We are in a search entitled "Great Salvation". Well, that pretty much sums up the Bible, doesn’t it? We can see this in The Finished Work, which brings all things together in the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. It gathers up all things of the Old Testament, of the Old Covenant; all things of the law and the prophets; all things set forth in the scripture. And it gathers them all up in the very Person of The Lord Jesus Christ. It gathers them up in The Cross - His death, burial and resurrection; and presents a New Creation in Christ Jesus as a Work Finished, a Work set forth. Well, the result of a Finished Work is a Very Great Salvation. And many are the facts of that Salvation: to walk in the length and the depth, to walk the width and the height of the fulness of God in Christ is to know Great Salvation. And all of this is personalized in The Son Himself; for He is not only The Savior, He is The Salvation! He is not only The Redeemer, He is The Redemption! We are not the body of a religion, we are The Body of A Person - we are The Body of The Lord Jesus Christ! Should we not then be totally occupied with Him?

Not with things even remotely related to Him - but occupied with HIM? And view all other things only out from that occupation of our mind with Him; viewing Spiritual Life as nothing other than a people in relationship with Him. And that relationship is ever deepening, ever increasing; that relationship ever being realized, ever being revealed in the very face of The Lord Jesus! And we come to identify all things regarding Spiritual Life, all things regarding Salvation in The Person of HIM. In other words, finding not that He gives us joy, or that joy is possible to achieve in some related way; but that CHRIST HIMSELF IS OUR JOY! And to say that is one thing, but to experience the joy of The Lord is something else. No - the joy of The Lord is The Lord’s joy! For you and I to experience The Lord’s joy is to enjoy HIS joy, the joy that The Lord is. It is the joy that we experience in knowing Him. It is the same with peace, righteousness, and life. HE is made unto us wisdom, sanctification, righteousness, redemption. HE is made unto us the very personification of Salvation; because Salvation is not just as simple as saying Salvation is that we are saved from something. No - SALVATION IS THE SUM TOTAL OF SPIRITUAL LIFE IN CHRIST. Salvation is the sum total of all that Christ is made unto His Body, The Church.

So in this search we are looking at Salvation as it is in the reality of Christ. We have looked at the three Old Testament types of Salvation (Adam to Noah, Abraham and Isaac, Israel) and we’re finding them to be fulfilled in Christ. And they are fulfilled in a distinct spiritual order; and that order that is set forth in the Old Testament, which is where the order and the pattern is found, carries over into the reality of Christ. So that in Christ, though it is a full Salvation, it is comprehended by faith, and it is comprehended in a distinct order. That is, we come to comprehend that we are a New Creation in Christ Jesus - that is the first of that order. And then in that comprehension we are able to comprehend Him as The Seed that is planted in that New Creation. And we come to see that we are meant for the fulness of Him. We see this through the type of Creation, then the type of Abraham and Isaac - the Seed filling the land, and then the type of Israel - the fulness, the inheritance. Israel represents that corporate expression of Christ in type, of which The Church is the fulfillment.

And we’ve been looking at many spiritual terms, but we’re going to look at one special term now. And that spiritual term has to do with HEAVEN. Heaven - The city of God, the New Jerusalem. This is part of our search on Great Salvation, and we want to give a very hard look at this. In 2 Corinthians 4 Paul says, "Therefore, seeing we have this ministry, as we have received mercy, we faint not; But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by manifestation of the truth (not simply calling something truth - by manifestation) commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God." Now Revelation 21:1-3, " 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. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

HEAVEN - The City of God, The New Jerusalem. I’m asked very often if I believe in heaven. Oh my, yes, I believe in heaven. I believe in heaven AS THE SCRIPTURE teaches heaven to be, and more than that even: I believe in heaven as The Spirit of God reveals heaven to be. Oh yes, I believe in heaven! Do I believe in the "fairy tale version"? No I don’t! Do I believe in the "Disneyland" theme - in the sky? No I don’t! And I don’t because it is not taught in the volume of the scripture. There is no type for it in the Old Testament, and there is no fulfillment for that kind of Disneyland theory in the New Testament. Yet everything that is said with regard to Spiritual Life and eternity, with regard to the City of God, Jerusalem, The Holy City, the people of God - everything that is said concerning that theme IN the scripture, comes to be found BY the scripture, fulfilled in Christ through His Body, The Church.

And it is the sadness of my heart that those very ones who, in Christ are the fulfillment of those things spoken, have believed the lie, have believed the story, the theory, and are living so far beneath - in their heart and mind - of the reality of the thing; that they are able to believe fictional events, fictional stories, and have their beliefs on fictional stories! Can you believe that? Someone says, ‘Well, it’s taken from the scripture.’ Yes, yes it is - it is taken FAR FROM the scripture! But rather than airing my arguments, let’s look at the reality of what the scripture says concerning this place we call "heaven", this City of God, The New Jerusalem. We just read Revelation 21:1-3, and in this lesson we’re going to bring many portions of scripture into relationship to Revelation 21. And we’re going to bring many fragments there for their very present fulfillment.

Here is just a statement I will make to begin with, and then we’ll look in the scripture; not simply to prove the statement, but to teach the reality of heaven. Heaven is not a city in the sky or in the conventional sense a place or a location, but rather A PEOPLE IN A SPIRITUAL CONDITION AND IN A DIVINE RELATIONSHIP. It is such a relationship that is spoken of in the scripture - "They will be my people, I will dwell in them." Such a relationship was purposed of God from the very beginning, and has come to be fulfilled in Christ and His Body, The Church. So The Church, which is His Very Own Body is NOT "on its way to a place called heaven", but rather is to be, and in its proper relationship to Christ IS - the very expression of heaven on earth! And to the student of the scripture and the lover of The Truth as it is in Christ, this is an overwhelming reality!

Let me remind you that everything that we have in Christ, we experientially lay hold of it - not with sight, not with sound, not with natural senses. We lay hold of it in THE REALITY OF FAITH. Faith is not blindly believing something that doesn’t exist: faith is the reality given of God of that which not only exists, but which eternally exists! Faith is that knowing given of God through His Eternal Word being revealed in you, of all things that are real, that are eternal and that are spiritual. Faith goes beyond the natural, goes beyond the temporal, goes beyond time. Faith is the very substance of all that is eternal! "The just shall live by faith." WE LIVE IN CHRIST BY FAITH!

Now I’ve got to tell you again, because how we have demented, have defamed the word "faith", so that when I tell you we live in Christ by faith, to most it’s like saying: ‘well, we just pretend to be there, we’re not really there. We just take it by faith because faith is just taking something that doesn’t really exist and saying it does, and hoping for the best.’ Oh for God’s sake! Hebrews says FAITH IS THE SUBSTANCE...FAITH IS THE EVIDENCE! Faith does not need a greater substance than itself, not more evidence than itself, because faith is an absolute knowing given of God. Faith is God showing you The Truth in His Son, and that Truth literally transforming your soul into itself, so that you live according to the Truth as it is in Christ, you walk according to The Truth as it is in Christ; you are motivated by, kept by, surrounded by, and invigorated by The Truth as it is in Christ. You live in The Truth, you walk in The Light as He is in The Light. You do that by faith, through The Spirit, right here on earth, and you become an expression of a reality which is Christ!

So when I tell you we live in Him by faith, I’m saying something. And all that He is, and all that relates to Him - we live in that by faith also; not by natural hearing, not by natural seeing. See, the natural mind wants something it can put its hand on - natural hand. But if you can put your natural hand on it, then it is passing away, even as you touch it, and in a few years it will be gone; and in some cases, in a few moments. But that’s what the natural mind wants. The natural mind actually thinks that eternity is God giving natural things a long, long time to exist. No, the word "eternity" in and of itself means "no time". That means we step out of the area of time into the area of no time. We step out of the area of the natural into the area of the spiritual, where all things are finished in Christ, where we must walk by faith. But thank God, God has given the provision for faith, and that provision is His Word - for faith comes by hearing, and that hearing comes by The Word. Now don’t let somebody preach to you that faith comes by hearing, and hearing comes by people saying words, or hearing people preach, hearing words. No, that’s not what it translates to. Faith cometh by hearing. Jesus says, "He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear" - so it’s a spiritual hearing that we’re talking about here.

And faith cometh by spiritual hearing. That kind of hearing comes by The Word. There in the book of Romans 10:17, "the word" is translated as "logos", which means The Eternal Word Himself! Not something said about Him; no, not even anointed preaching about Him, but The Word Himself! So The Word Who is in you is the source of your faith. The Word Who dwells in you is the source of faith, and all of the scriptures are becoming The One Word that is in you, because IN HIM are all of the scripture - everything that has ever been said - summed up, made real, and fulfilled! "They are they which testify of Me", saith the Lord Himself.

Now it is that Living Word, Who is in you; it is knowing Him, seeing Him, and only The Holy Spirit can reveal Him in you. But it is through The Spirit of God quickening the eyes of your understanding, through The Spirit of God revealing Him, The Living Word in you, that faith comes, knowing comes, light comes, reality comes. Because you see all things as they truly are IN CHRIST. Heaven is one of those things you’ll see, because that’s just part of Great Salvation. The realization of this Great City called New Jerusalem, City of God - all of that is realized in the face of Jesus Christ, because what is that City? What is that City if you separate it from its relationship with Him?

I’m going to give you a brief outline now for this study:

1. JERUSALEM - The City of God, the Holy City. We must see that it is a people and that the term "Jerusalem, City of God" has always in the Bible stood for a people. And now in Christ it is fulfilled in and as a people.

2. We need to see that New Jerusalem as a reality in Christ answers to all of God’s statements, promises and desires set forth in the scripture concerning His City.

3. New Jerusalem is in fact The Church - but The Church as described in her divine relationship to Christ as Bride and Wife.

4. We believers, are born from above; that is, we are in heaven in Jerusalem, in Zion by birth - BY BIRTH!

5. Zion, which in the Bible represents the highest thought and purpose of God for His people as The City of God, is the heavenly Jerusalem.

So now, Jerusalem, The City of God is seen to be a people. And in looking at this in the scripture, it must be understood that we are not reading about the condition of a place, but the condition of a people. And the desire of God is to have that people in divine relationship with Himself. And that desire of God comes to be accomplished through the Lord Jesus Christ. All that God has desired of a people, stated as a City, a sanctuary, a dwelling place - all that God has desired is related to His desire for a people in which He may dwell, and that desire is accomplished through His Son. We can go to John 14: " Ye believe in God, believe also in Me." This is what the Lord is trying to tell the Jews. Ye believe in God: He’s not just talking about the existence of God, He’s talking about what God has said. "They will be my people, I will be their God, I will dwell in them." Over and over God has said that: it is the basis for His covenant with Israel. "Ye believe in God, believe in Me in the same way." It doesn’t mean believe in me "too". "Also" there means "in the same way, to the same degree, in the same measure" - believe in Me.

He is presenting Himself as The Son of God, The Word of God. He is presenting Himself as God. "Ye believe in God, believe in Me. In my Father’s house are many mansions..." Which means in the family of God there is a great expansiveness, there is much room; many resting places, many places of abode. "I go to prepare a place for you." He didn’t go off to something called "Heaven" - HE WENT TO THE CROSS!! He went to His death, His burial, and He came again unto them in The Resurrection. And on Pentecost He came to them AS The Resurrection; to dwell in them, that as He lives, so they may live also. "And I will receive you unto myself; that where I am..." That is not a location - look in the Greek. It’s a relationship! "... where I am, ye may be..." The word "there" is not in the original. "...ye may be also." The word "also" there is the same as it is in the above verse. It means not too, but in the same degree, in the same way. "That where I am, ye may be even as I am." How in the world can we be where He is, even as He is? Verse 20 explains it. He says before that, I am the Way to this reality, to this relationship. "I am The Way, I am The Truth of it, and I am The Life of it." See, He’s not talking about some place other than Himself, away from Himself; but bringing us unto Himself, that we may abide in Him, and He may abide in us. And isn’t that exactly what He says in verse 20? "In that day..." The day of the Holy Spirit, the day of Pentecost, the day when The Spirit of Truth came and abode in them. "In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and that you are in Me, and that I am in you."

It is not only ludicrous, it is absolutely non-scriptural and perverse to say that this is speaking of a time on your calendar that is yet to come; when the reality of it was fulfilled in Christ 2,000 years ago, and is as real today as it ever was, or as it ever will be - to those who will live by His faith. This is Great Salvation - this isn’t the rantings and ravings of some lunatic! It is a scriptural presentation of Great Salvation. It is The Truth presented in Words as only The Holy Spirit can reveal it in reality. But except we hear The Truth presented in words, how shall we ever turn to see The Truth by The Spirit - revealed in Christ by The Spirit?

So Christ has brought a people into such a state of being. We will be looking at Revelation 21 and relating many scriptures to it, and we will be seeing that this indeed is the revelation of Jesus Christ, and that John is seeing The Truth here - as it already is - AS IT IS - then and now, and forever will be in Christ! He is seeing a people in a divine relationship with Christ, and Christ in a divine relationship with a people. John is not seeing many - but ONE. He’s not seeing many bodies - but ONE BODY; not many cities, but ONE CITY; not many brides, but ONE BRIDE. John is seeing things as they are in Christ, but can only be revealed by The Spirit. Do not forget this whole book is written out from The Spirit. He was caught up into The Spirit on The Lord’s day, and everything that he is writing, he is writing from that position of seeing as by The Spirit. He is declaring the reality of heaven! He is declaring on earth the reality of heaven, he is declaring things not seen, but real and eternal. He is declaring the same reality of Christ that Paul declares in every one of his epistles. This is the mystery of Christ and The Church, the revelation of which is: they are ONE!

Let’s look at some verses, and it is obvious as we look at these that God is not speaking by the prophets to buildings, but to a PEOPLE. Isaiah 52:1, "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city: for henceforth there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." Just bring that right over to Revelation 21:2, " And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." You have to admit that what Isaiah prophesied John saw. And look at Revelation 21:27, "And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie; but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life," "For there shall no more come into thee the uncircumcised and the unclean." But you see friends, in Isaiah God is not talking to a building. "Awake, awake; put on thy strength, O Zion; put on thy beautiful garments, O Jerusalem, the holy city..." He is speaking to a people. He’s not speaking about giving buildings a fresh coat of paint here. No, you find throughout the whole of the Old Testament God speaks of Jerusalem, the holy city and Mount Zion as a people, and as a condition of a people. They are either in a spiritual condition in the good of Zion, described as the joy of Zion; or they are in a poor condition and are an offense to Zion; but it is always that way. Daniel 9:24, "Seventy weeks are determined upon thy people and upon thy holy city, to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up (that is to perform, to fulfil) the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the most Holy." Daniel here is not talking about buildings or a natural city in the sense of the word, but he’s saying to finish the transgression, to make an end of sins, reconciliation for iniquity.

Here it is the people! It is true that in The Cross - in the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, that Israel as a system, Israel as a covenant, Israel as a people - came to an end. The old man died - that a New Man, a Spiritual Israel may come forth in the Resurrection. It is true that within forty years after that, the literal city was completely demolished, stone by stone, and torn down! But the greater prophecy, and the fulfillment of it here is NOT concerning the natural city, but the city that relates itself to the people themselves - the people themselves.

When the Lord stands, as recorded in Matthew and stretches out His arms in Matthew 23:37, "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Behold, your house is left unto you desolate." He’s not talking to a bunch of buildings there, but to the people, to the city, to Jerusalem itself. All through the scripture let it be understood that Jerusalem, The City of God, The Holy City is always with reference not to buildings, but to a people. And that the condition of the buildings is always a type, a shadow of the spiritual condition of the people. When Israel as a people, as the spiritual condition of Jerusalem (what God says Jerusalem and Zion is); when they went into Babylonian captivity, the literal city and the literal temple - for the first time - was completely torn down by the Babylonians. That was not to happen again until forty years after The Cross, and it happened again because this time Israel refused to accept her deliverance in Christ. Now my point is just this: the material condition of the city has only and ever been of significance as a sign and a type of the spiritual condition of the people. It’s always been that way.

So Revelation 21:2, " And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Revelation 22:19, " And if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." Now Isaiah 60: 1-3, " Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people; but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising." I want to compare this to Acts 13:46 and 47, " Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles. For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light to the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth." We must understand that this prophecy of Isaiah is not talking about natural buildings, but here is fulfilled in a people called the New Jerusalem.

Here’s the whole point: Old Covenant Israel was called Jerusalem, and in the prophecies when God spoke concerning Jerusalem, He was speaking of a people, not just a place. And when He spoke concerning Zion, He wasn’t talking about a dirt hill, but the spiritual condition of a people. Then it follows, and is true that through the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, there is a New Jerusalem; and that New Jerusalem is NOT a better material city, but a people in a spiritual condition. And that there is a New Mount Zion spoken of in Hebrews 12, " But ye are come unto mount Sion..." and that Mount Sion is not a natural mountain of any kind, but it is signifying the spiritual condition of a people IN CHRIST JESUS, a people who are walking in divine relationship with Him, and fulfilling God’s thoughts set forth in the scripture concerning Zion.

It’s just as simple as that: we have come from one Jerusalem, Old Covenant Israel; to New Jerusalem, New Covenant Jerusalem, New Covenant Christians, New Covenant Church - The Body of The Lord Jesus Christ Himself! It is just that simple, and yet it is just that profound because the reality of New Jerusalem can only be revealed by The Spirit. It is not some natural city somewhere, either setting over in a place called Palestine, nor setting somewhere beyond the Milky Way! But it is the promises and the prophecies and the desires of God concerning a people, finding their fulfillment in Christ, through His very Own Body, The Church. And all the scriptures show that to be so. Isaiah 60:7, " All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee, the rams of Nebaioth shall minister unto thee: they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory." I WILL GLORIFY THE HOUSE OF MY GLORY. You know that God does not dwell in stone or wood - not even in a spiritual sense. He dwells in that house that is NOT made with hands. He dwells in that temple of God that you now are! If you agree with me that you are the temple of God and God dwells in you, then you will have to agree with me that the temple of God is in the city of God. And it is synonymous with God dwelling in a people.

HE IS THE GLORY OF HIS OWN HOUSE! And that too is fulfilled in Christ Jesus. You might take time to read 2 Corinthians 3:14-18. Now Isaiah 60:11, "Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles, and that their kings may be brought." You can compare that with Revelation 21:22-27. Isaiah 60:14, "The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The City of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." That’s talking about a people being called The City of The Lord. It’s about a people being called The Zion of The Holy One of Israel. You might also look at Hebrews 12:22-24, " Ye are come to Mount Sion, the City of God, the heavenly Jerusalem..." YE ARE COME! How are ye come there? The whole book of Hebrews is telling us that. It is bringing us from the old to the New. Ye are come there in The Person of Christ, by The Person of Christ. You are come there in Him - as His Body, as the very Body and breastplate of the High Priest, as the very garments of the High Priest. You are come there as the very Body of the High Priest, clothed upon with the beauty of Christ. Ye are come there - ye are come to Mount Sion!

Isaiah 60:19-22, " The sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light..." You can just bring that over into Revelation 21, speaking about that City that John describes. "...and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself; for the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall be all righteous; they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may be glorified." This isn’t talking about some piece of dirt around the Mediterranean. This is talking about that land which was shown to Abraham, that heavenly land, possessed by the heavenly Seed: that Seed which is declared to be CHRIST in Galatians 3:16. And declared not only to be Christ, but all those who belong to Him in Galatians 3:29. This is the land we are talking about. It is described again in Revelation 21:22.

Then Isaiah 65:8-9, " Thus saith the Lord, As the new wine is found in the cluster, and one saith, Destroy it not; for a blessing is in it: so will I do for my servants’ sakes, that I may not destroy them all. And I will bring forth a seed out of Jacob, and out of Judah an inheritor of my mountains: and mine elect shall inherit it, and my servants shall dwell there." And again I point you to Galatians 3. Isaiah 65:17 and 18. "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy." Please compare this with Ephesians 2:1-10. These things are fulfilled of God by that which He creates in Christ Jesus. Now compare what I have just read with Revelation 5:7-10, " And he came and took the book out of the right hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints. And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation; And HAST MADE US unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth." Not "shall make", not "is supposed to make" - but as a fulfillment of the Old Testament prophecies. These things are done and fulfilled in Christ!

Isaiah 66:17-24, calling your attention to verse 19. " And I will set a sign among them..." And this sign is the same sign spoken of in Matthew 24:29-31. "...and I will send those that escape of them..." And that means those who are NOT destroyed at the sight of His coming, but rather are gathered together unto Him. It speaks there of the destruction of national Israel and the birth of Spiritual Israel, which is The Church, which is gathered unto Him: for UNTO HIM shall the gathering of the people be. And the word in the Old Testament there for "people" means Israel, and that’s what is gathered unto Him. And in the New Testament it is The New Israel, The Israel of God - not the circumcised in the flesh, but the circumcised in heart; not the born of flesh and blood, but the born of the Spirit; not the type of things, but the fulfillment and reality of things. "...And I will send those that escape of them unto the nations, to Tarshish, Pul, and Lud, that draw the bow, to Tubal, and Javan, to the isles afar off, that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory: and they shall declare my glory among the Gentiles. And then you have them singing the song in Revelation 5: "You have redeemed us out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation." You have done it! YOU HAVE DONE IT!

You have done it! John is not seeing things that will be "some day", but he is seeing those things which have been done in Christ, and he is declaring that reality to the Church, and he declares it to us today. Again in Revelation 7:9 and 10, "And cried with a loud voice, saying, Salvation to our God which sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb. And all the angels stood round about the throne, and about the elders and the four beasts, and fell before the throne on their faces, and worshiped God." Look what they said: SALVATION TO OUR GOD. I’m telling you, Salvation is not a day in the distant future. Today is the day of Salvation! These are they who are participants in Great Salvation - then, now, and forever more! John was seeing the reality of things as they are in Christ Jesus, and of things as they shall ever be in Him. John was seeing Great Salvation.

How can it be any clearer? Revelation 7:13-17. These days of the great tribulation have come and gone as recorded in the scripture. Now I know that the carnal minded of today are still trying to look for one, but the seventy weeks of Daniel have come and gone - FULFILLED IN THE CROSS! The days of great tribulation; the destruction of natural Israel, and the bringing forth in all of that tribulation and turmoil of The Church of The Firstborn - that has already come! And That Church continues to come forth by Divine and Spiritual birth. But look at this: verse 15, "Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple; and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them." That’s not something that "one day shall be" - that’s right now! He that sitteth on the Throne does dwell among us: HE IS IN US AND WE ARE HIS TEMPLE! The scriptures declare that. "They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat." Hunger no more - no I guess not, because we eat His flesh and drink His blood. Neither thirst any more - no, no, because Jesus says so in John 7:37 and in John 6:50-55. And John in Revelation is simply declaring those same things again as a reality in Christ. "Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat." No - it is this sun that has been used in typology throughout the scriptures: it is no longer their light. They shall no longer be scorched by it - for their light now is Christ! They have come into that place where there is no need for sun or moon or stars to tell the days and the time - for now is The Day. They walk in The Light as He is in the Light. It’s a spiritual understanding and a spiritual comprehension of our Salvation.

"For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." Look again in John 7:37 and 38; this He says speaking of The Spirit of God that is in you! And John here is declaring the reality of that! Then we have Revelation 21:1-5, and in verse 2 the picture here through the Greek words is not something separating itself out from the sky, or out from a place called "heaven", or it is not "heaven" coming out of the sky and coming into the earth. The term "from God out of heaven" means that heaven, the very bosom of the Father is the source from which all this action is proceeding. It is coming out from God, it is proceeding out from the Spirit - like the wells of living water that proceed out from you, out from the Spirit, life coming out from the Spirit. This is the same picture. It is not like leaving Dallas and going to Forth Worth; leaving one place and going to another place. No - it is the proceeding out from that place.

Verse 3, it’s the same thing here. "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God IS with men..." (Not "will be" - is). What he’s doing here is quoting from the prophet. At the writing of this book, the majority of believers are believing Jews, and they are under tremendous persecution from the non-believing Israel; they are being killed day and night! They are being tortured and persecuted and scattered, and this letter is meant to be a great source of comfort to them, while at the same time an absolute rebuke of the old order, which is set for an absolute destruction! That’s the setting of this. It doesn’t mean it’s not real today, but here’s the setting of when it was written. And John is bringing the prophecies into the reality of Christ, and showing them in this letter by using the prophecies, because this is a prophecy, an Old Testament prophecy come to be fulfilled. "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words ARE TRUE (not "going to be" true): these words are true and they are faithful."

So let’s take a closer look at these things, because I want to bring some things into view here. Here’s the question: are the fulfillments and realities, the things spoken of here in Revelation 21 - the city of God, the new heaven, the new earth, the New Jerusalem, the city we call heaven - is that presented here in Chapter 21 as FUTURE or as FACTUAL? That’s the question, because there’s no doubt that the prophecies of the Old Testament find their fulfillment here in what is being described in Revelation chapters 20 through 22. There’s no doubt about that, but the question is, is what John is presenting future or factual? Is it impending or is it present? Is he declaring a place, a thing yet to come - or is he declaring a reality fulfilled in Christ? Do we see here some place The Church "is going", or do we in fact see The Spirit’s view of The Church itself - as it relates to Christ as His Body, and therefore The Body of His Glory?

Now remember the title of this letter is The Revelation of JESUS CHRIST, and therefore everything here must be, and in fact can only be understood in a direct relation to Him. The letter is NOT about people, places, things, events or times. They are seen here only as they are directly related to, and are determined by the Mystery of Christ and His Church; otherwise they are not mentioned. The things that are mentioned here, the places that are mentioned - they are mentioned only in a related way to The Mystery of Christ and The Church. So let us consider Revelation 21 in view of certain corresponding verses.

Revelation 21:3, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell in them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." ... IS with men, he will dwell with them. That’s not "will" in the future tense, because it relates to the statement "is with men". "And they shall..." not sometime in the future; it relates to the statement "is with men." It’s an emphatic statement - they SHALL. Because God is with men - He will dwell. And the word "with" there can also be translated "in". God is within men, and because of that, He will dwell; and because of that, they shall be His people. And God Himself shall be in them, and be their God. Now relate this to what Jesus said in John 14:20, "In that day you will know..." John is simply declaring in the day of the Spirit, in which he is caught up, what he sees to be so, and what The Church is to come to know, to realize. This is the day of The Spirit. "...and ye shall know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you." And if you go a little further in John 14:23, "...If a man love me, he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him." He’s not talking about some future day! And what is being described in Revelation 21 is the reality of Great Salvation, and part of the reality of Great Salvation is relating to The Church in her divine relationship with Christ as The New Jerusalem, The City of God, The Bride and Wife of The Lamb!

Yes. We’re talking about a divine relationship into which Christ has brought a people called His Body, The Church - and it is heaven indeed to those who live by faith. Now Revelation 21:3 is in answer to Jeremiah 31:33, " But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people." Now we know that is fulfilled in Christ; that it is The New Israel that this prophecy of Jeremiah is fulfilled in. See, Old Israel could have become New Israel. New Israel was in the first instance, those who were at one time Old Israel - believing Jews were the first Christians. It was that remnant that came out, and fulfilled all the prophecies with regard to The Seed and the heirs of God - the Church itself. So that in Christ now it is neither Jew nor Gentile, but One New Man. Jeremiah here speaks of this.

In Revelation 21 John says, " Behold the tabernacle of God is with men." That doesn’t mean that God has a tabernacle that He put with men. It means that God is tabernacled IN men. We also see this in Zechariah 2:10, " Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion: for, lo, I come, and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord." Here in Revelation 21 it is fulfilled! John sees it fulfilled! Now the question is: is Revelation 21 pertinent to us today - is it present or future? Compare what John says here to what Paul says in 2 Corinthians 6:16, " And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? For ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Where did He say it? In the prophets! Now Paul is teaching that as being The Church, The Body of Christ in his Corinthian letter. Are you going to tell me that it has changed from the present to the future in the letter called The Revelation of Jesus Christ? No sir, it is John seeing the same thing by The Spirit, declaring it to be finished IN CHRIST that Paul is describing in his epistles as well.

Now Revelation 21:4, " And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death..." Well, death you see as it is used here is the cause of sorrow and crying and weeping and wailing. That doesn’t mean that you’re not going to go to the funeral of a precious loved one and shed some emotional tears; the weeping and crying here is the anguish of the soul over death. That is taken away; it’s promised to be taken away. John here sees a relationship of a people with Christ, in Christ, who by that relationship are in the understanding and comprehension of that relationship. What he is calling a city is a people who are in a divine relationship with Christ. This is fulfilled no other place but with Christ and His Body, The Church. That’s not the building sitting on a corner that everybody insists on calling The Church; not that organization, and no, not that system. But rather, that Living Reality, that Living Expression of Jesus Christ that is coming forth in the earth through a people who are walking in The Light as He is in The Light. That’s The Church! That’s The Church I love, that’s The Church to whom I minister, and that’s The Church for whom I will gladly lay down my life. Oh, how I love The Church of The Lord Jesus Christ. It is seen in expression of Himself.

Now, "...there shall be no more death..." See, all this is read by most as something in the future, but it is not. It is an emphatic declaration concerning the reality of the present. Look at 2 Timothy 1:9,10, " Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling..." Immediately that holy calling takes us right to Revelation 21. "...not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began." You might want to compare this to Ephesians 1:3-14, and it simply shows that God planned all of this to be fulfilled in Christ, in His Son before the world ever began. The plan was already purposed, perfected, set forth and in God’s heart - fulfilled IN HIS SON, to be expressed, made manifest in a people called His Body, The Church. Every scripture ever written points to that fulfillment. God’s dealings with Adam and Noah and creation points to that fulfillment. His dealings with Abraham and Isaac was in view of that prearranged fulfillment. His dealings with Israel were all pointing to, and in the order of that which He had already determined to be in His Son. The whole of the Old Covenant, The Old Testament scriptures is a type and a shadow, and a testimony of what God would do by His Son.

I am simply declaring to you the Gospel, and the Gospel says what God hath declared to do, He hath done; and He hath done that in The Person and in the reality of His Son! 2 Timothy 1:10, "But is now made manifest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, who HATH abolished death, and HATH brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Remember John 11:25-26, "Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live; And whosoever liveth, and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?" Revelation 22:1, " And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb." Compare that to John 7:37-39, "In the last day, that great day of the feast. Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive; for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.)"

Are you telling me that when John wrote this letter of The Revelation of Jesus Christ that Jesus was not yet glorified; or rather, was he declaring The Truth that the prophets had promised, and that Jesus had fulfilled in his death, burial and resurrection, and in His coming at Pentecost and in His dwelling in His own City, The Body of Christ, The Church of The Living God? If that is in the future, then Jesus is not yet glorified! Are you going to tell me that He is not yet glorified? Yes, He is glorified at the right hand of The Father, and according to the 17^th chapter of the gospel of John verses 21 onward, HE IS GLORIFIED IN HIS PEOPLE, whom He had made to be one with Himself. That is His Body, The Church!

Now Revelation 21:7, "He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son." Look at Galatians 3:24-28, and most every epistle that Paul writes. "Wherefore the law was our custodian (schoolmaster) to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a custodian. For ye are all the sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond not free, there is neither male nor female; for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." John is seeing ONE in the Revelation of Jesus Christ. He is seeing that One in the midst of the seven golden candlesticks, he is seeing that One in the midst of creation, he is seeing that One in the midst of the Throne, he is seeing that One ruling and reigning over his enemies, and bringing them to absolute destruction that war against The Cross, and he is seeing that One made manifest in The City of God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, The Bride, The Lamb’s Wife. He is seeing ONE - not many, but ONE, revealed in One Body, in One Church, in One City! This is what John is seeing. This is what John is declaring, and he is declaring this reality to The Church. He is not declaring this reality as being somewhere where The Church is "going", but Who and What The Church IS in divine relationship with Her Head, Who is The Indwelling Christ of The Living God!

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." This corresponds to the prophecy of Isaiah 65:17, " For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered nor come into mind." 2 Corinthians 5:17-18, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature (and more properly translated "he is a new world"): old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." Where is this? IN CHRIST!! Where is John looking in Revelation 21:1? IN CHRIST! He is seeing all things as they are IN CHRIST! He is seeing The Church as it is in Christ, he is seeing you and I as we are in Christ, he is seeing heaven, New Jerusalem, the Holy City of God as it is IN CHRIST - being made manifest on the earth. Oh yes, vs. 18, "And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation." That’s what John is seeing in Revelation 21 and 22. He is seeing effectively the ministry of The Church, the ministry of reconciliation.

That completes the verses for the first point in our outline - Jerusalem, The Holy City is a people, and has always stood for a people. Old Jerusalem stood for a people, the spiritual condition of that people, the welfare of that people, the strength of that people, the identity of that people. And New Jerusalem is a people as well. But New Jerusalem is a people who are in the GOOD of what God desired for the old, set forth as a type and a shadow in the old, and prophesied by all the prophets, that it would be fulfilled in a people - a New Jerusalem, a New Heaven and a New Earth. These are not materialistic things; they never have been. They weren’t then, they aren’t now. The scripture has never used them that way. Old Israel has become New Covenant Israel - a New Covenant in Christ Jesus, a new circumcision - not of the flesh, but of the heart!

We have come from the old to the New. We have come from the old heaven and old earth; that is the former spiritual condition of natural Israel, to this latter, this new spiritual condition of a people in Christ - a New Heaven and a New Earth. It is out from that Heaven and that Earth, that spiritual condition that there comes forth an expression of a divine relationship called The City; but more than that, it is called The Bride, His Wife. New Jerusalem, as a REALITY IN CHRIST answers to all of God’s statements and promises. That New Jerusalem is in fact The Church in her divine relationship to Christ as Bride and Wife.