Bible Dictionary
JERUSALEM, NEW
The New Jerusalem is the holy city seen in Revelation descending from God after the judgment. It symbolically represents the perfected people of God, the bride of the Lamb, dwelling in the renewed creation.
Definition
The New Jerusalem is the holy city seen in Revelation descending from God after judgment and the coming of the new heaven and new earth. It allegorically represents the final state of the church, portrayed as the bride and wife of the Lamb.
Biblical Usage
In Revelation 21–22, the city represents the perfected people of God. It is both a restoration of Paradise and the realization of the ideal theocracy, descending from heaven as the work of God.
Historical Background
The conception draws on prophecies of Jerusalem’s glorious future after judgment. Unlike an earthly locality, the New Jerusalem depicts the consummation of redemption.
Historical Bible Dictionaries
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (ISBE)
<p>(Hierousalem kaine): This name occurs in Re 21:2 (21:10, "holy city"). The conception is based on prophecies which predict a glorious future to Jerusalem after the judgment (Isa 52:1). In Revelation, however, it is not descriptive of any actual locality on earth, but allegorically depicts the final state of the church ("the bride," "the wife of the Lamb," Re 21:2,9), when the new heaven and the new earth shall have come into being. The picture is drawn from a twofold point of view: the new Jerusalem is a restoration of Paradise (Re 21:6; 22:1,2,14); it is also the ideal of theocracy realized (Re 21:3,12,14,22). The latter viewpoint explains the peculiar representation that the city descends "out of heaven from God" (Re 21:2,10), which characterizes it as, on the one hand, a product of God's supernatural workmanship, and as, on the other hand, the culmination of the historic process of redemption. In other New Testament passages, where theocratic point of view is less prominent, the antitypical Jerusalem appears as having its seat in heaven instead of, as here, coming down from heaven to earth (compare Ga 4:26; Heb 11:10; 12:22).</p><p>See also REVELATION OF JOHN.</p><p>Geerhardus Vos</p>