Mike Bickle explores the concept of Millennial Jerusalem, emphasizing its significance as the city of the great King, where the earthly Jerusalem is fully restored and united with the new Jerusalem from heaven. He highlights that this city will be the epicenter of God's glory, where believers will dwell forever, experiencing a unique blend of natural and supernatural realities. Bickle encourages listeners to embrace new biblical ideas and to seek understanding through scripture, as the Millennial Jerusalem represents a profound fulfillment of God's promises. He emphasizes the importance of the convergence of these two Jerusalems, which will bring unprecedented glory and blessing to the earth.

We're continuing on the series on the Millennial Kingdom, which is really the topic of heaven on earth. Father, we thank you for the revelation of your word. We ask you for living understanding of this subject that is so prominent in the scripture. We ask you to awaken our hope that our hearts would be made glad. We thank you in Jesus' name. Tonight, we're gonna look at the subject, the city of the great king, the Millennial Jerusalem. Now, the Millennial Jerusalem is more than just the city of Jerusalem in the millennium. As we think of it, it's the convergence of the earthly city. It's the city of Jerusalem as we know it now that Jesus fully restores it in the natural city on earth. And then he joins it together with the new Jerusalem that descends from heaven. I'm gonna say that again. The Millennial Jerusalem is the city of Jerusalem that we know today, but it's fully restored by Jesus in a personal way. He personally restores it. It's natural. He brings it to its full blessing in the natural. Then he calls down himself, the new Jerusalem from heaven. It descends, connects together with the natural earthly Millennial Jerusalem. And together, the two form this glorious reality called the city of the great king. That's what Jesus called it, the city of the great king. It's the great city of the great king. And we're gonna look at it tonight because that city is where you will live forever and forever and forever. And that city, the new Jerusalem descends to the earth at the time of the second coming. And if the second coming is in the lifetime of people that are in this room right now, then that city is going to descend, that supernatural city to the earth within your lifetime. Some of you listening to this message. And again, the new Jerusalem will descend and it will connect with the fully restored and brought to full blessing earthly Jerusalem. And the two together will be a new reality that's never been seen on the earth before. Now, this is a new idea to some people. The paragraph A, I put this in, I use this paragraph often in the end time series. Don't dismiss biblical ideas just because they're new to you or new to your church background. Be like the Bereans in Acts chapter 17, that when Paul went to the city of Berea and he taught them new ideas, the Bereans said, wait a moment, we're gonna check the scripture to see if these things are real, to see if they're accurate. And so I challenge you, don't throw away new ideas just because they're new to your background. See if they're in the scripture, but at the same token, don't accept a new idea unless you can find it in the scripture. One thing that I like to tell the interns and the students regularly, challenge everything that you hear from the pulpits, anywhere, anywhere, not just at IHOP, but I'm talking about IHOP, but anywhere, all your days, just challenge it with a spirit of meekness and tenderness. Challenge everything that you hear, taught or anything that you would read to see if you can find it in the word of God with your own eyes. That's the only kind of truth you should really lay hold of if you can see it with your own eyes. Above all things, or at the top of the list with several other things, matter of fact, we wanna teach you to think for yourself. We wanna reinforce that. Now, many of you already do that, but I wanna encourage that. Think for yourself when you open the word of God before the presence of God. Paragraph B, this session, in this session, we're gonna look at what the scripture teaches just a little bit. It's a vast subject. It's far bigger than we can cover in one session. We're gonna look at what the scripture teaches about the glory of Jerusalem in the millennium. And the millennium is the thousand year reign for those of you that are just visiting with us for the first time that begins at the second coming of Christ, which I believe is gonna happen in the next several decades, or maybe a little longer, maybe a little shorter. The glory of this city of Jerusalem is the combination of the natural city of Jerusalem brought to its full natural glory under the leadership of Jesus, combined with the supernatural glory of the new Jerusalem. Jesus referred to this city. He called it, Matthew 5, the city of the great king. Now he's the great king. He must have smiled and looked upward to the father, because I'm not sure anybody listening to him understood what he was talking about. He said, Jerusalem, the city of the great king. He could have said the great city of the great king. He was talking about his own city that he will personally establish with his own authority. And he is the king of that city. He spoke that tenderly with affection. Undoubtedly, he glanced upwards to the father and said, father, you and I know what I'm talking about, the city of the great king. It's gonna combine the supernatural dimensions of the new Jerusalem that will descend with the natural, the restored natural conditions brought to their fullness, the fullness of natural blessing upon a city. No city in the earth has ever been brought to this level of glory, even in the natural. And the two will be combined, the supernatural dimensions of heaven with the natural conditions of the earth. Paragraph C, scripture describes two Jerusalems in God's plan in the millennial kingdom. Two, there's an earthly Jerusalem that we call the millennial Jerusalem. Again, it's the Jerusalem that we know today, but brought to full natural blessing, all the prosperity and the wisdom and the administration of the city, the unrighteousness of the inhabitants, all the laws are godly. Everything is done in wisdom and righteousness and humility. The agriculture, the economics, the city administration, the unity, the residents are in the fullest blessing of any natural city ever. But the scripture also talks about the new Jerusalem. So there's two Jerusalems in God's plan. And after the second coming, I'm saying it again and again, cause it's a new idea to some of you. After this, at the time of the second coming, right afterwards, one of the immediate things that happened, Jesus, he uses the keys of the kingdom. Remember he told Peter, you have the keys of the kingdom to bind and loose. Well, Jesus has the keys. They're in his hands. As a human king, he binds Satan with those kings and puts him in prison and he looses or opens up the heavenly realm and calls down the new Jerusalem. Now, beloved, that's authority. When you can throw Satan into prison and you can release the new Jerusalem with an open heaven above the earth, you have authority. Now he does this as a man, man anointed by God. Now he's fully God, but he's operating in the authority in the grace of God as a man when he does this. Now, three times in the book of Revelation, John talks about the new Jerusalem descending out of heaven and the clear implication, it descends out of heaven to the earth. It descends to the earth and the result is the glory of heaven and the glory of the natural glory of the earth are brought together in one city. This is the first time it's ever happened in a city and it establishes the first city and there's many cities of glory that will follow in the future after this one. Now this goes far beyond what Adam experienced in the garden of Eden. Jesus takes it up a notch. Jesus brings that city of Jerusalem to where God originally wanted Adam to go, but Adam failed. So Jesus begins the age to come in that place. It's the first glorified city in history, there it is. And then again, the glory spreads throughout all the earth and then throughout all of eternity and it goes on and on. Paragraph D, when the new Jerusalem descends to the earth at this time, then literally heaven is on earth. Heaven is on earth at that time and heaven and earth come together. Paragraph E, the passage that we repeat so often in the end times teachings here on Saturday night, Ephesians chapter one, verse nine and 10. Those of you that have been here for a few months, you've heard this already many times. You wanna memorize Ephesians 1, 9. You wanna use it all the time in your teaching on the end times. That at the center of God's eternal purpose, at the very centerpiece of God's plan, Jesus is going to bring together everything. Well, the father's going to do it, but through Jesus. He's gonna bring together everything in the heavenly room. He's gonna bring everything together in the earthly realm. He's gonna join them together on the earth. So the thing I like to say so often, we're not going to die and go away to heaven. That's not the ultimate reality, but heaven is coming to the earth forever. Only from the cross to the second coming do believers die and go away to heaven. From the cross 2,000 years ago to the second coming, which I believe is coming in several decades for now, or maybe sooner, maybe a little later. We don't know, but I believe it's coming soon. From the cross to the second coming, when a believer dies, our disembodied spirit goes to paradise. We go to heaven. We don't go with a resurrected body. We don't have a resurrected body until the second coming because we don't need a resurrected body in the supernatural spiritual environment of heaven. But when heaven comes down to the earth, we get a physical body because we need one to relate to the environment of the earth. We have a physical material body because we will live in a physical material environment on the earth in the full conditions of the glory of the resurrection that are in the New Jerusalem. Because it's coming down, and that's where we're gonna live, but we're gonna work on the earth. And we're gonna have the greatest time imaginable. Beloved, this is real. This is far beyond anything that Dorothy saw when she turned the corner and saw Oz. I mean it. It's far beyond anything. And it's not just a neat idea. This is reality. And all of us are gonna be there in a short amount of time, whether it's 50 years or 100 years or a year, it's a minute any way it goes from the perspective of eternity. We're all gonna be there in a minute. We really are. I tell you, we can begin to get excited about it even now. That's where we're going, in a physical city on the earth with the supernatural environment of heaven and the presence of God, the perfect body, a physical body that is supernatural resurrected qualities. Fantastic. Paragraph F. Now, Jesus spoke of the convergence of these two cities. And he spoke about it in relationship to his own throne and his own government. He said, when the son of man comes, now Jesus is speaking. When he comes in his glory, part of his glory is the new Jerusalem descending to the earth. He will sit on the throne of his glory and all the nations, we're talking about all the nations that are on the earth right now, they will come before him for judgment because that throne of glory will be in the city of Jerusalem. It will be new and improved. Again, it will have its natural glory brought to its height of natural glory. Terms again, the unity, the agriculture, the economics, the morale of the city, the residents of the city, the architecture of the city, the administration of the city. And it will be brought to the highest degree of natural glory under the favor of God. And then it will be combined with the supernatural dimension of the new Jerusalem. And his throne will be the epicenter of this city. And he calls it the throne of his glory. And all the nations that are currently on the earth will the representatives of those nations, the people that are responsible for the governments of those nations, they will go before him. And he will judge and evaluate those nations. Some of those nations will not make it on into the millennial kingdom and others will. Many will, many won't. We don't really know the number, but they will come before Jesus in Jerusalem. That will be one of the first issues of business at his second coming. He will judge the nations, the nations that exist right now by judging the representatives of the government of those nations. Jeremiah chapter three, verse 17. Now, Jesus was quoting this passage when he talked about the throne of his glory. Although he was the first one to use the phrase, the throne of his glory, he used it several times in the gospels. At that time, now this is at the second coming, the millennial kingdom, that's when the millennial kingdom starts at the second coming. At that time, Jerusalem, the whole city, will be called the throne of the Lord. And it will be called this by the other nations of the earth. And all the nations will be gathered to the throne of the Lord or to the city of Jerusalem. And they will be gathered to the name of the Lord. So they will be gathered to his requirements, to his authority, but they will also be gathered to his splendor and to his magnificence to encounter him. And this is in the city of Jerusalem. It's what Jeremiah said in Jeremiah three, verse 17. Let's go to top of page two. Now, in Ezekiel 43, boy, this is a really glorious passage. Ezekiel is having an open vision of the future. He's witnessing Jesus' throne of glory in the city of Jerusalem. Jeremiah had just prophesied about it a few years earlier because they were contemporaries. They lived in the same generation. Jeremiah is a bit older. He was the older prophet. Ezekiel was the younger prophet. It says in verse four, the glory of the Lord came into the temple. Now he's looking far into the future. This is about 500 BC. So he's looking 2,500 years into the future after the second coming. He sees the millennial temple. And he says, and then I heard the Lord speak to me and the Lord was inside of the temple. Now, undoubtedly, he's having a vision of Jesus the Messiah. He has a vision of the man he saw back in Ezekiel one, verse 26, he said, I saw one like the son of man on a throne. Now he sees that same man, but this time he's in the temple in the future in Jerusalem. He's looking 2,500 plus years into the future. He sees this man who is clearly the Lord. And this man is standing inside the future temple in the millennium. And Ezekiel's pretty excited. Verse seven, and the Lord says to Ezekiel, this, pointing at the temple, is the place of my throne. My throne as the king of Israel, as the king of the nations, my throne will be inside the temple. Now this was a new idea to Ezekiel. He goes, well, your throne will be in the temple because the king's throne was in a distinct place from the temple even by God's law. The king could not go into the temple. When Uzziah the king went into the temple, he was struck with leprosy. The king could not function as a priest and the priest could not function as a king. The two offices were separated by God's law. So this is kind of a confusing point because it looks like the Lord's violating the scripture. But the Lord's in the age to come in a different season in God's plan. And the Lord says, this is the place of my throne. And he says, this is the place, a very significant phrase, of the soles of my feet. That's a very interesting phrase we're gonna run into later. This is where I will dwell in the midst of Israel forever. Now, what? He's going, okay, your throne is gonna be in the temple that's already a non-biblical idea according to Moses. Okay, your throne will be in the temple. That's good. The soles of your feet will be on the earth. So we know you're human and it's earth bound, it's earthly. But you're gonna live there forever so we know that you're heavenly and you're eternal. So the throne and the temple, the eternal temple, now this is one of the verses, there's about 15 of them in the Bible, that indicates that this earth is going to continue forever. At the end of the millennium, when the Lord rinses and cleanses the earth with fire, he purges it with fire, he doesn't annihilate it, but he renovates it. Because the Lord told Ezekiel, and there's about 15 passages where the Lord says to Ezekiel here, he goes, my throne will be right here in the city of Jerusalem forever. Beloved, there's a reason the devil hates the city of Jerusalem. That's where Jesus will be in a temple and ruling as a king, he'll bring the two together, the two offices together. Paragraph I, now there's a bit of a dichotomy here or a paradox because John sees something that's apparently opposite. John sees that the throne of God the Father and the throne of Jesus the Lamb, they're in the new Jerusalem. He's having a vision of the new Jerusalem. Well, Ezekiel said, Jesus's throne is on the earth. John said, Jesus's throne is in the new Jerusalem. Which is it? Is his throne on the earth or is it in the new Jerusalem? Is it heavenly? Is it earthly? Which is it? And of course the answer is yes. Paragraph J, Jesus rules in heaven as the son of God, the heavenly Jerusalem. He rules on earth as the son of David. He's the son of God and the son of David simultaneously, fully God, fully man. The two realms are joined together at the time of the second coming. This is what Jesus meant along with many other things when he stood before his disciples and he said, all authority in the heavenly realm, all authority in the earthly realm is mine. I personally, as a man will bring the government of heaven and earth together in unity on the earth as a man. What an incredible statement. Now it's okay that you just whisper to the Lord right now. Oh, I love you, Lord. I love you. I just really love you. Because as I hear these truths, I think about them. I think, who is this man that we're worshiping? Who is this man that loves you so tenderly and fiercely? Oh, I love you, Lord. I love you. I love you. You're awesome. And why are you interested in me? The Lord says, because in my eyes, you are of great value, far greater value than you could ever know. Paragraph K, does Jesus have one throne or does he have two? Is it on the millennial earth or is it in the heavenly Jerusalem? And again, the answer is yes. It's on earth and in heaven. It's one throne with two expressions because the convergence of the two realms meets in the man Christ Jesus in his throne and in the city of the great King. The convergence of the two realms meet in that man on his throne in that city. And the convergence, the glory, like a tidal wave spreads out to the whole millennial earth. It takes a thousand years to cover the earth, but it begins right there at that epicenter of the glory of God. Paragraph L, now, when the new Jerusalem descends to the earth at the time of the second coming, where does it go? Well, its name gives you the clue. It's called the new Jerusalem because God purposely intended that it would be linked to that which is known in the scripture as the city of Jerusalem on the earth. So it wasn't called new Chicago. It wasn't called new whatever city you wanna put. It was called named the new Jerusalem because it was meant to be understood as a significant dynamic expression of God's genius for the city of Jerusalem. It's not the whole of the city of Jerusalem, but it's a very dynamic part of the city of Jerusalem because there's an earthly dimension as well as a heavenly dimension because God wants the two realms to come together. So it will come down to the new Jerusalem. That's why it's named the new Jerusalem. It gives it, it's clearly tells us where its connection point is to the earth, just by its name. Now, I suggest, this is my term. I have a couple of new terms or terms that we've used here. And I'm not saying there can't be a better term. And the terms are not inspired, but I believe that the ideas behind the terms are biblical, like the term Trinity. It's not a biblical term, but it's a biblical truth. Three gods in one, one God in three persons, three in one. I suggest that Jesus's throne is a vast governmental complex, vast, say vast. I don't mean a governmental complex like Washington DC or some big city. I mean vast. The north end of that governmental complex is the new Jerusalem, 1,500 miles high. It's a vast governmental complex. The south end of that complex is the millennial Jerusalem. Now it's a city we'll find out in a few minutes. It's about 10 miles in each direction. It's Ezekiel 48 tells us the size of the millennial Jerusalem. We get it ahead of time by the spirit of prophecy. We'll get to that in a few minutes. So the south end on the earth, it's 10 miles, 10 miles squared. The north end is 1,500 miles. I think of it like a funnel, like a tornado or like a whirlwind of the glory of God. You know, take a real big step backwards to get the big picture. It's like a big funnel of the glory of God, the new Jerusalem, 1,500 miles high. It's vast. This is the governmental center of heaven and earth. It will join together the two realms. It is what Jesus called the throne of his glory. Now the whole of the new Jerusalem isn't his throne. His throne occupies part of the new Jerusalem and part of the millennial Jerusalem, but the throne is the convergence. It's where the dynamic convergence of the two realms comes together in the person of Jesus and in his throne. Now 1,500 mile high city. That's amazing. Now just to give you a perspective, Mount Everest is the highest placed on the earth. That's five miles. That's 1,500 miles minus five, short. I mean, Mount Everest is way up there. The highest place on the earth, five miles. This city is 1,500 miles. Well, actually I say 1,500 miles because some translators use that term. Actually quite a few do, but it's the technical, if you are technical about it, it's 1,380 miles. It's 1,380 miles. Anyway, I just say 1,500 because other translations say, but it's 1,380 miles. According, you can read the details of that. Okay. Now outer space is 800 miles. This city is 1,500. This city, as much of it as an outer space as it is in under space or whatever, whatever, I never was that great at science. I mean, there's much of it as an outer space as, you know, as in the other. Can you imagine a city 1,500 miles? Remember outer space is 800 miles, but this city is far beyond that. It's a mountain city. By the way, I have, this is a four page handout. It's I think nine pages on the internet because I have a lot more verses that I didn't wanna put on the print here. It's just for the eager that wanna study it and one of the sections in it where I lay out a bunch of verses where it shows that the city, the New Jerusalem is a mountain city, but not just the New Jerusalem, but the earthly Jerusalem and the New Jerusalem in the convergence together, it is a mountain city. It's not just a city on a mountain. It is a city that is a mountain. It's not just on a mountain. It is the mountain of the Lord. We know the famous passage, we'll look at it in a little while, where it talks about the house of the Lord and the mountain of the Lord and people get this idea of, you know, a pretty good size building, you know, a couple of stories high on a mountain. No, no, the city is a mountain because the earthly Jerusalem is 10 miles at its base, connects with the heavenly Jerusalem and from a distance you look at it, it is a mountain city. It's glorious and that's where Jesus's throne is. Well, there's four reasons, paragraph Roman number two, four reasons and I'd like any of you could think of more reasons, if you could think of them. I tell you, if you can think of another reason why, from the scripture, why the New Jerusalem is close to the millennial Jerusalem, but not on the earth. The New Jerusalem when at the second coming, it's not resting on the earth, but it's close to the earth. And theologians have had the most difficult time over, you know, the last 2000 years trying to figure this out. It's not on the earth and I'll tell you why in a second, but it's close to the earth. It's close enough where earthly kings can go into it, but it's not on the earth. So I have four reasons here. If you can think of a fifth or sixth reason, get a hold of Dave Slyker, he loves his stuff. Or Stuart, give them your ideas because they're studying these things. These guys are so innovative. I mean, they're pushing the envelope. They're trying, so if you get an idea, kick it over to them and they'll like it. They'll buy you a coffee. There's four reasons that I have here, but undoubtedly there's several more. So students think through saying, hmm, how can we figure out what Mike Bickle and Stuart Greaves and Slyker can't figure out? So go figure it out for us and send it to us. First, the millennial Jerusalem is only 10 miles in its square, each direction, according to Ezekiel 38, I mean 48. But the new Jerusalem's 1,500 miles, so it doesn't fit. It can't be on the earth. If it was on the earth, it would completely engulf the whole Middle East and the Mediterranean Sea. It can't be on the earth. There'd be no Middle East. There would be no Egypt. There would be no other nations. The Mediterranean would be gone. Now, after the end of the millennium, it's a different story, but during the millennium, those parts of the Middle East are still functioning in Bible prophecy in the millennium. So it can't be resting on the earth or the Mediterranean, the whole Middle East would be gone. And we know by Ezekiel's prophecy that Jerusalem's only 10 miles in each direction. So we know it's gotta be, it can't be on the earth. But we know, paragraph C, it has to be close to the earth because it tells us the kings of the earth and they have natural bodies. Okay, these are men and women with natural bodies that are kings. They don't have a resurrected body yet. They are the offspring of the survivors of the great tribulation, the unsaved survivors who get saved. You know, one group, born-again people, were all raptured at the time of the second coming, were raptured. The people who took the mark of the beast, they're killed. Well, there's another group. They didn't believe in Jesus, but they didn't take the mark of the beast. They're bewildered. They're looking around going, what on earth is happening? And a new age is beginning on the earth. And they get saved and they have children and kings of nations, you know, and just life goes on for a thousand years. These are the kings with natural bodies. They have to get saved. They have bodies like we have right now because the environment is far healthier and the devil's in prison and the food will be better. The environment will be great. The laws will be righteous. So life will be far better and healthier. They will bring their glory into the city of Jerusalem. So we know the city has to be close. It can't be where it is now. Of course, John tells us three times it's descending to the earth. But we can't be on the earth, but it's gonna be close to the earth for these kings to bring their glory into it. Verse 25, the gates of the city are not shut. Now the people on the inside of the city with the resurrected bodies, the saints through history. I mean, we don't need gates being open for us, we're residents of the city. The gates are opened for the residents of the earth to be able to go into it. I'm sure there's appointed seasons. I'm sure there's only certain kinds of people with certain qualifications and designations from the Lord, but the gates are opened and the clear meaning of the open gates is to the people of the earth. The gates aren't opened for the people that are in the city already. They're open for the people who live on the earth that don't live in the city. That's why gates are present. Verse 26, and they, the nations, will bring their glory into the city. Now, what's the glory and the honor of nations? We'll look at that at another time in one of our millennial teachings because we've got a few more to go. Top of page three. That's another point you can give Dave Schleicher and Stuart. What is the glory and the honor of nations? They would love that because there are official researchers on all these subjects. Third is that John saw that the leaves of the tree of life inside the New Jerusalem are for the healing of the nations. Well, there doesn't need to be healing of nations inside of the city. Everyone in the city has resurrected body. There is no need for healing inside the city. If you're in the city and you live there, you're healed. The healing is for the nations on the earth in the millennium. They're the only nations that need healing. So there are certain people with natural bodies live on the earth. They go into the city. We know the kings, but I don't think it's limited to kings. There might be others as well. They go into the city and in some way, I don't know how, again, give your ideas to Stuart and Dave. How do they, what is the deal? They take these leaves. Don't think of the leaves as just a by-product from a tree. These are the leaves of the tree of life. Every portion of the tree of life is life-giving. These leaves somehow contribute to spiritually strengthening and invigorating and imparting the blessing of God to the people on the earth. I don't know how, but those leaves are very valuable. And my guess is there's a lot of them to bring out of the New Jerusalem to the earth. And they somehow invigorate, strengthen, and impart God's blessing that results in the nations being healed. Because when Jesus comes back, the nations have a new beginning, but they're only in the process of being the cities being built, the infrastructure being built, righteousness being established. The cities have all must be healed. All the cities and nations. So somewhere the leaves on the inside get, the inside of the city of New Jerusalem are brought to the outside of the New Jerusalem and brought to the earth. Now the New Jerusalem can't be out in outer space somewhere for this to happen. There has to be access from people on the earth to get into the city, to bring the glory of the nations, and to receive the leaves from the tree of life that somehow impart the blessing of God. And again, these leaves, don't think of a couple, you know, a handful of leaves. There's probably an abundance, an amount that we're not imagining. It's probably a far greater amount than we're imagining. And it has a far greater impact on the people of the earth than we imagine, in a way that we don't imagine. Okay, paragraph E, that there's angels, and there's several other verses as well. This is all I had room for, where angels guard the gates. Again, you don't have gates with attendants and guards because of the righteous residents. You have gates because of the people on the outside that are not residents. And as in Genesis 3, there I have the verse, when Adam sinned in the Garden of Eden, the cherubim stood there with a sword of fire to guard the tree of life. So Adam couldn't have it without divine, he didn't have access to it, let's put it that way. The only way we get access to the tree is through Jesus. So the cherubim was there with a flaming sword. You think, well, why didn't the Lord just say, Adam, don't go in that garden. Don't eat that tree. I don't know the whole deal, but there was a cherubim with a flaming sword guarding the tree of life. So we have the idea that, I mean, we get understanding from that part of God's plan that because God never changes, of course, his plans can change and they do change many times, his administration, I mean, but his wisdom doesn't. So we have angels at the gates, not for the righteous residents, but for those that are not residents, both righteous and unrighteous, that both types will be on the earth. They are there as the guardian of who enters the city and what's taken out of the city. It's a whole reality that's very dynamic. Okay, paragraph G. The new Jerusalem will descend to the earth in two stages. It descends at the time of Jesus' second coming, like again, several decades from now, plus or minus a decade or two. The new Jerusalem descends at the beginning of the millennium and then in a partial, I mean, it comes, it's substantial. It's real. But at the end of the millennium, when all sin is taken away, the earth is completely cleansed with fire. Then there is no more sea. Then the new Jerusalem isn't above the earth, connected to the earthly Jerusalem as we know it now, but the new Jerusalem is now on the earth, solid ground on the earth. It's a whole new dimension then. And we don't have much insight into that. It's like the Lord says, you know what? Let's get you through the millennium and then we'll go from there. That's enough to keep you occupied. It's glory you can't comprehend already. But somewhere, the glory of that 1,500 mile city will cover the whole earth. And it's the same earth, by the way. It's just cleansed and purified, cleansed with fire. It's the whole earth, 8,000 miles diameter. It's the earth as we know it, but purified. That 1,500 mile city will be over in the Middle East, be over where Jerusalem is now. The Mediterranean Sea will not be there, but all the nations, there'll be no sea. There'll be a whole realm of perfect righteousness and glory. And then we have the entire created universe to exercise God's dominion and subdue from the earth. And that's a whole nother subject that I don't hardly know anything about. Because all what's in front of me is already staggering and challenging to the mind. Okay, Roman number three, the corridor of glory. Now, the corridor of glory is what I call, it's a term I use. It's that passageway from the earthly natural to the heavenly supernatural realm. The angels go from the heavenly to the earthly, and they, I don't know what the protocol is. I'm sure there is a protocol. Jesus spoke about an open heaven. And we'll look at it in a moment. Jacob had a vision where he saw a ladder go to an open heaven. And Jacob said, this is the place where the angels ascend and descend, where there's an open heaven, this is the place. So the corridor of glory is my terminology for that passageway between the two realms. It's in that governmental complex of sorts. It's between Jesus's, it's connected to Jesus's earthly throne and his heavenly throne, which is one throne and two expressions. So when those kings go from the earthly into the supernatural New Jerusalem, in my thinking, I suggest they pass through the corridor of glory. I don't know much about it, but I believe that the idea is a right idea, though I might not have it very clear, but the idea, I believe, is a right idea. And like in the Old Testament, they had the pillar of fire at night and the cloud by day. That cloud went from heaven to earth. And I believe that the corridor of glory, the passage between these two realms that get the people of the earth to the place where they can go through one of those gates, I believe that it was pictured by the cloud and the pillar in the Old Testament with Moses out in the wilderness, that pillar. Don't think of it a little fire, little campfire deal. It was massive and that, it was like a, it was like the connecting point between the two realms. Again, that's just an idea. I just suggest that. You don't have to, that's not a doctrine. That's a Bickel theory. And I believe that the corridor of glory, it puts together several biblical ideas. It's the passageway of people from the natural realm to the supernatural, to the purely supernatural realm of the New Jerusalem. And then they bring the leaves of the nations back, et cetera. Okay, paragraph B. Now this is, I find, now I have quite a bit of this on the notes on the website and a lot more to put. I just didn't have time to get it all up there, but there's pages and pages. I mean, you could spend a lifetime on these 12 things and not that, I'm in paragraph B, not that these 12 exhaust it, but these are 12 characteristics of the glory of God. Now here's the point. These 12 characteristics of the glory of God describe the earthly Jerusalem and the heavenly Jerusalem, meaning the earthly Jerusalem, the millennial Jerusalem, they have all 12 of these dynamics and the heavenly one have the 12, but in a higher dimension of glory and the two realms converge. And I believe all of these characteristics converge too. Now, why do we care about it? Well, the Bible describes our future inheritance. I wanna know about where I'm going to live and I wanna know how fascinating the God who is the architect of this city is. I wanna know, like, Lord, what were you thinking? He goes, oh, I have things you don't know anything about. Like, give me some hints. Okay, I'll give you some hints. I'll give you 12 of them. Not that there's not 13 or 14, several more. I'm not saying I have them all, but I've searched the scriptures and I've come up with these 12 and there's possibly a few more. Remember, the millennial Jerusalem is called the mountain of God. The heavenly Jerusalem is called the mountain of God. Together, they have a dynamic convergence together to be the mountain of God. What they are separate is glorious. What they are together is fullness. They have, I mean, the city of Jerusalem in the millennium is glorious beyond any city in human history. Nothing like it. The new Jerusalem is glorious far beyond anything on the earth, but together they bring fullness, the two together. And the heavenly is far more glorious than the earthly, but the heavenly is not fullness without converging with the earthly. And during the thousand years, these will converge. Both cities are called Jerusalem and both of them have 12 gates. Now, the 12 gates of the millennial Jerusalem are very different than the 12 gates of the heavenly, but I have a feeling they are connected in a very dynamic way, these 12 gates of each city, because it's one big city brought together. They're both called the house of the Lord. Now, another reason you wanna understand these 12, and not that you have to grasp them all this month, like this is the day you gotta get it all, because if you're a normal person, you're kind of going, oh man, this is way over my head. I'm still like two cities, corridor of what? What did you call that? I understand that. When it's all new, it's a little bit overwhelming, so you don't have to get it all clear today, but I really wanna urge you to study, to take these notes, but you don't wanna just understand it because that's where we're going, that's a great reason, and it gives us insight into the God that we love, His fascinating genius and how much He's thought about us. He's thought through every detail. Also, understanding that each city in its own right has each of these 12. When we read about these 12 aspects of the glory of God in the Bible, we're not quick to limit them to the earthly or the heavenly, but when we see that the earthly city and the heavenly city both have them, it makes us take a step back and consider maybe there's more to this than meets the eye, and that's what it does to me. It makes me take a step back when it says the mountain of the Lord. A lot of people, they think, oh, I got that mountain of the Lord thing. I go, I'm not sure you have that mountain of the Lord thing just yet. The mountain of the Lord is the millennial Jerusalem, great glory. The mountain of the Lord is the heavenly one, but in fullness, the mountain is the two in convergence together. They're both have a holy of holies in it. Those holy of holies are undoubtedly connected. They both have a garden of Eden, different, but connected undoubtedly. They both have the river of life. There's a river of life coming out of the millennial temple, goes on touches and heals the whole Middle East, and of course, then eventually the whole world, but that river of life is also in the new Jerusalem. It's in both places, not one. So the reason you wanna understand this, so when you see river of life, you don't reduce it only to the millennial river, nor do you limit it to only the supernatural river in heaven. There's two dimensions of one river. It's one reality, but there's two dimensions of it. There's a convergence. The tree of life, the highway, you know where it talks about that highway that's gonna be built from Egypt to Assyria, go through Jerusalem. Well, that highway is also in the new Jerusalem. That highway has all kinds of branches to it beyond what we might think initially. There's a whirlwind. Ezekiel 1 saw a whirlwind. Ezekiel 1, he looked up and he saw a whirlwind. And now this isn't a whirlwind like a mile wide. It's a whirlwind, I'm guessing like 1,000 miles wide. And in that whirlwind was the throne of God. And that whirlwind comes down on the new Jerusalem. And that funnel of glory is part of this idea that I call the corridor of glory. It's that funnel of glory between the two realms, the whirlwind of glory from Genesis 1, I mean, from Ezekiel 1. There's smoke. Don't think of a little smoke from a candle. Think of a smoke of the glory of God, a huge pillar. I mean, that pillar of smoke, it may be 100 miles wide. It may be 1,500 miles high, the smoke of the glory of God. It's not dirty smoke, it's the glory smoke. That smoke is in the new Jerusalem. That smoke is in the millennial Jerusalem. It's not exactly the same. It's one reality ultimately, but it's two expressions of one reality. And again, you wanna know this. So when you see the smoke dimensions, you go, ooh, there's more to it than meets the eye. Look at paragraph D. Now Isaiah is describing, Isaiah is describing the millennial Jerusalem, the one on the earth. He's not describing the heavenly one right here. He's only describing the millennial one, but the same characteristics could also describe the heavenly one. Different application, but the same characteristics. Look what he says. We'll just read this real fast. In that day, the branch of the Lord. Who's the branch of the Lord? Six times in the Old Testament, Jesus is called the branch of the Lord for a lot of really good reasons, but he's called the branch of the Lord in the millennium. He will be seen as beautiful in the whole earth. Oh, that's a time to say, oh, I love you, Jesus. I love you, Jesus. Just whisper that to him. The branch of the Lord, the whole earth will see his beauty, the beauty of this man who's fully God and fully man. And he will be especially beautiful to those of Israel who escaped. Escaped what? The great tribulation. These are the unsaved survivors. Well, they get saved right away. But they were not, if they would have been saved, they would have been raptured and given a resurrected body. But they go, hey, you know, better late than never. They do get saved. They escaped the Antichrist and the judgments of God. Two different things. And it shall come to pass that he who is left in Zion, the guy that remains in Jerusalem will be called holy. They'll all get saved. Now look at verse five. This is a magnificent passage, Isaiah four. Then the Lord will create above every dwelling place on Mount Zion. So there's a number of dwelling places in this vast complex. Because Mount Zion is clearly Jesus' governmental complex. There's a number of dwelling places inside the complex. It's not a couple story building. It's a huge complex that the north end of it is the new Jerusalem. It's a huge complex. Every dwelling, the Lord will create above it. And all of her assemblies, all of her gathering places, prayer rooms, assembly halls. I guarantee you they're really state of the art. They're really good ones. Don't think of a little assembly hall, okay? But because they're in the governmental complex. They're in Mount Zion. There will be the glory cloud and the glory smoke. This is not dirty smoke. This is the glory smoke that's around the throne. This is just like the children of Israel had in the wilderness with Moses. And at night, there'll be that vast flaming fire. Again, I believe it's part of that corridor of glory. And over all the glory of that city will be a covering. What is the covering over the city of Jerusalem? All I know is if you're in Jerusalem, you look up. The covering, you're looking right into the new Jerusalem because it's descended down above it. So somewhere that covering is related to the new Jerusalem. I mean, Isaiah was really understating this. There will be a covering. A what? A covering. A glorious covering. The city of God. Well, the upper end of the city of God, yes. Because the bottom end of it is still the city of God too. Now, lest you think this is in the eternal age, this is in the millennium. There will be a tabernacle for shade in the daytime from heat and a place of refuge for a shelter from the storm and rain. It will still be the natural earth with rain and storm and heat in the Middle East, like everywhere else. I mean, the weather patterns will continue, but under this canopy of glory, near the tabernacle will be a place of safety. Now, what an interesting insight. Lord, who thought of that? The Lord would say, I did. I thought of everything. I didn't leave anything to chance. Top of page four. Oh, Jacob, I mentioned this earlier, he saw this place. I think Jacob saw the open heaven. You can read that on your own, but it's a place. It's the gate of heaven. By the way, Bethel is only 10 miles from Jerusalem, the city of Bethel. So it's right there over Jerusalem, the place where the angels come and go. My guess is that's the corridor of glory. It's the place the angels come and go. Not that they can't go many places. Sure, angels go all over the earth, but there is a place that Jacob said was awesome. When he had an open vision, it was called the gate. It's the gate into the heavenly realm. Paragraph F, Jesus told the apostles they would see that gate open. Jesus quotes this experience from Jacob and he called it an open heaven. Beloved, it's not, I mean, I realize I'm giving you a lot of information. You're a little bit on tilt here, some of you, but that open heaven, when Jesus, the new Jerusalem comes down, Jesus is on his throne. That throne is in two realms, the earthly and the supernatural realm, one vast governmental complex. It will be an open heaven. Like a tidal wave of glory will cover the whole earth. Right through that, it'll be like a portal. It will be like the place the glory of God breaks through and fills the earth. That's what I say in paragraph G. Okay, let's look at just a couple thoughts here of these last verses. I know it's a little late. I just wanna run through them just to give you the feel of it. Jesus, now he's in the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5. He says, don't swear at all. He said, I'm not swearing. Either by heaven, that's God's throne, or earth, that's his footstool. So Jesus has said, I'll be on my throne. When I'm on my throne, I'm in heaven, but my feet will be touching the earth. He's hinting the two realms come together. That's a big subject, because Isaiah 66 says it, and Ezekiel said it. Well, Jesus told Ezekiel this. He goes, by the way, Ezekiel, remember this. I'm on my throne, and it's the place of my footstool. Now, he's telling the apostles. He's going, when I'm on my throne, I'm touching the heavenly realm, but my feet are on the earthly realm. You go think about that. And it's the city of the great king. And they're going, what, what, what? He goes, you'll get it, you'll get it. I'll just give you that for now. My feet will be on the earth, but my scepter will be moving from the supernatural realm and power as a man, okay? And I will be in the city. It's my city, the city of Jerusalem. The very city that will kill me will be my great city. They don't get any of it, but Jesus gets it all. Can you imagine what that young man had in his mind when he was walking through the city of Jerusalem, looking around and going, I know where that's going. I know where I'm up at this. Ooh, that will really surprise him. He had it all, he had it all clear in his mind. Look at what it says in Isaiah two. In the latter days, the mountain of the Lord's house will be on the top of the mountains. Okay, now what? It'll be exalted above the hills. The people will say, let's go to the mountain of the house. What? What's the mountain? Well, a lot of folks reduce this to symbolism and they say the mountain's only political influence. It's okay to symbolize that and borrow it for this age. We can claim this verse for this age as the mountains of the Lord, political influence, economic influence. The Lord doesn't mind that, but that is not at all what this is talking about in its fullness. But it is truly okay to use it that way, but we're borrowing it. But it's talking about the mountain of the city of God, the house of God, the two cities joined together. And all the nations of the earth will come to this mountain city. It's truly a mountain. He's talking about a mountain city, not just symbolism here. And all the nations will come and they will go before the city. Now the great verse, Psalm 48, the great chapter on the new Jerusalem in its convergence with the millennial Jerusalem, right here, Isaiah, Psalm 48. It is the great one. You cannot ignore Psalm 48, meaning you gotta feed on it. This will just blow your mind, Psalm 48. And this is one where you need to spend a whole session on, but I'll just give it to you just in a point or two and leave you with it. Great is the Lord, greatly to be praised in the city of our God. It is holy mountain. Now they're talking about the convergence of these two cities in one big mountain. Two mountains, two cities, one big reality. It's beautiful in elevation. Now what does it mean? It means it's high. It's 1,500 miles high. It means exactly what it says. It's beautiful in its height. That's what beautiful elevation means. I've read commentators on this and they go, the lofty thoughts about Jerusalem. I go, no, it's not lofty thoughts. It's beautiful in its height. I gave you a bunch of verses on the internet that show you the city is high. It's a big city. It's the highest city of the earth. Well, it's the joy of the whole earth. This is the millennial earth. And then it goes on into the new earth to after the millennium. Look, it's called the city of the great King. Now notice Mount Zion, the government, Mount Zion almost always speaks of the governmental part of God's city. I mean, technically, I don't mean just symbolically. So where the government of David was in Mount Zion. David lived in the city of Jerusalem, but the government facilities and administration was in Mount Zion. That's where the government resided. The government is in the north side of the city. Guess where the north side is? It's way up into the glory realm. 1500 mile city. The governmental administration of Jerusalem is in the north end of the city. That's because it's got a huge governmental complex joined together with the new Jerusalem. It's called the city of the great King. Now God is in her palaces. Well, his name is Jesus. He lives in the palace, but notice the palaces are plural. There's more than one room in this governmental complex. I remember Isaiah four called it his, the assemblies plural. Here it's called the palaces. There's lots of rooms in this governmental complex. He is known as her refuge, not just her protector. There's not many enemies in the millennial earth, although there will be some that will resist, but he's not just protector. He's provider, the refuge meaning. He's the one that makes provision and wisdom and supply and food and wisdom. The entire provision is from this man who lives in the palaces. Now look at this. Here's the part I like, verse four, five, and six. For behold the Kings, now we're in the millennium now, because that city hasn't come down to the earth until the millennium. It's not on the earth right now. The Kings, the millennial ones, they will assemble. They will pass by this city. They saw it. They see the new Jerusalem with the millennial Jerusalem. Now I'm thinking of the junior Kings. They've just been, you know, made King recently. And the older Kings go, you've never been to Jerusalem. You've never been in the palace. Uh-uh, get ready. Oh, I've heard about it when I was, you know, growing up through the ranks of my governmental training, you know, because normally you don't start president. You know, you have other offices before I heard about it. You better get ready. You've never, it's not that you see it and it terrifies you, the feeling in the atmosphere when you go inside of that governmental complex and these new Kings go, okay, we can handle this. Well, maybe yes, maybe no. Verse four, the Kings assemble, all of them together. There's 232 nations right now. There may be 300, there may be 200, maybe a few more, maybe a few less, but a couple hundred Kings. The United Nations of the age to come, Jesus is the leader of it. They come for a governmental meeting. They see it, they marvel first. Oh my, I had no idea, no idea the palace, oh, the feeling, the power. Oh, can you feel that? The other King go, yes, we feel that. Now they move from marvel to trouble. Their spirit begins to tremble. They're in the presence of the King himself. Now they have natural bodies like Isaiah. When he touched into that heavenly temple for a minute in Isaiah six, he trembled and fell, he was ruined. They begin to be troubled. Then they take it up a notch. They run away. Now I'm assuming it's the new ones because they have to have governmental meetings in there. They have to somewhere find a way to meet with Jesus. They're the Kings of the earth and he's the King of all Kings, but they run away. Look at this, fear takes hold of them like fear laid hold of Isaiah in Isaiah six when he went into the temple and saw the Lord's glory, the King. He said, my eyes saw the King, I saw his throne. Because they remember they have natural bodies. Fear took hold of them, this is fear of God. These are the Kings. These are righteous men and women. These are righteous, godly, qualified Kings or they wouldn't be Kings. They visit the governmental complex. This is not just a little couple story complex. They are terrified at the presence of this city. The nations of the earth tell the stories about it. It's the joy of the heart because of its administrations, its policies, what it produces in the earth and peace and blessing and unity and prosperity. But I tell you to go in the city and then to go into the new Jerusalem, these Kings go into it to bring their glory. They are terrified when they go in to get the glory and bring out the leaves. Verse eight, they say, as we have heard, so have we seen. We heard about this city. It's worse than we thought. And it's greater than we thought. We heard, but now we see is what they will say. God is in this city forever. And then I'll end with this. We have fought, oh God, on your loving kindness in the midst of this temple or this city. In other words, these thoughts of where God's leading history is to lead us to think on his loving kindness. He's the God who's thinking about us. This is for us. He didn't build a city for him. He built it for us to dwell with him forever. Psalm 119, the next verse, the Psalmist, I'm just so, I just gotta give you these. The Psalmist said, I saw the consummation of all perfection. What is the consummation of everything perfect? I believe he saw the city. Abraham saw the city in Hebrews 11, verse 10. He saw the city. Hebrews 11, verse 10. Look at Psalm 50, verse two, out of Zion. That's this governmental complex. The perfection of beauty shines on the whole earth. Isaiah 62, when God says, I will make Jerusalem a praise in the earth, he meant so much more than meets the eye. He goes, the whole earth will stand in awe when I bring Jerusalem to its fullness in the natural, in the millennial Jerusalem, and the convergence with the heavenly Jerusalem, it will fill the earth with praise. Amen and amen.