The New Jerusalem—A Pattern for Living

John of Patmos watches the descent of New Jerusalem from God in a 14th-century tapestry.
Kimon Berlin

God's Holy City Is Constructed With Believers

This article is the first installment of a six-part series exploring the underlying message of the New Jerusalem depicted in the 21st and 22nd chapters of the Book of Revelation. At first glance, this holy city appears to be a beautiful dwelling place for God and His people. The details visualize pleasant colors, rare gems, and streets of gold. But there's so much more to the story. As we shall discover, it is the blueprint of an entire Christian life lived for God.

And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. Also, she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: three gates on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west. Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. The construction of its wall was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third chalcedony, the fourth emerald, the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. The twelve gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass.
— Revelation 21:10-21

The Sermon on the Mount
Andrei Mironov, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The City on a Hill

In the ancient Near Eastern world, temples and centers of worship were often located on mountains or hills. Eden was thought to be on a mountain due to the four rivers that flowed from it. It is, therefore, no surprise that Jesus gives his most well-known and beloved sermon on a mountain. Jesus tells his followers in His sermon on the mount that they are a city set on a hill that is to give light to the rest of the world.

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden ...
— Matthew 5:14

The holy city, the new Jerusalem, will likewise follow this pattern: God's people will be the structure itself—the place where God will reside. They will be His city on a hill.

Much like the Tabernacle of the Old Testament, in which every detail spoke of salvation through a sacrificial system that Christ fulfilled, this structure's every piece will have something to say about a life lived in fellowship with Him. Both structures' main goal is to dwell with God eternally.

This particular complex not only consists of the individual lives of believers but also serves as a picture and symbol of how God took sinful humanity and created a new and beautiful creation.

For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, you are God’s building.

— I Corinthians 3:9

... you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
— I Peter 2:5

The idea of God's people being temples in which He dwells is well established in the Epistles.

Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.
— John 14:23

... If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.
— I John 4:12

Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?
— I Corinthians 3:16

And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said:

“I will dwell in them
And walk among them.
I will be their God,
And they shall be My people.”
— 2 Corinthians 6:16

A Good Foundation

Every good building starts with its foundation. Abraham was looking for a permanent place with "foundations," Just as we are looking for that solid abiding love that we can count on and build our life upon, something eternal and lasting with a firm foundation.

By faith, Abraham obeyed when he was called to go out to the place which he would receive as an inheritance. And he went out, not knowing where he was going. By faith, he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
— Hebrews 11:8-10

Abraham dwelt in a foreign country and lived in tents. When we come to Christ, we become citizens of a new existence and become foreigners in this world. We dwell in tents, our temporary earthly bodies, and wait in faith for eternal life with "foundations."

Stones of the Western Wall in Jerusalem
Gilabrand

The Chief Cornerstone

Jesus Christ is the Chief Cornerstone of the New Jerusalem's foundation.

... having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone ...
— Ephesians 2:20

Warren, at the "A Voice Crying Out" website, defines the symbolic significance of a cornerstone in reference to Jesus in the following statement.

"In ancient construction, the cornerstone was the first and most important stone laid. It determined the alignment, stability, and integrity of the entire structure. If the cornerstone was flawed or misaligned, the entire building could be compromised."

We can go through the expense and labor to build a comfortable house for ourselves, but it will not stand without a dependable foundation. Inevitably, it will be subject to external factors such as weather and shifting soil, but it will not withstand the conditions nature produces without a good base.

Our spiritual lives are much the same. The atmosphere of our lives may be the result of our own choices. Or perhaps we have experienced the tsunamis of other people's choices washing in torrential waves upon our life's shores. If our trust for our salvation and deliverance from any of these things is based and founded upon anything other than the saving work of Jesus Christ and His death on the cross for our sins, it will fall.

For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
— I Corinthians 3:11

God shows us in Matthew how to build our house (life) on the "Rock.

“Therefore, whoever hears these sayings of Mine, and does them, I will liken him to a wise man who built his house on the rock: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it did not fall, for it was founded on the rock.“But everyone who hears these sayings of Mine, and does not do them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand: and the rain descended, the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house; and it fell. And great was its fall.”
— Matthew 7:24-27

Before this parable, Jesus's sermon on the mount gave the protocols for being His followers. Hearing Him and obeying Him sets the rest of the stones upon the cornerstone of this structure.

Concluding Thoughts

My husband and I built a house and discovered that the foundation was the most challenging part of the structure. From a spiritual perspective, the foundation is where we deal with our sin condition. We were sinners separated eternally from God. Jesus, the Son of God, came from eternity to the earth and became one of us, bore the penalty, and paid the ransom to set us free from our sins by sacrificing His life on the cross in our place. He was resurrected and opened the door for man to be resurrected in His position with God so that we may live eternally with Him.

Many shortcuts today do not involve confronting our sin or a need for salvation from it. Strangely enough, the principles and laws that God established in the Bible might profit or benefit us in this lifetime. But without the true foundation of the forgiveness of sin through God's offered Son, Jesus, those profits and benefits will not be supported eternally.

“Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber."
— John 10:1

Many modern religious movements use biblical principles for success in this life because they work. Still, they deny that the real power of that provision was made available through the suffering and death of our Savior God and require us to confront the issue of sin in our lives. We are forfeiting the eternal benefits by shortcutting the problematic part of this process. We become thieves and robbers.