Isaiah 60:10-18 “The sons of foreigners shall build up your walls, and their kings shall minister to you; For in My wrath I struck you, But in My favour, I have had mercy on you. (11) Therefore, your gates shall be open continually; They shall not be shut day or night, that men may bring to you the wealth of the Gentiles, And their kings in procession. (12) For the nation and kingdom which will not serve you shall perish, and those nations shall be utterly ruined. (13) "The glory of Lebanon shall come to you, the cypress, the pine, and the box tree together, to beautify the place of My sanctuary; And I will make the place of My feet glorious. (14) Also, the sons of those who afflicted you Shall come bowing to you, and all those who despised you shall fall prostrate at the soles of your feet; And they shall call you The City of the Lord, Zion of the Holy One of Israel.” … (17) "Instead of bronze I will bring gold, Instead of iron I will bring silver, Instead of wood, bronze, And instead of stones, iron. I will also make your officers peace, and your magistrates’ righteousness. (18) Violence shall no longer be heard in your land, neither wasting nor destruction within your borders; But you shall call your walls Salvation, and your gates Praise.”
The above quoted passage of scripture is another account of the rebuilding of the city of Jerusalem during the Lord’s millennial reign. In this passage we see that the sons of foreigners will build the walls of Jerusalem, thus confirming that the forced labour of the anti-Christ’s kingdom will be used in the reconstruction of the city. The fact that the city will be rebuilt with a wall around it is also confirmed in this passage, for it refers to Jerusalem’s walls being built and her gates being open continually. This passage goes on to name Jerusalem’s walls “Salvation” and her gates it names “Praise”. Something else which we can note from this passage are the building materials that will be used in the construction of the city, for it talks about gold being used instead of bronze, and silver being used instead of iron, and bronze being used instead on wood and then finally iron being used instead of stones. Clearly the city of Jerusalem that will be built during the Lord’s millennial reign will be unlike any other city before it, displaying all the glory that this world has to offer.
Psalms 48:1-14 “Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, In His holy mountain. (2) Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. (3) God is in her palaces; He is known as her refuge. (4) For behold, the kings assembled, they passed by together. (5) They saw it, and so they marvelled; they were troubled, they hastened away. (6) Fear took hold of them there, and pain, as of a woman in birth pangs, (7) as when You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind. (8) As we have heard, so we have seen in the city of the Lord of hosts, in the city of our God: God will establish it forever. (9) We have thought, O God, on Your loving kindness, In the midst of Your temple. (10) According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness. (11) Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, Because of Your judgments. (12) Walk about Zion and go all around her. Count her towers; (13) Mark well her bulwarks; Consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following. (14) For this is God, Our God forever and ever; He will be our guide Even to death.”
We have already looked at the above quoted passage of scripture, when we discussed the various heads of state being brought to the city of Jerusalem to present themselves before the Lord. Nevertheless this passage also describes the city of Jerusalem that will be restored during our Lord’s millennial reign, and so we will discuss it in this section as well. Again this passage confirms to us that the city will be enclosed with walls, for it describes the towers and bulwarks of those walls. It is interesting to note that this passage speaks of palaces within the city walls; so the question is asked how many residences can be placed within the city walls. To answer that question, we can get some idea by looking at the city dimensions given to the prophet Ezekiel, i.e. 20,250,000 square cubits, which equates to 4,101 square kilometres (Ezekiel 48:30-35). The current district of Jerusalem incorporates an area of 652 square kilometres[1]. And so we see that the Millennium city of Jerusalem will be almost seven times larger than the current district of Jerusalem. The current population density of the district of Jerusalem is 1,856 people per square kilometre[2]. And so if we were to apply the same population density to the new city of Jerusalem, that would equate to a population within the city walls of approximately 7.6 million people. We have already stated that the number of saints will be approximately 250 million. And so we see that unlike the heavenly city of Jerusalem which will accommodate all the saints, this city, because it will be restricted in size, will only accommodate those whom the Lord has deemed worthy to dwell within her walls at that time. Although scripture does give us some indication as to which saints will be living within the city walls during the millennium, e.g. Moses and Elijah as the two anointed ones that always stand before the God of the earth (Zechariah 4:14), the twelve apostles of the Lamb and the one hundred and forty four thousand who follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Revelation 14:4), but as for the rest, we will just have to wait and see. Nevertheless the point is clear that the vast majority of the Lord’s saints, although living within travelling distance of the city, will not be living in the city itself.
Michael E.B. Maher
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