The New Jerusalem

The book of Revelation largely consists of a vision given to the Apostle John. It is not to be understood literally. Unfortunately, some folks let their thinking go too far. Non-literal does not mean not real. Non-literal simply means that we should not expect to sense the things described in our created three-dimensional world. The figurative descriptions still refer to reality.

Consider the descriptions of the New Jerusalem in a general sense...

Building Materials:
Walls, streets and gates are first, functional. They are built for strength, then adorned with art if desired.

Foundations are build for strength, not elegance and beauty. No one takes foundation material and creates jewelry. Yet, the foundation stones in the New Jerusalem are gemstones. The walls are made of jasper.

The city of Ostuni, Italy is nicknamed “the white town” for its white-washed architecture. Many cities have adorned their downtown areas in a special way using combinations of glass, metal, brick and stone. In great contrast to man-made cities, the New Jerusalem is built of refined gold, as pure as clear (pure) glass.

The New Jerusalem is no ordinary city. It is adorned like a bride adorns herself: “Her brilliance was like a very costly stone as a stone of crystal-clear jasper” (Revelation 22:11) It is a precious and beautiful city!

Size:
The dimensions of the New Jerusalem are described by John as having a length of 1500 miles, a width of 1500 miles and a height of 1500 miles. If placed on the earth the footprint of this city would cover the western two thirds of the United States. And remember, the New Jerusalem is not a nation or province, but a city.

By way of comparison, consider the earth’s atmosphere. The troposphere is the lowest and densest part of our atmosphere. It ascends 8 to 12 miles. Beyond the troposphere are the stratosphere, mesosphere, thermosphere and the exosphere. All combined these reach 375 miles above the earth. We record the elevation of our cities, but not their height. Yet, the height of the New Jerusalem would stretch an equivalent of more than four complete earth atmospheres.

The walls of the New Jerusalem are 216 feet thick. If you were to build houses on one-acre lots along the top of the walls of this city you would have than 146,000 building sites. The entire city covers over 1.4 billion acres.

Resources:
We know that basic human needs include food, water, clothing, shelter and light. In John’s vision he described the following:

• Food: The tree of life bears a variety of fruit all year long (22:2);
• Water: The fiver of life provides water for all (21:6; 22:1);
• Clothing: Clean (pure) robes (22:14);
• Shelter: The city itself (22:10 ff.); and
• Light: God himself is the light (22:5).

Are we supposed to understand these description literally or figuratively??? I really don’t know. If God has prepared for us a city with gates of pearl and streets of gold...GREAT! And yet, what if it’s all figurative?

What do the figurative descriptions tell us?

The building materials are extraordinary and precious. The New Jerusalem is a gem. Its size far exceeds anything known to man; there is no comparison on earth. Beyond that, we will have every resource we need...

...to live...

        ...forever…


Mark Stinnett

August 14, 2022