What Is the New Jerusalem?

My Sunday School class on the book of Revelation is almost over. Since the end of February, we’ve been (slowly!) walking through this amazing prophecy, about a half a chapter a week. We’re now in chapter 21, which presents the New Jerusalem in all its magnificence and splendor. (The recordings and notes for the class are available at https://tinyurl.com/3vr7sh2b.) 

Being from Galilee and Judea, Jesus’ first disciples were familiar with Jerusalem and they held it in high regard. The city housed the temple and the priestly leadership of the Jews. At the end of Revelation, God gives John a vision of another Jerusalem, a glorified one. As wonderful as the earthly city was, the heavenly one is stupendous.

Throughout chapter 21, the apostle tries to describe the New Jerusalem in many ways. For one, it’s luxurious! John lays out the details: glory (vs. 11), gold (vss. 18, 21), gems (vss. 11, 18-21), and pearls (vs. 21). That’s a lot of wealth! These features depict the inestimable value of what God has created. It’s more than we can imagine.

Second, and this may sound obvious, the New Jerusalem is a city (21:14-16, 18, 19, 21, 23; 22:14). Three times he labels it “the holy city” (21:2, 10; 22:19), a term which, you might guess, has special significance. (And you’d be right!) Like most ancient Near Eastern cities, this one has walls (21:12, 14, 15, 17-19), gates (21:12, 13, 15, 21), and at least one street (21:21; 22:2).

Have you ever been to a town with only a single street? Those are small villages! John doesn’t refer to a major network of roads and highways; he mentions only one street. But the New Jerusalem isn’t tiny!

“The city was laid out like a square, as long as it was wide. He measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia in length, and as wide and high as it is long. ¹⁷The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits thick.” – Revelation 21:16-17

How large is it? In contemporary terms, 12,000 stadia is close to 1400 miles or 2200 kilometers. That’s how long and wide (and high, too!) the New Jerusalem is! And its wall is huge also. 144 cubits is 216 feet or 66 meters. That’s a solid wall!

So the New Jerusalem is a wealthy city of almost indescribable expanse and grandeur. But that’s not all.

It’s a bride, too!

Twice in chapter 21 John identifies the city this way:

• “I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.” – Revelation 21:2
• “One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, ‘Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.’ ¹⁰And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”- Revelation 21:9-10

And there are other verses in Revelation that supplement this association.

• “Let us rejoice and be glad and give Him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready.” – Revelation 19:7
• “The Spirit and the bride say, ‘Come!’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come!’ Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.” – Revelation 22:17

The bride is a city? According to Revelation, yes. The bride is also the wife of the Lamb of God, and we know that this is Jesus Christ (see John 1:29, 36; Revelation 5:6, 8, 12, 13; 6:1, 16; 7:9, 10, 14, 17; 12:11; 13:8, 11; 14:1, 4, 10; 15:3; 17:14; 19:7, 9; 21:9, 14, 22, 23; 22:1, 3). So the bride, which is the New Jerusalem, must be the church.

Centuries before John wrote Revelation, Isaiah portrayed a similar picture.

“As a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you.” – Isaiah 62:5

God is a Groom, but He’s also a Builder. The one He marries is a bride and a city. It fits!

The church is pictured in singular terms: a city, a bride. But Christ’s church is also a collective. The church is people.

And not just any people.

A holy people.

As John calls the New Jerusalem a holy city (see Revelation 11:2; 21:2, 10; 22:19), so he also promotes the holiness of the church, but in an unexpected manner.

Consider this verse which talks about the endtime ruler often referred to as the Antichrist:

“And he opened his mouth in blasphemies against God, to blaspheme His name and His tabernacle, that is, those who dwell in heaven.” – Revelation 13:6 (NASB20)

God’s tabernacle (singular) is an assembly of individuals (plural) loyal to Him. His dwelling place is His people.

John reinforces this idea in chapter 21:

“And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, ‘Behold, the tabernacle of God is among the people, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them’” – Revelation 21:3 (NASB20)

God living with His people sounds like a wonderful description of home. It emphasizes relationship (bridal imagery) and structure (imagery of city and tabernacle).

Believe it or not, the details in John’s vision back this up. The New Jerusalem is cube-shaped; 1400 miles long, wide, and high. What’s interesting is that the Old Testament describes another edifice that is also cubic.

The Holy of Holies.

In Solomon’s temple, “The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty wide and twenty high. He overlaid the inside with pure gold, and he also overlaid the altar of cedar” (1 Kings 6:20). And in a prophetic vision, Ezekiel says that an angel “measured the length of the inner sanctuary; it was twenty cubits, and its width was twenty cubits across the end of the main hall. He said to me, ‘This is the Most Holy Place’” (Ezekiel 41:4).

If the church is God’s New Jerusalem, could we claim that we’re His Holy of Holies? 

We could, but there seems to be a problem with that conclusion.

“I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” – Revelation 21:22

There’s no temple in the New Jerusalem; by their presence, the Father and the Son are their own temple. 

I don’t take this as a contradiction to the idea of the people of God as the New Jerusalem and the tabernacle. In fact, I believe John proclaims the fulfillment of the will of the Lord.

Christ intends to become one with His people.

In the Old Testament, access to the presence of a holy God was restricted and regulated. Through the ultimate realization of the gospel, believers have full and open communion with the Lord and with one another. We dwell together as God’s family, joined to Him and connected to each other.

The New Jerusalem is a picture of the blessed future that awaits all who trust in Jesus for salvation. And that salvation will culminate in love and joy that knows no limits.

“Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” – 2 Corinthians 9:15