The Pearly Gates
The Pearly Gates.
“Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Then I, John, saw the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride for her husband… Then He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new!”…And the angel carried us away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and the angel showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. She had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at those gates, and the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel on each gate… The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each individual gate was made of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.” (Revelation 21:1-2, 5, 10, 12, and 21).
So a cowboy met St. Peter at the Pearly Gates, and Peter asked him, “Can you name one noble thing you have done in your life?” The cowboy replied, “Absolutely! I once saw a gang of outlaw bikers attacking a young girl, and I ran over to them, kicked their motorcycles to the ground, and pulled off the nose ring of the leader!” “Wow, that’s impressive! When did you do this great act of valor?” The cowboy said, “Just a couple of minutes ago.”
So a couple in love approach the Pearly Gates and asked St. Peter, “We just died in a tragic car crash, and we were on our way to getting married. Would it be legal if we got married in Heaven? Can we get married here?” Peter said, “Interesting, hold on a minute.” And Peter raced through the gates into heaven. About six weeks later, Peter comes back out of breath, legs shaking, wearing a sweatband, and the couple asked him, “What took you so long? We’ve been waiting here for weeks!” Peter said, “Do you have any idea how long it takes to find a lawyer here?”
(Okay, just one more). So a wealthy man who couldn’t part with his treasures died and came to the Pearly Gates carrying a heavy suitcase. Peter noticed this and asked him, “Why sir, what is that, and why is it so valuable that can’t even part with it?” The rich man replied, “Please, Peter, can I bring this into heaven? The suitcase is full of gold!” St. Peter replied, What? You came all this way just to bring us more pavement?”
Pearly Gate jokes, there’s a million of ’em. There have probably been more Pearly Gate jokes than any other topics that are clean enough to tell in public. These silly jokes shouldn’t distract us from the fact the Pearly Gates are no laughing matter. Those Gates of Pearl in Scripture are altogether serious. Hopefully the following points about these heavenly gates will prove to be something to think about:
(1.) When God introduced John’s vision in Revelation 21, He declared the promise of a new heaven and a new earth, about making all things new. The Greek word “kainos” was used for “new.’ It means qualitatively new, a fresh existence that is superior to anything before it. In other words, a new heaven and a new earth are not simply God’s upgrades of the old heaven and earth. When God says new, He is talking about a whole new dimension, a world never seen or experienced before. This new world defies description, because it is beyond our imagination. Something this new is way beyond something we can understand in human terms. When John had this other-worldly vision, he was trying to describe the indescribable. When the vision brought John through some crack in the universe into another dimension altogether, he was trying to explain things in a way that just might perchance be grasped in our imagination.
(2.) John’s Revelation (Apocalypse, or Uncovering) is therefore full of symbols, metaphors, outrageous descriptions, complex codes, references to the Hebrew Bible. John went through the portal into another world, and he used every literary device, poetic license, and figure of speech he could think of. Very little of John’s visions in Revelation are meant to be taken literally, because everything he witnessed was in another dimension, another reality. And most everything he saw was a picture of something but not the actual thing.
(3.) The New Jerusalem came down from heaven and settled on Mt. Zion, somehow perfecting the old Jerusalem. Its dimensions were proportionally exactly the same as the Holy of Holies in the old Tabernacle. The new holy city from heaven was a perfect cube with four sides, with three Pearl Gates on each side. The gates around the city symbolize that people from all corners of the earth will be coming to the holy city. It doesn’t matter which direction a person is coming from, each person in the Lamb’s Book of Life will find a gateway to heaven. Isn’t it interesting that the heaven coming down from God is a city, and not a restored Garden of Eden. Of course, for all we know this sacred gigantic cube, this New Jerusalem, may contain a thousand restored Gardens.
(4.) Every measurement in this chapter of Revelation 21 is a multiple of twelve. There were twelve Tribes in Israel, and twelve Apostles of Christ. The number of twelve represents the perfect union of all God’s people, all His Chosen people gathered together in perfect harmony. The number twelve is everywhere in this chapter: the walls of the city were 12 x 12 (a perfect cubed square); each side of the city was 12,000 furlongs in length and height (perfectly proportioned); 12 precious jewels, which represented the twelve stones on the breastplate of the Tabernacle’s high priest; 12 walls; 12 foundation stones; 12 Gates of Pearl; 12 angels to guard the Gates; 12 layers to the walls. The number 12 is obviously a symbol, and was not meant to be taken literally. There have been countless attempts to decipher the actual dimensions of this holy city from heaven, but don’t bother. This great city, the New Jerusalem, will be perfect in every way, planned to perfection by our perfect God.
(5.) The Gates of Pearl will remain open at all times… “And in the daytime (for there shall be no night there) its gates shall never be closed.” (Rev. 21:25). In the New Jerusalem, there will never be a need for boundaries, for safety concerns, or protection from enemies at the gates. At each Pearly Gate stands as a watchguard a fierce warrior angel. The New Jerusalem is a party that nobody is able to crash.
(6.) Profound lessons can be learned from the Gates of Pearl in the holy city. A pearl was the most precious material known to humans at that point in the biblical era. To have the invaluable pearl as the gateway one walks through to enter heaven points to the immeasurable worth of the New Jerusalem. You’re walking through an indescribably beautiful and precious Gate? You haven’t seen anything yet! One final picture to be considered, perhaps the most important one… The pearl is formed within a mature oyster when an irritant like a grain of sand, or some foreign particle, or even a wound, settles into the oyster. God has designed the oyster to secrete a material called nacre, which is basically calcium carbonate, over the unwelcome, painful material. And the oyster continues to coat this foreign painful matter with many layers of nacre until it forms a pearl. This pearl is highly valuable because they are so rare. Only one in a million oysters, literally, will eventually yield a pearl. It must be a special pearl oyster, it must have matured for three years, and it must have survived for several more years to even produce that one pearl. That’s how long it takes for that precious pearl to be produced. Many have commented on the beauty that can result from pain, and how the oyster responds to suffering from an offending material by producing something so beautiful and precious. The pearl entrance to the New Jerusalem is an astounding picture of how our entrance into the presence of God in glory is only made possible by the suffering of Christ. Jesus is the oyster, and the pearl is our salvation. As the saints walk through the Pearly gates, what a potent reminder of the Cross, that redemption was costly. And the bigger the pearly gate, the more powerful the image of the immense suffering of Jesus. The pain suffered by Jesus produced a precious pearl, the beautiful experience of union with God and eternal life with Him.
Open Up Them Pearly Gates – YouTube