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The Daily Word of Righteousness
The Gospel of the Kingdom, #7
One of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb." And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God. (Revelation 21:9,10—NIV)
Revelation refers to the new Jerusalem as "the bride, the wife of the Lamb."
Revelation claims that "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple."
The only wife of the Lamb, the only temple of God and the Lamb, is the Christian Church. The entire Christian Church is "one new man" in Jesus Christ. It is the one Seed of Abraham. To teach differently is to depart from the Scriptures. It is "Jerusalem"!
We see therefore, in Revelation 21:22-26, that the "glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it," "it" being the Christian Church. This passage parallels the sixtieth chapter of the Book of Isaiah, and other parts of the text of Isaiah.
The new Jerusalem, the holy city, is the Father's house. It is the one Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Heaven spoken of in both Testaments. There is no other kingdom of God, kingdom of Heaven.
Just what is the Kingdom of God?
And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, "Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God." (Revelation 21:3—NIV)
The Kingdom of God is the dwelling of God.
Where will it be located?
On a high mountain of the new earth. The Kingdom of God has an internal dimension and an external dimension. People will be able to see the external dimension coming down through the sky to be located forever on the new earth.
I do not think it could be denied that much of the description of the new Jerusalem and its wall is symbolic, referring to the character that has been formed in the saints as Christ has been created in them. Nevertheless, it seems to me that the new Jerusalem will have a visible dimension that can be seen by the "sheep" that are living in nations on the earth—probably many of the nations that already are familiar to us.
God is not so much making all new things as He is making all things new. This is to say, all that we have loved on earth, and God has found worthy of His Kingdom, will be made new in Jesus Christ and be part of our eternal inheritance.
Those who live victorious lives in Jesus Christ will have three inheritances, actually. Their first and most important inheritance will be God Himself, for they are His priests.
Their second most important inheritance will be the "sheep" of the nations of the earth.
Their third inheritance will be the Paradise of God, the garden of God.
The house of God, the Christian Church, will come down from Heaven to live among the nations of saved peoples of the earth.
To be continued.