The Symbolism of the New Jerusalem

Jeru, the first part of Jerusalem , means founding, constituting; Salem , the latter part of the word , means peace , quiet, safety, harmony , prosperity. We are on the way to the attainment of peace when we identify ourselves with the Christ idea , originally called Jehovah. Jesus' going up to Jerusalem Matt. Jesus' riding out from near Bethphage into Jerusalem signifies progressive unfoldment , the fulfillment of the time when the spiritual I AM takes control and lifts all the animal forces of man into the spiritual plane of mastery , purity , and peace.

It is the season for transmutation , transformation Matt. Truth is first conceived in the heart of man , of which Jerusalem is the symbol , but because of intellectual dominance it drifts to the head , of which Rome is the symbol. Paul taken to Rome in chains is a fitting symbol of Truth captured by the intellect and confined to the bonds that it has placed upon itself Acts Jerusalem , the Holy City Matt. Physically it is the cardiac plexus.

Its presiding genius is John the Mystic , who leaned his head on the Master's bosom. The loves and hates of the mind are precipitated to this ganglionic receptacle of thought and are crystallized there. Its substance is sensitive, tremulous, and volatile. What we love and what we hate here build cells of joy or of pain.

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In divine order it should be the abode of the good and the pure , but because of the error concepts of the mind it has become the habitation of wickedness. Jesus said, "Out of the heart come forth evil thoughts" Matt. In the regeneration , Truth symbolized by Paul , Acts But Truth finds the very center of religious thought , the Temple , given over to bigotry and intolerance; a citadel of crystallized thoughts about religious matters.

Truth must enter the Temple and speak the word that frees. We all want Truth and the help that comes from it, but when it is presented to us we object to the broad, universal spirit that it proclaims. This is especially the case if our religious training has been narrow and pharisaical. The Jews were taught that they were the chosen people and that all others were barbarians. This is the foundation of the caste system.

Prophecies talk about persons and places. And give me some good reasons! Get ready for a mind-bending train of reasoning! First, consider these three fundamental principles of prophecy:. In other prophecies in other religious traditions, there are surreal cities with fantastic descriptions comparable to those of the New Jerusalem. But the Imams of the Faith have fixed His abode in the city of Jabulqa, which they have depicted in strange and marvellous signs.

To interpret this city according to the literal meaning of the tradition would indeed prove impossible, nor can such a city ever be found. Since this is not in thy power, thou hast no recourse but to interpret symbolically the accounts and traditions that have been reported from these luminous souls. And, as such an interpretation is needed for the traditions pertaining to the aforementioned city, so too is it required for this holy Being.

Who or what represents those qualities? Thus have We built the Temple with the hands of power and might, could ye but know it. This is the Temple promised unto you in the Book. Draw ye nigh unto it. This is that which profiteth you, could ye but comprehend it. Be fair, O peoples of the earth!

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Which is preferable, this, or a temple which is built of clay? Set your faces towards it. Follow ye His bidding, and praise ye God, your Lord, for that which He hath bestowed upon you. He, verily, is the Truth.

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No God is there but He. Clearly, the New Jerusalem which descends from heaven is not a city of stone and lime, of brick and mortar, but is rather the religion of God which descends from heaven and is described as new. For it is obvious that the Jerusalem which is built of stone and mortar does not descend from heaven and is not renewed, but that what is renewed is the religion of God. The new temple is even referred to by name: The same will, no doubt, be true with respect to the things described in the passage we are about to discuss.

All things are to be new in the eternal future of the kingdom of heaven and in the perfect church. We expect a new heaven and a new earth, that is, a new and entirely different state of things. Essentially this new state of things shall consist in this, that God's tabernacle shall then be with men.

In detail, however, Scripture tells us very little about the rest. How shall this new state be? We know a few things of that new and perfect state which shall be characterized by God's dwelling with men. Certainly, we know that sin and suffering shall be no more. All will be holy and righteous and filled with the glory and knowledge of God. We also know that the temporal and all that is connected with it shall be no more. All that is of this present time shall be changed. In the present passage Scripture gives a symbolical picture of that new state of things, particularly of the holy city, New Jerusalem.

And we can stammer a few words in explanation. But for the rest, our experience will be like that of the Queen of Sheba after she had visited Solomon, and we shall undoubtedly say: In this section of Revelation 21 we have before us in a little more detail the description of the New Jerusalem. Already in verse 2 John saw the New Jerusalem. Now he is shown the city in detail. The vision is introduced in verses 9 and 10, where we read: And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.

The agent who shows John the vision, therefore, is one of the seven vial-angels, one of those who had poured out the seven last plagues. This is very appropriate. It reminds us of the fact that there is a connection between those judgments and the coming of the New Jerusalem. Those judgments and the final destruction of Babylon had their positive purpose in the coming of the New Jerusalem. They must serve to prepare the way. This mediating angel says to John, "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife.

We are warned here at once that the description of the city which follows is by no means to be interpreted as referring to a literal city. The New Jerusalem is here called "the bride, the Lamb's wife," which is, as we know, the church.

And John is shown spiritual things in a vision and in signs and symbols. The mountain to which John is carried away in the spirit is a great and high mountain, in order to afford John a proper view of this colossal city.

The picture is that the city is still descending out of heaven from God cf. John beholds a huge city, suspended in mid-heaven, descending from heaven to earth. It is the great city, the holy Jerusalem. In shape the city is a perfect cube; and in size the city is twelve thousand stadia, or furlongs, each way. The city, therefore, is in the shape of a cube which is approximately miles long, miles wide, and miles high. Travelling at sixty miles per hour, it would require a full day and a night to go from one side of that city to the other. Or, superimposing the city on our continent, it would reach from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Plains and from Maine to Florida.

And the height is also some miles! Around the city is a wall which, though very high in itself, is not nearly as high as the city. It is cubits, or approximately feet, high. In the wall are twelve gates, three on each of the four sides. And at each of the gates stands an angel. Moreover, on the gates are written the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.

Further, the wall has twelve foundations, evidently standing next to one another and stretching from gate to gate. And the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are written in the foundations. As to its material, the city itself is pure gold, transparent in its splendor like glass.

Metaphysical meaning of Jerusalem (mbd)

The wall is of pure jasper, a beautiful precious stone which may appear in divers colors, but which here shines like crystal and is perhaps white like the diamond. The gates in the wall are each a huge pearl, pure and lustrous. The foundations are adorned with all manner of precious stones, in which blue and green, red and white and yellow vie with one another in splendor and beauty. The first foundation is again jasper. The second is sapphire, which is a beautiful dark blue stone. The third is a chalcedony, probably an agate. The fourth is emerald, which is a beautiful green.

The fifth, sardonyx, a brilliant flesh color.

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Then there is the sardius, a precious stone of a bright red hue cf. The seventh is chrysolyte, a stone of a golden, yellow luster. The eighth is beryl, like the greenness of the sea when the sun shines upon it. The ninth is topaz, which is a transparent, yellow color. The tenth is chrysoprasus, a pale, golden color. The eleventh is jacinth, a violet color. And the twelfth is amethyst, which is a purple color. And the street of the city is of pure gold, like transparent glass.

The question whether there was only one street in the city or whether the term street is representative of all the streets is of no moment. The over all impression of this colossal city which John beholds is one of overwhelming beauty. For thus we read already in verse Now it is of the utmost importance to understand that what John beholds is not a literal city, but a symbolic and visionary city.

It is, in fact, very difficult to avoid thinking of a literal city when we contemplate this passage. Yet we make a very serious mistake if we do so, a mistake which would cause us to miss the thrust of the entire passage, and one which would also involve us in impossible difficulties as far as the interpretation of this graphic and detailed description of the city is concerned. Yet there are those who would have us think of a literal city with a literal wall and literal gates and streets, in which the saints of all ages shall dwell.

Some would even locate this city permanently in mid-heaven, that is, between heaven and earth, so that other nations on earth will walk in and enjoy its light. But there is every indication in the passage itself and in the context to the contrary. In the first place, the very fact of the symbolic character of the Book of Revelation as a whole should put us on our guard against a literal understanding of a passage like this.

Secondly, there is the fact that John introduces the entire passage by telling us that he was carried away in the spirit unto a great and high mountain. In other words, what we have here is a vision. And when we consider in this connection the highly symbolic nature of the passage, every thought of a literal city is ruled out. Think, for example, only of the shape and size of the city.

Who can conceive of a literal city in the shape of a cube? And what kind of literal city would be the size of almost half of the United States?

The New Jerusalem: Literal or Symbolic?

Besides, there are the precious stones mentioned, and the names of the twelve tribes engraved in the gates, and those of the twelve apostles written in the foundations; there are the recurring multiples of 12 and of 10, both of which numbers are used again and again in the symbolic sense in the Book of Revelation and elsewhere. All these facts are indications that here we must think not of a literal city, but of a highly symbolic city. In the fourth place, not a city suspended in mid-heaven is the everlasting habitation of the saints.

But the new heaven and earth shall be their habitation. The meek shall inherit the earth, not a city in mid-air. And, above all, this literalistic interpretation is contradicted by the introduction by the angel. He says to John, "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. In this same connection we should be cautioned against thinking rather idyllically and sentimentally of heaven in terms of this city. This is not infrequently done in song and in the spoken word, as though heaven, or the new creation, were a place with streets of gold and gates of pearl, where there is literally no night, etc.

Now there is no question about it, in the light of Scripture, that the abode of the saints in the new creation will be exceedingly glorious. But it is not in harmony with this passage, nor with any other passage of Scripture, to think in any wise of a literal city and literal gates and streets. The sole purpose of the vision is to show us "the bride, the Lamb's wife. Hence, rather than thinking of a literal city, we must understand that the vision purposes to show us the church under the symbolism of this great and holy city.

This is clearly in harmony with the words of the angel, "Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. This implies, in the first place, that the church is not in this city; but this city is the church. In the second place, this city, as the bride, the Lamb's wife, stands in a most intimate relation to Christ, and through Christ to God. The relation is that of a communion of nature, a communion of life, and a communion of love, cf.

Christ, therefore, is everything in this city.

The New Jerusalem: Its Symbolic and Psychological Meaning

He fills the whole city with His life and love. And through Him the city stands in fellowship with God. And, in the third place, this implies that Christ is the Lord of this city, His bride. He is the One Whose will she delights to do; and, through Him, it is the will of God that is her delight.

This same idea is also emphasized by the names of the apostles on the foundation. This element in the vision expresses that principally the apostles constitute the foundation of the church, that foundation having been laid through the instrumentality of the apostles. But then we must remember that of that foundation Jesus Christ is the chief cornerstone, which means that Christ incarnate, crucified, raised, exalted and glorified, determines the whole foundation, and thus the whole city. In other words, again, Christ is everything in this city.