Revelation 21King James Version
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away. The holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven. 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. Behold, I make all things new. The city has twelve gates, twelve foundations. The street of the city is pure gold. There is no temple, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
A new heaven and new earth appear; the first have passed away and the sea is no more. The holy city, new Jerusalem, descends from heaven like a bride prepared for her husband. A voice declares God will dwell with humanity and wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no death, mourning, crying, or pain. The city is immense and perfect, built of jasper and pure gold, with twelve gates named for Israel's tribes and twelve foundations named for the apostles. No temple is in it: the Lord God and the Lamb are the temple. No sun or moon: God's glory is its light. Its gates are never shut. Nothing unclean enters.
The end of Revelation is not the destruction of the world but its transformation and the arrival of a city where God lives among people with no barrier between them.
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." Not comfort in the midst of grief but the abolition of the conditions that produce it.
The jasper walls, pearl gates, gold streets so pure they are transparent: the description is sensory and extravagant, accumulating detail upon detail to suggest a beauty beyond ordinary categories. The nations walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring their glory into it. The gates are never closed because there is no night, no threat, no need for defense. It is the first time in Scripture a city has no reason to keep its gates shut.
John, witnessing the descent of the city; the voice from the throne announcing the new dwelling; the one on the throne who speaks directly, saying Behold, I make all things new; an angel with a gold measuring reed who shows John the city's architecture; the nations and kings who bring their glory into the city.
The new Jerusalem descends from heaven rather than being built up from earth, which reverses the logic of Babel. God moves toward humanity rather than humanity climbing toward God. The city's dimensions, 12,000 furlongs each way as a perfect cube, echo the Holy of Holies in Solomon's temple, which was a perfect cube. The whole city has become the innermost sanctuary.
For when you need to know that the losses are not the final word. Every tear in this chapter has a face behind it. The abolition of sorrow is not vague comfort but a specific reversal of everything that has caused grief throughout all of human history, and the one doing it is personal enough to wipe the tears rather than simply declare them gone.
1And 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.
2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3And 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.
4And 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.
5And 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.
6And 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.
7He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.
8But 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.
9And 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.
10And 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,
11Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
12And 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:
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 in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
16And 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.
17And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
18And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
19And 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;
20The 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.
21And 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.
22And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
23And 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.
24And 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.
25And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
26And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
27And 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.