10 And he carried me away in [the] Spirit, [and set me] on a great and high mountain, and shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God,
I became in [the] Spirit on the Lord's day, and I heard behind me a great voice as of a trumpet,
And he carried me away in spirit to a desert; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast, full of names of blasphemy, having seven heads and ten horns.
In the twenty-fifth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, on the tenth of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, on that same day the hand of Jehovah was upon me, and he brought me thither. In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain; and upon it was as the building of a city, on the south. And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a flax-cord in his hand, and a measuring-reed; and he stood in the gate. And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thy heart upon all that I shall shew thee; for in order that it might be shewn unto thee art thou brought hither. Declare to the house of Israel all that thou seest. And behold, there was a wall on the outside of the house round about, and in the man's hand a measuring-reed of six cubits, [each] of one cubit and a hand breadth. And he measured the breadth of the building, one reed; and the height, one reed. And he came to the gate which looked toward the east, and went up its steps; and he measured the threshold of the gate, one reed broad; and the other threshold one reed broad. And [each] chamber was one reed long and one reed broad; and between the chambers were five cubits; and the threshold of the gate, beside the porch of the gate within, was one reed. And he measured the porch of the gate within, one reed. And he measured the porch of the gate, eight cubits; and the posts thereof, two cubits; and the porch of the gate was inward. And the chambers of the gate which was toward the east were three on this side and three on that side: they three were of one measure; and the posts on this side and on that side had one measure. And he measured the breadth of the entry of the gate, ten cubits; [and] the length of the gate, thirteen cubits. And there was a border before the chambers of one cubit, and a border of one cubit on the other side; and the chambers were six cubits on this side, and six cubits on that side. And he measured the gate from the roof of [one] chamber to the roof [of the other], a breadth of five and twenty cubits, entry opposite entry. And he made posts, sixty cubits, and by the post was the court of the gate round about. And from the front of the gate of the entrance unto the front of the porch of the inner gate were fifty cubits. And there were closed windows to the chambers, and to their posts within the gate round about, and likewise to the projections; and the windows round about were inward; and upon [each] post were palm-trees. And he brought me into the outer court, and behold, there were cells, and a pavement made for the court round about: thirty cells were upon the pavement. And the pavement was by the side of the gates, answering to the length of the gates, [namely] the lower pavement. And he measured the breadth from the front of the lower gate unto the front of the inner court outside, a hundred cubits eastward and northward. And the gate of the outer court, that looked toward the north, he measured its length and its breadth. And its chambers were three on this side and three on that side; and its posts and its projections were according to the measure of the first gate: its length was fifty cubits, and breadth five and twenty cubits. And its windows, and its projections, and its palm-trees were according to the measure of the gate that looked toward the east; and they went up to it by seven steps; and the projections thereof were before them. And the gate of the inner court was opposite to the gate toward the north, and toward the east; and he measured from gate to gate a hundred cubits. And he brought me toward the south: and behold, there was a gate toward the south; and he measured its posts and its projections according to these measures. And there were windows to it and to its projections round about, like those windows: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth five and twenty cubits. And there were seven steps to go up to it; and its projections were before them; and it had palm-trees, one on this side and one on that side, upon its posts. And there was a gate to the inner court toward the south; and he measured from gate to gate toward the south, a hundred cubits. And he brought me into the inner court by the south gate; and he measured the south gate according to these measures: and its chambers, and its posts, and its projections, according to these measures; and there were windows to it and to its projections round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. And there were projections round about, twenty-five cubits long, and five cubits broad. And its projections were toward the outer court; and there were palm-trees upon its posts: and its ascent was [by] eight steps. And he brought me into the inner court toward the east; and he measured the gate according to these measures: and its chambers, and its posts, and its projections, according to these measures; and there were windows to it and to its projections round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. And its projections were toward the outer court; and there were palm-trees upon its posts on this side and on that side: and its ascent was [by] eight steps. And he brought me to the north gate, and he measured [it] according to these measures: its chambers, its posts, and its projections; and there were windows to it round about: the length was fifty cubits, and the breadth twenty-five cubits. And its posts were toward the outer court; and there were palm-trees upon its posts, on this side and on that side: and its ascent was [by] eight steps. And there was a cell and its entry by the posts of the gates; there they rinsed the burnt-offering. And in the porch of the gate were two tables on this side, and two tables on that side, to slay thereon the burnt-offering and the sin-offering and the trespass-offering. And at the side without, at the ascent to the entry of the north gate, were two tables; and on the other side, which was at the porch of the gate, were two tables: four tables on this side, and four tables on that side, by the side of the gate, -- eight tables, whereon they slew [the sacrifice], -- and at the ascent, four tables of hewn stone, of a cubit and a half long, and a cubit and a half broad, and one cubit high; whereon also they laid the instruments with which they slew the burnt-offering and the sacrifice. And the double hooks of a hand breadth were fastened round about within; and upon the tables [they put] the flesh of the offering. And outside the inner gate were two cells in the inner court, one at the side of the north gate, and its front towards the south; the other was at the side of the south gate, the front towards the north. And he said unto me, This cell whose front is towards the south is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the house. And the cell whose front is toward the north is for the priests, the keepers of the charge of the altar. These are the sons of Zadok, those who, from among the sons of Levi, approach unto Jehovah to minister unto him. And he measured the court, the length a hundred cubits, and the breadth a hundred cubits, four square: and the altar was before the house. And he brought me to the porch of the house; and he measured the post of the porch, five cubits on this side, and five cubits on that side; and the breadth of the gate, three cubits on this side, and three cubits on that side. The length of the porch was twenty cubits, and the breadth eleven cubits, even by the steps whereby they went up to it; and there were pillars by the posts, one on this side, and one on that side.
But when they came up out of the water [the] Spirit of [the] Lord caught away Philip, and the eunuch saw him no longer, for he went on his way rejoicing.
I know a man in Christ, fourteen years ago, (whether in [the] body I know not, or out of the body I know not, God knows;) such [a one] caught up to [the] third heaven. And I know such a man, (whether in [the] body or out of the body I know not, God knows;) that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable things said which it is not allowed to man to utter.
Immediately I became in [the] Spirit; and behold, a throne stood in the heaven, and upon the throne one sitting,
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
and said to him, Behold now, there are with thy servants fifty valiant men; let them go, we pray thee, and seek thy master, lest perhaps the Spirit of Jehovah have taken him up, and cast him upon some mountain, or into some ravine. And he said, Ye shall not send.
And the Spirit lifted me up, and took me away; and I went in bitterness, in the heat of my spirit, and the hand of Jehovah was strong upon me.
And he stretched forth the form of a hand, and took me by a lock of my head; and the Spirit lifted me up between the earth and the heavens, and brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the entry of the inner gate that looketh toward the north, where was the seat of the image of jealousy, which provoketh to jealousy.
And the Spirit lifted me up, and brought me unto the east gate of Jehovah's house, which looketh eastward; and behold, at the door of the gate were five and twenty men; and I saw in the midst of them Jaazaniah the son of Azzur, and Pelatiah the son of Benaiah, princes of the people.
And the five thousand that are left in the breadth over against the five and twenty thousand, shall be a common [place] for the city, for dwellings and for suburbs: and the city shall be in the midst of it. And these shall be the measures thereof: the north side four thousand and five hundred [cubits], and the south side four thousand and five hundred, and the east side four thousand and five hundred, and the west side four thousand and five hundred. And the suburbs of the city shall be toward the north two hundred and fifty [cubits], and toward the south two hundred and fifty, and toward the east two hundred and fifty, and toward the west two hundred and fifty. And the residue in length, alongside the holy heave-offering, shall be ten thousand eastward and ten thousand westward: it shall be alongside the holy heave-offering; and the increase thereof shall be for the support of them that serve the city. And they that serve the city shall serve it out of all the tribes of Israel. The whole heave-offering shall be five and twenty thousand by five and twenty thousand; ye shall offer the holy heave-offering foursquare with the possession of the city. And the rest shall be for the prince, on the one side and on the other of the holy heave-offering and of the possession of the city, in front of the five and twenty thousand of the heave-offering toward the east border, and westward in front of the five and twenty thousand toward the west border, answering to the [other] portions: it shall be for the prince; and the holy heave-offering and the sanctuary of the house shall be in the midst of it. And from the possession of the Levites and from the possession of the city, being in the midst of that which shall be the prince's, between the border of Judah and the border of Benjamin, shall be for the prince.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible » Commentary on Revelation 21
Commentary on Revelation 21 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
CHAPTER 21
Re 21:1-27. The New Heaven and Earth: New Jerusalem Out of Heaven.
The remaining two chapters describe the eternal and consummated kingdom of God and the saints on the new earth. As the world of nations is to be pervaded by divine influence in the millennium, so the world of nature shall be, not annihilated, but transfigured universally in the eternal state which follows it. The earth was cursed for man's sake; but is redeemed by the second Adam. Now is the Church; in the millennium shall be the kingdom; and after that shall be the new world wherein God shall be all in all. The "day of the Lord" and the conflagration of the earth are in 2Pe 3:10, 11 spoken of as if connected together, from which many argue against a millennial interval between His coming and the general conflagration of the old earth, preparatory to the new; but "day" is used often of a whole period comprising events intimately connected together, as are the Lord's second advent, the millennium, and the general conflagration and judgment. Compare Ge 2:4 as to the wide use of "day." Man's soul is redeemed by regeneration through the Holy Spirit now; man's body shall be redeemed at the resurrection; man's dwelling-place, His inheritance, the earth, shall be redeemed perfectly at the creation of the new heaven and earth, which shall exceed in glory the first Paradise, as much as the second Adam exceeds in glory the first Adam before the fall, and as man regenerated in body and soul shall exceed man as he was at creation.
1. the first—that is the former.
passed away—Greek, in A and B is "were departed" (Greek, "apeelthon," not as in English Version, "pareelthe").
was—Greek, "is," which graphically sets the thing before our eyes as present.
no more sea—The sea is the type of perpetual unrest. Hence our Lord rebukes it as an unruly hostile troubler of His people. It symbolized the political tumults out of which "the beast" arose, Re 13:1. As the physical corresponds to the spiritual and moral world, so the absence of sea, after the metamorphosis of the earth by fire, answers to the unruffled state of solid peace which shall then prevail. The sea, though severing lands from one another, is now, by God's eliciting of good from evil, made the medium of communication between countries through navigation. Then man shall possess inherent powers which shall make the sea no longer necessary, but an element which would detract from a perfect state. A "river" and "water" are spoken of in Re 22:1, 2, probably literal (that is, with such changes of the natural properties of water, as correspond analogically to man's own transfigured body), as well as symbolical. The sea was once the element of the world's destruction, and is still the source of death to thousands, whence after the millennium, at the general judgment, it is specially said, "The sea gave up the dead … in it." Then it shall cease to destroy, or disturb, being removed altogether on account of its past destructions.
2. And I John—"John" is omitted in A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Andreas; also the "I" in the Greek of these authorities is not emphatic. The insertion of "I John" in the Greek would somewhat interfere with the close connection which subsists between "the new heaven and earth," Re 21:1, and the "new Jerusalem" in this verse.
Jerusalem … out of heaven—(Re 3:12; Ga 4:26, "Jerusalem which is above"; Heb 11:10; 12:22; 13:14). The descent of the new Jerusalem out of heaven is plainly distinct from the earthly Jerusalem in which Israel in the flesh shall dwell during the millennium, and follows on the creation of the new heaven and earth. John in his Gospel always writes [Greek] Hierosoluma of the old city; in the Apocalypse always Hierousaleem of the heavenly city (Re 3:12). Hierousaleem is a Hebrew name, the original and holy appellation. Hierosoluma is the common Greek term, used in a political sense. Paul observes the same distinction when refuting Judaism (Ga 4:26; compare Ga 1:17, 18; 2:1; Heb 12:22), though not so in the Epistles to Romans and Corinthians [Bengel].
bride—made up of the blessed citizens of "the holy city." There is no longer merely a Paradise as in Eden (though there is that also, Re 2:7), no longer a mere garden, but now the city of God on earth, costlier, statelier, and more glorious, but at the same time the result of labor and pains such as had not to be expended by man in dressing the primitive garden of Eden. "The lively stones" were severally in time laboriously chiselled into shape, after the pattern of "the Chief corner-stone," to prepare them for the place which they shall everlastingly fill in the heavenly Jerusalem.
3. out of heaven—so Andreas. But A and Vulgate read, "out of the throne."
the tabernacle—alluding to the tabernacle of God in the wilderness (wherein many signs of His presence were given): of which this is the antitype, having previously been in heaven: Re 11:19; 15:5, "the temple of the tabernacle of the testimony in heaven"; also Re 13:6. Compare the contrast in Heb 9:23, 14, between "the patterns" and "the heavenly things themselves," between "the figures" and "the true." The earnest of the true and heavenly tabernacle was afforded in the Jerusalem temple described in Eze 40:1-42:20, as about to be, namely, during the millennium.
dwell with them—literally, "tabernacle with them"; the same Greek word as is used of the divine Son "tabernacling among us." Then He was in the weakness of the flesh: but at the new creation of heaven and earth He shall tabernacle among us in the glory of His manifested Godhead (Re 22:4).
they—in Greek emphatic, "they" (in particular).
his people—Greek, "His peoples": "the nations of the saved" being all peculiarly His, as Israel was designed to be. So A reads. But B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, "His people": singular.
God himself … with them—realizing fully His name Immanuel.
4. all tears—Greek, "every tear."
no more death—Greek, "death shall be no more." Therefore it is not the millennium, for in the latter there is death (Isa 65:20; 1Co 15:26, 54, "the last enemy … destroyed is death," Re 20:14, after the millennium).
sorrow—Greek, "mourning."
passed away—Greek, "departed," as in Re 21:1.
5. sat—Greek, "sitteth."
all things new—not recent, but changed from the old (Greek, "kaina," not "nea"). An earnest of this regeneration and transfiguration of nature is given already in the regenerate soul.
unto me—so Coptic and Andreas. But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac omit.
true and faithful—so Andreas. But A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic transpose, "faithful and true" (literally, "genuine").
6. It is done—the same Greek as in Re 16:17. "It is come to pass." So Vulgate reads with English Version. But A reads, "They ('these words,' Re 21:5) are come to pass." All is as sure as if it actually had been fulfilled for it rests on the word of the unchanging God. When the consummation shall be, God shall rejoice over the work of His own hands, as at the completion of the first creation God saw everything that He had made, and behold it was very good (Ge 1:31).
Alpha … Omega—Greek in A and B, "the Alpha … the Omega" (Re 1:18).
give unto … athirst … water of life—(Re 22:17; Isa 12:3; 55:1; Joh 4:13, 14; 7:37, 38). This is added lest any should despair of attaining to this exceeding weight of glory. In our present state we may drink of the stream, then we shall drink at the Fountain.
freely—Greek, "gratuitously": the same Greek as is translated, "(They hated Me) without a cause," Joh 15:25. As gratuitous as was man's hatred of God, so gratuitous is God's love to man: there was every cause in Christ why man should love Him, yet man hated Him; there was every cause in man why (humanly speaking) God should have hated man, yet God loved man: the very reverse of what might be expected took place in both cases. Even in heaven our drinking at the Fountain shall be God's gratuitous gift.
7. He that overcometh—another aspect of the believer's life: a conflict with sin, Satan, and the world is needed. Thirsting for salvation is the first beginning of, and continues for ever (in the sense of an appetite and relish for divine joys) a characteristic of the believer. In a different sense, the believer "shall never thirst."
inherit all things—A, B, Vulgate, and Cyprian read, "these things," namely, the blessings described in this whole passage. With "all things," compare 1Co 3:21-23.
I will be his God—Greek, "I will be to him a God," that is, all that is implied of blessing in the name "God."
he shall be my son—"He" is emphatic: He in particular and in a peculiar sense, above others: Greek, "shall be to me a son," in fullest realization of the promise made in type to Solomon, son of David, and antitypically to the divine Son of David.
8. the fearful—Greek, "the cowardly," who do not quit themselves like men so as to "overcome" in the good fight; who have the spirit of slavish "fear," not love, towards God; and who through fear of man are not bold for God, or "draw back." Compare Re 21:27; 22:15.
unbelieving—Greek, "faithless."
abominable—who have drank of the harlot's "cup of abominations."
sorcerers—one of the characteristics of Antichrist's time.
all liars—Greek, "all the liars": or else "all who are liars"; compare 1Ti 4:1, 2, where similarly lying and dealings with spirits and demons, are joined together as features of "the latter times."
second death—Re 20:14: "everlasting destruction," 2Th 1:9; Mr 9:44, 46, 48, "Where THEIR worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched."
9. The same angel who had shown John Babylon the harlot, is appropriately employed to show him in contrast new Jerusalem, the Bride (Re 17:1-5). The angel so employed is the one that had the last seven plagues, to show that the ultimate blessedness of the Church is one end of the divine judgments on her foes.
unto me—A, B, and Vulgate omit.
the Lamb's wife—in contrast to her who sat on many waters (Re 17:1), (that is, intrigued with many peoples and nations of the world, instead of giving her undivided affections, as the Bride does, to the Lamb.
10. The words correspond to Re 17:3, to heighten the contrast of the bride and harlot.
mountain—Compare Eze 40:2, where a similar vision is given from a high mountain.
that great—omitted in A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, and Cyprian. Translate then, "the holy city Jerusalem."
descending—Even in the millennium the earth will not be a suitable abode for transfigured saints, who therefore shall then reign in heaven over the earth. But after the renewal of the earth at the close of the millennium and judgment, they shall descend from heaven to dwell on an earth assimilated to heaven itself. "From God" implies that "we (the city) are God's workmanship."
11. Having the glory of God—not merely the Shekinah-cloud, but God Himself as her glory dwelling in the midst of her. Compare the type, the earthly Jerusalem in the millennium (Zec 2:5; compare Re 21:23, below).
her light—Greek, "light-giver": properly applied to the heavenly luminaries which diffuse light. Compare Note, see on Php 2:15, the only other passage where it occurs. The "and" before "her light' is omitted in A, B, and Vulgate.
even like—Greek, "as it were."
jasper—representing watery crystalline brightness.
12. And—A and B omit. Eze 48:30-35, has a similar description, which implies that the millennial Jerusalem shall have its exact antitype in the heavenly Jerusalem which shall descend on the finally regenerated earth.
wall great and high—setting forth the security of the Church. Also, the exclusion of the ungodly.
twelve angels—guards of the twelve gates: an additional emblem of perfect security, while the gates being never shut (Re 21:25) imply perfect liberty and peace. Also, angels shall be the brethren of the heavenly citizens.
names of … twelve tribes—The inscription of the names on the gates implies that none but the spiritual Israel, God's elect, shall enter the heavenly city. As the millennium wherein literal Israel in the flesh shall be the mother Church, is the antitype to the Old Testament earthly theocracy in the Holy Land, so the heavenly new Jerusalem is the consummation antitypical to the spiritual Israel, the elect Church of Jews and Gentiles being now gathered out: as the spiritual Israel now is an advance upon the previous literal and carnal Israel, so the heavenly Jerusalem shall be much in advance of the millennial Jerusalem.
13. On the north … on the south—A, B, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic read, "And on the north and on the south." In Ezekiel, Joseph, Benjamin, Dan (for which Manasseh is substituted in Re 7:6), are on the east (Eze 48:32); Reuben, Judah, Levi, are on the north (Eze 48:31); Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, on the south (Eze 48:33); Gad, Asher, Naphtali, on the west (Eze 48:34). In Numbers, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun are on the east (Nu 2:3, 5, 7). Reuben, Simeon, Gad, on the south (Nu 2:10, 12, 14). Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, on the west (Nu 2:18, 20, 22). Dan, Asher, Naphtali, on the north (Nu 2:25, 27, 29).
14. twelve foundations—Joshua, the type of Jesus, chose twelve men out of the people, to carry twelve stones over the Jordan with them, as Jesus chose twelve apostles to be the twelve foundations of the heavenly city, of which He is Himself the Chief corner-stone. Peter is not the only apostolic rock on whose preaching Christ builds His Church. Christ Himself is the true foundation: the twelve are foundations only in regard to their apostolic testimony concerning Him. Though Paul was an apostle besides the twelve, yet the mystical number is retained, twelve representing the Church, namely thirty the divine number, multiplied by four, the world number.
in them the names, &c.—As architects often have their names inscribed on their great works, so the names of the apostles shall be held in everlasting remembrance. Vulgate reads, "in them." But A, B, Syriac, Coptic, and Andreas read, "upon them." These authorities also insert "twelve" before "names."
15. had a golden reed—so Coptic. But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "had (as) a measure, a golden reed." In Re 11:2 the non-measuring of the outer courts of the temple implied its being given up to secular and heathen desecration. So here, on the contrary, the city being measured implies the entire consecration of every part, all things being brought up to the most exact standard of God's holy requirements, and also God's accurate guardianship henceforth of even the most minute parts of His holy city from all evil.
16. twelve thousand furlongs—literally, "to twelve thousand stadii": one thousand furlongs being the space between the several twelve gates. Bengel makes the length of each side of the city to be twelve thousand stadii. The stupendous height, length, and breadth being exactly alike, imply its faultless symmetry, transcending in glory all our most glowing conceptions.
17. hundred … forty … four cubits—twelve times twelve: the Church-number squared. The wall is far beneath the height of the city.
measure of a man, that is, of the angel—The ordinary measure used by men is the measure here used by the angel, distinct from "the measure of the sanctuary." Men shall then be equal to the angels.
18. the building—"the structure" [Tregelles], Greek, "endomeesis."
gold, like … clear glass—Ideal gold, transparent as no gold here is [Alford]. Excellencies will be combined in the heavenly city which now seem incompatible.
19. And—so Syriac, Coptic, and Andreas. But A, B, and Vulgate omit. Compare Re 21:14 with this verse; also Isa 54:11.
all manner of precious stones—Contrast Re 18:12 as to the harlot, Babylon. These precious stones constituted the "foundations."
chalcedony—agate from Chalcedon: semi-opaque, sky-blue, with stripes of other colors [Alford].
20. sardonyx—a gem having the redness of the cornelian, and the whiteness of the onyx.
sardius—(See on Re 4:3).
chrysolite—described by Pliny as transparent and of a golden brightness, like our topaz: different from our pale green crystallized chrysolite.
beryl—of a sea-green color.
topaz—Pliny [37.32], makes it green and transparent, like our chrysolite.
chrysoprasus—somewhat pale, and having the purple color of the amethyst [Pliny, 37, 20, 21].
jacinth—The flashing violet brightness in the amethyst is diluted in the jacinth [Pliny, 37.41].
21. every several—Greek, "each one severally."
22. no temple … God … the temple—As God now dwells in the spiritual Church, His "temple" (Greek, "naos," "shrine"; 1Co 3:17; 6:19), so the Church when perfected shall dwell in Him as her "temple" (naos: the same Greek). As the Church was "His sanctuary," so He is to be their sanctuary. Means of grace shall cease when the end of grace is come. Church ordinances shall give place to the God of ordinances. Uninterrupted, immediate, direct, communion with Him and the Lamb (compare Joh 4:23), shall supersede intervening ordinances.
23. in it—so Vulgate. But A, B, and Andreas read, "(shine) on it," or literally, "for her."
the light—Greek, "the lamp" (Isa 60:19, 20). The direct light of God and the Lamb shall make the saints independent of God's creatures, the sun and moon, for light.
24. of them which are saved … in—A, B, Vulgate, Coptic, and Andreas read "(the nations shall walk) by means of her light": omitting "of them which are saved." Her brightness shall supply them with light.
the kings of the earth—who once had regard only to their glory, having been converted, now in the new Jerusalem do bring their glory into it, to lay it down at the feet of their God and Lord.
and honour—so B, Vulgate, and Syriac. But A omits the clause.
25. not be shut … by day—therefore shall never be shut: for it shall always be day. Gates are usually shut by night: but in it shall be no night. There shall be continual free ingress into it, so as that all which is blessed and glorious may continually be brought into it. So in the millennial type.
26. All that was truly glorious and excellent in the earth and its converted nations shall be gathered into it; and while all shall form one Bride, there shall be various orders among the redeemed, analogous to the divisions of nations on earth constituting the one great human family, and to the various orders of angels.
27. anything that defileth—Greek, "koinoun." A and B read [koinon,] "anything unclean."
in the Lamb's book of life—(See on Re 20:12; Re 20:15). As all the filth of the old Jerusalem was carried outside the walls and burnt there, so nothing defiled shall enter the heavenly city, but be burnt outside (compare Re 22:15). It is striking that the apostle of love, who shows us the glories of the heavenly city, is he also who speaks most plainly of the terrors of hell. On Re 21:26, 27, Alford writes a Note, rash in speculation, about the heathen nations, above what is written, and not at all required by the sacred text: compare Note, see on Re 21:26.