CHAPTER 32
The Heavenly Jerusalem
The Dwelling of God, the Seat of the Royal Priesthood, and the Center of the Coming Ages
Introduction
The City, the Mountain, the Paradise, and the Father’s House
From the beginning, God’s purpose has been clear: to raise priestly sons and daughters and dwell with them in a sanctuary that unites heaven and earth. From this sanctuary, His life and rule extend to all creation. Scripture gives this sanctuary many names. These do not describe where all restored people dwell, but the innermost place of God’s presence. It is the Father’s house and the city for His glorified sons and daughters. From here, God blesses and governs the renewed creation and its restored nations. This sanctuary is called the Third Heaven and the highest heaven. It is also called Paradise, recalling Eden as the first earthly delight. Other scriptural names include the holy mountain of God, Mount Zion, the city of the great King, the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the Jerusalem above. Scripture also calls it a heavenly country, a homeland with a city whose founder and builder is God. It is described as the Father’s house with many dwelling places, the throne of God, and the true tabernacle “not of this creation.”
These are not separate locations but aspects of the Heavenly Jerusalem: the garden-city on God’s holy mountain, in the realm called the Third Heaven. In this chapter, we will see how the Torah, the Prophets, the Lord Jesus, and the Apostles describe this reality with different names and images. We will examine the city in three stages. First, it currently exists in the Third Heaven, serving as the divine sanctuary of God’s immediate presence. Second, it is revealed as the throne-city over the earth during the Seventh Day, exercising judicial and regal authority. Finally, the mountain of the LORD’s house is anchored as the center of the renewed earth in the Eighth Day, uniting heaven and earth in perfect harmony. We will also see how Eden, Sinai, and the tabernacle foreshadow this final holy mountain, showing that biblical names for God’s dwelling all point to one reality: the ultimate fulfillment of God’s presence among His people.
Torah Foundations and Eden as the First Paradise
The Torah first reveals the heavenly pattern when the LORD shows Moses the design for the tabernacle. The Lord commands, “According to all that I show you, that is, the pattern of the tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings, just so you shall make it” (Exodus 25:9). Moses is not told to invent a design. Instead, he is shown a pattern on the mountain and told to copy it. Later, the Lord says, “See to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain” (Exodus 25:40). The earthly tent and its furniture are copies and shadows of a higher sanctuary in heaven.
This higher sanctuary is what Scripture calls the heaven of heavens, or Third Heaven. These terms refer to the highest level of heaven, the ultimate dwelling of God beyond the sky and the stars. Here, God reveals His glory to the heavenly host (1 Kings 8:27; 2 Corinthians 12:2). In the Torah, heaven is God’s dwelling: “Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel” (Deuteronomy 26:15). The “holy habitation” is the true sanctuary in the highest heaven. The tabernacle of Moses is its earthly image. In that heavenly realm stands the true tabernacle—the one the Lord built, not man. This is the perfect sanctuary God made in heaven, where He rules from His throne, meets with His council, and receives worship (Hebrews 8:2–3).
The Torah presents Eden as the first glimpse of Paradise on earth. God creates a garden in Eden, in the east, and places the man He formed there (Genesis 2:8). A river flows out of Eden to water the garden, then splits into four branches that reach other lands (Genesis 2:10–14). Here, “Eden” refers to the extensive region where the river begins, while “the garden” is a distinct, smaller area within Eden, specially planted by God as Paradise. Water flows from Eden, into the garden, and then outward to the rest of the earth. God walks in the garden. Adam and Eve tend and protect this sacred garden, which contains both animals and trees. Later, Ezekiel calls it “Eden, the garden of God” and describes the anointed cherub “on the holy mountain of God” (Ezekiel 28:13–14), combining the concepts of the garden and the mountain into one sanctuary. In Ezekiel, “Eden, the garden of God” does not refer to the earthly garden of this creation, but instead to heavenly Paradise—Eden in Genesis is its earthly image. In the Greek Old Testament (Septuagint), this phrase is translated as “the paradise of God” (ἐν τῇ τρυφῇ τοῦ παραδείσου τοῦ θεοῦ, Ezekiel 28:13 LXX), making explicit that the garden of God is His Paradise.
“Eden” and “the garden” are distinct: Eden is the broader region, the highland where the river starts. The garden, planted in Eden in the east, is the enclosed Paradise where God walks, Adam and Eve serve, and the tree of life stands. Together, they symbolize God’s heavenly Paradise on His holy mountain. The river flows from Eden, through the garden, to other lands. This design shadows the three-part structure of the heavenly house: the heaven of heavens, with God’s innermost presence in His inner sanctuary, the surrounding holy realm in the city of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and the outer realm, the earth as its outer court and footstool, revealing what Eden and its garden displayed in shadow.
The Tree of Life and the Way Through Judgment
In the midst of the garden stood the tree of life (Genesis 2:9). The tree of life is not merely a botanical feature; it is a Torah shadow whose substance is Christ, “the resurrection and the life” (John 11:25). What the tree of life foreshadowed, Adam never attained. He was mortal, formed from dust, animated by divine breath, but not yet clothed with the incorruptible life that belongs to the ages to come. The tree of life in Eden pointed forward to the life of God that would one day be fully accessible through Christ in the Heavenly Jerusalem—the celestial incorruptibility of the faithful sons in the resurrection of life, and the terrestrial incorruptibility of the restored nations in the Eighth Day.
When Adam and Eve sinned, God stationed cherubim at the east of the garden with a flaming sword that turned every way “to guard the way to the tree of life” (Genesis 3:24). The way to life was not destroyed; it was guarded. Access was closed to the corrupted state of Adamic flesh, but the flaming sword pointed to a truth that the rest of Scripture would unfold: the way to life passes through judgment. The cherubim who guarded the way in Eden reappear on the lid of the ark of the covenant, overshadowing the mercy seat where the blood of atonement was sprinkled (Exodus 25:18–22). They reappear in Ezekiel’s visions of the glory of God (Ezekiel 1:5–14; 10:1–22). The flaming sword foreshadows the fire of God’s holiness that both excludes and purifies—the same fire that burns on the altar of the tabernacle, that descended on Mount Sinai, and that will burn as the purifying fires of the Seventh Day. Thus, from the very beginning of the Torah, the pattern is set: to reach the life that the tree of life represented—the life of the Heavenly Jerusalem—one must pass through the judgment of God, and only by the blood of atonement and the power of the Spirit can anyone enter.
The River That Flows From the Sanctuary
The river of Eden deserves special attention, because it is one of the most persistent images in Scripture for the life of God flowing from His dwelling to the world. In Genesis 2:10–14, the river goes out from Eden to water the garden and then divides into four heads reaching distant lands—the Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates. The river in Eden was real water in a real garden. Yet, like the tree of life, it is a Torah shadow whose substance is revealed in the New Testament. The source of the river is the place of God’s presence; the river carries the life of that presence outward to the wider world. This design—life flowing from the sanctuary of God to the surrounding creation—is the foundational pattern that Scripture will progressively unfold as a figure of the Spirit of God.
The Psalms take up this image and begin to move it beyond the physical. “There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the midst of her, she shall not be moved” (Psalm 46:4–5). Earthly Jerusalem had no such river; it relied on the Gihon spring and Hezekiah’s tunnel. The river of Psalm 46 belongs to the heavenly reality, not to earthly geography—it is the life of God flowing through His dwelling to gladden His people. Psalm 36 makes the source explicit: “They are abundantly satisfied with the fullness of Your house, and You give them drink from the river of Your pleasures. For with You is the fountain of life; in Your light we see light” (Psalm 36:8–9). The fountain of life and the river of pleasures flow from God Himself—He is the source, and the Heavenly Jerusalem is the sanctuary through which that life reaches creation. When the Lord Jesus later declares, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37–38), and John explains, “But this He spoke concerning the Spirit” (John 7:39). The entire river motif receives its definitive interpretation: the river that will flow from the heavenly sanctuary in the Eighth Day is the Spirit of God flowing from the glorified Christ through His people to the world. This river motif will be traced further when we come to the Prophets and the Lord Jesus, but the Torah establishes the foundational pattern: God dwells in the midst, and from His dwelling the river of His Spirit goes forth to renew creation.
The Tabernacle, the Camp, and the Patriarchal Foreshadowings
The arrangement of Israel around the tabernacle furthers this pattern. The tabernacle is at the camp’s center. The Levites camp nearest, surrounding the tent of meeting. The twelve tribes gather in four ordered groups beyond them (Numbers 2; 3:5–10). God dwells in their midst. His people encamp around Him. The camp takes its form from His presence. Thus, the tabernacle, with its Levites and tribes, pictures the Heavenly Jerusalem: God’s sanctuary at the center, at the summit of His holy mountain; His people in the city spreading over its slopes; and the outer court as His footstool on earth.
The Torah gives further hints of this same pattern in the lives of the patriarchs. Abraham is led to the land of Moriah, where he offers Isaac on the Mount of the LORD, where it is said, “In the Mount of the LORD it shall be provided” (Genesis 22:2, 14). This “Mount of the LORD” is later revealed as Mount Zion in Jerusalem, where God’s earthly sanctuary is built. Jacob, seeing the ladder with angels ascending and descending, names the place Bethel, “house of God,” and says, “this is… the gate of heaven” (Genesis 28:17). This glimpse reveals a city and a sanctuary that join heaven and earth. Deuteronomy repeatedly mentions “the place where the LORD your God chooses to make His name dwell” (Deuteronomy 12:5, 11), pointing to Jerusalem, which is a shadow of the Heavenly Jerusalem. The Torah introduces key elements that Scripture later names. It points to a heavenly sanctuary in the Third Heaven, an earthly Paradise that foreshadows the Paradise of God in heaven, a tree of life whose substance is Christ, a river of life flowing from God’s dwelling, and a guarded way that passes through judgment. The Heavenly Jerusalem is the unveiled form of this pattern—the true city-mountain-Paradise and sanctuary of God.
Prophets’ Vision of the Holy Mountain, Zion, and Jerusalem in the Latter Days
The Prophets expand this pattern using the language of Zion, Jerusalem, and the mountain of the LORD. They describe a city and mountain belonging to God, where He dwells, reigns, and gathers the nations.
Isaiah promises that Zion will be redeemed with justice, and Jerusalem will be called the city of righteousness, the faithful city (Isaiah 1:26–27). Zechariah records the LORD’s words: “I will return to Zion, and dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. Jerusalem shall be called the City of Truth, the Mountain of the LORD of hosts, the Holy Mountain” (Zechariah 8:3). Here mountain and city are joined; Jerusalem is the City of Truth and united at the same time with the Mountain of the LORD, His Holy Mountain.
The Psalms celebrate this reality. “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in His holy mountain. Beautiful in elevation, the joy of the whole earth, is Mount Zion on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Psalm 48:1–2). The holy mountain, Mount Zion, and the city of the great King are three names for the same heavenly reality in which God dwells. The Lord dwells in Zion and is great in Zion; He is high above all the peoples there (Psalm 9:11; 99:2). From this Zion, the psalmist declares, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God will shine forth” (Psalm 50:2).
The Mountain of the LORD’s House and the Nations
Isaiah 2 prophesies about the latter days, “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it” (Isaiah 2:2 ESV). In the Eighth Day, the renewed nations say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.” The explanation follows: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). Mountain of the LORD’s house, Zion, and Jerusalem are bound together as a single center from which law and word go forth. Micah echoes this promise in virtually identical language and adds the pastoral image of the peace that flows from the mountain’s base: “Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken” (Micah 4:4). The mountain is not only the seat of law and word; it is the source of peace and safety for every household beneath its shelter.
The Feast on the Mountain and the Swallowing Up of Death
Isaiah 25 gathers together the mountain, the nations, and the abolition of death in one breathtaking prophecy. “And in this mountain the LORD of hosts will make for all peoples a feast of choice pieces, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of well-refined wines on the lees. And He will destroy on this mountain the surface of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations. He will swallow up death forever, and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces” (Isaiah 25:6–8). The feast is for all peoples; the veil is over all nations; the tears are wiped from all faces. Death itself is abolished—not merely for the faithful, but for every nation. Paul directly cites this prophecy when he declares, “Death is swallowed up in victory” (1 Corinthians 15:54). The mountain of Isaiah 25 is, in the light of the Apostolic witness, the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God (Hebrews 12:22), and the feast upon that mountain is the consummation of the Father’s purpose to gather all things in Christ in the glorious Eighth Day.
The Canopy of Glory Over Zion
Isaiah 4 adds a further detail that connects the Prophetic vision of Zion to the Sinai theophany and to the tabernacle. After speaking of the branch of the LORD and the survivors of Zion who are called holy, the prophet declares, “Then the LORD will create above every dwelling place of Mount Zion, and above her assemblies, a cloud and smoke by day and the shining of a flaming fire by night. For over all the glory there will be a covering” (Isaiah 4:5). The Hebrew word for “covering” here is chuppah (חֻפָּה), a canopy or bridal chamber. The cloud and fire over Sinai find its typological fulfillment over every dwelling and assembly on Heavenly Mount Zion. The glory is no longer confined to the inner sanctuary; it covers the entire mountain. This is the Heavenly Jerusalem in its Eighth Day fullness: a city-mountain where the presence of God, once hidden behind the veil of the Heavenly Tabernacle, now overspreads every dwelling and every assembly on the holy mountain, so that those who dwell there live beneath the canopy of His glory.
The Light of Zion and the Nations
Isaiah 60 expands this vision further, speaking of Zion’s glory as the light to which the nations come. “Arise, shine; for your light has come! And the glory of the LORD is risen upon you. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and deep darkness the people; but the LORD will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you. The Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:1–3). The city becomes a beacon; the nations orient themselves toward it. Isaiah continues, “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory” (Isaiah 60:19). In the Eighth Day, when the Third Heaven stands unveiled over the earth, the Heavenly Jerusalem will shine with the glory of the LORD Himself. The nations coming to that light are the terrestrial immortal humanity of the renewed creation, drawing near to the mountain of the LORD’s house under the radiance of His presence.
The River From the Sanctuary and Living Waters
The Prophets also carry forward the river motif that first appeared in Eden, deepening its spiritual significance. Ezekiel’s temple vision concludes with the image of a river flowing from under the threshold of the temple, heading eastward. The prophet is led through the water as it deepens from ankle-depth to knee-depth, to waist-depth, to a river that cannot be crossed. Along its banks grow trees whose leaves do not wither and whose fruit does not fail, “because their water flows from the sanctuary. Their fruit will be for food, and their leaves for medicine” (Ezekiel 47:1–12). No natural river behaves this way—deepening supernaturally without tributaries, healing the Dead Sea, and producing trees that never fail. The river’s source is the sanctuary, the place of God’s presence, and its effect is life, healing, and fruitfulness wherever it reaches. The trees along the river, bearing fruit for food and leaves for healing, recall the tree of life in Eden and, like it, point to the life of Christ mediated through the Spirit from the Heavenly Jerusalem to the renewed creation. These trees are not a return to the literal garden of Genesis but the prophetic image of the life of God made abundantly available through His sanctuary.
Joel speaks of the same river: “A fountain shall flow from the house of the LORD” (Joel 3:18). Zechariah adds that “in that day… living waters shall flow from Jerusalem, half of them toward the eastern sea and half of them toward the western sea; in both summer and winter it shall occur” (Zechariah 14:8). That the waters flow year-round, defying the natural dry season, confirms that this is no ordinary watercourse. The fountain of life, first pictured in Eden, now flows ceaselessly from Jerusalem to the entire earth. These Prophetic texts together reveal that the Heavenly Jerusalem is not only the dwelling of God but the sanctuary from which the Spirit of God flows to renew creation—the reality toward which Eden’s river pointed from the beginning. Just as the tree of life foreshadowed the incorruptible life found only in Christ, so the river foreshadowed the Spirit of God flowing from the glorified Christ through the heavenly sanctuary to the ends of the earth.
Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the Throne-City
Jeremiah speaks of a time when Jerusalem shall be called the throne of the LORD and all the nations shall be gathered to it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem (Jeremiah 3:17). Ezekiel ends his temple vision with the words, “the name of the city from that day shall be: THE LORD IS THERE” (Ezekiel 48:35). Isaiah 65 declares that in the new heavens and new earth God creates “Jerusalem as a rejoicing, and her people a joy,” and that the voice of weeping shall no longer be heard in her (Isaiah 65:18–19). In these visions, the future city and mountain are not temporary but everlasting. They are the city of righteousness, the mountain of holiness, the place of God’s permanent dwelling and joy.
Isaiah 24 brings the judicial dimension of the mountain into view. After describing the shaking of the earth and the judgment of kings and hosts, the prophet concludes, “Then the moon will be disgraced and the sun ashamed; for the LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously” (Isaiah 24:23). The LORD reigns on Mount Zion, in Jerusalem, before His elders. This is the heavenly court, the throne-city from which God governs the world in judgment during the Seventh Day—a picture that Daniel expands when he sees the Ancient of Days seated, the court assembled, and the books opened (Daniel 7:9–10).
In this way, the Prophets foreshadow what the Apostles later call the heavenly country and the Heavenly Jerusalem. The land of rest, the country of promise, and the city of God are described in earthly terms, but possess unshakable, everlasting qualities that belong to the heavenly realm. The mountain is the seat of the feast and the swallowing up of death; it is covered by the canopy of God’s glory; it shines as the light of the nations; from it the river flows, the Spirit of life to fill the earth; it is the throne of the LORD before His elders; and it is named with the most intimate promise: THE LORD IS THERE.
The Lord Jesus and the Father’s House
When the Lord Jesus comes, He does not replace the hope of Zion and Jerusalem; He reveals its heavenly depth. He speaks of Jerusalem as “the city of the great King” (Matthew 5:35), echoing the Psalms. He calls His disciples the light of the world and says, “A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden” (Matthew 5:14), hinting at a people who will be identified with the city on God’s holy mountain, shining with His light.
On the eve of His suffering, He speaks plainly of the Father’s house. “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:2). The word used for “mansions” means abiding places, dwelling places. The Father’s house is a real household with many prepared dwellings. The Lord continues, “If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also” (John 14:3). He returns to the Father’s house in His ascension; from there He will receive His faithful ones at His appearing. This Father’s house corresponds to the heavenly city, the dwelling place of God, the heart of the heavenly country. In the same discourse, the Lord adds, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (John 14:20). The Father’s house is not merely a location; it is the sphere of mutual indwelling between the Father, the Son, and those who belong to Him. Life in the Heavenly Jerusalem is life in this fellowship—the deepest expression of the communion for which humanity was created (John 17:3).
The Lord also uses the language of Paradise. To the repentant thief, He says, “Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise” (Luke 23:43). This Paradise is the blessed state of the righteous dead in the presence of God; later, the Apostle Paul will speak of being caught up into Paradise in connection with the Third Heaven (2 Corinthians 12:2–4). The Paradise of God is the heavenly Eden, the garden of God, the holy mountain, and the heavenly city where God’s presence is enjoyed. The Lord Jesus is Himself the true substance of what the tree of life in Eden foreshadowed. He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6); He is the resurrection and the life (John 11:25); and when He rises from the tomb in a garden and is mistaken for the gardener (John 20:15), He is revealed as the Last Adam who tends the new creation and brings His people into participation in His own incorruptible life. On the very day He dies, the Lord opens the way back to the Paradise that was closed in Genesis 3.
The Transfiguration and the Glory of the Holy Mountain
The Lord Jesus also grants a preview of the Heavenly Jerusalem’s glory in the Transfiguration. He takes Peter, James, and John up onto a high mountain, “and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2). Moses and Elijah appear in glory and speak with Him about His coming death at Jerusalem (Luke 9:30–31). The Law and the Prophets personified stand by the incarnate Son and bear witness to His suffering and its outcome. A bright cloud overshadows them, and the Father’s voice declares, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!” (Matthew 17:5). The cloud recalls the glory that filled the tabernacle and the temple (Exodus 40:34–35; 1 Kings 8:10–11) and anticipates the canopy of glory that Isaiah saw over every dwelling on Mount Zion (Isaiah 4:5). The three disciples, overwhelmed by the light and the voice, fall on their faces until the Lord touches them and raises them (Matthew 17:6–7).
Peter later calls this event a preview of the parousia. He insists that the apostles did not follow “cunningly devised fables” when they made known “the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” but were “eyewitnesses of His majesty” on “the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16–18). What the three saw for a moment—the Son shining in glory on the holy mountain, with the cloud of the Father’s presence and the voice of His approval—all creation will see when the Son of Man appears at the close of this age. The Transfiguration is therefore a concentrated glimpse of the Heavenly Jerusalem revealed: the glory of the Son, the presence of the Father, the cloud of the sanctuary, the mountain itself, and faithful witnesses standing with Him in the light.
Rivers of Living Water
On the last day of the Feast of Tabernacles, the Lord Jesus stands and cries out, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:37–38). John explains that the Lord spoke of the Holy Spirit, who had not yet been given because the Lord Jesus was not yet glorified (John 7:39). This is the fulfillment of the river motif. The river that once flowed from Eden, the river that gladdens the city of God (Psalm 46:4–5), the living waters that flow from Jerusalem (Zechariah 14:8), and the river that deepens from the threshold of the temple in Ezekiel 47—all find their living reality in the Spirit of Christ flowing from the Heavenly Jerusalem to the world. The source of the river is not a geographical spring but the glorified Lord Jesus Himself, and the river flows through those who believe in Him. In the Eighth Day, this river will flow without hindrance from the Heavenly Jerusalem through the Royal Priesthood and outward to the nations of the renewed earth, carrying the life and presence of God to every corner of the restored creation.
Heavenly Jerusalem, Third Heaven, and the Heavenly Country
The Apostolic witness names this reality directly. Paul speaks of a man in Christ who was “caught up to the third heaven” and “caught up into Paradise” (2 Corinthians 12:2–4). Third Heaven and Paradise are two names for the same realm: the highest created heaven, where the Paradise of God is, beyond the visible sky and the starry firmament. To better understand this biblical cosmology, the first heaven refers to our atmosphere, the second heaven is where the sun, moon, and stars are set in the firmament, and the third heaven refers to a spiritual realm beyond. This is the heaven of heavens, which cannot contain God in His fullness (1 Kings 8:27), yet is the created realm where He manifests His presence and glory to angels and saints.
Hebrews identifies the city at the heart of this realm. Believers “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). Mount Zion and the heavenly Jerusalem are united. This city is populated by an innumerable company of angels, by the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, and by the spirits of just men made perfect. It is the place of God, the Judge of all, and of Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant (Hebrews 12:22–24). This is the city of God, the city of the great King, now understood as the heavenly Jerusalem on the holy mountain of God in the Third Heaven.
The same Epistle describes the city as the heart of a heavenly country. Abraham “waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). The patriarchs “desire a better, that is, a heavenly country. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for He has prepared a city for them” (Hebrews 11:16). The heavenly country is the homeland of the saints, the city of God with foundations. Later, believers are told, “Here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). That city is the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
Paul confirms this when he speaks of “Jerusalem above,” which “is free, which is the mother of us all” (Galatians 4:26). The earthly Jerusalem in its present form is in bondage with her children; the Jerusalem above is the true mother-city of the faithful. The believers’ citizenship is in heaven (Philippians 3:20). They are already, in spirit, joined to the heavenly country and its city; they are strangers and pilgrims on the earth because their true homeland and city lie above.
The True Tabernacle and the True Temple
Hebrews ties the Heavenly Jerusalem to the true sanctuary—and it does so consistently in the language of the tabernacle, not the temple. “We have such a High Priest, who is seated at the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens, a Minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man” (Hebrews 8:1–2). This tabernacle is “not made with hands, that is, not of this creation” (Hebrews 9:11). Christ has entered “into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us” (Hebrews 9:24). The Heavenly Jerusalem is the city of this true tabernacle, the place of the throne of God, the heavenly sanctuary in the Third Heaven. It is the Father’s house with many dwelling places; it is the city with foundations at the heart of the heavenly country. The earthly tabernacle of Moses was patterned after this heavenly reality (Exodus 25:9, 40); Hebrews never applies temple language to the Heavenly Jerusalem itself. The city is the tabernacle—the sanctuary where Christ ministers as High Priest, where the angelic host worships, and where the faithful will dwell as the Royal Priesthood in the ages to come.
Yet the Apostles also reveal a distinct but coordinated reality: the True Temple of God. This Temple is not a building in the Heavenly Jerusalem but a living Body — Christ the Head and the faithful as His members. The Lord Jesus spoke of His own body as the temple: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19; cf. 2:21). Paul uses the Greek word naos (ναός), the inner sanctuary, to describe what believers are being built into: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). He tells the Ephesians that believers are “fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit” (Ephesians 2:19–22). Peter writes that believers, “as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:4–5). Paul identifies this corporate reality as “the Christ” — Head and Body together: “For as the body is one and has many members, but all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ” (1 Corinthians 12:12).
These two realities—the Heavenly Tabernacle and the True Temple—are distinct but inseparable. The Heavenly Jerusalem is the city-tabernacle, the heavenly sanctuary where God’s throne stands and where Christ ministers. The True Temple is Christ and His Body, the corporate naos, the living dwelling place of God in the Spirit. The faithful dwell in the Heavenly Jerusalem as its citizens and Royal Priesthood; they are the Temple of God through whom the Father and the Son—who transcend all created heavens—manifest Their presence, Their glory, and Their governance to every realm of creation. This present age is the quarry from which living stones are being cut and prepared. They are being shaped by the Father’s discipline, the Spirit’s sanctifying work, and the trials of this present evil age. In the resurrection of life, they will be placed in the Heavenly Jerusalem as the Royal Priesthood and will together constitute the completed Temple—the vessel through which the fullness of God, concealed from before the ages, is at last revealed to the angelic host above and to the nations below. The building is not yet finished; the stones are still being shaped. But the foundation is laid, the cornerstone is set, and the building is growing toward its completion.
The Heavenly City Revealed Over an Earth in Judgment
At the close of this age, the present heavens—the first and second heaven, the visible sky, and the created firmament—will be shaken and removed. The writer of Hebrews explains this shaking: “Yet once more I shake not only the earth, but also heaven,” and adds, “Now this, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:26–27). The things that can be shaken—the created firmament, the corrupted heavens of this present age—will be removed so that the unshakable kingdom may stand revealed. The Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God, is the heart of that unshakable kingdom. “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. For our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:28–29). The unshakable city is inseparable from the consuming fire; the Heavenly Jerusalem stands as the seat of holiness and judgment alike.
The Lord Jesus, now seated at the right hand of the Majesty in the heavens, will be revealed, and with His appearing, the firmament that now conceals the Third Heaven will be dissolved. The heaven of heavens, with the Heavenly Jerusalem, will be unveiled over the earth. Paul writes that the Lord Jesus will be “revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and that He will be “glorified in His saints and admired among all those who believe” on that Day (2 Thessalonians 1:7–8, 10). The unveiling of the Heavenly Jerusalem is both the glorification of the faithful and the commencement of judgment upon the earth.
At His voice, all who are in the graves will come forth. Those who are counted worthy of that age and the resurrection from the dead will be raised in celestial bodies, like the Lord’s own glorious body (Luke 20:35–36; Philippians 3:21). They will be caught up to meet Him in the air and remain with Him until every enemy is placed beneath His feet and the tares are bound. Then, together with their Lord, they will enter the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Father’s house, the city of the living God. There they will stand before the throne of God in the heavenly sanctuary, before Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and be openly acknowledged as sons and daughters. They will be established as the Royal Priesthood in the inner courts of the true tabernacle.
Those who come forth to the resurrection of judgment—unfaithful believers and the ungodly—will remain upon the earth in mortal bodies, under the unveiled presence of God’s holiness. With the firmament removed, the earth as the outer court of God’s cosmic sanctuary becomes Gehenna, the place of corrective judgment and burning. The Heavenly Jerusalem stands above as the throne-city and court of God. From that city, Christ and the faithful sons share in the judgment of angels and men (1 Corinthians 6:2–3). Daniel foresaw this court: “I watched till thrones were put in place, and the Ancient of Days was seated… The court was seated, and the books were opened” (Daniel 7:9–10). Isaiah saw the same: “The LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem and before His elders, gloriously” (Isaiah 24:23). This is the Seventh Day, the sabbath age in which the heavenly sanctuary exercises its judicial function over an earth in discipline, preparing creation for the Eighth Day.
The Heavenly Jerusalem in the Eighth Day
When the Seventh Day has completed its work, when every enemy has been put under Christ’s feet and death itself has been abolished, God will bring forth new heavens and a new earth in which righteousness dwells (1 Corinthians 15:24–26; 2 Peter 3:13). In this Eighth Day, the Heavenly Jerusalem takes its permanent place as the mountain of the LORD’s house in the midst of the renewed creation.
Isaiah’s prophecy then reaches its full meaning. “It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be lifted up above the hills; and all the nations shall flow to it” (Isaiah 2:2 ESV). This mountain is named as Zion and Jerusalem: “For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:3). In the light of the New Testament, this mountain of the LORD’s house is the Heavenly Mount Zion, the city of the living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). The same city that now stands in the Third Heaven as the heart of the heavenly country is, in the Eighth Day, firmly established as the highest of the mountains of the renewed earth. There is no other mountain that spans the renewed earth and the Third Heaven; this mountain alone is lifted up above the hills.
In the Eighth Day, the Heavenly Jerusalem is no longer a hidden heaven overseeing the world. It stands as God’s holy mountain at the center of the renewed creation. This mountain extends from the renewed earth, His footstool, up into the Third Heaven, where His throne and inner sanctuary are. At its lower reaches, where the mountain meets the renewed earth, creatures live under its peace: animals no longer prey on one another, and the nations walk in His ways and instruction. As one ascends this mountain, there is ever-increasing nearness to the sanctuary, until at the summit one comes to the inner sanctuary of the Heavenly Jerusalem where God dwells with His Royal Priesthood.
When Isaiah declares, “They shall not hurt nor destroy in all My holy mountain,” and adds, “for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea” (Isaiah 11:9; cf. 65:25), he is describing this single, cosmic mountain. The peaceful animal world of Isaiah 11 and 65 is not outside the holy mountain but within its lower realm, where the mountain touches the renewed earth. The earth is full of the knowledge of the LORD because the holy mountain fills the world with His presence and rule. The Garden of Eden was the first picture of such a place. As we mentioned before, God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, set on a height from which a river went out and divided into four heads to water the earth; there He walked among the trees, placed humanity in the midst of animals and fruit-bearing trees, and commissioned them to tend and guard His sanctuary-garden. Ezekiel speaks of “Eden, the garden of God” and places the anointed cherub “on the holy mountain of God” (Ezekiel 28:13–14), joining garden and mountain into a single sanctuary of God’s presence. Eden is therefore presented in Scripture as God’s own garden-sanctuary on His mountain, a meeting place of heaven and earth that foreshadows God’s holy mountain.
Mount Sinai, with the people at the foot, the elders partway up, and Moses alone at the summit, displayed the same graded approach to God on His mountain. The tabernacle repeated the pattern in architectural form: inner sanctuary, holy place, outer courts, and the encampment of Israel. In the Eighth Day, these patterns converge in the Heavenly Jerusalem as the final city-mountain-Paradise of God, whose base is in the renewed earth and whose heights are in the Third Heaven. The heavenly country and its capital city are now openly joined to the renewed creation; the Father’s house, with its many dwelling places, stands visible as the center of the renewed earth.
The Feast, the River, and the Light of the Eighth Day
On that mountain, the feast of Isaiah 25 is spread for all peoples. The covering cast over all nations is destroyed; the veil that darkened the earth is removed; death is swallowed up forever; and the Lord GOD wipes away tears from all faces (Isaiah 25:6–8). The river of life, foreshadowed in Eden and traced through the Prophets, flows without hindrance from the sanctuary in the Heavenly Jerusalem outward to the nations. Ezekiel’s river, deepening as it goes and bringing life and healing wherever it reaches (Ezekiel 47:1–12), finds its complete fulfillment in the Spirit of God flowing from the glorified Christ through the Royal Priesthood to the renewed creation. The living waters of Zechariah 14:8, going out year-round from Jerusalem to every sea, describe the same reality. The river that the Lord Jesus spoke of—”out of his heart will flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38)—is the Spirit of God, and in the Eighth Day the Spirit flows from the glorified Christ through the heavenly sanctuary and outward to every corner of the renewed earth. The river in Eden was real water in a real garden, but what it foreshadowed is immeasurably greater: the Holy Spirit carrying the life, presence, and knowledge of God to every nation, so that the knowledge of the LORD fills the earth as the waters cover the sea (Isaiah 11:9).
The light of the Eighth Day city is the LORD Himself. “The sun shall no longer be your light by day, nor for brightness shall the moon give light to you; but the LORD will be to you an everlasting light, and your God your glory” (Isaiah 60:19). The Heavenly Jerusalem shines with the radiance of God’s presence. The canopy of cloud by day and fire by night that Isaiah 4 saw over every dwelling on Mount Zion now covers the entire mountain, from its terrestrial base to its celestial summit. What was once confined to the tabernacle’s inner sanctuary, veiled by curtain and guarded by cherubim, is in the Eighth Day spread over the mountain-city.
Priesthood and the Nations Under the Heavenly City
When the holy mountain is seen as a single structure extending from earth to the Third Heaven, the roles of the priesthood and the nations become clear. God’s purpose has always been to form a people who are a kingdom of priests, a Royal Priesthood who stand near to Him and mediate His life to creation. In the Eighth Day, this purpose is fulfilled in a multi-layered order of service centered on the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the great King, and the heart of the heavenly country.
At the summit of the mountain, in the inner sanctuary of the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Royal Priesthood serves. These are the faithful who shared in the resurrection of life at Christ’s appearing and were conformed to His glorious body. They are the firstborn sons and daughters—those who yielded to the Father’s formation, endured His discipline, walked by the Spirit, and were counted worthy of the firstborn inheritance. They dwell in celestial glory in the city of the living God. They see God; they serve Him in the true Heavenly Tabernacle; they share in His government over all things. Their priesthood is not symbolic but real participation in the worship and rule that issues from the throne of God in the heavenly sanctuary. As living stones, they have been built together into the holy temple of the Lord (Ephesians 2:21–22; 1 Peter 2:4–5), and their corporate life constitutes the dwelling place of God in the Spirit. The prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus (Philippians 3:14) is not merely a personal reward; it is entrance into this priestly city and participation in this corporate temple made from the “living stones” shaped by the Father.
At the base of the heavenly mountain, on the renewed earth, stands the outer-court priesthood. These are the formerly unfaithful believers who emerged from the resurrection of judgment and were purified through the fires of Gehenna. In the end, they are raised into terrestrial immortality and placed as priests among the nations. They correspond to the Levites encamped around the earthly tabernacle. In Numbers 3:5–10, the Levites are instructed in their unique role near the tabernacle, with duties distinct from those of the broader Israelite community. Here, they receive instruction and light from the Heavenly Jerusalem; they make known the law and word that go forth from Zion; they oversee the worship and ordering of the nations at the foot of the holy mountain. Like the Levites who were set apart for tasks described in Numbers 8:19, the outer-court priesthood serves at the base of the mountain, mirroring the principles of service and holiness seen in Ezekiel 44:10–14, where those once faithless are assigned lesser roles but are not cast out entirely. They did not attain the firstborn inheritance; they forfeited the celestial portion through unfaithfulness in this present age. Yet the Father’s mercy restores them to a true and honored service, and in the Eighth Day they mediate the light of the heavenly city to the nations.
Beyond them dwell the restored nations themselves, the great multitude of terrestrial immortal humanity brought into peace and righteousness in the Eighth Day. They inhabit the renewed earth under the light of the Heavenly Jerusalem. They come up, saying, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob” (Isaiah 2:3). They are taught His ways and walk in His paths. They sit under their vines and fig trees, with none to make them afraid (Micah 4:4). They are the family of God spread across the heavenly country’s footstool, looking toward the holy mountain and its city as their center.
In this ordered arrangement, the holy mountain-city is one; the roles are distinct; the communion is real. The Royal Priesthood at the summit, the terrestrial priesthood at the base, and the nations in the surrounding earth all share in the life of the mountain of the LORD’s house. Each order draws from the presence of God and, in its own measure, reflects His likeness within the realm entrusted to it. The Heavenly Jerusalem is thus not only the dwelling of God but the living hub of worship, service, and fellowship for all the restored creation.
Walking Now as Citizens of the Heavenly Jerusalem
The hope of the Heavenly Jerusalem is not only a matter for the Eighth Day; it shapes the believer’s present walk. The Apostles teach that, in spirit, believers already belong to that city, that country, and that house, and should live accordingly.
Paul tells the Philippians, “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Philippians 3:20). Believers are to understand themselves as citizens of the heavenly country and its city, not of the passing world system of this present evil age. Their true commonwealth is the Heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above, who is the mother of the believers of Christ. This heavenly citizenship should govern their values, loyalties, and conduct even while they walk on the earth. Paul tells the Colossians the same truth from a different angle: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory” (Colossians 3:1–4). The life that belongs to the Heavenly Jerusalem is hidden in Christ. The call to set one’s mind on things above is therefore not escapism but realism—it is the orientation of a citizen toward the city and country to which he truly belongs.
Paul also speaks of the believer’s present body as a tent and the heavenly dwelling as a building from God. For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, of the age, in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our habitation which is from heaven” (2 Corinthians 5:1–2 literal, waiting to be revealed in the resurrection in the Age to Come). The groaning is not despair but longing—the longing of citizens who know their true home is being prepared and who feel the inadequacy of the present tent in comparison with the heavenly habitation from God. The Spirit Himself is the guarantee: “Now He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who also has given us the Spirit as a guarantee” (2 Corinthians 5:5). The Spirit within the believer is the down payment of the heavenly inheritance, the first taste of the river of life that will flow without measure in the Eighth Day.
Hebrews says that believers “have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem” (Hebrews 12:22). Though they still live as pilgrims in this present age, in worship they approach the assembly of the Heavenly Jerusalem. Their names are written there; they are joined to the church of the firstborn and in spirit to the departed brethren who are the spirits of just men made perfect. They already belong to the Father’s house and the true tabernacle. The exhortations that follow—to lay aside every weight, to endure discipline as sons, to pursue peace and holiness—are all framed by this reality. The way they run the race now is shaped by the city and country they seek. The writer urges, “Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God” (Hebrews 12:1–2). The joy set before the Lord Jesus was the joy of the Father’s house, the throne, and the city; and that same joy is set before every faithful believer who follows in His steps.
The same Epistle says, “For here we have no continuing city, but we seek the one to come” (Hebrews 13:14). Earthly cities are transient; believers are called to go outside the camp, bearing Christ’s reproach, because their eyes are on the city with foundations and the heavenly country prepared for them. They are being trained for life in the Father’s house, for service in the true tabernacle, for citizenship in the Heavenly Jerusalem on the holy mountain of God.
To live as a citizen of that city now is to live as a pilgrim whose true homeland is above, as a priest in training, and as a son or daughter being prepared for the Father’s house. It means allowing the law and word that will go forth from Zion in the Eighth Day to already guide one’s thoughts, desires, and actions. It is to walk by faith in the unseen Paradise, the mountain, the city, and the house that will soon be revealed above all the mountains of the earth.
Conclusion
The Dwelling of God With His People in the Ages to Come
When the strands of Scripture are gathered, the picture of the Heavenly Jerusalem stands forth with clarity. The Torah shows a heavenly pattern revealed to Moses, a tabernacle in the midst of a camp, and an Edenic garden-Paradise on a height from which life flows to the world. It places the tree of life in the midst of the garden and stations cherubim with a flaming sword to guard the way—foreshadowing the truth that the way to life passes through judgment and that the substance of the tree of life is Christ Himself. A river flows from Eden to the garden and outward to the earth, anticipating the river of life that flows from the sanctuary of God. The Prophets speak of a future Zion and Jerusalem that will be the city of righteousness, the mountain of the LORD, the city called “THE LORD IS THERE.” They see a feast on the mountain where death is swallowed up forever, a canopy of glory over every dwelling, the nations coming to Zion’s light. The Lord Jesus speaks of His Father’s house with many dwelling places, of Paradise, of the city set on a hill, and of the kingdom that will come in visible glory. He reveals Himself as the true substance of the tree of life, cries out that rivers of living water will flow from those who believe in Him, and on the mountain of the Transfiguration displays the glory that will be shared by all the faithful at His appearing. The Apostles reveal the Third Heaven and Paradise, Mount Zion and the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, the Jerusalem above who is our mother, the heavenly country and the city with foundations, the throne of God and the true tabernacle not of this creation. They speak of believers being built together as living stones into a holy temple and a spiritual house, of a building from God not made with hands, and of an unshakable kingdom that remains when all that can be shaken has been removed.
These are not different hopes. They converge in one holy reality: the Heavenly Jerusalem, the garden-city on the holy mountain of God in the Third Heaven, the Paradise of God, the city of the great King, the Father’s house at the heart of the heavenly country, the place of the throne, and the true sanctuary. In the Seventh Day, this Heavenly Jerusalem is unveiled over an earth in judgment as the throne-city of God and the seat of the Royal Priesthood. In the Eighth Day, the same city stands firmly established as the highest of all the mountains of the renewed earth, its base in the renewed creation, its heights in the immediate presence of God. Animals live in peace within its lower realms; priests serve at its foot and in its heights; nations ascend to its courts; the Spirit of life flows from the sanctuary to the ends of the earth; the light of the LORD fills the city; the feast is spread for all peoples; and God Himself rejoices in His city and in His people.
Thus, the story of the ages does not end in abstraction but in a concrete, many-faceted reality: a Third Heaven and heaven of heavens; a Paradise of God; a holy mountain; a city with foundations; a heavenly country; a Father’s house; a throne and true tabernacle; and a renewed earth beneath an unveiled heaven, illuminated by the glory of the LORD, and filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea. All these names finally describe one place where God has chosen to dwell with His people and to govern a restored creation through a Royal Priesthood forever: the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God on His holy mountain.
If the Heavenly Jerusalem is the fixed center of God’s government in the coming ages, then the way God deals with death, destruction, and the end of the Adamic order becomes crucial for understanding how anyone can dwell there. The city is holy, and every approach to it presupposes that the old corruptible life has been brought to an end.
In the next chapter, we will therefore turn from the structure of the Heavenly Jerusalem to the sobering themes of death and destruction. We will consider what Scripture means when it speaks of the destruction of the soul, the abolishing of death as the last enemy, and the end of all that cannot inherit the kingdom of God. In doing so, we will see more clearly how the severe judgments of God serve the larger purpose of purification, how they clear away the old order so that the new may appear, and how, through death and destruction rightly understood, the way is opened for all things to be gathered under the light of the Heavenly Jerusalem.
Restoration Theology Press 