The New Jerusalem is also designated as the holy city (Rev. 21:2a). In the New Testament the word holy does not only mean separated unto God but also saturated with God. In the Old Testament to be made holy is to be separated unto God. There is no saturation of God in the Old Testament, and the holiness or sanctification there is only positional, not dispositional. In the New Testament, though, we see both the objective, positional holiness and sanctification and the subjective dispositional holiness and sanctification. Romans 6:19 and 22 indicate that sanctification is something subjective and dispositional. In the Old Testament a piece of gold could be made holy and sanctified by changing its position, by putting it in the temple. The church today is made holy not only positionally, though, but also dispositionally.
In 1 Thessalonians 5:23 Paul prays that our whole being, spirit and soul and body, may be sanctified wholly. This is dispositional sanctification where the very holy God is saturating us with His holy nature. In positional sanctification there is only a change of position, but in dispositional sanctification there is the transformation in nature and in element. Therefore, the New Jerusalem is not merely holy in the sense of the Old Testament but in the sense of the New Testament. Based upon this principle, we can see that the holy city, the New Jerusalem, could never be a physical city since a physical city could never be saturated with God. This city is composed with living persons who can be and who are saturated with God. The New Jerusalem is not merely a city separated unto God, but it is also a city saturated with God. In the old Jerusalem and in the old temple we can see the separation but not the saturation with God. In the New Testament, however, the church is God’s temple (1 Cor. 3:16) and this temple is not only separated unto God but also saturated with God. The New Jerusalem is not the Old Testament city but the New Testament city—a city saturated with God.
When I studied Hebrews 11:14-16 as a young believer, I thought that these verses indicated that the New Jerusalem was a physical city. These verses tell us that the Old Testament saints longed after a better country, a heavenly country, and that God had prepared for them a city. In Hebrews 12:22, however, the writer tells us that we have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, heavenly Jerusalem. This verse does not say that we will come but that we have come to the heavenly Jerusalem. If Mount Zion and the city of the living God were something physical, how could we have come to them even today? Also, this verse does not say that Jerusalem is in the heavens but that it is the heavenly Jerusalem. This city is heavenly in nature. We have received a heavenly call (Heb. 3:1), have tasted the heavenly gift (Heb. 6:4), and can live a heavenly life on earth today (Col. 3:1-2).
Hebrews 12:22 clearly indicates that the heavenly Jerusalem is not a physical city because we have already come to this heavenly Jerusalem. Many Christians are waiting to go to the New Jerusalem, but we must realize that we have come to the New Jerusalem already. The fact that we have already come to the New Jerusalem and the fact that the New Jerusalem is called the heavenly Jerusalem rescued me from my old concept. The church is the house of the living God so it is God’s home and it is also our home today. When the church is enlarged to be a city, it becomes a heavenly country. Our heavenly country is a city to which we have already come.
This city was designed and built by God (Heb. 11:10). Hebrews 11:10 tells us that the Architect and Maker of this city is God. The Greek word for architect in this verse can also be translated as either builder or artificer. This means that God is a skillful designer and a top craftsman. It is not logical to think that our living God designed a physical city.
Ephesians 2:10 tells us that the church is God’s masterpiece. The Greek word for masterpiece is poiema which means something which has been written or composed as a poem. The church is a poem written by God. Poetry expresses the writer’s wisdom. God makes known through the church His multifarious wisdom (Eph. 3:10). The New Jerusalem, as the ultimate consummation of the church, is full of wisdom. God designed the New Jerusalem with His wisdom and this city displays His wisdom. To say that the New Jerusalem is a physical city depreciates God’s wisdom and belittles this eternal, wise Architect. If we have the realization that the New Jerusalem is a sign which signifies many spiritual, divine things, then we begin to see the wisdom of God in this city. God is a wise designer and artificer who designed such a city to be a full manifestation of His multifarious wisdom.