The Holy City of God

Then the LORD will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding-place from the storm and rain.

Isaiah 4:5-6

Isaiah 4:2-6 speaks about Zion, the holy city of God. The term “city of God” refers, not to infrastructure and physical buildings, but to the people of God, just like the word “church” refers, not to a building with a steeple, but to believers in Christ.

Isaiah 4 paints a grand and glorious picture of every true believer in Jesus Christ. It is a description of the future Mount Zion, the city of the living God that Abraham was looking for, a city with foundations whose architect and builder is God. Abraham was not looking for a mere physical city, the earthly Jerusalem, but for an everlasting one, the heavenly Jerusalem to which we already have come in worship of the true and living God.

This passage speaks of a city where we who are God’s holy people will dwell with him in complete security, having been cleansed of their moral filth. Once we were dead in trespasses and sins, unable to cleanse ourselves of our moral guilt. Only God could cleanse us, and he did so through his Son, Jesus Christ. Thus, in Isaiah 4 we find a description of the people of God, who have been purified and glorified by another, identified by Isaiah as “the Branch of the Lord.”

The Branch of the Lord

“Branch” is a technical term the Scriptures use to refer to the divine, human Messiah, the Son of David, whom Isaiah saw as coming in the future. Isaiah said this Branch is all beauty, glory, excellence, and splendor.

Seven hundred years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Isaiah spoke of the Messiah’s incarnation and endless reign:

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6-7)

Who is the Branch of the Lord? He is the one we read about in Isaiah 7:14, “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” He is the shoot that will come from Jesse’s stump, the branch from Jesse’s roots who will bring forth fruit that is acceptable to God (Isaiah 11:1). He is the one about whom God said, “Here is my servant, whom I uphold; my chosen one, in whom I delight” (Isaiah 42:1). He is the suffering servant of God who “was pierced for our transgressions . . . crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed” (Isaiah 53:5). He is the Messiah, the priest who is also the king (Zechariah 3:8; 6:12-13).

This Messiah is beauty, glory, splendor, excellence, and glory for us (4:2). We have no glory in ourselves. In fact, the Bible tells us that all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But this Branch, the Messiah, will impart glory to us. We see the same idea in John 17:22, where Jesus said, “I have given them the glory that you gave me.”

God’s Chosen People

There is no question that God has a people. It has been all worked out in God’s eternal counsel. He knows who they are and he cannot add or subtract from that number. They are described in Isaiah 4 as escapees, survivors, the remnant, those who are left in Zion, who survived the divine judgment. The term “remnant” tells us that the vast majority of people are not included in this category called God’s people. Only a few will be saved.

Paul speaks about the chosen people of God in Romans 11:5: “So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.” But how are they chosen? It is not by human merit, but by grace.

What is grace? Some say it is unmerited favor, which is true. But we can go further: Grace is giving heaven to those who merited hell. The people Isaiah was speaking about were chosen for salvation through God’s divine mercy alone.

Recorded for Eternal Life

These chosen people were recorded in God’s book of life by God himself before the creation of the world. Some people think that when a person receives Christ, God will turn a page in his book and write that person’s name in. No, it is all taken care of long before we come to Christ in space and time. Some people may disagree with this, but it is the truth according to the Scriptures. How glad I am that my name was written in the Lamb’s book of life before the creation of the world, before I was ever born, and before I ever came to put my trust in Jesus Christ! If you have trusted in Jesus Christ, you can also work backward and say, “My name has been written in God’s book of life.” And if your name has been written in God’s book of life, you will fully repent of your sins and trust in Jesus Christ.

In Luke 10:20 Jesus Christ spoke about this to his disciples: “However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.” Paul also wrote about it in Philippians 4:3: “Yes, and I ask you, loyal yokefellow, help these women who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel along with Clement and the rest of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.” In Revelation 13:8 John tells us, “All inhabitants of the earth will worship the beast-all whose names have not been written in the book of life belonging to the Lamb that was slain from the creation of the world.” This book of life is kept in heaven and belongs to Jesus Christ, the Lamb who “was slain from the creation of the world.” All whose names are written in it will worship the triune God.

What will happen to those whose names are not written in the book of life? In Revelation 20:12 we read, “And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life.” In verse 15 we read, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

Those Who Are Cleansed of Moral Filth

We already said that by nature all are guilty sinners, full of moral filth. Here Isaiah tells us here that the Messiah will cleanse his people by his own blood shed in their behalf. That is called justification, which we are told more about in Isaiah 53.

What is moral filth? In Proverbs 30:12 we read about “those who are pure in their own eyes. . . .” Such people cleanse themselves by mental gymnastics and self-declaration. But God says such people may be “pure in their own eyes, yet are not cleansed of their filth.”

God’s Holy People

What else can we learn about God’s people from this passage? They are a holy people (v. 3). In the Hebrew it says, “Holy shall be called each of them.” The Messiah makes us holy and calls us holy.

How can God call sinners holy? Because he makes us holy. Isaiah 6 tells us how God does this. When Isaiah saw the vision of God, he cried out, “Woe to me! I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips.” In verses 6-7 Isaiah tells us, “Then one of the seraphs flew to me with a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with tongs from the altar. With it he touched my mouth and said, ‘See, this has touched your lips. Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for.'” This illustrates God applying to us the redemption the Messiah accomplished for us. There is no other way to take away our guilt and atone for our sins.

God’s people are his holy ones. By divine action the Father planned our salvation, the Son accomplished it on the cross, and the Holy Spirit now applies that salvation to everyone whose name has been written in the book of life. Through the preaching of the gospel, people come to trust in Christ, God cleanses them, and they become part of his holy city. It is of such people we read in Romans 8:30-34:

Those he predestined, he also called; those he called, he also justified; those he justified, he also glorified. If God is for us, who can be against us? Who can bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies-who is he that condemns? It is Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised from the dead-he is at the right hand of God. He is also making intercession for us.

The Messiah purifies and glorifies his people. What Isaiah saw began to be fulfilled when the virgin Mary gave birth to Jesus: “In the city of Bethlehem a Savior is born, Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:11). He is a Savior for all people, Immanuel, the Son of God and the Son of David. As the suffering servant of Isaiah 53, he died for our sins, but he also rose again on the third day and is seated on the right hand of God the Father as King of kings and Lord of lords.

If you are not trusting in Jesus Christ, you should tremble and repent. But if you do trust in him, you can rejoice. He alone is King of kings. By virtue of his redemptive work, his people are being purified and glorified. Everyone who is recorded for eternal life will repent and believe on him. He did not come to make salvation possible; he came to save us, and he will do it.

This is why we believe in the irresistible grace of God. Jesus Christ is quite able to deal with our opposition and subdue us. He works in us so that we with great joy will, in time, believe on him, be cleansed of our moral filth, be declared holy, and become part of the great city of God.

Acts 13 speaks about Paul preaching in Pisidian Antioch. In verse 48 we read, “When the Gentiles heard this, they were glad and honored the word of the Lord.” These Gentiles honored the word of the Lord by believing in it. If we don’t believe, we are despising both God and his word. Then we read, “All who were appointed for eternal life believed.”

This is how you and I came to repent and believe in Jesus Christ. We are the survivors, the escapees, the remnant. We are those whose names are written for eternal life, whom God calls holy, saints, separated ones. We are those who have been separated from our filth, separated from Satan, separated from death, and separated from hell.

The Blessing of Fellowship with God

Not only have we been separated from sin and death, but we have also been separated unto Jesus Christ and are now able to live in his presence. As God’s holy people, we can now enjoy fellowship with God.

What prevented our fellowshiping with God before? Our guilt. But the book of Hebrews tells us we now have a good conscience, sprinkled clean by the blood of Jesus Christ, with which we can approach God.

In days of the tabernacle and temple, God’s presence was in the Holy of Holies. Access to him was limited to one man once a year. Here in Isaiah 4 the prophet predicts a time when there will be no temple and no limitation, a time when every person who lives in the city will see God, commune with God, be guided by God, and be protected by God. Remember what Jesus Christ said in Matthew 18, “If two or three are gathered together in my name, there I am in the midst of them”? Isaiah was seeing this day when every child of God-everyone who is holy and cleansed of the guilt of his sin-will be blessed by God’s presence.

Isaiah 4:5-6 describes what will happen once the moral problem of God’s people is dealt with: “Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over all the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and a shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” In the Hebrew it is “over all the assemblies there.” God is going to dwell with us and we with him. He will be present not only in the Holy of Holies, but over all of Mount Zion and over all the assemblies of his holy people.

Isaiah then says in the last days, “God will create. . . .” Here he uses the Hebrew word bara for “create,” the same word used in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Every time bara appears in the Bible, God is the subject of it because only God can create. So in this eschatological day God will create a covering of cloud and fire, glory, salvation, protection, and security for his people. There was an old creation; this is a new creation, a new people with whom God will dwell and cover.

What is God’s new creation like? “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God. . .” (2 Corinthians 5:17). “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). Here Paul uses the Greek word poem, or workmanship, to describe God’s new creation. PGM In Isaiah 65:17-18 God speaks through the prophet about this new creation, saying, “Behold, I will create a new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind. But be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create, for I will create Jerusalem to be a delight and its people a joy.” God will create a city, a people who will bring him delight.

God’s ultimate purpose is not to destroy but to save. So God has saved us, and we are his people, a new creation, over which there is a great covering. We are the new creation that God delights in. Finally, the problem preventing our fellowship with God has been dealt with. Our sin is taken away by the Messiah’s work, and we are purified and glorified. The result is that God himself dwells with us and we with God. This is eternal life. This is joy unspeakable and full of glory.

The Bliss of Dwelling with God

God himself creates salvation for his people. Isaiah says he creates a shelter for us, one that protects us from all harm: “It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain” (v. 6). This is complete salvation and nothing can harm us. Outside of God’s shelter is death and destruction, but inside there is safety and festivity. I challenge each one of us to think about whether we are outside or inside God’s shelter.

We find this idea throughout the Bible. Psalm 91:1 tells us, “He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” God’s people have finally come to dwell with God and God has come to dwell with his new people. Psalm 121:5 tells us, “The Lord watches over you-the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm-he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.” God’s shelter is not like Jonah’s little plant that dried up. He is our everlasting shade, given freely to everyone who trusts in Jesus Christ.

Romans 8 speaks about the assurance of salvation, but especially in verses 35-39 we find the glorious, unchangeable truth that believers dwell with God and God with them:

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation is able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Are you inside the shelter? I am, and would like you to be inside also. We recently visited Mount Ararat, the resting place of Noah’s ark. If we are inside the ark, it doesn’t matter what happens outside. Let there be storm and rain and flood: nothing will come inside. That is why we must ask ourselves if we are inside or outside.

Isaiah uses the Hebrew word chupah, which means canopy or bridal pavilion, to describe the shelter God puts over his people. There is great safety and security under this pavilion, as we already said. But not only are we safe from all dangers when we are covered by God’s canopy, but it is there that we also enjoy sweet communion with our heavenly bridegroom, the Lord Jesus Christ. So Isaiah is giving a description of God’s people dwelling with God in eternal bliss.

The Present Reality of God’s Holy City

Even now all saints of God enjoy God’s salvation and divine presence in a measure (Hebrews 12:22-25). Even now we are living in the eschatological days Isaiah foresaw, for Christ has come and accomplished redemption, which is being applied to people all over the world every day by the Holy Spirit. So throughout the world assemblies of believers are coming together to worship God.

In Hebrews 12:22 we read, “But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.” True believers in Christ have come, not to a physical mountain, but to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. This is what Abraham was looking forward to. We come by faith whenever we come together to worship God.

Second, “You have come to thousands and thousands of angels in joyful assembly. . . .” When we come together to worship, we are being joined by thousands and thousands of holy angels. See the dignity God gives us! We have come to worship with his angels.

Third, we have come “to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven.” When we are come together to worship, we are worshiping with all the people of God, in heaven and on earth. This is an amazing truth. When I preached at my mother’s funeral, I noted that we were worshiping together with her on earth, though she was in heaven. This is total worship. This is the church of the firstborn, which includes us because we are united to the firstborn, Jesus Christ. We are heirs and joint heirs with Christ.

Fourth, we have come “to God, the judge of all men.” Though God is the righteous Judge, we can come to him without any problem because he has justified us through Jesus Christ. As Paul asked in Romans 8:33, “Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who is he that condemns?” Because God himself declared us righteous forever, we can draw near to him by the blood of Christ. We can come to the throne of grace without fear. “Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.”

Fifth, we have come “to the spirits of righteous men made perfect.” This refers to all who have died in faith, whose spirits are now in heaven. When we come together to worship, they are joining us. Have you ever thought about that? We are coming to worship with those who have gone before us in faith.

Sixth, we have come “to Jesus, the mediator of the new covenant.” Never forget that Jesus Christ is by whom we are able to come to God the judge of all. It is by his blood we are saved, washed, and justified.

Seventh, we have come “to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.” Abel’s blood cried out for revenge, but we are coming to the blood of Jesus Christ, which speaks forgiveness. By that blood our consciences are sprinkled clean so that we can approach God’s throne of grace with confidence.

Thus, in a certain sense, we already are the holy city of God. Our filth is taken away, we are justified and pronounced holy, God himself has come to dwell with us, our names are written in the book of life, and we are God’s people. So when you look around, you may see your wife, or your brother, or the one you cannot get along with. But I hope you will see more than that: God himself is with us.

The Final Fulfillment

What is the biggest secret about this holy city of God? The final fulfillment is still awaiting, which will take place in the second coming of Christ. Then the glory and beauty of the Messiah will be the glory and beauty of his people, and we will be like him. His glory will be revealed in us, and the creation itself will be delivered from all its frustration and brought to the glorious liberty of the children of God. Then the city of God will sparkle with all glory. Then the bride of Christ, the church, will be radiant, without stain, wrinkle, or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. How great is God’s plan for us!

In a sense we are there already, but in a sense we are not. Hebrews 13:14 tells us that “we are looking for the city that is to come,” for that glorious city of God. In Revelation 21 we find a description of what is awaiting for every person who has trusted in Jesus Christ, who has been justified, who has been called holy, and whose name has been written in the book of life. In Revelation 21:1-4 tells us what he saw in his vision:

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

In Revelation 21:9-11 we find mention of the bride of Christ, which is the Holy City, God’s people:

One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. . . .

What glory God has in store for us as his people! Every one will sparkle with splendor from within outward.

Will You Be in God’s Holy City?

What about you? Are you outside or inside of God’s kingdom? If you are outside, I earnestly beseech you to come inside. The Messiah, Jesus Christ, has come and accomplished redemption for those who trust in him. It is this Jesus Christ who tells us, “Come, all who are weary and heavy-laden and I will give you rest.”

God has a glorious plan to prosper his people. I pray that each of us will trust in him, that he may prosper and glorify us, that we may dwell with him forever. Amen.