Thursday, March 28
John now describes the capital of the new earth, the New Jerusalem. While a real place inhabited by real people, the New Jerusalem and life in it are beyond any earthly description (1 Corinthians 2:9).
Read Revelation 21:9-21. What are the exterior features of the New Jerusalem?
The New Jerusalem is referred to as the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The New Jerusalem is the place Christ is preparing for His people (John 14:1-3).
The city is surrounded by a high wall with twelve gates - three gates on each of the four sides, allowing entry from any direction. This feature points to the universal scope of the city. In the New Jerusalem everybody has unlimited access to God’s presence.
The city is further pictured as a perfect cube; it is 12,000 furlongs, or stadia, in length, width, and height. The cube consists of 12 edges. Thus, the city totals 144,000 stadia, which reflects the 144,000 who are translated without seeing death at the second coming of Jesus. In the Old Testament temple, the Most Holy Place was a perfect cube (1 Kings 6:20). The New Jerusalem thus functions as the center of the worship of God.
Read Revelation 21:21-22:5. What interior features of the city remind you of the Garden of Eden? What is the significance of the promise that there will be no more curse in the city (Revelation 22:3)?
The most prominent feature of the New Jerusalem is the river of water of life flowing from God’s throne (Genesis 2:10). In contrast to the river in Babylon, at which God’s people were sitting as captives longing for Jerusalem (Psalm 137), on the banks of the river of life in the New Jerusalem, God’s wandering people of all ages have found their home.
On both sides of the river is the tree of life with leaves for “the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). This healing does not refer to disease, as on the new earth there will be no disease. It refers to the healing of all the wounds caused by the barriers that have torn people apart throughout history. The redeemed of all ages and from all nations now belong to one family of God.
