The New Jerusalem is the capital city of this new earth. In the Hebrew language, Jerusalem means "city of peace." The earthly Jerusalem has seldom lived up to its name, but the name New Jerusalem will accurately reflect reality.
A Connecting Link. In one sense that city links heaven and the new earth. Primarily, the term heaven means "sky." Scripture uses it to refer to (1) the atmospheric heavens (Gen. 1:20), (2) the starry heavens (Gen. 1:14-17), and (3) the "third heaven," where Paradise is located (2 Cor. 12:2-4). From this connection of "heaven" with Paradise, it became synonymous with Paradise, the place of God's throne and dwelling. Hence, by extension, Scripture terms God's realm and rulership and the people who willingly accept His rule the "kingdom of heaven."
God answers beyond all expectations the petition in the Lord's Prayer, "Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" when He relocates the New Jerusalem to Planet Earth (Rev. 21:1, 2). He not only refurbishes the earth, He exalts it. Transcending its pre-Fall status, it becomes the capital of the universe.
The Physical Description. John uses romantic terms to convey the beauty of the New Jerusalem: The city is like a "bride adorned for her husband" (Rev. 21:2). His description of the physical attributes of the city portray to us its reality.
1. Its light. The first specific attribute John noticed as he viewed "'the bride, the Lamb's wife'" was "her light" (Rev. 21:9, 11). God's glory illuminates the city, making the light of sun and moon superfluous (Rev. 21:23, 24). No dark alleys will mar the New Jerusalem, for the walls and streets are translucent and "there shall be no night there" (Rev. 21:25). "They need no lamp, nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light" (Rev. 22:5).
2. Its construction. God has used only the very finest materials in building the city. The wall is of jasper, a "most precious stone" (Rev. 21:11, 18). The foundations are adorned with twelve different gems: jasper, sapphire, chalcedony, emerald, sardonyx, sardius, chrysolite, beryl, topaz, chrysoprase, jacinth, and amethyst (Rev. 1:19, 20).
These gems are not, however, the primary building material. For the most part, God has made the city—its buildings and streets—of gold (Rev. 21:18, 21), using that precious metal as freely as people now use concrete. This gold is finer than any now known, for John calls it "pure gold, like clear glass" (Rev. 21:18).
Twelve gates, each made of a single pearl, grant access to the city. "Pearls are the product of suffering: a tiny irritant slips inside an oyster's shell, and as the little creature suffers, it transforms that irritant into a lustrous gem. The gates are of pearl. Your entrance, my entrance, God provided at infinite personal suffering as in Christ He reconciled all things to Himself."4
Just as meaningful today as the list of materials that went into the construction of the city is the fact that the angel who showed the city to John measured its walls. That they could be measured, that they have height and length and thickness, conveys to the modern, data-oriented mentality the city's reality.
3. Its food and water supply. From the throne of God in the center of the city flows the "river of water of life" (Rev. 22:1). And like a banyan tree with multiple trunks, the tree of life grows "on either side of the river." Its twelve fruits contain the vital element the human race has gone without since Adam and Eve had to leave Eden—the antidote for aging, burnout, and simple fatigue (Rev. 22:2; Gen. 3:22). Those who eat the fruit of this tree need no night in which to rest (cf. Rev. 21:25), for in the new earth they will never feel tired.
Our Eternal Home
The Bible makes clear that ultimately the saved will inherit this earth (Matt. 5:5; Ps. 37:9, 29; 115:16). Jesus promised to prepare for His followers "dwelling places" in His Father's house (John 14:1-3). As we have noted, Scripture locates the Father's throne and heavenly headquarters in the New Jerusalem, which will descend to this earth (Rev. 21:2, 3, 5).
City Home. The New Jerusalem is the city for which Abraham looked (Heb. 11:10). Within that vast city Christ is preparing "mansions" (John 14:2), or as the original word indicates, "abiding places"—real homes.
Country Homes. But the redeemed will not be confined within the walls of the New Jerusalem. They will inherit the earth. From their city homes the redeemed will go out into the country to design and build their dream homes, to plant crops, and harvest and eat them (Isa. 65:21).
At Home With God and Christ. On the new earth the promise Jesus made to His disciples will find eternal fulfillment: "'That where I am there you may be also'" (John 14:3). The purpose of the Incarnation, "God with us," will have finally reached its goal. "'Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be with them and be their God'" (Rev. 21:3). Here the saved have the privilege of living in the presence of the Father and the Son, of fellowshipping with them.
THE LORD IS COMING, SOON, AMEN, YES, COME LORD JESUS!
* Fundamental Beliefs of the Seventh-day Adventist Church - Doctrine 28 "The New Earth"
* www.facebook.com/Secondcomingheaven
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