What is the New Jerusalem?
Question 10105
The New Jerusalem is one of the most glorious images in all of Scripture—a city descending from heaven, radiant with the glory of God, where He will dwell with His people forever. But what exactly is this city? Is it literal or symbolic? And who will inhabit it? These are questions that deserve careful attention.
The New Jerusalem in Revelation
The primary passage describing the New Jerusalem is Revelation 21:1-22:5. John sees “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2). The city is described in stunning detail: walls of jasper, gates of pearl, streets of gold, foundations adorned with precious stones. Its dimensions are given as a cube—12,000 stadia (roughly 1,400 miles) in length, width, and height (Revelation 21:16). This cubic shape recalls the Most Holy Place in the tabernacle and temple, which was also a perfect cube (1 Kings 6:20), suggesting that the entire city is a holy of holies where God’s presence dwells unhindered.
The city has no temple, “for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb” (Revelation 21:22). There is no need for sun or moon because “the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb” (v.23). A river of the water of life flows through it, and the tree of life stands on either side, yielding fruit every month and leaves “for the healing of the nations” (Revelation 22:1-2). This imagery deliberately recalls the Garden of Eden, indicating that what was lost in Genesis 3 is restored and surpassed in Revelation 21-22.
Literal or Symbolic?
Some interpreters take the New Jerusalem as purely symbolic—representing the people of God or the Church in her glorified state. After all, Revelation 21:2 describes the city “as a bride adorned for her husband,” and Revelation 21:9-10 explicitly identifies “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” with “the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God.” The city and the bride are closely connected.
However, there are good reasons to understand the New Jerusalem as a literal, physical city as well as a symbol. The detailed measurements, the specific materials, the gates and foundations—all suggest something more than metaphor. In Scripture, symbols typically represent something real; the question is what reality lies behind the symbol. The New Jerusalem appears to be both a place and a people—a real city where God’s redeemed people will dwell forever. The two ideas are not mutually exclusive. Just as the Church is both a spiritual reality and composed of real, embodied people, so the New Jerusalem can be both a symbol of God’s people and the actual dwelling place where they live.
When Does the New Jerusalem Appear?
Dispensational interpreters have debated whether the New Jerusalem is present during the Millennium or only in the eternal state. Revelation 21:1-2 places the descent of the New Jerusalem after the passing away of the first heaven and earth, which follows the Great White Throne judgment at the end of the Millennium (Revelation 20:11-15). This suggests the New Jerusalem is primarily associated with the eternal state.
However, some dispensationalists, including J. Dwight Pentecost, have suggested that the New Jerusalem may hover above the earth during the Millennium as the dwelling place of resurrected saints, while mortal believers inhabit the earthly Millennial Kingdom below. This would explain how resurrected saints and mortal humans can coexist during the Millennium without fully mingling. While this view is speculative, it attempts to harmonise various prophetic details. What is certain is that the New Jerusalem will be the eternal home of God’s people in the new heaven and new earth.
Who Will Inhabit the New Jerusalem?
Revelation 21:12 tells us the city has twelve gates, “and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed.” Verse 14 adds that the wall has twelve foundations, “and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.” This indicates that both Old Testament Israel and the New Testament Church have a place in the New Jerusalem. The gates bearing Israel’s tribal names and the foundations bearing the apostles’ names suggest that the city is the home of all God’s redeemed people throughout history.
Hebrews 11:10 tells us Abraham “was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose designer and builder is God.” The patriarchs and saints of old were looking for this city, and they will find it. Hebrews 12:22-24 describes believers as having “come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem,” indicating that even now, in some spiritual sense, we belong to this city. But one day we will inhabit it bodily and eternally.
The Glory of God’s Presence
The most remarkable feature of the New Jerusalem is not its gold or jewels but the unmediated presence of God. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God” (Revelation 21:3). The Greek word for “dwelling place” is σκηνή (skēnē), meaning “tabernacle” or “tent”—the same word used for God’s dwelling among Israel in the wilderness. What the tabernacle and temple foreshadowed will be fully realised: God living with His people, face to face, forever.
“They will see his face” (Revelation 22:4). This is the beatific vision, the hope of all the ages. No longer will we see through a glass darkly; we will know as we are known. The New Jerusalem is not just a place of beauty and rest; it is the place where we will finally, fully, eternally know God.
Conclusion
The New Jerusalem is the eternal city of God—a real place of staggering beauty and a symbol of God’s redeemed people united with their Lord forever. It is the fulfilment of every promise, the destination of every pilgrim, the home we were made for. Whether you picture its golden streets or its river of life, the heart of the matter is this: God will be there, and we will be with Him. That is heaven.
“And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:2
