Revelation 21:9-13 – One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.13 There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
“On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.” But who are the twelve tribes of Israel (Jacob)? According to Genesis 35:23-26, Exodus:1-4 and Chronicles 2:1-2 the twelve tribes of Israel are the twelve sons of Israel: Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulon, Joseph, and Benjamin. Israel also adopted Joseph’s first two sons (Ephraim and Manasseh) that were born to him before Israel came to Egypt to see that his beloved Joseph was still alive. Israel did that so that these two could also receive an inheritance from Israel (Genesis 48:3-22). So the sons of Israel increases from twelve to fourteen. Levi was not to receive the land inheritance. Since He was the priest of the Israelites to God, their inheritance were the offerings by fire to the Lord (Joshua 13:14). Ephraim and Manasseh were what was sometimes called they half tribes. So, since Joseph also got his full inheritance, the tribe of Joseph basically got a double portion. So the tribes who receive territory in the promised land were Reuben, Simeon, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh. The twelve tribes of Israel listed as part of the one hundred forty-four thousand in Revelation 7:4-8 does not include either Dan or Ephraim. We can be sure that John was well aware of who were the natural and adopted sons of Israel and we can be sure that he accurately recorded what he heard. He heard the names from an angel that had the seal of the living God. So God gave the names that were going to come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord and be part of the one hundred forty-four thousand. Here in Revelation 21 it is not specified which tribes will have their names written on the gates of Israel. Will it be the list from the Old Testament scriptures listed above? Or will it be the names listed in Revelation 7? It would seem most likely to be the list given in Revelation 7.
There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west.” Commonly the cardinal directions are referred to in order as North, East, South and West. Here they are referred to as East, North, South and West. In the Bible the East seems to have sometimes represented safety and security as that Garden of Eden was in the East (Genesis 2:8). Israel is in the East. However it could be said it represented a condition of alienation as it was the direction of travel after exile from Eden (Genesis 3:24, 11:2-4). It sometimes represented danger (Psalm 48:7). The North symbolized permanent or eternal. Perhaps because the polar stars were permanently visible? Also the North was considered the direction of the God’s celestial dwelling (Isaiah 14:13 (NKJV & ESV), Job 37:22). However like the East, the North, represented by the left hand (If one faces the East the North is on the left) could be a symbol of disaster. Jeremiah 1:14 and Ezekiel 38:6 relates that disaster and enemies are poured out of the North. The South is primarily represented as negative. Yet, it is represented by the right hand which is positive. A negative is to the South of Israel was wilderness, where not much prospered. To the South was Egypt that opposed God’s power and oppressed His people. But is also the place from which God used Moses to set His people free. The West, likewise seems to have both positive and negative representations. To the West was the sea, which represented evil and death (Daniel 7:2-3). In Numbers 3:23 the word translated here as West, or westward, comes from an unused root that has a meaning sea, such as the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, or the dead Sea. More specifically, the roaring sea. Considering the “roaring sea’ it would be easy how the people of that time thought the sea, which was West of them, to be something frightening and foreboding. However, Jonah was swallowed by a creature from the sea and brought back from the dead, as it was, to life by the grace of God.
Wondering out loud, think first to the East where man’s beginnings on earth are found. Look next to the North where that represents the celestial dwelling of God. Next to the South that brings us the remembrance that when eyes are not on God then correction comes. But correction and deliverance came from God who both corrects in love and delivers in love. To the West is a place of unknown and to those who do not look to God, a scary place. Yet, in the end, God delivers all who respond to His love.
“The wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” Jesus is the cornerstone (Isaiah 28:16, Psalm 118:22, Zechariah 10:4, Matthew 21:42, 1 Peter 2:6-7) on which the foundation is anchored. It is appropriate that the names of the Apostles are on the foundation as it is Jesus as the cornerstone and rock that they taught us (1 Corinthians 3:11).
God acknowledges all faithfulness and obedience even though it is only by His power and His enabling that they are done. It is the epitome of being humbled to receive a reward from God. It seems impossible to conceive. All we are, all we shall be, all we have done, are all from the goodness and love of God. But oh, how wondrous will be the day, how we long for it, when we shall acknowledge in person what we now know, and then will fully realize, that all good that comes to us and that we do, begins in the mind and heart of God. Oh what a day to see and worship God in person! Praise God! Family that is the day that our hope disappears and the reality of eternity with God becomes tangible. Praise God!
Psalm 150:6 – Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!
Micah 7:7 – But as for me, I watch in hope for the Lord, I wait for God my Savior; my God will hear me.
Micah 6:8 – He has shown You, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord require of You but to do justly, to love mercy, And to walk humbly with Your God.