How Big Will the NEW JERUSALEM Be on the New Earth?

We’ve all heard about the gates of Heaven referred to as “the pearly gates,” yet in the Bible this is actually a description of the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem, a very large city that is presently in the spiritual realm of God, aka Heaven (Revelation 21:21). Guess what ultimately happens to this city? After God recreates a New Earth and Universe, the New Jerusalem will come “down out of heaven from God.” This is plainly stated three times in Scripture: Revelation 3:12, 21:2 and 21:10. My point is that this awesome city will not stay in Heaven; it will come down “out of heaven” to rest on the New Earth. Who knows? It may even be able to hover over the planet and more, like traverse the galaxies (after all, it’s going to travel from Heaven to Earth intact).

As to the size of the New Jerusalem, it will be 1400 miles long and wide (Revelation 21:16). That’s approximately the distance from New York City to Wichita, Kansas. Can you imagine a city that colossal? It would take a trip of about 6000 miles just to travel around it! What’s more, the magnificent golden buildings will extend up into space 1400 miles — these will be skyscrapers indeed!

Henry Morris in his book The Revelation Record did the math and pointed out that if, say, 20 billion people lived there and their homes & property took up merely 25% of the space of the city, each individual would have a cubical block of about 75 acres of space on each face! The rest of he colossal city would involve streets, parks, public buildings and the like.

I should point out that the New Jerusalem & the New Earth will only be the home-base of the redeemed since we are equally inheriting the “new heavens,” aka the new universe, and not just the Earth (2 Peter 3:13). In fact, that verse lists the new heavens first, which gives the impression that we’re to look forward to it even more than the new Earth. Why? Because the New Earth is merely one planet in an incomprehensibly vast Universe!