Revelation 21:9-14

The issue I am having with these looks at things from the eternal state is how to open the study up. What language do I use? Yes, I know, English, but how do I explain things? Are they all metaphor? Is there some literal meaning? Is there some combination of both? Are both true at the same time? I really do not know. The big stopper for me is how to express what the Lord said in His word in the text of the passage.

The approach I will take here is to combine the literal and metaphorical, and treat them like they are both equally valuable in terms of interpretation. It is possible to have a “different interpretation” than I see and both of us be correct. What I am trying to do is “accurately handle the word of truth,” as is yours. So buckle up, it will be a ride, hopefully calmer than we had up to the end of chapter 20.

We are now seeing a very brief glance at the eternal state of humanity. So far, we have seen that our Lord and God will live with us in peace in a renewed creation without a curse. I find it useful to remind myself that although we are reaching the end of the book we call Revelation, in a collection of Books we call the Bible, we are not reading an end to the story, but a beginning of a new and bright future for everyone who is there. In our text this time, we are seeing possibly our new home for eternity, and it will be glorious. If it is an analogy, it is still something that defies my wildest imaginations, and those of you who know me will understand that I have a pretty active imagination. I will try to stay rooted in reality, but this will be a new reality, so I have some difficulty with that.

I broke our text into the following paragraph units:

KV11: Our Eternal Home, Part 1

11: having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

9-10: The Bride of the Lamb

11-14: The Capital City of God

Again, the concepts about which we consider in this study are eternal. No human today has the ability to completely understand them, I will freely confess not only that I do not understand them, but that they almost completely blow my mind. We are speaking about God, so I suppose that is no surprise. I mean who really understands the Trinity? And if you think you do, please explain it to me. How can one God be three persons? I do not know either, and this is one of the biggest proofs to me there is a God. We, as a full species, do not understand this mystery. It will have to be resolved at the level of the divine. How appropriate that said Divine is here to help each of us where we are. Let’s get into the study.

KV11: Our Eternal Home, Part 1

11: having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

Here is where one of the angels involved in the bowl judgements takes John to a high mountain to see the New Jerusalem descend from heaven. There was nothing like it in the pre-eternal state. It is possible that Jerusalem from the Millennium may have in some sense mirrored this, but in a far-reduced scale. We will consider that in our next study, but it is essentially a city that is 1500 miles in length, width, and height. Some suggest this as dimensions of a pyramid, others think a big cube, but either way, it will be impressive. John goes into great detail on what it looks like, and I don’t want to get in his way, so let’s get into the paragraphs.

9-10: The Bride of the Lamb

My first paragraph of the evening is this one. The angel tells John that he is to be shown the bride, the wife of the Lamb, and then John sees the New Jerusalem descend from heaven. Whatever our relation to this bride, who is at this point, all believers from all of human history, it is ALSO related to that city. In fact, as we read, we see that these are two different analogies for the same thing: all believers, that is, all citizens of heaven (cf. Phil. 3:20). That text appropriately reads, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who will transform the body of our humble state into conformity with the body of His glory, by the exertion of the power that He has even to subject all things to Himself.” We at that moment will be coming home. As a favourite song of mine from the group Acapella says in the chorus, “Welcome to the brave new world. Welcome to the place you’ve always longed to be, Welcome to the brave new world, Once you’ve seen this joy you’ll never want to leave, This place brings a new dimension to life, Cause the one in control here is Jesus Christ, So welcome to the brave new world.” It still gives me shivers, especially in our present world of woe. Let’s see what the text says.

9: Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Believe it our not, there is a point of contention about the identity of the angel in the commentaries. Some say it is the same angel that showed John the great harlot in Rev. 17:1-5, which reads, “Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and spoke with me, saying, ‘Come here, I will show you the judgment of the great harlot who sits on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth committed acts of immorality, and those who dwell on the earth were made drunk with the wine of her immorality.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness; and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast, full of blasphemous names, having seven heads and ten horns. The woman was clothed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and precious stones and pearls, having in her hand a gold cup full of abominations and of the unclean things of her immorality, and on her forehead a name was written, a mystery, ‘BABYLON THE GREAT, THE MOTHER OF HARLOTS AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH.’” Others like myself read that and say the only thing we can determine for certain is that it was one of that group of seven angels. I just read it so that you could make up your own mind, or if that matters or not. There is however, instruction in the comparison of the two allegorical ladies, which is also a city, like the woman of Rev. 17.
She is called here, “the wife of the Lamb,” and if there is any better point of contrast than this, I’m hard-pressed to find it: rather than the harlot who sat on many waters and gave herself to the nations of the world, this lady faithfully gives all of her attentions to the groom, that is the Lamb. Think about the people that these two allegorical ladies represent. The whore of Babylon represents an evil system of control for those who will not obey God and in reality want nothing to do with Him. The bride represents those who remained faithful to Christ, regardless of what that system did to them, and are now apparently joined to Him. John MacArthur calls this the great consummation, but I rather think this is more like when a couple moves into their dream home, not the wedding night. I’m not going to be dogmatic on this point, but I will point out that this still fits with the end of a Galilean wedding feast. When the seven-day feast is over, the couple move into the addition that the groom built onto his father’s home. They live there for an unspecified period of time, and then when their family begins to expand, they move to their own home for privacy and for more room. This is their first stand-alone home if you’re following that analogy.

All of this is what I consider necessary reminder of things we have studied previously that are still relevant analogies to the text. It is the next verse I find to be of particular interest.

10: And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,

Remember, the angel said he was showing John the wife of the Lamb. The thing John sees is a city descending from heaven to a great and high mountain. In hermeneutic terms, this connects the two analogies. The bride and the city represent the same group. Does this mean that there is no actual city because this is just an analogy? I don’t think we can say that. More than one thing at a time can be true, and given what we have seen all the way through Revelation to this point, this would hold true here. Both things can be true at once. Some have said that’s a cop-out, but I think it is the harder position to hold. You have to know each argument in turn and then be able to explain your position. As a friend once said on his former podcast, The Polemics Report, this seems more intellectually satisfying.
John wrote what he saw, to be sure. The things he saw meant something, or more than one something, sometimes. John here was carried away in the Spirit, and sometimes, this can be used as a signal that there is allegory following, and that may be the case. He went to a big and high mountain and say the holy city of Jerusalem descend out of heaven. We can discern several things from this. The first of these is that in our eternal state, Heaven and Earth will be united again. It will not be like now, where there is a kind of veil, or barrier, that necessarily separates the two realms because of the sin of humanity not being able to coexist with the holiness of Heaven.
From here to verse 14, it is the beauty of the city itself is described. Even as the whore, the beast, the dragon, and the false prophet symbolized evil, the view of this holy city, the bride and wife of the Lamb, represents exactly the opposite picture. As well as the holiness and unity that the city represents, it also pictures the future, glorious dwelling places of believers. Here is what that helps me see: The operative question–Is this a real city, or a giant metaphor? I have no issue with either, and I think there are aspects of both that are helpful. Symbolism has always been important to humanity, and physical detail for functionality are important as well, so why can it not be both?
Why the high mountain? Well, Matthew Henry explains it this way: “Those who would have clear views of heaven, must get as near to heaven as they can, on the mount of meditation and faith.” He goes on to explain that this vision John sees, as I have said before, is a vision of all believers from all of time, from all around the world in our future and perfect state. I like his descriptions, so I will read it to you: It is a “triumphant state, shining in its luster; glorious in relation to Christ; which shows that the happiness of heaven consists in intercourse with God, and in conformity to him.” Think of it. The wall is for security. Our eternal state will be secure, and we as His people will be separated from all of our sins and iniquities, all evil, and all enemies. A city that is as big as John’s description in the text following is has room for all of God’s people. No one will be left out. And the city itself will descend [καταβαίνουσαν, to descend or come/go down] from Heaven, meaning its origin is not with man, but from God.

In the change in symbology, we can infer that these are only the most general of descriptions, and the rest will have to wait until we are actually there.

11-14: The Capital City of God

There is a great amount of detail in the text, and I think it best to just get right into it.

11: having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

The first phrase of the verse says it all. That city will have the glory of God. I do not think of this as the Shekinah glory, the pillar of cloud by day, and the pillar of fire by night. The text has already indicated (v.3) that God will dwell with us. The glory of God here will be the actual presence of God with us, possibly in the physical presence of our Immanuel, but I think much more. God the Father/Son/Holy Spirit persons is a thing.
Her brilliance. This may be John switching back to the wife of the Lamb analogy to continue the wife/city combined analogy. While thinking about this, I had the idea that the idea of a wife is a personal and intimate reference. The City, while no less intimate, is a corporate expression, and it made me think about what we have called the “anchors” of the faith, or sometimes, “the four spiritual food groups,” over the years. These have individual and corporate expressions, the Apostles’ teaching, fellowship, the breaking of bread (speaks of worship), and prayer. Maybe that’s what John is getting at. Matthew Henry suggested that the believer must get as close to heaven as possible on the mountain of meditation. I have long taken that to mean the personal devotions of the individual believer and the corporate exercise of these things with others through the church.
Also, there is a type of this in Zechariah that I should mention. In Zech. 2:5, it says,”‘For I,’ declares the LORD, ‘will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.’” Compare this with verse 23 of this chapter: “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” What I see here is a city that is radiating light through the glory of God. Everything I have said about illumination, both literal and allegorical are true. Both things are true at the same time. In fact, the word “brilliance” in my NAS is the Greek word φωστὴρ is sometimes translated a “luminary,” or a “giver of light.” The only other place this is used in the New Testament is Phil. 2:15, and it says something fascinating: “…so that you will prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world…“. Beloved, His followers are “luminaries,” or “light-bringers” to the world. Peter equates us as living stones that are making up the temple of God. What is this saying? I’m not exactly certain, but it is possible that we will no longer simply reflect the light from our Father, but that we will transmit His glow. The reference to jasper here isn’t so much about the type of stone as it is a reference to its crystal-clear brilliance. Moving on.

12: It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.

We need to look for a moment at Ezekiel 48:30-35, a description of the millennial temple. It says, “These are the exits of the city: on the north side, 4,500 cubits by measurement, shall be the gates of the city, named for the tribes of Israel, three gates toward the north: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one. On the east side, 4,500 cubits, shall be three gates: the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one. On the south side, 4,500 cubits by measurement, shall be three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one. On the west side, 4,500 cubits, shall be three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one. The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, ‘The LORD is there.’” This is a comparison with the Millennial Temple when looking at the two passages together. This is not the third temple that the Antichrist will defile, this is the one our Lord Jesus will build for His 1000-year kingdom. There are a number of comparisons we could make, but the one we will focus on is it is that it is a copy of the one that is in Heaven and that will descend in the New Jerusalem.
The great and high wall of the New Jerusalem is a picture of the safety and security of the saints that will populate it, that are its essential makeup as living stones. There are 12 gates, matching the 12 on the Millennial Temple. Each of these gates are “guarded” an angel, and v.25 tells us those gates never close. That tells us that God’s people will always be there, nobody will be missed or forgotten. No one will ever be left behind.
There will be names on those 12 gates. Like the Millennial Temple, it will be the names of the 12 tribes referenced by God as belonging to Israel. I think that’s the list from Rev. 7:1-8, so Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, and Benjamin. You may have noticed that Dan and Ephraim are missing; Dan brought Idolatry to Israel (Jud. 17:14-31), and Ephraim was involved in the same act (Jud. 17:1). Ultimately, Ephraim grew to be large enough to be used as a reference to all of the 10 northern tribes of Israel, and they led the way into idolatry and the dissolution of the northern kingdom. Hosea explains in 13:1 of his prophecy: “When Ephraim spoke, there was trembling. He exalted himself in Israel, but through Baal he did wrong and died.” Hosea made it very clear, and chapter 13 gets worse from here. If’ you’re curious, read the book of Hosea for yourself. It is the first book of what are known as the minor prophets, not in the sense of what they had to say was less important, but that their works were shorter in length. Because of these missing names, we can know this is not Old Testament Israel. Because it is not referencing the bride on the gates, it has nothing to do with the church or even tribulation or millennium saints. This is referencing what Paul calls “the Israel of God” in Galatians 6:16: “And those who will walk by this rule, peace and mercy be upon them, and upon the Israel of God.” All believers from all time from around the globe. None but God’s elect, chosen from begore the foundation of the world will be there. All I can advise you, Beloved, is to make your calling and election sure (2 Pet. 1:10).
Some of you have noticed that Dan is present in the Millennial Temple, but not in the New Jerusalem. You may ask why. To be honest, I have no idea, and nobody I read said anything about it. If I do not know, I find it best not to comment, so I will say, “No comment.” Moving on.

13: There were three gates on the east and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the west.

As per the arrangement of the Millennial Temple, these gates are arranged with three on each of the four sides. There are plenty of entrances to the New Jerusalem. We have already talked about how each of these gates are always open, and it will allow entrance to all who are qualified to enter (we will know they are qualified if they are there to enter), and exit to anyone who wants (I cannot imagine wanting to leave), or to whom may be sent on some kind of mission by our Lord. We are there as a reward, and it will be a reward to serve the Lord in whatever He asks of us. If the gates have meanings outside of that, I don’t know it, and none of the people I read said anything either. Last verse for this study.

14: And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

All buildings (remember, to which the bride and wife of the Lamb, that’s us, have been likened) have a foundation. Paul told us in 1 Cor 3:11 that “For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” This New Jerusalem has 12 foundations on its wall. On each foundation is written the name of one of the 12 Apostles of the Lamb. Who are these? These met Jesus personally, were chosen by Him personally, and taught the very same things He did to the church. Those are Simeon (Peter), James and John (Boanerges, the sons of thunder), Levi (Matthew), Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddeus, Simon the Terrorist, and Saul also called Paul.
I find it remarkable this is seen in type and shadow in the Old Testament as well. Joshua, the great type of Christ in the Old Testament with the same name as our Saviour, chose 12 men of the people to carry 12 stones over the Jordan River with them, just like Jesus chose those 12 men who are living stones. He has written their names on the foundations stones of His City for all to see. Let those deniers and sophists that would tell us that Paul didn’t write Ephesians or that John the Apostle is not John the Revelator or even the same John that wrote his letters to the churches say it. On that day in the distant future God Himself will vindicate these men by announcing their names to all the universe by writing their names on a city that will stand for all time.
Some have thought about Matthias and why he will not be included here. I don’t positively know that he will not. What I do know is that the Lord chose Paul personally, and Matthias was chosen by lottery (the Lord’s lot, but still). I can count to 12, my mom made sure of that before I went to kindergarten. Someone is being left off the list. This doesn’t mean that he is not a servant of Christ. My name isn’t on a stone, and I’m okay with that. I’m still a servant of Christ. Alex’s name isn’t there either, and HE is a servant of Christ. I could go through everyone here this evening and say the same thing. I think Matthias was a sincere and humble servant of Christ who served our Lord, even if we are uncertain of how he actually died (there are at least three versions, two end in Jerusalem with one having him being stoned and beheaded, and the other saying that he died of old age; a third has him being crucified under another name in Ethiopia).
These are the men that taught the gospel to all of us. They knew the Lord personally, either before or after His death and resurrection. This is an incredibly privileged reward, and I cannot say it was not earned.

What this should tell us is that where we as sons of God (v.7) are going is a place of great privilege and reward for trusting that God Himself died on the cross WE should have died on so that we would not have to, ever. How does one come to this end? Scripture tells us in many ways that there is not one thing we can do to earn it or even control it. But if God is calling to you now, you will have a sense of that call. You will begin to regret your life to this point. If you find yourself there, then call out to God for forgiveness for your sins. Turn away from them by ceasing to do them, and turn to our Lord Jesus Christ, who died to set you free from their penalty, power over your life, and finally presence in you as a sinner. Confess Him as your Lord–out loud–and let Him BE that Lord, the one in charge of you. These two things together will save you, according to Romans 10:9-10. Don’t wait. None of us knows how much time we have left. Today is the day of salvation. Turn now because you can. And drop us an email to let us know how that worked out.

That’s what I saw in the text this time.

Our next time together will be on January 8, 2026, a Thursday for verses 15-21. With all of that, I wish you all a most blessed Christmas and a very happy New Year. May the Lord bless you and keep you, make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you, lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace.