The New Jerusalem is composed firstly of the Old Testament saints. In the New Jerusalem the names of the twelve tribes of Israel represent all the Old Testament saints. These names are inscribed on the twelve gates of the city. “At the gates twelve angels, and names inscribed, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel” (Rev. 21:12b). Every gate bears the name of one tribe. This is a sign signifying that the gates are living people. The word Israel here indicates that the New Jerusalem is composed of all the redeemed saints of the Old Testament.
In the New Jerusalem the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb represent all the New Testament saints. Revelation 21:14 says, “The wall of the city had twelvefoundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” The fact that the names of the twelve apostles are on the twelve foundations of the wall indicates that the New Jerusalem as the holy city is composed not only of the Old Testament saints, represented by Israel, but also of the New Testament saints, represented by the apostles. The New Testament believers are not for the gates; they are for the wall. The gates are for propagation and entrance, whereas the wall is for separation and protection.
Twelve is the number of the New Jerusalem. In the New Jerusalem there are the twelve foundations with the names of the twelve apostles, twelve gates which are twelve pearls with the names of the twelve tribes, and twelve fruits of the tree of life (Rev. 22:2). With respect to space, the city proper is twelve thousand stadia (21:16), one thousand times twelve, in three dimensions, and its wall is one hundred forty-four cubits (21:17), which is twelve times twelve.
The twelve gates on four sides (21:12-13), with three gates on each side, signify the mingling of man, who is one of the four living creatures (4:6-7), with God, who is triune. Here twelve is composed of three multiplied by four. The number four refers to God’s creation. In 4:6 we see that the four living creatures represent all other living creatures (cf. Ezek. 1:5-14). Four refers to us as God’s creatures, and three refers to the Triune God. The number twelve in the New Jerusalem is not arrived at by addition but by multiplication. Multiplication is a blending, or a mingling. The number twelve is mingled, or blended, by three times four. This means that the entire New Jerusalem is a blending, a mingling, of the Triune God with us human beings. The processed Triune God is mingled with His creature, man, in His eternal administration in the New Jerusalem.
We come now to several matters related to the city proper.
The New Jerusalem, the holy city, is a mountain of gold (Rev. 21:18). The entire city has one street (21:21; 22:1), yet this one street reaches all twelve gates. Also, the wall is one hundred forty-four cubits high (21:17), and the city itself is twelve thousand stadia high (21:16-one stadion equals about six hundred feet). These facts indicate that the city proper must be a mountain, a mountain of gold. On top of the mountain is a throne, from which the street spirals down to the bottom to reach the twelve gates. One street, descending from the top to the bottom, reaches and serves all twelve gates. The street, therefore, must be a spiral street, spiraling down the mountain until it circles around to all twelve gates.
As a mountain of gold, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate, unique, and eternal golden lampstand. Upon this stand is a lamp-Christ with God in Him as the light shining out through eternity. The holy city as a mountain of gold is the aggregate of all the lampstands (1:20), the totality of today’s lampstands, shining forth God’s glory in eternity in the new heaven and the new earth.
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