[Jerold Aust] I got a question here I want to ask; how many times have you moved to a new or different residence? You don’t have to ask or rather raise your hands, or you don’t have to holler out and tell me. But how many times have you moved? My wife and I have moved 28 times over the past 55 years with help from our son and daughter. And most of those moves, we really enjoyed. I think I probably complain more than anyone else. The kids did well. Mary Ann’s always jumping in there and ready to go. So, we have made many, many moves. We’re not unhappy for all those moves because we’ve learned a lot. And we’ve been able to associate with a lot of God’s people over the years, been able to serve a lot of different of your brethren and mine. We like you are looking forward to a permanent residence.

I’ve heard from some brethren and I get this every once in a while and I ask them when I go to another area, I ask them, how long have you lived where you live today? Some people have told me, “I’ve lived here all my life in my home.” And I’m not talking to someone that was 13 or 14. They are probably 50, or 60, or 70 years of age. And they had an opportunity to live in the same residence all their lives and grew up in that particular house, and their parents grew up in that house as well. That happened on occasion. To us, that’s lala land, and definitely a future hope of a permanent residence.

This message this afternoon will go beyond the White Throne Judgment. And I appreciate very much Mr. Rick Beam’s message this morning. I thought it was very, very helpful, encouraging, uplifting. And he made it very clear about what the White Throne Judgment is all about. And that billions of people, multi-billions of people, are going to have their opportunity to have their day of salvation. So, if you think your church is a little small, just wait a little while it’s going be very big, really big. And the 1,000-year period will be millions and probably billions. But in the White Throne Judgment, of course, it’s going to be many, many billions.

So, this message this afternoon is going to go beyond the White Throne Judgment, which includes our future permanent residence. So, I have another question, if there is a permanent residence for God’s saints for all time, where is that final residence? And as importantly, at least to me, hope to you, is it possible for you and me to help Christ plan for our final residence... today? Is it possible for you and me to help Christ Jesus plan for our future residence this very day? Did you know that God actually reveals this amazing mystery to you and me? It’ll come a little bit later. We’ll get to that here in a few minutes.

Now, I’d like you to turn with me if you have your Bibles on your laps, wherever you might be holding them, and turn with me to Revelation 21. We will read three verses, the first three verses of Revelation 21. John, who is the scribe, he is not the author, he is scribe as you know, tells us that early on in Revelation 1. Christ Jesus, of course, is the author of the Book of Revelation.

John said, “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.” Well, you can go out here on the beach, and you can see plenty of S-E-A, sea. You can see that to your heart’s content. I see every once in a while when I’m looking out the window, I see a number of people who just actually go to the edge of the water and sit down and watch the sea. There will be none. You’re going to say, “Oh, man, I don’t think I want to be there.” Well, that’s not the way it’s going to be. You’re going to be so incredibly happy, dazzled by what God has prepared for you and me that you’re not going to worry about that whatsoever.

Continuing in verse 2, brethren, “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.’” So, God has been tabernacling, if you were chasing the sides of the North as you know and He’s in this New Jerusalem, He is in the holy city, He is in heavenly Jerusalem right now.

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.” So, He’s coming down here to be with people, formerly men and women who were saints, and became very sons of God. Continuing, “And He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God.” That’s our future residence with Almighty God.

You could write down. You don’t need to, of course, because you know where it is. You know the number of your street, you know the name of the street where you live, you certainly know the city, and you remember the zip code. Don’t have to worry about a zip code in the future, not going to have to worry about what street you live on or telling someone else, “I live on this or that particular street.”

So here then, is our final and permanent residence, a glorious place, a paradise, a divine Garden of Eden that far surpasses any beautiful vacation spot on the entire earth. You’ve probably been to some very nice vacation spots on earth. I’ve been to Hawaii a few times. Lived there while I was in the Navy for three years. I didn’t earn it, they just did that. They said, “This is where you’re going.” I said, “Well, someone has to do the dirty work, I’ll go.” I typed. I did clerical work while I was in the Navy. And I happened to learn how to type before and they wouldn’t let me go. I couldn’t get any other job. That was it. Son, you’re there. We own you. You’ll go where we want. So, they gave me an option of going to, can you believe it, Pensacola or Guam, you’ve heard of Guam, or Hawaii. I said, “I don’t think I need to huddle up on this one.” So, I went to Hawaii and it was a beautiful spot, very pretty.

Now the beaches there in Hawaii are not... the sand isn’t as fine as the what we call sugar sands here. So, this is a very beautiful spot. And you’ve probably been coming here for some time. So, I hope that you enjoy it. I’m glad nobody and I hope nobody got hurt. There were some riptides that were going on, I’m sure. And I did see some other folks who let their children get into the water up to their waist and I thought, “Well, if a riptide takes them, it’s going to take them out, they’re going to have problems.”

So today, we will focus on the names of New Jerusalem, also called heavenly Jerusalem, and the holy city. I think there are lessons embodied in those qualifiers. I call them adjectable. Boy, that’s an adjective qualifier for each one. And those names are given for good reasons. We’ll address those today because I want you to think beyond the physical today for the duration of this message.

Why does God call New Jerusalem the holy city and heavenly Jerusalem? Why doesn’t He just call it New Jerusalem? Why doesn’t He just call it the holy city and let it go with that? Or why doesn’t He just call it heavenly Jerusalem? Well, those are qualifiers to Jerusalem and we’re going to take a look at those today. Now the term Jerusalem which I’m sure you’re probably aware of means, in so many words, the city of peace. The three qualifiers just mentioned set it apart for three different, yet I think seamlessly, connected reasons.

Enter Aristotle. Ooh, how did he get in there? Who said that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. So, it is that in God’s Word, heavenly Jerusalem is infinitely greater than the sum of physical Jerusalems, I’m adding here historical parts, though they are important. So, in this final sermon, let’s explore. If you want a thesis, an SPS, or if you want to call it a title, that’ll be fine. This is it, “Your Permanent Residence is Guaranteed: Heavenly Jerusalem.” Your permanent residence is guaranteed. This is where you and I are headed. We are going to heavenly Jerusalem which is coming down to this earth. Okay, let’s go back for a little bit here. The earliest record of Jerusalem is found in Joshua 18:28. The word Jebusi or Jebusi, J-E-B-U-S-I, is Jerusalem. Later, Jerusalem was captured by David. You can find that in 2 Samuel 5:6-7. Zion there, or Mount Zion represents Jerusalem. God had Jerusalem in mind from time immemorial, before time. By extension of the words that we’re going to see in Isaiah 57:15, I will go there, and I’d ask you to go there, the words high and holy place.

So, you might want to go back to Isaiah 57, brethren. Isaiah 57. The first time I came across this verse, I couldn’t believe it. I looked at it, I read it. The contrast is very striking where He lives now and that He lives in us. You’ll see that in this verse. But I think it’s also important to maybe draw another thought or two about this particular verse. “For thus saith...” verse 15 and I’m reading in the King James translation. “For that saith the high and lofty One that...” notice these next two words. “Inhabits eternity.”

You inhabit your home. You get in your car, and you’re inhabiting your car. You’ve got clothes on, you are inhabiting, as it were, those clothes. But how in the world... whoops, I almost contradicted myself by using that phrase. How in the world can you ever inhabit eternity? That’s God. That’s the God you and I serve who loves us deeply.

“The one that inhabits eternity whose name is holy, I dwell, He says, in the high and holy place.” Well, we know where that’s going to be. We know that that applies to heavenly Jerusalem in the sides of the North. And notice the latter part of verse 15. This should be a great encouragement to you and me. We know beyond a shadow of a doubt that He inhabits heavenly Jerusalem and that is the high and holy place. But He also inhabits or dwells in those of a contrite and humble spirit. And I’m there as well, I’m adding this parenthetically to revive the spirit of the humble. Because the humble individual, and you’ve seen a few of those in your lives, right? I’ve talked with people I thought were really humble. They didn’t come to me and say, “Hey, look at me, I’m humble.” You all want to know what humble’s like? Look in your dictionary, look up the word humble, and you’ll see a picture of me. You’re not doing that. You just know by the way he or she talks, the way they conduct themselves, the way they want to serve you, the way they don’t focus their attention on themselves but on you and on others. These individuals are humble. God dwells with the humble spirit. Why does He do that? Why not with a proud spirit? Well, the proud won’t listen to Him. The proud won’t look to Him.

You remember we come to the Feast of Tabernacles and also the Eighth Day of the Feast as it says in Deuteronomy 14? To learn to fear God. If you just only look at that and nothing else, then you can say, “Well, He’s pretty demanding, He’s pretty vain. God is. Why would He just want us to come to fear Him?” Fearing God, as we had already explained in one or two of the messages and they’ve all... I’ve been really happy with all the messages. It’s helped me a great deal. But that particular attitude, the humble spirit, is the one that’s going to receive God’s Word. The proud won’t. And so, God can talk with someone who is humble. He can teach them. Now, what’s so important about that? Well, if we’re willing to be taught by God and learn His way, then we have the opportunity and the privilege to model that to other people, so they can have what you and I receive from someone else.

So, God has it pretty well taken care of here when He says that He also inhabits and is with those who are of a contrite and humble spirit. And those individuals who are of a humble spirit are going to get it on the nose once in a while. They’re going to be sassed. They’re going to have people rude to them. And all kinds of things take place, but they try and keep their mouth shut and not say too much. Sometimes they’ll speak up and that’s not wrong either. Revive the spirit of the humble one and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.

So, God had Jerusalem in mind from time immemorial that we see here in Isaiah 57:15. That’s certainly not the only verse in the Bible that shows that God has been a part of heavenly Jerusalem. We’re going to explore that a little bit later, and our part into it.

First, let’s take a brief historical description. We’ll see one of Jerusalem in God’s eyes. In Revelation 11:8. I’ll go there quickly, and I won’t hang there for a long time. Chapter 11 and verse 8 talks about the two witnesses. We had that addressed once or twice. Grateful I’ve had some brethren say, “Well, somebody at least talked about the two witnesses.” So, they were happy about the two witnesses and the prophecy of them in the future. They’re going to be killed eventually after having testified of God’s holy way correcting those Babylonian folks who were causing a lot of trouble and trying to destroy humankind. “Their dead bodies shall lie in the street,” verse 8, “Of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom, spiritually called Sodom and Egypt.” Sodom is a city, Egypt a country. “Where also our Lord was crucified.”

So, we know that He is talking about Jerusalem. A great city and I looked this up in the Expositor’s Bible Commentary. And it refers to God’s servants who are martyred by the antichrist. If you see further in the verse, you will see that he’s talking about dead bodies and the fact that some were crucified. Sodom connotes rebellion against God, and a rejection of God’s servants, moral degradation, and divine judgment. And Egypt is a country. That country is used here to symbolize the anti-godlessness of the world kingdoms that have enslaved Israel. These three descriptors show the historical setting of Jerusalem without God.

Next thought here, let’s see the prophetic Jerusalem restored on earth. I’m going to this more quickly because I want to get down to the three names, or the qualifiers of Jerusalem. So, we’ll take a quick look, a brief look at the prophetic Jerusalem. We’ve had that already discussed, talked about, and preached and taught to us while we’ve been here at the Feast.

Prophetic Jerusalem is going to be restored on this earth. Let’s take a look in Zechariah 14. Zechariah 14, brethren, one verse, 16. “And it shall come to pass.” This is after Jesus Christ returns. This is after He destroys all of those who would destroy humankind from this earth. He did an RSVP at Har-Megiddo, which we call Armageddon, and got them all to come down to Jerusalem so He wouldn’t have to be chasing them all over the countryside. They’re all around Jerusalem. And there, Jesus Christ is sent by God the Father when the Father says, “This is the time to go, and He will destroy them.” You see that in the end of Revelation from 14, I think through 20. Revelation 14, going there now, and Revelation 19:11 through the end of the chapter. Then He of course lands on the Mount of Olives early on in that chapter, splits into living waters go to the Dead Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. You’re aware of that.

Judah, it says, verse 14, I love this first half of verse 14, says, “Judah is also going to fight at Jerusalem.” So, they’re not going to be pushed into the sea, are they? There have been those who have it written in the charter way back in 1947. PLO Charter says they’re going to be pushed in the sea. No, they’re still going to be there, they’re going to be fighting. There are going to be a lot of plagues. “And then it shall come to pass,” in verse 16, “That every one that is left of all the nations, which came against Jerusalem, shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the Lord of armies or hosts, and to keep the Feast of Tabernacles.”

And dropping down so that we can see the name Jerusalem here, that’s what he’s talking about. Verse 21, “Yes, every part in Jerusalem.” This says how common it’ll be, during that time, God’s holiness in Jerusalem and around Jerusalem and the rest of the earth. “Every part in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness and the Lord of hosts. And all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them and seethe therein. In that day, there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord of armies or hosts.” Because all Israelites and gentiles will become spiritual Israelites. That’s why there won’t be any Canaanite in the house of the Lord of hosts.

Getting a little ahead of that. In Ezekiel 36 quickly because I want to talk about prophetic Jerusalem, Ezekiel 36. Let’s take a look at one verse. “There will be people that’ll be walking by Jerusalem will have known what took place in and around Jerusalem, how terrible it was.” It says in verse 34, “The desolate land shall be tilled. It was desolate in the sight of all that passed by. And they shall say,” in verse 35 eventually, as they go by Jerusalem, or go to Jerusalem, “This land that was desolate is become like the Garden of Eden.” Isn’t that incredible?

So really, that first Garden of Eden where God planted as it were Adam and Eve for a short time, don’t know how long that was, was the type of the one that’s coming in the future. The whole world will be a veritable Garden of Eden and the waste and desolate and ruined places, cities become fenced and are inhabited. So just for the record, God is not against walls. Some of you got that. Okay? I’m not getting political here, but He’s not against walls.

Okay. Amos 9:13. Amos 9 and then we’ll move on to the next point. Verse 13, “Behold, the days come saith the Lord.” I don’t know how many of you have been farmers in the past or are still farmers. I grew up on a farm. I couldn’t spell farm, but my dad said to my brother, “Now you’re going to help.” So, we helped in the fields, we helped milk a few cows, gather a few eggs. I even had to clean the chicken house. You don’t want to do that. Clean the barn a little bit. We won’t go any further than that. So, I know what the farm is like and I know what it is to plant crops. I had to do it on an old 1929 McCormick Deering tractor that didn’t have any rubber on the wheels, they were spokes. So, we had power steering and that was our arms holding on. That was the power that we had to steer. I still can’t believe, I think I was 12,13. And my dad said, “Well, Jerold, I’m going to let you stay here.” Jake, my brother, and my dad’s name was Jake, short for Jacob. He said, “We’re going to have to go in town and get something, so all you have to do is keep that left tire on the row. Make sure that you don’t get out of it. There are a few ravines, be careful of those. I think you’ll be fine.” Here I am trying to drive, power-steer this thing. And we planted the wheat and then we had some really good crops. Not a lot of property but what we did, 40 acres of pretty good wheat.

“Behold the days come saith the Lord.” This is what it’s going to be like in the future. “That the ploughman shall overtake the reaper and the treader of grapes him that sows seed. And the mountains.” Back off a little bit. If you’re looking at a mountain, they’ll probably be smaller hills, not the Rockies or the Himalayas. But there will be smaller mountains. “They’re going to drop sweet wine and all the hills shall melt.”

So, if you think about it a little bit, you stand back from it and you see these grapes, whatever it is that’s going to turn into wine eventually, and they become ripe and they just come down the hill. That’s how rich it is. And I always loved that thinking about how incredible that’s going to be. So, the prophetic Jerusalem in the 1,000-year period in the White Throne Judgment is certainly going to be restored on earth. It’s going be a wonderful place. And as Jerusalem goes, so goes the entire world at that time.

Finally, we see the New Jerusalem from heaven, which is holy. Now, Revelation 21, of course, gives us three qualifiers to Jerusalem. I’ve already mentioned. So, let’s see their distinct purposes. Let’s turn first to Hebrews 12. Hebrews 12, brethren. I think we had one or two ministers turn to Hebrews 12 and I said, “Whoops, there goes my thunder,” but it was good. I used to think that was the case. Now I think, “Hey, let’s just build on it. What’s the big deal?” So, somebody says something before another minister gets up and speaks, that’s no big thing. All you have to do is build on it. It’s a wonderful thing.

In Hebrews 12, I almost made it, still not there. Now I’m here where I’m supposed to be, verse 22. Paul, the apostle Paul, a very brilliant man and he became very converted. He was against the Church of God as you well know, even caused some of them to be put to death. And there were people who heard about Paul said, “I don’t want to be around him. Don’t send him to me. I don’t need him.” And they found out that Saul had changed to Paul. And he was very active in disseminating the gospel of Jesus Christ. Here he is talking to the Jews in and around Jerusalem. And I think the overview, the bigger picture here is that he was trying to convince them they should leave the city because the city is going to go down. The Romans are going to come down. He had apparently knowledge of that. And so, he’s trying to argue his point. I don’t mean argue in being mean and nasty. He was just discussing and debating this as it were.

He says to them, “But you have come unto Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God.” This is where you too should understand what is in store for you in the future. You and I know this. “And to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly.” Verse 23, “And the church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven.” I won’t belabor that, we’ve already addressed it. “And to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of just man made perfect. And to Jesus, the mediator of the New Covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. So, see to it that you do not refuse Him that speaks.”

So, he’s cautioning them. He says, “Hey, you guys really need to listen tight. I’m not a John Wayne imitator.” I think Rick Beam does a really good John Wayne, but he doesn’t ever want me to mention it, so I won’t. But he does it really good if you get him to do it. I just laugh, I just keep asking him to do it over and over. He throws in Clint Eastwood once in a while. But I’m getting beyond the point that I want to make. God says, “Don’t refuse him that speaks.” In one place, He said, “You should be teachers, but you’re babes.” So, we have our work cut out for us and we are in the process of learning as students in God’s holy church.

I want to go back to Galatians 4:26. Galatians 4:26. And again, I’ll break into the context here. And it’s talking about Hagar in verse 25. And he is comparing this in metaphor or allegory, whichever you want to use. There is Mount Sinai in Arabia, answers to Jerusalem which now is in bondage with their children. But verse 26, “But Jerusalem, which is above” heavenly Jerusalem, New Jerusalem, the holy city, “is free,” of course, “which is,” notice, “the mother of us all.” I think that’s phenomenal and we’re going to take a little closer look at that.

I think that Galatians 4:26 helps us a great deal with Revelation 21:2. And I’ll go back to that for a moment. Revelation 21. “Then I, John, saw the holy city,” which we’ve already read. Further down, it says, “As a bride adorned for her husband.” Well, if you go back to Revelation 19:7, you’ll see that the first fruits are the bride of Jesus Christ. But we got to go further than that because everyone is going to be as it were married to God and Christ, and that’s pretty important for us to know. And the word marriage really extends to a very close relationship with God.

Did you know that you are helping Christ prepare a place for you in heavenly Jerusalem right now, something I addressed a little earlier? So, before we see this fact of faith, we’re going to address the three qualifiers. First of all, and we’ll get to that, I find it really important, in our point number two. The first one, new, this is a qualifier, Jerusalem’s there, New Jerusalem, Revelation 21:2. The word new here means fresh and ageless. It refers to Jerusalem in contrast to the historical and physical Jerusalem.

So, a New Jerusalem, I have quotes around it for me. You don’t need quotes with God. So, New Jerusalem is what God says and He means it. New Jerusalem is new, and that it eclipses the old physical Jerusalem, and is New Jerusalem for us, for gods that are new, and who also have new names. Revelation 3, since we’re in that book. Revelation Chapter 3 having to do with the message to the Philadelphian era, so to speak here. We know that the church is applied to the church route in Asia Minor. There were seven of them. And we also know historically, as you go through, you can find that these city names are also applied to the characteristics of Christians down through the ages.

So, this happens to be to the city of Philadelphia and the attitude of the Philadelphian brethren. “Him that overcomes,” verse 12. Want to make sure that I have the right verse here. “Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go no more out.” You don’t have to leave that area, you will be in heavenly Jerusalem that is your residence, it is the permanent residence for you and me, as far as we know, based on the Scripture. And God does not want us uprooted in any way. “You’re not going to go out anymore and I will write upon him the name of My God,” he says, “and the name of the city of My God, and He names that which is New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God, and I will write upon him My new name.” Well, we can speculate all day long on that. I’m not going to do it. But new here has to do with New Jerusalem, in contrast to the old historical, physical Jerusalem, which I consider to be a physical type of the spiritual fulfillment of the New Jerusalem which had always been up there apparently.

Point number two, holy city. First one, New Jerusalem. Now we move to the term holy city still talking about New Jerusalem or heavenly Jerusalem. And here we see the holy city highlights the total divine holiness that includes human beings made holy by God through Christ Jesus. And I add here with our voluntary help. I don’t know which minister said this, I really like this. Forgotten which one, I apologize for not remembering your name. I do remember the message. And that was that God wants us not just to obey and say, “Well, I got to do it. I’ll do it.” But once you’re convinced and beyond that convicted of what God wants you and me to do, and you see that the rationale is perfect, and it’s not only the right thing to do, it’s the only thing to do. I used to use the term it’s the only game in town. But I stopped using it because I thought that might play it down a little bit. But I’m going to use it here. It’s the only one in town. There is none other.

I don’t care. We heard about agnostics, and atheists, and all kinds of people who think different things about the Bible, starting their own religions, following other people who have their ideas about religion. But God’s way is one way. We do have a choice as to what we’re going to obey. We can do good, or we can do evil. We can follow God’s way, or we don’t have to, it’s our choice. God gives us that choice. And so, once we’re convinced that God’s way is beyond a doubt the best way and the only way, then we can get in harness as it were with God. Here is where you and I can help Christ Jesus make a place for us in His holy city. We’ll just use a couple of scriptures to show this, it won’t be perfect. And there are a lot of spaces in between but of cognitive imagery.

But I want you to go back, if you would, to... what scripture do we want? John, the Gospel of John 14. I don’t know how long you’ve been in the church, but I remember hearing this many, many times. In John 14:1, Jesus said to His disciples when they began to know and began to realize that He really, really was going to leave them. They didn’t want Him to go, they appreciated Him. They saw the miracles that He had done. And His word was true, and they knew it, they could depend on Him. So, He says to them, “Let not your heart be troubled you believe in God. Believe...” I’m going to add... well, it just says also, “You believe in God, believe also in Me.” Verse 2, “In My father’s house are many mansions, or places, or positions. If it were not so, I would have told you.” I’m not lying to you. I’m not deceiving you. My word is true.

Notice the next sentence, “I go to prepare a place for you.” How does He do that? Oh, well, He’s off to the right hand of God. So, since He was a carpenter as a physical human being, then He’s sort of hammering out a place for you and you got a spot, and you got a bedroom. You got a place in heavenly Jerusalem which is going to be really a great sized city.

Now, let’s take a look in Ephesians 2. We can piece a little bit of this together. Ephesians 2. And one of our ministers addressed Ephesians Chapter 2. I’m going to begin in verse 19 to the end of that chapter, a couple of few verses, 19, 20, 21, and 22.

Here, as you know, Paul is trying to show to both the Jews and Ephesus in that church and the gentiles, that they’re all brothers. They’re all brothers and sisters, they are brethren. And as he says, “For to make in himself of two one new man, so making peace.” You see that in the end of verse 15. So that was a difficulty and he was trying to bridge that and he was trying to get them to connect and understand that God was as much for the gentile become a spiritual Israelite as He was for a physical Israelite to become a spiritual Israelite. If you follow me on that.

Ephesians 2:19. “Now, therefore,” he tells them, “You are no more foreigners, or strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints.” What saints? How about some Jews that happen to be in that particular church, or other gentiles that had been converted? “And of,” continuing, “The household of God and are built.” So, Christ is, as it were, a spiritual builder. “And are built upon the foundation of the apostles, and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself, being the chief cornerstone that holds it all together in whom all the building fitly framed together.” This next word is very important, grows. Says growth but, “Grows unto a holy temple in the Lord.”

I know we have a few builders in the congregation here and probably in the church around the world, I’ve met a few of them. I know what it means to build a house. You clean the ground, and then you pour the pad. And you begin to establish the foundation. And you go up with the studs and so on. And you finally get the framework all done. And then you take care of everything else inside and outside as well. But have you ever seen after you built a house, say that you were a builder or if you were a hand in it. And when you were done and you looked at it and you said, “You know what? I’d like a couple of more bedrooms. Can you just raise your hand and build me a couple of more bedrooms? I want this house to grow from 1,700 square feet to 3,000. Can you do that?” Well, you’d think he was crazy. Of course, you can’t do that.

God does it and He does it through us. The growth not only in numbers but spiritually that is taking place in God’s house. So, it says, “We are growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are builded together for inhabitation of God through the Spirit.” So back in John 14:2, Jesus said, “I go to prepare a place for you.” Guess what? We have a hand in it. I was a carpenter’s helper, so I ran after nails in those days, hammers, whatever they needed. I carried hod. I don’t know if any of you know what that is, had to do that. We put lads up in a house. I’m dating myself, I realize that. So, I was a carpenter’s helper. I never did go any further than a carpenter’s helper. I didn’t want to be a carpenter, but we had some really good carpenters around where I grew up.

So, we are helping Jesus Christ to prepare a place for you and me by listening to the Word of God, by reading the Word of God, by studying it, by meditating on the Word of God, by praying about it. And by applying and exercising ourselves, by extending ourselves to one another, and helping one another. This helps the growth of the temple of God, so to speak, but it also helps us to do our part for Jesus Christ, Christ Jesus, to be able to do His part.

Now I want to go back to Revelation 21. Revelation 21. I want you to notice a couple of things here to show that when God says He’s preparing a place for us, He means it. You might say, “Well, what can you prove that, what you just said by Revelation 21?” Two ways. One is, if you’ll take a look, it’ll show how the gates are placed in heavenly Jerusalem. And notice there are already names on those gates. And if you look a little further in chapter 21 and verse 14, you will see foundations, and the names are already on those 12 foundations. Isn’t that incredible? Why?

Well, first of all, the gates have the names of the 12 tribes of Israel. So, in order for you and me to be able to enter into New Jerusalem, heavenly Jerusalem, the holy city, which is coming here to this earth, the only way that can happen is that you and I are spiritual Israelites. That’s why those names are there, at least in part. Foundations have to do with faith. Take a look at it in verse 14, “And the wall of the city had 12 foundations, and in them the names already of the 12 apostles of the Lamb.” They’re already etched there. We’re not talking stone, we’re talking spirit. Spirit is real, we’re temporary. Everything physical has been made out of had to be Spirit. God is Spirit. He’s the divine great Almighty God and the great builder. And through Jesus Christ, He made physical things, and we’re part of that, we’re ephemeral, short-lived, as you compare with God.

So, here we see that we help Christ make a place for us in the holy city. And although the 12 tribes of Israel have not all been converted, we heard about it a little earlier with Mr. Rick Beam, that Old Testament Israel, for the most part, are going to come up in the White Throne Judgment. They’re going to be converted. But God is a God that does call things that aren’t as though they are. Let’s take a look at that in Romans 4:17. This is called a prolepsis, Romans 4:17. I didn’t think that up, I looked it up. And this is proleptically written which is to say as it says in the latter part of this particular verse in verse 17, “He calls those things which be not as though they are.”

When I began to study about how God uses that prolepsis, in other words, He God views you and me as if we already have it made. You’ve got to say, “Can’t be you don’t know me.” Well, that’s true we don’t, but God does. And you’ve got everything going for you because God and Christ. Through Christ, you and I are able to live, and He’s going to give us eternal life. So, we are part of that holy city, and He calls us things that aren’t as though they are. I mean, if you were to look in Ephesians 2, real quickly, I’ll go there. Ephesians Chapter 2. And this will help us to understand what a prolepsis is all about, calling those things that aren’t as though they are. It says here in verse 6, “And He has, God has, raised us up together.” Verse 6 of Chapter 2. It actually hasn’t happened yet, but the way God looks at it might as well be.

“And has raised us up together and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.” That’s how that comes about. So, our life is Christ. He is our life. And He is our life in us through the gift of the Holy Spirit as well. So, faith is a foundation of the first fruit of salvation, and all others in the millennium and the White Throne Judgment. And that helps us to understand why it is the foundation of the holy city. Faith is that foundation.

Number three, talked about New Jerusalem, holy city, and now heavenly Jerusalem. I think that is understood. And we’ve already looked at Hebrews 12. This adjective shows us the ultimate fulfillment of God’s plan to show the purpose of the original so-called city of peace. That’s what God intended. Jerusalem, then brethren, becomes an object lesson for those who hear and fear God by contrasting historical Jerusalem which was used to typify, at least in name, God’s heavenly Jerusalem. In other words, God gave human beings already the concept of what He has already done, which is heavenly Jerusalem, by giving them Jerusalem here on this earth.

To sum up, brethren, the Jerusalem of today, the intended city of peace, I use the word intended with purpose, will ultimately be replaced by the holy city, the New Jerusalem, which is also heavenly Jerusalem, after the White Throne Judgment. And dare I bring in the negative side of things, the lake of fire.

In 2 Peter 3:6-7, I’m not going there, I’m going to try and stop here pretty quickly. First, the earth was washed of its sin by the Noahation flood. But the second time, God is going to purge the earth with fire and that’s why we have the lake of fire. And God will resurrect those who have committed the unpardonable sin. If you break down the word unpardonable, the prefix and the suffix, putting those together, you would have unable and I’m adding to be pardoned. Not because God doesn’t want to pardon anyone but because human beings become so hard-headed, they just won’t go any further and they become incorrigible. So, God, then mercifully puts them out of their misery because Satan, the demons, are going to be miserable for the rest of their existence, and of course, they’re not going to be destroyed.

So, the holy city brethren, is our promised permanent home already guaranteed to you and me in Christ Jesus. And you and I have that guarantee. Now, I want you to turn if you would to Revelation 22. Revelation Chapter 22. I’ve had people ask me, “What is your favorite scripture in the Bible?” This is one of them, they’re many.

“Blessed are they that do His commandments.” We know that, we keep His commandments, not only in the letter of the law but in the spirit of the law as well. “That they may have,” I’m going to add the article, “The right to the tree of life.” We’ve heard about the tree of life, we have a right to eternal life. “And may enter in through the gates.” You remember those gates? They have the 12 tribes’ names on all of them. So, you have to be a spiritual Israelite to be able to enter in. “May enter in through the gates into the city.”

So, thank you very much, brethren, for coming to the Feast of Tabernacles, and Eighth Day of the Feast. I told my wife this morning that I’m looking forward to heavenly Jerusalem, New Jerusalem, the holy city. Just got a little bit more work to do here before that comes to pass.

So, this year, we had about 937 or so or 938 registered and our high was about 1,078 on the first day of the Feast, and we had some pretty high attendances. So, we appreciate very much your coming here today. We pray, and I hope that you pray, that we all come back to the Feast again next year. And we should pray for one another and ask God to help us to have the good health, and that we stay faithful to God, and let God finish the work in us and that we endure to the very end.

And I’ll finish in Revelation 21:4-7. We did go through verses 1 through 3. Let’s end with verse 4 through 7. “And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.” If you lose a loved one, it’s going to hurt. I lost my dad prematurely at 56. Unfortunately, he had smoked since he was eight. That’s too bad. Great guy, looking forward to seeing him again. I lost my brother prematurely at 46 and he had Hodgkin’s disease. Great guy, looking forward to seeing him. I lost my mother who died at 101. That’s a little different. She had all of her cognitive abilities. In fact, when she was about 100, she said, “Well, Jerold, you need to do this and that.” I said, “Mom, do you know how old I am?” Says, “Doesn’t make any difference. If I tell you to do it, you do it.” And I said, “Yes, mom. Yes, ma’am, I’ll do it.” I will look forward to seeing her.

I am amazed that God called me. Now, I don’t know how you think about it in your own family. I thought my sisters, my brother, much more qualified, much better people. My dad and mother more stable, just stayed with it all the time. Never backed away, didn’t complain, for the most part, as I recall. And I said, “God, why would you call me?” Then I read Corinthians. He calls the weak of the world, qualify. And so, we’re grateful to be here. Thank you for being here. Have a safe trip back home. And let’s please stay close to God, serve one another because God is all about serving. Let’s serve one another and help them to be able to make the kingdom as well.