Revelation 21:12, commentary and pictures

The verse pictures a real city with a great high wall holding twelve gates, with twelve angels at the gates and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel written on them. Three gates stand on each side, and the city rests on twelve foundations of precious stone like those on the high priest's breastplate, shining with clear precious light and streets of transparent gold. After Christ's second coming and the close of the thousand years with the judgment of the wicked, the city comes down from God out of heaven and settles on the earth on the plain He has prepared, where Jesus and the saints stand. It is prepared as a bride for her husband as the eternal home of the royal family, with a place provided for every soul and every believing child. No sinner will enter there, for all who go in are changed and sanctified in character in this life by obedience to all the commandments, and mercy opens the gates while justice at the entrance requires holiness and purity after Christ's image.

Wall, Gates, and Names

The New Jerusalem is a city with a great and high wall and twelve gates, with twelve angels at the gates and the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel written upon the gates, each gate bearing the name of one tribe and attended by its angel. Three of the gates stand on each side, and the city has twelve foundations. With Jesus at their head the saints descend to the earth upon a great mountain that becomes a vast plain, look up to see the city coming down and settling where they stand, and enter when He calls them to the marriage supper where He will serve them.

The city descends from God out of heaven prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and its light is clear and precious like jasper. Its streets are transparent gold clear as crystal, and its gates are golden. The names of the twelve tribes are written upon the city as they were upon the high priest's breastplate, graven on precious stones set in gold within its border and worn covering the breast. The different precious stones bordering the breastplate are the same materials that compose the twelve foundations of the city of God.

The description presents a real city and the eternal blessings provided for every soul. It is the home of the royal family where those who meet will know no more partings, and every child and every believer can have a place there worth striving for. The giving of Jesus proves that God wants each one to be there. Its gates and glory can even now be glimpsed by faith, as when the radiance of sunset suggests a brief view of that inner heavenly glory and encourages looking beyond earthly life toward the heavenly home and the rest awaiting the faithful.

City Descending to Earth

The city comes down from God out of heaven and settles upon the earth where Jesus and the saints and the redeemed stand, upon the plain He has prepared for it. It descends in splendor as a city prepared like a bride for her husband, with a clear and precious light like jasper, and it has a great and high wall with twelve gates, three on each side, with an angel at each gate and the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel upon each gate. The holy city with its twelve gates and its twelve foundations is the Great City seen coming down from God out of heaven to settle on the earth.

This settling takes place after Christ's second coming and the close of the thousand years. It follows the judgment of the wicked dead at the end of the thousand years, when Jesus descends with the saints and angels.

At that time Jesus descends with the saints and angels to a great mountain, and the mountain becomes a plain, a vast plain formed by its parting asunder. With Jesus at their head the saints descend from the city to the earth upon that mountain, look up and see the city coming down from God out of heaven and settling on the very place where they stand. Then they enter it when Jesus calls them to the marriage supper, where He Himself will serve them.

The verse belongs to the account of things to come made known by Christ to John on Patmos, given by God as a solemn warning calling for attention in the last days. It comes after the last-day calamities pictured in chapter 18 and the soon fulfillment of chapter 19, with special heed to be given to 21:1-4 and 5-7. The chapter was shown as a living reality.

The last four chapters must be read carefully and understood and proclaimed with great power, for the Word of God believed and practiced therein is the only hope of the world, to be believed instead of sophistry, pressing where we stand in this earth's history. They require a work that should have been done long ago to be done now. That work is deep and thorough individual cleansing and refining and transformation of heart, thorough humbling of the soul before God on the part of those in positions of responsibility, and earnest seeking of the Lord with heart and mind and soul that will entirely change the present condition and bring forth fruit in the life in proportion to the light given.

Fitting for Entrance

Revelation 21 belongs to the presentation of the eternal destiny of the righteous, and it is to be used to examine whether a person is prepared to enter heaven, whose purity and glory the selfish and disobedient could not endure. Everyone who goes into that city is changed and sanctified in character here in this life. Entering requires a life that measures with the life of Christ, no sinner will enter, every life must be sanctified, and the redeemed will praise God.

A place there is fitted for by obedience to all the commandments of God. The nations that have kept the truth enter into the city of God, and those who do His commandments have right to the tree of life and enter in through the gates into the city. The gates are the destination of those who travel the narrow path and follow Christ. The precepts of God's law shine as a light on the pathway leading to those gates.

Mercy opens the gates into the city of God, but justice stands at the entrance and requires holiness and purity. Only the obedient, whose characters have been formed after the image of Christ on earth, can enter, for changing from earth to heaven does not change a person's character. Reaching the gates means entering a life of spiritual worship and service. It opens to scenes of devotion and meditation upon God and heaven, to spiritual exercises and to pure, holy, spiritual service in an atmosphere of purity itself. Entrance there requires a mind trained on earth to delight in devotion, to love spiritual things, to know the language of heaven and to sing the songs of heaven. Those who have not so trained themselves will not be prepared to enjoy the spiritual exercises of heaven, and professed worldly Christians who cultivated worldly propensities and never delighted in these things are unacquainted with heavenly things and will never be brought to the gates, because they could not engage in and enjoy the services of heaven, and spiritual things are not discerned through world-loving eyes which eclipse the value and glory of the divine.

Jesus opens the pearly gate and welcomes those who have washed their robes in His blood and stood for His truth. Entering through the gates into the heavenly home is the promised reward for those who conform their lives to Christ. That entry is connected with receiving a crown and singing in triumph when life's battles are over. The prospect of the home of the royal family where those who meet will know no more partings should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to purify himself even as Christ is pure, and to be found among God's commandment-keeping people numbered with the redeemed. It calls for deep and thorough individual work of cleansing, refining, and transformation of heart, thorough humbling of the soul before God on the part of those in positions of responsibility, and earnest seeking of the Lord with heart and mind and soul that will entirely change the present condition and bring forth fruit in the life in proportion to the light given. It calls also for working for one another and working determinedly to bring up youth in a right manner so they have the crown of life and are overcomers, with angels of God assisting in schools in educating boys and girls and the Holy Spirit working with all human effort to save souls.