This post is a thematic Bible study on the topic of the New Jerusalem from the NIV Zondervan Study Bible, which includes study tools that specifically focus on biblical theology—the progressive unfolding of theological concepts through Scripture.

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We often think of the New Jerusalem as “heaven,” a happy place we go when we die. But this New Jerusalem is just the culmination of a theme that runs from the very beginning to the very end of Scripture: the construction of the City of God.

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Two acts of God’s creation frame the books of the Bible: Genesis opens by describing how God created the heavens and the earth, and Revelation concludes by anticipating the creation of a new heaven and a new earth. God begins with two humans overseeing a lush garden and concludes with multitudes of people in a golden city. Resplendent in glory, the new Jerusalem completes what God began when he created the earth. From beginning to end, Scripture unveils a “Holy City Project;” disclosing God’s special interest in eventually constructing a holy city upon the earth, where he and humanity will reside in intimate harmony.

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Adam and Eve’s disobedience in the Garden of Eden throws life into chaos, allowing their authority to rule over the earth to be usurped by Satan and they themselves to become subject to God’s enemy.

Rather than building God’s holy city as he had originally wanted, rebellious humanity builds an alternative city, traditionally known as Babel (the Hebrew name for Babylon). The city casts a long shadow over the whole Bible. Babel/Babylon is the archetypal godless city. It not only typifies the wonders that humans can accomplish as God-created beings, but also the arrogance of those who turn from God and the vanity of every social enterprise that seeks to exalt the creature over the creator. From Genesis to Revelation, Babel/Babylon features prominently as the symbol of humanity’s attempt to govern themselves in defiance of God.

In contrast stands the city of Jerusalem—also known as Zion—after King David captured it. When the ark of the covenant is brought to Jerusalem, it becomes the capital of God’s kingdom on earth.

King Solomon enhanced Jerusalem’s status by building a magnificent temple there. Jerusalem is the interim holy city where God lives with his people until, centuries later, he abandons the city because its immoral inhabitants defiled it.

Ancient Jerusalem as a holy city merely anticipated something greater to come. As Isaiah reveals, the morally corrupt Jerusalem of Old Testament times will in the future be replaced by a radically transformed Jerusalem, to which the nations will come in peace.

The author of the book of Hebrews links the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob) with God’s construction of a unique city to come. And the future experience of all Christians involves this city (Hebrews 11:39-40; 12:22; 13:14). This city is the goal toward which everything in creation is moving; it brings to completion what God began in Genesis.

God’s plan to build his city on earth appeared to receive a major setback when the Old Testament city of Jerusalem was destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BC. But this is not the end of the story. The book of Isaiah contrasts a disgraced Babylon, sitting in dust, with a renewed Jerusalem, shouting for joy and knowing salvation.

Recognizing how present-day Babylon opposes God, the book of Revelation exhorts Christians to live here and now as citizens of the future new Jerusalem, anticipating the future existence of a redeemed humanity living together in harmony on a real earth. There is good reason to believe that our existence in the world to come will not be entirely dissimilar to what we experience now, but without the negative impact of evil, sin, and death. Every citizen, without exception, will not only serve and worship God but also reign with him.

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This post is adapted from the article “The City of God” by T. D. Alexander in the NIV Zondervan Study Bible, general editor, D. A. Carson. Copyright © 2015. Adapted by permission of Zondervan, part of HarperCollins Christian Publishing. www.zondervan.com. All rights reserved.