“Heroes of Faith” is the name we give sometimes to Hebrews, chapter 11.

Its catalog of those living by faith

begins with Abel and ends with a reference to unnamed others whose faith was great. I’d like to add two
names to that list today: Augustine of Hippo (354-430) and John Bunyan* (1628-1688).

City of God a Biblical Concept

The term “city of God” appears only twice in the King James Bible (Psalm 46:4 & 87:3), and these refer to
the earthly city of Jerusalem. But the city of God both Augustine and Bunyan write about is not that
earthly city but an Eternal one that takes its name from it,

the city.

the New Jerusalem, a name given by Jesus Himself (Revelation 3:12)

8I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little
strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue
of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship
before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also
will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon
the earth. 11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12Him 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. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear
what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

and seen by the Apostle John* (Revelation 21:2).

Revelation 21:2,10-27
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband…

A New Heaven and a New Earth

1And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and
there was no more sea. 2And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of
heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,
Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself shall be with them, and be their God. 4And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and
there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former
things are passed away.
5And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these
words are true and faithful. 6And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the
end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely. 7He that overcometh shall
inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son. 8But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the
abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.
The New Jerusalem

9Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came [f]to me and
talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the [g]bride, the Lamb’s wife.” 10And he carried me away
in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the [h]great city, the [i]holy Jerusalem, descending
out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper
stone, clear as crystal. 12Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates,
and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13three gates
on the east, three gates on the north, three gates on the south, and three gates on the west.
14Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the [j]names of the twelve apostles of
the Lamb. 15And he who talked with me had a gold reed to measure the city, its gates, and its wall. 16The
city is laid out as a square; its length is as great as its breadth. And he measured the city with the reed: twelve
thousand [k]furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. 17Then he measured its wall: one hundred
and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel. 18The construction of its wall
was of jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear glass. 19The foundations of the wall of the city were
adorned with all kinds of precious stones: the first foundation was jasper, the second sapphire, the third
chalcedony, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth sardonyx, the sixth sardius, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth
beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst. 21The twelve
gates were twelve pearls: each individual gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, like
transparent glass.

Hebrews 11 tells us that this was what Abraham* was seeking: For he looked for a city which hath
foundations, whose Builder and Maker is God. (11:10)

Psalm 87:3
Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God. Selah.

Both Augustine and Bunyan knew and believed all of this, but each wrote about it differently.
City of God: Augustine

“One might say that the history of Western theology is simply a series of footnotes to Augustine. The fifth
century African father towers mightily over the succeeding centuries like some spiritual version of
Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar:

Augustine was a philosopher, bishop, and intellectual.

He was a sinner “saved by Grace”
as recorded in his personal testimony, CONFESSIONS.
Augustine completed this when he was just 46
and had another 30 years to live.

Much of this time he devoted himself to writing the City of God his Magnum Opus. And Magnum is in many
ways, but first of all in size: 400,000 words, more than twice the 170,000 of the New Testament.

The occasion for writing the City of God was the sack of Rome by the Visigoths (Western Goths) in 410.
This was a great calamity for its people, and many of its pagan citizens blamed Christianity for inducing
Romans to leave their traditional gods.

Augustine devoted 10 of the City of God’s 22 books to proving that the old gods had no power and that their
worship was a corruption of the true worship of God, i.e., Christianity: “Indeed, the only cause of their
[Rome] perishing was that they chose for their protectors gods condemned to perish.” ― St. Augustine,
THE CITY OF GOD

The City of God is Eternal and its members are those who love Jesus. All earthly cities are the result of sin.
He goes back to Cain and Abel to show that God’s City was already in place and that the first city founded
on earth was built by Cain* after he had murdered his righteous brother then Cain went out from the
presence of the LORD, and dwelt in the land of Nod, on the east of Eden…. and he built a city. –
Genesis 4:17

This was the first city in the Bible,

but every one that followed was a rebellion against the City of God.
The City of God is the result of God’s love
while the city of man is a result of self-worship.
“… the earthly city glories in itself, the Heavenly City glories in the Lord.”
― Augustine of Hippo, CITY OF GOD
Accordingly, two cities have been formed by two loves: the earthly by the love of self, even to the contempt
of God; the heavenly by the love of God, even to the contempt of self. The former, in a word, glories in
itself, the latter in the Lord. For the one seeks glory from men; but the greatest glory of the other is God, the
witness of conscience. The one lifts up its head in its own glory; the other says to its God, “Thou art my
glory, and the lifter up of mine head.” In the one, the princes and the nations it subdues are ruled by the love
of ruling; in the other, the princes and the subjects serve one another in love, the latter obeying, while the
former take thought for all. (The City of God, 14.28)

City of God Bunyan

John Bunyan was not a philosopher, churchman, or intellectual. He married a pious young woman but was
not saved until he heard a voice from heaven say :

“Wilt thou leave thy sins, and go to Heaven? Or have thy sins, and go to Hell?”

In fact, his journey begins with this question;

What shall I do?” [Acts 2:37] and ends with this: ENTER YE INTO THE JOY OF YOUR LORD.“ –
Jesus in Matthew 25:22

In jail for 12 years, Bunyan wrote Pilgrim’s Progress, an allegory that presents Christian as a man called to
leave the City of Destruction to travel to the Celestial City, the City of God he saw in the Bible Bunyan’s
City of God was the Celestial City, that eternal city in Heaven, quite apart from the world and its cities. It is
the dwelling place of God and located on “Mt. Zion.”

To enter there, Christian had to cross the River of Death and enter with his passport given to him by angels
when he lost his burden of sin at the cross.

Between the cross and the Celestial City lay many enemies and earthly cities, illustrated by a town called
Vanity, whereBeelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the
pilgrims made, that their way to the city lay through this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair; a
fair wherein, should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the yearlong: therefore at this fair are
all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms,
lusts, pleasures, and delights of all sorts, as whores, bawds, wives, husbands, children, masters, servants,
lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not. –– Pilgrims Progress

City of God Augustine vs. City of God Bunyan

Augustine’s presentation of the City of God is a philosophical/theological one and has served as a foundation
for the church and Christian doctrine. Drawn from the scriptures, the text is explained and illustrated by
Greek philosophy and presented as a global view with universal application.

Bunyan’s City of God is a specific destination for an individual Christian. While Augustine’s work is a
treatise, Bunyan’s is a story, the first English novel. Of it C.S. Lewis said: Anyone who is honestly trying to
be a Christian will soon find his intelligence sharpened: one of the reasons why it needs no special education
to be a Christian is that Christianity is an education itself. That is why an uneducated believer like Bunyan
was able to write a book that has astonished the whole world.”–C.S. Lewis