We are told in scripture that Abraham and others spiritually saw a city which had foundations whose builder and maker was God (Hebrews 11: 8-10, 13-16). He saw this city afar off and embraced it although he never saw its actual manifestation during his lifetime on earth.
Somehow God showed Abraham that this city was vital to the fulfilling of his promise to him that he and his descendants would inherit and rule with Jesus over the whole earth and not just the Holy Land (Romans 4: 13).
Abraham was promised the power to become a great nation as numerous as the stars in heaven. He also believed he would be the father of many nations and be able to bless all the families of the earth (Genesis 12: 1-3). He lived in Canaan, the land of promise, as an alien or sojourner (Hebrews 11: 9). He had no desire to return to Ur of the Chaldeans, nor did he have any intention of settling permanently in Canaan, for he had seen another country-that is, a heavenly one.
God showed him that the only way to take over the world was for his descendants to first spiritually occupy and then exercise rule from that heavenly realm over the earth. To do this, spiritual cities were necessary. These cities alone have the strength and firepower to overcome and cast out the demonic Princes, which in most cases are the well established present rulers, or powers of the air, presiding over most cities in the world. These demonic princes long ago had spread their influence upon the earth and now ruled the present darkness from their well established heavenly vantage points.
Another thing Abraham saw was that the multitude of descendants God had promised him, as numerous as the stars in the heavens, would be gathered in once this rule of darkness was broken and replaced by the rule of the Kingdom of God. That does not mean that everybody would automatically be saved or that the demonic powers would altogether cease their activities, but many more people would be free to turn from darkness to light once the canopy of darkness over our cities was lifted.
I believe that Abraham saw that the heavenly city was crucial to the change of rule and that it would cause men in women to be saved in unprecedented numbers. So, Abraham saw: a land, a multitude, and a city. But it was the city that would be the means to possess the land and reap the multitude.
Jerusalem was that city.
The language of some of our church theology and hymnology is still looking forward to the day when a new Jerusalem will appear, after Christ return. This is still the theology of many Christians. But the new heavenly Jerusalem already existed while the New Testament was being written and actually came into existence the moment the church was born on the day of Pentecost.
The final glory of that city will only be seen when she finally comes down out of heaven in all her glory adorned as a bride for her husband at the end of the age (Revelation 21: 1-2, 9-27). But that does not mean that she does not already exist in the heavenly realm and is not already able to function powerfully when we have the faith and vision to work with God and his angels to make it happen.
Will it ever happen?
Building the heavenly city of Jerusalem spiritually over a region or a particular physical city on earth is the means that God has given for powerfully advancing the Kingdom of God.
There are many scriptures about this heavenly city and the possibility of its present manifestation in some measure over our cities here on earth long before Jesus returns at the end of the age.
Most leaders feel that it’s impossible for them to make the necessary change to produce a functional regional or city church. They believe they were too far down the road in the wrong direction because of their existing church structure. I have found no one willing to make such a radical turnaround.
We must want to build this heavenly city of Jerusalem with its powerful ability to manifest the true city church on earth, just the way God has described it through the prophets of the Old and New Testament and is now showing it to me. I believe this must happen before Jesus returns.
I believe one day we will see it all, either while I’m here on earth or from heaven after I’ve gone to glory. Either way, my heart cry is, come, lord Jesus! Let your Kingdom really come and invade this world with a glorious manifestation of your heaven on earth!
In these final days before Jesus comes again with his angels in all his glory, we find a growing number of people full of faith, totally yielded to his Spirit, actively cooperating with him to establish the majesty of his glorious Kingdom.
May the local and international church increasingly function like the body of Christ. May this church go to war like a mighty warrior as well as look more and more like his glorious bride.
In all the nations of the earth, we will find God centered, God ordained, and God directed battalions of the army of God effectively at war in the heavenly realm against the powers of darkness and at work on earth preparing the way of the Lord.