The Visible and the Spiritual Jerusalem
Logos 2. “The word that came from the Lord to Isaiah son of Amoz concerning Judah and concerning Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:1).
What lies before us is akin to what came before, and anyone who fixes a careful mind on the insights of its meaning would see that it moves through the same ideas. For the words came long ago from God to the inspired prophet concerning Judah and concerning Jerusalem. Yet the vision seems somehow to be expressed in a middle way, and not very clearly, when it says “concerning Judah and concerning Jerusalem.” Still, we will make plain the force of the vision as far as we can, gathering it briefly, as it were, into view.
He is trying to speak of the laying waste of the visible Judah and Jerusalem, but also of the showing forth of the spiritual one in Christ and of her appearing in this world. For this reason he says that he saw the vision not on behalf of Judah, nor yet against Jerusalem, but concerning Judah and concerning Jerusalem.
By the visible Judah, and Jerusalem too, we mean the land itself in which Israel dwelt, and the very body of the synagogue of the Jews. The spiritual Jerusalem, or Judah, we hold to be the Church, that is, the circumcision in the Spirit: those who have the circumcision made without hands in Christ (Colossians 2:11) in mind and heart. So one of the holy prophets cried out to the Jews: “Be circumcised to God, and circumcise your hardness of heart, men of Judah and you who dwell in Jerusalem” (Jeremiah 4:4). And the divine Paul knows another Jew, not the one according to the flesh but the one in the spirit, for he writes: “For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly, nor is circumcision that which is outward in the flesh; but he is a Jew who is one inwardly, and circumcision is of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter; his praise is not from men but from God” (Romans 2:28–29).
So we must watch soberly for when the prophet speaks against Jerusalem, that is, Judah, and when he speaks concerning the spiritual one in Christ, which is truly perfect and blameless. What then does he say? “For in the last days the mountain of the Lord shall be manifest, and the house of God on the tops of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills, and all the nations shall come to it. And many nations shall go and say: Come, let us go up to the mountain of the…” (Isaiah 2:2–3).
Greek
ΛΟΓΟΣ Βʹ.}1 9Ὁ λόγος ὁ γενόμενος παρὰ Κυρίου πρὸς Ἡσαΐαν, υἱὸν Ἀμὼς, περὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ περὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ.9 Συγγενῆ τοῖς φθάσασι τὰ προκείμενα, καὶ διὰ τῶν ἴσων ἐννοιῶν ἐρχόμενα κατίδοι τις ἂν αὐτὰ, λεπτὸν ἐπιστήσας τοῖς θεωρήμασι τῆς διανοίας τὸν νοῦν. Γεγόνασι γὰρ οἱ πάλαι παρὰ Θεοῦ λόγοι πρὸς τὸν θεσπέσιον προφήτην περὶ τῆς 21 Ἰουδαίας καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλήμ. ∆οκεῖ δέ πως, μέσην τινὰ καὶ οὐ σφόδρα σαφῆ τῆς ὁράσεως τὴν ἀπόδοσιν ἔχειν τοῦ φάναι περὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ περὶ Ἱερουσαλήμ. Πλὴν ὡς ἔνι σαφηνιοῦμεν αὐτὴν τὴν τῆς ὁράσεως δύναμιν, οἱονεί πως ἐν βραχεῖ συνενεγκόντες εἰς νοῦν. Ἐπειδὴ γὰρ τῆς μὲν αἰσθητῆς Ἰουδαίας καὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τὴν δῄωσιν πειρᾶται λέγειν, τῆς γε μὴν ἐν Χριστῷ καὶ νοητῆς τὴν ἀνάδειξιν, καὶ τὴν ἐν τῷδε τῷ κόσμῳ φανέρωσιν· ταύτης ἕνεκα τῆς αἰτίας, οὐχ ὑπέρ γε τῆς Ἰουδαίας, οὔτε μὴν κατὰ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἀλ-λὰ περὶ τῆς Ἰουδαίας, καὶ περὶ τῆς Ἱερουσαλὴμ τε-θεᾶσθαί φησι τὴν ὅρασιν. Αἰσθητὴν δέ φαμεν τὴν Ἰουδαίαν, καὶ μέντοι καὶ Ἱερουσαλὴμ, αὐτὴν μὲν τὴν χώραν ἐν ᾗ κατῴκηκεν ὁ Ἰσραὴλ, καὶ αὐτὸ τὸ σύστημα τῆς Ἰουδαίων συναγωγῆς. Νοητὴν δὲ πάλιν Ἱερουσαλὴμ, ἤγουν Ἰουδαίαν, τὴν Ἐκκλησίαν εἶναινομιοῦμεν, ἤτοι τὴν ἐν πνεύματι περιτομὴν, τοῦτ' ἔστι, τοὺς ἐν Χριστῷ τὴν ἀχειροποίητον περιτομὴν εἰς νοῦν ἔχοντας καὶ καρδίαν. Καὶ γοῦν Ἰουδαίοις 70.68 ἐπεφώνησέ τις τῶν ἁγίων προφητῶν· Περὶ τμήθητε τῷ Θεῷ, καὶ περιτεμεῖσθε τὴν σκληροκαρδίαν ἡμῶν, ἄνδρες Ἰουδαῖοι, καὶ οἱ κατοικοῦντες Ἱερουσαλήμ. Οἶδεν δὲ ὁ θεσπέσιος Παῦλος Ἰουδαῖον ἕτερον, οὐ τὸν κατὰ σάρκα μᾶλλον, ἀλλὰ τὸν ἐν πνεύματι. Γράφει γὰρ οὕτως· "6Οὐ γὰρ ὁ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ Ἰουδαῖός ἐστιν, οὐδὲ ἡ ἐν τῷ φανερῷ ἐν σαρκὶ περιτομὴ, ἀλλ' ὁ ἐν τῷ κρυπτῷ Ἰουδαῖος, καὶ περιτομὴ καρδίας, ἐν πνεύματι, οὐ γράμματι, οὗ ὁ ἔπαινος οὐκ ἐξ ἀνθρώ- πων, ἀλλ' ἐκ τοῦ Θεοῦ."6 Χρὴ τοιγαροῦν νηφαλίως ἐπι- τηρεῖν, πηνίκα μὲν ὁ προφήτης κατὰ τῆς Ἱερουσα- λὴμ, ἤγουν Ἰουδαίας, ποιεῖται λόγους, πηνίκα δὲ περὶ τῆς ἐν Χριστῷ καὶ νοητῆς, ἣ καὶ ἀληθῶς ἐστι τελεία καὶ ἄμωμος. Τί τοίνυν φησίν; 9Ὅτι ἔσται ἐν ταῖς ἐσχάταις ἡμέραις ἐμφανὲς τὸ ὄρος Κυρίου, καὶ ὁ οἶκος τοῦ Θεοῦ ἐπ' ἄκρων τῶν ὀρέων. Καὶ ὑψωθήσεται ὑπεράνω τῶν βου- νῶν, καὶ ἥξουσιν ἐπ' αὐτὸ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη. Καὶ πορεύσονται ἔθνη πολλὰ, καὶ ἐροῦσιν· ∆εῦτε ἀνα- βῶμεν εἰς τὸ ὄρος το