Revelation 21

21 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband; 3and I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Behold, the dwelling of God is with men. He will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be with them; 4he will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning nor crying nor pain any more, for the former things have passed away."

Chapter 21 starts off with an allusion to Isaiah 65:17: "For look, I am going to create a new heavens and a new earth, and the past will not be remembered and will come to mind no more." Verse 1 mentions that in the New Heaven and New Earth, there will be no sea. It seems like a random detail, but in the Hebrew mind, the sea is a symbol of chaos, uncertainty, and death. That John (as a fisherman, who had at least twice in the Gospel been rescued by Jesus at sea) mentions it, is a clear indication that its absence is integral to the structure of the New World--one of peace, perfection, order, and life!

The context talks about God's just judgement and those who have served Him will be rewarded with peace, and will forget all the pain that had ever afflicted them. Verse 2 compares the Church to the Bride, the most common image of our relationship with God in the Bible, already seen in Chapter 19. In this new heaven and earth, God will be with His People in a way never before experienced. Verse three and four contain allusions to Ezekiel 37:27, a prophecy of the New and Eternal Covenant that God would make with His People, and which Jesus made with us in the Eucharist (Luke 22:20), as well as an allusion to Isaiah 25:8 (wiping away every tear). Isaiah 25:6-12 is about the Divine Banquet that God's people will come to at the end. Liturgically, again, we are at the Eucharist.

5And he who sat upon the throne said, "Behold, I make all things new." Also he said, "Write this, for these words are trustworthy and true." 6And he said to me, "It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. To the thirsty I will give from the fountain of the water of life without payment. 7He who conquers shall have this heritage, and I will be his God and he shall be my son. 8But as for the cowardly, the faithless, the polluted, as for murderers, fornicators, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars, their lot shall be in the lake that burns with fire and sulphur, which is the second death."

In the movie, The Passion of the Christ, Mel Gibson puts verse 5 into Jesus' mouth when He meets His Mother as He carries His cross. Through Christ's death and resurrection, He has indeed made all things new--and in the end, will complete what He has started! In fact, as verse 6 tells us, from God's perspective, it has indeed already happened! The end of verse 6 is the same promise that Jesus gave in John 7:37-38. Further, He challenges us to press on and conquer, to realise our destinies as sons and daughters of God. All those who fail to hold out, but fall into deadly, mortal sin, will be punished in Hell. This is the flip-side to God's Love. If He was not just in His punishment, He would not truly love those who had faithfully served Him.

9Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues, and spoke to me, saying, "Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb." 10And in the Spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed; 13on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

This section begins with an allusion to Ezekiel 40:2, which describes an angel taking Ezekiel to the top of a high mountain in order to show him the New Jerusalem. Ezekiel then describes the New Jerusalem for 9 chapters (40-48) in order to finish his book. John condenses those 9 chapters into half of one, but throughout, the allusions are to that passage. In short, the New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, the Church, will be radiant, beautiful, pure, and precious. It will also be vast and perfect.

15And he who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its breadth; and he measured the city with his rod, twelve thousand stadia; its length and breadth and height are equal. 17He also measured its wall, a hundred and forty-four cubits by a man's measure, that is, an angel's. 18The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, clear as glass. 19The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass. 22And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God is its light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24By its light shall the nations walk; and the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it, 25and its gates shall never be shut by day--and there shall be no night there; 26they shall bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27But nothing unclean shall enter it, nor any one who practices abomination or falsehood, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

In various versions of Scripture, the gems and the measurements vary. While I do not believe that the exact identity of the gems is entirely relevant, except to say that the New Jerusalem is glorious and priceless, the measurements being 144,000 cubits high does ring as symbolic, referring once again to the perfection of the New Jerusalem (as well as to its inhabitants, recalling the 144,000 witnesses from chapter 7). Unlike Ezekiel's vision, which spends nearly the whole 9 chapters describing the New Temple, John says that there will not even be a Temple, for that will be God the Father and Jesus Himself. And all who are there are there on purpose. They have been listed in the Book of Life! With God, there are no oversights. Only perfection and justice, and peace for ever.

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