9Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. 14The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. 17Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel). 18The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
19The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
22I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26And all the nations will bring their glory and honour into the city. 27Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Revelation 21:9-27
A couple of you have asked me why I keep giving you the whole block of text for Revelation 21:9-27. Simply because it is all interrelated and many portions connect together in this whole section. As I have already told you, when we finish this large portion we need to add to it Revelation 22:1-5. That too needs to be read with this current portion. While many versions of the Bible title Revelation 22:1-5 The River of Life, John is still referring to the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.
I have coloured two verses in purple. These two verses are the focus of our attention for this Gem. Yes I am going to address the matter of John’s unique order of the four cardinal points of the compass. I will also address what some see to be yet another problematic verse in Revelation 21. The description of twelve huge gates made from one pearl each. “Ian, have you any idea how pearls are made? And if you do, can you imagine how large an oyster you would need to make a pearl large enough to construct a gate of the proportions given from a single pearl?” Yes, I do know how pearls are formed and I have grappled with the size of the oyster needed to grow such a pearl. And if I hadn’t, I would have eventually come across G H Lang’s comment in his work, The Revelation of Jesus Christ on page 368 which reads:
Is it really to be believed that there exist in the upper realm vast masses of solid gold, of which angels have measuring rods and streets are made? If it be asserted that there are pearls so large that a single one suffices for a gate proportionate to a wall some 230 feet high, we are induced to reflect how huge must have been the oysters in which they grew, how vast the ocean where such oysters lived and to wonder where in the heavenly region that ocean is situated?
G. H. Lang
Stop second guessing what the Scripture tells us. I personally know the approach which runs every sentence of Scripture though the mindset of a disbelieving human being. Come on, you can’t believe that Ian! That has to be hyperbole, symbolic language, figurative fairyland fantasy – pearly gates and all. Stop!
Listen to what Isaiah wrote:
My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD. “And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.
Isaiah 55:8-9
Yes it is hard to comprehend and our minds initially want to know – how could that be? That doesn’t seem possible. Such a scene tests the boundary of credulity. But why can’t it be so? After all, the God who: walked on water, transported Philip from half way south of Jerusalem toward Gaza to Azotus (c.100km) and created the universe in 7 days with His word, is capable of ANYTHING. We baulk at the dimensions of the Holy City. We ask how can a single pearl be of such unbelievable dimensions? How can immense amounts of gold be up there in heaven?
John was simply telling us what he saw and heard. God had the angel take him to see what the New Jerusalem was like. Don’t second guess God if that is what He asked the angel to show John. Admittedly the language of Revelation in this portion related to the New Jerusalem is outrageously expansive. It reminds me of something we used to do as children growing up with our inflationary language. Wonderful became twoterful; formidable became xtendable. All credit to Mary Poppins who realised super had to become supercalifragilisticexpialidocious. [See Gem 662 and / or 1146] It stands to reason when you are describing something that God made for our eternal pleasure. Why not? That dear friends is why the language of Revelation uses superlatives overly much. Everything God has planned for our eternal delight is beautiful beyond description. Just relax and enjoy it and don’t try to work out how He got it up there, or down here. Don’t stop to ponder the size of the oyster to make a pearl of greater price than GREAT. Trust the God who spoke the universe into existence.
Now, go back and reread what John has been telling us he saw and imagine it in your mind’s eye to be exactly as John saw it. Actually, don’t do that! Realise Paul has already told us that heaven is going to be far more beautiful than John’s eye has seen, or his ear has heard, and not one of his readers’ minds can imagine what God has prepared for those who love him, despite having John describe it for us. Paul ought to know because he too has been caught up to the third heaven [and saw] and heard things so astounding that they cannot be expressed in words, things no human is allowed to tell. Or at least in words that we might fully comprehend. [2 Corinthians 12:2-4]
How can any human adequately describe what they saw and heard? Just know that when you finally see, it will far surpass anything you could have imagined.
Having written all that to describe Revelation 21:21, let’s now turn to verse thirteen.
There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west.
Revelation 21:13
Why has John changed the order of the points of the compass? Compare the tables below!
Numbers 2
| Direction | Tribes |
|---|---|
| East | Judah, Issachar, Zebulun |
| South | Reuben, Simeon, Gad |
| West | Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin |
| North | Dan, Asher, Naphtali |
Ezekiel 48
| Direction | Tribes |
|---|---|
| North | Reuben, Judah, Levi |
| East | Joseph, Benjamin, Dan |
| South | Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun |
| West | Gad, Asher, Naphtali |
John’s Revelation
| Direction | Tribes | Apostles |
|---|---|---|
| East | No | No |
| North | List | List |
| South | of | of |
| West | Tribes | Apostles |
- Cast your eye over these three tables and see what you make of them.
- What features stand out to you?
My Observations:
- There is no standardisation at all. The points of the compass are not in the same order (i.e. NSEW)
- The tribes listed according to direction are not consistent.
- John doesn’t add a list of tribes nor a list of the apostles.
- Neither does he make any attempt to align either tribes or apostles with the precious stones.
Believe me:-
- I could add the precious stones to these tables.
- I could give you the alignment of stones to tribes and the alignment stones to apostles.
- I could give you the so-called spiritual symbols for each tribe and each apostle.
- Question: What is the source for such information?
- Answer: The writings of the commentators over the centuries.
Why haven’t I added any of the above? Simply because John hasn’t. John hasn’t added anything else to what he has given us. Don’t forget that John has told us when he was instructed to write something and when he was told not to write something. So we must trust that we have exactly what God Himself wanted us to have and no more.
A number of commentators are convinced that John’s ENSW order is deliberate. Why? I will share their thoughts and my own with you in the next Gem. In the meantime do your own thinking and see what you come up with. Share it with us on the Comments page or share it with me in an email to [email protected] if you don’t want other readers to see it. PS – I won’t share it with others unless you give me permission.
Imagine our awe and wonder when we come to fully understand the how and the why behind the immensity of the pearly gates.
Ian
The nano-second before you were conceived, God turned to the angels and said, “Watch this masterpiece!
Rick Godwin
The human race crave the experience of awe and wonder. There is no reality more breathtaking than Jesus Christ.
John Piper
Read these final two chapters of Revelation again together without questions. Rather allow yourself to stand in awe at what John has recorded for us.
Ian
Dear Pak Ian,
pearls are formed through the oyster’s “suffering” against a foreign object, which is then coated with nacre. So pearls here might be made from Jesus suffering and redemption that results to glory.
Yes Pak Suryadi, I thought of that same connection. I hadn’t thought as you did of Jesus’ overall suffering and redemption of us all being in focus. But I certainly thought of the pearls as indicative of the irritant and suffering involved as an operating principle of God. See my Nugget series on ‘A Puzzling Paradox’. We have this treasure in jars of clay and the significance of ‘ostrica’. You are just as sharp as ever Pak Suryadi.
The only other place I could find with the points of the compass in this order is in Ezekiel 42:16-19.
In addition:
• Ezekiel also notes that below the chambers was the entrance on the east side as one enters them from the outer court. (Ezekiel 42:9).
• The garden is planted “in the east” (Gen 2:8)
• After the fall, cherubim are placed east of Eden to guard the way (Gen 3:24).
• Cain goes “east of Eden” after judgment (Gen 4:16).
• The Tabernacle and the Temple faced east so that worshippers entered from the east.
• The Magi come “from the east” to worship Jesus (Matt 2:1–2).
• “For as lightning comes from the east and shines to the west, so will be the coming of the Son of Man” (Matt 24:27).
There is an emphasis in these references to east. But I wouldn’t be so bold as to offer any further explanation.
Surely when you are describing something that you have seen you can only do it in terms of what you yourself know. We don’t know what we don’t know. There could easily be substances that we still don’t know exist. If it looks like pearl then it’s pearl it doesn’t mean that it came from a giant oyster. Does it ?
Kevin Ward
Yes indeed Kev. Cut out the middle man I say. God doesn’t need oysters to make pearls. He simply speaks them into existence if He creates in His normal way. And what’s more, since oysters make pearls from the irritants inside, no wonder the LORD makes such large pearls! They come from the irritant of human sin which cost the life of His Only Uniquely Born Son. I imagine that is the reason the pearls in the gates are so huge! I agree with Suryadi’s suggestion as to the true source.