The Holy City

There are many great, beautiful, and important cities in the world, but only one has ever been designated as “the holy city”—Jerusalem. This ancient city is first mentioned early in the book of Genesis, when we meet its king, Melchizedek (Gen. 14:18). Much later, the city was taken by King David to become the seat of his reign over Israel (2 Sam. 5:6–10). David brought the ark of the covenant, the symbol of God’s presence with His people, into Jerusalem (2 Sam. 6), and Solomon later constructed an opulent temple to house it. Unfortunately, due to the sinfulness of the people, the city was destroyed by the Babylonians in the sixth century b.c. Then, after its reconstruction, it was sacked once again by the Romans in a.d. 70. Today, though it retains some of its ancient grandeur, Jerusalem remains largely a city in ruins.

In the Middle Ages, scholars employed a method of Biblical interpretation known as the Quadriga by which they looked for hidden meanings in Scripture. A favorite topic of interpretation was Jerusalem—interpreters loved to look at references to the city and find some meaning about heaven. Although this interpretive method led to some wildly inappropriate conclusions, the basic assumption was sound. As “the holy city,” Jerusalem in the days of its grandeur was (and still is) a type of the heavenly city of God. It was the city of God’s “dwelling place” (Deut. 12:5), a powerful reminder to the Israelites that God was in their midst. It was the holy (set-apart) place to which God’s holy (set-apart) people were summoned in order to meet with Him in worship.

What Augustine came to understand and taught so memorably in his classic book The City of God is that the church is a living Jerusalem, the true “holy city.” The Bible repeatedly refers to believers as “saints,” which is another way of saying “sanctified ones” or “holy ones.” It uses this term because, as we have seen, Christians are a separated, consecrated people, and we have been gathered into what the Apostles’ Creed calls “the communion of saints,” the community of all believers, both living and dead. Another name for this communion is “the invisible church.” We are citizens of this spiritual Jerusalem, the city of God.