Chapter Twenty-One

A vision of a new heaven and new earth as blessed communion of God with people (1–4), the righteous, not the sinners (5–8); John’s contemplation of a new holy city Jerusalem (9–10), a description of its gates, walls, and streets (11–21); the conditions of life in it for the saved nations (22–27).

Revelation 21:1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the former heaven and the former earth had passed away, and the sea no longer exists. Revelation 21:2. And I, John, saw the holy city, Jerusalem, new, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. John does not describe from a positive perspective either the new heaven or the new earth: this entire description is replaced by only one word “new.” The future heaven and earth must be opposite to the former, destroyed ones. “How the change of the universe will take place, this must be removed from the subjects of our curiosity,” says Saint Gregory of Nyssa. “In the world fire,” writes the Blessed Augustine, “those properties of mortal elements will be completely destroyed by fire which corresponded to our mortal bodies, and the world, having renewed itself for the better, will receive complete adaptation to people renewed for the better in the flesh.” Intensifying the expression about the change of the former world, John adds that there is no longer a sea. There will be no former sea, because there will be no need for it, but whether there will be a new sea and what kind of sea, the Apocalypse is completely silent about. John beholds a new city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down from heaven from God, as a special deliberate creation of divine grace for renewed humanity, as a place of communion with God.

Revelation 21:3. And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; they will be His people, and God Himself will be with them as their God. The voice coming from the divine throne, from one of the beings surrounding the throne, calls the city the tabernacle of God, in which is contained an indication of the closest communion between God and people, in which both God and people live as if in the same place in an undivided unity of interests. Then the fullest blessedness will come, when there will be no reason for tears and sorrow, for in the new life there will be no sin at all.

Revelation 21:4. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death will no longer exist; neither mourning, nor cry, nor pain will exist anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:5. And the One sitting on the throne said: Behold, I make all things new. And He says to me: Write; for these words are true and faithful. The truth about the creation of all things new is so important that John is commanded to write it down for the comfort of all suffering humanity on earth.

Revelation 21:6. And He said to me: It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end; to the one who thirsts I will give freely from the spring of the water of life. The word “it is done” means that everything has happened as the Lord God desired it, who is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end (Rev 1:8), the source and goal of all life. The new humanity will be promised complete ability to satisfy spiritual thirst, the striving for fullness of being in union with God (“the spring of the water of life”). And this will be by the mercy of God (“as a gift”), a gift of His divine love.

Revelation 21:7. The one who overcomes will inherit all things, and I will be to him a God, and he will be to Me a son. Revelation 21:8. But the cowardly and unbelieving and vile and murderers and fornicators and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars have their portion in the lake burning with fire and brimstone. This is the second death. After speaking in consolation to the righteous, the Lord threatens sinners with the dreadful torments of the fiery Gehenna, and the listing of sins for which the impious are deprived of blessedness goes from the more general to the particular. The fate of all sinners is the second death, that is, final condemnation after the last judgment to eternal torment. As for the place of torment of sinners and the nature of the fire of their eternal torment, John is completely silent: we must be satisfied with what is revealed.

Revelation 21:9. And one of the seven Angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke to me, saying: Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. Revelation 21:10. And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, which was coming down out of heaven from God. Revelation 21:11. It has the glory of God. Its light was like the most precious stone, like crystal jasper stone. Revelation 21:12. It has a great and high wall and has twelve gates and twelve Angels at them; on the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel: Revelation 21:13. on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, on the west three gates. Revelation 21:14. The wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them the names of the twelve Apostles of the Lamb. Revelation 21:15. The one who spoke with me had a golden rod for measuring the city and its gates and its wall. Revelation 21:16. The city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as its width. And he measured the city with the rod—twelve thousand stadia; its length and width and height are equal. Revelation 21:17. And he measured its wall—one hundred forty-four cubits, by human measure, which is also the Angel’s measure. Revelation 21:18. Its wall is built of jasper, and the city is pure gold, like pure glass. Revelation 21:19. The foundations of the city wall are adorned with all kinds of precious stones; the first foundation is jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedon, the fourth emerald, Revelation 21:20. the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh hyacinth, the twelfth amethyst. Revelation 21:21. And the twelve gates are twelve pearls: each gate is from one pearl. The street of the city is pure gold, like transparent glass. Revelation 21:22. I did not see a temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb. Revelation 21:23. And the city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. The use of a double designation “wife” and “bride,” which seems incompatible, points to the character of the highest spirituality of that union which will connect the Lord God and the glorified blessed community of the saints. The remark of verse 10, that the rapture was accomplished in the spirit, makes it clear that there was no change in the external position of the seer. Although he was promised to be shown the bride, but Jerusalem is shown to him not for another reason, but for the precise reason that in this city the bride dwells: by the city we can and must judge about its inhabitants. The very first characteristic of the city is the glory of God, light for it special, self-luminous. This is the Lord God Himself. The city is depicted as completely well-ordered: with high walls and numerous gates, and instead of ordinary defenders, with angels. The names of the 12 tribes are the names of the tribes of spiritual Israel, God’s chosen people, formed from all nations; and the names of the apostles mean that the apostles of Jesus Christ, if their preaching served as the foundation for the perfection of spiritual Israel. For greater clarity and evidence of the vastness of the new Jerusalem, the seer communicates the space it occupies in thousands of stadia. The instrument of measurement is a rod which the angel speaking to John held in his hand. The shape of the city—a four-sided square—is an indication of perfection, stability, and permanence. By the vastness of the city we must judge the multiplicity of its inhabitants, and by the proportionality of its arrangement we must judge the regularity, peace, and orderliness of their life. From the measurement of the city from verse 18, John transitions to the material from which the city is built, and to the depiction of its extraordinary magnificence. Since the new Jerusalem will truly be a new place of the true presence of God, there will be no need for a special temple in it. The glorified righteous will be in such close communion and union with God that it can be said of them that they will always dwell in God and the Lamb, Jesus Christ. The light for Jerusalem will not be created light, but the light of divine glory—God Himself, who is both Light and the Giver of light.

Revelation 21:24. The saved nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory and honor into it. Revelation 21:25. Its gates will not be shut during the day; and there will be no night there. Revelation 21:26. And they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. After a detailed description of the city, the Apocalypse casts a glance also at its inhabitants, who will be the saved nations. These are all the glorified ones of the future blessed kingdom, made up of believers from all the universe, but not having lost their distinctive national peculiarities. Each person, entering the city, entering into communion with the Lord and with the glorified righteous, will at the same time renounce all that previously constituted the subject of his glory and pride. All devoted to lies and abominations will not enter the city, although its gates are always open, for they cannot enter, because they are not on the new earth, they are in their place, where their dwelling is eternal and permanent. * * * “The City of God,” Book XX, Chapter 16.