Revelation 21:18

The walls appeared to be glistening (cf. Revelation 21:11; Revelation 4:3). The word "material" (Gr. endomesis) means "building in" and suggests that the material on the wall was jasper, not that the wall was solid jasper. Perhaps John meant that the walls were overlaid with this brilliant material, suggesting further the radiance of God’s holy presence. The whole city appeared to shine as a mass of pure gold. The many limestone buildings of old Jerusalem today take on a beautiful golden color in the light of the rising or setting sun, but this is a pale shadow of what the New Jerusalem will look like. Clear glass was the best quality glass in John’s day, so when he compared the gold to clear glass he probably meant that there was no impurity in the city. [Note: Mounce, p. 381.] John apparently described the New Jerusalem by using similes and metaphors to communicate its ineffable glory.