~ The New Jerusalem ~
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Chapter:# 5
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Beautiful For Situation, Rebuked To Overcome
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PART ONE
As read by Kenneth B Visscher
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in
the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for
situation, the joy of the whole earth, is
The study on the New Jerusalem is a rebuke to those who
desire to overcome. There is nothing about this study that is an easy road for
anyone who desires to be a total conqueror in their lives. For the New
Jerusalem is a study in contrasts. This Holy City of God reveals the Holy requirements to enter into it verses our natural earth borne existence. We see the Holiness of the City of God but
we know that we have obedience to fulfill to come into that same state of
Holiness. There are some who claim completely the verses such as: “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old
things are passed away; behold, all things are become
new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17 But then they stop there without balancing these verses out with
the rest of the truth. We do have a sinless new nature, but we at the same time
have a sinful old nature. For the truth is that we still live in a duality.
There is still in us the Old Nature of fallen Adam to conquer and overcome and
for us to completely put off. For overcoming is done in the heart and in the
mind by the Spirit of the Lord motioning within us. To balance 2 Corinthians 5:17 with truth, one
needs to read the following. “That ye put off
concerning the former conversation the old man, which is corrupt according to
the deceitful lusts; And be renewed in the spirit of
your mind; And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in
righteousness and true holiness.” Ephesians 4:22-24 Now how can it be that if
the Old Man is dead that there is a continued obedience needed
in putting that Old Man off? Just as necessary is the need to obey to put the
New Man
ON! Or if you would look at this verse. “Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we
should not serve sin.” Romans 6:6 Much that is being taught as
truth in this hour is causing one to eliminate the continued need for putting
off the Old Man, that nature which is in contrast to the New Nature. Anytime an
automatic solution to a situation arises, and the answer is an easy answer, it
is most likely the wrong answer. The truth is that for anyone to enter by the
gates into the New Jerusalem, they must be perfected in every area of their
lives, totally in the New Nature, nothing of the Old Nature. They must have
passed from death to life. And all that must be done by the Spirit of the Lord
and our learned obedience WITH NO CARNAL RELIGIOUS WORKS.
The New Jerusalem gives unto us the contrast
needed to cause us to run with patience this race to put the old nature in its
rightful place as being “daily crucified”. Much deception has come into sonship
circles because of the thought that only the New Nature exists now. The old
nature is not in existence. If that be so, then why are we not now living on
the earth in the New Jerusalem? Why has this time of the manifestation of this
City of God not come? What would then prevent God’s promise from
being fulfilled in us? If Christ now be complete in
mankind, and that His seed is in every man, then why is the earth still
staggering under the weight of the Mystery of Iniquity? What need have we of
further obedience to our righteous calling?
The fact of this is tantamount to seeing truth
as it is in contrast to that which is old and has passed as “present truth”.
For in this world we can see the Old Jerusalem, with its rocks and walls,
contention from the Muslims and the Christians and the Jews, wars, political unrest
and most of all the sworn alliance by surrounding Nations to destroy the Old
Jerusalem and all of Israel in a mushroom cloud. The Jews are there
still awaiting the promise of God to send the Messiah and claiming that land as
their own. The Christians are there beholding the relics and evidences of where
Jesus once was as well as the Mount of Olives to see Jesus come back and cleave
that Mount in two. The Muslims believe that this place was holy to Mohammed
their prophet and that the city therefore belongs to them as a holy place.
Their belief is that the old Jerusalem is for Islam alone, no one
else need enter. The contentions between all three are akin to strife and war
beyond measure. As well, much contention came from the fact that Israel became
a Nation under the auspices of the United Nations, England and the United
States in 1948. As a friend of the United States and England they
have had all the military backing they need to build huge stockpiles of
armaments and munitions which are held in reserve “just in case.” The ousted Palestinian Nation that was in this land in 1948
has warred constantly against Israel, meting out to Israel the
very same things Israel once meted out to them. The entire region has
been a place of continued increased contention and strife that has cost the
Nations billions of dollars to support and to prevent an all out holocaust.
Terrorism from the region has spread to every corner of the globe and as a
result we now live in the world with each and every corner being a place of a
potential “threat”. Truly the earth has begun to live in a time where no place
is safe wherein to stand.
Bring into this the promise of God for the New
Jerusalem. And oh how much dissemination there exists over this revelation! For men have gathered as much interpretation into this promise of
God as in any other portion of religious expression. The New Jerusalem,
like the Old Jerusalem has also had its share of contenders! Men have likened
this Holy City of God to the qualifying measure needed THROUGH THEIR RELIGIOUS
EFFORT which would grant them the right to go to heaven. But the New Jerusalem,
like the Old Jerusalem, is to be ON THE EARTH. THIS EARTH.
The entire concept of Heaven and the New Jerusalem is a skewed concept! The New
Jerusalem, even though it is held as the grand prize by man’s ticket to heaven
because of religious works, has nothing to do with religion, or contentions, or
political ploys or efforts. Money does not come into it,
neither does the opinion of carnal minds! Nor does the imaginary bliss of a
sweet by and by somewhere in a cloud of Glory! This Holy City of
God IS the Holiness of the Lord IN HIS PEOPLE – ON THE EARTH. The New Jerusalem
bears the mark and image OF FATHER, not of man’s puny religious enterprise. It
bears the mark of the Government of God, not of man’s government or monetary
policies. The New Jerusalem is a total contradiction to what the Old Jerusalem
presently is! The New Jerusalem is the FULL EXPRESSED VOCABULARY OF GOD IN A
PEOPLE JUST AS GOD WAS THE FULL EXPRESSION OF HIS OWN PERSON IN JESUS HIMSELF!
There is no imaginary concept of Heaven in the New Jerusalem. There is no
religious effort to get there! There is no government of earth that can bring
to it a policy or a law! The New Jerusalem stands completely alone AS THE VERY
PERSONAGE OF GOD MANIFESTED IN AN OVERCOMING COMPANY, EVEN THE COMPANY OF
OVERCOMERS WHO COME AS A 4 SQUARE WALL OF JASPER.
As I said in the beginning of this discourse,
the study on the New Jerusalem is a rebuke. It corrects us because when we
allow the Spirit of the Lord to move in us in hope, we can see that we simply
do not measure up to the Holy qualifications needed to enter this city. No one
does. Except that the Lord do it in us. This is God’s
work, not man’s work. However, we need to learn OBEDIENCE to this rebuke by
OBEYING in a verbal action the footfalls of our faith. For that to happen
properly in an Overcomer, and for that Overcomer to get past the Spirit of
burning and hence the end of trials, one must align themselves with the
requirements needed to enter this City. Remember that this Holy City of
God WILL BE ON THE EARTH, NOT UP IN THE SKY SOMEWHERE. And when I state that
there are qualifications for entering this City, one must meet these
qualifications WITH NO RELIGIOUS EFFORT WHATSOEVER.
The first place to rebuke yourself
is to JUDGE YOURSELVES TO SEE WHETHER OR NOT YOU BE IN THE FAITH. If we do
that, we can get past the 1st stage of the fiery process and
enter in to greater manifestations of Holiness in our lives. And I can think of
no better way to judge one’s own self before the Lord than to know that what
God is going to do He is going to do IN A NEW ELEMENT on the earth, not in the
old element that is existing now. And the desire of God is for that New Element
to work IN YOUR LIFE in such a manner as to help you walk BY FAITH AND NOT BY
SIGHT. In other words, not one of the promises of God to complete His work in
us will be related to this physical City of the OLDJerusalem.
It is only in the NEW Jerusalem that the will of God
will be completed. There will be no political, monetary, physical thing happen
in the Old Jerusalem which will ever usher in this hope we have of overcoming
victory in every area of our lives. God is not going to do this work in the Old City,
He is going to do it and complete it in the New City. The Old City has
no more life in its rocks and stone walls than any other place on the earth. It
is simply a geographical location, nothing more. And if you gauge the coming of
the Lord upon Israel, or money systems, or what is happening around the land of
Israel then you have totally missed God and His purpose! If you purport the
coming of Christ to elevate His people into the ethereal state based upon
computer chips and words from the Pope, then you have missed it. The New
Jerusalem IS Holy and IS complete and IS the promise of God to those who would
be found In Christ in total victory. Out from our minds has to go the concept
of earth bound news reports and advances in technology that would somehow
indicate that the Lord is about to return. Judge yourselves in this manner.
That there is no sign on the earth of the coming of the Lord other than your
continued growth in your New Nature and the fact that much of Christendom is
following delusion! For the sign of the coming of the Son of Man to catch us up
totally in spirit will be by our maturing process. As well, it will be by the
understanding that much of those around us are following a deluded
understanding of God. That perdition that sits in the Holy Place as
God saying I Am As God. So in judging yourself in the
1st stage, ask yourself if you are following any delusions! If
you are, then judge that delusion IN YOURSELF and put it off!
The New Jerusalem is that Holy Standard to which
we will attain, not by our own effort, but by the Lord growing up in us, or if
you will, by the seed of life in you coming to full maturity. This is that
blessed hope for all Nations. The New Jerusalem is depicted in the scriptures
at the start of this writing to be “Zion”, the Kingdom of His
Anointing. It is the place of King Jesus. The realm of His
Church, His Body. To this element I would add that it is the place where
we will Praise and Worship God in the beauty of Holiness. It is the FINALITY of
our walk, the END OF OUR FAITH. We are coming into a CITY. This City is the
place wherein the King reigns, and out from this City His reign does proceed to
envelop all of His creation to bring it all in to this state of completed
Holiness. Each element of the fall will be consumed in the fire of God’s
Holiness.
So then, in breaking down Psalms 48:1-14 I see the following.
“Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness.” The dimension of God in
the City of God is GREAT. This is where the full expression of God
abides, and this is where the servants of God will see His face. It is also
very interesting that this is seen as a “City” but at the same time as a
“mountain”, even a “mountain of His Holiness”. The NATURE OF GOD IS
THIS CITY and this CITY IS THE MOUNT OF HOLINESS FOR ALL CREATION. In other
words, the full expression of God is seen as HOLY in this City and as a
MOUNTIAN in its expression of God in His person. Here the realms of Praise
ascend unto Him who has revealed Himself in such a way as to bring hope for all
of creation, removing creation from its negative contrast and into its new
identity as part of this same City.
“Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.” Now my question to you
the reader is this. If the City of God is the joy of the whole earth, then what
would make you think that it is something to be attained in the future in
Heaven when you die? The City of God IS HERE ON THE EARTH IN A
PEOPLE, EVEN THE CHURCH OF CHRIST. It is beautiful for situation
because IT IS HOLY IN THE NEW NATURE BORN AFTER THE SPIRIT. The whole earth is
said to have JOY in it. When I look at the newscasts I don’t see much joy. But
this is a JOY to the WHOLE EARTH. Also, this city is related to the whole earth
as MOUNT ZION, that place of the anointed life of God IN A PEOPLE. The New Jerusalem, the City of God, will in
time be the joy of all nations as it becomes THE STANDARD BY WHICH ALL MEN WILL
BE MEASURED. This City becomes the final hope for mankind. It is the final
resting place of every soul. No defilement or unclean thing of the fallen Old
Nature will enter into it. The Old Jerusalem does not even pale in comparison
when it is measured by this New Jerusalem. And in the midst of this City of God IS MOUNT ZION.
There is a MOUNTIAN IN THE MIDST OF IT. This is the Mountain of God’s
Holiness! And that is the Mount that ALL WILL COME TO. Note that this Mount is
on “the sides of the north”. What are the sides of the north? THE PLACE OF CONTINUED JUDGEMENT. For the Lord does come FROM THE NORTH TO JUDGE. The regal reign of the Lord
will come in judgment of anything that does not fit into the Holy requirements
of this City, for the Blood of Jesus prevails to give each one a place IN this
City, and for that to happen each one must be JUDGED. This is the City of the
Great King, and it is this Great King that judges each one to fit them INTO
their pre-ordained place IN this city. That is how great this King is! And to
amplify His Greatness, the King has ordained THAT THIS CITY BE ON THE EARTH.
This truly is a HIGH PLACE! It is a City that is the standard of Holiness by
which all Nations will enter.
“God is known in her palaces for a refuge.” Not just for the time of
our sojourn TO that City but IN that City God becomes a refuge. At this time
while the Mystery of Iniquity works in the earth God is our refuge to protect
us while we wait for Him to finish His processings in
us. But also THEN when the standard of Holiness is met and the Overcomer
is dwelling continually in the New Nature in Holiness will God be that same
refuge. The refuge of God is that element of separation, that standard of
Holiness which is apart from all else that is yet to be judged. Not a self righteous Holiness that comes from religious effort,
but the very nature and personage of God. For God by nature
IS HOLY. And it is that same HOLINESS that is THE REFUGE FOR THE
OVERCOMER. Not everyone who will become fully judged and Holy
will be called an “Overcomer” but only those who endured the fires of judgment
now while in their bodies of flesh and blood. Those who simply proceeded
through each trial that was set before them. Those who obeyed
the Lord in this life and came out from all other things to allow the Lord to
work His fire into them to separate in them the chaff from the wheat, the flesh
from the Spirit. These are the ones who will form that Holy Mountain of
Zion. They will be the elements of Living Stone in the walls of Jasper. The
others in the nations will also enter in, but not as they who overcame! The
“palaces” are the elements of Jesus, the dimension of Jesus BUILT INTO HIS
OVERCOMERS. But then, when that building is complete, God, IN the Overcomers,
becomes a refuge to the rest of humanity!
To be
continued………. Kenneth B Visscher
Copyright