Chapter X — On the mystical gate of the city of God

Next we must consider the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem. And indeed it is the common interpretation of the commentators that by the gates the same Apostles are meant; in which interpretation they have followed St. Augustine in his exposition of the eighty-sixth Psalm. But St. John in the Apocalypse, when he spoke of the gates, made mention of twelve Angels and of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel, whose names he said were written on the twelve gates of the city of God (Rev. 21); he did not even name the Apostles in that passage. Yet the opinion of St. Augustine, and of those who have followed him, is not false: for St. John speaks mystically, not as the letter sounds — as a prophet, not as a historian — and that whole description of his is most full of mystical meanings. The land of promise was, by the consent of all, a figure of the heavenly city. To whom was the promise of that land first made? To Abraham; for so God speaks to Abraham in the book of Genesis: All the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever (Gen. 13). And the Apostle in his Epistle to the Galatians says: To Abraham were the promises made, and to his seed; and a little further on: God gave it to Abraham by promise (Gal. 3). The heir of Abraham was Isaac alone, Ishmael being excluded, who was the son of the bondwoman, as Scripture says: The son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the free woman (Gen. 21). The heir of Isaac was Jacob alone, his brother Esau being excluded, who sold his birthright (Gen. 25); hence Malachi says: I have loved Jacob, but have hated Esau (Mal. 1). Which sentence the Apostle repeats in his Epistle to the Romans (Rom. 9). The heirs of Jacob were all his sons, who were twelve, none being excluded. And so the land of promise was divided among the twelve tribes of Israel, as can be understood from the book of Joshua (Josh. 13, 14, 15, and following). This, then, is the reason why St. John in the Apocalypse said that on the twelve gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel: namely because the gate by which the land of promise was entered was the right of inheritance, which belonged to all the sons of Israel and to them alone. But, as we were saying a little before, the Apostle John speaks mystically, and by the twelve tribes of Israel are understood the true Israelites, not according to the flesh but according to spirit and faith, and accordingly the twelve Apostles and their spiritual sons. For, as St. Paul plainly teaches in the Epistle to the Romans: All are not Israelites that are of Israel; neither are all they that are the seed of Abraham, children (Rom. 9). And a little further on he compares Israel to a tree, many of whose branches were broken off because of unbelief, and others were grafted in because of faith. For thus the Gentiles converted to the faith began to be sons of Israel, and very many of the Jews ceased to be true Israelites. St. Augustine demonstrates and explains all these things at length in his Epistle to Asellicus, in which he speaks thus: "Are not these things great marvels, and a profound mystery, that many not born of Israel should be Israel, and that many should not be sons, though they are the seed of Abraham? For how are they not, and how are they, unless they are not sons of the promise pertaining to the grace of Christ, but sons of the flesh, bearing an empty name? And so neither are they Israel as we are, nor are we Israel as they are: for we are so according to spiritual regeneration, they according to carnal generation." (Rom. 11) And a little further on: "This same great and profound mystery, of which the same Apostle speaks when he had recalled the sons of the promise through Isaac as pertaining to the grace of Christ, is found also in the grandsons of Abraham, the sons of Isaac, those twins Esau and Jacob, who was afterwards called Israel. This surely apostolic and Catholic teaching plainly enough shows us that, according to the origin of the flesh, the Jews belong to Sarah and the Ishmaelites to Hagar; but according to the mystery, the Christians belong to Sarah and the Jews to Hagar. Likewise, according to the origin of the flesh, to Esau, who was also called Edom, belongs the nation of the Idumeans, and to Jacob, who was also called Israel, the nation of the Jews; but according to the mystery of the spirit, the Jews belong to Esau and the Christians to Israel." So he; and he shows plainly enough that Christians are the true Israelites, not according to the flesh but according to the spirit, and are therefore the true heirs of the land of promise which is in heaven. Therefore the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem bear inscribed upon them the names of the twelve tribes of Israel, because the gate by which that heavenly land of promise is entered is the right of inheritance of the sons of God, who alone are true and sincere Christians, sons of the blessed Apostles, who are signified by the true Israelites, that is, the sons of the Patriarch Jacob. Moreover, what St. John adds, that there were twelve Angels at those gates, signifies that Angels are the keepers of the gates, whose office it is to see that no one enters there who does not have the right of inheritance. And perhaps it is for this reason that the Archangel Michael is depicted with a balance in his hands, because through the Angels subject to him he examines the merits of those who aspire to that heavenly city. So much for the gates.