Revelation 21:10, commentary and pictures

In the Spirit John is carried to a great and high mountain to be shown the holy Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. The bride, the Lamb's wife, shown to him is that great city itself, not the church, while the church are the guests invited to the marriage supper. Its coming down takes place after Christ's second advent, at the close of the thousand years, when it settles in splendor upon the plain prepared for it where Jesus and the saints stand. The city is the capital and representative of the kingdom Christ receives in heaven before He returns in glory to redeem His people. It is the eternal home God is preparing for His people, where a place is worth striving for and is secured by obedience to all His commandments.

Vision Setting and Descent

In the Spirit John is carried away to a great and high mountain to be shown the holy Jerusalem, the holy city, descending out of heaven from God. The vision was made known by Christ Himself to John on the Isle of Patmos. After John was falsely accused and banished to a lonely island, the Lord sent His angel in majesty, with countenance beaming with heavenly glory, to reveal things to take place on earth and the state of the church down to the end, including her backslidings and the position she must occupy to please God and overcome.

The showing of the heavenly city in all its splendor and dazzling glory is the revelation of the final triumph and deliverance of the church. Its members pass through fiery trials and are made white and tried and become victorious overcomers gloriously saved in the kingdom. At this sight the angel's countenance grows radiant with joy and exceeding glory. Overwhelmed and enraptured by the glory, John forgets the angel's former reproof to worship God alone because he is a fellow-servant with those having the testimony of Jesus and because the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. He falls again before the angel's feet to worship, and is again gently reproved as the angel declares himself a fellow-servant with the prophets and with those keeping the sayings of the book and commands worship of God alone.

The descent takes place after Christ's second advent, at the close and end of the thousand years. Jesus descends with the holy angels and all the saints, at their head, from the city to earth to a great and mighty mountain, identified as the Mount of Olives. The mountain cannot bear Jesus up and parts asunder and becomes a vast and mighty plain. From that plain they look up and see the great city coming down from God out of heaven in splendor and glory until it settles on the plain Jesus has prepared, on the place where Jesus and the saints stand.

The city is great, with twelve foundations and twelve gates, three gates on each side, with an angel at each gate, and there are glorious houses for the saints outside it. At its descent the wicked dead are raised, so the saints inside the city come face to face with the raised wicked outside, whom Satan then stirs to try to overcome its small army and take the city.

City Identity and Glory

The bride, the Lamb's wife, is the great city, the holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God, not the church, for when the angel offered to show the bride he showed John the city, which proves its identity. The virgins who meet the bridegroom represent the church, and God's people are guests at the marriage supper, not the bride. The city is the capital and representative of Christ's kingdom, which He receives in heaven before returning in glory to redeem His people, receiving the throne of David which is in the New Jerusalem, to whom He is joined while He ministers in the most holy place. The marriage of the Lamb is one event at one point of time just prior to the resurrection of the just, taking place in heaven before Christ returns in kingly power to take to Himself those who have patiently awaited His return, and it is the same event as His coming as high priest to cleanse the sanctuary, His coming to the Ancient of days, and the Lord's coming to His temple. The union of believers with their Lord from Adam onward is a different thing illustrated by marriage, not the marriage itself, and the New Jerusalem is also the mother of the children of promise, with Christ as everlasting Father and the subjects of the first resurrection brought forth as children, so the marriage precedes the birth represented by the resurrection of the just.

The vision introduces the city's glory, light, walls, gates, and foundations in beautiful detail. It presents the promised bright and holy land where the redeemed will dwell, no longer homeless or weary. The city is worth striving for, and every person including every child can have a place there, for God wants each one to be there and His giving of Jesus proves it, knowing Jesus would not be borne on earth by the very ones who were cast out of heaven because they would not accept Jesus as their Head and God as their Father. The city and the blessings described with it reveal the eternal provision God has made for every soul.

The city has a temple in heaven before its descent, but when John sees it later he sees no temple therein, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. It is called God's tabernacle only after it is situated on the new earth, and its descent is at the close of the thousand years. The glory of God's city is the source of a heavenly light that earthly beauty can only faintly reflect.

Promise and Call to Readiness

The city and the blessings described with it reveal the eternal provision made for every soul, the glorious home being prepared for His people and the center of the glories that await the saved, where members of the royal family will meet and know no more partings. Having a place in that city where God's people will live is worth striving for, and every person, including every child and every brother and sister, can have a place there. God wants each one to be there, and His giving of Jesus proves it.

Fitness for a place there comes by obedience to all the commandments of God. Those who accept the cross and the Sabbath can behold its glories as if standing at its open portals, a sight of eternal realities that links them with God and shows the inferiority of worldly pursuits. That hope of life in the restored kingdom on the beautiful new earth is to be held out to the young as they are taught to become overcomers and receive the crown of life.

The contrast at the city shows the redeemed with Jesus standing in glory inside receiving glory and eternal life, while the wicked army remains outside its gates facing death as the consequence of sin. The chapter presents the final heavenly hope of surpassing glory and stupendous importance, whose purity and glory the unrepentant could not endure. Its prophetic scenes helped point to Christ's soon coming.

The passage is a living reality that will surely come and must be proclaimed with great power. The last four chapters of Revelation must be read carefully, especially verses 1-4 and verses 5-7, and be understood, believed and practiced as the only hope of the world. Every soul is thereby called to decide between the Word of God and Satan's sophistry and to consider where we are in earth's history. It is given from God in solemn warning about the last events of this earth's history to call minds in these last days and remind of the things which will be.

It presses a work long neglected that must now be done. Those in positions of responsibility must humble themselves thoroughly before God and seek the Lord with heart and mind and soul so that the present condition will be entirely changed. Satan seeks to keep minds confused about it to gain a great victory. The sunset's brilliance is a reminder to look by faith toward the heavenly home and its promised rest, giving assurance of God's care and encouragement to faithful workers. That vision should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life so as to be found among God's commandment-keeping people and numbered with the redeemed.