Fusing the Horizons: The Original Tale of Two Cities
REVELATION 21:1—22:5
The (Original) Tale of Two Cities, Part 2:
God Makes All Things New
After the final judgment, and thus elimination, of evil, John turns his attention to the great future God has in store for his own. The material is presented in three rather clear parts. The opening paragraph (21:1–8) appears to serve the twofold purpose of bringing closure to much that has preceded, and especially of functioning as a kind of catch-all introduction to the whole. That is followed in turn by an extended description of the “new Jerusalem” (21:9–27), wherein God’s people from both covenants appear together, albeit here by way of their primary representatives: the twelve tribes of Israel and the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The city itself, which “shone with the glory of God” (v. 11), is then described in some detail, focusing first on its physical characteristics (vv. 9–21) and then concluding with an overview of what gives it its glory, the presence of “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb” (vv. 22–27). Then, despite one of the most disastrous of all the chapter breaks in the New Testament, in 22:1–5 the city itself evolves into a kind of restored Eden, so as to embrace not just a restored Israel (with a “new Jerusalem,” which has no temple) but a renewed earth as well.
In the end, therefore, even though one experiences something of a slowdown in the middle because of John’s concern to demonstrate that the “new heaven and earth” will embrace God’s people from both covenants, overall the vision simply soars. Here by way of apocalyptic imagery one is presented with the true “restoration of all things.” Whatever else, and despite all that has gone wrong, “this is [still] our Father’s world”; and John’s vision assures God’s people that “God is the ruler yet” and thus a glorious future awaits those who are his.
INTRODUCTION: A NEW HEAVEN AND A NEW EARTH (21:1–8)
1Then 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. 2I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among his people. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people; God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He 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.”
5He 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.”
6He 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. 7Those who are victorious will inherit all this, and I will be their God and they will be my children. 8But 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.”
As noted, this opening paragraph serves the twin purposes of both introducing the final events (through 22:5) and bringing closure to what has immediately preceded. Most of the paragraph is thus given to this introduction, while it concludes with a final word about the fate of the unrighteous, thus setting off the two futures by way of stark contrasts. At the same time the present vision (note the “I saw” in vv. 1 and 2) is held together by a series of promises made to the righteous: God’s own dwelling with his people, the elimination of sorrow, and the beginning of the new order, where “everything” is now made “new.”
This passage is also held together by a series of voices announcing the various features of the new order. First, there is a “loud voice from heaven” (v. 3) announcing God’s eternal presence with his people; second, God himself announces that everything is about to be made new and that the announcement itself is utterly trustworthy (vv. 4–5); finally, God concludes by announcing the end itself (vv. 6–8), which means “the water of life” for the thirsty and “the second death” for the wicked.
John begins by reciting the prophetic promise in Isaiah 65:17: I saw a new heaven and a new earth, now made necessary because the first [present] heaven and first [present] earth had “fled” from God’s presence (20:11), and therefore had passed away. Moreover, and of special meaning to the ancients, for whom the sea was foreboding, John adds that there was no longer any sea, even though the God of heaven had made the sea (14:7). The sea is thus eliminated both because of its associations with evil and (especially) because it is no longer necessary in the new order.
What John saw next is a wonderful collocation of images, which was surely designed to excite the imagination of the hearers. There are four of them altogether. First up, with language taken from Isaiah 52:1, John saw the Holy City, which in turn becomes both a people and a place. This descriptive name is then followed by its actual name, the new Jerusalem. Even though “new Jerusalem” is not the language of the Old Testament as such, it is implied in such passages as Isaiah 65:18 (“I will create Jerusalem to be a delight”). It is “new,” of course, because it is to be placed on the “new earth.” Then, given that cities from antiquity to the present are referred to in the feminine gender, the “new Jerusalem” is further described as prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. This imagery can only refer to the church, which was previously identified as “the bride of the Lamb” (19:7), whose “wedding dress” of fine linen “stood for the righteous acts of God’s people.”
Two matters regarding this imagery call for further notice. First, the language itself is derived from Isaiah 61:10, where renewed Jerusalem itself speaks:
I delight greatly in the Lord;
my soul rejoices in my God.For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
and arrayed me in a robe of righteousnessas a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
By so doing, of course, John deliberately presents “the Holy City” as a bride in stark contrast to “the great city” that was called a harlot in chapter 17, Rome itself.
Second, and now to pick up what was not discussed above, the “new Jerusalem” is viewed as coming down out of heaven from God (which will be repeated in verse 10). Two matters are of particular significance for one’s understanding of what John is doing here. On the one hand, the city that John will go on to describe is almost certainly intended to be a picture of the final expression of a restored Jerusalem, a theme that finds expression in a variety of ways throughout the Prophets. Thus, for example, Isaiah 52:1–2:1
Awake, awake, Zion,
clothe yourself with strength!Put on your garments of splendor,
Jerusalem, the holy city.… . .
Shake off your dust;
rise up, sit enthroned, Jerusalem.Free yourselves from the chain on your neck,
Daughter Zion, now a captive.
On the other hand, and now as this passage from Isaiah and several others make plain, precisely because it is restored Jerusalem, it cannot be anywhere else but on earth.
At the same time, it should be pointed out, the “new Jerusalem” turns out to be the only “heaven” one gets in the Revelation; thus in this vision heaven comes down to earth.2 Indeed, at the end, God and the Lamb, who earlier are seen in heaven (4:1), are now also pictured as dwelling in the city. Thus, their throne is in the midst of the city (22:1–2); they further serve as the only “temple” in the city (21:22); and they thus serve as “light” for the city (21:23). At the conclusion of things in this book, therefore, no one “goes up” to heaven (except for John, so as to see it in his opening vision; 4:1); rather, heaven is now seen as coming down to earth. To take any of this literally, of course, would be to doom it, not to mention to do John a great disservice.
What happens next is of special importance, since it is one of the certain evidences that for the truly righteous in Israel, the greater significance of the temple had not to do with its being a place for sacrifices, but that it was the place of God’s own dwelling; and as texts like Psalm 84 make plain, it was God’s presence in the temple that drew them to Jerusalem. In so doing they were echoing the plaintive cry of Moses, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here” (Exodus 33:15). Thus what John heard next was a loud voice from the throne [although not God’s own voice yet] saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among his people.” This in turn is further elaborated, He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, which further reflects the words of Moses (that God’s presence is what distinguishes God’s people from all other peoples on the earth). Thus John concludes, still echoing Moses, God himself will be with them and be their God.
These various clauses and phrases together reflect an Old Testament theme that emerges first in Leviticus 26:11–12 (“I will put my dwellingplace among you; … I will walk among you and be your God and you will be my people”), and then in the Prophets (“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion; for I am coming, and I will live among you,” Zechariah 2:10; “My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be my people,” Ezekiel 37:27–28). In keeping with this Old Testament motif, John now sees “the Holy City, the new Jerusalem” as “coming down out of heaven from God.”
The voice then goes on to describe the benefits of the eternal God being “their God.” First, God eliminates all present sorrow. Using the prophet’s language from Isaiah 25:8, John now adds, He will wipe every tear from their eyes, thereby also picking up the promise from 7:17 above. To this is added, from the beginning of the same passage in Isaiah, there will be no more death,3 to which John further adds, or mourning or crying or pain, now echoing Isaiah 35:10 (“sorrow and sighing will flee away”).4 The ultimate glory of “heaven,” therefore, is not its physical features, which will be described in some detail in the next part of the vision, but lies with the fact that human sorrow is banished forever, because the old order of things has passed away. Although it is difficult for earthlings like ourselves to comprehend the full nature of such an existence, the attraction of it lies at the very heart of what it means for us to be human: life without pain and weeping (no more funerals, if you will!).
And now the eternal God himself speaks the “amen” to what the heavenly voice has announced: I am making everything new! At the heart of all this is the promised new creation, an eschatological realization of what was intended in the original creation—before the fall, and thus before human sin and selfishness had pervaded everything. Further to affirm the certainty of this future for God’s people, God himself, who was seated on the throne, declares to John, Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true. To this is added, He [God] said to me that the present story is now coming to an end—It is done, a declaration that is followed in turn by the words of divine affirmation that take us back to the beginning of the book (1:8): I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. Once again John reminds his readers that the eternal God embraces all reality; there is absolutely nothing that lies outside his divine jurisdiction.
The present emphasis, however, is not on God’s eternal nature, but on his compassionate relationship with those who belong to him. Thus words are spoken first to the thirsty (v. 6), and only then to those who are victorious (v. 7). To former, God promises, I will give water from the spring of the water of life, rich imagery that reminds John’s readers not only that the best drinking water comes from a “spring,” but also that this is the ultimate divine spring, gushing forth with life-giving, life-sustaining water. To “the victorious” is promised an eternal familial relationship with God, which means that they will inherit all this, presumably “the Holy City” with its tearless and deathless existence. Not only so, but God further promises that I will be their God and they will be my children, language one easily recognizes as that of the Fourth Gospel, where Jesus repeatedly refers to God as his “Father,” who at the end is called “my Father” and thus also “your Father” (John 20:17).
Thus the future for God’s “children” is rich, and beyond anything human beings have experienced to this point in time: a “new Jerusalem” where God dwells with his people, where sorrow is done forever, where the thirsty drink from an eternal spring flowing with the water of life, and where God’s people live forever with their heavenly Father as his children. But in the same fashion as John will do again regarding the beatitude in the epilogue (22:14–15),5 all of this is made the more potent by way of a stark contrast with those who fall short of this bliss, which is most likely intended also as a warning for John’s readers. Thus those on the outside, who are identified first in a rather remarkable way as the cowardly and the unbelieving, are promised the exact opposite: they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur, mentioned in the first of the two paragraphs immediately preceding this passage (20:10), which is there also described as the second death (20:14). Most likely John begins with this twofold description (“cowardly” and “unbelieving”) as fair warning to his readers in Asia Minor.
The rest of the list, which begins with a generalizing descriptor, the vile, then proceeds to echo the similar condemnation at the end of chapter 9 (vv. 20–21), which, as in that case, for the most part reflects portions of the Ten Commandments: murderers (sixth), the sexually immoral (seventh), idolaters (second), and all liars (a contemporized version of the ninth). But inserted into the middle of this list, and reflecting a condemnation from the Prophets (Isaiah 47:12; Ezekiel 13:18–20), are those who practice magic arts. In John’s case this is most likely directed at the emperor’s “magicians,” the priests of the emperor cult, who were condemned in 13:13 above. Thus from the divine perspective those who “conquer” are the ones who inherit the future, while those who live in unbelief and idolatry will “inherit” the lake of fire.
THE NEW JERUSALEM, THE BRIDE OF THE LAMB (21:9–27)
What comes first in the new creation (v. 5) is a restored Jerusalem—a restoration of all of its parts except for the temple. The latter is purposely omitted because God’s people are now eternally in the presence of God and the Lamb, hence a temple is unnecessary (v. 22). The restoration itself is given in three distinct parts: verses 11–21 give a physical description of the city; verses 22–27 then describe the character of the city, while 22:1–5 sees the city transformed into a restored garden of Eden. Thus, having been taken to a high mountain so that he may see the city for himself, John begins by describing its overall glory (vv. 9–11), before focusing on its walls and its gates (vv. 12–14). That is followed by an accompanying angel’s measuring its gates and walls (vv. 15–21), while the scene is concluded by noting the absence of the former Jerusalem’s most distinguished structure, its temple (vv. 22–27). Such a temple, the earthly location of God’s presence among his people, is no longer necessary because God and the Lamb are present together as its eternal “temple.” But for John the biblical story would not be complete without a “new Jerusalem,” hence the significance of this material; and only then is the reader promised a restored Eden (22:1–5).
The Physical Description of the City, Part 1 (21:9–14)
9One 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.” 10And 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. 11It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12It 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. 13There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
In a rare moment in this book, most of the first two sentences of the present description basically repeat what was said in verse 2 above. But now, and in keeping with his style throughout, John seeks to hold the various parts of his narrative together by having the next event orchestrated by one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls of the last seven plagues. These angels first appear in the narrative in 15:1, while their activities are narrated in chapter 16. Now this angel came and said to John, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” But now, in an apparently deliberate contrast to the vision of the former “woman,” the harlot Rome—where John had been transported “into a wilderness” (17:3)—this angel now carried John away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high. Again, this reflects the historic tradition of ancient Israel, whose poets loved to sing of Jerusalem’s “lofty splendor.” Thus Psalm 48 begins,
Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise
in the city of our God, his holy mountain.Beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth,
like the heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion,
the city of the Great King.
Now John himself is on higher mountain, from which the angel showed him the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.6 Thus even though what he is shown is a “city,” all of this is now imagery for the final glory of God’s people themselves. From his mountain perch John could see that the “new Jerusalem” shone with the glory of God, a city whose brilliance was similar to what John saw in front of the One sitting on the throne in 4:3, like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.
The rest of the present vision is then given over to a brief description of “the Holy City” itself. First mentioned is that it had a great, high wall, which turns out to be high indeed when its dimensions are given below (in our v. 16). But John saves his full description of the city until he has dealt with its twelve gates, and further on, its twelve foundations. Thus he begins with the gates, which had twelve angels at them, apparently guarding them. What comes next should be no surprise, given John’s interest throughout his narrative to connect the former covenant with the present one;7 thus on the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. These gates are then placed three to each side of the wall: three … on the east, which always comes first in such narratives; while the rest crisscross, with three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The description then concludes with the inclusion of the new covenant participants, so that the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Typically, in both cases the names of the twelve tribes and of the twelve apostles are not given, since John’s focus is not on who they were specifically, but on both their number and what they represent.
The Physical Description of the City, Part 2 (21:15–21)
15The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. 16The 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 stadia8 in length, and as wide and high as it is long. 17He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits9 thick,10 by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. 19The 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, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst.11 21The 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.
Again taking his cue from Ezekiel 40, John now follows his description of the “new Jerusalem” with its measurements. The measurements themselves conclude with the wall (v. 17), while the rest of the description names the precious stones that make up, first the wall, and then its foundations and its gates.
As part of the drama, therefore, it is the angel himself, the one who talked with John, who thus had a measuring rod of gold (what else?) with which to measure the city, including also in this case both its gates and its walls. And for the present reader who might easily get lost in the measurements that follow, it needs to be pointed out at the beginning that the “new Jerusalem” itself is a perfect cube, as high as it is wide and long, nearly 1400 miles12 in all three dimensions. Here especially one needs to abandon the kind of literalism that so many tend to bring to this text and to hear it for what John himself intends. After all, this is simply the “holy of holies,” itself a perfect cube, multiplied beyond the capacity of one’s imagination. John’s own point, therefore, seems especially clear, since the “holy of holies” was for Israel the singular place of God’s own presence on planet earth, a place so holy that it could be entered only once a year, and that only by the chief priest who had to have a special ritual and take proper precautions, so as not to be slain. Pictured here at last is the dwelling place of God with human beings, as the “new Jerusalem” itself becomes the holy place, now available to all of God’s people and for all time.
John then goes on to describe the precious stones of which the city was constituted—no bricks and mortar here, but jewels of every imaginable kind. He begins by repeating what he had already noted about the city’s appearance in verse 11, that the wall was made of jasper, whereas the city itself was made of pure gold, as pure as glass (thus translucent gold?). But at this point John’s real interests lie with the foundations, since the “new Jerusalem” rests ultimately on the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Nonetheless they are now imaged as decorated with every kind of precious stone. By so doing, John has created a marvelous collage out of the promise of a restored Jerusalem in Isaiah 54:11–12 and the precious stones on the breastplate of the high priest in Exodus 28:17–20. The Isaiah passage reads:
I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise,
your foundations with lapis lazuli.I will make your battlements of rubies,
your gates of sparkling jewels
and all your walls of precious stones.
But in his listing of the precious stones that make up the foundation of the “new Jerusalem,” John seems to have created another collage out of the Septuagint and his own knowledge of the Hebrew. Perhaps the easiest way for the contemporary reader to see what John has done is to set his list side by side with that of the Exodus passage in the Septuagint. Thus, with the order of appearance in the LXX in parentheses:13
1) jasper (12)
2) sapphire
3) agate (8)
4) emerald (6)
5) onyx (11)
6) ruby
8) beryl (3)
9) topaz (10)
10) turquoise (4)
11) jacinth (7)
12) amethyst (9)
John then concludes his description by noting that the twelve gates were twelve pearls, so that each gate was made of a single pearl (enormous pearls, to be sure), and that the great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass (again, an unusual gold). The “great street” itself, which is mentioned here for the first time, will reappear in the next episode of the vision, as leading to (or in that case, away from) “the throne of God and of the Lamb.” The point of all this, of course, is to indicate how great is the “new Jerusalem,” where God and the Lamb sit enthroned, and God’s people, “his servants, will serve him.”
The Character of the City (21:22–27)
22I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The 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. 24The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27Nothing 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.
Here is the section that has created much difficulty for those who envision heaven as a place “above” that believers “go to.” This may fit well with other descriptions of heaven in Scripture, but must not be superimposed on John’s vision, thereby discounting it. This climactic moment in the description of the future for God’s redeemed people is clearly envisioned as still on earth, and exists especially for the sake of the redeemed—although that point is not made here. Following the preceding description, the reader might well expect John next to describe the central feature of the city, its temple, which in effect John does here, but in a most remarkable way: by describing the reasons for the temple at all, as the place of God’s “dwelling” on earth.
So John begins with the eye-catching affirmation that I did not see a temple in the city. “What?” one might ask, “Jerusalem without a temple?” To which the answer is “yes,” because the reason for the temple in the first place has now come to earth. The Lord God Almighty [a designation reserved in this book for moments of special emphasis14] and the Lamb [a designation for Christ that first appears in the heavenly scene in chapter 5] are its temple. Here is the certain evidence of the point made earlier (on v. 3 above), that the basic reason for the temple was not for the sacrificial system, but to serve as the place of God’s presence with Israel in Jerusalem, just as he had been present with them in the tabernacle in the wilderness.
But there is more. Not only is there no need of a temple, neither is there need any longer for light from the heavenly bodies. Thus the city does not need the sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives15 it light, and the Lamb is its lamp, which at the same time anticipates the final description of future glory in 22:5. Thus all darkness is banished forever; in the presence of God and the Lamb there is only light. Not only so, but in fulfillment of Isaiah 60:3, the nations will walk by its light, thus fulfilling the promise that Israel will be a blessing to the Gentiles. Also fulfilled is the promise in Isaiah 60:3, 5 that the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it,16 John’s way of picturing the repeated prophetic promise of the eschatological gathering of the nations in its positive sense. That is, in contrast to the imagery in 20:8, John here pictures what remains of the nations as beneficiaries of God’s full restoration of his own people.
These two themes (the nations walking in God’s light, and the earth’s “kings” bringing their splendor into the city of God) are then reiterated in slightly expanded ways. John first makes the further observation that on no day will its gates ever be shut, the reason for which being that there will be no night there. This reflection of first-century culture makes it clear that one of the primary reasons for city gates had to do with safety at night; and this further indicates the great difficulty such a passage holds for modern readers, most of whom live in cities and towns where lights are never darkened.17 A further implication is that sleep will no longer be a necessity in a fully redeemed world.
The final two descriptors of the splendor of the “new Jerusalem” pick up on and elaborate the further outcome of what has preceded. First, “the nations” that “will walk by its light” will also bring their glory and honor … into it. What John may have specifically intended by this is mostly guesswork on our part, but the implication seems to be that part of the glory of the city will lie not with the unceasing imports being brought into it; rather, everything that would already give any city glory is now to be transferred to the final great city that has come down from heaven to earth. Second, and especially significant, the city exists only for those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life (on which see on 3:5 above), God’s own people who once more are set off in stark contrast to others, who are designated in this case as anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, thereby covering a multitude of sins. In so doing, John once more echoes the Prophets of Israel, this time Isaiah 52:1 (“Put on your garments of splendor, Jerusalem, the holy city; the uncircumcised and defiled will not enter you again”).
A NEW EARTH: EDEN RESTORED (22:1–5)
1Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. 3No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
In what must be considered as one of the great moments in the Christian Bible, John brings the present narrative to its proper conclusion by merging the glorious city of the preceding narrative with a reprise from the very beginning of the biblical narrative—thus at the end picturing the city itself as a restoration of the garden of Eden. It is therefore a matter of considerable misfortune that the one responsible for inserting numbers into the text so thoroughly missed the role of this passage in John’s overall narrative. Here is not something new, which thereby introduces the concluding matters of the book; rather, this is the climactic moment in the entire book: the city with its “river of the water of life” streaming from “the throne of God and the Lamb”; “the tree of life,” forbidden to Adam and Eve, now available to all; no more curse; and “no more night,” with God and his redeemed ones face to face, as it were. Thus in the providence of God, the Christian Bible concludes with a restoration of the beginning, before the fall and thus before the curse. Moreover, the genuinely Johannine nature of this concluding word is especially visible here, with its reversal of all that went wrong in the fall. Thus it begins with “the water of life” and concludes with endless, eternal light, and with God’s “servants” reigning “for ever and ever.”
The continuity with what precedes is especially clear in the Greek text, where the new sentence begins simply with “he” showed me, intending the same angel who has been the active presenter in the entire conclusion, which the NIV and other English translations, including so-called literal ones like the ESV, have made plain by inserting the intended noun. What the angel now showed John was the river of the water of life, which is described as being as clear as crystal, not so much meaning that one can see through it, but “clear” in the sense of “without impurities,” thus translucent. Since it is “the water of life,” John therefore begins with its source, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb, and concludes with its location, down the middle of the street of the great city. How could it be other than “the river of the water of life”?
Next up, and continuing with the theme of a restored Eden, John sees on each side of the river the once forbidden, now fruit-bearing tree of life, which in a restored Eden is made available to all. Next, and still picturing a reversal of the first Eden, John pictures the life-giving nature of the tree. On the one hand, it is seen as bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; thus “the food of eternity” is fruit found above ground in trees, not vegetables growing in or out of the ground. The tree that was therefore forbidden in the first Eden is now pictured as the source of nourishment in this renewed Eden. On the other hand, and in keeping with what was known medically even then, the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. What extraordinary imagery is this—trees with fruit for eternal nourishment and whose leaves will continue to bring healing, not to individuals in this case, but to “the nations,” those entities that have historically been at odds, and often in warfare, with one another. Here imaged is the original “United Nations,” made possible through the blood of the Lamb, who now sits enthroned among those whom he has redeemed. Surely this is the ultimate imagery of a restored Eden, whose original curse was “enmity” between the man and the woman, and between the two of them and the snake, enmity that became the unfortunate legacy of humankind as the result of the fall. And this healing is made possible precisely because no longer will there be any curse!
From his description of restored Eden, John turns next to the ultimate glory afforded redeemed humanity, the Divine Presence for all eternity. Thus the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, making it the one true “Eternal City,” in which context God’s servants [probably meaning his “redeemed ones” rather than angels] will serve him. Noticeably missing from this description of its eternal nature is “serve him day and night”! Moreover, even though nothing more is said in this regard, one should not imagine here something akin to people serving a king as the king’s slaves. Whatever John himself understood by “serve him,” he most likely was simply using language from his current worldview, where royal servants live only to serve the king. Again we are confronted with the kind of language that makes sense as imagery, but which is nearly incomprehensible in terms of its getting fleshed out. At this point the reader is left with imagery alone, while one is again thrown back on the fact that God can be trusted, whatever else; and therefore one may be sure that this “heaven on earth” will be infinitely better, greater, and grander than present imagination is capable of grasping. After all, the final goal is reached when they … see his face, meaning “live in his eternal presence,” with divine ownership boldly asserted: his name will be on their foreheads, precisely the place, and in the same way, where earlier demonic ownership on the part of the Empire was made evident (13:16–17).
The final description of being eternally in the Divine Presence on a renewed earth begins with the statement that there will be no more night, the traditional place and source of both demonic and human evil, for which the biblical imagery is “thief in the night.” Granted that for most human beings this is also the time given to the gift of sleep; but the present imagery is about evil, which is frequently associated with deeds done in darkness. Thus the grand climax of John’s narrative is twofold. First, God’s “servants” will not need the secondary, artificial light of a lamp, or even the primary source of light, the sun. And the reason for that, second, is that the Lord God will give them light. Thus the God who in John’s First Epistle is imaged as “Light,” in whom there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5), is the source of eternal light for all who are his. So the grand story, told in apocalyptic form in this book, ends on the highest of notes: God’s servants will reign with him for ever and ever. No story could possibly get (or end) any better than that!
Fusing the Horizons: The Original Tale of Two Cities
As noted throughout, part of John’s heavy duty prophetical task in this book is to communicate to these early (second/third generation) believers that their present difficulties are but a harbinger of a terrible onslaught that is yet to come—that matters will get worse, far worse, before they ever get better. But the story would not be complete without these final pictures of the two cities, the city of “man” (Rome, eventually known as “the eternal city”!) and the city of God (heavenly Jerusalem, as Eden restored). In keeping with a long history of usage wherein cities are described in the feminine gender, John has concluded his narrative by offering this (original) tale of two cities. The one (Babylon/Rome) is pictured as an alluring, seductive courtesan decked with gold and pearls (17:4), plying her trade among the wealthy and elite, and thus the original “scarlet woman.” The other is pictured as a bride on her wedding day, dressed in pure white awaiting her husband-to-be.
Thus at the end of his Revelation John offers his readers, who are about to endure the wrath of the Empire, the ultimate imagery of a city whose splendor is designed to appeal to one’s imagination. Its dimensions taken literally exceed all human possibilities or expectations; and its construction of gold, pearls, and other precious stones is designed to excite the imagination. But in the end all of that has an ultimate, singular focus. It is the palace of all palaces, that of the Great King, the God of creation and redemption; thus it is the inheritance of God’s own people, those who have been freed from their sins by the blood of the Lamb and born of the Spirit.
In contrast to all such earthly palaces, this one exists not for kings and nobles as such, but for all of God’s people. Thus it is the final dwelling place of the once impoverished and needy, those who have come to recognize their impoverishment and have trusted in God’s mercy as offered to them through the death and resurrection of the Son. The city itself is an eternal temple, a place of joy and worship and becoming who we were intended to be at the outset. Hence it is both Eden restored and Jerusalem reconstructed—the eternal garden of God which is also the eternal temple of God.
Nonetheless all of that is secondary to the fact that it is the dwelling of the Great King, the one and only God—Father, Son and Spirit—and as such is the final dwelling of all the King’s children, those who as the old children’s song has it are “red and yellow, black and white, they are precious in his sight.” Here all the things that have separated us as human beings—race, nationality, gender, profession—exist no longer as barriers. Here the dead will have been raised to life eternal, and “time” itself is swallowed up by eternity, which is time-less.
Here also is the place where our tendency to crass literalism must give way to an expectation of glory that simply lies beyond all known human comprehension. The imagery must be allowed to have its way, as one contemplates a restored earth, living in restored bodies, eternally in the Divine Presence. To image this John gives us gold and precious stones, but at the end we must trust that the reality is infinitely greater and grander than anything the imagination can produce. No wonder John concludes his book with an “Amen! Come, Lord Jesus!”
1. With this compare, inter alia, Amos 9:11; Jeremiah 31:10–14; and Zechariah 8:1–5.
2. Here especially one must avoid the temptation of trying to make the present imagery any more literal than what has preceded. A careful reading makes it plain that John is still dealing with imagery—imagery pointing to a much greater reality than what is presently known, or knowable.
3. Isa 25:7–8 reads “On this mountain … he will swallow up death forever; the Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from their faces.”
4. Cf. also Isa 65:19: “the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in [Jerusalem] no more.”
5. “Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city.”
6. Again, John’s language here is a deliberate echo of Ezekiel, this time 40:2: “In visions of God he took me to the land of Israel and set me on a very high mountain, on whose south side were some buildings that looked like a city.”
7. On this matter see especially the imagery in ch. 7, where the “twelve tribes” are followed by an “innumerable multitude … from every nation, tribe, people and language.”
8. That is, about 1,400 miles (about 2,200 kilometers).
9. That is, about 200 feet (about 65 meters).
10. Or high.
11. The precise identification of some of these precious stones is uncertain.
12. To give the reader an idea as to the immensity of what is here pictured, this would stretch from my present home in Vancouver, BC, almost to San Diego in the south and nearly to Winnipeg in the east; and from there one can draw a square down to the Texas-Oklahoma border and back to California. And then, of course, its height is equal to its length and breadth, far above the earth’s atmosphere.
13. The two that differ are the present sapphire and ruby, where the LXX has carnelian and lapiz lazuli.
14. See previously 11:17; 15:7; 16:7; and 19:6. all but the latter as vocatives in moments of praise or prayer. In 19:6 the designation is at the beginning of praise, but is not a vocative.
15. In typical fashion John has expressed this in the aorist (past) tense; what is, is what God has done.
16. The Isaiah texts read: “Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn”; and “the wealth of the seas will be brought to you, to you the riches of the nations will come.”
17. I am here reminded of my younger days, during the first months of America’s entering WWII, when my father was a pastor in a West Coast harbor town at the entry to the state of Washington’s Puget Sound. Blackouts were common in those early months, well patrolled by volunteers, one of whom knocked on our door insisting that my parents douse the little 2-watt light on the bottom of our floor lamp, whose light he could detect through our drawn window shades in such utter darkness.