Revelation 21 and 22 tells us about the heavenly city, the New Jerusalem. This, I believe is the place that Jesus said He went to prepare for His people. When was the last time that you read those chapters beloved? I mean, read them slowly and prayerfully until you could almost reach out and touch the beauty and majesty of the glory of God? That, my friend, is our eternal destiny. That is where we will be when we are absent from this body, but present with our glorious Lord Jesus.
Every child of God in a very real way lives their lives in a tale of two cities. The epistles address people who live in a certain city, like Ephesus, or Corinth. But they also tell us that our citizenship is in heaven. We read in Hebrews 13 that here on earth we have no lasting city, but we seek one that is to come. Of course, that is referring to the New Jerusalem, which is our eternal home. It is living in the reality of this “dual residency” that our Christian life is either fruitful or frustrating. This fallen world system is not set up to prepare us for heaven, beloved. It is set up to gratify and satisfy the lusts of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Because we still live in an unredeemed body that houses this “other” entity in me called the flesh, I find myself being pulled on an almost hourly basis to give in to this world and the lusts thereof. Before we are saved, there is no “struggle” of this sort at all. It is only now that we are in Christ Jesus that the battle exists.
Before our conversion, this battle was one that we could not win, because we were bound to the god of this world with no divine power to resist those fleshly affections and lusts. But now that we are in Christ, we are in a battle that we cannot lose, because greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world. Nevertheless, we do not enjoy this victory apart from making some very deliberate choices. One of those choices hinges on the answer to this question. Does my joy of anticipating the city of God eclipse the short lived pleasures of the city of man?
It was said of Moses that he esteemed the reproach of Christ as greater riches than the treasures of Egypt. In other words, he treasured Jesus and the heavenly city more than the city of man. Today, you and I will be confronted with choices that relate to one of these two cities. To choose to live for Christ and His kingdom is choosing the city of God over the fleeting forbidden pleasures of the city of man. Remember beloved that the gospel of Jesus Christ is the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come. Look for and enjoy those “slices” of the heavenly kingdom today beloved. By looking to Him Who is invisible, we endure. Enjoy your day in Jesus today. Cherish Him. It is only a Greater passion for The King and His City that can overcome the flesh and the city of man.
