The Real Jerusalem

Part 2 of the New Heaven & Earth Series

In my last post New Heaven & New Earth, I stated that woven throughout the Laws and Prophets of the Old Testament, and echoed in the words of Yeshua, the Father was declaring a time—a new day, in which He would finally "tabernacle" within the spirit, soul, and body of man. And at the end of Revelations, John's vision reasserts this desire through the imagery of "the holy city, the new Jerusalem."

With the removal of first "Heaven & Earth", with all of its prior forms and functions of the God-Man relational experiment, the far superior matrix—the kainos "Heaven & Earth" is now being established, which includes a massive, gloriously city coming down out of heaven to the earth.

But this creates a question. If we know that the Father will no longer make His home in any building or facades, is the new Jerusalem that John saw metaphorical or is it really a city of the future?

I don't know for certain, but I have an idea that the answer is: yes.

Let me explain this way.

We live in a sacramental world. Held together by divine grace, everything in the physical reality around us has is a sign or symbol pointing to a spiritual reality behind it. What we experience in the physical is closely entangled to its spiritual equivalent, and at times the dividing line between the two is so blurred that it can sometimes be difficult to know which dimension we're actually looking at—at that moment.

Remember the blind man at Bethsaida? After being healed with mud, Yeshua asked him, "What do you see?" How does the man respond? "I can see the people, but they look like trees walking around." You can almost hear Yeshua's thoughts: "Whoops, let me fix that for you," as He winks, touches him again, and sends the man on his way.

I think it's safe to say, that the man's healing was way more than just physical. He saw the blur–the overlaid dimensions, and Yeshua had to walk his healing back a bit, because the man wasn't ready for full disclosure. But it was too late. The secret was out.

Consider what the psalmist said? "He is like a tree planted by streams of water…" And then there's Isaiah who said, "They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of his splendor."

My point is, regardless of whether or not we're aware of it, mankind is always having multi-dimensional experiences. Why? Because we are heaven-earth beings, continuously experiencing the physical and spiritual simultaneously.

The problem is—we really struggle to understand, let alone describe, the supernatural with our natural language and imagery. We know it's there but are terrible at explaining it. But we still do our best to use the physical signs and symbols around us—using poetry or visionary imagery to try and describe our movement to and fro between two dimensions, because we have a deep desire to connect others to our other-dimensional experiences.

And the magnificent visage the new Jerusalem is no different. John's revelation was so novel that all he could do was use the best descriptive words he knew to paint a picture we could use as clues to search out spiritual realities entangled within.

So yes, the new Jerusalem is symbolic AND it's literally physical place. (But perhaps, just not the way think we think it will be.)

Let's look at the symbolism, first. It runs deep and wide. Believe me when I say, the Old Testament prophets, priests, and poets dedicated a lot of time talking about the this futuristic city. Much of it centers around the idea of a richly, clothed bride being prepared for her husband. Let's just say, John's description is a major "hat tip" to his ancient predecessors with a purposeful intent to cause the read to connect the dots and get a fuller understanding.

And what we discover is that the real Jerusalem—often referred to as Zion—is a multi-dimensional dwelling place of the Most High. It's a place so grand, so majestic and lofty, and with no precedent that the writers could only use metaphors and similes to capture its nature and purpose.

I'm not saying that there isn't a new city where each gate is made out of a single pearl, but what I am suggesting is those pearly gates are symbolic of something far more important—far more valuable. The true value isn't in it walls made of precious stones or streets of gold. It's in what it represents—what it establishes.

For example, let's look at the symbolic name of the city. New Jerusalem. You already know that Greek word for new is kainos, which implies something novel and unprecedented.

Now, Jerusalem is a Hebrew name derived from the combinations of two root words. The first is yarah, which means to throw, shoot, cast, direct, instruct, teach. The second is shalam, which means to be complete, to be sound, to make amends, to finish, to repay, to reward.

Combining their meanings, you reveal a big part of the divine purpose of the city, which in simple terms is to be the governmental and administrative seat of restorative peace for all of creation. This has massive implications, and yet, I haven't even looked at the mystical meanings within the living letters that form these words!

But we'll discuss this and much of the poetic symbolism surrounding this great City of Peace in a follow-up article. For now let's quickly look at the physical aspect of this city coming down out of heaven from God.

I believe there is a very real and new Jerusalem that is coming, and yet is already here. Again, I don't think it's going to look literally like John's vision. It may not be a city, in the way we understand cities today, at all. And I might well be wrong.

Regardless, a city isn't a city without its inhabitants. It's just a bunch of well-organized, but empty roads and buildings. The people give it definition and purpose. In truth, the people are really the city!

The new Jerusalem is what it is because of who's in it. And the population of this magnificent city are the manifested sons of God—those who have been added to the household of God. The Apostle Paul eludes to it here and here, and Peter echoes the same sentiment here.

As real physical beings, formed together as living stones in Christ, and joined together with the Father and Spirit, we become the living embodiment of God's holy temple—a flesh and blood kainos dwelling place for God. We become the living, breathing, physical city of God. The real Jerusalem.

In the next post of the New Heaven & Earth series, I'm going to delve further into the metaphoric imagery that John uses to describe the new Jerusalem, and discuss its importance to the physical dwelling place of God within mankind.

Until next time, continue to pursue the you He designed you to be!