Prophetic Expositions, vol. 1

VII. THE METROPOLIS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD

1. Its locality. It is Mount Zion and Jerusalem. Psalm 2:6: “Yet have I set my king on my holy hill of Zion.” Isaiah 24:23: “Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed. when the Lord of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously.” The throne of David, which Christ is to inherit, and on which he is to reign forever, was established there, and is forever to be there. Psalm 132:11-18: “The Lord hath sworn in truth unto David, he will not turn from it, of the fruit of thy body will I set upon thy throne. If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimony that I shall teach them, their children shall also sit upon thy throne forevermore. For the Lord hath chosen Zion; he hath desired it for his habitation. This is my rest forever: here will I dwell; for I have desired it. I will abundantly bless her provision; I will satisfy her poor with bread. I will also clothe her priests with salvation; and her saints shall shout aloud for joy. There will I make the horn of David to bud: I have ordained a lamp for mine anointed. His enemies will I clothe with shame; but upon himself shall his crown flourish.” Nothing can be more clear and strong than this declaration of the Lord that he will dwell there forever, and the throne of David be there, and his horn (kingdom) flourish there. PREX1 23.1

2. The city. Not “Jerusalem that now is, and is in bondage with her children,” “but Jerusalem that is above, and is free, and is the mother of us all.” Galatians 4. The “New Jerusalem, which cometh down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21. PREX1 24.1

It is the city for which the patriarch Abraham looked, (Hebrews 11:10,) “which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” For this city he looked as the promised inheritance of the land of Canaan. And a city twelve thousand furlongs, or fifteen hundred miles square, as is the city described in Revelation 21, would require all the territory promised Abraham, for its location. And if all the saints of God are to “have right to the tree of life, and enter in through the gates into the city,” such a city would be none too large for their ample accommodation. This is “the city of the living God;” the tabernacle of God which shall be with men, in the new earth. PREX1 24.2

Until that time comes, Jerusalem is to be trodden down of the Gentiles, even until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled; or until the great image is dashed in pieces, and no place is found for it, and the stone fills the whole earth. Then there will be a race at Jerusalem who shall say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” They will be the redeemed from the east, west, north and south, who shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, in the kingdom of God; while the unbelieving Jews will be cast out into outer darkness, where there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. PREX1 24.3