The Holy City, Commentary · Chapter 21 · Verse 17
Vers. 17.
And he measured the Wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four Cubits.
This measure of the Wall that hereA third measure. he maketh mention of, is also distinct from the former measure, where he is said to measure the City, Gates, and Wall; and it refers to such a Wall, or to such a part of the Wall in such a place: for I find that though the Wall of this City in general is that which shall incompass the New Jerusalem round; yet this Wall is in some place, and for some reason, of another manner and measure than the Wall is in general, as it compasseth round the City; which part of the Wall is called the broad Wall, the Wall upon which even half of the People might walk compleat at once, Neh. 3. 8. & 12. 38.
But to trace out the business in the Type, and so to come to its answer in the Anti-Type: I find that a little distance from Jerusalem there was a place called Tophet, which place was counted2 Kin. 23. 10. prophane, unholy, or defiled; I find also that this unclean unholy place, was a figureIsa. 30. 33. of Hell it self: Now mark, I find by the Scripture, that against this Tophet, this unholy and prophane place, was the broad Wall of the City for the defence ofA broad Wall against Tophet, to keep the Sanctuary. the Sanctuary, erected, and reared up: He measured, saith the Prophet, by the four sides, and it had a Wall rouud about, five hundred Reeds long, and five hundred Reeds broad, TO MAKE A SEPARATION BETVVEEN THE SANCTUARY AND THE PROPHANE PLACE, Ezek. 42. 20. Which VVall could not be that Wall which compassed the City, because it was but five hundred Reeds long: for take the measure of this Wall in its largest measure, and it is (if you count a Reed for that which we count a Pole) but twelve Furlongs, which compass will scarce go round many Market-Towns; especially, if together with this, you consider the breadth of the Wall, whose breadth is as large as its length; wherefore now there is not room enough for a City so big as a Cotage to stand in the midst thereof: I speak this, to shew you that the Wall in this place is not the Wall that goeth round about the City, but the Wall that is placed just between the Sanctuary and Tophet, or Hell it self: Now though Ezekiel and John do differ touching their count about the thickness of this Wall, it is not so much to signifie the Walls are not one and the same, as to shew us that the one, to wit, Ezekiel's Wall, was to incompass a worldly Sanctuary, but John's to incompass a spiritual and heavenly; wherefore Ezekiel's must be of so many Reeds long to go round about the material Sanctuary, as a Type; but John comes more to the spirit of the matter, and sheweth us what the Sanctuary, Wall, and the like, should mean: for by Sanctuary we are to understand (even in the Old Testament) a place of Safety andEzek. 11. 16. Security, which was a Type of Christ:Heb. 6. 18 Now in that Tophet did stand against the Sanctuary in the letter, it signifies that Hell it self is bent against all those that take shelter in Christ; but to no purpose, for in the very face of Tophet, even between it and our place of sanctuary, is fixed an invincible and impregnable mighty Wall, to keep in safety those that have fled to Christ for shelter. Now, I say, in that John tells us thisWhy this Wall is said to be 144 Cubits. Wall is an hundred forty four Cubits, (and waves the manner of the measure of Ezekiel) it is to shew us that this Wall is for the safety of the hundred forty four thousand that have taken sanctuary in Christ; that is, all the holy and truly gracious Souls that are with him on the Mount Rev 14. 1, 2, 3.Zion, having his Fathers Name written in their Foreheads; both Numbers, I say,Rev. 7. being twelve times twelve, implying a sufficient safety for all that are sincerely and truly gratious.
And now to bring down the matter to our New Jerusalem-state: for though it be true in all Ages, that there is between those that have taken sanctuary in Christ, and the bottomless pit, an invincible and mighty Wall of Grace and heavenly Power, and of the Merits of Christ, to save to the utmost all and every one thatHeb. 7. 25 26. are thus fled to him for safety; yet there is some thing in it more then this, for those that come into the days and state of the New Jerusalem: For, I say, this Wall being it that makes a separation between the Sanctuary and the prophane place in general, and yet being spoken of as a thing extraordinary, and accompanying the state of this new City onelyonly; it implieth that at this day the SaintsThe profit of the broad Wall. shall have that shelter by this Wall from all the force of Hell, and the damned Spirits that now from Tophet afflict them, that they never had before; and therefore you find at the begining of the thousand Years, which (as I conceive) is the time of the building of this City, a mighty Angel is said to come down from Satan bound as Deceiver Persecutor, and a Temptor to blasphe my and unbelief.Heaven, to lay hold of the Dragon, that old Serpent, called the Devil and Satan, and to bind him a thousand Years; which done, he casts him into the bottomless pit, and there shuts him up, to the end he should deceive the Nations no more, the effect of wch, will be not onelyonly a delivering of the Saints from outward persecution, but alsoRev. 20. 1, 2, 3. from being any more assailed with either wicked and erronious Doctrine, or fierce and fiery darts from the Prince of Darkness, which now many of them are so much anoyed and afflicted with: now the Church will be free from those hellish suggestions to blaspheme, to despair, and the like, that her Members do yet most dreadfully and sadly meet with: for observe, this old Tempter is said to be tied up, or to be cast into the bottomless Pit, first, as he is a Dragon, under which name he goeth in this Book, in his persecuting the Church, Rev. 12. Secondly, he is said to be shut up, as he goeth under the name of a Serpent, under which name he went when he fomented his devillish and damning seducing Doctrine to our first Parents; the which the Spirit expresly seems to relate unto, and therefore calls him that OLD Serpent; that OLD Serpent that deceived us at the first, Gen. 3. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. Thirdly, he is said to be shut up also, as he goeth under the name of the Devil and Satan, under which Name he goeth commonly in the New-Testament, when he provoketh and stirreth up our lusts, and when he labours to drive us into all manner of unbelief, distrust, despair, and so consequently into murmurings and blasphemy against God, Mat. 4. 1, 5, 8. Luk. 4. 2, 3, 5, 6. Act. 5. 1, 2, 3. Ephes. 6. 11. 2 Cor. 2, 7, 11. Wherefore, I say, that at the day that this Wall is set up in all its glory, and when it performs every part and piece of its office to the full, then shall Satan be bruised under our Feet indeed, andRom. 16. 20. then shall Jerusalem be called, The joyous City, and her People, A Joy; for her Rev. 21. 4former Sorrows shall be past and forgot.
If thou still objectest, But I have yetObject. an evil heart, and therefore if I be not rid of that at that day (should I live till then) why though there should be no Devil to afflict me, I shall feel and meet with sorrow and trouble enough.
I answer thee: First, I dare not sayAnsw. that at this day thou shalt be in every sence without thy evil heart, in the midst of all this glory, tempted Soul: Yet I say thus much to thee;
First, Where there is no Devil toThe benefit of having Satan thus bound & tied up. tempt, though the Saints will yet be imperfect, and come short of a glorified state; yet they by his absence will be delivered from many dreadful vexing and burning hellish Darts, that will otherwise confound and afflict the Soul like Arrows, whose heads are poisoned: Christians have a great deal of ease, when God doth (even at this day) with-hold the Devil for a season, (though yet they have their own lusts) over they have when the Devil and their own Lusts are suffered to meet and work together: yea, the Lord Jesus himself, who had no sin, yet in the Temptation was fearfully handled and afflicted with the Devil; though all the while, I say, he kept him at staves end, and did not suffer him in the least to anoy his Person; and therefore 'tis said that when he was in the Wilderness Mark 1. 12, 13.in the conflict, the Angels came to minister to him: at the time of his AgonyCol. 2. 14, 15. also, in which Agony doubtless SatanLuk. 23. 44. had a very great hand to afflict him, you see his complaint, how that he was soreMark 14. 33, 34. amazed, and exceeding sorrowful, even unto death, being so laden with heaviness and sorrow, that he was scarce able to stand or wag under the burden of it. Satan even from himself, besides the workings of our own Lusts, doth do us wonderful injury, and hits our Souls with many a fiery Dart, that we think comes either from our selves, or from Heaven, and God himself; but now by this Wall, this broad Wall, this sorrow will be cut off.
Secondly, Again, when Satan is thus tied up, we shall, together with this Mercy,Corruptions shall now also be greatly weakened receive such a plentiful pouring forth of the Holy Ghost, that though there will remain in us still the remainders of our Corruptions; yet by the plentiful indwellings of the holy Ghost, and the Joy and Peace and heavenly sweetness thereof, these things shall lie like lean, withered, blasted things: the reason of that power and that strength that our Lusts have to this day in our hearts, it is because we are so lean and thin and weak in the things of God: strong Grace makes Corruptions weak, and strikes them thorow, laying them at the point of death, always gasping for life: thus it was with Moses, he had such Grace in his Soul, and such Communion with God, that though he had yet a Body of Sin within him, it was a rare thing for him to see his wretchedness; that is, to see it pirt, lively, and powerful in him: indeed God saith, That upon the Land of his Numb. 11 14, 15.People shall come up Bryars and Thorns; yea, upon all the Houses of Joy in the joyous City, because the Palaces shall be forsaken, the multitude of the City shall be left, the Forts and Towers shall be for Dens for ever, a Joy of wild Asses, a Pasture of Flocks; until the Spirit be poured on us Isa. 32. 13 14, 15.from on high, and the Wilderness be a fruitful Field, &c. And then the Lord shall defend the Inhabitants of Jerusalem, and he that is feeble among them at that day shall Zec. 12. 8.be as David, and the House of David shall be as God, even as the Angel of the Lord before him: The Inhabitants shall not say, Isa. 33. 24I am sick; the People that dwell therein, shall be forgiven their Iniquity.
And he measured the Wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four Cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the Angel.
According to the measure of a Man] The Man Christ Jesus: For the measure of this City, or the Golden Reed with which this City is thus measured, it is His †Joh. 12. 48., his Word and Law of the New-Testament:Joh. 5. 27 All Judgment is committed into the hand of the Son; and God hath given him authority to execute Judgment also, because he is the Son of man.
—According to the measure of a Man, that is, of the Angel.
This Angel is one of the Seven thatRev. 21. 9 had the seven last Plagues to execute upon the Man of Sin, and yet he saith, the measure is according to the measure of a man; the meaning is, That the City, the New Jerusalem, is to be builded according to the VVord of Christ; but yet by his VVord as it is in the hand of his Angels, that is, his Messengers and Servants; of which Servants, the chief will be those that are his Instruments …o pour forth the seven Vials full of … ven last Plagues upon the Antich…n Harlot: For they, with their Plagues, will both destroy what standeth in impiacable opposition, and will subject the rest, and bring them into a correspondency with the Word and Will of God (as I have shewed) Whence note, That they of his Servants that God shall use to pour forth his last and most dreadful Plagues upon the Whore, they are they that God will use to shew us the Pattern of this holy City: Or thus, They that can tell how to plague the Whore, they can tell how to measure this City: The righteous men, they shall judge them (that is the Antichristian Harlot, with her wicked and adulterous Daughters) after the manner of Adulteresses, and after the manner of Women that shed blood; because they are adultrous, and blood is in their hands, Ezek. 23. 45.
Thus much touching the frame of this City, its Wall, Gates, and Foundations, with the measure of each: And now it remains that I speak of the Glory of them.