Revelation 21:16
And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal.
The verse measures the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which lies foursquare with length and breadth and height equal at twelve thousand furlongs. The city comes down from God out of heaven with twelve gates and twelve foundations, three gates on each side, and its streets are of transparent gold clear as crystal. After the thousand years following Christ's second advent it descends and settles on the earth.
The verse belongs to the closing four chapters of Revelation, a prophetic representation and beautiful description of the city of God and its gates and the beautiful new earth, to be read carefully. The glory awaiting the saved is pictured as glimpsed through its gates and is far beyond earthly beauty. As part of that prophetic chapter, its scenes of surpassing glory brought the reality of Christ's second coming vividly to mind and led to the conclusion that the prophecies pointed to His coming as near.
The city is the home of the faithful, the home of the royal family, where those gathered will know no more partings. Its measured blessings and a place there are made available to every soul, with every child and every hearer able to have a place because God wants each person to be there, as proved by His giving of Jesus. Entrance there requires being fitted in this life by obedience to all the commandments of God, by being changed and sanctified in character, for only the pure in heart can see God. The nations that have kept the truth enter the city of God by doing His commandments so as to have right to the tree of life.
Those who reject Christ's self-denying path could not endure heaven's purity and glory. Jesus was not borne on earth by the very ones who were turned out of heaven because they would not accept Jesus as their Head and God as their Father. Its glories should lead every believing soul to seek earnestly for eternal life, to strive to be obedient, to search the Scriptures, and to be found among God's commandment-keeping people numbered with the redeemed, because the city it helps measure is worth striving for.
In this setting its measurements are not explained, while the chapter calls for a solemn review of one's life in view of the final judgment and eternal destiny. It calls for doing now the work that should have been done long ago, with thorough humbling of the soul before God by those in positions of responsibility, cleansing and refining and transformation of the heart and soul temple, and bearing fruit in the life in proportion to the light given. That hope calls for working for one another and determinedly bringing up the youth in a right manner so they are overcomers and receive the crown of life. Angels of God assist in schools as girls and boys are educated and do not leave teachers to their own notions, with the Holy Spirit working with all efforts to save souls, and with fathers and mothers taking hold of the work.