ARE YOU LOOKING FOR A CITY?

     Some people love city living. They enjoy the hustle and bustle of a city and the spots where they can see new sights and experience new things. I have a niece who loves to visit cities with friends, her mom, and even by herself.
     I’m more of a country bumpkin. I dislike traffic jams, worrying about encountering crime, and being a miser that wants to avoid the higher cost of inner-city living.
     But there is one city that I am looking forward to living there. Hebrews 11:10 said of Abraham about this city:

“For he was looking forward to the city that has foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”

     Hebrews 11:13-16 went on to say the following about many other Israelite men and women of faith in the Old Testament:

“These all died in faith, although they had not received the things that were promised. But they saw them from a distance, greeted them, and confessed that they were foreigners and temporary residents on the earth. Now those who say such things make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. If they were thinking about where they came from, they would have had an opportunity to return. But they now desire a better place—a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

     Chapter 12:1-2 gives some details on how to get to the city:

“Therefore, since we also have such a large cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us lay aside every hindrance and sin that so easily ensnares us. Let us run with endurance the race that lies before us, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the source and perfecter of our faith. For the joy that lay before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”

     Hebrews 12:22-24 then gives us the reason why all of us should want to go to the city:

“Instead, you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God (the heavenly Jerusalem), to myriads of angels, a festive gathering, to the assembly of the firstborn whose names have been written in heaven, to a Judge, who is God of all, to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood, which says better things than the blood of Abel.”

     If you want to learn more about the new heavens, the new earth, and the city the writer of Hebrews was talking about please read Revelation 21. I think your mind will be blown away by the wonders explained there about the New Jerusalem to come for men and women of faith. 

     The New Jerusalem is not a city where we have to worry about traffic jams. We won’t encounter crime there. Lastly, and perhaps most importantly, we don’t have to worry about the high cost of living—because our mortgage has been paid up in full—by Jesus!
     My question then is, “Are you looking for that same city?”