THE CITY OF OUR GOD by X

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 26, 1898

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 24, No. 21.

THE CITY OF OUR GOD.

By X

Jerusalem of old is often called the City of God, but at the best it was but a type of the true. Those who were satisfied with the earthly city, even as those who are looking to its future greatness and restoration to-day, were and are trusting in the shadow not the substance. The “Jerusalem which now is” “is in bondage with her children;” it is the “Jerusalem which is above,” which “is free,” and “the mother of us all.” It is of the latter that one of the sweet singers of Israel wrote the inspired words, “Glorious things are spoken of Thee, O City of God.”

WE can not name all these glorious things; for they are not even told us. Mortal language can not express them, mortal ears can not hear them, mortal minds can not comprehend them; for “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him.” Yet we may contemplate with profit some of those things revealed in the Word of God.

THE cities of the earth, great and glorious in renown tho they are, are disappointing. While wealth, and luxury, and opulence, and ease, are prominently manifest, they bring their possessors no happiness, while they awaken within the hearts of an opposite class bitterness, envy, and hatred. We find in the shadow of the gilded palace, filth and want and wretchedness and misery. In high life and low life are wickedness and criminality; and the festering sores of vice and drunkenness spot like a fretting leprosy the entire population. Death stalks abroad. The young, the fair, the old, the bent, the middle-aged, the strong—all at one time or another pay tribute to his advance agent, Disease, or bow to the reign of the Master. The silent city grows just outside the busy one, where lie buried the hopes of generations. Anon the tocsin of war sounds throughout the land, and the city falls a prey to a conquering foe; its walls are leveled, its houses become desolate; and the once populous center of human life, glory, wealth, and misery, becomes “a ruinous heap.” So pass the cities of earth. Babylon, Nineveh, No-Ammon, Tyre, are no more; and all others follow in the sad procession. Inspiration spake truly, “Here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.”

NOT so of the city of God. It is a continuous, an abiding city. There is the throne of the Eternal; for “His dwelling-place is in Zion.” Where He dwells is life. His throne is forever; the place of His throne is forever. “The Lord shall reign forever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations.” Here He dwells in person, and yet His presence is everywhere manifest. The glorious sun rolls in his orbit nearly ninety-three million miles away, yet he is present upon earth with light and warmth, and blessings. So, while God dwells in Zion above, yet “out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined;” “the Lord shall bless thee out of Zion; and thou shalt see the good of Jerusalem all the days of thy life;” “the Lord that made heaven and earth bless thee out of Zion.”

From the great central Fountain in the City of God, flow unnumbered and oftentimes unheeded streams of light, gladness, and blessing.

THE City of God is a great and glorious city. Its description is given in the twenty-first chapter of Revelation. It is 375 miles square, covering an area of 140,625 square miles, nearly as large as three States like New York. It is surrounded with a wall of jasper, nearly 250 feet in height; its twelve foundations, named from the twelve apostles of the Lamb, garnished with stones most precious; each of its twelve gates, over the portals of which is the name of one of the twelve tribes of Israel, is of one solid pearl; and the city itself is “of pure gold, as it were transparent glass.” Surely such a city is a worthy capital and metropolis of the earth renewed, the kingdom of Jesus Christ, the home of the redeemed.

DO WE wonder, in view of its greatness and glory, that the Lord uses the figures He does in regard to that city and His relation to it? The holiest union of life is necessary to illustrate His union with the New Jerusalem. In this way was John shown the holy city. Said the angel: “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.” It is thus that the Lord speaks to

Zion through the prophet Isaiah: “For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel; The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate; but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah [My delight is in her], and thy land Beulah [married]; for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. . . . As the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.” Says the apostle Paul, “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” As Christ is our everlasting Father, Jerusalem, the capital of the everlasting kingdom, is fitly called our mother; and all the people of the kingdom will be royal children, “heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ.” From that capital city, that home of the kingdom, shall the immortal hosts of God eternally radiate, and forever bring home fresh proofs of the excellency, wisdom, and love of God.

IT is a well-lighted city: “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it; for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it.” “And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and they shall reign forever and ever.” It is a city well watered, well wooded, and abundantly supplied with fruit: “And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb in the midst of the street of it. And on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.” It is a safe and joyful city: “And there shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and His servants shall serve Him; and they shall see His face; and His name shall be in their foreheads.” “And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. And there shall in nowise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life.” It is a sinless city. It is said of it and its kingdom, “And there shall be no more curse.” And because there shall be no more sin, there shall be no more death. Sin and sinners, those who have identified themselves with sin, will be destroyed forever, and the life-giving smiles of God will irradiate all His creation.

“But is it a literal and real city?”—It is just as real as is its King, Jesus Christ, as is its people, the redeemed of God. It is more real than the cities of earth; for they perish, while it lasts forever. Listen to the words of the prophet as he describes that glorious state: “And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain; for the former things are passed away.” “And He said unto me, Write; for these words are true and faithful.” “Glorious things are spoken of thee, O City of God.” “And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.” O soul, God has a mansion there for thee! Will you not accept the invitation? X.