And the building of its wall [was] jasper; and the city pure gold, like pure glass
John is shown a city, and here he is told what it is made of. No gold on earth is clear like glass. Commentators read the city as the Church in glory, so its materials describe her.
A wall marks a boundary and keeps things out. The stone this one is built from has already appeared earlier in this book.
"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 same stone turns up three times in this description, and each mention gives it a different job.
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.
The city itself is gold. Writers take that as a picture of God's righteousness, and they draw a line between what God is and how He rules.
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 verse does not just say gold. It says pure gold. That one word points to a change from what believers are now.
"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.
Gold blocks light. Glass lets it through. This verse puts the two together.
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.
What the city shows in full is already at work in believers now. The same gold also covers the street, where they walk.
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).
- Jasper guards. The wall of jasper stands for the glory of God, and that glory keeps every defiling thing outside the city.
- Jasper shines. The same stone is the city's light, her security, and her first foundation — one glory doing three things.
- Gold is God's nature. Gold stands for the righteousness of God's own nature. The same gold once covered His dwelling place in Israel.
- Pure means no alloy. Every believer has real gold now, mixed with baser metal; in the city the dross is gone.
- Transparent means nothing hidden. In nature, gold is never see-through. That is the message: no hidden motives, nothing concealed, ever again.
the foundations of the wall of the city [were] adorned with every precious stone the first foundation, jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
The wall of the heavenly city rests on twelve foundations, and John notices their colour rather than their strength. Each one is a different jewel. Why would a city built by God have foundations that break light like a prism?
The stones do more than decorate. They are how the light of God reaches a creature's eye.
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.
Jasper appears three times in the description of the city. This verse is its third mention.
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.
Behind the stones stands a Person. Commentators point past the apostles' names to the One who carries the weight.
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."
The second stone already has a history in the Bible.
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.
Several of the other names are hard to pin down. The ESV reads "agate" where older versions read "chalcedony."
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".
Precious stones appear in lists three times in Scripture. Where the jasper stands in each list is the clue.
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.
God's own light is not a spectrum. The colours belong to what He gives away.
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.
The difference of colour is personal.
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.
There is a plain lesson in how such stones come to exist.
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.
- Light — God is undivided light. It breaks into colours only when it shines through a creature. These foundations are a prism, not a lamp.
- Foundation — jasper stands first, and jasper is the glory of God. The glory that lights the city and guards it also carries it.
- Grace — jasper comes last on the high priest's breastplate and first here. The church begins with the glory in the Person of its Head.
- Pressure — heat and pressure make a gem. What you pass through now is the making of what will be displayed.
- Variety — no two stones are alike, and no two saints are. Glory does not erase what makes each one different.
the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
Revelation 21:20 ends the list of the twelve foundation stones of the city wall, naming the fifth gem through the twelfth. Why did God choose coloured stones to picture the future glory of His people, and does each stone carry a meaning of its own?
(The ESV calls the fifth and sixth stones "onyx" and "carnelian." Older translations call them "sardonyx" and "sardius." Some quotations below use the older names.)
God's own glory is never described this way. The gems belong to what He gives away, not to what He is in Himself.
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.
A stone has no glow of its own. Whatever a topaz or a beryl shows, it first received.
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 stones appear three times in Scripture, and the third time they stand for something permanent. Their difference from one another also carries a lesson.
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 stones sit in foundations, and foundations carry weight. Commentators tie that weight-bearing role back to Christ.
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.
Commentators differ here. Kelly gives no separate meaning to each stone. A Bible dictionary does trace one of them, the sardius, through several passages — including one that describes a fall.
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.
One stone in this verse appears nowhere else in the Bible. It shows up only here, in the wall's foundations.
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.
- One light. God's own glory is one undivided light. The twelve gems show what that light becomes when He shares it.
- Reflected light. No stone shines by itself. Christ is the light, and each foundation gives back a colour of it.
- Three settings. The same gems appear three times: in creation, in grace on the high priest's breastplate, and here in permanent glory.
- Twelve differences. Every believer receives the same grace, yet each displays it in a different hue — sameness would be the loss, not the gain.
- Solid ground. The colours rest in foundations, so the beauty on show is also the strength that holds the city up.
And the twelve gates, twelve pearls; each one of the gates, respectively, was of one pearl; and the street of the city pure gold, as transparent glass.
The description of the city has moved from its wall and foundations to its gates and its street. Now the materials are ones no builder could buy: a gate cut from a single pearl, and gold you can see through.
One writer says the difference between this city and the Jerusalem on earth tells us how to read the passage:
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.
One writer connects the pearl gates to a story Jesus told about a merchant. He asks who is buying and who is bought:
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.
A diver must also bring a pearl up from the sea, and the shell it grew in does not survive. Another writer builds the picture on that detail:
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 forms around something that does not belong there. One writer turns that fact into the meaning of the gate, and then notes what the gate is for:
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 is what the citizens walk on. One writer contrasts that with now, when the Lord still washes His disciples' feet:
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.
A street is not just a surface. It is where a city's dealings happen, and that is exactly what makes the golden street striking:
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 text speaks of the street, singular, and one writer builds on that:
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.
- Symbol, not masonry. Gold you can see through and a gate carved from one pearl are pictures beyond anything in the first creation. No builder could make them, and that is the clue: read them as symbols.
- Price. One writer reads the merchant who sold all He had as Christ, and the pearl He bought as the Church — not a sinner buying the Saviour.
- Grace. The pearl forms by covering an intruding object layer on layer — a picture of offenders covered and made beautiful.
- Reach. Twelve gates of pearl stand open, because grace does not keep its beauty to itself.
- Result. The street of everyday dealings holds no defilement — and being one street, it holds no division either.