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NOTES
The writer of Hebrews says that God has designed and built a city in heaven for Christians. So should Christians long for heaven as their homeland?
Hebrews chapter eleven describes that God’s people in the past looked to a city designed and built by God, but not found in this life. The world as we now know it isn’t our true homeland. Jesus followers counted themselves as strangers and exiles without a country on the earth. Their entry into their new country, their new homeland, would not fully occur until after they die. God makes that promise to those who follow Jesus. He promises a country far better in literally every way than anything that can be experienced in this life. That homeland is called a heavenly city. That chapter says that God is proud to be called the God of those who look to him to provide that city. In fact, it’s already prepared.
This chapter emphasizes that Christians won’t receive in this life all that God promises. Christians must endure persecution and roam as strangers on earth until Christ’s return.
Hebrews twelve describes the nature of that promised city. The writer calls it Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. He uses this imagery based on God’s promises in the Old Testament. In the past, God inhabited Mount Zion. Where did you want to find God on earth? Mount Zion. God met his people there. God made himself known there. God chose Jerusalem to be his headquarters and in Jerusalem, Mount Zion, to be his abode. Heaven appeared at Mount Zion. But there is a new Mount Zion, a new city of the living God, a new Jerusalem. The old Mount Zion and the Old Jerusalem were mere shadows of the heavenly realities. But the substance of the new depends on Jesus and it’s reality is sure because he’s God. Now what this. The writer uses the perfect, past tense to tell his Christian readers that they have already come to this new city. No more waiting. How so? Through their faith in Christ. The heavenly city centers around Jesus. Christ is the designer, builder, sustainer, keeper, and leader. He’s the entry point and the final destination. Enjoying a foretaste of that heavenly city begins now in Jesus.
Based on these amazing truths, the writer goes on in 13:14 to say, “For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come.” For now you will not experience the full blessing of heaven on earth. So the writer says to stop trying. An eternal city awaits those who want it. A lasting city awaits those who trust Christ and follow him.
So here’s the question. Do these three chapters teach us to live for heaven? In a way, yes. But not how you’re thinking. The earth as it is won’t last. The earth’s corruption is repulsive to God and His followers. The earth’s curse painful for all the bear. So we long for heaven’s city. But heaven’s city will not always be so distant and disconnected from the earth. That city will one day pour out of heaven and it will reside on the earth. Right now, the earth’s capital isn’t actually on the earth. But the new Jerusalem will flow from heaven to earth one day in the future. So Christian’s right now must think of themselves as ambassadors of that city. Christians embrace and embody the values of that city. In part, Christians enjoy all the benefits of that city. In other words, Christ-followers in part receive and reflect in the present all the good things God promises for the future.