Revelation 21 & 22
I love living in the country. I enjoy driving home and looking at pastures, cows, ponds and tractors. When I pull onto my gravel driveway, my blood pressure drops at least ten points. I have friends that love the city, but I have never had a desire to live in one- until now. The bible gives us just enough of a glimpse of the holy city, the New Jerusalem, that I am longing for it.
I think the reason big cities always turned me off is because they seem so impersonal, everyone rushing around, not really caring about who passes them on the sidewalk. Things seem much more worldly and superficial, not to mention the dirt, the noise and the crime. The city God has prepared for us as the capital of the New Heaven and New Earth will be entirely different, however.
The sheer size of the city is almost inconceivable. Based on translation of the bible’s dimensions into common units of measurement, New Jerusalem is a perfect cube 1400 miles in width, depth and height. The ground floor is 2,250,000 square miles alone. It is 20 TIMES as big as Germany. I have read that someone figured that if it were designed with stories the height in current average buildings, it would be 600 stories tall. It’s design echoes that of God’s tabernacle in the wilderness, the Holiest of Holies that was 15 ft cubed. There will be no need for a tabernacle within the city because the city IS the tabernacle and God will live there among us. Amazing!!
The bible says the New Jerusalem will sit on 12 foundations made of precious stones with the names of the apostles written on each layer. There will be 12 gates – 3 on each side- with one name of each of the 12 tribes of Israel inscribed and each gate will be made of a single, humongous pearl with an angel posted at the gate. The streets will be made of gold that is translucent like pure glass. God’s own light will shine through the gold and refract off the precious stones that everywhere, bathing the city in prisms of color. I recently found an interview on video that takes this even further and will blow your mind:
The wonders of this great city don’t stop there, although I imagine there will be quite a backlog of people waiting to get through the gates as we will all stop as our mouths drop open just at the site of the entrance! Once we go inside, even our wildest imaginations won’t prepare us for the beauty before us. The highlight will be God’s throne and coming from it, a river with crystal clear water that flows down the center of main street. The tree of life grows on each side of the river and has a different crop of fruit each month. I imagine there might be tributaries coming off the main river creating smaller canals. Might there be gondolas? Talk about the ultimate Riverwalk!
It IS a city, so there likely will be other streets leading to typical urban features and open areas with public spaces such as parks. Since the Lord has given us all spectacular minds and talents, it is reasonable to assume that God-centered art, music, and entertainment will still be found with performing arts centers and galleries filled with creations from every culture alongside cafes and coffee shops scattered just as you would find in any city.
We will all arrive at the same time, and imagine what it will be like as together, we explore this magical place that will engage every sense to its fullest. If you’ve ever been to Disney, when you walk in, the Imagineers have purposely engaged each of your senses to give you the ultimate experience that will leave you wanting to return. God is the ultimate Imagineer and while I think Walt Disney was a genius, he doesn’t hold a candle to our Lord. I have no idea what the New Jerusalem will smell like, but fresh baked cookies or even Tyler Glamour Wash detergent scents don’t even come close to how delicious it will be.
The New Jerusalem will have a place for everyone whose name was found in the book of life, but I don’t know that we will all have to live there all the time as this is just the capital city (albeit as large as a continent) in our New Earth that will also be joined with the New Heaven as one. The bible does not specify many details outside what John saw as he described this magnificent city, but I think it might be possible that we will have the opportunity to have a country home as well . We will have so much to explore even beyond our planet- thank the Lord we will have eternity to do so!
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