01/02/2023
Title: A Glorious Destiny
What a glorious destiny awaits God's elect, for New Jerusalem is the omniscient God manifest in the glorified flesh of His Family. In this form the 'saved' will worship God throughout eternity. Ezekiel called the Name of the City Jehovah-Shammah, "the Lord is there," which has the same meaning as Emmanuel, "God with us".
Israel is the ideal representative of his descendants, the overcoming Church made up of an election of Hebrews and believing Gentiles born through Abraham's Royal Seed, our Lord Jesus Christ, to the exclusion of unbelieving Israelites.
Israel's Seed shall not merely take possession of some nations but of all nations with their inhabitants who are the seed of Israel by the baptism with the Holy Ghost (Galatians 3:27-29). As these are a Spiritual, not corporeal posterity, Israel through all generations has been a people filled with the Spirit, and the people of God in the most exalted sense.
The long and painful national history shall have for its issue the birth of a true Israel: for the new birth of the 144,000 elect Israelites will complete the redemption of Messiah's first fruits of the New Testament, and in the millennium Israel will be a nation under David's greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ (Acts 1:6). But as they begin to catch the revelation of His 'parousia' the 144,000 converts from Israel's apostasy will wonder how Zion came to have so many children.
Isaiah 66:7-9, "Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she was delivered of a man child. Who has heard such a thing? Who has seen such things? Shall the earth be made to bring forth in one day? Or shall a nation be born at once? For as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children. Shall I bring to the birth, and not cause to bring forth? Says the LORD: shall I cause to bring forth, and shut the womb? Says your God"?
All of the friends of Jerusalem who had before mourned over her are now justly called upon to rejoice over her and participate in her happiness, for the Lord will bestow upon her abundant peace and glory and the Israelites will be comforted by Him with a mother's love, and comforted in Jerusalem, and His strong right arm shall manifest toward them in His 'parousia' by their revelation of New Jerusalem, the Bride of Christ, and indignation manifest upon His enemies.
Isaiah 66:10-11, "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all you that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all you who mourn for her: That you may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that you may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory".
Metaphorically New Jerusalem is a mother because Israel is re-born through his revelation of her as God made manifest in his glorified King and Queen. His joy at her prosperity is their mutual joy as they feed to eternal Life from the milk of faith as Adam and Eve would have 'eaten' themselves to eternal Life by the Tree of Life, Jesus Christ. Brother Branham said, it is their joy in this revelation that "anoints the most Holy," calling destruction upon the wicked, after the Millennium (Daniel 9:24).
Paul rightly calls heavenly Jerusalem "the general assembly and Church of the first-born (or elect), which are written in heaven," "the mother of us all" and compares Abraham's first two wives with the two Jerusalems.
Galatians 4:22-31, "For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise (or spoken Word—Romans 10:17). These things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the Mount Sinai, which bears children to bo***ge, which is Hagar. For Hagar types Mount Sinai in Arabia, and belongs in the same category as Jerusalem which now is, for she is in bo***ge with her children."
The children of old earthly Jerusalem were born in bo***ge to the Law. Before Calvary they had to assemble in that city three times each year for this was the place God chose to put His Name; only here was the blood of atonement shed.
"But Jerusalem which is above is free, (New Jerusalem) which is the mother of us all (who are born free from sin and death. It is the source of our eternal Life, the place God chose to put His Name—Ezekiel 48:35). For it is written, 'Rejoice, O barren woman who has not given birth; break forth and cry, you who travailed not: for the desolate has many more children than she which has a husband.'
"Now we Christians, like Isaac, are the children of promise. But as Ishmael who was born after the flesh persecuted Isaac who was born after the Spirit, those who claim the Old Covenant persecute the children of God's promise even now. Nevertheless, Scripture says, 'Cast out the bondwoman and her son: for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman. So then brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman, (earthly Jerusalem which was under the Law and the blood of bulls and goats) but of the free (heavenly Jerusalem which is redeemed and under the blood of God)".
Paul and Isaiah meant New Jerusalem that is above, "the city founded" upon God's Word after which Abraham sought, "whose builder and maker is God;" the place Jesus has gone to prepare for us and which will descend as a bride adorned for her husband (Hebrews 11:10; Isaiah 65:17-25; 66:10-20; John 14:2-3; Revelation 21). Natural Jerusalem was but a shadow and type of the spiritual. God has no plans to reconstruct and restore the old earthly city of Jerusalem, nor will He have any part in the third temple soon to be built, for we are His Temple (I Corinthians 3:16).
Isaiah 66:12-13, "Thus says the LORD, 'Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream: then shall you suck, you shall be borne upon her hips, and be dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforts, so will I comfort you; and you shall be comforted in Jerusalem."
From this point Jerusalem's children are treated as one new man—Israel (Ephesians 2:15), a nation gathered from all nations into the arms of Divine love in "Jerusalem that is above, the mother of us all." "The peace of God, which passes all understanding" is revelation which will regenerate the 144,000 and "preserve their hearts and minds through Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:7; Matthew 11:29). The comfort or consolation of this revelation keeps them faithful unto death through martyrdom at the hands of Rome in league with the "Jews," as their Lord was crucified by the "Jews" in league with Rome (Daniel 9:27; Revelation 6:11; 13:7).
Once in the New Jerusalem by faith, or born-again, the sad recollections of "those that mourn" for the evil done 2,000 years ago in old Jerusalem are wholly obliterated and the regeneration and joy of Israel coincident with the destruction of his enemies (Isaiah 61:3; Zechariah 12, 13).
Isaiah 66:14-18, "And when you see this, your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish like green and tender grass: and the good hand of the LORD toward His servants shall be universally known, and His indignation toward His enemies. For, behold, the LORD will come with Fire, and with His chariots like a whirlwind, to render His anger with fury, and His rebuke with flames of Fire. For by Fire and by His sword the LORD will execute judgment upon all flesh: and the slain of the LORD shall be many. Those who attempt to sanctify and purify themselves for the idol-gardens, following after one in the midst (the Devil-incarnate pope), eating swine's flesh, and the abomination, and the mouse, shall be consumed together, saith the LORD. For I know their works and their thoughts: and the time is coming when I will gather all nations and tongues (against old Jerusalem); where they shall see My glory".
God's judgment begins upon Israel, by sifting, gathering and purging the 144,000 elect as a refiner purifies silver or gold, in order to separate and sanctify an offering of firstfruits into the Lord (Malachi 3:2-6).
"At this very time, the antichrist covenant that the Jews have made with Rome will be broken. Rome and her allies then send their troops to destroy all the God-fearing, Word-abiding Jews. But as they come against the city to destroy it, there will appear in the heavens the sign of the coming of the Son of Man with His mighty armies to destroy them who have been destroying the earth. With the enemy repulsed, Jesus then comes and presents Himself to the 144,000 [by faith, NOT by sight]. Having seen His mighty acts of salvation [to the Church through the revelation of the Seven Trumpets and Seven Vials], they have come to know His power. But also seeing His wounds and knowing that they had rejected Him even to that moment, causes them to cry out in the agony of terror and fear, even as did their brethren of old when they stood before Joseph, being sore afraid that they would be killed. But as Joseph said, "Don't be angry with yourselves. It is alright. God was in it all. He did it to preserve life." Even so will Jesus speak peace and love to them (An Exposition of the Seven Church Ages, p. 41).
This is the second half of Daniel's Seventieth Week, wherein the 144,000 will be born-again and then martyred, the foolish virgin and other classes of the 'saved' will be purged. God's first judgment was by water, His second was taken vicariously upon Christ, and all who fail to receive this as their full atonement via the new birth will endure the third judgment by Fire, and the sword of the Word, and slaughter when the wrath of God's judgment is poured out upon His enemies such that all life on earth will be destroyed in the battle of Armageddon, and all traces of human occupation purged by Fire from the face of the earth (Malachi 4:1- 3; II Peter 3; Revelation 19:11-21).
Isaiah 66:19-21, "And I will set a sign among them, and I will send those of them who escape unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard My fame, neither have seen My glory; (NOT to 'ten lost tribes') and they shall declare My glory among the Gentiles. And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites, says the LORD".
This "sign" to Israel was Jesus Christ (Luke 2:34).
Isaiah 11:10-12, "And it shall be that in that day a root of Jesse shall stand for a sign to the people; of Him shall the Gentiles enquire and seek understanding: and the place of His rest (New Jerusalem) shall be glorious (John 12:32; 17:21-26). In the day that the last member has been baptized into Christ and the City is complete, it shall come to pass that the Lord shall set His hand to recover a remnant of His people for the second time, from Iraq, from Upper and Lower Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, Babylonia, Syria and from the countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea (Jeremiah 23:5-8). He shall set up a sign for the nations, and will assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the ends of the earth."
Christ came to His own but they would not acknowledge Him so He turned to we Gentiles to take from them a people for His Name. A Bride. This was a "sign" to Israel foretold by his prophets. The sign for the nations was the restoration of the state of Israel in unbelief in 1948. Jesus' disciples called it "the sign of the end of the ages or dispensations" (Matthew 24:3; 32-34). At the end of the Gentile dispensation God will reconfirm the New Covenant to Israel and Judah who have been gathered out of all nations to the Promised Land after the utter defeat of the modern Israeli state and a mass exodus of non-Semitic Zionist "Jews" and Lord Rothschild's Balfour Agreement. But "all things work together for good to them that love God who are the called according to His purpose" (Romans 8:28). In Israel, 144,000 will receive Christ.
The nations mentioned in Isaiah 66:19 being the most remote of his day represent the entire heathen world. Those who were "afar off" (Acts 2:39; Isaiah 65:1). This is not the general judgment for after that there will be no nations on earth. It is the first act of the Trumpet judgments on Israel that began at Calvary and continue to the consummation. Those early Christians who escaped the persecutions of the "Jews" and fled before the siege of Jerusalem went to the nations "to Tarshish, Assyria, Lydia, and to Tubal, Greece, and to the lands beyond the sea that had not known God, and declared His glory among the Gentiles" by the Gospel Message. We gladly received It, and although the elect Hebrews among the dispersed of Israel also united with them, Israel generally has remained separate (Romans 11:7).
These verses in Isaiah 66 are reflected in Revelation 7:9-17 where John, having seen a preview of the redeemed 144,000 beholds in the vision "a vast crowd too numerous to count, from all nations and kindreds and tongues, standing before the throne of God and the Lamb, clothed in white, and holding palm branches (signifying victory), and shouting with a loud voice, 'Salvation to our God who sits upon the throne, and to the Lamb'." John recognized his Hebrew kin but he could not identify these Gentiles from "afar off," to whom the Israelites, who comprised the early Church, delivered the Gospel, starting a Fire that burns yet today.
Isaiah was not prophesying a world-wide revival after Israel sees the Light. For after the close of our dispensation there will remain no more grace to the Gentiles and the ministry will be exclusively in and to Israel. However God's judgment upon Israel will proceed, and the holy city will be trodden down by the Gentiles unto the consummation (Luke 21:24; Revelation 11:2).
Isaiah 66:20-24, "And they shall bring all your brethren for an offering unto the LORD out of all nations upon horses, and in chariots, and in litters, and upon mules, and upon dromedaries, to My holy mountain Jerusalem, says the LORD, as the children of Israel bring an offering in a clean vessel into the house of the LORD. And I will also take of them for priests and for Levites."
The conversion of the heathen world that will be revealed to the 144,000 under the revelation of the Seven Trumpets and Seven Vials unveils their Messiah and His Gentile Bride for the two are one; sanctifying, and safely, surely and swiftly transporting Israel as "an offering in a clean vessel" to "mount Zion, and unto the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Under the new Covenant there is no priesthood limited to Aaron's line for all Christians are priests unto God and the whole earth is His temple. The Gentiles are hereby seen as priests and Levites offering up Israel to the Lord for acceptance and regeneration.
"For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before Me, 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. And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be abhorrent to all flesh".
These verses are not suggesting (as sabbath day observers presume) that the seventh day will be observed throughout eternity, for the born-again have already entered their sabbath or rest, which is eternal and not an observation of days and months and years (Galatians 4:10). God is simply stating that as the renewed heavens and earth shall be eternal, so are the lives of His redeemed, and that they never depart from His Presence.
Under the Law, male Israelites from the age of accountability were to appear before the Lord in Jerusalem three times each year, but in the New Jerusalem ALL flesh shall appear before the Lord ALL of the time and walk in the Light of His glorious Presence for we are the New Jerusalem, the City wherein God dwells.
Revelation 7:15-17, "Therefore the Bride is before the throne of God, and serves Him day and night in His temple: and He that sits on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst anymore; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."
In Revelation 21, John describes how New Jerusalem crowns the earth with God's glory and explains the symbology of its structure such as the walls representing the 144,000 elect Israelites who protect and beautify It, typed by the twelve Tribes which camped around the tabernacle in the wilderness. "And I saw no Holy of Holies and Holy Place therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its Holy of Holies and Holy Place. And the City had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it: for the splendor and radiance of the Shekinah glory of God illuminate It, and the Lamb is Its Light" (Isaiah 24:23; 60:19-20).
In Revelation 22 John describes those who are without the City whom Isaiah calls "an abhorring to all flesh." Outside old Jerusalem lay the valley of Hinnom, into which all of the filth of the city was cast since it was a place once profaned by idolatry. The saints will look upon it with horror since it types Gehenna which will one day be the Lake of Fire (Isaiah 48:21; Daniel 12:2; Mark 9:43-50).
Oh, what a glorious destiny awaits those who are the elect of God. Don't miss It. Don't forsake the Lord to please man by serving some denomination. Shalom.
