City Planning: New Jerusalem
Previous | Home | Next

The end of the book of Revelation describes a new heaven and a new Earth with a new city of Jerusalem in it. The city is square and has twelve gates, one for each tribe of Israel. This is a parable-based description of the Ideal Christian Society. The cities are square and based on repeating patterns because this is the most economical and efficient way to build them. However, this should not restrict the imagination of architects in the New Age. There are no traditional temples or churches in the city.

There are some detailed measurements at the end of the book of Ezekiel, which have been included at the end of this document as an appendix. From these measurements it is possible to work out what an individual court would look like, what a community would look like, and what a city would look like.

Four an individual courtyard, with four residence blocks surrounding a court, forming a square This is an individual courtyard. The buildings are on three floors with two staircases at each end. Each building is 50m by 10m. As described in in the book of Ezekiel, there are 30 rooms on each floor (with each room 2.6m by 3m in size) and each floor is terraced so that all the rooms have balconies (about 2m wide). There is a shared dining area on the bottom floor (about 15m by 10m). Each block contains 75 rooms. The design is based around a community rather than families living in individual houses.

This is a picture of a local community. It is about 250m by 250m as described in the book of Ezekiel. The central region holds the community centre. People would bring the things that they make into the community centre, such as food products from local farms. People would collect what they need, and no money would be required. Other small buildings have been included in the diagram, which could be small manufacturing centres for items such as shoes and clothes. People could volunteer to work in them in accordance with the second commandment of Jesus. Each local community contains 2400 rooms. A picture of a local community, consisting of eight residence courts arranged in a squer, surrounding a central area with two large and two small buildings

The following picture shows a city:

A picture of a city, which is arranged in a square with a central area like a local community

The city consists of twelve blocks of four local communities, plus four blocks of three local communities (60 local communities in total) potentially housing 144,000 people (the number stated in the book of Revelation, 12,000 per tribe; 60 communities x 8 courts x 4 residence blocks x 75 rooms = 144,000 rooms). Jesus describes who we should invite in Luke 14:13, "When you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind" – the sin bearers of our society.

The city should be designed so that it can make for itself anything that it needs, so that long distance transport of items is not necessary. Therefore, the city should be relatively low-tech at the start of the New Age. It should be possible to manufacture all household interiors within the city (bathroom and kitchen fittings, etc.). In addition, it should be possible to construct any of the buildings in the city from the resources within the city. The buildings should be designed efficiently for construction, but should also be well-built and durable (earthquake-proof) and take into account the local climate.

The location of the first city has been identified as the top of Mount Kenya as follows:

  1. The Great Rift Valley creates a picture looking like a fish. This area is the Valley of Judgement (or Jehoshaphat) mentioned in Joel 3:2.

  2. The Old Testament god says that he is on Mount Zion (e.g. Psalms 76:2). The highest point in Africa is Mount Kilimanjaro, and the second highest is Mount Kenya.

  3. Kenya looks like a bird.

  4. Mount Kenya is located on the equator, suggesting equality.

  5. Kilimanjaro is in Tanzania, a more Muslim country (especially in Zanzibar) and building New Jerusalem on Tanzanian soil could create tensions.

  6. Kilimanjaro is potentially unstable (the molten magma is thought to be very close to the surface) so we should not build on it.

A relief map of Africa showing the Great Rift Valley in the south eastern part, which forms an image of a fish

Image of Kenya, which resembles a bird

There are regions in Kenya called Mara (bitter water) and Hells Gate National Park to the west of Mount Kenya, suggesting the direction from which the floods of the predicted plague in 2039 will come. This should allow appropriate flood defenses to be constructed. Jesus said in Matthew 16:18, "And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it." These words of Jesus have yet to come true, since the current church is built on the ideals of Paul.

There is a place called Point Peter near the top of Mount Kenya. Additionally, Genesis chapter 6 describes how Noah built the Ark. It was built on three levels, just like the buildings in New Jerusalem. Noah's Ark ended up on the top of a mountain. The Old Testament god also says that he is on the top of Mount Zion. Therefore, for protection against the events of the time of the end (a huge tsunami resulting from an asteroid hitting the ocean) the city should be built on the top of Mount Kenya, on Point Peter.

Topographically, the peak of this mountain is not flat or easy to build on, but there is enough room for a city of the described size. A photograph of the peak of mount Kenya

A satellite image of mount Kenya from Google. The Peak of the mountain has an image of a bird on it and this is highlighted more explicitly in the next image. To the east of the peak on the slope of the mountain is a picture of the head of a dinosaur

There is a picture of a bird and a dinosaur on the surface of Mount Kenya (satellite image from Google). As mentioned in the letter about "The Time of the End", dinosaurs became extinct due to an asteroid impact, but those that survived evolved to become birds. Similarly, the people who are in the city will be like the angels in heaven. Picture of a bird on Mount Kenya

Revelation 21:16 says that the length, width and height of the city are the same length. The city must therefore be built on the slope of the mountain. Jesus tells us to dig deep when making foundations in Luke 6:48; "He is like a man who, in building his house, dug deep and laid the foundation on rock. The river overflowed and hit that house but could not shake it, because it was well built."

The approximate size of the city is shown, assuming it could be built on a flat surface. A satellite image of Mount Kenya with a square indicating the approximate size of New Jerusalem assuming that it could be built on a flat surface. The square is slightly bigger than the head of the bird

Since we are carving out of a mountain, there will be mineral and possibly gold deposits, so the city walls will be as described in Revelation 21:18-21:

    "And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass."

The book of Ezra is also about the rebuilding of the temple and of the city of Jerusalem. 5:12: "But because our ancestors made the God of Heaven angry, he let them be conquered by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia, a king of the Chaldean dynasty." The original Temple was destroyed (representing the teachings of Jesus being ignored and substituted by Pauline theology), and the people were taken into exile in Babylonia (representing Pauline theology and America; see the letter about Luke 21:21). Later on, Nebuchadnezzar allowed the cups and bowls that he had removed from the temple of Jerusalem to be taken back for the rebuilding of the temple. These cups and bowls represent the resources of the rich Western nations that will be needed to build New Jerusalem. 3:1: "And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem." Chapter 4 describes opposition to the building of the temple, because followers of Jesus would "stop paying taxes" (4:13). These people temporarily halted the building work. In verse 6:21-22 the inhabitants celebrated with the Passover (the feast of the Kingdom of heaven) because they had been freed from captivity.

    Psalms 118:22
    The stone which the builders rejected as worthless turned out to be the most valuable of all. This was done by the Lord: what a wonderful sight it is! This is the day of the Lord's victory; let us be happy, let us celebrate!


Appendix

Please also see "City Planning 2" and "Residence Block Floor Plan".

Some of the temple measurements from Ezekiel:

40:5: The city is surrounded by a wall 3m high and also 3m thick. However Zechariah 2:4 says, "Run and tell that young man with the measuring line that there are going to be so many people and so much livestock in Jerusalem that it will be too big to have walls."

40:11: The main roads in and out of the city are 6.5m wide; they are between houses to provide shade.

40:16: there were palm trees carved on the wall. This represents the second coming (the return of Jesus to Jerusalem, celebrated in the Church calendar as Palm Sunday).

40:17: There were 30 rooms built against the outer wall of the inner courtyard, and the outside of it was paved with stones.

40:25: The gateways are 25m by 12.5m and there is 50m between each one.

40:38: describes an annex for sacrifices to take place near the North Gate (a series of workshops where people can serve the city).

40:47: The inner courtyard is 50m by 50m. The entrance room is 10m by 6m, the main room is 20m by 10m and another room 10m by 10m. There were a series of 30 small rooms each 2m wide. These are similar to the measurements given in the Residence Block Floor Plan.

41:6-7: There are two wide staircases to access all three floors.

41:8: There is a terrace 2.5m wide going all round the courtyard (an external corridor rather than an internal one).

41:12: A large building in the centre, 35m by 45m.

41:13: The temple is 50m by 50m.

41:26: The central building is decorated with palm trees.

42:2 describes two residence blocks. They are 25mm by 50m with a path running between them 5m wide; each block is 10m wide. The rooms at the top are narrower than the middle and bottom blocks because they are offset. The rooms on all three levels are on terraces but not supported by columns. The top level is set further back from the other levels. On one side it faces the central building (10m away). On the other side it faced the courtyard. The lower level of the block is solid for 25m (containing communal kitchen/dining rooms).

42:16: A community is 250m by 250m in total.

48:18: Anyone can farm the surrounding lands.

The first book of Kings gives slightly different measurements. Chapter 6 describes Solomon building the temple, and another three tiered block of rooms is described. The lowest block had rooms 2.2m wide, the middle one had rooms 2.7m wide and the top floor had rooms 3.1m wide.