Spiritually
There is no temple is in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its templeThe throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp
There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.
The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it
The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into the city
Nothing impure will ever enter the city, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life
I warn everyone who hears the words of the prophecy of this scroll: If anyone adds anything to them, God will add to that person the plagues described in this scroll. And if anyone takes words away from this scroll of prophecy, God will take away from that person any share in the tree of life and in the Holy City, which are described in this scroll.
The City in general
A measuring rod of gold was used to measure the city, its gates and its walls
The city is laid out like a square, as long as it was wide
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia (approximately 1,400 miles) in length, and as wide and high as it is long
The brilliance of the city is like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal
The great street of the city is of gold, as pure as transparent glass
Then the angel showed me 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. 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. No longer will there be any curse.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues measured the city with the rod and found it to be 12,000 stadia (approximately 1,400 miles) in length, and as wide and high as it is long
The brilliance of the city is like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal
The great street of the city is of gold, as pure as transparent glass
Then the angel showed me 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. 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. No longer will there be any curse.
Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
Wall and Gates
The angel measured the wall using human measurement, and it was 144 cubits (72 yards) thick
The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass
The wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as pure as glass
The city has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and with twelve angels at the gates
On the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel
There are three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west
The twelve gates are twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl
On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there
On the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel
There are three gates on the east, three on the north, three on the south and three on the west
The twelve gates are twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl
On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there
Foundation
The wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
The foundations of the city walls are decorated with every kind of precious stone:
The first foundation was jasper,
the second sapphire,
the third agate,
the fourth emerald,
the fifth onyx,
the sixth ruby,
the seventh chrysolite,
the eighth beryl,
the ninth topaz,
the tenth turquoise,
the eleventh jacinth,
and the twelfth amethyst
My interpretation of what The Holy City The New Jerusalem will look like:
- God and the Lamb are the temple and they will be seated on a throne either in the middle of the city or there back to the center of one of the walls
- God and the Lamb will have servants who serve them. Those honorable servants will be clearly marked as the name of the Lord will be written on their foreheads. Which means people in the future will certainly have some form of a body with a head.
- At our present earth is governed by the sun and to a much lesser extent the moon. Without the sun all plant life would cease to live and no one would be able to see anything as eventually all light sources outside of sun would cease. We would be in complete darkness which would lead to chaos. Ultimately no sun means no life. In the new world to come the concepts of sun, moon, and any form of light will be obsolete. God himself will replace those things and he himself will be the basis of all knowledge, intelligence, and power. In other words all people living in the Holy City will walk by Spirit not by the lesser forces of might or strength. The servants of God will always see through the eyes of God. They will see as he means for them to see and not by the lower powers we presently see by. They will see and experience the world from truth of how God meant for us to see things.
- Mankind of this age have three eternal destination in the after life: the New Jerusalem, the nations of the earth, or the second death also referred to as lake of fire
- the battle against impurity will continue through all eternity however it will never be enter the Gates of the Holy City
- decay and vulnerability of death will ever be present outside of the gates of the Holy City. At any time of the Holy presence of God is death. The people of the nations will rely upon the Holy City for all life as the light will be shown from the glory of God, the leaves are the source of healing for the nations, and the river of life flows from the throne of God. All three of these vital sources must regularly be supplied and are only available from the source of all life which is the Holy City.
- the city will be a square open on the top. There are a total of 12 gates three on all four sides of the city. The city is a little less than 1,400 miles long as it wide as it is tall. 1,400 miles is like going from the farthest southern tip of Texas to mid Iowa.
- the city will have 12 foundations my guess is the entire make up of the entire city including walls and foundations will be like a rectangle like the old testament tabernacle. Perhaps the foundations in their entirety will also be 1,400 miles in length, height, and width. Perhaps each one will be 1,000 stadia (over 115 miles)
Thoughts on the great river, jumbo merge (ge 2:9-14; re 22:1-4)
Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb 2 down the middle of the great street of the city. 10 A river watering the garden flowed from Eden; 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.from there it was separated into four headwaters. 11 The name of the first is the Pishon; it winds through the entire land of Havilah, where there is gold. 12 (The gold of that land is good; aromatic resin[a] and onyx are also there.) 13 The name of the second river is the Gihon; it winds through the entire land of Cush.[b] 14 The name of the third river is the Tigris; it runs along the east side of Ashur. And the fourth river is the Euphrates.
3 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him. 4 They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads.
