New Jerusalem

Revelation- 21

VERSE 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 show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.  10.   And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,  11.   Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;  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:  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 had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

(Excerpt taken from Daniel and Revelation by Uriah Smith 1897-1911 Editions)

The Bride, The Lamb's Wife. - This testimony is positive that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the Larnb's wife. The

p 754 -- angel told John distinctly that he would show him the bride, the Lamb's wife; and we may be sure that he did not practice upon him a piece of deception, but fulfilled his promise to the very letter; but all that he did show him was the New Jerusalem. It would be unnecessary to offer a word of proof that this city is not the church, were it not that popular theology has so mystified the Scriptures as to give it this application. This city, then, cannot be the church, because it would be absurd to talk of the church as lying foursquare, and having a north side, a south side, an east side, and a west side. It would be absurd to speak of the church as having a wall great and high, and having twelve gates, three on each side toward the four points of the compass. Indeed, the whole description of the city which is given in this chapter would be more or less an absurdity if applied to the church.

Again:   Paul, to the Galatians, speaks of the same city and says that it is the mother of us all, referring to the church. The church, then, is not the city itself, but the children of the city. And verse 24 of the chapter under comment, speaks of the nations of the saved, who walk in the light of this city. These nations who are the saved, and on earth constitute the church, are distinct from the city, in the light of which they walk. It follows that the city is a literal city, built of all the precious materials here described.

But how can it then be the bride, the Lamb's wife? Answer:   Inspiration has seen fit to speak of it under this figure, and with every believer in the Bible, that should be sufficient. The figure is first introduced in Isaiah 54. The new-covenant city is there brought to view. It is represented as being desolate while the old covenant was in force, and the Jews and old Jerusalem were the special objects of God's care; but it is said to her that "the children of the desolate" shall be many more than "the children of the married wife." It is further said to her, "Thy Maker is thy husband;" and the closing promise of the Lord to this city contains a very similar description to the one which we have here in Revelation; namely, "I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires; and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy

p 755 -- gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord." It is this very promise to which Paul refers, and upon which he comments in his epistle to the Galatians, when he says, "But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all" (Gal. 4:26); for he quotes, in the next verse, this very prophecy from the book of Isaiah to sustain this declaration. Here, then, Paul makes an inspired application of Isaiah's prophecy which cannot be mistaken; and in this he shows that under the figure of a "woman," a "wife" whose "children" were to be multiplied, the Lord by the prophet speaks of the New Jerusalem, the city above, as contrasted with the earthly Jerusalem in the land of Palestine; and of this city the Lord calls himself the "husband." In addition to this, we have the positive testimony of the twenty-first chapter of Revelation to the same facts. 

With this view, all is harmony. Christ is called the Father of his people (Isa. 9:6); the Jerusalem above is called our mother, and we are called the children; and, carrying out the figure of a marriage, Christ is represented as the Bridegroom, the city as the bride, and we, the church, as the guests. There is no confusion of parties here. But the popular view, which makes the city the church, and the church the bride, exhibits the inexcusable confusion of making the church at the same time both mother and children, both bride and guests.

The view that the marriage of the Lamb is the inauguration of Christ as King upon the throne of David, and that the parables of Matt. 22:1-14; 25:1-13; Luke 12:35-37; 19:12, 13, etc., apply to that event, is further confirmed by a well-known ancient custom. It is said that when a person took his position as ruler over the people, and was invested with that power, it was called a marriage, and the usually accompanying feast was called a marriage supper. Dr. Clarke, in his note on Matt. 22:2, thns speaks of it:   -

"A marriage for his son.] A marriage feast, so the word gamouV properly means. Or a feast of inauguration, when his son was put in possession of the government, and thus he and his new subjects became married together. Many eminent

p 756 -- critics so understand this parable as indicating the Father's induction of his Son into his Messianic kingdom. (See 1 Kings 1:5-9, 19, 25, etc., where such a feast is mentioned.)"

A Christian City. - The names of the twelve apostles in the foundations of the city, show it to be a Christian and not a Jewish city; while the names of the twelve tribes on the gates, show that all the saved, from this dispensation as well as from the former, are reckoned as belonging to some one of the twelve tribes; for all must enter the city through some one of these twelve gates. It is this fact which explains those instances in which Christians are called Israel, and are addressed as the twelve tribes, as in Rom. 2:28, 29; 9:6-8; Gal. 3:29; Eph. 2:12, 13; James 1:1; Rev. 7:4.

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New Jerusalem.

Rev_3:12  Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

Jesus' words.

Paul's words- as moved by the Holy Spirit-

Heb 12:22  But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

Heb 12:23  To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Heb 12:24  And to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel.

Heb 12:25  See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven:

Heb 12:26  Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven.

Heb 12:27  And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.

Heb 12:28  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear:

Heb 12:29  For our God is a consuming fire.

Gal 4:26  But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

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We all are aware of Jerusalem as a real place on earth, but are we all aware of the heavenly Jerusalem?  The earthly Jerusalem is fraught with GREAT tension.  The three religions Muslim, Christian, Jewish- all have their roots in Jerusalem. There is fighting between the three, each wanting to stake their claim there.  This is the earthly Jerusalem, but who stakes their claim in the heavenly Jerusalem, the new Jerusalem?

Those who believe in Jesus, for it Jesus who will descend with the New Jerusalem after the 1000 years is over. These are prophetic truths that WILL come to pass!

There is a HEAVENLY New Jerusalem!  This New Jerusalem WILL descend from heaven to the earth.  This amazing new city will be the home of ALL who are known by our SAVIOR, Jesus Christ! God the Father and the Son will be in the New Jerusalem and as we continue to study this chapter we will come to that.

May God bless us as we LEARN, re-LEARN, of this New Heavenly City that will be our home!