The City of God (Part 2)

 At Philadelphia Apostolic Presbyterian, we believe in object lessons & acts of inductive and intuitive prophecy. For those to whom these terms are brand new, inductive prophecy is answer to witchcraft & divination.  Ezekiel’s sign acts, the liturgical feasts, & baptism & the Lord’s Supper / Fellowship Meals are acts of inductive prophecy, eg prophetic activity that involves objects.  Intuitive prophecy is prophetic activity that deploys oral & written communication.   

A few years ago, we participated in Vacation Bible School in our community & we built constructs like the one in the photograph here to teach people about the City of God  about which we read in the Book of Revelation. This is God’s City, & we are its people.  

Revelation 21:10–27 (ESV): And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11 having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 

15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal. 17 He also measured its wall, 144 cubits by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. 18 The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19 The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20 the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. 

22 And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. 23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, 25 and its gates will never be shut by day—and there will be no night there. 26 They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. 27 But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 

What is purpose of the created order? According to Romans 1:18 - 32, it is to testify to God’s existence, attributes, & authority.  

Romans 1:20 (ESV): For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 

 When people supplanted God’s existence, attributes, & authority, they crafted idols for themselves that looked like people & animals,  (Romans 1:21 - 23).  They turned to themselves & the created order as the epistemic warrant for worship & ethics, & used their own image & attributes in to underwrite the way they lived. 

The City of God is God’s temple; where God’s image - not our own or that of any created being or object, is to serve as the epistemic warrant for what we believe (orthodoxy) & how we live (orthopraxy). 

It is our belief that God uses art, when not used as an idol, to teach us about who God is, educating us about His image & attributes, reminding us that we are created in His image, & predestined to be conformed to the His image by way of being conformed by His grace & for His glory, to the image of His Son. 

Romans 8:29–30 (ESV): For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers. 30 And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified. 

This photograph is a construct that we put together as a teaching tool.  The people we taught learned a lot. We hope & pray that you will examine it in light of God’s Word & His existence, attributes, & authority.  God bless you all, & go & sin no more.