we're currently examining the final section of revelation! which is made up of chapters 21-22. the section consists of two main subsections: new heaven/new earth, and epilogue. within the new heaven new earth subsection, last episode we looked at a chunk of scripture, a pericope if you will, that i called the Isaiah shout out bc it had so many hyperlinks back to the bk of isaiah and ITS description of the renewed cosmos. and today's scripture chunk is chapter 21 verses 9-14, which we'll call metaphorically GOD'S BRIDE part 1. a detailed description of the heavenly city that will be our forever dwelling with and in God. I was going to try to include the whole rest of ch 21, but my notes were getting too long, so i'm splitting this part up.
G K Beale says this of today's and the next two ish episodes' scripture passages: "Rev 21:9-22:5 recapitulates 21:1-8 and amplifies the picture there of God's consummate communion with His people and their consummate safety in the new creation. The bride of v2 is developed, the tabernacle of v3 is developed, the water of v6 is developed, the fate of sinners is developed."
(not everyone agrees with his view - some ppl think only the first chunk is about the eternal state, and the second chunk that were starting to lk at today is about the earthly millennium. if you believe that you are welcome here too but we're gonna take the cyclical approach today and look at it as recapitulation of the same themes).
so then, today is about the city and temple, next episode is more about the temple, the next episode's scripture chunk will be about the garden, and then we will look at the epilogue!
Rev 21:9-14:
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. 13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations [or, foundation stones], and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
breakdown:
9a One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me...
We can observe that angel guides bring John into visions all throughout rev. this is modeled after 1 Enoch (along w many other elements of rev) - God ridding the earth of evil, God bringing His kingdom, God speaking which John then expresses as Christ speaking, and many more - I learned this from Anthony Delgado over at Biblical Reenchantment, you can hear him on a previous episode of mine here, and also go check out his youtube video about 1 enoch in rev, it's very well done.
So here in chapter 21 why is it that specific angel? the judgement bowls guy? some Bible teachers point out that God gives a variety of work to angels - sometimes they're pouring out wrath and judgement, other times they're guiding an apostle to a heavenly vision.
Also, other teachers note that this vision shares a lot of the same language as the vision in chapter 17 when John is shown the prostitute babylon. the visions start off identically by saying "one of the angels who held the bowls said to me come i will show you..." So it's probably written that way to juxtapose and contrast the vision of the narcissistic evil madam trafficker prostitute figure with the pure and loyal spouse of God, His true church.
Beale: "The Harlot represents human culture in opposition to God, while the bride represents... the redeemed community faithful to God. There is a literal new cosmos, but the point of the vision is to focus on exalted saints as the central feature of the new order."
9b (what does the angel say) "Come, I will show (greek: deiknymi = show, as in a symbolic vision) you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
Lots of metaphors interacting with each other here. The Bride is the global true church, and the Lamb is Jesus Christ who is the God of all YHWH. And that Bride is also about to be depicted as a beautiful city, which many people take to just mean we the Church will live there, but i think the metaphor is deeper and richer than just that.
And the description also means it's a beautiful and adorned people in a beautiful and adorned place. God's bride has been perfected and given God's shared glory.
remember also the recurring hearing and seeing pattern throughout the bk of rev. John just HEARD the angel say "i'll show you the bride of the lamb" and then lets notice what he then SEES
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit [sounds lot like Ezekiel] to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
He hears "bride of the Lamb" and then sees the holy city. the seeing is the interpretation of the hearing. seeing a city helps him understand that the bride is the city of God with faithful believers as its inhabitants.
Matthew Henry in his classic commentary, proposes that 21:1-8 (the verses from last episode) are all an introduction to this vision here in 21:9-27. that the angel takes him and shows him the main vision here.
So in my mind its a city already built, on a sturdy foundation - coming down, kinda like being transported or translated onto the new earth.
Jesus wasnt joking when He said "I go to prepare a place for you" before He left. and He was a carpenter yall. Jesus' job on earth was carpentry. He knows what He's doing when He builds (thats my assumption) this city. Which is US which is the restored garden :)
11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
So the city is radiating with God's glory, and John's like: it's a precious jewel, and then he says it's like jasper, and then he says it's clear like crystal.
these are three different things; it's funny cause jasper is considered semi-precious, and it's often red but can be other colors as well but it is non-clear and doesn't look like crystal. So I kinda take this verse to mean that the brilliance of the city carries a high value like a precious jewel, while at the same time earthy and multicolored and real and substantial, like jasper stone, and at the same time emanates a totally pure and consistent clarity as if it were crystal. This is what happens when someone sees and tries to explain something of heaven - they do their best with the references we have to compare it to. and there always seems to be a lot going on simultaneously.
Although one translation says it like "the city's brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper." is there such thing currently on earth? i dont think so but i could be wrong.
by the way "brilliance" in that verse implies a star shining, like in Daniel 12 where God's people will shine like the brightness of the expanse of heaven.
And remember this emanating ongoing glory is going to be God's glory - COMING FROM US! He gives us His glory to share in!
John's saying this city shines with the glory of God - probably an allusion to Isaiah 58 and 60.
Beale asserts that "the people themselves will be both the city and the temple in which God's presence resides... Whereas verse 2 [last episode] speaks of the bride adorned for her husband, this verse clarifies that the clothing is in fact God's glory, which is none other than His awesome, tabernacling presence with His people."
12-13 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. [of course]. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west (which reflects back to the layout of the camp during the Exodus in Numbers 2).
The city has a wall with gates. Some pastors say this reminds us only those who carry the righteousness of Christ can enter. Like in Isaiah 26 when it says "We have a strong city, He sets up walls and ramparts for our security. Open the gates that the righteous may enter."
And the names of the twelve tribes, where it all started, where His redemption plan for the world first entered and formed a people group to begin everything - this history gets honored as now all followers of Jesus are grafted in to that people group - the holy heavenly nation - the bride, the city, the army, the body, the children, the redeemed, the invited, the blessed. that's us.
This whole temple and city description harkens back to the last part of the OT bk of Ezekiel. chapters 40-48 are a detailed description of Ezekiels vision of a future restored temple and holy city. [Read Ezek 43:1-5 as an example]
Beale says that this part of Rev "... further interprets the yet-future fulfillment of Ezekiel by collapsing temple, city, Garden of Eden, and new creation into one end-time picture portraying the one reality of God's communion with His people. Ezek does identify temple, city, and land as representing the same entity, while not merging them in quite the same way. He understands [land, temple, and city] as signifying God's everlasting dwelling place. The fact that here the bride is equated with the city (vv 2, 10) shows that the literal city is not being described." (in his opinion).
notice too that there is an angel at each gate. There's an angel for each church in the letters. There's an elder representing each part of the true people of God, and now we see there's an angel at each gate. So John likes to point out the structure and spiritual intentionality of what's going on.
14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
More honoring of the gospel story and the humans involved. The twelve apostles are the first followers of Jesus, who closely studied under Him as He ministered and taught. Let's read Eph 2:19-22 "...you are... fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. In him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord. And in him you too are being built together to become a dwelling in which God lives by his Spirit."
The apostles laid a foundation serving and growing and discipling the first followers of the way of Jesus, and remember we are the temple - so consider yourself part of this building, this dwelling cathedral for God - you are a part of the living body / temple of God - this thing we're building with Him and He's building in the world. What role are you playing? What is your role in this beautiful eternal thing we're being built up into? Do you know your calling? are you operating in it? are you fully functioning or barely existing? are you aware of what the Father is doing all around you? and are you actively participating in it?
We're seeing in this verse that there are 12 foundation stones, and 12 names on them. This causes many Bible scholars to view it as another instance of 24. Back in 1 Chronicles, king David organized 24 orders of priests, 24 Levites were the gatekeepers, and 24 Levites were in charge of praise.
In Isaiah 54, there are stones and jewish tradition often explains it them as being 24 in number: 12 priests plus 12 tribal heads, meaning those who come before God and represent all the ppl.
So here in Rev 21 we could be seeing another integration of 12 plus 12: the integration of the apostles and the Israel tribes.
We saw 24 elders in chapter 4, and now maybe we're seeing those 24 again in the foundation of the city. There's also mention of the glory and radiance of God being like jasper in both the throne-room description in chapter 4 and here in chapter 21 (it was in verse 11 a few moments ago). So, is the city a visual recapitulation of the throne room presence - and does God's presence perhaps interact with creation here in the city the way it always has in the throne-room of heaven?
sidenote - I didn't understand all this context when I read Isaiah 54 in my Bible time right after i had had a spiritual warfare dream over a yr ago, with the demonic false priestess who wore stones [i tell about the dream in a previous rev episode], but now i know how big of a deal these stones are and how integral they'll be in the new creation, and how they ultimately represent God's people - cherished, valuable and radiant with his glory.
Craig Keener says in his commentary:
"John’s new Jerusalem resembles some other Jews’ vision of the new temple (Qumran’s Temple Scroll commemorates the twelve tribes’ names on twelve
gates of the temple), except that earlier in his book he incorporated all believers in Jesus into the heritage of these tribes (Rev. 7:4–9)... In biblical tradition twelve stones pointed to the twelve tribes (Josh. 4:3–9); in the high priest’s breastplate in Exodus 28:17–21 they are specifically inscribed with the names of the tribes. Here however, the foundation stones refer to the twelve apostles of the Lamb, in keeping with the Christian image of the new temple’s true foundations (Eph. 2:20;
Heb. 11:10; 1 Peter 2:5). Although Jesus is our ultimate foundation (1 Cor. 3:11), early Christian tradition already emphasized that the church was built on the foundation of apostles and prophets who revealed Jesus’ message."
So remember we ARE the city being built up. look back at Rev 3:12 "The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God. Never again will they leave it. I will write on them the name of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God; and I will also write on them my new name."
And now in chapter 21 it's happening. All the enduring, faithful, victorious saints, many of whom were severely persecuted in life, will become part of the eternal temple and city and bride that is the new heaven and new earth in this great final day that God has planned. and Jesus is the cornerstone of the whole thing.
And Jesus said this to His disciples:
“Do not let your hearts be troubled... I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you... that you also may be where I am.”
That's God's desire - we're His kids and He wants us close. We're His bride and He's intentionally building an amazing forever life for us. We're made in His own image and we get to radiate with His glory and rule with Him in eternity. The light wins. His love wins. because of this, we can and will heal from anything. (let's pray)