Revelation 21: The New Jerusalem

Then one of the seven angels who were holding the seven ceremonial bowls—those which were filled with the last seven plagues— came out and spoke with me, saying, “Now, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Then he carried me in the Spirit up onto a mountain, massive and lofty, and showed me the city, holy Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven, from God,

• having the glory of God: her luminosity similar to precious stone, as a stone of jasper glistening clear as crystal,
• having a colossal and towering wall,
• having twelve portals, and at the portals twelve angels, and the names inscribed on them are the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel,
• from east, three gates, and from north three gates, and from south three gates, and from west three gates,
• and the wall of the city having twelve foundations, and upon them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The one speaking with me also held a golden measuring rod in order to measure the city and its portals and its wall.

And the city outstretched foursquare, and the city’s length as long as its breadth. So, by implication, the city, to the measure, is over twelve thousand stadia*—the length and breadth and height of the city are equal.

So, by implication, the city’s wall is 144 cubits (a human measure, which is an angel’s).

And the structure of the city’s wall is jasper, and the city pure, clean gold, like pure, clean glass.

The foundations of the wall of the city have been adorned with every precious stone—

1. the first foundation of jasper,
2. the second of sapphire,
3. the third of chalcedony [indicative of copper’s green silicate found in the mines near Chalcedon],
4. the fourth emerald,
5. the fifth sardonyx [carnelian banded with onyx, a type of agate that has transparent red stripes],
6. the sixth sardion [carnelian, a transparent, or translucent red]
7. the seventh chrysolite [golden]
8. the eighth beryl,
9. the ninth topaz
10. the tenth chrysoprase [a golden green]
11. the eleventh jacinth [or “hyacinth,” deep blue, with the texture of a zircon]
12. the twelfth amethyst

And the twelve portals, twelve pearls apiece—each one of the portals was out of one pearl—and the thoroughfare of the city pure, clean gold as transparent glass.

*The Greek word stadion (στάδιον) is also Latinized as stadium and anglicized as stade. (Strong’s #4712 στάδιον). The angel measures the city with a golden rod (or reed), and records it as 12,000 stadia by 12,000 stadia at the base, and 12,000 stadia high. A stadion is usually stated as 185 meters, or 607 feet, so the base has dimensions of about 2,220 km by 2,220 km, or 1,380 miles by 1,380 miles.

Revelation 21:9-21

John’s oracles now describe each of the seven fulfillments below, beginning with the magnificence of the new holy city, the Bride of the Lamb.

As John stood gazing at the at the panorama sweeping all around him, of the new earth and sky with heaven spread before him, he heard a voice coming from the one seated upon the celestial throne explaining the destiny of humanity. The Alpha and Omega would respond in power to however a human being approached.

• To the thirsty would be given the gift of water gorm the spring of the water of life.
• To the conquerors would be given the inheritance everything displayed before John’s wondering eyes. In fact, their destiny was to be God’s children.
• To the rest—and the voice described who those might be, “fearful and faithless and those turning away in disgust and murders and sexually immoral and those doing drugs (also sorcery) and idolatry and all the liars”(Revelation 21:8)—their share in this new world would be the lake of consuming fire and brimstone, the second death.

What bleak words to end on, in this otherwise kaleidoscope vision of breathtaking beauty.

Perhaps seeing John’s response to Alpha-and-Omega’s words, one of the seven angels who were still holding their now-empty ceremonial bowls stepped away from his post. As he did so, it seems the angel must have put down his vessel and picked up a golden measuring rod. The angel now turned his attention to John, whose eye must have caught the angel’s movements, for he watched as the angel strode towards him.

The Alpha-and-Omega had given John such a stark contrast of outcomes for human beings. Now the angel would give John perspective.

Comparison Between the City of Abomination and the City of Glory

It is possible this was the same angel who had come to John in Revelation 17.

Then one of the seven angels pouring out the seven ceremonial bowls came out and was talking with me, saying, “Here, I will reveal to you the judgment of the great idolator/prostitute sitting upon the many waters.”

In association with [the great idolater/prostitute], the rulers of the earth have practiced idolatry/indulged in unlawful sexual acts, and the ones dwelling on the earth have become intoxicated with the wine of her idolatry/unlawful sexual acts.

Then he carried me away into solitude in Spirit, and I saw a woman sitting upon a dangerous, crimson-colored creature, which was full of names of blasphemies, having seven heads and ten horns.

And the woman had wrapped herself all around with purple and crimson, and had been gilded with gold and precious stone, and pearls, having a golden cup in her hand which was filled with abominations and the moral foulness of her idolatry/pornographic acts.

And upon her forehead a name was written, a mystery, “Babylon the Great, the Mother of the Idolaters/Prostitutes and the Abominations of the Earth.”

Then I saw the woman being intoxicated from the blood of the holy ones, from the blood of the martyred witnesses of Jesus. And I was extraordinarily disturbed beholding her, a grand spectacle.

Revelation 17:1-6

The Destiny of Babylon

As John had gaped in horror at the revolting, yet also fascinating and terrifying image before him, the angel had explained what this imagery was intended to portray. Here was the inevitable endpoint of human degradation. When humankind rejected the goodness of God, rejected God, and rejected the redemption and restoration offered to them at incalculable cost through the Lamb of God, there was only one other direction to go. Like cosmic poles of Good and Evil, to reject God means to be inexorably drawn into malevolence of Anti-God, the domain of the dragon.

The next four chapters of Revelation leaf page-by-page through the ever-increasing carnage that came of humanity’s steady descent into “fearful and faithless and those turning away in disgust and murders and sexually immoral and those doing drugs (also sorcery) and idolatry and all the liars.” At the end of this grim and gory affair is the triumphant victory of the Lamb, leading the dragon and its iniquity to the place of final destruction.

But what now?

The Lord’s victory parade in heaven, with the redeemed rejoicing, the angels trumpeting, and the multitudes of glory shouting hallelujah still left a scorched earth below. The universe is destroyed beyond repair, the stars fallen, the sun burnt out, the sky rolled up, the earth a blackened, lifeless knob.

The Destiny of Jerusalem

“I will now show you another city, a glorious city, a magnificent city whose scope far outstretches anything Babylon thought to boast of.”

Because of the city’s vast measurements, the angel had to again lift John in the Spirit to the crags of an enormous mountain. Only then would John have the vantage point to make out the epic proportions of the gleaming object descending through the sky.

The purity of this city, the Bride of the Lamb, the brilliancy, the transparency, put the tawdry gaudiness of Babylon to shame.