Have you read Swedenborg on Revelation? He claimed that the entire book was misunderstood because people tried to understand it literally rather than spiritually. His book “Apocalypse Revealed” is about the “spiritual sense” of Revelation, and he – like you – says that the Holy City describes the people of God, not a physical place.

I imagine you’d disagree with a lot of Swedenborg – a lot of people think of his hermeneutics as latter-day gnosticism – but as a Swedenborgian, I like to hear other people’s thoughts – especially scholars – on what he’s written. (And I realize that the idea of interpreting the Bible spiritually is an older tradition than Swedenborg – and an older tradition than the relatively recent emphasis on strict literalism – but his interpretations really ring true to me, which is why I’m a Swedenborgian).