The New Jerusalem People as Place, Not Place for People

Abstract

Symbolic language fills the Book of Revelation as it fills other apocalyptic literature. We may therefore presume that the description of the New Jerusalem in Rev 21:1-22:5 deals in symbolism. Our presumption is rewarded when we read of the city's coming down out of heaven, stretching out and up to unheard-of dimensions, having gates that each consist of a single pearl, being paved with gold that can be seen through, and so on. Such language invites symbolic interpretation, whatever the nature, whether concrete or abstract, of the reality so described. But the New Jerusalem is a very large symbol. Its description occupies a whole chapter or more. Therefore we may rightfully expect that the details of the description contribute small, individual symbols to the large, overall symbol, even as contemporary interpreters ofJesus' parables have come to understand that although we must resist allegorism, the longer the story that constitutes a narrative parable, the more likely it is that some details of the parable have their own significance within the overall meaning.I A symbolic interpretation of the New Jerusalem will be an hypothesis, for any interpretation of any text is an hypothesis. The proofs of an interpretative hypothesis lie first in its power to bring the text to life, to make it understandable why the author took the trouble to write the text and (to a lesser degree) why its first readers thought enough of it at least not to throw it away. Then those proofs