New Jerusalem

The promise in the Revelation to John is for a New Jerusalem.

Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The angel who talked to 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, fifteen hundred miles; its length and width and height are equal. He also measured its wall, one hundred forty-four cubits by human measurement, which the angel was using. The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every 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 are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. - Revelation to John 21:9-21

All of the symbolism is here in this passage.

There are twelve gates, one for each of the tribes, and each has an angel to guard it.  The foundations of the city are twelve as well, each inscribed with the name of an apostle.

The walls are twelve times twelve cubits thick.

But this new city is huge, a cube, its sides at height equal, too big to be a city on earth.

This is a new place, from heaven for those who are true believers.

We can speculate as to who will be chosen to live forever with God in this new place, but I believe all who believe in God will be there, those who Jesus gathered in his many flocks, and those who found their way to God through the tribe of their heritage.

What we do know from this is that God wants to live with us, as He did in Eden with Adam and Eve, and this new city represents that reunion.

What can keep us from joining Him there is us.

If we focus on who we think will be excluded because of their belief or the sins we see them commit, we will hold ourselves back from joining Jesus.

Jesus told us there will be some who come to the kingdom late and receive the same reward.

If we let that bother us, we may just find ourselves outside the gate wiith no ticket to get in.

More to come...