Revelation 21:16Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

The city’s arrangement in the form of a quadrangle signifies its firmness and solidity. Equality of breadth, height, and length is called a cube, and, as they say, signifies firmness.

The twelve thousand stadia by which the city is measured may signify its greatness, for according to David, those who dwell in it will be more numerous than the sand (Ps 138:18). Or they may be counted according to the number of the twelve apostles, through whom that city is populated.

The sought-for meaning also appears when this number is divided by the mystical number seven. If twelve thousand stadia are divided by seven, the result is one thousand seven hundred fourteen measures, called miles.

One thousand signifies the perfection of endless life. Seven hundred signifies the perfection of rest. Fourteen signifies the double sabbath rest of soul and body, because fourteen contains twice seven.

The city is laid out as a quadrangle, that is, it abides in the faith of the four Evangelists. It is said that its length is the same as its breadth, so that nothing in its faith is irregular, and nothing can be seen that could be added or taken away.

“And he measured,” says John, “the city with the reed,” which we interpreted as the Body of Christ, “to twelve stadia.” For the faith of Christ and the purity of His holy people are known through the twelve stadia, that is, through the teaching of the apostles and the faith of the ancient fathers.

“For its length is the same as its breadth.” Everything is harmonious, because nothing excessive is found in the saints, nothing introduced from outside, and nothing lacking is found in them.

By a quadrangle, according to those skilled in such matters, a cube is meant, for its sides are also square. Indeed, when it is a solid quadrangle and equal-sided in every dimension, it is said to show stability. For the goodness and steadfastness of the saints are stable, and no change diminishes their blessedness. Certainly the splendor of the city, and at the same time the greatness of the saints, means that even if they are fewer in number than sinners, they are still not so few that they would fail to fill such a city.

The Apostle undoubtedly mentions the measurement of the city when he says: “according to the measure of Christ’s gift” (Eph 4:7). And again: “To me, the least of all the saints, this grace was given, to preach to the Gentiles” (Eph 3:8).

Therefore it is reasonably said that the city is laid out as a quadrangle and that all its sides, when measured, are equal. Thus nothing shaken by inequality and dissimilarity is admitted.

To be perfect, according to the Apostle, is to be of one mind and to have peace, that is, truly to abide in the strength of a quadrangle (see 1 Cor 1:10; Phil 2:2).

Its length and breadth and height are equal. This means that the invincible strength of truth, on which the Church rests by the length of faith, the breadth of love, and the height of hope, does not allow her to be blown away by diverse winds of doctrines. If anything were lacking, the Church would not be so perfectly stable.

This measurement shows that the spatial coordinates in the transfigured world will remain the same as God created them at the beginning of creation.

“Twelve thousand stadia.” This extraordinary size of each side of the quadrangle formed by the walls of Jerusalem indicates, as it were, the vastness and boundlessness of the Kingdom of God.

The city of God will surpass the size of the greatest cities on earth. It is known of the greatest of them that they did not reach several hundred stadia in circumference. Diodorus Siculus says that Nineveh, the greatest city of antiquity, had only 400 stadia in circumference. Jerusalem in the time of Flavius had 233 stadia.

“Its length and breadth and height are equal.” The height means not the height of the buildings or walls, but its elevation above the earth, the height of the mountain from which John saw Jerusalem.

By what features does the seer of mysteries depict the New Jerusalem, which came down before his eyes from heaven? Here are some of these remarkable features.

“The city has the glory of God, and its light is like a most precious stone” (Rev 21:11). This signifies a certain special nearness of the Lord God to it, so that the whole city is illumined with divine light.

A high wall surrounds the city as a sign that no unworthy person can enter there. The same thought is expressed by the fact that Angels of God keep watch at its twelve gates.

The gates bear the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. For as these tribes on earth formed the society of God’s chosen people, so their names are also assigned to the chosen ones of heaven.