I want to show how the Bible
not only speaks about the need for the
church to affect our world, but also represents the cause for it and
symbolizes
how it occurs.
- How important
is this
note if there are so many explicit references to God's will for this as
well as
SYMBOLISM everywhere in the bible that speaks of this?
Let us continue last
week’s thought about the Church being the
City, New Jerusalem.
Recall the most
explicit statement to this end as follows:
Heb 12:22-23 KJV
But ye are come
unto mount Sion, and unto the
city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable
company
of angels, (23) 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,
We believers have come to the
church of the firstborn, otherwise
known as the City of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.
We not only have
come to the church, but, by the same token, we read
that we have come to the Heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God.
- That may ruin a lot of nice songs in our hymn books, but we
need to stand on the bible, and not songs.
In our texts tonight, we read
of God appearing to John with the
appearance of JASPER and SARDINE stone.
- A sardine stone is SARDIUS.
- And then in the same
book we read of the walls of the New Jerusalem appearing as JASPER.
- The same appearance of
God's glory was the appearance of the walls of the City!
- You could say that the
walls of the city, which outsiders see when looking at it, having the
same
appearance as God's glory, would cause one to have the idea that the
city was sort of an image of God.
John saw God as
jasper.
Now, nobody has ever
actually seen God at any time.
John 1:18 KJV
No man hath seen God at any time; the only
begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.
1Jo 4:12 KJV No man hath seen God at any time. If we love
one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
And when John 1:18 notes that the Son in
the BOSOM -- in the LOVE of the Father - has declared Him, 1 John 4:12 adds to that.
- It
reads about us, saying that our association with the Father's love
likewise allows
people to THEREBY see God.
- While John 18 shows how
Jesus declared a God no one could see, since He was in the Father's
love, 1
John 4:12 involves us now, since Jesus has started the church.
- The church was not born
in the timeline of John 1's references to Jesus, and the church is not
mentioned there.
So, when John
saw with God's glory with the appearance of JASPER
and SARDIUS, we know this is a
symbolic thought of God.
- You actually
cannot see God.
Therefore, the
glorious jasper walls of the New City are also
symbolic.
- It is simply
showing
that God's Glory is REPRODUCED in the church.
- The representative jasper
appearance of God’s glory is seen when John looked at the city, for the
walls
are the outer part that John was able to see.
Last week we
showed that his next verse in Hebrew is actually understood
as saying “LET THERE BE LIGHT” when we
read, “Shine”.
Isa 60:1 KJV
Arise, shine;
for thy light is come, and the
glory of the LORD is risen upon thee.
SHINE literally means "LET
THERE BE LIGHT."
- Notice how ARISE is first mentioned.
- This refers to resurrection.
- We are dead in trespasses and sins before we
are saved.
- And when God saves us , He speaks for us to
resurrect and receive light.
And we read
all sorts of references to the people who receive this
LIGHT as being THE CITY in Isaiah 60 through 62.
Isa 60:14 KJV
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.
Physical Cities do
not have feet with soles.
Isa 62:12 KJV
And they shall call them, The holy
people,
The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city
not
forsaken.
And there are many verses
mentioned in Isaiah 60 through 62 that
are found to describe the New Jerusalem in Revelation 21.
- The city has no need for the sun nor moon.
- The gates are opened and the nations come to
the city.
- All of this is found in Revelation 21
regarding New Jerusalem.
- But in addition to the scriptures we showed
you last week, there are these words:
Isa 60:18 KJV
Violence shall no more be heard in thy land,
wasting nor destruction within thy borders; but thou shalt call
thy walls
Salvation, and thy gates Praise.
The walls are called SALVATION.
The Gates are called praise.
When God represented
His Church as a City with walls that have the
same appearance as God's glory did in Revelation, and those walls are
here
called SALVATION, we see a beautiful and powerful message.
- When God
shines on
someone with His glory, and that glory is reproduced upon such a
person, as
though they shine like Moses shone when he saw God's glory, THIS IS
SALVATION.
- The bible actually uses
this idea when speaking of a person's salvation.
Preaching the New Testament
Gospel, was described by Paul in these
words:
2Co 3:6 KJV
Who also hath made us able ministers of the
new testament; not of the letter, but of the spirit:
for the letter killeth,
but the spirit giveth life.
2Co 3:8 KJV How shall not the ministration of the
spirit
be rather glorious?
2Co 3:15-16 KJV But
even unto this day, when Moses is read,
the vail is upon their heart. (16) Nevertheless
when it
shall turn to the Lord,
the vail shall be taken away.
2Co 3:18 KJV But we all, with open face (NOT VEILED)
beholding as in a
glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory
to
glory, even as by the Spirit of
the Lord.
LET THERE BE LIGHT!
- The veil is removed from a believing HEART, and God's WORD
speaks LIGHT into the exposed heart.
This is Paul described
salvation, using the very same terms
Isaiah 60 used.
John 1:4-5 KJV
In him was life; and the life was the light
of men. (5) And
the
light shineth in darkness; and the
darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:9-13 KJV That was the true Light,
which
lighteth every man that cometh into the world.
(10) He was in the world, and
the
world was made by him, and the world knew him not.
(11) He came unto his own,
and his own received him not. (12) But as many as
received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of
God, even to them that
believe on his name: (13) Which were
born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the
will of man, but of God.
Jesus saves us - and that can
be spiritually described as
receiving light so that we receive power to become sons of God.
John 3:5-7 KJV
Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto
thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter
into the kingdom of God. (6) That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and
that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. (7) Marvel not that I said
unto
thee, Ye
must be born again.
You
must be BORN AGAIN!
- Being Born
again is
synonymous with being saved.
- Baptized in
water and baptized in Spirit.
His glory
shines on you and you
begin shining.
God must give
you everything you need in order to go to Heaven
one day.
- Rituals and
ceremonies
cannot do it.
- You have to open your
heart and allow God to do something in you.
- Signing a
membership book and shaking a pastor's hand does not get your name in
the Lamb's book of Life.
Recall that
the CITY in Isaiah 60 and 62 was what GOD'S PEOPLE were
called.
In the Old
Testament, His people was ISRAEL.
With this in mind,
watch the sequence of thought:
The city was
foursquare.
Rev
21:16 KJV And the city lieth
foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he
measured the city
with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and
the
height of it are equal.
Something else was
foursquare, with gold and precious stones.
Exo 28:15-16 KJV
And thou shalt make the breastplate
of
judgment with cunning work; after the work of the ephod thou
shalt make it; of
gold, of blue, and of purple, and of scarlet,
and of
fine twined linen, shalt thou make it. (16) Foursquare it
shall be being
doubled; a span shall be the length thereof, and a span shall
be
the breadth thereof.
This breastplate
worn by the High Priest of Israel was foursquare as
well.
On this breastplate were 12
gemstones with each one representing ONE
of the 12 tribes of Israel, with each tribe's name
on it.
Exo 28:21 KJV
And the stones
shall be with the names of the
children of Israel, twelve,
according to their names, like the engravings of
a signet; every one with his name shall they be according to the twelve
tribes.
And notice what the FIRST STONE
and the LAST STONE were called.
Exo 28:17-19 KJV
And thou shalt set in it settings of stones, even
four rows of stones: the first row shall be a sardius,
a topaz, and a carbuncle: this shall be the first row. (18) And the
second row shall be an emerald, a
sapphire, and a
diamond. (19) And
the third row a ligure, an agate, and an
amethyst. Exo 28:20 KJV
And the fourth row a beryl, and an onyx, and
a jasper: they shall be set in gold in their inclosings.
The first and the last were Sardius
and Jasper, the same two appearances that God had in Rev 4:3.
- He is the
First and the Last.
- But the PEOPLE OF GOD also
share that same idea as though the
glory of the first and the last are amongst them!
- GOD, the First and the
Last, SHINES in His people!
- The city also
had twelve foundations with the names of the apostles, and twelve gates
with the names of the Tribes of Israel.
Satan seems to be the one many
scholars consider as the king spoken of in Ezekiel 28.
- This may be entirely coincidental, with no point to be had,
but let me merely mention it:
- It is curious to see the 1st stone the sardius, and the 6th
stone the jasper, whereas the foundation of the city has the 1st stone
jasper and the 6th sardius.
- So opposite.
Eze 28:13 KJV Thou hast been in Eden the garden of God;
every precious stone was thy covering, the
sardius (first stone), topaz, and the
diamond, the beryl, the onyx, and the
jasper (6th stone), the sapphire, the emerald, and
the carbuncle, and gold: the workmanship of thy tabrets and of thy
pipes was
prepared in thee in the day that thou wast created.
Rev 21:19-20 KJV And the foundations
of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious
stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second,
sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald;
(20) The fifth, sardonyx; the
sixth, sardius;
the seventh,
chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a
chrysoprasus;
the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst.
At any rate, whether that has
significance or not, the devil is certainly the most contrary sort of
creature who was
meant to reflect the glory of God, but sought his own glory!
What is also interesting is
that
Isaiah 60 through 62 uses words that we showed explicitly are used to
describe
the New Jerusalem in Rev 21 through 22.
- But when it
speaks of the city that clearly prophesies of this NEW
Jerusalem, it calls this city simply by the name JERUSALEM.
Isa 62:6 KJV I have set watchmen upon thy walls, O
Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor
night: ye that
make mention of the LORD, keep not silence,
Isa 62:11 KJV Behold, the LORD hath proclaimed unto the end
of the world, Say ye to the daughter of
Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh;
behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him.
And daughter
of Zion.
- Old Jerusalem certainly was called DAUGHTER
OF ZION.
Zec 9:9 KJV Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O
daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto
thee: he is just, and having
salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of
an ass.
When Jesus
came to Jerusalem, we read:
Mat 21:4-5 KJV All this was done, that it might be fulfilled
which was spoken by the prophet, saying, (5) Tell ye the daughter of
Sion,
Behold, thy King cometh unto thee, meek, and sitting upon an ass, and a
colt
the foal of an ass.
But yet this
city that has
descriptions that are clearly indicated as prophecies of what the NEW
JERUSALEM would possess, is called simply Jerusalem and
Daughter of Zion in Isaiah.
- In other
words, THE NAMES GOD USED WITH NATURAL PEOPLE AND NATURAL
CITY located physically in the middle eastern part of the world, are
USED
interchangeably to speak of the New Jerusalem.
- A totally different Jerusalem!
- John explains that it is Jerusalem, alright,
BUT A NEW Jerusalem.
And recall that John said the
city is the bride adorned as a
bride.
Rev 21:2 KJV
And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband.
What was this bridal gown?
Isa 61:10 KJV
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD, my soul
shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed
me with the garments of
salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a
bridegroom
decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride
adorneth herself
with her jewels.
Garments of salvation are like
WALLS of salvation.
- They're what
people see when they look at us.
- God had to GIVE US
SALVATION!
- He had to give us righteousness.
- They are the jewels of
the BRIDE!
WALLS OF JASPER --
SALVATION.
Did you know
that jasper has been used in ancient buildings for
columns and those columns have stood for thousands of years without
barely a
bite from the tooth of time.!
Exo 15:2 KJV
The LORD is my strength
and song, and
he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will
prepare him an
habitation; my father's God, and I will exalt him.
Psa 27:1 KJV <A Psalm of David.> The LORD is
my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is
the strength
of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
The Name JESUS literally means "GOD IS
MY SALVATION!"
- Are you
CLOTHED in Jesus?
We affect our world when we allow God's Glory upon us to shine forth to
the dark world and thereby continue Jesus' ministry of lighting
everyone that comes into the world.
