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Our study resumes trying to answer the question of “why” God would reveal such specific details to us about our future city home well ahead of the final battle to take that same city by the forces of darkness and evil. Of course the outcome of that battle is not in doubt, but the reason behind the revelation must have meaning to us in the here and now, or otherwise why offer it. There is method, and reason, and love behind every revelation of Jesus Christ, what follows is no different. Our Lord’s character is to be revealed in the details He provides through His servant John. It is up to us, to study it, find it, and bathe in the truth of His love. So we resume in Chapter 21 of the book of Revelations.
John continues in verse 14 … “And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” What struck me first about this text, was a prior misunderstanding I had in reading it. I mistakenly thought this text referred to the foundations of the city of heaven, it does not. It refers to the foundations of the wall itself. You will recall John has just recorded that this wall is both great and high. It is entirely possible, the foundations of this wall are above ground and visible even after the city reaches its placement upon the earth. There is no mention made of the thickness of each layer of this foundation of the wall, or whether it is planted in the earth and how far, but given there are names applied to each foundation, it is more likely the construction of the wall is layered upon this stack of 12 layers of precious stones, where the names of each apostle is in plain view of those who take a walk around the city.
Here our Lord reveals that while things evolve based on our decisions and choices, He is able to reach both backwards into our history as well as forwards. The names of the 12 tribes of Israel have been inscribed on the gates, now also the names of the 12 Apostles on the wall foundations. The church, both in history, and going forward, is forever memorialized in the new city of heaven. Keep in mind this city is not one that will ever perish or be altered in the future. Perhaps John sees inscribed here in one of the layers of this foundation of the wall, of the mechanism by which access is gained into the city, and the city is protected, his own name by the mercy of God. For Israel gave birth the hope of the world in the Messiah, and the Apostles then took the gospel of the Messiah the lengths of the world. Had it not been for the faithful choices of both to follow God, you could not be reading the precious Bible presented to you.
But this passage poses an interesting question. Could the name of Judas be inscribed in one of those layers? The natural assumption is that Matthias who is later chosen to replace Judas would have his name there instead. Or perhaps Paul would have his name there having been chosen directly by Christ on the road to persecute the faithful. But why not Judas; because he betrayed our Lord? Have we done anything worse? Did Peter? Peter denied Christ three times when He perhaps needed the support of His disciples the most. Yet Peter is forgiven. It is not the magnitude of our sins, but whether we will humble ourselves and yet seek forgiveness for them that matters. The very soldier who pierced the side of Christ, and drove the nails into His hands, is not beyond the realm of the forgiveness of our Lord.
Judas may have betrayed Him. The Roman may have killed Him. But you and I stand equally guilty of both crimes every time we choose to embrace the love of self, and sin against God. We demand the cost of His sacrifice yet again for the actions we take. And what is more, we know better. We have the insight of history and scripture to record what had to be done to pay our cost. Yet with this knowledge, we have the audacity to require it yet again. If we are not beyond forgiveness and redemption, can we be so quick to assume Judas was not either? Can we be so quick to assume his last prayer was not one of a penitent sinner for forgiveness because he could not live, knowing the magnitude of the sin he had committed? Imagine what the name of Judas there on a foundation of the wall of heaven itself, says about the character of God, about His willingness to forgive, about the intensity of His love for even one like Judas, or you, or me. Whether his name is there or not, will be determined by how he spent what time he had left before he ended his life, only he and God know that.
John continues in verse 15 … “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. [verse 16] And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.” So here we go again, why is John now revealing yet more precious intelligence and reconnaissance about the nature of heaven ahead of the final battle, why do you need to know? In this passage we learn the city of heaven is in the shape of a square. Or at least, the base of the city is in this shape. This means the walls that surround the city are approximately 1500 miles long each. A wall that long easily displays the need for multiple gates for access to and from the city. 3 gates along each side of the wall, if spread equidistant from each other, one might guess they are positioned 300 miles from each other and 300 miles from the corners of the wall.
But even 300 miles is no short distance. Try walking from Orlando to Miami sometime to get a feel for it. In today’s age, or in the age of John, one might reasonably attempt to walk 15 miles a day with some effort. It might also depend on the conditions of the pathway, whether hilly terrain, or difficult surfaces. The short story being, it would take significantly longer to get from one gate to another than a single 24 hour day at current walking speeds. If a horse could ride 30 miles a day, that still leaves 10 of them. In a car driving 60 miles per hour it would still take 5 hours to get there. Even in a plane that takes an hour’s flight. This is just to move from one gate to another. To get from one corner of the wall to the next on foot given today’s rates is 100 days, or 50 days on horseback, 25 hours in a car, or 2.5 hours by plane. This is NO small city.
But then comes perhaps the most interesting detail of this passage, the city is as tall as it is long. This means it extends 1500 miles up as well. The length and width are hardly comprehensible at these measurements, but to be this tall as well is breathtaking. It then brings up some interesting architectural ideas. If the throne of God is at the city center, and is also the highest point in the city, then it stands to reason that all the surrounding structures would begin to descend in height, where the buildings closest to God’s throne would be the tallest, and those closest to the wall would be the lowest. This would give the city the appearance of an ancient Egyptian pyramid from a distance. This may have been a design Satan inspired the Egyptians to build to mock God by imitation here on earth bathed in a false religion that believes in the immortality of the soul. A different architectural idea might have been that all structures within the city are equally tall, thus the city might have resembled a Borg cube from the Star Trek series where again resistance is futile (to the power of love that is).
In either architectural construct, or ones we have yet to imagine, consider what the ramifications are for a building that is constructed that is only one mile tall (5280 feet). Using the measure of 10 feet per story level of a building, this means just a single mile tall structure would be 528 floors. Let’s assume we need 30 feet per story now to accommodate high ceilings and much taller people or inhabitants, that still means a single mile high building would be around 140 stories tall. Imagine walking up the stair case on that one. Good thing fire dangers are a thing of the past. Good thing earthquake building codes are no longer a worry. Good thing tornadoes, zoning, flooding, and shoddy construction is a thing of the past. But even with speedy elevators going up 140 stories is no small feat. Now imagine any given building instead of being 140 stories tall (using 30 feet per story and one mile in height) is now 100 miles tall. At that point you have 14,000 stories tall. Taking the 100 mile high building up by 15 to make it 1500 miles tall and you have 210,000 stories tall. Anything above a 100 story “skyscraper” we can see in New York City, or Dubai, or Hong Kong begins to boggle our brains. The idea of a mile high building begins to threaten the safety of our air travel.
But here is where physics gets interesting, what happens when the city extends 1500 miles into our atmosphere? This is well beyond the normal air we breathe. Our present atmosphere is composed of several layers beginning with the Troposphere which starts at sea level and extends up about 7 miles. It is followed by the Stratosphere which heads up to about 31 miles, followed by the Mesosphere up to about 50 miles, followed by the Thermosphere up to about 440 miles, followed by the Exosphere up to about 6200 miles. A 1500 mile structure of anything would be well into the Exosphere. This begs the question, how do we travel at all? How do we breathe? What happens to gravity? If the earth is made new, and substantially larger, would it not have a much deeper atmosphere? But then if so, how heavy would that atmospheric pressure be on our bodies. In addition, a significantly larger planet would bring with it a significantly larger gravitational pull, requiring significantly stronger muscles just to be able to walk around at all.
But let’s get back to the core question, why give us this information? Perhaps it is to challenge our human wisdom once again with the realities of our God, where nothing is impossible. Perhaps it is to tell us that the city of heaven will be much larger than anything we can imagine with more than enough room to house every person ever born from Adam until now. Perhaps it is to give us a hint that travel in heaven will not be as constricted by human limitations as it is today. Perhaps it is to alter our ideas of a mansion from one of country estate to one of city penthouse. Perhaps it is to inspire us to dream about what it might be like, and the infinite possibilities we will be exploring just to see all of it from one end to the other might take centuries.
Why do we need to know now? After all, our minds can hardly comprehend what we are hearing anyway? What does this show us about the character of Jesus Christ? I believe it shows us that our very limited thinking, and very limited scale, even in the world of today, are nothing next to how our God thinks about things. I cannot fathom a city of this size. I could not possibly guess at the extent of its population ability. But that our God created this city and modified it so that we could live with Him tells me that 1500 miles in height or length or width is not too far for His light or presence to reach. For there is no dark corner in heaven. There is no alley way or hidden space, where the light and presence of our God does not reach. From end to end, and height to basement, nowhere in this city is absent the presence and light and love of our God. His bride is meant for our Lord. We are the treasure that is to be in this city.
John continues his descriptions in verse 17 … “And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.” John now reveals the height of the wall to be 144 cubits or about 216 feet. Compared to a city that is 1500 miles high, a 216 foot high wall is hardly significant. But to reveal this information to the enemy ahead of the battle seems really like revealing the worst secret of your city’s defenses. You just told them how high to build the ladders to scale the wall. You just gave them an indication of how thick the walls might be in order that proper battering rams or explosive devices would need to be to take down the wall and grant access to the city inside. Why give this data away? Perhaps it is to remind us that war itself is to be a thing of the past. God does not doubt His victory in the coming battle. And this wall will be standing to prevent future entry and exit, only like a fence to remind us, that we are ever surrounded by the protection of our God. A fence He is choosing to decorate in a most ornate manner. This might be God’s idea of a traditional “white picket fence” so to speak.
John continues in verse 18 … “And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. [verse 19] And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; [verse 20] The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. [verse 21] And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.” With a city that is 1500 miles high, and an equal distance square, John keeps his attention focused largely on the wall. He reveals to us that each gate in the wall is a single pearl (must have been some oyster). He reveals that the bricks of the wall are of the same stones that is reflected in the light of God, and in the appearance of God the Father, a Jasper stone (likely green in color). Has God perhaps put a part of Himself into the construction of this wall?
The foundations of this wall, presumably the ones where the names of the Apostles are written, are described in detail. They represent a variety of colors and textures. And lastly the streets of heaven are made of the concrete of purest gold, such that they are nearly translucent. One thing that immediately comes to mind when considering the construction of this wall, and of the streets of the city, is the value of the treasures we value here on earth. Pearls, sapphires, emeralds, and gold are not done away with in heaven. But they do represent only building materials. What we choose to wear around our necks, our fingers, our wrists, and our heads are nothing more than the concrete of heaven. Pearls are of value because they are rare, as is any precious stone, but in heaven they are as plentiful as the wall itself. If you define the value of your jewelry because it is ornate and rare and perhaps large, you have not seen the half of it yet. God has much more jewels than you can possibly imagine. He had so many, he used them as construction materials; perhaps that was ALL they were ever intended to be used for.
On earth we kill for gold, in heaven we walk on it. This information, this intelligence, this reconnaissance about our future home was not shared with us to stoke our greed, but to kill it once and for all time. We do not need jewelry to make us feel better about our appearance. There is no reason to hoard gold, let alone paper money. In effect it is the equivalent of wearing bits of gravel, wood, and dirt on our bodies. For what we prize so highly and sacrifice so much for here in this world is nothing more than beautiful building materials in the only future that matters. This revelation should give us pause to realize the contents of the city make it the bride of Christ, not the construction materials. We are the prize. We are the treasure. We are the thing God was willing to give His only Son to die in our stead for. He loved us, not gold, or pearls, or jewelry. He had plenty of jewels, but treasured you so highly He was willing to die so you would not have to. Our lives are what matters most to Christ. He shows us the magnitude of His thinking, of His design skills, or His architectural planning, to show us that size will not be the limiting factor in our participation in heaven. Heaven is big enough for ALL of us. There is no limit to His invitations because He does not have enough room, He has more than enough. The only limitation to entry to this city is because you refuse to do so.
When love of others is perfected in you, you do not value the rubies, diamonds, gold, and pearls, you value the person who wears them or cannot afford to. The construction trinkets are of no value to the person whose heart has been transformed by Christ. The goal is to see the person in this city, with you, with me, with Christ. What we wear matters literally nothing at all. No designer suit will compensate for a corrupted heart. No finest gem will replace the loss of a loved one in the kingdom of heaven. No amount of gold in this world, is worth even the least of these, in the next one. To “sacrifice” our means in this world to promote the ministry of redemption is NOT a sacrifice at all, it is an investment that has a return more precious than any conceived of since the dawn of creation. It is our priorities that must be altered by the Revelation of John to us. It is our hearts that must be remade in order to be in harmony with the kingdom he reveals. To treasure the rocks of this world over the people of this world, is to miss the point of the gospel entirely. Rocks will be in no short supply, people are the only unique and truly rare and precious things that cannot be replaced. The jewels He will place on your head, are merely a symbol of the treasure you are in His heart.
But the revelations of heaven and the messages were not over yet …
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