21:21. And the twelve gates were [twelve] pearls; every several gate was of one pearl.—“The peculiar lustre of a pearl is dependent on the fact that the surface is not perfectly smooth, but covered with the irregularly sinuous edges of innumerable layers of inconceivable thinness, deposited one over the other. The distance of these edges from each other varies indefinitely, the pearls of the finest water having them closest. They are always, however, too fine to be detected by the naked eye. The edges make so many steps, so to speak; and the iridescence is produced by the mutual interference of the rays of light reflected from these thousands of angles. For their water, or lustre, as distinguished from iridescence, pearls are indebted to their being composed of thin layers, which allow light to pass through them, while their numerous surfaces disperse and reflect the light in such a manner that it returns and mingles with that which is directly reflected from the exterior. The thinner and more transparent the constituent layers, the more perfect is the lustre. The immediate occasion of the production of a pearl appears to be always the presence of some extraneous substance inside of the shell of the mollusk.” (McC.) The mollusk is the earthly tabernacle; the extraneous substance is the New Mind. The successive layers are the additions made to it, “precept upon precept, precept upon precept; line upon line, line upon line; here a little and there a little.”—Isa. 28:13. And the street of the City was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.—There will be but one street in that City, the street which has been in process of construction throughout the Age. The Prophets tell us of it.—Prov. 16:17; Isa. 40:3; 49:11; 35:8; 62:10‐12. 21:22. And I saw no temple therein.—No special place of worship, for the use and benefit of the Little Flock. [For] BECAUSE the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the Temple of it.—The Bride’s whole life is completely wrapped up in the Father and the Son. Her one consuming wish is to glorify the Lord’s dear name. Of what need is any special place of worship for one who can say, “For to me to live is [for] Christ [to live]?”—Phil. 1:21.