The New Jerusalem

A certain sect, who falsely call themselves Jews, who say they keep the commandments of God, and so forth, claim that the new Jerusalem consists of material gold and precious stones, and is constructed in "the glorious land above the sky," where also the Catholics claim to have their father-house, also built of gold.

But Paul refutes this when he reasons concerning both the old and the new Jerusalem, saying:

"For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bond-maid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which hath an husband. Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are the children of promise."—Gal. 4:22-28.

The Jews followed Joshua, Zerubbabel, and Nehemiah out of their seventy year captivity in Babylon for the purpose of rebuilding the prefiguring Jerusalem. But now the promises are to be fulfilled, and the "daughter Jerusalem" is to give birth to her children. This Jerusalem is "the mother of us all." It is "above" all—thus it comes into being by the Logos-power of God, appearing by virtue of the personification of the promises in flesh. There can be no doubt as to whether the mother of the children of God belongs to the house of the Father.

Jesus showed this Jerusalem—the mother of the children—to his servant John, and John said that it constitutes the "foursquare" of the new creation which is to be brought forth:

"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. 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."—Rev. 21:1-4.

This view into the future tells us that the holy city is the bride that is prepared for her husband; but she does not become visible until the earth has been prepared to receive her, whom the angel calls "the Lamb's wife." (Verses 9 and 10.) If anyone should belong to the Father's house, it must naturally be the mother, by whom the children of the house come into existence. But how can the promise be personified in corruptible human beings and these in turn be formed into a heavenly city and the bride of Christ? Here is where faith comes in.

Jesus said, "Believe in God, believe also in me."

And Paul interprets this, the new covenant work of atonement and faith, as follows:

"In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the richness of his grace; wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he bath purposed in himself: that in the dispensation of the fullness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him."—Eph. 1:7 10.

He says that the Spirit is given us as "the earnest" of our inheritance, until Christ redeems his possessions and combines the things in heaven with the things on earth. The gospel speaks of this Father's house; and Mark writes concerning "the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God; as it is written in the prophets," upon which was founded "the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."

From this it will be clearly seen that this house, "the pillar and ground of the truth," is the city which God commenced to build through Abraham—put together, or "built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets," where the corner stone of the building is Jesus Christ himself.

It is written concerning this city, which Abraham waited for, and the beginning of which he saw in Isaac:

"By faith he [Abraham] sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God… These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth… But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God: for he hath prepared for them a city."—Heb. 11:9 16.

The holy city was promised as the city of gladness, or the capital city of the new world.

Jehovah says,

"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 forever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying." (Isa. 65:17-19.)

Thus it is a new creation.

The road leading into this city is the road of faith which Jesus opened, and which leads out from rules and commandments. There the Word, formed under the rules of the law, shoots forth in a new growth which reaches all the way through the wall of the city to the foursquare.

John says,

"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, having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; and had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: on the east three gates; on, the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb."—Rev. 21:10-14.

This wall, insurmountable to undesirables, surrounds the Father's house, the holy city. The wall has twelve portals, or gates, and the names of the twelve tribes of Israel are engraved thereon. This shows from how far back through the ages to how far in the future it extends, and proves that no one can enter through the gates in the wall unless he go the way of the promises, and the way of the circumcision of the heart, forward, to the righteous God of Israel, which road Abraham and all these tribes have traveled. The gates extend to the east, north, south, and, west. This designates the route these tribes have had to go during the 3,800 years that God will then have labored on the development of this Logos-city.

Jehovah corroborates this in the following words which he spoke to Jacob:

"And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And, behold, the Lord stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed; and thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south: and in thee and in thy seed shall all the families of the earth be blessed."—Gen. 28:12-14.

Notice carefully that Jehovah first showed him a ladder that extended up (forward) to (the future) heaven, and then he spoke these prophetic words to him. When Christ returns and unites the whole of the saved family through the work of the resurrection, he will gather these scattered tribes from the east, north, south, and west. The seed of Abraham will then have become as numerous as the stars in heaven, and will then have extended over the whole earth. The wall surrounding the new Jerusalem will therefore extend over all countries where the family of Jacob has labored, where this family under oppression and disappointment has waited for the King of righteousness to give it reparation.

Salvation is founded on faith, not on written laws and rules, since no commandments existed when Jehovah made the covenant of promises with Abraham. Abraham looked through the future to the day of Christ, and all the prophets and apostles have done likewise. The promises given to Abraham represent the foundation of the faith of us all. Both the wall and the city are given birth to by virtue of the promises. The apostles attained nearer to the throne of the Father because of the greater significance of the time in which they lived, the circumstances of which time demanded greater sacrifices of them than Abraham was called upon to make. By virtue of this proximity to God their names have been placed in the twelve foundations of the city wall. Here we must notice that in the time of the new covenant the requirements of the atonement system penetrate farther into the very lives of the individuals than in the prefiguring 1900 year period ending at the first advent of Christ.

In what manner does Christ prepare room in the Father's house for the apostles and for us?

He made a promise, saying,

"And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself." (John 14:3.)

When it requires 3,800 years in all for the perfection of the plan of atonement by which the Father's house is built and occupied, and this period is divided in two parts as Abraham was made to divide the sacrifices, it will naturally follow that only one-half of the work was accomplished at the end of the first 1900 year period. It was therefore necessary to provide for another similar age in order to complete the building of faith, the specifications for which are contained in the Divine Dual Plan. And it is through this extension of the age that Christ prepares room in the building even for us.

The foreshadow, which reveals the foundation of his promise, must here instruct us.

When king David had assembled Israel, and had admonished his son Solomon before the elders that he should serve the God of righteousness, he gave him, with Jehovah's sanction, the commission to construct the prefigure of the building of faith which was to bear the name of Jehovah. We read as follows:

"Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern [or drawing] of the porch, and the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things… and for the altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this, said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern."—1 Chron. 28:11 19.

The most noteworthy of all respecting this plan was the fact that even though the different parts of the building were prepared in widely separated places, both inside and outside the territory of Israel, every piece fit so perfectly in the place determined by the great superior Architect, that the sound of a hammer was not heard when it was built.

The testimony is:

"And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building."—1 Kings 6:7.

From this it will be clearly seen that God had a higher purpose in view than that revealed by the prefigure. When we understand that the symbols John saw—the gold and the precious stones in the new Jerusalem—represent the personified gold of faith and the beautiful wisdom of God, it is possible for us to comprehend how the great Master-builder is to make for himself a ruling-ark made up of the children of faith—a living capital city, which will so resemble him in love, virtue, and good deeds, that it will become the bride of the Prince.

The foresquare.

The description of the city shows that it is not made of dead material, like the foursquare castles of kings and emperors, because its height is the same as its length and breadth:

"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. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass."—Rev. 21:16-18.

"The twelve thousand furlongs" remind us of the "sealed twelve thousand" of each of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel referred to in Rev. 7. And he measured the wall of the city to be "an hundred and forty and four cubits." The angel says that these prepared parts of the city have received their glorious garments in the "great tribulation," and number 144,000. They had the name of the Lamb and of the Father written in their foreheads, and they "were redeemed from the earth… being the first fruits unto God and to the Lamb."

The holy city, the new Jerusalem, came down from heaven. Paul was given to know how the glorious company of saints is to come down from heaven.

He says that the dead who have died in Christ, who belong to the first resurrection, shall come up out of their graves first, and that

"we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." (1 Thes. 4:13-17.)

No hammer blows are heard here. Where do they go afterwards? John saw even more—he saw the whole company come down from heaven to the new earth.

Ezekiel was also permitted to glance at the day of the Son of man, and was permitted to see the resurrection. Thereupon he received careful instructions concerning the distribution of Jehovah's inheritance among the twelve tribes, which inheritance surrounds the Father's house, which thereafter bears the name, Jehovah-shamma—Jehovah hears—Jehovah is there—the throne of Jehovah is ready. The children will then experience that Jehovah has heard all their prayers—that he longed to have compassion on them.

Therefore it says that "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes." How glorious it will then be to be a member in the Father's house! Then the disciples will all have come forth out of their graves.

The Lord informs us through John that this city is

"the Lamb's wife." And

"the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it."

(Rev. 21:23, 24.)

"Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father."—Mat. 13:43.

Who would not desire to enjoy the rights of a child of God in this glorious home? But all must first have the name of the Father and the name of the Lamb written on their foreheads. May therefore none of our readers make a mistake respecting the right Father, or seek to evade the educational chastisement connected with the sealing-act and with the extension of time given for the development of the section that is to be constructed in our own time!