Rev 21:9-27 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. (10) And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, (11) Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; (12) And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: (13) On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. (14) And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. (15) And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. (16) And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. (17) And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. (18) And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. (19) And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; (20) The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. (21) And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. (22) And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. (23) And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. (24) And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. (25) And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. (26) And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. (27) And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
Rev 22:1-5 And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. (2) In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (3) And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (4) And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. (5) And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.
Good morning, Reader! We are quickly approaching the end of the Book of Revelation. It has been such an eye opener for me. I thought I knew a thing or two but, as with all of the Word of God, the Holy Spirit illuminates something new each time I read my Bible.
Today, we will look at the New Jerusalem and how God plans to build it. In my opinion, the layout is absolutely awesome! 😀 God doesn’t just do a makeover of Heaven and earth; He builds everything new, from scratch! If you recall the Garden of Eden, God walked in the garden (Genesis 3:8) amongst His creation, Adam and Eve. Both literally had God dwelling with them and yet they chose to disobey Him. I’m sure everyone who is willing to admit it would say in their heart that they would have never given in to Satan. But, remember, Adam and Eve were created as perfect human beings. We are far from perfect so we cannot say that we would not have listened to Satan. We are descendants of Adam and Eve’s fallen and sinful nature. There is no way we could have done better than they did.
They had access to the Tree of Life and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Once they understood the difference between good and evil, in God’s mercy He had to kick them out of Eden before they ate of the Tree of Life. Think about it, if they had eaten from the Tree of Life, they would have been forever lost in their sinful condition. In His mercy, God kicked them out of the Garden of Eden and set a cherubim with a flaming sword to prevent their re-entry. Thus began God’s redemptive plan! Praise You Lord for interceding at that very moment! This whole account just gives me goosebumps!
So let’s see what the Apostle John was experiencing in this chapter. John tells us about the New Jerusalem and he calls it the great city, holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God. This city’s light was like a jasper. One has only to do a Google search for “jasper” to see all the various kinds there are. It is normally a multi colored gem, like quartz. Of course, if it’s in Heaven, it will be like something we’ve never seen according to 1Corinthians 2:9. This particular jasper is as clear as crystal. Can you imagine?
Now, let’s jump ahead to Revelation 21:16-17 to see the size of the city before we move on to what it is made of. The Bible says that it is actually shaped like a cube because it speaks of the “length and the breadth and the height” all being equal. Each measured 12,000 furlongs which can be anywhere from 1,280 to 1,500 miles, depending on which commentary you read. But let’s just round it up to 1,500 miles on each side so we can get a mental picture. That’s roughly the size of the moon!!! A pastor that I follow recounted this story from his youth. He told us about Dr. Henry Morris of the Institute for Creation Research. He passed away in 2006 but in the 1960’s, he was Dean of Engineering at Virginia Tech. He did a mathematical study to “guesstimate” how many people this 1,500 mile cube could hold. He took a guess at what the total population had been since the creation of man and as well as into the future. He came up with roughly 100 billion… remember that’s past, present and future. The current population is 7.9 billion. He’s not trying to pinpoint an exact number here. He’s just trying to give you an idea so you can get a picture in your mind. Personally, I think we have to remember that God designed this city knowing full well how many people it will have to hold. 😁 Then Dr. Morris calculated that possibly 20% of that 100 billion would be saved. Again, remember this is only a projection to see what the population of the New Jerusalem could possibly hold. That came up to 20 billion people. Dr. Morris said that since the city is a cube, we would not necessarily be living side by side but up and down, diagonally, etc. It’s hard to get my mind around it but I get the picture. One could also presume that there aren’t as many as 20 billion true Christians past, present and future. If you recall, the road is narrow that leads to eternal life (Matthew 7:14) but broad is the road that leads to destruction.
Now back to verse 12, this city has a great and high wall with twelve gates which have the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel; three gates on each side. The foundation of the city has twelve foundations with the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb! Then in Revelation 21:21, we see that each of the twelve gates are made of one pearl! Think of it!!! One huge pearl makes up a gate! It reminds me of the pearl of great price in Matthew 13:46. I love allegories and this particular passage makes me think of this: The entrance to the New Jerusalem’s gates, which have the names of the twelve tribes, point me to the Messiah. John 4:22 tells us that salvation is of the Jews. Jesus Christ was born a Jew and through Him is the only way we can enter Heaven. Next, we look at the wall built with the 12 foundations of the apostles of the Lamb (Revelation 21:14). Jesus built His church upon the rock that He is the Christ, the Son of the living God. The twelve apostles took that message out and did exactly that – they built Christ’s church! Therefore, the New Jerusalem is all about the Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ! Some think that Christians replaced the Jews but this passage clearly depicts the twelve Tribes of Israel as well as the Apostles!!
Revelation 21:21 is so beautiful! We see the street of the city pure as gold, as it were transparent as glass. Since eye has not seen what God has in store for us, we cannot imagine gold being transparent as glass. But we will because the Bible is truth! What I found very interesting is that the New Jerusalem won’t have a temple! Old Jerusalem sure did and it was everyone’s goal to have the temple rebuilt after 70AD. But New Jerusalem won’t have one because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. On a side note, the phrase “Lord God Almighty” is only used five times in Scripture and they are all in the Book of Revelation. The number 5 symbolizes God’s grace, goodness and favor toward mankind!
- Revelation 4:8 says Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
- Revelation 11:7 says Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come.
- Revelation 15:3 says Lord God Almighty, just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints.
- Revelation 16:7 says Lord God Almighty, true and righteous are thy judgments. And, here
- Revelation 21:21 says Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb are the temple of it.
Don’t you find that interesting??? Now we see that there is no need for the sun or the moon because the glory of God lightens it and the Lamb is the light! Everyone will walk in the light they shine!(Revelation 21:23-24)
Lastly, God reaches out one more time to readers across the ages through the Scriptures and gives us a warning.
Rev 21:27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
God makes it perfectly clear that no one who defiles, works abomination or tells a lie, or whose name is not found in the Lamb’s book of life will be allowed into Heaven. God in His infinite mercy never ceases to show that mercy, even at the end of this wonderful Book!
New Jerusalem contains beautiful and amazing things. One of which is found in Revelation 22:1. We see the water of life proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. This water is crystal clear! Jesus Christ is our living water! On either side of the river is the tree of life which bears twelve fruit. Even the leaves were for healing the nations. The curse has been lifted and all we be experiencing is seeing God’s face and His name will be on our foreheads! Praise the Lord!
Our last post in this series is going to be about the Lord Jesus’ coming and the final warning to mankind to be saved! Philippians 2:10 says that every knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. Friend, you either bend your knee now and go to Heaven or on that day of His Second Coming, which will take you to Hell. It’s up to you; it’s your choice! So with that in mind, I want to be sure that anyone who reads the posts on this blog can know beyond a shadow of a doubt that they are going to Heaven. Have you received Christ as your Saviour? If no, your sins are not covered by His sacrificial offering of Himself. You have not been redeemed by His blood. It is no coincidence that God has placed you here for such a time as this so that you may be saved if you are not already. Please click here and the link will open up in a separate tab to You Can Be Born Again and Know It!
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