Revelation 21:21
And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, with each gate consisting of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, as clear as glass.
And the twelve gates
The number twelve is significant throughout Scripture, often symbolizing completeness or divine authority. In the context of Revelation, the twelve gates represent the twelve tribes of Israel, indicating the fulfillment of God's promises to His people. The gates serve as entry points into the New Jerusalem, symbolizing access to God's eternal kingdom. Historically, gates were places of authority and decision-making in ancient cities, underscoring the divine governance and order in the heavenly city.

were twelve pearls
Pearls in ancient times were considered extremely valuable and rare, often associated with beauty and purity. The imagery of each gate being a single pearl emphasizes the immense value and beauty of the New Jerusalem. In a spiritual sense, pearls can symbolize wisdom and the kingdom of heaven, as seen in Jesus' parable of the pearl of great price (Matthew 13:45-46). This highlights the preciousness of entering into God's eternal presence.

each gate made of a single pearl
The idea of each gate being made from a single pearl is both astonishing and symbolic. It suggests the perfection and unity of God's creation. In the ancient world, pearls were formed through a process of irritation and transformation, which can be seen as a metaphor for the trials and tribulations that lead to spiritual maturity and the ultimate beauty of God's kingdom.

The great street of the city
The street, or "plateia" in Greek, refers to the main thoroughfare of the city, symbolizing the centrality and accessibility of God's presence. Streets in ancient cities were places of commerce, communication, and community life. In the New Jerusalem, the great street signifies the life and vibrancy of the eternal city, where God's people will dwell in perfect harmony and fellowship.

was of pure gold
Gold has long been a symbol of wealth, purity, and divine glory. The use of pure gold for the street indicates the unparalleled splendor and holiness of the New Jerusalem. In biblical times, gold was used in the construction of the tabernacle and temple, signifying God's presence and majesty. Here, it underscores the divine nature of the heavenly city.

as clear as glass
The description of gold being as clear as glass suggests a level of purity and transparency beyond earthly experience. This imagery conveys the idea of a place where nothing is hidden, and everything is illuminated by God's glory. In a spiritual sense, it represents the clarity and truth of God's kingdom, where believers will see and know God fully, as described in 1 Corinthians 13:12. The transparency also signifies the absence of sin and the perfect holiness of the New Jerusalem.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The New Jerusalem
This is the heavenly city described in Revelation 21, representing the eternal dwelling place of God with His people. It is depicted with magnificent and symbolic imagery, emphasizing its divine origin and perfection.

2. The Twelve Gates
These gates symbolize the entry points into the New Jerusalem. Each gate is made of a single pearl, signifying beauty, value, and the unity of God's people.

3. The Great Street
The street of the city is described as being made of pure gold, as clear as glass, symbolizing purity, holiness, and the transparent nature of God's kingdom.
Teaching Points
The Value of the Kingdom
The imagery of pearls and gold in the New Jerusalem highlights the incomparable value of God's kingdom. Believers are encouraged to prioritize their relationship with God above all earthly treasures.

Unity and Perfection
The single pearl for each gate symbolizes unity and perfection in God's kingdom. Christians are called to strive for unity within the body of Christ, reflecting the oneness of the New Jerusalem.

Purity and Holiness
The pure gold, clear as glass, represents the holiness and purity required to dwell in God's presence. Believers are reminded to pursue holiness in their daily lives, reflecting the character of God.

Eternal Worship
The gates and streets of the New Jerusalem point to a future of eternal worship and communion with God. Christians are encouraged to live lives of worship now, preparing for the eternal worship in heaven.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:21 inspire you to value your relationship with God above earthly possessions?

2. In what ways can the unity symbolized by the single pearl gates be reflected in your local church community?

3. How does the imagery of pure gold, clear as glass, challenge you to pursue holiness in your personal life?

4. What practical steps can you take to prioritize worship in your daily routine, in anticipation of eternal worship in the New Jerusalem?

5. How do the connections to other scriptures, such as the parable of the pearl of great price, deepen your understanding of the value of God's kingdom?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Matthew 13:45-46
The parable of the pearl of great price can be connected to the imagery of the gates made of pearls, emphasizing the immense value of the kingdom of heaven.

Isaiah 60:18
This verse speaks of gates being called Praise, which can be related to the gates of the New Jerusalem, symbolizing the eternal praise and worship in God's presence.

1 Corinthians 3:12-13
The imagery of gold is used to describe the quality of one's work in Christ, which will be tested by fire, connecting to the purity and value of the street of gold in the New Jerusalem.
Gates of PearlC. A. Dickinson, M. A.Revelation 21:21
The Gates of PearlH. Macmillan, D. D.Revelation 21:21
The Spiritual Commonwealth of the GoodD. Thomas Revelation 21:9-21
The New JerusalemR. Green Revelation 21:9-27
People
John
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Broad-place, Clear, Consisting, Door, Doors, Gate, Gates, Glass, Gold, Main, Pearl, Pearls, Pure, Resembling, Respectively, Several, Single, Street, Town, Transparent, Twelve
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Revelation 21:21

     4330   glass
     4333   gold
     5323   gate

Revelation 21:9-22

     5207   architecture

Revelation 21:9-27

     5659   bride
     7241   Jerusalem, significance

Revelation 21:15-21

     5399   luxury

Revelation 21:18-21

     4342   jewels

Revelation 21:20-27

     5256   city

Library
November 18. "And He that Sat Upon the Throne Said, it is Done" (Rev. xxi. 5, 6).
"And He that sat upon the throne said, It is done" (Rev. xxi. 5, 6). Great is the difference between action and transaction. We may be constantly acting without accomplishing anything, but a transaction is action that passes beyond the point of return, and becomes a permanent committal. Salvation is a transaction between the soul and Christ in which the matter passes beyond recall. Sanctification is a great transaction in which we are utterly surrendered, irrevocably consecrated and wholly committed
Rev. A. B. Simpson—Days of Heaven Upon Earth

July the Twenty-Fifth no Temple Therein
"And I saw no temple therein!" --REVELATION xxi. 22-27. And that because it was all temple! "Every place was hallowed ground." There was no merely localized Presence, because the Presence was universal. God was realized everywhere, and therefore the little meeting-tent had vanished, and in place of the measurable tabernacle there were the immeasurable and God-filled heavens. Even here on earth I can measure my spiritual growth by the corresponding enlargement of my temple. What is the size of
John Henry Jowett—My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year

He that Overcometh.
"He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son."--REVELATION xxi. 7. Year by year as at this time, when the week of our Saviour's Passion and Death is just in front of us, and the shadow of His Cross is falling over us, one generation after another of the boys of this school gather here, and in the face of the congregation, young and old, they take upon them the vows of a Christian life. So we met last Thursday, and your vow is still fresh upon a great
John Percival—Sermons at Rugby

A New Creation
MEN GENERALLY venerate antiquity. It were hard to say which has the stronger power over the human mind--antiquity or novelty. While men will frequently dote upon the old, they are most easily dazzled by the new. Anything new has at least one attraction. Restless spirits consider that the new must be better than the old. Though often disappointed, they are still ready to be caught by the same bait, and, like the Athenians of Mars Hill, spend their time in nothing else but either to tell or to hear
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 61: 1915

29Th Day. A Nightless Heaven.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "There shall be no night there."--REV. xxi. 25. A Nightless Heaven. My soul! is it night with thee here? Art thou wearied with these midnight tossings on life's tumultuous sea? Be still! the day is breaking! soon shall thy Lord appear. "His going forth is prepared as the morning." That glorious appearing shall disperse every cloud, and usher in an eternal noontide which knows no twilight. "Thy sun shall no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

31ST DAY. The Vision and Fruition of God.
"He is Faithful that Promised." "God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 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."--REV. xxi. 3, 4. The Vision and Fruition of God. Glorious consummation! All the other glories of Heaven are but emanations from this glory that excelleth. Here is the focus and centre to which every ray of light converges. God
John Ross Macduff—The Faithful Promiser

The Disciple, -- Master, it is Clear to Almost Everyone that to Disobey God And...
The Disciple,--Master, it is clear to almost everyone that to disobey God and to cease to worship Him is sin, and the deadly result is seen in the present state of the world. But what sin really is is not absolutely clear. In the very presence of Almighty God, and in opposition to His will, and in His own world, how did sin come to be? The Master,--1. Sin is to cast aside the will of God and to live according to one's own will, deserting that which is true and lawful in order to satisfy one's own
Sadhu Sundar Singh—At The Master's Feet

The Foundation of the Church among the Jews
A.D. 33-A.D. 38 Before entering upon an account of the Foundation and After-History of the Christian Church, it may be well to consider what that Church really is. Section 1. Definition of the Church. [Sidenote: Twofold nature of the Church.] The Church may be regarded in a twofold aspect, as an external Corporation, and as a spiritual Body. [Sidenote: 1. An external Kingdom.] In the first light it is a Kingdom, in the world, though not of the world, extending through different and widely-separated
John Henry Blunt—A Key to the Knowledge of Church History

The City that Hath Foundations
"I ... saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem."-- Rev. xxi. 2. J. M. Meyfart, 1642. tr., Emma Frances Bevan, 1899 Jerusalem! thou glorious City-height, Oh might I enter in! My spirit wearieth for thy love and light, Amidst this world of sin-- Far over the dark mountains, The moorlands cold and grey, She looketh with sad longing, And fain would flee away. O fair sweet day! and hour yet more fair When wilt thou come to me? My spirit, safe within my Saviour's care Made glad, and pure, and free-- And calmly,
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen and Others (Second Series)

The Land of Rest
Gerhard Ter Steegen Rev. xxi. 5 Wanderer, rest thy weary feet; Shapes and sounds forgotten now-- Close thine eyes in stillness sweet, With thy God alone art thou. In the deeps of silence rest, Let Him work His high behest. Silence! reasonings hard and keen, Still--O longings sad and deep-- Waken to the morn serene, Tangled dreams depart with sleep; In the calm eternal day Night's wild visions past away. In the silence of that dawn God shall speak His words of grace, Light that round thy waking
Frances Bevan—Hymns of Ter Steegen, Suso, and Others

The Heritage of the Lord's People. --Rev. xxi. 5-7.
The Heritage of the Lord's People.--Rev. xxi. 5-7. "He that overcomes through me, Shall an heir of all things be, I his God, and he My Son," Saith the True and Holy One. What an heritage were this! An eternity of bliss, Heaven below and heaven above, O the miracle of love! "Abba! Father!" then might I Through the Holy Spirit cry; Heir of God, with Christ joint-heir, Grace and glory call'd to share. Can a worm such gifts receive? Fear not, faint not, but believe, He who gave His Son, shall He
James Montgomery—Sacred Poems and Hymns

Whether God Always Loves More the Better Things?
Objection 1: It seems that God does not always love more the better things. For it is manifest that Christ is better than the whole human race, being God and man. But God loved the human race more than He loved Christ; for it is said: "He spared not His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all" (Rom. 8:32). Therefore God does not always love more the better things. Objection 2: Further, an angel is better than a man. Hence it is said of man: "Thou hast made him a little less than the angels" (Ps.
Saint Thomas Aquinas—Summa Theologica

The Impassibility and Immortality of the Risen Body.
Besides the attributes which immediately flow from the fact that our animal bodies will rise spiritualized, there are two more qualities, which we shall now consider; namely, the impassibility and immortality of our risen bodies. 1. Impassibility implies the total loss of the power of suffering. What an enormous capacity we have for suffering! The power of receiving pleasure through our senses is only as a drop in the ocean, when compared to our manifold capacities for suffering, in every faculty
F. J. Boudreaux—The Happiness of Heaven

Christ's Finished and Unfinished Work
'Jesus ... said, It is finished.'--JOHN xix. 30. 'He said unto me, It is done.'--REV. xxi. 6. One of these sayings was spoken from the Cross, the other from the Throne. The Speaker of both is the same. In the one, His voice 'then shook the earth,' as the rending rocks testified; in the other, His voice 'will shake not the earth only but also heaven'; for 'new heavens and a new earth' accompanied the proclamation. In the one, like some traveller ready to depart, who casts a final glance over his preparations,
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture: St. John Chaps. XV to XXI

All Fulness in Christ
The text is a great deep, we cannot explore it, but we will voyage over its surface joyously, the Holy Spirit giving us a favorable wind. Here are plenteous provisions far exceeding, those of Solomon, though at the sight of that royal profusion, Sheba's queen felt that there was no more spirit in her, and declared that the half had not been told to her. It may give some sort of order to our thoughts if they fall under four heads. What is here spoken of--"all fullness." Where is it placed--"in him,"
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 17: 1871

A Word for the Persecuted
Remember that this supposition is a very likely one. There are a few Christians so favourably circumstanced that all their friends accompany them in the pilgrimage to heaven. What advances they ought to make in the sacred journey! What excellent Christians they ought to be! They are like plants in a conservatory--they ought to grow and bring forth the loveliest Bowers of divine grace. But there are not very many who are altogether in that case. The large proportion of Christians find themselves opposed
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 20: 1874

Why they Leave Us
"Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world."--John 17:24. THE PRAYER OF THE SAVIOR rises as it proceeds. He asked for his people that they might be preserved from the world, then that they might be sanctified, and then that they might be made manifestly one; and now he reaches his crowning point--that they may be with him where he is, and behold his
Charles Haddon Spurgeon—Spurgeon's Sermons Volume 32: 1886

The Apostolate.
"That ye also may have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ."--1 John i. 3. The apostolate bears the character of an extraordinary manifestation, not seen before or after it, in which we discover a proper work of the Holy Spirit. The apostles were ambassadors extraordinary -- different from the prophets, different from the present ministers of the Word. In the history of the Church and the world they occupy a unique position and have a peculiar
Abraham Kuyper—The Work of the Holy Spirit

An Impossibility Made Possible
'Can the Ethiopian change his skin?'--JER. xiii. 23. 'If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature.'--2 COR. v. 17. 'Behold, I make all things new.'--REV. xxi. 5. Put these three texts together. The first is a despairing question to which experience gives only too sad and decisive a negative answer. It is the answer of many people who tell us that character must be eternal, and of many a baffled man who says, 'It is of no use--I have tried and can do nothing.' The second text is the grand Christian
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

'Three Tabernacles'
'The Word ... dwelt among us.'--JOHN i. 14. '... He that sitteth on the Throne shall dwell among them.'--REV. vii. 15. '... Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them.'--REV. xxi. 3. The word rendered 'dwelt' in these three passages, is a peculiar one. It is only found in the New Testament--in this Gospel and in the Book of Revelation. That fact constitutes one of the many subtle threads of connection between these two books, which at first sight seem so extremely unlike
Alexander Maclaren—Expositions of Holy Scripture

Departed Saints Fellowservants with those yet on Earth.
"I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets." The revelation made to St. John in the isle of Patmos, was a comfort to the suffering apostle, and a blessing to the church. "Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the word, of this prophecy." The beginning indeed was dark; the prophetic sketch, was for sometime, gloomy: It unfolded a strange scene of declensions and abominations, which were to disgrace the church of Christ and mar its beauty; and dismal series of woes on woes,
Andrew Lee et al—Sermons on Various Important Subjects

Greeks Seek Jesus. He Foretells that He Shall Draw all Men unto Him.
(in the Temple. Tuesday, April 4, a.d. 30.) ^D John XII. 20-50. ^d 20 Now there were certain Greeks among those that went up to worship at the feast [The language indicates that they were Greek converts to Judaism, such as were called proselytes of the gate. It is also noted that as Gentiles came from the east at the beginning of Jesus' life, so they also came from the west at the close of his ministry]: 21 these therefore came to Philip, who was of Bethsaida of Galilee [See p. 111. They were possibly
J. W. McGarvey—The Four-Fold Gospel

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