Verse By Verse Through Revelation

Chapter Twenty-One


Revelation 21:1 “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.”

  • “And…” continues what John saw into this current part of the vision. This context is easily confusing. In light of the conclusion of the previous chapter you could easily be led to conclude we are looking at Heaven. There are context clues that we will see that we cannot ignore.
  • A new Heaven and earth can certainly refer to the end of the world (II Peter 3:9-14).
  • That language does not have to be about the end of the world either. We see this in a restored Jerusalem prophetic message of old (Isaiah 65:9-25 and Isaiah 66:15-24; cf. Jeremiah 30:1-3 and Amos 9:11-15).
  • What does it mean that there was no more sea? It could mean the sea being a body of water was destroyed. The sea could refer to where the first beast [Roman emperor] arose from (Revelation 13:1).
  • The context gets clearer starting with the next verse.

Revelation 21:2 “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

  • The church in Philadelphia was told of the new Jerusalem which cometh down of Heaven (Revelation 3:12).
  • This context clue begins clear evidence that this part of John’s vision is not about eternity in Heaven above. Heaven does not come down from Heaven. At the end of this life we will go up to Heaven, not wait for Heaven to descend to us (I Thessalonians 4:13-18). When the end comes Christ will deliver UP His kingdom to the Father, not bring it down (I Corinthians 15:24-28).
  • The church is the bride of Christ (Ephesians 5:22-32).
  • Furthermore, the context later speaks of a future inheritance in contrast to a future punishment (Revelation 21:7-8).
  • Remember, the church is the Heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22-23).
  • See: Revelation 21:9-10

Revelation 21:3 “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”

  • The church is the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God (I Corinthians 3:16-17 and I Timothy 3:15).
  • This is not language about eternal Heaven. See: II Corinthians 6:14-7:1
  • Again, prophesies of old included such language as we see here in reference to a restored Jerusalem during the restoration after Babylonian captivity (Ezekiel 43:7-9 and Zechariah 8:1-9).

Revelation 21:4 “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”

  • We talked about a similar point in chapter seven. This is NOT about eternal life; the final judgment (Revelation 7:14-17).
  • The church is being returned to glory. The no more tears is about deliverance from the tribulation. We see similar language in other physical salvation times (Psalms 116:1-9, Psalms 126:1-6, and Isaiah 25:1-12).

Revelation 21:5 “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful.”

  • These things are to be written because they are true and faithful (cf. Revelation 1:11 and Revelation 1:19).
  • The Lord is a true and faithful witness (Jeremiah 42:5).
  • The word of the Lord is right and His works are done in truth (Psalms 33:4).
  • His word is truth (John 17:17 and Colossians 1:5).

Revelation 21:6 “And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.”

  • Alpha is the first letter of the Greek alphabet while Omega is the last letter of the Greek alphabet. We will see this language in Revelation 1:11, Revelation 1:8, and Revelation 22:13.
  • In Revelation 1:8-20 it is Jesus talking with John.
  • Jesus gives the water of eternal life (John 4:5-14 and Revelation 22:16-17).

Revelation 21:7 “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.”

  • The message to the churches is to overcome (Revelation 2:7, Revelation 2:11, Revelation 2:17, Revelation 2:26, Revelation 3:5, Revelation 3:12, and Revelation 3:21).
  • The final inheritance is in eternal Heaven (Romans 8:17 and I Peter 1:1-12).

Revelation 21:8 “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”

  • What kind of fear would displease God (Luke 12:4-5)?
  • The unbelieving (Hebrews 11:6).
  • The abominable (Psalms 14:1, Proverbs 16:5, Proverbs 17:15, Proverbs 21:27, Luke 16:15, I Peter 4:3, etc.).
  • Murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, and idolaters (Galatians 5:19-21).
  • All liars (Proverbs 19:9).
  • The beast and false prophet were cast into the lake of fire (Revelation 19:20).
  • This is the second death (Revelation 20:14-15).

Revelation 21:9 “And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.”

  • One of the seven angels which had the seven vials (Revelation 16:1-21).
  • A conversation with one of these angels had already occurred wherein the judgment of the great whore was revealed (Revelation 17:1).
  • The point of the context going forward is spelled out here for the reader. Going forward we will be reading about the bride, the Lamb’s wife. As we have already discussed (See notes on: Revelation 19:6-9 and Revelation 21:2-3), the bride of Christ is the church.

Revelation 21:10 “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,”

  • John was in the Spirit (Revelation 1:10 and Revelation 4:2).
  • This is what prophets experienced in visions at times (Ezekiel 37:1).
  • We discussed this earlier in this letter (Revelation 17:3). *This was what one of the seven angels that had one of the seven vials did with John in that context too (Revelation 17:1ff.).
  • Again, the Jerusalem that is from above [Heavenly Jerusalem] is the church (Hebrews 12:22-23).
  • Think about this. Revelation 17:1 (judgment of the harlot). Revelation 21:9 (revelation of the bride). The same type of angel that showed the judgment of the harlot now shows the glory of the bride, presenting a deliberate contrast between the unfaithful city and the faithful people of God.

Revelation 21:11 “Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;”

  • The Lamb’s wife has the glory of God and the connection with that being her light (Revelation 21:23; cf. I John 1:1-7).
  • We see the term “like.” This is a simile. This is how the context is portrayed. This is not literal, it is figurative. The beauty of the church is described through the image the Lord has in His eyes of His beautiful bride (cf. Revelation 21:2; 21:9).
  • Like jasper, clear (Revelation 21:18).

Revelation 21:12-13 “And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.”

  • In this vision gates represent places to enter (Revelation 22:14).
  • Those represented by the twelve tribes (Revelation 7:1-10), symbolizing the people of God, including both Jews and the great multitude.

Revelation 21:14 “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”

  • The Apostles are part of the foundation of the church (Ephesians 2:19-22).

Revelation 21:15 “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.”

  • He that talked with John was one of the seven angels that had one of the seven last vials of plagues (Revelation 21:9-10).
  • Earlier in John’s Revelation, he was given a reed to measure the “temple of God” (Revelation 11:1-2). If you will recall, when we studied through the aforementioned context, we concluded John was measuring the church. No, after all is said and done, he is seeing the angel talking with him taking measurements again. Think of this as the after tribulation measurement.
  • When Ezekiel prophesied of the rebuilt temple after Babylonian Captivity, he had visions of the measuring and description there (Ezekiel 40-47).

Revelation 21:16-17 “And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.”

  • Foursquare is explained as equal in breadth, length, and height.
  • One furlong is equal to 660 feet. 12,000 furlongs is 1500 miles (according to an online calculator at unitconverters.net
  • The angel is using calculations of man, or measurements that man would use. The wall around in this vision is hundred and forty and four cubits or 212.6 feet high (according to: https://www.convertunits.com).
  • We could read a lot into this, but for the sake of the point of the context notice that the kingdom had not been destroyed by the Satan, the false prophet, or the Romans. Despite all opposition—Satan, the beast, the false prophet—the city of God remains complete, secure, and unshaken (cf. Hebrews 12:28).

Revelation 21:18-20 “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst”

  • The Levitical priest’s garments were arrayed with precious stones (Exodus 28:1-43).
  • The house of God of old had such stones too (I Chronicles 29:1-2).
  • So, John in this part of Revelation is being shown the bride of Christ, the holy city, the New Jerusalem, is beautiful and wonderful. Again, the Kingdom, as prophesied, is not destroyed by the cunning work of Satan and his workers (Daniel 7:13-14).
  • Remember how the “great city” was arrayed with gold and precious stones (Revelation 17:1-5). Think of the contrast now that she is fallen (Revelation 18:2) while the church is arrayed so gorgeously.

Revelation 21:21 “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”

  • The twelve gates (Revelation 21:12).
  • Gates that will never be shut (Revelation 21:25).
  • Who can enter in (Revelation 22:14)?
  • Think about gold so pure that such is as transparent glass. There are a lot of wonderful things we could make of this imagery, but I shall refrain from the stretches of my imagination (cf. II Peter 1:20-21).

Revelation 21:22-23 “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”

  • The Father and the Son are the temple. They are one (John 10:30). The church is the body of Christ (Ephesians 1:22-23 and Colossians 1:18-24).
  • The church is the house of God (I Timothy 3:15; cf. Hebrews 3:1-6).
  • No need of the sun or moon, the glory of God is the light (Revelation 21:11 and Revelation 22:5).
  • The light of the Father and Son are all about fellowship (I John 1:1-7).

Revelation 21:24 “And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.”

  • The nations and kings were opposed to God’s people (Revelation 11:3; 11:7-9 and Revelation 18:3).
  • John was told He would prophesy before many peoples and nations (Revelation 10:9-11).
  • It was sung in Heaven that the nations would come worship before God (Revelation 15:4).
  • Members of the body of Christ shine forth to the nations round about us (Matthew 5:14-16 and Philippians 2:14-16).
  • The kings bring the glory and honor of nations into the body of Christ (Revelation 21:26).

Revelation 21:25 “And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.”

  • So much comes to mind in this imagery. The most obvious and simple point is that the danger for the saints within the seven churches of Asia has passed at this point in the vision we know as Revelation. The darkness is past.
  • They were told to hold fast for this very moment (Revelation 3:10-13).

Revelation 21:26 “And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.”

  • “They” [the kings of the earth; Revelation 21:24] bring the glory and honor of nations into the body of Christ.
  • All of this imagery should sound familiar to Bible students. This is just as restored Israel experienced of old (Isaiah 60:1-12).

Revelation 21:27 “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.”

  • Entrance into the body of Christ only occurs through Christ (John 14:6, Acts 2:36-41; Acts 2:47, and Colossians 2:12).
  • So, the Lord can assure that no person who is defiled will be truly among His people in a spiritual sense (I John 2:24 and II John 1:9).
  • Who are those with whom our Lord has a relationship (John 14:15-24)?


Chapters: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22


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