is now open for us to examine, for our profit and learning.

Why seal up the first, like papers only needed at some future time? Why leave the other unsealed, like papers wanted right now? To say that Daniel's prophecy came six hundred years earlier than the other will not do. If two thousand four hundred years is a distant date, so is eighteen hundred years… The explanation lies in the character of the present period, which has no dates and counts no time. No one is to put off the Lord's return, even in thought.

In Daniel's time it was not at hand. But now Christ has come, and is dead, risen and glorified. To the church the end is always near. In her own path, and in what belongs to her, the church does not know time at all… The church is heavenly. In heaven there are no times or seasons. There may be lights in the heavens to mark times and seasons for the earth. We do well to pay attention to the lamp of prophecy. But the church consists of souls called out from the earth, and is not of the world. So to the Christian the time is always at hand.

We are to use and understand it now, because we know Christ and have the Holy Spirit, given by Christ as an anointing by which we know all things. The words of this book are not sealed to us. Christ is the light who reveals this book as He reveals everything else. So it is unbelief if we take it instead to the world and its wisdom, which can only darken it. This, I have no doubt, is the root and reason of the mistakes and difficulties so common in interpreting this book.

Unlike Daniel's prophecies, the words of the prophecy of this book are not to be sealed up, for the time is near. To the Christian, brought face to face with the coming of the Lord, the end is always near. What time might pass was another question… Daniel was taught to look on through many generations to the end before him. Christians are taught to be always expecting their Lord. No such interval lies before them. They stand in the full light now, though unbelief and wrong teaching may obscure it. But nothing is under a veil except the moment, and its concealment is meant to encourage expectation.

The things revealed here are therefore to be published. People are to be both instructed and warned, because the time is so very near. How important and necessary it is, then, for anyone who would be a faithful servant of Christ to know these things well! They are no longer to be sealed, but to be made known.

This verse refers to the fixed, eternal condition of all, whether blessed or unblessed. It comes after "the time is near," and before "Behold, I am coming soon." When that time arrives and the Lord comes for His own, no one will be able to change his condition. The day of grace will be closed. Some were once unjust and filthy, but they believed in Christ as their Saviour. At His coming they will be righteous and holy, and they will remain so for ever. The emphasis in this verse should fall on the word "still" — that is, they remain so.

It is fixed, for ever fixed for all — hopelessly for some… This is not a time when moral change can happen. It is not a time when sinners can be converted, when a man under the power of Satan can be delivered from that power and brought into the kingdom of God's dear Son. All this is at an end. Men are solemnly settled in the condition in which they are found. The day of grace is over, the day of judgment will have come, and the door will then be shut.

There are two classes of bad, as opposed to two classes of good. The unrighteous as a class are contrasted with the righteous, and the filthy with the holy. Habits fix character, and character fixes destiny. Everyone acts according to his true nature, and in this everyone is consistent. Death, or the coming of the Lord, fixes character and destiny.

We do not mean that these unrepentant sinners will keep sinning in hell. Prison holds men back from crime, and in the same way God's judgment will hold back the lost in the lake of fire. But the sinful condition will remain, for we read, "Let the evildoer still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy" (Rev. 22:11). And John 3:36 is a decisive word: "Whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him." "Shall not see life" shatters the false hope that everyone will be saved in the end. The wrath of God remaining on him meets the error that the lost simply cease to exist.

The filthy will never become holy; the holy will never become filthy. Now, indeed, it is the day of grace, when the filthy can have all their filth washed away. But here we look into eternity, where the condition of all will be fixed.

A few more fleeting moments and man's eternal doom will be fixed for ever. Countless ages may roll on, and the sentence will still be, "Let the evildoer still do evil." Those who now act so unjustly toward the God of all grace and His only Son, the Saviour of sinners, will then be for ever among the unjust. Let ten thousand times ten thousand years pass, and it will still be said, "the filthy still be filthy." They despised the only remedy that cleanses from sin. In outer darkness they will learn that nothing but the blood of Jesus could cleanse a sinner and make him fit to stand in God's infinitely holy presence.

In the book of Revelation the Lord says three times over, "Behold," or "Surely, I come quickly." The first is in Revelation 3:11, and clearly concerns the Christian's walk. The second is in Revelation 22:12, and concerns work here and rewards later. The third, as is so well known, is in verse 20, and is only about the heart waiting and watching for Christ.

He comes "quickly." Ah! it seems long. But by God's way of reckoning the Lord has not been away quite two full days (2 Peter 3:8). "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise."

It is possible to make a great religious profession with the object of gaining the applause of men. Of such the Lord can say, "They have their reward" (Matt. 6:2, 5, 16); but it is not Christ's reward, and it is a reward without Christ, for, says the Lord, "My reward is with Me." To enjoy Christ's reward we must wait for Christ's return. What an encouragement to keep serving the Lord quietly! You may be hidden away, unknown to people, and perhaps little valued even by God's people. Still, all is under the eye of the Lord. He knows, and He will not forget. When He comes, every little act for Him, every little sacrifice for Him, every cup of cold water given for His Name's sake, will have its bright reward — but it will be "with Him."

When it comes to righteousness and salvation, reward can have no place at all. These privileges are in Christ, and perfect. They are the reward, so to speak, of His labours and work. So if one takes reward as the motive for work, he is wholly on false ground. Love and obedience are the only true motives, as they were in Christ Himself. But rewards are held out as encouragements in the difficulties of the road that love and obedience lead us into.

All are to be in glory on the ground of free grace. But Christ watches to see if we run well. He will give a reward if there has been faithfulness, and a crown of righteousness if we have loved His appearing.

What unspeakable grace! First, He Himself produces in the hearts of His people what is according to His mind. Then He enables them to bear witness for Him in the moral darkness of this world. At the end He credits to them, and rewards, what His own grace has worked. Blessed for ever be His name!

The Lord will properly reward the least service when He comes — not into the air for us (1 Thess. 4:17), but into the kingdom with us. He first takes us into the Father's house (John 14:2-3), but the kingdom is the place where He gives out rewards according to service and faithfulness.

The announcement has a twofold object — to encourage His servants, and to warn the wicked that judgment is coming fast. We take the first to be the leading thought, since His reward is said to be with Him. Even this can be read two ways, and we must not shut out the idea of repayment to the wicked, in the judgment of the living at the appearing of the Lord.

The Authorised Version reads, "Blessed are they that do His commandments." But every critical scholar of note rejects the reading in our English Bibles. Obedience to commandments is not the ground on which eternal life is bestowed. It is God's gift to all who believe (John 5:24). The reading "that wash their robes" agrees with Revelation 7:14, which uses a similar expression. In both cases only the blood of the Lamb could wash the symbolic robes of the redeemed. In Revelation 7 that blood gave the saved crowd from the nations the right to stand before the throne (Revelation 7:15). Here it gives the title to the tree of life and entrance into the golden city.

The words sounded alike in the original language, and that misled some of the copyists. But the best authorities for the text leave no doubt: it is "wash their robes."

Such washing in the blood of the Lamb is absolutely essential to give one a right to the tree of life — a right to communion with the Lord Jesus Himself. Just keeping His commandments can never give anyone that right. That in itself would be a form of law-keeping and could not wash away the contamination of sin. It is the blood of Christ that gives title to the enjoyment of His person (the tree of life) and to the inheritance (the city). After that washing, though, we are called to obey the Word of God gladly.

Man's sin in Eden lost him the fruit of the tree of life. The cherubim and the flaming sword shut him out, set there "to guard the way to the tree of life." But now the great work of redemption is finished. The Saviour of sinners has borne the judgment that came in by the tree of the knowledge of good and evil — the tree man ate from, the tree that defiled his conscience. So in the Paradise of God nothing remains but the tree of life, and everyone washed in the blood of the Lamb may come to it. No flaming sword now blocks the way for the simplest believer in Jesus.

The blessed ones are those who wash their robes, and their portion is twofold. They have "the right to the tree of life" — this is their personal portion. And they "enter the city by the gates" — this is their collective portion.

Access to the tree of life and entrance into the city seem to belong to the heavenly side of the kingdom, where the righteous will shine out... Those who have their part in the tree of life and in the heavenly city will be the glorified saints — that is, all who are Christ's at His coming.

So while righteousness has been declared the principle of Christ's judgment, grace is the foundation on which the blessing of the redeemed rests... For unless a man is washed in this way, he is defiled in himself and must stay outside. He is counted among the dogs, or unclean, the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the idolaters, the murderers, and those who love and practise lying — people who have no place in the holy city.

Again we find the two classes in verses 14 and 15 — the holy and the filthy... Those washed are within. Those characterised by the evils of verse 15 are without. The Apostle Paul had issued the warning, "Look out for the dogs, look out for the evildoers" (Phil. 3:2), and here we find such excluded for ever. He had also shown that today in the assembly of God there is a "within" that God recognizes, and there is the world "without" (1 Cor. 5:12-13). So here we find the same separation kept up and carried on into eternity.

Outside the city are dogs — those unclean in nature. There are sorcerers, those deceived by evil spirits. There are the sexually immoral, those sunk in moral corruption. There are idolaters, those who give to the creature the place of the Creator. And there is everyone who loves and practices falsehood, those who have chosen the lie instead of the truth on purpose. These people are wholly outside the sphere of the grace of God, which they have refused with their eyes open.

Outside are the unclean and the violent. Outside too are those who love satanic falsehood and idolatry. Their sins are against purity, against their neighbour, and against God, and they follow Satan.

No doubt many a reader, even one who is not a believer, would protest at finding himself in any of these classes. But let such a person think again. The very first word used ("dogs") takes in everyone who is unclean. And Scripture teaches that everyone who is not under the value of the blood of Christ before God is unclean. A person may claim a fine moral character. Even so, he is still not fit to enter the city through its gates unless he has washed his robes.

Dogs in the East are very different creatures from the pets people value in the West. These stray dogs are wild and dangerous. They belong to no one, and they eat whatever scraps of garbage they can find in the dusty road. In Scripture they are only symbolic of evil.

Revelation uses another word for sorcery, φαρμακεία. It refers to drugs — "to stupefy with drugs" — and then to any system of sorcery by spells (Rev. 9:21; Rev. 18:23; compare Rev. 21:8; Rev. 22:15). Scripture ranks sorcery with the worst of sins, and it also applies the word to the professing church in symbolic Babylon.

Eternal life and eternal glory cannot be won by keeping commandments, by the works of the law. The blood of the Lamb alone is the title to glory... The one who rejects Christ, and by doing so denies his lost condition and his need of a Saviour, loves and practices falsehood. He lives according to the old nature, and the fruits of the flesh are there.

The definite article the stands before each class shut out of the city. These are not the ungodly in general, but specific, clearly marked classes of people. Substantially the list here is the same as in Revelation 21:8. Here the point is that they are shut out of the holy city. The previous chapter shows the same characters in the lake of fire: outside the city of gold in Revelation 22:15, in the lake of fire in Revelation 21:8.

It is however the Spirit and the bride who say, Come; that is, the Spirit produces the cry in the church. She raises it, but it is He who has called it forth. So here we are allowed to see the church as the vessel, the willing vessel of the Holy Spirit. It is He who directs her gaze upward to the bright morning Star, and draws out the expression of the desire for His coming. It follows that this is the normal attitude of the assembly.

So "the Spirit and the bride say, Come." This is not a warning from one coming as a judge and a rewarder. It is the revelation of Himself, and that revelation awakens the desire of the bride, according to the relationship in which grace has set her. It is not a mere sentiment or wish: the Spirit who dwells in the assembly leads and suggests her thought. "Let the one who hears" means the one who hears the voice of the Spirit in the assembly. Let him join in the cry, and say, Come.

"The Spirit and the bride say, Come." We get the whole circle of the church's affections. When the Spirit of God is working in the saints, what will be the first affection? Christ… What is the next affection? It is the saints. So it turns and calls on the one who hears to say, Come… And what next? We turn round to those who may be thirsty, telling them to come, and whoever desires, let him take the water of life without price. The believer who knows the blessedness of having drunk the living water Christ gives wants others to have it too.

"And let the one who hears say Come." Everyone with open ears, every believer, is urged to join in this genuine desire for His coming. Then, suddenly, the word "come" is used in a different way. It becomes a sweet message of gospel grace, showing the great heart of the Lord Jesus: "Let the one who is thirsty come." Has reading God's words awakened thirst in some man or woman? Then let him or her come to Christ, and he will find a wonderful welcome.

It presents the brightest hope of the church, it encourages the simplest believer, and it also holds the fullest expression of sovereign grace to the neediest of sinners, in whatever state he may be found. What can be more open than saying, "Let the one who desires take the water of life without price"? There is no more unrestricted invitation to perishing souls in any part of the Bible.

The point is not the measure of your anxiety, but the fact that you are thirsty or willing at all… "I will give to the one who is thirsty from the fountain of the water of life freely… Let the one who is thirsty come. And whoever desires, let him take the water of life freely" (Rev. 21:6, 22:17). What charming words! "I will give … freely." That is God's side. "Let him take … freely." That is your side. God gives; all you have to do is to take what He gives.

How touching it is that the last appeal from Christ in the glory is a gospel appeal to a needy world, and let us mark well how full and how wide is the appeal. As one has said, "There is no man in the world to whom Jesus does not appeal. He gave Himself a ransom for all, and so He has the right to appeal to every man, whoever he may be: 'Let him take the water of life without price.' Whoever wants it may come and drink of living water without money and without price."

Man's one-sidedness always leads him to set grace and judgment against each other, while the many-sidedness of God's word gives each its proper place. Tender words of invitation have just been spoken. Right after them, God builds a defensive wall around this book of sevenfold judgments. It is a solemn lesson to see how He shuts out every intrusion of man's reasoning and unbelief.

The importance of these revelations could not have been more jealously protected. reason: two very-hard sentences (58 and 72 words), trims length

The Lord Himself claims every word here for God. If this is not a claim for verbal inspiration, what is it? This is clearly the closing book of New Testament Scripture. So what should we conclude about the verbal inspiration of the other parts? And what woe will fall on those who presume to meddle with God's authoritative message of His mind to man?

The warning applies first of all to the words of the book of Revelation. But it comes at the very end, and we believe it applies in a second way to the whole New Testament, if not the whole Bible. We are neither to add to it nor to take away.

The Lord refers especially to the book of Revelation here, but the Old Testament sounds a similar warning... The Lord has always been jealous for the maintenance of His own truth... The canon of Scripture is complete. To add to it must be deeply offensive to God. It must be the fruit of a proud and unbelieving heart. The warning speaks to every person who even hears the prophecy of this book. When God carries out the sentence, He will show no partiality.

The professing Church has set this book aside in practice. This did not happen through simple misunderstanding, which is not what is in view here. It happened because the Church's character and hopes took a worldly form instead of a heavenly one. It refused to believe itself under judgment, and so took away from this portion of God's word. It claimed for itself universal rule, triumph over evil, and a continuance to the end of time. In that way it added to this portion of God's word.

To John's prophetic ministry in the Revelation nothing was to be added. God had revealed all the great lines of truth when He made known the special revelation given to Paul. And He set out all things to come, for Christian times at least, when John, the son of Zebedee, recorded the revelations granted to him on Patmos. We look, then, for no more. Claimed additions to revealed truth are not the fruit of the Holy Spirit's teaching now.

Wherever the words of this prophecy are read or heard, this deeply solemn warning applies... The plagues of the book, which are many and varied, are added in righteous retribution to those who add to its words... This is how God guards the book that suffers more neglect than any other in Scripture, and that many treat with contempt.

Man is one-sided. He always sets grace and judgment against each other. God's word has many sides, and gives each its proper place. The tender words of invitation have only just been spoken. Right after them, it is a solemn lesson to see the wall God puts around this book of sevenfold judgments, to shut out man's reasoning and unbelief.

Wherever the words of this prophecy are read or heard, this deeply solemn warning applies... This is how God guards the book that people neglect more than any other in Scripture, and that many treat with contempt.

There is a statement that certain names will NOT be blotted out of the Book of Life. That plainly implies that names may be blotted out. God does not hold out empty threats (Rev. 22:19).

Where Scripture speaks of blotting out, it is like a register of voters: if a name is shown to have no right there, it is blotted out. In Revelation 22:19 it should be "tree of life," not "book of life." God takes away no name that He has written.

The words "which are described in this book" point to the tree of life and the holy city. Interpreted, these two things mean Christ and the church. Christ, risen from the dead, is the tree of life; the church is the bride of Christ. So the penalty for anyone who "takes away from the words of the book of this prophecy" is exclusion from Christ and the church.

It does not mean only open unbelief, which refuses the book as God's word. No doubt it includes that, but it includes much more. The professing Church has in practice set this book aside. This did not happen through simple misunderstanding — that is not what is meant here — but because its character and hopes became worldly instead of heavenly. It refused to believe that it was itself under judgment, and so took away from this part of God's word.

Here the Lord Himself claims every word for God. If this is not a claim that God inspired the very words, what is? This is plainly the closing book of the New Testament. So what may we conclude about the inspiration of the words in other parts? And what sorrow waits for those who dare to meddle with what God has said to man with authority?

In Deuteronomy, near the start of Scripture, God tells His people the same thing about the law: do not add to the word He commands you, and do not take from it (Deuteronomy 4:2). Put the two passages side by side — one at the start of God's dealings with men, one at the end. There is no doubt that we can apply this to the whole of Scripture. There is no scripture that we may take away, and no part where we may add anything.

To ask that is to confuse this warning with the question of salvation, and so to weaken its seriousness... If these words mean being cut off from Christ and the church for ever, they can only refer to someone whose part in Christ and the church was only a claim. That is the right reading, because taking away from the words of this prophecy is a deliberate, hostile act... It is a very bad sign when believers use the truth that they cannot be lost to push God's warnings aside.

He has kept the best wine until last. He had already spoken of His coming in judgment, and of His coming for the church in full grace. Now He could not leave us on a note of sorrow. He must bring our hearts back to gladness and joy at the thought of His coming again... At once John answers for the church, "Come, Lord Jesus." It is the ready reply of his heart to the Lord.

This announcement of penalty is Christ's own word: "He who testifies these things says, 'Surely, I come quickly.'" When His Word is treated this way, may we not expect Himself more than ever? When people invalidate and deny the testimony of Scripture, is that not when we may most expect the Faithful and True Witness to testify in person?

Perhaps we have taken this word too much as a matter of time and centuries. Its main meaning here may be swiftness — no gradual unfolding when He comes, but swift as a flash of lightning! When He comes, He will bring everything to a triumphant conclusion.

"Quickly" He comes. Ah, it seems long. But by God's reckoning the Lord has not been away quite two full days (2 Peter 3:8). "The Lord is not slow to fulfill His promise."

"Surely, I come quickly," is again the word (v. 20). This is a simple promise. It is neither a warning nor an encouragement. Nothing comes with it, as in the other cases. It is simply a promise to bring Himself with Him on His coming again. But it is the highest and the dearest thing. The heart may be silent before a warning and before an encouragement... But this promise of the simple personal return of Christ gets its answer from the saints.

The Yea and Amen, Greek and Hebrew affirmatives, are united in the introduction to the book (Rev. 1:7). Here they are separated. The Lord assures us that His Coming is certain: "Yea, I come." The Church rejoices that His word never changes: "Amen; come."

It is the last time our Lord speaks from heaven. The next time His voice sounds will be on the day He descends out of heaven with a shout... It is the Church which answers His positive and certain announcement. It is the last word recorded in the Bible coming from the lips of man.

It is as though He said, Nothing will satisfy Me until I have you with Myself. It is His love that makes Him say that, and so we must read words like that not with the head but with the heart... From the heavens there sounds this great "Amen," and then, "Even so, come Lord Jesus."

The Lord considers it important that His people should always expect it as a present thing, and wish for it as a present thing. I say expecting it as a present thing, not knowing when it will come... Now, if we knew for certain that it must be two or three thousand years off, would that not affect this state of mind?

The better rendering of the last verse is, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints." The last word of Malachi is "curse," but there is no curse as we close Revelation. The grace of the New Testament replaces the curse of the Old. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ will of course be with all the saints, and it will never fail, since it is absolute grace that takes us all to glory. But we are also meant to be conscious of that grace ourselves.

Now finally in verse 21 we have the closing benediction from the Lord through the Apostle John, who was the vessel of these communications. The better attested reading is, "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with all the saints." His full title is used here, and the closing note that is struck is that of His well known grace. This grace is to rest on ALL the saints and not on a few only, who may be specially faithful. And it will rest upon them ALL the time while we wait for Him.

It is just like the heart of Christ. His unclouded favour rests upon "all the saints." The strongest and the weakest, the father and the babe, are equally objects of His grace. Irrespective, too, of the ways of His people, His grace rests upon them. Through clouds and sunshine, by night and by day, in all times and circumstances, His unfailing grace is their support and strength. It is grace from beginning to end, from otherwise hopeless ruin till complete redemption.

The Roman Catholic church has its saints, but they have been dead for centuries; it has no living saints. Among Protestants the word is usually given to people who look serious and live clean lives apart from the world. But the Bible gives it to all who are in Christ Jesus, to all the children of God on earth. They are all sanctified in Christ Jesus and are saints by calling (1 Cor. 1:2). Think of the father of a large family — a true father, who loves and cares for all his children alike. He makes sure they are all inside before he bars the door at night. So the Holy Spirit does not close the divine Word upon a divided family, some inside and some outside. He gathers all within the sacred enclosure and puts this great benediction upon all.

But this victory of God has not come without cost to Himself. Power alone could not have won it. God's bright designs sprang from His heart of love. He wanted all His saints for Himself because He loved them — and love must suffer... God — the beginning, "all the saints" — the end, and the cross of Christ between. Yes, the cross is the heart of the Bible, throbbing with love. No one can write that lesson clearly and leave the cross out.

The apostle in his turn takes his leave of the saints. In the love of the Spirit he commends them to their only provision for the way, until the journey ends. Till He comes — come when He may, bringing His glory with Him — they must stand in His grace. For the Lord gives both, and grace leads to glory.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is to be with us all as we travel on to His coming, through the present scenes of toil and trouble, strife and desert life. It rests on our spirits, forms our characters, shapes our thoughts, enters our hearts, and comes out in the way we live. The whole church of God needs it. The saints of God — you and I and all the rest of us — greatly need it. Blessed be God, it rests upon us, and is available for us in every conceivable emergency.

First the voice of the Lord: "I come quickly." Then the voice of the Church in her glad response: "Amen. Come, Lord Jesus." And finally the voice of the Holy Spirit in the blessing: "The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you all." No sweeter close to the Book of God could be imagined. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ" is what the Church has had to live on while toiling, suffering, and witnessing here. The storehouse has never failed.