God says,
“Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness. Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King.”
Psalms 48:1.2
In the beginning, God established His kingdom in the sides of the north, in the original mount Zion. Mount Zion was a high mountain in northern Eden. The garden, which God planted for mankind was eastward in Eden. The city that we see coming down out of heaven into the New Heavens and New Earth is that same city.
The city of God
“…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, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.”
Revelation 21:2,3
What happened is that God decided to build His Tabernacle, in His eternal city, on the sides of the north in Eden. This was the house of God before any tabernacle in the wilderness, Solomon’s temple, or even the temple of Ezekiel. In fact, all the temples built on earth are reflections of that original house of God.
A heavenly habitation
That city still exists, but in heaven. When Adam sinned, God’s Spirit lifted off of him much like it returned on the day of Pentecost. Tongues of fire appeared, and left with a mighty rushing wind. Mankind’s understanding dimmed and driven from Eden, without the in-filling of the Holy Spirit, he decended into darkness. Subsequently, God took the tree of life and the great city of God and left the earth establishing His kingdom in heaven. YHWH and the mount of the congregation has been in the heavenly realms ever since.
God says,
“By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”
Hebrews 11:9,10
Abraham searched for a city built by God
Abraham had a vision in Ur of the original city of God. This is what promoted Him to leave the Chaldees and become a stranger in a strange land.
Moreover, what Isaiah saw in his vision is that same city. Isaiah approached God, seeing Seraphim, which mortal men never saw before.
God says,
“Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of his glory. And the posts of the door moved at the voice of him that cried, and the house was filled with smoke.”
Isaiah 6:2-4
The city of God in heaven
Moreover, the vision of John The Apostle takes place in that heavenly city.
“And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices, and thunderings, and an earthquake, and great hail.”
Revelation 11:19
Jesus says to pray this way,
“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.”
Matthew 6:11
We are to pray for the restoration of God’s kingdom on earth. The fulfillment of that prayer is when the heavenly city descends out of heaven into God’s new creation. This is the same city that God took up from earth at the beginning of this creation, after sin entered the world.
Its all about restoration
Noah built an Ark and was lifted by the flood, remaining on the waters for a time, then came to rest on mount Ararat. Most likely on the exact place where God’s city originally stood. Jesus ascended up into a cloud in the sight of his disciples, remains in heaven for a season, then comes back down to earth at the second coming. This whole saga (we are a part of) is about re-establishing the literal kingdom of God on the world to come, just as it used to be in the beginning of or this world.
Unfortunately, theologians don’t generally know about the original city of God. This is because many theologians of our day do not allow God to take them to the conclusions He desires. Thus, much of what God has for us remains hidden from view.
You need that no man teach you
Fortunately, we have a comforter, the Spirit of Truth, which leads and guides us into all truth. We do not need doctors of the scriptures to show us the way, because we have a light of creation, the Holy Spirit, that guides us internally. Knowing and hearing the voice of God is all we really need. God himself teaches us all things we really need to know through revelation.
Finally, revelation is how men and women of God have always lived throughout the ages. Faith in God’s Rhema is how we become pillars in the temple of our God too.
Dear Connections,
Have you ever heard the saying that, “within every legend, lies a kernel of truth”? Why do people thrill to tales of lost cities of gold like Eldorado? The lost city of Atlantis, only mentioned briefly in Plato’s writings, captures the imagination of people around the world.
I submit to you that the orginal lost city is made out of gold so pure its transparent and decorated with precious jewels. Though we know it as “New Jerusalem” it is, in reality, as old as creation. It is the first city of the Most High that existed in the sides of the north in a land called Eden.
Eden was not a small place like some botanical garden you see today, this earthly paradise was the size of the middle east. Even the garden planted east of God’s holy hill was immense. Many picture Adam’s home crowded with animals, but that was not the case at all. It was a large plain fed by a mighty river flowing down from under the threshold of the temple on the mountain of God. Cascading down the cataracts, God’s river broke into four large rivers called, Pishon, Gihon, Tigris, and Euphrates.
Adam lived for 930 years. Methuselah was born when Adam was in his 600’s and Noah was around during a good portion of the Methuselah’s life time. Noah, through talking with Methuselah, could have been told the history of what happened in the Garden from someone who knew Adam personally. In fact, Shem, Noah’s son, was still around when Abraham was born. The point is, that the memories of “the originals” are not that far removed from the times of Abraham and the other patriarchs. What happened in Eden was not ancient history, but recent memory handed down by the people who lived it.
To this day, we all remember instinctively who we are, even if we don’t understand it. Our love for gardens, mountain streams, fresh fruit, panda bears, and lost cities, all harken back to real things that existed when our world was young. We instinctively love perfection even though we can never really attain it.
The city of God is not really lost, but just relocated for a while. However, in the restoration of all things it will come down out of heaven and once more be the home of God on earth.
God says,
“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, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Revelation 21:2-4
Rhema, or the spoken word of God, is as boundless as He is. The written scriptures are a small subset of the immense sea of revelation just waiting to be explored. The scriptures cannot be broken, yet there is so much we don’t know that explains and expands our understanding of them.
When man uses only his natural reasoning to understand God’s spiritual book, the scriptures do not yield up there strength, just like the ground refused to yield up its strength when Adam tilled it. Without the blessing of God, our efforts to understand Him only yield up thorns and thistles. Only when we allow the Holy Spirit back into us, to live through us again, do we regain our spiritual sight. It does not take a degree to know God’s truth, only the Spirit of Truth to illuminate it.
God tells me wonderful things and I share them with you. I hear these things, not because I am someone special, but because I am listening and willing to consider what He says. God talks to everyone all the time, but because most don’t know His voice they dismiss what He says as error or irrelevant. We reject whatever does not line up with our natural minds when, the truth is, we should be rejecting our natural minds in favor of the Holy Spirit’s revelation. John, who wrote the book of revelation, was not some super theologian, but merely a disciple who heard the voice of God.
In the coming days our very lives, both physically and spiritually, will depend upon our ability to know the voice of our good shepherd. We need to build a habit of listening to Him now, when it is easy, so that when life is hard, listening, hearing and obeying on time will be second nature to us.
Pastor and teachers, if you and not teaching your people to listen to the Holy Spirit more than you, then you are in effect, preparing them to receive and follow the Antichrist. You might think I speak in hyperbole, but if anything, I am not conveying the full consequences of what we face. We all live, currently, in Strong Delusion, and most know it not. Natural minded Christians are ever learning, yet unable to come to a knowledge of the Truth. If we do not listen to God’s voice now, more than we trust our own minds, we will fall victim to that man of sin.
As Jesus said,
“And other fell on good ground, and sprang up, and bare fruit an hundredfold. And when he had said these things, he cried, He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
Luke 8:8
God bless,
Michael