Now we’ll continue with John’s description of the New Jerusalem. The last thing we looked at was in Revelation 21:11 having to do with the bluish-green light that emanates from the city because God is there. Then John says, “It had a massive and high wall with twelve very large gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were written. There are three gates on the east side, three gates on the north side, three gates on the south side and three gates on the west side.” (Revelation 21:12-13)
Again, it makes more sense when you read these verses to have the city ascending up the side of a vast, high mountain or series of mountains. In my mind it is easier to envision this (and more consistent with the information we have) than to have a 1500-mile high cube with a 200-foot wall (verse 17, we’ll get to that later) at the bottom of it. So, John tells us the wall has three gates on each side and an angel stationed at each gate. In the past I have said these angels are stationed at the gates to guard the city, but in retrospect I see nothing for them to guard it against. And John doesn’t say they are there to guard the city. Considering the conditions of life on the new earth described by John in Revelation 21:3-7, it’s more likely the angels are there to welcome visitors to the city.
“The wall was built on twelve different foundation stones and on each was the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the one speaking to me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, its gates and its wall.” (Revelation 21:14-15) This is where I have to destroy a misconception regarding the city. Verse 14 says the wall is built on twelve different foundation stones (we’ll look at that in more detail when we get to verses 18, 19 and 20), it does not say the city is built on twelve foundations, which many unfortunately assume are twelve levels of the city shaped like a cube. If that cube were 1500 miles in height, each level would have to be 125 miles high!
We have to assume the twelve different foundation stones coincide with the twelve gates named for the twelve apostles. This would give us twelve different sections of the wall, three on each side, each one built of a different precious stone. Each section would be 500 miles long, probably with the gate in the middle of it. By the way, I have to mention that there are twelve gates named for twelve apostles. Judas hanged himself according to Matthew 27:5; then Matthias was later chosen to take his place in Acts 1:15-26.
This brings us to the actual measurements in verses 16-17. “And the city lies in a square, the length being the same as the width. And he measured the city with his rod and it was 12,000 stadia (about 1500 miles). The length and width and height are the same distance. Then he measured the wall and it was 144 cubits (approximately 220 feet) by a man’s measure, which the angel was using.” To put the math in perspective, a stadia (furlong in the KJV) is 1/8 of a mile, so 12,000 divided by 8 equals 1500. A cubit was measured from a man’s elbow to the tip of his middle finger. The dictionary says a cubit was a unit of measure anywhere from 17 to 21 inches. I split the difference and used 19 inches.
In verses 18-21 we see the materials used for the New Jerusalem. “The wall was made of jasper and the city was of pure gold, clear and transparent like glass. The foundations of the wall were decorated with all the different precious stones. The first one had jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth and the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. And the main street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.”
First, the wall is built of jasper, like the light that comes from the city (21:11), a precious stone of blue-green color. The city is made of gold, so pure it has the appearance of clear glass. The twelve different sections of the wall are decorated at their base with twelve different precious stones. The first is jasper, already described. The second stone is sapphire, a blue stone nearly as hard as diamond. The third is chalcedony, a transparent yellow-red. The fourth is emerald, a deep green. The fifth is onyx, a variegated stone with colored bands running through it, usually bluish-white, sometimes red. The sixth is sardius, a blood-red stone. The seventh is chrysolite, described as a dusky green with a gold cast. The eighth is beryl, another blue-green stone. The ninth is topaz, a pale green with some yellow in it. The tenth is chrysoprase, a yellowish-green stone with a darker blue cast. The eleventh is jacinth, a red stone with a mixture of yellow in it, sometimes called a cinnamon stone. And the twelfth is amethyst, a purple or violet stone.
The gates are made of a single or solid pearl. Like everything else described here, it’s beyond our comprehension; we’ve never seen anything like this. But if the creator of the universe wants solid pearl gates, He’s perfectly capable of making them. As for the pure gold, transparent like glass, I would have to say He certainly could refine gold beyond what man has ever been able to do. So, I take John at his word.
Let’s deal with one more issue. This is verse 22. “And I saw no shrine in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its shrine.” Most translations have “temple” where I have “shrine”. The word is translated from naos, used in Acts 17:24 and 19:24 to describe heathen temples containing idols. It is also used to describe the sanctuary of the Jewish temple in Jerusalem into which only the priests could enter in Luke 1:9, 21, 22. That there is a sanctuary in the city is not in question (read Revelation 3:12; 7:15; 11:19; 14:15, 17; 15:1-8; 16:1, 17). The point John is making is that in the city there will be no designated place people must go to meet with God or that only certain ones can meet with Him. He will live among them (21:3) and they will see His face (22:4).