the "vision of peace," as the name implies, the city of the Prince of
Solomon compass the heavenly Jerusalem with a paradise more glorious than eye has seen.
That City for which we are waiting is to be the metropolis of creation. It is to contain within itself the excellency of all knowledge, and love, and brightness, and beauty. In it is to be the palace-royal, and it is itself to be the City of the Great King. Possessing within itself all glory, it is to diffuse, like a sun, that glory abroad, so that the nations of the earth shall walk in the light of it (Rev. 21:24). With His eye on such a city, yet to come, God spoke in previous ages of cities as places of honour—types of that true place of endless honour which shall ere long descend out of heaven from God.
Unlike all human cities, this city of Jehovah undergoes no change. It does not pass away like Babylon and Nineveh, nor dwindle into littleness like Athens and Rome. It is a "continuing city." It is built, not for a generation, or a century, or a millennium, but for the ages of ages. It shall be an eternal excellency—a tabernacle which shall not be taken down—a city which cannot be removed, but abideth for ever.
But let us mark more minutely the description given of this city.
1. Its name.—It takes the name of "Jerusalem," not only because it is the "vision of peace," as the name implies, the city of the Prince of Peace, but because that name is associated with God and with his purposes of grace, with Messiah and his redeeming work, with all the types, and promises, and thoughts of God regarding the Church from the beginning. Round what other name do such memories gather? In what streets have such deeds been done, and such words spoken, as in those of Jerusalem? No wonder that the name should be carried forward into the ages to come, and inscribed upon the celestial city.
It is called "New Jerusalem," both because of its being in many things a contrast with the old Jerusalem, the city of Solomon, and David, and Melchisedek, and because all belonging to it is "new"—