But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. (Hebrews 12:22-24, NKJV).
Why Jerusalem?
Not too long ago, this earthly city commemorated its 3000th year. Did you get that? 3000 years! And I write "commemorated", not "celebrated", because there is little from the human perspective that Jerusalem can celebrate in these troubled times.
In essence, Jerusalem is at the center of a cosmic battle between God and man. It is a small municipality, as far as dimensions go, in a nation the size of New Jersey, and yet - and yet - it is the focus of the three major Monotheistic religions with billions of adherents worldwide. It is the epicenter of rancid hatred and desperate desire. It is all these things precisely, and only, because God has so ordained it from before the foundation of the world.
There is nothing special about Israel or Jerusalem except that God has put His seal upon her. He has called her the "apple of His eye". He has called her the place of His eternal throne, and He has used her as both a symbol and a foreshadowing of the promised heavenly City of Peace, for peace is the fundamental meaning of the city's name.
(If you doubt the perspicacity of Scripture or the very existence of God, look to Jerusalem. She is ground zero of literally thousands of Biblical prophecies, all of which - all of which - have either been fulfilled in the past, or will soon be fulfilled in the present or near future.)
We, who are the Children of God by faith, have come to this city of the Living God, this Heavenly Jerusalem, by His invitation; really by His imploring us to come, so that we can obtain the destiny, and receive the eternal inheritance, that is ours by faith in Christ.
Do not take this for granted. The earthly counterparts to Mount Zion and this heavenly city are fraught with danger and death. When the Law came forth on Mount Sinai, to come near that place, to even touch it, was a capital crime resulting in summary execution, and the earthly Jerusalem is a battle-scarred place bloodily divided by the nations on the world stage. These are places not of peace and invitation, but war and prohibition.
In their symbolizing the eternal promises of God they are shown as stark contrasts to the majesty and security of what Christ's death on the Cross has put freely within our reach. Unlike the Jews of history, and unlike those today who seek salvation by the works of the flesh, relying upon their own righteousness, the entry price into our destiny has been paid in full for us by the Savior Himself. Our reservations are irrevocable; our right of entrance guaranteed. The result is not death, but life.
This is what we have in Christ. This is the refrain of the Book of Hebrews: the superiority of Christ in every conceivable aspect.
Through Him we are guaranteed better promises, a superior High Priest, a perfect relationship with God, and an inconceivable inheritance and destiny.
The heavenly Jerusalem, that city not made with hands, not of this creation is now, and will forever be, our place of rest and life. We are its citizens by rebirth, a citizenship for which we have done nothing, but which is nonetheless freely ours through Christ - forever.
Nothing in this life compares. Nothing. Not health or wealth or success or relationships or travel or luxury or comfort or anything.
All those earthly things we strive to obtain, attain, and keep are worthless piles of dung in contrast.
Whatever we hold onto in this life we are certain to lose.
As has been written: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain that which he cannot lose.”
