Revelation 21:27 - Printer Friendly

ESV: But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

NIV: Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life.

NASB: and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

CSB: Nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those written in the Lamb's book of life.

NLT: Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty — but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

KJV: And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.

NKJV: But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Although New Jerusalem's gates are always open, not a single trace of evil can enter the city. No uncleanness can pass through the gates and mar the city's pure, spotlessly clean environment. What a joyful expectation this revelation must have brought to the apostle John. Many of the cities he had visited in the Mediterranean region allowed their streets to become garbage dumps and open sewers. The back alleys could be described as nothing short of smelly and foul. Ceremonial uncleanness was intended to symbolize moral filth; New Jerusalem will be gloriously free of both.

The New Jerusalem is inaccessible to criminals, liars, and idolaters. Those who practice fraud and deception are banished forever from God's beautiful, dazzling city. In fact, as explained in prior verses, all sin and evil has been entirely defeated and banished to hell by this point in history (Revelation 20:10–15). As Revelation 21:8 points out, the cowardly, faithless, detestable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars will spend eternity in the lake of fire. Only those whose names are recorded in the Lamb's book of life are welcome in the New Jerusalem. Of all the references to the book of life in Revelation (Revelation 3:5; 13:8; 17:8; 20:12, 15; 21:27), 21:27 is the only one that calls the book of life, "the Lamb's book of life."

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.''