No Eye Has Seen: Daily Thoughts from Revelation (Revelation 21:15-27)

I remember being blown away when I first saw Star Wars back in 1977 and in that opening scene this tiny little space ship is followed by this massive, seemingly never-ending vessel, firing at it. Years later I laughed at the Spaceballs scene showing a vessel that was almost never-ending, an obvious parody of Star Wars.

Massive scale. It astonishes us. But we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.

And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.

   And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.  (Revelation 21:15-27 ESV)

The dimensions of this city by its walls is 1,380 miles on each side and 1,380 miles tall.  Of course, no structure on the present earth could be that tall and it would be an incredible engineering feat to be that long and wide on each side.  But this is the new heaven and earth, with, it seems, new physical properties.  The number of people it can accommodate is huge. Should we be surprised at such a thing from God?

Its wealth and beauty is beyond compare.  How do you find a single pearl the size of a gate for this city?  That’s one huge clam.  How is it that there is enough gold to pave the streets?  God will definitely be doing something new in this form of earth’s existence.

Most important of all, however, is that the Father Himself will dwell in this city with us and so will Jesus (and so, too, we may presume, will the Spirit).  He will be the light and life of the city. The city itself is the temple of God, so there is no temple in it.  The only ones who will be able to come in are the righteous, the ones who trusted in Jesus and have their names written in his book of life. And those are the only people who will exist.  The glory of this kingdom will be unfathomable.

Jesus said that he was going to heaven to prepare a place for us and that in his Father’s house there were many rooms. We may not have thought of rooms in such a domicile as this, but there will certainly be plenty of room for these rooms. Greatest of all will be waking up (assuming we still sleep) each morning in God’s house, with access to the triune God on a level we’ve never experienced before. The sheer joy of it will bring ecstasy. What a blessing God has for us.