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PART2: The New Heavenly Jerusalem
Click the links below to explore Part 2 of 7 of the New Heaven And Earth.
1.The “New
Jerusalem” Emanates From The “Third Heaven”.
2.Construction
Of The New Jerusalem
3.“New
Jerusalem” Descends Onto “New Earth”.
4.Description Of “New Jerusalem”.
5.Dimension Of The “New Jerusalem”.
6.Geographical
Location Of The “New Jerusalem”.
7.Engineering
And Design Of The “New Jerusalem”.
8.The Sun Will Not
Illuminate The “New Jerusalem”.
9.The “New
Jerusalem” Is A City Of Holiness.
10.
Occupant Of The “New Jerusalem”
11.
“New Jerusalem” Receives Tributes From Other Nations.
The
“New Jerusalem” Emanates From The “Third Heaven”
The book of Revelation 21 verse 2 introduces us to another heavenly city called
“NEW JERUSALEM”. This city is heavenly because it was prepared in heaven, but
will exist in the new heaven and new earth. In the Bible, JERUSALEM is a city
that God ordained to exist on earth and not in heaven. In the Bible JERUSALEM
was designed to be a holy city for God. A city from which God’s laws are
supposed to be dissipated across the earth.
However the current Jerusalem (which
will become the “old Jerusalem”) failed to meet with this expectation from
God. Jerusalem means “possession of peace”. But the current Jerusalem has not
always known peace as a result of conflicts in the Middle East. And even during
the millennial reign of Jesus Christ when the current Jerusalem will know true
peace for the first time in history, towards the end of the millennial age,
this city will once again be besieged for war. These and some other reasons are
why a New Jerusalem will exist on the new earth.
Click
here to view topical index
Construction Of
The New Jerusalem
Unlike the third Heaven which has been and will continue to be the home of God (i.e just like God, the third heaven does not have beginning and end), the “NEW JERUSALEM” does have a beginning, but will be a continuous holy city without end. Unlike the third Heaven of God, the NEW JERUSALEM started at a point in time, when it was prepared, foundation laid and was built and has been completed or is yet to be completed (Hebrews 11 verse 10). This city was prepared as a gift to the Lord Jesus who is the husband of the church. This church comprises of all the saints of Christ that has ever lived on earth both under the old and new covenant of the Bible. The inception of the design and construction of the “NEW JERUSALEM” started shortly after Jesus Christ’s death and resurrection 2,000 years ago. Jesus Christ confirmed this in John 14 verse 2. Here He said, He goes away to prepare a place for His disciples. The word “place” Jesus Christ referred to is the same as the “NEW JERUSALEM”. The word “place” is not referring to the home of God (or third heaven) which does not need preparing because it already exists. Note also that the preparation begun after Jesus Christ goes away. And Jesus Christ went away to heaven after His death and resurrection on earth 2,000 years ago. Click here to view topical index
“New Jerusalem” Descends Onto “New
Earth”
In Revelation 21 verses 2 & 3, the “NEW JERUSALEM” is described as
coming down from the home of God in the third heaven to the new earth. In other
words, this city is presently located inside the third Heaven of God, but will
be relocated to the new earth in the future.
God in the person of the son of God (also
known as Jesus Christ) will dwell along with His bride (all the saints of God that ever lived on
earth) in this city. From this city, Jesus Christ and His church will
administer and rule the rest of the new earth (and possibly the entire universe consisting of other planets) where
natural human beings will exist and expand as sands of the sea shore.
When the above happens, God’s
original purpose to fellowship with Man, not just spiritually alone, but
physically will be fulfilled. Before the fall of Man, but shortly after the
creation of Adam and Eve approximately 6,000 years ago, God will usually come
down from His home in the third heavens in order to relate with Adam and Eve
physically and socially. “Physically and socially” in this sense includes
person to person conversation, eating food, performing physical surgery and
other aspect of social relationship. But after the fall of Adam and Eve into
sin, God ceased this kind of physical relationship with men and women (read Genesis
2 verses 19 – 22, Genesis 3 verses 8 – 24 and make note of the physical
contact which happened between God and Adam and Eve). He would however still relate with His saints
within any generation mostly through spiritual relationship according to the book
of John 4 verse 24 (on few occasions God did related with human
beings physically after the fall of Adam and Eve. One example is God and His
angels visiting Abraham in Genesis 18
verses. 1 – 33).
During the era of the “New Heaven and New Earth”, God (represented by Jesus Christ and His resurrected and glorified church) from His abode in the “New Jerusalem” will once again relate (i.e physically, socially, spiritually etc) with natural human beings that will be all over the “New Earth”. Click here to view topical index
Description Of
“New Jerusalem”
Topography:
The glory of God will envelope this city. Of all the cities of
the “New Earth”, the “New Jerusalem” will stand out. It will be on top of a
very high mountain. This city will sparkle like stars in the night sky and
reflects light to the rest of cities in the “New Earth”. (Read Revelation 21 verse 10, 11; Micah 4 verses 1,2).
Walls & Gates: In Revelation 21 verses 12 - 14, this city will be fenced around by great high walls. It will have twelve massive gates. Just like the gates of the “Third Heaven”, the 12 gates of the “New Jerusalem” will be guarded by 12 powerful angels day and night. Written on these gates are the names of the twelve tribes of Israel (old testament) and on the foundations will be the names of the 12 apostles of Jesus Christ (new testaments). Read Ezekiel 48 verses 30 - 35. God deliberately made it like this because God designed the nation of Israel to illuminate the earth with the truth about God. To a certain extent, the twelve tribes of Israel accomplished this through the ordinance of the 10 commandments under Moses. However because of Israel’s sins which included the rejection of Jesus Christ 2,000 years ago, God raised 12 apostles out of this nation of Israel to act as the foundation of the church of Jesus Christ which comprised of all races of people on earth. The leadership of both testament era is described as the 24 elders in Revelation 4 verses 4, 10; 5 verse 8, 14; 11 verse 16; 19 verse 4. These 24 elders symbolises all the tens, hundreds of millions or possibly billions of human beings (i.e if you include all little children who died or were aborted from the beginning of the world. Note that Jesus Christ said these children will automatically inherit the kingdom of God Matthew 19 verse 14, Mark 10 verse 14, Luke 18 verse 16) that have accepted God and are now saints who will live with Jesus Christ in this city. Click here to view topical index
Dimension Of
The “New Jerusalem”
In Revelation 21 verses 15 - 17, this city is on a flat square table land.
The city is 12,000 furlongs sq. A furlong is 201.168 metres. The city is therefore 1,500 miles long in length and breadth. This covers a land area of 2,250,000 sq miles. Approximately the same area as the continent of Australia. A surface square mile this size can conveniently accommodate a staggering population of over 6 billion human beings with each person having up to 2,000 sq feet of land to build a mansion.
However the Bible says that this city is a cubic city whose height is the same as the length and breadth. When you consider the fact that present day commercial airlines flies at about 7 miles (i.e 36,960 feet) above the earth surface, the height of the New Jerusalem is therefore 214 times the height at which these commercial airlines flies above the earth. At this size, when compared to the current earth, this city extends through the earth’s atmosphere well into deep space outside the earth.
The volume of this city is therefore a staggering 3,375,000,000 cubic miles (3.3 billion cubic miles) or 496,793,088,000,000,000,000 cubic foot (i.e trillion or zillions of cubic foot).
By just merely looking at the above number, it may not immediately register with the human brain how big this number is. So let us look at it this way by considering the present population of humans on current earth. By the beginning of the year 1900, world population rose to between 3,000,000,0000 - 4,000,000,0000 (3 - 4 billion human beings). But at the present moment of year 2014, world population is now approximately 7 billion human beings. Now according to the Bible, human existence on earth started at about 6000 years ago. Now let us just assume that the current world population of 7 billion has always been the case for each of the years of the past 6000 years (NOTE: this is just for illustration purposes as this is not the case. According to the Bible, there were only 2 human beings on earth 6000 year ago). Then if you multiply 6000 years by 365 days (i.e one year) and by 7,000,000,000 (i.e 7 billion human beings). This calculation will result in 15,330,000,000,000,000 human beings (or 15,330 trillions human beings). Now let us consider the average volume of a human being at 0.07 cubic metre or 0.230 cubic foot. Therefore the volume of all 15,330 trillion human beings will be 3,520,669,291,338,580 cubic foot (or 3,520 trillion cubic foot). If you therefore divide the volume of the city of the New Jerusalem at 496,793,088,000,000,000,000 cubic foot by volume of above calculated human being at 3,520 trillion cubic foot, this result is 141,107. In other words the city of New Jerusalem is 141,107 times 7 billion human assuming these 7 billion human beings exist on earth for each year of the past 6000 years of human existence. This is indeed a giant city.
The occupants of this city are heavenly beings who will not have the limitations of natural human beings. They can therefore live, fly or float all over the length, breadth and height of this massive city. Jesus Christ said that the mansions which he will prepare for His saints will be located in this city. This means such mansions might exists in a state that is not familiar to what we are used to as humans beings. As human beings, we are used to building mansions that is based on the level of the ground. As a result of the huge size of this city, it makes sense to infer there will be floating mansions or groups of mansions which extends up the height of this city.
On the earth, the average size of a mansion is about 6000 sq foot. A cube of this will have both length, breadth and height at about 77 foot long. And the volume will therefore equals to approximately 456,533 cubic foot. If you divide the volume of the entire city of the New Jerusalem by 456,533 cubic foot (i.e cubic size of an average earthly mansion), you will get a mind boggling number of 1,088,186,588,921,280 mansions (i.e 1,088 trillions). Even if you multiply the average size of earthly mansions by 10 times, the result is still a large number of mansions. All human beings that have ever lived on earth are no where near 1,088,186,588,921,280 figure identified above. And yet the saints (resurrected human beings) who will occupy this city are just a fraction of all human beings that ever lived on earth.
The walls are 144 cubits in width. A cubit is 46 centimetres long. Therefore the walls around this city is 216 feet wide or thick (or the length of approximately 21 stories building arranged horizontally).
In summary even though, the bottom (i.e Length and breadth) of the New Jerusalem is approximately 2,250,000 sq miles (i.e taking a minor surface area compared to major surface area that will be occupied by natural human beings of the new earth), the height of this city at 1,500 miles high makes this city an unbelievable massive city that will exist on the New Earth. Click here to view topical index
Geographical Location Of The “New Jerusalem”
The New Jerusalem will only take up a fraction of the entire “New Heaven and Earth”. The surface area of land mass of the current Earth is 148,940,000 km Sq (30% of the Earth without the Sea) and 510,072,000 km sq (total Earth including the Sea). Assuming the New Earth’s size is the same as the current Earth, the total land mass (without the sea. Read Revelation 21 verse 1) is 141 times the size of the “New Jerusalem” (at 2,250,000 sq miles) described above. Click here to view topical index
Engineering And
Design Of The “New Jerusalem”
In Revelation 21 verses 18 - 21, the wall of the city is made of
Jasper. This type of opaque stone is a beautiful gemstone used for
ornamentation. It comes in different colours with smooth texture that reduces
the risk of abrasion against the human body.
The entire city is designed from pure gold
which is translucent. In the present world, men strive and kill themselves to
have this precious metal. However in the “New Jerusalem” it will be available
in abundance. The translucent nature of this city’s structure enables the light
emanating from Jesus Christ to illuminate every part of the city (Revelation 21 verse 23).
The foundations of the four walls
of the city are made from different gem stones including Sapphire (a beautiful blue gemstone which has the same
tensile strength of a diamond); Chalcedony (another gemstone with a waxy luster which can
come in different colours and is translucent); Emerald (is another gemstone whose toughness makes it
resistant to breakage). Other beautiful stones with their own special
qualities includes Sardonyx; Chrysolite;
Beryl ; Topaz; Chrysoprasus;
Jacinth and Amethyst.
The gate of the city is made of pearl which is another highly valued gemstone and is very beautiful. Click here to view topical index
The Sun Will Not Illuminate The
“New Jerusalem”
And unlike other
parts of the world which will continue to experience Sun and the Moon,
Jerusalem will receive her energy and light from Jesus Christ Himself (Revelation 21 verse 23, 22 verse 5, Isaiah 24 verse 23). 2,000 years ago, Jesus Christ
demonstrated to His disciples how His body can generate illumination. Please
read Matthew 17 verse 2.
While the rest of the “New Earth”
will continue to be illuminated by the Sun, the “New Jerusalem” will be located at
a part of the “New Earth” which will not be accessible to sunlight. Just as
certain parts of the current earth (i.e Eskimos) does
not experience Sunlight for a greater part of the year, so will the “New
Jerusalem” be located at a place where it will not be illuminated by the light
of the Sun. However this part of the “New Earth” will be illuminated by God.
This means the presence of God will be everywhere and as a result, no darkness
will be able to penetrate the confine of this gigantic city.
Darkness does not foster much activities. And this is why people sleep when it is
dark. However because the inhabitants of the “New Jerusalem” are heavenly
beings living on the new planet earth, they do not require sleep. Their
glorified body does not experience wear, tear or becomes tired and would
therefore not need the quietness of the night to rest. The physical presence of God will become
luminous and emitting light which will penetrate the nooks and cranny of this
beautiful city. Read II Samuel 23 verses
3 & 4, Isaiah 60 verses 19 & 20. The phrase “…need no candle…” in Revelation
22 verse 5 infers there will not be any need of artificial light whether
from electricity, candle, lantern etc.
Unlike the Sun which not only produces light,
but generate significant heat that can burn if someone is very close to it, the
physical presence of God in this city will only produce light, but will not
create heat or any other discomfort to the inhabitants of the “New Jerusalem”.
This light will be many times brighter than the light from the Sun, but it is a
supernatural brightness that will not affect the eyes. Acts 26 verses 13 – 14. The sort of light emanating from God will
allow the occupants of this city to be at a reasonable close distance from God
in order to have a person to person conversation with God. In other words, just
as God related socially with Adam every evening in the Garden of Eden, so will
God be able to relate to every inhabitant of this city at a close range. This
person will not be burned by this light from God. Read Genesis 2 verse 15 – 17, 3 verse 8 – 13, Revelation
22 verse 4 – 5.
Click
here to view topical index
The “New Jerusalem” Is A City Of Holiness
In Revelation 21 verse 9, just like the “Third Heaven”, the New Jerusalem will be a holy city. No sin will be permitted in this city (Read Revelation 21 verses 8, 27). Click here to view topical index
Occupant Of
The “New Jerusalem”
Just as a husband and wife lives together in a house and in privacy away from friends and other people, so will this city be occupied only by the Lamb and His wife (Revelation 21 verses 2,9; Ephesians 5 verses 25 - 28). This is Jesus Christ and the redeemed Saints of all ages. Their home will be in the “New Jerusalem” away from the rest of the “New Earth”. The rest of the “New Earth” will be occupied by other natural human beings that will continue to be born onto the new earth during that era or dispensation of human existence. Please note that human population will continue to grow throughout all eternity because human beings of this era will not die. The ever increasing number of human beings will form the “nations” of the new earth and heavens. Click here to view topical index
“New Jerusalem” Receives
Tributes From Other Nations
Just like the period of the millennial age, the “New Jerusalem” will receive tributes from different nations that will exist in the “New Heaven and Earth”