Eternal Life (Part 3)

by R.A. Parker, Stoke-on-Trent, England | Category: Eternal Life | Sept 1989

In our earlier meditations we considered the nature of our eternal life given to us by the Lord Jesus by using the analogy of the land given to each Israelite under the Old Covenant. We also used the analogy to consider how we may use our eternal life for His glory. Suggestions were made as to how the value of our lives for Him can be measured. Also, the effect of how we live our lives, by sowing to and reaping of the Spirit now, upon the richness of our entrance into the eternal kingdom future.

It is important too to have a clear perspective on where we live now as well as how we live. So again we draw lessons from Leviticus 25:29-31 in which two distinct places are mentioned where the Israelite could live. He had a choice of dwelling either in a house in a walled city (v.29) or in a house in a village which had no wall. There are many ways in which we may contrast living in a city with living in a village. There are differences which may vary according to preference, but which ever choice was made and whatever the reasons for wanting a house in a city instead of a village, or vice versa, one very important difference had to be considered by the Israelite.

That difference was value, and as in the case of the land which he received as a gift, the value was demonstrated when the sale of the house was contemplated. If his house which was in a city was sold, but later he wished to return to it, the house had to be redeemed (bought back) within one year (Lev. 25:29). By contrast, when a man sold a house in a village without a wall and later wished to return to it, then it could be redeemed (bought back) at any time (Lev. 25:31). This assessment applied to any house in any city or village in the land of Israel. There was, however, something very special about Jerusalem which singled out this city from any other city in Israel.

The walled city of Zion, the city of David, Jerusalem, was the place in which God chose to put His Name (Deut. 12:5; 16:2; 26:2; 1 Kings 8:16,17,29). Happy was the man or woman of Israel who had a house in that place. The affection of the Lord for Jerusalem is declared by the sons of Korah in the lovely song of Psalm 87, "The LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob" (v.2). What then is the New Testament counterpart of the place of the Name? During the present day of grace, God is taking out from among the nations a people for Himself while Israel is set aside until the purposes of the dispensation are completed. Under the Old Covenant there was a material place with which God was pleased to associate His Name. Today, the place of

the Name is associated with God's spiritual house comprising disciples of the Lord Jesus who are in churches of God which are fitly framed together and grow into a holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21). We must conclude from the Lord's special affection for Zion and the instructions about a house in a walled city, that having a house in Zion was of higher value than any other house in a walled city and of infinitely higher value than a house in a village without a wall. Once the house in the city of Jerusalem was sold for a place of less value outside there was a limited time in which to return to it.

In conclusion therefore our eternal life is ours in perpetuity (for ever) whether or not we sell our usage rights, but dwelling in the place of the Name is conditional. It is our home while we remain there. Should we leave it for any reason, it ceases to be ours until such time that the Lord causes us to return. Let us value our privileges in the place of the Name today.

R.A. Parker, Stoke-on-Trent, England | Sept 1989
Eternal Life