SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 11/5/2015
9:16 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 it’s
Internal Character
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Revelation
21:21b-22:2
Message of the
verses: And the street of the city
was pure gold, like transparent glass. 22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord
God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of
the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it,
and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings
of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will
be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the
glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one
who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those
whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
“1 Then he showed me a river of the water
of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in
the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life,
bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves
of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
We want to begin this SD by talking more about the
brilliance of God as John writes “the city has no need of the sun or of the
moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the
Lamb.” This shows another way how the
New Jerusalem will be different than the earth that we now live on, for our
light comes from the sun and also the moon and stars, but God’s light is
brighter than all the suns and that is all that will be needed to give light in
the New Jerusalem. John MacArthur writes
“Once again in Revelation, God the Father and the Lamb, the Lord Jesus Christ,
share authority (cf. 3:21).
“Commenting on the brilliant light emanating from the New
Jerusalem, J. A. Seiss writes: ‘That shining is not from any material
combustion,--not from any consumption of fuel that needs to be replaced as one
supply burns out; for it is the uncreated light of Him who is light, dispensed
by and through the Lamb as the everlasting Lamp, to the home, and hearts, and
understandings of his glorified saints.
When Paul and Silas lay wounded
and bound in the inner dungeon of the prison of Phillippi, they still had
sacred light which enabled them to beguile the night-watches with happy
songs. When Moses came down from the
mount of his communion with God, his face was so luminous that his brethren could
not endure to look upon it. He was in
such close fellowship with the light that he came informed with light, and came
to the camp as a very lamp of God, glowing with the glory of God. On the Mount of Transfiguration that same
light streamed forth from all the body and raiment of the blessed Jesus. And with reference to the very time when this
city comes into being and place, Isaiah says, ‘the moon shall be ashamed and
the su confounded,’—ashamed because of the out-beaming glory which then shall
appear in the new Jerusalem, leaving no more need for them to shine in it,
since the glory of God lights it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.’”
Now we come to a section of this Scripture that is at
best, difficult to understand, and that is the part which speaks of the nations
and also the kings of the earth. Some
believe that this goes back to the millennial kingdom, but then that would not
put it in order so once again we will have to rely on the comments that John
MacArthur writes about this since I have looked at other commentators on this
subject and like best how MacArthur explains it.
He first mentions the term kai eidon which indicates chronological progression so this is why
he does not believe that this goes back to the millennial kingdom. He goes on to add to this argument that there
will be physical beings alive during the millennial kingdom, but they would not
be able to live where there is no sea, sun, or moon. “Nations translates ethnos, which can also mean ‘people,’ and is most frequently
translated ‘Gentiles.’ The idea is not
that national identities will be preserved in the eternal state, but rather the
opposite. People from every tongue,
tribe, and nation—both Jews and Gentiles—will be united as God’s people. Every believer will be fully equal in the eternal
capital city.”
He then goes on to talk about “the kings of the earth
will bring their glory into it.” He
writes this “offers further proof of the absolute equality in heaven. That phrase may indicate that there will be
no social or class structure, that those who enter the city will surrender
their earthly glory. Thus, everyone
would be at the same level. Another possible
interpretation is that this phrase refers to the believers living at the end of
the Millennium. According to that view,
the statement that ‘the kings of the earth will bring glory into’ the New
Jerusalem refers to the translation of those believers before the uncreation of
the present universe.”
I suppose that there are still many unknowns as to how
all of this will work out and one of the things that I think is a key to
understanding this is where exactly will the New Jerusalem be, will it be on
the earth or suspended above the earth.
I once heard that some believe that it will be above the earth and that
the church age believers will be there and the rest of the believers will be on
the new earth. Then I wrote the
following on 11-30-2005 “I have heard that the New Jerusalem will be suspended
above the new earth and also that it will be on the new earth, but in verse 24
John writes that the nations will walk by the light of the New Jerusalem and
that the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into this new city, so I
tend to believe that it will be on the new earth.” I can’t say that I have changed my mind on
this statement almost ten years later.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: “As I look at
these verses I can see that God has a plan for all of His children, and it is a
wonderful plan, for included in that plan is a place where sin will not be anywhere
around to cause the large problems that it now causes on this earth. This life on the New Jerusalem will only be
the beginning of eternity for as the song says, “When we been there ten
thousand years bright shining as the sun, we’ve no less days to sing God’s
praise than when we first begun.” When I
look at this sin cursed world and the beauty of it, which is only a little bit
like the beauty of it when God first created it, and when I think of Romans
8:28 that tells me that even in this sin cursed world God is in control to work
out things together for my good and for His glory, it gives great confidence to
me that the New Jerusalem will be so very wonderful that human words at this
time cannot begin to describe how great and wonderful it will be. The fact that my Lord Jesus Christ will be
there and sin won’t make me know that it will surely be perfect.” This also was written on November 30, 2005.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Trust the Lord to get me through a very busy
day of things that need to be done before the weather begins to turn more like
a November day.
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Psalm 118:8.”
Today’s Bible
question: “On what conditions would
Elisha receive a double portion of Elijah’s spirit?”
Answer in our next SD.
11/5/2015 10:17 AM
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