A comment to a YouTube convert's study on the Bride of Christ New Jerusalem

My comment to the theologizing by a new convert to Jesus. It’s wonderful to hear them studying the Bible, even if their conclusions differ from ours. If the Lord is with them, He can corrected their ideas. And if we are with Him, we can have a part in that. “What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in [error], or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice.” (Phil. 1:18).

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK0ftU7T4LQ

The New Jerusalem is 12,000 furlongs (on each side?), according to Revelation 21:16. According to Wikipedia, “The English first used the furlong in the 9th century or before”. And according to Britannica.com, “Furlong, old English unit of length, based on the length of an average plowed furrow (hence “furrow-long,” or furlong) in the English open- or common-field system. Each furrow ran the length of a 40 × 4-rod acre, or 660 modern feet.” That equals 1/8 of a mile. 12,000/8= 1500 miles. If the 12,000 furlongs means each side, then 1500 miles X 1500 miles=2,250,000 square miles. According to Wikipedia, “Contiguous United States - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contiguous_United_States Together, the 48 contiguous states and Washington, D.C. occupy a combined area of 3,119,884.69 square miles”.

So, New Jerusalem’s 2,250,000 square miles/ U.S. 3,119,884.69 square miles=0.72118. The ratio, 0.72118 would make New Jerusalem more than 2/3 (0.667) and almost 3/4 (0.75) the size of the lower 48 states of America.

But, if the 12,000 furlongs are the total 4 sides of the New Jerusalem, then the size of each side is 12,000/4=3,000 furlongs. And 3,000/8 (furlongs)=375 miles on each side, which would make the New Jerusalem 140,625 square miles. The city’s 140,625 square miles /U.S. 3,119,884.69 square miles =0.0450737, a ratio which would make New Jerusalem less than 1/20th the size of the lower 48 United States. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Montana is 147,040 square miles, which is the state closest to the size of New Jerusalem if its area is assumed this way. And maybe to get an easier conception of New Jerusalem’s size, New Mexico, which is pretty much square but a little smaller, is 121,590 square miles. That is still a big city.

A third option for the New Jerusalem is to assume our second option, but add a short statement given to John. “...according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.” (vs. 17). This shows a distinction between the measurement of a man and an angel. There are five “ifs” that go with this option. 1) If Adam was created a little lower than the angels, according to Psalm 8:5, and 2) if Adam was a giant as everyone was in the antediluvian world, according to Genesis 6:4 and lived for almost 1,000 years, and 3) if giant Adam stood 15 feet tall (I’m guessing), then 4) maybe the angels stand 20 feet tall. And 4) if symmetry remains the same for all of God’s intelligent creations, then this could affect sizes of the New Jerusalem. For instance, the immediate context of verse 17 is the height of the city’s walls, being 144 cubits tall (“according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel”. But, being that the angel stood approximately 3.333 times taller than a six foot man, and using 3.333 times the forearm for a cubit (18 inches), then the height of the city’s walls will be more like 720 feet high.

Shouldn't this change the overall area of the city in order to keep the wall height-city area proportional? If we multiply the 375 mile sides by 3.333 we get 1,250 miles on each side, which gives us a New Jerusalem area of 1,562,500 square miles, which divided by U.S. lower 48 states area 3,119,884.69 square miles=0.5008. That would mean a New Jerusalem city half the size of contiguous America.

If we use the first option, then the larger angelic measuring length would give us 25,000,027 square miles, which is 8 times the size of America’s lower 48 states. When we look away from our tiny world, we see that everything is tremendously huge. We shouldn’t limit what God has in store, when that the incomprehensible universe of galaxies and nebulae is His creation, and beyond His created universe is limitless empty space that makes me tremble when I think about it for a few minutes (which is all that I can take).

In short, we have amazing things coming when the Father, “Him that sat on the throne” (Rev. 4:9), transfers His seat of government to this sin-tormented world where the greatest controversy the universe was ever dealt with. “As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” (1Cor. 2:9). It’s such amazing grace that our fallen but redeemed race is privileged to be the center of the universe, who crucified the very Prince of heaven and have caused His heart such grievous agony, as a Lamb slain since the foundation of the world.