I love the city. I love tall buildings. I love wandering downtown streets, discovering new restaurants, getting lost in the hustle-and-bustle of people being out and about. I love the convenience of not having to travel too far to find a grocery store, gas station, mall, or hospital. And while some cities are certainly more preferable than others, in general, city life is for me.
Once, when visiting family in rural Montana, my wife and I told new acquaintances that we were then from Chicago. A woman replied, “Chicago? Who would ever want to live there?” to which I thought, “Funny—people in Chicago ask the same thing about those who live in Montana!”
So since I am a city-boy, when I get to Revelation 21 and see the picture of Paradise as a “Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven” (Rev. 21.10), I can’t help but get excited.
Yet, for as much as I love city-life, I can appreciate this Montana woman’s remarks. Deep down, it’s not that she hates cities, but rather loves the rural area where she lives. I could imagine that while living in a massive city, for me, would be paradise, that would be someone else’s personal Hell. Perhaps this is simply one more way in which we learn the images depicted in John’s Revelation are not literal.
The portrayal of Paradise is not intended to make me and other city-loving people excited about the concept of a heavenly metropolis, but instead are John’s attempt to describe the indescribable. A common question is, “What is Heaven going to be like?” I personally like the answer, “I don’t know, but I think about all the stuff I love about this life, and Heaven will be even better than all that, without all the stuff I don’t like about this life.” A perfect Paradise is hard to describe because we cannot fathom anything like it. John couldn’t describe it either, but he tells us as best as he can.
First, the angel shows him “the bride, the wife of the Lamb” (21.9), yet when he looks, he sees a city descending from Heaven (by this, we can assume the “bride” and the “city” are one in the same). This is not a “city” because urban life is somehow superior to rural life, but the emphasis is on this particular city. The Old Testament perspective was that the Old Jerusalem was the place from where God ruled the world. Yes, God is omnipresent—everywhere at the same time—but his special presence, his “Glory” specifically resided in the city of Jerusalem. Therefore, Paradise is not depicted as a city for a city’s sake, but as this particular city where God’s presence dwells in a special way. The significance of a descending New Jerusalem is that God’s special presence is coming down to us.
This is further emphasized by the fact that the city “shone with the glory of God” (21.11). It was this “Glory” that led the former Egyptian slaves through the wilderness, as a pillar of cloud by day and fire by night, and this “Glory” that enveloped the “Most Holy Place” in the Temple in Jerusalem. That same “Glory” which is God’s very presence will be experienced by all the faithful in that new Paradise.
The actual structure of the city is then defined which, again, reinforces the point that this is not a literal depiction of a literal city. If we understand the images literally, it would prove to be an architectural and engineering nightmare. It has high walls, 12 gates (each named for a tribe of Israel) and 12 foundations (each named for an apostle of Jesus). There is nothing wrong with these details which symbolize the complete perfection of the city, but troubling questions about its structural soundness arise when you consider the angel’s measurements: 12,000 stadia, in length, width, and height, and walls 144 cubits thick.
If you have a footnote in your Bible, it will suggest that “12,000 stadia” is equivalent to roughly 1,400 miles. That is about the same distance from New York City to Oklahoma City, from Chicago to Miami,. If it were a literal city, it would cover half the area of the entire United States. But remember, it is as high as it is wide and long! Thus, the top of the city is 1,400 miles in the air. To give some perspective, consider that airplanes travel at only about 6 miles in the air.
I am no architect, but I would guess that at some point (if taken literally) the walls of this massive city would collapse under their own weight. Even more troubling is to consider that the thickness of the walls is only 144 cubits, or about 200 feet. Under normal circumstances, that’s a pretty thick wall, but not when you remember the wall is more than seven-million feet high. I checked, and it seems the typical code for cement wall ratios of thickness-to-height is about 1:20 (someone smarter than me, correct me if I’m wrong). I did the math and the ratio of the walls of New Jerusalem, if understood literally, would be 1:36,960. Again, I am no architect, but I’m not sure that is structurally sound!
We should understand the numbers as they were intended: symbolically. It is 12,000 stadia—multiples of 12 and 1000 symbolizing complete perfection and protection). And it’s walls are 144 cubits thick, the square of 12, again symbolizing perfection. While a literal city like this would prove to be an architectural nightmare, the figurative meaning implies a perfect place with spiritual protection from any outside harm that might come against it. It is, spiritually speaking, impenetrable.
Also, the significance of the city being a perfect cube should not be overlooked. The only other place where a perfect cube existed was in the “Holy of Holies” in the Temple, that small room in Old Jerusalem where God’s glory resided. It was also the place where only a priest could enter, only once a year. The measurements suggest that in the New Jerusalem, the real presence of God is not confined to a small room, and everyone—not just a spiritual elite—is invited to enter his presence; not once a year, but for eternity. Taken together, this is a beautiful picture of Divine Security in God’s permanent presence.
In addition to the metaphorical measurements of the city, the walls are also said to be adorned with twelve different kinds of jewels. These jewels first appear in Exodus 28 as part of the High Priest’s breast-piece. Like the city walls, the breast-piece itself was to be “square” (Exodus 28.16), and the one who wore it (High-Priest) was the one who was able to enter God’s presence in the Most Holy Place. This simply reinforces the spiritual point being made in the measurements: All believers, not simply a privileged elite, will be able to enter God’s presence always.
Furthermore, there is significance in Temple that John doesn’t see. In Old Jerusalem, perhaps the key physical structure of the city was the Temple. It was the tallest building, built on the city’s highest elevation. It could have been seen anywhere within the city’s walls. Now in the New Jerusalem, that dominant physical structure does not even exist, “because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (21.22). Again, the Temple was where God’s special presence dwelled; in the New Jerusalem, His special presence will dwell everywhere.
There is no need for a sun or moon because God Himself is the source of light. There will be no need to close the gates, protecting the city’s inhabitants from outside threats because there will be no threats. And there will be no room for anything impure.
Finally, the New Jerusalem is described in 22.1-5 as a place where life triumphs over death, healing triumphs over disease, peace triumphs over war, and good triumphs over evil. Everything that was Old and corrupt has been made New and better, and in many ways, life is taken back to the beginning, to Genesis 1 and 2, to how life was meant to be. It is no coincidence that the Greek word used to translate “Garden” where Adam and Eve lived is “Paradise.” Only, in the Old “Garden”, a snake roamed freely. In the New “Garden”, there is no snake, there is no night, there is no curse, and those who die in Christ “will reign for ever and ever” (22.5).
Revelation 21 is not John’s attempt to give the reader a birds-eye view of a literal physical city. Quite the contrary, he is trying as best as he can to describe the indescribable by emphasizing the only thing that matters: Being face to face with God, living in perfect peace with him. Prior to the Fall in Genesis 3, humanity lived in perfect harmony with God. Our First Parents had an unbroken relationship with their Creator, seeing him and enjoying his presence in an intimate and deeply personal way. Once they ate the forbidden fruit, that relationship became estranged; intimacy was replaced by strife; peace was replaced by conflict; life was replaced by death. Ever since that moment, “the creation itself was subjected to frustration” (Rom. 8.20) Everything that exists had become damaged. However, John sees a day when “the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage and decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God” (Rom. 8.21).
I have no idea what Heaven will literally be like. I certainly hope there is baseball and peanut-butter ice cream. Whatever the case may be, what matters is this: those who conquer in this life will experience true Life as it was meant to be lived, in perfect harmony with God and one another, without the pain, heartache, grief, and death we all experience presently. With that in mind, I can echo Paul, who says,
I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us!
It will be worth enduring whatever this life throws at us if it means gaining True Life in an indescribable Paradise.
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