Prophetic Expositions, vol. 1

CHAPTER VII. THE NEW JERUSALEM

Old “Jerusalem, which now is, is in bondage with her children.”—“But Jerusalem which is above, is free, and is the mother of us all.” Galatians, fourth chapter. PREX1 197.1

It has already been remarked (Chap. I.) that Jerusalem is the great metropolis of the kingdom of God, or the kingdom of the house of David. That kingdom, for its abuse of privileges, was sent into captivity, was scattered to the winds, and Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the Gentiles until the times of the Gentiles are fulfilled. Then the sanctuary, the hill of Zion, is to be justified; Jerusalem’s warfare will end, because her iniquity is pardoned. But although Zion has been long desolate, yet, says the Psalmist, (Psalm 102:13, 14,) “Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion, for the time to favor her, the set time, is come; for thy servants take pleasure in her stones, and favor the dust thereof.” Verse 16: “When the Lord shall build up Zion. he shall appear in his glory.” Until then, it must be desolate, and her children be in bondage. Both the Old and New Jerusalem are personified and addressed as being the mother of their inhabitants. Thus Christ addressed the city: “How oft would I have gathered thy children.” Matthew 22. PREX1 197.2

Here the city, Jerusalem, is addressed as the mother, and the inhabitants as her children. So, in Galatians, as quoted at the head of this article, both the Old and New Jerusalem are thus personified, and their inhabitants are called their children. The Old Jerusalem is the mother of the Jews; the New Jerusalem, the mother of the glorified saints. The Old Jerusalem is in the old earth, under the curse; the New Jerusalem is in the new earth, when there will be no more curse. Isaiah 65:17, 18; Revelation 21:1, 2. PREX1 198.1

The Old Jerusalem was built by human power; but the builder and maker of the New Jerusalem, is God. It is the city for which the patriarchs looked as the fulfilment of the promises of God to them. Hebrews 11:8-10, 16: “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. 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, For he looked for a city which bath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. But new they desire a better country, that is, a heavenly; wherefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he hath prepared for them a city. God is to build that city. So Isaiah 65:18, “I create Jerusalem.” Christ also, (John 14:2, 3.) “In my Father’s house, are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to. prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.” This place is now in God’s house, in heaven; the mansions of the saints, are now there, and Christ is preparing them. But he is coming again, and the glorious inheritance of the saints is to be revealed from heaven. 1 Peter 1:3-5: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you, who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time.” The idea which many have obtained from John 14, that the saints are to be taken up to those mansions and inherit them forever, is here rectified. The incorruptible inheritance is to be revealed from heaven in the last times. So also the Revelator, chap 21:2, 10: “I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” “And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending OUT OF HEAVEN, FROM GOD.” When this city appears, then, Abraham will receive the answer of his faith, “a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” There are few persons at present, but what admit that the New Jerusalem of Revelation 21. is the heavenly state, and in the new earth. But then they deny that the Jerusalem spoken of by Isaiah, in almost the same words, is the same city. I find in the Hierophant, published in New York, by Professor Bush, the parallel passages of Isaiah and Revelation, collated, which I will here insert The descriptions are identical. PREX1 198.2