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In the two foregoing messages we saw that the New Jerusalem is the Jerusalem above, which represents the new covenant and which is the mother of the believers. In this message we will go on to see that the New Jerusalem is the city of the living God.
Hebrews 12:22 speaks of “the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem.” This is “the Jerusalem above” (Gal. 4:26), “the holy city, New Jerusalem” (Rev. 21:2; 3:12) which God has prepared for His people (Heb. 11:16). It is also “the tabernacle of God” in which God will dwell with men for eternity (Rev. 21:3). The patriarchs waited for this city, and we also should seek it.
According to Hebrews 12:22, the city of the living God is the heavenly Jerusalem. This verse does not say that Jerusalem is in the heavens but that it is the heavenly Jerusalem. This city is heavenly in nature.
The New Jerusalem as the city of the living God is the city having the foundations (Heb. 11:10). These foundations, which are solid and unshakable, are composed of twelve kinds of precious stones represented by the twelve apostles (Rev. 21:19-20). As men created by God, the apostles originally were clay, but they were regenerated and then transformed into precious stones for God’s eternal building. Ephesians 2:20 tells us that the church is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets. In Hebrews 11:10 we see that the city has the foundations, and in Revelation 21:19 and 20 we see the twelve foundations of the city.
The city of the living God, the city having the foundations, has been prepared by God. Hebrews 11:16b says, “He has prepared for them a city.” This preparation is the process which the processed Triune God has gone through, including incarnation, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. This preparation is also to bring forth the New Testament believers as the sons of God to be the components of the mother, who is the city, and to build them together with the divine element of the Triune God and the spiritual work of the Spirit of the Triune God. This preparation is just the eternal redemption accomplished by our very God in His divine trinity through the process He has gone through and the work consummated by Him according to His eternal economy.
This city was designed and built by God. Hebrews 11:10 tells us that the Architect and Maker of this city is God. The Greek word translated “architect” in this verse can also be translated as either “builder” or “artificer.” This indicates that God is a skillful designer and a top craftsman.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that the church is God’s masterpiece. The Greek word for masterpiece is poiema which means something written or composed as a poem. The church is a poem written by God. Since poetry expresses the writer’s wisdom and since the church is God’s poem, God’s multifarious wisdom is made known through the church (Eph. 3:10). The New Jerusalem, the city of the living God, as the ultimate consummation of the church, is full of wisdom. God designed the New Jerusalem with His wisdom, and this city displays His wisdom. To say that the New Jerusalem is a material city is to depreciate God’s wisdom and to belittle Him as the eternal, wise Architect. God is a wise designer and artificer who has designed the New Jerusalem to be the full manifestation of His multifarious wisdom.
God’s design is revealed in the book of Ephesians. In this Epistle Paul tells us of God’s design of His city. In chapters one and three Paul speaks of God’s economy, which is God’s plan with a design. Surely, God has not designed a material city, and He has no intention of building a material city. God has designed and built a spiritual entity for His corporate expression.
The city of the living God was seen from afar, longed after, and waited for by the Old Testament saints (Heb. 11:13b, 16a, 10a). Speaking of Abraham and the other patriarchs, Hebrews 11:13 says, “All these died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them from afar and greeted them, and confessed that they were strangers and sojourners on the earth.” The Greek word translated “sojourners” may also be rendered “pilgrims,” “exiles,” “expatriates.” Abraham was the first Hebrew (Gen. 14:13), a river crosser, leaving Chaldea, the idolatrous land of curse, crossing the river (Josh. 24:2-3), and coming to Canaan, the good land of blessing. However, he did not settle there but sojourned in the land of promise as a pilgrim, even as an exile and an expatriate, longing after a better country, a heavenly one (Heb. 11:16). Isaac and Jacob followed him in the same steps, living on earth as strangers and sojourners and waiting for the God-built city of foundations.
In eternity past the Triune God made a plan, and throughout the centuries He has been carrying out His economy. The Son came through incarnation, lived on earth for thirty-three and a half years, died on the cross, was resurrected, and then ascended. Since His ascension, the Spirit has been working out many wonderful things. Surely, as the conclusion of all this, God will not build a material city for His redeemed people to live in. The New Jerusalem is a city, but it is not a physical, material city. Nevertheless, some believers still insist that the New Jerusalem is a material city built of actual gold, pearl, and precious stones.
Those who hold this concept need to consider Paul’s word in 1 Corinthians 3. In this chapter Paul says that he laid Christ as the unique foundation, and then he charges us to take heed how we build on this foundation (vv. 10-12). We should build not with wood, grass, and stubble but with gold, silver, and precious stones. In this age, the church age, we should build the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. In the coming age, silver becomes pearl, and the materials in the New Jerusalem become gold, pearl, and precious stones. Today we should be building the church with gold, silver, and precious stones. This, of course, does not mean that we build with literal gold, silver, and precious stones. These are not physical materials; they are signs signifying various experiences of Christ in the virtues and attributes of the Triune God. Gold signifies the divine nature, the nature of the Father with all its attributes. Silver signifies the redeeming Christ with all the virtues and attributes of His person and work. The precious stones signify the transforming work of the Holy Spirit with all its attributes. All these materials, therefore, are the products of our experience and enjoyment of Christ in our spirit through the Holy Spirit. As signs, these materials signify the divine work of the Divine Trinity who is wrought into our being through His divine work. We are now building the church with God the Father’s nature, with God the Son’s redemption, and with God the Spirit’s transforming work.
The principle is the same with the New Jerusalem, which is the consummation of the building in 1 Corinthians 3. In 1 Corinthians 3 the building is in process and has not yet been consummated. The New Jerusalem in Revelation 21 is the consummation of that building. This is the city for which Abraham was waiting. He was waiting not for a material city but for a marvelous city built with the Father’s nature, the Son’s redemption, and the Spirit’s transformation.
The New Testament believers have already come to the city of the living God. Hebrews 12:22a says, “You have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem,” referring to God’s habitation and the center of His universal administration.
Hebrews 11:14-16 reveals that the Old Testament saints longed after a better country, a heavenly country, and that God has prepared for them a city. In 12:22, however, the writer tells us that we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem. This verse does not say that we will come to the heavenly Jerusalem but that we have come to this city. If the Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem in 12:22 were material, how could we have come to them today? This would be impossible.
The fact that, according to Hebrews 12:22, we have already come to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem, indicates that it is not a material city. Many Christians are waiting to go to the New Jerusalem, but we need to realize that we have come to the New Jerusalem already. The church is the house of the living God (1 Tim. 3:15). Hence, the church is God’s home, and it is also our home today. When the church is enlarged to be a city, it becomes a heavenly country. Our heavenly country is a city — the heavenly Jerusalem — to which we have already come.
