Revelation 21:1, 2

Revelation 21:1, 2

And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

a. The city has twelve gates, each gate named after the twelve Tribes of Israel.

1). Revelation 21:12 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:

b. The city is square, as long as it is wide.

1). Revelation 12:15, 16 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

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.

a). Most sources give the equivalent of twelve thousand furlongs as 1500 miles. [For some strange reason though, the New Living Translation and the New International Version give the equivalent at 1400 miles?????]

b). Some picture it as a cube while others picture it as a pyramid shape. Personally I prefer the pyramid.

c). From Cincinnati to Albuquerque New Mexico is 1395 miles

d). From Cincinnati to El Paso Texas is 1568 miles.

c. A wall is built around the city that is 144 cubits high, which is equivalent to 216 feet high or 72 yards.

1). 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.

d. The wall has four sides and each has 3 gates and each gate is named after a Tribe of Israel.

1). Revelation 21:12, 13 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:

On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.

2). Each gate was made of pearl.

a). Revelation 21:21a  “And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl…”

e. The wall has twelve foundations and in the foundations were the names of the Apostles of the Lamb.

1). Revelation 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

f. The foundations of the wall are decorated with twelve different precious stones.

1). Jasper (green, red, yellow, brown); Sapphire (deep blue); Chalcedony (grayish or milky); Emerald (green); Sardonyx (white with red stripes); Sardius (blood red or flesh); Chrisolite (golden colored topaz); Beryl (emerald & aquamarine); Topaz (yellow most common); Chrisoprasus (apple green); Jacinth (reddish orange); Amathyst (purple).

g. The streets made of pure gold.

1). Revelation 21:21b “…and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.”

2). If the city was square and the three eastern gates ran west to those three gates and the north and south gates ran like wise, its adds up to 9000 miles of gold streets.

h. I don’t believe knowledge of this city is exclusively New Testament. The book of Hebrews clearly mentions that Abraham looked or awaited expectantly for a city, “whose builder and maker is God.” Within that text it also says Isaac and Jacob had the same promise.

1). Hebrews 11:8-10  By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.

By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise:

For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

i. There is also a similar passage in Isaiah that mentions a building constructed by God decorated with similar materials.

1). Isaiah 54:11, 12 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.

And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones.