City of Pure Gold
This is a topic that is full of mystery and wonder, so wonderful and grand that most people cannot wrap their minds around its enormity and splendor. I pity those uninformed souls who want nothing to do with heaven, after being fed fables and uninspired notions of sitting on a cloud playing a harp in some nondescript etherial void. The reality of heaven is much more amazing than any artist can adequately capture. No author can describe the beauty, the magnificence, the splendor, in an atmosphere of love, joy, peace, satisfaction, meaning, purpose, with sights, sounds, and fragrances that our little senses could not even begin to perceive as we currently exist. We are Humanity 1.0, trying to imagine a place made for Humanity 2.0. Does the caterpillar imagine taking to the wind in flight?
Join me as I try to wrap my mind around this most amazing place, called the New Jerusalem.
I’ll start by giving you the text of Revelation, chapter 21, where we can read about this amazing city. Then I’ll pick out a few key points to whet your appetite for the eternal home of God, holy angels, and Humanity 2.0.
The New Jerusalem
21:1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared. And the sea was also gone. 2 And I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven like a bride beautifully dressed for her husband.
3 I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them. 4 He will wipe every tear from their eyes, and there will be no more death or sorrow or crying or pain. All these things are gone forever.”
5 And the one sitting on the throne said, “Look, I am making everything new!” And then he said to me, “Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true.” 6 And he also said, “It is finished! I am the Alpha and the Omega—the Beginning and the End. To all who are thirsty I will give freely from the springs of the water of life. 7 All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will be their God, and they will be my children.
8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
9 Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
10 So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. 11 It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. 12 The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. 14 The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
15 The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles.[12,000 stadia (2,220 kilometers)] 17 Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick [144 cubits (65 meters)] (according to the human standard used by the angel).
18 The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 19 The wall of the city was built on foundation stones [adorned] with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
21 The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.
22 I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. 24 The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. 25 Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. 26 And all the nations will bring their glory and honor into the city. 27 Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the old heaven and the old earth had disappeared.
Revelation 21:1, NLT
Right away, if we’ve been paying attention to the scriptures, we can see that this city is going to be placed on a world that does not yet exist. It’s called a “new earth”, but that does not mean that it is a copy of this earth. In fact, as we study this chapter, we see that the new earth must be a lot larger than our current earth. I envision it to be as large as Jupiter.
Also, when John writes that there is a “new heaven”, I believe that he is talking about what I call the “Spirit Realm” (where the angelic race currently lives). Paul calls it the “third heaven”. 2 Corinthians 12:2
It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal.
Revelation 21:11, NLT
Jasper, as far as I understand it, is a kind of quartz stone. It apparently comes in many different colors, shapes and sizes. In this case, it is clear as crystal (or glass). So now we can imagine a city with walls that are completely transparent, made out of a kind of crystal.
These walls are absolutely HUGE. Much bigger than anything on earth (except the oceans and continents). The Grand Canyon would be like a crack on one of these gigantic walls.
If this city were to be placed on our current earth, the world would wobble due to the incredible size and weight of this structure. Each wall is 1,400 miles in length, 1,400 miles high, and 216 feet thick (which would be paper thin in scale).
Think of it this way: Our International Space Station currently orbits this planet at an altitude of about 250 miles. That would put the top of this city another 1,150 miles above where the space station is now! The walls are over 5 times higher than the space station orbits!! (Look at the picture and try to imagine a crystal wall that much taller.)
The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. The wall of the city was built on foundation stones [adorned] with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst.
Revelation 21:18-20
Here is an image that I put together, trying to capture the colors of this city’s foundation stones.
Whether the walls are solid stones or inlaid with them or simply adorned with them is not clear to me. I’d like to think that each layer of the foundation would be of a single translucent stone that radiates its hue with the light that comes from within the city (the pure, brilliant glory of God, Himself).
How many miles high each layer of the foundation is isn’t given to us. The image here shows them in the order that they would be stacked under the city, with Jasper on the bottom and Amethyst on top. Just the foundation would likely be taller than Mount Everest (which is just under 5 miles high). Even if each layer were only 10 miles high (over twice the height of Everest), the entire foundation would be 120 miles high (not so tall compared to the gargantuan walls above).
Try to imagine standing at a corner of this city, looking up, at a foundation that looms up out of sight, brightly shining from within, displaying a rainbow of colors! If you could fly up, you would begin to see a crystalline wall above the foundation that reveals a city behind it made of glimmering gold. If you could quickly fly along one of the sides, you would eventually meet with a gate (one of twelve, with three on each side). The gate would be guarded by a mighty angel, against whom no man or army could contend. The gate would be made of a single pearl. With walls measuring 216 feet thick, the question is begged, are we seeing a huge, two-hundred-some feet in diameter pearl, or a small pearl of the kind that we have today in this world? And is the gate at the base of the wall, in the middle, or near the top? We just don’t know. How far apart are these gates? One every 400 miles or so? How does the gate open? Does it float outward from the wall just enough for people to pass in and out?
The question must be asked, “What are these magnificent walls keeping out?”
Will this “new earth” be a planet of lava; as brilliant as the sun? A place where those who have rejected the cross of Christ will languish in pain, regret, and utter misery outside the walls of the magnificent city, trapped in the molten goo?
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes. They will be permitted to enter through the gates of the city and eat the fruit from the tree of life. 15 Outside the city are the dogs—the sorcerers, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idol worshipers, and all who love to live a lie.
Revelation 22:14-15, NLT
He replied, 24 “Work hard to enter the narrow door to God’s Kingdom, for many will try to enter but will fail. 25 When the master of the house has locked the door, it will be too late. You will stand outside knocking and pleading, ‘Lord, open the door for us!’ But he will reply, ‘I don’t know you or where you come from.’ 26 Then you will say, ‘But we ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.’ 27 And he will reply, ‘I tell you, I don’t know you or where you come from. Get away from me, all you who do evil.’
28 “There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for you will see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you will be thrown out. 29 And people will come from all over the world—from east and west, north and south—to take their places in the Kingdom of God. 30 And note this: Some who seem least important now will be the greatest then, and some who are the greatest now will be least important then.”
Luke 13: 24-30, NLT
“Heaven” is probably not what you think it is. I doubt that any of us can grasp the reality that will be the next phase of God’s creation, just as the angels could have hardly grasped the reality of matter, time and space – and humanity, mammals, fish, birds, amphibians, reptiles, dinosaurs, bugs, bacteria, viruses – when God told them “watch this” as He began to speak this physical realm into existence.
Let your mind be blown by Who the awesome God, our Creator and Master, is. His plans for us are greater than anyone could guess!
10 This is what the Lord says: “You will be in Babylon for seventy years. But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again. 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord. “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope. 12 In those days when you pray, I will listen. 13 If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me. 14 I will be found by you,” says the Lord. “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes. I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”
Jeremiah 29:10-14
If that was His promise to an unfaithful, stiff-necked people, how much better are His plans for those who have accepted His gift of a life as Humanity 2.0!
In Him,
Gary
