Revelation 21:9 – 21

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. 12 Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.

14 Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17 Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18 The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21 The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

The original angel is still on Patmos with John, at various times throughout the vision, John has had conversations with different individuals. This angel is offering to show John a vision of Christ's wife.

In John's dreamlike state of mind he is taken to a high mountain which is a great vantage point to see the vision of what the angel wants to show him.

He showed John a great city descending from the heavens. The bride is the church. Paul describes the husband wife relationship of Christ and the church in Ephesians 5:25 – 33. Paul likens the church to a city in Hebrews 12:22 – 23

The beautiful city is called “holy Jerusalem” because that title is attached to the church and is called the mother of us all (Galatians 4:26)

The church is seen descending out of heaven because even though it is made up of men and women, its design and origin came from God.

Since the church came from heaven it is fitting to have the glory of God reflecting on the precious stones such as the clear Jasper mentioned in this verse, clear as what we think of as a diamond.

The city's wall is great and high, meaning it was well protected, too high for an enemy to scale and to thick to be beaten down.

Twelve gates, twelve is a number which is frequently used in this book, it was used in each of God's organized systems of worship, the Mosaic had 12 tribes, and the Christian had 12 apostles. The twelve gates represent the represent the twelve tribes of Israel because the Mosaic system was in existence first.

Well organized, the twelve gates are equally spaced three on each of the four sides. When the children stopped while wandering in the wilderness it was with three tribes set up on each of the four sides of the tabernacle.

The twelve foundations represent the twelve apostles. Each gate had an angel, which is logical because each gate would have a guard. But a foundation does not need a supervising attendant. A literal building would only have one foundation with several stones which would make it up. What is likely meant here is one foundation made up of many stones. Which would then see the apostles names engraved on each stone. Paul referred to the church having a foundation of the apostles and the prophets.(Ephesians 2:20) Being significant contributers to the development of the church it is logical to see their names engraved on the stones of the foundation.

The angel who is delivering this part of the vision to John has a ruler to measure the heavenly city. It is made of a precious metal, we do not know what the length of the ruler is.

Verse 16 indicates the city is laid out in a cube form. The great size of the city shows that God has made abundant provisions for the mankind who have been saved for all ages. If the size were literal one could travel from the gulf of Mexico to the Great Lakes just to travel one side of the cube.

Verse 17 shows the angel measured the thickness of the wall as a man would, its measurement was another of the prominent multiples of the number 4, it is 12 squared, or 144 cubits, a cubit being usually 18 inches, the wall is two hundred sixteen feet thick which is proportionate for a wall of its height.

We are told in verse 11 the jasper is clear as crystal, a stone like a diamond, imagine one which is one thousand five hundred miles in diameter and then you can imagine one side of the city.

City was pure gold, verse 21 shows it means the streets were pure gold which was clear, gold is a metal and is not transparent when pure, so it means the streets are so polished they have a very high gloss.

Verses 19 and twenty describe the construction of the foundation stones, each were decorated with precious stones, the first is the clear jasper, sapphires are of several varieties, but the general description of them are brilliant and usually transparent, chalcedony is tinted blue and with a shiny surface, and the emerald is a rich green and is a very valuable stone.

Verse 20 continues with a sardonyx, a precious stone a carnelian red and the white of the onyx, a sardius is flesh-colored, the chrysolyte is golden in color, beryl is a pale green, topaz is greenish-yellow, chrysoprasus is a golden-green like a leek, jacinth, also the name of the flower known as hyacith and both are dark-blue almost black, and the amethyst is violet and purple, they are all precious stones and being used here to decorate the foundation of the great city.

Each of the twelve gates consisted of one gigantic pearl, all precious pearls can be obtained for a very high cost. If a pearl the size of a marble could go for over $200,000 dollars then these would be worth more than all of the financial wealth of the world (guessing the size of the gates would likely be at least one hundred feet wide and two hundred feet tall.