Revelation 21:16 says about New Jerusalem, “The city lies square, and its length is as great as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed to a length of twelve thousand stadia; the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.”
The size of the city is twelve thousand stadia. Twelve in the Bible indicates eternal perfection. Thousand in the Bible indicates fullness or bountifulness. New Jerusalem is eternally perfect and bountiful, even unlimited, in the perfection of its characteristics.
New Jerusalem is a cube; its length, breadth, and height are equal. Only two other cubes are described in the Bible. These are the holy of holies (or holiest place) in the tabernacle (Exo. 26) and in the temple (1 Kings 6). The holy of holies in the tabernacle was not large; the dimensions doubled in the temple, and New Jerusalem is immensely greater. Our realization, appreciation, and experience of all that God is in Christ should have such an enlargement to New Jerusalem’s eternal fullness.
Both the tabernacle and the temple had the holy of holies, their innermost part, and a holy place, and an outer court. In Revelation 21–22 there is no outer court nor a holy place with New Jerusalem because we all have been brought fully into the holy of holies where God dwells.
Today we still need the experiences portrayed by the outer court and holy place; for example, the forgiveness of sins by Christ as the reality of the offerings on the bronze altar in the outer court. But in eternity all God’s operation will be completed and we all will be matured, so the holy of holies will be our constant dwelling place.
Photo courtesy of NASA.
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