The Materials of the City

Rev 21:18-21

"The wall of it was jasper." From Revelation 4: 3 we learn that jasper is a figure of the Divine glory of Christ. It is His glory that excludes all evil from the City. With a deeper sense of the glory of the One who dwells in the Church, we should realize how impossible to connect evil with His Name. The glory secures the exclusion of all that defiles.

"The City was pure gold* like unto clear glass," setting forth the absolute righteousness and holiness that characterizes the City. We know the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness, but there is now often much about believers that speaks of the "old man" and his ways. In every child of God there is the real gold, but with some alloy of baser metal. In the City the dross will be gone. There the gold is pure without alloy. There too all will be transparent like clear glass. There will be no obscurity — no hidden motives.

{*Just as gold speaks of divine righteousness, pure gold seems to carry us a step further to include the glory and deity of Christ (Ed.).}

The foundations were "garnished with all manner of precious stones." There is variety in the stones, but all are precious. The stones are not a source of light, but they reflect and refract light and thus exhibit the beautiful colours of light. Christ is the light; in Him all excellencies are combined in perfection to form the light. In His people every excellency is set forth in detail to exhibit, as it were, the colours of the light.

It is not without significance that the description of the gates follows the foundations. If the commencement of a city is set forth in laying the foundations, the completion of the city is seen in setting up the gates (Joshua 6: 26). In this city there is no diminution in perfection: the gates are as perfect as the foundations. Not only are the foundations adorned with precious stones, but every gate is a precious stone. The one pearl of which each gate is formed may set forth the preciousness of the Church to Christ.

This we may gather from Matthew 13: 46 where the Church is alluded to under the figure of "one pearl of great price." From every point of approach the City will exhibit the preciousness of the Church to Christ. It is true that everything in the City speaks of the preciousness of Christ. Today He is precious to those who believe (1 Peter 2: 7). In a day to come, all the world will see in the Church how precious Christ is to God, but they will also see how precious the Church is to Christ. Then will be fulfilled the Lord's own words to Philadelphia, "I will make them to come and worship before thy feet and to know that I have loved thee."

The street of the City was pure Gold. The street of an earthly city is the place of public resort where men come in contact with one another, where we have to be on our guard, speak with reserve and walk as it were with girded loins for fear of defilement. In the heavenly City there will be no need for the girded loin. There will be nothing to defile: the street is pure gold. There will be no need for reserve, for there will be nothing to hide from one another. All will be transparent.

Things That Are Not in the City (Rev 21:22-27)

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