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Rev 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
Rev 21:19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Rev 21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
Rev 21:21 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.
Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

In our study last week we saw that because Christ, the husband of this “bride the Lamb’s wife”, wants only to please His head; His husband, who is also His Father, the Lamb’s wife, being of the same mind, wants only to do the same for her husband, Christ. For this reason, because she has given up her life for her husband, the Lamb’s wife is said to be “foursquare”. Being ‘foursquare’ means her whole purpose in being is simply to please her husband. We saw that both the golden altar of incense, and the brazen altar of sacrifice, as well as the plate of judgment, are all “foursquare”, because all three are symbols of laying down our lives to please our God. That is the meaning we are being given when we are told that this “city lies foursquare”.
We also saw that this city is on “a mountain great and high”, and that it “has a wall great and high” for the purpose of telling us that God’s “ways… and thoughts are as high above our natural man’s ways and thoughts as the heavens are above the earth”, and we saw that God’s ways and thoughts are His doctrines which our natural man considers to be fanatical and rejects, as our natural man simply cannot receive or accept them.

1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

We also saw that this city and all of its measurements reveals to us that we, if we are this city, have the number twelve and multiples of the number twelve, stamped all over us. It is this number which the scriptures use to tell us that we, as this city on a mountain great and high, with its wall great and high, lying four square with its twelve gates; we are the very foundational saviors upon whom, and through whom, being “in Christ”, all men of all time will be brought to God. It is this “wife of the Lamb” through whom God will become “all in all”.

Oba 1:21 And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.
1Jn 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.
Eph 1:17 That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him:
Eph 1:18 The eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints,
Eph 1:19 And what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us- ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power,
Eph 1:20 Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
Eph 1:21 Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
Eph 1:22 And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
Eph 1:23 Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all.

If “the eyes of our understanding is enlightened” then we will know that it is “the church which is His body, [ which is] the fullness of Him that fills all in all”. That is “the hope of the calling” He has given us, and that is the riches of the glory of His ‘inheritance in the saints’. The church is “the bride, the Lamb’s wife”. As such that it is she who will lay down foundation seed.

Heb 11:11 Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive [ Greek, katabole, founded] seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised.

For that reason, being the mother of, and the very foundation of, the salvation of all mankind, the wife of the Lamb has the number 12 found in the number of foundations, the number of gates, and in all the measurements of this city. She is Christ’s wife, and it is she through whom all living will come to be in Christ. With Him and in Him, she is the foundation of the salvation of all men of all time, and “the fulness of God who fills all in all”.
This is an exceedingly precious calling we have been given, to be the bride of the Lamb, and to bring forth children to our husband, whose numbers will be as the sand of the sea shore and as the stars of heaven.

2Pe 1:3 According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:
2Pe 1:4 Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.
Gen 22:17 That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

It is the rare and precious quality of this woman, who we are, God willing, which is the focus of our study today. She is symbolized as consisting of gold and precious stones. These are the symbols of how precious this woman is to her Husband. Notice what we were told of just how precious and how highly thought of by her Husband the Lamb’s wife is earlier in this chapter:

Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Rev 21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Rev 21:12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:

The Lamb’s wife is on “a great and high mountain… having a wall great and high… having the glory of God… and light like a stone most precious…” As unpopular and as elitist as this sounds to the natural man, this really is an exclusive group. This is a few numbered, persecuted, and rejected group of people who are called “the bride” who becomes “the Lamb’s wife”. This bride and this angel which had the seven vials have been demonstrated to be one and the same. Both are those who “read, hear and keep the things written in this prophecy”.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.
Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

He that reads, hears and keeps the things written in this prophecy, is the same as he who overcomes and has the name of the city of my God written upon him. That name is ‘New Jerusalem’. So who are these who read, hear, and keep what is written in this prophecy and have the name New Jerusalem written upon them? It is this angel who is showing us the Lamb’s wife, the New Jerusalem.

Rev 22:8 And I John saw these things, and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which shewed me these things.
Rev 22:9 Then saith he unto me, See thou do it not: for I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book: worship God.

What we are seeing here at the end of this prophecy is what we were told at the beginning. This book is the revelation of Jesus Christ in His few overcoming saints who read, hear and keep the things written in this prophecy; not just the part that pertains to being the Lamb’s precious wife, but all the things written in this prophecy.
When we are told “all things are ours”, what that means is “all things present and all things to come”, the bad before the good, are ours.

1Co 3:21 Therefore let no man glory in men. For all things are yours;
1Co 3:22 Whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all are yours;

In order to obtain “the patience and faith of the saints”, we must first know what is “the body of this death”.

Rom 7:24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?
Rev 13:7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and power was given him over all kindreds, and tongues, and nations.
Rev 13:8 And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
Rev 13:9 If any man have an ear, let him hear.
Rev 13:10 He that leadeth into captivity shall go into captivity: he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword. Here is the patience and the faith of the saints.

These words are written in the prophecy of this book. We are told “Here is the patience and the faith of the saints”. If we are given to understand that the revelation of Jesus Christ entails being overcome by the beast, then Christ’s words “In your patience possess ye your souls” takes on much deeper meaning.

Luk 21:19 In your patience possess ye your souls.
Luk 21:20 And when ye shall see Jerusalem compassed with armies, then know that the desolation thereof is nigh.
Luk 21:21 Then let them which are in Judaea flee to the mountains; and let them which are in the midst of it depart out; and let not them that are in the countries enter thereinto.
Luk 21:22 For these be the days of vengeance, that all things which are written may be fulfilled.

This is exactly what “is foolishness to our natural man”, who wants only to appropriate the positive “things which are written” to himself.

1Co 2:13 Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
1Co 2:14 But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.

What makes Christ’s wife so precious?
It is of utmost importance that we acknowledge that we have an altar at which they who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat.

Heb 13:10 We have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle.

If we disagree with this Truth, and we say within ourselves, ‘All men are destined to be one with Christ and His Father, therefore there is no need to say that they who serve the tabernacle have no right to eat with us’; then the previous verse will be our reward if that is our attitude:

Heb 13:9 Be not carried about with divers and strange doctrines. For it is a good thing that the heart be established with grace; not with meats, which have not profited them that have been occupied therein.

Because we do “have an altar, whereof they have no right to eat which serve the tabernacle”, those who know this to be true, from Christ’s resurrection until the beginning of His millennial rule, are symbolized by the multiple of 12 x 12 x 1000, which is a mere 144,000.

Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.
Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.
Rev 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

If we are not in this select group “being the firstfruits unto God and the Lamb”, then we will be of another group whose experience will be the same as ours, but that experience will be a symbolic thousand years later.

Rev 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;
Rev 7:10 And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb.
Rev 7:11 And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God,
Rev 7:12 Saying, Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
Rev 7:13 And one of the elders answered, saying unto me, What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they?
Rev 7:14 And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Rev 7:15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.
Rev 7:16 They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat.
Rev 7:17 For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

This “great multitude, which no man could number” comes “after this”. It comes after the “manifestation of the sons of God”, after the revelation of “the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb”. It will be “by the Church”, through the firstfruits, that this “great multitude” will be brought to God.

Eph 3:9 And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10 To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Rom 8:19 For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God.
Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

Christ’s wife is as precious to Him as is the wife of any man who demands that all of his children look up to and respect their mother. A spiritually begotten son and a spiritual spouse are one and the same thing. Both are submissive to, and are subject to their head, their Father or their Husband. It is in this sense that the Lamb’s wife is given the power to bring forth, nurture and discipline Christ’s children whose number will be as the stars of heaven and as the sand of the sea shore.
The overcomers of Rev 2:27 are “the bride the Lamb’s wife”, as well as “the manifestation of the sons of God”. It is they who first experience “New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven”, and who then rule with Christ a thousand years upon this earth. These are those who are so precious to their Husband, Christ.

Rev 20:4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

Here is the “judgment [ which is] given unto them… first as the house of God”.

1Co 11:31 For if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged.
1Co 11:32 But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world.

“That we should not be condemned with the world”. That is just how precious is the Lamb’s considers His wife to be. She is precious, and she is special because she is “the firstfruits onto God and the Lamb”.

1Pe 4:17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
Rev 14:4 These [144,000] are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These wereredeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Here is the language Christ has chosen to let us know just how precious we are to Him.

Rev 21:18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.
Rev 21:19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
Rev 21:20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.

How is any precious stone formed? How is gold purified? Every precious stone is formed only by placing rather common substances under severe heat and pressure. It is pressure and heat that turn a lump of common coal into a precious diamond. Rubies, sapphires, and emeralds are all produced in the same way, through heat and pressure upon minerals which are common to that area. The wife of the Lamb will endure fiery trials and the pressure of being hated of all men to become the precious wife of the Lamb, and the mother of His children.
Why are we told “the wall is of Jasper”? The message is that this wall is as pure and as transparent as crystal, which is a rare and precious jasper. But these same words are used to describe the entire city earlier in this same chapter. Being clear and transparent and without any impurities is the nature of the Lamb’s wife.

Rev 21:9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Rev 21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

The Lamb’s bride is “most precious… like a jasper”, and both she and the wall she is within are “clear as crystal”. So too, is the entire city.
“… The city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.” These are the same words used to describe those who fulfill the pouring out of the seven last plagues and who stand upon the “sea of glass mingled with fire”.
That is just how pure and transparent the Lamb’s wife is. It also tells us that Christ’s wife has nothing to hide because His bride knows from whence she was redeemed:

Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.
Rev 14:2 And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps:
Rev 14:3 And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth.

This woman has twelve gates because she is the foundation of the seed through whom all mankind will be brought to God. She has been “redeemed from the earth”, not just for her own salvation. She has been chosen by her Husband to be the spiritual mother of all men of all time. But we have yet another symbol for the fiery trials which make this woman worthy of being the spiritual mother of all spiritual living.

Rev 21:21 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.

We have demonstrated the spiritual significance of the heat and fire required to produce pure gold, but just for the purpose of clarifying the necessity of fiery trials to produce the patience required by all who will follow in the steps of their Husband and Savior, we are now given the symbol of a pearl as the material which forms the twelve foundational gates of this foundational city.
How is a pearl formed? A pearl is formed from one of those very common grains of sand from the sea being placed within an oyster. That grain of sand then irritates the oyster, just as the fiery trials of this life irritate you and me as the Lamb’s wife. The patience we develop to deal with the trials of life, are the beautiful layers of nacre which coat that common grain of sand, until we become a beautiful pearl, large enough to be a gate to the city of our God, the New Jerusalem.

Jas 1:2 My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3 Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.
Jas 1:4 But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.

These twelve pearls, twelve gates and twelve foundations with their precious stones; The clear jasper wall great and high, and pure gold of this city are all Christ. But who “the Christ” is, is what is hidden from the whole world in this revelation of Jesus Christ. This city is those who have been espoused to Christ as a virgin:

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Here is what our Lord Himself tells us should be the value which our mind, if it is His mind, will place on the pearls which make up the twelve gates of this ‘foursquare city’, which we are.

Mat 13:45 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls:
Mat 13:46 Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it.

We must do what the rich young ruler could not do; “Sell all we have” and buy that “pearl of great price”.
Just to demonstrate how much Christ and His Father identify themselves with this city being Christ and His Christ, we are told this of the city which we are told is “the Lamb’s wife”.

Rev 21:22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

“The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it”. How can God and the Lamb be the temple of it, we are told that we are the temple of God, and now we are told this city is the the wife of the Lamb? How can we be “the temple of God”, and at the same time be considered the city with no temple within it? Here is how that is accomplished in the spirit:

Joh 14:18 I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.
Joh 14:19 Yet a little while, and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: because I live, ye shall live also.
Joh 14:20 At that day ye shall know that I am in my Father, and ye in me, and I in you.

The more we come to know Christ and His Father, the more we will begin to see the Truth of these verses:

Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Next week, if the Lord wills, we will finish our study of this 21st chapter of Revelation.

Rev 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.
Rev 21:24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.
Rev 21:25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.
Rev 21:26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.
Rev 21:27 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.