Don’t Lose Sight of Your Christian Destiny – Revelation 21:9-22:5
21 (9) One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke to me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” (10) Then he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (11) Possessing the glory of God, her brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. (12) It had a great high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates stood twelve angels. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. (13) There were three gates on the east, and three gates on the north; three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. (14) The walls of the city had twelve foundations, and written on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
(15) The angel who spoke with me had a measuring rod, a golden reed, with which to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. (16) The city was laid out as a perfect square, its length was equal to its breadth. He measured the city with the reed and found it to be a total of one thousand four hundred miles,* its length and breadth and height were all equal. (17) He measured its wall and found it to be one hundred and forty-four cubits** high, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using.
(18) The wall was made of jasper, and the city itself was made of pure gold, as pure as glass. (19) The foundations of the city walls were adorned with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald; (20) the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, carnelian; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the eleventh, jacinth; and the twelfth, amethyst. (21) The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate was made of a single pearl. The street of the city was made of pure gold, like transparent glass.
(22) I did not see a temple in the city, for the Lord God, the Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple. (23) 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. (24) The nations shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. (25) The gates will never be shut, because there will be no night there. (26) They shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. (27) By no means shall anything unclean enter into it, nor anyone who makes an abomination or a lie, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
22 Then 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 (2) down the middle of the street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve types of fruit, yielding its fruit every month, and the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. (3) There shall no longer be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb shall be there, and his servants shall serve him. (4) They shall see his face, and his name shall be written on their foreheads. (5) There shall no longer be any night. They will not need the light of a lamp, nor the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light, and they shall reign forever and ever.
*Literally, “twelve thousand stadia” (about 1400 U.S. miles, or 22,000 kilometers)
**approximately 200 U.S. feet, or 65 meters
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
