Revelation 3:12: …and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God…

Revelation 21:1,2: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; …And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”

The details of this New Jerusalem are found in Revelation chapters 21 and 22. In symbolic biblical prophecy, a “city” signifies a religious government backed by power and authority. We understand this city to be a beautiful picture of the future government of God’s kingdom here on earth, as ruled by Christ and his church – his faithful followers – from heaven.

This church is described as “overcomers” (1 John 4:4, Revelation 3:21), the “bride of the Lamb” (Revelation 21:9,10), the “saints” (Ephesians 1:18; 5:3), a “holy temple of God” (1 Corinthians 3:16) the “body of Christ” (Ephesians 5:30) and other descriptions.

The New Jerusalem illustrates the progressive steps all must take in the kingdom to receive everlasting life. When mankind is gradually raised from the tomb, their reawakening will be outside the city where they hear the call from Jesus and the church: “The spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely” (Revelation 22:17). For one to receive life one must have a thirst or desire to do right, to want to partake of the water of life. This call will be heard when one is outside the symbolic “city walls.” The only way one can enter this city to drink the water of life is through the gates which picture consecration to righteousness.

“Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter by the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). The resurrected must do something before they can enter the city: they must wash their robes. These robes refer to their own unclean condition. Their condition of heart must be washed and cleansed before they can enter, a process similar to the priests who washed at the laver before they could enter the Holy of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. Those who want access to the trees of life by entering through the gates of the city, must repent, wash themselves, and make a consecration to righteousness.

The gates of the city will never be shut: “On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there” (Revelation 21:25). The “nighttime” of sin and death will be over. Christ and the Church will shine as the sun, and the opportunity to enter through the gates into covenant relationship will be open to all throughout the kingdom.

The ending of the kingdom work pictured by New Jerusalem is almost beyond our comprehension: “God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away” (Revelation 21:4).

Once the kingdom is established, resurrected mankind will have dominion over all the earth, “and there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it” (Revelation 22:3).

Additional Resource:
(PDF) “The New Jerusalem”