CAPITOL!

The 65th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology is on, and I’m writing this from the locus of the AAD’s festivities this year—Washington, D.C. Great place! The food is fabulous. The museums, marvelous. The edifices, elegant. The climate, alas, too cold for me (at least at this time of the year)!

Washington, D.C. While the centers of all three branches of the U.S. government are situated here, the imposing fulcrum of people’s rule—taxation with representation—is the Capitol in the nation’s capital. It is hard to miss, from the air and from on land. Astride Capitol Hill, this neoclassical structure is the pivot upon which the geography of the city is arrayed: every street address in Washington, D.C., has one of the four suffixes, NE, NW, SE, or SW, depending upon where it is in relation to the Capitol. In a sense, all roads lead thereto.

One day, the Bible says, the Capital City of the Lord Jesus Christ will be even more influential and dominant.

In the last days
The mountain of the house
of the LORD
Will be established
as the chief of the mountains,
And will be raised
above the hills;
And all the nations
will stream to it.
And many peoples
will come and say,
“Come, let us go up
to the mountain of the LORD …
That He may teach us
concerning His ways ….”
Isaiah 2:2–3

That is the city wherefrom Jesus Christ will rule one day, God asserts.

“I have installed My King
upon Zion, My holy mountain.”
Psalm 2:6

This is the city that will disseminate justice.

For the law will go forth from Zion
And the word of the LORD
from Jerusalem.
And He will judge
between the nations,
And will render
decisions for many peoples ….
Isaiah 2:3–4

This is the city called “peace” from which peace will issue forth.

His tabernacle is in Salem;
His dwelling place
also is in Zion.
There He broke
the flaming arrows,
The shield and the sword
and the weapons of war.
Psalm 76:2–3

This is the city transfigured by the presence of its Sovereign.

Beautiful in elevation,
the joy of the whole earth,
Is Mount Zion
in the far north,
The city of the great King.
Psalm 48:2

This is the city beloved to God.

The LORD loves
the gates of Zion
More than all the other
dwelling places of Jacob.
Glorious things
are spoken of you,
O city of God.
Psalm 87:2–3

This is the city ruled by the Great Shepherd watching over His people.

As the mountains
surround Jerusalem,
So the LORD
surrounds His people
From this time forth
and forever.
Psalm 125:2

The city of joy!

For the LORD has chosen Zion ….
“This is My resting place forever;
Here I will dwell,
for I have desired it.
I will abundantly
bless her provision;
I will satisfy
her needy with bread.
… and her godly ones
will sing aloud for joy.”
Psalm 132:13–16

The holy city from which the whole world will be blessed, through the ramifications of the atonement and resurrection of Christ:

Thus it is written,
that the Christ would suffer
and rise again
from the dead the third day,
and that repentance
for forgiveness of sins
would be proclaimed
in His name
to all the nations,
beginning from Jerusalem.
Luke 24:46–47

Our God reigns! His Capitol has been established in His Capital. So …

Sing praises to the LORD,
who dwells in Zion.
Psalm 9:11

May His reign be consummated soon!