Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation.  Tonight is study #33 of Revelation chapter 21 and we are going to read 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.

God is returning to tell us more about the gates.  If you remember, back a few verses it said in Revelation 21:12:

And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

The Lord told us where the gates were positioned in Revelation 21:13:

On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

After describing the wall and the city, now God is directing our attention back to the gates to give us further information.  Again, it says in Revelation 21:21:

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl:

Even people that do not really know the Bible often speak of Heaven’s “pearly gates” and that comes from this verse.  Of course, it is just language God is using to represent something.  He is speaking of the new heaven that is made up of all the elect and the gates have everything to do with pearls and that reminds us of one of Christ’s parables, in Matthew 13:45-46:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

In this short parable of just two verses, we find the words “pearl” and “pearls,” just as we saw in Revelation 21, so we sense there is a connection between this parable and our verse.  There is a connection and we will see it when we understand what God is saying in this parable.  Again, it says in Matthew 13:45:

Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man…

Many times in the Bible, God identifies the Lord Jesus Christ as a “man” and, in this case, the “merchant man” is Christ, Eternal God.  God likens Himself to a “merchant” and the Gospel as “merchandise in Isaiah 55:1-3:

Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore do ye spend money for that which is not bread? and your labour for that which satisfieth not? hearken diligently unto me, and eat ye that which is good, and let your soul delight itself in fatness.

He is saying to come and buy, without money and without price because God gives freely and that is the nature of the Gospel - it is all by the grace of God: “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.”  God is the “merchant man” who merchandises in the Gospel of salvation and “the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man.” Since it is referring to the kingdom of heaven, it does make sense that God is the merchant.

In this parable the merchant man is said to be “seeking goodly pearls.”  We can understand that even today.  We have merchants that deal in jewelry and they would seek good pearls or good precious stones, so God is using language they would have understood long ago and language we can still understand today.  The merchant man is “seeking goodly pearls,” but we can already understand what “pearls” (plural) would point to, as we read that verse again, in Revelation 21:21:

And the twelve gates were twelve pearls…

Going back to earlier verses in this chapter, the city had 12 gates and the gates had 12 angels and there were names written on them of the 12 tribes of Israel.  God is relating the gates to the names of the children of Israel, which would point to spiritual Israel, the elect.  That helps us to see the merchant man seeking “goodly pearls” is describing the Lord Jesus Christ.  It is God’s desire to seek a people for Himself.  He developed a salvation program in which He could save certain ones predestinated to salvation before the world began; He took their sins upon Him and died for them before the foundation of the world.  That is the Gospel.  And they are the “pearls.”  God has sought “goodly pearls,” the chosen people of God.  God did not choose everyone, but He selected certain ones, referred to as “goodly pearls.”  Of course, that does not mean that there was anything inherently good in the ones God chose to save.  We know the Bible says, “There is none good, no not one.”  They were chosen according to God’s good pleasure and, therefore, they are “goodly pearls” because God had determined to save them.

Let us go on in this verse in Matthew 13:46:

Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it. 

Here, the merchant man, who is God, sought “goodly pearls” (plural), but when he found “one pearl (singular) of great price,” then he “went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”  As we read this, it seems like he decided not to go after numerous pearls, but to find one outstanding pearl.  Since we just saw that the “goodly pearls” represent the elect, then it seems like he did not purchase the “goodly pearls,” but just one good pearl.  Does that mean that God did not purchase the elect?  It might be confusing, but God is actually showing us something else in this verse that will also tie back into His purchase of all the elect, the “goodly pearls.” 

Again, it says he “found one pearl of great price,” and this “pearl” must be the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is the precious stone.  He is the one being spoken of in Revelation 21:21 where there were 12 gates and “every several gate was of one pearl.”  It is as if the gates were made from the “substance” of that one pearl.  It would have been a great pearl and that is where the language leads us.  They carved all 12 gates out of one pearl.  The material was of one pearl and they made the 12 gates, possessing the names of the 12 tribes of the children of Israel.  The 12 pearly gates were all “of one pearl,” and we can see why it is that in this short parable in Matthew 13, the merchant man sought “goodly pearls,” but when he found “one pearl of great price,” He went after that one because that pearl represents Christ and in Christ are the true believers, the quantity of pearls.  The quantity of pearls came through the quality of the pearl, the Lord Jesus Christ. 

Then it says at the end of Matthew 13:46 that when he found that one great pearl, he “went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”  This is similar to what we read in Matthew, chapter 18, in the parable of an unforgiving man.  He had been forgiven a great debt, but when a fellow servant owed him a small debt, he would not forgive the debt, but he grabbed him by the throat and demanded that he pay all he owed him.  Then his lord heard about it and he said to him, in Matthew 18:33-34:

Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee? And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due unto him.

Now he had to pay the entire debt and we can see this points to being under the wrath of God, with God’s Law demanding that payment be made.  This points to completing the sin debt, which it is not possible for man to do on His own.  In Matthew 13:36, it said, “Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.”  This is telling us that Christ emptied Himself of His glory (as Eternal God) and humbled Himself, taking upon Him the form of a servant in order to pay the debt of the sins of His people.  At the point of the foundation of the world, the Lamb was slain, the debt was paid and He “bought the pearl.”  Christ’s death and resurrection were accomplished and all whose names were recorded in the Lamb’s Book of Life would become saved down through time.  In purchasing the one great pearl, the merchant man ends up with all the “goodly pearls” and that is what we are seeing in Revelation, chapter 21.  The 12 pearly gates are of one pearl.  The merchant man sold all he had to buy the one pearl, but remember what God says of each of the elect in 1Corinthians 6:20:

For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's. 

Just as the “pearls” come from the “pearl,” so do the seeds (plural) come from the seed (singular).  This is the point God makes in Galatians 3:16:

Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, and to thy seed, which is Christ. 

Christ is the “seed,” just as He is the “pearl.”  Then notice what the Lord tells us in Galatians 3:29:

And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

This is telling us we are “in Christ.”  He is the “seed” and if we are Christ’s and we have been bought with a price, then we are also the “seed.”  It also applies to the language of the “pearl.”  Christ is that one “pearl” of great price and we are the “pearls” of Him.

Going back to 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. 

We have already seen God’s wonderful description of this glorious city.  He is using the most beautiful materials and things this earth has produced, with references to gold and pearls, to describe the beauty, holiness and glory of the city He built.  It is made up of everyone He has saved and there is no sin, no death, no tears and no pain.  It is a tremendously beautiful city of God and now He is saying that even the street of the city was pure “gold.”  He uses the word “street,” (and not “streets”) and we would be correct to think that this refers to the Lord Jesus Christ.  The street would lead people to the gate and from the gate.  People would enter into the gate and they are on this street that will take them to other places within the city and Christ is that “street,” just as the Bible says Christ is “the way, the truth, and the life.”  Of course to say that Jesus is like “pure gold” is something we can understand due to His absolute holiness and perfection of His being.  He is the spotless Lamb of God.

In order to look at how the words “street” or “streets” are used in the Bible, let us turn to Proverbs 1:20-21:

Wisdom crieth without; she uttereth her voice in the streets:  She crieth in the chief place of concourse, in the openings of the gates: in the city she uttereth her words.” 

Wisdom is Christ.  He is the essence of wisdom.  He is wisdom personified in Proverbs, chapter 8, where “Wisdom” speaks and it is as though Christ speaks.  So wisdom utters her voice in the streets and that would be the narrow way that leads to the kingdom of heaven.  We can also look at Isaiah 59:14:

And judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off: for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter. 

Truth is the Lord Jesus Christ and it is “fallen in the street” where wisdom utters her voice, so it relates both to Jesus and to the Word of God. 

Keep in mind the two witnesses in Revelation, chapter 11.  When they were “killed,” they were lying dead in the streets for three and one half days because the street is the way of wisdom and the place where truth ought to be found.  And, yet, truth is fallen.  The witnesses represent Moses and Elijah (the Law and the Prophets) or the Bible and it is “fallen.”  Wisdom is fallen in the streets. 

Let us look at one more verse involving the word “streets,” in Luke, chapter 13.  This is the parable in which the master of the house has risen up and shut to the door and many begin to stand without and knock at the door, saying, “Lord, Lord, open to us,” and the Lord responds that He knows not whence they are and it says in Luke 13:26:

Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.

It is the way of concourse.  It is the market place of the Gospel where the Word of God goes forth.  In the new heaven and new earth of holy Jerusalem the street of the city is pure gold - there is no truth fallen there and the sucklings are not swooning because they have no water or meat.  There is only absolute truth declared.  The Lord Jesus Christ (who loves to teach) will teach His people there and the teaching is perfect and it will certainly be as wonderful as anything we could imagine.  We will be personally taught by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, it says in Revelation 21:21: “and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.” 

This reminds us of what we read in Revelation 21:18 when God was speaking of the building of the wall: “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.”  By the way, just as we know that Christ is the gate and He likens His people to being positioned at the 12 gates, so, too, the Bible calls Him the “city” and the body of believers is also called the “city.”  The city is “pure gold,” just like the street of the city was “pure gold.”  Both verse 18 and verse 21 refer to “clear glass” and “transparent glass,” respectively.  The Greek word translated as “transparent” literally means “appearing through.”  It is of such purity and holiness that there is no blemish of any kind.