The City of our God

The City of our God

Psalms 48:1-3

Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. 2 It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.

Most of us understand the concept that when we talk about the church we are not just speaking of physical locations made up of sticks and stones and building material.  We know that when God speaks of His church He is speaking of the organism and a body that functions under the headship and authority of Christ.  The city of God and Zion are the same way.  Yes there is a natural Jerusalem and Mount Zion, but it is much more than a physical location; it is a spiritual location.  Many of us have become so earthly minded that we only see Jerusalem in a natural context.  We fail to fully comprehend that this city is comprised of His people and that King Jesus is upon its throne, ruling out of mount Zion.  Mount Zion was in the older part of the natural city of Jerusalem.  It was a citadel, a high place and a fortress.  It included Mount Moriah where the temple was built.  God has used Jerusalem and Zion as a metaphor throughout His word to speak of the spiritual city of His holy habitation. 

Hebrews 11:8-10 says, “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as [in] a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise  For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker [is] God.”  God founded this city of salvation in Abraham.  It was there that God sent Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac.  Genesis 22:2 says, “And he said, Take now thy son, thine only [son] Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.”   It was Mount Moriah where Solomon built the temple.  “Then Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem in Mount Moriah, where [the LORD] appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan the Jebusite. (2 Chronicles 3:1)” It was in Jerusalem that God fulfilled His promise of salvation because it became again the place of the sacrifice of God’s only begotten Son when Jesus gave His life for our sins.  And finally we see Jerusalem, not the old natural city, but the New Jerusalem which is from above, as being the completion of God’s salvation at Christ’s return.  Revelations 21:2 tells us, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”  This is Lord’s church, His Bride, His holy habitation and dwelling.  You and I are a part of that now as Christ indwells us.  The Word speaks to this heavenly Jerusalem in Hebrews 12:22-24, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, 23to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, 24to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.”  This Jerusalem is a spiritual city and assembly whose builder and maker is God.  The natural has been the type and shadow to reveal the real.

Finally we come to a scripture that we have shared many times that so describes the part we play in this city.  1 Peter 2:4-9 says, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”  7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone, 8and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  We, the body of Christ are what constitutes and comprises this New Jerusalem.  Out of this New Jerusalem the Lord will reign and govern the earth.  Truly, “great is the Lord and greatly to be praised, in the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness.  Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the Great King!”  (Psalms 48:1)

 

Blessings,

#kent

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