Chapter 21
Now the theme changes completely and
we move to the eternal state. Forget everything about our life on this earth,
we are now going to see what it is going to be like forever and ever and ever.
The eternal state covers chapter twenty-one and the first five verses of
chapter twenty-two. From chapter 22:6-21 we have the conclusion of the book.
Outline
There are three paragraphs in
chapter twenty-one: The description of the eternal state, verses 1-5; The
citizens of the eternal state, verses 6-8; The capital of the eternal state,
verses 9-27.
In verse 1 we note the new universe.
We have seen the destruction of the old universe, now there is a new universe
created for the eternal state. So, in effect, there have been three universes
in history. The first one was the angelic universe, the one which included
planet earth, having all of the monsters and an entirely different way of life.
Many of the things that have been dug up, called dinosaurs and other things,
simply belong to another universe, the angelic universe. Secondly, we have the
universe of mankind, the universe of human history. There are some differences.
The first universe, the angelic, was quite different not only with regard to
planet earth and not only with regard to the planets around planet earth, but
in the universe at large. The third category is the new universe of the eternal
state and this is the one we are about to study.
Three things are noted in verse one.
First of all, there is a new vision, the sequential use of the conjunction kai, “Then.” With this we have the aorist active
indicative of the verb o(raw,
indicating we are now starting a new vision, “Then I saw.” The constative aorist
tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety. The active voice:
the apostle John is about to observe what life will be like in the eternal
state. The eternal state doesn’t even exist at this time. Heaven does but the
future existence of the universe and how it will be is only described briefly
in this chapter. The apostle John gets to see this. The indicative mood is
declarative for the reality of this eschatological doctrine regarding the
eternal state.
The second thing we note is the new
heaven, “a new heaven.” The absence of the definite article emphasises the
quality of the direct object. The new heaven is a reference to that part of the
universe called heaven. We should note that the Bible speaks of three heavens.
There is the band of atmosphere around the earth, called the first heaven in
Genesis 1:6-8. The second heaven is the stellar universe (Acts 7:42) which is
the realm of prehistoric angelic activity as well as present angelic activity,
and this second heaven includes billions of light years of space. The third
heaven is the throne room of God which is beyond stellar space. It is discussed
as the third heaven in 2 Corinthians 12:2 and Revelation chapters four and
five. There are three heavens, including planet earth, in the universe: the
original universe of the angels, Genesis 1:1; 2 Peter 3:5; the restored earth
for the occupancy of man, Genesis 1:3-31; 2 Peter 3:7; the new heavens and the
new earth, Revelation 21:1; 2 Peter 3:13. There is also the new earth. The
destruction of the universe of human history is the subject of 2 Peter 3:5-13.
The destruction of the historical universe is the subject of Revelation 20.
We have so far: “Then I saw a new
heaven, a new universe and a new earth.” That is followed by the fact that some
explanation is demanded once again so the apostle adds under the ministry of
God the Holy Spirit an insertion. Starting with the post positive conjunctive
particle gar he explains the need for a
new universe, a new heaven and a new earth to replace the historical universe
in which we now live. The dual subject follows which is in the nominative
singular, and the dual subject here is the first heaven and the first earth:
“the first heaven and the first earth were departed,” the aorist active
indicative of the verb a)perxomai, which means to go away, to
vanish, or to depart. We will translate that, “for the first heaven and the
first earth were blown away.” That is the best translation because of the
thermonuclear destruction of the historical universe which is described in 2
Peter chapter 3:5-13. The constative aorist tense contemplates the action of
the verb in its entirety: the destruction of the universe that we now occupy.
Man cannot destroy this universe but God can and God will, as we have noted,
after the last judgment. The active voice: the first heaven and the first
earth, or the universe of human history, produces the action of the verb. It is
dramatically destroyed. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of
the destruction of the universe that we are now occupying. The destruction of
the present historical universe provides the explanation for the creation of a
new heaven, new earth, and new universe.
Isaiah 65:17, “For behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth; consequently the former things shall not be
remembered or entered into the right lobe [come to mind].”
An analogy between the eternal state
and the eternal state of regenerate Israel is given in Isaiah 66:22, “For just
as the new heavens and the new earth which I create will endure before me, saith
the Lord, so your offspring and your name will endure.” In other words, we will
see the fulfillment of this when we study the satellite city of the new
universe. The believers of Israel will definitely be there.
2 Peter 3:5, “For they are willfully
ignorant of this fact, that by the word of God the heavens [the universe of the
prehistoric angelic conflict] existed long ago and the earth was formed out of
water and by water,” planet earth of present history.
Verse 6, “through which the world at
that time [antediluvian planet earth] was destroyed, being flooded by water.”
Verse 7, “But the present heavens
and earth [post-diluvian universe] by his word are being preserved for fire
[God’s nuclear destruction at the end of the Millennium], kept for the day of
judgment [the last judgment] and destruction of ungodly men [the unbelievers
cast into the lake of fire forever].”
Verse 8, “Do not let this one
doctrine escape your notice, beloved, with the Lord one day is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years as one day.”
Verse 9, “The Lord is not slow about
his promise, as some men conclude slowness, but he is patient toward all of
you, not wishing for anyone to perish,” it is God’s will, God’s desire that all
should believe in Christ. The fact that men reject Christ as saviour means that
they are rejecting the will of God for their lives, “not wishing for anyone to
perish but for all to come to a change of mind [about Jesus Christ].”
Verse 10, “But the day of the Lord
[that portion of the day of the Lord related to the destruction of the
historical universe] will come like a thief [in the ancient world the thief
came suddenly and took his victims by surprise] in which the heavens [the
universe about us now] will disappear with a sudden roar [the nuclear
destruction of the present historical universe] and the elements will be
dissolved with intense heat, but the earth and its works will be burned up,”
that is when the evidence by which the unbeliever was convicted, the book of
works, will be destroyed.
Verse 11, “Since all these things
[temporary existence of the historical universe] are in the process of being
dissolved in this manner, what kind of people ought you to be in your Christian
way of life and godliness,
Verse 12, “anticipating and
earnestly desiring the coming day of God, because of which the burning heavens
will be dissolved, and the elements will melt with intense heat!”
Verse 13, “But according to his
announced promise [the promise of Isaiah 65:17; 66:22] we are anticipating new
heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness is at home.”
Verse 14, “Therefore, beloved, since you anticipate these things, be
zealous that you may be observed by him [Christ as the judge] in prosperity
[found a winner by the protocol system], spotless [life in the divine dynasphere]
and blameless [to fulfill the priorities of the plan of God at present].”
We still have one phase left in
Revelation 20:1, “and there was no longer any sea.” Planet earth of the eternal
state has no sea or water like the present planet earth. Water and sea is
necessary for the historical planet on which we now find ourselves. It is
necessary for the function of evaporation and precipitation, hence necessary
for the basic needs of man, food, water, and survival. The implication of
Revelation 21:23 and 22:5 is that there will also be no sun for light, hence in
the eternal state God will provide directly rather than through natural laws
not only our light but anything else we need. There will be water and oceans in
the Millennium but no water, no oceans, in the eternal state. Therefore the
contrast between the present universe and planet earth and the eternal universe
and its planet earth at that time. Millennial passages indicate seas and waters
on planet earth, Psalm 72:8; Ezekiel 47:10, 15; Zechariah 9:10; 14:8. One of
the proofs that the context is dealing with the eternal state is the fact that
there is no sea on the new earth whereas in the Millennium there is lots of
water. In the universe of the future which we will occupy in resurrection bodies
no water is necessary.
Water on planet earth during the
eternal state is not necessary for either man’s survival or the imprisonment
and control of fallen angels. The sea is often related to the abyss or Tartarus,
the prison of angelic hordes, fallen angels, but once all fallen angels are put
into the lake of fire, Matthew 25:41, it is unnecessary to have sea or water as
the gates of their present prison. Furthermore, the sea during human history is
not only the source of perpetual unrest and instability of weather but at the
same time is used as an analogy to evil. We saw that is Revelation 13:1, the
beast out of the sea is the product of evil. Hence, the absent of sea on planet
earth during the eternal state connotes the absence of evil during the eternal
state. In the historical planet earth the seas form the boundaries for nations.
Acts 17:26, “And he made from one, every nation of mankind to live on the face
of the earth, having determined their appointed times [historical duration] and
the boundaries of their habitation.” One of the boundaries of their habitation
are the seas. In the eternal state nationalism will no longer be necessary,
even though it will exist. Hence the sea will not be a necessary boundary for
nations.
In verse two the proper noun “John”
does not occur in the original manuscript, hence it is omitted from the
translation. Obviously, the apostle John is the subject of the verb o(raw which is in the aorist active indicative. It simply
says, “I saw.” The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its
entirety, the vision of the new Jerusalem, the capital of the eternal state.
The active voice: John produces the action. The declarative indicative is for
the reality of eschatological information about the eternal state. The verse
begins by saying, “I saw the holy city, the new Jerusalem.” This is not the
Jerusalem of the present time, this is the satellite city which will be
suspended above the earth. In the eternal state the new Jerusalem is suspended
in the sky above the sight of the original Jerusalem but it is a much larger
city. In eternity the new Jerusalem fulfills several important functions. First
of all it will be the capital of the new universe of the eternal state and the
residence of our Lord Jesus Christ. It also fulfills the divine promise to
Abraham which is given in Hebrews chapter 11.
Verse 8, “By means of faith
[doctrine resident in the soul] Abraham, when he was called, obeyed by going
out to a place which he was to receive for an inheritance; and he went out, not
knowing where he was going.”
Verse 9, “By means of faith he lived
as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents
with Isaac and Jacob, joint heirs with him of the same promise.” Why did he
live in a tent? Because Abraham had tremendous happiness, tremendous capacity
for life, capacity for success, for wealth. He was living in a tent not to be a
martyr but he was living his life in the light of eternity, even though he was
enjoying life.
Verse 10, “For he kept waiting with
anticipation for a city [the new Jerusalem] which has foundations, whose
architect and builder is God.” Note that the city has foundations even though
it is suspended in air, and while there is no description outside of the fact
that the builder and the architect is God we are going to see it in great
detail. Abraham’s lived in the future, knowing that he would have this great
city. His testimony to the fact that this would be his city is the fact that he
continued to live in a tent.
Verse 13, However, he died without
ever receiving the city: “All these died in faith [in doctrine], without
receiving the promises, but having seen them and saluted them from a distance
[Abraham died saluting the city], and having acknowledged that they were
strangers and transients on the earth.” In other words, they were passing
through types from grace to glory.
Then in chapter 12:22 we have once
again a reference to that city. “But you have come to Mount Zion, even the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and the millions of angels,”
Verse 23, “also to the church of the
firstborn [the royal family of God will be living in this great city] who have
been registered in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of
justified ones made perfect,” This is a reference to ultimate sanctification.
Verse 24, “and to Jesus, the
mediator of the new covenant.”
The location of the capital is now given in Revelation 20:2. The
present active participle of katabainw indicates that it is
suspended in space. Katabainw means to descend,
“descending out of heaven from God.” Along with Revelation 3:12 which uses the
same Greek words this phrase suggests that the new Jerusalem, the capital of
the universe in the eternal state, is suspended above the earth as a satellite
city. The size of the city: 1400 miles square times 1400 miles high. This city
is not to be confused with the Millennial Jerusalem which is the capital of
client nation Israel and the capital of planet earth during the Millennium.
Note, therefore, that there, are some great differences between this satellite
city and the Millennial city of Jerusalem.
There is a Jerusalem of the
Millennium; there is a Jerusalem of the eternal state. The new Jerusalem in the
eternal state is the satellite; the Jerusalem of the Millennium is located
around the present site. There are differences. For example, in the Millennial
Jerusalem there is natural light; in the eternal Jerusalem there is
supernatural light, the shekinah glory. The Millennial Jerusalem has no walls
but the eternal Jerusalem has very high walls. There is a temple in the
Millennial Jerusalem; there is no temple in the eternal Jerusalem. The shekinah
glory who now indwells the believer as the Lord Jesus Christ will function as
the temple. In the Millennial Jerusalem there are animal sacrifices mentioned —
Ezekiel chapters 40-48; there are no animal sacrifices in the eternal state.
Living water comes from the temple, according to Ezekiel 47:1, in the
Millennial Jerusalem; the water of life comes out from the throne of God in
Revelation 22:1. Unbelievers live in the city of Jerusalem in the Millennium, Zechariah
12:6; 14:11; only believers live in the city in the eternal state, Revelation
21:4,7; 22:14. There are trees for food and healing in the Millennial city of
Jerusalem, Ezekiel 47:7-12; there is the tree of life in the eternal Jerusalem.
We have an analogy now, the analogy
as to a bride. This is the most beautiful city of all eternity as well as time.
It is introduced with the perfect passive participle of the verb e(toimazw which means to prepare, “having been prepared.” The
perfect tense is a dramatic perfect, the rhetorical application of the perfect
tense. The action of preparation has been completed. The existing state of
beauty is described in an unusually vivid and realistic way. This is the most
breathtaking city that will ever exist and it will exist forever and ever. The
passive voice: the new Jerusalem, the capital of the eternal state receives the
action of the verb. This is a circumstantial participle and it is translated,
”having been prepared as.” “As” is the Greek word w(j,
the conjunction of analogy. It simply means this is an illustration, nothing
more, nothing less. “For her husband” is a reference to its inspiring beauty.
The sheer beauty of the holy city, the new Jerusalem, will be reserved for the
passage we will study from verse nine. The Church is called the bride of
Christ, it is not related to the analogy in this verse. So we have the beauty
of the city suddenly appearing in the sky. We have those who are occupying it.
There is one thing about that city that emphasises the importance of it and
that is found back in Revelation chapter three, verse twelve. The first three
words are “The winner,” the believer who advances to maturity, the believer who
reaches gate eight, the believer who forms the pivot for the client nation.
“The winner, I will make him a pillar in the temple of my God.” This “temple of
my God” is not the temple of the eternal state, there is none, the shekinah
glory is the temple. This is a public building, and it can be translated “I
will make him a pillar in the public building of my God.” The word “temple” is
used because in the ancient world one of the ways of keeping historical records
was to inscribe on the pillar of a temple the name of some famous king who had
done great deeds. That was the historical record. There were many temples in
the ancient world and inside was like walking into a book. The pillars had the
names of people and all of the things that they did, and their greatness. Those
temples have been destroyed and we do not have records from that particular
source any more, they didn’t last. But the idea is there because the Bible must
be interpreted in the time in which it was written.
“The winner, I will make him a
pillar in the temple of my God,” that is, if you advance in the protocol system
and form up in the pivot with other like-minded believers. Then the client
nation will be delivered. It is the only way it will be delivered. In the
future, in that magnificent satellite city of the eternal state, there will be
a pillar in the temple of God. There will be a permanent historical record of
your life and your impact on history. The greatest impact on history is the
believer, either for good or for bad. If the client nation survives the believer
is a winner. If the client nation goes down the believer is a loser,
“furthermore, he will never vanish from history; in fact I will emblazon on him
the title of my God and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem,
which shall descend from heaven from God, also my new title.” The winner is
recorded in the temple of records in the eternal state.
Verse 3, This is a proclamation from
heaven which begins with the sequential use of the conjunction kai, followed by the aorist active indicative of the
verb a)kouw meaning to hear. “Then I
heard.” The constative aorist contemplates the action of the verb in its
entirety. “Then I heard a great [or loud] voice [the voice of the king of arms
actually] from the throne, saying.” The present active participle of legw gives us the announcement of what he is about to
say. The present tense of duration is for doctrine taught in the past with the
result that it stands forever in the canon of scripture. The active voice: the
king of arms makes this announcement. The king of arms actually functions as a
teaching angel to communicate the fact that instead of a tabernacle or temple
the Lord Himself is going to be the scared building. Then we have the
demonstrative particle i)dou which occurs quite
frequently in this section of the book of Revelation. It is taken from the aorist
middle imperative of o(raw and
is used as a particle to demand concentration on a point of doctrine, “Behold,
the tabernacle.” The word for tabernacle is skhnh.
“Behold, the tabernacle of God is [ellipsis demands the insertion of the verb
to be] with mankind,” which means simply that those believers living in the
capital suspended above the earth actually had the presence of God. This is the
capital of the new universe.
The question arises: What is the
tabernacle of God? It is no other than the person of our Lord Jesus Christ who
as the Shekinah glory dwelt in the tabernacle of Israel. Not only on earth but
in heaven there is what we call a tabernacle-temple which gives testimony to
the person and the work of Christ on the cross. The tabernacle of Moses in
Exodus chapters 25-40 is not only a portrayal of the person and the work of
Christ during His first advent but is actually the sacred building for the
location of the presence of Jesus Christ as the God of Israel.
There is also the Millennial temple
in Israel indicating the restoration of Israel as the client nation during the
1000-year reign of Christ. The only other exception is the eternal state in
Revelation 21:22 where we read that there is no temple in the new Jerusalem:
“for the Lord God the Almighty One, even the Lamb is the temple.” This explains
the concept of the Shekinah glory.
The word “shekinah” is not a Bible
word but is a noun based on a Bible word. The word in the Old Testament is the
Hebrew word shakan, and it means to
dwell. Often a verb was converted into a noun by adding a suffix and then
shortening up a vowel. So we have the noun which came into being to describe
it, shekinah. However, the next word
is a Bible word, kabod. Its
equivalent in the New Testament is doca, “glory.” The shekinah
glory is a technical word used to describe the presence of the Lord Jesus
Christ with Israel as the God of Israel. Romans 9:4 adds to this: that the
Jewish heritage included the Shekinah glory.
The seven principles related to the shekinah glory
We live in the Church Age, a
dispensation which is unique. It is the dispensation of the royal family of
God. After the Church Age is the resurrection of the Church, then the
Tribulation, the second advent, then 1000 years of perfect environment on earth,
followed by the end of history, the point at which we get the new heavens and
the new earth, the new Jerusalem, the satellite city. Then we have the fact
that there is no temple in the eternal state because the sacred building is
present and visible to all in the eternal state. The temple is the Lord Jesus
Christ. There is only one time in history when there is no temple, no sacred
building, and that is the Church Age. Therefore we live in the most unusual of
all dispensations.
1. The Shekinah glory in Israel was
the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ in the holy of holies, Exodus 25:21,22; Leviticus
26:11,12; Psalm 99:1; Hebrews 9:6.
2. At the first advent and the
incarnation there was a change. The Shekinah glory changed residence. Our Lord
Jesus Christ came to the earth as the God-Man, undiminished deity and true
humanity in one person forever. The Shekinah glory resided in the prototype
divine dynasphere, “The word became flesh and tabernacled among us.”
3. 2 Corinthians 3:17ff, the first
word starts out by telling us that God the Holy Spirit is deity, kurioj refers to deity. “Now the Lord is the Spirit [the
Holy Spirit is God]; and where the Spirit of the Lord is,” He indwells the body
of every believer, so when the believer enters gate one of the divine dynasphere
the Holy Spirit controls the soul. We call that the filling of the Holy Spirit,
that is the power gate. There is a reason why God the Holy Spirit indwells the
body of ever believer, “there is freedom.” Never before in human history did
God the Holy Spirit ever indwell anyone. The freedom here is the freedom to
execute the protocol plan of God inside the divine dynasphere, Galatians 5:1. 2
Corinthians 3:18 adds: “But we all, with an unveiled face,” the story of the
ritual modus operandi of
the
Age of Israel is one of veils. Moses put a veil on his face when he went up to
the Mount Sinai to receive the law so that the people could not see the
tremendous glory that shone on his face from being in the presence of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the God of Israel. There was a veil in front of the holy of holies,
no one was to pass that veil on pain of death. The veil was used constantly to
indicate that that was a ritual dispensation and that doctrine was learned
through ritual function, but the ritual is gone because the Shekinah has
departed from all the ritual systems. The Shekinah glory came in the flesh and
dwelt in the prototype divine dynasphere. That changes everything. That is the
reason why for the first time in all of human history God the Holy Spirit
indwells the body of every believer as of the moment of salvation. That means
something else: that we can be filled with the Spirit, and that one of the 40
things that happens to us at the point of salvation is that we not only receive
the indwelling of the Holy Spirit but we enter into the divine dynasphere and
once we do the veil is removed. We live in a dispensation with no veil. There
is no veil except negative volition toward doctrine, the veil over the soul,
“looking into a mirror [God’s Word and the function of gate four, the momentum
gate, to produce a reflection] the glory of God,” we look into the mirror of
gate four not to produce our reflection but to produce the reflection of the Shekinah
glory who also indwells us, “are being transformed into the same image,” life
in the divine dynasphere reflects the glory of God. Being transformed into the
same image means the protocol system transfers the believer of the Church Age
into the reflected glory of our Lord, that is the Shekinah glory. In other
words, the life in us shows on the outside as we gain momentum from gate four
of the divine dynasphere, “from glory to glory,” the first “glory” is the
humanity of Christ indwelling the prototype divine dynasphere during His life
on earth. That was the Shekinah glory coming in the flesh, that was Immanuel,
“God with us” prophesied by Isaiah. Then we have the operational divine glory
and the second “glory” is function of the believer only inside the protocol
system, “to glory, just as from the Spirit of the Lord,” the ministry of God
the Holy Spirit in the protocol system, gate one of the divine dynasphere.
4. You should now reach some
conclusions. The first conclusion demands that we understand three things: In
the dispensation of Israel Jesus Christ the shekinah glory dwelt in sacred
buildings; at the second advent the Shekinah glory came personally to Israel
inside the prototype divine dynasphere so that Israel could see the humanity of
Christ and draw conclusions that this was the God-Man, this was the Messiah for
whom they were waiting; for the first time in human history both God the Son
and God the Holy Spirit now indwell every believer, each having a separate
purpose. The Holy Spirit indwells to make the believer’s body a temple fit for
the occupancy of the Shekinah glory, and Christ the Shekinah glory indwells to
produce that glory in us as the royal family of God.
5. The Holy Spirit indwells the
believer as part of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. The protocol
plan of God is based on the fact that all ritual is canceled, that all ritual
had to do with sacred buildings. There are no scared buildings in the Church
Age even as there will be no sacred building in the eternal state, the new
Jerusalem, the satellite city above the earth. The Holy Spirit indwells the
believer as a part of the protocol plan of God for the Church Age. And since
the Shekinah glory dwells in sacred buildings, and since there are no sacred
buildings in this dispensation, the body becomes the issue. Your body is
therefore occupied by God the Holy Spirit who makes it a temple for the
residence for the Shekinah glory. The fact that you are indwelt personally by
God the Holy Spirit and indwelt personally by Jesus Christ means that there is
a way of life which is greater than anything which ever existed before and
demands a greater personal responsibility than has ever existed in all of human
history with regard to anyone, believer or unbeliever. On your shoulders rests
the responsibility for the perpetuation of the client nation.
2 Corinthians 6:16 says, “We are the
temple of the living God.” Why? Well, we have a paraphrase from the Old
Testament and the Shekinah glory: “Just as God has said, ‘I will dwell in them’.”
When did He say that? In the Old Testament. He said that He would live in the
holy of holies; now, He lives in us, “I will dwell in them and walk among
them,” that was Israel, but Israel is no longer a client nation, this is the
times of the Gentiles and this is the times of the royal family of God. And
whether a client nation survives or not depends on the daily decisions of
believers and no one else. It is because the body of the believer is the temple
that a new protocol system is designed by God to replace the ritual system of
the tabernacle and the temple in Israel.
6. Our Lord prophesied on earth when
the shekinah glory was in the prototype protocol system. When the Shekinah
glory indwelt the prototype this is what the Shekinah glory said in prophesy,
John 14:20, our Lord prophesied during the first advent that He the Shekinah
glory would indwell every believer in this dispensation. You are not only indwelt
by the Holy Spirit you are indwelt by the person of our Lord Jesus Christ: “In
that day [the Church Age] you will know that I am in the Father,” Jesus Christ
as eternal God is coequal and coeternal with God the Father, and that means
that they have identical essence though they are two separate and distinct
persons, “and you [believers of the Church Age], and you are in me [positional
truth, the formation of the royal family of God through the baptism of the
Spirit], and I in you,” that was something that was the most difficult of all
for them to understand and it is the most difficult thing for believers to
understand today — the indwelling presence of the Shekinah glory, the
indwelling presence of the Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory in every
believer in this dispensation.
7. Therefore, the necessity for the
new plan of God, the protocol plan in the divine dynasphere. This is the fact
that every believer be indwelt by Jesus Christ the Shekinah glory calls for
something by way of a plan for believers that never existed before. God has a
plan for your life and it is like something that never existed in the Old
Testament. It is superior to everything in the Old Testament. Those who
believed in the Old Testament are called “family of God” but you and I as
believers are “royal family of God.”
Colossians 1:27, “To whom God
decreed [or purposed] to make known what is the wealth [not riches. Wealth is
invisible; riches are very visible] of the glory of the mystery,” the
indwelling presence of the Shekinah glory, “in the Gentile [believers], which
is Christ in you, the confidence [or hope] of glory.” Only the divine dynasphere
contains the machinery to glorify the Shekinah glory.
Verse 28, “Him we teach, warning
every man [about living in the cosmic system] and teaching every man in all
wisdom [teaching the mechanics of the protocol system], that we might present
every man [believer] mature in Christ.”
Verse 29, “For this purpose I also labour
to the point of exhaustion, competing according to his game plan [the protocol
system, the divine dynasphere], which is operational in me [inside the divine dynasphere].”
Romans 8:10, “In fact if Christ is
in you [1st class condition: and He is], though the body is dead [because of
the sin nature] because of sin [the sin nature], on the other hand the Spirit
[God the Holy Spirit] is life because of righteousness.”
2 Corinthians 13:5, this approaches
it from the standpoint of the privacy of the believer’s priesthood.
“Test
yourselves [only you can determine your status] to see if you are in the
doctrine [also used here for the divine dynasphere]; examine yourselves,” only
the individual believer under the privacy of his own royal priesthood can
determine whether he is living in the protocol system of God or in the cosmic
system of Satan, “Or do you not know this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ
[the Shekinah glory] is in you, unless indeed you have failed the test?” If you
don’t know that, you have failed the test. The believer fails the test through
ignorance of the Shekinah glory, ignorance of God’s protocol system, ignorance
of the divine dynasphere and even ignorance of the enemy, Satan’s cosmic
system. You have to know something to test yourself.
Philippians 1:20, the testimony of
the apostle: “According to my intense concentration [on doctrine, on Christ]
and resultant confidence, that in nothing shall I be disgraced [life in the
cosmic system], but with all integrity [of the protocol system], even now, as
always, Christ [the Shekinah glory] shall be exalted in my body,” Paul is
saying he passed the test, he was in the divine dynasphere and living there —
“whether by life or by death,” Christ indwells Paul. Paul cannot see the
indwelling of Christ except as he looks into the mirror of the Word of God and
gets the reflection of the Shekinah glory. But once he dies he is absent from
the body and face to face with the Shekinah glory. For those who are living in
the divine dynasphere life is wonderful and death is even more fantastic
because the Shekinah glory which we see reflected in the mirror of the Word of
God at gate four becomes a face to face proposition the moment we die. That is
why he concludes his testimony in verse 21 by saying, “For me, living is Christ
[the reflected glory of Christ from living in the divine dynasphere], dying is
profit.” Why is dying advantage? Because as long as he lives he is in the
protocol system; when he dies he is face to face with the Lord. He can’t lose,
he is a double winner. He is a winner in time and he is a winner for all
eternity.
Next we have the future active
indicative of the verb skhnow which means to tabernacle.
It is used of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory. He tabernacled in
the tabernacle in the Age of Israel, then He came in the flesh: “the Logoj became flesh and tabernacled
among us.” Now it says He will tabernacle in the New Jerusalem, the satellite
city suspended above the earth in the eternal state. The predictive future
tense anticipates the eternal state and explains there is neither tabernacle
nor temple in the new Jerusalem, the capital of the eternal state. Why? Because
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Shekinah glory is there. The active voice: Jesus
Christ as the Shekinah glory produces the action. The indicative mood is
declarative for a dogmatic statement of eschatological doctrine.
We have a prepositional phrase meta plus the genitive plural of the intensive pronoun a)utoj, “with them.” Not all believers are going to live
there, though a lot of believers are. In that satellite city in the eternal
state will be living the winners. Since they are the ones who saw the reflected
Shekinah glory in the mirror of the Word of God, living in the divine dynasphere,
they are going to be there as citizens. Losers are not going to be living in
the new Jerusalem, though they can visit.
In the next phrase we have the new
citizens of the eternal state. It begins with the conjunction kai, “and,” “and they shall be his people.” The word
for “peoples” is a predicate nominative plural from laoj.
In the plural it indicates the fact that there are several categories of
believers in resurrection bodies whilst citizens of the satellite city, the
headquarters for the eternal state. Mature believers of the Old Testament would
be included, mature believers in the Church Age, mature believers in the
Tribulation and Millennium. So the plural refers to certain great believers in
every generation of human history, those who were winners, those who advanced
to maturity in the plan that God has set up. We also have the future active
indicative of e)imi to
remind us that we are now in the eternal state. The future tense is a
predictive future anticipating the existence of the capital of the eternal
state, the satellite city which is suspended above the earth. The active voice:
certain mature believers produce the action. The indicative mood is declarative
and a reminder once again that there is very little said about the eternal
state. This is the most concentrated passage. There are several passages in Isaiah
which talk about the new heavens and the new earth, and those passages simply
mention the eternal state in passing.
Verse 4, the abolition of all
suffering. This is a description of the eternal state in which there will be no
suffering. All suffering is confined to time, and for the believer it has two
purposes: the acceleration of spiritual growth; discipline for bad decisions.
“God” does not appear in the original manuscript as a word; He is the subject,
but the word qeoj does not occur. Again, it
is the inferior manuscripts and translation of the King James version. “And he
shall wipe away [remove or erase].” Again, the future active indicative of e)xaleifw which means to erase. But, of course, you don’t
erase tears, you wipe them away. The predictive future anticipates the eternal
state. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb, the
abolition of all human suffering. Suffering is obliterated. The indicative mood
is declarative representing the verbal action from the viewpoint of reality.
There will be no suffering forever and ever and ever. Tears are associated with
sorrow, suffering, pain, disaster, discomfort, all of which does not exist in
the eternal state for the believer in Christ. The suffering of the unbeliever
in the eternal state is intense; the believer will never suffer again in the
eternal state. This phrase means that the past is blotted out. Tears not only
refer to actual pain but tears refer to regret. All types of suffering are
going to be removed in the eternal state and there will be no remorse, no
regrets, and no sadness. The remorse, then, of the loser at the judgment seat of
Christ is temporary and cannot extend into the eternal state.
Not only is suffering abolished in
the eternal state but so is physical death. We have a conjunction kai introducing a result from what precedes and it
should be translated “furthermore.” Then we have a nominative singular subject,
qanatoj, “death.” It refers to
physical death which is a subject of fear and uncertainty, and often pain, in
this life. Physical death occurs officially when the soul departs from the
body, terminating life on planet earth, and means entrance into the eternal
state. The entire human race enters into the eternal state in one of two ways:
as a believer, and therefore go to heaven waiting for the official eternal
state to begin at the end of human history; as an unbeliever, go to Hades and
wait for the second resurrection which occurs at the end of history and the
great white throne or last judgment, followed by the inevitable and eternal
lake of fire. For the believer, of course, entering into heaven means waiting
for the first resurrection. For the average person, then, death is one of the
most feared of all experiences in life, but for the believer death is simply a
transfer from time to eternity, from planet earth to heaven. The eternal state
abolishes physical death for all mankind, both the unbeliever in the lake of
fire and the believer in heaven. “No more death” refers to the believer in the
eternal state. Remember, the unbeliever is under the punishment of the second
death.
Translation of verse 4 so far: “And he
shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; furthermore death will not longer
exist.”
For the winner death is one of the
greatest blessings in life, it is not something to be feared. For the believer
who is a loser it is going to be the last terrible suffering outside of the
chagrin at the judgment seat of Christ.
Job 5:19-27.
“In six troubles he will deliver
you,” the hiphil imperfect of the verb natsal
which means to deliver and emphasises the wall of fire principle which God has
provided for the positive believer — “Furthermore in seven evil will not touch
you.”
Verse 20, logistical grace has a
wall of fire and it is parlayed into deliverance of the winner, the believer
who is mature or advancing. Not all of the seven troubles are given, but here
are some of them. The first is depression, economic disaster, “In famine he
shall preserve you from death.” Famine is economic disaster under the
agricultural economy of the ancient world. “And in war from the power of the
sword,” just because you go to war it doesn’t mean you are going to die. If you
are a believer and you are advancing in the plan of God and you stay in the
divine dynasphere you can survive even military disaster.
Verse 21, “You will be hidden from
the scourge of the tongue,” let the Lord handle it. That is real deliverance,
but if you are in the cosmic system, forget it! “Neither will you be afraid of
destruction when it comes,” but the word destruction is our word qanatoj, or the Hebrew equivalent, and refers to violent
death. One thing the believer in God’s plan does not fear is death.
Verse 22, “You will laugh at death
and economic depression,” this doesn’t mean historical laughter, “and wild
animals of the earth,” in the day in which this was written wild animals were a
source of violent death. If this had been written today it would have been
talking about automobiles, aircraft, nuclear weapons, conventional weapons. The
point is: laughter here means the inner resources of doctrine producing a good
sense of humour in time of pressure. Doctrine provides a sense of humour for
disaster is the principle.
Verse 23, “For your contract,” has
to do with a covenant, and the covenant has to do with God’s provision of
logistical grace, “will be with the stones of the field,” until God is ready to
take you home nothing can destroy you. Again, the Bible must be interpreted in
the time in which it was written, and when Job was living a good round stone
was a good weapon, a good bullet from a sling. So it is talking again about
weapons, and you have nothing to fear from weapons, “And the wild animals will
be at peace with you,” as a source of disaster. What this passage is saying is
that no instrument of death can remove the believer in God’s plan from this
life until God permits. Only the integrity of God can transfer the believer
from time to eternity.
Verse 24, “Therefore you will know
that your tent [body, a temporary shelter] is in peace,” a state of prosperity.
Dying grace, “For you will visit your home [heaven] and you will not forfeit blessing.”
You do not forfeit blessing by dying, you gain blessing. The mature believer in
eternity will receive the imputation of blessing and reward to his resurrection
body.
Verse 25, “Furthermore you will know
that your seed will be numerous,” this
does
not refer to your own progeny, it simply means here that the human race will go
right on. You will die and someone else will be born and take your place. The
seed of the human race goes right on. You do have an impact in dying if you are
a mature believer, it is the fact that “Your descendants will be like the grass
of the earth.” It means blessing by association. Your children, grandchildren,
etc., will be blessed by association, even if they are unbelievers. God blesses
those people as long as they live not because they are saved or unsaved but
because they were associated with someone who advanced to maturity.
Verse 26, “You will come to the
grave in a full age,” which doesn’t mean that you are going to be old, it
simply means that God is going to take you at the right time. In matters of
life and death timing is very important. God’s timing is perfect because God is
perfect. God’s timing of the death of the mature believer is perfect. The point
of dying grace is dying at the right time, “Like the shock of corn in its
season,” there is a right and a wrong time to pick corn, only the expert can
determine. God is the expert; God decides when it is time to take you home. All
corn does not ripen at the same time, but when corn is ripe it is harvested and
separated from the sheaf. The separation of the corn from its sheaf is
comparable to the soul and the spirit of the believer leaving the body in
physical death. When the right time comes the integrity of God removes the soul
and the spirit from the body we are said to be absent from the body and face to
face with the Lord. Since God knows the best time no one should ever question
His judgment.
Verse 27, We are not in the eternal
state yet, so what is the conclusion? “Behold this [doctrine], we have investigated
it [researched it, we have the facts],” getting the facts is learning Bible
doctrine, so when you have the facts you make right decisions from a position
of strength. You can have control of your life and a personal sense of destiny.
Get the facts, research it, before you make decisions — “this is the gist of
it; hear it, and know it for yourself,” you can be taught it but no one can
make you know it for yourself, that’s your problem. You have to concentrate,
you have to learn doctrine, you have to know it for yourself. Hear it and apply
it to yourself.
We move on now to abolition of human
suffering under the phrase, “neither, no, nor,” which is a particle which
occurs three times in the Greek, o)ute, translated “negative, nor,
nor.” The three categories are added as far as the eternal state is concerned.
The happiness and the blessing of the eternal state is so fantastic it is
indescribable, therefore the only way to get any concept of what it is all
about is to note it from the negative standpoint.
At this point there are three
categories which we add to the abolition of human suffering They are connected
with each one of these negative particles, o)ute.
The first is penqoj which means sorrow,
sadness, grief, and it is a reference to mental pain. The next word is kraugh which means crying from grief or from anxiety and
is actually a manifestation of pain. The final one is ponoj and it refers to physical
pain. So these are all different aspects of suffering and of anguish. So we
translate it: “Neither mental pain [sadness, grief, sorrow], nor crying [the
manifestation of pain in this case], nor pain [meaning physical pain].” With
this we have the adverb e)ti, which is translated in
several ways. Here it is used in the eternal state and it means “no longer.”
But we are going to see it in connection with the Rapture of the Church where
it means “soon” in the sense of imminency. And with this is the future active
indicative of e)imi plus the negative o)uk, “will exist no longer.” “Neither shall there any longer
be” is the easiest way to translate it with the negative particles, “any longer
be mental anguish, nor crying, nor physical pain.”
With this we come now to the
concept: For the believer in Christ suffering, sorrow, pain, depression, is
limited to our lot on this earth. Sometimes suffering is self-induced through
our own bad decisions; sometimes suffering is a reminder that we must take the
responsibility for our own decisions in life. Our decisions often create the
suffering, therefore we must take the responsibility and not pass it on to
others. Sometimes the suffering is divine testing, the more infrequent reason
for suffering. All such suffering is for blessing and establishing the right
priorities and continuing our spiritual momentum. So whether it is suffering
for blessing or cursing it can all be worked into momentum in our life on
planet earth. In the case of divine discipline the issue is cosmic involvement
plus sin, human good and the function of evil, whereas the issue in suffering
for blessing is involvement in the divine dynasphere, being a protocol
Christian rather than a cosmic Christian. In suffering for divine discipline
the category is always painful and unbearable, whereas suffering for blessing
is both bearable and solvable. All suffering is not solvable. If the suffering
is self-induced then the born-again believer is going to suffer. As long as he
lives he will be off-balance, he will never get straightened out, and his
suffering is hopeless. When you find someone is in hopeless suffering they are
always looking for someone to lean on. The solution to self-induced misery is
the rebound technique which turns cursing into blessing and changes the
category of suffering from divine discipline and judgment to the rearrangement
of priorities and the perspective of life, and whatever suffering is left over
is for blessing.
Principle
1. One’s spirituality change must
dominate personality change after salvation. In other words, your personality
changes, whatever they are, must be related to the filling of the Spirit, the
use of the faith-rest drill, the proper use of prayer, humility (enforced or
genuine), perception and application of doctrine (momentum). The changes must
be spirituality changes, not personality changes.
2. This is only possible through
inculcation of doctrine regarding God’s protocol plan as manifest through life
inside the divine dynasphere.
3. Only in the divine dynasphere
does suffering have a blessing connotation.
4. In the cosmic system all
suffering is self-induced misery plus divine discipline tacked on to it.
5. So to avoid suffering for cursing
the believer must substitute spiritual righteousness for his
self-righteousness. Self-righteousness is arrogance; spiritual righteousness is
your stage of growth in the divine dynasphere. W are all at a different stage
of spiritual growth and, therefore, at a different stage in our attitudes and
in our lives.
6. To do this, we as believers must
reside, function, continue momentum inside the protocol system, the divine dynasphere.
7. But any alteration of personality
accomplished by self produces a chain of self-induced misery and suffering by
legalism.
8. This suffering brings on a series
of solutions which compound the suffering. If you are trying to solve your
problems and your source is arrogance, and you are going around being counseled,
and people are telling you as an excuse you came from a broken home, or your
mother dropped you on your head when you were a baby, or your father threw acid
in your face at five, then you say, “All of my problems come from the fact that
my father threw acid in my face,” and it never occurs to you that your problems
are related to your arrogance, present and now arrogance. So what happened in
the past is inconsequential and has nothing to do with the case. Each suffering
brings on a series of solutions which compounds the suffering on the one hand,
and rationalises the suffering as Satanic persecution on the other hand.
Solutions become intensified suffering because there is only one solution, and
that is God’s protocol plan for your life.
9. In reality this suffering is
compounded with ignorance and bad decisions combining to form a miserable life,
making the believer dependent upon human viewpoint counseling and false
teaching. However though, suffering for blessing and suffering for cursing are
both abolished in the eternal state.
We move on now in verse 4 to
abolition of human suffering under the phrase, “neither, no, nor,” which is a
particle which occurs three times in the Greek, o)ute,
translated “negative, nor, nor.” The three categories are added as far as the
eternal state is concerned. The happiness and the blessing of the eternal state
is so fantastic it is indescribable, therefore the only way to get any concept
of what it is all about is to note it from the negative standpoint.
At this point there are three
categories which we add to the abolition of human suffering They are connected
with each one of these negative particles, o)ute.
The first is penqoj which means sorrow,
sadness, grief, and it is a reference to mental pain. The next word is kraugh which means crying from grief or from anxiety and
is actually a manifestation of pain. The final one is ponoj and it refers to physical
pain. So these are all different aspects of suffering and of anguish. So we
translate it: “Neither mental pain [sadness, grief, sorrow], nor crying [the
manifestation of pain in this case], nor pain [meaning physical pain].” With
this we have the adverb e)ti, which is translated in several
ways. Here it is used in the eternal state and it means “no longer.” But we are
going to see it in connection with the Rapture of the Church where it means
“soon” in the sense of imminency. And with this is the future active indicative
of e)imi plus the negative o)uk, “will exist no longer.” “Neither shall there any
longer be” is the easiest way to translate it with the negative particles, “any
longer be mental anguish, nor crying, nor physical pain.”
With this we come now to the
concept: For the believer in Christ suffering, sorrow, pain, depression, is
limited to our lot on this earth. Sometimes suffering is self-induced through
our own bad decisions; sometimes suffering is a reminder that we must take the
responsibility for our own decisions in life. Our decisions often create the
suffering, therefore we must take the responsibility and not pass it on to
others. Sometimes the suffering is divine testing, the more infrequent reason
for suffering. All such suffering is for blessing and establishing the right
priorities and continuing our spiritual momentum. So whether it is suffering
for blessing or cursing it can all be worked into momentum in our life on
planet earth. In the case of divine discipline the issue is cosmic involvement
plus sin, human good and the function of evil, whereas the issue in suffering
for blessing is involvement in the divine dynasphere, being a protocol
Christian rather than a cosmic Christian. In suffering for divine discipline
the category is always painful and unbearable, whereas suffering for blessing
is both bearable and solvable. All suffering is not solvable. If the suffering
is self-induced then the born-again believer is going to suffer. As long as he
lives he will be off-balance, he will never get straightened out, and his
suffering is hopeless. When you find someone is in hopeless suffering they are
always looking for someone to lean on. The solution to self-induced misery is
the rebound technique which turns cursing into blessing and changes the
category of suffering from divine discipline and judgment to the rearrangement
of priorities and the perspective of life, and whatever suffering is left over
is for blessing.
Principle
1. Because the believer has
misconceptions at the point of salvation he often suffers for the entire time
of his Christian life on this earth. This suffering does not mean that he has
lost his salvation and it does not mean that he wasn’t saved in the first
place. When you believe in Christ you are saved: once saved always saved, you
can’t lose your salvation.
2. The misconception is that
salvation means instant change, and if there is not instant change for the
better you really weren’t saved in the first place. Nothing in life that is
worthwhile comes in an instant, except one thing: salvation.
3. In an instant of time you give up
something, and giving up something or changing your personality and behaviour
pattern may be very commendable but do not confuse it with the Christian way of
life. At best it is reform; at worst it is guilt reaction or herd conformity.
Herd conformity is a terrible thing because it comes from ignorance: the
ignorance of the preacher, the ignorance of the congregation, the ignorance of
the evangelist, the ignorance of Christians in general.
4. One of the major issues after
believing in Christ for salvation is therefore the conflict between personality
change and spirituality change, and you must distinguish between them.
Personality change is phony and false as far as doctrine is concerned;
spirituality change is a gradual thing that comes through learning and utilising
the divine dynasphere, God’s protocol plan for your life. The changes that come
gradually from life in the divine dynasphere, from perception of doctrine, are
the real changes, the wonderful changes and the things that make you a winner.
But they are not personality changes, they are spirituality changes.
Spirituality changes are made through life in the divine dynasphere;
personality changes are made through herd conformity through being terrorised
or bullied by a lot of legalists.
5. Personality change is the
function of instant legalism. Instant legalism means instant arrogance. Instant
arrogance means the acquisition of self-righteousness, and one of our greatest
enemies is self-righteousness.
6. Personality change is often
mistaken for spirituality and even assumed, erroneously, to be the Christian
way of life.
7. When this distortion exists in
your life you have become your own worst enemy because you will, keep making
many bad decisions, and these bad decisions will distract you from God’s
protocol plan for your life residence, function, momentum inside the divine dynasphere.
8. Once the believer is locked into
the idea that personality change, a reverse behaviour pattern — and
self-sacrifice is the Christian way of life he has dedicated himself to
full-time self-induced misery, the inevitable result of legalism.
9. Once a person decides that by
rigid observation of a few taboos he is a great Christian, a spiritual giant,
he will never regain balance and all suffering is brought about by his abysmal
ignorance of the protocol plan of God and his evil, arrogant function in the
cosmic system. In other words, change in personality and behaviour pattern
maybe good and it maybe bad; and it may be acceptable to society and it may not
be, but one thing it is not: whatever the value, whatever it is, it is not the
Christian way of life.
We continue verse 4 with the causal
conjunction o(ti, correctly translated
“because.” With it we have a nominative neuter plural subject prwtoj, which means here the first things of the old order
of things, “because the old order of things.” Then we have the aorist active
indicative of the verb a)perxomai, “have passed away.” The culminative
aorist tense contemplates the action of the verb in its entirety but regards it
from the viewpoint of existing results. Historical suffering, group suffering,
suffering where you were the innocent party but someone else made the mistake,
is gone forever in the eternal state. The active voice: historical suffering,
the old order of things, produces the action of the verb. The indicative mood
is declarative for a dogmatic statement of Bible doctrine: the historical
sufferings of man’s life on earth during time have departed forever because the
old order of things, historical suffering, has passed away. Historical
suffering, then, is that period of time from the fall of man to the end of the
Tribulation and/or the second advent. It is doubtful that there will be any
historical suffering during the perfect environment of the Millennium — only at
the end when the Gog and Magog revolution occurs. However, at the end of the
Millennium when Satan is released from prison historical suffering related to
that revolution will be very brief and will be put down.
Under historical suffering the innocent suffer with
the guilty
1. In historical suffering generally
there are innocent people who did not make the decision to enter into a state
of self-induced misery, who did not make the decisions that brought on the
suffering; but they are so related to someone who did that they suffer as the
innocent party.
2. The system of suffering, whatever
it is, reaches both the innocent and the guilty in a specific geographical
location, as small as a home or as large as a country.
3. Historical suffering may be
internal and external to a nation or group of people.
4. External suffering is the
repercussion of power politics: world wide economic disaster, invasion from an
enemy nation, bad business judgment on the part of, say, bankers.
5. Internal suffering is natural
disaster: warfare, revolution, terrorism, crime, economic depression, social
defamation from gossip, etc.
6. When government interferes in
private industry the innocent suffer with the guilty.
7. When the government through
regulation and taxation destroys private industry and the economy the innocent
suffer with the guilty.
8. When law and order malfunction in
the courts and capital punishment is not in force for the guilty there is
always a crime wave. In that crime wave the innocent suffer with the guilty.
The victim is forgotten.
9. In the rise of Marxism, socialism
or communism, it destroys the basic laws of divine establishment such as
freedom, privacy, the sacredness of property and life. This results in the
innocent suffering with the guilty.
10. A stupid national foreign
policy. The innocent suffer with the guilty.
11. When gossip, maligning, revenge
modus operandi, occur in the local church the innocent suffer with the guilty.
Verse 4 in corrected translation:
“And he shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; furthermore death shall no
longer exist, neither shall there be any longer mental anguish, nor crying, nor
physical pain: because the old order of things has passed away.”
Why do the innocent suffer with the
guilty? The question poses a number of problems and applications of doctrine.
One thing: God is fair. You always start with that principle. It is impossible
for God to be unfair. We say the innocent suffer with the guilty because we
know that certain people are responsible for the suffering of a lot of other
people. The real problem is, are they innocent, and what does it mean if they
are innocent? Here is the principle that you must remember when it comes to
this category, because sooner or later you will be involved with some group
where you had nothing to do with it but you are feeling the pain: God always
protects the innocent and whenever apparently an innocent person suffers with
the guilty it means there are facts that we do not have, but God reads minds.
Therefore, we have to leave these things in the Lord’s hands. Sometimes it is a
testing for believers to accelerate their spiritual growth. And logistical
grace is still operational.
Verse 5, We note first the
declaration of our Lord Jesus Christ. It begins with the sequential use of the
conjunction kai,
“Then,” rather than “And.” With this is the articular present active participle
of the verb kaqhmai which means to sit, “And he
that sat.” The definite article is used as a personal pronoun referring to our
Lord Jesus Christ. The present tense of the participle is futuristic and it
denotes an event which has not yet occurred but is regarded as so certain in
thought that it is contemplated as already coming to pass. The active voice of
the participle: Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb. The participle
itself is circumstantial. It is followed by the prepositional phrase, “on the
throne.” “Said” is the aorist active indicative of legw.
Then that demonstrative particle that always acts as a warning for intense
concentration, i)dou. It is formed on the aorist
middle imperative of o(raw and is translated “Behold”
but it simply means regroup and concentrate.
Next we have the present active
indicative of the verb poiew,
“Behold, I am making.” It is translated “I am making” because the perfective
present tense denotes the continuation of the existing results. Hence, it
refers to a fact which has come to be in the past, the beginning of the eternal
state, but is emphasised as a present reality to the citizens of the state.
With this we have the double accusative of direct and predicate object, “all
things” in the accusative plural, followed by “new”, also in the accusative.
“Behold, I am making all things new.” New in species is what it means. This
means a new body for the believer, the resurrection body. In addition to the
newness for people we have the newness of the universe, the new heavens and the
new earth which we have noted.
Isaiah 65:17, “For behold, I create
new heavens and a new earth; and the former things will not be remembered or
come to mind.” In the eternal state you will never recall a sin or a failure.
You have a capacity for a higher state of life than has ever existed, and that
is what this phrase is all about. Never has there been anything like it and it
will go on forever and ever just because you made the one right decision, and
you only had to make it once: “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt
be saved.”
Verse 18, “Therefore be glad,” the
only reason we are given this information is so that in the midst of the trials
and tribulations of this life we can be glad, we can look forward to the
future. This is called living in the light of eternity, “and rejoice forever in
what I create; for behold I create the new Jerusalem for rejoicing, and her
people for gladness.”
Verse 19, “I will also rejoice in
Jerusalem, and be glad in my people; furthermore there will no longer be heard
in her [the new Jerusalem] the voice of weeping and the sound of crying.”
Isaiah 66:22, “For just as the new
heavens and the new earth which I shall make will endure before me, declares
the Lord, so shall your name and your progeny endure.” The name means you are
in the book of life and those of your family and loved ones who are believers
are also in the book of life and will be in the eternal state.
Verse 23, “And it shall be from the
new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, all mankind will come to bow
down before me, says the Lord.”
Verse 24, “Then they shall go out
and look on the corpses of men [unbelievers] who have revolted against me. For
their worm shall not die, and their fire shall not be quenched; and they shall
be an abhorrence to all mankind.”
The word that we have for “new” in
our passage in Revelation is kainoj.
The other Greek word is neoj. They are both translated
“new” but neoj is not used here. Kainoj
means new in species; neoj means new in time. Since we
have passed time into eternity neoj cannot
be used. The eternal state is brand new and forever. Nothing is carried over
from the old universe of human history except the individual who personally
believes in Christ as saviour. The unbeliever is in the eternal lake of fire
where the worm dies not.
Now there is a mandate to John. He
is to understand that all of this is to be recorded. he gives the mandate in
the present active indicative, “Then he said.” The descriptive or pictorial
present conveys to the mind a picture of the event in the process of
occurrence. The active voice: Jesus Christ produces the action, speaking to
John. The indicative mood is declarative for the reality of the mandate to
continue and finish the book of Revelation. We can translate this: “Then he
continued.” The Lord is personally talking to the apostle at this stage, though
we go back to an angel communicating very shortly.
Then we have the mandate, the aorist
active imperative of grafw, “Write,” “Keep writing.”
This is a culminative aorist tense, it contemplates the action of the last two
chapters of Revelation in their entirety but regards them from the viewpoint of
existing results, the completion of the book of Revelation and thereby the
completion of the canon of scripture. The active voice: John, the human author,
produces the action. The imperative mood is the imperative of command. “Then he
continued speaking, Write:”
The description of what is to follow
is the doctrinal content of the rest of Revelation: “these words [doctrines], o(utoj plus logoj. Then we have “are,” the standard present tense of e)imi, a condition assumed as perpetually existing. The
doctrines of the Word of God are always dependable, always true. The active
voice: Bible doctrine in the canon produces the action. The indicative mood is
declarative for a dogmatic statement of fact. The predicate nominative from pistoj is an adjective used as a substantive, and it means
here not faithful but dependable or accurate. It can also mean faithful and
trustworthy but here it means dependable or accurate. “These doctrines are
dependable.” Bible doctrine combines the protocol of heaven with the divine
attributes and the decrees with the concept of canonicity and inspiration.
Translation: “Then he [our Lord
Jesus Christ] that was sitting on the throne said to me [the apostle John],
Behold, I am making all things new [new in species from ultimate sanctification
all the way to the new universe]. Then he continued speaking, Write: these
doctrines are accurate, dependable and true.”
Verse 6, at this point we have a
change of subject: the citizens of the eternal state. Who is the number one
citizen?
We note first the power of the first
citizen, and that power is contemplated in the principle that Jesus Christ not
only controls history but Jesus Christ completes history. We have the
sequential use of the conjunction kai, followed by the aorist
active indicative of legw, plus the dative singular
indirect object from the pronoun e)gw, “Then
he said to me.” This is dative of advantage as well as dative of indirect
object. It is to John’s advantage to know these things and it is to our
advantage to study what John has written down as the human author of the book
of Revelation. This is followed by the perfect active indicative of the verb ginomai, and it is translated “It is done” to make a
contrast with the perfect of telew: tetelestai, it has been finished in
the past with the result that it stands finished forever. Our sins were imputed
to Christ on the cross and judged, salvation was completed while He was still
alive and speaking. So when it says that “God commendeth his love toward us in
that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us,” it is talking about His
spiritual death bearing our sins in His own body on the cross, not His physical
death. But at the point of the completion of Revelation in AD 96 He said something else. He used this time the perfect tense of ginomai which is translated, “it is done” or perhaps a
better way of saying it would be is “it has been accomplished.” This is a
reference to human history. Human history is completed at the end of the
Millennium with the result that the eternal state begins. In John 19:30, when
Jesus said, “It is finished,” He was talking about salvation which was
completed on the cross. In our passage history comes to an end with the completion
of the Millennium. So we have the perfect active indicative of the verb ginomai. This is what is called a dramatic perfect in the
Greek, it emphasises the results of a completed process; the process of the
extension of the angelic conflict to human history has been completed. History
has been completed, everything in the computer of divine decrees has run its
course, with the result that the eternal state has begun. The dramatic perfect emphasises
existing state which is the eternal state. For the unbeliever this means the
lake of fire; for the believer this means the new universe. Just as salvation
is completed on the cross — the dramatic perfect of telew,
so human history is completed with the creation by our Lord Jesus Christ of the
new universe, including a new heaven, new earth, and a new Jerusalem. Prior to
the eternal state all history has been accomplished. The computer of divine
decrees has printed out all of the chips of human history and it has been
accomplished with the result that the eternal state begins. The active voice:
our Lord Jesus Christ produces the action of the verb and the indicative mood
is declarative for a dogmatic statement of eschatological doctrine.
We now look at the unique person of
the universe, the Lord Jesus Christ who is the Alpha and the Omega. We need to
review why the Lord Jesus Christ is unique and therefore why His work on the
cross is also unique. That takes us to the concept of the hypostatic union, one
of the most misunderstood of all the doctrines in the Word of God. Essentially,
by definition, the hypostatic union describes the person of the incarnate
Christ as having two natures, a divine nature and a human nature. These two
natures are inseparably united. They are without mixture or loss if separate
identity, without loss or transfer of properties and attributes, the union
being personal and eternal. In other words, the Lord Jesus Christ is eternal
God. As eternal God He is coequal with the Father, He has the same sovereignty,
the same holiness, including righteousness and justice, the same love, the same
eternal life, the same omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability and
veracity that God the Father and God the Holy Spirit possess. There never was a
time when God the Son did not fully exist and have co-eternity and infinity
with God the Father and God the Holy Spirit. But He is now different from the
other members of the Godhead in that He is true humanity, true humanity but
even different in His humanity from us for our Lord was born as Adam was
created — with a body, a soul, and with a human spirit. He was born trichotomous;
He was unique as the last Adam. So he is different from God in that He is Man;
He is different from man in that He is God. Jesus Christ therefore is the
unique person of the universe.
Since Jesus Christ is also the God
of Israel it is essential to understand that the Jews have the best crack at
understanding and appreciating this principle, for they had in Deuteronomy 6:4
three lines which they memorised before they could do anything else in the way
of talking. From the cradle all the way to the grave once a week at least and
sometimes every day under certain conditions they uttered these words; Shamah Israel, Adonai Elohenu, Adonai echad. “Hear O Israel,” a command
for perception of Bible doctrine, a mandate to understand the Mosaic law. All
that was necessary was provided for them, all they had to do was to demonstrate
positive volition toward the information. Then the information came, beginning
in the second line where we have the scared tetragrammaton: “the Lord” [Adonai]. Then they would say this
marvelous word, “Elohenu,” “the Lord
is our God.” Jesus Christ the God of Israel was recognised as deity. Then,
under the third line, Adonai echad —
translated “the Lord is one” but it really means the Lord is unique. The Lord
is unique because He is now the God-Man, He is in hypostatic union forever. So
the Jews will say these three lines again and again and they will not
understand it apart from recognising that the key to those three phrases is the
Lord Jesus Christ in hypostatic union, the Lord Jesus Christ who was judged for
our sins and took our place. So in the person of the incarnate Christ are two
natures, a divine nature and a human nature. They are inseparably united, without
mixture or loss of separate identity. They are without loss or transfer of
properties and attributes, the union being personal and eternal.
Since
the incarnation Jesus Christ is, therefore, true humanity and undiminished
deity but in one person forever. Jesus Christ, therefore, is echad [unique]. “The Lord is unique,”
says the third line of Deuteronomy 6:4. He is infinitely superior to man and
angel. As humanity He is now superior to all angels and all other human beings.
The pre incarnate person of Christ as deity was coequal, coeternal, co-infinite
with the Father and the Spirit. The post-incarnate person of Christ includes
undiminished deity and true humanity in one person forever. Through the virgin
birth Jesus Christ was born without a sin nature, therefore without the
imputation of Adam’s sin. In His humanity Jesus Christ is not only trichotomous
but God the Father gave Him a source of sustaining His humanity since in the
agreement that brought Jesus Christ into the world, first advent, as our saviour
it was agreed the that the humanity of Christ would depend upon the plan of God
the Father. That plan is a protocol plan. In that protocol plan Jesus Christ,
even though he was in union with His deity, he will not depend upon the use of
His deity independently of the Father’s plan. This was tested in what is called
in Matthew chapter four, “the great temptation,” where Jesus Christ was tempted
in every way that we are and apart from sin, and He was also tempted in unique
ways that we could not even begin to understand. The humanity of Christ had to
function inside the divine dynasphere. He could not depend upon His deity for
any kind of deliverance, He had to depend upon the protocol plan of God while
He Himself was God. This is the significance of the three unique temptations
which are given in Matthew chapter four.
But there was one sense in which the
deity of Christ was extremely important, and that has to do with temptation as
such. Satan, of course, offered temptation (there was no old sin nature) and in
offering these temptations we have to recognise the impeccability of Christ
because He was inside the prototype divine dynasphere in His humanity and
because God cannot be tempted. As our Lord told Satan in the great temptation, “Thou
shalt not tempt the Lord thy God,” and therefore He said, “Thou shalt worship
the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” The deity of Christ can never
be left out of the concept. While our Lord’s humanity utilised the prototype
divine dynasphere it is impossible for God to sin, it is impossible for the
God-Man to sin. Therefore, theologically we say, he was temptable but
impeccable. The temptations were real and legitimate as directed toward His
humanity but because of the hypostatic union and because of the prototype
divine dynasphere He approached the cross as the last Adam. He was called the
last Adam simply because “Adam” in the Hebrew means “man.” He was called the
last Adam in the sense that He was, as He approached the cross, the way Adam
was when he was created: perfect and without sin. But the first Adam looked at
the woman holding out her hand with the forbidden fruit, and took of the fruit
and became a sinner.
First
of all, that created the old sin nature. Secondly, the personal sin which
created the old sin nature set up a pipe line between personal sin and the old
sin nature which exists to this moment. It is a reverse pipe line however
because while at the point of birth human life is imputed to us there is no
life in the soul. God alone creates life; life is not manufactured in the
woman’s womb. Reflex motility is not life. Life starts at birth and God imputes
life immediately at the time of birth, and He imputes it to the human soul. We
have a genetically-formed old sin nature which is developed at the point of
conception. That means we are born with an old sin nature and it means that
Adam’s original sin is imputed to that old sin nature so that we are born
physically alive and spiritually dead. We are born under condemnation and the
wisdom of God does several things here. First of all, the wisdom of God in
imputing Adam’s sin means that we are condemned at birth and since we are under
condemnation we are now in a position to receive salvation. You cannot be saved
unless you are condemned. Condemnation must precede salvation and this means
that anyone who dies before reaching accountability is automatically saved.
That could not be true unless we were condemned at birth. Our personal sins are
never imputed to us for judgment. Therefore, when it says the wages of sin is
death it is talking about the wages of Adam’s sin.
The last Adam must get to the cross
without a personal sin, otherwise He is not qualified to be judged for the sins
of the world. And the last Adam got to the cross in hypostatic union. As God He
can’t be tempted; as humanity He can be tempted. As the God-Man and the last
Adam was in the prototype divine dynasphere He arrived at the cross perfect
without any personal sin. He was therefore qualified to take our place, and
that is exactly what He did. He went to the cross and as He was hanging there
all of the sins in the history of the human race were imputed by God the Father
to God the Son. All of those sins were judged on the cross. With all of those
sins imputed and judged on the cross the door is opened for our salvation just
as though those who believed in Christ before this happened were saved by faith
in the Lord as He was revealed. All of this would have been impossible had not
Jesus Christ come in the flesh, had our Lord not become the God-Man. Therefore
this becomes a crucial issue in the entire situation.
The Logoj of the cross, or the Shekinah
glory, in John 1:14: “The Logoj became
flesh.” That is where the hypostatic union began, the virgin birth, “and tabernacled
among us.” “And we beheld his glory, the glory of the unique one from the
Father.” As God he is coequal with the Father, but the glory that we saw came
from the humanity inside the protocol divine dynasphere, still inseparably
united with the deity. In other words, Adonai
echad, Jesus Christ is absolutely unique. That is why it says in Romans
1:3-5, “Concerning his Son [Jesus Christ], who was born of the seed of David
according to the flesh,” His humanity, “who has been demonstrated the Son of
God by means of power [the prototype divine dynasphere], according to the Holy
Spirit because of the resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,
through whom we have received grace.”
Romans 9:5, “… and from whom is
Christ according to the flesh, who is God blessed for all.” He is said to be
according to the flesh; He is also said to be God.
1 Timothy 3:16, “And by consent of
all great is the mystery doctrine with reference to godliness: The unique one
[Jesus Christ] became visible by means of the flesh, was vindicated by means of
the Holy Spirit, was observed by the angels, proclaimed among the nations, He
became the object of faith in the world, and He was taken up into His place of
glory,” the resurrection, ascension and session of Christ.
The hypostatic union has two natures
of Christ. They are united without ever having any transfer of attributes. In
other words, the attributes of deity adhere to deity; the attributes of
humanity adhere to humanity. The essence of deity cannot be changed. Jesus
Christ is the same yesterday, to day, and forever. The infinite cannot be
transferred to the finite. To take from God a single attribute of His deity
would destroy His deity; to take from the humanity of Jesus a single attribute
of His humanity would destroy His humanity. Therefore, no attribute of divine
essence was changed by the incarnation. In fulfilling the Father’s plan for the
first advent certain attributes of our Lord’s deity were not used. But this
does not imply that they were either surrendered or destroyed. That is part of
the false doctrine of Kenosis. The true doctrine of Kenosis simply says, Christ
voluntarily took on Himself the form of mankind in order to redeem man from
sin, in order to reconcile man to God, and in order to propitiate the Father
with regard to that PROM chip which has programmed
into it all the sins of the human race. In completing the mission of the first
advent Christ did not exercise His own divine attributes independently of the
Father’s plan. He did not exercise His divine attributes to benefit Himself, to
provide for Himself, or to glorify Himself. That is the true doctrine of Kenosis.
Consequently, the union of divine essence and the human nature of the incarnate
Christ must be considered personal and hypostatic. Why hypostatic? From what
source do we have this strange word? What does it mean? It is the Greek word hupostasij. In the English we have a
very bad habit of transliterating the “u” as a “y,” and that is how we get “hypostatic.”
U(postasij means to stand under, it
means substance, essence, taking a thing on one’s self, and therefore it is as
close as we could come from the original language of the New Testament to find
a theological word to describe the uniqueness of the person of Christ.
In verse 6 of our passage we read, “I
am the Alpha.” That means Jesus Christ is the beginning which was not a
beginning. A)lfa simply refers to God, and
when our passage says “I am the A)lfa” it is the second line of Deuteronomy
6:4, but a different language: “Adonai elohenu,”
the Lord is our God. A)lfa is another way of saying
that. Then He also says in the same passage, “I am the O)mhga.” That is the last letter of the alphabet. And what
is the O)mhga? It means the hypostatic
union. And so just as our Lord is A)lfa, Adonai elohenu, He is also
O)mhga,— Adonai echad. That is the hypostatic union. So when we have in our passage, “I am
the A)lfa and the O)mhga,” we are talking about the hypostatic union, the
unique person of the universe. Hypostatic is derived, then, from u(postasij meaning essence, substance,
taking another essence on one’s self. U(postasij means you have one essence: Jesus Christ is God, He has the essence of
God, and He took upon Himself another essence, the essence of man. And there is
no bleed across the line between the attributes of deity and the attributes of
humanity. Therefore we find the hypostatic union. Hypostatic, therefore, refers
to the whole person of Jesus Christ as distinguished from His two natures.
Sometimes we talk about one nature, His deity; other times we discuss His other
nature, His humanity; but they are actually in one person forever, therefore
they are both hypostatic and personal. Personal refers to the emergence of the
unique person of the universe. As God, Jesus Christ is coequal, coeternal with
the Father and the Spirit; as man, Jesus Christ is superior to all mankind from
the viewpoint of His deity and from the viewpoint of the last Adam.
The false interpretation of the hypostatic
union occurs quite frequently, and it simply says that Jesus Christ has harmony
or sympathy between God and His humanity; which, of course, is a terrible
blasphemy.
Jesus Christ is the God-Man, He is
in one u(postasij or
essence forever. He can therefore never be considered as to His whole person
apart from the union of deity and humanity. This means that during the first
advent Jesus Christ could be simultaneously omnipotent and weak, omniscient and
ignorant, omnipresent and located in one place. However, the ignorance of His
humanity was quickly overcome through His function inside gate four of the
divine dynasphere.
Why did Christ have to become a man?
He could not be our saviour as God. The PROM chip that has all of the
sins of the world programmed into it in eternity past: these sins could not be
imputed to Jesus Christ as God, they could only be imputed to His humanity.
Only humanity can be judged for sin. Only two members of the human race were
ever judged for sin: the first Adam in the garden and the last Adam on the
cross. Therefore, Philippians 2:7,8; Hebrews 2:14,15 tell us that Jesus Christ
had to become true humanity to be our saviour. But that isn’t all. In Job 9:2,
32, 33 we learn a principle. Jesus Christ is also the mediator between God and
man. A mediator must be equal with both parties in the mediation, says Job 9:2.
Jesus Christ as God is equal with God; Jesus Christ as true humanity is equal
to and superior to true humanity. That is why it says in 1 Timothy it 2:5,6
there is only one mediator between God and man. Why does it say this? Because a
mediator must be equal with both parties. If Jesus Christ is only God He cannot
be mediator; if He were only man He could not be mediator. He must be equal
with both parties. Salvation brings God and man together at the cross, and no
other place. Therefore, there is one mediator between God and man, “the man
Christ Jesus.” Christ is deity; Jesus is humanity. He had to be equal with both
parties in the mediation.
Then in Hebrews 7:4,5, 14, 28;
10:5-14 we have another astounding thing. A priest, in order to represent man
to God must be a man himself. Jesus Christ is called our high priest and in
order to be a high priest Jesus Christ had to be true humanity. And that isn’t
all, He had to be born in the right lineage. He is a King-Priest; He is
descended from David as a King and as such He fulfills the priesthood of a city
called Jerusalem [or Salem]. So as the King-Priest Jesus Christ is our high
priest forever, but He couldn’t do it unless He was true humanity. The kingship
side is 2 Samuel 7:8-16; Psalm 89:20-37, and in these passage Jesus Christ had
to become a man to fulfill the Davidic covenant, and He had to be a man born in
the line of David.
The virgin birth included a father
who was not real but legal, Joseph, and a mother who was His real mother [of His
humanity, not the “mother of God”]. Mary was descended from David and Bathsheba.
David and Bathsheba had four children. The lines of two of them were
perpetuated to the time of our Lord. The line of Joseph is given in Matthew and
it is from Solomon, David’s eldest son by Bathsheba, who became king after
David.
There was a younger son, Nathan, and Mary was directly descended from Nathan
and therefore we have her genealogy in Luke. The genealogy in Luke is important
because it fulfills 2 Samuel chapter 7 and Psalm 89. But it does something
else: it tells us why our Lord had to be true humanity.
Because Jesus Christ is in hypostatic
union, sometime while He was on earth He said, for example on the cross, “I
thirst.” He cannot say that today. Only while He was on earth could He say
that, and when He said “I thirst” God wasn’t thirsty. God never has been
thirsty. This came from His humanity. He also said, “Before Abraham lived on
this earth I existed eternally.” He said that from His deity. He didn’t exist
in His humanity until long after Abraham. But sometimes He would say something
from His hypostatic union, combining deity and humanity, like “Come unto me all
ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest,” and “Him that cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out.” John 14:6 is the hypostatic union
speaking, and since His resurrection, ascension and session our Lord can only
speak from the hypostatic union. Never again from His deity alone or His
humanity alone, always from the hypostatic union. That explains the middle part
of our verse 6, “I am the Alpha and the Omega.”
“I am the Alpha,” Jesus Christ as
eternal God. To the Jew, Adonai Elohenu;
to the Church, e)gw to
A)lfa. Then, the second and the
final line in the Jewish ritual and the final word in the protocol plan, for
protocol has superseded ritual, Adonai echad.
John interprets that: kai to Omhga, “and the Omega,” the last
letter in the Greek alphabet. The first person singular pronoun ego is in the emphatic position, it
refers to our Lord Jesus Christ, the unique person of the universe. Actually,
the personal pronoun introduces the hypostatic union. “And the Omega,” Jesus
Christ is unique as the God-Man.
Verse 6, “Then he [Jesus Christ]
said to me [the apostle John], It is done [human history is completed]. I am
the Alpha [the deity of Christ] and the Omega [Christ in hypostatic union], the
beginning and the end.” The word a)rxh simply takes us back to
John 1:1. This is the word for beginning. There never was a time when Jesus
Christ did not exist, and so the word “beginning” used once again refers to the
fact that Jesus Christ as eternal and infinite God preexisted history. Then we
have a second noun, teloj, “and the end.” The end means the one who
terminates history.
Next we have a salvation
parenthesis, the grace policy of the first citizen of the eternal state, the
first citizen of the new Jerusalem. This salvation parenthesis or grace policy
of our Lord Jesus Christ is noted in other passages, such as Isaiah 55:1; John
4:13,14; Revelation 7:17; 21:6; 22:17. In each case being thirsty is the desire
for eternal salvation. In each case of drinking the water of life we have an
analogy in Jesus Christ for eternal salvation.
Water also represents the Word of
God, Bible doctrine, in Psalm 23:2; Ezekiel 16:9; Ephesians 5:26; Titus 3:5; 1
Peter 1:23. And there are some passages where water represents the ministry of
God the Holy Spirit, Isaiah 34:3; John 7:37-39. So water is mentioned quite
frequently in the scripture.
“I will give without cost to him who
thirsts.” We have the dative of advantage, articular present active participle
of the verb dipsaw which
means to thirst, “to him who is thirsty [or thirsts].” This is a reference to
positive volition. When the water of life is presented through the gospel the
thirsty one drinks. This is analogous to faith in Christ. The definite article
is used as both the personal and relative pronoun, “to him who.” The dative
singular indirect object in the definite article is also a dative of advantage.
It is to your advantage to want something far greater than anything this world
has to offer. The retroactive progressive present denotes what has begun at
God-consciousness and continues into one of the two categories of gospel
hearing. The active voice: mankind who is positive at God-consciousness
produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial.
With this we have the future active
indicative of the verb didomi, “I will give.” Never is
there an exception. If you have positive volition God will provide. The gnomic
future tense is for a statement of fact which may be expected when the positive
one hears the gospel and believes in Christ. The active voice; Jesus Christ
produces the action of the verb as one of the greater grace functions of this
life. The indicative mood is declarative for a dogmatic statement of doctrine:
“I will give to him who thirsts from the spring from the water of life.” The
water of life is eternal salvation through faith in Christ. Again, drinking is
analogous to faith as a non-meritorious system of perception.
Then there is one more word: the
accusative of dorea used as an adverb, dorean. It means gratis, a gift without payment, a gift we
do not deserve. “I will give without cost to him who thirsts from the spring of
the water of life.” This is the parenthesis at the end of verse six. It seems
to be a paraphrase of Isaiah 55:1.
Verse 7, the eternal state includes
other citizens, all who in human history have believed in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The verse starts out with the articular present active participle o( nikaw. It can be translated “he who overcomes” or “the
winner,” but since we are talking about all believers and since all believers
are not winners we go to the participle rather than the participial adjective
becoming a substantive. The definite article is used as both the personal
pronoun and the relative pronoun, “he who.” The present tense is aoristic
present, referring to present fact without progress, therefore punctiliar
action in present time. This means at the very moment when you believe in
Christ you have eternal salvation. The active voice: the person who believes in
Christ produces the action of the verb. The participle is circumstantial for
the moment of salvation. Nikaw is defined not in terms of
the believer being a winner in the protocol plan of God but the believer being
an overcomer as per 1 John 5:4,5, “Whoever has been born from God [born again]
overcomes the cosmic system.” This is the initial victory which has defeated
the cosmic system, our faith in Jesus Christ. Overcoming the cosmic system
occurs at the moment of faith in Christ because at the moment we believe in the
Lord Jesus Christ we enter for the first time into the divine dynasphere, God’s
protocol system.
We know that overcoming in verse 7
refers to believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, the strategic victory which every
believer possesses by virtue of faith in Christ. But the important thing here
is the inheritance, and the concept of inheritance is very important. It is our
relationship with Jesus Christ that brings it about. Jesus Christ is said to be
the heir of all things, Hebrews 1:1,2: “whom he has appointed heir of all
things.” Because He is appointed the heir of all things and we have personally
believed in Him, and God the Holy Spirit at the point of salvation entered us
into union with Christ, we are joint heirs to all things. Heirship is based on
personal faith in Christ, 1 John 5:4,5; Titus 3:7. We are the heirs of eternal
life right now; in the future we will enjoy the eternal state. Therefore
heirship is based on sonship, we are heirs because we are the children of God,
Romans 8:16,17. The heirship of the royal family of God is the subject of Ephesians
1:10,11, “… in summing up of the all things in Christ, things in heaven and
things upon earth. In whom also we have received an inheritance, having been
pre-designed according to his predetermined plan.” The Holy Spirit is the down
payment on this inheritance — Ephesians 1:14. In other words, the heirship that
we now have, the inheritance, is the indwelling of the Holy Spirit. The royal
family is secure forever, according to 1 Peter 1:4,5.
The
eternal state belongs to us except that those who are losers will not have
access to the gazebo in the garden or the tree of life. Abraham is the pattern
of heirship, the illustration — Galatians 3:29; Hebrews 11:8-10,13.
Translation: “He who overcomes shall
inherit these things; furthermore I will be his God, and he will be my son.”
Verse 8, we note that the eternal
state excludes all unbelievers. But what we have listed in verse 8 is a list of
sins that we as believers can commit now but sins which are mentioned not
because these are the only sins and not because these sins means you are going
to hell, but because these sins are distracters to believing in Christ,
distracters to the function of common grace. This categorical list emphasises
the fact that classification of sin and evil is a distraction. There are six
categories in this list and the reason is because when people have the chance
to receive Christ as saviour, because they were distracted at the point of
common grace, they failed to believe in Christ. The systems of scales and
values that they represent was far more important. The priorities assigned to
these sins were far greater in the thinking of the unbeliever than the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The list is given a subject title:
“But with reference to the cowardly, even the unbeliever.” The unbeliever is
called cowardly, the dative of reference plural from the adjective deiloj used as a substantive. The unbeliever is said to be
a coward but a lot of unbelievers have personal courage, so personal courage is
not in view. What is in view, however, is the fact that deiloj also refers to those who have lost touch with
reality, and unbelievers through these six sins categorically mentioned in this
list have lost touch with reality. By losing touch with reality they have been
distracted under the principle of common grace from accepting Christ as saviour.
So they are called “cowardly ones, even the unbelieving ones.” Unbelievers are
cowards in the sense of subjective arrogance avoiding the reality of eternity.
The six sins listed categorically, then, are major systems of distraction with
regard to the reality of eternity, with regard to the message of the gospel.
The implication is that all of those who are involved heard the gospel under
two categories, normal evangelism and crisis evangelism, but they rejected it.
Therefore they failed to face the issue of Mark 8:36,37, “What shall it profit
a man if he gain the whole world and lose his own soul...”
The list starts out with the perfect
passive participle from a verb that really means to throw up, bdelussomai. It doesn’t actually mean to vomit, it means to see
someone who makes you want to vomit mentally. Therefore we call that
“loathsome, abominable, detestable, unpleasant, disagreeable.” In other words,
what kind of an unbeliever would be detestable to a grace oriented born-again
believer. The answer is a self-righteous moral stick-in-the-mud. It refers here
to self-righteous arrogance, the motivation for many systems of evil as well as
many systems of human good. Self-righteous arrogance is a great distracter from
the gospel when it is heard.
The second one is “murderers,” the
dative plural of disadvantage from foneuj and
it refers to homicide. This type has no respect for life from criminal
arrogance. So the first one is self-righteous arrogance producing criminal
arrogance.
The next is fornicators, the noun pornoj which refers to the fact
that they were so preoccupied with sex that they turned down the gospel. It is
one of the areas of distraction.
The fourth is farmakoj, and it means drug addiction. Those who have put
drugs number one on their list are unable to comprehend the gospel and
therefore the ministry of God the Holy Spirit in common grace, the convicting
ministry of the Holy Spirit, passes then right by. This could be translated
“drug users” or “drug abusers.”
Number five dative plural of
disadvantage from e)idololatrhj, “idolaters,” refers to demonism
and the phallic cult. Demonism is another great distraction.
Finally, the word liars refers to
pathological liars. These are never associated in any way with reality and
therefore cannot face the reality of the eternal state.
Translation of verse 8: “With
reference to the cowardly, even the unbelievers, the detestable, the murderers,
the fornicators, the drug abusers, the idolaters, and all the liars, their part
will be in the lake of fire which burns with fire and sulphur: this is the
second death.”
So they are in that lake that burns
continually with fire and sulphur. They are unbelievers, they have rejected
Christ as saviour, they were distracted by certain sins which are listed. This
is the second death and that means no chance in eternity.
That concludes the second paragraph of this passage and the third
paragraph is not going to be very difficult. We should note one thing in the
following verses. In the eternal state the only precious metal that seems to
carry over is gold, but the rest of the precious gems are not the same as ones
today. In analogy this is as close as you can come. The great capital of the
future, the eternal state, is called the new Jerusalem. All of the building
materials in it are quite different from anything that we have today. First of
all, then, we have the capital of the eternal state which covers the rest of
this passage.
Verse 9, “Then one of the angels [a pur sui vant messenger] who had the
seven bowls full of the seven last plagues [he was on the death squad the last
time we saw him], spoke with me, saying, Come, [and at this point he doubles as
a professor of eschatology dealing with future things] I will show you the
bride, the wife of the Lamb.”
He is going to show us a city.
Therefore we notice immediately that when he says he will show us the bride,
the wife of the Lamb, since the city is neither a bride nor a wife and since
the city will now be discussed, obviously the word “bride” is symbolic here.
Just as the Church is often called the bride of Christ so this city in the
future is called a bride, for three reasons. First of all, a bride is generally
considered beautiful and therefore we have the emphasis on the beauty of the
city. Secondly, the city is called a bride because it emphasises the light of
the city, and this is analogous to the animation of the bride. Thirdly, the
emphasis on the relationship of the city. The satellite city is headquarters of
the eternal state and a bride always connotes the concept of relationship. This
woman is marrying this man and that is that.
We should note the future active
indicative of deiknumi, which does not mean an
explanation but it means a visibility. It means that he is just going to show
us this city and all of its beauty. The future tense is a gnomic future for a
statement of performance rightfully expected of this angelic guide tour. Deiknumi also means tour guide and this angel is the tour
guide who is going to point out the things of interest in the future city. This
city is in the eternal state, therefore it is not located on earth. While it is
called the new Jerusalem it has nothing to do with the Jerusalem of the
present. We have noted that the Millennial Jerusalem has natural light, but the
eternal Jerusalem has supernatural light. Jesus Christ, the Shekinah glory, is
the light of the Jerusalem of the eternal state. The Millennial Jerusalem
probably has its greatest description in Ezekiel 40-48, and there is a very
beautiful Millennial temple. But in the new Jerusalem there is no temple,
Revelation 21:3, 22.
Verse 10, the beginning of the tour.
“Then he carried me away in the spirit,” John was filled with the Spirit, a
prerequisite for seeing a city that does not yet exist, and yet in this vision
he sees it very clearly, “to a great and high mountain [which will exist in the
eternal state].”
There are only a few mountains
mentioned in scripture which are mountains in heaven. In Ezekiel chapter 28 we
have the prince of Tyrus. Tyre at the time of writing was the headquarters for demonism
in the world, soon to be destroyed. In warning Tyre that it would be destroyed
by divine judgment the prophet Ezekiel goes a little further and begins talking
about another prince of Tyrus who was Satan himself, the angelic cherub. At
that particular point there is the mountain of God mentioned, a mountain in
heaven. There will be such mountains visible to us in the eternal state but
occasionally we find a high mountain and that high mountain is not on the earth
at all. The one to which John went with the tour guide was a high mountain in
space, something for the future.
“and he showed me the holy city,
Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” In other words, it is suspended
above the earth and it came down out of heaven but did not touch the earth.
Verse 11, the glory of the satellite
city. The first thing that we see is the glory of God. That means the presence
of the Shekinah glory. That is the big thing: “Having the glory of God,” the
presence of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah glory, “her brilliance was
like a very precious jewel.” Unfortunately we have a very difficult translation
here because we have the word i)aspij which is generally
considered to be a jasper, but we must remember that the Bible must be
interpreted in the time in which it was written. It is not a reference to the
modern jasper which is limited to a variety of quartz but is a translucent
precious stone which will exist in the eternal state, very much like a diamond.
Apparently diamond is the foundation for this satellite city, not the diamond
we know now, but tons of diamond without any kind of a flaw. That is the glory
of the satellite city. It is fitting that the foundation should represent in
some way the glory of the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ as the Shekinah
glory.
“like
a gem of crystal clear diamond.” In other words, diamond without flaws measured
in tons.
Next we have the walls of the city
in verses 12-14. “It had a great and high wall,” verse 17 tells us that the
walls are 200 feet high, “with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates,”
we have an honour guard from the angelic order of battle, a memorial to our
Lord’s victory in the angelic conflict, “Furthermore names were inscribed on
them [the gates], which are the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel.”
Verse 13, there are three gates on
each side. “On the east side” as in Numbers chapter two the gates would be
named Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, “on the north side,” Dan, Asher, Naphtali, “on
the south side,” Reuben, Simeon, Gad, “on the west side,” Ephraim, Manasseh,
Benjamin.
Verse 14, “The walls of the city had
twelve foundation stones, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of
the Lamb.” So on these stones would be the names of Peter, Andrew, James, John,
Philip, Bartholomew, Thomas, Matthew, James, Thaddaeus, Simon and Paul. Paul is
the twelfth apostle, according to 1 Corinthians 15:7-10. All of these
inscriptions are permanent therefore they have spiritual connotation.
Verses 15-17, the dimensions of the
city.
Verse 15, “And the one who spoke
with me [the tour guide, the pur sui vant
angel] had a gold measuring instrument to measure the city, its gates and its
walls.”
Verse 16, “Now the city was laid out
in a square [actually, in a cube], and its length is as great as its width: and
he measured the city with the measuring rod, fourteen hundred miles, fourteen
hundred miles wide, fourteen hundred miles high.” In other words, it was a
cube.
Verse 17, the walls. “Then he
measured the walls, two hundred feet by man’s measurement which the angel was
using.” God always stays with our concepts of measuring in communicating
measurements. While the angel did the measuring he used a human standard of
measure. This would imply that angels have a different metric system from
mankind. This passage is for mankind, therefore man’s standards and man’s
measurements are used. It is so that we can get the drift of this marvelous
city of the eternal state. So we have, then, the principle of communication. If
you are going to communicate, communicate in the language of the people.
Communicate in a language they can understand. Communication of information
must be related to the frame of reference belonging to the recipients.
Verses 18-21, the construction
materials of the satellite city.
Verse 18, “Now the material of the
wall was diamond [flawless diamond] and the city was pure gold like translucent
glass,” so that is not the gold of the universe today, it is the gold of the
universe of the future. The gold of the future will be so pure that it will be
translucent.
Verse 19, “The foundation stones of
the city walls were decorated with every kind of precious gem.” The decorations
on the walls, then, are gems of the future. But we have to relate them to gems
of the past. “The first foundation stone was diamond [a superior diamond of the
future]; the second, sapphire [something translucent light blue, but not the
sapphire of the present]; the third, turquoise [again, translucent]; the
fourth, emerald [translucent green with no flaws];”
Verse 20, “The fifth is sardonyx;
the sixth, ruby; the seventh, topaz; the eighth, paradole; the ninth, a topaz
[red, rather than topaz yellow]; the tenth, chalcedony; the eleventh, blue
aquamarine; the twelfth is amethyst.” All of these are merely approximations
for in the eternal state these materials are all translucent and they all
reflect the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the only light in the city.
Verse 22, there is only one light
company in the eternal state, and that is the magnificent glory of the Lord.
“Furthermore, I did not see a temple in it [there is no need for a temple]: for
the Lord God the Almighty, even the Lamb, is its temple.” So as the Lord templed
or tabernacled among us in the first advent as the Shekinah glory, and as He
given to us a means of representing Him since the Shekinah glory now indwells
us, God the Holy Spirit indwells us to form a temple for one reason: to provide
a residence for the indwelling of Christ. Christ is the Shekinah glory and the
manifestation of the Shekinah glory is in the operational divine dynasphere,
God’s protocol system. So there is not temple, there is no light; instead there
is the Shekinah glory, He is the temple.
Verses 23, the illumination of the
city. “So the city had no need for the sun, nor the moon, to shine on it: for
the glory of God [Christ, the shekinah glory] has illuminated it, and the Lamb
is its lamp.”
Verse 24, “Then the nations will
walk by its light,” these are the nations on the new planet earth in the eternal
state and they will get the light from the satellite city, “and the kings of
the earth will bring their glory to it.” In other words, the light of nations
made up of believers in the eternal state will not be the reflected light from
the sun, not the light from the moon, but the light from the Shekinah glory
from the satellite city.
Verse 26, “And they shall bring the
glory and the honour of the nations into it.” Whatever glory and honour is we
note that the preservation of the divine institution number four is a memorial
in the eternal state, a memorial to the grace of God who preserved the human
race from self-destruction; and in so doing He invented divine institution
number four, nationalism. This is also a memorial to category 1 truth then, the
laws of divine establishment.
Verse 27, there is no garbage of any
kind. “And nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination [religion],
and lying [lack of integrity] shall ever come into it [they are all in the lake
of fire],” in the eternal state all believers function on the honour code, but
the unbelievers are excluded, “but only those [believers] whose names are
written in the Lamb’s book of life.” Note that the unbeliever continues to live
in the lake of fire. Notice, however, he is excluded from the satellite city.
The unbeliever in the lake of fire is in that status quo for ever. Only
believers in Christ are permitted to enjoy the blessings of the eternal
state.