Thoughts on the Revelation.
Verse 15. And he that talked with me, had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the walls thereof. 16. And the city lieth four square, 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 hight of it are equal. 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. 18. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. We learn from this testimony that the city is laid out in a perfect square, measuring equally on all sides. The measure of the city, John tells us, was twelve thousand furlongs. Twelve thousand furlongs are fifteen hundred miles. We understand that this measure is the measure of the whole circumference of the city, and not merely of one side. This appears, from Kitto, to have been the ancient method of measuring cities. The whole circumference was taken, and that said to be the measure of the city. According to this rule, the New Jerusalem will be three hundred and seventy-five miles on each side. The length, breadth, and hight of it are equal. From this language the question has arisen whether the city was as high as it was long and broad. The word rendered equal, is isos (isos), and from definitions given in Liddell and Scott, which we have not space here to transcribe, we learn that it may have the sense of proportionate: the hight was proportionate to the length and breadth. And this idea is strengthened by the fact that the wall was only a hundred and forty-four cubits high. Taking the cubit at about twenty-two inches, the length which is most commonly assigned to the ancient cubit, it would give only about two hundred and eighty-eight feet as the hight of the wall. Now if the city is just as high as it is long and broad, that is, two hundred and seventy-five miles, this wall of less than two hundred and eighty-eight feet, would be in comparison, a most insignificant affair. We think therefore that we are to judge of the hight of the buildings of the city, in some measure, by the hight of the wall, which is distinctly given. The building of the wall was of jasper. Jasper is a precious stone usually described as of "a beautiful bright green color, sometimes clouded with white or spotted with yellow." This we understand to be the material of the main body of the wall built upon the twelve foundations hereafter described. Verse 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. If we look upon this description as exclusively metaphorical, as is done by the great mass of professed Bible teachers, and spiritualize away this city into aerial nothingness, how unmeaning, yea, even bordering upon folly, do these minute descriptions appear. But if we take it as it is evidently designed to be understood in its natural and obvious signification, and look upon the city as the Revelator evidently designed we should look upon it, as a literal and tangible abode, our glorious inheritance, the beauties of which we are to look upon with our own eyes, how is the glory of the scene enhanced! It is in this light, though it is not for mortal man, of himself, to conceive of the grandeur of those things which God has prepared for those that love him, that we delight to contemplate the glimpses that he has given us in his word of our future abode. We love to dwell upon those descriptions which convey to our minds, as well as language can do it, an idea of the loveliness and beauty which shall characterize our eternal home. And as we become absorbed in the contemplation of an inheritance tangible and sure, our courage springs up anew, hope revives, faith plumes her wings, and with feelings of thanksgiving to God that he has placed it in our power to gain an entrance to the mansions of the redeemed, we resolve anew, that, in spite of the world and all its obstacles, we will be among the sharers in the proffered joy. Let us then look at the precious foundation stones of that great city through whose gates of pearl we hope soon to enter. "The word adorned" [garnished], says Stuart, "may raise a doubt here, whether the writer means to say, that into the various courses of the foundation, ornamental precious stones were only here and there inserted. But taking the whole description together, I do not apprehend this to have been his meaning. Jasper, as we have seen above, is usually a stone of green, transparent color, with red veins. But there are many varieties. Sapphire is a beautiful azure or sky-blue color, almost as transparent and glittering as a diamond. Chalcedony seems to be a species of agate, or more probably the onyx. The onyx of the ancients was probably of a bluish white, and semi-pelucid. The emerald was of a vivid green, and next to the ruby in hardness. Sardonyx is a mixture of chalcedony and cornelian, which last is of a flesh-color. Sardius is probably the cornelian. Sometimes however the red is quite vivid. Chrysolite, as its name imports, is of a yellow or gold color, and is pelucid. From this was probably taken the conception of the pelucid gold, which constitutes the material of the city. Beryl is of a sea green color. The topaz of the present day seems to be reckoned as yellow; but that of the ancients appears to have been pale green. Plin. 38, 8, Bellermann. Urim et Thummim, p. 37. Chrysoprasus of a pale yellow and greenish color, like a scallion; sometimes it is classed at the present day under topaz. Hyacinth of a deep red or violet color. Amethyst, a gem of great hardness and brilliancy, of a violet color, and usually found in India. "In looking over these various classes, we find the first four to be of a green or bluish cast, the fifth and sixth, of a red or scarlet; the seventh, yellow; the eighth, ninth, and tenth, of different shades of the lighter green; the eleventh and twelfth of a scarlet or splendid red. There is classification therefore in this arrangement; a mixture not dissimilar to the arrangement in the rainbow, with the exception that it is more complex." Verse 21. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; and every several gate was one pearl; and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. Whether we understand that these gates were of solid pearl, or whether composed of pearls thickly set in a frame-work of some other precious material, does not materially affect the testimony. If it should be objected that it would be contrary to the nature of things to have a pearl large enough for a gate, we reply that God is able to produce it; the objection simply limits the power of God. But in either case the gates would outwardly have the appearance of pearl, and, in ordinary language, would be described as gates of pearl. In this verse, as also in verse 18, the city is spoken of as built of gold, pure, like unto clear glass, or, as it were, transparent glass. We do not conclude from this language, that the gold is of itself transparent. Take that, for instance, which composes the street. If it was really transparent, it would simply permit us to look through and behold whatever was beneath upon which the city rested; and it would not seem that this would have any specially pleasing effect. But let us suppose the golden pavement of the street so highly polished as to have perfect powers of reflection, like the truest mirror, and we can see at once that the effect would be grand and striking in the extreme. Think for a moment what the appearance of a street so paved would be. The gorgeous palaces on either side would be reflected beneath, and the boundless expanse of the heavens above, would also appear below; so that it would appear to the person walking those golden streets, that both himself and the city were suspended between the boundless expanse above, and the unfathomable depths below; while the mansions on either side of the street, having equal powers of reflection, would marvelously multiply both palaces and people, and conspire to render the whole scene, beyond conception novel, pleasing, beautiful, and grand. Verse 22. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. With the temple is connected the idea of sacrifices and a mediatorial work; but when the city is located upon the earth, there will be no such work to be performed. Sacrifices and offerings, and all mediatorial work based thereon, will be forever passed; hence there will be no need of the outward symbol of such work. But the temple in Old Jerusalem, besides being a place for sacrificial worship, was the beauty and glory of the place; and, as if to anticipate the question that might arise, as to what would constitute the ornament and glory of the new city, if there was to be no temple therein, the prophet answers, "The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." We understand that there is now a temple in the city. Chap. xvi, 17. What becomes of that temple when the city comes down, revelation does not inform us. Verse 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 honor into it. 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there. 26. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. It is in the city alone, probably, that there is no night. There will of course be days and nights in the new earth, but they will be days and nights of surpassing glory. The prophet, speaking of this time, says, "Moreover the light of the moon shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun sevenfold, as the light of seven days, in the day that the Lord bindeth up the breach of his people, and healeth the stroke of their wound." Isa. xxx, 26. But if the light of the moon in that state is as the light of the sun, how can there be said to be night there? Answer. The light of the sun shall be sevenfold; so that, although the night is as our day, the day will be sevenfold brighter, making a contrast between day and night there, equal to what there is at the present time. Verse 24 speaks of nations and kings. The nations are the nations of the saved; and we are all kings in a certain sense, in the new-earth state. We possess a "kingdom," and are to "reign" forever and ever. But it appears from some of our Saviour's parables, as in Matt. xxv, 21, 23, that some will occupy in a special sense the position of rulers, and may thus be spoken of as kings of the earth, in connection with the nations of the saved. These bring their glory and honor into the city, when, on the Sabbaths and new-moons, they there come up to worship. Isa. lxvi, 23. Reader, do you want a part in the unspeakable and eternal glories of this heavenly city? See to it, then, that your name is written in the Lamb's book of life; for only such can enter there.