Revelation 21:12-18 “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: … (15) And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. … (17) Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. (18) The construction of its wall was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass.”
Another aspect of the city, which was shown to the apostle John, is the wall that surrounds the city. The height of the wall as described in the above passage is approximately seventy metres high. To put that number into some sort of perspective, seventy meters is equivalent in height to a building of twenty stories. Another comparative that we can do, is to the Western Wall in present day Jerusalem. That wall is 19 meters high. And so, the wall surrounding the New Jerusalem will be almost four times that height. No wonder, when John stood before that wall, that he described it as a great and high wall. This passage also reveals to us that the wall is made from jasper. Jasper is a gemstone that is normally red in colour. This passage refers to the wall as being constructed. And so, we see that the wall will be constructed from sizeable jasper gemstones, and that the wall will more than likely be red in colour. So why does the wall have to be so high? On this point we can only speculate. If one were to stand at a distance outside the city, because of the city wall’s height, one would only be able to see the throne of God, which will be substantially higher than the wall itself.
Michael E.B. Maher
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