The Holy City - An Engineer's Perspective

The description given of the New Jerusalem, The Holy City is an architectural marvel! It presents such a challenge for John to describe that even our best artists are getting confused trying to imagine and replicate on paper what this city would look like. From an engineering perspective, and with knowledge of present manufacturing processes and capabilities, this city’s construction is so extreme that it would be impossible for human beings to undertake such a monstrous building project. The project would require the highest possible quality of materials, the most sophisticated technology and equipment, the highest possible skilled labor available, and an incredible amount of time, cash and other resources to complete.

Gold as transparent Glass

Let us consider for example, the mention of gold appearing as transparent glass. In manufacturing language this is known as surface finish. Metal appearing as transparent glass would require a process of polishing and buffing to a #8 mirror finish, or what is called perfect finish which is the final level of surface finish that can be achieved. A #8 finish means that the surface has no dents, pits, scratches, faults or defects. This is extremely expensive and requires very highly skilled labor, materials and equipment. As a comparison, kitchen utensils and medical equipment such as syringe needles that are made of stainless steel is done to a #4 finish, this is for sanitary purposes, it helps to prevent bacteria from lodging easily on the surface of the metal, and this property makes kitchen utensils very easy to clean. Consequently, the richest men on earth combined would go broke attempting to start the building of this city! They could not afford to buy the materials alone much less to pay for the skilled labor required to do it; streets of gold polished to a #8 mirror finish would be insanely expensive. In the United States, it would cost between $5000 - $10,000 USD to pave a road a quarter of a mile long and 12 feet wide with asphalt for residential use. For a layer 2 inches thick, you would need 200 tonnes of asphalt to make that road. Gold is about 8 times denser, it would take 1600 tonnes of gold to make the same road. The material cost for 1600 tonnes of gold is about $60 Billion US dollars, just for a road that is a quarter mile long and this excludes the labor to polish it to a #8 mirror finish! How many miles of road do we suppose is in the Holy City? What about the transportation cost to move the weight of gold that would be required? What about the equipment to melt it down and lay it out?

Foundations of Precious Stones

Let us now consider the foundations of precious stones, selecting four of the twelve stones mentioned, we see that an amethyst stone that weighs 1 pound would cost US$11,725, chyrsolite (called peridot in modern day) is US$145,000 per pound, sapphire would cost about US$240,000, while a pound of emerald is US$907,200. Consider the number of tonnes of these precious stones that would be needed for this project. These stones are small and rear and are not measured in pounds because that unit of scale is too large, instead, precious stones are measured in small units called carats (2 ½ carats = 0.001 pounds). Another complication is that the price is not linear, a sapphire stone that weighs 3 carats can be 5 times more expensive than 3 stones that weigh one carat each. This is because the larger the size the higher the cost. Additionally, the general description in Rev 21:11 of the lighting of the entire city “was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal”, this suggest that the materials seem to be enhancing the light and creating notable sparkles which means the structures are cut intentionally to do that, this is another factor that would significantly increase cost. Diamonds sparkle in light because of how they are cut and not just because they are diamonds. The walls of city is of jasper, another precious stone, it is said to be great and high and about 216 feet thick and thus eclipsing what is known as one of ‘The Seven Wonders of The World’ that is The Great Wall of China. It will be eclipsed in height, in beauty and in expense.

The Gates

The gates are said to be of not just pearl, but of one pearl. This presents another difficulty of manufacture, in fact, an impossibility since real pearls are nowhere near the size to make it possible to cut a gate out of it. Large and consistent colored pearls are very expensive. Very large pearls on Earth would measure between 13 and 16 millimeters and could cost between US $500 – US$2,500 each. Jewelers try to match pearls of the same luster which increases cost. To make a gate of pearl is already difficult to conceptualize, imagine the challenge and complexity of making it from one pearl. This is like trying to make a very large piece of furniture from one piece of lumber from the same tree just for consistency of color and luster!

Conclusion

In conclusion, this city could not be done with human hands or with human funding, the quantity of materials are unavailable here on Earth. The riches of this world is dimmed in contrast to the wealth expressed so lavishly by God on this city. It is interesting to note that what people kill for here, is what we will walk on there. The best and most sophisticated buildings of this world fades in comparison to this description, what has being done in the country of Dubai could not even come close to what is presented in the Holy City, The New Jerusalem, it is indeed prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband. Prepared and written by: Roulston Mattocks (B.Eng., CEM)