The City of God and the Goal of Creation: an Introduction to the Biblical Theology of the City of God

Short Studies in Biblical Theology

by T. Desmond Alexander

From the first pages of Genesis to the final words of Revelation, the theme of the city of God is prominent. In fact, at the climax of God's plan for the world lies an extraordinary city unlike any other. Linking the garden of Eden to the New Jerusalem, this new book in the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series traces the development of the theme of city throughout the lives of Adam and Eve, Abraham, Moses, the prophets, David, Solomon, and Jesus--instilling hope in readers as they see God's purpose throughout the Scriptures to dwell with his redeemed people in the greatest city to come.

Genres: Theology, Christian, Biblical Studies, Nonfiction, Faith, Audiobook, Christian Non Fiction

190 pages, Paperback

Published January 31, 2018

About the author

T. Desmond Alexander (PhD, The Queen’s University, Belfast) is senior lecturer in biblical studies and director of postgraduate studies at Union Theological College in Belfast, Ireland. He is the coeditor of the New Dictionary of Biblical Theology.

Reviews

[Glen Higgins · Rating 4 out of 5]

Savior, if of Zion's city
I through grace a member am,
Let the world deride or pity,
I will glory in Thy name.
Fading is the worldling's pleasure,
All his boasted pomp and show;
Solid joys and lasting treasure
None but Zion's children know.

[Cale Manley · Rating 5 out of 5]

A beautiful and central biblical theme that I hadn’t ever given much thought to before.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tracing the biblical motif of city from Eden through Jerusalem all the way to the “city that is to come” where God’s manifest presence precludes the need of any human-constructed temple, Alexander’ s volume is a worthy addition to Crossway’s “Short Studies in Biblical Theology” series. In exploring how “the concept of a unique city occupies a central place within the biblical story,” Alexander provides the reader with a helpful perspective on the purpose and end of creation, tying together major events in Scripture including the fall, all things Babel/Babylon, Sinai, the construction of the temple and Jerusalem, and the prophecy/ infliction of judgement on as well as the anticipation of the restoration of God’s holy city.

Beyond being on a topic that is both significant and interesting, Alexander’s work is less than 200 pages and immensely readable. I have not read any of the other books in Crossway’s “Short Studies in Biblical Theology”, but if “The City of God and the Goal of Creation” is emblematic of the quality of the series, I will be diving into those other volumes in the near future.

ARC provided.

[Jeanie · Rating 4 out of 5]

For those who are united to Jesus Christ, eternal life begins here and now, as does citizenship of the city that will one day be created by God on a renewed earth. Jesus challenges his followers to look forward in faith, to pray and work for the spread of God's rule here and now. They are to exercise true humility, remembering that they have been redeemed from evil only by the grace of God and not by their own achievements or piety. They are to witness to an alternative worldview that promotes belief in a Creator God, highlighting the inadequacy of a purely materialistic view of human existence. They are to be peacemakers, reconciling those who are alienated, especially from God. They are to make disciples of Jesus Christ extending God's kingdom throughout the world through self-sacrificial love.

There is a question we must ask. What kingdom are we building? If we are building are own kingdom, we are likened by the City of Babylon. What this text does it teaches on the significance of Babylon and the contrast of building the Kingdom of God.

It always starts at the beginning. God's original creation plan - to live with his creation. Not for his need but for his enjoyment and our good. Looking at cities, we see not only the what but the why.

Chapter 1 The Godless City
Chapter 2 The Temple City
Chapter 3 The Holy Mountain City
Chapter 4 The Royal City
Chapter 5 Envisaging a Transformed Jerusalem
Chapter 6 Hope for Jerusalem Beyond Divine Judgment
Chapter 7 Seeking the City that is to Come
Chapter 8 Anticipating New Jerusalem

Each of these chapters reflect our need for God first by reflecting a Godless city. What is worship and what is rule. All this transforms the heart of believers to sacrificial love and mercy. Not a pie in the sky ideal but a defeat of evil that testifies to God's mercy and love.

A unique bible study.

A Special Thank You to Crossway Publishing and Netgalley for the ARC and the opportunity to post an honest review.

[Neil Kruger · Rating 4 out of 5]

2021 reads: #34
Rating: 4 Stars

A solid example of thematic biblical theology. The 'city of God' and its implications for God's plan for creation are traced throughout Scripture with a special focus on temple, the holy city, mediation through God's image-bearers (culminating in Christ) and a transformed creation (the new Jerusalem that bookends the biblical metanarrative).

Strong Old Testament analysis.
Brief New Testament analysis.

[Shawn Enright · Rating 1 out of 5]

Required reading for my Old Testament Hermeneutics class.

Overall, the book is a sparknote level engagement with the scriptures, repackaged as "accessible scholarship." More of a short catalogue of intertextual connections and themes, offered without any serious synthesis, analysis, or application. Not sure how it made its way onto the reading list for a graduate level course on the Old Testament.
( ◔ ʖ̯ ◔ )
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(｢•-•)｢ ʷʱʸ?

[Drake · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a classic example of how biblical theology should be done. Alexander masterfully traces the theme of “city” from Genesis to Revelation. I had never realized before just how central the concept of “city of God” was to the biblical storyline, but this book demonstrates that understanding the Bible’s depiction of Jerusalem as the center of God’s presence, holiness, and rule on the earth is crucial to understanding the eternal hope that Christians have to look forward to.

The only thing that kept me from giving it five stars was that the author never actually defines what he means by the term “city.” Although he mentions that cities bring different pictures and emotions to different people’s minds, he doesn’t clarify what the concept of “city” would have entailed in the minds of the biblical writers. This had an unfortunate impact on his introduction, where his arguments for God intending the Garden of Eden to become a metropolis that would encompass the globe ended up being somewhat unclear and confusing at points. A little bit of definition and clarification would have strengthened his overall thesis.

Nevertheless, once the book gets going, it becomes an illuminating and enjoyable exploration of the biblical storyline. In particular, I found his insights on the Babylon/the city of man theme in Genesis, the connection between Sinai and Jerusalem, and the Christian’s identity as a citizen of Zion living in Babylon all really helpful. After reading this and Schreiner’s book on the biblical covenants, I look forward to checking out further volumes of this series.

[Diane M Serpa · Rating 2 out of 5]

Surprisingly disappointing!

A book on biblical theology should be biblical. Starts off strong with garden and mountain motifs correctly interpreted, but when he gets to Babylon he totally blows it. Babylon, the great whore, is identified in Scripture as OT Jerusalem, the one who kills the prophets. Jesus tells us that He must travel to Jerusalem because that's where prophets go to be killed. To identify Babylon the Great as anything else misses the whole point of the sweeping story of redemption. I expected better from this author. For a WAY better analysis of the garden/ city motif, read David Chilton's "Paradise Restored" .

[Jeff Wiesner · Rating 3 out of 5]

A worthwhile read for the connections made between the garden and the New Jerusalem with regards to the "tree of life" and God's dwelling with his people. Alexander's section on the holiness of God in the relationship between Mount Sinai and the Tabernacle was rewarding. All in all, the work has many helpful insights. However, I don't believe that Alexander was successful in establishing a thematic unity regarding the city of God. The discussion on the Tabernacle and the Holy Mountain muddled his argument. My impression is that the theme of God's City was insufficient for uniting the many diverse themes presented. More sufficient for this task is Beale's work on God's Dwelling Place (The Temple and the Church's Mission) or Goldworthy's various works on the Kingdom of God.

[Michaël St-Amour · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best of the short studies so far.
It's a great look at the city/temple/mountain subject throughout the entire revelation.
It follows the redemptive history, which is great and it takes great care of the progression in the revelation.
It's well written, short and deep enough to learn something quickly.

[Dom Silla · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent BT on the city of God, from Genesis to Revelation. Read it with pen and notebook in hand!

[Lance Crandall · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Bible-centric biblical theology.
God is a beautiful orchestrator

[William Schrecengost · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good. Traces the city of God from Eden to the New Jerusalem. Reminded me of Beale’s works on the Temple

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very helpful introduction to a biblical theology of the City, including both Babylon and the New Jerusalem.

[Kieran Grubb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Another fantastic entry into this series.

Alexander takes his reader on an extremely well explained biblical theology of the Holy city.

Just deep enough to sink your teeth in and not too shallow as to be boring or feel too low brow.

[Dr. David Steele · Rating 4 out of 5]

“God’s purpose in creating this world is to establish a resplendent metropolis that will fill the earth, where God will reside in harmony with humans,” says T. Desmond Alexander. The author’s latest work, entitled The City of God and the Goal of Creation is a book that tackles the important subject of biblical theology. Alexander’s book is the latest offering in Crossway’s Biblical Series which is sure to please readers accustomed to solid scholarship.

The aim of the book is to present the biblical reality which concerns the city of God, which stands at the heart of God’s redemptive purposes. The author begins in the garden of Eden which “anticipates God and humanity dwelling together in harmony.” Sin short-circuits the hope of a temple-city but God is committed to his original plan.

Alexander carefully guides readers through the various minefields that surface in Scripture, all of which are a part of God’s sovereign plan. The trajectory which anticipates the city of God is a theme that runs through the entirety of the book and finds its culmination in the New Jerusalem which will be fulfilled when Christ returns.

The City of God and the Goal of Creation is short but packed with theological nuggets that should attract readers drawn to eschatology and beyond. This is a dense work that invites careful study and contemplation and promises some special challenges for readers with a commitment to Dispensational theology. This work is a true feast that will cause students to dig deeper in God’s Word and greatly anticipate the goal of creation, the city of God.

I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review.

[Jimmy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the third book I read from the “Short Studies in Biblical Theology” series published by Crossway. I have immensely enjoyed the other two volumes that I read from this series (see Review: Work and Our Labor in the Lord and Review: Marriage and the Mystery of the Gospel) and this work is no different. This present work explores the theme of “the city of God” in the Bible, namely Jerusalem but it also explores the city of God in light of its antithesis: The City of Man, namely Babylon. This is an excellent work on a biblical theology that gives us a biblical “tale of two cities” stretching from Genesis to Revelation that is at once exciting, edifying and relevant since these two cities are capitals of two groups of people in this world with one under God and the other in rebellion against God. If you think you know the Word of God and yet you are unable to see a unifying theme from Genesis to Revelation in the Bible you would find this book very helpful. Even for readers who have a deeper grasp of biblical theology would enjoy this work.


The author T. Desmond Alexander have written a lengthier treatment of the topic found in this book in an earlier work he wrote titled From Eden to the New Jerusalem. What I love about this particular recent work The City of God and the Goal of Creation is its brevity compared to the first book and also for its easy access for the general Christian reading audience. Yet its accessibility for the general Christian reading public does not mean it is not biblically deep. On the contrary there is a lot that even older Christians familiar with their Bibles will learn from what the author presents.

The book is divided up into eight chapters. The first chapter is on Babel/Babylon and is titled “The Godless City.” Transitioning to the City of God the second chapter is on “The Temple-City” while chapter three is “The Holy Mountain City” followed by chapters titled “The Royal City,” “Envisaging a Transformed Jerusalem,” “Hope for Jerusalem Beyond Divine Judgement” and “Seeking the City That is to Come.” Chapters one through seven is focused on the Old Testament while chapter 8 as the last chapter in the book is focused on the New Testament data of both the City of Man and the City of God. Chapter eight is divided into four parts with the first being on the church as God’s Spiritual Temple, the second part on the New Testament negative portrayal of Jerusalem, the third part on Christians as citizens of a heavenly city and finally the fourth part is on how the bodily resurrection of Christians is necessary to live in the New Jerusalem.

Personally there were so many things that I learned from the book that I won’t be able to share them all in this review. Though the book comes in at 190 pages it seems the insights, amazing truths and facts are highly concentrated with the book’s pages. Some of the things I learned include:

The similarities between the Garden of Eden and God’s sacred Sanctuaries. It is isn’t just that Eden is like God’s sanctuaries which I have picked up from reading other works of theology but as the author pointed out the tabernacle itself also mimic Eden such as the Menorah resembling the hape of a tree, like the Tree of Life in Genesis.
Babel in the Hebrew appears over two hundred times in the Old Testament and is always translated as “Babylon” in the English except for the narrative in Genesis 11 of the Tower of Babel. There are biblically strong reasons to understand the Tower of Babel as being Babylon. This truth is amazing to consider when one think that Babylon as the city of Man stretches so far back.
The author T. Desmond Alexander convincingly argues that the reason why the Hebrews did not treat Mount Sinai as an important location of worship for the Hebrews is because God’s design of the Tabernacle was meant to be a “mobile Sinai.” The parallels Alexander noted is far too much to be merely coincidental.
The book explore the multifaceted aspect to the “City of God” with how the themes of God’s “Holy Mountain”/Zion, a Royal Davidic City, the Temple and the Tabernacle overlaps biblically and “bleed” into each aspects.
Both the pre-exilic and post-exilic Prophets in the Bible predicts a future transformed Jerusalem.
The conflict between Babylon and Jerusalem would climax in the New Testament with the book of Revelation. I thought the author did a good job noting the contrasts between the two cities. For instance both cities are portrayed as women but whereas Babylon is described as a great prostitute in Revelation 17:1-5 Jerusalem on the other hand is described as the Bride of the Lamb in Revelation 21:9-10. As a prostitute Babylon has jewelry according to Revelation 17:4 which functions as a foil to Jerusalem who is dressed in bright and clean linen in Revelation 19:8 symbolizing purity.
Obviously there are more things one will learn than what is summarized above. As a constructive criticism I do think the author in dealing with the New Testament data falsely operate under the hermeneutical principle that expansion of fuller details with Jerusalem somehow man there is no longer a role of literal Jerusalem. For instance in seeing the Bible’s teaching that the Church is now a Holy Temple of God according to Ephesians 2:19-22 that does not mean there is no role of a literal Jerusalem in the future. Also I wished the author could have spent more time with the passages in Revelation concerning the two different cities. Overall though the constructive criticism does not take away the 5 out of 5 rating this book deserves.

NOTE: This book was provided to me free by Crossway and Net Galley without any obligation for a positive review. All opinions offered above are mine unless otherwise stated or implied.

[J.K. Turner · Rating 4 out of 5]

My Rating: If you are looking for something


Level: Moderate read, short (just under 200)


Summary


Alexander traces the concept of 'City' throughout the Bible, starting with Genesis (specifically Tower of Babylon) through the rest of the OT (specifically Jerusalem as the temple city) to the end of the New Testament (with the coming of the New Jerusalem as described in Revelation). 

The book is broken into eight chapters, The Godless City, The Temple-City, The Holy Mountain City, The Royal City, Envisaging a Transformed City, and Hope for Jerusalem beyond Divine Judgement, Seeking the City That Is To Come, and Anticipating New Jerusalem. There is also an introduction (plus the series introduction), a 'further reading', as well as general and scriptural indices. 

My Thoughts


If you are expecting the title to be drawn from Augustine's book of the same name, you'll be a little disappointed. This is where it is important to closely read the book description. That is not the fault of the book, but I was expecting something else. I'm sure the Augustinian influence was part of the title choice, but if you are looking for a well known book from the past to play off of, I would have gone with 'Tale of Two Cities'. The bulk of the book, the first six chapters, deal with the Old Testament dichotomy of Babylon vs. Jerusalem. Chapter 7, deals with Christ/Us as the new temple/new city, while only the final chapters discusses the future New Jerusalem in the New Earth.

As a professional city planner, any discussion of cities is interesting to me. Alexander does an excellent job in his exegesis of the various Biblical Passages that deal with the two cities. I would have liked to have more about the New Jerusalem, but I suppose as part of the 'not yet', we don't know a good deal about it, nor do we have much to say. As far as the physical attributes of the New Jerusalem, his understanding and interpretation is one of the best I've read.  

Overall, this was a good book, particularly for anyone specifically interested in the Biblical treatment of cities. However, I wonder how broadly interesting it may be. Again, this is not the fault of the book. When I finished it, I went back to review the series intro. Each book is narrowly construed, by design. I don't know if the long term plan is to bind them all in one massive take on a Systematic, with each book being a section, but that is ultimately how they read. I've read Work and Our Labor in the Lord, it is also pretty good, and I see a few others I'd like to read. However, popularily, I think most will enjoy this book, but it is probably best for those looking for something specifically about cities.  

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
More reviews at MondayMorningTheologian.com and @KevinReviewsBooks on Instagram

[Meagan | The Chapter House · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a fascinating read! I haven't read much in the way of theology in 2019; this book helped convince me to change that come 2020.

Alexander writes well (only a few times over my head, lol), and admirably charts the topic from Genesis to Revelation. I especially enjoyed the section on Babel. Did you know this is the only section where the word is translated as Babel and not Babylon in the entire Bible? The rest of the time, it is in fact rendered Babylon; the two can be considered one and the same. I often wondered about that!

The author's explanation of the laws from Exodus to Numbers provided a refreshing recap without the repetition! This allows the present-day reader to see divine rationale without getting -- frankly -- bogged down in material initially geared for an orally-based culture.

Alexander also loops in the Psalms at relevant points, reminding the reader that they aren't an isolated collection of songs. Rather, they point back to their base and roots in said oral culture.

For all its initial focus on the Old Testament (has to start somewhere!), The City of God always looks ahaed to the city's ultimate fulfillment in Christ's return and God coming to dwell permanently with mankind. God's creativity was not limited to his initial creation in Genesis; rather, we see it throughout both the Bible, into present day, and the anticipation of the perfect city to come.

I received a copy of the book from Crossway. All opinions are my own.

[Josh · Rating 4 out of 5]

The struggle to achieve a grand "meta-narrative" has perhaps never been more keenly felt than in this generation, which lives in the wake of literary and theological deconstruction. Imperious attempts to create a unifying story that makes sense of the world--or even, less broadly, the world of Scripture--are met with disbelief. More commonly, when one reads stories from the Old Testament or epistles from the New, they're treated as disparate episodes united merely by virtue of their belonging to the same collection of pages.

All that to say, one of the great burdens in biblical education, which would stretch from preaching to Bible studies to even more academic approaches to Scripture, is developing a cogent narrative that makes sense of Scripture from beginning to end. Historically, there have been attempts at this, but many have fallen into disfavor; dispensationalism, especially, has not fared well in the years since "the enemy from the north" (i.e., the USSR) has fallen apart.

Nevertheless, Alexander's brief treatment of the city of god / the kingdom of god sketches out a motif in the biblical narrative from Genesis to Revelation. He draws on threads which could easily be overlooked (my favorites are the parallels between Babel [cf. Gen. 9-11] and Babylon and the contrasts between Babel/Babylon and Eden/Zion/Jerusalem) but which, when noticed, shed a new light on very familiar episodes. To see the city of god as the central theme of the biblical narrative is to see the advancement of god's kingdom as the raison d'être for creation. More substantive than seeing the gospel as the "crimson thread" from beginning to end, Alexander's explanation of the kingdom's importance in Scripture has greater explanatory power for vast sections of prophetic and historical material which had hitherto been inexplicable as parts of a whole story.

The City of God and the Goal of Creation succeeds at its aim of briefly demonstrating a key theme of Scripture. More than that, it has the capacity to move the conversation forward and permit evangelicals in particular to make greater sense of the organic unity of the scriptural narrative from beginning to end.

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I received a complimentary edition of this work from Crossway in exchange for an honest review.

[J. Rutherford · Rating 4 out of 5]

The concept of “city” has long been of interest to theologians and biblical scholars, from Augustine’s apology for the destruction of Rome and account of the war between the City of man and the City of God (The City of God) to contemporary interest in cities among Christian sociologists (e.g. Jacques Ellul). For this reason I was pleased to receive a copy of T. Desmond Alexander’s The City of God and the Goal of Creation, the newest installment of Crossways series Short Studies in Biblical Theology. The book was a rewarding read in many ways, yet it left this reviewer with the impression that something significant was missing.
The reader will find much to chew from this book and will walk away having learned much about the way the different books of the Bible speak to this theme. However, Alexander leaves it largely up to the reader to determine the significance of the theme of city for living out our faith in the 21st century world. This deficiency could have been overcome by providing a definition of "city" within the Bible. See my full review at https://teleioteti.ca/2018/03/08/revi...

[Shane Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another edition to the Short Studies in Biblical Theology series. This was an enjoyable read with some thought-provoking connections between Eden, Mt. Sinai, and the Temple. This book's strength was definitely its OT reflections. It's obvious weakness then was it's lack of NT reflections. Only one chapter was given to contemplating the 'City of God' in the NT and most of it was spent looking at Revelation—the consummation of the City of God.

So much was left unanswered: what does it look like to live in the City of God now in the 'already-not yet', how does the church relate to the City of God?, etc., etc. Another chapter could easily have been given to discuss the epistles. In this sense, then, it partially fails as a 'biblical theology'. That being said, I thoroughly enjoyed the OT contemplations and some connections were solidified in my own understanding of this idea.

I'd still encourage all to read this despite some glaring omissions.

[E · Rating 3 out of 5]

This series continues to leave me interested but, at the end of the day, unsatisfied. If you're going to do a "short study," make it good! Alexander gets off to a good start, but meanders. His focus on "city of God" throughout Scripture is good at some points (he spends forever in Isaiah, and it's rich material) and really weak elsewhere (he almost ignores the NT entirely, and even then doesn't marshal the Biblical texts very well). His interpretation is fine, although I'm far from convinced that the New Jerusalem in Revelation will be a literal city. But in any case, a man of his caliber could have done better.

[Joshua Reichard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Though I enjoyed this book and gleaned from it quite a bit, I though Alexander’s argument was not that convincing. It seemed he spent too much time explaining the temple and not enough on his own thesis. I agree with Beale about he temple as the focus of scripture but fail to grasp this city concept that seems to be in the background but never more prominent then the temple. Thus, I would say this book ether needs to be developed more or scraped in favor of the temple theme.

[Gregory Strong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine introduction to the profound biblical narrative starting with the temple-garden in Genesis 1 and 2 and ending with the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and earth in Revelation 21 and 22. Alexander helpfully summarizes scholarly results and integrates them with insightful observations accessible and relevant to any motivated reader, without requiring advanced and technical knowledge in biblical studies.

[Preston · Rating 3 out of 5]

(3.5) Lots of good content and examinations of the city concept in scripture. He makes a solid argument that the city (or the broader concept of collective community with God) is the goal of Christ's actions (John 14:3 sums it up). The major issue is that some of his writing tends to be repetitive or meandering. I love the extensive use of OT and NT to support his argument, he could just trim it up in places. Otherwise, excellent ideas and analysis.

[Anthony Locke · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this short survey on the City theme in Scripture. I was particularly intrigued by the idea that the tabernacle/temple structure was inspired by the narrative of Israel at Sinai. Everything I've read so far from this series has been concisely excellent.

[Emanuel Elizondo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good introduction to the topic. The writing is a little dry in my opinion, but the information is very good.

I didn’t agree with his amillenial conclusions; even so, I found much to learn in the book.

[Aeromama · Rating 3 out of 5]

Entertaining: 2/10
Transformational: 5/10

Cerebral and thorough treatment of the prophetic city of God compared with the New Jerusalem, and the tabernacle-temple-Jesus transition. It helped bring together a few themes in scripture.

[Jesse Fenn · Rating 3 out of 5]

The City of God and the Goal of Creation is an excellent introduction into the world of biblical theology, especially for a lay person. Alexander presents his case clearly and simply. This book isn't meant to be exhaustive, but it accomplishes what it sets out to do.