Cities, Kingdoms and Nations

CITIES
In Biblical interpretation, cities are not  legal, corporate, civic entities as we understand such entities in these modern times. As we showed in the previous page, they are spiritual entities. Here is our summary of what this means:

  • Cities are spiritual places.
  • They are unique groupings of spiritual people (righteous or unrighteous)  under spiritual authority of some kind (i.e. they always have spiritual leaders). The spiritual leader for the righteous cities (e.g, Jerusalem, Shilo, etc.) is God. The spiritual leaders for unrighteous cities (e.g. Sodom, Gomorrah, etc.) are people who are under authority of religious leaders (i.e. satan.)
  • They may be a small, informal group of people who have a common purpose (righteous or unrighteous) for which they work together and apply their collective resources (i.e. time, money, etc.) to accomplish their goals. Or, They may also be larger, legal entities (i.e. actual cities, business, non-profit, church, ministry, etc.) that is under authority of a spiritual leader or leaders who direct the application of resources to the entity’s goals.
  • They may be built for righteous or unrighteous purposes. Clues about their spiritual status are found in knowing who built the city. Only those built by God are righteous. All others are unrighteous.
  • They may be walled or have no walls. Walls may be built for either righteous or unrighteous purposes. Jerusalem, for example, was built as a righteous city and it had good spiritual walls designed and built by God (i.e. The Law) to keep the people safe. On the other hand, cities of the Promised Land that Israel was challenged to possess were walled cites built by unrighteous people. Jericho, for example, was an evil city for which the walls were designed and built by men for their own protection because they did not trust God Therefore, walls built by men for fleshly reasons are unrighteous
  • Cities are not independent spiritual entities. They exist within a kingdom or a nation that has a ruling authority. Cities that are under God’s authority are righteous. All other cities are evil and under Satan’s authority. Even if a city, Jerusalem for example, was once righteous, it may turn to evil and be subject to judgment from God.
  • Cities that are referenced to be east of Israel or Jerusalem are unrighteous, or evil, because the east is generally associated with Defiled Religion.

Using these symbolic meanings of cities, we can find modern examples of spiritual cities in the following entities:

  •  Local churches and synagogues that are members of larger, corporate, spiritual nations and  kingdoms (e.g. churches that are members of a denomination or synod).
  • Independent, incorporated ministries with staff, administrative infrastructure (including financial), and a purposeful public presence through various types of media.
  • Independent, informal, unincorporated ministries consisting of one or a handful of people with no infrastructure and no purposeful public presence.

The first city mentioned in the Bible is Enoch which was built by Cain. Because Cain murdered Abel, we know that anything associated with Cain, including his children and the things that they create (i.e. offerings, cities) is opposed to God. This city, along with all other cities of its era, was destroyed in the great flood as God judged the world for its evil.

With that fact in mind, it is interesting to note that the next city mentioned in the Bible is Babylon, which was built by Ham’s grandsons who wanted to make names for themselves and reach God. Ham, of course, is the son of Noah who looked on his father’s nakedness and earned a curse for his grandchild Canaan who became the father of of Israel’s primary enemies.

The Land of Canaan, therefore, is occupied by cursed people who try to make names for themselves by building cities with towers to reach to God. This is an example of Defiled Religion, of course, because God cannot be reached by man’s physical efforts. The leaders are the spiritual ancestors of all people who make names (e.g.. pastor, priest, father, apostle, prophet, rabbi, etc.) for themselves by building religious structures/cities (i.e. churches, synagogues, temples, cathedrals, shrines, etc.) and organizations (i.e. churches, denominations, ministries, etc.) that have a form of godliness (i.e. religion).  Such physical and spiritual structures are worldly, fleshly displays of religiosity that totally miss God’s ideal of worshiping in spirit and truth. And they represent the religious structures in the world that God commanded Israel to destroy.

The spiritual significance of these early cities is that they represent man’s works to reach God and provide places of physical, emotional, financial and political security within their walls. They represent fleshly, religious activity such as is found in Defiled Religion.  This contrasts with the life of shepherds who live in tents and depend on God for their security.

That Biblical cities are often identified with particular kings is significant for the fact that people still want earthly kings (i.e. religious leaders and organization) to govern them and fight their spiritual battles for them. We see evidence of this in ministries that feature the name of the leader on the marquees and letterheads of churches where the name of the leaders usually appear in a prominent place. This trend began when Israel first rejected God in favor of a king, and continues to this day for everyone who follows a religious leader (i.e. King, Queen, or Prince) or submits to the authority of a religious organization. In God’s view, this is the equivalent of serving other gods, and idols.

Other examples of unrighteous cities include Sodom, Gomorrah, Jericho, Nin’eveh and Ai. Each city had its own gods and .  All cities in the Promised Land were built by religious people for worldly purposes that opposed God’s purposes. That is why God wanted them to be destroyed, and that was, and continues to be, the mission on which God sends his people. But, we must keep clear that God’s people  are not on a mission to possess physical land or territory (i.e. the Promised Land).  They are on a mission to possess spiritual territory now occupied by religious leaders (i.e. Kings, Queens and Princes) who govern religious cities, kingdoms and nations.

But it was not just the pagan Gentiles who built cities. Even before the Kingdom was divided, but especially after, cities of the Northern Kingdom had their own gods and high places where the people worshiped. God dealt with this by sending Israel into exile. Even cities like Bethel, Gilgal  and Beer-sheba, which were once holy cities became apostate and subject to exile. This history is an excellent example of  backsliding from Pure Religion to Defiled Religion.  The land was conquered under Joshua’s leadership, but declined after years of governance by earthly kings. That is the fate of people who choose to follow earthly religious leaders.

STUDY TIP: See Kings, Queens and Princes for the consequences of choosing to be led by a human religious leader.

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