Foundations for Christian Mission, Student Workbook, SW04

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F O U N D A T I O N S F O R C H R I S T I A N M I S S I O N

immorality. How (or even why ) would God want to build a city for human beings to live in forever, and why would this be a significant element in the fundamental hope of all the saints, down through the ages? Great questions, but indeed, the Bible provides even better answers! To begin with, the idea that God would prepare a place for his own is a common and much beloved theme in the Bible, one which is highlighted and mentioned often in the NT. At the judgment of the sheep and the goats, Jesus declares that the king will say to those on his right to come and inherit the Kingdom prepared by the Father for them since the foundation of the world (Matt. 25.34). Jesus comforted his disciples by commanding them not to fear, for it was the Father’s good pleasure to give the Kingdom to them (Luke 12.32), and he promised that his Father’s house possessed many dwelling-places, and he would prepare a place for them to be with him forever (John 14.1-4). Paul can say to the Philippians that the citizenship of the believing is in heaven, and it is from there that we await the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ who would conform our feeble bodies to his glorious one by the power he possesses now to subdue all things to his will (Phil. 3.20-21). Truly, the vision of the Christian hope is the notion of God’s preparation of a place for those who would inherit his salvation, and amazingly, it is described as a city. Furthermore, no Christian can read the description of the New Jerusalem without wonder and expectation. A glistening city of pure gold, inhabited by the Father and the Son, without need of light since the splendor of the Lord himself illumines the city. Who can fathom a city whose inner workings were engineered by God himself, that has neither cemetery nor mortuary (because no dead are there), no hospital nor pharmacy (no sick are there), no court nor prison (no crime is there), and no psychiatrist nor counselor (no sorrow is there)? The dimensions of the city make it more of a moon than a mere place (1500 miles square, if we take John’s measurements literally), fashioned all by the hand of the Cosmic Contractor, our Lord Jesus. As a theologian, the fact does not escape me that our Lord was a carpenter by trade, and there can be little doubt that a city designed and built by him will be spectacular beyond words, and wondrous beyond thought. However, notwithstanding all of these amazing blessings of the city itself, its greatest wonder is that the abode of God now dwells with humankind: Rev. 21.1-4 - Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. [2] And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. [3] And I heard a loud voice from the

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