Revelation 21:12–21

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.