The heavenly Jerusalem is the place that Jesus told His disciples that He had to go away to prepare. Jesus said this in John's gospel Chapter14, verses 1-3;
(1)"Let not your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.(2) In My
Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you;
for I go to prepare a place for you.(3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again, and receive you to myself; that where I am, there you might be also."
This heavenly Jerusalem is the city that Jesus and His saints had been ruling from during Jesus' thousand year reign over the earth. It is the heavenly city, Mount Zion, that was raised above the mountains of Israel during that Thousand year reign. The prophet Isaiah wrote this in his 2nd Chapter, verse 2;
"Now it will come about that 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."
Isaiah also wrote this in his 4th Chapter, verses 5 and 6;
(5)" then the Lord will create over the whole area of Mount Zion and over her
assemblies a cloud by day, even smoke, and the brightness of a flaming fire by
night; for over all the glory will be a canopy.(6) And there will be a shelter to
give shade from the heat by day, and a refuge and protection from the storm and
the rain."
As the heavenly Jerusalem is raised above the hills, it will act as a canopy that will be a covering from the elements and it's glory will be the light that will illuminate the whole area. From a distance, the nations will see it's glory in the sky and will be driven to it in fascination as to what it is. They will come to find the glory of God dwelling above the hills of Israel. Isaiah wrote this in his 60th Chapter 2 and 3;
(2)............................But the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear
upon you.(3) And nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of
your rising."
The prophet Micah wrote this in his 4th Chapter, verse 1;
"And it will come about in the last days that the mountain of the house of the Lord
will be established as the chief of the mountains. It will be raised above the hills,
and the peoples will stream to it."
So what John will see as we continue in Revelation Chapter 21, is this heavenly city, that we saw earlier in the chapter, coming down out of heaven to the earth. John sees this city and describes it like this, when he continues in Revelation Chapter 21, verse 9;
(9)"And one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last
plagues, came and spoke with me, saying, 'Come here, I will show you the bride,
the wife of the Lamb.'"
The heavenly city is called the wife of the Lamb because it is the place that Jesus prepared for His New Creations, the church. The New Jerusalem is the dwelling place of all the New Creations. They make up the body of Jesus that fills the city. It is the tabernacle, the dwelling place, of the presence of the Living God. In the marriage between Jesus and His bride, the Church, they became One. The New Jerusalem is like the body that carries their presence. The apostle Paul put it in perspective this way, in his letter to the Ephesians in the 5th Chapter, verses 25-30;
(25)" Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave
Himself up for her; (26) that He might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the
washing of water with the word,(27) that He might present to Himself the church
in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should
be holy and blameless.(28) So husbands ought also to love their own wives as
their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself;(29) for no one ever
hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ also does the
church, because we are the members of His body."
John continues in Revelation Chapter 21, verses 10-14;
(10)" And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and
showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God,
(11) having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a
stone of crystal-clear jasper.(12) It had a great and high wall, with twelve gates,
and at the gate twelve angels; and names were written on them, which are those
of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.(13) There were three gates on the east
and three gates on the north and three gates on the south and three gates on the
west.(14) And the wall of the city had twelve foundation stones, and on them
were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.(15) And the one who
spoke with me had a golden measuring rod to measure the city, and its gates and
its wall.(16) And the city is laid out as a square, and its length is as great as its
width; and he measured the city with the rod, fifteen hundred miles, its length
and width and height are equal.(17) And he measured its wall, seventy-two yards,
according to human measurements, which are also angelic measurements."
Things to note in these verses are first the fact that John was carried away in the Spirit. It wasn't just a spiritual experience, John was carried away in the Spirit, capitalized, meaning away in God's Spirit. It must be that only within the Spirit of God Himself was John allowed to enter to see the tabernacle of God.
It says that the city is a square that is fifteen miles on each side and fifteen miles high. This would mean that the city is about half the size of the United States, that is fifteen hundred miles high. If you could picture this city having levels, there could be fifteen hundred levels that are each a mile high.
So just picture the size of this city. Then you can understand how this city could be raised above the hills of Israel that would cover the whole land of Israel and be seen from a distance by the nations.
There are three gates on each side of the city. This mean that each gate would be approximately 375 miles apart. Each of these gates have the name of one of the sons of Jacob.
There is a foundation wall to the city that has twelve layers. Each layer has the name of one of Jesus' apostles written on it. The wall is 72 yards high. This would make each layer to be 6 yards or 18 feet high. Since the wall of the city is only 72 yards high, this revels that the rest of the fifteen hundred miles is without visible walls. Each layer of the foundation wall is made of a precious stone. John describes the stones as he continues in Revelation Chapter 21,verses 18-27;
(18)"And the material of the wall was jasper; and the city was pure gold, like clear
glass.(19) The foundation stones of the city wall was adorned with every kind of
precious stone. The first foundation stone was jasper; the second, sapphire; the
third, chalcedony; the forth, emerald;(20) the fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the
seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, topaz; the tenth, chrysoprase; the
eleventh, jacinth; the twelfth, amethyst.(21) And the twelve gates were twelve
pearls; each one of the gates was a single pearl. And the street of the city was pure
gold, like transparent glass.(22) And I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God, the
Almighty, and the Lamb, are its temple.(23) And the city has no need of the sun or
of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is
the Lamb.(24) And the nations shall walk by its light, and the kings of the earth
shall bring their glory into it.(25) And in the daytime (for there shall be no night
there) its gates shall never be closed;(26) and they shall bring the glory and honor of
the nations into it;(27) and nothing unclean and no one who practices abominations
and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the
Lamb's book of life.
It says that the kings of the earth shall bring their glory into it. The kings of the earth are the New Creations who make up the bride of the Lamb. They are the only ones whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. They were not any special people. They were just sinners who chose to receive the free gift of eternal life that Jesus, the Creator, made possible by becoming a man, shedding His own blood, dyeing on the cross Himself to forgive sin and putting to death their sin nature as they put themselves on the cross with Him when they chose Him. Being buried with Him, they were raised from the dead with Him, with the resurrection power that raised Jesus from the dead. This caused them to be born of above, born again, of the Spirit of the Living God. At that point they inherited eternal life. At the resurrection they will receive new glorified bodies as they are caught up to be with Jesus where they will be with Jesus in the place that Jesus prepared for them. You can be one of them.
Jesus' peace and love be with you.
No comments:
Post a Comment