NOTES for Rev 21:9-14

In today’s reading the Apostle John tells us about the Kingdom of God. Yet it is fairly pointless to turn to this text for specific information: you will find almost nothing specific apart from the repeated number twelve. Almost nothing. But here is the most important and most precise information: the new city, the new and transfigured Jerusalem, comes down from heaven from God. This is what matters most. The answer to every question—“What will it be like there?”—is contained in these words: “From God.” And we can imagine it to the extent that we know Him—to the extent that He has succeeded in placing knowledge of Himself within our hearts, to the extent that we are open to Him.