Revelation 21:14

And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. TWELVE FOUNDATIONS. Joshua, the type of Jesus, chose twelve of the people to carry stones over Jordan, as Jesus chose twelve apostles to be foundations of the heavenly city, Himself being the chief corner-stone. Peter is not the only apostolic rock on whose preaching Christ builds His Church. Christ is the true Foundation: the twelve are foundations only in their apostolic testimony concerning Him. Though Paul was an apostle, besides the twelve yet the mystical twelve representing the Church is retained-namely, three, the divine, multiplied by four, the world-number. IN THEM (SO VULGATE) THE NAMES ... As architects inscribe their names on their great works, so the apostles shall be held in everlasting remembrance. 'Aleph (') A B, Syriac, Coptic, Andreas, read, 'upon...

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 21:14. _THE WALL-HAD TWELVE FOUNDATIONS_] Probably twelve stones, one of which served for a _foundation_ or _threshold_ to each gate; and on these were inscribed the names of the twelve apostles, to intimate that it was by the _doctrine of the apostles_ that souls enter into the Church, and thence into the New Jerusalem....

AND THE WALL OF THE CITY HAD TWELVE FOUNDATIONS - It is not said whether these foundations were twelve rows of stones placed one above another under the city, and extending round it, or whether they were twelve stones placed at intervals. The former would seem to be the most probable, as the latter would indicate comparative feebleness and liability to fall. Compare the notes on Revelation 21:19. AND IN THEM - In the foundation of stones. That is, the names of the apostles were cut or carved in them so as to be conspicuous. THE NAMES OF THE TWELVE APOSTLES OF THE LAMB - Of the Lamb of God; the Messiah. For an illustration of this passage, see the notes on Ephesians 2:20....

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 THE WALL OF THE CITY HAD TWELVE FOUNDATIONS,.... Christ is the one and only foundation of his church and people, of the covenant of grace, and of salvation; and of faith, hope, peace, and joy, and of eternal happiness, and so of this glorious state of the church; he will be the light and temple of it, the glory and safety of it; he will be all in all in it; but because he has been ministerially laid as the foundation, by the twelve apostles, for men to build their present and future happiness upon, therefore the foundations of the wall of salvation are said to be twelve; see Ephesians 2:20. Moreover, this may denote the firm and immovable state of the church at this time, it being a city which has foundations, or is well founded, Hebrews 11:10 with which compare...

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