Revelation 21

Chap. XXI. Ver. 1. A new heaven, &c.—[As this immediately succeeds the account of the last judgment, it must refer exclusively to the heavenly state: Chap. XXI. Ver. 1-8. The new heaven and earth, and “the new heaven and the new earth” and “the new Jerusalem” being emblematical of the glory and happiness which will be the portion of the good for ever.]—Bagster.—No more sea.—This may metaphorically one that whereas the beasts, both of Daniel and St. John, see of that state of trouble cloud-capt towers, the gorgeous palaces, The solemn temples, the great globe itself, Yea, all which it inherits, shall dissolve, And, like the baseless fabric of a vision, Leave not a wreck behind.’’—Shakspeare. But let us turn our attention to the new heavens and the new earth now before us.

We have already mentioned, that many divines, those in particular who expect the personal reign of Christ in the Millennium, consider this chapter as retrospective, and designed to give a more full account of the events of that period, and particularly the restoration of the Jews. But, upon a most attentive consideration of the subject, we confess ourselves compelled to reject that idea, and chiefly for this reason, that sin, and sorrow, and death, are now for ever done away; which cannot be the case in the Millennium, because that will end with the insurrection of Gog and Magog. But no enemy now remains: not only the beast and the false prophet, but Satan himself, is cast into the bottomless pit, to be liberated no more for ever.

God and redeemed sinners are completely and for ever reconciled, therefore will he dwell for ever with them, and be their God. But he that is now shut out of this celestial state, must be shut out for ever. ‘‘The fearful and unbelieving’—by whom we do not understand timid and weak believers, but cowardly apostates, and impenitent transgressors—‘‘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.” On the contrary, he that has been ‘faithful unto death,” and overcome the world, with its temptations and its snares, “he shall inherit all things; or, as the margin explains it, ‘all these things,”

great and blessed as they are, which God has provided and reserved for them that love him. Ver. 9—27. The New Jerusalem described, with the privileges of its inhabitants.—The quadrangular was the favourite form of the ancients, in building both their cities and their houses. And though, as Mr. Lowman suggests, there may be no necessity for supposing the height of the walls equal to the dimensions of the city; yet as the foundations were twelve layers deep, so the walls were, doubtless, furnished with lofty turrets, which would make the whole appear very considerable; and high walls and towers were thought not only an ornament, but a protection to a city. Wherefore the Psalmist says — Walk about Zion, and count the towers thereof.

Mark ye well her bulwarks; consider her palaces.” ((Psalms 48:12-13).) And if the proud sons of Babel (‘(Genesis 14)) were ambitious to build their tower to the skies; and if it is said of the cities of Canaan, that they were “walled up to heaven,” ((Deuteronomy 1:28),) it could not be an unwarrantable hyperbole to say of the New Jerusalem, that its height was equal to its breadth. The ideas meant to be conveyed, were certainly grandeur and security. To view this city, St. John was conducted to an exceedingly high mountain, from whence he saw the New Jerusalem, or perhaps a model of it, gradually descending from the throne of God in heaven. She is spoken of as the bride, the Lamb’s wife, and is said to be “‘adorned as a bride for her husband,”

which accounts for the gold and jewels with which she (the city) is so richly embellished. Her foundations being of precious stones, and inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, plainly indicates the precious truths which they delivered in his name. (See (1 Peter 2:4, 7).) Her gates are pearls, on which are engraved the names of the twelve tribes of Israel; intimating, that none but Israelites indeed are admitted within these walls. When it is said, the street, or open part of the city, is “pure gold, transparent as glass,” we may understand, that the materials of which the city is composed are distinguished both by splendour and intrinsic value. ‘‘There being no temple, nor sun, nor moon, (says Mr.

Fuller,) denotes that there will be no need of those means of grace which we now attend upon: what we now receive mediately, we shall then receive immediately. Finally, the nations of the saved walking in the light of it, may allude to the interest which surrounding nations take in a metropolitan city; and denotes that the saved, who have been gatherers from all nations, will rejoice in the honour which God will have bestowed upon his The city before us is represented as of immense size, namely, 12,000 furlongs (or 1500 miles) in length and breadth; yet there is no surrounding country mentioned, though much seems to be implied, by its gates remaining always open; and by kings One thing, perhaps, has not been sufficiently considered, namely, that there “was no more sea.” It is well known, that the ocean covers by far the larger part of our present globe, and if all the parts covered by seas, and lakes, and marshes, and barren rocks and arid sands, were clothed with vegetable food, as was paradise at the creation, it would not, perhaps, be too much to suppose that the earth could maintain many times its present number of inhabitants: not to say, from the enlarged scale on which every thing in this new world is represented, it seems highly probable that the new earth may be very considerably enlarged, and even perhaps a communication allowed with other worlds of pure and happy beings.

But this is offered only as conjectural.

Notes on the verses

If taken literally, it may intend, that the whole globe will be rendered habitable. Ver. 6. Lamb Alpha and Omega, &c.—See note on (Revelation 1:11). Ver. 8. The fearful and unbelieving.—Woodhouse, “The cowardly and the faithless.” Lowman, ‘The cowardly and distrustful.” Ver. 10. That great city.—(The interchange of emblems from “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” to “that great city, the holy Jerusalem,” shows that we should only take in general ideas of them, and not enter minutely into particulars; and that our complex view of such subjects must be deduced from the whole of them compared together.]—Bagster. Ver. 14. Twelve foundations.—The ancients built their walls with alternate layers of brick and stone, here improperly (perhaps) rendered foundations.—But instead of this wall being built with alternate layers of brick and common stone, it is built with layers of various precious stones, which rendered even the foundations inconceivably beautiful and splendid.—Orient.

Cust. No. 1400. Ver. 16. The city is ‘four-square.—Woodhouse, ‘quadrangular;” i.e. having four equal sides. Twelve thousand furlongs—i.e. says Mr. Lowman, 1600 miles in compass, each side being 875 miles long.—The length, and the breadth, and the height equal.—Mr. Lowman explains this, not as forming an exact cube, but as having all the parts in a due proportion; or as being of a uniform height. [The square form of this city probably denotes its stability; While its vast dimensions, being 1500 miles on each side, is emblematical of magnificence, and of its capability of containing all the multitude of inhabitants which should ever enter it, however immense or innumerable.] — Bagster. Ver.

19. Garnished with all manner of precious stones.—Compare (Isaiah 54:11-12); on which Bishop Lowth pertinently observes, ‘These seem to be general images, to express beauty, magnificence, purity, strength, and solidity, agreeably to the ideas of Eastern nations; and to have never been intended to be strictly scrutinized, or minutely and particularly explained, as if each of them had some moral and precise meaning.”——Chalcedony.—(Chalcedony is a species of quartz, semi-pellucid, of a whitish, bluish, smoky-gray, or yellow and red colour, and is 2½ times heavier than water.)—Bagster. Ver. 20. Sardonyx.—(Sardonyx, as well as onyx, is a kind of chalcedony, generally marked with alternate stripes of white and black.

—Sardius.—The Sardius, or Sardine stone, is a precious stone of a blood-red colour.—Chrysolite.—The chrysolite or gold-stone, now called the Oriental topaz, is of a dusky green, with a cast of yellow, and is very beautiful.—Chrysoprasus.—The chrysoprasus, which Pliny reckons among the beryls, is generally considered a kind of chalcedony, and is an extremely hard stone, of a clear and delicate apple-green colour.—Jacinth.—The jacinth, hyacinth, or ligure, is a dark orange-red variety of jargoon.—Bagster. Ver. 21. Every several gate—(This may denote, that every thing will be superlatively glorious beyond all comparison with any thing ever seen on earth.) —Bagster.—The street of the city.—* This seems well understood by Grotius, (says Mr.

Lowman,) of the Forum, or place of public assembly, which is described as paved either with squares of gold and crystals, or with crystal squares in gold borders; than which imagination can conceive nothing more rich and magnificent.” Ver. 23. The glory of God did lighten it.—Not only Mr. Fleming, and other Millenarians, explain this of the shechinah, or cloud of glory, which led the Israelites through the Red sea, and in their subsequent journeys, ((Exodus 14:2, 24), &c.;) but even Lowman and Doddridge give this explication: and let no philosopher sneer at it, since Dr. Herschel thinks that he has discovered our sun to be an opaque body, enlightened by a phosphoric atmosphere. Ver. 24. Kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it—That is, says Doddridge, ‘‘If you were to conceive all the monarchs upon earth uniting all their treasures to adorn one single place, they would produce nothing comparable to what I then saw.’’

Compare (Isaiah 60:3).