Revelation 21:13

On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. ON THE NORTH ... ON THE SOUTH. 'Aleph (') A B, Vulgate, Syriac, Coptic, read, 'and on the north and on the south.' In , Joseph, Benjamin, Dan (for which Manasseh is substituted in ), are on the east; Reuben, Judah, Levi, on the north; Simeon, Issachar, Zebulun, on the south; Gad, Asher, Naphtali, on the west. In Numbers 2:1, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, are on the east; Reuben, Simeon, Gad, on the south; Ephraim, Manasseh, Benjamin, on the west: Dan, Asher, Naphtali, on the north....

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 21:13. _ON THE EAST THREE GATES_] The city is here represented as standing to the four cardinal points of heaven, and presenting one side to each of these points....

ON THE EAST THREE GATES ... - The city was square Revelation 21:16, and the same number of gates is assigned to each quarter. There does not appear to be any special significancy in this fact, unless it be to denote that there is access to this city from all quarters of the world, and that they who dwell there will have come from each of the great divisions of the earth - that is, from every land,...

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.;...

ON THE EAST THREE GATES,.... On which were written the names of Joseph, Benjamin, and Dan: ON THE NORTH THREE GATES; on which were written the names of Reuben, Judah, and Levi: ON THE SOUTH THREE GATES; on which were written the names of Simeon, Issachar, and Zabulon: AND ON THE WEST THREE GATES; on which were written the names of Gad, Asher, and Naphtali; see Ezekiel 48:31. This denotes the collection of the saints from all parts of the world, who shall come from east, west, north, and south, and sit down in the kingdom of God; and therefore here are gates at every point to enter in at; see Isaiah 43:5....

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

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

REVELATION 21:1 TO REVELATION 22:5. THE VISION OF THE NEW JERUSALEM. The doctrine of the new heaven and the new earth goes back to Isaiah 65:17, and is derived from the belief that the present world was so corrupt that it could not possibly be the seat of the Messianic kingdom, at any rate in its present condition. The idea was developed in the apocalyptic literature, especially in Ethiopic Enoch, the Apocalypse of Baruch,, 4 Ezra. Some expositors hold that the New Jerusalem was established with the foundation of the Christian religion, and that the history of the Church is the history of the building of the city. But such an interpretation is mere allegorising. The writer of Rev. indicates in the clearest possib

THE NEW CREATION (Revelation 21:1) _ 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had gone; and the sea was no more._ John has seen the doom of the wicked, and now he sees the bliss of the blessed. The dream of a new heaven and a new earth was deep in Jewish thought. "Behold," said God to Isaiah, "I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former things shall not be remembered, or come into mind" (Isaiah 65:17). Isaiah speaks of the new heaven and the new earth which God will make, in which life will be one continual act of worship (Isaiah 66:22). This idea is equally strong between the Testaments. It is God's promise: "I will transform the heav