Reading Revelation has put something interesting in my mind.

Verse 18 of chapter 21 says (NASB), ‘...the city was pure gold, like clear glass,’

I am intrigued by the language here. Is it describing a new kind of gold in the new heavens and new earth, or is it giving a new dimension to this earth that will be restored? We all know about gold. Gold is the kind of metal you would want to be pure, and the way to purify it is to put it through a refining process, whereby the gold is put into a furnace and melted, and any impurities rise to the top and are skimmed off the metal, so when it cools it is more pure. This is usually repeated to make sure the gold is as pure as can be. Parallels have been drawn between this process and the things God puts us through in our Christian walk.

MacArthur comments on this verse saying, ‘unlike earth’s gold, this gold will be transparent so the overpowering radiance of God’s glory can refract and glisten through the entire city.’ I am in the habit of disagreeing with John MacArthur, because it’s something I’ve become used to. He isn’t always wrong, none of us are always wrong, but I find that, particularly in the study notes he’s produced on the book of Revelation, he takes too much time trying to interpret what it means, and not enough time applying what it says, to life, as Scripture is intended (2 Tim. 3:16).

I hasten to believe that his interpretation of this verse is something of a get out for the amount you could write on this, and some of you may already be seeing where I am taking this. How do I put this? Gold, as it is, will be most pure when restoration has taken full force. It will not be transparent, as MacArthur says, because gold is not transparent. To say it is like clear glass is important to see the context of the city it is representing. The new city, the new Jerusalem, will be filled with God’s glory (something that cannot be seen in it’s fullness right now or we would all die), so full of it that there will be no night. It will always be day. As it says in 21:23 ‘the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.’

I agree, in some way, with MacArthur’s note, that the gold refracts, or reflects, the radiance of the glory of God. I want to suggest that, in fact, where gold is seen simply as metal, and could be getting in the way of God’s natural splendour, gold was truly created for the glory of God. It represents His glory, and royalty, and reflects it as His glory shines upon it. Why, then, does John refer to gold as being clear like glass? This becomes simpler as we work through the text. It is like glass because where God is not directly shining His full glory in the city it is reflected in the presence of pure gold which makes up the city. The city of New Jerusalem is made up of representations of God’s glory, while also filled with the glory of God. Can you see, now, why I would say that like clear glass would mean, instead, that, like a window that has been painted over by the very view that is seen behind it, so the gold of the city fully represents the glory of God which is inside the city.

What if we are gold? We are, aren’t we? Precious to God, and kings to God by His adopting nature. He purifies us, over and over, by our circumstances, making us from ore to precious jewelry. And we bear His image. We reflect His glory in our lives, by the very fact we are overcoming the world by the word of our testimonies and the blood of the lamb. God has been revealing His character as one who would have us go through tough circumstances to build our inner self to someone that does greater things in revealing His character. We are that gold which in some way, because we are not yet fully sanctified, reflect His very presence, like a sheet of glass in front of Him. Jesus did a much better job than I, or any of us, as He was the visible image of the invisible God. But, of course, He did a better job, He is God. He was tempted in every way and didn’t do one thing out of step. I’m glad He went first, modeled how to be a true worshipper, showed how to live empowered by the Holy Spirit, so that, when we take centre stage before God (and only God), we can live like Him. And we will one day be like Him, for we will see Him as He is.

Be gold, guys. You’re precious to Him.