Revelation 21
1
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth did pass away, and the sea is not any more;
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and I, John, saw the holy city -- new Jerusalem -- coming down from God out of the heaven, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband;
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and I heard a great voice out of the heaven, saying, `Lo, the tabernacle of God [is] with men, and He will tabernacle with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them -- their God,
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and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, and the death shall not be any more, nor sorrow, nor crying, nor shall there be any more pain, because the first things did go away.'
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And He who is sitting upon the throne said, `Lo, new I make all things; and He saith to me, `Write, because these words are true and stedfast;'
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and He said to me, `It hath been done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End; I, to him who is thirsting, will give of the fountain of the water of the life freely;
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he who is overcoming shall inherit all things, and I will be to him -- a God, and he shall be to me -- the son,
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and to fearful, and unstedfast, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the liars, their part [is] in the lake that is burning with fire and brimstone, which is a second death.'
9
And there came unto me one of the seven messengers, who have the seven vials that are full of the seven last plagues, and he spake with me, saying, `Come, I will shew thee the bride of the Lamb -- the wife,'
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and he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and did shew to me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God,
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having the glory of God, and her light [is] like a stone most precious, as a jasper stone clear as crystal,
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having also a wall great and high, having twelve gates, and at the gates twelve messengers, and names written thereon, which are [those] of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel,
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at the east three gates, at the north three gates, at the south three gates, at the west three gates;
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and the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
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And he who is speaking with me had a golden reed, that he may measure the city, and its gates, and its wall;
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and the city lieth square, and the length of it is as great as the breadth; and he did measure the city with the reed -- furlongs twelve thousand; the length, and the breadth, and the height, of it are equal;
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and he measured its wall, an hundred forty-four cubits, the measure of a man, that is, of the messenger;
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and the building of its wall was jasper, and the city [is] pure gold -- like to pure glass;
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and the foundations of the wall of the city with every precious stone have been adorned; the first foundation jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, chalcedony; the fourth, emerald;
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the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprasus; the eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.
21
And the twelve gates [are] twelve pearls, each several one of the gates was of one pearl; and the broad-place of the city [is] pure gold -- as transparent glass.
22
And a sanctuary I did not see in it, for the Lord God, the Almighty, is its sanctuary, and the Lamb,
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and the city hath no need of the sun, nor of the moon, that they may shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the lamp of it [is] the Lamb;
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and the nations of the saved in its light shall walk, and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it,
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and its gates shall not at all be shut by day, for night shall not be there;
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and they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations into it;
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and there may not at all enter into it any thing defiling and doing abomination, and a lie, but -- those written in the scroll of the life of the Lamb.
Apocalypse Revealed # 313
313. And he who sat on it had a scale in his hand. This symbolizes their valuation of goodness and truth, what it was like among them.
A scale in the hand symbolizes a valuation of goodness and truth, for all measures in the Word, including weights, symbolize a valuation of the subject which they describe.
That measures and weights have such symbolic meanings is apparent from the following account in Daniel: When Belshazzar, king of Babylon, was drinking wine from the vessels of gold and silver taken from the Temple in Jerusalem, writing appeared before him, saying, "MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN," meaning, "numbered, numbered, weighed, and divided." (Daniel 5:1-5) And this was the interpretation of it:
MENE: God has numbered your kingdom, and finished it. TEKEL: You have been weighed in the balance and found wanting. PERES: Your kingdom has been divided and given to the Medes and Persians. (Daniel 5:25-28)
Drinking from vessels of gold and silver from the Temple in Jerusalem, and at the same time worshiping other gods, symbolizes the profanation of goodness and truth, which is also the symbolism of Babylon. Mene, or to number. This symbolically means to know its character in respect to truth. Tekel, or to weigh. This symbolically means to know its character in respect to goodness. And peres, or to divide. This symbolically means to disperse.
That measures and scales in the Word symbolize the character of truth and goodness is apparent in Isaiah:
Who has measured the waters in the hollow of His hand, measured the heavens with the span of His hand, comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, weighed the mountains in a balance, and the hills in scales? (Isaiah 40:12)
And in the book of Revelation:
(The angel) measured the wall (of the Holy Jerusalem): one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. (Revelation 21:17)
