Mike Bickle discusses the profound significance of the New Jerusalem as depicted in Revelation chapters 21 and 22, emphasizing God's ultimate plan to unite the heavenly and earthly realms. He explains that the New Jerusalem will descend to the earth, serving as the eternal dwelling place for the saints, where they will experience God's presence face-to-face. Bickle highlights the importance of understanding the layers of meaning in these final chapters of the Bible, encouraging believers to meditate on the hope of a new heaven and a new earth. He stresses that the natural realm will not be destroyed but transformed, allowing for a divine coexistence of the spiritual and physical worlds. Ultimately, the New Jerusalem represents the fulfillment of God's desire to dwell among His people forever.

I guess the third or fourth message in the series, again, one more next Saturday night. Tonight, we're talking about New Jerusalem, heaven on earth, Revelation chapter 21 and 22. Now, these two chapters, you could spend weeks on, they are so filled with meaning and significance for the saints. And so I encourage you to make it a real point of focus in terms of your own study and meditation. The last two chapters of the word of God, don't just read it casually and just kind of get a couple of the key points. Every phrase has meaning, just layers of meaning in it. Roman number one, the paragraph that I start with so often when I'm talking about heaven and earth, the centerpiece of God's purpose. This is absolutely central to understanding what God is doing in the end times. God's desire, God's plan is to bring the heavenly realm and the earthly realm together on the earth. He's bringing the two realms together. Those of you that are new with us, I'll read Ephesians one, verse nine and 10, because we look at this passage so often for those that are regulars. Having made known to us the mystery or the hidden plan that's of God's heart, his purposes. Here it is, he's gonna bring together all things together in one in Christ Jesus. He's talking about the things which are in the heavenly realm and the things which are in the earthly realm. He's gonna bring them together. It's gonna be a Holy Spirit joining of the two realms. Paragraph A, the centerpiece of God's eternal purpose is that Jesus is gonna return. He's coming back to the planet. He's gonna establish God's kingdom over all the earth as he joins these two realms together. Paragraph B, God's purpose has always been, it's always been to live together with people on the earth face-to-face with them. This is a massive concept that God wants to live in the natural realm with the fullness of the spirit realm being manifest as well, together with human beings on the earth. This is the most difficult, yet it's the ultimate reality that God wants to accomplish through Christ Jesus and salvation. It's difficult because God in his blazing holiness, when he confronts the natural realm, if there's sin, his holiness and fire destroys wherever there's sin in the natural realm, wherever he shows up. When God manifests himself in the natural realm, any defilement that's in his presence comes under destruction. So Jesus comes at the second coming, it's called the millennial kingdom, and sets up the scenario to invite God the Father to come at the end of it, to dwell on the earth forever face-to-face with humans. As the fullness of the supernatural realm is being manifest in the midst of the natural realm. The natural realm is not suspended. It's not done away with. It stays, it's a part of God's purpose forever. God is not against the natural realm. It was always his purpose to bring the two realms together to manifest the fullness of his purposes in those two realms. It says there in Revelation 22, 21 verse three, here's the, I think probably the highest pinnacle of where salvation is going, that the tabernacle of God would dwell with human beings. He would dwell with them. And again, the ideas on the earth in the natural realm with the fullness of his blazing power and holiness. And that God himself would be with them. It's not unusual that people are in heaven with God. What is unusual, I mean, that's glorious, but that's not difficult for people to believe. What is difficult is for God to dwell in the natural realm in the fullness of his glory and for the natural realm to actually be enhanced instead of destroyed. Roman numeral two, I'm gonna look at these four passages. Just want you aware of them. I'm gonna read through them. They're massive in their implications. Beloved, don't take these four passages lightly. Read them over and over, especially as you're approaching the holiday season. You got some extra time off from your classes and et cetera. I just encourage you to ask the Holy Spirit to break into your heart with revelation in a new way on these four passages. John said, I saw, Revelation 21, verse one, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Now, when he says a new heaven, he means an atmosphere, the atmosphere around the earth. God's gonna resurrect the earth. There's gonna be a resurrected earth. Or another way to say it is God's gonna take the former earth and through the power of the resurrection, bring it to its full glory. But it's not only resurrecting the earth using the resurrection language or at least releasing the power of the resurrection on it. He's gonna do the same thing to the atmosphere around the earth. There's gonna be a new solar system, a new cosmos around the earth forever and forever. It will be glorified with the power of the resurrection. And beloved, we're gonna rule over it. There are hundreds of millions of galaxies. They're all gonna be made new and they're a part of the inheritance for which the earth is like the capital city of the whole created order of which Jerusalem on the earth is even like the Holy of Holies of the earth. I'm talking about in the age to come in the eternal realm and the entire cosmos will be brought under the power and the influence of the resurrection power and Jesus's salvation. It's a part of our inheritance forever. I mean, the galaxies are part of that which will come under the dominion and the inheritance of the saints, the new heavens. Don't look at that and go, well, that's not a big deal. That is huge. And undoubtedly you'll be doing things in some of those places. I don't have a clue what it will be but we'll be bringing God's dominion and God's blessing and God's power to every single part of the farthest reaches of the universe in the age to come. 2 Peter 3, verse 13. It tells us to look for a new heavens and a new earth. Now again, the heavens is the atmosphere is what he's talking about. It's not talking about heaven as the abode of God that like we referred to a couple of weeks ago, the third heaven where God's manifest presence is. We're talking about the natural atmosphere. But beloved, I'm gonna ask you this. Do you actually look for a new earth? Is that something that's on your mind? Are you planning and thinking and spending time and money in view of the fact you will inherit a new earth? And the decisions we make in this side will impact some of the quality of our life and some of what we do in the age to come. I mean, we'll all be in the fullness of joy and we'll all be without sin but we'll all have different assignments related significantly to our responses in this age. But we're not only looking for a new earth. I'm gonna stretch your mind. We're looking for a new heavens as well. What do the galaxies look like when the resurrection power and the salvation of Jesus removes the curse off of all of natural creation? Do you know that when Adam sinned, there was a massive repercussion of sin and death that touched the entire created order, the heavens as well? But it's gonna be new. It's coming under the salvation of a Jewish man from Nazareth. One man could affect this kind of power, this kind of impact. All right, let's look at Isaiah 65, verse 17 to 25. For behold, I will create a new heavens. There it is again. I will create a new earth. Verse 18, be glad and rejoice forever in this. And we are glad and we're rejoicing in it now, not just when we get a resurrected body. I want my spirit to understand and have rejoicing and gladness now in that which is surely our inheritance. I create Jerusalem as a rejoicing and her people I create a joy. Verse 19, I rejoice in Jerusalem and I have joy in my people. Weeping will no longer be heard in Jerusalem. Now look at verse 20. This throws a few people off because they don't understand that what Isaiah is prophesying about, he's talking about the new earth in the millennial kingdom and the new earth after the millennial kingdom, he's bringing them both together in one passage. Because verse 20, now he's gonna talk about the conditions of a natural life on the millennial kingdom after the second coming of Christ. No more shall an infant from there live but only a few days. Never again will an infant die just a few days old like is so common through history, nor an old man who has not fulfilled his days. But a child shall die at a hundred years old and a sinner will die at a hundred years old and will be thought to be accursed because a hundred years old would be so young. You know, they'll say, so-and-so died, how old were they? About 102. Oh, that poor little thing, she just got started. All right. Now that's not the conditions of the earth right now because someone lives to be a hundred, it's remarkable. And this isn't the conditions of the new earth after the millennial kingdom. This is the two realms coming together, the supernatural dimension of God touching the millennial earth while there's actually people still alive on the earth, but those people in natural body still die and people still sin and they still have to be born again. Jesus is bringing the earth into a place where he can invite the father back at the end of the millennial kingdom. And the father comes and lives on the earth forever. Isaiah 66 gives us the same merging of the two timeframes, the thousand year period of the millennial kingdom and as well as referencing the eternal dimension of the eternal age on the new earth as well. Verse 22, for as the new heavens and the new earth I will make shall remain before me, says the Lord. So show your descendants and so show your name remain before me. Verse 23, now he's gonna touch the natural realm again because this is the natural realm with the negative dimension of death as only happens during the millennial kingdom in terms of those two realms coming together, the natural and the spiritual. There's only a negative dimension for a thousand years for the first day of the new age because to the Lord, a thousand years is like a day. Only for the first day of the age to come is there this dilemma of the natural realm with its negative impact still touching people. Verse 23, it shall come to pass that all flesh shall come to worship before me, all the nations, and they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of the men who transgress against me. And they shall be in abhorrence to all the nations or to all flesh. There will still be the death penalty upon rebellion against him. There will be those that rise up against him. And at the millennium, multitudes will, not the, it didn't say the majority, but it will be a surprising revolt at the end. And when Jesus first comes and destroys the antichrist armies, the nations will look upon the corpses of those that are slain and laying dead on the earth. This is all literal. This is actual. There's no need to try to figure out a way to find out what symbolically corpses mean. It means dead people. It's what it means. And when the new heavens and the new earth began, the first day of the new heavens and the new earth, which is the millennial earth, 1,000 years, there'll be the issue of physical death being manifest as well in that timeframe. But for billions and billions of years, that won't be true, but only for the first day of the age to come. Let's go to top of page two, prophetic scriptures. Give you just, I'm touching this point of how the millennium and the eternal age come together in prophetic scriptures. They overlap that in one scripture, God's talking about both dimensions. And when you understand that, then you can understand the passages that we just read, these four passages. Because people, commentators have debated over it for years. This is the millennium. No, it's the eternal age. Well, how could people be dying? I don't know. It's, you know, and it's both. It's not either or, it's both. Paragraph eight, the four passages that use the phrase new heavens and new earth are used, all four of them, all four of them specifically, are used in context to both the millennium and the eternal state. Now the Revelation 21, it's the end of the millennium. It's being completed, but the residue of the millennium is still being dealt with there, Revelation 21. In one single passage, prophetic scripture often is written about two events separated by time. That's very common in the Old Testament. Many scriptures, when this happens, there's an initial substantial fulfillment, and then there's a future ultimate fulfillment. Like in the millennium, it's an initial substantial beginning of the new earth. It's not the ultimate. It's not the final ultimate. It's just a initial substantial fulfillment of the new earth and the new heavens. B, when you look at all the scriptures together, when you run into prophetic scriptures like this, the sequence and the distinction of the events become clear when you bring all the scriptures relating to the heavens and the new heavens and earth, the four of them, you bring them all together, it's clear there's distinction between the two realms. The same thing happened in Isaiah 61. When you read Isaiah 61, it says the spirit of the Lord is upon the Messiah, upon Jesus. And he did part of that in his first coming, but the majority of Isaiah 61 is only fulfilled in his second coming. Now, Isaiah did not know there would be a 2,000-year gap between those. The prophets did not understand this. It was talking about two comings of the Lord with a 2,000-year time frame, or 2,000 plus or minus, whatever it comes to be. Paragraph C, the coming of Elijah is the same thing. Jesus said, because the Old Testament said, Elijah's coming again. So they were all excited, Elijah's coming. Jesus said, he's here with John the Baptist. They go, he is? And then Jesus said, yet he's coming again. Well, which is it? Is he now at the first coming of Jesus, or is Elijah coming at the second? Both are true. Yeah, but it's the same passages from the Old Testament that apply to both time frames. One of the areas that's really significant in terms of getting understanding is Gog and Magog. And I have a little bit about that here in paragraph C. I won't go into it right now, but Gog and Magog have a fulfillment at the time of the Great Tribulation and at the end of the Millennial Kingdom with a momentary international rebellion that raises up. So there's a substantial fulfillment of Gog and Magog coming, I believe, within this next generation. And then there's one 1,000 years, a day later, at least to the Lord, 1,000 years is like a day, a day into the age to come. Okay, let's go to Roman numeral four, the New Jerusalem. And for those that are visiting, you can get these notes at the back. You can get them on the website as well if you want them. And our copyright's the right to copy, so you can have them and do anything with them that you want to. I encourage people to make handouts, make their own Bible studies, and just take it word for word, any of it that you want. You're free to use it without referencing anybody at IHOP. The New Jerusalem is our eternal dwelling place. That's where the saints will live. We will live, in the Millennial Kingdom, we will live in the New Jerusalem because the New Jerusalem is coming down to the earth. The name New Jerusalem maintains, purposefully maintains, strategically maintains a vital identification with Old Jerusalem. I'll tell you, one of, among those that understand the significance of Jerusalem more than most is Satan himself. Satan understands that Old Jerusalem has a significant connection to God's purpose with New Jerusalem. It's interesting that the two cities that are being stirred, or two areas, we'll call it cities, areas, being stirred in international news is Jerusalem and Babylon right now, Iraq. And these are the two cities, the tale of two cities, which tells the story of redemptive history. And the scripture's clear that Jerusalem and Babylon would emerge in the generation the Lord returns, or in that timeframe. And so we're, and the devil understands significant amount of why Jerusalem and Babylon are significant to God's purpose. There's tremendous upheaval in the nations around those two cities and geographic areas right now. That is not an accident because he understands it because what God's doing in Old Jerusalem will have a dynamic relationship to the New Jerusalem actually coming down to the earth in the very location of the Old Jerusalem at the second coming of Christ. We'll get to that in a minute. And the real reason we're looking at this, well, because what's in the Bible is one reason we're looking at it, that's good enough reason. But without this piece of information, or several pieces of information on this handout, but without this element in our paradigm, end time scriptures are so confusing because people say, we're gonna be ruling on the earth, but there's gonna be nations on the earth and people dying. I'm like, what are we gonna do? Am I gonna live in my same subdivision with a resurrected body? What am I gonna do on the earth? Where do I hang out? And it's because the people, because they can't get this clarity from the scripture that the two realms are coming together. The saints live in the New Jerusalem, but the New Jerusalem is descending to the earth and we will have a dynamic involvement of bringing forth the millennial earth into the glory of God. And we will have physical, resurrected physical bodies. Our bodies will be material. They will have all the glory of the power of the resurrection, but we'll have physical material bodies. We will eat, we will talk, we will study, we will know each other. We will work together with Jesus to bring his dominion across the earth. We'll have a good day's work. I don't know exactly if it works this way, but we go home at night at the New Jerusalem. I don't know about a night or day, how that works, but we will, our residence clearly is the New Jerusalem, but the New Jerusalem is descending to the earth. The new earth is the permanent resting place of the New Jerusalem. Now the millennial earth, the New Jerusalem is here for a thousand years and then the Lord renovates this present earth. He renovates it and prepares it in the fullness of glory and then we refer to it as the new earth. Jesus talked about John 14, verse two. He says, I go to prepare a place for you. He meant, there's really, there's two different ways to look at this. I go to prepare a place, the place he's going, one place he was going to the cross to prepare a place for the people of God to be next to the father. And the place he's preparing in the ultimate sense is the New Jerusalem because it's our residence forever. And he said, if I go and prepare a place, I will come again, the second coming. He goes, I promise you, I will come for the second time. He meant to the earth. He didn't mean just appear in the sky at the rapture. When he raptures the saints, when we're caught up and given resurrected bodies at the time of the second coming, then we are established in our residence in the New Jerusalem. Yes, he is coming again, but he's coming to the earth, not just coming to the sky. And why is he coming to receive us to himself that where he is, we will be forever with him and that's in the New Jerusalem. And again, on the new earth, I don't exactly understand it all, of course, but on the new earth, there's a whole, there's a much more dynamic relationship of the New Jerusalem to the new earth after the millennial kingdom is over. The glory of God will cover the whole earth and the whole earth will be like the capital city of the cosmos. And the city of Jerusalem will be like the holy of holies of the new earth. But beloved, our mandate of dominion is the entire cosmos. It's not just the earth, it's everything will come under the government of God and his glory will be manifest through his people. Scripture doesn't give us a lot of insight into that, but it just tells us it's so. You will not be bored in the age to come. You'll be on some cloud floating, playing a harp all by yourself for millions of years, wondering why it doesn't really seem like heaven to you. It won't be that way, you'll be on the earth. You'll be ruling and reigning and working and serving and relating and learning and teaching and eating. Kind of getting excited because of the fast coming up. I've got to keep that eating thing before you for a couple of days, about a week. Paragraph B, the New Jerusalem will descend to the earth on two different occasions. And we'll look at that in a minute, more specific. I just wanted to mention that to you. It descends from what Paul called the third heaven. It descends from heaven, from the realm of God. Now, three times the Bible tells us the New Jerusalem descends to the earth. The Bible wants us to believe it. It leaves the realm of heaven, which is a realm that's not defined real clearly in the scripture. But we know that out of that realm, it's the realm where God's presence is. It's the realm of God's abode. But God lives in the New Jerusalem as well. And it descends out of the heavenly realm. Look, it says, Revelation 21, verse two. I, John, saw the New Jerusalem coming down. And it means coming down to the earth. It's coming out of the heavenly realm and it's going to land on the earth. I mean, its destination is the earth, the natural earth, the planet. That is such a dynamic concept. It changes everything about where we're going. And if we understand that, it changes everything about how we live today, if we see this. This is so massive. It doesn't matter what we have to endure today in terms of being fully obedient to the Lord. The New Jerusalem is coming down to the earth and you have a role in it and a place in it forever. Beloved, it doesn't matter how hard it is. I mean, I don't like it hard. You know, I'm not advocating hard. But my point is when it's difficult, it's well worth it because the New Jerusalem is coming down to the planet. Revelation 21, just want to read it again. He carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain. He showed me the great city. He showed me the New Jerusalem, the Holy Jerusalem descending out of heaven. He saw, John saw with his eyes, the New Jerusalem descending out of the heavenly realm, coming down to the earth. Now, what did that look like? He showed me the city descending. He didn't just see the city. He saw the city descending from the heavenly realm, coming to its ultimate destination, the earth. That must have been, well, a lot of his visions were really special. That is just amazing. Revelation 3, verse 12. Jesus is talking to the church of Philadelphia and he tells them, if you obey God, if you overcome, the New Jerusalem, the name of the New Jerusalem will be written on you. And he says, the New Jerusalem, the one that comes down out of the heavenly realm. So three times, John declares this in the book of Revelation. This is a new insight. Isaiah did not know about the New Jerusalem coming down out of the heavenly realm. When he said the new heavens and the new earth, and if a baby lives only to be 100 and dies, it'll seem tragic. He did not, he must've thought, I don't get it, but I'm gonna write it anyway. I'm more of the mailman than I am the consultant here. I'm just gonna write it down and give it to the people and try to figure it out later. And John comes along 700, 800 years later and says, well, Isaiah, here's the issue. There's a new part of God's eternal plan. The city is coming to the earth. That's what's happening. Cleared up a lot for Isaiah, I'm sure, as they were fellowshipping up there right now, I mean, through the years. They do fellowship up there. They're not up there static and frozen. They're actually talking and fellowshipping and learning and enjoying God, enjoying each other right now. Top of page three. The Old Testament saints had a revelation of the New Jerusalem. The Old Testament saints, the patriarchs, they lived in the light of it. Beloved, we need a Holy Spirit revelation that the New Jerusalem is not only ours, it's descending to the natural world. And that revelation means that the supernatural realm and the natural are coming together. It's descending to the earth. It's not just floating in the sky. It's coming to touch the natural world. The reason we love the earthly realm, because we were made from it. God designed our spirit in such a way where we love the presence in the spirit realm, but we love the natural realm because God ordained we would live in both of them forever. Look what it says talking about Abel and Enoch and Noah and Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and Sarah. They, that's the they of Hebrews 11, 16. They, it's the ones earlier in the chapter of Hebrews 11. They desire a better, that is a heavenly country because God prepared a city for them. And they understood that God prepared the city. And when Jesus said, I go to prepare a place, he was talking about preparing the way for them to inherit the city. Paragraph D, Abraham waited for the city. It says in Hebrews 11, verse 10, he waited for the city. And this city has foundations in it. And the builder of this city is God himself. What an amazing statement. The builder of the city is God. I just long in the year, in the age to come to find out the process of how God built it. Did he just speak and create it or did he build it over a process? Did Jesus the carpenter and his humanity have something to do with that for the cross or was it just Jesus, the second person of the Trinity, the uncreated God who spoke? Or was it Jesus, the anointed man who worked together under God's authority and built it in some way? I don't know, but I'm looking forward to knowing these kinds of things in the days to come. I wanna ask you a question. Are you waiting for a city? Are you looking for a city? Or are you mostly looking for a breakthrough in your circumstances in this age? There's nothing wrong with wanting a breakthrough in our circumstances. We need more of a bunch of things. We need breakthrough in a number of areas. Physically, financially, relationally, anointing of the spirit of the beloved. There's something bigger than a breakthrough of our circumstances. As important as it is, there's something bigger. There's a city about to break in to the natural realm. Talking about a breakthrough. And what's amazing, many things are amazing about this, a man, Jesus, the man, not Jesus, God, but Jesus, a man, anointed of God, will call forth the new Jerusalem to bring it to the earth. An anointed man will bring this to pass under the Father's authority. It's amazing. Paragraph E, when the new Jerusalem comes down to the millennial earth, it will be the joy of the whole earth. I wanna read Psalm 48 to you. This is one of the most exciting psalms about the age to come. Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised. Means greatly, he deserves to be praised with extravagance and excellence. He's to be greatly praised with extravagance in terms of our responsiveness and terms of excellence. He deserves the kind of praise that is the very best that can be cultivated in our human experience. Great is the Lord, greatly to be praised in the city of our God. Now, it's talking about the new Jerusalem, and the new Jerusalem is coming down on God's holy mountain. So we're talking about a city, 1,380 miles is more accurate, the new American standards is 1,500 miles, and that's an easier way to say it, but a 1,500 mile city is coming down to the earth, and it's gonna be connected to the mountains of Jerusalem, around the mountains of Jerusalem. Verse two, it's beautiful in elevation. What that means is this city is 1,500 miles high. It's beautiful in its height. That's what it's talking about. It is the joy of the whole millennial earth, and then the whole earth in the age after the millennium. It's called, this city is called Mount Zion. It's on the sides of the north, and we don't know if it's on the north of the city of Jerusalem or the north of the temple in the millennium in Jerusalem, but it's on the sides of the north of either the city or the north of the temple of millennial Jerusalem. There's several reasons why it's on the sides of the north, but the psalmist wrote this down by divine inspiration. The new Jerusalem is the city of the great king. Again, it's not just the city of God, verse one. It's the city of a human king, verse two. It's the man who's God and man. It's not remarkable that God has a city. What's remarkable is that a man has a city. Beloved, this man is bringing us into partnership with him, and the name of that city is going to be written on us, which means we have the rights to have full access and participate in it. That's what Revelation 3.12 says. The name of the city be written on us, which means we have the right under God's declaration as heirs to fully enjoy the city. It's ours. The name of the city is on us. It'll be written on us. That's amazing. It's our city. It's not just the keys of the city are given to you. The name of the city is written on you by God, not by some renegade movement. God wrote the city on you, not somebody else who wanted it so. Look at this. Now, this is during the millennial earth, verse four. For behold, the kings of the earth, we're talking about the natural kings with physical bodies, they assemble, because they have these great convocations in Jerusalem in the age to come, in the millennial kingdom, and then after that as well. But these kings with physical bodies will assemble. They will pass by the new Jerusalem together. When they saw it, the psalmist writes, they marveled. They were troubled. Hello. They hastened away. I can see, you know, the kings of the earth, they come before the Lord, and they see the throne of Jesus in this massive city, because his throne is in the temple of Jerusalem, and it's in the city. It's in both places. And they tremble, the kings of the earth, and these are kings with natural bodies, and they say, you know what? I feel the release of the spirit. It's time to go. Let's leave. And they go, what do you mean? I can imagine the first king, the first time he's been put in office in his nation, the millennium, his first visit to Jerusalem as a king, and he's trembling and he's shaking, and some of the more seasoned kings are trembling too, and they go, this is how it is. Every time he summons us to his throne, fear took hold of them. Panic even, or pain as a woman at birth pangs, and they fled away. We're talking about the good guys fled away, because this city will be radiant in its splendor, in its power, and the Shekinah glory of God will just be manifest out of like waves of glory on the nations of the earth in the millennial kingdom. This city is one and seriously powerful city. So read Psalm 48 in light of what it means. It's talking about the city, the new Jerusalem descending to the earth. Paragraph F, I'm just referencing these next couple paragraphs just kind of real fast, you can look at it later. The new Jerusalem sits on the earth, forever on the new earth. And I use the phrase the new earth, meaning after the millennium. I use the phrase the millennial earth and the new earth. It's the same rock that we're on right now. It's the present earth, the millennial earth, and the new earth is actually the exact same rock that we live on right now called the planet earth. Now some theologians debate, and there's really good arguments for both sides. Obviously one of them has to be right, but there's good arguments for both. They debate whether this present earth, they all agree it will become the millennial earth. Everybody agrees with that, who takes prophetic scripture literally. But then what happens afterwards is this present earth renovated, is it renewed, or is this present earth annihilated, done away with, and God then recreates from scratch? Because it's built around the key word, the first heaven on earth passed away. That's the key phrase, it passed away. And so what does the word pass away mean? Paragraph G, I believe that this present earth will be renovated. I don't believe that the devil, the devil did not defeat God's purpose in Genesis one and Genesis two. God says, it is good, he meant the earth, and he meant the people and all that he was doing. The devil came in, deceived Adam and Eve, and the devil did not defeat God's intention when he created in Genesis one and two. There's plenty of passages that make clear that this earth, this present earth will last forever. One of them, one of my favorite ones, is Ezekiel 37, verse 25. This must have really just stretched their thinking. It says, they, talking about the people of Israel, they shall dwell in the land. Now, what land will they dwell in forever? In the exact land that God gave Jacob. And if they don't, well, maybe spiritually we'll dwell in that land. He goes, no, he makes it clear. It's where your fathers lived and your grandfathers. This isn't a land far away, in heaven far away. He says, they're gonna dwell in the land where your fathers and grandfathers actually worked and grew up. It's that land. Says, okay, and they're gonna dwell there with their children and their grandchildren. They will dwell on that piece of land forever. Forever they will dwell literally where Jerusalem is now and where Israel is now will be expanded to its full borders. The nation of Israel will literally dwell there, not just for a thousand years, forever in the exact same piece of real estate that God gave them. There's a, you know, I have a number of verses that to me make it clear, but the other side is reasonable. You know, there's other verses where the Lord, I believe, is making another point. He says, you know, when the heavens and earth passes away, right, and I think he's using the word pass away, paragraph H, and the way that when you and I became a Christian, we're a new creation, old things have passed away, you were not annihilated, you were made new, you were renewed, and it's the same word passed away. You did not cease to exist, but you are renewed by the power of the resurrection in a very, very significant way in the age to come renewed. I think that that's the parallel. There's only three times in the New Testament the word passed away is used. Roman numeral five, Jesus's throne of glory. There's two dimensions of one throne. Paragraph A, at the second coming, Jesus will establish his throne of glory on the earth. Now look at Matthew 25. When the Son of Man comes, he will sit on the throne of glory, verse 32, and all the nations are going to be gathered and he's going to judge them. And separate means judge. This is not talking about on the new earth after the millennium. This is talking about the nations of the earth that are now exist will be gathered before him, the leaders of those nations, and Jesus will determine which nations will continue into the millennial kingdom, and they will stand before him as he sits on his throne of glory. It will be literally a throne of glory on the earth, on the millennial earth. Paragraph B, and of course, I'm giving you more than you can handle, this is new, first time, but I'm giving you the passages so you can go look at them. Turn them right, turn them left, check it out, see if the things be so according to the scripture. And I think that you'll find that they are so according to the scripture. Jeremiah 3, look at this. This throne of glory is going to be actually in the Jerusalem temple. At that time, Jerusalem will be called the throne of glory. And all nations will be gathered to the name of the Lord in Jerusalem. Let's go to the top of page four. So here's the story, I mean, here's what the picture I'm painting. Jesus is on a throne of glory. It's not just in heaven. The throne of glory is literally on the millennial earth. Look at Ezekiel 43. This is another one of my favorite ones on this. Here's Ezekiel, he's completely overwhelmed by what he sees. The glory of the Lord came into the temple. He's looking ahead at the millennial temple after the second coming, verse six. And I heard him speak. Ezekiel turns around and it's Jesus speaking and he's speaking from the temple. And Jesus says, I imagine Jesus pointing down to the ground. He says, this is the place. He's pointing right at the temple right there in Jerusalem. This is the place of my throne and the place of my feet. This is where I will live with Israel forever, right here, right here. Beloved, when he comes down and sets his throne up, he's pointing to the city of Jerusalem, to the temple in the city of Jerusalem on the natural earth. He says, I'm gonna live here forever, right here. Ezekiel's like, awesome, awesome, awesome. Then the one in Zechariah six, we'll skip that one, but that's another great one where Jesus' throne is in the Jerusalem temple and during the millennial kingdom. His throne is in a temple. Never has a man's throne been in the temple. This is a huge point, which I'd love to spend an hour on, but we're just gonna skip it right now. A priest with a temple and his throne inside the temple. So the temple's restored and a man, a Jewish man is on the throne and he's ruling the nations and they're coming before him. Remember Psalm 48, they tremble and they're terrified and they hasten away. They go, let's get this meeting over quick. My spirit has been quaking every time since I've met the king of kings and the great convocation of the kings in the age to come. Paragraph D, Jesus' throne. Now here's the paradox. It's not only in the temple in the millennial Jerusalem. Jesus' throne is also in the new Jerusalem. Revelation 22, the throne of God and the throne of Jesus are in it and the it is clearly the new Jerusalem in context. So which is it? Is Jesus' throne on the earth or is Jesus' throne in the new Jerusalem? Both of them are right. One throne, two dimensions because the new Jerusalem has descended to the earth. The two realms come together in the millennial kingdom. Right there, that's the convergence point in Jerusalem and the glory spreads out across the whole earth over the next thousand years. Paragraph E, at the time of the second coming, the government of heaven, the government of earth, they come fully together as the throne of Jesus brings the two Jerusalems together. Paragraph six, I mean, Roman numeral six. Dynamic convergence. That's just a term I use. You can use another term that's better. I call it the corridor of glory. That's just a term I've used over the years, last several years. It's not a biblical term. It's the best one I could think of. When Jesus comes at the second coming, his throne will be anchored in the new Jerusalem and will be anchored in the millennial Jerusalem. It's one throne. I call it his vast governmental complex. The ones that the kings of the earth quake in front of. They see it beautiful for elevation, which means in its height of glory and its size, and they tremble before this vast governmental complex. It's not a great term either. None of my terms are good. I stare at this and I've thought of just every possible way to say this over the years. I cannot say it clearer, but the way I say it is less than adequate. The joining of the two Jerusalems, paragraph A establishes what I call the corridor of glory, in which the Bible gives us 12 significant aspects of God's plan that come into a dynamic convergence. What does the word convergence mean? It means to come together from two different directions, one's heavenly, one's earthly, at an intersecting point to achieve union. That's what it means by the dictionary. The heavenly and the earthly will each have distinct distinctions, but they will overlap as one reality, centered around the Jerusalem temple. Now, this corridor of glory, B, Isaiah described part of it. It's a cloud. He saw a pillar of cloud in the millennial Jerusalem. He saw a pillar of cloud going way up, and it's in that cloud, that's the corridor. It's in that cloud. He said smoke and shining fire, all there in Isaiah chapter four. It's like, remember in the Old Testament, in the wilderness, the pillar of fire that went with the children of Israel? That's what the corridor of glory is about. It is like, but in its full vastness and glory. It's the pillar of fire reaching between the two realms. That's the corridor that we go between, the best as I can see it. Ezekiel described it as a vast whirlwind touching the throne of Jesus and the earth. It's a whirlwind of smoke and glory and light and power. That's the corridor. And that's the connection between the two realms for one day of the age to come, called 1,000 years. Then after that, that corridor's not needed. After that, the New Jerusalem lands on the new earth at the end of the millennium. Paragraph D. We won't look at these, but I just wanna mention it to you. The 12 aspects, I'm not saying there's only 12. These are the 12 I found in Scripture. All 12 of these aspects are described about the millennium, and all 12 of them are described about the New Jerusalem because all 12 of them have an expression in both realms because it's one glory reality together. When it talks about the mountain of God, it's talking about the New Jerusalem, and it's talking about the literal mountain in Israel. And when you see them, that these 12 things have a New Jerusalem fulfillment, and they have a millennial Jerusalem fulfillment, and they're brought together, then you go back and reread these. They make sense because there's always a few verses when you read these things in their context that don't make sense because we either see one realm or the other. We see the eternal realm of the New Jerusalem, or we see the millennial realm of the natural dimension, and we think, wait, how can it be both? Because there's a corridor of glory where these 12 things are true in both realms for one day of the age to come, for 1,000 years. There's the river in the Jerusalem temple, Ezekiel 47. There's a river in the New Jerusalem, Revelation 22. There's the tree of life in the New Jerusalem. There's the fruit trees in the millennial Jerusalem. Well, which is it? It's both. It's both of them. Let's go to the top of page five, Roman numeral seven. Again, I'm just hoping you'll read this as some of you are going back home for the holidays. Tear this apart. Get with a few friends and have them say, ah, that can't be, and say, good, let's see if it is. Let's find a loophole in this thing. I encourage you, really find out where this is not true, but study it, take some time, do your homework on it. Paragraph A, the New Jerusalem will descend to the earth during the millennium. It will be a city that extends far above the earth. We're talking 1,500 miles or 1,380, if you wanna be more accurate, because just some translations put the number 1,500 miles because it's 12,000 furlong, is what it actually says. Paragraph B, we're not gonna look at this, but I want you to know there are five reasons, at least, why the New Jerusalem is distinct from the Millennial Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is close to the earth, the New Jerusalem is during the millennium, but it can't be on the earth for five reasons. It has to be close to the earth because the kings of the earth are going in and out of it, so it can't be far away. They're not getting on a spaceship to go there to bring their glory. And the leaves of the nations, I mean, the leaves of the trees of the New Jerusalem are healing the nations. There's gotta be a proximity where they can come and go in relationship, or those leaves can't heal the nations. The only way around this is just to make it all symbolic, so it doesn't mean anything to anybody. But I think the way that's most glorifying to the Lord is to take it for what it says. It means what it says, it says what it means. So you could study those five out, and I'm sure there's more as well. Roman numeral seven or eight, Roman numeral eight. The New Jerusalem will descend to the earth on two occasions, and the outline of Revelation 21 and 22 explains that. If you'll study just the page here, you'll see where the outline of Revelation 21 and 22, if you just read through it carefully, makes it clear that there's two times the New Jerusalem descends. I'm not gonna go into it right now because I want to bring this thing to an end. Because you can't get it anyway until you take time and study it, look at it, look at the verses, but get a few people, talk about it. Debate it a little bit, just do it with a charitable spirit, but challenge it. Truth is never injured when it's challenged, if it's challenged in the right spirit. Doesn't hurt anything to challenge it. Challenge it with energy, because truth is only established when it's challenged. You know, different ones over the years, you know, the years of ministry, they'll say, well, they're really challenging you. I go, if what I'm doing is true, that will only confirm it, it will only make it better. That doesn't hurt anything, actually, if it's true. Now, if we're hiding something, the challenge is bad. But if you're walking in truth, challenges are not a problem. Amen, let's stand. Again, we'll look.