As time rapidly comes to an end in Revelation 20, we realize that we have reached a new beginning in Revelation 21. The Bible is a circle, an infinite Book. The Book of Revelation is going to lead us right back into the Book of Genesis. (There is no book in the world written like this Book!) In the Book of Genesis was the “tree of life,” and it shows up again in Revelation 22:2. Abel’s lamb is slain as a sacrifice in the Book of Genesis, and here we have “the Lamb” in Revelation 21:23. In Genesis it is “paradise lost,” and in Revelation it is “paradise restored.” In Genesis 1:1 you have “In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth,” and in Revelation 21:1 you have, “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.” God begins with man in Genesis, and God ends with man in Revelation 22. The Book is an infinite book, and it is written so that it is a complete circle. Hence, the human, finite mind is never able to comprehend the total scope of the Book. The reason why is because this Book is unlike any other book ever written. The Koran is not in the same class. When you hear people talk about religious books being “holy” books like the Bible, and they show you these little collections of “holy writings” like the Vedas, the Sutras, the Shastas, the Puranas, the writings of Confucius, etc., you know somebody put them together that never spent very much time analyzing truth.
The Bible is a circle.
21:1 “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.” (Isa. 65:17,66:22.)
The new heavens and the new earth are there, and the “sea” has passed away. This sea was not the Atlantic or the Pacific, but that great body of water which we studied in Revelation 4. This is the “sea of glass,” the “deep.” It is that body of water above the firmament of which we read, “The face of the
deep is frozen” (Job 38:30). It is the “sea” referred to in Job 41:31–33. This sea would make the Atlantic and the Pacific look like puddles. (See commentary on Genesis: Gen. 1:1–31 for detailed information.) There is no more “sea.” When God’s atomic combustion blows away the elements, and the heaven is “rolled back like a scroll” and passes away, this body of water is also blasted away (2 Pet. 3; Heb. 1:10–12).
21:2 “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Isa. 4:5– 6, 52:1–2; Matt. 23:37.)
New Jerusalem is not the Father’s bride; God the Father’s bride is Israel. New Jerusalem is a city prepared to marry Jesus, the Son.
Revelation 21:9–10—“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.” The “Holy Jerusalem” is the “New Jerusalem.” Notice three new elements: a new heaven, a new earth, and a new Jerusalem. If there is any doubt about New Jerusalem’s relationship to the Church—the Body of Christ—don’t forget that New Jerusalem is said to be the “mother” of every born again believer in the Church Age (Gal. 4:26). There are those like Bullinger, Stam, and O’Hare who teach that this “bride” is a Jewish bride, and that New Jerusalem is for the Jew, and the Christian has a heavenly inheritance in which he sort of floats around in the ethereal outer space, with no certain dwelling place. This is an error derived from “wrongly dividing” the word of truth. This “bride” is prepared for the Lamb, not God “the Father.” (The “marriage of the Lamb” occurred in Rev.19:7–8, in reference to the Church, the Bride of Christ, His Body. New Jerusalem, therefore, is a dwelling place prepared for the “bride.”)
The three elements are clear: a new earth for the Jew, a new heaven for the Gentile, and a New Jerusalem for the Christian. The same three branches—the Jew, the Gentile, the Church—are still found in eternity, with three separate places of abode and service (1 Cor. 10:32).
21:3 “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.”
Now these are some blessed words. Notice that God says this same thing to Israel in Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 37:27—“My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
The “tabernacle of God” is with men, and He will dwell with them. Yet, in New Jerusalem there is no temple. There may be a tabernacle on this earth for the Jew in eternity, but no temple in New Jerusalem for the Christian (Rev. 21:22). This New Jerusalem “comes down,” and God says that He’s going to be with Israel on earth and “be their God,” and Israel will be His people.
21:4–5—“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.”
Some preachers think Revelation 21:5 says,
“Write: for these words are highly apocalyptical, symbolical, figurative, and hard to understand, unless you have access to the original manuscripts.” Of course, you know He didn’t say that! He said, “These words are true and faithful.”
This is the way the Christian winds up. (If it weren’t for the Book of Revelation, you wouldn’t know what happened to the Devil, because the Devil doesn’t wind up in the lake of fire until the Book of Revelation. Did you ever stop to think what kind of a Bible it would be with no Book of Revelation in it? Do you realize that the favorite verses you quote about your “home in heaven” are all found in the Book of Revelation?) No more sorrow! No more death! No more crying! No more pain! No more tears of parting! No more tears of weariness! No more tears of poverty! No more tears of disappointment! Love without passion! Service without weariness! Joy without sorrow! Blessings without cursing! Life without death!! Light without darkness! Power without suffering! Rule without end! Satisfaction without want! Singing without crying! Beauty without infirmity! Company without absence! Pleasure without sin! Now, don’t you want to go to a place like that?
A man said, “I don’t believe in this ‘pie in the sky by and by.’ I believe you can have heaven on earth right now.” If there is no “pie in the sky by and by,” brother, you’re eating gravel right now, and you’ll eat it in eternity. I have no use at all for a God who couldn’t make a place better than this. If this earth here is all the heaven God can make, He ought to be dethroned! Depose Him! Impeach Him! Dwight L. Moody said one time, “If you are saved, this earth is all of hell that you’ll ever see, and if you are lost, this earth is all of heaven that you’ll ever see.” Now, think about that! If you are saved, all you’ll ever see of hell is this earth. If you are lost, all of heaven you’ll ever see is this earth. My God, what short sightedness! Do you mean to tell me that this little garbage scow of a world, this little “outhouse” of a world, filled with its filth and misery and corruption and graft and political greed, war and bloodshed, torture and poverty, strife and cancer, cerebral palsey, divorce courts, broken bones, busted homes,
taxes, dictators, disease, death, coroners, undertakers, and graveyards—do you mean to tell me this is all of “heaven” there is? A man that would believe that ought to get drunk or blow his brains out! He shouldn’t be trying to form an Ecumenical Council to “bring in the Kingdom”—he ought to get out! But the Bible says there is a place:
“Oh, when will sin and sorrow cease
And joy for pain be given?
Where dwells the sunlight of a love
Eternal as God’s life above?
A still small voice said ‘Heaven.’
Oh heart, I cried, when thou hast died
And all thy joys be riven,
What lies behond the other side?
The same sweet voice to mine replied,
‘The home of Jesus—heaven.’
Oh, traveller on life’s dusty road
By sin and sorrow driven—
Say, what can bring thee peace and rest
Or cure the ache within thy breast
Like Jesus, home, and heaven?”
This is the heaven the Christian goes to, this is the heaven an honest sinner would want to get to, and this is the heaven a saved sinner is going to make, by the grace of God (Eph. 2:8–9). If you know of some other place you’d rather go, take off “like a big bird” and COUNT ME OUT! I want to go to a place where there is no crying, no sorrow, no pain, no tears, no death, and where I can have fellowship with God forever and ever, and know that no matter what I ever think again or what I ever do again or how I ever feel again, I CANNOT EVER SIN AND DISPLEASE GOD AGAIN! That’s heaven! That’s heaven!
“O glorious land of heavenly light
Where walk the ransomed clothed in white,
On hills of myrrh through pastures green
No curse, no cloud upon the scene.
Land where the crystal river glides,
And the fruits immortal deck its sides.
O land of rest in Eden’s bowers
No dreary days, no weary hours!
No nights of unavailing grief
With hours of crying with no relief!
For God shall wipe away all tears,
And into the past are passed our fears.
What then shall I care for all the way
That led to Thee at last?
For every dark despairing day
Forever ever past?
If ever the loved of earthly years
Shall welcome Thee to me,
What shall I care for all those tears
That oft flowed bitterly?
If I may stand before His throne
And look upon His face,
What shall I care that oft alone,
Like Him, I ran the race?
Safe on Thy ever blissful plains
My heart’s own treasure gathered there
Farewell forever sins and pains
Farewell bereavement, sorrow, care!”
Revelation 21:4—“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.” (Psa. 56:8.)
This is the place. Christ said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). This is the way. Christ said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6).
Revelation 21:5—“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.”
They are not apocalyptic; they are not obscure; they don’t have to be “interpreted” by some deluded Greek scholar; they don’t have to be interpreted by a liquor head sitting over in Rome, who doesn’t have enough spiritual discernment to find two resurrections in the Bible, or three judgments or the difference between the Church, the Jew, and the Gentile! These words are “true and faithful,” and you can’t miss understanding them if you couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn with a bunch of bananas!
21:6 “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 F R E E L Y.”
“Alpha.” This is the first letter in the Greek alphabet—“the beginning.”
“Omega.” This is the last letter in the Greek alphabet—“the end.”
“Freely.” This is a tremendous word. It is the first word that God ever said that was misquoted.
Genesis 2:16—“And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, Of every tree of the garden thou mayest freely eat.”
When the woman quotes this to Satan, she said:
Genesis 3:2—“And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden.”
She omitted “freely.” Therefore, the “tree of life” is no longer free. When you get to Revelation 22, you will find:
Revelation 22:14—“Blessed are they that DO his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
But the “water of life” is a free gift of salvation. “I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.” This is an invitation given to anybody in any dispensation. (Notice that in Rev. 21 the Millennium is already past. Therefore, when you find an invitation in Rev. 21, it can be for somebody in the Millennium, the Tribulation, or the Church Age.) In Revelation 22:17, the “Bride of Christ” invites men to come to Christ, which is true only in the Church Age. In Revelation 22:14, only those that keep His commandments have a right to the “tree of life,” which is only true in the Tribulation and the Millennium. So here in Revelation 21:6, we have an invitation for the Church Age. How can you put these passages together this way? By reading your Bible. Remember that the Lord Jesus Christ said to a woman of Samaria, who was drawing water:
John 4:13–14—“Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
Do you know why God stuck this invitation in Revelation 21:6? Because He’s getting ready to talk about New Jerusalem. When God the Holy Spirit gets to talking about the Christians’ final home, He gets so full and so burdened about lost sinners, He can’t describe the place without saying, “Come on and get it! Don’t miss it!” He’s just been telling you how wonderful New Jerusalem is, and He doesn’t want you to miss it. Without even going into the Tribulation doctrine or the Millennial doctrine, He describes this eternal state of the blessed, and then He says, “Come on and get it. It’s free! Whatever you do, don’t miss it!”
21:7 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”
(“He that overcometh” is true of the Tribulation overcomer in Revelation 2–3, and it is true of the Christian in 1 John 4:4, and 1 John 5:4.)
21:8 “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.”
“But” is the terrible, disjunctive conjunction which separates the two statements, and there follows a list of the people who have no part in this place, where there is no sorrow, no death, no pain, no tears. He lists a multitude of people who—tragedy of all tragedies, horror of all horrors—are in a place where there is nothing but tears, sorrow, pain, weeping, wailing, and gnashing of teeth forever (see Rev. 20:14).
“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.”
A literal, burning hell! If you ever assumed that there was no hell because human nature is good, then your pride, which caused you to assume that, will take you right straight there. Notice the classes: not only the “whoremongers” and the “liars” and the “murderers” (which many would say “Amen” to), but the “unbelieving.” God classes unbelieving people with whoremongers, murderers, and idolaters. These heretics and infidels are not the heretics and infidels that the Roman Catholic Church spots. The Roman Catholic Church classes unbelief as “heresy,” and then justifies itself in killing Christians. The “unbelieving” in this passage, are certainly not born again, Bible believing Christians who reject the traditions of Rome. This passage refers to a bunch of people very much like Bible rejecting people, who keep Roman traditions. God doesn’t condemn a man for not believing Roman tradition; God condemns a man for not believing what He said.
“The fearful.” God classifies men who are afraid to trust Christ with “murderers” and “whoremongers.” Isn’t that a thought? Perhaps there is some Southerner reading this who hasn’t received Jesus Christ because you don’t want people to think that you “are a hypocrite,” or because you don’t believe you “can live it,” or because you’re afraid if you get saved you won’t be able to “live up to it,” or because you’re afraid of what people will think about you if you profess Christ. God classifies you as a “whoremonger.” Isn’t that a classification?
(Don’t get mad at me, I didn’t write Revelation. I didn’t give you that classification. That’s how the Holy Spirit classified you!)
“All liars.” It is true that a Christian can commit sin, and he’ll not “inherit the kingdom of God” if he practices these things (Gal. 5:21), but a Christian is still a Christian. An unsaved man is not just guilty of the sin, but because he is unsaved, he is connected with the sin (see 1 Cor. 6:9–10). An unsaved man doesn’t tell lies, he is a liar. An unsaved man doesn’t drink, he’s a drunkard. An unsaved man doesn’t commit adultery, he is an adulterer (1 Cor. 6:9–10). A Christian can do these things, and he loses rewards and is punished for doing them (Gal. 5:19–21). The Christian loses his inheritance for doing them, but the Christian is still a Christian. (It is not a bit unfair! The Christian’s sins have been paid for, atoned for, and he has been separated from them by the BLOOD OF JESUS CHRIST. This is the doctrine of “eternal security” that some people have so much trouble with.) If a Christian sins, he loses:
1. The joy of God’s salvation (Psa. 51:12).
2. His testimony (1 Cor. 15:33–34).
3. His health (1 Cor. 11:30).
4. His rewards (1 Cor. 3:13–15).
5. A Millennial inheritance (Luke 19:15–26).
6. His life (1 Cor 11:30).
A Christian can lose a lot without losing his soul, but he is still a Christian.
An unsaved man is connected to the sins he commits and partakes of them, and they are part of him.
21:9 “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.”
Notice that “she” is no longer engaged; she is His wife. Back in 2 Corinthians 11:2, she is “espoused,” and in Revelation 19:7 she “hath made herself ready” for the marriage. Now in Revelation 21:9, she is His wife, and she is likened to a city. (Women are likened to cities, and cities are likened to women. The Devil has a bride—Babylon. She is a woman and a city. Christ has a bride—New Jerusalem. She is a woman and a city.)
21:10 “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.”
Now, it does not say that this city lands on the earth. (It may, I do not know. There are all kinds of conjectures on this thing.) It just says that it comes down. It may be like a “satellite” going around the earth, like the moon. Although the city doesn’t need the sun and the moon for light (Rev. 21:23), the sun and the moon are still there giving light on the earth (Psa. 89:36–37). This city descends. It either revolves around the earth like a satellite, or lands on the earth with the point touching Jerusalem. (I say “point” because this city is the shape of a gold crystal.)
Revelation 21:16—“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.”
Now this city is pure gold (Rev. 21:18, 21:21), and it is shaped like a double pyramid. It you want to see what this city is shaped like, draw a pyramid, and then draw another pyramid upside down at the bottom of the first pyramid. Put the two bases together. Here you have a figure that points up and points down. It is not a square, but it is “foursquare.” It is “squared” four times. In plainer words, it is not just a cube, but a double cube, each cube having five sides. The thing is so set up that when you put it together, it has eight sides, with the two bases together (which makes ten sides in all). It makes a “city” with a foundation that points down underneath it, and it balances like a gyroscope on whatever it sits on. The foundation underneath is as big as the city, and the city above is “twelve thousand furlongs.” The wall is about 264 feet high. (This is a tremendous city. When John said that he saw that “great city,” he meant “great city”!) This gold crystal is a double pyramid, containing jasper (carbon), which
is the chief constituent of all living things, and it is transparent. This city stretches from Boston, Massachusetts, to Miami, Florida; from Miami, Florida, to Denver, Colorado; and from Denver, Colorado, to Buffalo, New York. The north boundary is Buffalo, New York; the western boundary is Denver, Colorado; the eastern boundary is Boston, Massachusetts; the southern boundary is Miami, Florida. This city is what the engineers, construction men, and the highway men have been working on in the United States for the last twenty years. They have been working to join all the cities together until we have just one great big city, and they can’t do it. But God has already done it. This city would cover Kansas, Oklahoma, Texas, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Georgia, North and South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia, Delaware, part of Pennsylvania, Maryland, part of New York, and all the Gulf of Mexico from Miami to Mexico City. This is a city!
Christ said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions.” He wasn’t lying. (The corrupt versions like the RSV say, “many rooms.” Not “many rooms,” man! “MANSIONS!”) My Saviour has a place up there that would knock your eyeballs out. The Taj Mahal and the Grand Canyon would look like a city dump along side this place. This thing has 5,000,000 apartments every cubic mile; there are 41 trillion rooms, 15 feet square, or 207 trillion rooms, 10 feet square. There are more than ten rooms for every saved person who dies between Pentecost and the Second Coming of Christ, if 100 million Christians died every year. In plainer words, when you get to heaven, you will settle down in a house that has at least 10 rooms, 10 feet square, out of solid gold. Do you suppose you will be able to survive in that? (That’s estimating that 100 million Christians have died every year since Pentecost, which is a pretty big estimate. Of course, you have to count all the babies that died, and I imagine they will number as many as the grown ups that got saved. God has a way of doing things like that in heathen lands so that the “students of oriental religion” can’t get a hold of it!)
Christ said, “In my Father’s house are many mansions,” and John called it a “great city.” It is a whopper!
Did you ever stop to think that if you got into a car, in Pensacola, Florida, and drove all one day and night without stopping, that you couldn’t drive through this city? This is a real city! This city would cover Baton Rouge, New Orleans, Atlanta, Birmingham, Miami, Jacksonville, Little Rock, Shreveport, Dallas, Fort Worth, Memphis, Nashville, Chattanooga, Spartanburg, Raleigh, Washington, D.C., Denver, Topeka, Oklahoma City, St. Louis, and every town between them.
“The holy Jerusalem.” No sewage disposal, no garbage disposal, no city dumps, no graft, no politicians, no bomb shelters, no flouride in the water, no traffic regulations, no cigarette butts in the streets, no beer cans, no hospitals, no graveyards, etc. “The Holy Jerusalem.”
21:11 “Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.”
“ A jasper stone.” This is carbon, which is the chief constituent of all living things. This is a “living” city.
“Clear as crystal.” This city comes down and shines and sparkles, and sparkles and shines. The “jasper” is a diamond, which is found in Egypt and Siberia. It comes in all different colors to suit all tastes and races. “Jasper” is the chief substance of the city.
21:12 “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.”
(We will go into this later when we get to Rev. 22.)
21:13 “On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
So the city has foundations with “Peter,” “James,” “John,” et al., round about them, and the gates have names on them, with the angels standing by them, named after the twelve tribes—Issachar, Reuben, Judah, etc.
21:15 “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16 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.”
So this city is 1,200 miles long, 1,200 miles wide, and 1,200 miles high. Think of a city whose top is 1,200 miles in the air, each mile being 5,280 feet!
21:17 “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.” This is one of the clearest passages in the Bible telling you that angels are men (see commentary on Genesis—Gen 6:1–6, the “sons of God”). Angels are 33-year old males without wings (Gen. 18:1–22, 19:1–26; Judg. 13:1–13; Gal. 4:14; Luke 24:3–6, 23).
21:18 “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.”
It’s a pure gold city like clear glass, which shines with the light of a jasper carbon diamond.
21:19 “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;
20 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.”
These stones are in the Smithsonian Institute in Washington, D.C. They’re laid out, and they match the stones on the breastplate in the Old Testament. There are twelve stones to match each one of the twelve tribes. The stones are as follows:
1. Emerald—A green stone that symbolizes Judah.
It is found in South America and Mexico. (Cortez fell through jealousy over an emerald he gave his wife.)
2. Sapphire—A blue stone which symbolizes Simeon. It is a pebble in Ceylon, and found en masse in North Carolina, Persia, and Wales.
3. Sardonyx—A red and white stone which symbolizes Dan. It is often called the “onyx” stone.
4. Chalcedony—A white translucent stone which symbolizes Levi. (It is also sometimes called the “onyx” stone, and is found in Iceland and the New Hebrides Islands.)
5. Topaz—A light yellow orange stone which symbolizes Issachar. It is found on an island in the Red Sea.
6. Chrysolite—A gold stone that symbolizes Gad. (It is so brilliant that one found in the fourteenth century shone through cloth.)
7. Beryl—A stone like “frozen fire” which symbolizes Asher.
8. Sardius—A brownish red stone that symbolizes Naphtali.
9. Jacinth—A dusky red stone that symbolizes Joseph.
10. Amethyst—A light purple crystal that symbolizes Benjamin.
11. Crysoprasus—A golden green stone that symbolizes Zebulun.
12. Jasper—A transparent crystal that symbolizes Reuben.
One can hardly imagine what God’s city looks like. What an eyesplitting spectacle it will be! No wonder Paul said, “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better.” No wonder (after he was caught up to the third heaven in 2 Cor. 12) the rest of his life he lived “all out for God” until he was finally killed. (I have a private theory that Paul was a suicidal maniac! I don’t know that for sure, but any man who lived the way he did was not trying to stay alive. If a man was trying to be careful, he couldn’t have gotten into the trouble Paul did. Paul got into too much trouble for a man who was trying to stay alive, 2 Cor. 11:20–29.) Paul was caught up to the third heaven and saw this thing, and then God sent him back down; talk about a “change of scenery!” He was standing there one minute looking at a city 1,200 miles high, shining like a carbon diamond, made out of pure, solid gold, transparent, so that your eye goes through it fifteen or twenty miles in depth, with gates of single pearls, ninety feet high in the air (perfect circles), and then foundations 1,200 miles long made out of diamonds, topaz, emerald, sardonyx, jasper, etc.!! That thing was glittering and flashing in front of Paul’s face, and inside that city there was no pain, no heartache, no sorrow, no death, no tears, no taxes. Then, back Paul went from there back down to Asia Minor, and landed on a dirty road at the foot of a camel! That’s a real change! I’ll bet they had to take old Paul to the battlements of heaven and throw him out by Angelic force to get him back down here. No wonder he said, “We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord” (2 Cor. 5:1–10).
21:21 “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.”
In heaven, you will walk on gold. That’s what they fight over down here, and up there you walk on it. (How’s that for a change of pace?) Down here your money is based on your silver, your silver is based on your gold, and people fight to get the money. They war to get the money! Money is the pavement in heaven, and you walk around with gold under your feet. The size of the gates of pearl is not given, but the walls are 264 to 300 feet high. Each gate is “like a pearl,” which makes the gate a circle. Even if the gate was just large enough for a man to go through, it would be a pearl seven feet in diameter. And don’t you know that the gates are going to be larger than that? It would have to be at least thirty feet high. Imagine a pearl thirty feet in diameter! (They’ve never found one thirty inches in diameter!) These gates will be pearls at least thirty feet in diameter, hinged, and swinging for people to go through.
21:22 “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23 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.
24 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.”
“The nations of them which are saved.” The nations that are saved in the Tribulation and the Millennium do not have eternal life; they keep dying. At the Great White Throne Judgment if their name is in the “book of life,” they have a right to the “tree of life.” They go into this city to partake of the “tree of life.”
Their offspring, in eternity, go into this city, partake of the “tree of life,” and live forever (see comments on Rev 20:13).
“The kings of the earth.” Notice literal, physical people in flesh and blood bodies on this earth in eternity, not in the Millennium. Isaiah 66:23–24—“And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all F L E S H.”
Notice the context of Isaiah 66:22–24, the “new moon” and the “sabbath” and all “flesh” coming into New Jerusalem to worship the Lord on the “new moon” and the “sabbath” in the new heavens and the new earth. The Jew is still on the earth. (Eph. 1:10; Isa. 65:17; Jer. 33:21, 17–18; Ezek. 46:3; 44:24; 37:25– 27.) In connection with these nations on the earth in eternity (the ones that were saved in the Tribulation and the Millennium), you need to study Isaiah 66:2, Psalm 68:29, 26:2; and 2 Chronicles 23:19. In connection with the Jew ruling the earth in eternity you should study Genesis 17:8, 8:21; Psalm 24:7; Isaiah 66:22–23, 9:6,7.
21:25–26 “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.”
Note the context is not the Millennium, as you find in the Scofield Reference Bible, Bullinger, Stam, Pember, Larkin, Sauer, Berkhof, Dabney, Hodge, and all scholars from the beginning of time. The context is not the Millennium; the context is eternity. (It is on this point that the “rocket scientists” are going to successfully overthrow the Body of Christ in the next twenty years. The Body of
Christ has rejected the King James Bible as the word of God, and God has refused to show them what it says about outer space. Because of that, the scientists are going to make fools out of the Bible believing Christians in the next twenty years. Then the Devil is going to come down from outer space, and
finish off what’s left. See comments on Rev. 11–13.)
21:27 “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.”
Nothing unclean will go into that city. Although the Christian’s name is written in the “book of life” (Phil. 4:3), the reference here is to those who came out of the Tribulation and Millennium. Why? Because those that come in, come in to get something which will give them eternal life (Rev. 22:14). That isn’t all. They have to come in, and the Christian is already there. The Christian already has eternal life, and therefore he doesn’t have to come in to get it from the “tree of life.” “He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (1 John 5:12). Therefore the passage refers to people on the earth in eternity, who go into New Jerusalem to partake of the “tree of life.” They finally obtain what was forbidden to Adam in Genesis 3:22–24.
Born Irish, in a family of eight, my early childhood was fulfilled and happy. My father was a colonel in the Irish Army until he retired when I was about nine. As a family, we loved to play, sing, and act, all within a military camp in Dublin.
