Bible Commentaries

Revelation 21:17. Her wall.—“The height of the City is not the height of the wall, as Bengel also assumes, and therefore maintains that the 144 cubits are equivalent to the12,000 stadia.” Duesterd.—The measure of a man.—The additional clause: which is that of an angel, occasions difficulty. De Wette: The Angel has made use of human measure. Ebrard: The measure of glorified men is like the measure of the Angel. Hengstenberg (and Düsterdieck): The measure of the Angel, who makes his measurement for men, is like the measure of men. A reminder of the symbolic import of the act of measuring is probably contained in our passage;—the human measure with which the Sanctuary was measured, is here an angelic measure, i. e., it has a symbolic, higher import. The Seer frequently inserts similar reminders of the symbolic nature of his forms of speech; see especially chs. Revelation 1:20; Revelation 13:18; Revelation 16:14; Revelation 17:9. Now if the wall denotes the security of the City of God, and the cubit the measure of the Sanctuary, the height of 144 cubits is expressive of the perfect measure of heavenly confirmation or verification: the theocratic twelve of the plan of the Kingdom multiplied by the apostolic twelve of the consummation of the Kingdom in the fullness of the Spirit of Christ. This symbolical nature of the cubit-measure is expressed in the prophecy of Ezekiel by the fact that every cubit there spoken of is a hand-breadth longer than a common cubit. The figure of the wall approaches the idea of Zechariah ( Revelation 1:5): “For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her;” [Lange (not, G. V.): “and will manifest my glory in her”]. The prodigious extent of the City is also expressive of an idea—or, rather, of the ideal fact that it extends, with unseen limits, through the universe, and towers up into the height of eternity; that it belongs to Heaven, whence it has descended to earth. A discussion of the relative lowness of the wall in proportion to the height of the City, see in Düsterdieck, p568.

Revelation 21:18. And the structure of her wall.—The materials. On the rare word ἐνδόμησις, comp. the Lexicons. Jasper.—See above, p20. The material of the wall is thus of like import with its height,—infinite value in infinite duration, qualities which both appertain to the most precious of precious stones. The city was pure gold.—The material of the houses is absolutely pure gold, similar, in consequence of this purity, to pure crystal or glass.

This may be understood as referring either to the transparency of glass, or to the mirror-like brightness of crystal. We adopt the latter signification, retaining it also when διαυγής is predicated of the golden street-pavement [πλατεῖα] ( Revelation 21:21). According to Ebrard, there is a prospect that, gold itself will really be translucent in the world to come. The genuine heavenly purity and faithfulness of the inhabitants of the City shall, therefore, be reflected in the golden brilliance of their dwellings.

Revelation 21:19. The foundations of the wall etc.—The meaning is, that the foundations or foundation-stones of the City consist of precious stones, as is clearly evident from the following verse (comp. Isaiah 54:11). “As the twelve θεμέλιοι have nothing to do with the number of the Israelitish Tribes (comp. Revelation 21:14), that artificial mode of interpretation by which the stones ( Revelation 21:19 sq.) are brought into an assumed relation to those worn by the High-priest in his breast-plate (comp. especially Züllig Excursus II, pp456 sqq.; also Ewald II, Luthardt, Volkmar), is to be discarded as decidedly as the vain attempt to assign individual jewels to individual Apostles (Andr, Bengel, et al.).” Duesterd. If it be proved that a relation exists between the Twelve Tribes of Israel, whose names the High-priest wore in his breast-plate, and the Twelve Apostles,—a relation as between the theocratic plan and the apostolic development,—a general relation will also be assumable between the jewels in the breast-plate and the jewels which constitute the foundations of the Holy City. But if an individual combination of the Twelve Tribes and the Twelve Apostles is impracticable, it will be still less possible to make out a concordance of the stones in the high-priestly breast plate and the foundation-stones of the New Jerusalem. The general symbolic significance lies in the nature of the precious stones, and also, particularly, in their colors, in the grouping of which they appear as a symbolism of eternal individualities, all, in equal purity, brilliant with the same light, which they refract in the most diverse rays (see Introduction, pp20 sq.; Lange’s Miscellaneous Writings, vol1. p15). The first …. jasper.—Comp. pp20 sq. and151, and Revelation 21:11. Sapphire.— Exodus 24:10; Exodus 28:18; Ezekiel 28:13; see Winer, Title, Precious Stones; [also Kitto’s Cyclopædia and Smith’s Dictionary of the Bible]. “Our sapphire is sky-blue (comp. Ezekiel 1:26), translucent, and harder than the ruby. That which the ancients so denominated, must, according to Pliny (37, 39) and Theophr. (ch. vi23, 37), have been the lapis lazuli,” etc. Winer remarks, in conclusion, however, that we must suppose the Hebrew word to denote the true sapphire, as is clearly evident from the passages cited from Exodus and Ezekiel. The opinion of Düsterdieck, therefore, who assumes the lapis lazuli to be intended, is incorrect. Chalcedony.—Not the agate, precisely. Winer: A chalcedony-agate. Emerald.—Grass-green, not very hard, translucent, with double refraction (see Winer, Precious Stones, No3).

Revelation 21:20. Sardonyx.—See Winer, No16; comp. No. Revelation 1 : “Consisting of a combination of onyx and carnelian.” Sardius.—Or carnelian: it is striped with brown and is not very sharply distinguished from the preceding stone. Chrysolite.—See Winer, No. Revelation 10 : “Pale-green, perfectly translucent, with double refraction. According to Pliny, it is of the color of gold, and hence the topaz has been understood by it.” Beryl.—Winer, No11. Topaz.—Winer, No2. This seems to have been frequently confounded with the chrysolite. Chrysoprasus.—Winer, No. Revelation 15 : “Pale green, shading into yellowish and brown—translucent.” Jacinth [Hyacinth].—Winer, No7. Amethyst.—Winer, No9.

In respect of color, we distinguish blue stones: Sapphire, chalcedony, amethyst (violet-blue); Green: Emerald, beryl, and, more or less, chrysoprasus; Golden or yellow: Chrysoprasus (see above), chrysolite, topaz; Red: Hyacinth [jacinth], sardonyx, sardius (carnelian). The jasper is, most probably, as a diamond, of the pure hue of light; as an ordinary jasper, it would be non-translucent and of various colors. It is evident from chs. Revelation 4:3, Revelation 21:12, as well as from the fact that in accordance with New Testament order it stands at the beginning, and in accordance with Old Testament order at the close, that it is to be regarded as the chief or most precious stone. Of the jewels in the breast-plate two names are absent from our catalogue, viz., the ruby and the agate, whilst, on the other hand, the names chalcedony and chrysoprasus are wanting in the breast-plate (comp. Introduction, p20). For a comparison of the lists, see Ebrard, pp 533 sqq.; Hengstenberg, vol. ii, pp417 sq. [Eng. Trans.]; De Wette, p200.

Revelation 21:21. Of one pearl.—Düsterdieck quotes the Jewish tradition from Bava Bathra: “Deus adducet gemmas et margaritas, triginta cubitos longas, totidemque latas.” There is, however, a heaven-wide distinction between a great pearl as modified by Christian symbolism, and a great pearl as modified by Jewish Chiliasm. The broad-way of the city.—Πλατεῖα [i. e., the flat, as opposed to the elevated, the buildings]. Doubtless significant of the pavement or ground of all the streets and alleys; not merely the market-place (Bengel) or principal street (Züllig). [See foot-note† Revelation 11:8, p231.—E. R. C.]. As it were translucent glass.—We apprehend this not literally, but poetically, of the mirror-like brightness.

Revelation 21:22. “The peculiar glory of the City is further described.” Duesterdieck. That is, the pause is unobserved by him.

[In the old Jerusalem the Temple was at once the dwelling-place and the concealer of Jehovah. Though present, He was not visibly present—in a sense He was sheltered by the Temple. The new Jerusalem shall have no place for the shelter of the Lord, for she shall be sheltered by Him. He shall tabernacle over her, Revelation 7:15. Her inhabitants shall dwell under His manifest and sheltering light. He shall be her Temple.—E. R. C.]

Revelation 21:23. The glory of God lightened her.—See Isaiah 60:19. On the distinction between this passage and Revelation 21:11, see above.

Revelation 21:24. And the nations ( Isaiah 2:3; Isaiah 60:11; Psalm 72:11) shall walk by means of [Lange: through] her light.—Significant future. “This description, drawn from the declarations of the old Prophets, does not justify the idea of those expositors who conceive of the heathen [nations] and the kings as dwelling outside of the City (Ewald, De Wette, Block et al.), or who would even attempt to determine what moral condition the heathen [nations] now admitted into the new Jerusalem, occupied during their earthly life (Storr, etc.).” Duesterdieck. Their glory.—That is, that which the kings possessed of glory. The Apocalyptist knows no political partyism. He recognizes a glory of the kings and also a glory of the peoples ( Revelation 21:26).

[Alford: “If then the kings of the earth, and the nations bring their glory and their treasures into her, and if none shall ever enter into her that is not written in the book of life, it follows that these kings, and these nations, are written in the book of life. And so perhaps some light may be thrown on one of the darkest mysteries of redemption. There may be,—I say it with all diffidence,—those who have been saved by Christ without ever forming a part of His visible organized Church.”

The conclusion may be granted without recognizing the force of the argument. The distinguished commentator takes for granted that the kings and nations are those that lived before the Millennial period, or at least before the great consummation. Is it not rather probable that the great truth is adumbrated in this revelation (see also Revelation 20:2, last clause), that, even after the new creation, the human race is to be continued (ever propagating a holy seed, such as would have been begotten had Adam never sinned) under the government of the glorified Church?—E. R. C.].

Revelation 21:25. Her gates shall not be [Lange: do not be] shut.—They stand open uninterruptedly, for the bringing in of all the glory of the kings and the peoples ( Isaiah 60:11).

Revelation 21:26. And they shall bring.—“An impersonal subject should be supplied to οἴσουσι (comp. Revelation 12:6; Revelation 10:11 [the reading λέγουσιν]; Luther, Bengel, De Wette, Hengstenb, Ew. II, et al.), not οἱ βασιλεῖς (Ew. I, Züll.).” Duesterd.

Revelation 21:27. Anything common.—See Revelation 21:8; Revelation 22:15; Acts 10:14. The elevation of the Apocalypse above Judaistic views is sufficiently evident from this passage alone, which, in connection with the preceding context, thoroughly distinguishes between believing ethnics and the essence of ethnicism, determining the πᾶν κοινόν purely in accordance with moral characteristics.

Revelation 22:1. A river.—The water of life is not to be taken here in a purely spiritual sense, at least not, primarily, as in John 4:14; John 7:38. It denotes the stream of spirituo-corporeal life-power which, as an eternal renewing power, ensures the imperishability and vital freshness of the new world (see Ezekiel 47:1; Zechariah 14:8; comp. 1 Peter 1:4). The unitous spirituo-corporeal operation is especially expressed in the fact that the river proceeds from the throne of God and of the Lamb—from the living God, through the glorified Christ, in accordance with the heavenly species of His resurrection-life. The properties of the river of Paradise, which operated as a purely natural blessing ( Genesis 2), and those of the spiritual fountain of healing, first promised by the Prophets and subsequently opened in Christ, are united in this river. As a river, it is cosmically permanent, and as a river that proceeds from the throne of God, it is absolutely permanent. Its source is not situate under the Temple-mount or under the Temple itself, but in the depths of the Divine revelation of love and life, in the profundities of the Divine government consonant with that revelation. As the trees of life are ensured by this eternally clear river, so the river is ensured by the Divine throne itself.

Revelation 22:2. In the midst of her broad-way.—Düsterdieck, with Ewald, refers ἑν μέσῳ to καὶ τοῦ ποταμοῦ also; but how this view can be accompanied by the conception “that the trees stand on both sides of the river,” is not clear (see Ezekiel 47:7; Ezekiel 47:12).

A tree [Lange: Gehölz=wood] of life.—Ξύλον=a wood, a collection of trees, having the common character of trees of life (see Revelation 2:7), “generically denotes the entire mass of trees (Bengel, De Wette, Ewald, et al.).” Duest. De Wette gives: the tree [Baum] of life, and adds: “Which produces twelve fruits, bringing forth its fruit every month ( Ezekiel 47:12);” this, however, can only mean twelve fruit-harvests or fruit twelve times. “Twelve kinds of fruits” (Lutheran Version; [“twelve manner of fruits,” E. V.]) are, at all events, not intended. All the fruits are fruits of life.

And the leaves, etc.—These words contain, first, an expression of the highest vital efficacy. Even all the leaves of all these trees possess a vital energy which can be conducive, as a healing power, to the health of even the heathen or nations. As extreme views, are opposed the interpretation of Bengel, who holds that reference is had to the conversion of the heathen to whom in this life the Gospel has not been preached; and the interpretation of Hengstenberg, who thinks that the vital forces of the heavenly Jerusalem are intended, as serving in the present age (!) for the conversion of the heathen (Hengst, vol. II, p433 [Eng. Trans.). It is not necessary through fear of an apocatastasis, either to do violence to the text, or to place the hope of an infinite healing operation in the leaves of the tree of life—an operation which is expressed by the river, but does not coincide exactly with the restoration-theory. Another contrast is presented in the inclination of Bleek and De Wette, with Ewald and Züllig(also Ebrard), to find a reference to heathen [nations] dwelling outside of the City, and the view of Düsterdieck, who holds that simply the eternal refreshment and beatification of believing heathen [nations] is made prominent. According to Ebrard, the fruits manifestly serve as food for the inhabitants of the City, and the leaves for the healing of the ἔθνη without the City; the latter, he continues, do not need such a θεραπεία as to be healed of godlessness and converted therefrom, “but they must be brought from the condition of undeveloped and weak faith and dawning knowledge, to the ripeness of the full stature of men in Christ.” It might be queried how does this interpretation correspond with the distinction of milk and strong meat [food]? Taken literally, the leaves might be reckoned as strong meat. But let us recollect that we are at present in the third sphere of our description, in which the transfiguration or heavenly glorification of nature is spoken of. Here the expression denotes the highest sanative operation of nature—even the leaves of the trees whose fruits are the vital nourishment of God’s people, serve for the healing [Therapie] of the heathen [nations]. We apprehend the word [healing] in the wider sense, and observe, with Düsterdieck, that these heathen [nations] have been mentioned before in Revelation 21:24. The remark of Düsterdieck, that the heavenly enjoyment of life is contrasted with the lack of vital power under which those referred to labored in this present life, is not in itself incorrect, but it gives rise to the question: wherefore are the leaves mentioned? As the river of life cannot be restricted to the City, Song of Solomon, also, the trees of life, with their fruits and leaves, can be regarded only as a health-giving blessing, stretching out into infinitude; and thus the passage coincides in general with analogous utterances of Paul ( 1 Corinthians 15:26-28). [See additional comment on Revelation 21:24, p388.—E. R. C.]

Revelation 22:3. And nothing cursed shall be any more.—See Syn. View; comp. Zechariah 14:11.

³¹ Ebrard traces the κατάθεμα directly back to the cherem, distinguishing, however, as cherem, persons and things (in accordance with Leviticus 27:28 and other passages). There is yet another distinction to be made, however, between the cherem and the κοινόν.

And His servants shall serve Him.—The idea of religious service presented by λατρεύειν does not preclude the idea of a service rendered in the heavenly culture of the new Paradise, because, in the glorified world, cultus and culture shall have become one.

[There seems to be a great and blessed truth conveyed by the conjunction of δοῦλοι and λατρεύσουσιν. His slaves (δοῦλοι) shall be elevated to the dignity of temple-servitors. The idea is akin to that presented by our Lord, John 15:15 : “Henceforth I call you not servants (δοῦλοι=slaves), but I have called you friends.”—E. R. C.]

Revelation 22:4. His face.— Matthew 5:8; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 John 3:2.—His name.—See chs. Revelation 3:12; Revelation 14:1.

Revelation 22:5. And night shall not be any more.—This is simply a repetition, according to De Wette, Ebr, Düsterd (see Syn. View). Hengstenb. discovers here an antithesis harmonizing with the Gospel of John, to wit, the antithesis of day as the time of safety and good, and night as the time of peril and evil (?); he remarks, by way of illustration: “Any one who has lived with a wakeful eye through the year ’48 is acquainted with this distinction of day and night.” It might be replied: Any one who has become acquainted with it only under such a date, knows it but very imperfectly, to say the least.

And they shall reign.—“In a still higher sense than in Revelation 20:4; Revelation 20:6, says De Wette.” To which we query: in what respect? We would remind our readers that reference is here had to the relation of the blessed to the celestial spheres of nature; this fact endows the expression with the import that all dependence upon the power of nature shall be done away with.

Into the ages of the ages.—The antithesis see in Revelation 20:10.—In the region of the damned there continues, according to the same passage, the antithesis of day and night. The æons of the blessed are raised above the vicissitudes of temporality, because in God is eternity, the inexhaustible fountain of holy, festal seasons; and Christ has, in reality, freed even time from the curse of temporality, and made it the rhythmic succession of the fullness of eternity, the development-form of eternal life.

[NOTE ON THE NEW JERUSALEM.]

By the American Editor

It was the design of the American Editor to prepare an extended Excursus on this subject. Circumstances, however, over which he has no control, prevent his doing more than present a brief sketch of the views of representative commentators, afterwards indicating those points of his own hypothesis that he did intend thoroughly to discuss.

a. Sketch of Views

So many and variant have been the opinions on this subject that it seems impossible to classify them. The following extract from Elliott will be regarded as a fair exposition of the views of those mentioned by him.

“It has long been a disputed question amongst prophetic expositors, where precisely the New Jerusalem of the21,22chapters of the Apocalypse is to have position; whether during or only after the Millennium; and if synchronous with it, whether as identical or not with the glorified Jerusalem prophesied in the Old Testament. Of the older Fathers alike the pre-millenarian Tertullian, and the anti-pre-millenarian Augustine, explained the glorified Jerusalem of O. T. prophecy as identical with that of the Apocalypse; the one (Tertullian) however, as symbolic of the risen saints’ millennial glory, the other (Augustine) of their heavenly and everlasting blessedness. Again, of the moderns Whitby and Vitringa, whilst also identifying the two figurations, did yet explain them to signify the millennial earthly blessedness of the still living Christian Church. Faber would separate the two, and make Isaiah’s Jerusalem of the latter day, with its new heaven and earth, alone millennial, that of the Apocalypse post-millennial; to which I may add that some expositors, while explaining one or both to prefigure earthly glories destined for God’s people, make the restored and concerted Jews nationally, not the Church Catholic generally, the grand object and chief intended recipients of the coming glory.”

Elliott himself (5th edition) “supposes the New Jerusalem to have existence from the commencement, and throughout the progress, of the millennial period.” With this opinion the majority of pre-millenarians probably agree, though with vast differences as to particulars. Elliott argues his position from—(1) a comparison of Revelation 19:7-8, with Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:9; (2) a comparison of Revelation 19:10, with Revelation 22:8-9, inferring from the coincidence that the same event must have been referred to; (3) what is said concerning the nations, chs. Revelation 21:24; Revelation 22:2, manifesting that there will be men in the flesh during the New Jerusalem, which, he assumes, could not be, after the General Resurrection; (4) a comparison of Daniel 7:18 (where the saints’ everlasting reign dates from the fall of Antichrist) with Revelation 22:5. He supposes (after Mede and several of the Ancient Fathers) that the entire millennial period constitutes the day (period) of Judgment; that at the beginning of this day, the great White Throne is set up, at which time occurs a partial conflagration; that at the close shall be the casting of death and Hades into the lake of fire, the great conflagration, the new heaven and earth, and the more complete and perfect establishment of the Kingdom.

Alford writes: “The whole of the things described in the remaining portion of the Book are subsequent to the General Judgment, and descriptive of the consummation of the triumph and bliss of Christ’s people with Him in the eternal kingdom of God. This eternal kingdom is situated on the purified and renewed earth—become the blessed habitation of God with His glorified people.”

Barnes (and with him probably the majority of post-millenarians) looks upon chaps. Revelation 21:1 to Revelation 22:5, as descriptive of the heavenly state of the entire body of the redeemed. He writes: “The whole of Revelation 21, and the first five verses of Revelation 22, relate to scenes beyond the judgment, and are descriptive of the happy and triumphant state of the redeemed Church, when all its conflicts shall have ceased, and all its enemies shall have been destroyed. That happy state is depicted under the image of a beautiful city, of which Jerusalem was the emblem, and it was disclosed to John by a vision of that city—the New Jerusalem—descending from heaven. Jerusalem was regarded as the peculiar dwelling-place of God, and to the Hebrews it became thus the natural emblem or symbol of the heavenly world. The conception having occurred of describing the future condition of the righteous under the image of a beautiful city, all that follows is in keeping with that, and is merely a carrying out of the image. It is a city with beautiful walls and gates; a city that has no temple—for it is all a temple; a city that needs no light—for God is its light; a city into which nothing impure ever enters; a city filled with trees, and streams, and fountains, and fruits—the Paradise Regained.”

b. Hypothesis of the American Editor

I. The period of the New Jerusalem will be subsequent to the General Resurrection and Judgment of Revelation 20:11-15, and the new Creation of Revelation 21:1. This is, manifestly, the normal sense of the connection between Revelation 22:1-2 of Revelation 21, and is not to be set aside but for most cogent reasons. This view involves no real difficulties; and, still further, the entire description forbids the thought that the even partial sinfulness that will exist in the subjects of the Millennial Kingdom should have existence under the light of the New Jerusalem, or that its glories should be dimmed by the assaults of Satan and the rebellion of Gog and Magog.

II. Its seat will be the New Earth (comp. Revelation 21:1-2; Revelation 21:24). It is vain for us to speculate as to whether that New Earth will be identical as to substance with the present, or whether it will be different. It is impossible for us to determine whether the present abode of the human race will be simply regenerated by fire, or whether from the universal chaos into which all things may be reduced ( 2 Peter 3:10; Revelation 20:11) some entirely new Earth, or dwelling-place for man, may not be brought forth.

III. It will exist—1. As a real City—the glorious home and capital of a glorified Community (the Bride). 2. As a Material Symbol of that Community, its order and glory.

³²

From the admitted fact that what the Apostle saw was a Symbol, many leap to the conclusion that a real city, or place of abode, could not have been symbolized. It is admitted by all that that which John beheld was a simulacrum. He did not directly look upon that which was not to exist for at least three thousand years—he beheld, merely, a Visional Symbol. But what was the nature of that Symbol? Was it immediate? i.e., did it symbolize a City that is yet to come into existence—or was it mediate? i. e., did it symbolize something else than a City, namely (in this instance), a glorified community? In the judgment of the writer it performed the double office set forth in the last paragraph on p146. Primarily it was an Immediate Symbol symbolizing a material City; but, secondarily, as the City was itself to be a Material Symbol, of the inhabiting Community, it was a Mediate (Aberrant) Symbol of that Community.

This double use of the Symbol should occasion no surprise. For, in the first place, it is most common in all languages to denote by the same term, as London, sometimes the City, sometimes the mass of its inhabitants, and sometimes the complex of the two. This was common amongst the writers of the Scriptures—.he Scriptural uses of Zion, Babylon, Tyre, will present themselves as illustrations to the minds of all. And, secondly, a material City is frequently a type of its inhabitants, or of the State of which it is the Capital. No one can visit Rome without being impressed with the fact that, in its combined ruin and grandeur, its death and life, the existing City is itself the type of the existing Roman Church. This in old times was true of Babylon, of Athens, of Tyre, of Rome, and especially of Jerusalem. And, doubtless, it is in great measure owing to this fact that a City and its inhabitants are so generally designated by one and the same name. In the judgment of the writer, as the old Jerusalem symbolized the Israel of which it was the Capital, so the New Jerusalem will symbolize the glorified Community

³³ of whom it will be the abode and Capital.

Concerning the hypothesis that the New Jerusalem will exist as a great City, it may be said: 1. There are many things in the description that have their most natural (their normal) application to such an abode, as is evident upon the bare perusal2. This application is supported by the following considerations: (1) A material dwelling-place is as necessary for resurrected saints as was Eden for Adam, or Canaan for Israel. (2) It should occasion no surprise if the same loving care that will raise and glorify the body should prepare a fitting and glorious abode for it. (3) It should be regarded as no strange thing if He who prepares for the body should grant us an inspiring, though general, description of its future abode. (4) On the contrary, the giving of such a description would be but in accordance with Jehovah’s dealing with Israel before leading them into Canaan, and in continuance of the information given us by the Prophets concerning the Palingenesia, and especially by the Apostle Paul, Romans 8:20-21.

As to the hypothesis that a glorified Community was in some sense symbolized, it may also be said that while there are many things in the description that find their most natural objective in a material City, there are others that cannot be so regarded; as, for instance, that the New Jerusalem is the Bride of the Lamb. We are shut up to the conclusion that a glorified people were contemplated in the exhibition of the Symbol.

In conclusion of this whole matter it may be remarked that the double hypothesis announced by the writer best satisfies the conditions of the problem; is in accordance with the ordinary and Scriptural use of the names of Cities, especially of Capitals; and is precisely analogous to the Divine declarations concerning the old Jerusalem.

IV. We should distinguish between the Material City and the New Earth. The former has its situation in the latter, as London in England. We should also distinguish between the citizens of the City and the nations ( Revelation 21:24). The former are risen and glorified Saints, who constitute the Bride ( Revelation 21:9), the governors ( Revelation 22:5, last clause) of the New Creation (see below in V, VI.). The latter are (probably) men in the flesh, who walk in the light of the City, who bring their glory and honor into it, and who are healed (or kept in health) by the leaves of its tree of life (chs. Revelation 21:24-27; Revelation 22:2), i. e., who are under its instruction and government (see below in VII.).

V. The term The Bride probably identifies the citizens of the New Jerusalem with the subjects of the First Resurrection (see the Add. Note on the Marriage, pp336 sq.). This body, the Bride (identical probably with the144,000 of Revelation 14:1), will probably be completed at the time of the Marriage, Revelation 19:7-9. Into that glorious company it is probable that only those who have been partakers of Christ’s humiliation and suffering (either personally in company with Him, or throughout the present æon, the period of the humiliation of His body, the Church, Colossians 1:24) shall be received (comp. Luke 22:28-30; Philippians 3:10-11; 2 Thessalonians 1:5; 2 Timothy 2:12; Revelation 2:10; Revelation 2:26; Revelation 3:12; Revelation 3:21; Revelation 6:9-11; Revelation 19:4-6; see also the Add. Note on the Marriage, as above.

³⁴ These are they who sit on Christ’s Throne, who are united with Him in authority,—who, as related to Him constitute the Bride; as together with Him constitute the Kingdom, i. e., the governing power (see Excursus on the Basileia, II:1 (4), p99).

VI. Revelation 21:2; Revelation 21:9-10, does not refer to the Marriage—that took place at the beginning of the Millennial period (see Note on the Marriage, pp336 sq.), but to a new manifestation of the prophetical Bride, the Wife. Doubtless before, or at the very moment when, “the earth and the heaven fled away” ( Revelation 20:11), she was rapt away to the secret place of Jehovah. These verses describe her as descending from the bosom of her God, out of the New Heaven, clothed in new beauty, upon the New Creation, over which she is to dominate.

VII. The nations (see above in IV.) will consist (probably) of men in the flesh, freed from sin and the curse, begetting a holy seed, and dwelling in blessedness under the government of the New Jerusalem. They will be, not the offspring of the glorified Saints, who “neither marry nor are given in marriage” ( Matthew 22:30), but the descendants of those who live in the flesh during the period of the Millennial Kingdom. Brown triumphantly asks, “How the inhabitants of the heavens and earth that now are,’ are tided over this (the) all enveloping, all reducing deluge of fire, into the new heavens and the new earth’?” In answer it may be said, The same Almighty power that conveyed Noah and his family across the waters of the first deluge, can bear other families across the fiery floods of the second, to be the progenitors of the continued race. It may be retorted that there is no promise of such a miracle. That there is no expressed promise is admitted—but the Divine prediction of an event ever implies the promise of a sufficient cause.

VIII. Although the New Jerusalem state is not to be confounded with the Millennial Kingdom, nor to be regarded as a simple continuance thereof, it is to be looked upon as the antitype of that Kingdom. In a sense, it is that Kingdom raised to a higher plane—completely freed, in its territory and its subjects, from all remains of the curse. The Millennial Kingdom is the reign of the Saints over a race and earth freed indeed from the assaults of Satan, but still, in measure, in sin and under the curse; the New Jerusalem period is that of the reign of the Saints over a race and earth perfectly purified.

IX. The City itself, as it will have placed in it the Throne of God and the Lamb ( Revelation 22:3), will become the noblest of the many mansions of Heaven. Neither it, however, nor the New Earth on which it is situate, including it, will be the totality of Heaven. John saw the Bride descending out of Heaven ( Revelation 21:2). The New Earth will be one of the loyal provinces of Heaven, under the light of Heaven, governed by the citizens of Heaven; but it will be the abode of men in the flesh. May it not bear to Heaven a relation similar to that borne by Eden before the fall? Although in it there will be no death, possibly from it will be transported to other scenes its blessed inhabitants, when they have passed through their painless, ennobling pupilage. Possibly, its inhabitants may pass away to other mansions in the Father’s House, where dwell, it may be, the Angels who kept their first estate, and the glorified subjects of the Millennial Kingdom, and others glorified who did not attain to the first Resurrection.

X. The prophecies of the Restoration and the Palingenesia (like those of the Advent) have probably a double application. Initially and typically they may refer to the Millennial Kingdom, which is a type of the New Jerusalem. Ultimately and completely, they have respect to the latter, the Kingdom of the Perfect Restoration.

XI. In conclusion, the writer would remark that he feels most keenly that speculation on this subject is dangerous. Speculation, however, to some degree there must be, if there be study,—and study there must be, if we be obedient to the command implied in the benediction, “Blessed is he that readeth and they that hear the words of this prophecy” ( Revelation 1:3). It may also be remarked that those who hold the current opinion as to the New Jerusalem, speculate as really as does the writer. The study of the Divinely given Revelation has convinced him of certain facts concerning this great and glorious subject. These facts, together with certain probable implications, he has stated with trembling, and he trusts with becoming modesty. He now submits them to the considerate construction of his readers.—E. R. C.]

³⁵

A SONG MADE BY F. B. P.

To the tune of “Diana.”

Jerusalem! my happy home!

When shall I come to thee,

When shall my sorrows have an end,

Thy joys when shall I see?

O happy harbor of the saints,

O sweet and pleasant soil,

In thee no sorrow may be found,

No grief, no care, no toil.

In thee no sickness may be seen,

No hurt, no ache, no sore;

There is no death, no ugly deil,

There’s life for evermore.

No dampish mist is seen in thee,

No cold nor darksome night;

There every soul shines as the sun,

There God Himself gives light.

There lust and lucre cannot dwell,

There envy bears no sway,

There is no hunger, heat, nor cold,

But pleasure every way.

Jerusalem! Jerusalem!

God grant I once may see

Thy endless jovs, and of the same,

Partaker aye to be.

Thy walls are made of precious stones,

Thy bulwarks diamonds square,

Thy gates are of right orient pearl,

Exceeding rich and rare.

Thy turrets and thy pinnacles

With carbuncles do shine,

Thy very streets are paved with gold,

Surpassing clear and fine.

Thy houses are of ivory,

Thy windows crystal clear,

Thy tiles are made of beaten gold;

O God, that I were there!

Within thy gates no thing doth come

That is not passing clean,

No spider’s web, no dirt, no dust,

No filth may there be seen.

Ah, my sweet home, Jerusalem!

Would God I were in thee,

Would God my woes were at an end,

Thy joys that I might see.

Thy saints are crowned with glory great,

They see God face to face,

They triumph still, they still rejoice,

Most happy is their case.

We that are here in banishment

Continually do moan;

We sigh and sob, we weep and wail,

Perpetually we groan.

Our sweet is mixed with bitter gall,

Our pleasure is but pain,

Our joys scarce last the looking on,

Our sorrows still remain.

But there they live in such delight,

Such pleasure, and such play,

As that to them a thousand years,

Doth seem as yesterday.

Thy vineyards and thy orchards are

Most beautiful and fair,

Full furnished with trees and fruits,

Most wonderful and rare.

Thy gardens and thy gallant walks

Continually are green;

There grow such sweet and pleasant flowers

As nowhere else are seen.

There’s nectar and ambrosia made,

There’s musk and civet sweet,

There many a fair and dainty drug

Are trodden under feet.

There cinnamon, there sugar grows,

There nard and balm abound.

What tongue can tell or heart conceive

The joys that there are found!

Quite through the streets, with silver sound,

The flood of life doth flow,

Upon whose banks, on every side,

The wood of life doth grow.

There trees for evermore bear fruit,

And evermore do spring;

There evermore the angels sit,

And evermore do sing.

There David stands with harp in hand

As master of the choir;

Ten thousand times that man were blest

That might this music hear.

Our lady sings Magnificat,

With tune surpassing sweet,

And all the virgins bear their parts,

Sitting above her feet.

Te Deum doth Saint Ambrose sing,

Saint Austine doth the like;

Old Simeon and Zachary

Have not their song to seek.

There Magdalene hath left her moan,

And cheerfully doth sing,

With blessed saints whose harmony

In every street doth ring.

Jerusalem, my happy home!

Would God I were in thee,

Would God my woes were at an end,

Thy joys that I might see!—E. R. C.]

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Verses 6-21

SPECIAL DOCTRINO-ETHICAL AND HOMILETICAL NOTES (ADDENDUM)

Section Twenty-Second

The Epilogue. ( Revelation 22:6-21)

General.—The Johannean character of the Epilogue of the Revelation has already been dwelt upon. A depth of meaning and a festalness of mood, conjoined with a somewhat indefinite expression, or a mysterious form, are peculiar to this section as well as to the Epilogue of the Gospel; and the fundamental thought which animates them both is an earnest longing for the Coming of the Lord. In regard to the construction, comp. the Exeg. Notes.

Special.—The pureness of the Revelation ( Revelation 22:6) corroborated by its Author. By its intimate connection with the whole of Holy Writ. By its fulfillment hitherto.—( Revelation 22:7.) Behold, I come quickly. 1. How this saying is misunderstood when it is interpreted in the sense of a secular computation of time2. How, for the standpoint of religious sentiment and Christian expectations, it always retains its truth, and, 3. continually gains in weight.—Blessed is he that keepeth the words of the prophecy.

Revelation 22:8-9. What is the significance of the distinction between the Angel of Christ and Christ Himself (see Exeg. Notes)?—[ Revelation 22:10.] Seal not the words of the prophecy of this Book. Why not? The time is at hand.—Earnest and grand character of the course of the world to its end.—Seal not the Book; not even by false interpretations—especially, chiliastic darkenings and rationalistic volatilizings.—Seal not even the Apocalypse with hierarchic seals, much less then the whole of the Bible.

Revelation 22:11. Lofty import of these words: What thou doest (wilt do), do quickly! (See Exeg. Notes.)—Christ’s word concerning His Coming ( Revelation 22:12). He announces Himself as the righteous Recompenser.—His reward according to men’s works: 1. The reward not as the wages of hired service, but an honorarium of love; 2. Not for works of hired service, but for those of the service of love.—Christ as the Alpha and Omega. Some say: Omega, but not Alpha. Others: Alpha, but not Omega. Whoso, however, rightly says the one, says also the other.—Antithesis of blessedness and damnation ( Revelation 22:14-15).—Without—its import ( Revelation 22:15).—Who is without? Note the pure and purely moral character of these traits.—Christ’s testimony regarding His Coming: A testimony to the Church ( Revelation 22:16).—Christ in His human and Divine glory (I am the Root, etc.).—How His human and Divine glory guarantees His Coming.—[ Revelation 22:17.] The three-fold Come—of the Spirit, the Bride, the individual Christian.—He who would greet the Lord with a come! must first hearken to the Lord’s call: Come!—Our Welcome to the Advent of Christ must be based upon His Welcome to the reception of salvation.—The clear sound of the Gospel may still be heard at the very close of the Revelation. Here, also, the declaration is: Take freely.—[ Revelation 22:18.] The Apostle’s warning in regard to the Apocalypse: It is no subject for haughty-cavil, but an enigma for humble meditation.—The mysteries and enigmas of Scripture concluded with a final enigma.—Whoso occupies a wrong position in regard to the future, occupies also a wrong position in regard to the present and the past.—[ Revelation 22:20.] Briefest and most sublime dialogue between the Lord and His people1. He says: I come quickly 2. We say: Amen, yea, come, Lord Jesus.—Who can, with a good courage, say Amen to the announcement of His Coming?—The sum of all human longing, all Christian hope, all Divine promise, in the cry: Come, Lord Jesus!—The Apocalypse, a Book of faith; of love; of hope; of longing, of patience; of comfort; of investigation; of knowledge. Of sacred awe, of blessed vision.

Revelation 22:21. The benediction. Benedictions from the beginning to the end of the Scriptures: In respect (1) of their purport; (2) of their rich development; (3) of their conditionedness; (4) of their glorious operation.

Starke ( Revelation 22:10): No man should be prohibited from reading the Holy Scriptures.

Revelation 22:11. If the wicked wilfully refuse to follow, God at last suffers them to go their own way ( Proverbs 1:24 sqq.).

Rev 22:12. Comp. Isa 40:10.

Revelation 22:17. Because many souls should yet be drawn to Christ—among other things, by the testimonies of this Book concerning the glorious Coming of Christ—John adds these words: let him that heareth, say, Come.

Revelation 22:19. O awful punishment of those who falsify God’s word! There is nothing more precious [than the word of God]—hence it needs no addition of worldly eloquence, there is nothing more pure—hence we must take nothing from it.

Revelation 22:20. Let us say Amen and Yea to the promises of our Saviour, although as yet we see nothing (?) of their fulfillment.

Calwer Handbuch der Bibelerklärang. [ Revelation 22:10.] Although much in the Revelation was not intended to be understood until the times of fulfillment, yet this Book is not a shut (sealed) Book, but a Revelation [Offenbarung].

Lisko (Bibelwerk): [ Revelation 22:16.] He [Christ] is also the bright morning-star, Who caused the day, the whole period of Divine life in mankind, to arise, and issue forth from Himself, and Who now beams upon us from the other world (as the morning-star of the Day of Eternity).

Gerlach (Bibelwerk): Revelation 22:17. To inflame the longing of the faithful for the return of their Saviour, is one of the principal designs of this Book.

[From M. Henry: Revelation 22:20. Christ will come quickly; let this word be always sounding in our ear, and let us give all diligence, that we may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless.—Surely I come quickly.—Amen. Even Song of Solomon, come, Lord Jesus. What comes from heaven in a promise, should be sent back to heaven in a prayer.

Revelation 22:21. Nothing should be more desired by us than that the grace of Christ should be with us in this world, to prepare us for the glory of Christ in the other world.—From The Comprehensive Commentary: Revelation 22:16. The bright and morning star. Christ’s rising, in His incarnation, introduced the gospel-day; His rising in power introduceth the millennial day; His rising in the saving influences of His Spirit introduceth the spiritual day of grace and comfort; and His appearance to judge the world will introduce the eternal day of light, purity and joy. (Brown.)—“The Spirit,” by the sacred Word, and by His convictions and influence in the sinner’s conscience, says “Come” to Christ for salvation; “the Bride,” or the whole Church militant and triumphant, says “Come,” and share our felicity. It therefore behooves every man who hears the invitation to call on others to “come.” (Scott.)—From Barnes: Revelation 22:11 : There is nothing more awful than the idea that a polluted soul will be always polluted; that a heart corrupt will be always corrupt; that the defiled will be put forever beyond the possibility of being cleansed from sin.

Revelation 22:16. The bright and morning star. (Let that star) remind us that the Saviour should be the first object that should draw the eye and the heart on the return of each day.

Revelation 22:17. And let him that is athirst, come. Whoever desires salvation, as the weary pilgrim desires a cooling fountain to allay his thirst, let him come as freely to the gospel as that thirsty man would stoop down at the fountain and drink.—From Vaughan: Revelation 22:7. A special blessing is pronounced by our Lord Jesus Christ upon those who prize, and keep as a precious and sacred deposit, this particular portion of His revealed truth.

Revelation 22:11. There will come a time to each one of us, when, whatever we are, that we shall be; when the seal of permanence will be set upon the spiritual condition; when the unjust man shall be unjust forever, and the righteous man shall be forever righteous.

Revelation 22:12. To give back to each one as his work is. That is the judgment. It is the reaping of the thing sown. It is the receiving back the things themselves that were once done in the body ( 2 Corinthians 5:10); receiving back the very acts and deeds themselves, only developed, full-grown, full-blown, ripened unto harvest.—From Bonar: Revelation 22:14. Blessed are they that keep His commandments. It is to a life of such keeping that we are called. By such a life, we partake of blessedness as well as glorify God.—Enter in through the gates into the city. (Enter) not over the wall; not by stealth; but as conquerors in triumphal procession, their Lord, as King of glory, at their head.

Revelation 22:17. Note here, 1. The cry for Christ’s advent2. The invitation to the sinner. Observe (1) The inviter; Christ Himself. He invited once on earth; He now invites from heaven with the same urgency and love. (2) The persons invited; a. The thirsty. They who would fain be happy, but know not how; who are seeking rest, but finding none; who are hewing out broken cisterns; betaking themselves to dried-up wells. b. Whosoever will. A wide description. It shuts out none. (3) The blessings invited to; The water of life. “Water,” that which will thoroughly refresh you and quench your thirst; “water of life,” living and life-giving. This water is the Holy Ghost Himself, Who comes to us as the bringer of God’s free love, with all the joy which that love introduces into the soul. (4) The price. Freely. Free to each one as he is; though the chief of sinners, the emptiest, wickedest, thirstiest of the sons of men.

Revelation 22:18-19. Note here, 1. The perfection of God’s word2. The honor God puts on it3. Our responsibilities in regard to it4. The sin and clanger of tampering with it.]

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