Revelation 21:12–14

Context

Chapter 21 of Revelation records the apostle John's vision of "a new heaven and a new earth" (Revelation 21:1) and of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven. In 21:9, one of the angels who had the seven vials offers to show John "the bride, the Lamb's wife" and carries him away to a high mountain, where he shows him the city shining with the glory of God (Revelation 21:10–11). Verses 12–14 describe the city's wall, its gates, and its foundations. These verses are followed by the measuring of the city (vv. 15–17) and a description of its materials of precious stones (vv. 18–21). The arrangement of three gates on each side, each gate bearing the name of a tribe, closely parallels the vision of the city in Ezekiel 48:30–35.

Interpretation

• The unity of the Old and New Testament people of God: Many commentators read the passage this way, including interpreters in the Reformed tradition and those who hold to covenant theology (a theological framework holding that God has sustained a single people through his covenants). Taking the twelve tribes on the gates together with the twelve apostles on the foundations, they understand the passage to mean that Israel and the church together form one people of God. In this reading, the twenty-four elders of Revelation 4 are interpreted according to the same pattern (12 + 12).
• The dispensationalist reading: Dispensationalism (an interpretive system that divides history into distinct eras and distinguishes between Israel and the church) draws attention to the fact that the names of the tribes and of the apostles are inscribed separately. It therefore holds that even in the eternal state, Israel and the church both belong to the city while remaining distinct groups.
• Symbolic and literal readings: Because 21:9–10 introduces the city as "the Lamb's wife," some interpreters read the city's entire structure as a symbol of the community of God's people. Others take it as a description of an actual place that will exist.
• The open city: This reading connects the three gates on each side with 21:24–26, where the gates are never shut and the nations bring their glory into the city. On this basis, the gates are understood to signify that salvation is open in every direction and to every nation.

Questions of Application

There is little pronounced dispute among denominations over the passage itself. However, because the relationship between Israel and the church is bound up with broader differences in eschatology, the emphasis varies according to the interpreter's theological framework. A further open question is who fills the place of Judas Iscariot among "the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Some identify this apostle as Matthias of Acts 1, while others suggest Paul, but the text does not give a name. Read alongside Ephesians 2:20, the depiction of the apostles as foundations is also sometimes explained as meaning that the church stands upon the teaching of the apostles.

Related Passages

• Ezekiel 48:30–35
• Ephesians 2:19–20
• Hebrews 11:10
• Revelation 21:23–26
• Revelation 4:4