Revelation 21:10–14

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.