Revelation 21:12

And 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: AND. 'Aleph (') A B omit. , similarly, which implies that the millennial Jerusalem shall have its antitype in the heavenly Jerusalem descending on the finally-regenerated earth. WALL GREAT AND HIGH - 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 (), imply perfect liberty and peace. Also, angels shall be brethren of the heavenly citizens. Names of the twelve tribes....

9-21 God has various employments for his holy angels. Sometimes they sound the trumpet of Divine Providence, and warn a careless world; sometimes they discover things of a heavenly nature of the heirs of salvation. Those who would have clear views of heaven, must get as near to heaven as they can, on the mount of meditation and faith. The subject of the vision is the church of God in a perfect, triumphant state, shining in its lustre; glorious in relation to Christ; which shows that the happiness of heaven consists in intercourse with God, and in conformity to him. The change of emblems from a bride to a city, shows that we are only to take general ideas from this description. The wall is for security. Heaven is a safe state; those who are there, are separated and secured from all evils and enemies. This city is vast; here is room for all the people of God. The foundation of the wall; t...

Verse Revelation 21:12. _HAD A WALL GREAT AND HIGH_] An almighty defense. _TWELVE GATES_] A gate for every tribe of Israel, in the vicinity of which gate that tribe dwelt; so that in coming in and going out they did not mix with each other. This description of the city is partly taken from Ezekiel 48:30-26. In _Synopsis Sohar_, p. 115, n. 27, it is said: "In the palace of the world to come there are twelve gates, each of which is inscribed with one of the twelve tribes, as that of Reuben, of Simeon, c.: he, therefore, who is of the tribe of Reuben is received into none of the twelve gates but his own and so of the rest....

AND HAD A WALL GREAT AND HIGH - Ancient cities were always surrounded with walls for protection, and John represents this as enclosed in the usual manner. The word “great” means that it was thick and strong. Its height also is particularly noticed, for it was unusual. See Revelation 21:16. AND HAD TWELVE GATES - Three on each side. The number of the gates correspond to the number of the tribes of the children of Israel, and to the number of the apostles. The idea seems to be that there would be ample opportunity of access and egress. AND AT THE GATES TWELVE ANGELS - Stationed there as guards to the New Jerusalem. Their business seems to have been to watch the gates that nothing improper should enter; that the great enemy should not make an insidious approach to this c

EXPOSITION REVELATION 21:1 AND I SAW. The usual introduction to a new vision (cf. Revelation 20:11, etc.). Having described the origin and progress of evil in the world, the final overthrow of Satan and his adherents, and the judgment when every man is rewarded according to his works, the seer now completes the whole by portraying the eternal bliss of the redeemed in heaven (cf. on Revelation 20:10). The description is based upon Isaiah 60:1. and Ezekiel 40:1., et seq.;...

AND HAD A WALL GREAT AND HIGH,.... Not the Spirit of God, who separates, sanctifies, and preserves the saints, as Cocceius thinks, for this account respects not the church militant; nor the eternal decree of God, the unpassable gulf between heaven and hell, which everlastingly fixes the state of men; for this regards not the ultimate state of happiness: many interpreters understand it of the doctrine of the Gospel, which, as it secures the church now from heretics, and is like a wall very strong and well built, is durable and impregnable; and may be called "great", because of the great Author of it, and the great things contained in it; and "high", since it is not to be reached by carnal minds; so none but such who have embraced it shall enter into the new Jerusalem; for all liars, and forgers of doctrinal lies, and who embrace the antichristian lies, shall be without. Though rather the...

Revelation 21:1. _And 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._ Astronomers tell us that, within living memory, several starry worlds have burnt out, and vanished out of sight. The apostle Peter has told us that this world also will be destroyed by fire, but it will afterwards be renewed, and a new sky and a new earth will appear after the first firmament and the first earth shall have become extinct. God means that this planet should continue to exist after it has had a new creation, and renewed its youth. The regeneration of his people, their new birth, is a foretaste of what is yet to happen to this whole world of ours. We have the first-fruits of the Spirit, and we groan within ourselves while we wait for the fullness of that new creation. «The first heaven and the first earth were passed awa

ANGELS (_ See Scofield) - (Hebrews 1:4). _...

REVELATION 21:12 @ta. ovno,mata# {C} Whether scribes considered that the words ta. ovno,mata were superfluous in the context, and therefore omitted them (a P 051 _al_), or that they were needed for the sense, and therefore added them (A 1611 1841 1854 _al_), it is difficult to decide; consequently, the Committee preferred to retain the words, but to enclose them within square brackets....

CHAPTER 21 Revelation 21:1 . And now the eternal state comes into view. “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away and the sea is no more.” This is the revelation concerning the final and eternal state of the earth. “Thou hast established the earth and it abideth” (Psalms 119:90); “But the earth abideth forever” (Ecclesiastes 1:4). These divine statements are now fulfilled. Many Christians have a very vague conception of the eternal state of the earth and the abode of the redeemed. They think of it as a spiritual state destitute of any locality. But it is not so. The earth and the heaven abide as definite places throughout all eternity. Wha