The heavenly Jerusalem

Whether John's city is meant literally. Keener, Beale, Wright and Heiser's podcast read its size as symbolic, and the cultural backgrounds article Dimensions of the New Jerusalem sets it against Babylon's walls, nine miles around. The ESV Study Bible allows literal dimensions, and the Zondervan dictionary reports two views: a symbol of the ideal church, since John is promised the bride and shown the city, or a literal eternal home, which premillennialists have God create at the start of the millennium and keep above earthly Jerusalem until the eternal state. The sources also give different figures for its side: about 1,400 miles (the article) or 1,500 (Keener; the dictionary).

• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/galatians-4-21-5-1\/","n":"Galatians 4:21-5:1, Hagar, Sarah and Sinai in Arabia","s":"Paul reads the story of Abraham's two sons as a figure of two covenants: Hagar the slave stands for Sinai and the present Jerusalem, Sarah the free woman for the Jerusalem above, and he calls the Galatians to stand firm in freedom.","r":"Galatians 4:21-5:1"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-11-8-16\/","n":"Hebrews 11:8-16, Strangers looking for a city","s":"By faith Abraham left home without knowing where he was going and lived in tents in the promised land as a foreigner, waiting for a city with lasting foundations that God himself designed and built. He and Sarah and their family died still waiting, admitting they were strangers on earth and longing for a better, heavenly country.","r":"Hebrews 11:8-16"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-12-18-29\/","n":"Hebrews 12:18-29, Sinai, Zion and the unshakable kingdom","s":"Believers have not come to the burning, quaking mountain of Sinai but to Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, with myriads of angels, the assembly of the firstborn enrolled in heaven, God the judge, the spirits of the righteous, and Jesus, whose blood speaks better than Abel's. Since God will shake heaven and earth once more, they are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.","r":"Hebrews 12:18-29"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/hebrews-13-7-17\/","n":"Hebrews 13:7-17, Foods, an altar and outside the camp","s":"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today and for ever, so the readers must not be carried away by strange teachings about foods. Believers have an altar the tabernacle priests may not eat from; as the bodies of the sin offerings were burned outside the camp, Jesus suffered outside the gate, and they must go out to him, bearing his disgrace, seeking the city to come.","r":"Hebrews 13:7-17"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-2-1-7\/","n":"Revelation 2:1-7, Ephesus and the Nicolaitans","s":"To Ephesus the one who holds the seven stars praises a church that tested false apostles and hates the works of the Nicolaitans, but warns that it has abandoned its first love and may lose its lampstand. The one who conquers will eat from the tree of life in God's paradise.","r":"Revelation 2:1-7"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-3-7-13\/","n":"Revelation 3:7-13, Philadelphia and the key of David","s":"To Philadelphia the one who holds the key of David sets before a weak but faithful church an open door no one can shut. Those of the synagogue of Satan will bow at their feet, and the one who conquers will be a pillar in God's temple, bearing the name of the new Jerusalem.","r":"Revelation 3:7-13"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-14-1-5\/","n":"Revelation 14:1-5, the Lamb and the 144,000 on Mount Zion","s":"The Lamb stands on Mount Zion with 144,000 who bear his name and his Father's on their foreheads, singing a new song only they can learn. They have kept themselves pure, follow the Lamb wherever he goes, and are offered as firstfruits to God and the Lamb.","r":"Revelation 14:1-5"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-16-12-21\/","n":"Revelation 16:12-21, the Euphrates dried and Armageddon","s":"The sixth bowl dries up the Euphrates to make way for the kings from the east, and three frog-like spirits from the dragon, the beast and the false prophet gather the kings of the world to battle at the place called Armageddon. The seventh bowl brings a voice saying it is done, the greatest earthquake ever, the splitting of the great city and hundred-pound hailstones.","r":"Revelation 16:12-21"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-21-1-8\/","n":"Revelation 21:1-8, new heaven, new earth, no more sea","s":"John sees a new heaven and a new earth, with no more sea, and the holy city, the new Jerusalem, coming down from God like a bride dressed for her husband. A voice announces that God's dwelling is now with people, that he will wipe away every tear, and that he makes all things new; the thirsty will drink freely, while the cowardly, the faithless, murderers, sorcerers, idolaters and liars have their place in the lake of fire.","r":"Revelation 21:1-8"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-21-9-27\/","n":"Revelation 21:9-27, the city of gold and twelve stones","s":"An angel carries John to a high mountain to show him the bride, the holy city Jerusalem, shining with God's glory, with twelve gates named for Israel's tribes and twelve foundations named for the Lamb's apostles. The city is a cube of pure gold, its foundations set with twelve precious stones and its gates each a single pearl; it has no temple, since God and the Lamb are its temple, and its gates never shut as the nations bring their glory into it.","r":"Revelation 21:9-27"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/ancient-world-passages\/revelation-22-1-5\/","n":"Revelation 22:1-5, river and tree of life","s":"The angel shows John a clear, life-giving river running from God's throne through the middle of the city, with the tree of life on both banks, fruiting every month and healing the nations with its leaves. Nothing cursed remains; God's servants will see him face to face, carry his name and reign for ever in his light.","r":"Revelation 22:1-5"}

• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/ezekiel-28-11-19\/","n":"Ezekiel 28:11-19","s":"A guardian cherub in Eden, on the holy mountain, cast out for pride.","r":"Ezekiel 28:11-19"}
• {"u":"https:\/\/jayms.com\/bible-study-tools-2\/divine-council-index\/isaiah-14-12-15\/","n":"Isaiah 14:12-15","s":"Helel ben-shachar, shining one, son of the dawn, falls from heaven.","r":"Isaiah 14:12-15"}