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Grace & Peace: Revelation 112

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life” (Revelation 21:22-27).

Remember that the New Jerusalem is the Christian Church. This new city contains no temple because the Father and Son are the Temple, and the entire city is the body of the Son. The Christian Church is the Holy of Holies, and so the city is the Temple. No sun is necessary, and no moon, because it is lit by the glory of God. As the Israelites had the Shekinah glory to accompany them by night and day, so also the saints of God have the glory of God that lightens their way. The Lamb Himself is the light of the city—“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life” (John 8:12). The Lamb is the light of the city, and the nations that are saved shall walk in the light provided by Him. The kings of the earth—distinct from the city—bring their glory and honor into the city. In other words, the nations of men do homage to the church. The city is unthreatened, with the gates never shut. The gates are not shut during the day, and it is always day, never night. John then repeats the fact that the glory and honor of the nations is brought into the church. Nothing enters the church that would defiled her—no one who does abominable things, or who fashions a lie. The only ones who enter are those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life, meaning the elect.

Throughout this passage, John is riffing off the Isaianic vision. The New Jerusalem is illuminated by the glory of God alone (v. 23). And Isaiah says this: “The sun shall be no more thy light by day; Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: But the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory” (Is. 60:19).

This city shall be a light of the world; the nations of men will stream to it. The nations of the saved will walk in the light provided by the city. And Isaiah says this same thing: “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Is. 60:3).

The kings of the earth bring their glory and honor to her; the nations of men bring their honor and glory to the city of God. And Isaiah says the same thing. “And their kings shall minister unto thee . . .” (Is. 60:10). “And that their kings may be brought . . .” (Is. 60:11) “The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee . . .” (Is. 60:13).

The gates of the New Jerusalem shall not be shut during the day, and it is always day. This is basically what Isaiah foretold: “Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night . . .” (Is. 60:11).

John repeats himself when he says that the Gentile nations will bring their glory to the church. Isaiah repeats the point as well. “Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; Because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee” (Is. 60:5).

No one is permitted to track in anything that defiles. No sin will be scraped off on the golden streets. Isaiah had a vision for this kind of holiness as well. “Thy people also shall be all righteous: They shall inherit the land for ever, The branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified” (Is. 60:21). Note it well. The people will all be righteous.

“Arise, shine; for thy light is come, And the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, And gross darkness the people: But the Lord shall arise upon thee, And his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, And kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Is. 60:1–3).

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 111

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass” (Revelation 21:9-21).

The New Jerusalem descending from Heaven to earth is a glorious vision of the Christian church. But before considering the details of the symbolism, we should reinforce the point that it is symbolism. The city is described as being a perfect cube — with each side being 1200 stadia, which calculated into a modern measurement is about 1500 miles. If this were to be taken as a literal city, if it landed, its base could cover over half of the United States with its eastern base covering Baltimore, and its western base barely missing Denver. Then because the city is as tall as it is wide, it would be sticking 1500 miles up into space, knocking a goodly number of satellites out of the sky. On top of that, in each 1500 miles stretch along the base, there are three gates, 12 in all. Each gate is made out of a single pearl. The gates are enormous, and each one is fashioned from one pearl. If literal, then God apparently has an oceanic planet somewhere with some giant oysters. We are better off looking for the meaning that these symbols bring to us.

One other thing should be mentioned briefly. Many of our popular tropes for Heaven come from this passage (pearly gates, streets of gold), but John is revealing the nature of the Church to us, not the nature of Heaven. This is not a symbol of the afterlife, but rather a symbol for the bride of Christ.

There is a strong juxtaposition between this virgin bride and the great harlot. In both places, John is taken in the Spirit to a particular place to be shown a woman. In both places, an angel prefaces it with come, I will show you. In this vision, John is carried in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, where he is shown the bride. Earlier in Revelation (17:1), he is taken in the Spirit into the wilderness (17:3), to be shown the judgment of the harlot. We are given to understand that both women are beautiful, but one in a pure way and the other in a corrupt and decadent way. The New Zion is beautiful for situation (Ps. 48:2). The angel who shows John this glorious vision was one of the angels who had poured out one of the bowls full of wrath—indicating that God’s purposes of wrath and mercy are ultimately one.

Both are priest’s daughters, but this New Zion is a worthy daughter. The old Jerusalem is burned with fire because she played the whore in her father’s house.

“And the ten horns which thou sawest upon the beast, these shall hate the whore, and shall make her desolate and naked, and shall eat her flesh, and burn her with fire” (Rev. 17:16).

“And the daughter of any priest, if she profane herself by playing the whore, she profaneth her father: she shall be burnt with fire” (Lev. 21:9).

The bridal dress for the New Jerusalem is the Shekinah Glory. She is described as “having the glory of God” (v. 11). In a sense, all of church history should be understood as us yearning for that dress, yearning to be adorned with that glory (Rom. 2:7; Rom. 5:2; Rom. 8:18; Col. 1:27, and many others).

Remember that Paul teaches us elsewhere that the Christian church is built on the cornerstone of Christ Jesus, and on the foundation stones of the apostles and prophets (Eph. 2:20). We have the same image here in the description of this great city. There are twelve gates, and each gate has the name of one of Israel’s tribes inscribed (v. 12). There are twelve foundation stones, and on them were the names of the twelves apostles (v. 14). There was an angel at each gate, and each angel is associated with a particular tribe. This lends support to the idea that the angel of the churches in the early chapters were human messengers, human “angels.”

“Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another: And the Lord hearkened, and heard it, And a book of remembrance was written before him For them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon his name. And they shall be mine, saith the Lord of hosts, In that day when I make up my jewels; And I will spare them, as a man spareth his own son that serveth him” (Mal. 3:16–17).

The city has great walls, walls that are 144 cubits tall. These walls are the walls called Salvation, and they run all the way around the base of this towering skyscraper of a city.

“Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, Wasting nor destruction within thy borders; But thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise” (Isaiah 60:18).

The gates are called Praise, which is the meaning of the name of the tribe of Judah. Judah is the tribe through whom the Christ came, and so we should understand Judah as representing all Israel, which is why John mentions that each tribe is associated with a gate.

The foundation stones that are the apostles are not limestone or granite. They are represented by means of an array of precious stones. We are not told which apostle goes with which precious stone, but there appears to be a meaning in how John arranges it. Predicting the church, the prophet Isaiah says this:

“O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones” (Isaiah 54:11–12).

Isaiah’s gemstones and those are Revelation vary, but John appears to have a point to the order he presents them. These are the precious stones associated with the signs of the zodiac—but John lists them in reverse order.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 110

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death” (Revelation 21:1–8).

There are four basic approaches to interpreting the book of Revelation. One of them is the futurist, which regards the events predicted as being fulfilled overwhelmingly in our future. The second is the idealist approach, which takes the book as something of a cosmic parable, with no specific earthly fulfillments. The third is the historicist, which takes the fulfillment of the prophecies as an unfolding reality, down through all of church history. The last, and the approach that has been taken throughout this commentary, is the preterist. This comes from the Latin word for past, and means that the prophecies given were fulfilled in the prophet’s future, but in our past—and for the most part overwhelmingly in the first century.

I mention this because we are now in the part of the book where such clean distinctions are hard to maintain. In the previous chapter, we saw the Second Coming (futurist), and in these last two chapters we see a historicist description of all of church history, as the New Jerusalem descends. I would simply encourage everyone to sit loose in the saddle, and to maintain a sense of humor.

We are seeing here the transition between the first heaven and first earth (the Judaic aeon) and the new heaven and new earth (the Christian aeon). I do not take the new heaven and new earth as referring to the post-Second Coming eternal state for various reasons. The first is that the prediction of the new heaven and earth comes from the prophet Isaiah, and he describes it for us.

“For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: And the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. . . .  There shall be no more thence an infant of days, Nor an old man that hath not filled his days: For the child shall die an hundred years old; But the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed” (Isaiah 65:17, 20).

What do people do in the new heavens and new earth? Well, among other things, they die. That will not be the case after the Second Coming.

Secondly, Peter talks about Isaiah’s prophecy as something that was right on top of his readers, and Jude apparently interprets him that way also. And when Jude refers to those who “separate themselves,” he has particular faces in mind.

“Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness” (2 Peter 3:13).

“But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time, who should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit.” (Jude 17–19).

So I take the first heavens and earth as the Judaic aeon and the new heavens and earth as the Christian aeon, and these two aeons overlapped—the latter beginning at Pentecost, and the former ending with the destruction of the Temple in 70 A.D. The destruction of that Temple has been one of the major themes of this book of Revelation.

So the New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ, which is explicitly stated in the next section (v. 9), which means that she is the Christian Church. Church history is the time it takes for this bride to walk down the aisle. By the time she gets to the front of the cathedral, she will be without spot or wrinkle or any other blemish (Eph. 5:27). When she arrives at that final destination, then all sorrow will have been banished, and there will never again be any more tears.

As she is descending out of Heaven, a great voice declares that the tabernacle of God is now with men. The Church is the Temple of the Holy Spirit, and this is how it is possible for God to dwell with men. And this is how it is possible for every form of sorrow to be sponged away.

The process of world evangelization is the process by which God is making all things new, which is the declaration He makes in this passage. The old world order is passing away (1 John 2:17), so that the new order may be established on the firm foundation of the Word of God. For the Christian, all things have become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

It is striking that the one who sits upon the throne here (Christ) says the same thing that He said from the cross. It is finished (John 19:30). When Babylon, the evil city was destroyed, a loud cry from the Temple said that it was “done” (Rev. 16:17). And here, again, it is said that it is “done” (Rev. 21:6).

And so, as Christ’s bride is working through her wedding prep, as she is adorning herself for that great and final day of consummation, she needs to remember that all of church history is nothing but wedding prep. Her bridegroom, the Alpha and Omega, summons her. He is the beginning and the end, the whole point of all history. He promises living water to anyone who thirsts, and shows us His tender care for His people. He promised this to the Samaritan woman at the well (John 4:10, 14), and later He gives the invitation at a great Jewish festival (John 7:37ff). He speaks the same word here.

The one who overcomes will inherit everything, and this characteristic promise reminds us of how He spoke to the seven churches at the beginning of the vision. And a somber note is also struck, when we are reminded that this is to be a holy bride, and so excluded from her are all vile lovers of vile living. One harlot has already been put away and judged for such things, and so they have no place with the new bride who is preparing herself.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 109

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire” (Rev. 20:7–10).

And so John saw a great white throne, upon which Christ is seated in glorious splendor. We know that Christ is the one on the throne because of the numerous ways Scripture indicates this. Christ was earlier associated with a white cloud (Rev. 14:14), and he was seen riding on a white horse (Rev. 6:2; 19:11). Here it is fitting that He is established as Judge on a white throne.

More to the point, this scene is obviously the last judgment (“the earth and the heaven fled away”), and the Bible is explicit that Christ is the one who will rule at that judgment. For example, Christ has the authority to “execute judgment” (John 5:27).

“When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory” (Matt. 25:31).

“I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom” (2 Tim. 4:1).

“He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not my words, hath one that judgeth him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day” (John 12:48).

“Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead” (Acts 17:31).

So this is the final judgment, and we have a contrast—between one book on the one side, and “the books” on the other. That one book is the Book of Life, and the one specific thing we are told about it is that it contains a list of names.

“Notwithstanding in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” (Luke 10:20).

“To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven . . .” (Heb. 12:23).

“He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels” (Rev. 3:5).

So the issue here is simple and binary. Either your name is in the Book of Life, or it is not. If a person’s name is not in the Book of Life, then he is judged in accordance with the other books, and these other books are histories, detailed biographies. These people are judged “according to their works,” which is repeated twice, in both verses 12 and 13. Anyone whose name was not found in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire, with the degree of punishment a function of the works they had done or left undone.

The sea gave up her dead, and so also both Death and Hades gave up their dead. This is the resurrection of the unjust. Earlier we saw that through His resurrection from the dead Christ came into possession of the keys of both Death and Hades (Rev. 1:18). He is the ultimate conqueror, and now in this final triumphant act, He throws both Death and Hades into the lake of fire. This indicates, incidentally, that Hades was a place for departed shades, a temporary place of judgment, until the time should come for that judgment to be made permanent. Death and Hades were thrown into the final death, the second death, the lake of fire, or Gehenna.

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Grace & Peace: Revelation 108

Douglas Wilson on

“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16:11).

“And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever” (Rev. 20:7–10).

Just a few verses before, we were told that Satan was locked up in the Abyss such that he would no longer be able to “deceive the nations.” That this was the nature of his restriction is reinforced here—when he is released from his prison at the end of the thousand years, he goes out and resumes his lying activities. Once again, he deceives the nations.

So at the very end of the long period of Christian ascendancy, Satan is permitted to lead the nations astray again. The nations involved are described as being at the “four quarters of the earth,” meaning all the nations hither and yon. The name given to them is taken from Ezekiel 38 and 39. In Ezekiel, this referred to an unbelieving and savage nation from the north. The prophecy there is against Gog, the prince of that people, and Magog, the people themselves. When they attacked Israel (in overwhelming numbers), they were nevertheless defeated. Thus they serve as a fitting type for this international version of the same kind of thing. One time the old Israel was assaulted by Magog, and Magog was overthrown. And here, the new Israel is assaulted by an international Magogian confederacy, and they too are thrown down immediately.

Satan’s deception was initially successful, in that he was able to gather an army like the “sand of the sea.” One question might be why God allows for something like this after the world was successfully evangelized. The best explanation appears to be that He is showing us that salvation is all of grace. After centuries of gospel glory, it would be easy for men to start taking credit for what the gospel alone accomplished, and so God illustrates for us the fact that apart from grace, the human heart remains exactly what it has always been—by nature an object of wrath.

So after a long period of gospel glory, Satan is permitted one last attack on the object of his malice, which is the Christian church. This is pictured by two images—the “camp of the saints” and the “beloved city.” The camp of the saints brings the period of the wilderness to mind, and the beloved city is talking about the New Jerusalem, the Christian Church. Both descriptions are of God’s beloved people, the apple of His eye. Because the church of the faithful will at that point be located all over the earth, we see the enemies of God going up “on the breadth of the earth.” Christians will be attacked in the same way that the Jews were attacked by Haman in the Persian empire—attacked, that is, in every town, every city, every province, and every nation.

But the outcome of this attack is not in doubt. This is an attempted murder, not a murder. The faithful are surrounded, and so they have a full opportunity to trust the Lord. But the Lord will defend His people, and will rain down fire on the enemies of God. I don’t believe there is any reason to assume the fire here is merely figurative. “In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Thess. 1:8). I take this destruction of Satan, and of “Gog,” and of “Magog,” as the Second Coming of Christ.

The beast and the false prophet had been thrown into the lake of fire, the final death, sometime earlier. Now Satan is consigned there—no longer in the Abyss, he is now in final death. In that place, he is tormented day and night forever and ever. This is as good a place as any to mention that Satan is not the king of Hell. Jesus is the ruler of Hell, and Satan is in torment there.

“In that day the Lord with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea” (Is. 27:1).

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