New Jerusalem: A Garden City

Humans build cities as an alternative to God’s command to spread the Garden; at least, that’s how it happens most of the time in Scripture. The Garden vs. City narrative is one that shows up frequently in the Bible–in the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms. Cain was driven from the land and thus built a city (Gen 4.17, cf. 5.22–24). Lot abandoned Abraham’s example of sojourning in order to live in cities (Gen 19.15–22). Solomon spends more time building up his own palace and more cities than on the Temple (1 Kgs 6.37–7.1).

As is often the case, though, cities aren’t inherently bad but they’re temptations to have the wrong mindset with them. Much like the Sabbath, it’s easier to serve it. Cities tempt us to see them as permanent dwelling and ourselves as sojourners no longer. Cities make people think “This world is my home, I’m no longer passing through.” But their permanence is a lie; cities made by human hands are still just way stops in our journey to a City with Foundations, whose builder and architect is God (Heb 11.10).

The Hebrew writer talks a lot about this future city, even comparing and contrasting it to other places where God has attempted to dwell with humanity (including the Garden, Mount Sinai, and the Tabernacle). “For you have not come to what could be touched. . . Instead, you have come to Mt. Zion, to the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem” (Heb 12.18–24). Even Sinai, the Tabernacle, and Temple were temporary; we search for something eternal. And it’s keeping that unseen eternality in mind that demonstrates faithfulness,

“These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that had been promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and sojourners on the earth. Now, those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a true homeland. If they had been thinking about where they had come from, they would not have had the opportunity to return. But, now, they desire a better place–a heavenly place. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for his has prepared a city for them.”

(Hebrews 11.13–16)

And it’s this city where we see the redemption of all of the other impermanent, human-built, faithless alternative homelands transformed into what God had always wanted–a place that combines and perfects all of the other shadows into reality. For the New Jerusalem isn’t just a perfected, redeemed city; it’s also a perfected, redeemed Garden of Eden; a perfected, redeemed Sinai; a perfected, redeemed Temple; and a perfected, redeemed Church.(1)

This New City for the New Heavens and New Earth is a final and perfect home because it wasn’t made by human hands, but comes down along with the God who condescends to bring heaven to earth, transforming both to a place where he can truly dwell with his people at last. But this isn’t just an image that has no application (as any good eschatology study will tell you, “There is no eschatology without ethics!”). For throughout the Scriptures the implications of these city images is that we have to be careful that we don’t replace the replace the permanent city with temporary ones, and that we do not build up cities with our own hands that would distract ourselves from the longing for or working on tending God’s Garden.

We are exiles; we should live like it.

Footnotes:

1. If you want to read more about how the Story of God is seen through God’s tabernacling and culminates in Revelation, I am once again asking you to read Phil Roberts’ wonderful and short essay, here. Or else grab the whole book of his excellent essays, here. Or really go ham and read several other books that work through this same metanarrative. Although it’s really outdated, and I’d do things differently now, if you’d rather listen than read, I’ve also preached a series of lessons on this same narrative and you can listen to those, here.