Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 21:2

ἐκ =origin, ἀπὸ = originator. This conception of the new Jerusalem as messiah's bride in the latter days is an original touch, added by the prophet to the traditional Jewish material (cf. Volz, 336 f.). In 4 Esd. 6:26 (Lat. Syr.) “the bride shall appear, even the city coming forth, and she shall be seen who is now hidden from the earth”; but this precedes the 400 years of bliss, at the close of which messiah dies. In En. xc. 28 f. a new and better house is substituted for the old, while in 4 Esd. 9 11. the mourning mother rather suddenly becomes “a city builded” with large foundations (i.e., Zion). These partial anticipations lend some colour to Dalman's plea that the conception of a pre-existent heavenly Jerusalem was extremely limited in Judaism, and that John's vision is to be isolated from the other N.T. hints (see reff.). For a fine application of the whole passage, see Ecce Homo, ch. 24. The vision conveys Christian hope and comfort in terms of a current and ancient religious tradition upon the new Jerusalem (cf. Charles on Apoc. Bar. iv. 3). The primitive form of this conception, which lasted in various phases down to the opening of the second century, was that the earthly Jerusalem simply needed to be purified in order to become the fit and final centre of the messianic realm with its perfect communion between God and man (cf. Isaiah 60; Isaiah 54:11 = Tob 13:16-3, Ezekiel 40-48, En. x. 16 19, xxv. 1, Ps. Sol. 17:25, 33, Ap. Bar. xxix, xxxix. xl, lxxii, lxxiv, 4 Esd. 7:27 30, 12:32 34, etc.). But alongside of this, especially after the religious revival under the Maccabees, ran the feeling that the earthly Jerusalem was too stained and secular to be a sacred city; its heavenly counterpart, pure and pre-existent, must descend (so here, after En. xc. 28, 29, Ap. Bar. xxxii. 3, 4, Test. Daniel 5, etc.). In rabbinic theology, the vision of the heavenly Jerusalem was taken from Adam after his lapse, but shown as a special favour to Abraham, Jacob and Moses (cf. Ap. Bar. iv). The Christian prophet John not only sees it but sees it realised among Christian people a brave and significant word of prophecy, in view of his age and surroundings.

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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

Revelation 21:2

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