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safe is that people themselves will
be changed! A city where every–
one observed God's Ten Com–
mandments would be a wonderful
place in which to live. No lying.
No killing, assault , burglary-or
family breakup. No illegitimacy
nor pornography nor drugs. No
store owners having to fear losing
their lives in a robbery. Mothers
not needing to fear for the safety
of their children.
God will change the basic hos–
tile, aggressive, selfish orientation
that is now part of man's nature
into something totally different–
into God's own loving, out-going,
giving nature:
"Then will
l
sprinkle clean
water upon you, and ye shaJI be
clean: from all your filthiness ,
and from all your idols, will 1
cleanse you. A new heart also will
I give you, and a new spirit will
1
pul within you: and [ will take
away the stony heart out of your
ftesh, and
1
will give you an heart
of ftesb. And
1
will put my spirit
within you, and cause you to walk
in my statutes, and ye shall keep
my judgments, and do them"
(Ezekiel 36:25-27).
In the cities of tomorrow,
people will resisl lhe temptation
lo degenerate. They will take
pride in their homes and famil ies.
They will keep their bornes and
property in good condition. They
will treat their neighbors with
courtesy and respect. Children
just won't wander around, un–
supervised, getting into trouble.
They will respect other people's
property.
Physlcal Outlay
Tomorrow's cities will probably
resemble today's smaller towns
and better suburbs than they will
great, suffocating megacities like
New York or Tokyo. Skyscrapers
probably won' t be needed in most
cities because there will be more
land available on which to build.
At Christ's return, the physical
geography of the earth will be
altered. Land now underwater
will be raised. Mountains will be
made lower, deserts reclaimed .
Skyscrapers are generally a
product of expensive land. lf you
can afford a little, you build up,
not out. In tomorrow's world,
there will be plenty of space to
expand. Buildings won't have to
be built umpteen stories high in
order to be economical.
In the cities of today, there are
usual ly slums and nice areas. In
North America, the inner city has
often become a concrete and
asphalt jungle, and things get bet–
ter tbe farther out you go. In
Europe and Latin America, the
central core is the livable, beauti–
ful part, with the slums on the
outside.
In tomorrow's cities, there
need not be the sharp difference
between where people work and
people live. Of course, those who
want to live in cities will be able
to commute to their family home–
steads when they want. But tbere
really sbould be no reason why
city neighborhoods can't offer
employment , a spacious place to
live and cultural activities within
the same general area.
Today, many people cannot
afford to live in "good" (meaning
less crime-ridden) sections of cit–
ies because of high property val–
ues in downtown areas. Only
prosperous businesses can afford
to locate there. But in a world of
low-priced land, and nonpollut–
ing, clean industry, people could
enjoy the advantages of being
able to live, shop and work in a
saje
place~without
a lot of driv–
ing or commuting. To be sure,
there will be travel in the world
tomorrow. But people will no lon–
ger bave to spend years of thei r
lives staring at the rear end of an
exhaust pipe because the only rel–
atively safe places in which to live
or shop are many mi les away
from where they must work.
Or consider a small thing like
parks. In today's cities, parks are
often far and few between, and no
sane person would dare use very
many of them because they are
places of mugging and rape.
But in God's world, the super–
abundance of land , and the
incredible general prosperity will
a llow cit ies to s uppor t great
amounts of greenery. There will
be parks. There won't be the des-
perate pressing need to squeeze
every last penny's worth out of
every last square foot! Cities wi ll
be able to afford wide streets with
plenty of foliage and immaculate–
ly kept up shrubbery.
There is a need most people
have for contact with greenery.
As the song goes, " In the moun–
tain greenery, where God paints
the scenery ..." Today's cities
lack adequate greenery because it
costs too much to maintain public
parks and trees, because land is so
scarce that it must be put
t~
more
pressing uses.
No Overc rowdlng
God does not have anything
against large cities, all else being
equal. After all , J erusalem will be
a magnificent metropolis, and,
after the Millennium, will be–
come the very capital of the uní–
verse made new! ( Reve lation
21:10-27 and chapter 22: 1-5.)
Indeed , the scripture indicates
that Jerusalem will be an inspir–
ing, bustling, dynamic city with
g r eat buildings sym bolizi ng
God's own g lory:
" Jerusalem is builded as a city
that is
compact together
[most
probably sorne form of skyscrap–
er]: whither the tribes go up, the
tribes of the Lord, unto the testi–
mony of Israel, to give thanks
unto the name of tbe Lord. For
there are set thrones of judgment,
and thrones of the house of
David. Pray for the peace of J eru–
salem: they shall prosper that !ove
thee. Peace be within thy walls,
and prosperity within thy pal–
aces" (Psalm 122:3-7).
But most cities will not be as
densely populated as Jerusalem.
Jerusalem is a special city, which
as God's future headquarters on
earth, will require a special mag–
ni ficence all its own.
God seems to have designed
living beings to need a certain
amount of open space for its own
sake. You probably bave heard of
tbe various scientific experiments
where rats-when put in crowded
conditions-degenerated (if rats
can
be
said to "degenerate"). As
one ar tic le in
Science News
reported: