How the Earth will look...someday

Here's a post that I have been meaning to place for quite some time, but never thought of it.

Those who have read through the end of the Book of Revelation have seen John's vivid description of what a new Heaven and a new Earth will be like.  It will be centered on a New Jerusalem, which is incredibly huge - 1,400 miles long, wide, and even deep.  According to chapter 21:

• The city will not need any light sources since God will provide it.
• There will be no temple, but Jesus Christ himself will have his throne there.
• A "river of life" with fruit trees will run through the center of the city.
• Twelve gates will lead into and out of the city - three from each of the four directions.

And this was my inspiration for the map you see below.  I have relocated 12 different parts of the world to the areas around each of the gates.   They are numbered as on a clock, as follows:

• Gate 12 (due north) - Scandinavia, western Russia, Ukraine
• Gate 1 - Eastern Russia, northern China, central Asia
• Gate 2 - China, Taiwan, Japan, North and South Korea
• Gate 3 (due east) - Southeast Asia, Guam
• Gate 4 - Australia, New Zealand, southern Pacific
• Gate 5 - Afghanistan, Indian subcontinent
• Gate 6 (due south) - Middle East, north Africa
• Gate 7 - Africa south of the Sahara
• Gate 8 - Latin America except northern Mexico, Caribbean
• Gate 9 (due west) - Hawaii, Alaska panhandle, southern Canada, contiguous United States, northern Mexico
• Gate 10 - Western Europe
• Gate 11 - Most of Alaska, northern Canada, Greenland

Please note that some places, especially Europe, have been separated to the point that they are no longer close to any piece of land now attached to it.  But those are unavoidable.  Also, I've placed the regions as close as possible to each other to fit the description of Rev. 21 that the new Earth "shall have no seas" (probably a paraphrase on my part).

Within the New Jerusalem, I have marked Jesus' throne, the river of life, the theater where the Barefoot family performed their Dixie Rising show, and Matt's American Boardwalk.  The last of these is an entertainment mega-complex owned by a character I'm introducing now, Matt Bump.  Features include video games, miniature golf, bowling, a water park, fair-quality rides, and a restaurant and bar.  Think of it as Dave & Buster's, Boomers, and Round 1 - all found in or near this area - rolled into one.


As I wrote as part of this summary page, the entire family goes to Matt's just hours before Dixie Rising - except for Miss Hambone and Ralph, who are left behind in the hotel due to a chaperone arrangement.  Hambone, sufficiently pissed off, has the performance of her life a few days later.  (It should be noted that they are picked up to go to Matt's to join everyone else for the pre-show dinner.  For dessert, they all have the Jack Attack, Bump's most brilliant creation ever.  It is an ice-cream cake with seven ingredients inspired by wrong answers in the bonus game of You Don't Know Jack - "boogers" [chocolate malted balls], "snot" [caramel], "chipped beef" [dark chocolate sauce], "tuna fish" [coconut/whipped cream mix], "chicken" [vanilla ice cream], bananas, and cherries.)