Revelation 21:10-18 “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, (11) having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. … (18) The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.”
Regarding the construction of the city itself, we are given very little information. In the above passage, the apostle John does tell us that the city is made of pure gold. But it is not a gold that we can imagine in this life, for he describes the gold as being as clear as crystal. What we do see from this passage however, is that every residence in the city will be constructed from the same material. But other than that, we have no idea what each residence will look like. However if we look at the creation of mankind, we can have some idea as to what our residences will look like. For although God has made all men similar so that they can be recognized as men, He has made each one look different to the other, i.e. no two people are exactly the same. And so, if this same concept is applied to the residences in heaven, then it means that each residence will be similar, but at the same time each one will look different, i.e. no two residences will look exactly the same. As we look at the design of the city in this section, we will see that the street of the city begins at the edge of the sea of glass, and extends out from there in an ever widening circle until it reaches the city walls. It can therefore be deduced that the residences will be located adjacent to the street of the city, thus spreading out from the centre, to the outskirts of the city. One thing is clear with regards to the various residences of the saints however, and that is that the residences of those who are considered to be great in the kingdom will be located closest to the throne. Whereas the residences of the saints who are considered to be least in the kingdom will be located the greatest distance away from the throne, i.e. along the city walls. For on more than one occasion, our Lord in commenting on the hierarchy in the kingdom of God, said that many who are first in this life will be last in the age to come, and that many who are last in this life, will be first in the age to come (Mark 10:31). And so, to put that concept into some sort of perspective, for those who will be placed last in the age to come, the distance of their residences from the throne of God will be 1200 kilometres. Bearing in mind, that those who are considered great in the kingdom of God, are those who are servants of all in this life (Mark 9:35).
Michael E.B. Maher
Comments