The City of God

“The individual, when isolated, is not self-sufficing; and therefore he is like a part in relation to the whole.”

“Man is by nature a political animal” –Aristotle, Politics

When we look at the art of the Early Church, one of the most striking things is its depiction of Heaven. Though there are not so many pictures of the physical layout, there are many that emphasize the spiritual terrain. This landscape is the community of the Blessed. The gold background that is so typical of the art up to the middle ages is a way of expressing the Presence of God tangibly filling the air around those who live beyond death, in the next world. Often in a prominent place in this splendid background is an image of Christ which imparts a sense of his current glory, and his leadership over the future world. There are, however, usually many pictures of angels, saints, prophets, and dead or resurrected Christians.

This is meant to be a picture of our future in the universe.

The present kingdom of heaven is life under the authority of God and His workers in the universe. To those with living confidence in God, training is being given in the Way of His Son, to prepare us for our work in the ages to come. This happens right in the midst of our daily lives on earth. As has been said earlier, we thus each have a glorious future of work and creativity in the universe.

But we also have a wonderful destiny together. This reality was called by Augustine “The City of God;” Aquinas referred to it as the perfection of the universe. There is something very deep here and it is related to the fundamental nature of God, angels, and human beings.

The social aspect of the person is the key here. It seems that persons are the kind of beings that find their fulfillment in giving and receiving love and joy for someone beyond than themselves. This is part of the image of God in man and angels. God is a community of mutual love among three glorious persons; to be in the image of His Son means to participate in the same kind of community; indeed, in the community of the Trinity itself. Our happiness lies in knowing and being known by the City of Persons that is in fact ultimate to everything.

This is the main reason that God did not place every man and woman on a separate planet in order to train for his or her destiny in the universe. Rather, he placed us all together, so that we could learn to love each other, and to love Him through loving others. It also seems to be the reason that we do not see the angels around us. We need to find our bearings in Love for each other before we can face the persons of perfect love. The glorious community of persons who are each distinct and yet hold so much in common is the secret reality in which we live.

In a small corner of this beautiful city lies the earth, a place of strife and pervaded with evil, at least on the visible side of things. This is because the nations currently living on the earth are in ignorance of or even rebellion against the City of Peace. For reasons that are difficult to enumerate, at many times and places in human history– including contemporary America– the existence and nature of this personal community has been unknown or concealed.

But the reality is still there; and the ultimate perfection of the universe is a vast community of personal beings who love each other. This love is no trivial matter; it is the love that is described in the New Testament. While we will still have opportunities to grow in love in the next life, this is the direction we should be heading even now so that we can take the benefits of who we are and what we have learned to our life in eternity.

For those who attain to the heavenly kingdom or Eternal City of God, their lives will be integrated forever into a beautiful matrix of persons that is fully self-sufficient because of the God who is its chief inhabitant. “Then shall I know fully; even as I am fully known.”