This quote is from a follower of Harold Camping concerning Jeremiah 25 and the city called by the name of the Lord.

"He said Jeremiah 25 is talking about the end of the world . I said I agree, In Jeremiah 25:29 we read For, lo, I begin to bring evil on the city which is called by my name, and should ye be utterly unpunished? Ye shall not be unpunished: for I will call for a sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth, saith the LORD of hosts. I said to Mr. Camping "the "city which is called by my name" is the local church". He agreed."

 

Here is another intentional misinterpretation of Scripture. The City which has been called by God’s name is the redeemed body of believers, not the local church. Let us look at some Scripture passages which show us that the City is the true body of believers.

 

(Heb 12:22 KJV) But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

 

Here we see that the city is defined by the New Testament as the body of believers, or the New Jerusalem.

(Rev 3:12 KJV) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

 

This could not be any plainer that the city is the kingdom of God with only redeemed believers in them. The New Jerusalem is not the local church but the redeemed church. On earth the redeemed church is within the local church and this is why it is identified with the Lord Jesus Christ because His Elect is within those local assemblies.

 

(Rev 21:2 KJV) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

 

Here is another description of the city in the New Testament. It is the New Jerusalem which is of God. Going back to Jeremiah 25, if we erroneously allow the Old Testament to interpret the New Testament, then according to this theology, God is going to destroy the New Jerusalem. Now let us ask the question, why did God call the Old Jerusalem in Jeremiah 25:29 by His Name?

 

(Num 6:27 KJV) And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them.

 

(2 Sam 7:10 KJV) Moreover I will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them, that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more; neither shall the children of wickedness afflict them any more, as beforetime,

 

(2 Sam 7:13 KJV) He shall build an house for my name, and I will stablish the throne of his kingdom for ever.

Here we have three verses which give an early indication as to why God placed His name in Jerusalem. He had promised that He was going to give Israel their own land and if they kept His commandments, they would dwell in the land peacefully. When Israel was in the land, God had also ordained that there would be a central place of worship. That place would be a permanent Temple in the city of Jerusalem, in contrast to the Tabernacle which was for wanderings. Since David was a man of war, it was Solomon who was going to complete this task as we see in the verse below.

 

(1 Ki 5:5 KJV) And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name.

 

(1 Ki 9:3 KJV) And the LORD said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

 

After the Temple was built and Solomon prayed his prayer of dedication, God accepted the prayer and He said that He will place His name there for ever. Notice that God uses the term “for ever.” God is already looking beyond the physical Temple in that He will be placing His name in the New Jerusalem. For whenever we see the words “for ever” in the text, we can look and normally see that God has His eternal salvation plan in view. Now this is why Jeremiah refers to Jerusalem as the city called by His name. It is because the Temple was there and Jerusalem was to be the center of worship. Since the Ark of the Covenant was there, God’s name was also there. God specifically pointed out Jerusalem as the place where His name would be so there would be no mistaking the fact that there would be a significant spiritual difference between Jerusalem and the other cities of the surrounding pagan nations.

 

(1 Ki 9:6-7 KJV) But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them: {7} Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

 

(2 Ki 23:27 KJV) And the LORD said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and will cast off this city Jerusalem which I have chosen, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.

 

Here God is now admonishing the people directly that if they disobey Him and go to whoring with the surrounding nations, then He will completely cut them off and judge them. This He did by sending both Judah and Israel into the land of their enemies. They wanted the false religions, so God allowed them to have seventy years of it. In the Depart Out Teachings, this is where their story stops and they claim that the church is dead based on Judah and Israel going into captivity. Now what do you do with the fact that Israel did not stay permanently in captivity? Many went back to the land and you have books like Haggai, Zechariah, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi which are post-captivity books. How do the Depart Out people handle the Biblical facts that there was a temporary restoration of Israel written in these 5 books in the Old Testament which I have named above?

 

(Gal 4:24-26 KJV) Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. {25} For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. {26} But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

 

These three verses give us a major insight into the difference between the two Jerusalems. The one that is present, is in bondage with her children. This means all those who are under the law, which is represented by the Old Jerusalem, are under the bondage or the curse of the law which leads to death.

 

(Gal 3:10 KJV) For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.

Now the New Jerusalem, which is the body of believers or the Kingdom of God, is not under the law but Grace, which was given freely to those whom God has Elected through the keeping of the demands of the law, by the Lord Jesus Christ.

 

(John 8:36 KJV) If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed.

 

The great difference between the Old Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem is one of spiritual bondage versus spiritual freedom. Now I am going to make a bold summation about this entire issue and why God has given us all this information about the destruction and judgments of the old Jerusalem in Scripture.

 

We read about these occurrences in the Old Testament because God is showing us that no group of people or country can keep the requirements of His Law. The eventual destruction of Jerusalem and the judgments show what happens to a person who tries to keep the law. It shows that the law leads to destruction because of our inability to keep it. We saw a few times in the OT passages we looked at that we found the words “for ever.” If we read the Old Testament correctly, we will see that the Bible eventually transitions from Law to Grace. Even though the Grace of God is evident in the Old Testament, it becomes opulently visible in the New Testament.

 

(Mat 24:2 KJV) And Jesus said unto them, See ye not all these things? verily I say unto you, There shall not be left here* one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down.

 

This verse is teaching about the coming destruction of the Old Jerusalem, since the Old Jerusalem was tied to the Law. The Law and all its ceremonies led up to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now that He has completed His sacrifice, the Old Jerusalem is no longer the place where God is exclusively placing His name. He will be placing His name in the body of believers and wherever they gather, the name of God is there “for ever.”

 

I must say then that all the teachings of the Depart Out belief, is totally erroneous and down a wrong path. They are looking for time paths, attacking the church, teaching that those who don’t follow this are in danger of going to hell, etc. They have completely ignored the Law/Grace teachings of the Bible which must be factored in if you are going to come to a true understanding of what happened to Israel in the Old Testament.

 

 

IT IS NOT A PICTURE OF THE CHURCH IN THE LAST DAYS BUT RATHER A PICTURE OF THOSE UNDER THE LAW WITHOUT GRACE.

*- Thanks to Rev. Stephen Hamilton of the Lehigh Valley Free Presbyterian Church.  I have read that passage for 20 years and the word "here" didn't jump out at me until he brought it to my attention in his excellent sermon "Is Family Radio in Danger of Becoming a Cult."

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