John described the size of the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:16, stating, “The city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal.”
An interesting fact about the New Jerusalem is its uniqueness. This glorious city within the new Heaven and Earth will be unlike any other place we have seen or experienced. The Greek word for new is "kaine" and expresses newness in both form and substance. In other words, the new Heaven and Earth, including its Holy City, will be “fresh, recent, unused, and unworn” in form and also “of a new kind, unprecedented, novel, uncommon, and unheard of” in substance.
Part of the New Jerusalem’s uniqueness is the way it is designed. Cities on our current planet are only inhabitable on their surface, making them one-dimensional. However, the New Jerusalem will be laid out in a three-dimensional square, with each of its “borders” measuring the same distance.
Given its biblical magnitude of 12,000 furlongs (a furlong = 0.125 miles), the New Jerusalem will span 1,500 miles long, 1,500 miles wide, and 1,500 miles high. The New City will also contain 12 foundations and 12 gates—implying that this enormous cube will be inhabitable on multiple levels rather than only one (see Revelation 21:12-14).
To put this expanse into perspective, consider the United States:
America is 2,800 miles wide when measured horizontally from the West Coast to the Eastern Seaboard and 1,582 miles from north to south. However, this area includes uninhabitable spaces like mountain ranges, rivers, bodies of water, and undeveloped land.
Assuming the New Jerusalem contains multiple levels of living space, it would equate to 12 fully inhabitable land masses equal to the width of “California to Nebraska” (approximately 1,400-1,500 miles east to west) and the length of “North Dakota to Texas” (about 1,500 miles north to south) stacked on top of each other with more than 1,000 miles of sky separating them. In other words, there will be plenty of space for all believers to dwell with God in the Holy City on the new Earth God creates.
It is not surprising that this new habitation for believers will be unlike anything we have ever seen or can comprehend. Paul attested to this fact in 1 Corinthians 2:9 when he said, “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”
I hope this information was helpful in understanding how the New Jerusalem will contain enough space to fit everyone who was saved from the beginning of Creation to the end of it.
