The twelve courses of stone in the foundation of the wall have already been mentioned.  It is here particularly described.  One might suppose that, according to human custom, rougher material would be selected for the foundation.  Not so, however.  The most brilliant and costly gems were chosen to lay these courses.  Nothing cheap nor common had anything to do in the construction of this marvelous city.  It was altogether beyond the reach of men to imitate:  it was God’s own handiwork; and we can not but admire its wondrous beauty.  It is unnecessary to give a minute description of the gems of which these foundation-courses were composed.  They were the most beautiful and costly of which men possess any knowledge.  In appearance they represent various colors of the most delicate shades.  Royal persons wear even the smallest of these gems upon their persons and imagine themselves richly adorned; but in this city of God they appear in such abundance that they are even selected to form the basis, or foundation, of the wall.  “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.”  We have rich necklaces of pearl; but where is the individual that was ever blessed with such a profusion of wealth that he could ornament the gates of a city with pearls?  The gates of the New Jerusalem, however, were not merely ornamented or studded with pearls—­that were a very small thing for her—­but each gate was of one solid pearl.  To conceive the immensity of this representation we must consider the size of the gates required to accommodate the multitudes constantly entering and departing from a city.  To be in proportion to the wall they would have to be of immense size, and also of prodigious strength in order to resist the assaults of enemies, as they would be the first places attacked.  The gate of the temple called Beautiful, mentioned in the Book of Acts, which was in the wall surrounding the temple, is said to have been seventy-five feet high and sixty in width, built of Corinthian brass.  Yet immense as they were, those in the New Jerusalem were each of one solid pearl.  Oh, beautiful city of God, the home of the saints!

The most prominent object within the walls of the ancient Jerusalem was the magnificent temple on Mount Zion.  It was the chief ornament and glory of the city.  In the New Jerusalem, however, no temple is seen.  Alas! is not this a great defect?  What is Jerusalem without a temple where the tribes may go up and worship before the Lord?  Oh, they need no temple in this glorious city of God; for there is one there greater than the temple:  “the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”  This doubtless sets forth the fact that the worship of God is pure and spiritual and of free access to all.  Under the old dispensation the high priest alone, and he but once a year, was permitted to enter the sacred precincts of the Deity as limited to the inner sanctuary of the temple.  Now God’s people need no mediating priest to offer up a special