JERUSALEM - GOD'S HOLY CITY TODAY?

"But we are come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn , which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect" (Hebrews 12.22-23)

We have heard from some of our dispensational brethren about the "holy land" and the "holy city of Jerusalem". This made us wonder if today, after the advent and death of Christ, there are any other places on earth. We decided to turn to the book of Hebrews for answers. But before we look at that book, let us read the words of Solomon who dedicated the temple. What did he think about that temple? Well, his father David came up with the idea of building God a temple. Part of God's response was interesting, "And it came to pass that night, that the word of the Lord came to Nathan saying Go and tell my servant David, Thus says the Lord, Shall you build me a house for me to dwell in?" (II Samuel 7.4-5). How can this God that uses the earth as his footstool dwell in a temple? "This says Tue Lord, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool; where is my house, that you build to me? and where is the place of my rest?" (Isaiah 66.1). Solomon uttered these same thoughts at the dedication of the temple in Jerusalem, "But will God indeed dwell on the earth? behold, the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain you; how much less this house that I have built?" (I Kings 8.27). Paul preached the same principle to the Greeks on Mars Hill in Athens, "God made the world and everything therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands" (Acts 17.24).

What were Solomon's views on the relationship between God and the temple, and by extension Jerusalem? "...have respect to the prayer of your servant, and to his supplication, O Lord my God, to hearken to the cry and to the prayer, which your servant prays before you today; THAT YOUR EYES MAY BE OPEN TOWARD THE PLACE OF WHICH YOU HAVE SAID, MY NAME SHALL BE THERE; that you may harken to the prayer which your servant shall make toward this place" (I Kings 8.28-29). We have additional information relating to Jerusalem, "...I have chosen Jerusalem, that my name might there and have chosen David to be over my people Israel (II Chronicles 6.6). So Jerusalem and the temple both had God's name there. In this book we also have Solomon's words recorded about the temple, "...I am sent up in the throne of David my father, and am set on the throne of Israel, as the Lord promised, and have built the house for THE NAME THE OF THE LORD OF ISRAEL" (vs. 10). We should not assume that God's name being there is equivalent to God's home dwelling there. God's name was what dwelled there.

God's name dwelled with Joseph, as it did with Abraham and Isaac (Gen. 48.16). Jerusalem was the only place where God's name would. recorded (Ex. 20.24). The people of Israel had God's name on them (Num 6.27). God removed his name from the lips of Judah and Egypt (Jer. 44.26). God removed his name from Jerusalem due to the abominations of king Manasseh, " Notwithstanding the Lord turned no from his fierceness of his great wrath, wherewith his anger was kindled against Judah, because of all the provocations at Manasseh provoked him withal. And the Lord said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said My name shall be there" (II K 23.26-27). By Malachi's time God had announced that his name would. great among the heathen (Mal 1.11).

The Word Forever

Many who support the idea that Jerusalem is today a holy city point to the passages that speak of God having this name there forever.   There are a series of passages that say that  (II Sam. 7.13;    I Kings 9.3; II Kings 21.7). The Hebrew words in these passages can mean "forever" or "perpetually", depending on the context. We can see this from two passage which refer to the same thing, "And the Lord said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication, at you have made before me; I have hallowed this house which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there PERPETUALLY". We have the words (forever and perpetually) used as synonyms.

The Real Jerusalem

But the most important point of our view that the physical Jerusalem is no longer a "holy city" is that it was merely a type for the real and heavenly Jerusalem. "For he looked for a city which had foundations whose builder and maker is God" (Hebrew 11.10). Believers are warned to learn from the Jews of old, not imitate their unbelief, "Looking diligently lest any man fall from the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, and thereby many be defiled; lest there be any fornicator, or profane person, as Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright. For you know how that afterward when he would have inherited the blessing, he was rejected; for. four no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully with tears." (Hebrews 12.15-17). Christians are now no longer on a physical Mount Zion, "But you are come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the innumerable company of angels" (vs. 22).

Since the temple has been gone for two thousand years, it makes no sense that God would dwell all this time in a Islamic Mosque, where the temple of Herod use to be. Before this Mosque, there had been a temple to the God Jupiter built over the ruins of Herod's temple built by the Roman emperor Hadrian. The temple has never been rebuilt signifying to us that there is no need for one.