Will there literally be streets of gold in heaven (Revelation 21:21)?

The last vision of Revelation is now before us: it is that of the city of God itself. But here, where one would desire above all to see clearly, we become most conscious of how feeble and dull is our apprehension of eternal things. They are words of an apostle which remind us that "we see through a glass darkly " - en ainigmati, in a riddle. Such a riddle, then, it is no wonder if the vision presents to us: the dream that we have here a literal description, even to the measurements, of the saints' eternal home, is one too foolish to need much comment. All other visions throughout the book have been symbolic: how much more here how little need we expect that the glimpse which is here given us into the unseen would reveal to us the shape of buildings, or the material used! Scripture is reticent all through upon such subjects; and the impress to be left upon our souls is plainly spiritual, not of lines and hues, as for the natural senses. "Things which eye hath not seen" are not put before the eye. On the other hand, that the "city" revealed to us here is not simply a figure of the saints themselves, as, from the term used for it, "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife," some have taken it to be, there are other scriptures which seem definitely to assure us. " Jerusalem., which is above, which is our mother" (Gal. iv.) could hardly be used in this way, though the Church is indeed so conceived of in patristic and mediceval thought. But even thus it would not be spoken of naturally as "above." In Heb. xii. we have a still more definite testimony. For there the "Church of the firstborn ones which are written in heaven," as well as "the spirits of just men made perfect " - in other words, both Christians and the saints of the Old Testament - are mentioned as distinct from "the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem;" and this will not allow them to be the same thing, although, in another way, the identification of a city with its inhabitants is easy. We are led in the same direction by the mention of the "tree of life in the midst of the paradise of God," - something to which the apostle thought he might have been caught even bodily (2 Cor. xii.) - and here is the tree of life in the midst of the city beside the "river of the water of life" which flows from the throne of God. Figurative language all this surely; yet these passages combine to give us the thought of a heavenly abode, already existing, and which will be in due time revealed as the metropolis of the heavenly kingdom - what Jerusalem restored will be in the lower sphere. Indeed the earthly here so parallels and illustrates the heavenly as to be a most useful help in fixing, if not enlarging, our thoughts about it, - always while we realize, of course, the essential difference that Scripture itself makes clear to be between them. But this we shall have to look at as we proceed. "The holy city, Jerusalem.," is certainly intended to be a plain comparison with the earthly city. But that is the type only; this is the antitype, the true "foundation of peace," as the word means. What more comforting title, after all the scenes of strife, the fruit of the lusts that war in our members, which we have had to look upon! Here is "peace" at last, and on a foundation that shall not be removed, but that stands fast forever. For this is emphatically "the city that hath foundations," and "whose builder and maker is God." (Heb. xi. io.) How blessed it is, too, that it should be just one of the seven angels that had the seven last plagues that shows John the city! for no mere executioner of judgment we see is he: judgment (as with God, for it is God's) is also his "strange work." It had to come, and it has come: there was no help, no hope without it; thus the stroke of the "rod of iron" was that of the shepherd's rod; it was the destruction of the destroyers only. But it is past, and here is the scene wherein his own heart rests, to which it returns with loyalty and devotion: here, where the water of life flows from the throne of God, - eternal, from the Eternal; refreshment, gladness, fruitfulness, and power are found in obedience. But the city is the "Bride, the Lamb's wife." In the Old Testament, the figure of marriage is used in a similar way. Israel was thus Jehovah's "married wife" (Is. liv. x, Jer. xxxi. 33), now divorced indeed for her unfaithfulness, but yet to return (Hos. ii.), and be received and reinstated. Her Maker will be then once more her husband, and more than the old blessing be restored. In the forty-fifth psalm, Israel 's King, Messiah, is the Bride­groom; the Song of Solomon is the mystic song of His espousals. Jerusalem thus bears His name: "This is the name whereby she shall be called: 'Jehovah our Righteousness.'" (Jer. xxxiii. i6, comp. xxiii. 6.) The land too shall be "married." (Is. lxii. 4.) In the New Testament, the same figure is still used in the same way.

The last vision of Revelation is now before us: it is that of the city of God itself. But here, where one would desire above all to see clearly, we become most conscious of how feeble and dull is our apprehension of eternal things. They are words of an apostle which remind us that "we see through a glass darkly" — en ainigmati, in a riddle. Such a riddle, then, it is no wonder if the vision presents to us: the dream that we have here a literal description, even to the measurements, of the saints' eternal home, is one too foolish to need much comment. All other visions throughout the book have been symbolic: how much more here! how little need we expect that the glimpse which is here given us into the unseen would reveal to us the shape of buildings, or the material used! Scripture is reticent all through upon such subjects; and the impress to be left upon our souls is plainly spiritual, not of lines and hues, as for the natural senses. "Things which eye hath not seen" are not put before the eye.

The last vision of Revelation is now before us: it is that of the city of God itself. But here, where one would desire above all to see clearly, we become most conscious of how feeble and dull is our apprehension of eternal things. They are words of an apostle which remind us that "we see through a glass darkly" — en ainigmati, in a riddle. Such a riddle, then, it is no wonder if the vision presents to us: the dream that we have here a literal description, even to the measurements, of the saints' eternal home, is one too foolish to need much comment. All other visions throughout the book have been symbolic: how much more here! how little need we expect that the glimpse which is here given us into the unseen would reveal to us the shape of buildings, or the material used! Scripture is reticent all through upon such subjects, and the impress to be left upon our souls is plainly spiritual, not of lines and hues, as for the natural senses. "Things which eye hath not seen" are not put before the eye.

Perhaps the most striking illustration of the use of symbolism in the Scriptures is found in Revelation 21:9-27 and 22:1-5. There we get a description that is clearly not that of a literal city, but vivid, glowing symbolic language describing the Church of God as seen in her relation to the millennial earth in the day to come. The dictionary gives the meaning of symbolic language as “that which represents something else.” This is a good example of it.

Ezekiel goes on to describe the dimensions of the city and its various divisions. Now in Revelation 21 we have the Church, called also "the bride, the Lamb's wife," described under the figure of a city. The slightest examination of that account will show that it is not the description of a place, but a mere symbolical setting forth of the heavenly glories and blessedness of the Church. Its dimensions, its cubical form, its position, its materials, its foundations, its gates — its very definition, not as the dwelling-place of the Church, but as the Church itself — plainly show that this dazzling vision was not a sight of heaven, but a magnificent figure of the moral glories of the body of Christ, the fulness of Him that fills all in all. Compare this with the city described in Ezekiel. The latter is large, but suited to the dimensions of the land; splendid, but with nothing exceeding earthly splendour; it has a temple, while the other has none. In every particular it presents a contrast rather than suggests a comparison. How is this? Simply because they describe totally different things. The one is the plan of a splendid earthly city; the other the figure of a portion of the redeemed in heavenly glory.

"And he that talked with me had a golden reed as a measure, that he might measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth quadrangular, and the length is as great as the breadth. … The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal" (verses 15, 17). It was the image of the perfection of a city "whose builder and maker is God." I do not mean that this description is to be taken as if it were of a literal city. I conceive that it is a purely symbolical picture as to certain relations of the bride, the Lamb's wife. The scripture itself most positively says that it is (not the dwelling-place of the redeemed, but) the bride herself described as a city. Just as the apostate church, the vast idolatrous ecclesiastical system so often spoken of in this book, was symbolized as the great city Babylon; so here the glorified Church is characterized as the bride, the Lamb's wife, in contrast with the great harlot, and as the holy city descending out of heaven from God, in contrast with the great city which rules over the rulers of the earth. When we read, then, of the city forming a quadrangle, of equal length, breadth, and height, it is simply to be understood as figurative of its perfectness. At the same time these symbols must not be run into one another. For immediately after it is said, "he measured the wall thereof, of an hundred and forty-four cubits, — a man's measure, that is, of an angel" (verse 17). Now the city's height was previously given as equal to the length and breadth, i.e., twelve thousand furlongs. This of course is enormously greater than a hundred and forty-four cubits, which is expressly made to refer to the height of the wall. First, we have the general idea of a city which is every way square, a cube in fact; then, when we come to the details of the wall, a height is given which shows that we are not to look for mere literal consistency as if it were a portrait. The number twelve keeps up the idea of a perfection in reference to man.

The introduction of the Harlot-church in Rev. 17:1 expressly and instructively answers to that of the Bride, the Lamb's wife, in Rev. 21:9, who is identified with the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. How any sober man, I say not spiritual, could conceive this applicable to the earthly Jerusalem, no matter how beautiful or blessed in the Millennium, passes comprehension. Does it not simply show the blinding power of an idea in contempt of the clearest scripture? The just and true inference from God's word is, that it is essentially neither of man nor of the earth like the Palestinian Jerusalem, but heavenly and divine and so having the glory of God, and described in figures altogether and purposely beyond the first creation, which will be ransacked to clothe the earthly metropolis with riches and beauty. Think of jasper clear as crystal, gold transparent as glass, and each gate of "one pearl!" It is all above nature; whereas earthly Jerusalem will be founded and built up with the best things of the earth. We must not think of material beauty in the heavenly city; it is a symbolic description.

Each of the twelve gates is said to be of one pearl (v. 21). This would be difficult to visualize literally. Spiritually, however, the pearl emphasizes the beauty of the grace of God in reference to the Church (Matt. 13:45-46). 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 manufactures a substance called “nacre” or “mother of pearl” that surrounds the offending object with layer after layer, building up into a beautiful pearl. We are the offending object, but by God's work of grace we are covered and accepted “in Christ,” with a beauty that delights His heart of love. The Church is invested with such beauty that in her is seen the exceeding riches of God's grace (Eph. 2:7). But grace is not selfish: it delights to manifest itself to others, as these open gates infer. That grace also has pleasure in the blessing of Israel as is seen in the name of the twelve tribes of Israel on the gates.

The street corresponds to the city itself, being of pure gold, like transparent glass (v. 21). Not only our surroundings, but the area of our walk will speak of God's glory (the gold), and of clear, transparent truth (the glass). Nothing will be covered and nothing will defile our feet, nor will our feet defile that pure street.

Moreover, "The street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass." The street represents the place wherein men walk, and it was of pure gold, divine righteousness, righteousness as suited to God's nature, as befitted the place where He dwells, even as in the tabernacle and the temple all inside the holy place and the holiest was overlaid with gold. But the gold here is pure, and as transparent glass, speaking of fixed and accomplished holiness — a purity answering to the nature of God Himself, and, blessed be His name, a purity that could never more be defiled.

Moreover, "The street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass." The street represents the place wherein men walk, and it was of pure gold, divine righteousness, righteousness as suited to God's nature, as befitted the place where He dwells, even as in the tabernacle and the temple all inside the holy place and the holiest was overlaid with gold. But the gold here is pure, and as transparent glass, speaking of fixed and accomplished holiness — a purity answering to the nature of God Himself, and, blessed be His name, a purity that could never more be defiled.