XLVII THE NEW JERUSALEM RECTION THE CHURCH OF THE RESUR XXI 9-27 XXII 1-5 The picture here given us of the Golden City is one of surpassing sublimity and beauty. If it had been merely the work of a human artist, it could never be sufficiently admired or praised. The vividness of the word-painting is such that we seem to see everything with our bodily eyes; and everything is significant of some glorious and precious truth pertaining to the life of the saved after they have been raised from the dead; whilst that life is represented as no less real than this which we now live in the flesh. Indeed, it would seem that the principal object and most important use of the whole symbol are, to give reality to our conceptions of the beatitudes and glories of our future life, in which all our spiritual longings and hopes are to attain their everlasting and all-satisfying fruition. 9 And there came one of the seven angels that had the seven chalices full of the seven last plagues, and spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. It was one of these angels who showed to the Seer Babylon, the harlot city, the great antichristian world-power, overthrown and destroyed by the divine judgments (325); and here, in like manner, it is one of them who shows him the faithful city, New Jerusalem, the Bride who has now become the wife of the Lamb (350), the church of the saved in the perfection of her purity, beauty, and glory. A significant contrast between these two grand series of images, and between the truths which they signify, runs through all the particulars of both. The ministry of these angels of the last plagues in them both symbolizes what we have seen in almost all these visions (169), namely, that the judgments of God are closely connected with, and are, indeed, the necessary means unto, the blessed and glorious result of the whole providential scheme. It is to be observed also that, as in the Babylon series there is a blending of the two images of a city and a harlot (336), so in this New Jerusalem series there is a similar blending of two, those of a city and of a chaste bride. 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit unto a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. The Seer had been carried away in the Spirit by one of these angels into a wilderness' (326), where he saw the harlot, in all her meretricious adornment, riding upon the scarlet beast, representing the church corrupted by the world, and holding the secular powers in subjection; and now he is carried away in the same state of spiritual ecstasy (26) 'unto a mountain great and high,' where he is shown the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, representing the church of the saved, purified from all worldly contaminations, and blazing with all her spiritual glories. In like manner, when the Lord would show to the prophet Ezekiel in apocalyptic vision the same glorified city, He set him 'upon a very high mountain' (Ez. xl. 2); and when He would unveil to His three chosen disciples His transfiguration glories, 'He led them up into a high mountain apart' (Mat. xvii. 1). So, also, the glory of the Lord appeared on the top of mount Sinai at the giving of the law (Ex. xxiv. 16), and unto Abraham on mount Moriah at the sacrifice of Isaac; in connection with which last an old Hebrew proverb is cited: "In the mount of the Lord He will appear" (Gen. xxii. 14). Perhaps the connection between these epiphanies and the tops of mountains may be understood from the fact, that the physical effects experienced at such great elevations above the earth, where the air is pure, and the view immensely extended, are wonderfully symbolical and expressive of spiritual exaltation and the raptures of beatific vision (27). There are Beulah heights and transfiguration mountains in the experience of God's people, from which they obtain heart-ravishing views of the Lord's glory and of the celestial city (392). Here it is repeated that the city is seen 'coming down out of heaven from God' for the sake of emphasis upon the significance of that grand symbol: and the words, 'having the glory of God,' are added to denote two things: (1) that the church of the resurrection possesses the fulness of the divine presence and glory, which was foreshadowed by the shekinah in the Holy of Holies; (2) that she herself is the perfect manifestation of this glory: both of which ideas will be copiously developed in the sequel. II The light thereof was like unto a stone most precious, as it were a jasper stone, clear as crystal: 12 having a wall great and high; having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels; and names written thereon, which are [the names] of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel: 13 on the east three gates, and on the north three gates, and on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and upon them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The light of the city, which is the glory of God, is as clear as crystal, like that of the jasper stone, which is here represented as the most precious of all jewels, and consequently is understood to be the diamond, which otherwise is not mentioned at all in these visions, an omission which would be inexplicable. We have seen also that 'He who sat upon the throne was to the sight like a jasper stone' (109), which identifies the light of the city with the glory of God. The symbolical meaning of the 'wall great and high' is given by the prophet as follows: Salvation will He appoint for walls and bulwarks... Thou shalt call thy walls salvation and thy gates praise (Is. xxvi. 1; lx. 18). Thus we see that this wall of the city is the symbol of salvation, as the walls of cities in general are for the safety of their inhabitants; and this is the reason why it is so 'great and high,' namely, that it may fitly represent the greatness and height of the final salvation. In the wall there are twelve gates, with reference to the twelve tribes of Israel, whose names are inscribed upon them. In the corresponding vision of Ezekiel, the gates of the several tribes are specified, i. e. Reuben, Judah, and Levi, on the north; Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan, on the east; Simeon, Issachar, and Zebulon, on the south; Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, on the west (Ez, xlviii. 31-34). But we have seen in the vision of the sealing of the servants of God out of the tribes, that Dan is omitted altogether (156); and this significant variation seems plainly to indicate that these names are not to be taken literally in the sense of Israel according to the flesh, but as symbols in accordance with the symbolical character of the whole book. These gates include three grand ideas: (1) They represent the means or way through which the nations have been received into the church, or state of salvation, as in the prophecy: Thy gates also shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day nor night: That they may bring unto thee the forces of the nations, And their kings led [with them]. For the nation and kingdom that will not serve thee shall perish; (2) The names of the tribes on the gates signify that it is through the instrumentality of the church that the nations have been received into the state of salvation, as in all times it is through the agency of God's people that the gospel and the Christian religion are communicated to mankind: (3) The gates are a part of the wall, in connection with which one element of their symbolical meaning is interpreted as follows: Thou shalt call thy walls salvation, and thy gates praise (Is. lx. 18). That I may show forth thy praise, In the gates of the daughter of Zion, I will rejoice in thy salvation (Ps. ix. 14). And into His courts with praise (c. 4). Hence these gates, being twelve in number, and a part of the walls which they adorn and beautify, symbolize the crown ing completeness (109) of the great salvation, and the beauty of the praise which goes forth from it. The twelve angels, one at each gate, represent the fulness and completeness of the angelic ministry to the saved, as in the words: "Are they not all ministering spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be the heirs of salvation? (Heb. i. 14). The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him, There may be, also, in this station of the angels at the gates an allusion to their ministry in offering to God the prayers and praises of the saints (123). In fine, the city has twelve foundation stones, upon which are engraved the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, as those of the tribes are upon the gates, to signify that the church, in all completeness, is founded upon the apostles, i. e. upon their teaching, character, and labors in the cause of the Lamb, by whose sacrifice for and in them they have come to this honor and glory: in all which there are plain allusions to the following: "I say also unto thee, that thou art Peter [a rock], and upon this rock will I build my church (Mat. xvi. 18). Ye are fellow citizens with the saints, and of the household of God, being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the chief corner stone" (Eph. ii. 19-20) 15 And he that spake with me had for a measure a golden reed, that he might measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lieth four-square, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed unto twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal. 17 And he measured the wall thereof, a hundred and forty and four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The significance of this measuring of the city is the same with that of the measuring of the temple in a former vision (211), i. e. God's perfect knowledge of His people, both collectively and individually, as His own peculiar possession, whereby their salvation has been infallibly secured. Its being measured with a golden reed' signifies the excellence |