4. New Jerusalem; part 1

4. New Jerusalem; part 1.pdf

The New Jerusalem;
living in the new world where Christians want to be a part of

Introduction

In the previous newsletter, attention was paid to the two witnesses’ prophecy and the worldwide preaching work that will be done soon.
This newsletter is the first part of a scriptural description of the ‘Old’ Jerusalem with its Biblical backgrounds compared to the future “New” Jerusalem of Revelation.

The ‘old’ Jerusalem

In Scripture the ‘Old’ Jerusalem is called “the holy city”:

KJV (Nehemiah 11:18) 18 All the Levites in the holy city: two hundred eighty-four.

The mountains of Jerusalem, Zion (City of David), Moriah (Temple Mount), Akra, Bezetha and the Mount of Olives (ascension).

The Gihon source in Jerusalem; this source was necessary in those biblical days to have water available all year around, even in dry periods.
The pond of Siloam, which received water from the Gihon source was a water reservoir located in the southeast of the city of Jerusalem.

.        Gihon source

.       Siloam pond

What is the history of the ‘old’ Jerusalem?
Ezekiel describes how God has raised Jerusalem at that time from an out cast city to a city for his property:

KJV (Ezekiel 16: 3,8) 3 And say, Thus saith the Lord GOD unto Jerusalem; Thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of Canaan; thy father was an Amorite, and thy mother an Hittite….8 …yea, I sware unto thee, and entered into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord GOD, and thou becamest mine.

Jerusalem, according to the Scriptures, has its origins in the Canaanite city of Salem.
From Psalm 76 it appears, that Salem represents the city of Jerusalem:

KJV (Psalm 76: 1-2) 1 In Judah is God known: his name is great in Israel.2 In Salem also is his tabernacle, and his dwelling place in Zion.

Salem is a city that is also mentioned ‘peace’ in the Scriptures, where Melchizedek was king-priest:

KJV (Hebrews 7: 1-2) 1 For this Melchisedec, king of Salem, priest of the most high God, who met Abraham returning from the slaughter of the kings, and blessed him; 2 To whom also Abraham gave a tenth part of all; first being by interpretation King of righteousness, and after that also King of Salem, which is, King of peace;

Jerusalem is one of the oldest cities in the world. In Scripture, Jerusalem is first mentioned during the meeting between Abraham and Melchizedek. (Genesis 14: 18-20 +/- 1940 BC).
The priesthood of Melchizedek was a model for Israel’s priests:

KJV (Psalm 110: 4) 4 The LORD hath sworn, and will not repent, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchizedek.

The Christ as high priest is a priest after the model of Melchizedek:

KJV (Heb. 5: 4-6) 4 And no man taketh this honour unto himself, but he that is called of God, as was Aaron.5 So also Christ glorified not himself to be made an high priest; but he that said unto him, Thou art my Son, to day have I begotten thee. 6 As he saith also in another place, Thou art a priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.

Mount Zion

Zion is the name of the mountain in southeastern Jerusalem, on which the fortress was built by King David:

KJV (2 Samuel 5: 7,9) 7 Nevertheless David took the strong hold of Zion: the same is the city of David. …9 So David dwelt in the fort, and called it the city of David….

The house of the kings, the fortress of David, is in Scripture seen as the legislative place.
The house for the priests, the temple on Mount Moriah, is in Scripture seen as the religious place.

KJV (Isa. 2: 3) 3 …… for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.

Mount Moriah

Abraham was ordered by God to sacrifice his son Isaac on one of the mountains in the land of Moriah.

KJV (Genesis 22: 2) 2 And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of..

Abraham leaves from the neighborhood from Beersheba and then he had to travel more than 2 days (on foot):

KJV (Genesis 22: 4) 4 Then on the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes, and saw the place afar off.

Apparently, the land of Moriah has been the mountainous region around Jerusalem.
The mountain where Abraham had to sacrifice Isaac, must be – according to Jewish sources – the Mount Moriah, the Temple Mount.
The Muslims built ‘the golden Dome of the Rock’ across the sacrificial rock of Abraham, it is not a mosque.
The Temple Mount is – in accordance with the Scriptures – the place where stood the 1st Temple built by Solomon, as well as where the 2nd temple stood that was built by Governor Zerubbabel and Joshua and later rebuilt by Herod.
Sion or Zion, where the fortress of David stood, became a ‘special’ holy mountain of God when King David brought the Ark of the Covenant to move there:

KJV (2 Sam. 6:17) 17 And they brought in the ark of the LORD, and set it in his place, in the midst of the tabernacle that David had pitched for it: and David offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

KJV (Psalm 2: 6) 6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.

.                                                       Ark of the Covenant

God’s presence is as seated between the two cherubim on top of the cover of the Ark of the Covenant:

KJV (Exodus 25:22) 22 And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat, from between the two cherubims which are upon the ark of the testimony, of all things which I will give thee in commandment unto the children of Israel.

With the completion of construction of the 1st temple by Solomon, the time had come to bring the Ark of the Covenant:

KJV (1 Kings 8: 1,6,10) 1 Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of the LORD out of the city of David, which is Zion….6 And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of the LORD unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims….10 And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of the LORD,

By moving the ark from Sion to Moria, the biblical name ‘Sion’ or ‘Zion’ appears not only to include Mount Sion but also Mount Moriah:

KJV (Isaiah 8:18) 18 Behold, I and the children whom the LORD hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel from the LORD of hosts, which dwelleth in mount Zion.

The promised priest-king

God will send a King, a descendant from the tribe of David. He is mentioned in Jeremiah 23 ‘Sprout’, a Branch from Jesse (the father of King David) as written in Isaiah 11:

HerzSt (Jerem.23: 5) 5 5 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I for David will raise up a righteous Sprout. He will reign as king and act wisely, he shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

KJV (Isa. 11: 1-3) 1 And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: 2 And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; 3 And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

This “just” Sprout, upon whom the Spirit of God rests and who will judge righteous can be none other than Jesus. Jesus is the root and the offspring in the line of David:

KJV (Op. 22:16) 16 I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify unto you these things in the churches. I am the root and the offspring of David, and the bright and morning star.

In the above Scriptures, the word ‘tsemach’ stands for ‘Sprout’, which means shooting or sprouting, which means a new branch of a plant or a seed.
That the Sprout, the Lamb of God, will judge is also written in Zechariah 3.
Revelation 5 confirms that this righteous judgment is possible by the seven Spirits of God sent forth over all the earth:

KJV (Zechariah 3: 8,9) 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH. 9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

KJV (Revelation 5: 6) 6 And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth.

This Sprout (Jesus) will be – according to Zechariah – both King as Priest, such as Melchizedek also was (see Heb. 5: 4-6). The Sprout shall also build the temple of God:

KJV (Zechariah 6: 12-13) 12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: 13 Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

The promised new holy city

God promises us in Jeremiah that a new city will come, a city of justice.
And this city will be called: YHWH is our righteousness:

KJV (Jeremiah 33: 14-16) 14 Behold, the days come, saith the LORD, that I will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the house of Israel and to the house of Judah. 15 In those days, and at that time, will I cause the Branch of righteousness to grow up unto David; and he shall execute judgment and righteousness in the land. 16 In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The LORD our righteousness.

Although ancient Jerusalem also was a holy city, the new city will be, concerning justice, completely different:

KJV (Matthew 4: 5) 5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,

KJV (Isaiah 1:26) 26 And I will restore thy judges as at the first, and thy counsellors as at the beginning: afterward thou shalt be called, The city of righteousness, the faithful city.

The new city of Jerusalem will not grant access to unrepentant sinners and strangers shall not pass through it:

KJV (Isaiah 52: 1) 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.

KJV (Joel 3: 17,18) 17 So shall ye know that I am the LORD your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain: then shall Jerusalem be holy, and there shall no strangers pass through her any more.

18 And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the LORD, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

Joel 3 and Ezekiel 47 describe the same source that flows from the temple as the source described in Rev. 22:

KJV Ezekiel 47:12) 12 And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.

KJV (Revelation 22: 1-2) 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. 2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.

During the exile of the Jews in Babylon, Ezekiel received an extraordinary vision for a city on a very high mountain. Jerusalem with its 1st temple was in fact completely destroyed 14 years earlier:

KJV (Ezekiel 40: 1,2) 1 In the five and twentieth year of our captivity, in the beginning of the year, in the tenth day of the month, in the fourteenth year after that the city was smitten, in the selfsame day the hand of the Lord was upon me, and brought me thither. 2 In the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain, by which was as the frame of a city on the south.

The heavenly Jerusalem

What is the heavenly Jerusalem?
The heavenly Jerusalem is described as the heavenly mother.

KJV (Galatians 4: 25-26) 25 For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. 26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

KJV (Hebrews 12: 22) 22 But ye (Moses on mount Horeb) are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

So, the heavenly Jerusalem is a heavenly organization of tens of thousands of God’s angels with their duties. Since the creation, there is in heaven a temple on the (heavenly) mount Zion:

KJV (Revelation 14: 1) 1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

It goes without saying that such descriptions are not material items but symbolic descriptions.
In the heavenly temple, in the most sacred, the symbolic Ark of the Covenant is seen according to Rev. 11:19 :

ESV (Rev. 11:19) 19 Then God’s temple in heaven was opened, and the ark of his covenant was seen within his temple. There were flashes of lightning, rumblings,[d] peals of thunder, an earthquake, and heavy hail.

In the ark were the two stone tablets of the covenant, the budded staf of Aaron, and a jar with manna.
We can read about this manna again in Rev. 2:17:

KJV (Rev. 2:17) 17 He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna,……

In that temple is also found the throne of God:

KJV (Rev. 7: 9,15) 9 After this I looked, and behold, a great multitude that no one could number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands,…… 15 Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple;… ..

There is also located a golden altar before the throne:

KJV (Revelation 8: 3) 3 And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne,

After the two witnesses prophecy, the heavenly Father will govern as King. (Revelation 11: 15-17)
God’s promised kingdom has finally commenced.

KJV (Daniel 2:44) 44 And in the days of those kings the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that shall never be destroyed, nor shall the kingdom be left to another people. It shall break in pieces all these kingdoms and bring them to an end, and it shall stand forever,

Then it says in Revelation, that this heavenly woman – the organization of the heavenly Jerusalem with its myriads of angels – gives birth to a male child:

KJV (Revelation 12: 5-6) 5 She gave birth to a male child, one who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron, but her child was caught up to God and to his throne, 6 and the woman fled into the wilderness, where she has a place prepared by God, in which she is to be nourished for 1,260 days.

The ‘symbolic’ newborn child can be nothing but the newborn ‘New’ heavenly Jerusalem, the new heavenly city with the foundation stones of the Apostles and Jesus as head corner stone foundation. (Ephesians 2: 19-20) (1 Peter 2: 6) (Revelation 21:14)
The New Jerusalem is a new organization, a new kingdom-organization together with the Saints:

KJV (Revelation 20: 4) 4 Then I saw thrones, and seated on them were those to whom the authority to judge was committed. Also I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus and for the word of God, and those who had not worshiped the beast or its image and had not received its mark on their foreheads or their hands. They came to life and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.

This organizational shift with saints in heaven as ‘kings’ is very significant and is therefore aptly compared to childbirth.

The New Jerusalem

That the newborn child, a son, is called a male child (Rev. 12: 5) indicates, that there is much strength out of this new organization.
There will be no temple in the heavenly New Jerusalem, God and the Lamb are the temple. (Rev. 21: 22)
The New Jerusalem thus becomes the new heavenly abode of God and the Lamb.
Revelation describes the dimensions of the New Jerusalem:

KJV (Revelation 21: 15-16) 15 And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16 The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia. Its length and width and height are equal.

A stadium = +/- 185m The circumference is according to Rev. 21:16 12,000 stadia = +/- 2220km
The length / width / height = +/- 555km, the city is a cube.
In the description of the New Jerusalem, a conjugation of the number 12 is frequently used, such as e.g. the 12 ports. In Scripture the number 12 is found mainly in organizations such as the 12 tribes and the 12 apostles.

In Solomon’s Temple, the Holy of Holiest was also a cube:

KJV (1 Kings 6: 19-20) 19 The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. 20 The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high,…..

The new city is a cube with a height of +/- 555 km.
No literal city could ever have such dimensions.
After the dragon – Satan – is hurled down to earth, he persecuted the heavenly woman (the Angels organization) which has special duties on earth. (Op. 12:13)
This heavenly New Jerusalem will reign 1,000 years over all Christians who are taken to heaven:

KJV (Rev. 20: 4-5.) 4 …… and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. 5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

What follows after 1,000 years:
The other deceased people are raised only after a thousand years. (Rev. 20: 5).
They will be judged according to the Book of Life. Whose name is not written in the Book of Life, will be thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev.20:11-15)
Satan will then be released, will deceive many more and will also be thrown into the lake of fire. (Rev. 20:10)

The New Jerusalem will descend to earth

And then comes the big news; This new heavenly Jerusalem will descend to the new earth:

KJV (Revelation 21: 2-3) 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. 3 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.

If the New Jerusalem has coming down from heaven, then God is with men, and will wipe every tear from their eyes and death shall be no more. (Rev. 21: 4)
And with the rising up of the deceased people and the descent of the New Jerusalem to earth, the prophecy will be full filled, that the meek shall inherit the earth.

KJV (Matthew 5: 5) 5 blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.
We also read in Rev. 21: 3 that God’s tabernacle will be among the people. God’s tabernacle can mean nothing else as God’s temple, God’s house, as was mentioned in the book of Exodus chapter 25-27 , which was given to Moses.
In heaven the New Jerusalem did not need a temple:

KJV (Revelation 21: 22-23) 22 And I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it; for the glory of God gave it light, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

In heaven, the New Jerusalem is – as we have seen – a cube, a complete Holy of Holies.
But this symbolic city will descend away from God, from heaven to earth and there, the physical temple with its Most Holy will be necessary for the worship:

KJV (Revelation 21:10) 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God,

God will be well represented in the New Jerusalem on the New Earth, as God’s presence was depicted as between the cherubim on the cover of the Ark of the Covenant.
This physical temple should definitely be the glorious temple described in Ezekiel’s vision.

The temple vision of Ezekiel

Ezekiel is carried in a vision to a kind of town, a city as temple complex:

KJV (Ezekiel 40: 2) 2 In the visions of God brought He me into the land of Israel and set me upon a very high mountain, by which there was, as it were, the form of a city on the south.

Or as the vision was shown to John:

KJV (Revelation 21:10) 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the Holy Jerusalem, descending out of Heaven from God,

The house of God, the temple, will be exalted above the hills:

KJV (Micah 4: 1-4) 1 But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established in the top of the mountains; and it shall be exalted above the hills, and people shall flow unto it. 2 And many nations shall come and say, “Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob. And He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths.” For the law shall go forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. 3 And He shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off. And they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. 4 But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and none shall make them afraid; for the mouth of the Lord of hosts hath spoken it…. .. (See also Isaiah 2: 1-4)

Micah and also Isaiah provide information about the time of the house of the Lord, the new temple.
This can be read to begin with in verse 1, “the last days”, but especially in verse 3, “the judgments of the nations.”
That judgment of the nations is namely a match with Revelation 20: 12-13:

KJV (Revelation 20: 12-13) 12 And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and the books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them; and they were judged every man according to their works.

The judgment in Revelation will occur after the great war at Har-Magedon (Rev. 19: 19-21), and after Satan is imprisoned in the abyss (Rev. 20: 1-3). Then the earth and heaven will be made new:

KJV (Revelation 21: 1-5) 1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no more sea. 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. 3 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. 4 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.” 5 And He that sat upon the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new”….

This new temple will have a much greater glory as the 2nd temple of Zerubbabel and Joshua:

KJV (Hagai 2: 2-3) 2 “Speak now to Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, governor of Judah, and to Joshua the son of Jehozadak, the high priest, and to the residue of the people, saying: 3 ‘Who is left among you who saw this house in her first glory? And how do ye see it now? Is this not in your eyes by comparison with it as nothing?

Everything the prophets have written will be fulfilled, or as Jesus said:

KJV (Matthew 5: 17-18) 17 “Think not that I am come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. 18 For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled.

KJV (Luke 24:25) 25 Then He said unto them, “O fools, and slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken!

The temple vision of Ezekiel stands in Scripture for a reason.
In this new creation, the temple will be built by Jesus, the Sprout, on the model which is described in Ezekiel’s vision. (Ezek. 40-48)
The temple described in Ezekiel’s vision will have a glory which will be even greater than the glory of the 1st Temple of Solomon:

KJV (Hagai 2:9) 9 ‘The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the former,’ saith the Lord of hosts. ‘And in this place will I give peace,’ saith the Lord of hosts.”

That house of God, that temple, will be the place of God’s throne:

KJV (Ezekiel 43: 7) 7 And He said unto me, “Son of man, the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever, and My holy name, shall the house of Israel no more defile, neither they nor their kings, by their whoredom nor by the carcasses of their kings in their high places.

In Ezekiel’s temple, the priests for the offerings are not all available Levites, only the sons of Zadok (Ezekiel 44:15, 48:11). The clothes and the service of priests differ significantly from the clothes in the previous temples. (Ezekiel 44 vs. Exodus 28). Compared to the 2nd temple of Zerubbabel, the dimensions are also different, as well as the described priest service, the various sacrifices and celebrate feasts such as Pentecost and the Day of Atonement. The name of the city, the New Jerusalem, will from then be: YHWH is there:

KJV (Ezekiel 48:35) 35 …… “And the name of the city from that day shall be: The Lord Is There.”

KJV (Jeremiah 3:17) 17 At that time they shall call Jerusalem the Throne of the Lord, and all the nations shall be gathered unto it, to the name of the Lord, to Jerusalem; neither shall they walk any more after the imagination of their evil heart.

KJV (Ezekiel 43: 7) 7 And He said unto me, “Son of man, the place of My throne and the place of the soles of My feet, where I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel for ever,…….

KJV (Revelation 22: 3) 3 And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him.

Jesus brought the perfect sacrifice during his martyrdom as the “Lamb of God”:

KJV (John 1:29) 29 The next day John saw Jesus coming unto him, and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world!

Still, bringing burnt offerings and peace offerings will be held again. (Ezekiel 43:27)
The new temple is for this purpose provided with slaughter tables and a sacrificial altar. (Ezekiel 40: 39-43)
The altar will be consecrated by the priests for seven days with sin offerings and burnt offerings. (Ezekiel 43: 20,26)

Regarding access, only those who are written in the Book of Life may enter this heavenly New Jerusalem:

KJV (Rev.21: 26-27) 26 and they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie, but only they that are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

The New Jerusalem on earth will be a kingdom of peace:

KJV (Isaiah 2: 4) 4 And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.

The new earth will also be peaceful:

KJV (Isaiah 11: 1-7) 1 And there shall come forth a Rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots. 2 And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him—the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord” 3 and shall make Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord; and He shall not judge after the sight of His eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of His ears. 4 But with righteousness shall He judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth; and He shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips shall He slay the wicked. 5 And righteousness shall be the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins. 6 “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. 7 And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together; and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.

Finally:

The heavenly New Jerusalem is still in the future, even more the New Jerusalem, coming down from God to earth with the new temple, built under the leadership of the Sprout.

However, we are – concerning the time line – yet on the eve of the two witnesses’ prophecy.
But there remain still questions about several Scriptures.
Such as: What does the word ‘new’ mean in the following Scriptures?

KJV (2 Peter 3:13) 13 Nevertheless we, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness.

KJV (Revelation 21: 5) 5 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 and faithful.”

Why must the New Jerusalem first function 1,000 years in heaven before it descends to the earth?
Why will the saints and the great multitude of Christians first be taken up to heaven, to return after a thousand years to the earth again?

These questions will be discussed in the next newsletter, in the second part.

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Bewaren

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