And he that spoke with me had a golden reed [as] a measure, that he might measure the city, and its gates, and its wall.
An angel holds a measuring rod of gold, ready to measure the holy city, its gates and its wall. Why measure the city at all, and why is the rod gold?
Earlier in Revelation, John himself measures a temple on earth. Here the measurer changes, and so does the tool.
In Revelation 11:1-2 the temple, altar, and worshippers are measured — all of them on earth. This signifies that they are His; they belong to God. But here the measuring of the heavenly city is above. In the first case the seer measured; in our text the angel measures. The measuring reeds, too, are different. The millennial Jerusalem on earth with its temple, courts and so on, is measured with a line of flax (Ezekiel 40:3). The city of gold is fittingly measured with a golden reed.
The verse names three things, not one: the city, its gates, and its wall.
The golden (divine) reed measures the city, its gates, and its walls — that is, the place where many live, its way in, its way out, and its defences.
To measure something is more than noting its size. It is an act of ownership, and the metal of the rod shows the basis of God's claim.
Here, as in Revelation 11, the measuring signifies owning on the part of God, with the added idea that He takes it for Himself. The thing measured is according to His mind. He owns it to be so, and claims it as His. And the measuring rod being golden testifies that it is in righteousness that He stamps the city, its wall and gates, with His approval.
The city itself is gold, and commentators treat gold as a fixed symbol. As a measuring rod, it turns the scene into a test.
Gold is the well known symbol of Divine righteousness. So the City measured by the golden reed shows that everything is tested by Divine righteousness. The result is that the City, the gates and the walls fully meet what Divine righteousness requires. The City is therefore the display of the righteousness of God in Christ — the answer to the cross of Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21).
A measurement always sets a boundary. That boundary itself carries meaning.
The angel who had spoken to John had a golden reed to measure the city. It was not a reed like a rod (Revelation 11:1), because in that city there is no longer any need to strike with the rod. Instead, the glory of God (gold) has triumphed over evil, and that glory will be displayed in the entire city. Yet the city is measured: God does not display His glory without limit, for no man could endure that (1 Timothy 6:16). The city has limits, so it cannot fully show a God who is infinite.
So what kind of city is this? Commentators read the description as picture language, not brickwork.
I do not mean that we should take this description as if it were of a literal city. I consider it a purely symbolic picture of certain relations of the bride, the Lamb's wife. Scripture itself says very plainly that this is not the dwelling place of the redeemed, but the bride herself, described as a city.
- Rod. The instrument sets the tone. An angel measures here, not John. A golden reed replaces the rod-like reed of Revelation 11 and the flax line of Ezekiel — a heavenly city gets a heavenly measure.
- Claim. To measure is to own. God measures the city, its gates and its wall, and claims them as His: this is Mine, and it matches My mind.
- Righteousness. The rod is gold, the symbol of divine righteousness. So God claims the city on righteous ground, and the city displays the righteousness of God in Christ — the answer to the cross.
- Bride. The city is not brick and stone. Commentators read it as a picture of the bride, the Lamb's wife, described as a city.
- Limit. What can be measured has limits. The city shines with God's glory, yet even so it cannot fully show a God who is infinite.
And the city lies four-square, and its length [is] as much as the breadth. And he measured the city with the reed -- twelve thousand stadia the length and the breadth and height of it are equal.
An angel lays a golden reed to the city, and the answer comes back as a shape: a cube, equal on every side. Two questions follow. Why does God measure the city at all? And why does the answer come in a form no builder on earth has attempted?
The act of measuring is not curiosity about size. It is a claim, and the gold of the reed shows what that claim rests on.
In both cases the measuring means owning on the part of God, with the added idea of appropriation. The thing measured is according to His mind. He therefore owns it to be so, and claims it as His. And because the measuring rod is golden, it testifies that He stamps the city, its wall and gates, with His approval in righteousness.
The three equal dimensions are the point. A cube is complete in every direction, yet every line still has an end. That keeps the city glorious without making it God.
It was a cube. Now a cube is the most perfect figure, being equal on every side — finite perfection. It has what you call finality. It is the most comprehensive, and holds the most — nothing contains as much as a cube. So it is given here as the expression of perfection. Notice, it is finite perfection, divinely given. I do not say it is divine perfection, because that is God Himself; but it is divinely given perfection. The Spirit of God delights to show the absolute perfection of the place in glory which the saints have before God, on the ground of divine righteousness.
The cube speaks of substance, reality. This is the eternal sanctuary, and the full enjoyment of every hope of the saint. Further, the measurements, though surely symbolic, still wait for their interpretation.
The inner room of the tabernacle and of the temple was also a cube. That shape belonged to the place where God dwelt, and the city now wears it.
As in the tabernacle in the wilderness, the most holy place formed a perfect cube inside… The result of God's work is perfect without adding anything or taking anything away. Everything is ordered according to the mind of the Divine Architect. The New Jerusalem is, so to speak, a great most holy place where God can dwell, just as He dwelt in the inner sanctuary of the temple. This is because everything in her answers to His holiness and His righteousness. … God's sanctuary is the Church in glory!
The prophet Ezekiel was also shown a measured city, square in plan. Here a third dimension appears, and it changes what kind of city this is.
In Ezekiel the measuring reed is of ordinary construction, suited to an earthly city; in Revelation it is a golden reed, the type of divine righteousness, suited to the dwelling place of God. In Ezekiel the city is large, as fits a splendid earthly capital; in Revelation the city is vast beyond all possible earthly limits. In Ezekiel it is the four-sided form, often used in Scripture to show perfect earthly symmetry. In Revelation there is another dimension: a height equal to the length and the breadth. This shows a perfect cube, a still higher order of symmetry, heavenly in character, and clearly unsuited to the earth.
Turned into ordinary distance, the figure is enormous. That size is itself a clue to how we should read the passage. And the same number that shapes the city shapes what comes out of it.
A furlong (or stadium, as the word is) was about 200 yards, so 12,000 would equal about 1,375 miles. Its height matches its length and breadth. This helps to confirm the thought that we are dealing with symbolic language, not literal language. In this measurement we again meet with twelve, the number of administration, and the very street of the city is gold like transparent glass. In earth's cities the street is where dirt gathers. There all is divine purity and transparency, and as is the city, so is the government that proceeds from it.
Something so large is meant to enlarge our thoughts of what God is doing.
It seems to indicate that the Church is the greatest thing of all God's handiwork, and yet, vast as it is, it has limits and can be measured.
- Measured — with a golden reed God claims the city as His own and approves it in righteousness.
- Perfect — length, width and height are equal. The cube is finite perfection, given by God through the death and resurrection of Christ, never God's own perfection.
- Holy — the inner rooms of the tabernacle and the temple were cubes too. The city has the shape of the place where God dwells.
- Heavenly — Ezekiel saw a square, earthly city. The added height lifts this one beyond anything earth could hold.
- Governing — twelve runs through every measurement. The street of clear gold shows what the government coming out of that city will be.
And he measured its wall, a hundred [and] forty-four cubits, [a] man's measure, that is, [the] angel's.
The angel measures the wall as well as the city, and the figure comes to 144 cubits. Why is a heavenly city measured by a human standard, and what does the number say?
The tool used for the measuring says something too. The prophet Ezekiel was also shown a city measured with a reed. One writer sets the two visions side by side.
In Ezekiel the measuring reed is an ordinary one, fit for an earthly city. In Revelation it is a golden reed, the picture of divine righteousness, fit for the dwelling-place of God... In Ezekiel the city is a square, a shape Scripture often uses to show perfect earthly symmetry. In Revelation there is one more dimension: a height equal to the length and the breadth. That makes a perfect cube — a higher order of symmetry, heavenly in kind, and plainly unsuited to the earth.
Scripture calls this wall great and high. Each word says something different.
The wall speaks of security and exclusion. The wall is "great," so the City is safe from every assault of the enemy. It is "high," so all evil is shut out. The great wall cannot be broken down; the high wall cannot be climbed... The wall separates the City from everything outside. If the Church had kept a holy separation from the world, it would have stood safe against the attacks of the enemy and against evil getting in.
But a wall that keeps things out also holds things in. Another writer takes up that side.
The wall is not there to shut a single saint of God out of that city, for everyone whose name is written in the Lamb's book of life will go in. The wall will be a wall that includes. Everyone whom sovereign grace has chosen and called to heavenly glory, everyone whom the blood of the Lamb has redeemed — its shining embrace will hold them all... When a man buys an estate and puts a wall around it, he says, "That is mine; I want that for my own pleasure" — and so it is here.
The number 144 is not random. Break it into its two factors and the city's character shows.
The wall measures a hundred and forty-four cubits, twelve times twelve. So every detail displays the governmental character of the city, and shows it to be divinely perfect.
A cubit was the everyday working measure: the length of a forearm. One writer finds the weight of the verse in that ordinary origin.
In Scripture the standard was the cubit, from a word meaning "mother." It was the length of the "mother-arm" — the forearm, the main part of the arm, from the elbow to the fingertip. That is the part we use in all our work. So the standard was taken from man; it was not set above him. God's requirements are entirely reasonable and righteous. They do not ask more than a human being can give. And yet not one of the fallen sons of Adam could measure up to that perfect human standard: "for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God." But God delights in man, and even the heavenly city is measured by the human standard... If God's creatures are to grasp Him at all, it cannot be in that glory and infinity beyond words, which no one knows but the Son. It must be in the One who humbled Himself and was found in human form.
The city's height of twelve thousand stadia beats the imagination. The wall's 144 cubits does not, and one writer sees purpose in the difference.
The measure of the wall is a size we can take in... A hundred and forty-four cubits is about 250 feet, and that is something we can grasp... I do not think any architect has yet designed a city twelve thousand stadia high (though some have the ambition). It is something immense, but not infinite. Grace lets us look at something vast. That is what God keeps putting before us: the immensity of the blessing, the fullness of God's grace and the glory of His grace.
A limit here is not a flaw.
If this measurement is the thickness of the wall — which the text does not otherwise state — it has been suggested that the wall was not there for protection against an enemy. As a whole the city was a cube. It could not be infinite, but it was finite perfection. So there is a completeness and perfection about it, fitting for that day and for ever.
- Measured — the reed is golden, the picture of divine righteousness, so nothing about the city is accidental.
- Guarded — the wall is great, so nothing can break it down, and high, so nothing can climb it; evil stays outside forever.
- Owned — the same wall shuts no redeemed person out. It holds everyone written in the Lamb's book of life, and marks the city as God's own.
- Perfected — 144 is twelve times twelve, so even the wall's measure spells out government made divinely complete.
- Comprehensible — the standard is a man's forearm, a measure we carry with us. The city is immense but not infinite, so grace lets us take in what is coming.