The City of God

The City of God

Men have conjectured many things about the city of God and what it is, but what does the Word teach us.   

Revelations 21:4 gives us an insight and description of this city of God: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” We see this city now described as the bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  We grasp the Word is not describing for us just a physical place and structures.  It is describing for us that the redeemed of the Lord are the city of our God and the place of His habitation.  We see that God Himself inhabits this city and even as Psalms 48:3 says, “God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.”  When your enemies see you they will flee in terror, because they will see the glory of the Lord upon you. 

               We are such a blessed people when we catch the revelation of who we are in Christ.  Some say we only need religion and God as a crutch.  He is not our crutch, He is our life, our strength our divine ability and purpose.  Sin and self are only a recipe for death and judgement.  If God is my crutch, then yes, I will lean on Him all day long, for He upholds me in righteousness and keeps my foot from slipping into the paths of sin and wickedness.  

               The world still hates us, because if first hated Him and He is now in us.  They may think they have triumphed as they did when they crucified our Lord, but that was only the catalyst to release the awesome resurrection power of our Redeemer.  Through death He now lives and He will raise up our mortal bodies also to live and reign with Him in glory. 

               Hebrews 11:8-12 says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  We also have a call to go, live and abide in this promise land.  While upon earth we abide in temporary dwellings and tents while we look forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.  1 Peter 2:4-9 says, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” 8and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  We are the house of God, the city of God, His Jerusalem and Zion.  We are His holy habitation and the residence of His dwelling.  Just as God has given diverse giftings to the body of Christ and made us many members one in the Spirit, so He has joined by one Spirit the saints of all of the ages that in His appointed time He might present us as one new man in Christ Jesus.  This is the city that the Lord has built and He has chosen for His dwelling place.  Let us, His saints rejoice that He has made His abode with us and sanctify ourselves.

               2 Peter 1:10- 11 exhorts us, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Blessings,

#kent

Advertisement

The City of God

Psalms 48

1 Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, his holy mountain. 2 It is beautiful in its loftiness, the joy of the whole earth. Like the utmost heights of Zaphon is Mount Zion, the city of the Great King. 3 God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress. 4 When the kings joined forces, when they advanced together, 5 they saw her and were astounded; they fled in terror.

6 Trembling seized them there, pain like that of a woman in labor. 7 You destroyed them like ships of Tarshish shattered by an east wind. 8 As we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the LORD Almighty, in the city of our God: God makes her secure forever. Selah 9 Within your temple, O God, we meditate on your unfailing love. 10 Like your name, O God, your praise reaches to the ends of the earth;

your right hand is filled with righteousness. 11 Mount Zion rejoices, the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments. 12 Walk about Zion, go around her, count her towers, 13 consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation. 14 For this God is our God for ever and ever; he will be our guide even to the end.

The City of God

Men have conjectured many things about the city of God and what it is, but what does the Word teach us.         

              Revelations 21:4 gives us an insight and description of this city of God: “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. 2I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” We see this city now described as the bride beautifully dressed for her husband.  We grasp the Word is not describing for us just a physical place and structures.  It is describing for us that the redeemed of the Lord are the city of our God and the place of His habitation.  We see that God Himself inhabits this city and even as Psalms 48:3 says, “God is in her citadels; he has shown himself to be her fortress.”  When your enemies see you they will flee in terror, because they will see the glory of the Lord upon you. 

              We are such a blessed people when we catch the revelation of who we are in Christ.  Some say we only need religion and God as a crutch.  He is not our crutch, He is our life, our strength our divine ability and purpose.  Sin and self are only a recipe for death and judgement.  If God is my crutch, then yes, I will lean on Him all day long, for He upholds me in righteousness and keeps my foot from slipping into the paths of sin and wickedness.  

              The world still hates us, because if first hated Him and He is now in us.  They may think they have triumphed as they did when they crucified our Lord, but that was only the catalyst to release the awesome resurrection power of our Redeemer.  Through death He now lives and He will raise up our mortal bodies also to live and reign with Him in glory. 

              Hebrews 11:8-12 says, “By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. 9By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. 10For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God.”  We also have a call to go, live and abide in this promise land.  While upon earth we abide in temporary dwellings and tents while we look forward to the city with foundations whose architect and builder is God.  1 Peter 2:4-9 says, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6For in Scripture it says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a chosen and precious cornerstone, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame.” 7Now to you who believe, this stone is precious. But to those who do not believe, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone,” 8and, “A stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall.” They stumble because they disobey the message—which is also what they were destined for. 9But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. 10Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  We are the house of God, the city of God, His Jerusalem and Zion.  We are His holy habitation and the residence of His dwelling.  Just as God has given diverse giftings to the body of Christ and made us many members one in the Spirit, so He has joined by one Spirit the saints of all of the ages that in His appointed time He might present us as one new man in Christ Jesus.  This is the city that the Lord has built and He has chosen for His dwelling place.  Let us, His saints rejoice that He has made His abode with us and sanctify ourselves.

              2 Peter 1:10- 11 exhorts us, “Therefore, my brothers, be all the more eager to make your calling and election sure. For if you do these things, you will never fall, 11and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.”

Blessings,

#kent

His Temple

2 Chronicles 6:18-21
“But will God really dwell on earth with men? The heavens, even the highest heavens, cannot contain you. How much less this temple I have built! 19 Yet give attention to your servant’s prayer and his plea for mercy, O LORD my God. Hear the cry and the prayer that your servant is praying in your presence. 20 May your eyes be open toward this temple day and night, this place of which you said you would put your Name there. May you hear the prayer your servant prays toward this place. 21 Hear the supplications of your servant and of your people Israel when they pray toward this place. Hear from heaven, your dwelling place; and when you hear, forgive.”

His Temple

Solomon referred to the temple, which he had built and dedicated to the Lord. We know that in time that temple was destroyed, but it was but the shadow of the temple that God was building for His habitation and dwelling. 1 Corinthians 6:17-18 says, “Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit lives in you? 17If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is sacred, and you are that temple.” We so often take for granted who we are in Christ and loose spiritual sight of what God has created us to be. The church is no longer about buildings and glorious edifices built to the glory of God. God is not interested in inhabiting wood and stone. He is interested in inhabiting human spirits and souls. When He does come within our hearts and makes His abode with us, He wants us to realize that our body is no longer our own, but His habitation. Holiness and righteousness has entered in. No longer is this body for our glory, but for His. All of these bodies, now sanctified unto Christ are built and joined together in Him. 1 Peter 2:4-5 says, “As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.” We are the building blocks of God spiritual temple and His life. We are living stones that are an organism formed of God, living and breathing in the earth to express Him and be His habitation.
1 Peter 1: 15-17 says, “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. 14As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. 15But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; 16for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.” Holiness has come and taken up residence within us. The Father is reminding us that we are no longer common or unclean, but the blood of the Lamb has sanctified us. As God’s sanctified and redeemed ones we have the responsibility to recognize that we are His holy vessels and live accordingly unto His glory. God warns us about what we do with our bodies and what we join them with. 2 Corinthians 6:14-18 says, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
17″Therefore come out from them and be separate, says the Lord. Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.” 18″I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.”
This is what the Lord is speaking unto us in this hour, to come apart and be separated unto Him. We are not of this world. Our values and purpose do not coincide with the values and purpose of this world. He is telling us to take note, we are not our own, but we have been bought with a price. We have been purchased and set apart unto God for His purposes and for His glory. That is our destiny and calling. We must be careful that we do not dishonor Him by not fully respecting and living according to His holy life that indwells us. Our God is a jealous God and He has set us apart for Himself. Our body is His temple and we must honor Him in it in all of our ways and living. He is the Lord God and He will not share His glory with another. Honor yourselves as His holy temple and live your lives accordingly.

Blessings,
#kent

Dead Man Walking

Dead Man Walking

Colossians 3:3
For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.

Please take just a minute and try and absorb the impact and implication of this one verse. Sometimes I think I comprehend this truth mentally, but do I possess a real revelation of what it should mean in my life? This truth should continually revolutionize my world-view and perception of reality. The spiritual reality and implication to this is that this self-life is dead. That could seem pretty dreary and boring if it were not for what I traded it for. If I am dead to myself, that means that I am free to be fully alive in Christ. That means that God’s life inhabits me, fills me, expands and promotes beyond human limitation what I have the possibility of being “in Him”. Say your name and put Christ behind it. You are now that expression, uniquely and divinely His.
Now someone will be thinking, “what are you saying, that we should now have this god-complex?” If we are indeed dead to the flesh and alive unto Christ, the God in us is in reality Him and not us. We understand that whatever God does through us, great or small, it is by the power of in His in-working grace and Holy Spirit. We are simply the living organism of His expression, unified with Him and in full corporation with His intent and purpose.
Perhaps one of the most staggering handicaps in Christianity today is, “we don’t really know who we are” and if we do get a hold of that, we so quickly forget it as we are quickly caught up in the life and economy of the world that we walk in. The reality is that we are ‘dead men walking’ with regards to the flesh and our former soulish life, but we are resurrected men of the spirit who should be walking in the newness of life and hope in Christ Jesus. If you are dead to the world then you have nothing to fear from the world. The most the world could do is take your temporary existence in this world, but “your life is hid with Christ in God.” That means that for anything to truly touch your life, it has to go through God to do it. Will God allow things to touch you? God will allow what will make you stronger and continually work a greater measure of His grace and perfecting work in you. You are His family. When He corrects you, it is for your good, because of His exceeding great love for you. He wants kids that hold the family resemblance of holiness and purity and love. He wants kids after His nature and likeness. That is who you are! Every time we look in that mirror we should see no longer just an outward man that represents our soul, we should see an outward man that possesses and is the habitation of the Christ. Because that is who we are, we are focused not on the temporal and earthly life; we are focused on the things above. We are as it says in Hebrews 11:13, “All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth.” Peter picks up on this same thought in 1Peter 2:11, “Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.”
The greatest victory for the enemy and the saddest defeat for the Christian is for the devil to steal your identity. You talk about identity theft; there is no greater case and point than when you go around believing the lie about who you really are and who you really are not. God’s Word tells us who we are. It is the mirror we must continually look into until it becomes so ingrained in us that we are no longer this former person in the world, we are a new creation in Christ Jesus. Romans 12:2 exhorts us in the light of this reality, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is–his good, pleasing and perfect will.” We can never be the overcomers that God intended we should be while we still identify with these weak sin-laden bodies. Quit focusing on what you don’t think you are and start focusing on what God says you are. Because we experience some mistakes and setbacks, that doesn’t make us failures, it should only make us more determined to allow God to be our all in all. 1 John 4:17 tells us, “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.”

Blessings,
#kent