The City of God's Presence Text: Ezekiel 48:30-35
Introduction: What is a City?
We live in an age that is desperate for community, and utterly confused about how to build it. Men gather together in great cities, and yet have never been more isolated. They build towers of glass and steel, monuments to their own ingenuity, and then wonder why their souls feel like empty parking garages. The reason for this is simple. Man cannot build a city that will last because man cannot provide the one thing that makes a city a true home. He cannot provide a center that will hold.
The first city was built by a murderer, Cain, and he built it in the land of wandering. Every city built by man since then has followed that same pattern. They are monuments to our rebellion, our attempts to make a name for ourselves, our frantic efforts to keep the wandering dread at bay. From Babel to Babylon to Brussels, the story is the same. Man builds, and God confuses. Man gathers, and God scatters. Man seeks to ascend to heaven, and God comes down in judgment.
But the Bible is the story of two cities. There is the city of man, and there is the City of God. And at the very end of Ezekiel's long, and often difficult, prophecy, after the visions of judgment, the departure of God's glory, the valley of dry bones, and the promise of a new heart, we are given a detailed vision of God's city. And we must be clear what this is. This is not a literal blueprint for some future millennial construction project in the Middle East. To read it that way is to shrink a glorious, panoramic vision of the Church of Jesus Christ into a cramped and dusty architectural plan. No, this vision, like the New Jerusalem in Revelation, is a picture of the Bride of Christ. It is a portrait of the people of God, dwelling in the presence of God.
Ezekiel began his ministry by seeing the glory of God depart from a corrupt and idolatrous Jerusalem. The cherubim's wheels lifted off, and the presence of the Lord left His house. This was the great horror, the ultimate judgment. But God's final word is never judgment. His final word is grace. And so the book concludes with the most glorious promise imaginable. After describing the perfect order and dimensions of this new city, he gives it its final, ultimate name. This name is the summary of all God's covenant promises. It is the goal of all redemptive history. It is the hope of the world.
The Text
And these are the exits of the city: on the north side, 4,500 cubits by measurement. And the gates of the city shall be named for the tribes of Israel, three gates toward the north: the gate of Reuben, one; the gate of Judah, one; the gate of Levi, one. And on the east side, 4,500 cubits, shall be three gates: the gate of Joseph, one; the gate of Benjamin, one; the gate of Dan, one. And on the south side, 4,500 cubits by measurement, shall be three gates: the gate of Simeon, one; the gate of Issachar, one; the gate of Zebulun, one. On the west side, 4,500 cubits, shall be three gates: the gate of Gad, one; the gate of Asher, one; the gate of Naphtali, one. The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, 'Yahweh is there.'
(Ezekiel 48:30-35 LSB)
The Geometry of Grace (vv. 30-34)
The first thing that ought to strike us about this city is its perfect symmetry.
"And these are the exits of the city: on the north side, 4,500 cubits by measurement... And on the east side, 4,500 cubits... And on the south side, 4,500 cubits... On the west side, 4,500 cubits..." (Ezekiel 48:30-34)
The city is a perfect square. This is not about urban planning; it is about divine theology. God is a God of order, not of chaos. The world He made was good and orderly, and the new world He is making in Christ is perfectly so. This symmetry speaks of stability, of divine perfection, of a reality that is measured and defined by God, not by us. This is the same shape we see in the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the temple, and in the New Jerusalem of Revelation. The city is a sanctuary. It is the dwelling place of God, expanded to encompass all of His people. The Church is the temple of the Holy Spirit, the place where heaven and earth meet.
And this city has gates. Twelve of them, three on each side. Gates are for access. This is a city that is open to the whole world. It is not a gated community for the ethnically pure. The call of the gospel goes out to the north, the south, the east, and the west. From every tribe and tongue and nation, the citizens of this city are gathered in. This is a profoundly missionary vision. The Church of God is not a fortress hunkering down for the end; it is a city with open gates, sending out the healing waters of the gospel and welcoming in the nations.
And notice what is written on these gates: the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. This is a stake through the heart of any theology that tries to drive a wedge between Israel and the Church. God is not finished with Israel; He is fulfilling His promises to Israel in the Church of Jesus Christ. The Church is not a replacement for Israel; it is Israel renewed, expanded, and completed. We Gentiles are wild olive branches grafted into the rich root of the covenant God made with Abraham. The twelve apostles of the Lamb are the foundations of this city, and the twelve tribes of Israel are its gates. The whole story of redemption, Old Testament and New, is one unified story. There is one people of God, one city, one faith, one Lord.
The arrangement of the names on the gates seems almost random, breaking up traditional groupings. Reuben is next to Judah and Levi. Joseph and Benjamin are there, but so is Dan, a tribe that had a history of idolatry. This tells us that inclusion in this city is not based on merit, or pedigree, or past performance. It is based entirely on the electing grace of God. All twelve tribes are represented, signifying the completeness of God's people. No one is forgotten. No one who belongs to Him is left outside the walls.
The Name of the City (v. 35)
The description culminates in the final, glorious verse, which gives the city its ultimate identity.
"The city shall be 18,000 cubits round about; and the name of the city from that day shall be, 'Yahweh is there.'" (Ezekiel 48:35 LSB)
The total circumference is 18,000 cubits. The numbers in Scripture are not accidental. Twelve is the number of the people of God. A thousand is a number of fullness and multitude. This is a vast and complete city. But its size is not its glory. Its walls are not its glory. Its gates are not its glory. Its glory is its name. And its name is its reality.
From that day on, its name will be Yahweh-Shammah. The LORD is there. This is the point of everything. This is the destination toward which all of history has been moving. The problem in the Garden was that man was exiled from the presence of God. The glory of the tabernacle was that God condescended to dwell in a tent among His people. The tragedy of the exile was that God's presence departed from a defiled temple. The incarnation of the Son was the arrival of Immanuel, God with us. The cross was where God in Christ experienced the ultimate absence of God, so that we might never have to. The coming of the Spirit at Pentecost was the moment God made His people His permanent dwelling place.
And so the final vision is not of a place we go to, but a reality we inhabit. The city's defining characteristic, its very name, is the presence of God. This is what makes the Church the Church. It is not our programs, not our buildings, not our strategic plans. It is the fact that the living God, by His Spirit, dwells in our midst. When we gather for worship, Yahweh is there. When we go out into the world to do our work, Yahweh is there. In our homes, in our businesses, in our schools, the promise holds. He will never leave us nor forsake us.
Conclusion: Citizens of Yahweh-Shammah
This vision is not just a comforting thought for the future. It is a defining reality for the present. The writer to the Hebrews tells us that we have already come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem (Hebrews 12:22). We are citizens of this city right now by faith in Jesus Christ.
What does this mean for us? It means everything. It means that our identity is not rooted in our nation, our ethnicity, or our political party. Our identity is rooted in our citizenship in this heavenly city. We are defined by the fact that God is with us.
This should transform how we live. Because we are citizens of a perfectly ordered city, we should pursue order, beauty, and righteousness in our own lives, families, and churches. We should hate the chaos and ugliness of sin. Because we are citizens of a city with gates open to the world, we should be the most welcoming and evangelistic people on earth. Our arms should be open, our tables should be full, and the gospel should be always on our lips.
And above all, because we are citizens of the city named "Yahweh is there," we should live every moment in the conscious, joyful, and fearful reality of His presence. This is the antidote to all our fears. This is the motivation for all our obedience. This is the source of all our joy. The secularist builds his city to keep God out, and he finds only loneliness and despair. We live in the city God has built, and we find that its very walls are salvation, its gates are praise, and its name, its essence, its eternal glory, is Yahweh-Shammah. The Lord is there.