Revelation 21:12
The city had a great and high wall with twelve gates inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, and twelve angels at the gates.
The city
This phrase refers to the New Jerusalem, a central theme in Revelation 21. The Greek word for "city" is "πόλις" (polis), which signifies a structured and organized community. In the context of Revelation, it symbolizes the ultimate dwelling place of God with His people, a place of divine order and eternal peace. Historically, cities were centers of culture, governance, and protection, and the New Jerusalem represents the culmination of God's redemptive plan, where His presence is fully realized among His people.

had a great and high wall
The "great and high wall" signifies security and separation from all that is unholy. In ancient times, city walls were essential for protection against enemies. The Greek word for "wall" is "τεῖχος" (teichos), emphasizing strength and fortification. Spiritually, this wall represents the impenetrable protection of God over His people, ensuring that nothing impure can enter. It also symbolizes the distinction between the holy and the profane, underscoring the purity and sanctity of the New Jerusalem.

with twelve gates
The number twelve is significant in biblical numerology, often representing completeness and divine authority. The "twelve gates" symbolize access and entry into the presence of God. Each gate provides a way for the redeemed to enter the city, reflecting the inclusivity of God's salvation plan. The gates also remind us of the twelve tribes of Israel, indicating continuity between the Old and New Covenants and the fulfillment of God's promises to His people.

inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel
The inscription of the "names of the twelve tribes of Israel" on the gates highlights the enduring covenant between God and His chosen people. The Greek word for "inscribed" is "ἐπιγεγραμμένα" (epigegrammena), suggesting permanence and honor. This inscription signifies the fulfillment of God's promises to Israel and the integral role of the tribes in His redemptive history. It also serves as a reminder of the faithfulness of God to His covenant and the unity of all believers, both Jew and Gentile, in the New Jerusalem. The historical context of the twelve tribes, each representing a distinct part of Israel's identity, underscores the diversity and unity within the body of Christ.

Persons / Places / Events
1. The City
Refers to the New Jerusalem, a symbolic representation of the eternal dwelling place of God with His people.

2. Great and High Wall
Symbolizes protection, security, and the separation of the holy from the profane.

3. Twelve Gates
Represents access and entry into the city, each gate inscribed with the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

4. Twelve Tribes of Israel
The descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob, representing the people of God and their covenant relationship with Him.
Teaching Points
The Significance of the Twelve Tribes
The twelve tribes symbolize the fullness of God's people, both Israel and the Church, united in the New Jerusalem.

Security in God's Presence
The great and high wall signifies the ultimate security and peace found in God's eternal kingdom, where nothing unclean can enter.

Access Through Covenant
The gates inscribed with the tribes' names remind us of God's faithfulness to His covenant promises and the access we have through faith in Christ.

Unity and Diversity in God's Kingdom
The inclusion of all twelve tribes signifies the unity and diversity of God's people, emphasizing that all are welcome in His kingdom.
Bible Study Questions
1. How does the imagery of the great and high wall in Revelation 21:12 provide comfort and assurance to believers today?

2. In what ways do the twelve tribes of Israel represent both historical and spiritual truths for Christians?

3. How can the concept of the twelve gates inspire us to think about access and inclusion in the body of Christ?

4. What parallels can you draw between the description of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 and the vision of the city in Ezekiel 48?

5. How does understanding the covenant relationship between God and the twelve tribes deepen our appreciation for the New Covenant in Christ?
Connections to Other Scriptures
Ezekiel 48
Describes the division of the land among the twelve tribes and the gates of the city, providing a prophetic parallel to Revelation 21:12.

Hebrews 11
Discusses the faith of the patriarchs, who looked forward to a city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God, connecting to the hope of the New Jerusalem.

Genesis 49
Jacob's blessings to his sons, the progenitors of the twelve tribes, highlighting the historical and spiritual significance of the tribes.
A Sight of the BadeJ. Irons.Revelation 21:9-14
HeavenHomilistRevelation 21:9-14
The Bridal CityN. Curnock.Revelation 21:9-14
The BrideR A. Griffin.Revelation 21:9-14
The City of GodJohn Stoughton.Revelation 21:9-14
The Gates of HeavenT. De Witt Talmage.Revelation 21:9-14
The Gates of HeavenH. Macmillan, D. D. , LL. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Gates of the CityJ. G. Greenhough, M. A.Revelation 21:9-14
The Glorious BrideH. Bonar, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Heavenly JerusalemR. Winterbotham, M. A.Revelation 21:9-14
The Holy CityH. Bonar, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Holy City, the Bride of the LambJohn Thomas, M. A.Revelation 21:9-14
The Manifold ChristC. H. Parkhurst, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Many GatesLeon Walker, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The New JerusalemJ. A. Seiss, D. D.Revelation 21:9-14
The Spiritual Commonwealth of the GoodD. Thomas Revelation 21:9-21
The New JerusalemR. Green Revelation 21:9-27
People
John
Places
Jerusalem
Topics
Angels, Charge, Descendants, Doors, Gates, Inscribed, Large, Massive, Messengers, Names, Overhead, Sons, Thereon, Tribes, Twelve, Wall, Written
Dictionary of Bible Themes
Revelation 21:12

     1654   numbers, 11-99
     7135   Israel, people of God

Revelation 21:9-14

     7266   tribes of Israel

Revelation 21:9-22

     5207   architecture

Revelation 21:9-27

     5659   bride
     7241   Jerusalem, significance

Revelation 21:12-15

     5323   gate

Revelation 21:12-19

     5604   walls

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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