Psalm 87

God caused Jerusalem to be founded as His holy city on earth. He placed the seal of His divine pleasure on the entire promised land, but especially on Zion, where He let His people build a great temple.

This was the city of God, but it borrowed that title from a better Jerusalem, a Jerusalem that is above, the Jerusalem that will descend upon the earth when the Son of God comes in glory.

Glorious things are rightly spoken about the true city of God! Think about it! Sing about it!

Throughout the centuries of the Lord's saving work, He has used even the sufferings of this present life on earth to draw His children away from an inappropriate affection for all glory that fades away. The marks of death around us remind us that this world is dying. Our souls long for that city that is not infected by the plague of sin, where the permanence of the Lord's highest blessings are firmly established forever.

Who do you know in heaven? That Jerusalem above has many surprising inhabitants.

Rahab is there, that hero of the faith that God speaks of in Hebrews 11:31. “By faith Rahab the prostitute did not perish with those who were disobedient, because she had given a friendly welcome to the spies.” In Joshua 2:9-12 God recorded her words of faith and her plea for His deliverance through the messengers of Israel. “I know that the LORD has given you the land, … The LORD your God, He is God in the heavens above and on the earth beneath. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that, as I have dealt kindly with you, you also will deal kindly with my father's house...”

The faith of Rahab produced the fruits of obedience, and this was a testimony on earth of her genuine inclusion in the eternal city of God. Her works of faith testified to us that this resident of the vanquished city of Jericho, though once lost, had now been found.

Even places that seemed to be so far from the Lord would one day be brought to her. Babylon (Iraq), Philistia (the Gaza Strip), and Tyre (Lebanon) are mentioned by name. Even Cush, the land of the Ethiopians, would hear the word of the Lord, and see new life in a court official of the Queen of their nation. See Acts 8:26-39.

With the coming of the gospel era, the word of the Jewish Messiah has now been proclaimed in places far beyond the borders of Jerusalem. Iraq will be counted in the Lord's holy dominion, and so will Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. Millions of Ethiopians show forth the faith of Rahab today. They have been born from above.

The Lord Himself records the inhabitants of heaven as those who are residents in the new Jerusalem by birth; not the first birth that comes from an earthly father and mother, but the new birth that can only come from above. By the Spirit of God, people from ancient enemies of Israel are being marked as Sons of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Through faith in Him they have been born in the better Zion. Consider carefully the marvel of God's grace, and the depth of His wisdom in saving Gentiles and Jews even in this present hour!

We should thank the Lord that we are numbered in the new Jerusalem as we wait in joyful hope for the coming of our Savior. This hope of the Holy Spirit is the glory of God that makes the darkest dungeon of grief or pain bright. Even when our bodies cannot rise from bed and our mouths are forced shut by cruel captors, God is able to bring forth praise in groans too deep for words. There is a new dance, a new song, that comes to us from the best city. Heaven touched the life of Saul of Tarsus. That dedicated Pharisee who wanted to eliminate Jesus-following Jews met the Captain of his own salvation on the way to persecute others. He was changed. This is an undeniable historical fact. Something changed the Pharisee Saul into a man who soon preached the message that he had once despised. A world beyond this material existence must be real.

This belief in heaven and the resurrection of heaven's King from a bleak grave changes everything for us. It is the work of the Holy Spirit, and a spring from heaven's great river implanted within our souls. May that spring well up within us and bring forth the fruit of love today in the lives of all who hear the word of God and believe. And may the Lord who died for us and rose from the dead, the King of Glory, be glorified among us.