John Reece
March 8th 2003, 02:25 PM
In Jesus' conversation with the woman at Jacob’s well in Samaria, the woman said to him, “Sir, I perceive that you are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, but you [plural in Greek, meaning the Jews rather than Jesus as an individual] say that in Jerusalem is the place where people ought to worship." Jesus replied, "Woman, believe me, the hour is coming when neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem will you worship the Father. You worship what you do not know; we worship what we know, for salvation is of the Jews. But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for the Father is seeking such to worship him." (John 4:19-24)
Paul wrote to the Galatians (4:24-25), "Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present [Old Covenant/pre-AD 70] Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother."
In Hebrew 12:22 we read, "But you have come [a present reality in the generation AD 30-70] to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering…"
--Old Covenant Jerusalem
_______________________|AD 70
------------------------New Covenant Jerusalem
---------------AD 30 |______________________
In Revelation 21 we read, "And I saw the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (verse 2)… "The city lies foursquare; its length the same as its width. And He measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia [about 1,380 miles (!)]. Its length and width and height were equal…" (verse 16) And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (verse 22)
In Revelation 3:12 we read, "To the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from God out of heaven, and my own new name."
The scriptures of the New Testament refer to two, and only two, cities named Jerusalem: the Old Covenant Jerusalem and the New Covenant Jerusalem. The former was destroyed in AD 70. The latter is a present reality.
Paul wrote to the Galatians (4:24-25), "Now this may be interpreted allegorically: these women are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to slavery; she is Hagar. Now Hagar is Mount Sinai in Arabia; she corresponds to the present [Old Covenant/pre-AD 70] Jerusalem, for she is in slavery with her children. But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother."
In Hebrew 12:22 we read, "But you have come [a present reality in the generation AD 30-70] to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering…"
--Old Covenant Jerusalem
_______________________|AD 70
------------------------New Covenant Jerusalem
---------------AD 30 |______________________
In Revelation 21 we read, "And I saw the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God" (verse 2)… "The city lies foursquare; its length the same as its width. And He measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia [about 1,380 miles (!)]. Its length and width and height were equal…" (verse 16) And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (verse 22)
In Revelation 3:12 we read, "To the one who conquers, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God. Never shall he go out of it, and I will write on him the name of the city of my God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down from God out of heaven, and my own new name."
The scriptures of the New Testament refer to two, and only two, cities named Jerusalem: the Old Covenant Jerusalem and the New Covenant Jerusalem. The former was destroyed in AD 70. The latter is a present reality.