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87 lines
14 KiB
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<title>Blue Letter Bible - Text Commentaries</title>
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<h2><a onclick="return mV('Rev',21,'1-')">Revelation 21</a></h2>
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<h5>Eternity Unveiled: “Out of this world”</h5>
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<p class="hangIndent">[1] “And I saw a new heaven and a new earth”: New heaven and new earth (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',24,35)">Mat 24:35</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',65,17)">Isa 65:17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',66,22)">Isa 66:22</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Heb',11,'13-16')">Heb 11:13-16</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Pe',3,'7-13')">2Pe 3:7-13</a>). “...in earth as it is in heaven” (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',6,10)">Mat 6:10</a>).</p>
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<p>Heaven and Earth to disappear! Outside of “time” => Eternity (<a onclick="return mV('Heb',1,'10-12')">Heb 1:10-12</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Heb',12,26,27')">Heb 12:26-27</a>).</p>
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<p>“...no more sea”: Why? Not needed for its cleansing action: 70% of earth covered to an average depth of 2.3 miles, antiseptic salinity (3.5%) purges, cleanses, and preserves our planet.</p>
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<p>[Is the sea evil? (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',8,26)">Mat 8:26</a>, “rebuked”?) End of old order? (<a onclick="return mV('Exo',20,11)">Exd 20:11</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Eze',48,28)">Eze 48:28</a>); Beast out of the sea (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',7,'1-3',17)">Dan 7:1-3, 17</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Rev',13,1,'6-8')">Rev 13:1, '6-8'</a>); Demon swine take refuge in sea (<a onclick="return mV('Mat',8,30)">Mat 8:30</a>); <a onclick="return mV('Job',26,5,6)">Job 26:5-6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Isa',27,1)">Isa 27:1</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jon',2,'1-6')">Jonah 2:1-6</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Luk',8,'30-33')">Luk 8:30-33</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Psa',69,14,15)">Psa 69:14-15</a>]</p>
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<p>In John’s day, the sea meant danger, storms, separation—he was on an island at the time!</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[2] “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”: <a onclick="return mV('Heb',11,10,16)">Heb 11:10, 16</a>.</p>
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<p>“Down, out of heaven”: Doesn’t necessarily touch the earth! Heaven is a definite place. A new home. The Ultimate UFO!</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[3] “And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, [and be] their God”: Cf. <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,14)">Jhn 1:14</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Mat',12,6)">Mat 12:6</a>.</p>
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<p class="cmn" style="margin-bottom:0px">Jerusalem; <i>Jireh-shalom</i>, provides peace:</p>
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<ul style="margin-top:0px">
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<li><a onclick="return mV('Mat',23,'37-39')">Mat 23:37-39</a>, “see me henceforth...”</li>
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<li><a onclick="return mV('Jhn',14,2,3)">Jhn 14:2-3</a>, “go to prepare a place...”</li>
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<li><a onclick="return mV('Heb',11,10,16)">Heb 11:10, 16</a>, “...look for a city”</li>
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<li><a onclick="return mV('Jhn',1,14)">Jhn 1:14</a>, “tabernacled among us”</li>
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<li><a onclick="return mV('2Co',5,17)">2Cr 5:17</a>, “all things new”</li>
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<li><a onclick="return mV('Exo',40,34)">Exd 40:34</a>; <a onclick="return mV('1Ki',8,10,11)">1Ki 8:10-11</a>, “always fills”</li>
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</ul>
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<p class="hangIndent">[4] “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes...”: Why tears at all? Lost opportunities?</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[5] “And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new”: A fresh start! (I sure could use that!)</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[7] “He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son”: Can we even imagine what this means? All things!</p>
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<p>“Overcomer” = <a onclick="return mV('1Jo',5,4)">1Jo 5:4</a>.</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[8] “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death”: A vivid and instructive catalog. Note “the fearful” and “the unbelieving”; Cf. <a onclick="return mV('Mar',4,40)">Mar 4:40</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',14,27)">Jhn 14:27</a>; <a onclick="return mV('2Ti',1,7,8)">2Ti 1:7-8</a>. Notice also:</p>
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<ul>
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<li>The status of the lake of fire and the lost is unchanged;</li>
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<li>Sin and its potential is totally excluded;</li>
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<li>The lake of fire is eternal; final.</li>
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</ul>
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<p class="hangIndent">[10] “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain”: Mountain (<a onclick="return mV('Dan',2,'1-')">Dan 2</a>...) Abraham looked for this city (<a onclick="return mV('Heb',11,'10-10')">Heb 11:10</a>).</p>
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<p>[In contrast to the false bride, the prostitute Mystery Babylon, also both a city and a woman, the New Jerusalem will be to eternity what the earthly Jerusalem is to the Millennium.]</p>
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<p>“She that hath the bridegroom is the bride” (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',3,'29-29')">Jhn 3:29</a>). The citizens are identified with the city in <a onclick="return mV('Rev',22,3,6,19)">Rev 22:3, 6, 19</a>.</p>
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<p>“Descending out of heaven...” No reason to limit it to any specific number of dimensions... Cf. <i>Beyond Perception</i>, et al. (It is not stated that it comes to the earth.)</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[11] “Having the glory of God: and her light [was] like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal”: Light (<a onclick="return mV('Isa',60,'1-3')">Isa 60:1-3</a>), “arise, shine...”</p>
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<p><i>iaspis</i> : diamond, opal, or topaz (various authorities). Similarity of the Hebrew word for crystal in <a onclick="return mV('Eze',1,22)">Eze 1:22</a> to Hebrew word for “ice” suggests diamond. A diamond in a gold setting—appropriate for the bride.</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[12] “...Twelve tribes”: a perpetual reminder that “salvation is of the Jews.” Access to the city is through Israel. No middle wall (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,'14-18')">Eph 2:14-18</a>); no Temple (<a onclick="return mV('Jhn',4,'21-24')">Jhn 4:21-24</a>).</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[13] “On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates”: Suggests the order of Israel’s encampment around the Tabernacle in <a onclick="return mV('Num',2,'1-')">Numbers 2</a>. The Bride constitutes the priesthood that serves as did the Levites in the Tabernacle.</p>
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<p>Israel on the earth will enjoy the same relationship to the city that they did toward the wilderness tabernacle, and later, the temple (<a onclick="return mV('Sng',8,5)">Song 8:5</a>). [Notice that Peter isn’t guarding any of them!]</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[14] “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb”: Apostles are the foundation; Christ is the chief cornerstone.</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[16] “And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal”: John was told to measure the old city (<a onclick="return mV('Rev',11,'1-')">Rev 11</a>); now he reckons the New City.</p>
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<p>Furlongs (<i>stadia</i>): If a furlong is taken as 600 ft (measures differed in ancient days) the city would be about 1500 (Roman) miles square (1378 miles)! Some see it as cube; some as a pyramid; some as cube circumscribed inside a sphere—about the size of the moon. [The Holy of Holies was a cube.]</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[17] “And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred [and] forty [and] four cubits, [according to] the measure of a man, that is, of the angel”: “Cubit,” from Latin <i>cubitus</i>, elbow; while there are many variations, all approximate 18 inches.</p>
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<p>216 ft thick (or high?)! If viewed as a cube, wall thickness (rather than height) seems more likely. [Herodotus describes the walls of Babylon as 50 cubits thick and 200 cubits high.]</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[18] “And the building of the wall of it was [of] jasper: and the city [was] pure gold, like unto clear glass”: God is a God of beauty; Peter wrote of the “manifold” grace of God (<a onclick="return mV('1Pe',4,10)">1Pe 4:10</a>): manifold = <i>variegated, many colored</i>.</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">19-20] Authorities differ on specifics; these are hard to establish with certainty:</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Jasper (<i>iaspis</i>): clear. [Associated with Pisces, and Simeon]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Sapphire (<i>sappheiros</i>): blue. (<a onclick="return mV('Exo',24,10)">Exd 24:10</a>, the foundation of God. (Moffatt: blue; Pliny, opaque with gold specks; Petrie agrees.)<br>[Associated with Aquarius, Reuben]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Chalcedony (<i>chalkedon</i>): greenish; Robertson, green silicate of copper.)<br>[Associated with Capricorn, Naphtali]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Emerald (<i>smaragdos</i>): green<br>[Associated with Saggitarius, Asher]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Sardonyx (<i>sardonux</i>): red; (Robertson: white with layers of red.)<br>[Associated with Scorpio, Dan]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Sardius (<i>sardios</i>): fiery red; (Pliny, red for Sardis; Swete, fiery red.)<br>[Associated with Libra, Levi]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Chrysolyte (<i>chrusolithos</i>): golden yellow; (Moffatt, golden hue; Robertson, golden like our topaz.)<br>[Associated with Virgo, Zebulon]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Beryl (<i>berullos</i>): green; (Robertson, like an emerald; Pliny, sea green.)<br>[Associated with Leo, Judah]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Topaz (<i>topazion</i>): greenish yellow; (Robertson, golden greenish stone)<br>[Associated with Cancer, Issachar]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Chrysoprasus (<i>chrusoprasos</i>): gold-green; (Robertson, a golden leek; International Bible Encyclopedia, sea green.)<br>[Associated with Gemini, Benjamin]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Jacinth (<i>huakinthi</i>): violet; hyacinth.<br>[Associated with Taurus, Joseph]</p>
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<p style="margin:0px 0px 0px 40px;text-indent:-20px;">Amethyst (<i>amethustos</i>): purple.<br>[Associated with Aries, Gad.]</p>
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<p>[These stones may also be related to the stones in the breastplate of the high priest (<a onclick="return mV('Exo',28,'15-21')">Exd 28:15-21</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Exo',31,'1-')">Exd 31- Ex 34</a>; <a onclick="return mV('Exo',39,'10-14')">Exd 39:10-14</a>). There is great difficulty in associating the specific stones since the terminology is not consistent throughout the literature, and John is also making his own translation from the Hebrew to Greek equivalents. They also appear to have been connected to the signs of the Hebrew <i>Mazzeroth</i> (Zodiac): Josephus (<i>Ant</i>. iii.7.7) and Philo (<i>De Monarchia</i>, ii.5; Cf. <i>Vit. Mos</i>. iii. 14). John’s order is the reverse of the zodiacal order.]</p>
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<p>Cf. <a onclick="return mV('Isa',54,11,12)">Isa 54:11-12</a>. There are also associations with the heavenly Eden (<a onclick="return mV('Eze',28,13)">Eze 28:13</a>).</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[21] “And the twelve gates [were] twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city [was] pure gold, as it were transparent glass”: Pearls were not “kosher”: Cf. <a onclick="return mV('Mat',13,45,46)">Mat 13:45-46</a>. They come from the sea, not the land; they grow in response to an external irritation; they grow by accretion; they are removed from their place of growth to become an item of adornment.</p>
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<p>The church will be the fairest jewel of all (<a onclick="return mV('Mal',3,17,18)">Mal 3:17-18</a>).</p>
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<p>Gates are never closed: Cf. <a onclick="return mV('Rev',21,25)">Rev 21:25</a></p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[22] “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it”: <a onclick="return mV('Mat',12,6)">Mat 12:6</a>.</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[23] “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb [is] the light thereof”: <a onclick="return mV('Jhn',14,3)">Jhn 14:3</a>.</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[24] “And the nations [of them which are saved?] shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it”: It does not say they will live there; the New Jerusalem will give light unto the earth.</p>
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<p class="hangIndent">[27] “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither [whatsoever] worketh abomination, or [maketh] a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life”: God has apparently accomplished His original purpose with man (<a onclick="return mV('Eph',2,7)">Eph 2:7</a>).</p>
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