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Revelation

Revelationchapter 21

27 verses · BSBRevelation book hub →

Speaks with:Revelation 21×9Revelation 22×7Revelation 7×32 Corinthians 6×2John 4×2Revelation 17×2

Summary

Chapter summary

'And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more' (21:1, with Isaiah 65 behind it). The holy city, new Jerusalem, comes down out of heaven from God, 'made ready as a bride adorned for her husband,' and a great voice says, 'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men… and he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more' (21:3-4). Then he that sitteth on the throne speaks: 'Behold, I make all things new.' An angel measures the city: twelve gates named for the twelve tribes, twelve foundations for the twelve apostles. 'And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God the Almighty, and the Lamb, are the temple thereof.'

Context

Apocalyptic · John — Revelation overview

  • A. 1–8 A New Heaven, a New Earth, and No More Tears
  • B. 9–21 The Bride City: Walls of Jasper, Gates of Pearl
  • C. 22–27 No Temple, No Sun, No Night at All

The outline

  1. A.A New Heaven, a New Earth, and No More Tearsvv. 1 to 8

    Read vv. 1 to 8 →

  2. B.The Bride City: Walls of Jasper, Gates of Pearlvv. 9 to 21

    Read vv. 9 to 21 →

  3. C.No Temple, No Sun, No Night at Allvv. 22 to 27

    Read vv. 22 to 27 →

Threads

Each of these runs on past this chapter. The passage you have just read is marked.

To him that overcometh

Pattern

Each of the seven letters ends with a promise to him that overcometh, and the book keeps every one. The tree of life, the escape from the second death, the book of life, the new Jerusalem, and the throne all return, granted in the closing chapters.

The promises of chapters 2 and 3 are a ledger the end of the book settles line by line. A reader who traces them sees that the letters to the churches and the visions of the end are one book, with one author keeping his word.

  1. Revelation 2:7

    The tree of life promised

    To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of life.

  2. Revelation 2:11

    Not hurt of the second death

  3. Revelation 3:5

    The name kept in the book of life

    I will not blot out his name out of the book of life.

  4. Revelation 3:12

    The new Jerusalem written on him

    The name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem.

  5. Revelation 3:21

    A seat in the throne

    To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne.

  6. Revelation 20:4

    The thrones filled

    I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

  7. Revelation 20:6

    The second death powerless

    On such the second death hath no power.

  8. Revelation 20:12

    The book of life opened

  9. Revelation 21:2 you are here

    The new Jerusalem comes down

    The holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.

  10. Revelation 22:2

    The tree of life yields her fruit

    The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

The world behind this chapter

Revelation 21
When
The new creation · c. AD 95 on the majority view
Where
A new heaven and a new earth, and a city coming down
Who first heard it
City dwellers who took enormous pride in their cities, being shown the real one

The history

Greek cities in Asia measured themselves by their walls, gates, water, temples, and street plans, and they competed openly. Civic pride was the local religion alongside the imperial one. So describing the future as a city — with named gates, measured walls, and foundation stones — spoke directly to what these readers valued.

The measurements are enormous and deliberate. The city is a cube, roughly fifteen hundred miles each way. There was one other cube in Israel's world: the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle and temple, the room God's presence filled, which no one entered but the high priest once a year. The whole city is that room.

Which is why the next line lands: there is no temple in it, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. And no sun or moon, because the glory of God lights it, and the gates are never shut, because there is no night — city gates were shut at dusk against danger, every night, everywhere.

The twelve gates carry the names of Israel's tribes and the twelve foundations the names of the apostles. The foundation stones are jewels, and Israel's high priest wore twelve jewels on his breastplate with the tribes' names cut into them.

The first sentence of the chapter says there was no more sea. To an exile on Patmos, the sea was the thing that separated him from everyone he loved.

What it meant to them

The promise these churches needed most is stated first and plainly: God will dwell with them, and He will wipe away every tear, and there will be no more death, sorrow, crying, or pain, because the former things are passed away.

And the invitation stayed open — a fountain of the water of life given freely to whoever is thirsty. For people whose city gates were shut every night and whose standing was always provisional, an unwalled welcome into a place that never closes was the whole gospel in architecture.

Sources cited

  • Colin Hemer, The Letters to the Seven Churches of Asia in Their Local Setting
  • Alfred Edersheim, The Temple: Its Ministry and Services (public domain)

Every work MannaFest builds on →

The text of this chapter

This page carries no textual note on Revelation 21. Where this site has examined a place the manuscripts differ, the examination is in the manuscripts room. Every place this site examines →

Connections from this chapter

v. 1 · Bookends: the same words open and close

CANON-LEVEL. 'God created the heaven and the earth' (Gen 1:1) reused as 'a new heaven and a new earth' (Rev 21:1). Verbatim vocabulary reuse (heaven+earth) across the canonical frame.

Genesis 1:1→

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.

ASV/WEB text; Beale, A New Testament Biblical Theology

v. 1 · An echo of this verse

'A new heaven and a new earth' reworks Isaiah's new-creation oracle; A/V/R/TC/HP/HI/S.

Isaiah 65:17→

For behold, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind.

Beale-Carson (2007, cite-only)

v. 1 · Same theme

God splits the sea-dragon's heads at creation and at the exodus (Ps 74:13); Revelation ends with “there was no more sea” (Rev 21:1). The chaos-water runs from the first pages to the last, and is finally gone.

Psalms 74:13→

You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea;

Ps 74:13; Job 38:8-11; Rev 21:1; Gunkel (PD)/Day/Levenson vs Tsumura

v. 2 · Bride imagery

'Thy Maker is thine husband' -> New Jerusalem 'prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.'

Isaiah 54:5→

For your husband is your Maker—the LORD of Hosts is His name—the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth.

MT-ASV

v. 2 · Bride imagery

The marriage announced ('his wife hath made herself ready') -> the bride descending ('prepared as a bride adorned for her husband'): the same wedding, promise to arrival. Row 6.

Revelation 19:7→

Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him the glory. For the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.

MT-ASV; G3565

v. 3 · An echo of this verse

'The tabernacle (skene G4633) of God is with men, and he will dwell (skenoo G4637) with them': Exod 25:8's purpose reaches its telos; inclusio with John 1:14.

Exodus 25:8→

And they are to make a sanctuary for Me, so that I may dwell among them.

Rev 21:3; LXX bridge (STEPBible floor)

v. 3 · A homecoming · An echo of this verse

'The tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them' parallels Ezekiel's 'my tabernacle also shall be with them' - return consummated. Mirror Row 7.

Ezekiel 37:27→

My dwelling place will be with them; I will be their God, and they will be My people.

bt-consensus

v. 3 · Bookends: the same words open and close

CANON-LEVEL. God dwelling with humanity - lost (walking in the garden, now hidden from, Gen 3:8) and regained ('the tabernacle of God is with men', Rev 21:3). The temple/dwelling thread's two ends.

Genesis 3:8→

Then the man and his wife heard the voice of the LORD God walking in the garden in the breeze of the day, and they hid themselves from the presence of the LORD God among the trees of the garden.

Beale, Temple and the Church's Mission (NSBT 17, 2004); ASV/WEB text

v. 3 · The covenant formula

'Thou art my people... Thou art my God' lands as 'they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them': the marriage IS the covenant. Bridges Rows 6 and 7.

Hosea 2:23→

And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”

MT-ASV; public-domain quotation

v. 4 · Written to them

God shall wipe away all tears

topics/grief→

MannaFest topical index

v. 5 · Written to them

Behold, I make all things new

topics/restoration→

MannaFest topical index

v. 10 · Part of a repeating series

The four 'in the Spirit' (en pneumati) hinge-visions (1:10;4:2;17:3;21:10) mark Revelation's four macro-sections; the seven churches (2-3) are the first of the book's four numbered heptads.

Revelation 1:10→

On the Lord’s day I was in the Spirit, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet,

Bauckham, Climax of Prophecy (T&T Clark 1993, cite-only)

v. 12 · A number that shapes the passage

Twelve gates (tribes) and twelve foundations (apostles): the city sums OT + NT Israel. Depth-3 structural note for Row 5.

Revelation 21:14→

The wall of the city had twelve foundations bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

text; STEPBible floor

v. 22 · A picture of Christ

New Jerusalem is a cube (Rev 21:16) = the Holy of Holies (1 Kgs 6:20 cube) expanded to a city; no separate temple needed.

1 Kings 6:20→

The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar.

Rev 21:16,22; Beale 2004

v. 23 · On this thread

God who divided light from darkness at creation becomes himself the city's light, no created sun needed.

Genesis 1:4→

And God saw that the light was good, and He separated the light from the darkness.

Beale, NTBT (2011, cite-only)

v. 23 · An echo of this verse

'The sun shall be no more thy light... the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light' -> 'the city had no need of the sun'. Prophetic mediator of Row 1.

Isaiah 60:19→

No longer will the sun be your light by day, nor the brightness of the moon shine on your night; for the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your God will be your splendor.

Beale (2011); Beale-Carson (2007), both cite-only

Where scholars push back(1)

Psalms 74:13. How much of the ancient combat imagery Israel's poets actually borrowed is argued. Gunkel, Day and Levenson read it strongly, Tsumura reads the sea language as ordinary water imagery.

This page draws on Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Gill, An Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.

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