There are several allegories in the Book of Revelation that relate to the New Jerusalem. Those depict pictures of people prepared to meet the Lord Jesus Christ at the Second Advent, which is Judgement Day.
Jesus Christ gave these allegories to His church through the Apostle John on the Isle of Patmos. They offer profound insights into God’s perspective on living holy lives before Him as His people in the New Covenant. The teaching of Sanctification – to be spiritually transformed into the image of His Son when led by the Holy Spirit of Christ — is a teaching of the utmost importance today.
As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” (1 Peter 1:14-16)
It is clear that to be cleansed from sin by the indwelling power of the Holy Spirit is very important for the Church, under the headship of our Lord Jesus Christ. None of us will attain perfection in this lifetime. Yet, sanctification is the work of a lifetime, as one seeks to obey the Lord’s guidance in His Word. Even the apostle Paul noted that he had not yet attained perfection. “Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.” (Philippians 3:12)
The Light of the City Analogy
“The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (Rev 21: 23-24)
Scripture tells us that Jesus came as a great Light into the world. The spiritual symbol of light is also a predominant teaching of Christ, emphasizing the filling of the Spirit, which is actualized in the New Jerusalem. Jesus declared, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) John further developed the teaching of light to mean that we would have fellowship and unity with Christ. “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7)
The light of the Holy Spirit is also to extend to the nations in the new earth as the Gospel goes out from the true church. “The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendour into it.” (Rev 21:24)
Light is the subject of Jesus Christ’s parable of the ten virgins, and is dependent on oil in the lamps, oil being another symbol of the Spirit of God. Expanding on light, we read “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.” (Rev 21:22-23)
The Allegory of the Purity of the Bride of Christ
The New Jerusalem imagery is about the Holy Spirit bearing the light of Christ into the hearts of men who will abide as one with Christ and His Father in His spiritual kingdom, a city not built with hands, one that Abraham foresaw, “whose designer and builder is God” (Heb 11:10b).
It is interesting that the angel showing John this symbolic vision is one of the seven angels pouring out the seven last plagues, the outpouring of which is evidently prior to the Second Advent of Christ. He says to John in his vision:
“‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal” (Rev 21: 9-11).
The marriage of Christ to His church, the bride, is a teaching that is common to all Christians. The angel says, “I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb…and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem”. This symbolism was accomplished “in the Spirit” because it is meant to reveal the place where Christ rules as King in His authority, yet is united to His subjects in a matrimonial way as a loving husband is to his Bride. By showing us the symbolism of the bride, we see in parallel the New Jerusalem as the sanctified individuals who make up the final church of Jesus Christ. It is my belief that this is not a denomination-based movement, but rather one led by those who are guided by the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
Paul made this clear in the epistle to the Ephesians: “For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the church, He Himself being the Saviour of the body” (Eph 5: 23 ).
In the same chapter, Paul emphasized the idea of mystery and we learned from Daniel that God reveals mysteries regarding His own symbols. “This mystery is great; but I am speaking with reference to Christ and the church” (Eph 5: 32). Paul was specifically called by Jesus to articulate the meaning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
The City Dimensions Analogy
The perfection of the city is emphasized by the use of twelve tribes and twelve apostles, twelve gates, twelve angels; and further twelve times twelve indicated by the wall being “144 cubits thick” and the city being 12,000 stadia high; and the redeemed are indicated as being of a number of symbolic multiple of twelve being 144,000 yet of a group that no man can number. Symbols and reality intertwine in the book of Revelation as scripture unwinds scriptural truth:
It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city, its gates and its walls. The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. He measured its wall and it was 144 cubits thick, by man’s measurement, which the angel was using. The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass ” (Rev 21: 12-21).
Further examine the symbolism of purity in the symbolic foundation of the city decorated with “every kind of precious stone” verse 19 and the element of pure gold:
The first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass. (Rev 21: 19-21)
Gold is also used in the Old Testament by the prophet Zechariah to depict a refining process which God’s faithful people go through, referring to sanctification – prophecies about sanctification are nothing new in the Word:
And I will put this third into the fire,
and refine them as one refines silver,
and test them as gold is tested.
They will call upon my name,
and I will answer them.
I will say, ‘They are my people’;
and they will say, ‘The LORD is my God.’” (Zech 13:9)
The world today is distracted by two primary sins: 1) new age sorcery, such as witchcraft, the law of attraction (which is theosophy), tarot card reading, and horoscopes; and 2) sexual immorality, such as adultery, homosexuality, and pornography. This will carry on until judgment day. In fact, look at the prophecy that declares these sins will proceed right up to the Second Advent of our Lord on Judgment Day – in fact, during the seven last plagues, prior to His coming, two-thirds of the earth will not repent:
The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk, nor did they repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts. (Rev 9:20-21)
“In the whole land,” declares the LORD, “two-thirds will be struck down and perish; yet one-third will be left in it. This third I will bring into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name and I will answer them; I will say, ‘They are my people,’ and they will say, ‘The LORD is our God.’
In Revelation, Jesus uses gold as an allegory and states, “I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see.” (Rev 3:19)
The Purification from Sin: Clothing Allegories
Another allegory common to the Revelation is the symbolism of white clothing, which serves as a covering of righteousness to conceal our Adamic nature of sin, emphasizing the idea of total reliance on Christ’s righteousness to cover our sin. (cf. Rev 3:5, 19; 21:19-21, 27)
Further, we find contrasted people who cannot enter into the city in Revelation 21: 27: “Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life”. Our names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life, prior to the Lord’s Second Advent. “He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels”. (Rev 3:5) This is pre-Second Advent language.
Prior to the Second Advent
There is an invitation to those who will hear prior to this period, being given by the true church of Jesus, referred to as His Bride. This is the church in sync with His Spirit, working in unison to proclaim the truths of the New Jerusalem together. Only certain people will hear that call: “The Spirit and the bride say, “Come” and let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.” (Rev 22:17) The gift of the Holy Spirit is being offered to those who will hear, to come into union with the Lord, as One.
“Behold, I am coming soon! Blessed is he who keeps the words of the prophecy in this book.” (Rev 22: 7) Then he told me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, because the time is near. Let him who does wrong continue to do wrong; let him who is vile continue to be vile; let him who does right continue to do right; and let him who is holy continue to be holy.” (Rev 22: 10-11)
“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” (Rev 22: 12) Jesus prayed that the church would enter into a sanctification process in order to become one with Him. “They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth. As you sent me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify myself, that they too may be truly sanctified”. (John 17: 16-19)
Water of the River of Life Allegory
The Holy Spirit indwelling the church of Jesus Christ is depicted as running in her midst as a river from the throne of God in the New Jerusalem, which is evidently His church:
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city. On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations. No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.” (Rev 22: 1-4)
Conclusion
The sanctification message of Jesus Christ is proclaimed by His Holy Spirit within His church, as He continues to summon His church and the world today to repent and walk in holiness before Him, bearing the image of Jesus Christ as ambassadors for Him prior to His return on Judgment Day. “For ‘we will all stand before the judgment seat of God'” (Rom 14:10)
The doctrine of Sanctification through the Spirit of God, as we claim the merits of Christ’s blood for our redemption as we repent, is a very important doctrine of the Word to proclaim in the last days prior to the Second Advent of our Lord.
To comment, email editor: glenjackman@adviceon.com