THE NEW JERUSALEM #14 | Why is Heaven equated with a city? ( Part 4 )
Pastor Christopher Choo
Lesson 3269
THE NEW JERUSALEM #14
Why is Heaven equated with a city? ( Part 4 )
We have two cities - God's ( Holy Jerusalem ) and Man's ( Idolatrous Babylon ).
Ancient Jerusalem as a holy city merely anticipated something greater to come.
1. The City of Ancient Jerusalem
It was founded as the capital of Jerusalem by David himself - after he moved his court from Bethlehem and Hebron. He wanted to build a Temple to house God as it were - where the Ark of the Covenant that followed the Tabernacle of Moses out of Egypt ( Exodus ) could finally find its resting place in Jerusalem.
But the honor was given to Solomon, David's son, to enhance Jerusalem's status by building a magnificent Temple ( the Temple of Solomon/ the First Temple ) in Jerusalem.
Thus Jerusalem became the interim holy city where God lived with His people until, centuries later, He abandons the city because its immoral and idolatrous inhabitants had defiled it invoking His curse and judgment.
As the prophet Isaiah revealed, the morally corrupt Jerusalem of Old Testament times will in the future be replaced by a radically transformed Jerusalem, to which the nations of the earth will come in peace.
The author of the Book of Hebrews links the patriarchs ( Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob ) with God's construction of a unique city to come - which He will rename as the New Jerusalem.
2. The City of Babylon
Babylon sacked the Old Testament city of Jerusalem in 586 B.C. But this is not the end of the story. The Book of Isaiah gives a prophetic picture that contrasts a disgraced and defeated Babylon, sitting in the dust, with a renewed Jerusalem that shouts for joy after experiencing God's salvation.
Abba Father, You are not mocked nor Your plans thwarted by the schemes of evil or idolatrous men. The city of New Jerusalem is the goal which everything in creation is moving towards; it brings to completion what You began in Genesis and will end in Revelation.
As the author of Hebrews noted, even Abraham had an incredible vision of the New Jerusalem:
Hebrews 11:10 (KJV)
10 For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
