The Ohio Independent Baptist, August 1969

The Heavenly The The author of this article is Dr. Jack R. Riggs. He is presently serving as Associ– ate Professor of Bible at Cedarville College. 8 ..other Riggs received his Th.D. at Dallas Theological Seminary in 1968. He al so pas– tored in northwest Ohio before going into the fierd of education. We do a ppreciate his giving us this article for the 0.1.B. In the eleventh chapter of He– brews. it is said of Abraham that he '"looked for a city which hath founda– tions whose builder and maker is God. " (Heb. 11:10). By faith he saw what no mortal eyes could see· he saw far into the future and there beheld the eternal city which sur– pas es the glory of any earthly city. The anticipation of such a city is also the experience of the saint of the ew Testa,ment for the writer of H ebrews explains that ' 'here have we no continuing city, but we seek Jne to come.' ' (Heb. 13 : 14). This is the reason P aul points out that our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3: 21). The Apostle John identifies this city of God as the "new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God:" (Rev. 3: 12). In due course John sees the city descend– ing from heaven and is invited to a closer view of it. H e records his vision in Revelation twenty-one and two. The Apostle gives a preview of the new heaven and the new earth in Revelation 21 :9 22:7. The city 1s not pictured as alighting on the earth and consequently is regarded as hovering over the earth during the n1illennium and then de cending closer to the earth after the renova- City New Je,rusalem tion of heaven and earth. . The que tion ha ari en a to the literalness of the city. The conclus- • 100 one reache ha definite bearino on one's conclusion as to the signifi~ ca~ce of the city being called ''the bride, the Lamb' wife" (Rev. 21 :9) and its relation to the church the bride of Christ. ' Several thing would argue for a literal city as opposed to a figurative view. The very description of the city itself as having foundations, walls, gate and treet indicate a real con– struction. I t has guards out ide and inhabitants within. It i called the new Jerusalem as over against an old Jerusalem which was a material city. A further argument is the tremen– dous size of the city. A non-literal city would have no dimensional de– mands placed upon it. However, thi city, w 1 hich i 1500 miles long, and broad, and high allows ample room and space for each individual, family, tribe, nation and tongue of the re– deemed. The construction material of the city are al so indicative ·of a literal city. This city must be the Father's house containing n1any man ions re– ferred to by Chr1 t. (John 14:2, 3) To rai e a question to it literalnes 1n Revelation would create a eriou problen1 with re pect to the pron1ise of hri t. The identity of the inhabitant of the city 1~ also of intere t. Bo,th the THE CLEVELAND HEBREW MISSION P. 0 . Box 18056, Cleveland, Oh ,o 44118 Founded 1904 FUNDAM\ENTAL - BAPTISTIC - EVANGELISTIC , 1 angeliz1ng tl1e "l<.i11s111e11" of 0L1r orcl i11 Clc,,ela11cl , Ol1io Sao Paulo ancl l~ io cJc Jar1ciro, 13razil 01-r·1CJ,. f~ ., : - 1\1r. eorge B. Dunn, J>reside11t r. Ral1,l1 JI. Stoll, , lice JJresi,1ent 1,e,. raid \l. n1elser, S,11,eri,1te,1,le11t J e,, A. Paul "J idJ>a11, Asst. S,,1,t. l I 1-1 .. r• [~ 1 1-S: l)r. Jolin , . I~aJvo, Cleveland, Ol1io llev. l aul \ larl Gorder, J\tlonta , Ga. Rev. \ laugl1r1 1)rt111ger, Sot1th 11e11cl, 111<.l. I{ v. r loyd l\lo1ris, Flint, lich. J)1. RoberL l{etcha111, l1icago, 111 . 1 e\. Joel I ette11ring, ~t. Paul, li1111. f{ , . lei, in \/ J~fa,,v, I t111ti11gton, \:\7, \ la. J)r. J"'r, nk . rr·orrev, 1 a Rato11, Fla. J)r J( 1111 :.1)1 lasteller, J Iaddo11 I Its., 1 ... J. V'rHe for your FREE copy of "Tt e Trum eter for Israel' ' our qu rt rly magazine devoted to 1he ork of Je1J1.1sh evangelism. TH OH10 I D P ND NT BAPTIST Dr. Jack R. Riggs twelve tribe and the twelve apo tie are alluded to in the de cription. (Rev. 21 : 12, 14) The in cription of the names from the e two group i ap– parently intended to indicate that the citizenry will be compri ed of I rael– ites and the cht1rch, or aint of the pre ent age. In line ~ ith thi i the explanation of the author of Hebrew a~ to the inhabitant of thi expected city. He ha written in Hebrev. 12:22-24: But ye are come into n1ount Sion, and unto the cit) of the li ving God. the hea\enly Jeru alen1, and to an innumerable co·rnpan) of angel . To the general as embl) and cht1rch of the fir tborn, \.\ hich are \liritten in hea\en, and to God the Judge f all. and to the piric of ju t n1en n1ade perfe t, and to Je u the mediator of the ne\\ covenant, anti to the blood f sprink.ling. that ,pedl-..eth better thing th,1n thdt f r\bel. The phra,e ..chur h of the fir t– born" \\ ot1l(i clcc.1rl~ 1 ~1l11nt to the ch ti re h of ( hr 1 t a He 1 t he f 1 , t l1or11 c1r11ong n1any brethr~n l R 111. 8.29), the F11\tl1t)tn l)t all creation (( ' u l. I : I 5 ) . a r1 li the 1 1 r ') t l1 or 11 fr ) n1 t}1e tiC .. lli (( ( I. 1.1~) 'lhc ·· pirits '- [ ju t 111e11 111 .. t i\! pert 't' \\ t1ld rt:f t ::r to Old I ~')ta111c11t .. 11111 ~ and 111 rt) 1· )f the t11bulati 111 i eri d. It t til i the11 l c; 011 lL1d '-I 1l1at t 11 i t I \ \ i 11 l j 11 h ·1 l i l t: t b l Jc~lts (' l1rist, t111f·1ll l ht1r 11, th r le 111 I ·111gt: ls, f tl1 1 t:sta111 nt a11 I r ~t1rr tel , int t 11 t r i l t 1 l n t i 11 J c r i d. the I i f I l1e l1ur 11 ,, 111 :\ 111ingl 11,1\ th 11 111in nt I l,1 c: c1111 ng tl1 1 l ~111e l I 11 t }1 e ' I l ,l s t h 11 d Jl l [ t ll ' I t I tl1.ll 1111e a tl1at f tl1e hu1 ·11, 111 l)11d ~ uf tl1e l d111l. l Re, _ t. ) I h ·l11c1 l1c11, 't .llr1z 11011 f tl1 11 ,, J .lll llSc. I ;)111 ,, 111 b 11 :i.1 adoc 11111e11t s tl1 ··tl11 J·, tl1c I '1111b' , 1f ,, AUGU , 1969 s