Read: Revelation 21:9-21
The city was pure gold, like clear glass (v. 18).
When I was a teenager, one of my Sunday school teachers collected rocks and gems. He had a collection of many of the jewels mentioned in the description of the new Jerusalem in Revelation 21. He showed them to us one day, just to give us a hint of how glorious the new heaven will be. Indeed the new heaven and new earth will be glorious because God is a master builder. We see that in the beauty we enjoy on this present earth—beauty that will be multiplied in the new heaven and new earth.
Revelation 21 paints a picture of the glory and radiance of the new heaven, which will be “like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal” (v. 12). The city will be pure gold, clear as glass. As I look at the gold in my wedding ring, I can’t imagine gold as clear as glass.
The foundations of most of our buildings today are pretty dull and non-descript, usually cement or cement block—sometimes covered with paint. In contrast, the foundations of “the holy city [new] Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God” (v. 10) are adorned with twelve different gems. And each gate of the city is crafted from a single pearl.
All of this points us to the glory we’ll enjoy in the new heaven and to the greater glory of God himself. For the new heaven displays “the glory of God” (v. 11).
As you pray, give thanks that what God has created and will create points us to his glory.
Rich Bawinkel is a retired pastor who has served churches in the Reformed Church in America and the Kingdom Network. He is married to Anne and serves as a musician in their local church, as the administrator of the Kingdom Network, and on the Words of Hope Board of Directors.
