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Another City

St. Augustine wrote a book entitled the City of God, called in Latin civitas peregrina. Barry Harvey speaks of Another City, or altera civitas. So what is the significance of the “city of God,” or “another city?”

Throughout the Old and New Testaments, Israel and the early Christians identified themselves with Jerusalem. Wherever they journeyed or resided, they did not consider themselves citizens of that place. They always considered themselves citizens of the holy city of Jerusalem, and subjects only to the laws of Jerusalem. This is the “tie that binds,” so to speak.

By considering themselves citizens of the holy city of Jerusalem, Christians could keep from falling into the sins of the land in which they resided. It also gave them strength to live in their sometimes hostile and cruel environments. They were strangers in a foreign land; sojourners who would one day reside in that “city whose architect and builder is God.”

This morning we are going to look at an example in which God’s people, Israel, were forced to look to that “other city.” This will be a message that can be applied to Christians who dwell in a foreign land today. Keep in mind that we, as Christians, are included in this group of people who dwell in a foreign land.


Valley of dry bones (vv. 1-14)

What is going on here? Well, in verse 11 it tells us that this valley of dry bones represents the “whole house of Israel.” Now the question is what does a valley usually represent? It represents a low stage in one’s existence, a time in which things are not going all that well. So what is this valley that Israel had gotten themselves into?

The nation of Israel had been divided into north and south, or Israel and Judah, since 930 B.C. , and they had many civil battles between the two nations. Around 586 B.C. the king of Judah and a small garrison of Babylonians who were stationed there were murdered. The Baylonians feared an uprising and they came in and deported many of the Judaeans to Babylon.

These Judaeans were forced to live the rest of their lives in Babylon, away from their homeland, and they wondered how they would be able to live and worship the Lord in that foreign land. Psalm 137:1-4 portrays their desperate cry:

By the rivers of Babylon, there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered Zion. We hung our harps upon the willows in the midst of it. For there those who carried us away captive asked of us a song, and those who plundered us requested mirth, saying, ‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’ How shall we sing the LORD’s song in a foreign land?

Did you hear that question?: “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?” As God’s people, they needed to keep their focus on the holy city Jerusalem. Part of their problem though was that they lost their vision of that holy city. They were cut off from Jerusalem anyhow, because the nation was divided in civil war. They did not really know the hope of focusing on another city.

When the Lord looked down on his people, he saw them as dry bones. They were lifeless, dead, and in sin. They had lost their focus and started adopting the practices of Babylon. The Lord asked Ezekiel in verse 3, “Can these bones live?”

The Lord revealed the answer to Ezekiel in verse 9 when he said, “Prophesy to the breath.” In Hebrew the word “breath” means, “spirit.” The only way that these dry bones would have life again is if the Holy Spirit blew upon them, and rekindled a fire and zeal for the Lord Almighty.

Would the Babylonian exiles ever have life in Jerusalem? The answer is no. Verse 12 says, “Prophesy and say to them, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD: Behold, O My people, I will open your graves and cause you to come up from your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel’.”

They would never see the earthly Jerusalem again, but they would one day rise from their graves into that Holy City of Zion. Ezekiel’s prophecy was meant to refocus the exile’s attention on that holy city, but they were to look only to the heavenly, “New Jerusalem.”

Christians live in a foreign land this very day, just like the exiles. We are scattered across the earth in various countries, and each of these countries have their own forms of persecution and hardships. The question I have is, “Do we keep our focus on Jerusalem, that holy city, or do we cry out and say ‘How shall we sing the Lord’s song in a foreign land?’ ”

Do we become down when we look out at the fallen state of our country and its morals? Instead of pressing on, do we lower our standards, and the morals associated with the Lord’s City?

Christians today have become pacifists, just like the exiles in Babylon. When we see the rise of sin in our nation, we turn the other cheek. If confronted with atheists, or non-Christians, we keep our mouths shut because we do not want to feel out of place in this society. It is not socially correct to talk about one’s faith in public.

Churches feel defeated because numbers are dwindling, and young people are not coming in anymore, but guess what! Only in a time when we live in land whose God is not the God of Israel, will we truly understand how to live as God’s people. Only in persecution can our light shine forth. We are eventually becoming the minority again, like the New Testament church.

We are only God’s children if we abide by the laws of another city, or the New Jerusalem. If we do not focus on God’s kingdom, and live by kingdom laws, we will loose our faith and our identity as the people of God. Ezekiel’s message is intended for us this very day.


Two sticks (vv. 15-20)

Ezekiel was to proclaim these verses to the Exiles. Two sticks were to be joined in his hand, and they represented Israel and Judah. This was a message of hope that one day Judah and Israel would be reunited into one nation. The problem was that the exiles would never see this happen in their lifetime. They would only be reunited with their homeland in the hereafter.

We, as Christians, need to keep this in mind. One day in the future we will be united again in that heavenly city. Times may seem rough now, but the Lord has promised that all Christians will reunite into a holy nation in the New Jerusalem.

We see two sticks in these verses, but a third stick is to come onto the scene. According to the New Bible Dictionary, the number three “is associated with certain mighty acts of God.” What mighty act of God is to happen? What other stick is required in the reuniting of Judah and Israel? How are the Exiles to be resurrected into a New Jerusalem one day? And how are we to become citizens of the heavenly kingdom? Let’s see!


A third stick (vv. 21-28)

In verse 21 the Lord said, “Surely I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, wherever they have gone, and will gather them from every side and bring them into their own land.” All who are filled with the Spirit of the Lord, and all who know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior are of Abraham’s seed and heirs according to the promise. The Lord will one day gather Israel, including Christians, from all the corners of the earth to abide in the New Jerusalem; that other city.

Verse 22 tells us that there will be one king to rule over us when we abide there. This King is Jesus Christ. He is the third stick, for Isaiah 11:1 says in reference to the Messiah, “There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.”

Verse 24 refers to the Messiah as “my servant David,” for the Messiah was expected to rule with the justice of David, and come forth from his lineage. In verse 25 it tells us “My servant David shall be their prince forever.” The Lord Jesus Christ will be our King to reign over us in heaven. And from verses 23 and 26 we see that in the New Jerusalem the Lord will be our God, and we shall be his people, and he will place his tabernacle in our midst.

A new era of persecution is arising for Christians. We are crying out for our churches to be reunited and the morals of this country to be reestablished, but if we focus on that city which we once had and lived in, the good old days when everybody attended church, then we will loose heart. We will see people turning away from Christianity, and out of fear we may succumb to their ways.

If we realize that the city we are citizens of is not of this earth, then we will know that we are strangers in a foreign land. We are citizens of the saints, and we must live our lives each day as though we are living in the New Jerusalem. We must abide by the statutes of God, and not the by the eroded morals of this country, or city in which we presently abide.

When we uphold the laws of the Holy City, and worship the King of Kings, people will understand that we are different. Barry Harvey says, “The mission of the church in dispersion is therefore not simply to survive in a sometimes hostile world, rather it takes its cue from Jeremiah’s admonition to the Jewish exiles in Babylon ‘To seek the welfare of that city’ to which God had sent them (Jer. 29:7).”


Time of Reflection

Our sermon this morning is intended to bring a message of hope for those of us who struggle with the moral decay of our country. It is intended to help us realize that we are not to conform to the world, but rather we are to stand firm in the laws and statutes which the Lord has set for us. If we do conform to this world then our identity as God’s children will be lost, and we will become as dead as dry bones.

All who have lost their focus on the Lord are dead; whether you know the Lord or have never accepted Christ as your Savior. Do you wish to rise from your graves into eternal life in a beautiful heavenly city? The only way you can do so is to know the King of that city. His name is Jesus Christ, and he will be your King if you believe that he will resurrect you into his heavenly city when time comes to its completion.

Accept Jesus as your Lord and Savior this morning and he will prophecy unto the wind, and the Holy Spirit will come into your life and fill you with peace. If you are a Christian and you have gone astray, then ask the Lord’s forgiveness, and he will make your dry bones live again.