Who or What is the Mystical City of GOD?
The City of GOD is mentioned only twice in all of Holy
Scripture, but let us see where those two verses will lead us.
"The
stream of the river maketh the city of God joyful: the most High hath
sanctified his own tabernacle.
God is in the midst
thereof, it shall not be moved: God will help it in the morning early."
Psalms 46:4-5
"The Lord loveth the gates of Sion above all the
tabernacles of Jacob."
Psalms 87:2
"Glorious things are said of
thee, O city of God."
Psalms 87:3
So what key words in order of appearance do we see in those
four seemingly innocuous verses?
1. City of GOD: We will make some
verse comparisons in this writing to find the answer to that title of this
page.
2. Sanctified: Means to make Holy.
3. Tabernacle: Its
Old Testament Meaning is a tent. It was in a tent in which the Hebrews kept the
Ark of the Covenant in a section
called the Holy of Holies. Later GOD commanded that a temple be built to
Him.
4. Glorious things are said of thee: We will see what these Old
Testament types are when
revealed to us in New Testament realities.
Elucidation:
1. "Glorious things are said of
thee!"
Let us see how this Old Testament type equates to these New Testament
realities...
Luke 1:28:
"And the angel being come in, said unto her:
Hail, full of grace *, the Lord is
with thee: blessed art thou among women."
Does not this verse call to
mind the fourth line of key words listed above, "Glorious things are said of
thee!"?
* Most non-Catholic
bibles read "highly favored" in Luke 1:28. However St. Jerome, known as one of
the greatest Greek scholars of all time, translated the Greek and Hebrew
Biblical texts into the Latin Vulgate in the 5th century, and his wording for
this Greek text is "Gratia Plena", which means a plenitude of
grace.
Those who are called "full of grace, the Lord is with
thee" and / or "Blessed art thou among women", can also be called
"sanctified", the second key word mentioned above.
"Glorious things
are said of thee!"
And compare with...
Luke
1:41-42:
"And it came to pass that when Elizabeth heard the salutation of
Mary, the infant leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth was filled with the
Holy Spirit. And she cried out with a loud voice and said:
"Blessed art
thou among women and blessed is the fruit of thy womb."
To those of whom
these blessings are bestowed are also those who are called
sanctified.
Again we can equate the Mother of Jesus with,
"Glorious things are said of thee!"
And compare with...
Luke 1:46-49:
"And Mary said: My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my
spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. Because he hath regarded the humility
of his handmaid: for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me
blessed Because he that is mighty hath done great things to me: and
holy is his name."
"All generations shall call me
blessed", is a sure sign of someone who is
sanctified.
"Glorious things are said of thee!"
We have
now seen that there is a connection between the Blessed Virgin Mary, and
the first of the key words listed above, City of GOD, since
Glorious
things are said of both.
So where is all of this leading
us?
To the third key word,
the
Tabernacle:
The first time that the word "Tabernacle" is
mentioned in Holy Scripture is in Exodus 16 (Douay, Vulgate), and with it we
have more key words to consider...
Exodus 16:31-35, Douay
(31) "And
the house of Israel called the name thereof Manna: and it was like
coriander seed, white, and the taste thereof like to flour with honey.
(32)
And Moses said: This is the word which the Lord hath commanded: Fill a gomor of
it, and let it be kept unto generations to come hereafter; that they may know
the bread, wherewith I fed you in the wilderness when you were brought forth out
of the land of Egypt.
(33) And Moses said to Aaron: Take a vessel, and put
manna into it, as much as a gomor can hold; and lay it up before the
Lord, to keep unto your generations,
(34) as the Lord commanded Moses. And
Aaron put it in the tabernacle to be kept.
(35) And the children of
Israel ate manna forty years, till they came to a habitable land:
with this meat were they fed, until they reached the borders of the land
of Chanaan."
So what key words do we see in those five verses?
1.
Manna: this is the first time that the word "Manna" is mentioned in Holy
Scripture.
The Hebrews, numbering some 600,000 men alone (Ex 12:37),
wandered for forty years in a barren desert devoid of sustenance. GOD
provided manna, the sustenance for bodily food, in what was called "Bread from
Heaven" earlier in Exodus 16:4. Can you imagine how much manna was a daily
requirement for well over a million people when women and children are added to
the 600,000 men? After forty years the manna ceased as recorded in Joshua
5:12.
2. Forty years: A figure that could be equated to a human
lifespan.
Numbers 32:13,
"And the Lord being angry
against Israel, led them about through the desert forty years, until the whole
generation, that had done evil in his sight, was consumed."
3.
Meat: this word was used in the Old Testament (Douay) to describe the
manna, a type, which sustained
the body of so many for forty years. Is there a New Testament antitype for manna, maybe something
so wonderful that it sustains the soul?
From the Didache 10:3,
"Thou, Almighty Master, didst
create all things for the sake of thy name, and hast given both meat and
drink, for men to enjoy, that we might give thanks unto thee, but to us thou
hast given spiritual meat and drink, and life everlasting, through thy
Son."
John
6:53-57:
(53) "Then Jesus said to them: Amen, amen, I say unto you: except
you eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, you shall not have life
in you.
(54) He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath everlasting
life: and I will raise him up in the last day.
(55) For my flesh is meat
indeed: and my blood is drink indeed.
(56) He that eateth my flesh and
drinketh my blood abideth in
me: and I in him."
Elucidation:
1. The
Manna is the Old Testament type
(Bread from Heaven Exodus 16:4), of the New Testament "Bread of Life" (John
6:35, 48), the flesh (Body) of Christ for which we are commanded to eat in
John 6:53-57.
2. The Manna was kept in the tabernacle, a Holy place,
since the Manna was sent by GOD.
3. The Manna, which fed the body, is
symbolic of the flesh of Christ which feeds the soul.
4. The Blessed Virgin
Mary served as the tabernacle of the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of the person of Jesus the Christ
for the nine months of her pregnancy.
"Glorious things are said
of thee, O city of God."
Psalms 87:3
With so many glorious
things said of thee O' Blessed Virgin Mary, you certainly are entitled to be
called "The Mystical City of GOD".
©
Written by Bob
Stanley, March 15, 2007
"Have I
then become your enemy, because I told you the truth?"
Galatians
4:16
Do not forget towear your glasses!
Back to Home
Page...
Back to
Defenders.....
Proceed to the Next Topic, The New Ark of the
Covenant...