Today’s reading is Revelation 21.
A Gold City with Bejeweled Walls
New Jerusalem, we are told, was as a bride adorned for her husband. When described as a city, that gets presented as a radiant city of light, with jasper walls, and streets of gold. Notice, the city itself is also described as “pure gold, clear as glass.”
Then we read the foundations of the walls are adorned with all kinds of jewels: jasper, sapphire, agate, emerald, onyx, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, amethyst. What a shining array.
What significance does this bejeweled description have? If any? Are we simply to be awed at the beauty, wealth, and splendor of the city? Perhaps. However, I think we are supposed to draw connections to another ancient picture.
The Priest’s Golden Breastplate
According to Exodus 28:15-30 and 39:8-21, the high priest was to wear a golden breastplate adorned with 12 stones. Each stone was to have a name of one of the Israelite tribes engraved on it. The stones were sardius, topaz, carbuncle, emerald, sapphire, diamond, jacinth, agate, amethyst, beryl, onyx, jasper. They were to be set in gold filigree.
We find a very similar list of stones in Ezekiel 28:13. In this verse, Ezekiel compares the king of Tyre to Adam as a priest in the garden and declares “every precious stone was your covering, sardius, topaz, diamond, beryl, onyx, jasper, sapphire, emerald, and carbuncle; and crafted in gold were your settings and your engravings” (ESV).
Admittedly, these lists of jewels set in gold are not exactly the same as the jewels set in the golden New Jerusalem with gates labeled for the twelve tribes of Israel. However, there is enough overlap to draw a connection. Comparing the Greek terms in Revelation 21 with the Greek of the Septuagint translation of the Hebrew scriptures, we find the following overlap: jasper, sapphire, emerald, carnelian, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, amethyst. Two-thirds of the stones are the same.
A Priestly Headdress
In addition to the breastplate, the high priest was also supposed to wear a special headdress. According to Exodus 28:36-38 and 39:30-31, the high priest wore a turban with a name plate on it. The name plate was inscribed with “Holy to the LORD.”
According to Revelation 22:4, the citizens of New Jerusalem are the ones sealed with the name of the Lord on their foreheads. We are not really surprised by this, are we? After all, this city is made up of a kingdom of priests (see Revelation 1:6; 5:10: 20:6). They are the same people who in Revelation 7:15 serve the Lord night and day in his temple. That is, they are priests.
Priestly Cities
In Joshua 20-21, when the Promised Land was divided and allotted among the twelve tribes, the Levites didn’t receive an inheritance per se. The Lord was their inheritance. However, they were given cities throughout the allotments of the other tribes. Some of these cities were set up as cities of refuge.
Someone who had accidentally killed another person could flee to a city of refuge and find protection. If the trial decided they did indeed kill accidentally instead of by murder, they could stay in the city of refuge until the death of the high priest. When the high priest died, they were free to leave the city.
Our golden bejeweled city full of priests is precisely that kind of city. It is the priestly city of refuge. We who have sinned, having washed our robes in the blood of the Lamb are able to dwell in the city and find refuge. The accuser and avenger cannot harm us while we stay in that city. Of course, our high priest lives forever. We will live and reign there forever. But why would we want to leave that city?
In fact, that is precisely part of the problem in Revelation. Some of the Christians were stepping their toes into Babylon. Rather than staying strictly in the measured and protected city of God, the priestly city of refuge, New Jerusalem, they wanted to dwell, at least part time, in that other city. But know this, when the “manslayer” leaves the city while the high priest lives, death is the only outcome.
We have found the city built by God. We have come to the eternal High Priest who is the sacrifice for our sins. We have come to the priestly city of refuge. If we dwell there now, we will be blessed to dwell there forever under the watchful care and protection of our everlasting High Priest.
Praise the Lord!
Tomorrow’s reading is Revelation 21.
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PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family
How does Revelation 21 prompt or improve your hope in God?
Read the Bible 