The New Jerusalem

The New Jerusalem

[I saw] the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.

— Revelation 22:1-2

I am groaning with inexpressible groaning on my wanderer’s path, and remembering Jerusalem with my heart lifted up towards it—Jerusalem my homeland, Jerusalem my mother.^a

— AUGUSTINE

Why did the great explorers, such as Columbus, Magellan, and their crews, seek after “the new world”? Because they were sinners? No. Because as humans we were made to seek out new worlds. God created us to be seekers and explorers and rulers of the earth. (The fact that human sin tainted the actions of many explorers should not cause us to lose sight of this.)

The demands and distractions of our present lives often cause us to set aside or stifle our longings to explore, yet they still surface. On the New Earth, those desires won’t be thwarted by pragmatic considerations. Rather, they will be stimulated and encouraged. And they will never be twisted or diminished by sin, because there will be no sin. As we explore God’s creation in the ages to come, eager to know him better through what we discover, we’ll grow in our knowledge of him, becoming even more motivated to worship him for his wonders.

The first place we may wish to explore will be the largest city that has ever existed—the New Earth’s capital city. The Bible says that the New Jerusalem will be a place of extravagant beauty and natural wonders—a vast Eden, integrated with the best of human culture, under the reign of Christ. More wealth than has been accumulated in all human history will be spread freely across this immense city.

The city’s dimensions will be the equivalent of 1,400 miles (2,200 kilometers) in length, width, and height (Revelation 21:15-16). If a metropolis of this size were situated in the middle of North America, it would stretch from Canada to Mexico and from the Sierra Nevada to the Appalachians. Particularly because of its stated height, people debate whether these are literal or figurative measurements, but clearly we are to envision it as a city immense beyond imagination. Those concerned about crowded conditions have nothing to worry about.

Presumably, there will be many other cities on the New Earth, such as those Jesus mentions in the stewardship parables, where he says that in the Kingdom some will rule over five cities and some over ten (Luke 19:17, 19). The kings of nations who bring their treasures into the New Jerusalem must come from and return to somewhere. Presumably, they will come from other settlements beyond the New Jerusalem. But there will be no city like this one—for it will be home to the King of kings.

Heaven’s capital city will be filled with visual magnificence. “It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal” (Revelation 21:11). John describes the opulence: “The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass. The foundations of the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious stone” (Revelation 21:18-19). John then names twelve stones, eight of which correspond to the stones of the high priest’s breastplate (Exodus 28–29).

“The twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great street of the city was of pure gold, like transparent glass” (Revelation 21:21). The precious stones and gold represent incredible wealth, suggestive of the exorbitant riches of God’s splendor.

John also describes a natural wonder in the center of the New Jerusalem: “The river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city” (Revelation 22:1-2). Why is water important? Because the city is a center of human life and water is an essential part of life. Ghosts don’t need water, but human bodies do. We all know what it’s like to be thirsty, but John was writing to people who lived in a bone-dry climate, who would have grasped the wonder of constantly available fresh water, pure and uncontaminated, able to satisfy the deepest thirst.

On the New Earth, we won’t have to leave the city to find natural beauty. It will be incorporated into the city, with the river of life at its center. The river flows down the main street, most likely splitting into countless smaller streams that flow throughout the rest of the city. Can you picture people talking and laughing beside this river, sticking their hands and faces into the water and drinking?

After John describes the river of life, he mentions another striking feature: “On each side of the river stood the tree of life, bearing twelve crops of fruit, yielding its fruit every month. And the leaves of the tree are for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:2). It appears human beings may draw their strength and vitality through eating of this tree. The tree will produce not one crop but twelve. The newness and freshness of Heaven is demonstrated in the monthly yield of fruit. The fruit is not merely to be admired but consumed: “To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life which is in the Paradise of God” (Revelation 2:7, NASB).

What kind of a view will we have in this city? We know that the New Earth will have at least one mountain, “a mountain great and high” (Revelation 21:10), and we can assume it has hundreds or thousands of them. We may stand on a wall of the great city and look out at breathtaking horizons inviting us to come explore God’s New Earth.

And what will we find if we leave the city? The New Earth’s waterfalls may dwarf Niagara—or the New Niagara Falls may dwarf the one we know now. We’ll find rock formations more spectacular than Yosemite’s, peaks that overshadow the Himalayas, and forests deeper and richer than anything we see in my beloved Pacific Northwest. It’s likely that our tastes will differ enough that some of us, at various times, will prefer to gather for great cultural events, while others will want to withdraw to feed ducks on a lake, and still others will leave the city with their companions to pursue adventures in some undeveloped place. But wherever we go and whatever we do, we’ll never leave the presence of the King. For though he will dwell centrally in the New Jerusalem, he will also be fully present to the ends of the earth and in the far reaches of the new universe.

What do you not like about city life that you’re glad won’t be in the New Jerusalem? What do you love about city life—redeemed city life—that you look forward to in the great city?

Father, thank you for the great city that awaits us, a city that will contain all that is good about cities and nothing that’s bad. Thanks that we will not have to say farewell to all the good aspects of city life—to the beautiful architecture and cultural expressions, the gatherings, and perhaps great restaurants as well. Thank you, too, that both inside and outside the city we will see natural wonders that proclaim your glory. We are grateful that at death we will not say a permanent good-bye to the creation that declares your majesty. Rather, we will be brought back to a physical universe redeemed and cleansed of all that now threatens to obscure you and your greatness. How amazing it will be to eat the fruit of the tree of life in the midst of the city. Help us to face today, Lord, in light of the marvelous day that is coming.