The Holy City..

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I really have had a breakthrough in my thinking over the past few days. The breakthrough has to do with the holy city, the new Jerusalem.

The new Jerusalem, is the Wife of the Lamb, the glorified Christian Church. It is what I like to term the “end game.” You know, it is said that “without a vision, the people perish.” I believe that today we have an incorrect vision of Heaven, of what we are going to face when we die, of the goal of our salvation. An incorrect vision definitely affects how we live our Christian life. The goal of our salvation is that of becoming an integral part of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, the glorified Christian Church.

(1/20/2008) Before I tell you what I think God has shown me concerning the holy city, let me offer a design that is not always presented in Christian teaching. There are two, not just one, groups of saved people. By “saved” I mean eligible to be brought over to life on the new earth, after the present earth has fled from the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.

The two groups are the Church; and then a much larger group consisting of the saved people of the nations of the earth. This simple design has gotten lost somewhere along the line.

The members of the Church (hopefully of the new Jerusalem, if we obey the Spirit of God and do not turn back into the world) were chosen by the Lord when He created the earth. The term “Church” means “called-out.” The term does not refer to a building or to a denomination. There is only one Church, regardless of denominational affiliation. I think all true believers know in their heart this is true, although you wouldn’t think so the way we talk!

In the Old Testament, the Church was Israel. In the New Testament the Church still is Israel (the new covenant can be made only with Israel) but it includes many people who were born Gentiles, as well as those born of Jewish people.

There is only one Olive Tree, only one new Man. That Man is the Church, the Wife of the Lamb.

Throughout the two-thousand-year Church Age, the Holy Spirit has been adding people to the Church. Our Evangelistic efforts are directed toward getting everyone “saved.” While the Apostles indeed have been commanded to preach the Gospel to every person, the main business of the Holy Spirit has been to add people to the Church.

God’s plan for the members of His Church, which is a called-out group of people, a small minority of Earth’s population, is twofold: first, it is to change them into the image of Christ, first internally and then, when the Lord returns, externally. Second, and equally importantly, it is to bring them into the Oneness that the Godhead Is. It an increase in the incarnation of God, with Jesus Christ remaining the supreme Head and Lord.

It may sound blasphemous to claim that God’s elect are to be made an integral part of God. But I can’t see any other conclusion from John 17:21-23.

When Jesus returns, those believers who, through Christ, have chosen to overcome the Satan, will be raised from the dead, caught up to meet Him in the air, and then will return to work with Christ in establishing the Kingdom of God on the earth. A great deal of Divine force, the rod of iron, will have to be exercised if the people on the earth are to be persuaded to do God’s will rather than their own.

Then there will be a period of one thousand years (whether literal or symbolic) during which those saints who were caught up to Christ will govern the nations of the earth.

The reason, as I understand it, for the thousand-year period, is that the members of the elect who did not attain to the first resurrection, will be brought to increased maturity while they are in the spirit world, and perhaps on the earth as well, while they still are here. Every member of the elect (except those who choose to withdraw from God’s plan for their life), must be made ready to descend through the new sky to be installed on the new earth.

I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

We see a great, jasper wall separating the Church, the eternal Israel, from the nations of saved people on the new earth.

For years I have been disappointed that I was not able to see within the wall. I wondered what activities are carried on; what kind of buildings there are; how people and/or families conduct their business.

I have always suspected that the wall, the street of gold, the river of eternal life, the trees of life, while they may have some kind of form, primarily are symbolic. The precious stones in the foundations of the wall represent the character of saints formed by extraordinary heat and pressure; the twelve gates being representative of the pearls formed in us as we patiently endure our tribulations.

And then, the other day, I think it began to become clear to me. There are no human activities or families or anything else we would expect to find. The new Jerusalem is not Paradise. Paradise is outside the wall, for the people of the nations, who are our inheritance, whom God loves dearly, to enjoy with their families.

The new Jerusalem is the Throne of God. What takes place inside the jasper wall is, first of all, the worship of God. The Throne of God and of the Lamb are in the center of the city. The holiness of God’s Glory and Presence proceed out from the Throne in concentric circles.

Each one of us is living at one of those circles. As we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, putting to death through the Spirit the actions of our sinful nature; learning to live by the wisdom and strength of the body and blood of Christ; being transformed little by little as we behold His Glory, move toward a circle closer to the Throne.

I repeat: we already have come to Mount Zion and to the spirits of righteous people being made perfect as we cooperate with the Holy Spirit in the work of becoming holy as God is holy.

How utterly and unspeakably marvelous to dwell in a city which itself is the Throne of almighty God! We are becoming more holy today, if we are walking hand in hand with the Lord Jesus.

We have been made one with one another in Christ in God so we can go forth through one of the twelve gates and bring the Presence and rule of God to the people on the earth. Again, this is true even today as the Lord leads.

The River of Life is to come out of us. We are becoming trees of life so people may be healed. The Spirit and we give the water of life without charging a cent, to all who will come and partake.

The street of gold is the way of faith. The righteous always live by faith. The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Truth there is. He alone knows the way and the will of God. We hurl aside our own understanding that we may walk by total faith in Him who is the only Truth; the only Way; the only Life.

I am content now. I think I know what is within the wall. I know also that in the hearts of some is the desire to never leave that city. It is their destiny to be there eternally, to worship God and to add to the beauty of the city. They are God’s “doors,” whom we, as Christ guides, enclose in planks of cedar.

But in others of us there is a fervency to bring the Light and the Glory to specific people of the nations whom God has given us for an inheritance.

The demons are arriving in increasing numbers in our country, because we no longer regard sin as being against the law of the state. The temptation to turn aside into lust and other aberrations will become terrific. Only the strongest will stand. But it is they of whom it is written, “Many who are last shall be first.”

You have been invited to be one of God’s victorious saints, and to serve God in His Temple, the new Jerusalem. Whatever you do, do not trade your calling for the trinkets of the world. The flesh profits nothing! Remember Esau!

You can hear the morning sermon at morning. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

You can hear the evening sermon at evening. http://www.wor.org/audio/audio.htm

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