The city of Jerusalem will then become the residence of the Lord Jesus, the head-quarters and metropolis of the Kingdom of God, whose dominion will stretch to the utmost bounds of the earth.

At that time they shall call Jerusalem the throne of the LORD; and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the LORD, to Jerusalem: neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart. (Jeremiah 3:17).

The LORD shall reign over them in mount Zion... the kingdom shall come to the daughter of Jerusalem. (Micah 4:7-8).

So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more. (Joel 3:17).

Then the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed, when the LORD of hosts shall reign in mount Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients gloriously. (Isaiah 24:23).
And they shall call thee, The city of the LORD, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel. (Isaiah 60:14).

And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. (Zechariah 14:16).

Thus saith the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel; As yet they shall use this speech in the land of Judah and in the cities thereof, when I shall bring again their captivity; The LORD bless thee, O habitation of justice, and mountain of holiness. (Jeremiah 31:23).
Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean. (Isaiah 52:1).

For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth:1 and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. (Isaiah 65:17-18).

Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King. (Psalm 48:2).

The name of the city from that day shall be, The LORD is there. (Ezekiel 48:35).

But I say unto you, Swear not at all... neither by Jerusalem; for it is the city of the great King. (Matthew 5:34-35).

1 It is evident, from Peter's allusion to this promise, that the phrase, "new heavens and a new earth," is metaphorically employed to designate the polity or order of things to be established in the Kingdom of God. Peter says, "Nevertheless, we according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." The old heavens, and earth of the Jewish constitution of things were dissolved according to the prediction of Isaiah (24:20). Peter, alluding to this dissolution, which had not become an accomplished fact in his day, said, "The heavens and the earth, which are now by the same word, are kept in store, reserved unto fie against the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men" (2Peter 3:7). They were not long reserved, after those words of Peter were written, for a few years afterwards, the Romans entered the country and destroyed the Jewish commonwealth to its very foundation. The literal earth will not be destroyed, "for the earth endureth for ever" (Ecclesiastes 1:4). the perpetual stability of the ordinances of heaven and earth physical is divinely guaranteed - (see Psalm 72:17; Jeremiah 31:37). Heavens and earth in the political sense are destined to pass away - (see Isaiah 13:13;24:19-20;24:4). It is necessary to recognise these principles; otherwise a literal principle of interpretation will in many cases mar the results of scriptural study. The writings of the prophets are in many cases highly metaphorical, and it is necessary carefully to discriminate between the literal and figurative.

In A Summary View and Explanation of the Writings of the Prophets, by John Smith, of Camleton, quoted by Adam Clark in his introduction to Isaiah, there occur the following remarks:

"By images borrowed from the world natural, the prophets frequently understand something analogous in the world politic. Thus, the sun, moon, stars and heavenly bodies denote kings, queens, rulers and persons in great power: their increase of splendour denotes increase of prosperity: their darkening, setting, or falling, denotes a reverse of fortune: or the entire ceasing of that power of kingdom to which they refer. Great earthquakes and the shaking of heaven and earth, denote the commotion and overthrow of kingdoms: and the beginning or end of the world, their rise or ruin.

"The cedars of Lebanon, oaks of Bashan, fir trees, and other stately trees of the forest denote kings, princes, potentates, and persons of the highest rank: briars and thorns, like common people, of those of the meanest order. High mountains and lofty hills, in like manner, denote kingdoms, republics, states, and cities: towns and fortresses signify defenders and protectors: ships of Tarshish, merchants or commercial people: and the daughter of any capital or mother city, the lesser cities, or suburbs around it. Cities never conquered are further styled virgins."

Isaac Newton remarks that in attempting to understand the prophecies, we are in the first place to acquaint ourselves with the figurative language of the prophets. This language is taken from the analogy between the world natural and an empire or kingdom as a world politic. Accordingly, the whole world natural, consisting of heavens and earth, signifies the whole world politic, consisting of thrones and people, or so much of it as is considered in the prophecy. Great earthquakes and the shaking of kingdoms, so as to distract or over throw them; creating a new heaven and earth, and the passing away of an old one, or the beginning and end of the world, for the rise and the wane of the body politic signified thereby. In the heaven, the sun and moon are, by interpreters of dreams, put for the persons of kings and queens; but in sacred prophecy, which regards not single persons, the sun is put for the whole series and race of kings in the kingdoms of the world politic shining with regal power and glory; the moon considered as the king's wife (i.e., ecclesiastical body), the stars for subordinate princes and great men... Light for glory, darkness for error, blindness and ignorance; darkening, smiting, or setting of sun, moon, and stars, for the ceasing of the kingdoms, or for the desolation thereof, proportioned to the darkness; darkening the sun, turning the moon into blood, falling of the stars for the same. - The Prophecies of Daniel, chapter 2.