forty and four cubits" (21:17). What entire security and
moved or overthrown. On these are written "the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb" (21:14), to indicate the nature of this stability and the source whence it comes—as the apostle states it, "built upon the foundation of apostles" (Eph. 2:20). These foundations are "garnished with all manner of precious stones" (21:19), to intimate the surpassing and varied glory of the city. For on earth man takes the commonest and most unsightly stones for foundations, even in his costly buildings. Even in the buildings themselves he never thinks of the jasper or sapphire. Marble is all that he can attain to, even in his mightiest palaces or temples. But here, not the walls or the buildings merely, but the foundations, are of precious stones. How excellent the beauty to those that are within or above! how gorgeous the spectacle to "the nations of the saved" looking up from below! And as, of all things known to man, these gems are the most imperishable and unfading, so must that city itself, set upon foundations such as these, be everlasting in its strength and beauty. It cannot lose its lustre, or take on any stain or dimness in the ages to come.
3. Its walls.—"It had a wall great and high" (21:12), "an hundred and forty and four cubits" (21:17). What entire security and completeness! How compact and perfect! Not as if enemies could threaten or dangers come nigh. These things have passed away. But as in the latter day the earthly Jerusalem is to have walls, which God is to call "salvation" (Is. 26:1; 60:18), though no foe is to come up against her; so the upper Jerusalem is also to have its walls of salvation and glory, for it is the city of the saved and the glorified. That wondrous wall, though not needed for defence, marks off the limits of the city, and proclaims from afar by its gorgeous lustre, "This is the holy city;" for "the building of the wall of it was of jasper" (21:18); bright, yet mild in its brightness, as if surrounded by one perpetual sunset, for the flush of translucent jasper, far surpassing what man calls "dim religious light," must be inexpressibly rich and lustrous, yet mellow to an extent of which earth's suns and sunsets can give us no conception. And the endurance equals the brilliance, for gems are not like the leaf or the flower, fading and corrupting.