Revelation of John 21 · The Lantern

A New Heaven and a New Earth

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea is no longer.

For after the times of the kingdom, he says, "I saw a great white throne, and Him who sat upon it, from whose face the earth fled away, and the heavens; and there was no more place for them." And he sets forth, too, the things connected with the general resurrection and the judgment, mentioning "the dead, great and small." "The sea," he says, "gave up the dead which it had in i…

This passage announces the power and strength of the Lord with the words "He has established them forever, and for ages of ages: he has made a decree, and it shall not pass away." This is to remove all doubt that God is almighty, for what he has established continues in being without change, since this conclusion is applied to the things of heaven.

In the mystery of the disclosing of Scriptures, Christ is pointed to through the One who brings about eternal beatitude, for he saw "a new heaven and a new earth." These, then, are the mysteries concerned with the Tree of Life, that is, Holy Scripture, because it begins with eternity and ends in the direction of eternity.

And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

But in the times of the kingdom, the earth has been called again by Christ [to its pristine condition], and Jerusalem rebuilt after the pattern of the Jerusalem above, of which the prophet Isaiah says, "Behold, I have depicted thy walls upon my hands, and thou art always in my sight," And the apostle, too, writing to the Galatians, says in like manner, "But the Jerusalem which…

The heavenly Jerusalem is the multitude of the saints who will come with the Lord, even as Zechariah said: "Behold, my Lord God will come, and all his saints with him." These are being prepared for God as a fine dwelling, namely, those who will live with him.

This Holy Spirit, acting in the minds of the chosen, brings about Scriptures and gives firmness to the Christian faith. And because it acts more specially in the apostles, they are said to be the twelve foundation stones. The Apocalypse reads: And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.

And I heard a great voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will tabernacle with them, and they themselves will be his peoples, and God himself will be with them as their God.

And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will be no longer, nor mourning nor crying nor pain will be any longer; because the former things have passed away.”

Yet I must necessarily prescribe you a law, not to stretch out your hand after the old things, not to look backwards: for "the old things are passed away," according to Isaiah; and "a renewing hath been renewed," according to Jeremiah; and "forgetful of former things, we are reaching forward," according to the apostle; and "the law and the prophets (were) until John," according…

And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And Isaiah the prophet said a similar thing, saying "death was swallowed up in victory, and again God took away every tear from every face." (Isa. 25:8) For if according to the divine apostle in that blessed Life of the Saints "pain and sorrow and groaning have fled away," (Isa.

And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes. Such great and exalted clarity from the gift of God will appear in that city that no traces of the old world will remain. Since the heavenly incorruption will exalt the bodies, and the vision of the eternal King will nourish the minds.

And the one sitting on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And he says, “Write, because these words are faithful and true.”

And he said to me, “It has been done! I myself am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I myself will give to the one thirsting of the spring of the water of life freely.

The sensible types of these, then, are the sounds we pronounce. Thus the Lord Himself is called "Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end," "by whom all things were made, and without whom not even one thing was made." God's resting is not, then, as some conceive, that God ceased from doing.

From this fountain [God] refreshes believers who are now on the way. However, to those who conquer he will provide abundantly [from this fountain] and give them to drink in the fatherland.

QUESTION: To him that thirsteth, I will give of the fountain of the water of life, freely. ANSWER: He now bedews believers on the road with drops of this same fountain which he will let those who overcome drink plentifully from when they have reached their fatherland. He does both freely, and the grace of God is life everlasting in Christ Jesus our Lord. [Rom. 6:23]

The one overcoming will inherit these things, and I will be God to him, and he himself will be a son to me.

But to the cowardly and to the unbelieving and to those having made themselves abominable, and to murderers and to the sexually immoral and to sorcerers and to idolaters and to all the liars — their portion is in the lake which is burning with fire and with brimstone, which is the second death.”

The New Jerusalem

And one of the seven angels who have the seven bowls which are full of the seven last plagues came and spoke with me, saying, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

That Christ is the Bridegroom, having the Church as His bride, from which spiritual children were to be born. In Joel: "Blow with the trumpet in Sion; sanctify a fast, and call a healing; assemble the people, sanctify the Church, gather the elders, collect the little ones that suck the breast; let the Bridegroom go forth of His chamber, and the bride out of her closet." Also in…

Then one of the seven angels came, etc. The same preachers who inflict the universal plague upon the wicked also reveal the future joys of the Church.

Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the lamb. And he took me in spirit upon a great mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem, and below: and that city was placed as a square—by four corners it is established.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and he showed me the holy city Jerusalem descending out of heaven from God,

This both Ezekiel had knowledge of and the Apostle John beheld. And the word of the new prophecy which is a part of our belief, attests how it foretold that there would be for a sign a picture of this very city exhibited.

That he was "carried away in the Spirit" indicates that through the Spirit he was elevated in his mind from earthly things to the contemplation of heavenly realities. The image of the "great mountain" indicates the sublime and transcendent life of the saints, in which the wife of the Lamb, the Jerusalem above, will be made beautiful and glorified by God.

For if they are led twelve by twelve, they will be a hundred and forty-four, that is, the number of the City of Jerusalem. And so, a soul hierarchized in this way is a city in which God lives and is seen.

having the glory of God. Its radiance was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

having a great and high wall, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel;

In that he says there are three gates placed on each of the four sides, of single pearls, I think that these are the four virtues, to wit, prudence, fortitude, justice, temperance, which are associated with one another. And, being involved together, they make the number twelve.

"And it had a great, high wall." Zechariah said, "For I will be," says the Lord, "a wall of fire round about." What is so great and high as the Lord of majesty, who with the protection of his presence surrounds the holy city?

Again, you can multiply the four cardinal virtues by the three theological, and then there are twelve: for prudence must be faithful, trusting, and loving; and so it is with the others. And they are represented by the twelve springs, the twelve gems in the High Priest's vestment, and the twelve doors of the City.

on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates.

The city that is described is the church, which is extended throughout the whole world. There are groups of three gates on each of the four sides because throughout the four quarters of the world the mystery of the Trinity is preached in the church.

It says that the gates are divided into four groups: "on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates." This signifies that the four parts of the world have accepted the mystery of the Trinity. That the names of the patriarchs are inscribed demonstrates that the ancient faith has been fulfilled.

To the east three gates, etc. I believe that this detailed description of the gates was meant to indicate the mystery of the number twelve, by which either the sum of the apostles or the perfection of the Church is represented, because through it, the faith of the Holy Trinity was to be proclaimed to the whole world.

And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

And the wall of the city, he says, had twelve foundations; for Christ, whom we have thought of as a wall, rests upon the preaching of the apostles, and upon them has gone forth as a "chief cornerstone," (1 Peter 2:6; Isa. 28:16; Eph. 2:20) as it is written. And upon them, that is, upon those foundations, are twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

The foundations of the wall are the blessed apostles, upon whom the church of Christ has been established. Their names have been inscribed upon them, as upon a public placard, for the easy instruction of those who read them.

And the one speaking with me had a measuring reed, golden, so that he may measure the city and its gates and its wall.

In the golden rod he shows the members of the church, who, although weak in the flesh, are well founded in the golden faith. As the apostle says, "[We] have this treasure in earthen vessels."

The wall of fire surrounding it is the Lord, as we have already said. The golden measuring rod is the faith concerning the Lord's incarnation, for on account of its purity and sinlessness his body is revealed to be clearer and more brilliant than any metal.

QUESTION: And he that spoke with me, had a measure of a reed of gold. ANSWER: Christ, who is the Father's wisdom, measures the holy city, because he distributes the gifts of spiritual graces to every one of the faithful while ordering all things in number, and measure, and weight. [Wis.

And the city lies foursquare, and its length the same as also the width. And he measured the city with the reed at twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height are equal.

She said to me, "Lo! do you not see opposite to you a great tower, built upon the waters, of splendid square stones?" For the tower was built square by those six young men who had come with her.

[The city is foursquare], that is, it persists in the faith of the fourfold gospel. It is said that its length is the same as its breadth, so that one might see that in its faith there is nothing disproportionate, nothing that has been added, and nothing that has been taken away.… He measured the city with his rod, which we understand to be the body of Christ, and it was twelve…

And he measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.

And he measured, it says, its wall at a hundred and forty-four cubits by the measure of a man, which is that of an angel. In many places, according to the customary usage of the divine Scripture, men are called angels. And this is clear from those passages in which Gabriel the Archangel is interpreted as a man of God (see Dan. 9:21).

We ought to regard the measure to be in the wall itself, for the wall of this city is our Lord Jesus Christ. That it was measured by the measure of a man indicates that the assumed man serves for the protection of the saints and as a guarantee of all bliss.

And the structure of its wall was jasper, and the city pure gold, like clear glass.

And he says that the inner structure of its wall is jasper. Already we have received jasper as the symbol of the incorruptible and life-giving Christ. And he says the city is pure gold, like clear glass. The gold is arranged with brilliance and transparency. The precious and purity of the saints is presented in works and words.

The structure of the wall was of jasper to show the ever green and unfading life of the saints. The city is of "pure gold as though of glass" because of the clarity and brightness of its inhabitants.

And the structure of its wall—the construction of its wall. Jasper or jasipon; sapphire or sapphila; agate or chalcedony; emerald; the fifth, onyx or red; the sixth, carnelian or sardonyx; the seventh, chrysolite or golden stone; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz or pazion; the tenth, chrysoprase or purple gold; the eleventh, jacinth, i.e., hyacinth; the twelfth, amethyst or…

The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every precious stone: the first foundation jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald,

Tradition assures us that the heavenly Jerusalem that is above is built up of holy gems, and we know that the twelve gates of the heavenly city, which signify the wonderful beauty of the apostolic teaching, are compared with precious jewels.

In the song of Tobit we read, "All your walls will be precious stones," and also in Isaiah, "Behold, I will set your stones in order and lay your foundations with sapphires, and I will place jasper for your buttresses, and I will put your gates in formed stones, and all your borders will be in precious stones." And as though explaining what he had said, lest you think materiall…

The first foundation was jasper. There are many kinds of jasper. One is green in color and appears sprinkled with flowers. Another resembles an emerald but is of a thicker color, which is said to drive away all illusions. Another has a mixed color of snow and the foam of the sea waves, with a slightly reddish hue.

the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, as translucent glass.

These pearls symbolize the apostles, who are also called "gates" because through their teaching they make known the door of eternal life.

It is not possible to present in one image an exact description of the good things of the heavenly city. Therefore, he perceived the street of the city as gold on account of its costliness and its beautiful color, and as crystal, that is, as transparent glass on account of its purity. We are not able to bring both of these things together in one symbol.

And by the twelve gates, each one made of a single pearl, may be understood the twelve principal ideas to which the others may then be retraced, and according to which the others are ruled and directed: and these twelve principal ideas are bright, vivifying, and joyful. The first of these ideas was to consider God as the first Being; the second, to consider Him as triune.

And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb.

And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they may shine in it; for the glory of God enlightened it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

And in that he says that the sun is not necessary in the city, he shows, evidently, that the Creator as the immaculate light shines in the midst of it, whose brightness no mind has been able to conceive, nor tongue to tell.

What an image there is in these words, that the city, which has no need of a temple, has no need of the brightness of the heavenly luminaries! And what is the reason for this? Because the glory of God gives it light.

QUESTION: And the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, to shine in it. ANSWER: Because the Church is not guided by the light or elements of the world, but it is led through the darkness of the world by Christ, the eternal Sun. THERE FOLLOWS: For the glory of God will enlighten it.

And the nations will walk through its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory into it.

And it says the nations will walk by its light. Not only the nations, but also the saints from Israel who have believed. But since those from the Gentiles are more numerous, it indicated these as well as those from the greater number. And the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it.

By the light, the Lamb is clearly shown to be the [city's] lamp, and the kings and the nations will walk in his light. The prophet knew this and said, "In your light we shall see light." The apostle also spoke concerning this light: "The night is far gone, the day is at hand." The Evangelist also writes in a similar way: "The life was the light of men, and the light shines in t…

QUESTION: And the nations shall walk through the light of it. ANSWER: It means that it is the selfsame Lamb that is now the way for travelers and will then be the life for citizens. [Ref. to John 14:6]

And its gates will certainly not be shut by day; for night will not be there.

And that the gates cannot be shut, it is evidently shown that the doctrine of the apostles can be separated from rectitude by no tempest of contradiction.

The passage refers to the perpetual light of the Lamb. Indeed, the Lamb himself will be the eternal [light] in that city when the time of night has been removed. As Isaiah said, "It shall be for them from month to month and from sabbath to sabbath." By month he signifies the light because of the full splendor of the moon; by sabbath he is signifying the eternal rest.

THERE FOLLOWS: And the gates thereof shall not be shut by day: for there shall be no night there. ANSWER: He is saying that there will be in that city the perpetual light of the Lamb, or rather that the Lamb himself will be there as a perpetual light, while nighttime will have been eliminated.

And they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

And anything unsanctified will certainly not enter into it, nor the one practicing abomination and a lie, except those written in the book of life of the Lamb.

And he says that nothing unclean and no one who practices abomination and falsehood shall ever enter it, but those who are written in the book of life of the Lamb. "For what fellowship has light with darkness," (2 Cor. 6:14) or a sinner with the righteous of God? whom the Lord in the Gospels also delivered to us as separated by a great chasm. (see Luke 16:26)

It is true that no one enters into that communion of the saints who either refuses to be cleansed of former sin and from the guilt of their parents, or having become filthy after purification refused to be cleansed by the washing of humility and the shedding of tears. Indeed, Judas committed such an abomination, and so does a heretic who worships God deceitfully.

QUESTION: Nor hath there entered into it anything defiled. ANSWER: He is describing the Church of that time when, after the wicked have been excluded from among them, the good alone will reign with Christ. But already now, every unclean person and liar is not in the Church, nor does the one who hates the city of God see its light, because the darkness hath blinded his eyes.

Revelation of John21

A New Heaven and a New Earth

The New Jerusalem