The Bible Book

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and all the suffering of the past

is wiped away. “There will be no

more death or mourning or crying

or pain, for the old order of things

has passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

John hears a loud voice from God’s

throne announcing, “I am making

everything new!” (21:5).

The shining city

John now gets a further glimpse

of the New Jerusalem, as one of

God’s angels takes him around the

city, which shines with the glory

of God. Jerusalem’s outer wall

is made of jasper, a precious stone

that is usually opaque, but here

it is transparent; light passes

through the wall, revealing what

is within the city. Everything is

exquisite: the enormous city gates

are each made of a single pearl, and

the city’s great street is pure gold.

In the Bible, the number 12,

often symbolizing perfection,

signifies the completeness of

the nation of Israel. The walls

around the New Jerusalem have

12 gates—three on each of its four

sides—and an angel standing by

every gate. The gates bear the

names of the 12 tribes of Israel,

reassuring John that none of God’s

faithful people will be excluded.

The wall has 12 foundations,

inscribed with the names of the

12 apostles, and decorated with 12

kinds of precious stone. When the

angel measures the city, its length,

breadth, and height are each 12,000

stadia (1,400 miles/2,200km) and

the walls are 144 cubits (about

200 ft/65 meters) thick.

Most striking of all, John notices

that the Temple is missing from the

New Jerusalem. The Temple had

THE NEW JERUSALEM

been the greatest building in the

Old Jerusalem, being the focus of

Jewish worship and the meeting

point between heaven and Earth.

Now, no such meeting point is

needed, because God Himself lives

in the city—heaven has come to

Earth. The light of God’s presence

shines from the city into the whole

world, and all the people from every

nation whose names are in the

Book of Life stream through the

gates, guided by God’s light, to

bring their worship and devotion

into God’s presence.

A vision to be shared

The angel brings John into the

city, where he sees a mighty river

flowing from God’s throne down the

golden street. The Tree of Life, last

seen in the Garden of Eden, is

growing on the banks of the river.

It is so large that it straddles both

sides of the river, and so fruitful

that it bears a significant 12 crops

every year. Its leaves bring healing

to the nations and finally do away

with the pain and suffering that

have marred humanity’s existence

since Creation (22:1–3). God’s

people joyfully serve Him here,

and their new life goes on forever.

After receiving the dazzling

vision of God’s promised future,

John is so overwhelmed that he

falls down at the feet of the angel

who has been guiding him. But the

angel lifts him up and reminds him

that he is just a messenger. John

should not be overawed by the

image of the New Jerusalem, but

rather by the goodness and glory

of God the Father, His Son, and the

Holy Spirit, who alone can bring it

The prophet Abraham (center) sits

with other biblical figures in the New

Jerusalem sculpted above the western

entrance to the Abbey Church of Saint

Foy in Conques, France.

For the Lord Himself will

come down from Heaven,

with a loud command ...

and with the trumpet call

of God, and the dead in

Christ will rise first.

1 Thessalonians 4:16

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to pass. John is told to share his

vision to motivate God’s people to

do good. In the words of God, the

angel says, “Let the one who does

wrong continue to do wrong; let the

vile person continue to be vile; let

the one who does right continue

to do right; and let the holy person

continue to be holy” but warns, “I

will give to each person according

to what they have done” (22:11–12).

In the final verses of Revelation,

John returns to an image that

emphasizes the relationship of love

that God longs to have with all

ACTS, EPISTLES, AND REVELATION

people. When John first saw the

New Jerusalem, he described it as

“a bride beautifully dressed for her

husband” (21:2). Now, at the end

of the vision, this “bride”—God’s

people, collectively cleansed from

sin and dressed in the robes of

righteousness—awaits the groom,

Jesus, God’s Son, the true king of

all. The marriage and celebrations

will signal the beginning of the

new life of eternity, where heaven

and Earth are wedded together,

God’s home is among His creation,

and all of God’s people, that is

“everyone who does right,” will be

released from sin and death to live

in holy freedom forever. The vision

ends with a longing cry for this

future, “Come, Lord Jesus” (22:20).

Interpreting the vision

John’s vision in Revelation is the

basis for Christian eschatology,

a word that means “the study of

last things” and is an attempt to

describe the indescribable. His

words depict the end of evil and the

beginning of God’s reign of peace

in awe-inspiring detail. Over the

centuries, some people have tried

to fit the visions of Revelation into

a chronology, using them to predict

The Kingdom of Heaven The terms “kingdom of Heaven”

and “kingdom of God”’ are

used extensively by Jesus in

His teaching to refer to God’s

righteous reign on Earth. The

arrival of Heaven’s kingdom on

Earth is the purpose of Jesus’s

ministry. He says, for instance,

“Repent, for the kingdom of

Heaven is near” (Matthew 4:17),

and uses it as the motivation for

prayer, “Your kingdom come,

Your will be done, on Earth as

it is in heaven” (Matthew 6:10).

In popular imagination, heaven

is often thought of as a spiritual,

non-physical realm. The early

Christians, however, building on

the convictions of Jewish faith,

understood heaven as the reality

of living under God’s order, as

directed by Him.

While some might perceive

heaven as existing elsewhere,

the Christian hope is for heaven

to come to Earth, so that God’s

rule is established in the

physical world. Such a hope

reassures Christians that the

injustices of this life will be

made right in God’s future, and

that death is not the end, but

rather—for those with faith—a

gateway into God’s kingdom.

when the world will end. Given

Jesus’s warning that “You

do not know when that time will

come” (Mark 13:33), it seems better

to focus on what God’s future looks

like rather than when it will occur.

One key theme of eschatology

is recapitulation, which means that

the end is a summary of all that

has gone before, and a return to ❯❯

A stained-glass window depicts

the alpha and omega, the first and

last letters of the Greek alphabet,

symbolizing God as “the Beginning

and the End” (Revelation 22:13).

Let us rejoice and be

glad and give Him glory!

For the wedding of

the Lamb has come,

and His bride has

made herself ready.

Revelation 19:7

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