What Is the New Jerusalem?
The city of Jerusalem continues to be a contentious place. As the traditional capital of Israel and Judah, the Jews claim it as their most sacred site. Since Christianity grew from Judaism (Jesus as the Jewish Messiah) believers from around the world travel to Israel and Judah to see where Jesus walked, lived, and died. Islam also claims to descend from Judaism and Christianity, and later Muslim teachers hold Jerusalem as a holy site, connected to Muhammed. These three groups have had trouble sharing Jerusalem in the past few decades, especially Muslims and Jews.
With all the continued violence around Jerusalem in what we call the “Holy Land,” it’s ironic how the name Jerusalem translates to “city of peace” or “foundation of peace.” However, much conflict happens around this old city, the Old Testament clearly declares God’s desire for Jerusalem to be central to his redemption, a peaceful future.
At the same time, the New Testament introduces a fascinating concept: the New Jerusalem. Why do these writers mention the New Jerusalem? What does it mean for Christians?
Where Does the Bible Talk about the New Jerusalem?
The New Testament mentions a different Jerusalem in two main places. Once, it’s called the New Jerusalem. Paul refers to a Jerusalem from above.
New Jerusalem appears in Revelation 21-22 as the culmination of God’s redemptive story. God’s people become God’s eternal dwelling place on a new earth. After the final judgment, the old heaven (skies) and earth pass away, and God recreates a new, uncorrupted universe and earth. John then sees the “holy city,” the New Jerusalem, descend from heaven “like a Bride.” The city is God’s people built up as a metropolis and temple at once.
John, who wrote Revelation, describes the city as having no more death, crying, or pain because God has made all things new. Its walls are made of jasper, gates of pearl, and streets of gold. The New Jerusalem doesn’t have a temple because God and the Lamb shine at its center, making the whole city a temple. God’s glory fills the whole, massive city, so there’s no need for sun or moon. The tree of life (restored from Eden) brings healing to the nations, and the river of life flows from God’s throne. Revelation shows us how God’s promises will come to fruition for all creation and those who believe.
Earlier, in Galatians, Paul talks about the Jerusalem from above, the one we later see descending from God’s heaven to the new earth. During a discussion regarding the different covenants (the old and the new), Paul uses Hagar and Sarah from Abraham’s days to contrast them. He explains how Hagar the slave represents Mount Sinai, where Moses gets the Law, and the earthly Jerusalem. Then he says, “The Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother” (Galatians 4:26). The heavenly Jerusalem represents the Kingdom of God and the new covenant, instituted by Jesus at Passover with his disciples and through his death and resurrection.
What Did Jerusalem in the Old Testament Represent?
In the Old Testament, Jerusalem represented the center of Israel’s (and later Judah’s) political and spiritual life.
Before David, Jerusalem belonged to the Jebusites, a Gentile people who held the city even after Israel’s conquest of the Promised Land. It sat on a hill, had the high ground, and possessed thick walls. When David became king over all Israel, he wanted a new capital not connected with his people (the large tribe of Judah) or another tribe, to unite all twelve tribes. So he conquered a previously “unconquerable” city and made it his own (2 Samuel 5:6-9).
The Ark of the Covenant had been in someone’s house from before Samuel and the days of King Saul. Instead of bringing the Ark back to the Tabernacle of Moses, David transfers this holy object to Jerusalem, setting an open tent around it. He also organized continual singing and worship around the Ark by the priest class. This established Jerusalem as the primary place for Israel and others to worship God. However, God didn’t allow David to build a temple in Jerusalem, although he did promise a dynasty which would last forever (2 Samuel 7:12-16), the future Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
God called David’s son Solomon to build the Temple in Jerusalem (1 Kings 6-8), placing the Ark of the Covenant within it and replacing Moses’ Tabernacle. The amazing temple became God’s house on earth, where priests offered sacrifices, people prayed, and the whole nation celebrated the festivals. When Solomon dedicated the Temple, upon its completion, God filled it with his glory in a visible cloud (1 Kings 8:10-11). This reinforced Jerusalem as a holy city, where people could engage with God and each other.
Over time, the prophets spoke about Jerusalem in more spiritual terms, as Zion, the City of God (Psalm 48:12). During the times of judgment and exile, the prophets declared God would restore Jerusalem as his home forever.
How Does the New Testament Contrast the Jerusalem from Above and Below?
Therefore, when Paul makes the contrast between the Jerusalem from below and the one above, his distinction carries revolutionary weight regarding the two covenants and what it means for God’s people. Hebrews 12:22-24 also distinguishes between the old and new covenant, tying the old and failed covenant to the physical Jerusalem.
The Jerusalem from below clearly represented the earthly city we still call Jerusalem, associated with the Law of Moses. Paul argues the Mosaic Law failed since it relied upon human effort and ability to be righteous. In Galatians 4, he uses Hagar, a slave, to explain the problem with the old covenant. God promised a child to Sarah and Abraham in their old age, and when it didn’t happen for a while, Sarah proposed Abraham have a child through her Egyptian slave, Hagar. However, Sarah, a free and willing wife, was central to God’s plan. Hagar had a child, Ishmael, but later God blessed Abraham and Sarah with a son, Isaac, the one of promise.
Paul explains that the new covenant through Christ was God’s plan all along, as Isaac was the son of the free woman. Since the old covenant relied upon sinful human nature to fulfill the divine, it could only reinforce slavery, like Hagar and her son.
The Jerusalem from below also actively rejected Jesus. When Christ entered Jerusalem, the religious leaders resisted him, ultimately accusing him, arresting him, and manipulating the Roman authorities to crucify him. When given a choice, the Jews of the city during Passover chose Barabbas, a political zealot and murderer, for the Roman governor to set free. And when Pilate pointed to Jesus, the Jews condemned him with, “Crucify him!”
Earlier in his ministry, Jesus wept over Jerusalem: “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you” (Matthew 23:37). The earthly city and the old covenant had become a system of legalism, unbelief, and condemnation rather than a place fully devoted to God.
The apostle Paul had his own issues with the Jews. A Jew himself and religiously trained, he once persecuted Christians. But after his encounter with Jesus, he preached Jesus and the Kingdom. God called him to preach the gospel to the Gentiles, but when he entered a new city, Paul would first go to the synagogue and share the Messiah with the Jews. They continually rejected him and Jesus. Ultimately, the book of Acts ends with the Jews trumping up religious charges against Paul, trying to kill him like they did Jesus. As we can imagine, Paul had firsthand experience of the problems with the Jerusalem from below.
Paul and the writer of Hebrews also possessed extensive knowledge of the new covenant and the Body of Christ. The Jerusalem from above represents the Church, the Bride of Christ, the Kingdom of God, and a heavenly people born again by the Spirit. The Jerusalem from above is free, as whoever Christ makes free is free indeed (John 8:36). The Jerusalem above is one of eternal life. Its walls can’t be torn down. Its city can’t be burned. Its temple can’t be plundered. The heavenly Jerusalem is made up of those who have been set free from the Law through faith in Jesus.
The writer of Hebrews describes this city as the destination of all believers. “You have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.” The old covenant, dependent upon us, leads to death and destruction. The new covenant rests solely upon the active work of the Father, Christ, and the Spirit, offering direct access to God through Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.
The Jerusalem from below represents human striving, religious systems apart from relationship, and the rejection of Jesus as Messiah and savior of the world. The Jerusalem from above represents salvation by grace, eternal life, walking by the Spirit, and being made into God’s dwelling place.
What Does the New Jerusalem Mean for Us?
The Old Testament promises regarding God’s restoration of an eternal Jerusalem are all fulfilled in the New Jerusalem, the one from above.
First, Peter teaches we are “living stones” in God’s spiritual house, built on Jesus, the cornerstone (1 Peter 2:4-5). We are stones, not bricks. People make bricks uniform and copies of another. Stones all have different shapes and sizes, although made from the same material. By being born again, we are made of spiritual and eternal material, and God can build an eternal temple with those stones. Peter calls us, therefore, to grow together in faith to form a holy temple where God’s presence dwells, also connecting with Paul’s idea of the Jerusalem from above and John’s vision of the New Jerusalem from heaven.
How do we grow as living stones? Jesus explained to the Samaritan woman at the well how God is no longer worshipped on a mountain in Jerusalem or Samaria but in right relationship. After declaring that God is spirit, he says to her, “A time is coming and has now come when the true worshippers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshippers the Father seeks” (John 4:23-24). This shifts the focus from an earthly place to true worship by walking in the Spirit. We are now the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 3:16).
The church together is God’s home, so we can’t live and grow apart from relationship with other people of faith. We need one another to express Jesus to the world (John 17:21).
As Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world” (John 18:36). The New Jerusalem in Revelation descends from heaven, affirming Jesus’ statement. Earthly nations and kingdoms rise and fall, but we belong to a kingdom that never began, will never fade, and won’t end. Our focus, then, should be to live not as citizens of earthly nations but citizens of the New Jerusalem above. We don’t place our hope in earthly governments, positions, or material possessions. All these pass away. Instead, we become ambassadors of God’s Kingdom (2 Corinthians 5:20), trusting in our eternal future. This New Jerusalem hope practically allows us to freely love and discern among the nations of this world.
The New Jerusalem declares to us how we have an eternal intimacy with God, living with him now and fully in the new heaven and earth. Revelation 21:3 promises, “God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them.” This is our ultimate hope — a direct, unhindered relationship with God forever. Knowing this, we must learn the discipline of relationship with God, listening to his voice and remaining sensitive to the Spirit. We live and walk now with an eternal perspective, and call others to do the same, knowing one day we will live in the New Jerusalem without end.
Peace.
Photo credit: ©Getty Images/Xantana
Originally published February 20, 2025.
