Revelation 21:10–11

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.