Revelation 21:2; The Holy City

Posted on Posted in Devotions Tagged with , ,

Revelation 21:2 (KJV)  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 

As a part of the new creation John saw a city descending from the new heaven to the new earth – And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 

The inner and permanent quality of this new city of God is holiness. This feature establishes a tie-in with the old Jerusalem which the Bible also calls “holy” (Isaiah 52:1; Matthew 4:5; 27:53).

Isaiah 52:1 (KJV)  Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. 

Matthew 4:5 (KJV)  Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple, 

Matthew 27:53 (KJV)  And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many. 

The naming of the city as “new Jerusalem” presupposes a recognition of the old Jerusalem too. The old city suffered the taint of sin and disobedience, but the hope for a renewed Jerusalem always remained. The new Jerusalem stresses the superiority of itself to anything belonging to the old creation (Smith). The city’s name given in Revelation 21:10 is the same as here except for the absence of “new” there. The Philadelphian overcomer had the promise of having the name of “the new Jerusalem” written on him in proof of his right to live in that city (Revelation 3:12). Since God’s throne will be in the new Jerusalem which is on the new earth, there will be an inclining of the new heaven to the new earth, the new Jerusalem providing a bond between the two (Lee).

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 441]