Revelation 21—The Descending Kingdom21:1.And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.—“It may be that this, rather than‘the Millennium,’is the name which we ought to give to the Golden Age, of purity and bliss which next awaits the world. The words seem to include a transformation and glorification of our material globe.”—Weym.“Paradise, the Garden of God, applicable as a name to Eden, where our first parents resided, is Scripturally applied to the new earth when Restitution blessings shall, during the Millennium, have brought it to perfection. This Paradise of the future is referred to by the Apostles as‘the third heaven,’and as‘a new heavens and a new earth.’(2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Peter 3:13.) They are not referring to new planets, nor to heavens ranged one above another, as many have supposed, but to the third of three great periods of time, beginning with man's creation and extending into the illimitable future. The first of these periods, termed the first heavens and earth—the old order of things—passed away with the Deluge of Noah's day. The second period,‘the heavens and the earth which are now,’the present order of things, are reserved of God to pass away with a great symbolic fire of trouble—revolution, etc.—which will utterly destroy the present spiritual powers and the present social arrangements. (2 Peter 3:6, 7; Galatians 1:4; Zephaniah 3:8, 9.) The third great period is to be a‘world without end,’under Divine administration. This will be the third heavens and the third earth, or the new heavens and the new earth, which will differ from the present condition of things in that they will be righteous! whereas the present arrangement is imperfect, unrighteous. The‘new heavens’will consist of the new spiritual ruling powers of the future—Christ the Head, and the Church His Body.”—Z. '16-392.For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.—“The Scriptures show us that in this general rupture the nominal church (including all denominations) will be gradually drawn more and more to the side of the governments and the wealthy, will lose much of its influence over the people, and will finally fall with the governments. Thus the heavens [ecclesiastical rule] being on fire, will[pg 316]pass away with a great hissing.”(A. 333.) Two of the causes that operate to“burn”the present“earth”are declared to be hunger, and the misrule of beastly governments. (Deut. 32:24) In the end all will be glad to see the unclean heavens pass away (Job 15:15) rent in twain (Isa. 64:1) and the new heavens planted (Isa. 51:16) which will be heard in their lightest petition to the God of all grace (Hos. 2:21).“Drop down, ye Heavens from above.”—Isa. 45:8.And there was no more sea.—“Under the control of the new Heaven—spiritual powers—the reconstructed social order will be so satisfactory, so complete, so thorough, that there will be no more dissatisfied masses. Everything will be reduced to law and order, obliterating the differences of wealth and power as they now exist.”—Z. '16-392.21:2.And I, [John] saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem.—“The New Jerusalem is not‘that great city [government] which ruleth over the kings of the earth’(Revelation 17:18) but is the new Spiritual Government of the Millennial Age. It is not reared by men; but, descends from God out of Heaven. It is for this Kingdom, this Government, that our Lord taught His disciples to pray,‘Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven.’”—Z. '16-392; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 5:35; Heb. 11:10, 16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:10; 11:2; 22:19.Coming down [from God] out of Heaven, FROM GOD.—“We are not to think of this Holy City as being composed of literal stones, but of‘living stones’(1 Peter 2:4-7; Ephesians 2:19-22.) Neither Christ nor the saints in glory can be seen of men. But the whole world will quickly be made aware of the fact that a new Government has been instituted—a government of righteousness and all power.”—Z. '16-392; Heb. 11:10; 12:22; Rev. 3:12; 21:10.Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.—“This declaration implies its beauty, grandeur and perfection, as a bride's adornment on such an occasion is particular and elaborate to the last degree. Additionally, the statement reminds us that in the government of the future the world's judges are to be the saints selected throughout the Gospel Age and frequently called‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife.’”—Z. '16-392; 2 Cor. 11:2; John 3:29; Eph. 5:31, 32.21:3.And [I heard] a great voice.—The Lord Jesus, the Father's Word.[Out of heaven] WAS saying, OUT OF THE THRONE, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men.—“This verse associates this City with the other figure of a symbolic Temple, which the Lord is now preparing, of which the[pg 317]saints will constitute the‘pillars.’God will dwell in this Temple, and the world of mankind will approach God in it to receive the Divine blessings, as Israel approached the typical Tabernacle and the Temple in their typical religious services.”(Z. '01-199.)“When we think of the Church as the Temple under construction, it impresses upon us the thought that there is a future work to be accomplished. Why construct a Temple, and then not use it? St. Paul says, the Church is God's workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10.) And His work will be so perfectly accomplished that there will be no need of rectification or alteration beyond the veil,—beautifully illustrated in the erection of Solomon's Temple, of which we read that its stones were prepared at the quarry and then finally assembled for the construction of the Temple, and that they were so perfectly shaped and marked for their various places that they came together without the sound of a hammer.”—Z. '15-189; 2 Cor. 6:16.And He [will dwell] DWELLETH with them and they shall be His people.—“All mankind will be treated from the standpoint of reconciliation, the Propitiation (price) for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) having been provided at Calvary, and the due time having then come for the manifestation of Divine favor.”—Z. '01-200; Psa. 68:18; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 8:8.[And] God Himself shall be with them, [and be their God].—“It will be the Kingdom of God, because God's dear Son and His joint-heir, the Church, will be in absolute accord with the Father, and all that shall be done under their control will fully and completely represent the Divine will respecting men. Nevertheless, it will be a separate Kingdom from that of the remainder of the Universe, as the Apostle Paul indicates. (1 Cor. 15:24, 25, 28.)”—Z. '01-200; Jer. 30:22; 31:33; Ezek. 11:20.21:4.And [God] HE shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.—“The wiping away of tears implies a gradual work, such as we see will be the process of that glorious time. Man will not be exempt from every weakness and trial and difficulty at the beginning, but if he will conform to the Laws of the Kingdom, all cause for distress will gradually pass away, as restitution blessings will lift him out of death into life.”—Z. '01-200; Isa. 25:8; 65:19.And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor crying SHALL BE.—“What a glorious sun-burst of blessing is in these words! What a grand fulfilment will be there of the Apostle's declaration respecting‘Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began’! The declaration, however, applies to the very end of the Millennial Age,[pg 318]and not in full to any previous time in that Age. (John 5:28, 29.)”—Z. '01-200; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; Rev. 20:14; Isa. 35:10; 51:11; 65:19.[Neither shall there be any more pain] For the former things are passed away.—The reign of Satan, sin and death will have ended forever.“To gain a place in the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be to find the gratification of every desire and ambition of the perfect human heart.”—A. 291.21:5.And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new.—“This expression does not relate merely to rocks and trees, etc., but to the great work which our Lord undertook; viz., the regeneration of humanity to the complete perfection contemplated in the original Divine Plan.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 20:11.And He said unto me, Write: for these words are [true and] faithful, AND TRUE.—“Present conditions seem so contrary to all this grand Restitution outcome that it cannot be fully believed and trusted by any except those who have learned to walk with the Lord. To all others these things will appear untrue, and God will appear unfaithful, and the matters which we are here discussing will seem‘idle tales,’as fables and golden fancies: but to us who believe, these promises are precious.”—1 Pet. 2:7.21:6.And He [said] SAITH unto me, [It is done.] I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.—“It was the Father's good pleasure that the Blessed One, the Only Begotten of the Father, should accomplish the entire program of redemption and restitution; and be forever the Associate and Representative of the Father, through whom and by whom all things should continue, as He was the one through whom all things were made that were made.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 1:8; 22:13.I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.—“It is this one who, during the Millennial Age, will extend to all the willing and obedient the Water of Life, everlasting life—the privilege of perpetual existence. But they must thirst for it, must desire it; and this desire must be manifest in obedience to the terms, the laws, upon which it will be supplied freely.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 22:17; Isa. 55:1; John 7:37.21:7.He that overcometh shall inherit [all] THESE things.—These earthly things.—Acts 3:21.And I will be his God, and he shall be My son.—“Those addressed are not the Bride class, selected during the Gospel Age, (1 John 3:2) but the sheep class of Matt. 25—such of mankind as during the Millennial Age become the Lord's sheep and obey His voice. They shall inherit the[pg 319]earth, the purchased possession—which Jesus will restore at the close of the Millennium to all the children of Adam who shall have accepted His gracious favors and been regenerated by Him, and thus become His sons, and He their God—their Father. (Isa. 9:6)”—Z. '01-201; Zech. 8:8; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:21.21:8.But the fearful.—“If any, enlightened by the Truth, and brought to a knowledge of the love of God, and restored to human perfection, become‘fearful,’and‘draw back’(Heb. 10:38, 39), they, with the unbelievers, will be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:23.)”—A. 107.And unbelieving.—Who will not trust God, after all the marvels of His grace they will have seen and experienced.—Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17; John 20:31; John 17:20; 1 Tim. 6:12; Luke 17:5; James 2:17.And the abominable.—“Those abominable characters among men, who, knowing the truth, yet love unrighteousness.”—H. 60.And murderers.—Slanderers.—Psa. 141:3; Deut. 5:17; Matt. 5:21, 22; 15:18-20; 1 John 3:15; James 3:2-12; James 4:11; Prov. 4:23, 24; Matt. 12:34-37; Eph. 4:31; Psa. 15:1-3; 19:14; 34:13; 101:5; Prov. 12:19; 16:28; 17:4; 26:20-21; Jer. 20:10; 1 Cor. 10:10; James 1:19; Deut. 32:2.And whoremongers.—Not at heart faithful to the Lord.And sorcerers.—Dreamers, theorists, pseudo-philosophers, endeavoring to accredit to themselves the great salvation wrought.—Rev. 22:15.And idolaters.—“Such as misappropriate and misuse Divine favors, who give to self or any other creature or thing that service and honor which belong to God.”—H. 63.And all liars.—“All who do not love the Truth and seek it, and at any cost defend and hold it.”(H. 63.)“If something is six inches long, let it be just six inches for six inches.”—Z. '12-147.Shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.—“The severest punishment inflicted by the Jews upon any criminal. The corpse (after the man had been stoned to death) was thrown out into the Valley of Hinnom (Gay-Hinnom) and was devoured by the worm or the flame.”—Weym.Which is the Second Death.—“Such company would be repulsive to any honest, upright being. It is hard to tolerate them now, but in the close of the Millennial Judgment, when the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall have given every advantage and opportunity of knowledge and ability, the righteous will be glad when the corrupters of the earth, and all their work and influence, shall be destroyed.”—H. 63.[pg 320]21:9.And there came [unto me].—To the John class, the Church, on this side of the veil.One of the seven angels.—The Seventh.Which had the seven vials full.—They are still full after they are poured out on ecclesiasticism!Of the seven last plagues.—The Seven volumes ofStudies in the Scriptures.And talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee.—See Lu. 4:21.The Bride, the Lamb's Wife.—“As a grand lesson of the Divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to all evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of honor (as‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife and Joint-heir’—Rom. 8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the sinners redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. The continued permission of evil is for the purpose of developing these‘members of the Body of Christ’and to furnish them the opportunity of sacrificing their little and redeemed all, in the service of Him who bought them with His precious blood; and thus of developing in their hearts His spiritual likeness, that when, at the end of the Age, they are presented by their Lord and Redeemer before the Father, God may see in them‘the image of His Son.’”—Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:29; E.412, 395; Rev. 19:7; 21:2.21:10.And he carried me away in the Spirit.—“God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”—1 Cor. 2:10; Rev. 1:10; 17:3.To a great and high mountain.—How similar is the language, recording the experience of the first and greatest Member of the Church, at the beginning of His ministry. Concerning the Lord's third temptation we read:“In this temptation the Lord is taken, not physically, but in the spirit of His mind, up into a high mountain—a very exalted kingdom. Physically He was all this time in the desert near Jerusalem; and as a matter of fact there is neither in that desert nor anywhere in the world a mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world could be viewed except with the mind's eye.”—Z. '06-43.St. John's Vision of the Descending KingdomAnd shewed me [that great] THE HOLY City, [The holy] Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God.—The city came down from Heaven to earth. If we went up to Heaven, it would not be found there. If Rev. 21 is to be literally interpreted, then the whole surface of Palestine is far from sufficient to hold a city of this size. Besides, its height, length and breadth were to be equal.—Rev. 21:2.21:11.Having the glory [of] FROM God.—The Church has a foretaste of this glory on this side of the veil.—1 Pet. 4:14.[pg 321][And] her light.—“The Lamb is the Light thereof.”—Rev. 21:23; 22:5.Was like unto a stone most precious.—“The brightness of His [the Father's] glory, and the express image of His person.”—Heb. 1:3.Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.—A beautiful green-tinted diamond.—Rev. 4:3.21:12And [had] HAVING a wall great and high.—The pictures here are all pictures of the Bride. Nevertheless, the wall, the protection of that Heavenly City, in a special sense represents our Heavenly Father. No picture of the Bride would be complete that did not include Him who dwells within us, who is the Author of the Plan, and the Source of all our joys. Now as to the application of the picture of the wall to the Bride herself, one of Pastor Russell's coworkers has aptly said:“We are like livingstones, in the plural—144,000 stones in one, if you will. There was one perfect Stone to begin with, and all the others had to be conformed to the image of that Stone. Men have discovered a way of taking two glasses of different density and fusing them together, so you cannot tell where the point of fusion is. And so, with this Little Flock of 144,000, they are going to be welded together in one—there will be but one mind in that whole 144,000. There is only one thing they have in view, and that is to perform Jehovah's will; and they rejoice in doing His will absolutely.”And [had] HAVING twelve gates.—The twelve mystical tribes of Israel.—Rev. 7:5-8; Ezek. 48:31-34.And at the gates twelve angels, and THEIR names written thereon.—The entire Little Flock; twelve thousand of each tribe, each working together, under God's direction, as one angel, or messenger. Doubtless certain special work is reserved for each tribe. All who gain membership in that tribe will be particularly suited to the work to which they will be assigned.Which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.—Their names, and the characteristics they signify, are given in Rev. 7:5-8.21:13.On the East.—Toward the Sun-rising, toward the Dawn, toward the Little Flock, specially honored and blessed in their sacrifices on behalf of the Church. The side of the Amramites.—Num. 3:19; F. 128.Three gates.—The mystical tribe of Joseph, Benjamin and Manasseh—Manasseh taking the place of Dan.—Ezek. 48:32; Rev. 7:5, 7, 8.AND on the North.—The side of the Merarites, the Great Company.—Num. 3:33; F. 129.[pg 322]Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Judah, Reuben and Levi.—Ezek. 48:31; Rev. 7:5, 7.AND on the South.—The side of the Kohathites, the Ancient Worthies.—Num. 4:2; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun.—Ezek. 48:33; Rev. 7:7, 8.And on the West.—The side of the Gershonites, the Restitution classes.—Num. 4:22; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Gad, Asher and Naphtali.—Ezek. 48:34; Rev. 7:5, 6.Although the pictures here given are pictures of the Bride, and the gates apply as above shown, nevertheless these gates also represent the Ancient Worthies, who during the Millennial Age will be the earthly representatives of the Church, and, perhaps, exactly 144,000 in number. Additionally, the Ancient Worthies arecalled“gates”in Isa. 26:2.“The gates or entrances of the City, which are twelve in number, are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is in harmony with what we have learned of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God that the Ancient Worthies from the various tribes of Israel, selected during the Jewish Age, will be the visible representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom in the earth through whose instrumentality the nations may enter into the blessings of the Kingdom.”—Z. '92-16.“The city lies open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike.”—Luke 13:29. Weym.21:14.And the wall of the City had twelve foundations.—“The Lord himself, is the foundation,‘Other foundations can no man lay than that is laid—Jesus Christ.’(1 Cor. 3:11.) He is the great Rock, and St. Peter's confession of Him as such was, therefore, a rock testimonial—a declaration of the foundation principles underlying the Divine Plan. St. Peter disowned any pretension to being the foundation-stone himself and properly classed himself to with all the other‘living stones’(Gr.lithos,) of the Church,—thoughpetros, rock, signifies a larger stone thanlithos, and all the Apostles as‘foundation’stones would in the Divine Plan and order have a larger importance than their brethren.”—F. 220; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20.And [in] ON them the TWELVE names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.—“We are entirely out of accord with the views of Papacy, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the Catholic-Apostolic Church, and of the Mormons, all of whom claim that the number of the Apostles was not limited to twelve, and that there have been successors since their day who spoke and wrote with equal authority with the original Twelve. (2 Cor. 11:13.)”(F. 209.)“We still have[pg 323]with us the gift of Apostles, in that we have their teachings in the New Testament, so full and complete as to require no addition; and hence the Twelve Apostles have no successors, and need none, since there are but‘Twelve Apostles of the Lamb;’they are the twelve stars; the twelve foundations.'”—John 6:70; E.229, 207.12:15.And he that talked with me.—Volume VII ofStudies in the Scriptures.Had a [golden] MEASURING reed of gold.—The Divine Word.To measure the City, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.—Surely, if we can not find the measurement in the Scriptures it is hopeless to look elsewhere.—Zech. 2:1, 2; Rev. 11:1; Ezek. 40:3.21:16.And the City lieth foursquare, and the length is [as large] as the breadth.—A perfect cube, like the Most Holy of the Tabernacle.And he measured the City with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.—“The number of‘buildings’in the City seems to be indicated by the measures—12,000 times 12,000 furlongs equals 144,000,000 square furlongs. This area contains 144,000 building-lots of one thousand square furlongs each—which circumstance may well signify that the 144,000, faithful ones will reign with Jesus during a thousand years (one square furlong representing a year.”)The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.—Each view of the City, from any side, presents to view, Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.21:17.And he measured the wall thereof.—Its thickness.An hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man.—The measure of a man, the Man Christ Jesus, is 1,000. His Day is to be 1,000 years in length. Adam's Day was a thousand years long. The total measure is 144,000, the number of the Elect. We should expect to find the number of those rescued during the Millennium shown somewhere in these measurements; and this we also find. The cubit, in symbolism, is flexible in length, like the word“day.”If we multiply the number of square furlongs in any wall by the144 measures of a man, i. e., 144,000,000 X 144, the result is 20,736,000,000, the estimated number of the sheep class at the end of the Millennial Age.—Matt. 25:34-40; Z. '05-271.That is, of the angel.—As interpreted by the angel.21:18.And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.—“The solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city itself was made of gold, resembling transparent glass.”—Weym.[pg 324]And the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass.—Of Divine origin, and made up of those who have the Divine nature.21:19.And the foundations of the wall of the City were garnished with all manner of precious stones.—Mosaic manufacturers make 15,000 colors; and it is estimated the trained eye can detect a million colors. In selecting and polishing the 144,000 gems and putting them in place in the Temple God is preparing a beautiful harmony of characters in infinite variety that will delight the hearts of all His creatures to all eternity.—1 Chron. 29:2.The first foundation was jasper.—Likeness to the Father. See comments on Rev. 4:3.AND the second, sapphire.—Faithfulness. The sapphire of the ancients is the modern lapiz lazuli, or azure stone, a mineral substance valued for decorative purposes in consequence of the fine blue color which it usually presents. It has the appearance of being spotted with gold dust.“The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.”(Job. 28:6.) The brilliant spots in the deep blue matrix invite comparison with the stars in the firmament. The crystals form into units having twelve equal sides. The blue is the color of faithfulness; the gold shows the faithfulness towards God; the star-like appearance shows the faithfulness towards all the Heavenly beings—angels, archangels, and the Great Company; the crystalline formation shows the faithfulness towards the symbolical and actual twelve tribes of Israel which, in the last analysis, include all who shall become heirs of salvation. Those who gain the prize of the High Calling can be trusted.—1 Cor. 4:2; Luke 16:10-12.AND the third, a chalcedony.—Obedience; Submission. A green quartz, found in the copper mines of Chalcedon. It crystallizes in the twelve-sided and twenty-four-sided forms of cubic crystalline formation. In the twelve sided crystals each side is a surface of five equal sides and angles. The Church's obedience is perfect towards God as indicated in the faces of the crystals, five being a symbol of Divinity. It is operative towards the brethren as in the twelve-faced crystals, and towards both phases of the Kingdom, as in the twenty-four-sided crystals.The fourth, an emerald.—Deathlessness. One of the most beautiful of gems, of a bright green color, without any mixture, crystallizing in long, hexagonal (six-sided) crystals. The stone loses color when strongly heated. From those originally imperfect (as shown in the six-sided crystals) God is creating a race of deathless ones. Nevertheless, though begotten to the Divine nature, should[pg 325]they cling to the dross of their fleshly natures too determinedly, so great fires may be applied to burn away the dross as will destroy the value of the gem. This gem, too, represents the Church's power to bestow life upon the dead world. The crystals may be broken or split crosswise. The everlasting life for the world, which may be made continuous, is nevertheless susceptible of being broken off at any time for disobedience.21:20.The fifth, sardonyx.—Humility; Purity; Martyrdom. An ornamental stone much used for seals and cameos. It was considered by ancient oriental authorities that a fine oriental sardonyx should have at least three strata, a black base, a white intermediate center, and a superficial layer of red; these colors typifying the three cardinal virtues—humility, black; chastity, white; modesty or martyrdom, red.The sixth, sardius.—Loyalty to Christ. A reddish stone much used by the ancients as a gem stone; it has been in all ages the commonest of the stones used by the gem engraver.—Rev. 4:3.The seventh, chrysolyte.—Heavenly Wisdom. GreekChrysos, gold, andlithos, stone. The meaning of the term makes it the golden stone. It is a gem of a golden color, lightly tinted with green. It is very transparent.“The wisdom that is from Above is first pure.”—Jas. 3:17.The eighth, beryl.—Love of the Father. A pellucid gem of a bluish green color, much prized as a gem stone by the ancients. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system, with sixty-six sides of various sizes and shapes. On each of the six principal sides are diamond-shaped marks, alternately five and eight marks to a side, with four marks at the end. The sixty-six sides represent the sixty-six books of the Bible; the two ends represent the Old and New Testaments; the diamond shaped marks represent the Heavenly Father; the three groups of eight each represent the twenty-four prophecies of the kingdom; five is a symbol of Divinity, and four represents Justice, Power, Wisdom and Love.The ninth, topaz.—Benevolence. It is generally held that the mineral now called topaz was unknown to ancient writers, and that their topaz is our peridot. This is the name applied by jewelers to“noble olivine.”It is a dark, decidedly green-colored mineral. Much mystery for a long time surrounded the locality which yielded most of the peridot for commerce; but it is now identified with the island of St. John in the Red Sea, probably the“Topaz Isle”of the ancients. It crystallizes in twenty-six-sided figures. In some views—i. e., when the Great Company[pg 326]or the classes that are to be destroyed are taken into consideration—the tribes of Israel number thirteen; and when Spiritual and Fleshly Israel are considered separately, the total number is twenty-six. It is not the wish of the Heavenly Father that any of these should perish, and it is the wish of the Church to do all humanly and Divinely possible to save the unworthy from the final consequences of their own willfulness. This spirit will be exercised to the last limit of love.The tenth, chrysoprasus.—Constant, cheerful endurance. The modern Chrysoberyl is a yellow or green gem stone, remarkable for its hardness, being exceeded in this respect only by the diamond and the jacinth. It is not infrequently cloudy, due to microscopic cavities. The hardness signifies ability to“endure hardness as good soldiers,”and the clouds signify difficulties, troubles, to be overcome.The eleventh, jacinth.—Unchangeableness. The modern sapphire, next to the diamond in hardness; a beautiful blue stone. Many of the crystals are parti-colored, the blue being distributed in patches in a colorless stone; but by skillful cutting the deep-colored portion may be caused to impart color to the entire gem. This stone crystallizes in the most beautiful and wonderful pattern conceivable, consisting of a six-sided pyramid at either end, separated by three different sets of surfaces of six each and two different sets of surfaces of three each. We may think of the two ends as representing the teachings of the Twelve Apostles, and the twenty-four surfaces between as representing the twenty-four elders (prophecies pertaining to the Kingdom of God). God is unchangeable; although the different operations of His Plan, in different ages, make Him seem changeable to mankind. But the perfected Plan will be the adoration of all His creatures. This gem also shows how God can take characters whose conduct may have been very irregular, and by skillful cutting make them copies of Himself.The twelfth, an amethyst.—Royalty. A stone of a violet color, bordering on purple, composed of a strong blue and deep red. The name is derived from the Greeka, not, andmethyskein, to intoxicate, expressing the old belief that the stone protected its owner from strong drink. It was held that wine drank out of a cup of amethyst would not intoxicate. It crystallizes in double pyramids (base to base) of three sides on each pyramid. Amethyst was Pastor Russell's birth-stone; and behold how perfect its application! He was true blue in his faithfulness, and fully loyal to the blood of Christ, as shown by the red. He has the royalty now, thank God! The cup which he[pg 327]poured never intoxicated with error those who drank its live-giving draughts from the Fountain of all Truth, our Father's Word. The six-sided crystallization represents his Six Volumes ofScripture Studies, and this, the Seventh, a summary of all, represents the stone as a whole. There are over ninety varieties of crystals in nature. Surely,“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”The following is William Miller's dream, as given inThe Three Worlds, the first of Pastor Russell's books, long since out of print, where it is told only as a dream. (Jer. 23:28.) It calls to mind a dream of Pastor Russell's, often told in private. In his early youth he dreamed of sleeping in an attic. Suddenly he awoke to see the morning sun, just emerged over the hill-top, blazing directly in his face. He jumped to his feet with a start, thinking that it must be late. In doing so he stumbled over several forms still asleep. He was about to reproach himself for thus rudely awakening them, when he discovered that not one of the sleepers had been disturbed. The application is evident.“The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”Pastor Russell was awakened by the light of the Sun of the New Day. He tried to waken others, and succeeded with“just one here, one there;”but the great mass are still asleep. However, the Dawn comes on apace. Now for William Miller's dream:“I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, had sent me a curiously wrought casket, about ten inches long by six square, made of ebony and pearls curiously inlaid. To the casket there was a key attached. I immediately took the key and opened the casket, when, to my wonder and surprise, I found it filled with all sorts and sizes of jewels—diamonds, precious stones—and gold and silver coin of every dimension and value, beautifully arranged in their several places in the casket; and thus arranged, they reflected a light and glory equalled only by the sun. [These jewels are the beautiful truths which the open casket unfolded to his sight.] I thought it was my duty not to enjoy this wonderful sight alone, although my heart was overjoyed at the brilliancy, beauty and value of its contents. I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, and gave out the word that all who had a desire might come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When they first looked into the casket, they would wonder and shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them on the table.[pg 328]“I began to think that the owner would require the casket and jewels again at my hand; and that if I suffered them to be scattered, I could never place them in their places in the casket again as before, and felt I should never be able to meet the accountability; for it would be immense. I then began to plead with the people not to handle them, nor take them out of the casket. But the more I pleaded, the more they scattered; and now they seemed to scatter them all over the room, on the floor, and every piece of furniture in the room. I then saw that among the genuine jewels and coin they had scattered an innumerable quantity of spurious jewels and counterfeit coin. I was highly incensed at their base conduct and ingratitude, and reproved and reproached them for it; but the more I reproved, the more they scattered the spurious jewels and false coin among the genuine. I then became vexed in my very soul, and began to use physical force to push them out of the room; but while I was pushing out one, three more would enter, and bring in dirt, shavings, sand, and all manner of rubbish, until they had covered every one of the true jewels, diamonds and coins from sight. They also tore into pieces my casket and scattered it among the rubbish. I thought that no man regarded my sorrow or my anger. I became wholly discouraged and disheartened, and sat down and wept. [When the 1844 time passed, how perfectly was this fullfilled.] While I was thus weeping and mourning for my great loss and accountability, I remembered God, and earnestly prayed that He would send me help.“Immediately the door opened and a man entered the room, when the other people all left it. Then he, having a dirt brush in his hand, opened the windows and began to brush the dust and rubbish from the room. I cried to him to forbear; that there were some precious jewels scattered among the rubbish. But he told me to fear not, for he would take care of them. Then while he brushed the dust and rubbish, the false jewels and counterfeit coin, all rose and went out of the window like a cloud and the wind carried them away. In the bustle I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them the rubbish was all gone, and the precious jewels, the diamonds, the gold and the silver coins lay scattered in profusion all over the room. He then placed on the table a casket, much larger and more beautiful than the former, and gathered up the jewels, the diamonds, the coins, by the handful, and cast them into the casket, till not one was left, although some of the diamonds were not bigger than the point of a pin. He then called upon me to come and see. I looked into[pg 329]the casket, but my eyes were dazzled with the sight. The contents shone with ten times their former glory. I thought that they had been scoured in the sand by the feet of those wicked persons who had scattered and trod them in the dust. They were arranged in beautiful order in the casket—every one in its place—without any visible pains on the part of the man [Pastor Russell] who cast them in. I shouted for joy; and that shout awoke me.”21:21.And the twelve gates were [twelve] pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.—“The peculiar lustre of a pearl is dependent on the fact that the surface is not perfectly smooth, but covered with the irregularly sinuous edges of innumerable layers of inconceivable thinness, deposited one over the other. The distance of these edges from each other varies indefinitely, the pearls of the finest water having them closest. They are always, however, too fine to be detected by the naked eye. The edges make so many steps, so to speak; and the iridescence is produced by the mutual interference of the rays of light reflected from these thousands of angles. For their water, or lustre, as distinguished from iridescence, pearls are indebted to their being composed of thin layers, which allow light to pass through them, while their numerous surfaces disperse and reflect the light in such a manner that it returns and mingles with that which is directly reflected from the exterior. The thinner and more transparent the constituent layers, the more perfect is the lustre. The immediate occasion of the production of a pearl appears to be always the presence of some extraneous substance inside of the shell of the mollusk.”(McC.) The mollusk is the earthly tabernacle; the extraneous substance is the New Mind. The successive layers are the additions made to it,“precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.”—Isa. 28:13.And the street of the City was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.—There will be but one street in that City, the street which has been in process of construction throughout the Age. The Prophets tell us of it.—Prov. 16:17; Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 35:8; 62:10-12.21:22.And I saw no temple therein.—No special place of worship, for the use and benefit of the Little Flock.[For] BECAUSE the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.—The Bride's whole life is completely wrapped up in the Father and the Son. Her one consuming wish is to glorify the Lord's dear name. Of what need is any special place of worship for one who can say,“For to me to live is [for] Christ [to live]?”—Phil. 1:21.[pg 330]21:23.And the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine [in] ON it.—“The sun signifies the light of this Gospel Age; the moon signifies the typically reflected light of the Gospel in the Law and the Prophets of the previous Dispensation. The glorified Church will have no need of the light which in the present time she so much enjoys through the Word and the Spirit, and the Law and the Prophets. She will have, instead of these, a much more excellent glory, being, herself, a part of the Sun of Righteousness.”(Z. '01-201.)“‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father’—our Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, of course being included. The Prophet mentions the same Sun of Righteousness, saying,‘The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams.’—Malachi 4:2.”—Z. '16-393.For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.—“We are not to lose sight of the fact that Christ is the Head of the Church, even as the Father is the head of Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:3.) Hence the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will always be an inner Temple in this great Temple which God has provided for the world's blessing during Restitution Times.”—Z. '16-393; Isa. 24:23; 60:19, 20; Rev. 21:11; 22:5.21:24.And the nations [of them which are saved] shall walk [in] BY the light [of it] THEREOF.—“The word‘nations’here signifies peoples, and is intended to show that all peoples, not merely the Israelites, will be thus favored under God's Kingdom. The world will not be divided into nationalities as at present.”—Z. '16-394; Isa. 60:3, 5.And the kings of the earth do bring their glory [and honor] into it.—“When mankind reaches perfection at the close of the Millennial Age, as already shown, they will be admitted into membership in the Kingdom of God and given the entire control of earth as at first designed—each man a sovereign, a king.”(A. 296.)“That Kingdom, in which all will be kings, will be one grand, universal Republic, whose stability and blessed influence will be assured by the perfection of its every citizen, a result now much desired, but an impossibility because of sin.”(Z. '10-39.)“During the Millennial Age the kings will be the Ancient Worthies; but subsequently a New Dispensation will open, under new conditions, in which mankind (perfected) will be granted the privilege of ruling themselves in harmony with the Divine Law.”(Z. '97-304.) In this verse the Ancient Worthies aredirectlyreferred to; while in verse 26 the rest of mankind are referred to. Notice the tenses of the verbs“dobring”and“shallbring”—present and future—in the Millennium and after.[pg 331]21:25.And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day.—Throughout the long Millennial Day of a thousand years all who will may seek and find salvation through the broad gates of the City of God that will then be wide open. (Isa. 60:11.) Now,“Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”—Matt. 7:14.For there shall be no night there.—“The period in which sin is permitted has been a dark Night to humanity, never to be forgotten; but the glorious Day of righteousness and Divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning creation has been so long.‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’—Psa. 30:5.”(A. 9.)The Psalmist explains how the smile of the Father was turned away from mankind. He describes mankind as“Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God [by disobedience of His express command] and contemned [set at naught] the counsels of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labor [each sex with its own peculiar kind]; they fell down, and there was none to help.”(Psa. 107:10-12.) This disobedience brought our entire race into the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:4); but the Prophets encouraged us to hope for a watchman who would tell us of the coming of the Day. (Isa. 21:12.) In the Apostle's time he declared the night was far spent, being then more than two-thirds gone. (Rom. 13:12.) The event that is to bring in the Day is the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. (Mal. 4:2.) When here at the First Advent Christ was the light of the world (John 8:12); and the people in His immediate neighborhood saw a great Light, shadowing forth His coming glory. (Isa. 9:2.) He declared that we, too, should be lights in the world. (Matt. 5:14.)—“You in your little corner, and I in mine;”and that in the resurrection all these 144,000 brightly burning candles should be brought together and with Him constitute the Sun of Righteousness that is to heal and bless the world.“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.”—Matt. 13:43.The sun rises quietly, like a thief. (1 Thes. 5:1.) When the Morning comes, the first work is banishing the works of the night. (Ezek. 7:7-12.) Next comes the opening of the spiritually blind eyes of those that have physical sight. (Amos 5:18.) Surely, the best time for a great oculist to[pg 332]open the eyes of the blind is in the day time. (Isa. 35:5.) Now matters are more or less obscured (1 Cor. 13:12); but the time is coming when the blind shall be shown a way of life they have not hitherto known. (Isa. 42:16.) Will the Lord show wonders in the dark? (Psa. 88:10.) He will indeed; and when the nations come forth from the tomb, they will seek Him that turneth the shadow of death into the morning. (Amos 5:8; Isa. 42: 6, 7.) They will seek Him and will find Him. No wonder, then, that the Psalmist, looking down the stream of time to that happy Day, exultingly exclaims,“Then [after full experience with sin and death] they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath broken the gates of brass [that stood between them and perfection], and cut the bars of iron asunder [that held them in death's prison house].”(Psa. 107:13-16.)“And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”(Rev. 21:4.)“For there shall be no night there.”“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the Morning.”—Psa. 30:5; Zech. 14:7.21:26.And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.—“This rendering of glory to the Kingdom will continue throughout the entire Millennial Age; for the princes throughout the earth will make known to the peoples that not in their own name or authority do they rule and execute judgment and establish righteousness, but in the name of the glorified Christ, Head and Body, whose representatives they are.”—Z. '16-394.21:27.And there shall in no wise enter into it anything [that defileth] COMMON.—No one who could or would contaminate others by speech or example, will ever find a place in that City.Neither whatsoever worketh abomination.—Nor anything tending in the direction of pride or sectarianism.Or maketh a lie.—Nor anything countenancing the teaching of error for pleasure or profit.—1 John 2:22.But they which are written in the [Lamb's.] Book of THE Life OF HEAVEN.—“The Lamb's Book of Life we must understand to include only those who attain to the position of joint-heirship with Christ, those whose names are written in Heaven during this Gospel Age and who are faithful to their Covenant. (Psa. 50:5.)”—Z. '16-394; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8.[pg 333]
Revelation 21—The Descending Kingdom21:1.And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.—“It may be that this, rather than‘the Millennium,’is the name which we ought to give to the Golden Age, of purity and bliss which next awaits the world. The words seem to include a transformation and glorification of our material globe.”—Weym.“Paradise, the Garden of God, applicable as a name to Eden, where our first parents resided, is Scripturally applied to the new earth when Restitution blessings shall, during the Millennium, have brought it to perfection. This Paradise of the future is referred to by the Apostles as‘the third heaven,’and as‘a new heavens and a new earth.’(2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Peter 3:13.) They are not referring to new planets, nor to heavens ranged one above another, as many have supposed, but to the third of three great periods of time, beginning with man's creation and extending into the illimitable future. The first of these periods, termed the first heavens and earth—the old order of things—passed away with the Deluge of Noah's day. The second period,‘the heavens and the earth which are now,’the present order of things, are reserved of God to pass away with a great symbolic fire of trouble—revolution, etc.—which will utterly destroy the present spiritual powers and the present social arrangements. (2 Peter 3:6, 7; Galatians 1:4; Zephaniah 3:8, 9.) The third great period is to be a‘world without end,’under Divine administration. This will be the third heavens and the third earth, or the new heavens and the new earth, which will differ from the present condition of things in that they will be righteous! whereas the present arrangement is imperfect, unrighteous. The‘new heavens’will consist of the new spiritual ruling powers of the future—Christ the Head, and the Church His Body.”—Z. '16-392.For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.—“The Scriptures show us that in this general rupture the nominal church (including all denominations) will be gradually drawn more and more to the side of the governments and the wealthy, will lose much of its influence over the people, and will finally fall with the governments. Thus the heavens [ecclesiastical rule] being on fire, will[pg 316]pass away with a great hissing.”(A. 333.) Two of the causes that operate to“burn”the present“earth”are declared to be hunger, and the misrule of beastly governments. (Deut. 32:24) In the end all will be glad to see the unclean heavens pass away (Job 15:15) rent in twain (Isa. 64:1) and the new heavens planted (Isa. 51:16) which will be heard in their lightest petition to the God of all grace (Hos. 2:21).“Drop down, ye Heavens from above.”—Isa. 45:8.And there was no more sea.—“Under the control of the new Heaven—spiritual powers—the reconstructed social order will be so satisfactory, so complete, so thorough, that there will be no more dissatisfied masses. Everything will be reduced to law and order, obliterating the differences of wealth and power as they now exist.”—Z. '16-392.21:2.And I, [John] saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem.—“The New Jerusalem is not‘that great city [government] which ruleth over the kings of the earth’(Revelation 17:18) but is the new Spiritual Government of the Millennial Age. It is not reared by men; but, descends from God out of Heaven. It is for this Kingdom, this Government, that our Lord taught His disciples to pray,‘Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven.’”—Z. '16-392; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 5:35; Heb. 11:10, 16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:10; 11:2; 22:19.Coming down [from God] out of Heaven, FROM GOD.—“We are not to think of this Holy City as being composed of literal stones, but of‘living stones’(1 Peter 2:4-7; Ephesians 2:19-22.) Neither Christ nor the saints in glory can be seen of men. But the whole world will quickly be made aware of the fact that a new Government has been instituted—a government of righteousness and all power.”—Z. '16-392; Heb. 11:10; 12:22; Rev. 3:12; 21:10.Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.—“This declaration implies its beauty, grandeur and perfection, as a bride's adornment on such an occasion is particular and elaborate to the last degree. Additionally, the statement reminds us that in the government of the future the world's judges are to be the saints selected throughout the Gospel Age and frequently called‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife.’”—Z. '16-392; 2 Cor. 11:2; John 3:29; Eph. 5:31, 32.21:3.And [I heard] a great voice.—The Lord Jesus, the Father's Word.[Out of heaven] WAS saying, OUT OF THE THRONE, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men.—“This verse associates this City with the other figure of a symbolic Temple, which the Lord is now preparing, of which the[pg 317]saints will constitute the‘pillars.’God will dwell in this Temple, and the world of mankind will approach God in it to receive the Divine blessings, as Israel approached the typical Tabernacle and the Temple in their typical religious services.”(Z. '01-199.)“When we think of the Church as the Temple under construction, it impresses upon us the thought that there is a future work to be accomplished. Why construct a Temple, and then not use it? St. Paul says, the Church is God's workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10.) And His work will be so perfectly accomplished that there will be no need of rectification or alteration beyond the veil,—beautifully illustrated in the erection of Solomon's Temple, of which we read that its stones were prepared at the quarry and then finally assembled for the construction of the Temple, and that they were so perfectly shaped and marked for their various places that they came together without the sound of a hammer.”—Z. '15-189; 2 Cor. 6:16.And He [will dwell] DWELLETH with them and they shall be His people.—“All mankind will be treated from the standpoint of reconciliation, the Propitiation (price) for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) having been provided at Calvary, and the due time having then come for the manifestation of Divine favor.”—Z. '01-200; Psa. 68:18; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 8:8.[And] God Himself shall be with them, [and be their God].—“It will be the Kingdom of God, because God's dear Son and His joint-heir, the Church, will be in absolute accord with the Father, and all that shall be done under their control will fully and completely represent the Divine will respecting men. Nevertheless, it will be a separate Kingdom from that of the remainder of the Universe, as the Apostle Paul indicates. (1 Cor. 15:24, 25, 28.)”—Z. '01-200; Jer. 30:22; 31:33; Ezek. 11:20.21:4.And [God] HE shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.—“The wiping away of tears implies a gradual work, such as we see will be the process of that glorious time. Man will not be exempt from every weakness and trial and difficulty at the beginning, but if he will conform to the Laws of the Kingdom, all cause for distress will gradually pass away, as restitution blessings will lift him out of death into life.”—Z. '01-200; Isa. 25:8; 65:19.And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor crying SHALL BE.—“What a glorious sun-burst of blessing is in these words! What a grand fulfilment will be there of the Apostle's declaration respecting‘Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began’! The declaration, however, applies to the very end of the Millennial Age,[pg 318]and not in full to any previous time in that Age. (John 5:28, 29.)”—Z. '01-200; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; Rev. 20:14; Isa. 35:10; 51:11; 65:19.[Neither shall there be any more pain] For the former things are passed away.—The reign of Satan, sin and death will have ended forever.“To gain a place in the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be to find the gratification of every desire and ambition of the perfect human heart.”—A. 291.21:5.And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new.—“This expression does not relate merely to rocks and trees, etc., but to the great work which our Lord undertook; viz., the regeneration of humanity to the complete perfection contemplated in the original Divine Plan.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 20:11.And He said unto me, Write: for these words are [true and] faithful, AND TRUE.—“Present conditions seem so contrary to all this grand Restitution outcome that it cannot be fully believed and trusted by any except those who have learned to walk with the Lord. To all others these things will appear untrue, and God will appear unfaithful, and the matters which we are here discussing will seem‘idle tales,’as fables and golden fancies: but to us who believe, these promises are precious.”—1 Pet. 2:7.21:6.And He [said] SAITH unto me, [It is done.] I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.—“It was the Father's good pleasure that the Blessed One, the Only Begotten of the Father, should accomplish the entire program of redemption and restitution; and be forever the Associate and Representative of the Father, through whom and by whom all things should continue, as He was the one through whom all things were made that were made.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 1:8; 22:13.I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.—“It is this one who, during the Millennial Age, will extend to all the willing and obedient the Water of Life, everlasting life—the privilege of perpetual existence. But they must thirst for it, must desire it; and this desire must be manifest in obedience to the terms, the laws, upon which it will be supplied freely.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 22:17; Isa. 55:1; John 7:37.21:7.He that overcometh shall inherit [all] THESE things.—These earthly things.—Acts 3:21.And I will be his God, and he shall be My son.—“Those addressed are not the Bride class, selected during the Gospel Age, (1 John 3:2) but the sheep class of Matt. 25—such of mankind as during the Millennial Age become the Lord's sheep and obey His voice. They shall inherit the[pg 319]earth, the purchased possession—which Jesus will restore at the close of the Millennium to all the children of Adam who shall have accepted His gracious favors and been regenerated by Him, and thus become His sons, and He their God—their Father. (Isa. 9:6)”—Z. '01-201; Zech. 8:8; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:21.21:8.But the fearful.—“If any, enlightened by the Truth, and brought to a knowledge of the love of God, and restored to human perfection, become‘fearful,’and‘draw back’(Heb. 10:38, 39), they, with the unbelievers, will be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:23.)”—A. 107.And unbelieving.—Who will not trust God, after all the marvels of His grace they will have seen and experienced.—Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17; John 20:31; John 17:20; 1 Tim. 6:12; Luke 17:5; James 2:17.And the abominable.—“Those abominable characters among men, who, knowing the truth, yet love unrighteousness.”—H. 60.And murderers.—Slanderers.—Psa. 141:3; Deut. 5:17; Matt. 5:21, 22; 15:18-20; 1 John 3:15; James 3:2-12; James 4:11; Prov. 4:23, 24; Matt. 12:34-37; Eph. 4:31; Psa. 15:1-3; 19:14; 34:13; 101:5; Prov. 12:19; 16:28; 17:4; 26:20-21; Jer. 20:10; 1 Cor. 10:10; James 1:19; Deut. 32:2.And whoremongers.—Not at heart faithful to the Lord.And sorcerers.—Dreamers, theorists, pseudo-philosophers, endeavoring to accredit to themselves the great salvation wrought.—Rev. 22:15.And idolaters.—“Such as misappropriate and misuse Divine favors, who give to self or any other creature or thing that service and honor which belong to God.”—H. 63.And all liars.—“All who do not love the Truth and seek it, and at any cost defend and hold it.”(H. 63.)“If something is six inches long, let it be just six inches for six inches.”—Z. '12-147.Shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.—“The severest punishment inflicted by the Jews upon any criminal. The corpse (after the man had been stoned to death) was thrown out into the Valley of Hinnom (Gay-Hinnom) and was devoured by the worm or the flame.”—Weym.Which is the Second Death.—“Such company would be repulsive to any honest, upright being. It is hard to tolerate them now, but in the close of the Millennial Judgment, when the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall have given every advantage and opportunity of knowledge and ability, the righteous will be glad when the corrupters of the earth, and all their work and influence, shall be destroyed.”—H. 63.[pg 320]21:9.And there came [unto me].—To the John class, the Church, on this side of the veil.One of the seven angels.—The Seventh.Which had the seven vials full.—They are still full after they are poured out on ecclesiasticism!Of the seven last plagues.—The Seven volumes ofStudies in the Scriptures.And talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee.—See Lu. 4:21.The Bride, the Lamb's Wife.—“As a grand lesson of the Divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to all evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of honor (as‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife and Joint-heir’—Rom. 8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the sinners redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. The continued permission of evil is for the purpose of developing these‘members of the Body of Christ’and to furnish them the opportunity of sacrificing their little and redeemed all, in the service of Him who bought them with His precious blood; and thus of developing in their hearts His spiritual likeness, that when, at the end of the Age, they are presented by their Lord and Redeemer before the Father, God may see in them‘the image of His Son.’”—Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:29; E.412, 395; Rev. 19:7; 21:2.21:10.And he carried me away in the Spirit.—“God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”—1 Cor. 2:10; Rev. 1:10; 17:3.To a great and high mountain.—How similar is the language, recording the experience of the first and greatest Member of the Church, at the beginning of His ministry. Concerning the Lord's third temptation we read:“In this temptation the Lord is taken, not physically, but in the spirit of His mind, up into a high mountain—a very exalted kingdom. Physically He was all this time in the desert near Jerusalem; and as a matter of fact there is neither in that desert nor anywhere in the world a mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world could be viewed except with the mind's eye.”—Z. '06-43.St. John's Vision of the Descending KingdomAnd shewed me [that great] THE HOLY City, [The holy] Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God.—The city came down from Heaven to earth. If we went up to Heaven, it would not be found there. If Rev. 21 is to be literally interpreted, then the whole surface of Palestine is far from sufficient to hold a city of this size. Besides, its height, length and breadth were to be equal.—Rev. 21:2.21:11.Having the glory [of] FROM God.—The Church has a foretaste of this glory on this side of the veil.—1 Pet. 4:14.[pg 321][And] her light.—“The Lamb is the Light thereof.”—Rev. 21:23; 22:5.Was like unto a stone most precious.—“The brightness of His [the Father's] glory, and the express image of His person.”—Heb. 1:3.Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.—A beautiful green-tinted diamond.—Rev. 4:3.21:12And [had] HAVING a wall great and high.—The pictures here are all pictures of the Bride. Nevertheless, the wall, the protection of that Heavenly City, in a special sense represents our Heavenly Father. No picture of the Bride would be complete that did not include Him who dwells within us, who is the Author of the Plan, and the Source of all our joys. Now as to the application of the picture of the wall to the Bride herself, one of Pastor Russell's coworkers has aptly said:“We are like livingstones, in the plural—144,000 stones in one, if you will. There was one perfect Stone to begin with, and all the others had to be conformed to the image of that Stone. Men have discovered a way of taking two glasses of different density and fusing them together, so you cannot tell where the point of fusion is. And so, with this Little Flock of 144,000, they are going to be welded together in one—there will be but one mind in that whole 144,000. There is only one thing they have in view, and that is to perform Jehovah's will; and they rejoice in doing His will absolutely.”And [had] HAVING twelve gates.—The twelve mystical tribes of Israel.—Rev. 7:5-8; Ezek. 48:31-34.And at the gates twelve angels, and THEIR names written thereon.—The entire Little Flock; twelve thousand of each tribe, each working together, under God's direction, as one angel, or messenger. Doubtless certain special work is reserved for each tribe. All who gain membership in that tribe will be particularly suited to the work to which they will be assigned.Which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.—Their names, and the characteristics they signify, are given in Rev. 7:5-8.21:13.On the East.—Toward the Sun-rising, toward the Dawn, toward the Little Flock, specially honored and blessed in their sacrifices on behalf of the Church. The side of the Amramites.—Num. 3:19; F. 128.Three gates.—The mystical tribe of Joseph, Benjamin and Manasseh—Manasseh taking the place of Dan.—Ezek. 48:32; Rev. 7:5, 7, 8.AND on the North.—The side of the Merarites, the Great Company.—Num. 3:33; F. 129.[pg 322]Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Judah, Reuben and Levi.—Ezek. 48:31; Rev. 7:5, 7.AND on the South.—The side of the Kohathites, the Ancient Worthies.—Num. 4:2; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun.—Ezek. 48:33; Rev. 7:7, 8.And on the West.—The side of the Gershonites, the Restitution classes.—Num. 4:22; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Gad, Asher and Naphtali.—Ezek. 48:34; Rev. 7:5, 6.Although the pictures here given are pictures of the Bride, and the gates apply as above shown, nevertheless these gates also represent the Ancient Worthies, who during the Millennial Age will be the earthly representatives of the Church, and, perhaps, exactly 144,000 in number. Additionally, the Ancient Worthies arecalled“gates”in Isa. 26:2.“The gates or entrances of the City, which are twelve in number, are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is in harmony with what we have learned of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God that the Ancient Worthies from the various tribes of Israel, selected during the Jewish Age, will be the visible representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom in the earth through whose instrumentality the nations may enter into the blessings of the Kingdom.”—Z. '92-16.“The city lies open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike.”—Luke 13:29. Weym.21:14.And the wall of the City had twelve foundations.—“The Lord himself, is the foundation,‘Other foundations can no man lay than that is laid—Jesus Christ.’(1 Cor. 3:11.) He is the great Rock, and St. Peter's confession of Him as such was, therefore, a rock testimonial—a declaration of the foundation principles underlying the Divine Plan. St. Peter disowned any pretension to being the foundation-stone himself and properly classed himself to with all the other‘living stones’(Gr.lithos,) of the Church,—thoughpetros, rock, signifies a larger stone thanlithos, and all the Apostles as‘foundation’stones would in the Divine Plan and order have a larger importance than their brethren.”—F. 220; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20.And [in] ON them the TWELVE names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.—“We are entirely out of accord with the views of Papacy, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the Catholic-Apostolic Church, and of the Mormons, all of whom claim that the number of the Apostles was not limited to twelve, and that there have been successors since their day who spoke and wrote with equal authority with the original Twelve. (2 Cor. 11:13.)”(F. 209.)“We still have[pg 323]with us the gift of Apostles, in that we have their teachings in the New Testament, so full and complete as to require no addition; and hence the Twelve Apostles have no successors, and need none, since there are but‘Twelve Apostles of the Lamb;’they are the twelve stars; the twelve foundations.'”—John 6:70; E.229, 207.12:15.And he that talked with me.—Volume VII ofStudies in the Scriptures.Had a [golden] MEASURING reed of gold.—The Divine Word.To measure the City, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.—Surely, if we can not find the measurement in the Scriptures it is hopeless to look elsewhere.—Zech. 2:1, 2; Rev. 11:1; Ezek. 40:3.21:16.And the City lieth foursquare, and the length is [as large] as the breadth.—A perfect cube, like the Most Holy of the Tabernacle.And he measured the City with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.—“The number of‘buildings’in the City seems to be indicated by the measures—12,000 times 12,000 furlongs equals 144,000,000 square furlongs. This area contains 144,000 building-lots of one thousand square furlongs each—which circumstance may well signify that the 144,000, faithful ones will reign with Jesus during a thousand years (one square furlong representing a year.”)The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.—Each view of the City, from any side, presents to view, Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.21:17.And he measured the wall thereof.—Its thickness.An hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man.—The measure of a man, the Man Christ Jesus, is 1,000. His Day is to be 1,000 years in length. Adam's Day was a thousand years long. The total measure is 144,000, the number of the Elect. We should expect to find the number of those rescued during the Millennium shown somewhere in these measurements; and this we also find. The cubit, in symbolism, is flexible in length, like the word“day.”If we multiply the number of square furlongs in any wall by the144 measures of a man, i. e., 144,000,000 X 144, the result is 20,736,000,000, the estimated number of the sheep class at the end of the Millennial Age.—Matt. 25:34-40; Z. '05-271.That is, of the angel.—As interpreted by the angel.21:18.And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.—“The solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city itself was made of gold, resembling transparent glass.”—Weym.[pg 324]And the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass.—Of Divine origin, and made up of those who have the Divine nature.21:19.And the foundations of the wall of the City were garnished with all manner of precious stones.—Mosaic manufacturers make 15,000 colors; and it is estimated the trained eye can detect a million colors. In selecting and polishing the 144,000 gems and putting them in place in the Temple God is preparing a beautiful harmony of characters in infinite variety that will delight the hearts of all His creatures to all eternity.—1 Chron. 29:2.The first foundation was jasper.—Likeness to the Father. See comments on Rev. 4:3.AND the second, sapphire.—Faithfulness. The sapphire of the ancients is the modern lapiz lazuli, or azure stone, a mineral substance valued for decorative purposes in consequence of the fine blue color which it usually presents. It has the appearance of being spotted with gold dust.“The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.”(Job. 28:6.) The brilliant spots in the deep blue matrix invite comparison with the stars in the firmament. The crystals form into units having twelve equal sides. The blue is the color of faithfulness; the gold shows the faithfulness towards God; the star-like appearance shows the faithfulness towards all the Heavenly beings—angels, archangels, and the Great Company; the crystalline formation shows the faithfulness towards the symbolical and actual twelve tribes of Israel which, in the last analysis, include all who shall become heirs of salvation. Those who gain the prize of the High Calling can be trusted.—1 Cor. 4:2; Luke 16:10-12.AND the third, a chalcedony.—Obedience; Submission. A green quartz, found in the copper mines of Chalcedon. It crystallizes in the twelve-sided and twenty-four-sided forms of cubic crystalline formation. In the twelve sided crystals each side is a surface of five equal sides and angles. The Church's obedience is perfect towards God as indicated in the faces of the crystals, five being a symbol of Divinity. It is operative towards the brethren as in the twelve-faced crystals, and towards both phases of the Kingdom, as in the twenty-four-sided crystals.The fourth, an emerald.—Deathlessness. One of the most beautiful of gems, of a bright green color, without any mixture, crystallizing in long, hexagonal (six-sided) crystals. The stone loses color when strongly heated. From those originally imperfect (as shown in the six-sided crystals) God is creating a race of deathless ones. Nevertheless, though begotten to the Divine nature, should[pg 325]they cling to the dross of their fleshly natures too determinedly, so great fires may be applied to burn away the dross as will destroy the value of the gem. This gem, too, represents the Church's power to bestow life upon the dead world. The crystals may be broken or split crosswise. The everlasting life for the world, which may be made continuous, is nevertheless susceptible of being broken off at any time for disobedience.21:20.The fifth, sardonyx.—Humility; Purity; Martyrdom. An ornamental stone much used for seals and cameos. It was considered by ancient oriental authorities that a fine oriental sardonyx should have at least three strata, a black base, a white intermediate center, and a superficial layer of red; these colors typifying the three cardinal virtues—humility, black; chastity, white; modesty or martyrdom, red.The sixth, sardius.—Loyalty to Christ. A reddish stone much used by the ancients as a gem stone; it has been in all ages the commonest of the stones used by the gem engraver.—Rev. 4:3.The seventh, chrysolyte.—Heavenly Wisdom. GreekChrysos, gold, andlithos, stone. The meaning of the term makes it the golden stone. It is a gem of a golden color, lightly tinted with green. It is very transparent.“The wisdom that is from Above is first pure.”—Jas. 3:17.The eighth, beryl.—Love of the Father. A pellucid gem of a bluish green color, much prized as a gem stone by the ancients. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system, with sixty-six sides of various sizes and shapes. On each of the six principal sides are diamond-shaped marks, alternately five and eight marks to a side, with four marks at the end. The sixty-six sides represent the sixty-six books of the Bible; the two ends represent the Old and New Testaments; the diamond shaped marks represent the Heavenly Father; the three groups of eight each represent the twenty-four prophecies of the kingdom; five is a symbol of Divinity, and four represents Justice, Power, Wisdom and Love.The ninth, topaz.—Benevolence. It is generally held that the mineral now called topaz was unknown to ancient writers, and that their topaz is our peridot. This is the name applied by jewelers to“noble olivine.”It is a dark, decidedly green-colored mineral. Much mystery for a long time surrounded the locality which yielded most of the peridot for commerce; but it is now identified with the island of St. John in the Red Sea, probably the“Topaz Isle”of the ancients. It crystallizes in twenty-six-sided figures. In some views—i. e., when the Great Company[pg 326]or the classes that are to be destroyed are taken into consideration—the tribes of Israel number thirteen; and when Spiritual and Fleshly Israel are considered separately, the total number is twenty-six. It is not the wish of the Heavenly Father that any of these should perish, and it is the wish of the Church to do all humanly and Divinely possible to save the unworthy from the final consequences of their own willfulness. This spirit will be exercised to the last limit of love.The tenth, chrysoprasus.—Constant, cheerful endurance. The modern Chrysoberyl is a yellow or green gem stone, remarkable for its hardness, being exceeded in this respect only by the diamond and the jacinth. It is not infrequently cloudy, due to microscopic cavities. The hardness signifies ability to“endure hardness as good soldiers,”and the clouds signify difficulties, troubles, to be overcome.The eleventh, jacinth.—Unchangeableness. The modern sapphire, next to the diamond in hardness; a beautiful blue stone. Many of the crystals are parti-colored, the blue being distributed in patches in a colorless stone; but by skillful cutting the deep-colored portion may be caused to impart color to the entire gem. This stone crystallizes in the most beautiful and wonderful pattern conceivable, consisting of a six-sided pyramid at either end, separated by three different sets of surfaces of six each and two different sets of surfaces of three each. We may think of the two ends as representing the teachings of the Twelve Apostles, and the twenty-four surfaces between as representing the twenty-four elders (prophecies pertaining to the Kingdom of God). God is unchangeable; although the different operations of His Plan, in different ages, make Him seem changeable to mankind. But the perfected Plan will be the adoration of all His creatures. This gem also shows how God can take characters whose conduct may have been very irregular, and by skillful cutting make them copies of Himself.The twelfth, an amethyst.—Royalty. A stone of a violet color, bordering on purple, composed of a strong blue and deep red. The name is derived from the Greeka, not, andmethyskein, to intoxicate, expressing the old belief that the stone protected its owner from strong drink. It was held that wine drank out of a cup of amethyst would not intoxicate. It crystallizes in double pyramids (base to base) of three sides on each pyramid. Amethyst was Pastor Russell's birth-stone; and behold how perfect its application! He was true blue in his faithfulness, and fully loyal to the blood of Christ, as shown by the red. He has the royalty now, thank God! The cup which he[pg 327]poured never intoxicated with error those who drank its live-giving draughts from the Fountain of all Truth, our Father's Word. The six-sided crystallization represents his Six Volumes ofScripture Studies, and this, the Seventh, a summary of all, represents the stone as a whole. There are over ninety varieties of crystals in nature. Surely,“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”The following is William Miller's dream, as given inThe Three Worlds, the first of Pastor Russell's books, long since out of print, where it is told only as a dream. (Jer. 23:28.) It calls to mind a dream of Pastor Russell's, often told in private. In his early youth he dreamed of sleeping in an attic. Suddenly he awoke to see the morning sun, just emerged over the hill-top, blazing directly in his face. He jumped to his feet with a start, thinking that it must be late. In doing so he stumbled over several forms still asleep. He was about to reproach himself for thus rudely awakening them, when he discovered that not one of the sleepers had been disturbed. The application is evident.“The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”Pastor Russell was awakened by the light of the Sun of the New Day. He tried to waken others, and succeeded with“just one here, one there;”but the great mass are still asleep. However, the Dawn comes on apace. Now for William Miller's dream:“I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, had sent me a curiously wrought casket, about ten inches long by six square, made of ebony and pearls curiously inlaid. To the casket there was a key attached. I immediately took the key and opened the casket, when, to my wonder and surprise, I found it filled with all sorts and sizes of jewels—diamonds, precious stones—and gold and silver coin of every dimension and value, beautifully arranged in their several places in the casket; and thus arranged, they reflected a light and glory equalled only by the sun. [These jewels are the beautiful truths which the open casket unfolded to his sight.] I thought it was my duty not to enjoy this wonderful sight alone, although my heart was overjoyed at the brilliancy, beauty and value of its contents. I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, and gave out the word that all who had a desire might come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When they first looked into the casket, they would wonder and shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them on the table.[pg 328]“I began to think that the owner would require the casket and jewels again at my hand; and that if I suffered them to be scattered, I could never place them in their places in the casket again as before, and felt I should never be able to meet the accountability; for it would be immense. I then began to plead with the people not to handle them, nor take them out of the casket. But the more I pleaded, the more they scattered; and now they seemed to scatter them all over the room, on the floor, and every piece of furniture in the room. I then saw that among the genuine jewels and coin they had scattered an innumerable quantity of spurious jewels and counterfeit coin. I was highly incensed at their base conduct and ingratitude, and reproved and reproached them for it; but the more I reproved, the more they scattered the spurious jewels and false coin among the genuine. I then became vexed in my very soul, and began to use physical force to push them out of the room; but while I was pushing out one, three more would enter, and bring in dirt, shavings, sand, and all manner of rubbish, until they had covered every one of the true jewels, diamonds and coins from sight. They also tore into pieces my casket and scattered it among the rubbish. I thought that no man regarded my sorrow or my anger. I became wholly discouraged and disheartened, and sat down and wept. [When the 1844 time passed, how perfectly was this fullfilled.] While I was thus weeping and mourning for my great loss and accountability, I remembered God, and earnestly prayed that He would send me help.“Immediately the door opened and a man entered the room, when the other people all left it. Then he, having a dirt brush in his hand, opened the windows and began to brush the dust and rubbish from the room. I cried to him to forbear; that there were some precious jewels scattered among the rubbish. But he told me to fear not, for he would take care of them. Then while he brushed the dust and rubbish, the false jewels and counterfeit coin, all rose and went out of the window like a cloud and the wind carried them away. In the bustle I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them the rubbish was all gone, and the precious jewels, the diamonds, the gold and the silver coins lay scattered in profusion all over the room. He then placed on the table a casket, much larger and more beautiful than the former, and gathered up the jewels, the diamonds, the coins, by the handful, and cast them into the casket, till not one was left, although some of the diamonds were not bigger than the point of a pin. He then called upon me to come and see. I looked into[pg 329]the casket, but my eyes were dazzled with the sight. The contents shone with ten times their former glory. I thought that they had been scoured in the sand by the feet of those wicked persons who had scattered and trod them in the dust. They were arranged in beautiful order in the casket—every one in its place—without any visible pains on the part of the man [Pastor Russell] who cast them in. I shouted for joy; and that shout awoke me.”21:21.And the twelve gates were [twelve] pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.—“The peculiar lustre of a pearl is dependent on the fact that the surface is not perfectly smooth, but covered with the irregularly sinuous edges of innumerable layers of inconceivable thinness, deposited one over the other. The distance of these edges from each other varies indefinitely, the pearls of the finest water having them closest. They are always, however, too fine to be detected by the naked eye. The edges make so many steps, so to speak; and the iridescence is produced by the mutual interference of the rays of light reflected from these thousands of angles. For their water, or lustre, as distinguished from iridescence, pearls are indebted to their being composed of thin layers, which allow light to pass through them, while their numerous surfaces disperse and reflect the light in such a manner that it returns and mingles with that which is directly reflected from the exterior. The thinner and more transparent the constituent layers, the more perfect is the lustre. The immediate occasion of the production of a pearl appears to be always the presence of some extraneous substance inside of the shell of the mollusk.”(McC.) The mollusk is the earthly tabernacle; the extraneous substance is the New Mind. The successive layers are the additions made to it,“precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.”—Isa. 28:13.And the street of the City was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.—There will be but one street in that City, the street which has been in process of construction throughout the Age. The Prophets tell us of it.—Prov. 16:17; Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 35:8; 62:10-12.21:22.And I saw no temple therein.—No special place of worship, for the use and benefit of the Little Flock.[For] BECAUSE the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.—The Bride's whole life is completely wrapped up in the Father and the Son. Her one consuming wish is to glorify the Lord's dear name. Of what need is any special place of worship for one who can say,“For to me to live is [for] Christ [to live]?”—Phil. 1:21.[pg 330]21:23.And the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine [in] ON it.—“The sun signifies the light of this Gospel Age; the moon signifies the typically reflected light of the Gospel in the Law and the Prophets of the previous Dispensation. The glorified Church will have no need of the light which in the present time she so much enjoys through the Word and the Spirit, and the Law and the Prophets. She will have, instead of these, a much more excellent glory, being, herself, a part of the Sun of Righteousness.”(Z. '01-201.)“‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father’—our Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, of course being included. The Prophet mentions the same Sun of Righteousness, saying,‘The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams.’—Malachi 4:2.”—Z. '16-393.For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.—“We are not to lose sight of the fact that Christ is the Head of the Church, even as the Father is the head of Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:3.) Hence the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will always be an inner Temple in this great Temple which God has provided for the world's blessing during Restitution Times.”—Z. '16-393; Isa. 24:23; 60:19, 20; Rev. 21:11; 22:5.21:24.And the nations [of them which are saved] shall walk [in] BY the light [of it] THEREOF.—“The word‘nations’here signifies peoples, and is intended to show that all peoples, not merely the Israelites, will be thus favored under God's Kingdom. The world will not be divided into nationalities as at present.”—Z. '16-394; Isa. 60:3, 5.And the kings of the earth do bring their glory [and honor] into it.—“When mankind reaches perfection at the close of the Millennial Age, as already shown, they will be admitted into membership in the Kingdom of God and given the entire control of earth as at first designed—each man a sovereign, a king.”(A. 296.)“That Kingdom, in which all will be kings, will be one grand, universal Republic, whose stability and blessed influence will be assured by the perfection of its every citizen, a result now much desired, but an impossibility because of sin.”(Z. '10-39.)“During the Millennial Age the kings will be the Ancient Worthies; but subsequently a New Dispensation will open, under new conditions, in which mankind (perfected) will be granted the privilege of ruling themselves in harmony with the Divine Law.”(Z. '97-304.) In this verse the Ancient Worthies aredirectlyreferred to; while in verse 26 the rest of mankind are referred to. Notice the tenses of the verbs“dobring”and“shallbring”—present and future—in the Millennium and after.[pg 331]21:25.And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day.—Throughout the long Millennial Day of a thousand years all who will may seek and find salvation through the broad gates of the City of God that will then be wide open. (Isa. 60:11.) Now,“Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”—Matt. 7:14.For there shall be no night there.—“The period in which sin is permitted has been a dark Night to humanity, never to be forgotten; but the glorious Day of righteousness and Divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning creation has been so long.‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’—Psa. 30:5.”(A. 9.)The Psalmist explains how the smile of the Father was turned away from mankind. He describes mankind as“Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God [by disobedience of His express command] and contemned [set at naught] the counsels of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labor [each sex with its own peculiar kind]; they fell down, and there was none to help.”(Psa. 107:10-12.) This disobedience brought our entire race into the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:4); but the Prophets encouraged us to hope for a watchman who would tell us of the coming of the Day. (Isa. 21:12.) In the Apostle's time he declared the night was far spent, being then more than two-thirds gone. (Rom. 13:12.) The event that is to bring in the Day is the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. (Mal. 4:2.) When here at the First Advent Christ was the light of the world (John 8:12); and the people in His immediate neighborhood saw a great Light, shadowing forth His coming glory. (Isa. 9:2.) He declared that we, too, should be lights in the world. (Matt. 5:14.)—“You in your little corner, and I in mine;”and that in the resurrection all these 144,000 brightly burning candles should be brought together and with Him constitute the Sun of Righteousness that is to heal and bless the world.“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.”—Matt. 13:43.The sun rises quietly, like a thief. (1 Thes. 5:1.) When the Morning comes, the first work is banishing the works of the night. (Ezek. 7:7-12.) Next comes the opening of the spiritually blind eyes of those that have physical sight. (Amos 5:18.) Surely, the best time for a great oculist to[pg 332]open the eyes of the blind is in the day time. (Isa. 35:5.) Now matters are more or less obscured (1 Cor. 13:12); but the time is coming when the blind shall be shown a way of life they have not hitherto known. (Isa. 42:16.) Will the Lord show wonders in the dark? (Psa. 88:10.) He will indeed; and when the nations come forth from the tomb, they will seek Him that turneth the shadow of death into the morning. (Amos 5:8; Isa. 42: 6, 7.) They will seek Him and will find Him. No wonder, then, that the Psalmist, looking down the stream of time to that happy Day, exultingly exclaims,“Then [after full experience with sin and death] they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath broken the gates of brass [that stood between them and perfection], and cut the bars of iron asunder [that held them in death's prison house].”(Psa. 107:13-16.)“And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”(Rev. 21:4.)“For there shall be no night there.”“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the Morning.”—Psa. 30:5; Zech. 14:7.21:26.And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.—“This rendering of glory to the Kingdom will continue throughout the entire Millennial Age; for the princes throughout the earth will make known to the peoples that not in their own name or authority do they rule and execute judgment and establish righteousness, but in the name of the glorified Christ, Head and Body, whose representatives they are.”—Z. '16-394.21:27.And there shall in no wise enter into it anything [that defileth] COMMON.—No one who could or would contaminate others by speech or example, will ever find a place in that City.Neither whatsoever worketh abomination.—Nor anything tending in the direction of pride or sectarianism.Or maketh a lie.—Nor anything countenancing the teaching of error for pleasure or profit.—1 John 2:22.But they which are written in the [Lamb's.] Book of THE Life OF HEAVEN.—“The Lamb's Book of Life we must understand to include only those who attain to the position of joint-heirship with Christ, those whose names are written in Heaven during this Gospel Age and who are faithful to their Covenant. (Psa. 50:5.)”—Z. '16-394; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8.[pg 333]
Revelation 21—The Descending Kingdom21:1.And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.—“It may be that this, rather than‘the Millennium,’is the name which we ought to give to the Golden Age, of purity and bliss which next awaits the world. The words seem to include a transformation and glorification of our material globe.”—Weym.“Paradise, the Garden of God, applicable as a name to Eden, where our first parents resided, is Scripturally applied to the new earth when Restitution blessings shall, during the Millennium, have brought it to perfection. This Paradise of the future is referred to by the Apostles as‘the third heaven,’and as‘a new heavens and a new earth.’(2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Peter 3:13.) They are not referring to new planets, nor to heavens ranged one above another, as many have supposed, but to the third of three great periods of time, beginning with man's creation and extending into the illimitable future. The first of these periods, termed the first heavens and earth—the old order of things—passed away with the Deluge of Noah's day. The second period,‘the heavens and the earth which are now,’the present order of things, are reserved of God to pass away with a great symbolic fire of trouble—revolution, etc.—which will utterly destroy the present spiritual powers and the present social arrangements. (2 Peter 3:6, 7; Galatians 1:4; Zephaniah 3:8, 9.) The third great period is to be a‘world without end,’under Divine administration. This will be the third heavens and the third earth, or the new heavens and the new earth, which will differ from the present condition of things in that they will be righteous! whereas the present arrangement is imperfect, unrighteous. The‘new heavens’will consist of the new spiritual ruling powers of the future—Christ the Head, and the Church His Body.”—Z. '16-392.For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.—“The Scriptures show us that in this general rupture the nominal church (including all denominations) will be gradually drawn more and more to the side of the governments and the wealthy, will lose much of its influence over the people, and will finally fall with the governments. Thus the heavens [ecclesiastical rule] being on fire, will[pg 316]pass away with a great hissing.”(A. 333.) Two of the causes that operate to“burn”the present“earth”are declared to be hunger, and the misrule of beastly governments. (Deut. 32:24) In the end all will be glad to see the unclean heavens pass away (Job 15:15) rent in twain (Isa. 64:1) and the new heavens planted (Isa. 51:16) which will be heard in their lightest petition to the God of all grace (Hos. 2:21).“Drop down, ye Heavens from above.”—Isa. 45:8.And there was no more sea.—“Under the control of the new Heaven—spiritual powers—the reconstructed social order will be so satisfactory, so complete, so thorough, that there will be no more dissatisfied masses. Everything will be reduced to law and order, obliterating the differences of wealth and power as they now exist.”—Z. '16-392.21:2.And I, [John] saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem.—“The New Jerusalem is not‘that great city [government] which ruleth over the kings of the earth’(Revelation 17:18) but is the new Spiritual Government of the Millennial Age. It is not reared by men; but, descends from God out of Heaven. It is for this Kingdom, this Government, that our Lord taught His disciples to pray,‘Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven.’”—Z. '16-392; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 5:35; Heb. 11:10, 16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:10; 11:2; 22:19.Coming down [from God] out of Heaven, FROM GOD.—“We are not to think of this Holy City as being composed of literal stones, but of‘living stones’(1 Peter 2:4-7; Ephesians 2:19-22.) Neither Christ nor the saints in glory can be seen of men. But the whole world will quickly be made aware of the fact that a new Government has been instituted—a government of righteousness and all power.”—Z. '16-392; Heb. 11:10; 12:22; Rev. 3:12; 21:10.Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.—“This declaration implies its beauty, grandeur and perfection, as a bride's adornment on such an occasion is particular and elaborate to the last degree. Additionally, the statement reminds us that in the government of the future the world's judges are to be the saints selected throughout the Gospel Age and frequently called‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife.’”—Z. '16-392; 2 Cor. 11:2; John 3:29; Eph. 5:31, 32.21:3.And [I heard] a great voice.—The Lord Jesus, the Father's Word.[Out of heaven] WAS saying, OUT OF THE THRONE, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men.—“This verse associates this City with the other figure of a symbolic Temple, which the Lord is now preparing, of which the[pg 317]saints will constitute the‘pillars.’God will dwell in this Temple, and the world of mankind will approach God in it to receive the Divine blessings, as Israel approached the typical Tabernacle and the Temple in their typical religious services.”(Z. '01-199.)“When we think of the Church as the Temple under construction, it impresses upon us the thought that there is a future work to be accomplished. Why construct a Temple, and then not use it? St. Paul says, the Church is God's workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10.) And His work will be so perfectly accomplished that there will be no need of rectification or alteration beyond the veil,—beautifully illustrated in the erection of Solomon's Temple, of which we read that its stones were prepared at the quarry and then finally assembled for the construction of the Temple, and that they were so perfectly shaped and marked for their various places that they came together without the sound of a hammer.”—Z. '15-189; 2 Cor. 6:16.And He [will dwell] DWELLETH with them and they shall be His people.—“All mankind will be treated from the standpoint of reconciliation, the Propitiation (price) for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) having been provided at Calvary, and the due time having then come for the manifestation of Divine favor.”—Z. '01-200; Psa. 68:18; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 8:8.[And] God Himself shall be with them, [and be their God].—“It will be the Kingdom of God, because God's dear Son and His joint-heir, the Church, will be in absolute accord with the Father, and all that shall be done under their control will fully and completely represent the Divine will respecting men. Nevertheless, it will be a separate Kingdom from that of the remainder of the Universe, as the Apostle Paul indicates. (1 Cor. 15:24, 25, 28.)”—Z. '01-200; Jer. 30:22; 31:33; Ezek. 11:20.21:4.And [God] HE shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.—“The wiping away of tears implies a gradual work, such as we see will be the process of that glorious time. Man will not be exempt from every weakness and trial and difficulty at the beginning, but if he will conform to the Laws of the Kingdom, all cause for distress will gradually pass away, as restitution blessings will lift him out of death into life.”—Z. '01-200; Isa. 25:8; 65:19.And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor crying SHALL BE.—“What a glorious sun-burst of blessing is in these words! What a grand fulfilment will be there of the Apostle's declaration respecting‘Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began’! The declaration, however, applies to the very end of the Millennial Age,[pg 318]and not in full to any previous time in that Age. (John 5:28, 29.)”—Z. '01-200; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; Rev. 20:14; Isa. 35:10; 51:11; 65:19.[Neither shall there be any more pain] For the former things are passed away.—The reign of Satan, sin and death will have ended forever.“To gain a place in the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be to find the gratification of every desire and ambition of the perfect human heart.”—A. 291.21:5.And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new.—“This expression does not relate merely to rocks and trees, etc., but to the great work which our Lord undertook; viz., the regeneration of humanity to the complete perfection contemplated in the original Divine Plan.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 20:11.And He said unto me, Write: for these words are [true and] faithful, AND TRUE.—“Present conditions seem so contrary to all this grand Restitution outcome that it cannot be fully believed and trusted by any except those who have learned to walk with the Lord. To all others these things will appear untrue, and God will appear unfaithful, and the matters which we are here discussing will seem‘idle tales,’as fables and golden fancies: but to us who believe, these promises are precious.”—1 Pet. 2:7.21:6.And He [said] SAITH unto me, [It is done.] I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.—“It was the Father's good pleasure that the Blessed One, the Only Begotten of the Father, should accomplish the entire program of redemption and restitution; and be forever the Associate and Representative of the Father, through whom and by whom all things should continue, as He was the one through whom all things were made that were made.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 1:8; 22:13.I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.—“It is this one who, during the Millennial Age, will extend to all the willing and obedient the Water of Life, everlasting life—the privilege of perpetual existence. But they must thirst for it, must desire it; and this desire must be manifest in obedience to the terms, the laws, upon which it will be supplied freely.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 22:17; Isa. 55:1; John 7:37.21:7.He that overcometh shall inherit [all] THESE things.—These earthly things.—Acts 3:21.And I will be his God, and he shall be My son.—“Those addressed are not the Bride class, selected during the Gospel Age, (1 John 3:2) but the sheep class of Matt. 25—such of mankind as during the Millennial Age become the Lord's sheep and obey His voice. They shall inherit the[pg 319]earth, the purchased possession—which Jesus will restore at the close of the Millennium to all the children of Adam who shall have accepted His gracious favors and been regenerated by Him, and thus become His sons, and He their God—their Father. (Isa. 9:6)”—Z. '01-201; Zech. 8:8; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:21.21:8.But the fearful.—“If any, enlightened by the Truth, and brought to a knowledge of the love of God, and restored to human perfection, become‘fearful,’and‘draw back’(Heb. 10:38, 39), they, with the unbelievers, will be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:23.)”—A. 107.And unbelieving.—Who will not trust God, after all the marvels of His grace they will have seen and experienced.—Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17; John 20:31; John 17:20; 1 Tim. 6:12; Luke 17:5; James 2:17.And the abominable.—“Those abominable characters among men, who, knowing the truth, yet love unrighteousness.”—H. 60.And murderers.—Slanderers.—Psa. 141:3; Deut. 5:17; Matt. 5:21, 22; 15:18-20; 1 John 3:15; James 3:2-12; James 4:11; Prov. 4:23, 24; Matt. 12:34-37; Eph. 4:31; Psa. 15:1-3; 19:14; 34:13; 101:5; Prov. 12:19; 16:28; 17:4; 26:20-21; Jer. 20:10; 1 Cor. 10:10; James 1:19; Deut. 32:2.And whoremongers.—Not at heart faithful to the Lord.And sorcerers.—Dreamers, theorists, pseudo-philosophers, endeavoring to accredit to themselves the great salvation wrought.—Rev. 22:15.And idolaters.—“Such as misappropriate and misuse Divine favors, who give to self or any other creature or thing that service and honor which belong to God.”—H. 63.And all liars.—“All who do not love the Truth and seek it, and at any cost defend and hold it.”(H. 63.)“If something is six inches long, let it be just six inches for six inches.”—Z. '12-147.Shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.—“The severest punishment inflicted by the Jews upon any criminal. The corpse (after the man had been stoned to death) was thrown out into the Valley of Hinnom (Gay-Hinnom) and was devoured by the worm or the flame.”—Weym.Which is the Second Death.—“Such company would be repulsive to any honest, upright being. It is hard to tolerate them now, but in the close of the Millennial Judgment, when the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall have given every advantage and opportunity of knowledge and ability, the righteous will be glad when the corrupters of the earth, and all their work and influence, shall be destroyed.”—H. 63.[pg 320]21:9.And there came [unto me].—To the John class, the Church, on this side of the veil.One of the seven angels.—The Seventh.Which had the seven vials full.—They are still full after they are poured out on ecclesiasticism!Of the seven last plagues.—The Seven volumes ofStudies in the Scriptures.And talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee.—See Lu. 4:21.The Bride, the Lamb's Wife.—“As a grand lesson of the Divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to all evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of honor (as‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife and Joint-heir’—Rom. 8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the sinners redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. The continued permission of evil is for the purpose of developing these‘members of the Body of Christ’and to furnish them the opportunity of sacrificing their little and redeemed all, in the service of Him who bought them with His precious blood; and thus of developing in their hearts His spiritual likeness, that when, at the end of the Age, they are presented by their Lord and Redeemer before the Father, God may see in them‘the image of His Son.’”—Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:29; E.412, 395; Rev. 19:7; 21:2.21:10.And he carried me away in the Spirit.—“God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”—1 Cor. 2:10; Rev. 1:10; 17:3.To a great and high mountain.—How similar is the language, recording the experience of the first and greatest Member of the Church, at the beginning of His ministry. Concerning the Lord's third temptation we read:“In this temptation the Lord is taken, not physically, but in the spirit of His mind, up into a high mountain—a very exalted kingdom. Physically He was all this time in the desert near Jerusalem; and as a matter of fact there is neither in that desert nor anywhere in the world a mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world could be viewed except with the mind's eye.”—Z. '06-43.St. John's Vision of the Descending KingdomAnd shewed me [that great] THE HOLY City, [The holy] Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God.—The city came down from Heaven to earth. If we went up to Heaven, it would not be found there. If Rev. 21 is to be literally interpreted, then the whole surface of Palestine is far from sufficient to hold a city of this size. Besides, its height, length and breadth were to be equal.—Rev. 21:2.21:11.Having the glory [of] FROM God.—The Church has a foretaste of this glory on this side of the veil.—1 Pet. 4:14.[pg 321][And] her light.—“The Lamb is the Light thereof.”—Rev. 21:23; 22:5.Was like unto a stone most precious.—“The brightness of His [the Father's] glory, and the express image of His person.”—Heb. 1:3.Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.—A beautiful green-tinted diamond.—Rev. 4:3.21:12And [had] HAVING a wall great and high.—The pictures here are all pictures of the Bride. Nevertheless, the wall, the protection of that Heavenly City, in a special sense represents our Heavenly Father. No picture of the Bride would be complete that did not include Him who dwells within us, who is the Author of the Plan, and the Source of all our joys. Now as to the application of the picture of the wall to the Bride herself, one of Pastor Russell's coworkers has aptly said:“We are like livingstones, in the plural—144,000 stones in one, if you will. There was one perfect Stone to begin with, and all the others had to be conformed to the image of that Stone. Men have discovered a way of taking two glasses of different density and fusing them together, so you cannot tell where the point of fusion is. And so, with this Little Flock of 144,000, they are going to be welded together in one—there will be but one mind in that whole 144,000. There is only one thing they have in view, and that is to perform Jehovah's will; and they rejoice in doing His will absolutely.”And [had] HAVING twelve gates.—The twelve mystical tribes of Israel.—Rev. 7:5-8; Ezek. 48:31-34.And at the gates twelve angels, and THEIR names written thereon.—The entire Little Flock; twelve thousand of each tribe, each working together, under God's direction, as one angel, or messenger. Doubtless certain special work is reserved for each tribe. All who gain membership in that tribe will be particularly suited to the work to which they will be assigned.Which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.—Their names, and the characteristics they signify, are given in Rev. 7:5-8.21:13.On the East.—Toward the Sun-rising, toward the Dawn, toward the Little Flock, specially honored and blessed in their sacrifices on behalf of the Church. The side of the Amramites.—Num. 3:19; F. 128.Three gates.—The mystical tribe of Joseph, Benjamin and Manasseh—Manasseh taking the place of Dan.—Ezek. 48:32; Rev. 7:5, 7, 8.AND on the North.—The side of the Merarites, the Great Company.—Num. 3:33; F. 129.[pg 322]Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Judah, Reuben and Levi.—Ezek. 48:31; Rev. 7:5, 7.AND on the South.—The side of the Kohathites, the Ancient Worthies.—Num. 4:2; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun.—Ezek. 48:33; Rev. 7:7, 8.And on the West.—The side of the Gershonites, the Restitution classes.—Num. 4:22; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Gad, Asher and Naphtali.—Ezek. 48:34; Rev. 7:5, 6.Although the pictures here given are pictures of the Bride, and the gates apply as above shown, nevertheless these gates also represent the Ancient Worthies, who during the Millennial Age will be the earthly representatives of the Church, and, perhaps, exactly 144,000 in number. Additionally, the Ancient Worthies arecalled“gates”in Isa. 26:2.“The gates or entrances of the City, which are twelve in number, are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is in harmony with what we have learned of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God that the Ancient Worthies from the various tribes of Israel, selected during the Jewish Age, will be the visible representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom in the earth through whose instrumentality the nations may enter into the blessings of the Kingdom.”—Z. '92-16.“The city lies open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike.”—Luke 13:29. Weym.21:14.And the wall of the City had twelve foundations.—“The Lord himself, is the foundation,‘Other foundations can no man lay than that is laid—Jesus Christ.’(1 Cor. 3:11.) He is the great Rock, and St. Peter's confession of Him as such was, therefore, a rock testimonial—a declaration of the foundation principles underlying the Divine Plan. St. Peter disowned any pretension to being the foundation-stone himself and properly classed himself to with all the other‘living stones’(Gr.lithos,) of the Church,—thoughpetros, rock, signifies a larger stone thanlithos, and all the Apostles as‘foundation’stones would in the Divine Plan and order have a larger importance than their brethren.”—F. 220; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20.And [in] ON them the TWELVE names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.—“We are entirely out of accord with the views of Papacy, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the Catholic-Apostolic Church, and of the Mormons, all of whom claim that the number of the Apostles was not limited to twelve, and that there have been successors since their day who spoke and wrote with equal authority with the original Twelve. (2 Cor. 11:13.)”(F. 209.)“We still have[pg 323]with us the gift of Apostles, in that we have their teachings in the New Testament, so full and complete as to require no addition; and hence the Twelve Apostles have no successors, and need none, since there are but‘Twelve Apostles of the Lamb;’they are the twelve stars; the twelve foundations.'”—John 6:70; E.229, 207.12:15.And he that talked with me.—Volume VII ofStudies in the Scriptures.Had a [golden] MEASURING reed of gold.—The Divine Word.To measure the City, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.—Surely, if we can not find the measurement in the Scriptures it is hopeless to look elsewhere.—Zech. 2:1, 2; Rev. 11:1; Ezek. 40:3.21:16.And the City lieth foursquare, and the length is [as large] as the breadth.—A perfect cube, like the Most Holy of the Tabernacle.And he measured the City with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.—“The number of‘buildings’in the City seems to be indicated by the measures—12,000 times 12,000 furlongs equals 144,000,000 square furlongs. This area contains 144,000 building-lots of one thousand square furlongs each—which circumstance may well signify that the 144,000, faithful ones will reign with Jesus during a thousand years (one square furlong representing a year.”)The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.—Each view of the City, from any side, presents to view, Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.21:17.And he measured the wall thereof.—Its thickness.An hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man.—The measure of a man, the Man Christ Jesus, is 1,000. His Day is to be 1,000 years in length. Adam's Day was a thousand years long. The total measure is 144,000, the number of the Elect. We should expect to find the number of those rescued during the Millennium shown somewhere in these measurements; and this we also find. The cubit, in symbolism, is flexible in length, like the word“day.”If we multiply the number of square furlongs in any wall by the144 measures of a man, i. e., 144,000,000 X 144, the result is 20,736,000,000, the estimated number of the sheep class at the end of the Millennial Age.—Matt. 25:34-40; Z. '05-271.That is, of the angel.—As interpreted by the angel.21:18.And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.—“The solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city itself was made of gold, resembling transparent glass.”—Weym.[pg 324]And the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass.—Of Divine origin, and made up of those who have the Divine nature.21:19.And the foundations of the wall of the City were garnished with all manner of precious stones.—Mosaic manufacturers make 15,000 colors; and it is estimated the trained eye can detect a million colors. In selecting and polishing the 144,000 gems and putting them in place in the Temple God is preparing a beautiful harmony of characters in infinite variety that will delight the hearts of all His creatures to all eternity.—1 Chron. 29:2.The first foundation was jasper.—Likeness to the Father. See comments on Rev. 4:3.AND the second, sapphire.—Faithfulness. The sapphire of the ancients is the modern lapiz lazuli, or azure stone, a mineral substance valued for decorative purposes in consequence of the fine blue color which it usually presents. It has the appearance of being spotted with gold dust.“The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.”(Job. 28:6.) The brilliant spots in the deep blue matrix invite comparison with the stars in the firmament. The crystals form into units having twelve equal sides. The blue is the color of faithfulness; the gold shows the faithfulness towards God; the star-like appearance shows the faithfulness towards all the Heavenly beings—angels, archangels, and the Great Company; the crystalline formation shows the faithfulness towards the symbolical and actual twelve tribes of Israel which, in the last analysis, include all who shall become heirs of salvation. Those who gain the prize of the High Calling can be trusted.—1 Cor. 4:2; Luke 16:10-12.AND the third, a chalcedony.—Obedience; Submission. A green quartz, found in the copper mines of Chalcedon. It crystallizes in the twelve-sided and twenty-four-sided forms of cubic crystalline formation. In the twelve sided crystals each side is a surface of five equal sides and angles. The Church's obedience is perfect towards God as indicated in the faces of the crystals, five being a symbol of Divinity. It is operative towards the brethren as in the twelve-faced crystals, and towards both phases of the Kingdom, as in the twenty-four-sided crystals.The fourth, an emerald.—Deathlessness. One of the most beautiful of gems, of a bright green color, without any mixture, crystallizing in long, hexagonal (six-sided) crystals. The stone loses color when strongly heated. From those originally imperfect (as shown in the six-sided crystals) God is creating a race of deathless ones. Nevertheless, though begotten to the Divine nature, should[pg 325]they cling to the dross of their fleshly natures too determinedly, so great fires may be applied to burn away the dross as will destroy the value of the gem. This gem, too, represents the Church's power to bestow life upon the dead world. The crystals may be broken or split crosswise. The everlasting life for the world, which may be made continuous, is nevertheless susceptible of being broken off at any time for disobedience.21:20.The fifth, sardonyx.—Humility; Purity; Martyrdom. An ornamental stone much used for seals and cameos. It was considered by ancient oriental authorities that a fine oriental sardonyx should have at least three strata, a black base, a white intermediate center, and a superficial layer of red; these colors typifying the three cardinal virtues—humility, black; chastity, white; modesty or martyrdom, red.The sixth, sardius.—Loyalty to Christ. A reddish stone much used by the ancients as a gem stone; it has been in all ages the commonest of the stones used by the gem engraver.—Rev. 4:3.The seventh, chrysolyte.—Heavenly Wisdom. GreekChrysos, gold, andlithos, stone. The meaning of the term makes it the golden stone. It is a gem of a golden color, lightly tinted with green. It is very transparent.“The wisdom that is from Above is first pure.”—Jas. 3:17.The eighth, beryl.—Love of the Father. A pellucid gem of a bluish green color, much prized as a gem stone by the ancients. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system, with sixty-six sides of various sizes and shapes. On each of the six principal sides are diamond-shaped marks, alternately five and eight marks to a side, with four marks at the end. The sixty-six sides represent the sixty-six books of the Bible; the two ends represent the Old and New Testaments; the diamond shaped marks represent the Heavenly Father; the three groups of eight each represent the twenty-four prophecies of the kingdom; five is a symbol of Divinity, and four represents Justice, Power, Wisdom and Love.The ninth, topaz.—Benevolence. It is generally held that the mineral now called topaz was unknown to ancient writers, and that their topaz is our peridot. This is the name applied by jewelers to“noble olivine.”It is a dark, decidedly green-colored mineral. Much mystery for a long time surrounded the locality which yielded most of the peridot for commerce; but it is now identified with the island of St. John in the Red Sea, probably the“Topaz Isle”of the ancients. It crystallizes in twenty-six-sided figures. In some views—i. e., when the Great Company[pg 326]or the classes that are to be destroyed are taken into consideration—the tribes of Israel number thirteen; and when Spiritual and Fleshly Israel are considered separately, the total number is twenty-six. It is not the wish of the Heavenly Father that any of these should perish, and it is the wish of the Church to do all humanly and Divinely possible to save the unworthy from the final consequences of their own willfulness. This spirit will be exercised to the last limit of love.The tenth, chrysoprasus.—Constant, cheerful endurance. The modern Chrysoberyl is a yellow or green gem stone, remarkable for its hardness, being exceeded in this respect only by the diamond and the jacinth. It is not infrequently cloudy, due to microscopic cavities. The hardness signifies ability to“endure hardness as good soldiers,”and the clouds signify difficulties, troubles, to be overcome.The eleventh, jacinth.—Unchangeableness. The modern sapphire, next to the diamond in hardness; a beautiful blue stone. Many of the crystals are parti-colored, the blue being distributed in patches in a colorless stone; but by skillful cutting the deep-colored portion may be caused to impart color to the entire gem. This stone crystallizes in the most beautiful and wonderful pattern conceivable, consisting of a six-sided pyramid at either end, separated by three different sets of surfaces of six each and two different sets of surfaces of three each. We may think of the two ends as representing the teachings of the Twelve Apostles, and the twenty-four surfaces between as representing the twenty-four elders (prophecies pertaining to the Kingdom of God). God is unchangeable; although the different operations of His Plan, in different ages, make Him seem changeable to mankind. But the perfected Plan will be the adoration of all His creatures. This gem also shows how God can take characters whose conduct may have been very irregular, and by skillful cutting make them copies of Himself.The twelfth, an amethyst.—Royalty. A stone of a violet color, bordering on purple, composed of a strong blue and deep red. The name is derived from the Greeka, not, andmethyskein, to intoxicate, expressing the old belief that the stone protected its owner from strong drink. It was held that wine drank out of a cup of amethyst would not intoxicate. It crystallizes in double pyramids (base to base) of three sides on each pyramid. Amethyst was Pastor Russell's birth-stone; and behold how perfect its application! He was true blue in his faithfulness, and fully loyal to the blood of Christ, as shown by the red. He has the royalty now, thank God! The cup which he[pg 327]poured never intoxicated with error those who drank its live-giving draughts from the Fountain of all Truth, our Father's Word. The six-sided crystallization represents his Six Volumes ofScripture Studies, and this, the Seventh, a summary of all, represents the stone as a whole. There are over ninety varieties of crystals in nature. Surely,“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”The following is William Miller's dream, as given inThe Three Worlds, the first of Pastor Russell's books, long since out of print, where it is told only as a dream. (Jer. 23:28.) It calls to mind a dream of Pastor Russell's, often told in private. In his early youth he dreamed of sleeping in an attic. Suddenly he awoke to see the morning sun, just emerged over the hill-top, blazing directly in his face. He jumped to his feet with a start, thinking that it must be late. In doing so he stumbled over several forms still asleep. He was about to reproach himself for thus rudely awakening them, when he discovered that not one of the sleepers had been disturbed. The application is evident.“The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”Pastor Russell was awakened by the light of the Sun of the New Day. He tried to waken others, and succeeded with“just one here, one there;”but the great mass are still asleep. However, the Dawn comes on apace. Now for William Miller's dream:“I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, had sent me a curiously wrought casket, about ten inches long by six square, made of ebony and pearls curiously inlaid. To the casket there was a key attached. I immediately took the key and opened the casket, when, to my wonder and surprise, I found it filled with all sorts and sizes of jewels—diamonds, precious stones—and gold and silver coin of every dimension and value, beautifully arranged in their several places in the casket; and thus arranged, they reflected a light and glory equalled only by the sun. [These jewels are the beautiful truths which the open casket unfolded to his sight.] I thought it was my duty not to enjoy this wonderful sight alone, although my heart was overjoyed at the brilliancy, beauty and value of its contents. I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, and gave out the word that all who had a desire might come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When they first looked into the casket, they would wonder and shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them on the table.[pg 328]“I began to think that the owner would require the casket and jewels again at my hand; and that if I suffered them to be scattered, I could never place them in their places in the casket again as before, and felt I should never be able to meet the accountability; for it would be immense. I then began to plead with the people not to handle them, nor take them out of the casket. But the more I pleaded, the more they scattered; and now they seemed to scatter them all over the room, on the floor, and every piece of furniture in the room. I then saw that among the genuine jewels and coin they had scattered an innumerable quantity of spurious jewels and counterfeit coin. I was highly incensed at their base conduct and ingratitude, and reproved and reproached them for it; but the more I reproved, the more they scattered the spurious jewels and false coin among the genuine. I then became vexed in my very soul, and began to use physical force to push them out of the room; but while I was pushing out one, three more would enter, and bring in dirt, shavings, sand, and all manner of rubbish, until they had covered every one of the true jewels, diamonds and coins from sight. They also tore into pieces my casket and scattered it among the rubbish. I thought that no man regarded my sorrow or my anger. I became wholly discouraged and disheartened, and sat down and wept. [When the 1844 time passed, how perfectly was this fullfilled.] While I was thus weeping and mourning for my great loss and accountability, I remembered God, and earnestly prayed that He would send me help.“Immediately the door opened and a man entered the room, when the other people all left it. Then he, having a dirt brush in his hand, opened the windows and began to brush the dust and rubbish from the room. I cried to him to forbear; that there were some precious jewels scattered among the rubbish. But he told me to fear not, for he would take care of them. Then while he brushed the dust and rubbish, the false jewels and counterfeit coin, all rose and went out of the window like a cloud and the wind carried them away. In the bustle I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them the rubbish was all gone, and the precious jewels, the diamonds, the gold and the silver coins lay scattered in profusion all over the room. He then placed on the table a casket, much larger and more beautiful than the former, and gathered up the jewels, the diamonds, the coins, by the handful, and cast them into the casket, till not one was left, although some of the diamonds were not bigger than the point of a pin. He then called upon me to come and see. I looked into[pg 329]the casket, but my eyes were dazzled with the sight. The contents shone with ten times their former glory. I thought that they had been scoured in the sand by the feet of those wicked persons who had scattered and trod them in the dust. They were arranged in beautiful order in the casket—every one in its place—without any visible pains on the part of the man [Pastor Russell] who cast them in. I shouted for joy; and that shout awoke me.”21:21.And the twelve gates were [twelve] pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.—“The peculiar lustre of a pearl is dependent on the fact that the surface is not perfectly smooth, but covered with the irregularly sinuous edges of innumerable layers of inconceivable thinness, deposited one over the other. The distance of these edges from each other varies indefinitely, the pearls of the finest water having them closest. They are always, however, too fine to be detected by the naked eye. The edges make so many steps, so to speak; and the iridescence is produced by the mutual interference of the rays of light reflected from these thousands of angles. For their water, or lustre, as distinguished from iridescence, pearls are indebted to their being composed of thin layers, which allow light to pass through them, while their numerous surfaces disperse and reflect the light in such a manner that it returns and mingles with that which is directly reflected from the exterior. The thinner and more transparent the constituent layers, the more perfect is the lustre. The immediate occasion of the production of a pearl appears to be always the presence of some extraneous substance inside of the shell of the mollusk.”(McC.) The mollusk is the earthly tabernacle; the extraneous substance is the New Mind. The successive layers are the additions made to it,“precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.”—Isa. 28:13.And the street of the City was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.—There will be but one street in that City, the street which has been in process of construction throughout the Age. The Prophets tell us of it.—Prov. 16:17; Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 35:8; 62:10-12.21:22.And I saw no temple therein.—No special place of worship, for the use and benefit of the Little Flock.[For] BECAUSE the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.—The Bride's whole life is completely wrapped up in the Father and the Son. Her one consuming wish is to glorify the Lord's dear name. Of what need is any special place of worship for one who can say,“For to me to live is [for] Christ [to live]?”—Phil. 1:21.[pg 330]21:23.And the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine [in] ON it.—“The sun signifies the light of this Gospel Age; the moon signifies the typically reflected light of the Gospel in the Law and the Prophets of the previous Dispensation. The glorified Church will have no need of the light which in the present time she so much enjoys through the Word and the Spirit, and the Law and the Prophets. She will have, instead of these, a much more excellent glory, being, herself, a part of the Sun of Righteousness.”(Z. '01-201.)“‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father’—our Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, of course being included. The Prophet mentions the same Sun of Righteousness, saying,‘The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams.’—Malachi 4:2.”—Z. '16-393.For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.—“We are not to lose sight of the fact that Christ is the Head of the Church, even as the Father is the head of Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:3.) Hence the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will always be an inner Temple in this great Temple which God has provided for the world's blessing during Restitution Times.”—Z. '16-393; Isa. 24:23; 60:19, 20; Rev. 21:11; 22:5.21:24.And the nations [of them which are saved] shall walk [in] BY the light [of it] THEREOF.—“The word‘nations’here signifies peoples, and is intended to show that all peoples, not merely the Israelites, will be thus favored under God's Kingdom. The world will not be divided into nationalities as at present.”—Z. '16-394; Isa. 60:3, 5.And the kings of the earth do bring their glory [and honor] into it.—“When mankind reaches perfection at the close of the Millennial Age, as already shown, they will be admitted into membership in the Kingdom of God and given the entire control of earth as at first designed—each man a sovereign, a king.”(A. 296.)“That Kingdom, in which all will be kings, will be one grand, universal Republic, whose stability and blessed influence will be assured by the perfection of its every citizen, a result now much desired, but an impossibility because of sin.”(Z. '10-39.)“During the Millennial Age the kings will be the Ancient Worthies; but subsequently a New Dispensation will open, under new conditions, in which mankind (perfected) will be granted the privilege of ruling themselves in harmony with the Divine Law.”(Z. '97-304.) In this verse the Ancient Worthies aredirectlyreferred to; while in verse 26 the rest of mankind are referred to. Notice the tenses of the verbs“dobring”and“shallbring”—present and future—in the Millennium and after.[pg 331]21:25.And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day.—Throughout the long Millennial Day of a thousand years all who will may seek and find salvation through the broad gates of the City of God that will then be wide open. (Isa. 60:11.) Now,“Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”—Matt. 7:14.For there shall be no night there.—“The period in which sin is permitted has been a dark Night to humanity, never to be forgotten; but the glorious Day of righteousness and Divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning creation has been so long.‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’—Psa. 30:5.”(A. 9.)The Psalmist explains how the smile of the Father was turned away from mankind. He describes mankind as“Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God [by disobedience of His express command] and contemned [set at naught] the counsels of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labor [each sex with its own peculiar kind]; they fell down, and there was none to help.”(Psa. 107:10-12.) This disobedience brought our entire race into the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:4); but the Prophets encouraged us to hope for a watchman who would tell us of the coming of the Day. (Isa. 21:12.) In the Apostle's time he declared the night was far spent, being then more than two-thirds gone. (Rom. 13:12.) The event that is to bring in the Day is the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. (Mal. 4:2.) When here at the First Advent Christ was the light of the world (John 8:12); and the people in His immediate neighborhood saw a great Light, shadowing forth His coming glory. (Isa. 9:2.) He declared that we, too, should be lights in the world. (Matt. 5:14.)—“You in your little corner, and I in mine;”and that in the resurrection all these 144,000 brightly burning candles should be brought together and with Him constitute the Sun of Righteousness that is to heal and bless the world.“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.”—Matt. 13:43.The sun rises quietly, like a thief. (1 Thes. 5:1.) When the Morning comes, the first work is banishing the works of the night. (Ezek. 7:7-12.) Next comes the opening of the spiritually blind eyes of those that have physical sight. (Amos 5:18.) Surely, the best time for a great oculist to[pg 332]open the eyes of the blind is in the day time. (Isa. 35:5.) Now matters are more or less obscured (1 Cor. 13:12); but the time is coming when the blind shall be shown a way of life they have not hitherto known. (Isa. 42:16.) Will the Lord show wonders in the dark? (Psa. 88:10.) He will indeed; and when the nations come forth from the tomb, they will seek Him that turneth the shadow of death into the morning. (Amos 5:8; Isa. 42: 6, 7.) They will seek Him and will find Him. No wonder, then, that the Psalmist, looking down the stream of time to that happy Day, exultingly exclaims,“Then [after full experience with sin and death] they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath broken the gates of brass [that stood between them and perfection], and cut the bars of iron asunder [that held them in death's prison house].”(Psa. 107:13-16.)“And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”(Rev. 21:4.)“For there shall be no night there.”“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the Morning.”—Psa. 30:5; Zech. 14:7.21:26.And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.—“This rendering of glory to the Kingdom will continue throughout the entire Millennial Age; for the princes throughout the earth will make known to the peoples that not in their own name or authority do they rule and execute judgment and establish righteousness, but in the name of the glorified Christ, Head and Body, whose representatives they are.”—Z. '16-394.21:27.And there shall in no wise enter into it anything [that defileth] COMMON.—No one who could or would contaminate others by speech or example, will ever find a place in that City.Neither whatsoever worketh abomination.—Nor anything tending in the direction of pride or sectarianism.Or maketh a lie.—Nor anything countenancing the teaching of error for pleasure or profit.—1 John 2:22.But they which are written in the [Lamb's.] Book of THE Life OF HEAVEN.—“The Lamb's Book of Life we must understand to include only those who attain to the position of joint-heirship with Christ, those whose names are written in Heaven during this Gospel Age and who are faithful to their Covenant. (Psa. 50:5.)”—Z. '16-394; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8.[pg 333]
Revelation 21—The Descending Kingdom21:1.And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.—“It may be that this, rather than‘the Millennium,’is the name which we ought to give to the Golden Age, of purity and bliss which next awaits the world. The words seem to include a transformation and glorification of our material globe.”—Weym.“Paradise, the Garden of God, applicable as a name to Eden, where our first parents resided, is Scripturally applied to the new earth when Restitution blessings shall, during the Millennium, have brought it to perfection. This Paradise of the future is referred to by the Apostles as‘the third heaven,’and as‘a new heavens and a new earth.’(2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Peter 3:13.) They are not referring to new planets, nor to heavens ranged one above another, as many have supposed, but to the third of three great periods of time, beginning with man's creation and extending into the illimitable future. The first of these periods, termed the first heavens and earth—the old order of things—passed away with the Deluge of Noah's day. The second period,‘the heavens and the earth which are now,’the present order of things, are reserved of God to pass away with a great symbolic fire of trouble—revolution, etc.—which will utterly destroy the present spiritual powers and the present social arrangements. (2 Peter 3:6, 7; Galatians 1:4; Zephaniah 3:8, 9.) The third great period is to be a‘world without end,’under Divine administration. This will be the third heavens and the third earth, or the new heavens and the new earth, which will differ from the present condition of things in that they will be righteous! whereas the present arrangement is imperfect, unrighteous. The‘new heavens’will consist of the new spiritual ruling powers of the future—Christ the Head, and the Church His Body.”—Z. '16-392.For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.—“The Scriptures show us that in this general rupture the nominal church (including all denominations) will be gradually drawn more and more to the side of the governments and the wealthy, will lose much of its influence over the people, and will finally fall with the governments. Thus the heavens [ecclesiastical rule] being on fire, will[pg 316]pass away with a great hissing.”(A. 333.) Two of the causes that operate to“burn”the present“earth”are declared to be hunger, and the misrule of beastly governments. (Deut. 32:24) In the end all will be glad to see the unclean heavens pass away (Job 15:15) rent in twain (Isa. 64:1) and the new heavens planted (Isa. 51:16) which will be heard in their lightest petition to the God of all grace (Hos. 2:21).“Drop down, ye Heavens from above.”—Isa. 45:8.And there was no more sea.—“Under the control of the new Heaven—spiritual powers—the reconstructed social order will be so satisfactory, so complete, so thorough, that there will be no more dissatisfied masses. Everything will be reduced to law and order, obliterating the differences of wealth and power as they now exist.”—Z. '16-392.21:2.And I, [John] saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem.—“The New Jerusalem is not‘that great city [government] which ruleth over the kings of the earth’(Revelation 17:18) but is the new Spiritual Government of the Millennial Age. It is not reared by men; but, descends from God out of Heaven. It is for this Kingdom, this Government, that our Lord taught His disciples to pray,‘Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven.’”—Z. '16-392; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 5:35; Heb. 11:10, 16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:10; 11:2; 22:19.Coming down [from God] out of Heaven, FROM GOD.—“We are not to think of this Holy City as being composed of literal stones, but of‘living stones’(1 Peter 2:4-7; Ephesians 2:19-22.) Neither Christ nor the saints in glory can be seen of men. But the whole world will quickly be made aware of the fact that a new Government has been instituted—a government of righteousness and all power.”—Z. '16-392; Heb. 11:10; 12:22; Rev. 3:12; 21:10.Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.—“This declaration implies its beauty, grandeur and perfection, as a bride's adornment on such an occasion is particular and elaborate to the last degree. Additionally, the statement reminds us that in the government of the future the world's judges are to be the saints selected throughout the Gospel Age and frequently called‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife.’”—Z. '16-392; 2 Cor. 11:2; John 3:29; Eph. 5:31, 32.21:3.And [I heard] a great voice.—The Lord Jesus, the Father's Word.[Out of heaven] WAS saying, OUT OF THE THRONE, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men.—“This verse associates this City with the other figure of a symbolic Temple, which the Lord is now preparing, of which the[pg 317]saints will constitute the‘pillars.’God will dwell in this Temple, and the world of mankind will approach God in it to receive the Divine blessings, as Israel approached the typical Tabernacle and the Temple in their typical religious services.”(Z. '01-199.)“When we think of the Church as the Temple under construction, it impresses upon us the thought that there is a future work to be accomplished. Why construct a Temple, and then not use it? St. Paul says, the Church is God's workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10.) And His work will be so perfectly accomplished that there will be no need of rectification or alteration beyond the veil,—beautifully illustrated in the erection of Solomon's Temple, of which we read that its stones were prepared at the quarry and then finally assembled for the construction of the Temple, and that they were so perfectly shaped and marked for their various places that they came together without the sound of a hammer.”—Z. '15-189; 2 Cor. 6:16.And He [will dwell] DWELLETH with them and they shall be His people.—“All mankind will be treated from the standpoint of reconciliation, the Propitiation (price) for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) having been provided at Calvary, and the due time having then come for the manifestation of Divine favor.”—Z. '01-200; Psa. 68:18; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 8:8.[And] God Himself shall be with them, [and be their God].—“It will be the Kingdom of God, because God's dear Son and His joint-heir, the Church, will be in absolute accord with the Father, and all that shall be done under their control will fully and completely represent the Divine will respecting men. Nevertheless, it will be a separate Kingdom from that of the remainder of the Universe, as the Apostle Paul indicates. (1 Cor. 15:24, 25, 28.)”—Z. '01-200; Jer. 30:22; 31:33; Ezek. 11:20.21:4.And [God] HE shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.—“The wiping away of tears implies a gradual work, such as we see will be the process of that glorious time. Man will not be exempt from every weakness and trial and difficulty at the beginning, but if he will conform to the Laws of the Kingdom, all cause for distress will gradually pass away, as restitution blessings will lift him out of death into life.”—Z. '01-200; Isa. 25:8; 65:19.And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor crying SHALL BE.—“What a glorious sun-burst of blessing is in these words! What a grand fulfilment will be there of the Apostle's declaration respecting‘Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began’! The declaration, however, applies to the very end of the Millennial Age,[pg 318]and not in full to any previous time in that Age. (John 5:28, 29.)”—Z. '01-200; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; Rev. 20:14; Isa. 35:10; 51:11; 65:19.[Neither shall there be any more pain] For the former things are passed away.—The reign of Satan, sin and death will have ended forever.“To gain a place in the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be to find the gratification of every desire and ambition of the perfect human heart.”—A. 291.21:5.And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new.—“This expression does not relate merely to rocks and trees, etc., but to the great work which our Lord undertook; viz., the regeneration of humanity to the complete perfection contemplated in the original Divine Plan.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 20:11.And He said unto me, Write: for these words are [true and] faithful, AND TRUE.—“Present conditions seem so contrary to all this grand Restitution outcome that it cannot be fully believed and trusted by any except those who have learned to walk with the Lord. To all others these things will appear untrue, and God will appear unfaithful, and the matters which we are here discussing will seem‘idle tales,’as fables and golden fancies: but to us who believe, these promises are precious.”—1 Pet. 2:7.21:6.And He [said] SAITH unto me, [It is done.] I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.—“It was the Father's good pleasure that the Blessed One, the Only Begotten of the Father, should accomplish the entire program of redemption and restitution; and be forever the Associate and Representative of the Father, through whom and by whom all things should continue, as He was the one through whom all things were made that were made.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 1:8; 22:13.I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.—“It is this one who, during the Millennial Age, will extend to all the willing and obedient the Water of Life, everlasting life—the privilege of perpetual existence. But they must thirst for it, must desire it; and this desire must be manifest in obedience to the terms, the laws, upon which it will be supplied freely.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 22:17; Isa. 55:1; John 7:37.21:7.He that overcometh shall inherit [all] THESE things.—These earthly things.—Acts 3:21.And I will be his God, and he shall be My son.—“Those addressed are not the Bride class, selected during the Gospel Age, (1 John 3:2) but the sheep class of Matt. 25—such of mankind as during the Millennial Age become the Lord's sheep and obey His voice. They shall inherit the[pg 319]earth, the purchased possession—which Jesus will restore at the close of the Millennium to all the children of Adam who shall have accepted His gracious favors and been regenerated by Him, and thus become His sons, and He their God—their Father. (Isa. 9:6)”—Z. '01-201; Zech. 8:8; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:21.21:8.But the fearful.—“If any, enlightened by the Truth, and brought to a knowledge of the love of God, and restored to human perfection, become‘fearful,’and‘draw back’(Heb. 10:38, 39), they, with the unbelievers, will be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:23.)”—A. 107.And unbelieving.—Who will not trust God, after all the marvels of His grace they will have seen and experienced.—Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17; John 20:31; John 17:20; 1 Tim. 6:12; Luke 17:5; James 2:17.And the abominable.—“Those abominable characters among men, who, knowing the truth, yet love unrighteousness.”—H. 60.And murderers.—Slanderers.—Psa. 141:3; Deut. 5:17; Matt. 5:21, 22; 15:18-20; 1 John 3:15; James 3:2-12; James 4:11; Prov. 4:23, 24; Matt. 12:34-37; Eph. 4:31; Psa. 15:1-3; 19:14; 34:13; 101:5; Prov. 12:19; 16:28; 17:4; 26:20-21; Jer. 20:10; 1 Cor. 10:10; James 1:19; Deut. 32:2.And whoremongers.—Not at heart faithful to the Lord.And sorcerers.—Dreamers, theorists, pseudo-philosophers, endeavoring to accredit to themselves the great salvation wrought.—Rev. 22:15.And idolaters.—“Such as misappropriate and misuse Divine favors, who give to self or any other creature or thing that service and honor which belong to God.”—H. 63.And all liars.—“All who do not love the Truth and seek it, and at any cost defend and hold it.”(H. 63.)“If something is six inches long, let it be just six inches for six inches.”—Z. '12-147.Shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.—“The severest punishment inflicted by the Jews upon any criminal. The corpse (after the man had been stoned to death) was thrown out into the Valley of Hinnom (Gay-Hinnom) and was devoured by the worm or the flame.”—Weym.Which is the Second Death.—“Such company would be repulsive to any honest, upright being. It is hard to tolerate them now, but in the close of the Millennial Judgment, when the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall have given every advantage and opportunity of knowledge and ability, the righteous will be glad when the corrupters of the earth, and all their work and influence, shall be destroyed.”—H. 63.[pg 320]21:9.And there came [unto me].—To the John class, the Church, on this side of the veil.One of the seven angels.—The Seventh.Which had the seven vials full.—They are still full after they are poured out on ecclesiasticism!Of the seven last plagues.—The Seven volumes ofStudies in the Scriptures.And talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee.—See Lu. 4:21.The Bride, the Lamb's Wife.—“As a grand lesson of the Divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to all evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of honor (as‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife and Joint-heir’—Rom. 8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the sinners redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. The continued permission of evil is for the purpose of developing these‘members of the Body of Christ’and to furnish them the opportunity of sacrificing their little and redeemed all, in the service of Him who bought them with His precious blood; and thus of developing in their hearts His spiritual likeness, that when, at the end of the Age, they are presented by their Lord and Redeemer before the Father, God may see in them‘the image of His Son.’”—Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:29; E.412, 395; Rev. 19:7; 21:2.21:10.And he carried me away in the Spirit.—“God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”—1 Cor. 2:10; Rev. 1:10; 17:3.To a great and high mountain.—How similar is the language, recording the experience of the first and greatest Member of the Church, at the beginning of His ministry. Concerning the Lord's third temptation we read:“In this temptation the Lord is taken, not physically, but in the spirit of His mind, up into a high mountain—a very exalted kingdom. Physically He was all this time in the desert near Jerusalem; and as a matter of fact there is neither in that desert nor anywhere in the world a mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world could be viewed except with the mind's eye.”—Z. '06-43.St. John's Vision of the Descending KingdomAnd shewed me [that great] THE HOLY City, [The holy] Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God.—The city came down from Heaven to earth. If we went up to Heaven, it would not be found there. If Rev. 21 is to be literally interpreted, then the whole surface of Palestine is far from sufficient to hold a city of this size. Besides, its height, length and breadth were to be equal.—Rev. 21:2.21:11.Having the glory [of] FROM God.—The Church has a foretaste of this glory on this side of the veil.—1 Pet. 4:14.[pg 321][And] her light.—“The Lamb is the Light thereof.”—Rev. 21:23; 22:5.Was like unto a stone most precious.—“The brightness of His [the Father's] glory, and the express image of His person.”—Heb. 1:3.Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.—A beautiful green-tinted diamond.—Rev. 4:3.21:12And [had] HAVING a wall great and high.—The pictures here are all pictures of the Bride. Nevertheless, the wall, the protection of that Heavenly City, in a special sense represents our Heavenly Father. No picture of the Bride would be complete that did not include Him who dwells within us, who is the Author of the Plan, and the Source of all our joys. Now as to the application of the picture of the wall to the Bride herself, one of Pastor Russell's coworkers has aptly said:“We are like livingstones, in the plural—144,000 stones in one, if you will. There was one perfect Stone to begin with, and all the others had to be conformed to the image of that Stone. Men have discovered a way of taking two glasses of different density and fusing them together, so you cannot tell where the point of fusion is. And so, with this Little Flock of 144,000, they are going to be welded together in one—there will be but one mind in that whole 144,000. There is only one thing they have in view, and that is to perform Jehovah's will; and they rejoice in doing His will absolutely.”And [had] HAVING twelve gates.—The twelve mystical tribes of Israel.—Rev. 7:5-8; Ezek. 48:31-34.And at the gates twelve angels, and THEIR names written thereon.—The entire Little Flock; twelve thousand of each tribe, each working together, under God's direction, as one angel, or messenger. Doubtless certain special work is reserved for each tribe. All who gain membership in that tribe will be particularly suited to the work to which they will be assigned.Which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.—Their names, and the characteristics they signify, are given in Rev. 7:5-8.21:13.On the East.—Toward the Sun-rising, toward the Dawn, toward the Little Flock, specially honored and blessed in their sacrifices on behalf of the Church. The side of the Amramites.—Num. 3:19; F. 128.Three gates.—The mystical tribe of Joseph, Benjamin and Manasseh—Manasseh taking the place of Dan.—Ezek. 48:32; Rev. 7:5, 7, 8.AND on the North.—The side of the Merarites, the Great Company.—Num. 3:33; F. 129.[pg 322]Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Judah, Reuben and Levi.—Ezek. 48:31; Rev. 7:5, 7.AND on the South.—The side of the Kohathites, the Ancient Worthies.—Num. 4:2; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun.—Ezek. 48:33; Rev. 7:7, 8.And on the West.—The side of the Gershonites, the Restitution classes.—Num. 4:22; F. 129.Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Gad, Asher and Naphtali.—Ezek. 48:34; Rev. 7:5, 6.Although the pictures here given are pictures of the Bride, and the gates apply as above shown, nevertheless these gates also represent the Ancient Worthies, who during the Millennial Age will be the earthly representatives of the Church, and, perhaps, exactly 144,000 in number. Additionally, the Ancient Worthies arecalled“gates”in Isa. 26:2.“The gates or entrances of the City, which are twelve in number, are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is in harmony with what we have learned of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God that the Ancient Worthies from the various tribes of Israel, selected during the Jewish Age, will be the visible representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom in the earth through whose instrumentality the nations may enter into the blessings of the Kingdom.”—Z. '92-16.“The city lies open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike.”—Luke 13:29. Weym.21:14.And the wall of the City had twelve foundations.—“The Lord himself, is the foundation,‘Other foundations can no man lay than that is laid—Jesus Christ.’(1 Cor. 3:11.) He is the great Rock, and St. Peter's confession of Him as such was, therefore, a rock testimonial—a declaration of the foundation principles underlying the Divine Plan. St. Peter disowned any pretension to being the foundation-stone himself and properly classed himself to with all the other‘living stones’(Gr.lithos,) of the Church,—thoughpetros, rock, signifies a larger stone thanlithos, and all the Apostles as‘foundation’stones would in the Divine Plan and order have a larger importance than their brethren.”—F. 220; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20.And [in] ON them the TWELVE names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.—“We are entirely out of accord with the views of Papacy, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the Catholic-Apostolic Church, and of the Mormons, all of whom claim that the number of the Apostles was not limited to twelve, and that there have been successors since their day who spoke and wrote with equal authority with the original Twelve. (2 Cor. 11:13.)”(F. 209.)“We still have[pg 323]with us the gift of Apostles, in that we have their teachings in the New Testament, so full and complete as to require no addition; and hence the Twelve Apostles have no successors, and need none, since there are but‘Twelve Apostles of the Lamb;’they are the twelve stars; the twelve foundations.'”—John 6:70; E.229, 207.12:15.And he that talked with me.—Volume VII ofStudies in the Scriptures.Had a [golden] MEASURING reed of gold.—The Divine Word.To measure the City, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.—Surely, if we can not find the measurement in the Scriptures it is hopeless to look elsewhere.—Zech. 2:1, 2; Rev. 11:1; Ezek. 40:3.21:16.And the City lieth foursquare, and the length is [as large] as the breadth.—A perfect cube, like the Most Holy of the Tabernacle.And he measured the City with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.—“The number of‘buildings’in the City seems to be indicated by the measures—12,000 times 12,000 furlongs equals 144,000,000 square furlongs. This area contains 144,000 building-lots of one thousand square furlongs each—which circumstance may well signify that the 144,000, faithful ones will reign with Jesus during a thousand years (one square furlong representing a year.”)The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.—Each view of the City, from any side, presents to view, Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.21:17.And he measured the wall thereof.—Its thickness.An hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man.—The measure of a man, the Man Christ Jesus, is 1,000. His Day is to be 1,000 years in length. Adam's Day was a thousand years long. The total measure is 144,000, the number of the Elect. We should expect to find the number of those rescued during the Millennium shown somewhere in these measurements; and this we also find. The cubit, in symbolism, is flexible in length, like the word“day.”If we multiply the number of square furlongs in any wall by the144 measures of a man, i. e., 144,000,000 X 144, the result is 20,736,000,000, the estimated number of the sheep class at the end of the Millennial Age.—Matt. 25:34-40; Z. '05-271.That is, of the angel.—As interpreted by the angel.21:18.And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.—“The solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city itself was made of gold, resembling transparent glass.”—Weym.[pg 324]And the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass.—Of Divine origin, and made up of those who have the Divine nature.21:19.And the foundations of the wall of the City were garnished with all manner of precious stones.—Mosaic manufacturers make 15,000 colors; and it is estimated the trained eye can detect a million colors. In selecting and polishing the 144,000 gems and putting them in place in the Temple God is preparing a beautiful harmony of characters in infinite variety that will delight the hearts of all His creatures to all eternity.—1 Chron. 29:2.The first foundation was jasper.—Likeness to the Father. See comments on Rev. 4:3.AND the second, sapphire.—Faithfulness. The sapphire of the ancients is the modern lapiz lazuli, or azure stone, a mineral substance valued for decorative purposes in consequence of the fine blue color which it usually presents. It has the appearance of being spotted with gold dust.“The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.”(Job. 28:6.) The brilliant spots in the deep blue matrix invite comparison with the stars in the firmament. The crystals form into units having twelve equal sides. The blue is the color of faithfulness; the gold shows the faithfulness towards God; the star-like appearance shows the faithfulness towards all the Heavenly beings—angels, archangels, and the Great Company; the crystalline formation shows the faithfulness towards the symbolical and actual twelve tribes of Israel which, in the last analysis, include all who shall become heirs of salvation. Those who gain the prize of the High Calling can be trusted.—1 Cor. 4:2; Luke 16:10-12.AND the third, a chalcedony.—Obedience; Submission. A green quartz, found in the copper mines of Chalcedon. It crystallizes in the twelve-sided and twenty-four-sided forms of cubic crystalline formation. In the twelve sided crystals each side is a surface of five equal sides and angles. The Church's obedience is perfect towards God as indicated in the faces of the crystals, five being a symbol of Divinity. It is operative towards the brethren as in the twelve-faced crystals, and towards both phases of the Kingdom, as in the twenty-four-sided crystals.The fourth, an emerald.—Deathlessness. One of the most beautiful of gems, of a bright green color, without any mixture, crystallizing in long, hexagonal (six-sided) crystals. The stone loses color when strongly heated. From those originally imperfect (as shown in the six-sided crystals) God is creating a race of deathless ones. Nevertheless, though begotten to the Divine nature, should[pg 325]they cling to the dross of their fleshly natures too determinedly, so great fires may be applied to burn away the dross as will destroy the value of the gem. This gem, too, represents the Church's power to bestow life upon the dead world. The crystals may be broken or split crosswise. The everlasting life for the world, which may be made continuous, is nevertheless susceptible of being broken off at any time for disobedience.21:20.The fifth, sardonyx.—Humility; Purity; Martyrdom. An ornamental stone much used for seals and cameos. It was considered by ancient oriental authorities that a fine oriental sardonyx should have at least three strata, a black base, a white intermediate center, and a superficial layer of red; these colors typifying the three cardinal virtues—humility, black; chastity, white; modesty or martyrdom, red.The sixth, sardius.—Loyalty to Christ. A reddish stone much used by the ancients as a gem stone; it has been in all ages the commonest of the stones used by the gem engraver.—Rev. 4:3.The seventh, chrysolyte.—Heavenly Wisdom. GreekChrysos, gold, andlithos, stone. The meaning of the term makes it the golden stone. It is a gem of a golden color, lightly tinted with green. It is very transparent.“The wisdom that is from Above is first pure.”—Jas. 3:17.The eighth, beryl.—Love of the Father. A pellucid gem of a bluish green color, much prized as a gem stone by the ancients. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system, with sixty-six sides of various sizes and shapes. On each of the six principal sides are diamond-shaped marks, alternately five and eight marks to a side, with four marks at the end. The sixty-six sides represent the sixty-six books of the Bible; the two ends represent the Old and New Testaments; the diamond shaped marks represent the Heavenly Father; the three groups of eight each represent the twenty-four prophecies of the kingdom; five is a symbol of Divinity, and four represents Justice, Power, Wisdom and Love.The ninth, topaz.—Benevolence. It is generally held that the mineral now called topaz was unknown to ancient writers, and that their topaz is our peridot. This is the name applied by jewelers to“noble olivine.”It is a dark, decidedly green-colored mineral. Much mystery for a long time surrounded the locality which yielded most of the peridot for commerce; but it is now identified with the island of St. John in the Red Sea, probably the“Topaz Isle”of the ancients. It crystallizes in twenty-six-sided figures. In some views—i. e., when the Great Company[pg 326]or the classes that are to be destroyed are taken into consideration—the tribes of Israel number thirteen; and when Spiritual and Fleshly Israel are considered separately, the total number is twenty-six. It is not the wish of the Heavenly Father that any of these should perish, and it is the wish of the Church to do all humanly and Divinely possible to save the unworthy from the final consequences of their own willfulness. This spirit will be exercised to the last limit of love.The tenth, chrysoprasus.—Constant, cheerful endurance. The modern Chrysoberyl is a yellow or green gem stone, remarkable for its hardness, being exceeded in this respect only by the diamond and the jacinth. It is not infrequently cloudy, due to microscopic cavities. The hardness signifies ability to“endure hardness as good soldiers,”and the clouds signify difficulties, troubles, to be overcome.The eleventh, jacinth.—Unchangeableness. The modern sapphire, next to the diamond in hardness; a beautiful blue stone. Many of the crystals are parti-colored, the blue being distributed in patches in a colorless stone; but by skillful cutting the deep-colored portion may be caused to impart color to the entire gem. This stone crystallizes in the most beautiful and wonderful pattern conceivable, consisting of a six-sided pyramid at either end, separated by three different sets of surfaces of six each and two different sets of surfaces of three each. We may think of the two ends as representing the teachings of the Twelve Apostles, and the twenty-four surfaces between as representing the twenty-four elders (prophecies pertaining to the Kingdom of God). God is unchangeable; although the different operations of His Plan, in different ages, make Him seem changeable to mankind. But the perfected Plan will be the adoration of all His creatures. This gem also shows how God can take characters whose conduct may have been very irregular, and by skillful cutting make them copies of Himself.The twelfth, an amethyst.—Royalty. A stone of a violet color, bordering on purple, composed of a strong blue and deep red. The name is derived from the Greeka, not, andmethyskein, to intoxicate, expressing the old belief that the stone protected its owner from strong drink. It was held that wine drank out of a cup of amethyst would not intoxicate. It crystallizes in double pyramids (base to base) of three sides on each pyramid. Amethyst was Pastor Russell's birth-stone; and behold how perfect its application! He was true blue in his faithfulness, and fully loyal to the blood of Christ, as shown by the red. He has the royalty now, thank God! The cup which he[pg 327]poured never intoxicated with error those who drank its live-giving draughts from the Fountain of all Truth, our Father's Word. The six-sided crystallization represents his Six Volumes ofScripture Studies, and this, the Seventh, a summary of all, represents the stone as a whole. There are over ninety varieties of crystals in nature. Surely,“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”The following is William Miller's dream, as given inThe Three Worlds, the first of Pastor Russell's books, long since out of print, where it is told only as a dream. (Jer. 23:28.) It calls to mind a dream of Pastor Russell's, often told in private. In his early youth he dreamed of sleeping in an attic. Suddenly he awoke to see the morning sun, just emerged over the hill-top, blazing directly in his face. He jumped to his feet with a start, thinking that it must be late. In doing so he stumbled over several forms still asleep. He was about to reproach himself for thus rudely awakening them, when he discovered that not one of the sleepers had been disturbed. The application is evident.“The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”Pastor Russell was awakened by the light of the Sun of the New Day. He tried to waken others, and succeeded with“just one here, one there;”but the great mass are still asleep. However, the Dawn comes on apace. Now for William Miller's dream:“I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, had sent me a curiously wrought casket, about ten inches long by six square, made of ebony and pearls curiously inlaid. To the casket there was a key attached. I immediately took the key and opened the casket, when, to my wonder and surprise, I found it filled with all sorts and sizes of jewels—diamonds, precious stones—and gold and silver coin of every dimension and value, beautifully arranged in their several places in the casket; and thus arranged, they reflected a light and glory equalled only by the sun. [These jewels are the beautiful truths which the open casket unfolded to his sight.] I thought it was my duty not to enjoy this wonderful sight alone, although my heart was overjoyed at the brilliancy, beauty and value of its contents. I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, and gave out the word that all who had a desire might come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When they first looked into the casket, they would wonder and shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them on the table.[pg 328]“I began to think that the owner would require the casket and jewels again at my hand; and that if I suffered them to be scattered, I could never place them in their places in the casket again as before, and felt I should never be able to meet the accountability; for it would be immense. I then began to plead with the people not to handle them, nor take them out of the casket. But the more I pleaded, the more they scattered; and now they seemed to scatter them all over the room, on the floor, and every piece of furniture in the room. I then saw that among the genuine jewels and coin they had scattered an innumerable quantity of spurious jewels and counterfeit coin. I was highly incensed at their base conduct and ingratitude, and reproved and reproached them for it; but the more I reproved, the more they scattered the spurious jewels and false coin among the genuine. I then became vexed in my very soul, and began to use physical force to push them out of the room; but while I was pushing out one, three more would enter, and bring in dirt, shavings, sand, and all manner of rubbish, until they had covered every one of the true jewels, diamonds and coins from sight. They also tore into pieces my casket and scattered it among the rubbish. I thought that no man regarded my sorrow or my anger. I became wholly discouraged and disheartened, and sat down and wept. [When the 1844 time passed, how perfectly was this fullfilled.] While I was thus weeping and mourning for my great loss and accountability, I remembered God, and earnestly prayed that He would send me help.“Immediately the door opened and a man entered the room, when the other people all left it. Then he, having a dirt brush in his hand, opened the windows and began to brush the dust and rubbish from the room. I cried to him to forbear; that there were some precious jewels scattered among the rubbish. But he told me to fear not, for he would take care of them. Then while he brushed the dust and rubbish, the false jewels and counterfeit coin, all rose and went out of the window like a cloud and the wind carried them away. In the bustle I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them the rubbish was all gone, and the precious jewels, the diamonds, the gold and the silver coins lay scattered in profusion all over the room. He then placed on the table a casket, much larger and more beautiful than the former, and gathered up the jewels, the diamonds, the coins, by the handful, and cast them into the casket, till not one was left, although some of the diamonds were not bigger than the point of a pin. He then called upon me to come and see. I looked into[pg 329]the casket, but my eyes were dazzled with the sight. The contents shone with ten times their former glory. I thought that they had been scoured in the sand by the feet of those wicked persons who had scattered and trod them in the dust. They were arranged in beautiful order in the casket—every one in its place—without any visible pains on the part of the man [Pastor Russell] who cast them in. I shouted for joy; and that shout awoke me.”21:21.And the twelve gates were [twelve] pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.—“The peculiar lustre of a pearl is dependent on the fact that the surface is not perfectly smooth, but covered with the irregularly sinuous edges of innumerable layers of inconceivable thinness, deposited one over the other. The distance of these edges from each other varies indefinitely, the pearls of the finest water having them closest. They are always, however, too fine to be detected by the naked eye. The edges make so many steps, so to speak; and the iridescence is produced by the mutual interference of the rays of light reflected from these thousands of angles. For their water, or lustre, as distinguished from iridescence, pearls are indebted to their being composed of thin layers, which allow light to pass through them, while their numerous surfaces disperse and reflect the light in such a manner that it returns and mingles with that which is directly reflected from the exterior. The thinner and more transparent the constituent layers, the more perfect is the lustre. The immediate occasion of the production of a pearl appears to be always the presence of some extraneous substance inside of the shell of the mollusk.”(McC.) The mollusk is the earthly tabernacle; the extraneous substance is the New Mind. The successive layers are the additions made to it,“precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.”—Isa. 28:13.And the street of the City was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.—There will be but one street in that City, the street which has been in process of construction throughout the Age. The Prophets tell us of it.—Prov. 16:17; Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 35:8; 62:10-12.21:22.And I saw no temple therein.—No special place of worship, for the use and benefit of the Little Flock.[For] BECAUSE the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.—The Bride's whole life is completely wrapped up in the Father and the Son. Her one consuming wish is to glorify the Lord's dear name. Of what need is any special place of worship for one who can say,“For to me to live is [for] Christ [to live]?”—Phil. 1:21.[pg 330]21:23.And the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine [in] ON it.—“The sun signifies the light of this Gospel Age; the moon signifies the typically reflected light of the Gospel in the Law and the Prophets of the previous Dispensation. The glorified Church will have no need of the light which in the present time she so much enjoys through the Word and the Spirit, and the Law and the Prophets. She will have, instead of these, a much more excellent glory, being, herself, a part of the Sun of Righteousness.”(Z. '01-201.)“‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father’—our Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, of course being included. The Prophet mentions the same Sun of Righteousness, saying,‘The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams.’—Malachi 4:2.”—Z. '16-393.For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.—“We are not to lose sight of the fact that Christ is the Head of the Church, even as the Father is the head of Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:3.) Hence the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will always be an inner Temple in this great Temple which God has provided for the world's blessing during Restitution Times.”—Z. '16-393; Isa. 24:23; 60:19, 20; Rev. 21:11; 22:5.21:24.And the nations [of them which are saved] shall walk [in] BY the light [of it] THEREOF.—“The word‘nations’here signifies peoples, and is intended to show that all peoples, not merely the Israelites, will be thus favored under God's Kingdom. The world will not be divided into nationalities as at present.”—Z. '16-394; Isa. 60:3, 5.And the kings of the earth do bring their glory [and honor] into it.—“When mankind reaches perfection at the close of the Millennial Age, as already shown, they will be admitted into membership in the Kingdom of God and given the entire control of earth as at first designed—each man a sovereign, a king.”(A. 296.)“That Kingdom, in which all will be kings, will be one grand, universal Republic, whose stability and blessed influence will be assured by the perfection of its every citizen, a result now much desired, but an impossibility because of sin.”(Z. '10-39.)“During the Millennial Age the kings will be the Ancient Worthies; but subsequently a New Dispensation will open, under new conditions, in which mankind (perfected) will be granted the privilege of ruling themselves in harmony with the Divine Law.”(Z. '97-304.) In this verse the Ancient Worthies aredirectlyreferred to; while in verse 26 the rest of mankind are referred to. Notice the tenses of the verbs“dobring”and“shallbring”—present and future—in the Millennium and after.[pg 331]21:25.And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day.—Throughout the long Millennial Day of a thousand years all who will may seek and find salvation through the broad gates of the City of God that will then be wide open. (Isa. 60:11.) Now,“Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”—Matt. 7:14.For there shall be no night there.—“The period in which sin is permitted has been a dark Night to humanity, never to be forgotten; but the glorious Day of righteousness and Divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning creation has been so long.‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’—Psa. 30:5.”(A. 9.)The Psalmist explains how the smile of the Father was turned away from mankind. He describes mankind as“Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God [by disobedience of His express command] and contemned [set at naught] the counsels of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labor [each sex with its own peculiar kind]; they fell down, and there was none to help.”(Psa. 107:10-12.) This disobedience brought our entire race into the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:4); but the Prophets encouraged us to hope for a watchman who would tell us of the coming of the Day. (Isa. 21:12.) In the Apostle's time he declared the night was far spent, being then more than two-thirds gone. (Rom. 13:12.) The event that is to bring in the Day is the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. (Mal. 4:2.) When here at the First Advent Christ was the light of the world (John 8:12); and the people in His immediate neighborhood saw a great Light, shadowing forth His coming glory. (Isa. 9:2.) He declared that we, too, should be lights in the world. (Matt. 5:14.)—“You in your little corner, and I in mine;”and that in the resurrection all these 144,000 brightly burning candles should be brought together and with Him constitute the Sun of Righteousness that is to heal and bless the world.“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.”—Matt. 13:43.The sun rises quietly, like a thief. (1 Thes. 5:1.) When the Morning comes, the first work is banishing the works of the night. (Ezek. 7:7-12.) Next comes the opening of the spiritually blind eyes of those that have physical sight. (Amos 5:18.) Surely, the best time for a great oculist to[pg 332]open the eyes of the blind is in the day time. (Isa. 35:5.) Now matters are more or less obscured (1 Cor. 13:12); but the time is coming when the blind shall be shown a way of life they have not hitherto known. (Isa. 42:16.) Will the Lord show wonders in the dark? (Psa. 88:10.) He will indeed; and when the nations come forth from the tomb, they will seek Him that turneth the shadow of death into the morning. (Amos 5:8; Isa. 42: 6, 7.) They will seek Him and will find Him. No wonder, then, that the Psalmist, looking down the stream of time to that happy Day, exultingly exclaims,“Then [after full experience with sin and death] they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath broken the gates of brass [that stood between them and perfection], and cut the bars of iron asunder [that held them in death's prison house].”(Psa. 107:13-16.)“And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”(Rev. 21:4.)“For there shall be no night there.”“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the Morning.”—Psa. 30:5; Zech. 14:7.21:26.And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.—“This rendering of glory to the Kingdom will continue throughout the entire Millennial Age; for the princes throughout the earth will make known to the peoples that not in their own name or authority do they rule and execute judgment and establish righteousness, but in the name of the glorified Christ, Head and Body, whose representatives they are.”—Z. '16-394.21:27.And there shall in no wise enter into it anything [that defileth] COMMON.—No one who could or would contaminate others by speech or example, will ever find a place in that City.Neither whatsoever worketh abomination.—Nor anything tending in the direction of pride or sectarianism.Or maketh a lie.—Nor anything countenancing the teaching of error for pleasure or profit.—1 John 2:22.But they which are written in the [Lamb's.] Book of THE Life OF HEAVEN.—“The Lamb's Book of Life we must understand to include only those who attain to the position of joint-heirship with Christ, those whose names are written in Heaven during this Gospel Age and who are faithful to their Covenant. (Psa. 50:5.)”—Z. '16-394; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8.
21:1.And I saw a new heaven and a new earth.—“It may be that this, rather than‘the Millennium,’is the name which we ought to give to the Golden Age, of purity and bliss which next awaits the world. The words seem to include a transformation and glorification of our material globe.”—Weym.
“Paradise, the Garden of God, applicable as a name to Eden, where our first parents resided, is Scripturally applied to the new earth when Restitution blessings shall, during the Millennium, have brought it to perfection. This Paradise of the future is referred to by the Apostles as‘the third heaven,’and as‘a new heavens and a new earth.’(2 Corinthians 12:2; 2 Peter 3:13.) They are not referring to new planets, nor to heavens ranged one above another, as many have supposed, but to the third of three great periods of time, beginning with man's creation and extending into the illimitable future. The first of these periods, termed the first heavens and earth—the old order of things—passed away with the Deluge of Noah's day. The second period,‘the heavens and the earth which are now,’the present order of things, are reserved of God to pass away with a great symbolic fire of trouble—revolution, etc.—which will utterly destroy the present spiritual powers and the present social arrangements. (2 Peter 3:6, 7; Galatians 1:4; Zephaniah 3:8, 9.) The third great period is to be a‘world without end,’under Divine administration. This will be the third heavens and the third earth, or the new heavens and the new earth, which will differ from the present condition of things in that they will be righteous! whereas the present arrangement is imperfect, unrighteous. The‘new heavens’will consist of the new spiritual ruling powers of the future—Christ the Head, and the Church His Body.”—Z. '16-392.
For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away.—“The Scriptures show us that in this general rupture the nominal church (including all denominations) will be gradually drawn more and more to the side of the governments and the wealthy, will lose much of its influence over the people, and will finally fall with the governments. Thus the heavens [ecclesiastical rule] being on fire, will[pg 316]pass away with a great hissing.”(A. 333.) Two of the causes that operate to“burn”the present“earth”are declared to be hunger, and the misrule of beastly governments. (Deut. 32:24) In the end all will be glad to see the unclean heavens pass away (Job 15:15) rent in twain (Isa. 64:1) and the new heavens planted (Isa. 51:16) which will be heard in their lightest petition to the God of all grace (Hos. 2:21).“Drop down, ye Heavens from above.”—Isa. 45:8.
And there was no more sea.—“Under the control of the new Heaven—spiritual powers—the reconstructed social order will be so satisfactory, so complete, so thorough, that there will be no more dissatisfied masses. Everything will be reduced to law and order, obliterating the differences of wealth and power as they now exist.”—Z. '16-392.
21:2.And I, [John] saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem.—“The New Jerusalem is not‘that great city [government] which ruleth over the kings of the earth’(Revelation 17:18) but is the new Spiritual Government of the Millennial Age. It is not reared by men; but, descends from God out of Heaven. It is for this Kingdom, this Government, that our Lord taught His disciples to pray,‘Thy Kingdom come; Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in Heaven.’”—Z. '16-392; Isa. 52:1; Matt. 5:35; Heb. 11:10, 16; 13:14; Rev. 3:12; 21:10; 11:2; 22:19.
Coming down [from God] out of Heaven, FROM GOD.—“We are not to think of this Holy City as being composed of literal stones, but of‘living stones’(1 Peter 2:4-7; Ephesians 2:19-22.) Neither Christ nor the saints in glory can be seen of men. But the whole world will quickly be made aware of the fact that a new Government has been instituted—a government of righteousness and all power.”—Z. '16-392; Heb. 11:10; 12:22; Rev. 3:12; 21:10.
Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.—“This declaration implies its beauty, grandeur and perfection, as a bride's adornment on such an occasion is particular and elaborate to the last degree. Additionally, the statement reminds us that in the government of the future the world's judges are to be the saints selected throughout the Gospel Age and frequently called‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife.’”—Z. '16-392; 2 Cor. 11:2; John 3:29; Eph. 5:31, 32.
21:3.And [I heard] a great voice.—The Lord Jesus, the Father's Word.
[Out of heaven] WAS saying, OUT OF THE THRONE, Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men.—“This verse associates this City with the other figure of a symbolic Temple, which the Lord is now preparing, of which the[pg 317]saints will constitute the‘pillars.’God will dwell in this Temple, and the world of mankind will approach God in it to receive the Divine blessings, as Israel approached the typical Tabernacle and the Temple in their typical religious services.”(Z. '01-199.)“When we think of the Church as the Temple under construction, it impresses upon us the thought that there is a future work to be accomplished. Why construct a Temple, and then not use it? St. Paul says, the Church is God's workmanship. (Ephesians 2:10.) And His work will be so perfectly accomplished that there will be no need of rectification or alteration beyond the veil,—beautifully illustrated in the erection of Solomon's Temple, of which we read that its stones were prepared at the quarry and then finally assembled for the construction of the Temple, and that they were so perfectly shaped and marked for their various places that they came together without the sound of a hammer.”—Z. '15-189; 2 Cor. 6:16.
And He [will dwell] DWELLETH with them and they shall be His people.—“All mankind will be treated from the standpoint of reconciliation, the Propitiation (price) for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2) having been provided at Calvary, and the due time having then come for the manifestation of Divine favor.”—Z. '01-200; Psa. 68:18; Ezek. 37:27; Zech. 8:8.
[And] God Himself shall be with them, [and be their God].—“It will be the Kingdom of God, because God's dear Son and His joint-heir, the Church, will be in absolute accord with the Father, and all that shall be done under their control will fully and completely represent the Divine will respecting men. Nevertheless, it will be a separate Kingdom from that of the remainder of the Universe, as the Apostle Paul indicates. (1 Cor. 15:24, 25, 28.)”—Z. '01-200; Jer. 30:22; 31:33; Ezek. 11:20.
21:4.And [God] HE shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.—“The wiping away of tears implies a gradual work, such as we see will be the process of that glorious time. Man will not be exempt from every weakness and trial and difficulty at the beginning, but if he will conform to the Laws of the Kingdom, all cause for distress will gradually pass away, as restitution blessings will lift him out of death into life.”—Z. '01-200; Isa. 25:8; 65:19.
And there shall be no more death; neither sorrow nor crying SHALL BE.—“What a glorious sun-burst of blessing is in these words! What a grand fulfilment will be there of the Apostle's declaration respecting‘Times of Restitution of all things which God hath spoken by the mouth of all the holy Prophets since the world began’! The declaration, however, applies to the very end of the Millennial Age,[pg 318]and not in full to any previous time in that Age. (John 5:28, 29.)”—Z. '01-200; 1 Cor. 15:26, 54; Rev. 20:14; Isa. 35:10; 51:11; 65:19.
[Neither shall there be any more pain] For the former things are passed away.—The reign of Satan, sin and death will have ended forever.“To gain a place in the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God will be to find the gratification of every desire and ambition of the perfect human heart.”—A. 291.
21:5.And He that sat upon the Throne said, Behold, I make all things new.—“This expression does not relate merely to rocks and trees, etc., but to the great work which our Lord undertook; viz., the regeneration of humanity to the complete perfection contemplated in the original Divine Plan.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 20:11.
And He said unto me, Write: for these words are [true and] faithful, AND TRUE.—“Present conditions seem so contrary to all this grand Restitution outcome that it cannot be fully believed and trusted by any except those who have learned to walk with the Lord. To all others these things will appear untrue, and God will appear unfaithful, and the matters which we are here discussing will seem‘idle tales,’as fables and golden fancies: but to us who believe, these promises are precious.”—1 Pet. 2:7.
21:6.And He [said] SAITH unto me, [It is done.] I am Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and the End.—“It was the Father's good pleasure that the Blessed One, the Only Begotten of the Father, should accomplish the entire program of redemption and restitution; and be forever the Associate and Representative of the Father, through whom and by whom all things should continue, as He was the one through whom all things were made that were made.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 1:8; 22:13.
I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.—“It is this one who, during the Millennial Age, will extend to all the willing and obedient the Water of Life, everlasting life—the privilege of perpetual existence. But they must thirst for it, must desire it; and this desire must be manifest in obedience to the terms, the laws, upon which it will be supplied freely.”—Z. '01-201; Rev. 22:17; Isa. 55:1; John 7:37.
21:7.He that overcometh shall inherit [all] THESE things.—These earthly things.—Acts 3:21.
And I will be his God, and he shall be My son.—“Those addressed are not the Bride class, selected during the Gospel Age, (1 John 3:2) but the sheep class of Matt. 25—such of mankind as during the Millennial Age become the Lord's sheep and obey His voice. They shall inherit the[pg 319]earth, the purchased possession—which Jesus will restore at the close of the Millennium to all the children of Adam who shall have accepted His gracious favors and been regenerated by Him, and thus become His sons, and He their God—their Father. (Isa. 9:6)”—Z. '01-201; Zech. 8:8; Heb. 8:10; Rom. 8:21.
21:8.But the fearful.—“If any, enlightened by the Truth, and brought to a knowledge of the love of God, and restored to human perfection, become‘fearful,’and‘draw back’(Heb. 10:38, 39), they, with the unbelievers, will be destroyed from among the people. (Acts 3:23.)”—A. 107.
And unbelieving.—Who will not trust God, after all the marvels of His grace they will have seen and experienced.—Heb. 11:6; Rom. 10:17; John 20:31; John 17:20; 1 Tim. 6:12; Luke 17:5; James 2:17.
And the abominable.—“Those abominable characters among men, who, knowing the truth, yet love unrighteousness.”—H. 60.
And murderers.—Slanderers.—Psa. 141:3; Deut. 5:17; Matt. 5:21, 22; 15:18-20; 1 John 3:15; James 3:2-12; James 4:11; Prov. 4:23, 24; Matt. 12:34-37; Eph. 4:31; Psa. 15:1-3; 19:14; 34:13; 101:5; Prov. 12:19; 16:28; 17:4; 26:20-21; Jer. 20:10; 1 Cor. 10:10; James 1:19; Deut. 32:2.
And whoremongers.—Not at heart faithful to the Lord.
And sorcerers.—Dreamers, theorists, pseudo-philosophers, endeavoring to accredit to themselves the great salvation wrought.—Rev. 22:15.
And idolaters.—“Such as misappropriate and misuse Divine favors, who give to self or any other creature or thing that service and honor which belong to God.”—H. 63.
And all liars.—“All who do not love the Truth and seek it, and at any cost defend and hold it.”(H. 63.)“If something is six inches long, let it be just six inches for six inches.”—Z. '12-147.
Shall have their part in the Lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.—“The severest punishment inflicted by the Jews upon any criminal. The corpse (after the man had been stoned to death) was thrown out into the Valley of Hinnom (Gay-Hinnom) and was devoured by the worm or the flame.”—Weym.
Which is the Second Death.—“Such company would be repulsive to any honest, upright being. It is hard to tolerate them now, but in the close of the Millennial Judgment, when the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall have given every advantage and opportunity of knowledge and ability, the righteous will be glad when the corrupters of the earth, and all their work and influence, shall be destroyed.”—H. 63.
21:9.And there came [unto me].—To the John class, the Church, on this side of the veil.
One of the seven angels.—The Seventh.
Which had the seven vials full.—They are still full after they are poured out on ecclesiasticism!
Of the seven last plagues.—The Seven volumes ofStudies in the Scriptures.
And talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee.—See Lu. 4:21.
The Bride, the Lamb's Wife.—“As a grand lesson of the Divine sovereignty, and as a sublime contradiction to all evolution theories, God elected to call to this place of honor (as‘the Bride, the Lamb's Wife and Joint-heir’—Rom. 8:17), not angels and cherubs, but some from among the sinners redeemed by the precious blood of the Lamb. The continued permission of evil is for the purpose of developing these‘members of the Body of Christ’and to furnish them the opportunity of sacrificing their little and redeemed all, in the service of Him who bought them with His precious blood; and thus of developing in their hearts His spiritual likeness, that when, at the end of the Age, they are presented by their Lord and Redeemer before the Father, God may see in them‘the image of His Son.’”—Col. 1:22; Rom. 8:29; E.412, 395; Rev. 19:7; 21:2.
21:10.And he carried me away in the Spirit.—“God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.”—1 Cor. 2:10; Rev. 1:10; 17:3.
To a great and high mountain.—How similar is the language, recording the experience of the first and greatest Member of the Church, at the beginning of His ministry. Concerning the Lord's third temptation we read:“In this temptation the Lord is taken, not physically, but in the spirit of His mind, up into a high mountain—a very exalted kingdom. Physically He was all this time in the desert near Jerusalem; and as a matter of fact there is neither in that desert nor anywhere in the world a mountain from which all the kingdoms of the world could be viewed except with the mind's eye.”—Z. '06-43.
St. John's Vision of the Descending Kingdom
St. John's Vision of the Descending Kingdom
And shewed me [that great] THE HOLY City, [The holy] Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God.—The city came down from Heaven to earth. If we went up to Heaven, it would not be found there. If Rev. 21 is to be literally interpreted, then the whole surface of Palestine is far from sufficient to hold a city of this size. Besides, its height, length and breadth were to be equal.—Rev. 21:2.
21:11.Having the glory [of] FROM God.—The Church has a foretaste of this glory on this side of the veil.—1 Pet. 4:14.
[And] her light.—“The Lamb is the Light thereof.”—Rev. 21:23; 22:5.
Was like unto a stone most precious.—“The brightness of His [the Father's] glory, and the express image of His person.”—Heb. 1:3.
Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.—A beautiful green-tinted diamond.—Rev. 4:3.
21:12And [had] HAVING a wall great and high.—The pictures here are all pictures of the Bride. Nevertheless, the wall, the protection of that Heavenly City, in a special sense represents our Heavenly Father. No picture of the Bride would be complete that did not include Him who dwells within us, who is the Author of the Plan, and the Source of all our joys. Now as to the application of the picture of the wall to the Bride herself, one of Pastor Russell's coworkers has aptly said:“We are like livingstones, in the plural—144,000 stones in one, if you will. There was one perfect Stone to begin with, and all the others had to be conformed to the image of that Stone. Men have discovered a way of taking two glasses of different density and fusing them together, so you cannot tell where the point of fusion is. And so, with this Little Flock of 144,000, they are going to be welded together in one—there will be but one mind in that whole 144,000. There is only one thing they have in view, and that is to perform Jehovah's will; and they rejoice in doing His will absolutely.”
And [had] HAVING twelve gates.—The twelve mystical tribes of Israel.—Rev. 7:5-8; Ezek. 48:31-34.
And at the gates twelve angels, and THEIR names written thereon.—The entire Little Flock; twelve thousand of each tribe, each working together, under God's direction, as one angel, or messenger. Doubtless certain special work is reserved for each tribe. All who gain membership in that tribe will be particularly suited to the work to which they will be assigned.
Which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.—Their names, and the characteristics they signify, are given in Rev. 7:5-8.
21:13.On the East.—Toward the Sun-rising, toward the Dawn, toward the Little Flock, specially honored and blessed in their sacrifices on behalf of the Church. The side of the Amramites.—Num. 3:19; F. 128.
Three gates.—The mystical tribe of Joseph, Benjamin and Manasseh—Manasseh taking the place of Dan.—Ezek. 48:32; Rev. 7:5, 7, 8.
AND on the North.—The side of the Merarites, the Great Company.—Num. 3:33; F. 129.
Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Judah, Reuben and Levi.—Ezek. 48:31; Rev. 7:5, 7.
AND on the South.—The side of the Kohathites, the Ancient Worthies.—Num. 4:2; F. 129.
Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Simeon, Issachar and Zebulun.—Ezek. 48:33; Rev. 7:7, 8.
And on the West.—The side of the Gershonites, the Restitution classes.—Num. 4:22; F. 129.
Three gates.—The mystical tribes of Gad, Asher and Naphtali.—Ezek. 48:34; Rev. 7:5, 6.
Although the pictures here given are pictures of the Bride, and the gates apply as above shown, nevertheless these gates also represent the Ancient Worthies, who during the Millennial Age will be the earthly representatives of the Church, and, perhaps, exactly 144,000 in number. Additionally, the Ancient Worthies arecalled“gates”in Isa. 26:2.“The gates or entrances of the City, which are twelve in number, are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is in harmony with what we have learned of the earthly phase of the Kingdom of God that the Ancient Worthies from the various tribes of Israel, selected during the Jewish Age, will be the visible representatives of the Heavenly Kingdom in the earth through whose instrumentality the nations may enter into the blessings of the Kingdom.”—Z. '92-16.
“The city lies open and accessible to all quarters, and to all quarters alike.”—Luke 13:29. Weym.
21:14.And the wall of the City had twelve foundations.—“The Lord himself, is the foundation,‘Other foundations can no man lay than that is laid—Jesus Christ.’(1 Cor. 3:11.) He is the great Rock, and St. Peter's confession of Him as such was, therefore, a rock testimonial—a declaration of the foundation principles underlying the Divine Plan. St. Peter disowned any pretension to being the foundation-stone himself and properly classed himself to with all the other‘living stones’(Gr.lithos,) of the Church,—thoughpetros, rock, signifies a larger stone thanlithos, and all the Apostles as‘foundation’stones would in the Divine Plan and order have a larger importance than their brethren.”—F. 220; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:20.
And [in] ON them the TWELVE names of the Twelve Apostles of the Lamb.—“We are entirely out of accord with the views of Papacy, of the Protestant Episcopal Church, of the Catholic-Apostolic Church, and of the Mormons, all of whom claim that the number of the Apostles was not limited to twelve, and that there have been successors since their day who spoke and wrote with equal authority with the original Twelve. (2 Cor. 11:13.)”(F. 209.)“We still have[pg 323]with us the gift of Apostles, in that we have their teachings in the New Testament, so full and complete as to require no addition; and hence the Twelve Apostles have no successors, and need none, since there are but‘Twelve Apostles of the Lamb;’they are the twelve stars; the twelve foundations.'”—John 6:70; E.229, 207.
12:15.And he that talked with me.—Volume VII ofStudies in the Scriptures.
Had a [golden] MEASURING reed of gold.—The Divine Word.
To measure the City, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.—Surely, if we can not find the measurement in the Scriptures it is hopeless to look elsewhere.—Zech. 2:1, 2; Rev. 11:1; Ezek. 40:3.
21:16.And the City lieth foursquare, and the length is [as large] as the breadth.—A perfect cube, like the Most Holy of the Tabernacle.
And he measured the City with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs.—“The number of‘buildings’in the City seems to be indicated by the measures—12,000 times 12,000 furlongs equals 144,000,000 square furlongs. This area contains 144,000 building-lots of one thousand square furlongs each—which circumstance may well signify that the 144,000, faithful ones will reign with Jesus during a thousand years (one square furlong representing a year.”)
The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.—Each view of the City, from any side, presents to view, Justice, Power, Love and Wisdom.
21:17.And he measured the wall thereof.—Its thickness.
An hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man.—The measure of a man, the Man Christ Jesus, is 1,000. His Day is to be 1,000 years in length. Adam's Day was a thousand years long. The total measure is 144,000, the number of the Elect. We should expect to find the number of those rescued during the Millennium shown somewhere in these measurements; and this we also find. The cubit, in symbolism, is flexible in length, like the word“day.”If we multiply the number of square furlongs in any wall by the144 measures of a man, i. e., 144,000,000 X 144, the result is 20,736,000,000, the estimated number of the sheep class at the end of the Millennial Age.—Matt. 25:34-40; Z. '05-271.
That is, of the angel.—As interpreted by the angel.
21:18.And the building of the wall of it was of jasper.—“The solid fabric of the wall was jasper; and the city itself was made of gold, resembling transparent glass.”—Weym.
And the City was pure gold, like unto clear glass.—Of Divine origin, and made up of those who have the Divine nature.
21:19.And the foundations of the wall of the City were garnished with all manner of precious stones.—Mosaic manufacturers make 15,000 colors; and it is estimated the trained eye can detect a million colors. In selecting and polishing the 144,000 gems and putting them in place in the Temple God is preparing a beautiful harmony of characters in infinite variety that will delight the hearts of all His creatures to all eternity.—1 Chron. 29:2.
The first foundation was jasper.—Likeness to the Father. See comments on Rev. 4:3.
AND the second, sapphire.—Faithfulness. The sapphire of the ancients is the modern lapiz lazuli, or azure stone, a mineral substance valued for decorative purposes in consequence of the fine blue color which it usually presents. It has the appearance of being spotted with gold dust.“The stones of it are the place of sapphires: and it hath dust of gold.”(Job. 28:6.) The brilliant spots in the deep blue matrix invite comparison with the stars in the firmament. The crystals form into units having twelve equal sides. The blue is the color of faithfulness; the gold shows the faithfulness towards God; the star-like appearance shows the faithfulness towards all the Heavenly beings—angels, archangels, and the Great Company; the crystalline formation shows the faithfulness towards the symbolical and actual twelve tribes of Israel which, in the last analysis, include all who shall become heirs of salvation. Those who gain the prize of the High Calling can be trusted.—1 Cor. 4:2; Luke 16:10-12.
AND the third, a chalcedony.—Obedience; Submission. A green quartz, found in the copper mines of Chalcedon. It crystallizes in the twelve-sided and twenty-four-sided forms of cubic crystalline formation. In the twelve sided crystals each side is a surface of five equal sides and angles. The Church's obedience is perfect towards God as indicated in the faces of the crystals, five being a symbol of Divinity. It is operative towards the brethren as in the twelve-faced crystals, and towards both phases of the Kingdom, as in the twenty-four-sided crystals.
The fourth, an emerald.—Deathlessness. One of the most beautiful of gems, of a bright green color, without any mixture, crystallizing in long, hexagonal (six-sided) crystals. The stone loses color when strongly heated. From those originally imperfect (as shown in the six-sided crystals) God is creating a race of deathless ones. Nevertheless, though begotten to the Divine nature, should[pg 325]they cling to the dross of their fleshly natures too determinedly, so great fires may be applied to burn away the dross as will destroy the value of the gem. This gem, too, represents the Church's power to bestow life upon the dead world. The crystals may be broken or split crosswise. The everlasting life for the world, which may be made continuous, is nevertheless susceptible of being broken off at any time for disobedience.
21:20.The fifth, sardonyx.—Humility; Purity; Martyrdom. An ornamental stone much used for seals and cameos. It was considered by ancient oriental authorities that a fine oriental sardonyx should have at least three strata, a black base, a white intermediate center, and a superficial layer of red; these colors typifying the three cardinal virtues—humility, black; chastity, white; modesty or martyrdom, red.
The sixth, sardius.—Loyalty to Christ. A reddish stone much used by the ancients as a gem stone; it has been in all ages the commonest of the stones used by the gem engraver.—Rev. 4:3.
The seventh, chrysolyte.—Heavenly Wisdom. GreekChrysos, gold, andlithos, stone. The meaning of the term makes it the golden stone. It is a gem of a golden color, lightly tinted with green. It is very transparent.“The wisdom that is from Above is first pure.”—Jas. 3:17.
The eighth, beryl.—Love of the Father. A pellucid gem of a bluish green color, much prized as a gem stone by the ancients. It crystallizes in the hexagonal system, with sixty-six sides of various sizes and shapes. On each of the six principal sides are diamond-shaped marks, alternately five and eight marks to a side, with four marks at the end. The sixty-six sides represent the sixty-six books of the Bible; the two ends represent the Old and New Testaments; the diamond shaped marks represent the Heavenly Father; the three groups of eight each represent the twenty-four prophecies of the kingdom; five is a symbol of Divinity, and four represents Justice, Power, Wisdom and Love.
The ninth, topaz.—Benevolence. It is generally held that the mineral now called topaz was unknown to ancient writers, and that their topaz is our peridot. This is the name applied by jewelers to“noble olivine.”It is a dark, decidedly green-colored mineral. Much mystery for a long time surrounded the locality which yielded most of the peridot for commerce; but it is now identified with the island of St. John in the Red Sea, probably the“Topaz Isle”of the ancients. It crystallizes in twenty-six-sided figures. In some views—i. e., when the Great Company[pg 326]or the classes that are to be destroyed are taken into consideration—the tribes of Israel number thirteen; and when Spiritual and Fleshly Israel are considered separately, the total number is twenty-six. It is not the wish of the Heavenly Father that any of these should perish, and it is the wish of the Church to do all humanly and Divinely possible to save the unworthy from the final consequences of their own willfulness. This spirit will be exercised to the last limit of love.
The tenth, chrysoprasus.—Constant, cheerful endurance. The modern Chrysoberyl is a yellow or green gem stone, remarkable for its hardness, being exceeded in this respect only by the diamond and the jacinth. It is not infrequently cloudy, due to microscopic cavities. The hardness signifies ability to“endure hardness as good soldiers,”and the clouds signify difficulties, troubles, to be overcome.
The eleventh, jacinth.—Unchangeableness. The modern sapphire, next to the diamond in hardness; a beautiful blue stone. Many of the crystals are parti-colored, the blue being distributed in patches in a colorless stone; but by skillful cutting the deep-colored portion may be caused to impart color to the entire gem. This stone crystallizes in the most beautiful and wonderful pattern conceivable, consisting of a six-sided pyramid at either end, separated by three different sets of surfaces of six each and two different sets of surfaces of three each. We may think of the two ends as representing the teachings of the Twelve Apostles, and the twenty-four surfaces between as representing the twenty-four elders (prophecies pertaining to the Kingdom of God). God is unchangeable; although the different operations of His Plan, in different ages, make Him seem changeable to mankind. But the perfected Plan will be the adoration of all His creatures. This gem also shows how God can take characters whose conduct may have been very irregular, and by skillful cutting make them copies of Himself.
The twelfth, an amethyst.—Royalty. A stone of a violet color, bordering on purple, composed of a strong blue and deep red. The name is derived from the Greeka, not, andmethyskein, to intoxicate, expressing the old belief that the stone protected its owner from strong drink. It was held that wine drank out of a cup of amethyst would not intoxicate. It crystallizes in double pyramids (base to base) of three sides on each pyramid. Amethyst was Pastor Russell's birth-stone; and behold how perfect its application! He was true blue in his faithfulness, and fully loyal to the blood of Christ, as shown by the red. He has the royalty now, thank God! The cup which he[pg 327]poured never intoxicated with error those who drank its live-giving draughts from the Fountain of all Truth, our Father's Word. The six-sided crystallization represents his Six Volumes ofScripture Studies, and this, the Seventh, a summary of all, represents the stone as a whole. There are over ninety varieties of crystals in nature. Surely,“The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God.”
The following is William Miller's dream, as given inThe Three Worlds, the first of Pastor Russell's books, long since out of print, where it is told only as a dream. (Jer. 23:28.) It calls to mind a dream of Pastor Russell's, often told in private. In his early youth he dreamed of sleeping in an attic. Suddenly he awoke to see the morning sun, just emerged over the hill-top, blazing directly in his face. He jumped to his feet with a start, thinking that it must be late. In doing so he stumbled over several forms still asleep. He was about to reproach himself for thus rudely awakening them, when he discovered that not one of the sleepers had been disturbed. The application is evident.“The light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.”Pastor Russell was awakened by the light of the Sun of the New Day. He tried to waken others, and succeeded with“just one here, one there;”but the great mass are still asleep. However, the Dawn comes on apace. Now for William Miller's dream:
“I dreamed that God, by an unseen hand, had sent me a curiously wrought casket, about ten inches long by six square, made of ebony and pearls curiously inlaid. To the casket there was a key attached. I immediately took the key and opened the casket, when, to my wonder and surprise, I found it filled with all sorts and sizes of jewels—diamonds, precious stones—and gold and silver coin of every dimension and value, beautifully arranged in their several places in the casket; and thus arranged, they reflected a light and glory equalled only by the sun. [These jewels are the beautiful truths which the open casket unfolded to his sight.] I thought it was my duty not to enjoy this wonderful sight alone, although my heart was overjoyed at the brilliancy, beauty and value of its contents. I therefore placed it on a center-table in my room, and gave out the word that all who had a desire might come and see the most glorious and brilliant sight ever seen by man in this life. The people began to come in, at first few in number, but increasing to a crowd. When they first looked into the casket, they would wonder and shout for joy. But when the spectators increased, every one would begin to trouble the jewels, taking them out of the casket and scattering them on the table.
“I began to think that the owner would require the casket and jewels again at my hand; and that if I suffered them to be scattered, I could never place them in their places in the casket again as before, and felt I should never be able to meet the accountability; for it would be immense. I then began to plead with the people not to handle them, nor take them out of the casket. But the more I pleaded, the more they scattered; and now they seemed to scatter them all over the room, on the floor, and every piece of furniture in the room. I then saw that among the genuine jewels and coin they had scattered an innumerable quantity of spurious jewels and counterfeit coin. I was highly incensed at their base conduct and ingratitude, and reproved and reproached them for it; but the more I reproved, the more they scattered the spurious jewels and false coin among the genuine. I then became vexed in my very soul, and began to use physical force to push them out of the room; but while I was pushing out one, three more would enter, and bring in dirt, shavings, sand, and all manner of rubbish, until they had covered every one of the true jewels, diamonds and coins from sight. They also tore into pieces my casket and scattered it among the rubbish. I thought that no man regarded my sorrow or my anger. I became wholly discouraged and disheartened, and sat down and wept. [When the 1844 time passed, how perfectly was this fullfilled.] While I was thus weeping and mourning for my great loss and accountability, I remembered God, and earnestly prayed that He would send me help.
“Immediately the door opened and a man entered the room, when the other people all left it. Then he, having a dirt brush in his hand, opened the windows and began to brush the dust and rubbish from the room. I cried to him to forbear; that there were some precious jewels scattered among the rubbish. But he told me to fear not, for he would take care of them. Then while he brushed the dust and rubbish, the false jewels and counterfeit coin, all rose and went out of the window like a cloud and the wind carried them away. In the bustle I closed my eyes for a moment. When I opened them the rubbish was all gone, and the precious jewels, the diamonds, the gold and the silver coins lay scattered in profusion all over the room. He then placed on the table a casket, much larger and more beautiful than the former, and gathered up the jewels, the diamonds, the coins, by the handful, and cast them into the casket, till not one was left, although some of the diamonds were not bigger than the point of a pin. He then called upon me to come and see. I looked into[pg 329]the casket, but my eyes were dazzled with the sight. The contents shone with ten times their former glory. I thought that they had been scoured in the sand by the feet of those wicked persons who had scattered and trod them in the dust. They were arranged in beautiful order in the casket—every one in its place—without any visible pains on the part of the man [Pastor Russell] who cast them in. I shouted for joy; and that shout awoke me.”
21:21.And the twelve gates were [twelve] pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.—“The peculiar lustre of a pearl is dependent on the fact that the surface is not perfectly smooth, but covered with the irregularly sinuous edges of innumerable layers of inconceivable thinness, deposited one over the other. The distance of these edges from each other varies indefinitely, the pearls of the finest water having them closest. They are always, however, too fine to be detected by the naked eye. The edges make so many steps, so to speak; and the iridescence is produced by the mutual interference of the rays of light reflected from these thousands of angles. For their water, or lustre, as distinguished from iridescence, pearls are indebted to their being composed of thin layers, which allow light to pass through them, while their numerous surfaces disperse and reflect the light in such a manner that it returns and mingles with that which is directly reflected from the exterior. The thinner and more transparent the constituent layers, the more perfect is the lustre. The immediate occasion of the production of a pearl appears to be always the presence of some extraneous substance inside of the shell of the mollusk.”(McC.) The mollusk is the earthly tabernacle; the extraneous substance is the New Mind. The successive layers are the additions made to it,“precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.”—Isa. 28:13.
And the street of the City was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.—There will be but one street in that City, the street which has been in process of construction throughout the Age. The Prophets tell us of it.—Prov. 16:17; Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 35:8; 62:10-12.
21:22.And I saw no temple therein.—No special place of worship, for the use and benefit of the Little Flock.
[For] BECAUSE the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.—The Bride's whole life is completely wrapped up in the Father and the Son. Her one consuming wish is to glorify the Lord's dear name. Of what need is any special place of worship for one who can say,“For to me to live is [for] Christ [to live]?”—Phil. 1:21.
21:23.And the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine [in] ON it.—“The sun signifies the light of this Gospel Age; the moon signifies the typically reflected light of the Gospel in the Law and the Prophets of the previous Dispensation. The glorified Church will have no need of the light which in the present time she so much enjoys through the Word and the Spirit, and the Law and the Prophets. She will have, instead of these, a much more excellent glory, being, herself, a part of the Sun of Righteousness.”(Z. '01-201.)“‘Then shall the righteous shine forth as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father’—our Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, of course being included. The Prophet mentions the same Sun of Righteousness, saying,‘The Sun of Righteousness shall arise with healing in His beams.’—Malachi 4:2.”—Z. '16-393.
For the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.—“We are not to lose sight of the fact that Christ is the Head of the Church, even as the Father is the head of Christ Jesus. (1 Cor. 11:3.) Hence the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will always be an inner Temple in this great Temple which God has provided for the world's blessing during Restitution Times.”—Z. '16-393; Isa. 24:23; 60:19, 20; Rev. 21:11; 22:5.
21:24.And the nations [of them which are saved] shall walk [in] BY the light [of it] THEREOF.—“The word‘nations’here signifies peoples, and is intended to show that all peoples, not merely the Israelites, will be thus favored under God's Kingdom. The world will not be divided into nationalities as at present.”—Z. '16-394; Isa. 60:3, 5.
And the kings of the earth do bring their glory [and honor] into it.—“When mankind reaches perfection at the close of the Millennial Age, as already shown, they will be admitted into membership in the Kingdom of God and given the entire control of earth as at first designed—each man a sovereign, a king.”(A. 296.)“That Kingdom, in which all will be kings, will be one grand, universal Republic, whose stability and blessed influence will be assured by the perfection of its every citizen, a result now much desired, but an impossibility because of sin.”(Z. '10-39.)“During the Millennial Age the kings will be the Ancient Worthies; but subsequently a New Dispensation will open, under new conditions, in which mankind (perfected) will be granted the privilege of ruling themselves in harmony with the Divine Law.”(Z. '97-304.) In this verse the Ancient Worthies aredirectlyreferred to; while in verse 26 the rest of mankind are referred to. Notice the tenses of the verbs“dobring”and“shallbring”—present and future—in the Millennium and after.
21:25.And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day.—Throughout the long Millennial Day of a thousand years all who will may seek and find salvation through the broad gates of the City of God that will then be wide open. (Isa. 60:11.) Now,“Narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”—Matt. 7:14.
For there shall be no night there.—“The period in which sin is permitted has been a dark Night to humanity, never to be forgotten; but the glorious Day of righteousness and Divine favor, to be ushered in by Messiah, who, as the Sun of Righteousness, shall arise and shine fully and clearly into and upon all, bringing healing and blessing, will more than counterbalance the dreadful night of weeping, sighing, pain, sickness and death, in which the groaning creation has been so long.‘Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.’—Psa. 30:5.”(A. 9.)
The Psalmist explains how the smile of the Father was turned away from mankind. He describes mankind as“Such as sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, being bound in affliction and iron; because they rebelled against the words of God [by disobedience of His express command] and contemned [set at naught] the counsels of the Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labor [each sex with its own peculiar kind]; they fell down, and there was none to help.”(Psa. 107:10-12.) This disobedience brought our entire race into the Valley of the Shadow of Death (Psa. 23:4); but the Prophets encouraged us to hope for a watchman who would tell us of the coming of the Day. (Isa. 21:12.) In the Apostle's time he declared the night was far spent, being then more than two-thirds gone. (Rom. 13:12.) The event that is to bring in the Day is the rising of the Sun of Righteousness. (Mal. 4:2.) When here at the First Advent Christ was the light of the world (John 8:12); and the people in His immediate neighborhood saw a great Light, shadowing forth His coming glory. (Isa. 9:2.) He declared that we, too, should be lights in the world. (Matt. 5:14.)—“You in your little corner, and I in mine;”and that in the resurrection all these 144,000 brightly burning candles should be brought together and with Him constitute the Sun of Righteousness that is to heal and bless the world.“Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.”—Matt. 13:43.
The sun rises quietly, like a thief. (1 Thes. 5:1.) When the Morning comes, the first work is banishing the works of the night. (Ezek. 7:7-12.) Next comes the opening of the spiritually blind eyes of those that have physical sight. (Amos 5:18.) Surely, the best time for a great oculist to[pg 332]open the eyes of the blind is in the day time. (Isa. 35:5.) Now matters are more or less obscured (1 Cor. 13:12); but the time is coming when the blind shall be shown a way of life they have not hitherto known. (Isa. 42:16.) Will the Lord show wonders in the dark? (Psa. 88:10.) He will indeed; and when the nations come forth from the tomb, they will seek Him that turneth the shadow of death into the morning. (Amos 5:8; Isa. 42: 6, 7.) They will seek Him and will find Him. No wonder, then, that the Psalmist, looking down the stream of time to that happy Day, exultingly exclaims,“Then [after full experience with sin and death] they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and brake their bands in sunder. Oh, that men would praise the Lord for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men! For He hath broken the gates of brass [that stood between them and perfection], and cut the bars of iron asunder [that held them in death's prison house].”(Psa. 107:13-16.)“And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.”(Rev. 21:4.)“For there shall be no night there.”“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the Morning.”—Psa. 30:5; Zech. 14:7.
21:26.And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.—“This rendering of glory to the Kingdom will continue throughout the entire Millennial Age; for the princes throughout the earth will make known to the peoples that not in their own name or authority do they rule and execute judgment and establish righteousness, but in the name of the glorified Christ, Head and Body, whose representatives they are.”—Z. '16-394.
21:27.And there shall in no wise enter into it anything [that defileth] COMMON.—No one who could or would contaminate others by speech or example, will ever find a place in that City.
Neither whatsoever worketh abomination.—Nor anything tending in the direction of pride or sectarianism.
Or maketh a lie.—Nor anything countenancing the teaching of error for pleasure or profit.—1 John 2:22.
But they which are written in the [Lamb's.] Book of THE Life OF HEAVEN.—“The Lamb's Book of Life we must understand to include only those who attain to the position of joint-heirship with Christ, those whose names are written in Heaven during this Gospel Age and who are faithful to their Covenant. (Psa. 50:5.)”—Z. '16-394; Phil. 4:3; Rev. 3:5, 13:8.