Descriptive language of Revelation?

[Sovereign Grace]

I've been told my whole life that in heaven, there will be gates of pearl, street(s) of gold, a mansion awaiting every believer. But, is all of this to be taken literally? The more I read scripture, the more I lean away from this be an actual occurrence. I'm not denying the eternal state where believers will dwell foir eternity with God, but leaning away from taking that descriptive language in a literal fashion.

However, I'm always open to receiving correction, and if I'm too close to the cliff, someone please drag me away from it.

But, any thoughts and opinions would be mucho appreciado.

 

[JP Wallace]

No. Not to be taken literally, but figuratively - it describes life in perfection in ways that were comprehensible. This is just like the rest of Revelation - is Satan a multiheaded multicrowned dragon? No he is a spiritual being with terribly devasting power and arrogant claims of authority - etc. etc.

 

[Jerusalem Blade]

Hello Willis,

The descriptions given in Revelation 21, for example, of the city of God, New Jerusalem. It is shown — Rev 21:16 KJV — to be 1,400 miles (2,200 km) high, wide, and long. That would be a perect cube, going way up into the atmosphere. But if you consider, there is only one other place in Scripture as being a perfect cube, and that is the holy of holies (1 Kings 6:20 KJV; cf Ezek 41:4 KJV).

This city, then, signifies that the New Jerusalem is itself, in the age to come, planet-wide, the holy of holies where God dwells with His people. The streets of gold (Rev 21:21 KJV), and the river of the water of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev 22:1-2 KJV), with the tree of life on either side of it, would signify the Spirit of God manifesting His presence and glory throughout the new earth. Might there be actual rivers, and actual trees with healing properties? There may, but it is also the poetic Hebrew way of describing perfection and beauty beyond what we can imagine.

I also once thought of it being more literal, but changed my understanding over time.