The City on a Hill

The City on a Hill

Every believer in the Lord Jesus Christ lives with eternal security. Sometimes, eternity seems far away both in time and in distance. Yet as we know, things aren't always what they seem. For every believer there is a glimmer of eternity always on the horizon. The image I'm going for is one of a distant mountain range that one views over a vast plain. The mountains are eternity and the plain is time. In the distance, atop the mountains, we can faintly see a brightly shining city. We can't really make out any details, but some details have been given to us in writing. And although we know that the words used to describe the city are human and finite, and therefore just an image and not the reality, still the few words given put an image in each of our minds. I dare say that this image is a bit different in each believer, but that's to be expected since no human on earth has knowledge of the exact blueprints, as if a blueprint could accurately describe it anyway.

The important thing is to have the image, to have an image that is personally yours and no one else's, and to have faith in the reality of the city and your certain future in it. As we go about working and living in the vast plain of time, we can at any time turn our heads and glance at it and imagine it, and allow it to fill our hearts with the joy of knowing that in that grand city there is as dwelling made just for each of us by our Lord, and before too long we will have been taken from the plain and placed in its midst. REV 21:10-11 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper.

JOH 14:2-3 "In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also."

We are closer to this city that we might know, for the Lord said that we are a city on a hill. MAT 5:14-16 "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. "Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." The unbeliever cannot see the great city on the horizon, but the unbeliever lives amongst the believers who can, and the light of the city shines through them. God has left the tares to grow amongst the wheat so that the tares may see God's light shining through the wheat. The Lord describes this as "good works," but it is not the sort of work as defined by Newton in which a force is applied over a distance. It is His love, joy, hope, peace, goodness, gentleness, kindness, faithfulness, graciousness, forgiveness, just to name a few, in action. It is literally heaven in action on earth. Christ was the first to do this and now it is Christ in believers. JOH 14:12 "Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go to the Father."

Knowing this, the believer should not set out to do more works, but rather to love more, to be filled with more joy, and to perfect peace. If he does, the work that he does will be done with joy. Anyone can move an object over a certain distance and claim he has done work according to the base definition of the word, and a believer can serve another for the sole sake of serving but do so void of any love. That is not heaven on earth. It is earthly only and no one sees the light of heaven through earthly things.

In Luk 5 when Christ asked Peter to go out fishing again after Peter had been out on the sea at fishing all night, Peter described the work in an earthly way. LUK 5:5

"Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but at Your bidding I will let down the nets." I can feel the big sigh that he likely let out. But when Christ filled Peter's nets to bursting with large fish, the miracle being obvious, the work is described in a heavenly way. LUK 5:6-7 And when they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish; and their nets began to break; and they signaled to their partners in the other boat, for them to come and help them. And they came, and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink. All of a sudden there is great energy accompanied by great joy. The difference is that heaven was shining through the common, earthly task of fishing.

We have heard the phrase, "labor of love." It is a biblical phrase. 1TH 1:2-3 We give thanks to God always for all of you, making mention of you in our prayers; constantly bearing in mind your work of faith and labor of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the presence of our God and Father. Notice the other phrases that accompany "labor of love," "work of faith," and, "steadfastness of hope." Faith, hope, and love are combined with labor, work, and steadfastness. One person might say that he labors, works, and remains steady at it, and because of it he deserves his just payment. This is earthly. Another may say that he also labored, worked, and remained steady at it, but that he did so through faith, hope, and love. Such a person would know that there is no just payment to come from them, but that these alone were his rewards, for heaven was shining through him.

We must be sure to periodically look to the city on the hill while we toil in the plain. 2PE 3:12-13 looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, on account of which the heavens will be destroyed by burning, and the elements will melt with intense heat! But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.

TIT 2:12-14 instructing us to deny ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sensibly, righteously and godly in the present age, looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our great God and Savior, Christ Jesus; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.

We can imagine an Israelite working in the fields or tending his flock and every once in a while looking towards the Tabernacle and seeing the smoke of the offering rising and knowing that the Shekinah glory indwells the tent. He knows that God is with him and that God will fulfill all of His promises to Israel.

In each of our souls there is a picture of eternity. It is not an accurate picture, but accuracy is not the necessary part of the image. What is needed is simply the image itself and faith in it. We can go to it in our thoughts any time. It's a vacation to a place trillions of light years away, which is traversed in a fraction of a second.

We don’t look at the city all of the time. If we did we wouldn't be much good at the many works in the plain which demand considerable concentration. Yet it is also true that we cannot spend too much time in between glances. If we lose sight of the city in our consciousness, we will become overburdened by the various things in the plain that are drab, colorless, ordinary, and tarnished by sin and evil, including the old nature within each of us. We will become oppressed by the earthly.

If it has been too long since we have embraced the city then God will visit us. These instances are indeed miracles. I don't mean raising the dead or parting the sea. All I mean is that whatever it is that God does to draw our eyes upon the plain fact that He is personally visiting us is the supernatural intruding on the natural, and by definition, that is a miracle, small as it may be. Something extraordinary was done and it made His presence known to us. The world calls them coincidences, but the believer knows better. The miracle is that God just visited you and it made you look at the city on the hill again, after too long a time. The storm clouds and the forces that seemed so ominous a second ago, faded far into the background as God filled the eyes of your heart with His glory.

If God would send His Son, why wouldn't He send you a message when you needed it? If the believer has determined to set out and find a message, he will never find one, not a real one. We are to seek God in His word only. These visits from God are not sought for, but they are found.  

In a way, though our position is in heaven in Christ, our experience is one in which we are caught in the middle, between earth and heaven. We look at both, but not in the same way. One is temporary and one is permanent. One, we are in, and the other, we are of. One has need of salvation while the other is filled with salvation. One has much sin while the other has none. To one we will bid farewell, soon to be forgotten, and in the other we will hear, "Welcome, I have always known you." One I could never become a part of, and the other I have become one with.

When you find yourself in despair, remember to lift your eyes from the plain of the earth and look upon the city on the hill. And know that the light shining through you is the gift that God has given to the tares. PSA 42:11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, The help of my countenance, and my God.

PSA 94:19 When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,

Thy consolations delight my soul.

To Him be the glory,

Pastor Joe Sugrue

Grace and Truth Ministries