Revelation 21:21 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

NIV: The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.

NASB: And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

CSB: The twelve gates are twelve pearls; each individual gate was made of a single pearl. The main street of the city was pure gold, transparent as glass.

NLT: The twelve gates were made of pearls — each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

KJV: 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.

NKJV: The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

Each of the twelve gates in New Jerusalem appears to be made of a single pearl. This is the source of the "pearly gates" cliché so often used to describe the entrance to heaven.

In ancient times pearls ranked as extremely valuable and rare gems. Modern pearl farming was not something available to the ancient world. One reason Caesar wanted to conquer Britain was to acquire its pearl-fisheries. The surface of most city streets today is either concrete or asphalt, but the streets of New Jerusalem are pure gold like transparent glass. Both the pearl gates and the streets of gold must bathe the city in a magnificent glow.

In 2018 the world's then-largest pearl known as "The Sleeping Lion," was sold at auction in the Hague, Netherlands, for $374,000 by the Amsterdam Pearl Society and purchased by a Japanese trader. It weighed about 5.4 ounces (153 g) and was 2.75 inches (70 mm) long. Given that value, it is mind-boggling to estimate the value of a pearl large enough to compose an entire gate in New Jerusalem! And the value multiplies greatly when we consider that all twelve gates are each made of a pearl.

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.''