The design of the world to come
The new Jerusalem, the Temple of God, shines with the righteousness of Christ. The holy city is the counterpart and fulfilment of the Most Holy Place of the Temple of Solomon. The "oracle" (Most Holy Place) of the Temple of Solomon was cubical in proportion.
And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar. (I Kings 6:19,20)
The new Jerusalem also is cubical in proportion: "The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal"—fifteen hundred miles on a side (Revelation 21:16).
The Holy Spirit wants us to think of the new Jerusalem as the Most Holy Place, the eternal dwelling place of God Almighty. Truly, the holy city is the ultimate in holiness. It is all that the Lord desires in perfection of the beauty of holiness. The new Jerusalem is exceedingly precious to God.
Whatever is included in the Scriptures is of importance in the mind of God. The Book of Revelation describes only a small fragment of the things to be seen and heard in the holy city, but these are the elements that God considers to be essential to our understanding of His plan of redemption.
We are told nothing about what is heard in the new Jerusalem, such as the sound of instruments of music or of people singing or talking. The kinds of houses, buildings, occupations, appearance of the inhabitants, and so forth found in every culture, are not shown.
No children are heard or seen playing in the streets, no animals, no movements of people and things are portrayed. We are impressed with the thought that what we do have included in the description must be of immediate importance in the mind of the Holy Spirit.
The twenty-first and twenty-second chapters of the Book of Revelation set forth just a few concepts—those that are necessary for our understanding at this time.
First, there is "no more sea." No longer is there a multitude of people who can be swayed to good or evil depending on the spiritual "wind" that is blowing.
Then we are informed that the new Jerusalem is the Wife of the Lamb, the Tabernacle of God—His eternal dwelling place among mankind.
It is emphasized that there will be no unclean practices in the holy city. No enemy of God will be allowed to enter. This is what is signified by the extraordinary emphasis on the wall, its foundations and its beauty. Holiness has a special kind of beauty that the Lord and His saints love.
The twelve gates of pearl speak of the access to God that has been created in the personalities of the saints as they have endured a lifetime of patient cross-carrying. In their hearts are the highways to Zion so whoever is thirsty may have access to the Water of Life.
The Throne of God and of the Lamb are located permanently in the Wife of the Lamb. So great is the light shining from the Glory of God and Christ in the Church that there is no more need for the sun and moon.
The nations of saved peoples of the earth are guided by the light from the city. The kings of the earth pay homage to the city (Isaiah 60:12).
The Holy Spirit in the city is a flowing River available to whoever will drink. The Tree of Life is nourished by the River of Life, revealing the continually renewed ability of the saints to bring the Life and healing of Christ to the peoples of the earth.
And he [the person who delights in the law of the Lord] shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. (Psalms 1:3)
The main concepts, then, are the making of all things new, the Presence of the throne of God and of the Lamb, the Tabernacle of God, the Wife of the Lamb, absolute holiness and defence against sin and rebellion, dominion over the nations of saved peoples of the earth, and the availability of eternal life to all who choose to partake.
Also of central importance are the ideas of our spiritual union with Christ (we are the wife of the Lamb) and our eternal service to God Almighty.
These are the concepts that the Holy Spirit deems to be first in emphasis. They are the basis for what is taking place in the Church of Christ today. They are the elements of the Kingdom of God.
The Church of Christ holds the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, meaning that the Church can bar people from, and admit people to, the Presence and blessing of the Lord God—truly an awesome responsibility.
In the present hour the Spirit of God and the Bride of the Lamb are extending the invitation to all to come and drink freely of the waters of eternal life. Who could resist such an invitation?
One day the Divine decree shall be proclaimed: "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still" (Revelation 22:11).
When that awful sentence proceeds from the Father there will be no more opportunity to repent. The destiny of each creature will have been fixed for eternity. The way of the Lord will have been straight. The line between the godly and the ungodly will have been established permanently.
The end of those who reject the eternal Life of God is as horrible as the end of those who accept the Life of God is glorious. The Book of Revelation describes the destiny of people who choose Satan in place of God.
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. (Revelation 14:10,11)
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:15)
But the fearful, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and sulphur: which is the second death. (Revelation 21:8)
And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. (Revelation 21:27)
For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie. (Revelation 22:15)
Then appears a statement bearing on the Book of Revelation itself that reveals the extraordinary importance God has placed on the vision given to the Apostle John:
And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book. (Revelation 22:19) The Book of Revelation is not to be added to or diminished from in any manner whatever.
If at any time we yield to the idea (which Adam and Eve were sold so successfully) that God does not mean exactly what He says, we are in danger of a fate worse than physical death. The promises God has made to the ungodly are as certain of fulfilment as the promises God has made to the godly.
Our God is a consuming Fire. We are foolish indeed if we believe God will change His mind at the Day of Judgment. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth in the Day of Christ because people are hoping for an avenue of escape that somehow will diminish the terror of the fate of the wicked. Even to hope for such an escape is to invite deception. God means what He has stated. We urge all who read these pages to come to Christ without delay, receiving Him as both Lord and Saviour.
There is a Lake of Fire. It will be situated somewhere outside the holy city. It will remain throughout eternity as a terrifying testimony to the certainty of God’s Word.
A spirit cannot be destroyed. It must abide somewhere. There is no redemption for spirits who defy the will of God. The fires of the lake that burns with sulphur do not purify the inhabitants no matter how long they remain therein. The wrath of God is no redemptive. As far as we know there will be no improvement in their condition forever. They are doomed to eternal punishment.
If rebellious spirits were released from the Lake of Fire they would destroy the new earth just as they have destroyed and yet are destroying the present earth.
We can see that the moment Satan was released from the bottomless pit—although he had been confined there one thousand years—he immediately set out to destroy all that had been established by the efforts of the saints throughout the Jubilee (Revelation 20:7,8).
God is righteous, wise, and compassionate in all that He does.
For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the Lord, so shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh. (Isaiah 66:22-24)
The Book of Revelation declares emphatically that no one will enter the eternal city who practices uncleanness. The Scriptures, when describing the new Jerusalem, never speak of people who are "saved by grace" in the sense that they are continuing to practice uncleanness but are relying on the imputed (ascribed) righteousness and holiness of Christ to save them.
In the Scriptures, silver is symbolic of redemption. There is no mention of silver in the holy city. The inhabitants of the new Jerusalem have already been redeemed, meaning they are holy in thought, in word, and indeed.
The citizens of the new Jerusalem have received the ascribed righteousness of the cross. In addition they have drawn on the virtue of Christ until they themselves are walking in holy conduct. The holy city does not contain one person who practices sin. No evil spirits are present.
How do we get from here to there? In our churches we have unnumbered multitudes of people who are trusting Christ for salvation but who are not practicing holiness and righteousness of conduct.
Somehow, somewhere, whether on earth or in Heaven or on earth during the Jubilee, or in some other place or manner, Christ will purify His people. Otherwise there will not be many inhabitants of the new Jerusalem.
We do not advocate waiting to be cleansed in the future, as we have explained previously. The Scriptures command us to purify our conduct, to wash the robes of our conduct today. If we are not faithful in the small things of today we will not be faithful in the greater things of the future.
Having therefore these promises, dearly beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. (II Corinthians 7:1) And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure. (I John 3:3)
. . . These are they which came out of [the] great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Revelation 7:14)
To wash our robe (our conduct—see Revelation 19:8) is to cleanse our personality from all filthiness, to purify ourselves as Christ is pure. We purify our behaviour each day by the authority of the blood of the Lamb and the power of the Spirit of God. We confess and forsake our sins with God’s help.
It is our understanding of God’s purpose in Christ that Christians who expect to be ready to meet Jesus and to participate in the first resurrection from the dead must begin to purify themselves, to wash their robes in preparation for His appearing.
Those who take part with Christ in the destroying of sin out of the earth are a blessed and holy group of believers. They are the victorious saints mentioned several times in Revelation, Chapters Two and Three. Are we to believe weak, immature Christians suddenly will be lifted into exalted stations of judgment and ruler ship at the appearing of Christ?
The Scriptures do not present such a concept. Everything we have learned from God is against it. Common sense does not permit it.
We cannot give what we do not possess. We cannot teach others the spiritual lessons we ourselves have not mastered. We cannot judge angels or people who are practicing the same wickedness we have been unable to overcome through Christ.
What, then, is the destiny of the multitudes of Christian people who are weak, who are immature, who are not victorious saints, who do not purify themselves, who have received Christ in a profession of belief but who, for one reason or another, have never grown in the Lord?
The destiny of the immature believers is not clear in the Scriptures. The Scriptures emphasize the victorious saints. There are some passages that offer hope for the undeveloped believers. Then there are several passages, such as the one setting forth the plight of the foolish virgins, and that of the individual who did not use his talent, warning those who are careless concerning God’s salvation that they are heading toward severe punishment.
Those who receive Jesus and then do not take up their cross and follow Him are not worthy of Him. They will not walk with Him in the white raiment of a glorified body.
The severity of God is not being emphasized today, and many man-pleasing teachers will stand with their students before an angry Christ.
Paul’s doctrine of grace is difficult to understand and Christian theology has twisted Paul’s teachings until the believers have been destroyed spiritually and morally.
The current lawless-grace, pre-tribulation-rapture, Dispensational theology currently taught by Christians is completely alien to the Scriptures. It is a deadly error, giving a totally false impression of the nature of the Christian salvation.
Let us give two recent examples of the incredible blindness of so-called "fundamental" Christians. In one instance we were typing on our notebook computer while traveling on an airplane. The stewardess, apparently a believer, became interested and asked what we were writing. We replied that we were writing on the subject of righteousness.
She exclaimed, "Oh, I hate that word," and then referred us to a contemporary Christian book.
She is a believer and she hates the term that represents God’s chief concern. Perhaps the passage that states we are not saved by works of righteousness we have done (Titus 3:5) had been emphasized to the point that she felt even the mention of the term righteousness was destructive of her faith. Yet, righteous behaviour is the principal topic of the Old Testament and the New Testament (Titus 2:12).
The Lord Jesus came to forgive our sins and then to make it possible for us to behave righteously. Otherwise, the forgiveness is of little value since we shall proceed to practice the same sins over and over again. Her ignorance of God and His salvation is the product of modern Christian theology.
Again, three women stopped by the house of a lady who attends our church. They asked her if she was saved. She replied that she was. They then asked her how she knew she was saved, how she knew she would "escape Hell and go to Heaven."
The lady, who is a fine Christian, began to quote Scripture passages that bear upon salvation.
During the course of her answer she used the term "obey." She was stating that part of salvation is obeying Christ. At this the three women became angry, apparently because it seemed as though obedience to Christ were somehow being associated with "faith" and "salvation."
This may appear to be an extreme example but it actually took place a few days ago.
Because of current teaching the believers do not do what Christ commanded. They profess faith in His name and His work of atonement, but they do not do what He commanded in the Gospels. They are not denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following the Lord Jesus. They are building their house on the sand even though they "profess Christ." Their "house" will fall apart when the floods come.
Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock: (Matthew 7:24)
"And doeth them." Much is said today about the need to "believe in God." Parents of public-school children are upset because the foolish hypothesis of evolution is taught in the classes as though it were scientific fact. The parents are afraid the children no longer will believe there is a God.
The forces of Hell are only mildly interested in our belief that there is a God. All of us will learn soon enough that God exists. The demons find satisfaction in our lusting, our lying, our stealing, our coveting, our drunkenness, our violence, our sorcery. As long as we keep practicing such behaviour the demons find satisfaction and fulfilment whether or not we believe there is a God.
It is when we cease our lusting, our lying, our stealing, our coveting, our drunkenness, our violence, our sorcery, that Hell becomes enraged. Such a change in our behaviour means the Kingdom of God has come to us. When the Kingdom of God enters, sinful behaviour ceases. A "salvation" that does not release us from the bondage of wickedness is no salvation at all.
Current Christian teaching, stressing a profession of belief apart from a conversion to godly behaviour, is a spiritual wasteland. The churches have been ruined, understanding nothing other than that they are about to fly away to their mansion in Heaven.
As bizarre as it may sound, at least one congregation was encouraged to jump in place next to their pew so they would be ready for the "any-moment rapture."
How long the Lord will permit Christian leaders and people to perpetuate the unscriptural myth of the lawless-grace, any-moment "rapture" to a "mansion" in Heaven we do not know. But we would encourage sincere believers to read once again the New Testament, from Matthew to Revelation, and see if the text supports a lawless-grace, any-moment pre-tribulation ascension of Christian people.
Do not pick out a familiar verse here and there, read an entire epistle and see if the general sense supports today’s Christian teaching. If you will read a book of the New Testament, thinking about what it is stating, you will discover that you are left with an unceasing exhortation to holy living against the backdrop of a stern warning concerning the consequences of not living a holy, righteous, obedient life.
Today’s ministers are preaching a few familiar passages. They could not take a whole book and follow it verse by verse because the text would contradict their principal doctrines.
It is possible to take the writings of Paul and warp and force them until we destroy ourselves and our hearers. As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. (II Peter 3:16)
On the one hand, Paul taught that our righteousness is based only on our faith in Christ (Romans 4:5—but this is not a mere doctrinal belief or head knowledge, however).
On the other hand, Paul taught that those who practice the sins of the flesh will not enter the Kingdom of God (Galatians 5:21), to which Revelation, Chapters 21 and 22 agree.
Paul wrote both Romans and Galatians. The doctrine in these two books is consistent.
We are made righteous by our faith in Christ, never by adherence to the Law of Moses.
It is equally true that the plan of redemption includes our transformation into the moral image of Christ, and that only as we receive grace to actually conform to the righteous, holy, and obedient Character of Christ do we enter the Kingdom of God. It is as straightforward as that. Redemption is moral transformation. Where sin is, the Kingdom of God is not.
When a Christian commits an act of lust, this is not of the Kingdom of God, it is of the kingdom of darkness. Being a Christian does not change lust into righteousness.
When a Christian speaks, acts or thinks in envy, jealousy or spite, this is not the Kingdom of God, it is the kingdom of darkness.
When a Christian inquires of an astrologer or fortune teller, this is not the Kingdom of God, it is the kingdom of darkness.
All the grace and faith in the universe cannot transform a sinful act into a righteous act. Sin is sin and righteousness is righteousness. The moral standard of God never will change—even after the earth and the heaven pass away.
What grace and faith do accomplish, however, is to apply the righteousness of Christ to the sinner, hiding his spiritual nakedness until such time as the sinner is able, through the Holy Spirit, to behave in a righteous and holy manner.
When a Christian through Christ conquers lying he reveals in himself the Kingdom of Heaven in the realm of truth-telling.
When a Christian conquers lust he reveals the Kingdom of Heaven in the realm of moral purity. When a Christian ceases to covet he reveals the Kingdom of God in the realm of freedom from idolatry. We are saved from wrath by believing in Christ and being baptized in water. Then we are baptized into the Church, the Body of Christ, by the Holy Spirit. After that, we begin to portray in ourselves the characteristics of the Kingdom of God.
We overcome our fleshly nature, the wickedness of the world, and the wickedness of Satan by the wisdom and power of Christ given us through the Holy Spirit. Christ has made provision for us but we must "take" the Kingdom of God by God’s mercy and assistance.
The Kingdom of God is righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Each day of our Christian pilgrimage we are obtaining righteousness, we are obtaining peace, we are obtaining joy—all through the Holy Spirit. By the ability that Christ is giving we are "taking the Kingdom."
It is not always clear to us that we are making progress. Sometimes it seems as though we are going backward. We need to keep in mind that salvation is of the Lord, not of us, and that it is the wisdom and power of God Almighty that are constructing the Temple of God in us.
Christ wants soldiers. We must fight our way into our inheritance as the Lord leads and enables us. All saints will not be rewarded equally. There is a reward for perseverance in discipleship (Matthew 19:27,28). How about you? What have you done with your talents? Will you qualify for ruler ship over cities when Christ appears? Will you hear "Well done, good and faithful servant"?