What of Jerusalem, C. R. Oliver [little readers TXT] 📗

to me, 'Come with me and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife.' 

10 In a vision he took me to a towering mountain peak, and from there I watched that wondrous city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of the skies from God. 11 It was filled with the glory of God and flashed and glowed like a precious gem, crystal clear like jasper. 12 Its walls were broad and high, with twelve gates guarded by twelve angels. And the names of the twelve tribes of Israel were written on the gates. 13 There were three gates on each side--north, south, east, and west. 14 The walls had twelve foundation stones, and on them were written the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 

15 The angel held in his hand a golden measuring stick to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 When he measured it, he found it was a square as wide as it was long; in fact it was in the form of a cube, for its height was exactly the same as its other dimensions-1,500 miles each way. 17 Then he measured the thickness of the walls and found them to be 216 feet across (the angel called out these measurements to me, using standard units). 

18 The city itself was pure, transparent gold like glass! The wall was made of jasper, and was built on twelve layers of foundation stones inlaid with gems:

the first layer with jasper;
the second with sapphire;
the third with chalcedony;
the fourth with emerald;
the fifth with sardonyx;
the sixth layer with sardus;
the seventh with chrysolite;
the eighth with beryl;
the ninth with topaz;
the tenth with chrysoprase;
the eleventh with jacinth;
the twelfth with amethyst. 

21 The twelve gates were made of pearls--each gate from a single pearl! And the main street was pure, transparent gold, like glass. 

22 No temple could be seen in the city, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are worshiped in it everywhere. TLB

 

Since heaven and earth have passed away and the old Jerusalem has gone with them, why is so much attention being paid to it? Could it be, the church is so worldly that its heart is easier fixed on that which fades rather than to that which is eternal? 

Is it easier to be concerned with the Temple mount, where God does not dwell, than to concentrate on the Temple in heaven where we come boldly to the throne of Grace?

 

Revelation 11:19-12:1
9 Then, in heaven, the temple of God was opened and the ark of his covenant could be seen inside. Lightning flashed and thunder crashed and roared, and there was a great hailstorm, and the world was shaken by a mighty earthquake.
TLB

 

National Jerusalem cannot fathom what this next verse entails and neither do we.

 

Rev 18:20
20 But you, O heaven, rejoice over her fate; and you, O children of God and the prophets and the apostles! For at last God has given judgment against her for you.
TLB

 

We are told to rejoice over what is coming and to anticipate what lies ahead for us.

 

Revelation 22:10-11
10 Then he instructed me, 'Do not seal up what you have written, for the time of fulfillment is near. 11 And when that time comes, all doing wrong will do it more and more; the vile will become more vile; good men will be better; those who are holy will continue on in greater holiness.'

 

Many preachers are talking about the acceleration of times, knowledge and even revelation as indicative of the last days. Verse eleven talks about spiritual acceleration-that speeding up of what exists about us. 

For the saints, this is the time for holiness and more of it; this is the time good men become better, for the vile are getting more vile and those doing wrong have increased exponentially. 

My prayer for the "Peace of Jerusalem" is not for a hassle free existence for the one on earth, but for the New Jerusalem, where the Prince of Peace reigns. It is now appropriate to say as do Jews: New Jerusalem, next year, if not now! 

(Note: These are Scriptures in sequence; please do not think I have no compassion for modern Israel-I admire modern Israel for their tenacity [I was there after the 67 war and my family was one of the first to cross from Egypt across the Sinai into Israel]. I continue to marvel at the astuteness of Netanyahu and the daftness of modern politicos.) 

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Publication Date: 08-03-2015

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Dedication:
Thanks to the Newsletter Division and C. R. Oliver for allowing the use to his newsletters for this study book.