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today and tomorrow… The New Jerusalem… the inner-city… Do you know what the New Jerusalem is
or what it means? Have you read about it? "He that has an ear let him hear what the Spirit is saying to the church" Can we escape from Jerusalem? How? Can we side step from the power in its mission? Why are we? Can we take for granted the events in the life, persecution and death of Jesus in the city of peace? Who do we follow? Can we ignore the tears of Jesus as He lamented over Jerusalem? When will we, cry for others? Can we over look the temple of God? Where is it? Where shall Jesus set His foot down when He returns? What does Jerusalem mean for us today?
Who shall stand in the Temple, to bring the final blow of
desecration? To bring our heart a reminder from what was,
to what is to come. Matthew 24:30 And then shall appear the
sign of the Son of man in heaven: and then shall all the
tribes of the earth mourn,
and they shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of
heaven with power and great glory. The last battle place on earth "Armageddon" begins here, brother, destroying brother, all
in the name of God. For control of a worldly material
symbol "Jerusalem" the place of Peace? God chooses to use the name New
Jerusalem, as the abode for His Saints in the future. We
may want to know the details of this New dwelling place,
or we may search and seek all there is to know about the
past and present Jerusalem. In the Church today, because of our
structure, we are dulled of our personal relationship to
each other and as a consequence have little understanding
of Jerusalem and the depth of its roll in the future of
the Church. Although we are to have exceeded the law, in Christ Jesus, men still use many forms of law in the Church today, to compensate for their lack of love. This brings further uncertainty to the Church. The lifestyle of Jesus and His
relationship to the disciples and the early Church, give
insight into the meanings of scripture that we are so
inclined to miss for our singular view. Love speaks in
many subtle ways, allowing us a security that of itself
gives a more personal view of Jesus and His prophetic
interaction, the way in which He would have us see
everything. Love of God involves loving others. We have
by our dulled sense of love given a wider birth to the
meaning of obedience, and even then, questioning if we
feel a need to obey. Then there is the manner of how we
even apply obedience to our lives. What do we obey? Our
choice of, to what degree, mixed with our own brand of
interpretation, frequency and our day to day priorities?
One example, one small point in question… how often
do you fast? To obey is the object of faith. What we believe, we do… we act on… it proves our faith… not just in the learning of or in the trying to understand what is required. So what Jesus said we are to do and by how He lived, we are to live, just as he. These are not abstracts but simple lessons to be obeyed. We are so wrapped up in compromise, that it is difficult to let go of our selfish values for the values of the Kingdom, the values of Jesus. To live in the resurrection of the Kingdom, within us now, we like Jesus must see our impending death by dying daily. There is little understanding of death in the Church today. We live in a dismayed denial… how could God exist and we still die? What is our comprehension of the leading of Jesus, who sees it and awaits its fulfillment? Jesus knew of His impending death and awaited it even telling others, but His joy is in being rejoined to the Father. What do you think, "Pick up your cross daily" means? Where is our joy? Jesus created us and now prays for us and awaits us… yes He awaits our impending death that we may be with Him forever. "He who believes in me shall never die" Such is His love for us. Our time conscienceness, is based on life and not on eternity. We spend more time trying to live longer with our concern for diet, exercise and a host of valueless contrivances, than we do serving others. Please at least get this: Death is not a place arrived at but a daily submission to what Jesus taught. When we talk death to self, it begins in the readiness to die for who we believe in; Jesus. Matt 6: 25. Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or
what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall
put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than
raiment? Take no thought for your life in terms
of any provision. So provision for tomorrow is the way in which we live in faith today. Counting it all for joy! Attitude: the love of God alive in us; praying in all things always; a way of life that is sacrificially given in service to others. Are you Free or slave to this world?
That heaviness of a slave to life ends in death. Hold on
to life and perish with it. We who follow the resurrection are
strangers and pilgrims here. We seek a better place. We
desire to be with Jesus, so God prepared a City for us, a
place where we may dwell with Him, the New Jerusalem. Finding the "inner city";
in your heart is the answer… where in lies the path
to the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is a place arrived at externally, by internal means. The road is follow me… into the depths of the heart, where in lies perfect love. How do we live in the heart that is surrounded by a world of temptation and days filled with evil? We have inherited the knowledge of good and evil and that in the hands of the unregenerate is death. For the choice it sees will be clouded with equal weight, making all decisions arbitrary. And it will be easier to yield to what is easier and comfortable; what feels good for the moment, without acknowledging eternal consequences. The underlying cause is selfishness. All things are then measured by personal gain. When Jesus enters our life for our need of self-realization; that we are sinners, we are empty, we are angry, we are lonely, we are down trodden, we are bankrupt, we are destitute, we are overcome with fear, we are afflicted or infirm, we are without hope, we will die… then what? Enters eternal selfless love… now the knowledge of good and evil that caused us to be self-centered can be used by the Holy Spirit to help aid us and guide us. We must obey! Both a warning and
a call… take heed! You who have ears… In the book of Revelation chapter 3,
the message to the Church at Philadelphia, God says "you that overcomes,
you of brotherly love, shall have my new name written on
you and you shall enter the New
Jerusalem" We are presently a people in a
people… a remnant in the making. Jesus Christ’s Community at Hebron www.jesuschrists.com |
