1. Hebrews 12:22 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

What is “the heavenly Jerusalem” and who lives there?

Hebrews 12:22 (ESV)

22 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering,

Above us is a city with angels and people! See also Galatians 4:26 which reads: the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother. It is the city of the new covenant.

The pilgrim of Psalm 84:1–12 is admittedly on his way to Zion, but in line with this he is also on his way to the heavenly city. After all, that city—designed and built by God himself—is the one that the holy ones of Hebrews 11 eagerly looked forward to, for example Abraham (Hebrews 11:10, Hebrews 11:13–16). Also, we as believers today, are in transit, in that long procession of pilgrims (Hebrews 12:1).

In that heavenly Jerusalem, the living God resides surrounded by thousands of angels, ministering spirits: they continually worship God, and they also are messengers of God for the believers (Hebrews 1:14). They surround us to protect and carry us (Psalm 91:11–12), to help us in our faith, and ultimately, when we die, carry us home (Luke 16:22). In Revelation 5:11 John hears that the number of angels around the throne of God cannot be counted: myriads of myriads and thousands of thousands. In a heavenly liturgy they show and tell of the immeasurable glory and majesty of God the Almighty!