Revelation 21:2

In the same vision, John next saw a city descending out of heaven from God (cf. Revelation 21:10; Revelation 3:12; Hebrews 11:13-16). It was holy in contrast to the former Jerusalem (cf. Revelation 11:8; Isaiah 52:1; Matthew 4:5; Matthew 27:53). As the old Jerusalem will be Jesus Christ’s capital during the Millennium, so the New Jerusalem will be His capital from then on. In the bride-husband simile, the city is the bride, and Christ is the husband (Revelation 21:9-10; cf. Revelation 3:12). Obviously some symbolism is present in the descriptions of the New Jerusalem.

"Just as the four actual kingdoms of Daniel 2, 7 do not literally correspond to the imagery that portrays them, so the New Jerusalem does not literally correspond to the imagery of Revelation 21-22. Though it is an actual literal city, its glory will far surpass the language that John uses to portray it. John’s language is an attempt to describe what is in one sense indescribable." [Note: David L. Turner, "The New Jerusalem in Revelation 21:1-22:5," in Dispensationalism, Israel and the Church, p. 276.]

The use of the bride figure to describe the New Jerusalem should not lead us to conclude that the New Jerusalem is identical with the church. Some interpreters have equated the two. [Note: E.g., Lilje, p. 259.] The bride figure elsewhere describes the church (e.g., Revelation 19:7; 2 Corinthians 11:2), but here the city is the bride. The bride figure describes different entities in intimate relationship to Christ. The Old Testament also used the bride as a figure to describe Israel’s relationship to God (Isaiah 62:5; Jeremiah 2:2; Jeremiah 3:20; Ezekiel 16:8; Hosea 2:19-20). This does not mean that Israel, the church, and the New Jerusalem are three names of the same entity. However, this bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem, now evidently encompasses two previous brides of Christ: Israel and the church. The city is the corporate identity of those who reside in it. Like Babylon, it is a real city, but it also represents the people who live there, which in this case include old covenant and new covenant believers. It is the place that Jesus Christ went to the Cross to prepare for His disciples (John 14:2). Like the name "Babylon," "New Jerusalem" probably represents both a real city and what Jerusalem has represented throughout history.

"Revelation as a whole may be characterized as A Tale of Two Cities, with the sub-title, The Harlot and the Bride." [Note: Beasley-Murray, p. 315.]

There have been several explanations of the relationship of the New Jerusalem to the new earth. It may be that John saw as a city what he had formerly seen as a new heaven and earth. In other words, the New Jerusalem and the new heaven and earth may be two different figures describing the eternal state. Thus the eternal dwelling place of believers will be a completely new creation by God that John saw in his visions first as a new world and then as a new city.

Alternatively the New Jerusalem could be a satellite above the new earth. Some hold that the New Jerusalem will be a satellite of the present earth during the Millennium, and when God creates the new earth it will descend out of heaven and rest on the surface of the new earth. [Note: Pentecost, Things to . . ., p. 580.] Some believe that the New Jerusalem will be within the new earth. [Note: McGee, 5:1068-72.] The text does not say the New Jerusalem will come down to the new earth, only that John saw it coming down out of heaven from God (cf. Revelation 21:10).