The passage
      v9. There is a sense where Revelation is the tale of two cities, the Harlot and the Bride. The angelic visitor had shown John the harlot-city and its end, and now he shows him the bride-city. The bride of Christ is the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the assembled people of God, the redeemed. John is using picture-language throughout the book and here the metaphors are striking indeed.
      v10. The city represents the people of God in all their splendor assembled before the throne. It is the glorious realization of the kingdom of God - a people of God under the rule of God. The city is "come down out of heaven from God." John means by this that it is a creation of God; it proceeds from God.
      v11. John goes on to describe the city using picture metaphors denoting the assembled people of God, the body of Christ. The city radiates brilliantly, for it radiates the glory of God.
      v12-13. Its walls are high and its gates protected by angels - ie. it is impregnable and thus can no longer be violated by the powers of darkness. The names of the twelve tribes of Israel are on its gates, for it is the fulfillment of Israel's hope. The city is the final realization of the kingdom of God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
      v14. The foundation of the city is the apostles. It rests on the Word of God mediated by Christ and preserved for the church by the apostles.
      v15-21. John sees an angel setting out to measure the city. This measuring is to define its grandeur and strength and thus, the security of the city for all who resides within, cf. Zech.2:1-13. Its size is 12 by the cube of 10 which is the perfect number. This indicates that it is the sanctuary of God as well as the habitation of all Israel. Its walls are thick and thus, impregnable. They are made of Jasper, a God-like jewel. They are covered by many precious stones, displaying the presence of God within the walls. The city glows; its gates are of pearl and its streets of gold. The splendor of the city is glorious indeed.

Images of darkness and light
      A classic image of evil is found in the story of Lot's stay in Sodom. "Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the Lord, like the land of Egypt, toward Zoar....... So Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan." He chose the easy path and soon found himself within the city of evil - sucked in and compromised. His daughters were about to marry men of Sodom. He nearly had to give them to a crowd to spare the angels of the Lord, and when the city was in its death-throws, Lot "hesitated" in his escape. In the escape, "Lot's wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt" - she had yearned for the ease of the city of evil.
      The book of Revelation images the difficulty of dwelling in both Babylon and Jerusalem. Like Lot of old, we must flee Sodom without looking back, we must disengage. There must be a renunciation of the one to experience the other. We must leave Babylon to enter Jerusalem. The seductive nature of the "whore" and her determined abuse of the "Bride of Christ", makes renunciation the only option for the children of God.
      Like Lot, most of us find ourselves living within the secular city and dependent upon it for our existence. Again like Lot, we don't find ourselves under a direct threat from the State. The dangers we face are more subtle than that. In the West, the secular State is increasingly socialist, hedonist and humanist. We face a society with new puritanical values in education, vocation and recreation. As if planned by the powers of darkness, the very business of living locks us into the productive and consuming cycle - a lifetime of home repayments, a life "sold to the man."
      The vision of John must be our vision. We must look beyond the Whore of Babylon to the Holy City and so survive in the present age of shadows. Such a vision would certainly encourage us if we were undergoing persecution, as were the Christians in John's day. Yet, our problem is not that we are violated by the State, rather that we are gently sucked into the games of the secular city. We cannot be loyal to two cities; we will end up loving the one and hating the other. The city of Babylon claims our all, but the city of God claims our all as well. Which do we choose to give our loyalty to? It is when we see the glory of the Bride of Christ that we are greatly encouraged to put aside the glories of this age.
      Living as members of the city of God will maximize our experience of God's love found in the created order, the lives of our family, church and friends, and in his Spirit-filled Word. The glory of the city helps us to live with what we have rather than expend everything on what we desire.

The imagery of the city
      It is difficult to draw definite conclusions from the pictures painted by John. There are those who would take the description of the Holy City literally. Here is the heavenly city of God in which all his people reside. The city is 1500 miles long, wide and high, and it is possibly in heaven, but more likely has come down somewhere in Palestine. Just as prophets like Ezekiel did not want us to take their description of the new temple in a literal way, even less so does John want us to take his vision literally. So it is metaphorical, but then how do we rightly understand the metaphors?
      It is not easy to understand the images in Revelation. We are best to generalize the pictures rather than become too specific in our interpretation. For example, in v19-20 we are given the description of the foundations of the walls of the city covered in precious stones. The stones are listed for us - twelve types. Now what do we make of this? If it is a metaphor, what is it a description of? We know that there is some link in the list of stones with the signs of the Zodiac. They are given in the reverse order as the sun passes by the star signs. What do we make of this? We could say something like: the city of God reverses all known human reasoning. We also know that the stones are very similar to the ones on the High Priest's breastplate, Exodus 27:17-20. So we could reason that here is the fulfillment of the high-priestly dress which would indicate something like: the High Priest is now caught up in the city - ie. access to God is open to all who are part of the new community in the heavenlies. Clearly it is not easy to understand the images of the book and we are therefore, best to generalize rather than be too specific.

v9
      thn gunaika (h) "the wife [of the lamb]" - In Western thinking a bride can't be a wife, but in Eastern thinking the betrothed is all but married. The image of God's people as a wife to the Lord has both Old and New Testament precedents.

v10
      aphnegken (apoferw) aor. "he carried [me] away" - We might say: "I was possessed and saw as in a vision."
      epi oroV mega kai uJyhlon "to a great mountain" - onto a mountain great and high. Note the parallel with Ezekiel 40:2. The bride-city is built (believers gather) on a high hill, typically the place where God meets his people.
      thn aJgian adj. "holy" - pertaining, belonging to God
      katabainousan (katabainw) part. "coming down" - descending. The sense is: proceeds from God, therefore, of God's design.

v11
      fwsthr (hr hroV) "brilliance" - radiance, a light-giving body. "Glory" is again intended, imaging the radiance of the Lord's Shechinah glory - shining with his brilliant presence.
      timiwtatw/ (timioV) surp. adj. "very precious" - "Precious", but in the superlative, as here, "rare". Note, jasper represents the divine appearance, 4:3, so the city reflects divine glory.

v12
      teicoV mega kai uJyhlon "a great high wall" - a wall great and high. The sense is probably "a very high wall", ie. it is secure; it images God's protection of his people, or as Zechariah put it, there is no wall, for the Lord is a wall of protection for his people. Note how the imagery reflects both Zechariah and Ezekiel's description of the new Jerusalem.

v13
      The order of the compass points is not significant as they are different in different cultures. All the tribes are covered, covering all the corners of the world. The city is open to all.

v14
      qemeliouV (oV) "foundations" - Probably "foundation stones" are intended, great stones upon which the wall is built. So, the wall of protection rests, no longer on Israel's patriarchs, but upon the apostles. Is this about building on the apostolic tradition of Christ's words?
      ep autwn "on them" - The Greek is not explicit, but the intention probably is that each stone carries the name of one of the apostles.

v15
      oJ lalwn "the angel who talked [with me]" - the one speaking. "Angel" is intended.
      iJna metrhsh/ thn polin kai ...... "to measure the city, its gates and its walls" - The intention is something like: "in order to obtain the dimensions of the city from the outside."

v16
      stadiwn dwdeka ciliadwn "12,000 stadia" - stadia twelve thousand. Literally 1,500 miles, but it is a figurative number, using the base 12 by the cube of 10, the perfect number, representing God's people, and extended indefinitely. The sense "infinitely large" is intended.
      to mhkoV kai to platoV kai to uJyoV authV isa estin "as wide and high as it is long" - the length and the breadth and the height of it equal is. In simple terms the city is "a cube" (some have suggested a pyramid), as was the holy of holies in the temple, which of course implies, since there is no temple in the city, that the city is the temple.

v17
      - "thick" - John doesn't actually tell us whether the measurement is for the height, or the thickness of the wall. If height, it is only about 66 metres, which is a very low wall for a very tall city.
      metron anqrwpou "by man's measurement" - measurement of man. The measurements are human, not some special angelic measure.

v18
      endwmhsiV (iV ewV) "was made" - foundation. Sometimes used of "building materials" and that is obviously the meaning here. Lit. "the building materials/construction of the wall of it jasper." Again, this is the divine jewel, giving a red glow. So, like the city, the wall glows with divine radiance.
      oJmoion uJalw/ kaqarw/ "as pure as glass" - like glass pure. Clean or pure, but possibly in this context, clear, ie. it refracts the red glow. It is also possible that the clarity of reflection is intended. The gold is so pure, so highly refined, that it reflects.

v19-20
      panti "with every" - every. With all kinds of, with every different kind of
      timiw/ adj. "precious" - precious. "Beautiful" and "expensive" are other possibilities.
      oJ qemelioV oJ protoV iaspiV "The first foundation was jasper" - the foundation first jasper. The NIV implies that the foundation stone is made of jasper. The Greek can certainly be read this way and seems best, but it can be translated "the first foundation stone was adorned with jasper."
      Numerous interpretations have been drawn from the 12 precious stones. It should at least be noted that they represent the jewels on the high priest's breastplate inscribed with the tribes of Israel, Ex.28:17ff, cf Ezk.28:13 LXX. It has also been noted that the order of the jewels aligns with the signs of the Zodiac on Egyptian and Arabian monuments, but with the sun progressing in reverse. The image of the brilliance of the night sky touching the earth, adorning the city, may be in John's mind.