Revelation 21:21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.

‘And the twelve gates were twelve pearls‘

The gates are made of pearl. Three gates for each direction, could be having one pearl.

‘and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.‘

Our streets today are so dirty and with gravel. The city is so pure that even the streets were pure gold, and were transparent glass.

Revelation 21:22-23 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

‘And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.‘

There will be no need for other temple or tabernacle since we are the tabernacle.

‘And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it’

God Himself and our Lord Jesus Christ will shed light across the whole city. The glory of His light will be so illuminating that no amount or intensity of the sunlight can beat it.

This may sound contradicting as Revelation 7 mentions that there is a sun, moon, and a temple when the tribulation saints go to heaven. The current context discussed is eternity, so by then, God would have transferred people to different locations. New Jerusalem will no longer have a temple, sun, and moon.

Gentiles will be divided into twelve nations

Revelation 21:24-26 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

‘And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it : and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it‘

Even though in previous verses it was mentioned that the New Jerusalem will belong to us Christians, but we can see that the Gentiles will also travel to the New Jerusalem from all parts of the universe to bring their glory and honor to it, and to worship the King of Kings; Lord of Lords.

‘And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.‘

The gates will not be shut at all by day. But they are not shut by night either because there is no night there. The nations are going inside these gates. The Gentiles will also be divided into twelve nations, just like the twelve tribes of Israel. Each group of nations shall enter the designated gates to worship God.

The following are supporting verses.

Deuteronomy 32:8 When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

‘the sons of Adam‘

This is everyone. Not just the Jews.

‘he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.‘

God is dividing them as He divides the Israelites.

Let’s take a closer look at another passage from Deuteronomy to understand this Gentiles’ division during eternity.

Deuteronomy 4:19 And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

Previously we learned that the planets and stars in the universe are divided for the Gentiles. The rule of thumb is that they are divided according to the number of tribes of Israel, which is twelve. When we look at the zodiac out there, there are twelve. Each Gentile nation will inherit one of the zodiac houses.

New Jerusalem will be holy

Revelation 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

‘And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth‘

There is going to be no way that anything that defiles will enter.

‘neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie‘

There will be no one with abomination and no liar.

The above perfectly describes our current nations, religion, lifestyle, schools etc. Only those written in the Lamb’s book of life will be allowed to enter.

Revelation 22:1-2 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

‘And he shewed me a pure river of water of life‘

This water of life is clear as crystal. Everything is transparent here. Imagine that diamond glow throughout the entire city.

‘clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.‘

This water comes out of the throne of God and of the Lamb, the Father and the Son. We have one God in three different persons.

‘and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life,‘

How can there be one tree that appears on both sides of the river? The tree of life as mentioned does not indicate only one tree, this is supported in Ezekiel 47:12, showing there are multiple trees. The passage in Revelation 22:2 should not cause confusion as it is a similar application to – “A dog is a man’s best friend.” This clearly does not refer to only one dog but the whole of its kind in general.

Ezekiel 47:12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

This does not mean that the tree and water of life in Revelation 22 and Ezekiel 47 are the same. The water in Revelation 22 comes out from the throne and the water in Ezekiel 47 comes out from the temple. Remember that new Jerusalem has no temple.

Ezekiel 47:1 Afterward he brought me again unto the door of the house; and, behold, waters issued out from under the threshold of the house eastward: for the forefront of the house stood toward the east, and the waters came down from under from the right side of the house, at the south side of the altar.