June 9, 2010
PLAINER WORDS ONLINE … THE CITY of GOD DURING THE DAY of CHRIST
“Behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy”
(Isaiah 65:18)
The LORD’s reference, in Isaiah 65:18, to the Jerusalem He’ll create is the Pre-Millennial Jerusalem of the Kingdom of God. This will be when the whole creation will acknowledge that Jesus Christ is LORD, to the glory of God the Father (Phil. 2:11). This will be the time that it can truthfully be said that God “hath highly exalted [Jesus Christ]” (Phil.2:9). The Apostle has designated this age as the “Day of Christ.” The phrases “The Day of Christ” (Phil.1:10; 2:16), “The Day of Jesus Christ” (Phil. 1:6), “The Day of Lord Jesus” (1 Cor. 5:5 ; 2 Cor. 1:14), and “The Day of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor.1:8) denotes the time period between the Dispensation of Grace and the “Parousia” of Jesus Christ.
“I create Jerusalem” (Isa. 65:18) does not refer to the New Jerusalem we find in Revelation Chapter Twenty-one. The context of Isaiah 65 and 66 is the Kingdom of God—not the Millennium.
The Pre-Millennial City of God will be the political, commercial, religious, and Godly capital of the world and the grand metropolis of the universe. From this magnificent metropolis will radiate the glory, majesty, effulgence, and righteousness of the Great God and Savior—the Lord Jesus Christ. Again, we must not confuse the Jerusalem of the Kingdom of God with that of the Jerusalem of the one-thousand-year “Parousia” (Presence) of Christ on earth.
We should never believe it to be grievous to you for us to oft repeat (Phil. 3:1) that Jesus Christ will govern both heaven and earth from His Throne in Heaven (Isa. 66:1) during His Pre-Millennial Kingdom. However, He will switch locations when His “Parousia” takes place. Then, He will govern heaven and earth from His Throne on earth in the City of Jerusalem.
With the ushering in of the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God (2 Timothy 4:1), Jesus Christ assumes the sovereignty and dominion over all nations, kindreds, tribes, and tongues on earth; and, also, over all heavenly orders of principalities. As such, the City of God will be the First City of Universal Commerce, which is to say, the Capital City of Commerce of earth and heaven.
Jerusalem will be crowded with the traffic of resurrected ministers of the Government of Jesus Christ, businessmen, merchants, diplomats, emissaries, trade officials, kings, lords, princes, judges, governors, mayors, economic leaders, traders in oil, precious stones, manufacturers of farm elements, and industrial manufacturers. Military industrial complexes will be NO MORE (Isa. 2:4. Mic. 4:3). There will be thousands of Old Testament saints abiding in the new City of God. It will be from this City that the Word of the Lord shall go forth:
“And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isa. 2:3).
Matthew records what will be part of the Word of The LORD that goes froth from Jerusalem:
The Lord Jesus replied to Satan, “…It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God” (Matt. 4:4).
Mr. Otis Sellers made a thoughtful comment on this verse. He said, “Just as the Law of Gravity works today, the world will see this in full force” during the Day of Christ.
False religions and their symbols will not be found in all of the earth; no not a trace! “Thou halt worship the Lord thy God, AND HIM ONLY SHALT THOU SERVE” (Luke 4:8. Matt. 4:10. Deut. 6:13).
And, on top of all of the people mentioned being the City of God, there will also be present, in this Pre-Millennial Jerusalem, an innumerable company of angels (Heb. 12:22).
The myriads of angels will be on Zion’s Hill, conducting some of Heaven’s dialog, and commerce. These angels will be the carriers of messages, and contracts from earth to heaven and back. We can only marvel at what it will be. The Scripture would indicate that there will be commerce between the heavens and the earth. Heavenly traders will conduct heaven’s enterprises with earth’s entrepreneurs. We can’t imagine what type of enterprises Christian entrepreneurs can conceive. Free men, however, who allow the Holy Spirit to lead, guide, and direct will have unlimited possibilities to be Divinely directed in the creation enterprises of “light.” Businesses will be conducted based upon the highest standards of ethics established by the Lord Jesus Christ and the representatives of the His Government.
The angel’s presence in the City of God during the Day of Christ is the realization of Jacob’s dream in Genesis 28.
What follows, regarding the angelic activity mingled with human beings during the Kingdom of God, is our effort to connect the Biblical dots and make some kind of informed opinion pertaining to the future interaction of men and angels. We ran across a note we made in the margin of one of our old Bibles (1981) at Nehemiah 8:8 which said, “The Divine manner of reading and teaching the Word of God.” You are urged to look up Nehemiah 8:8 and ponder its idea of─ read distinctly, and give the sense, in order to cause the people to understand. This is what we are making an effort to do—that is, to give the sense.
Angelic Activity during the Day of Christ
“And he [Jacob] dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it” (Gen. 28:12).
This verse presumes the angelic presence is on earth, and they ASCEND UP-ward to the Presence of Christ and to His resurrected, or translated representatives, whose bodies have been fashioned likened unto His body of Glory (Phil. 3:21). Some of Christ’s Ecclesia, which is His Body (Eph. 1:22-23), will have stations of service in the heavenly sphere. Their “service,” the serving of the Sovereign, will pertain to all manner of life—which will include Praise, Worship, Exhortation, Righteous Business, Money and Banking, Teaching of Heaven’s Hosts, and Training angels to be ministering spirits. And above all of these JUSTICE, and EQUITY, in all matters will be taught as standard manners of behavior. Imagine, justice and equity will fill the universe! Being no respecter of persons, Christ, post haste, will punish all of those who violate this core principle of His Universal reign.
The angels conduct their outer-space business and return to earth. This indicates that there will be a steady stream of traffic between the earth and the heavens during the Day of Christ.
Another glimpse of the angelic traffic is in found in The Gospel John. It is related to Nathanael’s response to Jesus’ comment; “Behold an Israelite (Nathanael) indeed in whom is no guile !” (John 1:47).
Continuing, we read:
“Nathanael saith unto Him, Whence knowest thou Me? Jesus answered and said unto him, Before that Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I saw thee. Nathanael answered and saith unto Him, Rabbi, thou art the Son of God; thou art the King of Israel. Jesus answered and said unto him, Because I said unto thee, I saw thee under the fig tree, believest thou? thou shalt see greater things than these” (John 1:48-50).
If Nathanael’s earthly call wasn’t miraculous enough, Christ said to him, in plainer words, “Nathan, YOU HAVEN”T SEEN NOTHING YET! Just wait until the “hereafter” (a state after death: “Webster’s New Pocket Dictionary”) when you shall see the heavens opened up …”
“Verily, verily, I say unto you, Hereafter [when the Kingdom comes] ye shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man”
(John 1:51).
The “greater things” Nathan shall see in resurrection, are when the heavens open up and the traffic of angels can be seen as they come and go. It must be pointed out that these are “the angels of God” as, in contrast to the angels of Satan. Does this indicate that during the Day of Christ, only those with “resurrection eyes” will be able to see this angelic phenomenon?
The ascending and descending is an idiomatic expression for “coming and going.” The title of Jesus Christ as “the Son Man” is His Title of “Whose right it is to rule the earth” (Ezek. 21:27). It is His right to rule—the Son of Man—Jesus Christ.
The coming and going phenomenon of angels may, very well, be visible only to those with “resurrection eyes and, perhaps even, spiritual eyes.” Not only that, but as the angels walk the streets and boulevards of Jerusalem in that Day, they will appear as ordinary men wearing what ordinary men of their profession wear. (Of course, the popular idea that angels have wings is ludicrous). Angels’ mode of transportation will not be that of flight by means of anatomical wings. Very likely, the angels, as well as members of the Church over which Christ Jesus is the Head, will have the supernatural ability to visibly appear on earth or in heaven at their own will.
“The Epistle to the Hebrews” mentions the angelic presence on earth during “The Day of Christ.” The Hebrews, who will live in the environs of Jerusalem during Christ’s Day, will be encouraged by what is written in Chapter Thirteen, Verse Two when it is brought to their mind.
“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares” (Heb. 13:2).
They are not to forget examples in the Scriptures of saints who, unwittingly, showed hospitality to angels who were visiting the earth—namely, Abraham, Lot, Monoah, and Gideon. Special attention should be called to Matthew 25:35-40 which certainly seem to fall into this context. Some humans during the Day of Christ will entertain strangers, only to learn that the strangers are some of the myriads of angels who are arriving and departing from earth to heaven.
Some of the people who will be born during the Pre-Advent Kingdom of God will have occasion to dine and fellowship with those beings [angels] who are, by their creation, native to the heavens. These angels may, very well, tell the people of their heavenly experiences, and their adventures in outer-space.
Today’s Jerusalem Will Be Completely Renovated
Nebuchadnezzar will be raised from the dead and will be the first Gentile King that Jesus Christ anoints to reign over His Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God. Four other Gentiles will be selected to rule and reign over the world-wide Kingdom of God. They will reign while the Israelites are being are being resurrected—every Jew in his own order—and the living ones are being gathered out from among the nations. One King, who becomes a replacement of Nebuchadnezzar, will be Cyrus the Old Testament King of Persia. He will be raised from the dead and will be appointed by Jesus Christ to be a King of the world.
The Lord Jesus Christ will rule the world though these five Gentile Kings, while He remains in Heaven.
Cyrus, the resurrected King of Persia, as well as Babylon, will reign over the whole earth, as one of the five Gentile Kings appointed to reign over the Lord’s world-wide-empire. And while he reigns the Lord will say this, “…Cyrus [in resurrection], He is My shepherd, and shall perform all My pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the Temple, Thy foundation shall be laid” (Isa. 44:28).
Cyrus’ two-fold commission, in resurrection will be: 1).To build [completely renovate] Jerusalem into a shinning city on the hill, and 2). To lay the “foundation” of the Temple; this, of necessity, will be tantamount to constructing it according to Ezekiel’s inspired plans (Ezek. 40-44).
Cyrus will set in motion the building the City of God, Jerusalem, and the construction of the Sanctuary, to wit, the Palace Complex and the Temple. Isaiah 44:28 looked way beyond the Ezra-Nehemiah period during which Jerusalem and the Temple was rebuilt. Isaiah 44:28 looks for its fulfillment in the Kingdom of God which becomes manifest before the 2nd Coming of Christ. In fact, the Gentiles, which is to say the Nations, will voluntarily supply the funding of this magnificent project (Zech. 6:15); this will be reminiscent of the Egyptians supplying silver, gold, and raiment to Israel as they departed Egypt. Notice “the forces of the Gentiles.”
“the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee” (Isa. 60:5).
“that men may bring unto thee (Israelites) the forces of the Gentiles,” (Isa. 60:11).
The “forces of the Gentiles,” if it were literally translated, would be “the wealth of the Nations,” or “the riches of the Nations.” The word “forces” (chayil) is Strong’s Number 2428, which is translated as an army, wealth, virtue, valor, or strength. During the Reign of Gentile Kings during the Pre-Millennial Kingdom of God (estimated to be 200 years), and before the ascendancy of Israel, the Nations of the world will voluntarily supply the wealth it will take to build God’s magnificent City and His elaborate and universally acclaimed Temple described in Ezekiel 40 - 44. The dazzling magnificence, luminous splendor, and resplendent glory of the Palace/Temple Complex will have never been equaled in all of human history. The prominent theologians speak with one voice in acclaiming that the Glorious Temple Complex of Ezekiel 41:1– 43:17 will be the “Millennial age Temple.” We do not “part company with them.” Because, we have never been part of their company. We simply believe “the one voice” with which they all speak is wrong.
This Pre-Millennial “Temple” will house the offices of the Government of Jesus Christ. All religious and spiritual services will be conducted in the Sanctuary (Holy Place). The
Priests’ offices and quarters will be there—in their “Father’s House”—as their Priestly duties are preformed. If our calculations are correct the magnificent Complex with all of its buildings, grounds, and gardens will comprise approximately 64 square miles.
The Capital City of the Universe will be Jerusalem. It will be established on Mount Zion and it will be the center of all Christian instruction, as well as every nation will learn that JUSTICE, EQUITY, and TRUTH must be the bedrock foundation of all governments, as evidenced by the following prophecy.
“And it shall come to pass in the last days [the Day of Christ], that the mountain of the LORD’s house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He [through His ministers] will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem” (Isaiah 2:2-3).
There will days of celebration during the Day of Christ. One of the celebratory days will find that the three Hebrew Fathers will be present. Jesus said, concerning one of these days in Matthew 8:11:
“ …That many shall come from the east and west, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”
Here the word “many” is the Figure of Speech - “Euphemismos” where a pleasing a word is used for one that would be unpleasant or offensive [to the Jew] – “many” instead of “Gentile.” In plainer words, Gentiles will come to Jerusalem, during the Day of Christ, from “the east and the west” and will sit down with the Patriarchs? In Matthew Eight His audience was not ready to hear this about the Gentiles. So, Jesus employed this figure of speech.
“When Jesus heard It [the centurion’s faith], He marvelled, and said to them that followed, Verily I say unto you, I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel” (Matt. 8:10).
Here are several things to ponder. Will the Centurion’s “so great faith” qualify him to receive an invitation to “sit down with the three Patriarchs? Will any of us, as members of the Church of the Mystery, get to sit down with the Patriarchs during occasion?
THE END
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