An Outline of Revelation 21 — by C.A. Coates
Outline of Revelation 21—by C.A. Coates
It is striking how little is said about the eternal state; the first four verses of this chapter are the fullest description of it that Scripture affords. Indeed there are, perhaps, but two other verses that definitely speak of it. "We wait for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwells righteousness" (2 Peter 3:13). "But when all things shall have been brought into subjection to him, then the Son also himself shall be placed in subjection to him who put all things in subjection to him, that God may be all in all" (1 Corinthians 15:28). That is very blessed; God all in all! He will fill every vessel. Here the great thought is that "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God".
It was God's original thought to be with man, so we find Him walking in the garden in Genesis 3. But the man was fallen and alienated from God; he could not bear the presence of his Creator. Four thousand years passed, and One was found with men whose Name was called Immanuel -- God with us. It was God's primary thought revealed again. "And the Word became flesh, and dwelt [tabernacled] among us ... full of grace and truth". God would be known as coming near to men in their fallen state to free them from all that pertained to that state, and to make Himself known to their hearts as the Fountain of all good. In the eternal state the full result of this will be known in an incorruptible scene into which neither sin nor death can ever come. The Word tabernacling among His disciples, placing Himself so near to them without any ceremonial distance, was a little picture of it; yea, more than a picture; it was the reality of it, though on their side the conditions were imperfect.
John had seen "the great city" before, and its terrible fall. Now he sees "the holy city", and he sees it first in relation to the eternal state. Afterwards he sees it in relation to the world to come (21: 9 - 22: 5), but it appears first in its place in eternity. Rome has been called the eternal city, but this city is the only eternal city.
The holy city is spoken of as "coming down out of the heaven from God". See chapter 3: 12; 21: 2, 10. How blessedly is Christ reflected in the city! He came down out of heaven bringing all that was heavenly down here (John 6). The city will do that in the world to come, and in eternity; the assembly does so morally now. We see her in the full height of her heavenly position in the early part of Ephesians 2, and she comes down, I think we may say, in the holy grace and dignity of her heavenly position to be the habitation of God down here, and to be morally adorned for her husband. All believers would admit, I suppose, that the assembly is heavenly as to her destiny. But God would have us to understand that she is heavenly in origin.
We have seen the Lamb's wife in chapter 19: 8 adorned with "the righteousnesses of the saints". That is a garment which was acquired here, and taken up to heaven; her wedding dress was made here. But in chapter 21: 2 we learn the true source and origin of her bridal beauty. It was all out of heaven and from God. It was acquired through exercise, and through spiritual affections, here, but it was all heavenly and divine in origin and character. And hence her bridal beauty is incorruptible and unfading; it is as fresh at the end of the thousand years as it was when He presented her to Himself glorious. She comes as the true Rebecca from Isaac's country, and she is kindred with Him. Her beauty is eternal because it has its source and origin in heaven and in God, and therefore it is perfectly suited to Him for whom she is adorned.
The heavenly saints will be "the tabernacle of God" in which He will dwell with men. His people in the new earth will have Him near; He will "be with them, their God". But they will know Him as dwelling in a tabernacle. How blessed to think of God dwelling in His saints eternally, and being known as dwelling in them! He will dwell in the heavenly saints, and be with His people on earth eternally. The sending of the Son of God into the world and the accomplishment of redemption was in view of the Spirit coming so that God might have a habitation here. And John says, "If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us" (1 John 4:12). Many things have come in, through the unwatchfulness and unfaithfulness of saints, that have obscured the fact that God has a habitation here. But it is still true that God dwells in His house, "which is the assembly of the living God", and whatever is known of God on earth today is known through His saints. And God will be known eternally as dwelling in His saints; there will be no hindering elements then.
I do not know that Scripture tells us who the "men" will be with whom God will tabernacle, but I suppose they will be the saints remaining on earth at the end of the thousand years who will be transferred to the new earth. They will be no longer Jew or Gentile; those names belong to the time state; they will simply be "men". The conditions will be all new; "the sea exists no more".
Verse 4 speaks of the passing away of "the former things". The only positive feature of the eternal state that is mentioned is that "God himself shall be with them, their God". All blessedness is wrapped up in the fact that God is there. God would have us to understand the blessedness of the eternal state by knowing Him. It could not be conveyed in any verbal description. When Paul was caught up to the third heaven he "heard unspeakable things said, which it is not allowed man to utter" (2 Corinthians 12:4). They could not be communicated in human language, or in our present condition. It is very suggestive that in verse 4 all is negative. We are told what will not be there. A great man spent twelve years in writing a history of the world, and it was a very imperfect one. But the world's history could be written in the five words that are found in this verse -- tears, death, grief, cry, distress!
Such things are not in accord with Him who sits on the throne, and His glory requires that all shall be made new. The very presence of such things is like a challenge to the throne. People have been blaming God for thousands of years as if He were responsible for the miseries that have come in. But they have come in through the creature listening to the tempter, and falling into sin, and so opening the door to death and every woe. God will shew His power in a new creation where all things will be made new. Such a creation exists spiritually even now, for we read, "So if any one be in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new: and all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ" (2 Corinthians 5:17, 18).
If sin and death have come into the creation of God His glory requires that all shall be made new. And this is to be written; it is to be put on record for a testimony. Verses 5 - 8 are the present testimony rendered by God to man in view of what is eternal. His words are true and faithful; indeed "It is done" suggests that all is present to the divine mind as accomplished. God "calls the things which be not as being" (Romans 4:17); and it is the privilege of faith to have the new creation system of eternal things present as a blessed subsisting reality. It is below the horizon of sight, but it becomes real to faith and hope. God says, "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end". Everything began with Him, and will end with Him. He had the first word in creation, and He will have the last word in reconciliation and new creation. He will put everything into suitability to Himself so that it will be "very good". It is very simply stated here, but how much is involved in it!
Then God gives a present word to three classes of people. "Him that thirsts"; "he that overcomes"; and "the fearful and unbelieving", etc.
"I will give to him that thirsts of the fountain of the water of life freely". It is a blessed thing to thirst in relation to God. It is an exercise which comes into view in John 4 and John 7. It is not exactly the sense of guilt, or distress because of things which press on the conscience -- though this may be present also -- but a longing to know God. Thirst is the consciousness of being without God, and the craving to have Him. "He is a rewarder of them who seek him out" (Hebrews 11:6). God is ever dealing with men universally to awaken thirst for Himself; "that they may seek God; if indeed they might feel after him and find him, although he is not far from each one of us"(Acts 17:27).
There is nothing so blessed as the knowledge of God. To know Him in His love, and to see how His love has acted in perfect consistency with all His attributes in order to make Himself known in blessing to His poor needy creatures, is the deepest satisfaction of which the human heart is capable. The very purpose of its creation was that it should be capable, through infinite mercy, of having that satisfaction.
"The fountain of the water of life" is, I believe, the love of God. It is the very spring and source from which all blessing flows. We read later of "a river of water of life" (Revelation 22:1), which speaks of what will flow out, but the Fountain is the Source from whence the river flows. It has been God's great purpose and delight to reveal Himself, and it is the one who thirsts who gets the blessed satisfaction of that revelation. Nicodemus was not content with seeing miracles; he wanted God. "We know that thou art come a teacher from God". He was an illustration of the effect of new birth, though he did not understand it. Many were coming by day to see miracles, but he came in the stillness of night to be alone with the One who could tell him of God. He thirsted, and the Fountain of the water of life burst forth to quench his thirst; the love of God was made known to him as it had never been made known before. Then the woman in John 4 thirsted too, and the Lord proposed to give her living water. "The water which I shall give him shall become in him a fountain of water, springing up into eternal life". Her affections were all in disorder, as ours have been, but Christ gives the Spirit so that, instead of the affections wandering in many directions in search of a resting place they can never find, they are gathered up under divine control, and made to move in the direction of eternal life.
When we drink of the Fountain of the water of life the love of God is known as shed abroad in the heart by the Spirit, and there is power to overcome. The one who drinks discovers the imperative necessity of being an overcomer. He finds all the influences in the world and in his own flesh are hostile to God, and to the divine satisfaction which he has tasted. He cannot give way to these influences without being robbed of that which has become his chief joy. The knowledge of God in the heart which comes by drinking of the Fountain puts one on the line of overcoming, because we have got a resource in Him which we can avail ourselves of for support and victory. The strength of the saint for overcoming lies in the fact that he knows God as revealed in love, and that he can count upon God for support against every evil. The very fact that he thus knows God puts him in conflict with everything that is contrary to God, but he gets divine support in that conflict; "I will be to him God". In the last half of Romans 7 the man wants to do right, but has no power until he can say, "I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord". He has to learn that God is for him, and that there is a Husband who can support him by the Spirit. Then in Romans 8 the fact that God is for us ensures victory. Every one who is set to be an overcomer proves this word true: "I will be to him God". How blessed! To prove what God can be to a creature who cannot take a step, or deal with a single foe, without Him!
The overcomer enters into possession of what is blessed and eternal. "He that overcomes shall inherit these things". If saints are not overcomers they do not inherit much in any real sense at the present moment. If we allow what is of the world or of the flesh to overcome us we do not enjoy what is of God. The great hindrance to spiritual enjoyment is not that we are defective in doctrine, but practical workings of the flesh are allowed, and what is of the world creeps into the heart. These things war against the soul, and if they are not overcome there is no present possession or enjoyment of the divine inheritance.
The overcomer enjoys his divinely given portion, and he becomes an object of delight to the heart of God. "He shall be to me son". It is not only that he has received sonship as the gift of divine love, and the Spirit of God's Son in his heart, crying, Abba, Father, but he has become a son in developed affections and intelligence, so as to be to God what "son" means to Him. It is most blessed.
The last class spoken of are "the fearful and unbelieving", etc. "The fearful" are persons who have not thirsted, and who have not been overcomers. They have yielded to the influences of the world, the flesh, and the devil. They have been ashamed to confess Jesus as Lord. They have not got divine support because they have not wanted it; they have been "unbelieving". They are found in company with abominable persons, "murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolators, and all liars"; and of such it is said, "Their part is in the lake which burn's with fire and brimstone; which is the second death".
We now return to contemplate the holy city in its relation to the millennial earth. Chapter 21: 9 - 22: 5. For it is said, "And the nations shall walk by its light; and the kings of the earth bring their glory to it.... And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations to it" (verses 24, 26). We cannot but feel the exceeding blessedness of what is before us; it is the display of the accomplished result of the work of God in His saints. We could hardly contemplate anything more calculated to affect our hearts. It is the obvious contrast to chapter 17, where John was called to view the harlot, the city where every corruption was found, where there was nothing that was of God. The scene of that vision was appropriate to its subject it was a desert where nothing could be found that was pleasing to God or advantageous to men. But here we see the blessed contrast in a city where everything is of God, and which becomes the greatest possible gain to men as the centre of divine administration. John was set "on a great and high mountain" to contemplate this city. It can only be viewed from a spiritual elevation. It is far above the level of the world, or of human thoughts.
John had been left here to see the defection of the assemblies, and to write the Lord's estimate of them as fallen and corrupted, but he was also the one to give us this wonderful vision of the assembly as she will come into display in the world to come. He gives us to know what the assembly will be as the vessel of light and administration, that we may understand what she is being formed for now. It is intended to impress our hearts, and to give character to our exercises and prayers.
This city is never called "great"; it is always "the holy city". It is the full answer to Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3 that the saints "may be filled even to all the fulness of God"; and where he also refers to the assembly as the shrine of divine glory. "To him be glory in the assembly in Christ Jesus unto all generations of the age of ages. Amen". Here we see the answer to that prayer in a vessel adequate for the display of what God is! What a blessed work of God by His Spirit, what formation in the divine nature, is needed to bring about such a result! "All the fulness of God" was in Christ, but the assembly is to be filled to it so as to be adequate for the setting forth of God. It is truly wonderful that it should have been God's purpose to have a holy vessel, entirely the product of His own work, in which His glory shall shine forth. The holy city will be the light-bearer in the world to come. All that may be seen and known of God will shine there in undimmed purity. It has all been ministered to her in the glad tidings, as set forth in Christ, and she has been filled to it by the Spirit's working in the divine nature. We see here, too, in its fulness the result of Christ having been made sin for us, in the saints having become manifestly God's righteousness in Him.
It has often been said that Paul takes the church up to heaven and gives it a place there, but John brings it down to give heavenly light here. The saints have been taken into heaven at the rapture; now they come down out of heaven to be the light of the nations. "Her shining was like a most precious stone, as a crystal-like jasper stone". We have spoken of the jasper in considering chapter 4. (See page 76).
The "great and high wall" of the city has a prominent place in the description. It secures and preserves the city from the intrusion of anything that is not of God. It is exclusive of all such things as are mentioned in verse 27. "And nothing common, nor that maketh an abomination and a lie, shall at all enter into it". "Common" things would be such things as are according to the mind of man. Such things had been admitted at Corinth, for the saints walked "according to man". What is "common" is in contrast to what is of the Spirit of God. Then what "maketh an abomination" covers every element of idolatry; everything that does not give God His place, or that obscures His glory. And "a lie" would stand in contrast to all that Christ is as "the truth". Every form of evil that has ever intruded to corrupt what is of God comes under one or other of these three heads. They will not be allowed to enter the city. And God has given us the light of this description for present exercise, that we may be in moral keeping with it now.
The "twelve gates" indicate the administrative character of the city, and the names inscribed shew that the outgoings of the city are towards "the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel". They will be the ones on earth to first get the gain of what is administered by the city.
"And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb". It is noticeable that the foundations are connected with the wall; it seems to convey the thought that the wall secures everything; if the wall stands firm the city does. And the foundations carrying the names of the twelve apostles would indicate that the great principles of the kingdom of God are the basis on which all rests. If those principles are not well and truly laid in the souls of saints there is no foundation for the wall, and there will be nothing that has true assembly character. The principles of the kingdom of God are preservative. They involve separation from evil, and its permanent exclusion.
It is said of Zion in the coming day of her glory that "thou shalt call thy walls Salvation" (Isaiah 60:18). The wall represents the defence of the city. Those principles which are founded on the ministry of the twelve apostles are the preservative enclosure of the holy city. It is not a legal or merely outward separation, but a separation founded on Christ being known in the diversity of His moral beauty and perfection, as set forth in "every precious stone". What is not in keeping with that must be excluded. "And the building of its wall was jasper". The whole substance of the wall is divine in character; it is according to God's nature and attributes. Evil is excluded because it is contrary to divine love and holiness.
The wall includes the whole city. In maintaining separation individually, what saints have in view is to preserve the holy character of the assembly. In Nehemiah's day we read that the priests and others each built the wall over against his own house, and of one man that he built "over against his chamber". This individual exercise is most needful in a day of ruin, but each builder had in view the whole city. Even in Romans the saints are viewed as "one body in Christ, and each one members one of the other". Each one is to take up his individual service in view of the whole.
There is something positive about "building". It is a pity if saints are better known by what they testify against, or what they separate from, than they are by being manifestly built up in all that is of God, and in the knowledge of the preciousness of Christ. The "jasper" and "every precious stone" speak of positive enrichment and adornment. They speak of being built up in the knowledge of God, of being formed in the divine nature, of Christ having become the preciousness to those who believe.
The blessed light of God shone perfectly in all its completeness in Christ. But it was in divine purpose that it should shine out in men, and this required a vast company. It required "twelve apostles" for the foundations, the ministry of each characterized by the preciousness of Christ in a distinctive way, as set forth in these precious stones (verses 19, 20), so that the administration of that preciousness might be perfect. And it required a vast result of divine workmanship standing in relation to the twelve apostles, which is set forth in the city measuring "twelve thousand stadia: the length and the breadth and height of it are equal". The numbers are all multiples of twelve; they shew that the city is perfect in view of its administrative place in the world to come. It is the assembly viewed in its completeness as the result of God's workmanship, God's building; in no other way could it have come up to full measurement by the "golden reed".
It is of deep interest to know that the divine work is going on at the present time which will issue in the city, but it is productive of much exercise also. So far as the work of God is effected in saints, and they have become God's workmanship, the city exists today. I do not doubt that there is that today which can be measured with the golden reed -- that which God can take account of as being of Himself. But in the chapter before us we see the full result in glory. "The city lies four-square, and its length is as much as the breadth". It is all in perfect proportion and adjustment. A great deal of our exercise today is caused by things being out of square, and the necessity of getting the mind of God, and of giving it practical effect, so that there may be divine adjustment. It is in this way that the saints are preserved in the truth, and the truth preserved in them, in due proportion and symmetry. It is a comfort to consider that all that is gained in this way -- even if only by a few -- is gained really by divine favour for the whole assembly. Many may not get the gain of it -- so far as we can see -- at the present time, but it has been gained for them, and when the assembly appears in glory she will appear in the value of it. We must get away from narrow and sectarian thoughts as to spiritual blessing. If gifts are given they are for the whole assembly. If a few saints become possessed of divine light and truth it is for all the Christian company. If assembly principles are learned through exercise, and there is divine adjustment of defective thoughts, it is all in view of the assembly coming out in the value and result of it in the day of display. This gives immense importance to things which may seem to be worked out now in a very limited sphere. They are being worked out in view of the whole assembly being in the value of them in that day.
The wall being "a hundred and forty-four cubits, man's measure, that is, angel's", brings in the thought of creature perfection. There is not only seen in the city the glory of God, and the diversified perfections of Christ in the precious stones, but all that is proper to intelligent creatures is seen there also. There is but one standard of perfection for creatures, whether men or angels, and that is obedience. The city includes that element, and it is seen as complete in view of administration in the twelve-times-twelve cubits of the wall.
The twelve precious stones in the foundations give us the thought of how varied are the aspects in which Christ can be known, and in which divine light has shone forth in Him. The ministry of the twelve apostles was the setting forth of what they had apprehended in Him by the sovereignty of God, who gave each his place in relation to all that would shine out in the city. There was diversity; for instance, Peter's epistles are not like John's; but all stood together in perfect unity. In principle it is so with all saints. Each one who walks with God, and follows Christ, has his own measure of apprehension, and takes up his own ray of divine light so as to be coloured by it. Each one who comes under the personal influence of Christ becomes a precious stone. It is only He who can give us the colour and character He intends us to have. Under His influence we are formed for our place in relation to the testimony. We do not look for all saints, or all servants or ministries, to be alike. But we look -- and, I trust, pray -- for an impression of Christ to be made, and come into view in ourselves and in the brethren. However diversified the beauty and glory of Christ, it all subsists in one Person. And however varied the apprehensions of that Person may be as realized in millions of hearts by the one Spirit, they cannot fail to subsist in perfect unity. Discords must arise from the intrusion of something that is not Christ. But the wall of the city, if known in its spiritual reality now, would exclude all such things.
The twelve gates being twelve pearls -- "each one of the gates, respectively, was of one pearl" suggests that the outgoings of the city will be characterized by what the assembly is to Christ. All those who come under her administration will know what she is to Him. The pearl speaks of her unity and beauty as under His eye. He says, "They ... shall know that I have loved thee". If enemies will be made to know this, how much more the subjects of His kingdom? There will be a blessed witness in the gates to what the assembly is to Christ, and to a unity which is the product of the working of divine love. "And the glory which thou hast given me I have given them, that they may be one, as we are one; I in them and thou in me, that they may be perfected into one and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and that thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me" (John 17:22, 23). That prayer will be answered when the city descends in her glorious state.
"The street of the city pure gold, as transparent glass". The street is the place of movement. There will be no movement in that city save in the divine nature; no element of alloy will be there; all will be "pure gold". And therefore all will be transparent. There could be no transparency in the world; people have to be opaque; it would never do to disclose their motives. And our minds are habituated to suspicion here, for we do not know what people's thoughts and motives are, and we have often found ourselves deceived by what had every appearance of genuineness. But all will be transparent in the street of the city, and therefore no element of suspicion or distrust will remain. One would like to get a little more on to that line now. We see it in Paul when he said, "We ... have been manifested to God, and I hope also that we have been manifested in your consciences" (2 Corinthians 5:11). His motives were not such that they had to be hidden; they were "pure gold". There is a bit of gold in every true saint, but not many of us have come to "pure gold" yet. The important thing is to judge every element of dross that comes to light, and to refuse it. If there were more spiritual reality we should confide in one another more; we should be more ready to confess our faults to one another, and not to try to give more favourable impressions of ourselves than are justified. We should get on much better together, and we should get the help of each other's prayers as to our real state, and suspicion and distrust would die for want of material to feed on.
We are disciplined that the elements of alloy may be purged, and the "pure gold" come into prominence. God says of Jerusalem, "I will turn my hand upon thee, and will thoroughly purge away thy dross, and take away all thine alloy" (Isaiah 1:25). He puts His people into the crucible, not to expose how much dross is there -- though this comes to light -- but to secure the gold in purity. It is blessed to see saints in beautiful freedom from what is of the nature of alloy, judging all in the light of God, and moving in the divine nature. I think one has seen something like this in saints who have matured under divine teaching and discipline, and God would have us to come to it as self-judged and formed in the divine nature. So would "the street of the city" be anticipated. It should surely be with each one of us a cherished object of desire and exercise. But there cannot be "pure gold" without a refining process. It is in suffering that we are refined. God says to Israel, "I have refined thee, but not as silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction" (Isaiah 48:10). "The Lamb's wife" is the wife of the One who suffered, and she is called to suffer too, but the suffering is for refining so that she may come forth as gold. The Spirit encourages suffering saints not to faint (Hebrews 12).John seeing no temple in the city shews that all there are in immediate nearness to God. "The Lord God Almighty is its temple, and the Lamb". There is no longer any need to "inquire in his temple".
The temple is the place of the oracles, the place where intelligence of God's mind is gained at a time when such intelligence is not universal, when it is limited to those who enter the temple. It supposes that certain ones are privileged to draw near, and to be in the secret of God's mind, while others are not. "Mystery" is a characteristic word in Christianity; it refers to things which are known only to the initiated; it is a temple idea. Saints today have temple character (1 Corinthians 3:16). It is amongst saints that there is inquiry and intelligence as to God's mind. But the very fact that inquiry is connected with the temple suggests that things are partial. "For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; but when that which is perfect has come, that which is in part shall be done away" (1 Corinthians 13:9, 10). "We see now through a dim window obscurely"; there must be continual inquiry and learning; every question that arises amongst saints brings home to us that we only know in part. But then all will be "face to face"; there will be immediate vision. The unclouded knowledge of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb will fill the city. All will be unveiled; there will be no longer anything that retains the character of "mystery".
"The Lord God Almighty" is a millennial title which is in keeping with the position in which the city is here seen. God is known there according to all that He will be and do for Israel and the nations in the world to come. We do not get the assembly's own relationships unfolded here, but what she will be as the Lamb's wife in relation to Israel and the nations. It is the administration of a city where there is the unveiled knowledge of the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb. The intelligence and the shining of the city is according to all that lies in those Names. God will vindicate Himself publicly as to everything that has had the character of "mystery" through the ages. It has been beautifully expressed in the lines,
"God and the Lamb shall there
The light and temple be;
And radiant hosts for ever share
The unveiled mystery".
(Hymn 74)
Then "the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon, that they should shine for it; for the glory of God has enlightened it, and the lamp thereof is the Lamb". The tendency today is to magnify natural light, to make much of what man can arrive at by reason and by scientific investigation, and to make little of divine revelation. But the great thing to be sought is the knowledge of God, and if God is to be truly known it must be in the light in which He has revealed Himself -- the light of redemption. It is one of the saddest proofs of Satan's power over men that so many are found who really hate the thought of redemption. This will culminate in the last act of the ten kings and the beast; they will "make war with the Lamb".
The glory of God will enlighten the city; it will be diffused throughout the city; but it will emanate from the Lamb. It will all be concentrated there; "the lamp thereof is the Lamb". It is God revealed in the Lamb -- in One who suffered and died -- that is the light of the city. This shews that what is mediatorial still has place. We sing today, "O God we see Thee in the Lamb", and this will still be true in the holy city. The Lamb is a title which stands in relation to "the former things". The Lamb is the One in whom and by whom the glory of God has been maintained sacrificially in relation to all the things which sin had touched. The millennial period is the time of God's public vindication in relation to "the former things", before they finally pass away.
The holy city is the answer in glory to the cross. The resurrection of Christ is God's necessary answer to the Person who died. The Son of the living God could not be holden of death; He could not see corruption. But the holy city, and the vast expanse of the universe of bliss, both in the age to come and in eternity, will be the answer to the work of the cross. God will shine in light divine as having established His glory on an imperishable foundation in the Lamb. His glory will shine out in the assembly; He will be vindicated and His triumph displayed. "We boast in hope of the glory of God". That does not mean in hope of going to heaven, but in hope of the glory of God shining out in the city in the very scene where the ravages of sin and death have been.
"The nations shall walk by its light". They will regulate all their course by the light of the heavenly city. There will be an end of policy and diplomacy, and of rivalry and ambition. All the course that the nations take will be directed by the influence of a city where the light of God and of the Lamb shines. And there will be response. "The kings of the earth bring their glory to it.... And they shall bring the glory and the honour of the nations to it". There will not only be perfect administration from the city, but responsive tribute and revenue will be freely and gladly rendered. All will be so affected by the shining of the city that kings and nations will give, not their worst or least, but their very best -- their glory and honour. God will secure response; He will have what is due to Him. Men will be in true glory and dignity then as subject to God, but it will be all brought as tribute to the holy city. Every one will own then that "glory all belongs to God". The assembly as the city will administrate the kingdom, and will receive its revenues. All will have to own her glorious place according to divine purpose.
Think of the glory of the earth responding to the bright world above! It is the worthy result of all that God has wrought. The coming here of the Lamb, the accomplishment of redemption, the gift of the Spirit, all the blessed workings of God in His saints, the power that will raise and glorify them, will bring about that there will be such a vessel of light and glory as the holy city. And there will be, too, the far-spread power of the kingdom of God and of His Christ on earth, bringing kings and nations not only to serve Israel as their head in millennial glory according to Isaiah 60 and many other scriptures, but to own and pay tribute to the heavenly city. What a vindication of God before the history of this present earth closes!