THE NEW JERUSALEM: NOT A PHYSICAL CITY

by:

Rabindranath S. Polito

AB English 1

Mrs. Merle Valbuena

Teacher

March 19, 2003

 OUTLINE

Thesis Statement: In contrary to the traditional teachings of the New Jerusalem, it is not a

physical building but a personal building.

I. Introduction

II. A brief description of the New Jerusalem

III. The traditional teachings of the New Jerusalem being a physical building

IV. Six reasons why the New Jerusalem could not be a physical building

V. New Jerusalem—a personal building

VI. Conclusion
 The total conclusion of the entire sixty-six books of the Bible is the New

Jerusalem. The ultimate consummation of all that God is and of all His work and

achievements, from eternity past to eternity future, is the New Jerusalem. 1 Today, as

people read about the New Jerusalem, written in the book of Revelation, they interpret

and say that the New Jerusalem is a physical city, mansion, and building. They said that it

is where we are going to lodge for eternity. In this paper, we will see if the New

Jerusalem is truly a physical mansion or is it a wonderful and mysterious corporate

person. Using library research, I will take up four things. First, I will describe the New

Jerusalem as literally described. Second, I will discuss the traditional teachings

concerning New Jerusalem as a physical city. Third, I will point out at least six reasons

why the New Jerusalem could not be a physical city. Finally, I will discuss that the New

Jerusalem is a corporate person or a personal building. The importance of this paper is to

let the readers know the real, biblical, scriptural, and spiritual meaning of the New

Jerusalem. This will open their eyes to see the New Jerusalem not as a physical city or

mansion but as a personal building.

By reading the Bible, we can see God. Although God is a mystery, the Bible

reveals Him to us in a great and clear way. The Bible also shows us the source of the

universe. We do not need to grope ourselves like blind men to know the source of the

universe, and we do not need scientists like Darwin to tell us our beginning. When we

come to the first verse of the Bible, Genesis, it tells us that God created the heavens and

the earth. The Bible also tells us where man came from. Man came from God and was

created by God. When we come to the Word of God, we receive or can attain much

knowledge and revelation or even visions concerning God and His economy. But we are
always trying to know the result, the issue, of the sixty-six books of the Bible. According

to the black and white letters, we all can see that the last item of the sixty-six books of the

Bible is the New Jerusalem.

In Revelation 21:2, we see that the New Jerusalem is a city. As a city, there has to

be a foundation. The foundation of this city is built with precious stones. 2 This foundation

has twelve layers of precious stones. These precious stones have variety of colors. The

first is green, the second and third are blue, the fourth is green, the fifth and sixth are red,

the seventh is yellow, the eighth is bluish-green, the ninth is yellow, the tenth is apple-

green, the eleventh and twelfth are purple.3 The length, the breadth, and height of this city

are equal. It is twelve thousand stadia in its dimension. 4 Through this measurement; we

can see that the New Jerusalem is cube. This city has wall for its protection. Its wall is

built with precious stones and jasper. 5 It has not only wall but also gates. It has twelve

gates. These gates are for the entrance to the city. Since the city is cube it has four sides.

In each side, has three gates built with pearls. Each gate has an angel. As we enter the city

we can see only one and unique street, built with gold, which leads us to throne of God

and of the Lamb.6 In the middle of the street there is the river of life flowing. On the side

and on the other side of the river has the tree of life. The city proper is gold that is why

this city is called the mountain of gold. In Revelation 3:13, we can see that the city has no

temple because the temple and the pillar is the God Almighty and the Lamb. In verse 23

of chapter 21, it says there that the city has no needed neither of the sun nor of the moon

for its light, because the glory of God illumined it and its lamp is the Lamb. On the top of

the city, we can see the throne of God. There is no problem to the throne because the
unique spiral street will eventually lead the people to the top of the golden mountain with

the throne.

Probably, through the description of the New Jerusalem, from the book of

Revelation, many considered such as a physical and a heavenly city, mansion, and

building. This is the traditional teaching concerning the New Jerusalem. All of us,

however, have been somewhat influenced by the traditional teachings in Christianity. 7

There was a gospel song about the New Jerusalem which told people how good heaven

is. According to this song, the streets in heaven were gold, and the gates were made of

pearls. According to the traditional teaching, the New Jerusalem is such as physical as it

was described.8 This concept occupies our thoughts, so we believe that the Bible ended

with a heavenly city. With our mentality occupied with such a concept, we would never

think that the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the entire divine

revelation.

The thought that we adopted was that the New Jerusalem was simply a wonderful

place, and we never gave any room for another thought to come in concerning the New

Jerusalem. Because of the descriptions, people translated the New Jerusalem as a physical

city. The other reason for this is that of John 14 in which the Lord Jesus is talking about

His going to prepare many abodes in His Father’s house. They equated this house with

the New Jerusalem. This gives an idea that it is truly such a physical building because of

the words written in verses such as house, abodes and prepare. According to their

interpretation, the abodes that Jesus was preparing are the New Jerusalem. 9 That is why

most of the readers of the Bible scholars don’t spend much time in understanding the last

two chapters of Revelation because they think that the New Jerusalem is the many abodes
that has been prepared by Jesus for us. They believe that the Lord will bring us to that

many abodes, New Jerusalem, after His second coming. Her are some traditional

teachings written in books which are teaching the people that the many abodes is the New

Jerusalem and is something or is truly a physical city to lodge in. “The Quest Study

Bible” notes the Father’s house with heaven. “The Nelson Study Bible” emphasized that

humans are longing for a secure place in heaven after Christ second coming.” Inside

Heaven’s Gates” told us that our comfort consists in having a home in heaven, a place

prepared for us. “Foundations of the Christian Faith” taught us that Christ prepare heaven

for us. “What the Bible Reveals about the Heaven” teaches that our prepared place is in

heaven. “The Gospel of John” emphasized on the human need for a prepared place. “The

Theology of John” teaches every believer, each child of God, will have suite of rooms,

with each suite individually designed and prepared. All those quoted phrases are titles of

books that equate the Father’s house with heaven and even the New Jerusalem. They said

so because they believe that the New Jerusalem is for His children to lodge and in John

14, it talks about abodes to lodge in. This seemed to be the official, traditional teaching.

No matter how widespread these things are, we must know that it is altogether contrary to

the divine revelation in the Scriptures and is false. So what is really the meaning of the

“abodes” and “Father’s house” in John 14?

In the Father’s house—that is, God’s corporate, organic, spiritual dwelling place
—there are abodes. The word “abodes” (not mansions) is the correct translation here. The
same word appears in the singular in verse 23: “Jesus answered and said to him, if
anyone loves Me, he will keep my word, and My Father will love him, and We will come
to him and make an abode with him.” An abode is a dwelling place. The many abodes in
verse 2 and the abode in verse 23 are dwelling places. Taken together, verses 2 and 23
reveals that the many abodes in the Father’s house are the many believers of Christ. In the
Father’s house there are many abodes, many dwelling places. The Father’s house is the
Body of Christ…composed of the believers as members…and every member is an abode
of the Father’s house.10
 Although we may accept the teachings about what has been taught in the

traditional teachings, we should not forget to give a room for the other truths that are real

and significant. This proves (the quotes above) that the many abodes don’t mean the New

Jerusalem because the abodes are the believer of Christ and the Father’s house is the

Body of Christ. So, now we have an understanding that the “Father’s house” and the

“abodes” are not the same as the New Jerusalem. But there is still a problem because if

we are not going to consider John 14’s abodes and house as the New Jerusalem, there is

still that would confuse the people about the description written in Revelation 21 and 22.

That may be the reason for being a physical building.

Here are six reasons why the New Jerusalem could not be a physical building. At

this point, let us be open-minded and open our spirits to receive this revelation.

First, we must realize that the first verse of the book of Revelation tells us how

this book was written: “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to

His slaves what must swiftly take place; and He made it known by signs.” 11 This verse

tells us that the Lord Jesus made this God-given revelation known to us by signs. The

word “signs” is important here. The word “signs” is the key word to interpret the entire

book of Revelation. Revelation is a book of signs. Every number in this book is a sign.

The lampstands are signs. The Lamb who was slain is a sign. The lion is a sign. The

seven stars, bowls, four creatures are signs. In Revelation 12:1, the universal woman

crowned with twelve stars, clothed with the sun, and standing on the moon is a great sign.

Also, in Revelation 12, the great red dragon is a sign. In chapter 19 we see a bride, the

wife of the Lamb, who is clothed with righteousness, is still a sign. What is the last great

sign in Revelation? The last sign of this book, which is made known to us by signs, is the
New Jerusalem. This is a great sign. The descriptions concerning it are all signs. Now if

you consider the other items in Revelation as signs and interpret it but you don’t consider

the New Jerusalem as a sign, but as if as it is described, then you are not consistent and

you oppose the Word of God that it is a sign. Signs are physical things and their

interpretation has to be under the authority of God.

The second reason that we could not say that the New Jerusalem is a physical

mansion or a physical city for God’s people to lodge in is that it is altogether not logical

to say so.12 Why is it not logical? If we are going to consider each characteristic and

description of this city we could not say that it is not logical or illogical. The New

Jerusalem, the holy city, is a golden mountain. This mountain is twelve thousand stadia

with three dimensions. The length, the breadth, and the height of the city are twelve

thousand stadia. Twelve thousand stadia is about thirteen hundred and fifty miles. Such a

high mountain has only one street that goes down spirally from the top of the mountain to

reach all the twelve gates on the four sides of the city. If this is a real city to lodge in, we

must ask how all God’s redeemed from the time of Adam to the coming generations

could lodge there? The number of these people is absolutely large and huge. The space is

not enough for them. The gates of the city are built up with pearls. If this is a real city,

where could God take such a big pearls for the gates of the city? The city has no light

because the lamb is the lamp. If this is a real city, where can God get a lamb to shine?

Have you ever seen a lamb that can shine or that is used as a lamp? And this one lamb

shines the whole city. How come? The street is spiral from the top of the mountain down

below. If this were a real city, after the people reached the top, what would they do? Are

they going down again? If they go down, what would they do? Are they going up again?
Can you imagine the life being there? Hence, this city could not be a physical city

because it is altogether illogical.

The third reason why the New Jerusalem could not be a physical mansion is that

Revelation itself tells us that this city is the wife of the Lamb. According to the entire

Bible, there is a divine romance between God the Creator, the Redeemer, who is the male,

and His redeemed people who are the female.13 This is a basic thing revealed in the Bible.

In the Old Testament God told His redeemed people, Israel, the He was their husband and

that they were His wife such as Isaiah 54:5; Jeremiah 3:14; 31:32 and Hosea 2:19. When

the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist told his disciples that Christ was the Bridegroom

coming to take the bride that is the church (John 3:29). Then Paul told us in Ephesians 5

that the wife typifies the church and the husband typifies Christ (vv. 24-25). Therefore,

Christ is the husband and the church is the wife. Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:2 said that he

had betrothed us as a virgin to one husband who is Christ. The wife is the aggregate of all

the overcoming saints from Adam until the Lord comes back. The aggregate of all the

Old Testament overcomers and the New Testament overcomers is the wife in Revelation

19:7 who will be ready for Christ’s wedding. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of

God’s counterpart, the aggregate of all His redeemed and perfected people. The whole

Bible reveals to us that God is the universal husband and His redeemed and perfected

people are the universal counterpart to match God. If we have known this universal

divine romance then this needs a consummation and the consummation is the New

Jerusalem as the wife of the Savior and Redeemer, Christ. Remember, Christ cannot

marry a physical mansion or a city but a corporate person.

 The fourth reason that the New Jerusalem is not a physical building is that

Revelation tells us that the New Jerusalem is God’s tabernacle and the temple of God. 14

John said that he did not see a temple in the city for its temple was the Lord and the

Lamb. The tabernacle in the Old Testament is not only the dwelling place of God but also

the dwelling place of His serving priests. The serving priests who served God dwelt with

God in the tabernacle. Hence, the tabernacle is both the dwelling place of God and His

priests (the ones who served Him). Priests are God’s serving ones. In Revelation 22:3 we

are told that the perfected believers in eternity will be God’s serving ones. Therefore, all

of them dwell in the tabernacle with God. According to typology, the tabernacle was a

precursor of the temple that brought in the temple. John did not see the temple because he

saw that God and the Lamb was the temple, which means that God and the Lamb will

become the dwelling place of His serving ones. The tabernacle is God’s dwelling place

with His serving ones and this God who dwells in the tabernacle is the temple that is the

dwelling place of His serving ones. Our dwelling place for eternity is God Himself. We

will not dwell in a big mansion but we will dwell in God. We are His tabernacles and He

is our temple. We dwell in Him, and He dwell in us; this is mutual dwelling in the New

Jerusalem.15 The New Jerusalem could not be a physical city because it is God dwelling

in His redeemed people and His redeemed people dwelling in God for eternity…. This is

the mutual dwelling, mutual abiding and mutual habitation for eternity.

The fifth reason why the New Jerusalem could not be a physical city because it is

the consummation of all God’s building. 16 Can you still remember that first, God charged

Noah to build the ark. Then we see that Abraham was looking for a city with a foundation

to build a tabernacle. Later, the Israelites entered into the good land and built a temple. In
the New Testament, the Lord said that He would build His church. He also told the Jews

that if they will destroy the temple (His Body), He would raise it up in three days. Peter

rebuked the Jews by saying that they, the builders, had rejected Christ as the cornerstone

of God’s building. Paul told us that we are the house of God and God’s building. Paul as

the wise master builder laid the foundation, and we have to build upon the foundation,

taking heed not to build with wood, grass, and stubble, but with gold, silver, and precious

stones. In 1 Peter 2:4-5, Peter told us that Christ is the living stone and we are the living

stones to be built up into a spiritual house. The materials that are used in the New

Jerusalem signify the believers and the Triune God built up as one entity. This is the

consummation of all the building in the divine economy of God. The materials that are

being used to form the New Jerusalem are God and His chosen and perfected ones.17

Now we must see the final reason why the New Jerusalem could not be

interpreted as a physical mansion. Our God is the great Triune God—the Father, the Son,

and the Spirit. The Father has an eternal plan with a marvelous economy and the Son

accomplished this economy by becoming a man, by His living on this earth, by His dying

on the cross, and by His entering into resurrection and ascension. The Son’s achievements

were excellent, marvelous, and very meaningful. Then the Spirit came to apply all that

the Son had accomplished to us. The Spirit’s work is to regenerate us and now is working

within us to transform, redeem, and even make us like Christ. By all of these, the church

is produced and built up and there is a kingdom for the overcomers to rule the nations

with Christ for a thousand years. The great Triune God with all His achievements and

workings throughout the ages surely needs a marvelous consummation. Can you imagine

how God went through many processes just to be in man and for so many years He
waited to be with His redeemed and perfected ones and for so may years that He waited

for this New Jerusalem because this is the consummation of all that God is and His

achievements, then this New Jerusalem is just a physical city? Can you imagine that the

great God from eternity past to eternity future would just consummate in a physical city?

The consummation of all His works and achievements has to be great, glorious, amazing,

perfect, marvelous, and not even all the brains of humanity could understand this

wonderful consummation. Hence, this wonderful consummation would be the New

Jerusalem for eternity.18

Those are the six reasons that show us that the New Jerusalem could not be a

physical mansion or a physical city for God’s redeemed people to lodge in.

If the New Jerusalem is not a physical city, then what is it? The New Jerusalem is

a personal building.19 When we say physical city, it is built with physical materials such

as gold, silver, and precious stones. The personal and physical buildings matters most on

the materials being used in the building. When we say it is personal, we refer to the

materials in the building as persons, living persons. The New Jerusalem is a personal

building hence, it is built up with living persons such as the Triune God and His chosen,

redeemed, transformed, and glorified people.

Now here are some proofs that the New Jerusalem is truly a personal building.

Revelation 3:12 says, “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My

God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of

My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of

heaven from My God, and My new name.” The point of this verse is crucial—in the

coming temple of God, the pillar is a person. He who overcomes will be made a pillar in
the temple of God. We have seen already in Revelation 21:22 that John the beloved,

writer of the book of Revelation who has seen such a vision, told us that he saw no

temple in the New Jerusalem because the temple is the Lord God Almighty and the

Lamb. Here, the pillar is the person who overcomes and the temple itself is a great

Person, God. Could it be that the pillar and the temple in the city is a person and not the

whole city? If the person is the pillar of the city that is so big, how could this person hold

the city?

The New Jerusalem, as we have seen, is the consummation of all the building in

the Bible. In the Old Testament, physical matters typify the tabernacle and the temple. In

the Old Testament there is a physical gold in the tabernacle. But when we come to the

fulfillment of God’s building in the New Testament, there is nothing merely physical. The

stones in God’s building are living persons. When Peter came to the Lord the first time,

God called him Cephas, which means a stone.20 Peter then wrote in his first Epistle that

the Lord Himself is a living stone and that the believers are living stones. Paul also told

us that as a wise master builder he had laid the foundation of God’s building upon which

we, the believers, should build with gold, silver, and precious stones. Surely the stones

and the living stone here are not physical things because they typify the perfected

believers and the Almighty God. These are persons confirmed by Paul’s Epistles, who are

living stones. Eventually, these Persons become the New Jerusalem.

We may ask ourselves, if we are believers of Christ, if we are living stones now. It

doesn’t mean that when you are a believer then you immediately become a living stone.

This becoming a believer is one step to become the living stone. The Lord after He died

became a life-giving Spirit.21 This gives life to us in order for us to be living in eyes of
God, because fro Him we are all dead. Then what is this Spirit doing in our spirit? This

Spirit is the One who will transform every believer to be worthy to be built in God’s

building.22 God’s building is built with gold, silver, and precious stones. These materials

typify the Triune God. Hence, we must be one of these materials for us to be built in the

New Jerusalem. How can we have this? The way is to have that Spirit work in us and

transform us to be precious stones. This Spirit dispenses the divine life in us. This divine

life would transform our whole being to be such living stones. If we are already failed

with the divine life, we become the materials for the New Jerusalem as living stones.

Eventually, we are being built in the New Jerusalem and we dwell in the New Jerusalem.

If we are like these, we are the overcomers. An overcomer is a person who overcomes all

the trials and circumstances during his days, the one who let the Spirit of life work within

him to be precious and the one who live with, by, through, and from the Triune God. 23

Hence, when all of God’s believers will be transformed into precious materials, the New

Jerusalem is formed wherein God and His believers are becoming one for eternity. 24 This

is why the New Jerusalem is a personal building.

The New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. This means that the believers, being the

New Jerusalem, will marry Christ. If the New Jerusalem is a literal city, how could God

marry a physical city? The New Jerusalem has to be a corporate person, believers,

because God is a great Person. The believers with the Triune God are not going to the

New Jerusalem but are becoming the New Jerusalem.25

Therefore, the traditional teaching about the New Jerusalem as a physical city is

false. It is false because the New Jerusalem is a sign. It has to be interpreted in such a

way. If you consider it as a physical city, there is no interpretation after all. The
characteristics and descriptions of the New Jerusalem made it illogical to say that it is a

physical mansion. The New Jerusalem is the bride of the Lamb and a bride should not be

a physical building. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of all the building work of

Christ and His believers and this building is not physical but Christ being built up in His

believers and His believers being built up in Him. The New Jerusalem is the

consummation of the temple and tabernacle in which the believers are dwelling in the

Triune God and God is dwelling in His believers. The New Jerusalem is the

consummation of all that God is and all His achievements. So it has to be great not just a

literal city. The New Jerusalem is a personal building. It is a personal building because

the persons, God and the believers, are the building materials for the New Jerusalem. In

this paper, I have shown six reasons why the New Jerusalem could not be a physical city.

Therefore, the New Jerusalem is not a physical city but a Personal corporate building.

Several studies should be done. This paper can’t expose everything about the New

Jerusalem. I hope that I have successfully covered everything that I want to discuss.
 END NOTES

1
Ed Marks. (2000). The New Jerusalem—a corporate person. Affirmation and
critique, Vol. V, No. 2, April 2000, p. 45.
2
Witness Lee. (1984). Life-study of Revelation. (Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry,
1984), p. 715.
3
Witness Lee. (1984). Life-study of Revelation. (Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry,
1984), p. 718.
4
Revelation. The Bible.
5
Witness Lee. (1984). Life-study of Revelation. (Anaheim: Living Stream Ministry,
1984), p. 705.
6
Revelation. The Bible.
7
Witness Lee. (1986). God’s New Testament economy. (Anaheim: Living Stream
Ministry, 1986), p. 282.
8
Witness Lee. (1986). God’s New Testament economy. (Anaheim: Living Stream
Ministry, 1986), p. 282.
9
Ron Kangas. (2000). In My Father’s house. Affirmation and critique, Vol. V, No. 2,
April 2000, p. 26.
10
Ron Kangas. (2000). In My Father’s house. Affirmation and critique, Vol. V, No.
2, April 2000, p. 27.
11
Revelation. The Bible.
12
Witness Lee. (1985). The vision of the Lord’s recovery. Elders’ training, Book 2,
p. 58.
13
Minoro Chen. (2001). The New Jerusalem—the ultimate consummation. The
ministry magazine, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 2001, pp. 69-71.
14
Witness Lee. (1985). The vision of the Lord’s recovery. Elders’ training, Book 2,
p. 60.
15
Witness Lee. (1985). The vision of the Lord’s recovery. Elders’ training, Book 2,
p. 61.
 16
Jim Miller. (Ed.)(2002). The New Jerusalem. (Philippines: Gospel Bookroom of
the Philippines, Inc., 2002), p. 6.
17
Ed Marks. (2001). The New Jerusalem—the highest truth. The ministry magazine,
Vol. 5, No. 2, February 2001, pp. 54.
18
Witness Lee. (1985). The vision of the Lord’s recovery. Elders’ training, Book 2,
p. 63.
19
Witness Lee. (1985). The vision of the Lord’s recovery. Elders’ training, Book 2,
p. 96.
20
John. The Bible.
21
First Corinthians. The Bible.
22
Ed Marks. (2001). The New Jerusalem — the highest truth. The ministry
magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2, February 2001, pp. 48.
23
Minoro Chen. (2001). Becoming the New Jerusalem. The ministry magazine, Vol.
5, No. 2, February 2001, pp. 74.
24
Ron Kangas. (2001). The New Jerusalem—the ultimate consummation. The
ministry magazine, Vol. 5, No. 1, January 2001, pp. 89.
25
Minoro Chen. (2001). Becoming the New Jerusalem. The ministry magazine, Vol.
5, No. 2, February 2001, pp. 74.
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