The second reason that we could not say that the New Jerusalem is a physical mansion or a physical city for God’s redeemed people to lodge in is that it is altogether not logical to say this. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, is a golden mountain (Rev. 21:16, 18). This mountain is twelve thousand stadia in three dimensions. The length, the breadth, and the height of the city are twelve thousand stadia (v. 16). Twelve thousand stadia is about thirteen hundred and fifty miles, the approximate distance from New York to Dallas. Such a high mountain has only one street which 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 through all the centuries will be able to lodge there. How could so many people live in a city with only one main spiral street? How could these people travel in a city with only one main street?
We have seen that the book of Revelation was written in the way of signs. If you say that the last sign, the New Jerusalem, is a physical, real city, then what about the lampstands as the first sign in this book? Are the seven stars in chapter one real stars? And what about the Lamb? Do you believe Christ as the Lamb of God is an actual lamb with four legs and a little tail? Is the lion of the tribe of Judah a real lion like one at the zoo? It is not logical to interpret these signs in the book of Revelation in this way. The New Jerusalem is a sign. It is not a genuine, real, physical city. The great Babylon is also a sign of the false church. The great Babylon and the New Jerusalem are two signs at the end of the book of Revelation. One city is a sign of the false church and the other city, the holy city, signifies the ultimate consummation of the pure church. The great Babylon is called the great prostitute. The New Jerusalem is called the wife of the Lamb. Since Revelation is a book written with signs, the New Jerusalem could not be an exception; it must be a sign.
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 (21:9). 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. This is a basic thing revealed in the Bible. In the Old Testament God told His redeemed people Israel that He was their husband and that they were His wife (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14; 31:32; Hosea 2:19). When the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist told his disciples that Christ was the bridegroom coming to take the bride which is the church (John 3:29). Then Paul tells us in Ephesians 5 that the church is typified by the wife and Christ is typified by the husband (vv. 24-25). Therefore, Christ is the husband and the church is the wife. Paul also said, that he had betrothed us as a virgin to one husband (2 Cor. 11:2) who is Christ. Also, Revelation 19:7 says, “The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This wife is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from Abel 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. In the Bible, beginning from Adam and Eve (Ephesians 5 indicates that Adam and Eve were a type of Christ and the church) to the end of the book of Revelation, there are many portions of the Scripture which reveal that God is the universal husband and His redeemed and perfected people are the universal counterpart to match God. Such a revelation needs a consummation and the consummation is the New Jerusalem as the wife of the Redeemer, the Lamb, Christ, the embodiment of the Triune God.
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 (21:3) and also that the New Jerusalem is the temple of God (21:22). John said that he did not see a temple in the city for its temple was the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. The tabernacle in the type of the Old Testament was not only the dwelling place of God, but also the dwelling place of all His serving priests. The serving priests who served God dwelt with God in the tabernacle. Therefore, the tabernacle is a dwelling place for God and His serving ones. In Revelation 22:3 we are told that all the redeemed and perfected saints in eternity will be God’s serving ones. Therefore, they all will dwell in the tabernacle with God. According to typology the tabernacle was a precursor of the temple which brought in the temple. John did not see the temple, but God and the Lamb were the temple, which indicates that God and the Lamb became the dwelling place of His serving ones. This word matches Psalm 90:1 which says, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” Therefore, the tabernacle is God’s dwelling place with His serving ones and this very God who dwells in the tabernacle is the temple which is the dwelling place of His serving ones. Again, we must realize what a wrong concept it is to say that the New Jerusalem is a great physical mansion for God’s children to lodge in. Revelation says that God Himself, God and the Lamb, will be the temple for us who serve Him to dwell in. Our dwelling place in eternity is God Himself. We must stress this strongly. God and the Lamb will be the temple in eternity for His people, His serving ones, to dwell in. We will not dwell in a big mansion. We will dwell in God. Hallelujah! He is our temple and we are His tabernacle. He dwells in us and we dwell in Him and this mutual dwelling is the New Jerusalem which to God is the tabernacle and to us is the temple.
We must realize that the entire Bible is a history of the tabernacle and the temple. Beginning in Exodus 25 we see the tabernacle, which became the center of Old Testament history. Then this tabernacle entered into the good land and was replaced by the temple which continued to be the center of Old Testament history through the book of Malachi. The Old Testament then is a history of the tabernacle and the temple. In the New Testament, firstly the Lord Jesus was the tabernacle in John 1:14 and He was also the temple in John 2:19-22. In John 2 He indicated that in His resurrection this temple would be enlarged to be a corporate temple, which is the church (1 Cor. 3:16; Eph. 2:21). Therefore, the tabernacle and the temple are also the center of the New Testament history. The entire Bible is a book of the tabernacle and the temple. This needs a consummation. The consummation of the tabernacle and the temple is the New Jerusalem because the New Jerusalem will be the eternal tabernacle for God and will be the eternal temple for us. It is the consummation of the tabernacle and temple in the Bible.