~ The New Jerusalem ~


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Chapter:#2
That Great And Blessed Hope For All Nations


And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and

the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass.  Revelation 21:21

When Jesus cried giving up the Ghost as He died upon the cross, His Spirit went forth out of His dead body and did 3 things listed in scripture.

1.       He rent the veil of the Temple from top to bottom. “And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent;” Matthew 27:51

2.      He raised up from graves the dead that were buried around Jerusalem. “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Matthew 27:52,53

3.      Then He descended into the lowest Hell and preached unto the Spirits which were in Prison. These were the spirits of dead people who died during Noah’s flood as well as they who died during the time of Old Testament History. This depiction of the dead was only referring to those of Noah’s flood, but I believe that the rest of the dead who died since then would also be included. “For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit: By which also he went and preached unto the spirits in prison; Which sometime were disobedient, when once the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls were saved by water.”                                                                   1 Peter 3: 18 - 20

When Jesus arose from the dead and His now Glorified Body came forth out of the wrappings of the death clothes He met Mary in the Garden. He said for her not to touch Him yet as He had not yet ascended unto The Father. When He ascended He presented to God His Glorified Body, then later the disciples were handling Him in that very same Glorified Body, worshipping Him for He was the 1st fruits of them that slept. So to get this order right we must learn of this as a basic principle in God’s Word. It bears repeating. The pattern was that out of His dead flesh body His Spirit went forth to do the 3 things mentioned above. Then God animated that same dead body when He placed the Spirit of Jesus back into it, thus raising Him from the dead in a body that now was filled with the Glory of God. With this body He now ascends after He met Mary outside the tomb and then with this new body He presents Himself to God before His very Throne. Afterwards Jesus appeared to the disciples first in a room where the door was shut, for Jesus was now in Glorified flesh. The same flesh body He died in, but now animated with the Glory and Life of God. For 40 days Christ appears to His disciples.

I believe that later when He finally ascended to the Right Hand of God after 40 days, that the “cloud” that received Him were in fact the conglomerate spirits of these who he had raised from the dead and emptied from hell as a “cloud” of “Spirits” saved from destruction. “And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight..” Acts 1:9. The Psalmist and Paul said: “Wherefore he saith, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men. (Now that he ascended, what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things.)” 

                                                                                              Ephesians 4:8 – 10, Psalm 68:18

This entire series of events that the Spirit of Jesus performed once He had atoned for the sins of mankind is actually a type and a shadow of the New Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God and settling upon the earth. In most cases in the Word of God, types and shadows were from the Old Testament to New Testament truths. But this was in fact a statement by the Lord Himself that He was going to bring full restoration to all of creation through this one who died but then rose again.  An entire type in the death and resurrection of Jesus but now in a much greater expanse in the picture of the New Jerusalem.

Remember that the New Jerusalem is the Church of Christ. That the walls of Jasper are indeed the assembled company of they who are called His “Overcomers”. For not everyone who names the name of Jesus will be qualified to be a part of the walls of Jasper! Only they who OVERCOME will be granted the right to be a part of that wall.  Revelation 21:18 says that the walls are composed of Jasper, albeit they are LIVING STONES OF JASPER FIRE.

{Vision} I saw the walls of Jasper as animated stones of living people. These were people who were fully identified with Christ in His sufferings and in His passion. They had acquired this place of honor within the walls of this City as they who God set as standards of righteousness which would reconcile all mankind. I beheld as the individual persons who composed this wall were always IN that wall but FREE to walk about in the expanse of the Kingdom of God. So they remained walled, but free. And I saw that they had ONE PURPOSE. They went forth and walked IN THE AIR over the flames of the lake that burned with fire and brimstone. I saw within this lake of fire all the abominable and unclean of the earth who were in the process of the 2nd death. The overcomers, thus elevated above this lake were reaching down through the flames to the souls of them that abode in the fiery process and reaching into their very hearts the Overcomers pulled out iniquitous strands. I saw the Mystery of Iniquity in the ungodly as strands of blackened hairs that were in the souls and spirits of these so tormented by the 2nd death process. But the Overcomers were reaching through the flames, through their hearts to remove from them this iniquity thus completing the death of their death that they might die and come alive again as purified vessels redeemed by the Great Love of God. No one in this expanse of the fiery lake was left untouched by they who were deemed OVERCOMERS.  {End Vision}

The Jasper Stone in the depiction of The Ephod represented THE END OF PERDITION. This was the completion, in the hearts of all mankind, of that which would separate them from the great love of God. So it was in the vision above, the process of 2nd death would end by the spiritual ministry of the Overcomers, through the flames of the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone to END the process of DEATH. For the 2nd death is the death of the 1st death. It is the death of death. Note that in Revelation 21 there are two listings of the wicked that are mentioned during the description of the New Jerusalem. Then in the 22nd chapter of Revelation, right near the end, the list is repeated once more. {Revelation 21: 8, 27. Revelation 22: 15.} But nowhere in any of these verses are we told that this is a SEPARATION FROM CHRIST. Rather, the depiction of the ungodly in the process of 2nd death is a SEPARATION  U-N-T-O  CHRIST. For it is a removal FROM THEM of all that is abominable. AND NO ONE IS EXEMPT FROM THESE PROCESSINGS. Those who are now deemed as Overcomers who are part of the Jasper walls of this City FIRST ENDURED THE FIRE. They were in those walls as PERFECT WITH NO REALM OF DEATH WITHIN THEM. That is not to say that they first went into this lake, no, but they first endured THE FIRE OF THAT VERY SAME LAKE albeit in a baptism.

The New Jerusalem, ON the earth IS ONE OF THE MOST PHENOMENAL PROMISES OF GOD TO MANKIND. For that City now resting upon the dust of this earth is the promise of God that all the wicked, the abominable, those who are abiding in the realm of 1st death because of the Mystery of Iniquity will ENTER INTO THE CITY. They shall be SAVED. Yes, the New Jerusalem is a stark contrast to the Lake that burns with fire and brimstone, but that lake is the tool, the method that God uses to end the death of the wicked so that they also may enter in by the gates into that very City of God. And they who have overcome and are part of the Jasper walls are in the MINISTRY OF ENDING DEATH. So if anyone asks you dear reader what your ministry is, tell them YOU ARE IN THE MINISTRY OF MAKING DEATH DIE. For NO ONE will be exempt from this Great City of God. NO ONE will be outside of the gates when the process of 2nd death is completed.

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Now to the typology of Jesus dying and raising again and how exactly this relates to the New Jerusalem ON the earth. We will take the verses from Isaiah 53 to view the stark contrast of Christ verses the City of God. We must remember in this discourse that Christ is seen here as the one who would “atone” for the fall of man into perdition and thus deliver man from death.

Isaiah 53:  Who hath believed our report? and to whom is the arm of the LORD revealed? For he shall grow up before him as a tender

plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we

should desire him. He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces

from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.  Surely he hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows: yet we did esteem

him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the

chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned

every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.  He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he

opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his

mouth.  He was taken from prison and from judgment: and who shall declare his generation? for he was cut off out of the land of the

living: for the transgression of my people was he stricken.  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death;

because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief:

when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall

prosper in his hand.  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify

many; for he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the

strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many,

and made intercession for the transgressors.

v  No form nor comeliness that we should desire Him.

Ø  Because of Christ’s great atonement we have this contrast: The New Jerusalem - all glorious, all together lovely and is the desire of all nations. Just as Jesus is the desire of all nations, during His passion He was unknown, but now His coming is the key element to future world history.

v  Despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief and we hid as it were our faces from Him.

Ø  Because of Christ’s great atonement we have this contrast: That there will be no choice for mankind at the revelation of the City of God, or if you will, the revelation of the Kingdom of God IN A PEOPLE. For man’s will in this matter will not come into play. The stark contrast here is that man will be compelled into a state of cleansing by fire for nothing unclean will enter this City. This is the definitive moment for human history, for at the manifestation of the Sons of God, mankind will be forced to submit to the power of The Kingdom of God.

v  We hid as it were our faces from Him. He was despised and we esteemed Him not.

Ø  Because of Christ’s great atonement we have this contrast: There will be no hiding at the descent of the City of God to the earth for all shall see HIM and shall bewail because of HIM. {Revelation 1:7} No one will be able to escape the fact that God is manifesting His Holiness in the earth through His church. And no one will be able to despise this because all that is contrary in man will be in the fires of the Judgments of God. They that did not appropriate the cross and salvation offered by the Lord will now have this compelled upon them at this vital revelation of The Kingdom of God in the earth.

v  All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way.

Ø  Because of Christ’s great atonement we have this contrast: But now God shall answer this by giving unto mankind A CITY. This City will be undefiled, pure and without anything of the former nature of this world that abides under the curse of the fall. This City will be the eternal standard which shall never pass away. No one will be “lost” in this City, for everything is open and seen in the Eyes of Him with whom we have to answer. No such thing as a free will in this. This is the time when God will reconcile according to the finished work of Christ, and no one will be able to refuse this working.

v  We did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed.

Ø  Because of Christ’s great atonement we have this contrast: It is this very same Jesus who is the example and type of this Glorious City of God which will be given to humanity as that perfect standard by which all will forever abide. Because of HIS atonements for us, we will enjoy this magnificent state of Glory without any sort of defilement in our natures or in our minds. The former things will pass away and be remembered no more and Jesus alone for all eternity will be exalted as the first begotten of God in this very City.

v  And he made his grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death; because he had done no violence, neither was any deceit in his mouth. Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. He shall see the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Ø  Because of Christ’s great atonement we have this contrast Ah, the glorious roll call of those who are citizens in the City of God! We are free to be CLEANSED OF UNRIGHTEOUSNESS to enter in by the gates into this City! This same city will be established on a curse less earth, one now redeemed from the fall into corruption. The result of this suffering will be the manifestation of the Sons of God which will end death and the earth will return back into an Edenic state which will have no former memory of the previous destruction.

v  Therefore will I divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong; because he hath poured out his soul unto death: and he was numbered with the transgressors; and he bare the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.”

Ø  Because of Christ’s great atonement we have this contrast Hence the walls of Jasper. The living stones built up into a Holy Temple in this City, a place wherein there is NO PHYSICAL TEMPLE but the Glory of God and of the Lamb ARE THE TEMPLE OF IT. We, hidden forever in this tabernacle of God alone. View this dear reader as YOUR FUTURE PLACE AND YOUR PRESENT REALITY. For the Lord is the final place wherein all things will be consummated.

 

The resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead is the type and shadow of the wicked,

having their wickedness burnt off of them! For Jesus, by His resurrection, guaranteed that all mankind shall come into the life of God. Their place in the lake of fire will ensure the end of their death! For there is nothing to indicate that the lake that burns with fire and brimstone and the process of 2nd death has any form of SEPARATION from the Lord Jesus! Quite the contrary, it is the process of Jesus REMOVING FROM THEM the reason for their wickedness. The fires of God’s love will consume all that keeps one away from entering into His Kingdom, where nothing defiling can enter. The fires of God, burning away the shroud of death off of each one, will eternally make DEATH DIE. The very reason for the atonement of Jesus upon the cross was to DELIVER US FROM DEATH. Now we have another confirmation. The fact that the New Jerusalem, this City of God IS ON THE EARTH is proof positive that mankind WILL BE DELIVERED. For God has ordained that only that which is Holy will enter this City. Nothing unclean or in apostasy will enter this city. But at the same time God has ordained that ALL MANKIND WILL ENTER. So then, this is the crux of the matter. That DEATH NOW WILL DIE because of the descent and settling of the New Jerusalem. The guarantee of this by faith will now be by reality. For the manifestation of the Sons of God WILL BE REALITY THAT NO ONE ON EARTH WILL BE ABLE TO DENY. 

To be continued................

Kenneth B Visscher
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