Revelation 21:15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and
the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lies
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. 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. AKJV
The
length of each wall and the height of the city in this vision is 1500
miles. ie, 1500 miles cubed. That 2,250,000 square miles. Australia is
2,900,000 Square miles. India 1,240,000 square miles. If you were to
assume the height of the floors in this cube were 12 feet that would
make approx. 600,000 floors. That times 2.25 million miles is approx.
1.35 trillion square miles. Approx. 23,500 times the square miles of the
land on the earth which is 57.5 million square miles. The best thing to
do is to go back a few verses to find what might be the meaning of the
size of the city.
12. And had a wall great and high, and had
twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon,
which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel:
13. On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south
three gates; and on the west three gates. AKJV
If you
haven't already please follow the hyperlink to Ezekiel's vision of the
New Jerusalem. John directly and indirectly quotes Ezekiel's
vision of the New Jerusalem in a number of places. They are both seeing
the same future yet are seeing it with some substantial variations as
far as the illustrations are concerned. One of those variations is the
size of the city. Ezekiel's city is only 1.5 miles squared. About
the size of the physical city of Jerusalem in the middle east back then.
Yet we still have the river of living water proceeding out of it and the
tree's that heal the nations which the reader will see clearly once the
article goes into Rev. 22. What the most likely scenario is in the
difference of size between Ezekiel and Johns cities is that Ezekiel is
seeing his vision in the partial light of the Old Testament while John
is seeing his in the greater light of the New. If you haven't follow the
link about the tabernacle being only a foreshadow of the new.
Please sure and also read the other link on that page to. Those
scriptures plainly declare that the rites and the rituals of the Mosaic
Law and the land of Israel itself were symbolic of the realities that
were to come and not the very realities themselves.
It would be common
sense then that Ezekiel would see the same future John was seeing yet in
that partial light of the Old Testament where ancient Israel was
symbolic of the people of faith of all nations that were to come.
As a matter of faith, to Ezekiel, his vision must have seemed fantastic
and unbelievable. Ancient Israel at its height numbered in the millions,
perhaps somewhere between 5- 10 million people. In Ezekiel's time that
number was in the tens of thousands. The rest had been killed or sold
into slavery and assimilated into other nations. By the time Ezekiel was
seeing his visions of the New Jerusalem the natural city had been razed
to the ground. In other words, even though it was a mystery to Ezekiel
as to exactly what he was seeing represented. The promise of a restored
nation with a supernatural grandeur was to him, in his light and
circumstances as stupendous as what John was seeing in his light and
circumstances. Why is this? Because what John was seeing according to
the full light of the New Testament encompasses the whole world and not
just the land of ancient Israel. God limited Ezekiel's vision of the
same future John was seeing to Ezekiel's light and circumstances. God
gave John a vision of the same future he was showing Ezekiel that was
somewhat of an unlimited vision. John's city encompasses what could
amount to housing for hundreds of billions of people as it could
conceivably have 1.35 trillion miles of floor space. Please remember
though that these are just illustrations in the midst of a book of
illustrations prophesying an age coming to the earth and have nothing to
do with actual cities. Does this line up with Bible prophecy as a whole?
Absolutely. Especially if we start with the most basic of Bible
prophecies.
Genesis 15:5 And
he (God) brought him (Abraham) forth
abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars, if you be
able to number them: and he said to him, So shall your seed
(descendant) be. 22:17 That in blessing I will bless you, and
in multiplying I will multiply your seed as the stars of the heaven, and
as the sand which is on the sea shore; and your seed shall possess the
gate of his enemies; 18 And in your seed shall all the nations of the
earth be blessed.... 26:4 And I will make your seed to multiply as the
stars of heaven, and will give to your seed all these countries; and in
your seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed.....
These are among the very first prophecies in the Bible. The
number of stars or grains of sand on the worlds beaches are for all
practical purposes innumerable and are a perfect fit for the size and
scope of Johns vision of the New Jerusalem. They are both illustrating,
as prophecy, those who are saved and heaven bound through the death and
resurrection of the Messiah. Taken as descriptive rather than literal; the sheer numbers
of people who have and will be saved stretches the intellectual capacity
of human beings to comprehend.
Due to the confusion
the last few generations are laboring under because of the pop culture
teachings of the dispensationalist. Here are a few verses that point out
just who the children of Abraham and Isaac are. Galatians 3:6
Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for
righteousness. 7. Understand therefore that they which are of faith,
they are the children of Abraham. 8. And the scripture, foreseeing that
God would justify the gentiles through faith, beforehand preached the
gospel to Abraham, saying, "in you shall all nations be blessed."
Galatians 3: 16 Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made. He
says not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to your seed,
which is Christ. Or as the simple English version says:
God made promises to Abraham and his descendant. God did not say ``and
to your descendants.'' That would mean many people. But God said, ``and
to your descendant.'' This means only one person--Christ. It can
be clearly ascertained then that the Apostle is teaching that the
promises made to Abraham were not about or to his physical descendants
(which are the many descendants referred to.) Rather they were to Jesus
Christ, Gods one and only begotten Son. Then in verses 26 -29: he shows
how God "foresaw" that the nations would be Abrahams children:
26. For you are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus. 27.
For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ
28. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free,
there is neither male nor female: for all are one in Christ Jesus.29.
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's children, and heirs
according to the promise.
Here are some other
verses about the extent the Kingdom of God's reach in the earth through
the Gospel.
I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach
to the end of the earth.
Psalm 22:26 The meek shall eat and be satisfied: they
shall praise the LORD that seek him: your heart shall live for ever. 27
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the LORD: and all
the families of the nations shall worship before you. 28 For the kingdom
is the LORD'S: and he is the governor among the nations.
Isaiah 60: 3 And nations shall come to your light, and
kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes all around,
and see; they all gather together, they come to you; your sons shall
come from afar, and your daughters shall be carried on the hip. 5 Then
you shall see and be radiant; your heart shall thrill and exult, because
the abundance of the sea shall be turned to you, the wealth of the
nations shall come to you. (ESV)
Isaiah 49:6 He says: “It is too light a thing that you
should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back
the preserved of Israel; I
will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to
the end of the earth.”...8 Thus said the LORD, In an acceptable
time have I heard you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and
I will preserve you, and
give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to
cause to inherit the desolate heritages;
Isaiah 11:10 And in that day there shall be a root of
Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to
it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.
Isaiah 52:7 How beautiful on the mountains are the feet
of him that brings good tidings, that publishes peace; that brings good
tidings of good, that publishes salvation; that said to Zion, Your God
reigns! ..... 10 The LORD has made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all
the nations; and
all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our God....
13 Behold, my servant (the
messiah) shall deal
prudently, he shall be exalted and extolled, and be very high. 14 As
many were astonished at you; his visage was so marred more than any man,
and his form more than the sons of men: 15
So shall he sprinkle many nations; the
kings shall shut their mouths at him: for that which had not been told
them shall they see; and
that which they had not heard shall they consider.
Isaiah 42:Behold my servant, (the
messiah) whom I
uphold; my elect, in whom my soul delights; I have put my spirit on him: he
shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry,
nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be heard in the street. 3 A bruised
reed shall he not break, and the smoking flax shall he not quench: he
shall bring forth judgment to truth. 4 He shall not fail nor be
discouraged, till he have set judgment in the earth: and the isles shall
wait for his law. 5
Thus said God the LORD, he that created the heavens, and stretched them
out; he that spread forth the earth, and that which comes out of it; he
that gives breath to the people on it, and spirit to them that walk
therein: 6 I the LORD have called you in righteousness, and will hold
your hand, and will keep you, and
give you for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles; 7
To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and
them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.
Psalm 72:2 He shall judge your people with
righteousness, and your poor with judgment. 3 The mountains shall bring
peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. 4 He shall
judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy,
and shall break in pieces the oppressor. 5 They shall fear you as long
as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. 6 He shall come
down like rain on the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. 7 In
his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as
the moon endures. 8 He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and
from the river to the ends of the earth. 9 They that dwell in the
wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. 10
The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings
of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. 11 Yes, all kings shall fall down
before him: all
nations shall serve him. 12
For he shall deliver the needy when he cries; the poor also, and him
that has no helper. 13 He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save
the souls of the needy. 14 He shall redeem their soul from deceit and
violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight. 15 And he
shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also
shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised. 16
There shall be an handful of corn in the earth on the top of the
mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the
city shall flourish like grass of the earth. 17 His name shall endure
for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall
be blessed in him: all
nations shall call him blessed. 18 Blessed be the LORD God, the
God of Israel, who only does wondrous things. 19 And blessed be his
glorious name for ever: and
let the whole earth be filled with his glory; Amen, and Amen.
Psalm 67: 1
God be merciful to us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine on us;
Selah. 2 That your way may be known on earth, your saving health among
all nations. 3 Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people
praise you. 4 O let the nations be glad and sing for joy: for
you shall judge the people righteously, and govern the nations on earth.
Selah. 5 Let the people praise you, O God; let all the people praise
you. 6
Then shall the earth yield her increase; and
God, even our own God, shall bless us. 7 God shall bless us; and
all the ends of the earth shall fear him.
Psalm 82: 8
Arise, O God, judge the earth: for
you shall inherit all nations.
Psalm 86: 9 All
nations whom you have made shall come and worship before you, O Lord;
and shall glorify your name.
Isaiah 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days,
that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of
the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all
nations shall flow to it. 3 And many people shall go and say,
Come you, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of
the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in
his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the
LORD from Jerusalem. 4 And he shall judge among the nations, and shall
rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword
against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. Please
see a
very concise New Testament interpretation of
the illustrations used in Isaiah 2's wording
Isaiah 54 and 55 are directly speaking about the new Jerusalem.
Isaiah 54:1 Sing, O barren, you that did not bear;
break forth into singing, and cry aloud, you that did not travail with
child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of
the married wife, said the LORD. 2 Enlarge the place of your tent, and
let them stretch forth the curtains of your habitations: spare not,
lengthen your cords, and strengthen your stakes; 3
For you shall break forth on the right hand and on the left; and your
descendants shall inherit the Gentiles, and
make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4 Fear not; for you shall not
be ashamed: neither be you confounded; for you shall not be put to
shame: for you shall forget the shame of your youth, and shall not
remember the reproach of your widowhood any more. 5 For your Maker is
your husband; the LORD of hosts is his name; and your Redeemer the Holy
One of Israel; The
God of the whole earth shall he be called.
Isaiah 55:3....I will make an everlasting covenant with
you, even the sure mercies of David. 4 Behold, I have given him for a
witness to the people, a leader and commander to the people. 5 Behold,
you shall call a nation that you know not, and nations that knew not you
shall run to you because of the LORD your God, and for the Holy One of
Israel; for he has glorified you. .....10
For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, and returns not
thither, but waters the earth, and makes it bring forth and bud, that it
may give seed to the sower, and bread to the eater: 11 So shall my word
be that goes forth out of my mouth: it shall not return to me void, but
it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the
thing whereto I sent it. 12 For you shall go out with joy, and be led
forth with peace: the
mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing, and
all the trees of the field shall clap their hands. (The
mountains and trees are typical Biblical illustrations of the nations.)13
Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the
brier shall come up the myrtle tree: and it shall be to the LORD for a
name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.
Isaiah 49:1 Listen, O isles, to me; and listen, you
people, from far; The LORD has called me from the womb; from the bowels
of my mother has he made mention of my name. 2 And he has made my mouth
like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand has he hid me, and made me
a polished shaft; in his quiver has he hid me;..... 6 And he said, It is
a light thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of
Jacob, and to restore the preserved of Israel: I
will also give you for a light to the Gentiles, that you may be my
salvation to the end of the earth. 7
Thus said the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, to him
whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of
rulers, Kings
shall see and arise, princes also shall worship, because
of the LORD that is faithful, and the Holy One of Israel, and he shall
choose you. 8 Thus said the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard
you, and in a day of salvation have I helped you: and I will preserve
you, and
give you for a covenant of the people, to establish the earth, to
cause to inherit the desolate heritages; 9 That you may say to the
prisoners, Go forth; to them that are in darkness, Show yourselves. They
shall feed in the ways, and their pastures shall be in all high places.
10 They shall not hunger nor thirst; neither shall the heat nor sun
smite them: for he that has mercy on them shall lead them, even by the
springs of water shall he guide them. 11 And I will make all my
mountains a way, and my highways shall be exalted. 12 Behold, these
shall come from far: and, see, these from the north and from the west;
and these from the land of Sinim. 13 Sing, O heavens; and be joyful, O
earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD has
comforted his people, and will have mercy on his afflicted. 14 But Zion
said, The LORD has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten me. 15 Can a
woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on
the son of her womb? yes, they may forget, yet will I not forget you. 16
Behold, I have graven you on the palms of my hands; your walls are
continually before me. 17 Your children shall make haste; your
destroyers and they that made you waste shall go forth of you. 18
Lift up your eyes round about, and behold: all these gather themselves
together, and come to you. As
I live, said the LORD, you shall surely clothe you with them all, as
with an ornament, and bind them on you, as a bride does. 19 For your
waste and your desolate places, and the land of your destruction, shall
even now be too narrow by reason of the inhabitants, and they that
swallowed you up shall be far away. 20 The children which you shall
have, after you have lost the other, shall say again in your ears, The
place is too strait for me: give place to me that I may dwell. 21 Then
shall you say in your heart, Who has begotten me these, seeing I have
lost my children, and am desolate, a captive, and removing to and fro?
and who has brought up these? Behold, I was left alone; these, where had
they been? 22 Thus said the Lord GOD, Behold, I will lift up my hand to
the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring
your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried on their
shoulders. 23 And kings shall be your nursing fathers, and their queens
your nursing mothers: they shall bow down to you with their face toward
the earth, and lick up the dust of your feet; and you shall know that I
am the LORD: for they shall not be ashamed that wait for me. 24 Shall
the prey be taken from the mighty, or the lawful captive delivered? 25
But thus said the LORD, Even the captives of the mighty shall be taken
away, and the prey of the terrible shall be delivered: for I will
contend with him that contends with you, and I will save your children.
26 And I will feed them that oppress you with their own flesh; and they
shall be drunken with their own blood, as with sweet wine: and all flesh
shall know that I the LORD am your Savior and your Redeemer, the mighty
One of Jacob.
Isaiah 56:6 Also the sons of the stranger, (gentiles) that
join themselves to the LORD, to serve him, and to love the name of the
LORD, to be his servants, every one that keeps the Sabbath from
polluting it, and takes hold of my covenant; (The
New Covenant) 7 Even
them will I bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house
of prayer: their burnt offerings and their sacrifices shall be accepted
on my altar; for my house shall be called an house of prayer for all
people. (The house
and temple of the Lord is his people.) 8 The Lord GOD, which
gathers the outcasts of Israel said, Yet
will I gather others to him, beside those that are gathered to him.
The first part of Isaiah 61 is one of those widely known
scriptures in the Bible because Jesus quoted it in the NT as speaking of
himself. The OT rendition however also shows the eventual effects of
Christ's ministry in the earth to the nations. Not the immediate effects
mind you but the transformation that would begin to occur after the fall
of the Roman Empire, 1453 A.D.
Isaiah 61:1 The Spirit of the Lord GOD is on me;
because the LORD has anointed me to preach good tidings to the meek; he
has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the
captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound; 2 To
proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, and the day of vengeance of
our God; to comfort all that mourn; 3 To appoint to them that mourn in
Zion, to give to them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the
garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called
trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be
glorified. 4 And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up
the former desolations, and they shall repair the waste cities, the
desolations of many generations. 5 And strangers (Gentiles) shall
stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your
plowmen and your vinedressers. (Meaning
people of all nations would be pastors and prophets working in the field
of the Lord, the world, as ministers of the Gospel.) 6
But you shall be named the Priests of the LORD: men shall call you the
Ministers of our God: you shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in
their glory shall you boast yourselves. 7 For your shame you shall have
double; and for confusion they shall rejoice in their portion: therefore
in their land they shall possess the double: everlasting joy shall be to
them. 8 For I the LORD love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering;
and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting
covenant with them. 9 And their descendants shall be known among the
Gentiles, and their offspring among the people: all that see them shall
acknowledge them, that they are the seed which the LORD has blessed. 10
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul shall be joyful in my God;
for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation, he has covered me
with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself with
ornaments, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. 11 For as the
earth brings forth her bud, and as the garden causes the things that are
sown in it to spring forth; so
the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before
all the nations. (Meaning,
the Word of God will transform the nations. As it has been and will
continue to.}
Isaiah 60:1 Arise, shine; for your light is come, and the glory of the
LORD is risen on you. 2 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth,
and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall arise on you, and his
glory shall be seen on you. 3 And the
Gentiles shall come to your light, and
kings to the brightness of your rising. 4 Lift up your eyes round about,
and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to you: your
sons shall come from far, and your daughters shall be nursed at your
side. 5 Then you shall see, and flow together, and your heart shall
fear, and be enlarged; because
the abundance of the sea shall be converted to you, the wealth of the
Gentiles shall come to you. (The
"sea" is an illustration of the nations.)
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