We have sketches here, of pictures that portray two settings in the Bible. One is of the garden that we read about in Genesis. The other is a city that is different than any other city you have ever heard of. I am sure there is not an artist in the world that could ever portray either one in the true reality that God manifests them in. There is no way we could put a city in a drawing, of the description we read about in the book of Revelation, and give it the color description so that we could put it on video, because it would just never take. Therefore we have to use some natural profile for a point of illustration. We are giving this message the title, "The City of Paradise," or you could think of it as "The New City;" because it will be just that, spiritually speaking. I am going to ask you to open your Bible's to our text, found in Revelation, chapter 21. This gives us a picture in time, and the Millennium, the thousand years is now past. Satan has been loosed at the closing of the Millennium, not during the Millennium, but as the thousand years has run its course, he is loosed for just a little season. The Bible does not tell us how many years or months that may be. It is just a little season for a specific purpose. That is for the purpose of testing that great mass of people that will have been born on the earth during the reign of Christ and His saints, the Bride, the immortal saints that have been changed into His likeness, those who have a glorified body like His. Then that testing is over; and we see another picture. We see, that as the 20th chapter closes out, there is a great white throne judgment set up. This is portraying the great, supreme court of heaven. Christ is the Judge in this case. The Eternal Spirit, the Father, has delegated unto Him this great judgment role. This is also a part of redemption; because we are dealing not only with the earth, but with people that will have lived during the Millennium when Satan was bound and they have not been tested until the hour when he is loosed for a little season. Now that they have been tested, and they have reacted, those that have done things that must be judged are seen here along with all the others that must face this judgment, and we find the apostle Paul speaking in the Corinthian letter, that the saints shall judge the world. Saints will also judge angels. Therefore we have to realize that you take what Paul says in the Corinthian letter, and place that right over here in that great white throne judgment; because we will see the angelic family all present, and this is the final judgment. You will see all the saints of God present, from the Old Testament Age as well as the new, along with the tribulation saints, and they are all present to represent and speak out and bear witness against things that Satan and the evil element of the angelic family have done in their particular periods of time. Then, it says the dead were cast alive into the lake of fire, where the beast and the false prophet are, and of course that refers to the spirit of those two systems. That episode ends all phases of redemption. We will now read our text, where we find that John has seen this great, very beautiful scene manifest.

Let us now start reading our text for this message. (Revelation 21:1) "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." Now I beg of you, as we read this, do not let your mind's drift off into some fantasy, thinking, Well, that is a new planet somewhere beyond this one, and that is a new realm of atmosphere. No, it is no such thing. If we are dealing with redemption, then we have to be looking at the same global planet that God has been dealing with for eons of time. We are looking at the same span of space; but we see it in its redeemed state. What is made new about it is, those evil spirits that have been allowed to fill certain dimensions of that atmosphere called heaven, are no longer present to intervene, or to tempt or do anything against the plan and purpose of God. God now gives us a view of the earth as it has been made new through His process of redemption. When redemption, as it refers to salvation, is applicable to you and I, yes, it says we are new creatures. However, in reality we must realize that God did not destroy the old you. He did not do away with you, and make another in your likeness. God is not in the cloning business. How many know what I mean by that? He is not in the cloning business: He is in the saving business. He does not make one, then take a cell from that and make another just like you. That is what scientists would do, if they were ever given a free hand to manifest their own designs for this planet. It is interesting to note, that they have to have something God has already created in order to be able to make for themselves anything in the likeness of a creation. We just have to realize, God has made new creatures out of His family through the process of redemption. The earth is new because it has been redeemed. That is what the Millennium is for. It is God's plan for renewing the earth, redeeming the earth, bringing it back into a relationship where He, the eternal Spirit, can place Himself back in it, and through it, to fulfill His eternal purpose, and that final state will go on for endless ages. It is also referred to as world without end. Now as we read, notice, "For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away," what does it mean by that? It means the earth and the heavens as you and I, mankind has known it through our life span's, while sin was present, and this is not dealing with the planet as it goes back into the prehistoric age: It is only dealing with how the planet is to be looked upon as it has been brought through the era of man. "For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea." This also lets us know that through the thousand year reign, something has taken place to change that picture, because as far as we can read, the earth is covered with two thirds water, and it is going to be that way right straight on up as the Millennium begins. Since Satan is only going to be loosed for a little season, we must realize that between the ending of the Millennium and the beginning of what the picture is in chapter 21, even though it says he is only loosed for a short span of time, he has opportunity to draw away a great host of people that take a stand against the people of God, and God has to destroy them from among the living. Then when we do read that there was no more sea, this causes us realize that something has happened to the planet during that thousand year reign of Christ as King of kings. As redemption is fully completed in the plan of God, and is executed in and through the reign of Christ, we are made to believe that through that thousand year reign, the oceans, those vast expanses of water that now cover so much of this planet, are slowly going to be dissipated and drawn back out into space where the water came from. No doubt, people will be saying throughout the Millennium, The ocean is drying up: We need a rain. The oceans, the huge spans of water that we now see covering so much of the planet, is no doubt evidence of the curse and judgments that fell upon wicked mankind, as we read about in Genesis, where the flood of water covered the then known world. Because of that very thing, our calendar is out of balance. We now have 365 and 1/4 days to a year, and the moon is out of balance with the earth: therefore since we know a perfect circle has 360 degrees, if our calendar is to ever be balanced, it will not be by man's technology: it will be God balancing it, by putting the earth, the moon, and sun back in proper relationship to each other. That will be brought about also, by redemption, as God draws that water back out into the atmosphere surrounding the earth, to correct the off-balance state that water has caused. "And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Well, has God put something in the book of Revelation for confusion? Not at all. Because when I turn back to the 19th chapter, I read something that sounds almost exactly like that. Turn to the 19th chapter of Revelation. We are looking at a picture here, that is describable as a heavenly scene, while tribulation is going on, here on earth. Let us start reading in the 6th verse. "And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia: for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready." We have talked much on this subject. When we read the 19th chapter, it speaks here, that His wife hath made herself ready, so we automatically see a picture of the Church of the living God, do we not? We see an element of people in heaven. How did they get there? John did not see a picture of how they got there: He just saw them there. It is the apostle Paul, who tells us how they got there. That is learned when you read 1st Thessalonians, the 4th chapter, where he speaks of what we call the rapture of the bride saints, which is accomplished in the secret coming of the Lord before the great tribulation strikes the earth. Will the world see Christ when that happens? No. Christ is not revealed to the world in that event: That is a secret thing, only for the prepared bride. The saints leave this world mysteriously. That is why they are seen in heaven. "And to her (the wife, which is the true Church) was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen." Now let us open up our minds to the fact there is no sewing machines in heaven. Do you understand what I am saying? There is no textile industry in heaven rolling out bolts of material to make bridal gowns out of. Where in the world did this fine linen come from? It is not anything that is grown by any human effort. This has got to be understood that this is the way the Lord robes the immortal saints with His glory, which is referred to as His righteousness, because of the revelation they have, that has been given to them while down here on earth. It is true, the saints are coming back riding white horses, and robed in fine white linen, but that is speaking spiritually: It is not because they are literal, tangible, materialistic robes, that have been sewn through the ages of time. I have to bring this in like that to open up the human mind. People get so naturally caught up in looking at what appears to be so literal, they start to literalize it. They forget to realize that this is God's way of speaking of robing you and me with His glory, simply because of what He imparted to us while we were here on earth. As long as you are here, you will wear the kind of clothing you have access to, whether it is made of polyester, cotton, wool, or what- have-you. However when you leave here, you will leave those rags behind. You will be clothed in something far more pure and clean than anything that is grown down here. Let us continue reading. "And He saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. And He saith unto me, These are the true sayings of God." The reason I read that, is just to bring in the fact that we are reading about the Lamb's wife, just before the Millennium begins. Then when we read those two verses in chapter 21 of Revelation, where it said the Lamb's wife, the point is, that is called a city. I want to ask you, and all religious thinking people, Is Jesus Christ a polygamist? If you literalize that city and say it is a city made up of natural mineral substance, as it is described in chapters 21 and 22, you will have to settle as fact, that you believe in polygamy. That city we read about there, while it has been naturalized and literalized by so many theologians, because they will take St. John 14:2 where Jesus said, In my Father's house are many mansions, and think of it as a great building program, and over here, it is spiritually referred to as a city. In the Beshetta text it says, There are many rooms. In another it says, many resting places, (and then) if it were not so I would have told you. He indeed said, I go to prepare a place for you. If I go away to prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. Where did He go, to prepare that place for you and me? He went to that old rugged cross at Calvary, to prepare a place for us, simply because, until then we were alienated from the provisions of heaven. Nevertheless the Methodists, as well as many others, really get caught up in that part where He has gone to prepare a place for us, and it becomes a riddle to them, simply because they do not know where in the world it really leads to. As we look further into what this city of paradise actually is, you are going to have to follow me, because I am not going to read any more of Revelation 21 or 22, until we have built up the picture we are looking at. Man was first placed in a beautiful garden, and now that same setting is referred to as a city, so let us open our Bible's to Genesis for our next reading. We are in chapter 2, verse 8. "And the Lord God planted a garden eastward in Eden; and there he put the man whom He had formed." Immediately man pictures God with a sack of seed of every description, out there planting a garden. Maybe with a hoe, like old timers used to plant a garden, going along and pulling back a little dirt, then dropping seed in and covering it back up. That may be a natural way you or I would portray God planting a garden, but I assure you, this is not the picture we need to see here. Keep in mind, Eden, as we read in Genesis, is not the garden itself. Eden, is the name given to a geographical spot of ground there where man had his beginning. It is still called Eden, the beginning of God, or the paradise of God. It simply means, where paradise was put. In the natural, it tells you here about the geographical terrain of Eden. It had all the natural landscape, rivers and everything we are prone to think of, but the garden referred to here, had nothing to do with how God planted trees, flowers, ferns or anything else like that: It is how He displayed Himself, His glory, His presence in a majestic fashion over that area of the geographical earth. I have always expressed it as, It was a little bit of heaven, a little bit of the spirit world placed here with man in this natural world. This was God's beginning for the man that He had created out of the dust of the earth, speaking of the body of clay of course. The spirit of that man God created in His image and likeness, came from Him that is totally Spirit because He has never had a body of flesh like man has. What did Jesus say about God in John 4:24? "God is a Spirit: and they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in truth." God created a spirit being in the very image of Himself, meaning that He was of the same makeup as his Creator which was Spirit. He was of the same Spirit that God is. That makes the Creator the Father. That makes His created offspring His son. When He placed that Spirit in this vessel of clay, then He placed it in this beautiful garden, (so called) and man had the opportunity to live in two realms, a natural realm and a spiritual realm. Think about it for a moment. He was living on a natural, earthly planet, but he was not limited only to his natural surroundings. Out of the ground grew trees of every description. Every tree you and I have here today, began to grow in that geographical area of God's beginning of this creation. Furthermore, this majestic realm that God placed there, wherein angels could be seen as easily as birds sitting in a tree, was the equivalent of heaven on earth. This was the opportunity given to the first man God created in His own image and likeness. In other words, man, in the beginning, had everything he needed. In that kind of environment, he never would have needed air conditioning. He would never have needed a stove. There was no need for electricity, there was no need for any of these natural things we depend so greatly upon today. I want to express it like this, Artists, down through time, have painted their sketches of what they could envision this garden to have been like; but none have ever even come close to expressing it the way it really was. Some would call it the dream world, man imagining that somewhere there is a world where there is no evil and everything is peaceful. There are no clouds to fill the sky. The sky is always clear blue. The sun is always shining. They paint it with beautiful butterflies, little humming birds, all the beautiful things, even with angels moving about. Years ago, I saw a painting of two children walking through a garden. There was a little brook, a stream. There was a bridge over the stream. Right above these two children was an angel looking down upon them, as though he was supervising their traveling through this place. That is as close as the human mind can imagine what a world like that would be like. Then in the secular realm, they call it the fairy world. Those who portray it like that, usually portray it like with Cinderella and those kinds of things. All this goes to show, that deep inside of man, because he lost that beautiful paradise realm, the garden he was first placed in, there is a longing to reach out for that unseen world he can never seem to touch. Somehow or other he has a feeling that it is out there; but he just cannot touch it. When God drove Adam and Eve from that beautiful place called the garden, as I have said many times, They never walked even one foot away from where they were. They never went out between two gate posts and God shut a gate to keep them out. They were driven out of the presence and glory of God; or it might be better expressed, That God lifted His presence from them. When God drew the curtain on that little bit of heaven, the beautiful rays of God's glory could no longer be seen. The angelic beings that at one time were easily seen standing there, watching, observing, were no where to be seen now. From that point on, everything has just been natural, just trees and natural birds. Man lost his dream. He has been traveling through a world of time, evil is ever present. As man has been traveling through time since he left a garden, did it ever occur to anyone that redeemed mankind is going right back to the same place? You are not leaving this planet earth to go to a garden: That garden is coming back to earth again. Let us take a look and see what the Bible says about this. How did the patriarchs of old look upon this?. For centuries of time man has journeyed, and his journey has all been on this planet. Time has come and gone and every day that mankind has lived, it has been a struggle. He has seen his natural world become filled with evil, misfortune, sorrow, heartache and anything else you can think of.

Open your Bible's to the book of Hebrews. Since Abraham is our father by faith, and we are the seed of Abraham by faith, as we read in Hebrews 11:8, what comes to your mind? "By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went." This was the apostle Paul writing these words. Paul sees something, and if we can see what he saw when he put it in writing, it will help us better understand, when we read all of Revelation 21 and 22. "By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, (That land was a natural land: Many of you have been there, and you know that in many places it is just arid dessert. Some of it is really not beautiful to look at; but remember, the land that he was to sojourn in may not have looked that way before the flood.) As in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise. For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God." In another translation it says, whose designer and architect is God. So when we envision that, we do not picture God up in heaven with a great big draftsman's table in front of Him, with rulers and pencils drawing lines. No. It is how God in His great omnipotence and omnisciency, has designed something according to His own thinking. When we can see Abraham, as he is written of by Paul here, come into this land of promise where he lived with his seed, and yet he was constantly looking for a city whose founder, or designer and architect is God, then that lets us know that God, at some time, had shown him something else. This lets us know he was not only looking at the natural terrain and natural ground he was to receive for an inheritance, but he was looking at another realm which far exceeds that natural realm of ground. That is exactly what he was looking for. We can say this, He had a revelation of what all of that other was about. When I say a revelation, we have got to realize that it takes a revelation to really understand spiritual things. By a revelation, God imparts to you and I the thought, or the picture of how to understand something that is written or described in the written structure of His word. We can see how that is better described by Paul as we go on in another chapter: Therefore let us turn to the 12th chapter: where Paul is describing, or writing to the believer in this dispensation of time, so as we read this, starting with the 18th verse, let us read it as though Paul is speaking to each one of us who are present here today. "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched." When we see those words, our mind immediately goes back to Exodus, the 19th and 20th chapters, where we envision how the children of Israel were camped at the foot of a natural, geographical mountain, a giant rock formation rising out of the desert floor. Moses has gone up into that mountain to talk with God. The children of Israel, encamped at the foot of the mountain, are able to look up and see God come down on the top of that mountain in a terrible black looking cloud. We know it did not rain. There was no tornado in that cloud, but it thundered, and lightening was flashing, and there was the sound of a trumpet blowing. All of that is a description of how God manifested Himself to draw attention to His presence, because He is going to convey a message and talk to someone. Moses was caught up in that manifestation. It was scary looking to the children of Israel down below. They turned away and said, Let Him speak to Moses. As for us, this sight is too scary. Moses' own testimony was, while he was caught up in it, he exceedingly feared and quaked. That is a description of the children of Israel as they were being brought from Egyptian bondage, which is a type of man being brought out from the bondage of sin and service to the devil. We were all born with an inherited nature that made us slaves to the devil. However instead of God saving us from bondage under such terrifying conditions, look what the apostle Paul says, "For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more." What a terrifying hour that must have been, for God to manifest Himself in a way with such a description, so that human mind's were terrified even to look upon it. "For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, (Because God is so holy, while He was on that mountain, no earthly beast that He had created for earthly purposes could touch that mountain, lest it be killed.) it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: (Meaning he shook all over, but here, the word speaks to you and I.) But ye are come unto mount Zion, (Now Mt. Zion in the natural, is where Jerusalem is built. There is a natural mountain terrain in the land of promise, called Mt. Zion. It is on top of the mountain that the city of Jerusalem, God's city where He chose to place His name, is built. But ye are come unto mount Zion,) and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels." This is a description of the spirit world, that somehow or other is about us, but in the natural sense of seeing, with our sense of sight, we cannot see it at all. "To the general assembly and Church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of Abel." When you and I were saved, we did not go to Mt. Sinai in the desert, in the natural, to receive our salvation. Neither did you go to Mt. Zion in the land of Palestine, in the natural. We have come to a spiritual mount and a spiritual city. For what purpose? For God's gift of salvation, which is eternal life. We realize we have been introduced to a heavenly city, the new Jerusalem. Of course in the natural, you have not seen one piece of stone or anything else that resembles a city. By faith though, we have come to one. The reason I am taking this route, is to give you a description of how the patriarchs searched for what we are all looking for. The apostle Paul did not write the book of Revelation, but what he sees and understands he is writing, how saints of old were used as types, (and it was from those types that Paul saw what we are now being brought to). It is all so beautiful. Open your Bible's now, to the book of Galatians. The apostle Paul is again going back to Abraham, Sarah and Hagar, as he writes to the Galatian Assembly. As he writes to them, it is obvious he is seeking to get a point established with them. Someone has come along and taught them something from the law, which has them all confused, so let us notice how he wrote. We will start in the 19th verse of the 4th chapter. "My little children, of whom I travail in birth again until Christ be formed in you, I desire to be present with you now, and to change my voice; for I stand in doubt of you. (In other words, he stands in doubt of their stability, because it is evident they have let someone come along and teach something that has disturbed their understanding.) Tell me, ye that desire to be under the law, (This is what lets us know it was something about the Law, probably circumcision. That was one of the first things those Jews would always try to get a Gentile caught up in.) do ye not hear the law? (Paul is going back to the realm of the Law, but as he does so, he goes to Abraham.) For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. (The freewoman was Sarah, his wife.) But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; (When Paul says that, he wants you and I to understand, that everything we read about Hagar, and Ishmael, over in Genesis, typed everything of the natural, fleshly, carnal concept of world Christianity. Everything is carnal and visualized in the natural realm.) but he of the freewoman (Sarah) was by promise. (This types the things of the spirit.) Which things are an allegory: (or illustrative types) for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth (corresponds) to bondage, which is Agar. (Or Hagar, typed all in that of the flesh) For this Agar (or Hagar) is mount Sinai in Arabia, (That is where the natural Law was received.) and answereth to Jerusalem (the natural city which is built on top of Mt. Zion) which now is, and is in bondage with her children. (All of that is typing the flesh. He is using the Law to illustrate this picture.) But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband." Now brothers and sisters, we have to begin to realize, if Paul can go back to the Old Testament to get the basic groundwork to lay the thought in the mind of New Testament Christians, how we are to look at this new city of Jerusalem, which we read in Revelation 21 and 22, then it had to be spoken of in the Old Testament, so go with me to Isaiah 54. Here the prophet Isaiah speaks of this new city, yet it is typed and projected from the old city, the natural Jerusalem. We are starting in the 11th verse, "O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires." The natural city of Jerusalem does not have such a substance for its foundation. How many understand what I mean? It is natural limestone. "And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles,, and all thy borders of pleasant stones. (The 13th verse is the primary focal point.) And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord; (It literally means all they that dwell inside that city shall be taught of the Lord, but in what way? By spiritual revelation. We will see how Jesus used this.) and great shall be the peace of thy children. In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression; for thou shalt not fear: and from terror; for it shall not come near thee." The Bible has something for every mind to feed upon, but the true children of God are only interested in spiritual revelation. All of those food for thought ideas are for carnal minded mankind. Let us go to St. John, chapter 6, and see what Jesus had to say as He spoke to a crowd of people. As Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees and the multitudes in His hour, we take this setting here where He has fed the five thousand the day before. He turned the five loaves and two fishes into a great amount of food to feed the five thousand people. They have come to seek Him the next day; and when He is found, it lead to a great controversy and argument. I want to start in verse 35. Jesus had a very unique way of getting religionists all upset. You can do it the same way today, if you want to. Just speak something against a doctor of divinity, or something that a system has been established on for so long. In their natural concept, they cherish the thing, and you know the whole thing is carnal, just a tradition. People have lived so long on a traditional thought, yet when the truth of it comes along and makes known the real point, spiritual people will leave the natural and follow the spiritual. In other words, they that are taught of the Lord will leave the natural realm to follow the spiritual, because they find great joy in doing so, but all the rest will just sit and ridicule and fight against it, so let us notice this scene here. "And Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life: he that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. But I said unto you, That ye also have seen me, and believe not. All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out." We have to realize, Jesus is talking to an audience of people. They are standing there, critical in their spirit toward Him, but He knows that the ones that have a heart and life that is being taught by the Holy Ghost, the Spirit of the Father that is doing the drawing, no matter what He says, they will come and see who He really is. Therefore if these natural Jews are standing looking at a man they perceive to be very natural in all His makeup, there are some that are going to see Him for a spiritual reason. That is just how life is. Those that perceive it in the natural are going to get angry at Him and be ready to throw stones at Him. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; (They will see who He really is.) and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. (Or run them away) For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of Him that sent me." Those natural minded Pharisees could not see one thing: they only saw a man standing there, saying things that sounded completely contrary to what they thought His words ought to be. "And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that of all which He hath given me (That is predestination, by the foreknowledge of God: He foreknew who would and who would not believe unto salvation, therefore God knows ahead of time exactly how to direct His Spirit.) I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of Him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on Him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day." The reason I read that scripture back in Isaiah, was because Jesus is going to point you back to that very verse of scripture, where it says, And thy children shall all be taught and learned of the Lord. "The Jews then murmured at Him, because He said, I am the bread which came down from heaven." Just imagine this scene, and put yourself there on that morning. If you thought like them and fed strictly on the natural realm of human reasoning, and you have been observing the Law in all its natural observances and rituals, ceremonies, and feasts, you would have said, just like I would have said, That man sounds like an idiot. Who in the world talks like that? But if it was the Holy Ghost that was drawing us, wanting you and I to really see this man, and who He really was, we would have looked beyond our natural concept of how we have been trained from childhood on up and allowed the Spirit of truth to take control of our mind's. We would have seen something about this man, that no matter what He would have said, there was something about this man drawing us to Him. The natural man always perceives, like, I know where He came from, He came from Nazareth: I know his father and mother, so who does he think he is? It is still the same way today. "And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that He saith, I come down from heaven?" Oh, this is nonsense! That is what they would say today. Now I know He is stupid. "Jesus therefore answered and said unto them, Murmur not among yourselves. (He knew what they were saying. Now He quotes the prophet.) It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." That lets us know the prophecy of Isaiah, not only pertains to your salvation, and my salvation, it pertains to our spiritual growth also, as we walk on with God. The things written in the word of God, that pertains to our growth, and our understanding His plan for us, and everything that is written in here, is written for our edification, our learning, our spiritual growth, our encouragement, how we should live in this world, and how we should look toward certain things that are to be in the world to come. Keep in mind, We read Revelation 21, where John said he saw that new city Jerusalem descending as the Lamb's wife. Did he not? But we read in Revelation 19, as John saw the Lamb's wife in heaven, because she had already made herself ready in a prior time, she was ready to descend back to earth with the King. Yet we are reading of two different scenes that are at least over a thousand years apart in time. How do we reconcile the two scriptures, when one is talking about a Church, and the other, people literalize it and naturalize it strictly to a city? If we look at it in the natural sense, I want to say right here, What we are reading in Revelation 21 and 22 is a picture of how God's glory is manifested as the Millennium has come to a close and the great white throne judgment is over. All wickedness, all graves, dead bodies, and everything is removed from the planet earth. Everything now finds its distinguished place in the plan of redemption. The earth no longer has any trace of sin. This is how God portrays His Spirit coming back to earth to dwell with His redeemed family. It is how God displays Himself or manifests His glory to that same people that is described in Revelation 19, because that is going to be their eternal relationship, or abiding realm within the Spirit of God in the eternal age.

Now we will go to Ephesians, chapter 2, for a better description of this thing we are looking at. This is again, the apostle Paul speaking, or writing. As Paul is speaking here, to the Ephesian saints, he is writing to the first church of this group of seven churches that we read about in Revelation, chapters 1-3. This is where Paul stood. This is where he ministered over a period of two and one half to three years. All the other churches were established from the great revival that was burning in the heart's of those people during the time he was in this city. Now, years later, he is writing to this church. In the 2nd chapter, he approaches a spiritual condition that is to be understood in the mind of the believers. To understand these verses we must understand that the first converts in this church were Jewish saints, from a synagogue. His first converts were Ephesian, Jewish citizens that were converted and baptized. This, later opened the door for Paul to come back, and that is when the great revival took place, and Gentiles, as well as Jews, are established in the faith and sitting together in the same local congregation of Ephesus. Starting in verse 13, we read this, "For now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were far off (That pertained to Gentiles.) are made nigh (brought close) by the blood of Christ. (You are brought into the relationship through the blood of Christ, to a plan and purpose of God.) For He(Christ) is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us." The natural, carnal attitudes we Gentiles have had through past centuries toward the Jew, as well as the Jew toward the Gentile, which was the wall of partition, it is that fleshly, racial attitude. Go back a few thousand years, to a city where there would be several hundred Jews living. The Gentiles that lived in Ephesus were pagans, worshiping all kinds of deities. The Jews who have lived there, have their belief in the one true God. Well it is very obvious, that under those conditions, that when those Gentiles would observe the Jews, from their religious and racial standpoint, there would naturally be an expression of enmity, or hatred, or difference, because there was just no way they could be compatible, and be friendly toward each other under those circumstances. It was totally the opposite of that. We know this for sure, When Jesus Christ has died on the cross at Calvary, God, through that death of His Son Jesus, the Christ, did something that changed everything. He provided a way that the old racial hatred, that enmity, that difference between the two, could all be resolved through the great plan of salvation that was perfected. Let me say this, It does not matter how much civil rights, racial this and that you hear expressed in the news media, as long as man is a sinner, there is going to be racial hatred and enmity for as long as he is on this planet. It is the spirit of the devil in him. You cannot educate the devil out of people who are sold out to him. When they think they can force a thing like this, it is a fact, They only cause it to break out somewhere else in other ways. Take for instance, this Nazi thing. In the news lately, right there in Germany, is that same old spirit of Nazism among that young bunch of kids that was present in earlier years of this century. It is even in this country. You can make laws, you can put them in jail, you can put them before firing squads and shoot them, but you are not going to rid this earth of such evils. That is not the way God planned it. I am not teaching that you should go on and hate them. If you are a Christian, you do not hate anyone. Why? Because in Jesus Christ, God has provided you and me with something better: so that we do not have to look upon the black, the red, the brown, the yellow, with attitudes like that. It is all applied right here. Notice, "Having abolished in His flesh the enmity, even the law of commandments contained in ordinances; for to make in Himself (Christ) of twain (Jew and Gentile) one new man." A man and woman that in the eyes of God are all seen alike, and that no longer look at each other from the standpoint of their Jewish flesh or Gentile flesh, but are viewed from the standpoint that they are all children of God, that He has made new creatures out of, because they now bear the image and likeness of the one who took their place at Calvary. God provided the total means for such a transition. Verse 16, "And that He might reconcile both unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby." I have to say this, If you and I have been truly born of the Spirit according to the word of God, just like it says, and you are dead to yourself, you do not see the other race like you may have looked upon them at one time. You begin to see others as God sees them. When Jesus Christ died on the cross, He did not change colors just to suit races. I hope all of you understand that. He was not seen hanging there, one time brown, another time red, yellow, black or white, but in Him, was represented the grace of God that is applicable to every race alike, to destroy the enmity between them. If we grew up with a lot of animosity in our lives and cultivated hatred against people just because of their racial background, it is hard many times, for people to die to themselves. They grow up with pride, and the kind of pride we are thinking of is abominable to God; but we realize this, He provided something for the cure of that abominable attitude. "And came and preached peace to you which were afar off, (the Gentiles) and to them that were nigh. (the Jews) For through Him (Christ) we both (Jew and Gentile) have access by one Spirit (the Holy Ghost) unto the Father." The One that is doing the redeeming and the saving, is the One that designed the whole thing before the foundation of the world. Here is the spiritual part: Here is how we have to spiritualize what Paul is talking about. "Now therefore ye are no more strangers (When he said that, that is applicable to the Jewish saints sitting there in that Ephesian church, because as the Gentiles are actually the citizens of that local area, they would look upon Jews, no matter how long they lived there, that they were strangers. They are strangers out of their land of heritage, living in a city that is ours, was the attitude of Gentiles. Paul uses this approach, to clarify his teaching.) and foreigners, but fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the household of God. And are built upon the foundation (If we are built upon a foundation, are we going to literalize this foundation? Are we going to turn this into some kind of concrete mixed up, bringing in materials of gravel, stone, and all that? No. Paul is using natural language to convey a thought.) of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone; (He is the beginning point.) In whom all the building." It says we are a building, but how can we be a building? Actually we are a building of God: Though we may not look like a house we are familiar with, having a roof of some sort, but did you know that it is written in the book of Revelation, To him that overcometh will I make him to be a pillar in the temple of my God. What is a pillar? Do you see those posts over there? That is what a pillar is. It is something that holds up a covering of some sort. In the spiritual sense, it is something that holds up a responsibility God has given you. Again in the scripture, Paul used it in Timothy, that the Church is the pillar and ground of truth. So as we get the groundwork laid for all of this, then we can take what we have this far and go further with it, to get a better picture of it in our mind's. Let me finish reading this verse while we are here. If the Church, which is actually the true children of God, is built upon a foundation laid by the apostles and prophets, then we do not literalize the foundation and make it into a natural, earthly substance. We look at it as a type, that you and I, as we are brought into the family of God, are built upon something that is spiritually solid, and it is valuable, it is precious, it is treasured. We lay our whole faith, our whole spiritual existence upon that foundation. In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit." That is all applicable in this life. We are not only a people referred to as a Church; and we are not only a people referred to as the Lamb's wife; but we are a people to be built up into a spiritual house, so that God Himself can dwell in this holy temple. We understand that He is not dwelling in this house, in the fulness of all His eternal glory and attributes; but He is dwelling in this house in that sufficient measure of all that He is, to enable us to fulfill His purpose in each of us. That is applicable in this age of salvation and redemption, to constitute what this temple is to be built of in this age. Whether we are talking about the city, as we will get into a little later, the city that is in eternity, a period of time far beyond the realm that you and I live in right now, or the temple that we are at present, it is all to be thought of in the spiritual sense. Do not try to visualize a literal city, with literal mansions for each of us to dwell in. That is a totally carnal way of looking at it. Well I feel that we are ready to go a little further and take a look at the description of the material this NEW CITY is made up of. Continuation.