Can Cities Be Clean, Beautiful Safe and Inspiring?
Why can't city streets be clean, broad, tree-lined avenues interspersed with sparkling fountains, interesting malls and imaginative sculpture? Why can't the city's conglomeration of "bright lights" be arranged in beautiful, artistic schemes and designs? Why can't unsightly poles, conduits and wiring be universally hidden from view? Why can't gaudy neon signs be toned down and ugly billboards be eliminated? Why can't necessary information on buildings be done in neat lettering with good taste?
Why can't city buildings have appealing architectural flair and design — complementing one another in an aesthetic, harmonious whole? Why can't public buildings, schools and churches be devoid of pagan symbols and be kept undefaced and unmarred?
Why can't city air and water be clean and pure? Why can't dumping unnecessary soot, waste, refuse and chemicals into city air and water be stopped? Why can't industry be located in a separate part of the city, where its natural noise and dirt wouldn't affect the homes, schools and stores?
Why can't cities have adequate parks and playgrounds with trees, shrubs, flowers, birds, animals, lakes and streams?
Why can't cities have fast, efficient systems of transportation which will whisk people downtown without having to clog the street with their cars? Why can't cars be built so that they don't pollute the air?
Why can't cities be safe? Why can't elderly people go for an evening stroll without being assaulted? Why can't children play without fear of being molested? Why can't people go shopping without fear of being robbed — either by a pickpocket or by the cheap, shoddy, misrepresented products they buy?
The answers to all these questions — and dozens more like them is — THEY CAN! Cities CAN be clean, beautiful, safe and inspiring.
But about the only hope of ever achieving these things in today's cities is to start from scratch! And that is exactly what is going to be done. But how?
Today's Cities to Be Destroyed
As we have already shown, in Tomorrow's Cities God is going to establish a program to rehabilitate human nature. As this program gets into full swing, the sociological problems — the problems of crime, violence, immorality, divorce, delinquency, etc. — will be solved.
Then it will be possible to go to work on the physical aspects of the city — the streets, buildings, parks, homes, schools, transportation, etc.
Here, too, God will start from scratch. But How? How can you start from scratch in cities like Chicago, New York, London, Sydney, Toronto, Johannesburg, Tokyo, or Manila?
In the same way that Berlin, Warsaw, and other European cities started from scratch after they were destroyed in World War II!
Yes, shocking as it may be, Bible prophecy reveals that our present-day cities are going to be devastated with all the destructive force of modern warfare! But WHY?
WHY Our Cities Destroyed
God is going to allow our cities to be destroyed for the very reason that they are festering sores on the earth's face to begin with — and that reason is SIN! Our cities are full of sin. Of course all this could be avoided.
Speaking to the United States, the British Commonwealth peoples and the democracies of Northwest Europe, God warns:
"For if ye thoroughly amend your ways and your doings; if ye thoroughly execute judgment between a man and his neighbor; if ye oppress not the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow, and shed not innocent blood in this place, neither walk after other gods to your hurt: then will I cause you to dwell in this place, and in the land that I gave to your fathers, for ever and ever" (Jer. 7:5-7).
If you do not yet recognize the application of Bible prophecies regarding "Israel" — such as this one from Jeremiah — to Britain and the U.S.A., please write immediately for our free book The United States and British Commonwealth in Prophecy.
Yes, if we as a people would even now QUIT SINNING and turn to God, our land and cities could be spared from the catastrophes shortly to come. If we were willing to cooperate with God, He would make our cities decent places in which to live — without having to suffer the ravages of war. But human beings refuse to do this (Jer. 7:8-10, 28; 8:5-6, 9:5-6, 8).
Yes, it is because of SIN that God is going to punish us and destroy our cities. Whole chapters and books of the Bible are devoted to warning us of this sobering REAL fact.
Notice Ezekiel's dire prediction:
"In all your dwelling places the cities shall be laid waste, . . . And mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity: I will recompense thee according to thy ways and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee; and ye shall know that I am the Lord that smiteth. . . . The sword is without, and the pestilence and the famine within: he that is in the field shall die with the sword; and he that is in the city, famine and pestilence shall devour him. . . . They shall cast their silver in the streets, and their gold shall be removed: their silver and their gold shall not be able to deliver them in the day of the wrath of the Lord . . . Make a chain: for the land is full of bloody crimes, and the city is full of violence. Wherefore I will bring the worst of the heathen, and they shall possess their houses . . . And ye shall know that I am the Lord: for ye have not walked in my statutes, neither executed my judgments, but have done after the manners of the heathen that are round about you . . . They shall eat their bread with carefulness, and drink their water with astonishment, that her land may be desolate from all that is therein, because of the violence of all them that dwell therein. And the cities that are inhabited shall be laid waste, and the land shall be desolate, and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 6:6 and 7:9, 15, 19, 23, 24; and 11:12 and 12:19, 20).
What a terrible time of destruction that will be. But, thankfully the story doesn't end here!
The Joyous Rebuilding
An All-wise God will have to deal with us in the only language we understand — PHYSICAL FORCE and PUNISHMENT.
But once He has dealt with us in this way, and once we have learned our lesson, then Jesus Christ will return to this earth to set up God's Government. And then our cities will be rebuilt — this time GOD'S way.
Notice the loving tone in which God comforts those whom He has had to punish:
"For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the Lord thy Redeemer . . . For thou shalt break forth on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall inherit the Gentiles, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited" (Isa. 54:7, 8, 3).
"For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah: that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it: and they that love his name shall dwell therein" (Psalm 69:35-36).
When God sets His hand to build Tomorrow's Cities with the help of His Spirit Servants, how fantastic do you think those cities will be? They will be beautiful beyond description!
And they will be filled with joyful, thankful people:
"I will cause the captivity of Judah and the captivity of Israel to return, and will build them, as at the first . . . Again there shall be heard in this place, which ye say shall be desolate without man and without beast, even in the cities of Judah, and in the streets of Jerusalem, that are desolate, without man, and without inhabitant, and without beast, the voice of joy, and the voice of gladness, the voice of the bridegroom, and the voice of the bride, the voice of them that shall say, Praise the Lord of hosts: for the Lord is good, for his mercy endureth for ever" (Jer. 33:7, 10, 11).
A city can only be as prosperous as the hinterland upon which it depends for its food and raw materials. In the World Tomorrow this problem will be solved, too. Agricultural prosperity will be unbelievably great in all rural areas. "And the desolate land [most of today's earth] shall be tilled, whereas it lay desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say, This land that was desolate is become like the garden of Eden; and the waste and desolate and ruined cities are become fenced, and are inhabited . . . I will increase them with men like a flock" (Ezek. 36:34, 35, 37).
In the World Tomorrow, city dwellers aren't going to be crowded into small, cracker-box apartments with no backyards and almost no privacy. Instead, "They shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them" (Amos 9:14).
Imagine! Gardens in the city! —actually growing food! And imagine people interested in having a garden and working in it! With good food and sufficient exercise, fresh air and sunshine, city people will be robust and healthy instead of pallid and sickly.
Yes, the cities of the World Tomorrow are going to be far superior to anything on earth today. God promises: "And I will multiply upon you man and beast, and they shall increase and bring fruit: and I will settle you after your old estates, and will do better unto you than at your beginnings: and ye shall know that I am the Lord" (Ezek. 36:11).
Jerusalem the Capital City
In just a few short years Jerusalem will be the showcase city of the whole world. In the World Tomorrow it will be the world capital and the model city from which all other cities will get their example. It will be fabulous beyond description.
Jesus Christ, as Chief Ruler, will make His dwelling there. With Him will be many other high-ranking Spirit Rulers and assistants who will help Him administer God's World Government.
Here are a few highlights of what Jerusalem will be like then:
"Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion [a part of Jerusalem], on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. God is known in her palaces for a refuge" (Psalm 48:2-3).
"Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined" (Psalm 50:2).
"Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited" (Zech. 14:11).
"Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls [without the need of armed defense) for the multitude of men and cattle therein" (Zech. 2:4).
The gates of Jerusalem will be open day and night (Isa. 60:11) so that the various peoples and nations can bring gold, silver and valuable materials into it. They will be richly blessed for doing this, and those who refuse will be "utterly wasted" (verse 12).
All kinds of rare woods will be brought "to beautify the place of my [God's) sanctuary, and I [God) will make the place of my feet glorious" (verse 13).
Jerusalem will be called "The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel" and it will be made "an eternal excellency, a joy of many generations" (verses 14-15).
"For brass I will bring gold, and for iron I will bring silver, and for wood brass, and for stones iron: I will also make thy officers peace, and thine exactors righteousness. Violence shall no more be heard in thy land, wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise" (verses 17-18).
"Thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city" (Isa. 1:26).
Truly, "Glorious things are spoken of thee, O city of God" (Psalm 87:3)!
Delegations from all nations will go up to Jerusalem to worship, to offer praise and thanksgiving, to be spiritually uplifted and inspired, and to receive instruction from God and His servants.
"Jerusalem is builded as a city that is compact together [skyscrapers]: whither the tribes go up, the tribes of the Lord, unto the testimony of Israel, to give thanks unto the name of the Lord. For there are set thrones of judgment, the thrones of the house of David. Pray for the peace of Jerusalem: they shall prosper that love thee. Peace be within thy walls, and prosperity within thy palaces" (Psalm 122:3-7).
"It shall yet come to pass, that there shall come people, and the inhabitants of many cities: and the inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, Let us go speedily to pray before the Lord, and to seek the Lord of hosts: I will go also. Yea, many people and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem, and to pray before the Lord" (Zech. 8:20-22).
This is what Jerusalem will be like in just a few short years!
Tomorrow's Cities and YOU
There is much, much more that could be said about Tomorrow's Cities. They will have for visitors delightful restaurants cheerfully and courteously serving sumptuous meals — without a sickening pall of cigarette smoke hanging heavy in the air. They will have no. obscene and violent movies — only clean, wholesome, entertaining, educational films — all under the supervision of God's government. They will present thrilling musical productions. They will have exciting recreational centers. They will have interesting, scintillating museums of art, science and natural history.
Cities ought to be places where people go to be intellectually challenged, to be mentally stimulated, to be socially invigorated, to be culturally enriched and to be spiritually inspired!
In the World Tomorrow, cities WILL BE this way.
The big question for you is, will YOU be there to enjoy it? Will YOU have a part in making these cities fabulous places for people to live?