The Holy City by Allen Moon

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Mountain View, Cal. · Oct 14, 1908

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 35, No. 11.

The Holy City

By Allen Moon

SINCE the earth is to be cleansed by fire, and afterward to be made "like Eden, and her desert like the garden of the Lord" (Isa. 51:3); and since the ransomed "shall again inherit the land, and dwell therein forever" (Ps. 37:29); and as "there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it" (Rev. 22:3); and "God Himself shall be with them, and be their God" (Rev. 21:3), it naturally follows that as in the antitypical promised land God chose a city in the midst of His people wherein to manifest His presence, so in the new earth God will have a dwelling-place.

God's dwelling-place on earth was named Jerusalem (the possession of peace), and the new earth will be provided with a new Jerusalem. In speaking of the angel that accompanied him in vision, the revelator said, "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, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb." Rev. 21:10-14.

Thus we have the name of the city, and that it came down out of heaven, having been prepared before of God. It is a city of foundations, of walls and gates; and it is further stated that the city is square and has streets paved with gold. The gates are pearls, and the walls are of precious stones. The measurement is twelve thousand furlongs, which is equal to 375 miles on a side.

The prophet says, "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."

In this further description is the strong inference that the ransomed of the Lord constitute the adornment of the city; for the tabernacle of God is with men, and His throne is in it; therefore, the redeemed return to earth when the city comes down. For it is said, "And the nations of them that are saved shall walk in the light of it; and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it." Rev. 21:24. So the Redeemer and the redeemed meet in the city of God.

The word of God contains many predictions regarding the location, the conditions surrounding the city, and its inhabitants. Let us read a few of these:

The prophet, speaking of the return of the Redeemer, says: "And His feet shall stand in that day upon the Mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the Mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof toward the east and toward the west, and there shall be a very great valley; and half of the mountain shall remove toward the north, and half of it toward the south. . . . And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem. . . . And the Lord shall be King over all the earth: in that day there shall be one Lord, and His name one." Zech. 14:4-9.

In this scripture, we are told that the Lord has chosen the Mount of Olives for the location of the Holy City, and that He will make for it a very great plain, and from thence will flow the River of Life. And this agrees with the view that John had, for he said, "He showed me a pure river of the water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb," And he adds, "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. 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." Rev. 22:1-5.

The prophet Zechariah tells us in the fourteenth chapter that the country about Jerusalem shall be inhabited. And we do well to keep in mind that the Lord in the prophetic word is not dealing with the old city of stones and mortar, but the antitypical city, which is truly the possession of peace, as its name signifies. The Lord says of this city, "For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation thereof as a lamp that burneth. . . . Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken, neither shall thy [Jerusalem's] land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzibah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy [Jerusalem's] land shall be married. For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee." Isa. 62:1-5.

Here no doubt is direct reference to the division of the earth by lot, as the land of Palestine was allotted to the children of Israel. "And they shall build houses, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. . . . They shall not labor in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offspring with them." Isa. 65:21-23. "And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before Me, saith the Lord." Isa. 66:23.

The heaven of the redeemed will be a real, tangible place. They will worship a real, personal Creator, and observe the memorial of creation, as would have been the case had man never sinned. God's purpose in creation has not been defeated, but only delayed.