Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #31 of Revelation chapter 21 and we are going to read Revelation 21:18-19:

And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

I will stop reading there.  Again, we reading God’s description of holy Jerusalem, the heavenly city made up of everyone He has ever saved out of the world.  He told us in verse 18: “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper,” and we saw that the Greek word translated as “building” is literally “of people.”  This is because it does not refer to a physical wall, but it refers to the spiritual kingdom of God.  It speaks of God’s salvation because God does relate the word “wall” to salvation, so we are not surprised to see that this refers to a building of people.  The “wall” or salvation of these people was “of jasper.”  God ties that precious stone to the Lord Jesus Christ.  We saw that a couple of times already, once in Revelation, chapter 4, where the one seated upon the throne was “like unto jasper.”  That would be Eternal God and Christ is Eternal God.

Then it said that the city was “pure gold” and we discussed how God likens the precious sons of Zion, the elect He brought into His kingdom through salvation, to “gold.”  Also, in the Day of Judgment, where we presently are, He is “trying” the elements of “gold, silver, precious stones” and the “wood, hay, stubble” to manifest whether they are born again and of His people.  Once that process is complete, the believers come through the fire as pure gold.

Then it goes on to say in Revelation 21:18:

…, like unto clear glass.

The Greek word translated as “clear” is Strong’s #2513. 

If someone is not familiar with Strong’s, it is a concordance that is keyed to the King James Bible and you can look up any word in the Bible and each word is given a number.  As you look up that number, you then go to the back of the book.  For instance, we are looking at the word “clear.”  Strong’s has given this word the number “2513” and you go to the back of the book and look up that number and you may find that it could be translated as different English words – sometimes it is only translated as one or two different words, but a particular word may be translated 20 different ways.  This is one of the ways that God has hidden truth.  Oftentimes, it is an excellent way for us to see how God defines His own words as we compare Scripture with Scripture.  For example, we have the word “clear,” but what does that mean?  Yes, we may have an idea in our own mind what “clear” means, but we want God to define it, from the simplest word to the most complex word.  We want the Bible to define its own words and not us. 

When we look up this word “clear” we find that it can also be translated as “pure.”  It says in Matthew 5:8:

Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

We understand what this is telling us.  When God saved a person, He gave them a new heart and a new spirit and He took out the heart of stone that was wicked and filthy.  He gave His people a new heart with no sin of any kind and it now resides in the soul of the one God has saved.  Of course, we cannot say we are without sin because we still have our old bodies, so we may sin but we do not sin from our new heart, but sin is still found in the flesh.

Another English word that this Greek word is translated into is the word “clean.”  It says in John 15:3:

Now ye are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you.

Again, this points to salvation.  Jesus is speaking here and He is speaking to His disciples, which typify the elect.  It is through the Word that He has spoken that they became clean, if they are one of God’s elect:  “For faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”  The hearing of the Bible (the spoken Word of Christ) is what cleansed a sinner in the day of salvation when God was still drawing His elect to Himself.

So, we can see pretty readily that the word “clear” carries the idea of being “clean” or “pure” from sin.  It is actually the same word used to speak of the “bride of Christ” in Revelation 19:8:

And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.

The word “clean” is the same word we are looking at and there is no doubt what is in view here.  The fine linen is the imputed righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ: “By the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.”  The bride of Christ is comprised of the entire company of elect.

Let us go back to Revelation 21 and look at the word “glass,” where is says in Revelation 21:18:

… and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

We have seen the English word “glass” three times already in the Book of Revelation.  In each case it was referring to a “sea of glass.”  That word translated as “glass” is slightly different than our word.  That word was Strong’s #5193, but our word in verse 18 is #5194.  It is a related word, but it is not quite the same and this word is only found twice.  It is found here in verse 18 and the other time it is found in 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.

In the context of the same description of the body of believers, we can know that God is indicating there is no impurity, so it is “transparent glass” or “pure glass.”  It is reflecting the perfect holiness of everyone God has saved.

Let us go on to Revelation 21:19:

And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones…

Earlier we read in verse 14 of the foundations of the wall: “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” We looked up that word “foundation,” singular, and we found that there is only one foundation.  You cannot have any other foundation than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.  We saw that all 12 foundations point to Him, indicating the fullness of Christ, just as the 12 gates pointed to the gate or the door, Jesus Christ.  There is no other way to enter into that city.  We also saw how the gates and foundations relate to the Word of God, the Bible, because of the many Scriptures that God used to bring His elect into His kingdom.  So God can speak of “the gate” as gates or “the foundation” as foundations, but it all points to Jesus.

Here in Revelation 21:19 it refers to “the foundations of the wall of the city.”  And, again, to what does the “wall” refer?  It represents salvation.  And what is the foundation of salvation?  It is the Lord Jesus Christ – he is the Rock that the wall, the foundation, the gate and the city are built upon.

It goes on to say, “And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.”  Earlier in this chapter we read the word “garnished,” but it was translated differently.  The Strong’s number is #2885.  It is translated as “garnished,” but it is also translated in the Bible as “adorned.”  It said in Revelation 21:2:

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

We saw when we read Revelation 19:8 that the bride of Christ was “arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints.”  God is using different words to tell us the same thing in a different way and this allows God to add additional information to what He said before.  That is the nature of the Bible – God tells us something in one way and then He tells us in another way and another way.  That is why we keep reading the Bible and we build on the spiritual meaning of this verse and that verse.  We can see this is one of the reasons God spoke in parables.  Instead of writing the same words or sentence 100 times on the blackboard, God has illustrated His Word with historical parables, Proverbs or the parables that the Lord Jesus spoke and it makes it very interesting, challenging and joyful to His people as they go about the task of digging into the Word of God for the “buried treasure” of truth. 

Here in Revelation 21, the Lord has certainly given us a lot to look into with each word.  It requires that we search the Bible.  And here we see that the “foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones.”  We read back in Revelation 21:11:

Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

We looked up those words and we found that “precious stone” points to Jesus and “jasper” points to Jesus.  We are not surprised then to find it says in Revelation 21:19:

…The first foundation was jasper…

Again, Christ is the foundation.  Christ is pictured by the jasper stone.  Again, and again, and again, the Bible keeps pointing us to the Lord Jesus.  That is why Christ said, in Hebrews 10:7:

Then said I, Lo, I come (in the volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God.

“In the volume of the book,” or in the Bible, and anywhere you turn it is written of Him.  It says in John 5:39:

Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.

They are they which testify of Christ as we read the Bible.

Let us go back to Exodus, chapter 28, where we can see from the reference to precious stones, like the jasper, that it testifies of Christ.  In speaking of the high priest’s garments, it says in Exodus 28:15-21:

And thou shalt make the breastplate of judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou shalt make it; of gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet, and of fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. Foursquare it shall be being doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall be the breadth thereof. And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius, a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. And the second row shall be an emerald, a sapphire, and a diamond. And the third row a ligure, an agate, and an amethyst. And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings. And the stones shall be with the names of the children of Israel, twelve, according to their names, like the engravings of a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve tribes.

In designing for the high priest (which typified Christ) to wear this breastplate of judgment with these stones, God was illustrating His salvation program for the children of Israel, the spiritual Israel of God.  Christ’s breastplate points to His righteousness and the believers would be “engraved” upon His breastplate, as He would give them His righteousness.  The number “12” is mentioned to indicate the fullness of those that were in Christ and they would be like this city we are reading about – they would be as pure gold and as pure as glass.  There would be no iniquity or spot of sin in any way.

So the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished or adorned with Christ, just like the breastplate of judgment was worn by the high priest.

Again, it says in Revelation 21:19:

And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;

We will pick up here in this interesting passage when we get together in our next study.  God’s Word is so full, we can get so much information about each word as God leads us and directs us from verse to verse.  With time so short (and getting shorter), we still want to take our time to make sure that we are learning what God would have us to learn.