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3. The Dimensions of New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:15-17)
If the area of this great city already borders on the imagination, how much more exceeds its height and volume the human mind, as the city is as long as high as wide and reaches a dizzy height of 2,220 km which is 2.22 million meters! The height of Mount Everest of 8,848 meter is not even a half percent of the height of the eternal city. The city of God is 250 times as high as the highest mountain on earth. Compared to this oversized cube which is full of light and glory all television towers and skyscrapers seem to be like dust particles.
Its astronomic height of 2,200 kilometers (!) makes clear that this future city of God cannot be an earthly city, as in the height of 4,000 meters oxygen becomes already short and in the height of 10,000 meters human beings cannot live without a breathing apparatus. Even the international space station which circles around the earth in a height of 386 km will be towered above five times by the city of God. As for the structural analysis, it is obvious that such a building cannot be constructed with earthly building materials. Its weight may crush each steel girder and each ferro-concrete foundation. Such a cube can only be constructed in the Holy Spirit. So we are referred to the spiritual body of all justified and saints. They are New Jerusalem, the Bride of the Lamb of God that John saw in a heavenly vision as a metaphor, like a cubic formed great city that appeared unto him. God will dwell in their midst, He, with His people and His children.
If you want to calculate further so as to determine the volume of this “tabernacle of God” you will find the result of almost 11 billions km3, each of these cubic kilometers may contain one million rooms of an area of 100 m2 and a height of 10 meters. So these 11 billions km3 may offer room for 10 quintillions of apartments each of 100 m2 of floor space. The number of these rooms would be enough for all mankind of all times of all continents. The saying of Jesus, “In my Father's house are many mansions” (John 14:2) puts on a new dimension in the view of such considerations.
We think of “the number which no one could count” (Revelation 7:9-12), the number of believers, who had suffered much for the sake of the salvation of God and of His Lamb. There is enough room in “the tabernacle of God” for each of them. The saints do not need to live together in a crowded manner, and they will not scratch and bite each other. Our God is love, gentleness and meekness, and His children will emulate Him (Matthew 5:48).
Some expositors think that by the given height of the golden city of Jerusalem not the height of a cube is suggested but the inner height of a pyramid. Such a huge pyramid would put into perspective and put down the ziggurats of men and particularly the Tower of Babel and make them ridiculous.
As we are, however, in the sphere of Old Testament revelation, we should turn to the mystery of the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle of God, as the Holy of the Holies was also cubical. In this room having a side length of 5 meters and having no windows was the Ark of the Covenant and the golden atonement cover, which was, according to the Scriptures of the Old Testament, the throne of God between the two cherubs. In the Ark of the Covenant there were the two tablets of stone with the law written on them. The Lord was sitting enthroned above the word of His revelation and accepted the sacrificed blood of animals for the atonement of His people. He dwelt in the midst of His stubborn chosen.
The dimensions of the first temple corresponded to the same proportions, but Salomon, its builder, extended the side length of the Holy of Holies to 15 meters. Also this cubic room was dark and without windows.
Also the second temple, which was completed in 515 BC by Haggai, the prophet, and Zechariah, had the same dimensions. Herod the Great in his time until 4 B.C: decorated the central sanctuary in Jerusalem which was originally furnished in a simple manner. The Holy of Holies had been separated by a covering veil from the holy place, which was torn into two from top to bottom when Jesus died so that the access to God in the Holy of Holies became free for everybody (Matthew 27:51).
In New Jerusalem which corresponds to the Holy of Holies of the temple in the earthly Jerusalem, Jesus by his atoning death has acquired the right for all sanctified that they themselves may enter the presence of God, so as to live with Him and to remain reconciled to him (John 17:21-26).
Whoever speaks of eternal Jerusalem, the city of true peace, should remember that it is the Holy of Holies.
You may commiserate if you think of the Ka'aba in Mecca, being a cubic room which is covered by a black silk cloth and in whose eastern corner a black stone, perhaps a meteorite remnant, is bricked in. Millions of Muslim circle around the so-called “House of Abraham” during the year and worship Allah facing to the direction of the black stone. Once a year the King of Saudi Arabia enters this windowless room and cleans it symbolically. If Satan is the “ape of God", as Martin Luther is alleged to have said, then the Ka'aba in Mecca is the attempt of the Muslims to draw the Holy of Holies from Jerusalem to their midst. They worship Allah there daily up to 34 times and commit themselves unquestionably to him by shouting in a special manner (labbaika). They do not know about the substitutionary atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Therefore they slaughter each year at the end of their pilgrimage ('Id al-Adha) in Mecca and in all Islamic countries millions of sheep and camels, not only for their own reconciliation to God, but also to fulfill an old rite whose meaning they do not know any longer.
The Muslims in Mecca do not draw near any “house of God", as Allah in Islam is greater than any house constructed by men. He is also greater than the paradise. Allah is not present in the paradise of the Muslims. He remains also in eternity the far, great and unknown God to whom nobody can draw near.
The fifth of mankind which is Islamic has no access to New Jerusalem because the Muslims reject the Lamb of God and his atoning death. Therefore, they separate willfully from the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. However, the cubic heavenly city has enough room for all Muslims of all times, as the house of our Father in Heaven has “many” mansions (John 14:1-4).
John reports that the wall around the heavenly Jerusalem has a height of 70 meters only, quasi a tiny skirting board around a cubic skyscraper. This long wall has got, however, a special function, it does not serve for the defense of the city of God as there are no more enemies, but its purpose is the separation between clean and unclean, between holy and not holy, between love and hatred. Even in the eternity there seems to be different levels of spiritual maturity, which we cannot judge at the presence.
PRAYER: Holy Father, we worship You because You lived in the cubic Holy of Holies in the tabernacle of meeting on the tablets of the law. We give thanks to You because You preserved the form of cube even in eternity, where You will dwell in the midst of the spiritual city of Jerusalem among the multitudes of saints who magnify Your glorious love in the unity of Trinity. Amen.
QUESTION:
- What is the significance of the cubic form of God's dwelling place in the heavenly capital?