Alexander, Desmond. The City of God and the Goal of Creation. Short Studies in Biblical Theology 5. Wheaton: Crossway, 2018. 167pp excluding end matter.
Summary and Critique
Overall, Alexander treats the concept of the city of God well, but overstates its centrality. He treated the city of God like the Kingdom of God, making the claim that God’s intention from the beginning has been a city, whereas, it seems that God’s intention from the beginning was to create a kingdom, which would certainly include a city, but is not the sole focus over and above everything else, as Alexander implies. Because of the overlap with kingdom, temple, and mountain, I doubt a book like this was needed. It would have been better to treat city, temple and mountain under the theme of God dwelling with his people; this would have been truer to the biblical text. In short, City of God seems too forced (i.e., the theme is forced into prominence where Scripture does not necessarily give it the prominence Alexander does).
Summary of Each Chapter
Introduction
God has intended from the beginning of creation for the garden of Eden to become a holy city, or at least the site for God’s holy city. “The earliest readers of Genesis would easily have expected Eden to become a temple-city” (20).
Chapter 1: The Godless City
Ironically, the first city built according to the Bible is Babel, more appropriately translated “Babylon.” Babel is “the prototypical Godless city” (25). Babel is “the antithesis of the holy city that God desires to build upon the earth, but it is also its great rival and opponent” (27). Babel “typifies every social enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the Creator” (29).
Chapter 2: The Temple City
By calling Abraham, God is establishing “a new human community that will ultimately inhabit the city of God” (31). Hebrews 11:8–16 explains how Abraham and the patriarchs looks forward to an anticipated the construction of a city built by God (32–33).
When the ark comes to reside in Jerusalem during David’s reign, Jerusalem becomes the city of God, because it is the place of God’s earthly residence (37–38). Jerusalem is the place where God dwells with his people.
Chapter 3: The Holy Mountain City
“The concept of Jerusalem as a temple-city fits appropriately with the expectation that God created the earth to be his dwelling place. Intimately linked to the concept of temple-city is the idea that God’s residence will be located on a holy hill or mountain” (43).
When the Bible speaks of God’s house being (on) the highest of all mountains, it anticipates “a time when God’s sovereignty over all the earth will be fully acknowledged by all nations” (45). It is a theological statement.
When Israel was freed from Egypt, they believed they would dwell with God on his holy mountain. Thus, they go to the mountain at Sinai and enter into a covenant with God, which enables God to live with Israel without killing them. Instead of living on mount Sinai, the tabernacle is constructed after the pattern of mount Sinai, so the mountain now goes with the people and they can dwell with God on the mountain (50–53).
To dwell with God on his mountain (which is wherever the tabernacle is) God’s people must be made holy through various rituals and then live a holy life (54–60).
Chapter 4: The Royal City
Jerusalem is also considered a royal city because God reigns from Jerusalem as King of kings (65–67). Jerusalem is the location of God’s earthly temple/palace. “Jerusalem is also a royal city due to the fact that it is the capital of a kingdom over which a unique human dynasty rules” (67)—the Davidic dynasty (68). “In God’s plan, the establishment of the ultimate holy city will involve the Davidic dynasty” (75).
Chapter 5: Envisaging a Transformed Jerusalem
“Zion represents . . . God’s people living in God’s place under God’s rule” (85). God abandoned Jerusalem because both the people and the Davidic kings failed to remain loyal and obedient to the Lord, not keeping their covenant obligations (87). In spite of the people’s failure, God will accomplish his plan to construct a temple-city on a holy mountain. The book of Isaiah “predicts the future transformation of Jerusalem into a righteous city that will be the place of salvation for the nations” (94).
The new Jerusalem is intimately connected with the Davidic dynasty and the coming of the new and better Davidic king—the Servant who dies an atoning death (98–99, 106). The new Jerusalem is also connected with the new heavens and new earth (103).
Chapter 6: Hope for Jerusalem beyond Divine Judgment
The combined witness of the 8th–6th century BC prophets is that there will be a new Jerusalem that far exceeds the preexilic Jerusalem and the postexilic Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem in these prophets is linked to the idea that the whole earth will become God’s temple-city.
Chapter 7: Seeking the City That Is to Come
Alexander makes a number of key points in the development of the city of God in the New Testament:
- The church becomes the new temple of God, making obsolete the Jerusalem temple. This transition means that the city of Jerusalem is no longer the sole location of God’s presence on earth.
- The negative portrayal of Jerusalem in the Gospels (and NT) implies that it is no longer God’s ‘holy city,’ and God does not dwell there, nor put his name there.
- A new Jerusalem will be erected by God at Jesus’ coming. This new Jerusalem will become a worldwide cosmopolitan city where God and man will dwell together. Believers in Jesus are citizens of that city now.
- The bodily resurrection at Jesus’ return is a necessary development in order for God’s people to live in the new Jerusalem.
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