Translation
And the city is situated as a perfect square with four equal sides, and the length of it was the same as its width; he also measured the city with the rod, and it measured 12,000 stadia,
Go to footnote numberand the length and the breadth and the height are the same. (See comment below.)
Paraphrase
The people gathered together are perfectly balanced in every way,
no lack of balance is found in them; he compared the gathered people to his standard, and proved that they had completely fulfilled all that was required of them in this race of life; their balance was perfect in every aspect of life including their relationship with God. (See comment below.)
Footnotes
1
One stadia was the distance of a traditional foot race, about 190 to 200 yards, or 600 feet. 12,000 foot races is beautifully rich symbolism representing all that is expected of a person in the totality of his life. Of course none us can live a perfect life, but in God’s grace and mercy He accepts the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ in our place and thus He sees us as holy and acceptable to Him. However, we must strive to live for Him and keep ourselves pure. It is a joint effort. If we do our part, God fills in what we cannot do for ourselves, and at the end, if we have lived with faith in Him and faithfulness to Him, He looks at our entire life and calls it a life well lived, a race well run.
ARE YOU BALANCED?
This description of the holy city as a perfect cube reminded the Jews of the Holy of Holies, which was also a perfect cube. God is perfectly balanced, and He wants us to be balanced as well, in every aspect of life. Such balance is impossible for us, but with God’s guidance we can come closer to that goal than we ever could on our own. Don’t beat up on yourself if you are acutely aware of your lack of balance. Instead, seek God’s help in the matter and do your part to work on correcting that imbalance. Also remember that the Bible demonstrates a balance between God’s high standard and His amazing grace. He knows that we are mere dust (Ps 103:14). Be like the man who said, “I believe, but help me in my unbelief” (Mk 9:24). While God’s holy standard sets the bar very high, God looks at our hearts and accepts our feeble efforts at living for Him. This does not excuse indifference, rather I am saying that if we are striving with all our being to live for God and seeking greater balance in our daily lives, God sees the intent of our heart and our actions to take us in the right direction and He accepts that as if we were meeting the standard for holiness and balance. Yes, this passage makes it sound like the only ones who can be part of the body of Christ are those who are 100% pure and 100% balanced. However, God sees our hearts when it comes to balance and He accepts our intent and our effort, imperfect though it may be.