“And the nations will walk by means of its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.

Revelation 21:24

17. Who are “the kings of the earth” who “bring their glory” into New Jerusalem?

¹⁷ Who, then, are “the kings of the earth” who “bring their glory into it”? They are not the literal kings of the earth as a group, for they go down to destruction fighting against God’s Kingdom at Armageddon. (Revelation 16:14, 16; 19:17, 18) Could the kings be some high-ranking ones of the nations who become a part of the great crowd, or are they resurrected kings who submit to God’s Kingdom in the new world? (Matthew 12:42) Hardly, because for the most part, the glory of such kings was worldly and has long since faded. “The kings of the earth,” then, who bring their glory into New Jerusalem must be the 144,000, who are “bought . . . out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation” to rule as kings with the Lamb, Jesus Christ. (Revelation 5:9, 10; 22:5) They bring their God-given glory into the city to add to its radiance.