New Jerusalem –The Eternal Bethel புதிய எருசலேம்.. நித்திய பெத்தேல்

 

New Jerusalem –The Eternal Bethel

Key verses-Genesis 28:10-22, John 1:51, 14:6,

I Timothy3:15, Revelatio21:3, 22, Matthew18:10

New Jerusalem is the city where man and God find rest (Rev21:2.).

Abraham was looking for this city, which was not built by human hands (Hebrews11:10).

New Jerusalem is not built with the materials of the old creation.

All its materials come from the new creation that is resurrection life. Man is made out of dust but the new creation makes him a “living stone”.

Christ called Simon, a man made out of dust ‘Peter,’ which means a stone.

In Genesis we find a garden, a river and the tree of life.

In Revelation we have a city, a river and the tree of life. God’s goal is to build a city where he could dwell with man and rest. Man in God and God in man mingle together in this celestial city. In Genesis we have a couple, Adam and Eve. In Revelation 22:17 we see the Spirit and the Bride. God is the Spirit and the Bride is seen with Him there. In Genesis we can find gold, pearl and precious stones in the Garden of Eden. New Jerusalem is built with pearls, gold and precious stones. The rejected, precious, tested corner stone, Christ is the foundation of this city, on which the building is built with the living stones, the regenerated children of God. In Corinthians 3^rd chapter we find some people, who try to build with grass, wood and straw. Grass, wood and straw represents the natural man, whereas pearl and precious stones symbolize the new creation in resurrection.

When the angel tells John that he would show him the Bride of the Lamb, he shows the New Jerusalem descending from heaven (Rev21:9-10). Compare this verse with

I Peter2:4-5 and I Corinthians 3:9. From this it is clearly understood that the Bride of the Lamb, the assembly is the celestial city, where in God dwells eternally. We become the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:9-10). Compare with Matthew12:28, Luke10:9, 11; 11:20 where Christ says to the disciples that the Kingdom of God has come to them.

JACOB’S DREAM: In times of suffering dreams come. (Ecclesiastes5:3).Though Jacob was foreknown and elected, he suffered because he sought after the blessings in his own way. Choosing one’s own way and doing his will is similar to that of eating the fruit of the tree of knowledge. In every believer’s life, the tree of life (doing God’s will) versus the tree of knowledge (doing one’s own will). The effects of choosing the tree of knowledge in Jacob’s life are as follows;

1) Jacob was out of the place of God’s blessing. He is in Haran now. (Genesis26:3)

2) He was without an altar (Hosea3:4-5).

3) He gained an evil name (Genesis31:1; Romans 2:17-24).

4) His daughter was molested.

But he was under the covenant care of the Lord (Genesis28:13-15; Romans11:1, 25-31). Ultimately he was brought back by the Lord (Genesis31:3; 35:1-4; Ezekiel 37:21-23)

Most heavenly visions come in time of suffering, when we are cut off from what is of man and put our trust in what is of God.(Genesis28:10-12).

The centre of every spiritual dream is Christ ,the ladder, the one who brings heaven to earth and joins earth to heaven.(John1:51).Ladder indicates traffic, fellowship. Jacob’s dream in Genesis28 is the most crucial word in the revelation of God. The rungs of the ladder are the love of the Father, grace of Christ and fellowship of the Holy Spirit. (2Corinthians13:14).Christ in His being the heavenly ladder at Bethel speaks to us how God desires to have a house on earth, constituted with His redeemed and transformed elect, that He may bring heaven to earth and join earth to heaven to make the two as one for eternity (John1:51; Genesis 28:10-22).

• In His humanity Christ became a joining ladder to join heaven (God) and earth (man) into one. (Genesis 28:12-17;John1:1,5)

• By His going through death and resurrection Jesus brought man into God (John14:6, 20).

• God, Christ and man are united (John14:20).

• Holy Spirit dwells with our spirit (Romans 8:11; Ephesians2:22).

• The building of God, House of God is the mutual abode of God and man. God’s home is man and vice versa. (Isaiah 66:1-2; I Corinthians 3:16; Psalms 90:1; John15:5; 14:23).

The main principle of God, regarding the house of God is that God is brought into us and we are brought into God. (Col 1:27;Gal 3:27;Rom 13:14).

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• God’s referring himself as the God of Abraham, God of Isaac implies that He will become the God of Jacob also (Genesis 28:13).

• God of Abraham-God of Justification.

• God of Isaac -God of Grace.

• God of Jacob -God of Transformation.

Transformation is done through the discipline of the transforming spirit (Romans 8:28-29; 12:2). Eventually the God of Jacob becomes the God of Israel (Genesis 33:20; Exodus5:1), the God of the transformed Jacob. (Galatians 6:16)

In eternity future the New Jerusalem will be standing in the whole universe as something uplifted toward the heaven upon which angelic family will ascend and descend to bring heaven to earth and join the earth to heaven for the divine traffic, the divine fellowship between God and man(II Corinthians 13:14).

God’s economy will consummate in such a ladder, a city and the city is an incorporation of God in man and man in God (Revelation 21:3, 22).

Whenever we turn to our spirit we sense Christ bringing God (Heaven) to us as the heavenly ladder (the Kingdom of Heaven is inside you.( Luke10:9,11;11:20). Thus, Christ as the heavenly ladder that joins us, the people on the earth to heaven, brings heaven to us.

-Ephesians 2:22

-II Timothy 4:22

- Acts 7:55-56

Whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter through the gate of heaven and touch the throne of grace in heaven through Christ, as the heavenly ladder (Hebrews 4:16). One end of the ladder is on the earth and the other end is seen in the sanctum sanctorum, as the Lord is standing there. (See Fig-2).

As the duplication of Christ, we are a heavenly ladder bringing heaven to earth and joining earth to heaven moving with God in the unshakable power of the spirit(S.S 3:6)

When we minister Christ to sinners, they will appreciate Christ and receive Him. This is to bring heaven to earth (Romans 15:15, 16).

When we help them to grow we are joining them to heaven (Colossians 1:28-29).

In the account of Jacob’s dream,

• The Stone (Genesis28:11,18,22),

• The Pillar (Genesis28:18),

• The House of God (Genesis28:17,19,22) and

• The Oil (Genesis 28:18) are the outstanding items.

The stone symbolizes Christ as the Foundation stone, the Top stone and the Corner stone for God’s building. (Isaiah28:16; Zechariah 4:7; Acts 4:10-12).

It also symbolizes transformed man, who has been constituted with Christ as the transforming element to be the material for the building of God’s house, which is the church consummating in the New Jerusalem.(1Cor3:9;1Pet2:5;Eph2:20-22; Col2:7;Genesis 2:12; Matthew 16:18;John1:42; I Corinthians 3:12 ; Rev21:11,18-20)

* Jacob used a stone for the pillow, signifying that the Christ whom we have experienced and on whom we rest becomes the material and support for God’s building, God’s house.(I kings 7:17,21; Galatians 2:9; Revelation 3:12)

* Eventually Jacob poured oil, a symbol of the Spirit as the consummation of the triune God reaching man (Exodus 30:23-30; Luke 4:18) on the pillar and it became Bethel, the house of God (Genesis 28:17-19, 22).The Pillar and the base of the truth is the church, which is the House of the Living God. The pillar is a symbol of the overcomer (Rev3:12).James, Cephas, and John were reputed to be pillars in the early church.(Gal2:9).

It would be worth to remember the two pillars in Solomon’s temple namely Jachin (The Lord will establish) and Boaz(In Him is strength).(1Kings7:21).

Today in the church life we are in the reality of Bethel, in fulfillment of Jacob’s dream with the heavenly ladder, the stone, the pillar, God’s house and the oil. This will consummate in the New Jerusalem, as the eternal Bethel, the eternal House of God.

(1 Timothy3:15; Revelation 21:3, 22).

. The House of God is constituted of God and man united, mingled and incorporated together as one. (John14:23; 1John 4:15-16; Acts17:24)

In God’s House God expresses Himself in humanity and both God and man find mutual and eternal satisfaction and rest. (Psalm132:13-14).

Message In A Nutshell

Jacob’s dream is a further revelation of Abraham’s vision of the city, which has the foundations, whose Architect and Builder is God (Heb11:10).

Christ is the ladder enabling man to reach God. The rungs of the ladder are the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ , the love of the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit.(2Cor13:14). Bethel, the House of God, is the Assembly. The Stone, used as a pillow is Christ on whom we rest. It is also the symbol of the believers, the living stones. The concept implied here is that any tired soul should find rest when it leans on the stone, the believer. The pillar anointed with oil represents the house of God, which is the church of the Living God, the pillar and base of the truth. (1Tim3:15).It becomes Bethel. New Jerusalem is eternal Bethel where God and man find rest. Pillar is a symbol of the overcomer (Rev3:12), like James, Cephas and John (Gal 2:9).

We are also the ladder, when we minister Christ to sinners. God bless you.

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