Bible Gem 2383 – Measuring the City (Revelation 21:15-18)

⁹Then one of the seven angels who held the seven bowls containing the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come with me! I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” ¹⁰So he took me in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and he showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. ¹¹It shone with the glory of God and sparkled like a precious stone—like jasper as clear as crystal. ¹²The city wall was broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. ¹³There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. ¹⁴The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵The angel who talked to me held in his hand a gold measuring stick to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. ¹⁶When he measured it, he found it was a square, as wide as it was long. In fact, its length and width and height were each 1,400 miles. ¹⁷Then he measured the walls and found them to be 216 feet thick (according to the human standard used by the angel). ¹⁸The wall was made of jasper, and the city was pure gold, as clear as glass. 

¹⁹The wall of the city was built on foundation stones inlaid with twelve precious stones: the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹The twelve gates were made of pearls—each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure gold, as clear as glass.

²²I saw no temple in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. ²³And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light. ²⁴The nations will walk in its light, and the kings of the world will enter the city in all their glory. ²⁵Its gates will never be closed at the end of day because there is no night there. ²⁶And all the nations will bring their glory and honour into the city. ²⁷Nothing evil will be allowed to enter, nor anyone who practices shameful idolatry and dishonesty—but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Revelation 21:9-27

I did tell you in the last Gem that I would deal with each of these paragraphs separately in turn. But I have changed my mind already as the astute ones among you will see. I have divided the middle paragraph into two: Revelation 21:15-18 and Revelation 21:19-21. When I have finished the Gems related to these two sections of the paragraph you will understand why. Secondly I am going to flash back in this Gem to pick up on:

¹³There were three gates on each side—east, north, south, and west. ¹⁴The wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Revelation 21:13-14.

I have not commented as yet on the three gates on each side – east, north, south and west. Twelve gates in all each guarded by twelve angels (21:12) and labelled with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Each segment of the wall has the name of one of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, each written on the foundation stone marking that section of the wall (21:14). This pattern is significant but we will deal with it in a subsequent Gem. At this point I wish to draw your attention to a curious element in the text: namely John’s order of these gates is a curious deviation: east, north, south, and west.

• Really? Why this strange ordering which doesn’t accord with anything else written in Scripture?
• Is there a significance to this ENSW order?
• Has John deliberately changed the order for a purpose or is this some random mistake?
• In Numbers 2 the pattern is East (2:3), South (2:10), West (2:18) and North 2:25). [ESWN]
• Ezekiel 48 records the pattern North (:30-31), East (:32), South (:33) and West (:34) [NESW]

You have some time to work out what you think. I welcome your input to this puzzle commentators have debated for centuries. I will hold my comments for another Gem. There is much conjecture surrounding this fascinating debate among the commentators. Feel free to add your thoughts, your guess is as good as any!

The section related to Measuring the City has similarly left the experts / commentators bewildered. There is much debate in the literature related to the unbelievable nature of the measurements listed. It all just seems incongruous, leaving us wondering about the veracity of it all. Are these measurements to be believed? Some commentators through the ages have questioned the measurements on the basis of human measure and / or angel measure as John appears to suggest in verse 21:17. Let’s now investigate these measurements.

What was your reaction to the section I have coloured purple for this Gem? I imagine it was like mine, which is in line with the reactions of most commentators. We all struggle with the measurements as listed in this section. The numbers involved appear to be beyond belief and therefore open to scrutiny. Even more so when John himself slips in a qualification inferring these may be ‘angelic measurements’, rather than the measure of mortal men as mentioned above ~ 21:17.

By what calculus then are we to compute a hundred and forty-four measures of an angel’s forearm?

G B Caird The Revelation of St John the Divine p 274

Much has been discussed about the outlandish measurements given. Are they to be believed? Are they real, actual measurements, or to be considered symbolic or figurative? The size of the wall in proportion to the height of the city is ridiculously small. Often in Ancient Near Eastern (ANE) literature, it is the thickness of the walls that are in focus. Should we consider this measurement as the outcome of measuring the thickness of the walls rather than the height? I don’t think so. John made it clear that he was giving his readers all three dimensions of a three dimensional edifice and all dimension were equal; thus it was a cube of immense proportions.

There is also much debate over the technical terms used. The Hebrew term for cubit is [amma] which is measured in cubits [πηχῶς] Greek. The standard measure of a cubit in Hebrew or Greek is the length of the forearm with fingers extended measured to the point of the elbow in a straight line. As Caird indicated in the above quote how are we to calculate the angelic cubit? Classically angels were thought to be large imposing beings. Another problem concerns the unit of measure for the word [μέτρον] ‘measure’ which is calculated in cubits [κυβιτὸν] (a Greek word) which is then transliterated into Latin as [kubiton]. The metron was also measured in [stadia] the length of a Greek stadium, 185 metres. So the unit of measurement actually used by a man or an angel is fraught with some difficulty to rightly interpret. Do you have a problem accepting these somewhat exaggerated measurements?

We have encountered this concept of measuring the temple or measuring the people of God before. Do you remember where? We encountered the measuring of the Temple of God and the altar and the worshippers in Revelation Chapter 11. In Chapter 7 we were given the same number, 144,000, based on multiples of 12. In Revelation 21 we have the same number. It has to be symbolic of both the Old Testament people of God and the New Testament people of God until the time of the end. Here in Revelation 21 the two groups are delineated more clearly as being combined together as the total number of the redeemed. The fact that we have the same number (144,000) indicates that the number is symbolic and not an absolute number. We have here the combination of the redeemed from the tribes of Israel along with those represented by the redeemed from the Apostles of the Lamb. The twelve gates represent the multiple entrances for those from the twelve tribes and those from the twelve apostles and all those who belong to the Lamb since then. That includes those who have been martyred for their faith (a percentage of those who are still to be martyred) along with those who persevere until the end. The multitude represents all of the people of God. The twelve gates represent the administrative completeness [none were lost] of the continuity of those who belong to the Lamb from the tribes of Israel in the Old Testament together with the redeemed from the New Testament church in John’s time until now.

The dimensions of this Holy City symbolise the ideal city from Ancient Near Eastern times. The perfect cube, where the length, width and height are equal and reaching up to heaven for 12,000 stadia or 1400 miles. Does this remind you of something out of Genesis? Are you on the same wavelength with me to this point? The analogy is that which those at the Tower of Babel were seeking to construct. In this vision with explanation from John, we are dealing with a city, or the Bride of Christ, the wife of the Lamb, which comes down from heaven. The image is not necessarily talking about a city which supernaturally descends from heaven. Rather the idea is that the source of this city for the redeemed people of God is from heaven itself. God is the one who has created this perfect city appropriate for both Old Testament times and the modern Church age.

The point of the appearance of this New Jerusalem, this Holy City, is that it is to be the city which contains the continuity of the redeemed of God from all ages, where none will be lost. A term with which John is familiar. Why are the walls so puny and ineffective? A feature which all commentators recognise and no doubt many of you, my Gem readers. In ANE times, a city had to have walls for protection, the thicker the better. As I have asked before, what are the walls for in the case of this Holy City? Is it to keep people out or to keep people in? Neither! We will investigate the significance of this Holy City in more detail in subsequent Gems. Suffice to say at this point, I believe it is merely to delineate, set apart the people who belong to God. That is why they are surrounded with a wall of jasper. Jasper in the ANE was recognised as the colour which represented that which belonged to deity! These people then are the property of God. They are the people of God from across the Ages. They are standing on the brink of the LORD GOD ALMIGHTY and the LAMB OF GOD, JESUS, ushering in the Life of the Age to Come. Life in all of its fullness as it was originally intended by God in the Garden of Eden.

That is why in the last two chapters of Revelation there are more references to the first two chapters of Genesis than there are anywhere else in the Bible.

Manford George Gutzke, Plain Talk on Revelation p. 173

John’s description summed up in just 32 verses contain over 50 allusions to the OLD TESTAMENT. Every major link in fact is the fulfilment of Jewish hopes expressed in Prophecy. This indicates that the Old and New Testament prophecies all come from the same source. Revelation is the climax and conclusion of the whole Bible.

David Pawson, Unlocking the Bible p. 1322

They wondered what time or situation the Spirit of Christ within them was talking about when he told them in advance about Christ’s suffering and his great glory afterward.

1 Peter 1:11

Above all, you must realize that no prophecy in Scripture ever came from the prophet’s own understanding, or from human initiative. No, those prophets were moved by the Holy Spirit, and they spoke from God.

2 Peter 1:20-21

The city is magnificent beyond description. As the eternal dwelling place of God and His people, it is described in language which continually attempts to break free from its own limitations in order to do justice to the reality it so imperfectly describes.

Robert Mounce The Book of Revelation p 383

I have decided to name this Gem Series Beautiful Beyond Description as Robert Mounce wrote above. The song came to mind – “Beautiful beyond description, too marvellous for words, too wonderful for comprehension, like nothing ever seen or heard.” So I have changed the word magnificent to beautiful. Furthermore, we certainly do have examples of language which express the inadequacy of words to describe such magnificence.

I promise you the best from this passage is yet to come. Don’t miss a word of it. The next Gem will be called Beautiful Beyond Description – the signature Gem of the series including a mind blowing truth hidden for a long, long time. Something that one commentator says is proof beyond measure that the Bible is the Word of God.

Ian