LEARN FROM EXAMPLES
The best way to understand how God uses geography to teach about him and his ways is to look at two well-known, Biblical geographical entities: Jerusalem and Israel.
Jerusalem is a city but it is more than a physical city. It is a city of a peculiar, spiritual people (i.e. Israel). Since Christians are grafted into Israel, it must be said that Jerusalem includes everyone who is in covenant relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. All spiritual Israelites, including ethnic Jews and ethnic Gentiles of all races and colors, live in a spiritual community called Jerusalem that exists anywhere in the natural world — not just in Jerusalem or Israel.
Just as Jerusalem is a community of God’s people, it can be said that Israel is also a nation or a kingdom of God’s people. The spiritual nation of Israel has a physical context (i.e. the world) but more importantly it has a spiritual context (i.e. not of the world). It is a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. Obviously this kingdom/nation does not exist in only one physical location (i.e. Israel) on the map of the world. If that were the case, God would limit his ability to reach the entire natural world. To make his point that he wants spiritual Israel to influence the entire world, God placed Biblical Israel at the center of commercial and political activity in the known world in the Biblical era. As a tiny, otherwise inconsequential nation surrounded by world powers (Egypt, Rome, Babylon, Assyria, etc.) God used his chosen people to evangelize the entire world. That image is the spiritual model for what God has been doing ever since to reveal himself to the world.
While Jerusalem is an example of a Godly city, there are also many examples of ungodly cities. Sodom and Gomorrah come to mind first because of the drastic way God dealt with their sins. It is interesting to know that these infamous cities were located near the Dead Sea, but it is more useful to know that Bible stories about movement toward them and living in them, as in the case of Lot, indicate movement toward apostasy and judgment. Being in the company of ungodly people is bad for your spiritual health. On the other hand, living in the company of Godly people (i.e. Jerusalem, Israel) is good for your spiritual health.
Just like we see ungodly examples of cities in Sodom and Gomorrah, we have ungodly examples of nations in Egypt and Babylon. In their ancient manifestations, both entities are recorded in infamy as nations that conquered Israel and kept it in bondage. They are also known for their many gods and ruthless kings. The rulers and citizens of these nations were constant enemies of Israel and God. They were the supreme examples of people who are “of the world.” Everything that Egypt and Babylon was and did, especially their religious practices, are given as representations of what it means to be “in the world.”
What Egypt and Babylon represent is the antithesis of what God stands for. Mainly, that means they have religious leaders who function as gods and lead people in false worship. Just like Israel, they also have a spiritual context. But the context for them is that they are under control of the Devil who is the ruler of the world. They have earthly kings who are endowed with godly qualities by the people who are in their kingdoms. These kings, Darius, and Nebuchadnez’zar have the power of life and death over all their subjects. God is opposed to them and what they represent because they are treated like gods that take God’s rightful place in their lives.
Since it is God’s desire that everyone will eventually worship him instead of earthly kings, he is adamant that these kings, their kingdoms, cities and entire nations shall be destroyed. We will discuss this in a later page.