@Re 21:1-27. THE NEW HEAVEN AND EARTH: NEW JERUSALEM OUT OF HEAVEN.
The remaining two chapters describe the eternal and consummated kingdom of God and the saints on the new earth. As the world of nations is to be pervaded by divine influence in the millennium, so the world of nature shall be, not annihilated, but transfigured universally in the eternal state which follows it. The earth was cursed for man's sake; but is redeemed by the second Adam. Now is the Church; in the millennium shall be the kingdom; and after that shall be the new world wherein God shall be all in all. The "day of the Lord" and the conflagration of the earth are in @2Pe 3:10,11 spoken of as if connected together, from which many argue against a millennial interval between His coming and the general conflagration of the old earth, preparatory to the new; but "day" is used often of a whole period comprising events intimately connected together, as are the Lord's second advent, the millennium, and the general conflagration and judgment. Compare @Ge 2:4 as to the wide use of "day." Man's soul is redeemed by regeneration through the Holy Spirit now; man's body shall be redeemed at the resurrection; man's dwelling-place, His inheritance, the earth, shall be redeemed perfectly at the creation of the new heaven and earth, which shall exceed in glory the first Paradise, as much as the second Adam exceeds in glory the first Adam before the fall, and as man regenerated in body and soul shall exceed man as he was at creation.
1. the first--that is the former.
passed away--Greek, in A and B is "were departed"
(Greek, "apeelthon," not as in English Version,
"pareelthe").
was--Greek, "is," which graphically sets the thing before our
eyes as present.
no more sea--The sea is the type of perpetual unrest. Hence our
Lord rebukes it as an unruly hostile troubler of His people. It
symbolized the political tumults out of which "the beast" arose,
@Re 13:1. As the physical corresponds to the spiritual and moral
world, so the absence of sea, after the metamorphosis of the earth
by fire, answers to the unruffled state of solid peace which shall
then prevail. The sea, though severing lands from one another, is
now, by God's eliciting of good from evil, made the medium of
communication between countries through navigation. Then man shall
possess inherent powers which shall make the sea no longer necessary,
but an element which would detract from a perfect state. A "river" and
"water" are spoken of in @Re 22:1,2, probably literal (that is, with
such changes of the natural properties of water, as correspond
analogically to man's own transfigured body), as well as symbolical. The
sea was once the element of the world's destruction, and is still the
source of death to thousands, whence after the millennium, at the
general judgment, it is specially said, "The sea gave up the
dead . . . in it." Then it shall cease to destroy, or disturb, being
removed altogether on account of its past destructions.
2. And I John--"John" is omitted in A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and
ANDREAS; also the "I" in the Greek of these authorities is not
emphatic. The insertion of "I John" in the Greek would somewhat
interfere with the close connection which subsists between "the new
heaven and earth," @Re 21:1, and the "new Jerusalem" in this verse.
Jerusalem . . . out of heaven--(@Re 3:12 Ga 4:26, "Jerusalem which
is above"; @Heb 11:10 12:22 13:14). The descent of the new
Jerusalem out of heaven is plainly distinct from the earthly
Jerusalem in which Israel in the flesh shall dwell during the
millennium, and follows on the creation of the new heaven and earth.
John in his Gospel always writes [Greek] Hierosoluma of the old
city; in the Apocalypse always Hierousaleem of the heavenly city
(@Re 3:12). Hierousaleem is a Hebrew name, the original and
holy appellation. Hierosoluma is the common Greek term, used
in a political sense. Paul observes the same distinction when refuting
Judaism (@Ga 4:26; compare @Ga 1:17,18 2:1 Heb 12:22), though
not so in the Epistles to Romans and Corinthians [BENGEL].
bride--made up of the blessed citizens of "the holy city." There is
no longer merely a Paradise as in Eden (though there is that also,
@Re 2:7), no longer a mere garden, but now the city of God on
earth, costlier, statelier, and more glorious, but at the same time the
result of labor and pains such as had not to be expended by man in
dressing the primitive garden of Eden. "The lively stones" were
severally in time laboriously chiselled into shape, after the pattern of
"the Chief corner-stone," to prepare them for the place which they
shall everlastingly fill in the heavenly Jerusalem.
3. out of heaven--so ANDREAS.
But A and Vulgate read, "out of the throne."
the tabernacle--alluding to the tabernacle of God in the wilderness
(wherein many signs of His presence were given): of which this is the
antitype, having previously been in heaven: @Re 11:19:15:5, "the
temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven"; also @Re 13:6.
Compare the contrast in @Heb 9:23,14, between "the patterns" and
"the heavenly things themselves," between "the figures" and "the true."
The earnest of the true and heavenly tabernacle was afforded in the
Jerusalem temple described in @Eze 40:1-42:20, as about to be, namely,
during the millennium.
dwell with them--literally, "tabernacle with them"; the same
Greek word as is used of the divine Son "tabernacling among us."
Then He was in the weakness of the flesh: but at the new creation of
heaven and earth He shall tabernacle among us in the glory of His
manifested Godhead (@Re 22:4).
they--in Greek emphatic, "they" (in particular).
his people--Greek, "His peoples": "the nations of the saved"
being all peculiarly His, as Israel was designed to be. So A reads. But
B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, "His people":
singular.
God himself . . . with them--realizing fully His
name Immanuel.
4. all tears--Greek, "every tear."
no more death--Greek, "death shall be no more." Therefore it is
not the millennium, for in the latter there is death
(@Isa 65:20 1Co 15:26,54, "the last enemy
. . . destroyed is death,"
@Re 20:14, after the millennium).
sorrow--Greek, "mourning."
passed away--Greek, "departed," as in @Re 21:1.
5. sat--Greek, "sitteth."
all things new--not recent, but changed from the old (Greek, "kaina," not "nea"). An earnest
of this regeneration and
transfiguration of nature is given already in the regenerate soul.
unto me--so Coptic and
ANDREAS. But A, B, Vulgate, and
Syriac omit.
true and faithful--so ANDREAS.
But A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and
Coptic transpose, "faithful and true" (literally, "genuine").
6. It is done--the same Greek as in @Re 16:17. "It is come
to pass." So Vulgate reads with English Version. But A reads,
"They ('these words,' @Re 21:5) are come to pass." All is as
sure as if it actually had been fulfilled for it rests on the word of
the unchanging God. When the consummation shall be, God shall rejoice
over the work of His own hands, as at the completion of the first
creation God
saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good (@Ge 1:31).
Alpha . . . Omega--Greek in A and B,
"the Alpha . . . the Omega" (@Re 1:18).
give unto . . . athirst . . . water of
life--(@Re 22:17 Isa 12:3 55:1 Joh 4:13,14 7:37,38).
This is added lest any
should despair of attaining to this exceeding weight of glory. In our
present state we may drink of the stream, then we shall drink at the
Fountain.
freely--Greek, "gratuitously": the same Greek as is translated,
"(They hated Me) without a cause," @Joh 15:25. As gratuitous as
was man's hatred of God, so gratuitous is God's love to man: there
was every cause in Christ why man should love Him, yet man hated Him;
there was every cause in man why (humanly speaking) God should have
hated man, yet God loved man: the very reverse of what might be expected
took place in both cases. Even in heaven our drinking at the Fountain
shall be God's gratuitous gift.
7. He that overcometh--another aspect of the believer's life: a
conflict with sin, Satan, and the world is needed. Thirsting for
salvation is the first beginning of, and continues for ever (in the
sense of an appetite and relish for divine joys) a characteristic of the
believer. In a different sense, the believer "shall never thirst."
inherit all things--A, B, Vulgate, and
CYPRIAN read,
"these things," namely, the blessings described
in this whole passage. With "all things," compare @1Co 3:21-23.
I will be his God--Greek, "I will be to him a God," that is, all
that is implied of blessing in the name "God."
he shall be my son--"He" is emphatic: He in particular and in a
peculiar sense, above others: Greek, "shall be to me a son," in
fullest realization of the promise made in type to Solomon, son of
David, and antitypically to the divine Son of David.
8. the fearful--Greek, "the cowardly," who do not
quit themselves like men so as to "overcome" in the good fight; who
have the spirit of slavish "fear," not love, towards God; and who
through fear of man are not bold for God, or "draw back." Compare
@Re 21:27 22:15.
unbelieving--Greek, "faithless."
abominable--who have drank of the harlot's "cup of abominations."
sorcerers--one of the characteristics of Antichrist's time.
all liars--Greek, "all the liars": or else "all who are
liars"; compare @1Ti 4:1,2, where similarly lying and dealings
with spirits and demons, are joined together as features of "the
latter times."
second death--@Re 20:14: "everlasting destruction,"
@2Th 1:9 Mr 9:44,46,48, "Where THEIR
worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
9. The same angel who had shown John Babylon the harlot, is
appropriately employed to show him in contrast
new Jerusalem, the Bride (@Re 17:1-5). The angel so employed is
the one that had the last seven plagues, to show that the ultimate
blessedness of the Church is one end of the divine judgments on her
foes.
unto me--A, B, and Vulgate omit.
the Lamb's wife--in contrast to her who sat on many waters
(@Re 17:1), (that is, intrigued with many peoples
and nations of the
world, instead of giving her undivided affections, as the Bride does, to
the Lamb.
10. The words correspond to @Re 17:3, to heighten the contrast
of the bride and harlot.
mountain--Compare @Eze 40:2, where a similar vision is given from
a high mountain.
that great--omitted in A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and
CYPRIAN. Translate then, "the holy city Jerusalem."
descending--Even in the millennium the earth will not be a suitable
abode for transfigured saints, who therefore shall then reign in heaven
over the earth. But after the renewal of the earth at the close of the
millennium and judgment, they shall descend from heaven to dwell on
an earth assimilated to heaven itself. "From God" implies that "we (the
city) are God's workmanship."
11. Having the glory of God--not merely the Shekinah-cloud, but God
Himself as her glory dwelling in the midst of her. Compare the type, the
earthly Jerusalem in the millennium (@Zec 2:5; compare @Re 21:23,
below).
her light--Greek, "light-giver": properly applied to the heavenly
luminaries which diffuse light. Compare Note,
see on Php 2:15,
the only other passage where it occurs. The
"and" before "her light' is omitted in A, B, and Vulgate.
even like--Greek, "as it were."
jasper--representing watery crystalline brightness.
12. And--A and B omit. @Eze 48:30-35, has a similar description,
which implies that the millennial Jerusalem shall have its exact
antitype in the heavenly Jerusalem which shall descend on the finally
regenerated earth.
wall great and high--setting forth the security of the Church. Also,
the exclusion of the ungodly.
twelve angels--guards of the twelve gates: an additional emblem of
perfect security, while the gates being never shut (@Re 21:25) imply
perfect liberty and peace. Also, angels shall be the brethren of the
heavenly citizens.
names of . . . twelve tribes--The inscription of the names on the
gates implies that none but the spiritual Israel, God's elect, shall
enter the heavenly city. As the millennium wherein literal Israel
in the flesh shall be the mother Church, is the antitype to the Old
Testament earthly theocracy in the Holy Land, so the heavenly
new Jerusalem is the consummation antitypical to the spiritual
Israel, the elect Church of Jews and Gentiles being now gathered out: as
the spiritual Israel now is an advance upon the previous literal and
carnal Israel, so the heavenly Jerusalem shall be much in advance of the
millennial Jerusalem.
13. On the north . . . on the south--A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, "And on the north and on the south." In Ezekiel, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan (for which Manasseh is substituted in @Re 7:6), are on the east (@Eze 48:32); Reuben, Judah, Levi, are on the north (@Eze 48:31); Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, on the south (@Eze 48:33); Gad, Asher, Naphtali, on the west (@Eze 48:34). In Numbers, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun are on the east (@Nu 2:3,5,7). Reuben, Simeon, Gad, on the south (@Nu 2:10,12,14). Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, on the west (@Nu 2:18,20,22). Dan, Asher, Naphtali, on the north (@Nu 2:25,27,29).
14. twelve foundations--Joshua, the type of Jesus, chose twelve men
out of the people, to carry twelve stones over the Jordan with them, as
Jesus chose twelve apostles to be the twelve foundations of the heavenly
city, of which He is Himself the Chief corner-stone. Peter is not the
only apostolic rock on whose preaching Christ builds His Church. Christ
Himself is the true foundation: the twelve are foundations only in
regard to their apostolic testimony concerning Him. Though Paul was an
apostle besides the twelve, yet the mystical number is retained, twelve
representing the Church, namely thirty the divine number, multiplied by
four, the world number.
in them the names, &c.--As architects often have their names
inscribed on their great works, so the names of the apostles shall be
held in everlasting remembrance. Vulgate reads, "in them." But
A, B, Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS read, "upon them." These
authorities also insert "twelve" before "names."
15. had a golden reed--so Coptic. But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "had (as) a measure, a golden reed." In @Re 11:2 the non-measuring of the outer courts of the temple implied its being given up to secular and heathen desecration. So here, on the contrary, the city being measured implies the entire consecration of every part, all things being brought up to the most exact standard of God's holy requirements, and also God's accurate guardianship henceforth of even the most minute parts of His holy city from all evil.
16. twelve thousand furlongs--literally, "to twelve thousand stadii": one thousand furlongs being the space between the several twelve gates. BENGEL makes the length of each side of the city to be twelve thousand stadii. The stupendous height, length, and breadth being exactly alike, imply its faultless symmetry, transcending in glory all our most glowing conceptions.
17. hundred . . . forty . . . four cubits--twelve times twelve: the
Church-number squared. The wall is far beneath the height of the city.
measure of a man, that is, of the angel--The ordinary measure used
by men is the measure here used by the angel, distinct from "the
measure of the sanctuary." Men shall then be equal to the angels.
18. the building--"the structure" [TREGELLES],
Greek, "endomeesis."
gold, like . . . clear glass--Ideal gold, transparent as no gold
here is [ALFORD]. Excellencies will be combined in the heavenly city
which now seem incompatible.
19. And--so Syriac, Coptic, and ANDREAS. But A, B,
and Vulgate omit. Compare @Re 21:14 with this verse;
also @Isa 54:11.
all manner of precious stones--Contrast @Re 18:12 as to the harlot,
Babylon. These precious stones constituted the "foundations."
chalcedony--agate from Chalcedon: semi-opaque, sky-blue, with stripes
of other colors [ALFORD].
20. sardonyx--a gem having the redness of the cornelian, and the
whiteness of the onyx.
sardius--(See on Re 4:3).
chrysolite--described by PLINY as transparent and of a golden
brightness, like our topaz: different from our pale green crystallized
chrysolite.
beryl--of a sea-green color.
topaz--PLINY [37.32],
makes it green and transparent, like our chrysolite.
chrysoprasus--somewhat pale, and having the purple color of the
amethyst [PLINY, 37, 20, 21].
jacinth--The flashing violet brightness in the amethyst is diluted
in the jacinth [PLINY, 37.41].
21. every several--Greek, "each one severally."
22. no temple . . . God . . . the temple--As God now dwells in the spiritual Church, His "temple" (Greek, "naos," "shrine"; @1Co 3:17 6:19), so the Church when perfected shall dwell in Him as her "temple" (naos: the same Greek). As the Church was "His sanctuary," so He is to be their sanctuary. Means of grace shall cease when the end of grace is come. Church ordinances shall give place to the God of ordinances. Uninterrupted, immediate, direct, communion with Him and the Lamb (compare @Joh 4:23), shall supersede intervening ordinances.
23. in it--so Vulgate. But A, B, and ANDREAS
read, "(shine) on it," or literally, "for her."
the light--Greek, "the lamp" (@Isa 60:19,20). The direct
light of God and the Lamb shall make the saints independent of God's
creatures, the sun and moon, for light.
24. of them which are saved . . . in--A, B, Vulgate, Coptic, and
ANDREAS read "(the nations shall walk) by means of her light":
omitting "of them which are saved." Her brightness shall supply them
with light.
the kings of the earth--who once had regard only to their glory,
having been converted, now in the new Jerusalem do bring their glory
into it, to lay it down at the feet of their God and Lord.
and honour--so B, Vulgate, and Syriac. But A omits the
clause.
25. not be shut . . . by day--therefore shall never be shut: for it shall always be day. Gates are usually shut by night: but in it shall be no night. There shall be continual free ingress into it, so as that all which is blessed and glorious may continually be brought into it. So in the millennial type.
26. All that was truly glorious and excellent in the earth and its converted nations shall be gathered into it; and while all shall form one Bride, there shall be various orders among the redeemed, analogous to the divisions of nations on earth constituting the one great human family, and to the various orders of angels.
27. anything that defileth--Greek, "koinoun." A and B read
[koinon,] "anything unclean."
in the Lamb's book of
life--(See on Re 20:12;
Re 20:15). As all the filth
of the old Jerusalem was
carried outside the walls and burnt there, so nothing defiled shall
enter the heavenly city, but be burnt outside (compare @Re 22:15).
It is striking that the apostle of love, who shows us the glories of the
heavenly city, is he also who speaks most plainly of the terrors of
hell. On @Re 21:26,27,
ALFORD writes a Note, rash in speculation,
about the heathen nations, above what is written, and not at all
required by the sacred text: compare Note,
see on Re 21:26.