By Nick Batzig
I’ve often put the various places I’ve lived on a comparative scale of desirability. I’ve lived in cities, on an island, in the mountains, and in the foothills. Every place where I’ve lived has had its own unique beauty and appeal and its own particular downsides.
In the Old Testament, the land of Israel had its various geographical locations, together with all of the accompanying pros and cons. One might suspect that every one of God’s people would have wanted to live in Jerusalem since it was the city of the great king. And some did—officials and rulers went up to govern in the judicial courts. Several of the Levites returned there to do the priestly work at the temple precinct. Other Levites stayed behind to continue the priestly work in other parts of Israel. However, this was just a small percentage of the nation. After the city was rebuilt and made habitable again in the days of Nehemiah, many of the people refused to return and live there.
If it were me, I can imagine remaining outside the city because of a desire for comfort. Undoubtedly greater spiritual commitment and physical risk was expected from the inhabitants of Jerusalem than from those who had settled elsewhere after exile. Matthew Henry explained the failure of those who refused to seek habitation in the city of God, when he wrote: “Those who care not for being holy themselves are shy of dwelling in a holy city; they would not dwell in the New Jerusalem itself for that reason, but would wish to have a continuing city here upon earth.”
Jerusalem foreshadows the city of God that He has prepared for His people in the hereafter. The writer of Hebrews picked up on this spiritual typology of Jerusalem when he wrote, “Here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Abraham, the father of believers, teaches us the principle of seeking after a dwelling place in the heavenly city—even while he dwelt in tents with Isaac and Jacob in the land of promise (Hebrews 11:9).
God has prepared a heavenly city for His people. He has done so on account of the fact that He “is not ashamed to be called [our] God” (Hebrews 11:16). We ought to be a people who long to dwell with the God who has prepared and secured a city for us through the saving work of His Son. Jesus is the building of the heavenly Jerusalem by His death and resurrection. No matter where we live in this life, we are pilgrims pressing on to the city that has the firmest of foundations, whose builder and maker is God.
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