ARCHAEOLOGY NECESSARY FOR FAITH?

A New "City"

On Pentecost 33 C.E., the Jewish nations lost its favored position before God.  (Matthew 21:43) This made way for something much greater -a heavenly government that would bring blessings to all mankind.  (Matthew 10:7)  True to Jesus' prophecy, Jerusalem with its temple was destroyed in 70 C.E.  Archaeology supports the Bible's record of such an event. Yet, for Christians, faith is not dependent on whether ruins  of that ancient temple have been found. But this one is a different type of city.

In the year 96 C.E., the apostle John, who had heard Jesus' prophecy about the destruction of Jerusalem and its temple and had lived to see its fulfillment, was given the following  vision:  "I saw also the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God."  A voice from the throne said:  "He will reside with [mankind], and they will be his peoples.  And God himself will be with them. And he will wipe out ever tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither will mourning not outcry nor pain be anymore." -Revelation 21:2-4. 

This "city" is made up of faithful Christians who will serve as kings with Christ in heaven.  Together they form the heavenly government-God's Kingdom-that will rule over the earth, bringing the humans race back to perfection during the Millennium.  (Matthew 6:10; 2 Peter 3:13)  The first century Jewish Christians who were to be part of that group realized that nothing they had in the Jewish system of things could be compared with the privilege of ruling with Christ in heaven. 

The apostle Paul, writing of his former prominent position in Judaism, speaks for them all: "What things were gains to me, these I have considered loss on account of the Christ.  Why, for that matter, I do indeed also consider all things to be loss on account of the excelling value of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord." -Philippians 3:7, 8. 

Next time: Conclusion of ARCHAEOLOGY NECESSARY FOR FAITH? -A New "City"

From the jw.org publications