Revelation 21:9-22

Revelation 21:9: “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,”

For the record, this is a real city, not a metaphorical one. The Bride of Christ will live in this city that the Lord has prepared for her. In other words, one day this city will be our home.

One odd thing about this city is that it is described as “descending out of heaven from God”, but we’re not told where it goes. Where does the city end up? Well, some people have speculated that it will orbit the Earth. Given its tremendous size (it’s 1500 miles wide, compared to the moon which is 2100 miles wide), that is certainly possible.

Revelation 21:11: “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.”

Here John begins to describe the city itself, and tells us that it has twelve gates and twelve foundations. It’s interesting that the foundations of the city are named after the apostles, since the apostles are the foundation of the Church. (Christ, of course, is the chief cornerstone or capstone.) It is also interesting that the gates (which people use to enter the city) are named after the tribes of Israel.

Revelation 21:16: “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.”

Since twelve thousand furlongs is about 1500 miles, that means that the city is 1500 miles long, wide, and tall. (By way of comparison, the Space Shuttle typically orbited around 200 miles up.)

Revelation 21:17: “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.”

The walls themselves are more than 200 feet thick.

Revelation 21:18: “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, chrysolyte; 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.”

So there you have it: each gate is made of one giant pearl. All those books that supposedly told you what Heaven was really like (“the gates made of many small pearls”, or “the gates just looked pearlescent”) were lying to you. The Bible has spoken.

We can see that the city is lavishly decorated: it has streets of transparent gold, foundations of precious stones, and so forth. This is wealth and extravagance on a scale that we’ve never seen before. God has truly created a glorious city that staggers the imagination.

Revelation 21:22: “And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.”

In the Millennial Kingdom there will be a Temple, but there will not be one here. Things really have changed.