And now Revelation begins to wind to a close as we see heaven and earth returning to God’s original intent. Indeed, John’s message of encouragement is finding its ultimate fulfillment in the affirming close of John’s vision. John speaks in Revelation 21 of a moving reunion of heaven and earth, a reunion the whole earth has been waiting for (see Romans 8) since soil and spirit had been ripped apart near the beginning of the narrative.
Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
One cannot read this climactic resolution to John’s visions and not think of the last half of Isaiah 65. But in this, we also see John bringing together all sorts of other mini-narratives, not the least of these being the marital imagery we spoke of all the way back in the Exodus. The vision speaks of God wiping away tears, something that was yearned for by Jeremiah (see chapters 25 and 35). Everything the prophets spoke of and yearned for is finally experienced here. It’s a tragedy that we focus on and argue about so many of the apocalyptic details that we miss the driving image of worship and hope that lies at the end of John’s vision.
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars—they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
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.” 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. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 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. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Still more prophets find their fulfillment in this vision of John. Ezekiel’s vision of the new temple (an apocalyptic vision), as well as many statements made by Zechariah, drive the images John describes here. One couldn’t think of drinking freely of the water of life without remembering Isaiah’s words in chapter 55. And as far as God dealing with the immoral, it is more than a simple pronouncement of judgment on unbelievers. The preceding statement is a reference to 2 Samuel 7, but not just any reference: God was speaking to David about building His temple, something John is discussing in this very passage.
The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.
Following in the custom of the apocalyptic prophets who had gone before him, John has the Temple measured. But this time, John doesn’t miss the opportunity to make a major statement about this new Kingdom as seen in Jesus. This time, the Temple and the city is even bigger than it was in Ezekiel. There is enough of everything to go around for everybody who needs to be there. The numbers chosen scream out “one united people of God!” 12,000 stadia square this city is. Not only is this length an obvious multiple of 12 (the number for God’s people, as in the twelve tribes), but it’s just under 1400 miles long. John’s point is that Ezekiel didn’t think big enough. God’s new city is going to cover the entire civilized world as they knew it. The walls are over 200 feet thick, but again, what’s striking is that John uses multiples of 12 to get his message across. This is about people. There is enough heaven to go around for everyone!
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Yes, everything is as it ought to be. John finishes with references to the closings of other apocalyptic visions. Images of nations streaming to the city of God and the gates never being shut bring us back to the prophecies of Zechariah and Isaiah.
John’s message continues to be one of hope. God will get the last word. Things will end up as they’ve been spoken of before. To those original readers who are scared for their lives, even dying by Domitian’s sword, John is reminding them of what the ancients said long before. John is calling them to keep running the race and not give up on the glorious plan of God’s redemption of all creation.
And with that, we move on to the final chapter of our Scriptures.
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