“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God” (Revelation 21:3).
Men are lovers of cities. Great cities become greater as men come from farm and forest to live within them. It has always been so. Men sought to build a city at Babel whose top would reach to heaven. Although Lot chose the fertile plains of Jordan when he separated from Abram, yet he found it convenient to dwell in the cities of the plain. When the Lord burned him out of Sodom, he moved to Zoar. Abram departed from Ur to dwell in a tent in the Land of Promise, yet he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
Let us get above the clouds of earth and the mists of human strife to behold the capital city of heaven. See it descending, as charming as a bride adorned for her husband. What a city! It is fifteen hundred miles long and wide. If it were placed on the North American continent, the cornerstone could be laid on the Pacific coast at Vancouver. Then the wall would proceed eastward across British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and into Ontario as far as Thunder Bay. Then southward through the northern states, down through the Mississippi valley until it reached the Gulf of Mexico, and from there west to the Pacific coast!
The city is built on twelve foundations, each a massive, precious stone. One of these stones is the jasper, not the high colored stone shown in the jeweler’s window, but one “clear as crystal.” The only stone that we have to which we could liken it is the diamond. But this diamond-like jasper stone portrays “the glory of God.” May we not learn from these foundation stones that the home of the redeemed rests eternally on the glory of God?
But this is a pictorial city, as well as a material city. One of the angels said to John, “Come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”; but he showed him this city. So the city must represent the bride, the Lamb’s wife. It seems to be in this connection that we read that the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb are on the twelve foundations, a parabolic way of saying that the whole fabric of the Church bears forever the impress of those men who laid its foundations.
Surmounting these glorious foundations, the jasper walls of the city rise 216 feet. In each of the four walls are three gates, each a single pearl. Each gate bears the name of one tribe of Israel, and one of God’s angels stands at each gate. May it not be that in millennial days communication may be established between the heavenly city and the tribes of Israel on earth through these gates and by means of these ministering spirits?
Towering above the gates of pearl and walls of jasper rises this city of the living God, fifteen hundred miles high. If it were constructed like a skyscraper, it would have 400,000 stories. How true were the Lord’s own words, “In My Father’s house are many abiding places.”
Within the city lies a beautiful street, paved with gold like transparent glass. Along this celestial avenue will walk an innumerable company of angels, the church of the firstborn, just men made perfect, and Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant; for this is the city of the living God.
This city will never have a paving program, for its street is purest gold. There will never be a water shortage, for it is supplied by the river of life whose source is in the throne of God. There will never be a scarcity of food; the tree of life yields fresh fruit each month. There will be no lighting problems, for the glory of God and the Lamb illuminate the city. There will be no housing difficulties, for in our Father’s house are many mansions. There will be no financial stress; precious stones are so abundant they are used for foundations and the pearls are so large they make excellent gates. There will be no unemployment, for His servants shall serve Him. There will be no undesirable neighbors, for the fearful, the unbelieving, the abominable, and evil-doers are excluded. There shall be neither tears, nor death, nor sorrow, for these things are passed away.
These blessings belong to the citizens of that city without payment of taxes, for the place is prepared for them. These blessings belong to the citizens of that city without payment of rent, for who pays rent in his Father’s house?
Remember, “Our citizenship is in heaven.”