The New Jerusalem – Messianic Revelation Teaching

Automated transcript, lightly edited for readability. Scripture appears as spoken; the video is the authoritative teaching.

A Letter of Resistance

Lord of Lords, and the Son of God. Welcome to Founded in Truth, where we're more than just a fellowship. We're a family. So welcome home. That helps, right? Shabbat shalom, everybody. All right. We are so excited that you're here today. If this is your first time visiting or if this is your first time watching online, guys, thank you for joining us here at Founded in Truth Fellowship. Well, the end is near. We have taken a bit of an exhaustive trip through the letter of Revelation, the Apocalypse of John, and hopefully it's been an edifying journey. I hope so. The intention of the letter when John wrote it, and the contents in it.

It was meant to be a letter of resistance that encouraged believers to solidify their loyalty to Jesus as king and not compromise when faced with the trials of the empire, the worldly empires that would bring against them. And it was a letter of encouragement to tell them that despite looking outside and seeing the world on fire with hell, Jesus is in charge. Yeshua is on the throne. He is our king. And don't doubt that. Do not doubt that. The things that are going on outside are not as they appear. Hence the word apocalypsis or revelation, the revealing of what is actually happening in the spiritual realm, if you will, or in the heavens.

So yeah, so this journey through Revelation has taken us through the reality of what took place on the cross, the Lion of Judah. It wasn't a lion at all when John turned and looked. It was a lamb, slain, blood everywhere, standing in victory in the throne room of God. This was the scene when Yeshua, riffing off of Daniel 7, where the Son of Man has ridden on the clouds of heaven to the throne room of God to take his seat as king over the eternal kingdom. And this is the prophecy of the Lion of Judah, right? The one who holds the scepter. But here it is a lamb that conquered through shedding its blood.

And the Lamb calls its conqueror or its followers to overcome like he has, to conquer. The Lamb opens the scroll. Judgments are poured out. The followers of the Lamb endure throughout this time period, and they do it by mimicking Yeshua and the way of Yeshua.

Satan's Defeat

We know in the story there is a climactic battle. And the believers come, and it says that they conquered the dragon. They conquer Satan through the blood of the Lamb and the word of his testimony. And at the end, we reviewed that Satan's defeated. That's the timeline of the story of Revelation. Satan is defeated. He's thrown down with the rest of the unholy trinity, the beast and the false prophet, into the lake of fire. And now we're going to jump into Revelation 21. So if you return with me to Revelation chapter 21, verse 1, we're going to dive in because there is so much going on here. And what I love about the apocalyptic genre that John is writing in here, reflecting on his visions, it is just explosive.

It is just explosive. I can't imagine what would happen if this was a painting. There would be so many vibrant colors, so many different scenes compacted on top of one another. It's beautiful. And so we're going to start in Revelation 21, verse 1. Then I heard a loud voice from the throne. Look. Then the one seated on the throne said, He also said, Write, because these words are faithful and true. Then he said, It is done. I am the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will freely give to the thirsty from the spring of the water of life. The one who overcomes or the one who conquers will inherit these things.

And I will be his God and he will be my son. But the cowards, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars, their share will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur, which is the second death. A lot's going on there, right? We go from new creation with no death, no tears to hell. Just everything from one end of the spectrum to the other is right here in these opening verses. And so this is the final vision of new creation. This is like the beginning of the end of John's entire letter. And you could also say it's the beginning of the end of the story of the entire Bible.

Reflect on that for a minute. This is how the Bible ends. The entire story starting in Genesis 1, the entire story through the narrative of Israel, the entire story of exile and the promises amidst exile that God promises, and then the climactic fulfillment of those promises found in Yeshua. And here we are. Here we go. And John looks up and he sees a new heavens and a new earth.

There's no more sea. Poor fish. Octopus has to live in a tree now. And then he sees the city of God, the new Jerusalem, coming down from heaven. So much going on here.

New Creation Resurrected

So first things first, new heavens and new earth. The first heaven and earth passed away. And when we read this, we typically have this image in our mind. Like we tend to see this phrase and think, okay, so the old earth and the sky just got thrown in the trash. Like we're done with it, done away with it. It's fine. It's thrown in the trash can. And finally God sends a replacement, right? He sends a replacement earth and a replacement heaven. Like we messed this one up so bad and we just can't wait for it to be gone and for God to give us a new one, like heaven, right? But it's earth. And the Bible, however, tends to not paint that picture.

It's not really what it's portraying. The Bible does not teach that salvation occurs when God finally throws this world away and gives us a brand new one. No, the pursuit has always been that this world, creation, Genesis 1, is where God seeks to dwell with man. Here, this one, man messed it up. And in the end, guess what? Man is going to be resurrected in new physical bodies here on earth. And in more evangelical circles, the focus of faith has really become all about escapism. That's really the point of Jesus coming and the point of our faith and the mission of our faith is that we would become saved so that we could escape this world one day and go to heaven.

And the reality is that God, what God is really doing in the Bible is he's not providing us a way for us to escape earth and go to heaven. He's providing a way for him to bring heaven down to earth. And that's always been the plan. And so, yeah, what I want to focus on here is when you see new heaven and new earth, I want you to think about creation being resurrected, just as Paul talks about in Romans 8. He talks about creation being resurrected. The word here in Greek for new is ekinos. And it means new, but not in reference to time, but in reference to quality, newness and quality. So when John's writing here, he used this word new, and he says, I saw a new heaven and a new earth.

Again, ekinos. This is the resurrection of everything that had been corrupted.

Like a Phoenix from the Fires

And so instead of, in our minds, picturing this old earth that's corrupt and bad and just can't wait for it to go away being thrown and then poof, a new one coming, imagine the old one fading away in on itself and being reborn out of itself like a phoenix out of the fires. That old moldy piece of bread, imagine that green fuzz being done away. It's gone. The hardness of the texture and the bread, the density begins to soften in on itself. It begins to puff up. You see the steam coming off of it as if it just came back out of the oven. It is a new loaf. It is a new heavens and a new earth. Quality, the quality, the perfected vision of everything that God did in Genesis 1 is when he created everything so that he could dwell with mankind, has now come to pass.

It is back. It has been renewed. This Edenic vision has come to pass. And I love the poetic vision of that because, again, we think, okay, it's just thrown away and we get a new one. Can't wait to leave this earth to go get a new one. No, it's always been a working of the same creation that God has been rushing in to rescue and resurrect, just like he's been rushing in to rescue you so that you would be resurrected as well, right? It's all of creation. And I love that. I love that. It's almost as if there's a marriage of heaven and earth going on here, and this is it. But we also notice there are some things missing.

The octopus has a problem. There's no sea anymore in this.

No More Sea

Now, Revelation is apocalyptic literature. All of it's symbolic, right? We've established that throughout the whole book. So no sea. What is this trying to say? What is John trying to portray here? Well, throughout this letter, believers have had to decide whether they're going to bear witness with loyalty to Christ as king or compromise into kneeling before the empire of the beast, right? And this brings on persecution from the system of the beast, even death, but they stand boldly and they do not give up. They continue to endure. And so that's really the entirety of the scope here of when it's speaking about these things.

And so when you see sea, well, we know in Revelation 13, the sea is the origin, the cosmic origin of evil in Revelation 13. The sea comes up. In the Old Testament narrative, the sea is also a representation of not only a place of death, but a place of chaos, the chaotic waters. It's the place where the mythological monster of chaos, Leviathan, finds its home. And so many scholars believe that when there's no sea here, it's referencing back to the Old Testament narrative that everything that is disorder, everything that is tohu vavohu, everything that causes chaos, that is against the order of God dwelling with man is now taken away.

Two Different, Opposing Types of Economies

It's a pretty cool explanation. It's awesome. I love it. There's another explanation that is neat too, and they could overlap. That's another realm, another perspective, and since Babylon is depicted throughout Revelation as this city of wealth that has imports, trade imports of luxurious things throughout the sea, then this is a cue of the destruction of the economy of Babylon. They no longer can trade. They no longer can have imports and exports and thrive on their wealth. Instead, we see another city, New Jerusalem, that comes down out of heaven. And there are no trades that are going on. There are no things being imported.

No, everything, all of the benefits come from within. The life-giving river that comes out of it, the tree that bears fruit of healing, and all of it is freely given. All of it is freely given. And so you have two different, opposing types of economies that are going on here. Oh, yeah. I love that. That's so good. Let's see, we need to get through this first section and we're going to get some neat stuff. My favorite part is when we have John talking about and reminiscing on this new creation. And if you're familiar with prophecies of the Old Testament, the first verse that you're going to think of, of course, is Isaiah chapter 65, which makes mention of new creation happening.

This is what John is drawing from. Isaiah chapter 65, verses 16 and 17. Verse 17, it says, "See, I will create new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered, nor will they come to mind." This is what John is pulling from to conclude his vision. And the context of this chapter in Isaiah describes a restored Israel in a restored heavens and earth. The old world is filled with weeping and mourning and all of that fades away. Again, like a phoenix born out of the flames. And this new world emerges with God's peace. And the only thing it contains is joy and gladness. It's just overwhelming.

In this world described in Isaiah, which links to this section of Revelation, there will never be an infant that dies. Old age will no longer be the mascot of death either. The house that you build will be the one that you live in, not someone else. Now, we think, okay, well, what's that have to do with anything?

Eden Restored

Well, again, this is an exilic prophecy. It speaks about a time when Israel will no longer be oppressed by enemies of the world. There will no longer be exile. They will be able to remain in their land, the promised land of God. And when they build a house, they'll actually be able to stay in it. And they'll actually be able to give it to their offspring, which is something that they hadn't experienced for the longest time. Death and violence will be eliminated in this new heavens and new earth. No living creature will live at the expense of another. And this is an important principle because this is what the beast in Revelation, or humans in Revelation in general—let's be honest. This is how we thrive.

This is how we gain wealth. This is how we climb any type of work ladder. We view success and triumph as being only obtained at the expense of others, some way or somehow. And here in Isaiah , it describes this new heavens and new earth. It talks about a wolf and a lamb. We're familiar with this, right? The wolf and the lamb will feed together and the lion will eat straw like an ox. In this new world, this is how Isaiah paints the reality of what God is going to do one day. The lion will be a vegan. Why? What's the principle? Because no one, not even animals, live at the expense of others. You do not live at the expense, harm, or death of any other living creature in this new kingdom. It is Eden restored. And so John is referencing these prophecies as fueling this vision in Revelation. God is doing something now, even though it does not seem like it, and he's going to bring forth a world that can only be described as having vegan lions in it, which speaks volumes, speaks volumes.

The New Jerusalem

In John's description, he also focuses a lot on stuff that isn't there. The sea. What is the sea? We already discussed that. Babylon depended on its luxurious imports, and that way of viewing success and wealth in the world is being taken away. And so we have that section. We're going to jump to verse 9. And now John is going to see a more detailed vision of this city that's falling out of heaven. Then one of the seven angels who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came and spoke with me. He says, "What number is popping out here about this New Jerusalem?" 12, right? It's very similar to when we spoke about the 144,000, right?

And everything it represented. Which begs the question: is this New Jerusalem a what or a who? But right now, more importantly, who is the bride of Christ? Well, Paul says it's you in 2 Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5, but John says it's the city. It's the city. It's a bunch of bricks adorned like a bride. This will be the wife of the Lamb. I love that. Again, this is apocalyptic, I call it poetic literature. It's very explosive symbolism that's meant to drive home a much deeper meaning behind it. Now, this is also a prophecy that's spoken about in Isaiah 62. And in Isaiah 62, it begins by describing Zion, right?

The holy city of God. And it describes her in reference to Jerusalem becoming the bride of God as well. The New Jerusalem is described as being 12,000 stadia with its length, height, and width all equal. It has 12 gates, each of them with the name of a tribe of Israel on them. And the walls are so tall. This city, if it actually lands on earth, what is this, like 1,500 miles, 1,000 miles tall? It's in space. The city's in space. It's neat. And it has these huge walls, huge walls. So here we have a depiction in Romans chapter 21, verse 25. It speaks about the gates never closing. It says... So the depiction is there's no need for a sun or a moon because the radiance from the lamb shoots out from the city.

And you only close the gates at night, right? So I guess the gates are just never going to close. Of course not. Why would they close? They will never close. And they will bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. Isn't that neat? So you have this city that is labeled Israel. The gates are always open, and the nations are the ones that bring glory and honor into it. It's a gathering place for all the nations to give glory to the Lamb.

Layers of Meaning

But let's see if we can piece all these elements together, because I almost wanted to get one of those. And so most—some of you don't even know what this is. The transparency paper projectors. Some of us remember those when we were little kids, right? And for those of you who don't, it looked like this robot with a crane-like top and a light. And you never knew how to focus it. But it was always shaking, anyway. So you'd put these transparent pieces of paper on them and you could tell stories. So you'd have one piece of paper that would have an image of a dinosaur and it would shoot the image of the dinosaur on the wall.

And then you could come and get a picture of Flintstones or something and put it on top and you'd see both images, right? Because it would be transparent. And that's exactly what I thought about all the details that John's speaking about the New Jerusalem—just paper on top of paper on top of paper, overlay on overlay. I love that. So creation has evolved and been resurrected to life in a way that has always been promised to God. This city appears and the city is equal in width and height and length, right? It's the perfect cube, right? Like that sci-fi movie, perfect cube that comes out of heaven.

The City Mirrors the Temple

And what's neat is there's one other space throughout the story of Israel in the Bible that has the same ratio of being equal, equal, equal, equal. And it's found in 1 Kings 6, verse 19. And it speaks about King Solomon when he's building this glorious temple to Yahweh, God's temple. And it speaks about him building the holiest of holies. And it says this in verse 19: "He prepared the inner sanctuary within the temple to set the ark of the covenant of the Lord there. The inner sanctuary was 20 cubits long by 20 cubits wide by 20 cubits high, okay?"

So you have the same ratio found in Scripture of the New Jerusalem, and in the holiest of holies —the place where God's presence wasn't limited or restricted in its essence. It's where his glory dwelled. In Exodus 27 and 30, the two altars, incense and the outer altar, are also square shapes. The breastplate of the high priest, same thing—equal length and height. The city in its measurement mimics the place where God's true presence dwelled in the temple. I love that. The city is 12,000 stadia by 12,000 by 12,000 by 12,000. And how many gates? 12,000. 12 tribes, 12 foundation stones, 12, 12, 12. Another layer.

The Bride Adorned

It's adorned with every type of precious stone. 12 stones are mentioned, kind of like the 12 stones worn by the high priest that represented who? The 12 tribes, the people of God. And the city here is referred to as the bride of the Lamb. So here we have one city and we're going to mark it and turn our focus to another city. I'm going to slide over to Revelation chapter 18. And this is speaking of the city of Babylon, also known as the harlot of Revelation. Revelation chapter 18, verse 9—when the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her, speaking of the harlot, who is the city of Babylon, and shared her luxury, when they see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her.

Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry, "Whoa, whoa, to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon. In one hour, your doom has come." The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore—cargoes of gold and silver and precious stones and pearls and fine linen and purple and silk and scarlet cloth, every sort of citron wood and articles of every kind made of ivory. This is the fall of Babylon.

The Harlot of Revelation

This city is being described here. The city of Babylon, also known not as the beautiful bride that's made ready, but as a whore—the whore of Babylon, the prostitute. In Revelation 17, she's described as being clothed in fine linen, purple and scarlet. She is also adorned with gold and precious stones all over, pearls. And she has a golden cup and she's made drunk with the blood of the saints. She's described as the woman the world wants, not the one that God seeks.

The Entire Economy of the Beast

And the description here isn't simply clothing. It's not simply jewels. It's the entire economy of the beast. Her wealth is what she wears. This is why so many of the earth sleep with her and commit adultery with her. It's all metaphor. And unfortunately, sometimes we get so zealous in how we interpret the Bible, and specifically with this one. Ignorance overflows with this one. So we see that the prostitute of Revelation wears a lot of things—lots of jewelry, lots of pearls, lots of fine necklaces, all kinds of stuff, a gold cup with saints' blood in it. But we tend to just see, "Oh, okay, she's wearing scarlet and purple clothing."

And so what do we do as good Google searchers? We go and we search famous people who wear purple and scarlet. You will find the Queen of England, Queen Elizabeth. You will find her wearing an outfit that she wore one day and someone took a picture that had purple and scarlet in it. "I found the woman of Revelation." And then you keep searching. Princess Diana also was photographed while she was wearing two colors. But we like her, so she can't be it, right? Yeah, it's crazy how much we want to take an image that is supposed to represent an entire community—not even a community, an entire way of the world—and we like to personify it with one person, right?

Or we search around and we're like, "Oh, the cardinals of the Catholic church wear red on their outfits. Nailed it." And it's like, no, no. Someone having a religious attire that represents the blood of Christ... We sometimes need to stop reading Scripture as a way to weaponize it and point fingers at other people.

Look at Your Own Economy

Because maybe a more humbling pursuit would be instead of looking at everyone else who wears like a red shirt this way, Haley, is that purple? Babylon, right?—instead of taking the Bible and using it as a way to weaponize against other people to make yourself feel more righteous, maybe a more humble pursuit would be to look at the economy that you engage in on a daily basis and evaluate who has really slept with the whore of Revelation. What is your daily workflow in pursuit of? The things that you do every day. How do you get the things that you want in life? And what are you willing to do or turn a blind eye to in order to get those things?

What are you willing to support and justify to have the things that you want in life? What would you mourn for in life if it was taken away? Because here, when Babylon is destroyed, the merchants mourn. They're crying because they can no longer profit off of things like human slavery and the exploitation of other people on the earth. They mourn because no one is left to buy the most luxurious clothing, the most costly supplies. The empire that fueled an economy that orbited things and possessions and luxury and vanity—an empire that was structured in a way where justice is flexible in the face of luxury —it has been defeated.

Babylon Is a Spirit

Because here, Babylon is not a person, nor is it an organization. It's a spirit. Yeah, not so quick to point fingers now, huh? John's vision here is drawing from very familiar elements found in Ezekiel chapters 27 and 28, where the prophet speaks of Tyre, this very, very, very wealthy city north of Israel. He speaks of Tyre as being dressed in purple and fine linen—the picture of an ungodly economic system personified, dressed in luxurious clothes of trade products. Ezekiel goes on to give a figurative vision of an unnamed king of Tyre that is driving this entire system in Ezekiel 28. Some of you are very familiar with this section of scriptures, this poem here.

The Wealthy City of Tyre

Ezekiel through 19 describes this unnamed king of Tyre. And this king is influencing this type of economy that seeks to produce wealth at the expense of others, that sells the idea of money and jewels as the only form of success that someone can actually have. And this economy also exploits weaker people groups through violence to obtain it. When Ezekiel has this vision, he intentionally blends it with elements of Eden and Adam and mankind, making this a beautiful formulated vision. And we're going to read it here in Ezekiel chapter 28, starting at verse 11. The word of the Lord came to me: "Son of man, take up a lament concerning the king of Tyre and say to him, 'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: Through your widespread trade, you were filled with violence and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mount of God and I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. Your heart became proud on account of your beauty and you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor. So I threw you to the earth. I made a spectacle of all before kings.'"

The Fall of Adam

It's speaking of humanity by using the story of the fall of Adam and slightly transforming it a bit to illustrate what it looks like when fallen mankind feels its strongest but is destined to fall because of it. Many of you have read this chapter, and someone has told you it speaks of Satan, and that is one opinion. It seems more likely it's speaking of the first priest in the cosmic garden of God at the beginning of the Bible, which was, of course, Adam.

Here it's told a little differently. You have this mountain of God, this temple presence where this guardian or cherub is walking between the fires of stone ministering to the Lord. But then again there's an overlay here of the trading and the wickedness and the dishonesty that's going on. And it's all portrayed as the king of Tyre, which surrounds the chapters before it in here. It's really neat what Ezekiel did here. But yeah, it's an overlay of the fall of Adam. Adam means mankind. So here we have kind of a twist in the story. This is the human story of the things we were ordained to do, but that we would rather pursue wickedness and face the consequences than to maintain our righteous charge on the mountain of God.

Two Visions: New Jerusalem and Babylon

And John uses this imagery here in Revelation to describe the harlot of Babylon or Babylon itself. And so on one side, we have the picture over here. We have the New Jerusalem, portrayed as a bride and as a temple and the place where God's spirit dwells and representing the people of God, 12, 12, 12, 12, 12. And on this side, you have the city of Babylon portrayed as this corrupt harlot. And the question is, when John's pulling all these elements together, which one do you align yourself with? And of course, all of us are like, "Oh, the New Jerusalem, of course." But again, again, the picture of the king of Tyre, the picture of the system that clothes itself in linen and purple and scarlet, jewels.

Doesn't this look attractive? Babylon says, "Come to bed with me. I will give you what you want." Do we align ourselves with the New Jerusalem, which represents the people, the righteous people of God, which only allows entry if you have pure hearts? It has an environment of justice and righteousness, but it's only for those who are loyal to the Lamb. There's no darkness, no corrupt things, no liars that say they're loyal to Yeshua but are not. No sexually impure, no sexually immoral, and no sorcerers are allowed in here either.

The Word Pharmakia

Sorcerers. You guys know about that word sorcery in Revelation? We're going to get off an exit ramp. So we know this word sorcery in Revelation, if we look at it—it's the word pharmakia. Pharmakia. Josh didn't look at me sideways. I think I pronounced it correctly. Pharmakia. It's pharmakia, right?

And here, people who practice pharmakia are not allowed to enter the New Jerusalem. In Revelation , it says the harlot deceives all the nations with her sorcery, her pharmakia. And just a heads up, this is how not to interpret the Bible, okay? The prostitute will deceive many with pharmakia, and pharmakia is where we get our word pharmacy. Therefore, if you take an Advil, you will never enter the gates of the city of God where the Lamb is. In fact, you will be thrown into the lake of fire. That's what it says. Those who practice pharmakia, taking pharmaceuticals, modern medicine, will go to hell. Did you get that tetanus shot as a kid?

Hell. Type 1 diabetic, needing that insulin? Hell. Nope, nope, you should have taken that cinnamon doTERRA oil instead. They're on BOGO right now, if you want to join my downline. You've been treated for cancer. Going to hell. Antibiotic for that cold or whatever you had—you are a partaker of sorcery. Guys, we can be better than this because I have heard and I've been taught that this is what Revelation's speaking about. This is the context of sorcery. We can be better than that. The world rejects Christianity because they hate God. Now, I don't think so. I think the world rejects Christianity because they hate us. And they hate us not for the right reasons.

The Power of Dunamis

The Greek word for power that is constantly translated in the New Testament is dunamis— dunamis with an 's' at the end. Refer my Greek scholar over here. Dunamis means power, great power. I think we have some verses here we're going to look at. Luke chapter 6, verse 19: The whole crowd was trying to touch him—this is speaking of Jesus, of Yeshua—because power came out of him and healed them all. The woman with the issue of blood reached with her faith and hope and grabbed the hem of his garment. And it says that he felt power go out from him. And something about that, he turned and said, "Who touched me?" He knew someone touched him. Dunamis is kind of the root—it's where we get the word dynamite from. So let's apply this same hermeneutic, please. Do you know why Yeshua knew someone touched him? Because she blew up. The whole crowd is trying to touch him because dynamite came out from him, providing healing to them all.

Sorcery in Scripture

2 Corinthians 10, verse 4—this fits. Therefore, it has to be the proper intention. No, it's not talking about dynamite. No, sorcery in Revelation is not talking about Advil or life-saving medicine or even medicine that you don't think is life-saving. It has nothing to do with that. In the Septuagint, the Greek Old Testament—the Bible that the churches in Asia Minor would have been reading—Nahum 3, verse 4 speaks about Assyria with the same word. And we know that ancient Assyria was not trying to attack Israel by attempting to vaccinate them. They weren't trying to give them cholesterol medicine when they invaded Israel.

Isaiah 47 speaks of the fall of Babylon, of judgment for it—it receives judgment for its sorcery. Exodus 7, verse 11 says, Guess what Greek word that is in the Septuagint? They turned rivers into blood with Pepto-Bismal. I'm beating a dead horse, but I feel like I need to. We need to be very careful when we choose to handle the words of God, this library inspired by the Holy Spirit of the living God. And when we force ourselves onto it and we twist it and we ravage it, it's never a good witness, never. It's usually for the sole reason of trying to make ourselves look like self-appointed prophets. Kamala Harris wore a purple dress at the inauguration?

Gotta be Babylon. We don't want to take medicine or don't agree with it? It's in Revelation. We make stuff up and it's embarrassing, but it's also very dangerous because this letter of warning and resistance to the works of Satan is one that starts in our heart, not by finding symbolism and pointing at this or that, or she wore this dress and it's a certain color. No, it's one that starts in our heart. It's one that starts with repentance inside. It starts with evaluating whether or not we truly stand as an ambassador of the king who sits on the throne. And if we're all just going to sum it up as being about Tylenol, then who are we truly an ambassador for when we misuse the letter that's supposed to cause repentance to the world?

Two Cities: The Bride and the Dwelling Place

There are two cities: the city of God—the bride—and the harlot. Love this. Revelation 19:7 speaks about the rejoicing that's happening because the bride of the lamb is being revealed. This is two chapters before talking about the New Jerusalem. And it says this: "Fine linen." So in previous weeks, what type of clothing do we get if we overcome in the name of the Lamb? What color? White. Oh, look, the bride gets white clothing too.

So we have the bride here representing the saints, and then the city represents the twelve tribes or the people of God, which makes up all nations, all tongues, all tribes, all people of the Lamb, just like the 144,000. It's described as the bride of Christ. It's depicted as the temple. Guys, the New Jerusalem, I would suggest, represents you. It represents the people of God, hopefully anyway. It represents the believers who refuse to compromise, or those who don't trick themselves into thinking they can in the form of self-righteous holiness. Peter understood this. He understood this concept about you and me making up the dwelling place of God's spirit in 1 Peter 2:5: "You also, like living stones, are built up into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."

So we have Peter, and then we have Paul in 2 Corinthians 11, looking at the churches and telling them that they are the place that makes up the dwelling place for God because God dwells among man. You are the temple, collectively, representing the twelve tribes. You are the place that God rules the world through. You are the bride. And you also have Paul looking into these same people and telling them in 2 Corinthians this about new creation. So we have Isaiah 65 speaking about this prophecy that's going to come in the future where God is going to do something grand and the resurrection will come to all creation.

And then you have John in this portrayal of the end of the age when God is in all and all. And he says, hey guys, the new heavens and the earth will be rebirthed as this place that it was always meant to be with God dwelling with man.

New Creation: Now and Future

But here comes Paul, not skipping a beat, saying, "Guys, if you're in Christ, new creation has come. The old is gone. The new is here." Which one is it? Which one is it? I would dare say that Paul in 2 Corinthians was not encouraging people to simply wait on new creation to come. Paul seemed convinced that new creation had already been inaugurated with the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. And here Paul is actually quoting Isaiah 65, the same verse that John is quoting. Yeah, but Paul's not saying the new is actually here. No, it's exactly what he says. The new has come. The new is here.

Matt, are you saying that there won't be a final day when the actualization of new creation happens in the end of the ages? No, I'm not saying that at all. I'm convinced it will. But Yeshua resurrected first. But there will be a final culmination of the resurrection with all of us. New creation has been inaugurated now through Yeshua. It is here, but it is still yet to come. And I think there will be a culmination of all of the promises of God. I believe Yeshua will literally return here. I believe there will be a literal resurrection of all of you, or hopefully you. And I believe there will be a literal fulfillment of the type of world that the scriptures promise will come.

But here's the thing. Okay, everybody heard that? People are going to mishear me. I believe all of that is going to come. But here's the thing. This is not what Paul was excited about when he was writing to Corinth. He was not excited about the future new creation that's coming one day, and one day everything's going to be great, and one day the world will be filled with joy, and one day... No, he's not excited at all about that when he's writing this section. And there are some of you here today that want so badly for some future utopia to come, which I believe it will. But listen, there are some of you here today that are so focused on some future divine utopia to come that you ignore the joy and the hope and the power of what Christ did for you now. You don't have to wait for new creation to experience it now.

Access to Heaven Now

Some of you are waiting until you die to experience eternal life. No, I don't believe it starts when you die. I believe it starts when you're raised to life in the spirit of God. I believe it starts now and it transcends death. It starts now in the hope of Yeshua. You don't have to wait on the resurrection from death to life. Colossians 3:1. Here we go. "Since you have been raised to new life in Christ—resurrection language—set your sights on the realities of heaven, the facts of what is actually going on right now, where Christ sits in the place of honor at God's right hand. Guess who's king and ruling and reigning right now, and that's the reality.

Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in his glory." Paul is not denying that there will be a fullness of physical resurrection in the future, but what he's trying to encourage people with, in the world that they live in right now, is that a type and shadow of that resurrection has already taken place in your relationship with Christ when you have died to this world and risen again in a new life.

Some of us are walking through life unsatisfied with the lifestyle of Babylon, but we endure it because we don't think that the spirit, the life, the vitality, and the power of Yeshua is available to us right now. And if that's you today, if that's you today, I have some great news for you. Great news for you. You do have access to the things of heaven right now. Do you know why? Because you know the reality of who sits on the throne, just like Paul just said, which means you have something called hope.

The Hope That Drives Everything

Do you have hope today? Some of you do. Some of you say you do. But as believers, the hope of the promises of God that we have obtained a foretaste of is the very thing that drives everything in our life. That is what drives us in everything that we do in our life, or at least it's supposed to. Hope is no small thing. Hope equips you with the confidence to walk out of these doors today, not as someone who's trapped in Babylon, but as a citizen of the new Jerusalem — the new Jerusalem where darkness never enters, where the Lamb walks, where the presence of the eternal God makes its dwelling place. I believe the city of God is literally coming, somehow or another. But I believe we bear witness of it as a reality that is accessible now.

In Christ, New Creation

If that is our hope, how are we living our everyday lives reflecting that? And Paul's whole thing about realizing — not that you are a new creation. That's not what he says in his letter to the Corinthians. Although, that's cool. You're a new creation. No, it says that if you are in Christ, new creation. It doesn't say "you" as a blanket statement. If you're in Christ — bam! — then new creation. If you are in Christ, then all you see is the fact that he reigns and new creation exists, even if the world does not see it or recognize it. But this should also affect how you act. It also affects what you do when you go outside. It also puts responsibility on you if you claim to be a follower of Yeshua.

It's a responsibility now to be an ambassador of the kingdom that the world doesn't see, of the kingdom that's not here yet, but it is the kingdom of God. See, even though it's painted in such a way, I like to think the future reality of the New Jerusalem is absolutely literal. But again, here's the thing. When John was writing this letter, the letter of Revelation to the churches of Asia Minor inside the empire, they actualized its existence in their communities. They mimicked what they hoped for, what they knew was coming. The new Jerusalem — we know it's coming. Are you mimicking that?

The City That Cannot Be Corrupted

The place where light is always shining, where no liars that said that they followed Christ but didn't are exhibited, where there are no bad things, where the gates are always open to bring in the nations. And all of it is birthed because of the defeat of the dragon and the beast through the blood of the Lamb. This is the great reversal. Instead of humans building a city up to heaven, God brings the city down to earth. But the cowards, the faithless, the detestable, the murderers, the sexually immoral, the sorcerers, the idolaters, and all liars — their share will be in the lake of fire with sulfur, which is the second death.

Here's the thing, guys. These things do not belong in the kingdom of God. These things in your life bar you from ever entering the place of the new Jerusalem, according to John. These things separate you from the presence of God and the presence of the Lamb. These are the vices of the empire of the beast: liars, the cowards, and faithless ones — those who have committed to Yeshua but fear man more than God, so they compromise — and the detestable, the abominable ones. Get those things out of your life. Sexually immoral, fornicators. The word here is possibly culturally linked back to temple prostitution, but also carries idolatrous elements of lust, sexual desire, or exploitation of people through treating them as sex objects for your own desire.

Treating people, who are images of God, as sex objects to use for your own benefit. These people do not enter through the gates of the new Jerusalem where the presence of the Lamb is.

Sorcerers. In Egypt and in Babylon, according to Scripture, sorcery was used to advise the king on how to lead the empire. Sorcery was an imperial term. Political divination, if you will. Idolatry, idol worship. I don't worship any idols. What do you give your life to then? What pursuits do you have in your life? Where is your worship focused? I don't know — I come here once a week, I raise my hands a little bit.

Identifying True Worship

Do you know how to identify where your worship is, where your worthship, what you give worth to? Do you know how to identify that? Where you put your resources — time, money, energy. That's how you identify what the most meaningful things in life are. What does the Scripture say? "Where your treasure is, your heart will be also." Where's your money? That's where your focus is. That's where your loyalty is. That's where the things are that you give everything to. Where does your time go? Where does your energy go? Maybe it's not an idol, but it's a pretty good indicator of direction. These are the vices of the empire that are opposed to God's kingdom. They cannot coexist inside the city of God nor the kingdom of God. Why not? Because they're opposed to the very reign of the king. They are cast into the lake of fire along with the ones they serve — the beast, the false prophet, and the devil himself.

Living the New Creation Now

So guys, I don't know where you're at today, but we know a new Jerusalem is coming. We know the culmination of the realities and the promises of God and Yeshua will fully overtake the world one day. But we're called to live it out now. If we are in Christ, we have the lenses of new creation on. And so every person we see, we don't see someone who is an enemy trying to kill us, who hates us. We see a person enslaved by sin. And so we have mercy. And so we show grace. And so we forgive because we know what the reality is because we live in it. When we look outside and we see hurt and pain, we don't disregard it. "Oh, well, you know what? All this world's going to be thrown away one day and a new creation will come."

No. No, we know the reality. But what are we doing to mimic and reflect the hope that we have in the coming reality now? Every person we see, we see through the lenses of what took place on the cross. Every situation that we see, we see through the lenses of what took place on the cross. Every moment that we walk now, we have been resurrected in a sense, according to Paul. And we are experiencing and living in a type of new creation because of the hope that has now been instilled in us. We get a sample of it now, and we have the power and authority to give a sample of it to others. Or we don't, and we just say we do, and we become a liar.

We have hope. We have the assurance, and we have Yeshua. The river of life runs out of the city of God, and the tree of life bears fruit for the healing of all nations. Are you living out that hope? You can enter in. You can enter in to where the Lamb is. The gates are open. The gates are open. The Lamb calls you from within: "Come to me." But the darkness has to stay outside. The things we give our energy to and the vices we get locked into have to stay outside if we're ever going to experience that.

Which City? Closing Worship and Prayer

And so truly, which city? Which city? One the world wants to tell you is good. One is good in and of itself because this is where the Lamb is. So please stand as we conclude services. Worship team, you guys can come up. We always conclude services with worship. And guys, if you need prayer today, we have a prayer team that will be on either side of the stage. They are here as a resource. They're here if you need prayer for something. If you would like to lay something down here today and leave it here today, you can see them. They will pray with you. They will lift you up before the Father. If you're going through a circumstance today in your life that you would just like prayer and encouragement, someone to petition alongside you before the throne room of heaven, I invite you to come up for prayer. Avinu Malkinu, our Father, our King, Father, we thank you for this time where we meet with you on this day of rest so that we can reinforce the rest that we have in your son Yeshua, the lamb, the king.

Father, I ask that the Spirit that you say is within us will give us power, will vitalize us, and will allow us to see the world through the lenses of new creation, through the lenses of the new Jerusalem that is coming, but that Yeshua demonstrated could be here as well. Make us the ambassadors of your kingdom so when we love others, people feel the love of Yeshua through us. We thank you, Father, for your mercy and grace, and we ask that we would become vessels of it. In Yeshua's name we pray. Amen. Shema. Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God, the Lord is one. Blessed is the name of His glorious kingdom for all eternity. And may the God of patience and encouragement grant you to be like-minded with one another in the manner of the Messiah, so that together with one voice, as one body, you glorify the God and Father of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. Shabbat shalom. Be blessed. Thank you. I'm Matthew Vandrells, and I hope you enjoyed this message.