Revelation 21:11 - Printer Friendly

ESV: having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

NIV: It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.

NASB: having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very valuable stone, like a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

CSB: arrayed with God’s glory. Her radiance was like a precious jewel, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

NLT: It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone — like jasper as clear as crystal.

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

NKJV: having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

The New Jerusalem is not a drab, dull, boring city, because it radiates God's glory. It is bright and beautiful like a rare jewel that shines brilliantly. Perhaps the word jasper describes a quartz with shades of green, blue, and red; literal jasper is not clear. The jasper stone is mentioned in Revelation 4:3 as one of the jewels that describe God's appearance. In this part of Revelation, one can see that John is struggling to explain what he sees in terms others can understand, using the most relevant images he can think of. Comparing the shining beauty of this new city to gemstones is an attempt to describe the indescribable.

The glory of God that fills the New Jerusalem is the dazzling light that emanates from His being. Moses experienced God's glory as "a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush" (Exodus 3:2). This glory was manifested as the shekinah cloud that filled the tabernacle (Exodus 40:34). When Solomon concluded his prayer at the dedication of the temple, fire descended from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices. The glory of the Lord filled the temple in such brilliance that the priests could not enter the temple because of it (2 Chronicles 7:1–2).

Revelation 21:9–27 presents a description of the New Jerusalem. Interpreters disagree about whether this is a flashback to the millennial reign of Christ, or a description of the eternal state of the city. A flashback is not unprecedented in Revelation, occurring in chapters 11, 14, 15, and 17. However, some verses here clearly refer to eternal conditions, and most scholars take this as a depiction of the eternal, final heavenly city.

This chapter focuses on the New Jerusalem. This is not the earthly, historic Jerusalem of the tribulation (Revelation 11:2, 8). Nor is it the surviving Jerusalem of the millennium that serves as Jesus' capital (Revelation 20:9). It is the heavenly city referred to in Hebrews 12:22, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10, 16). John attempts to describe the indescribable using analogies to precious gems and metals.

Leading up to this chapter, all sin and evil have been entirely defeated. Satan is banished to hell, along with every person who rejected Christ, as seen in chapter 20. Here, John describes the nature of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city which descends onto earth after the ultimate victory over evil. Chapter 22 is a further description of this perfect eternity, and last messages from Jesus to those who read John's words.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''