THE HEAVENLY CITY NEW JERUSALEM

By Pastor Art Watkins of Coden Bible Church (Coden, Alabama)

April 14, 2010

In Ephesians 2:19 Paul wrote; Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God.
Here in the prison epistle of Ephesians we are called fellowcitizens with the saints who are the Jews we were strangers and foreigners from in time past. Citizenship speaks of a city or country. When we were saved God made us citizens of a new city. What city or country are we now citizens of? It must be a heavenly city or country because our conversation is in heaven according to Philp.3:20 and we are seated in heavenly places according to Eph. 2:7. Is there a city in heaven we now have a citizenship in? Yes there is, and Paul tells us its name and location in Galatians 4:26. He wrote: But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. Paul the apostle of the gentiles tells us there is a city in the heavens that is called New Jerusalem and we are now citizens of that city. It’s the Heavenly city New Jerusalem.

Hyper dispensationalists have a real problem with this fact because this again proves the church partakes of Israel’s spiritual blessings in the prison epistles. You see, the Heavenly City New Jerusalem was originally promised to Abraham and his seed in the book of Genesis! In Hebrews 11:9 Paul said this about Abraham; 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:

Notice Abraham lived as a stranger and pilgrim in the land of Canaan. He lived like a visitor in the land of Canaan. The only piece of land he owned was a small burial plot. Why did he live like a stranger and pilgrim in the land of Canaan if it belonged to him and his seed?

Because he looked for something better!

Hebrews 11:10 says; For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Verse 10 explains Abraham’s behavior in verse 9. Abraham lived as a stranger and pilgrim on earth because he was looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. He was looking for something better than the land of Canaan. And in Hebrews 11:16 Paul tells us what he was looking for:

But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city. (Heb.11:16)

What we see in these verses is called the law of subsequent revelation. We learn something in Hebrews that was not fully revealed in Genesis. We learn that the real reason Abraham lived like a stranger and sojourner in the land of Canaan in Genesis is because he was looking for a heavenly country and a heavenly city built by God that was much better than the land of Canaan. God revealed this to Abraham in Genesis, but we don’t learn about it until we read Hebrews. The city that Abraham looked for is the heavenly city New Jerusalem that Paul describes in Hebrews 12:22-24 and John in Revelation 21.

From Hebrews 11 we learn Abraham knew about the heavenly city New Jerusalem in the book of Genesis. This shows us the heavenly city New Jerusalem was first promised to Abraham and his seed. And because we are counted as the spiritual seed of Abraham today (Gal.3:29) we are citizens of that city. We are fellowcitizens with the Jews to whom the city was originally promised. And where is this found? In the prison epistles of Paul!

In Revelation 21 John describes the heavenly city New Jerusalem and he says there is no temple in the city for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. He also says the Lamb is the light of the city. (See verses 22-23) What John saw was a future vision of the city when it comes down to the New Earth. In Hebrews 12 Paul gives us a present day description of New Jerusalem. He shows us who now occupies the city and one of them is Jesus Christ. (See verses 22-24) Both John and Paul saw Jesus Christ in the heavenly city New Jerusalem.

In Ephesians 2:6 Paul says we are seated together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. If Christ Jesus is in the heavenly city New Jerusalem then the place in the heavens we are seated is the heavenly city New Jerusalem. To be seated together in heavenly places is to be seated together with Christ in the heavenly city New Jerusalem because that is where John and Paul said he now lives. New Jerusalem is the city we are now citizens of in Ephesians 2:19. We were once strangers and foreigners to that city because we had no claim to it being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel. But now in Christ Jesus by the gospel we have a seat and citizenship in the city along with the Jewish saints who were originally promised the city. What was theirs by promise is now ours by grace. Bless God!