The New Jerusalem Part I

Revelation 21:10-21

In The Last Battle, C.S. Lewis portrays the girl Lucy as she mourns the loss of Narnia, a great world created by Aslan, a beloved world that she assumed had been forever destroyed. Jewel, the unicorn mourns too, calling his beloved Narnia, “The only world I’ve ever known.”

Although Lucy and her family and friends are on the threshold of Aslan’s country (Heaven), she still looks back at Narnia and feels profound loss. But as she gets deeper into Aslan’s country, she notices something totally unexpected. What happens next, I believe, reflects the biblical revelation of the New Earth:

“Those hills,” said Lucy, “the nice woody ones and the blue ones behind-aren’t they very like the southern border of Narnia?”

“But how can it be?” said Peter. “For Aslan told us older ones that we should never return to Narnia, and here we are.”

“Listen Peter,” said Lord Digory. “When Aslan said you could never go back to Narnia, he meant the Narnia you were thinking of. But that was not the real Narnia. That had a beginning and an end. It was only a shadow or a copy of the real Narnia, which has always been here and always will be here: just as our own world, England and all, is only a shadow or copy of something in Aslan’s real world.”

Based on what Scripture tells us of the New Earth and the New Jerusalem, and that certain things will be restored. On the New Earth we will see the real Earth, which includes the good things not only of God’ natural creation but also of mankind’s creative expression to God’s glory.

Scripture describes Heaven as both a country (Luke 19:12); Hebrews 11:14-16) and a city (Hebrews 12:22). Fifteen times in Revelation 21-22 the place God and His people will live together is called a city.

What are the New Jerusalem’s Dimensions?

The city’s exact dimensions are measured by an angel and reported to be 12,000 stadia, the equivalent of 1,400 miles or 2,200 kilometers in length, width, and height (Rev. 21:15-16). Even though these proportions may have symbolic importance, this doesn’t mean they can’t be literal.

In fact, Scripture emphasizes that the dimensions are given in “man’s measurement” (Rev. 21:17). A metropolis of this size in the middle of the United States would stretch from Canada to Mexico and from the Appalachian Mountains to the California border.

Even more astounding is the city’s 1,400-mile height. Some people suggest this is the reach of the city’s tallest towers and spires. If so, they argue it is more like a pyramid than a cube.[1]

You may be worried heaven will be crowded. The ground level of the city will be nearly two million square miles. This is forty times bigger than England and ten times as big as France or Germany. But remember, that is just the ground level.

Given the dimensions of a 1,400-mile cube, if the city consisted of different levels, and if each story were a generous twelve feet high, the city could have over 600,000 stories. If they were on various levels, billions of people could occupy the New Jerusalem with many square miles per person.

The cube shape of the New Jerusalem reminds us of the cube shape of the Most Holy Place in the Temple (1 Kings 6:20), the three dimensions perhaps suggestive of the three persons of the Trinity. God will live in the city, and it is His presence that will be its greatest feature.

What is the significance of the city’s gates?

The city has “a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates. On the gates were written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. There were three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south, and three on the west” (Rev. 21:12-13).

A city’s gates were important for several reasons. First, they were a defense from enemies. Typically, the gates of the city were shut tight at night to keep out dangers. However, Scripture tells us, “On no day will [the New Jerusalem’s] gates be shut” (Rev. 21:25. Why can the gates remain open? Because the city’s twelve gates are attended by twelve angels.

Of course, there will no enemies outside the city’s gates. All enemies of the Kingdom will be forever cast into the lake of fire, far away from the New Earth. The open gates guarded by angels remind us that our safety has been bought and permanently secured by Christ.

To be part of a city is to be a citizen, which involves both responsibility and privileges. The apostle Paul reminded the Philippians, who were proud of their Roman citizenship:

“Our citizenship is in heaven” (Phil. 3:20). Note the verb in the statement: Our citizenship “is,” not “will be,” in heaven. Although our citizenship in heaven is present, our residence there is future. One day as children and heirs of heaven’s king, we will enter into full possession of our native land, which we will rule to our Father’s glory.

[1] Randy Alcorn, Heaven (Carol Stream, ILL: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004), 250-252.