Revelation 21:26 - Printer Friendly

ESV: They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations.

NIV: The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it.

NASB: and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it;

CSB: They will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.

NLT: And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city.

KJV: And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.

NKJV: And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.

According to this verse, the kings of the earth will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into New Jerusalem. Isaiah 60:11 predicts: "Your gates shall be open continually; day and night they shall not be shut, that people may bring to you the wealth of the nations, with their kings led in procession."

We cannot be explicitly sure what the term "glory and honor of the nations" represents. Perhaps the regenerate kings will present the best works of the millennial kingdom to be exhibited in New Jerusalem. Perhaps they will be paying homage to God. Of course, all that is accomplished as worth presenting to God is achieved only by God's grace and Christ's strength. Jesus said, "Apart from me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). What the kings bring to New Jerusalem, they had first received from our heavenly Father. James wrote, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change" (James 1:17).

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.''

Accessed 4/29/2024 8:29:47 AM