Mike Bickle emphasizes the significance of understanding the New Jerusalem as a divine gift to the Bridegroom and Bride, rooted in the promises of God found in 2 Peter 3. He explains that the New Jerusalem represents a culmination of God's redemptive plan, contrasting it with the new heavens and new earth, and encourages believers to engage deeply with the truths of the end times. Bickle stresses the importance of being informed about these prophetic themes, as they serve as a foundation for spiritual growth and preparation for the future. He likens the study of these truths to mastering foundational math concepts, urging the congregation to persist through initial confusion for greater understanding and joy in the beauty of God's promises.

Father, we come to you in the name of Jesus, and Lord, we do ask you to release the grace of God upon the speaking of your word. Lord, we ask that our hearts would burn within us. Under the ministry of the Holy Spirit, we ask that we would say what the disciples on the road of Emmaus said, did not our heart burn within us as we heard the word. And I ask for that gracious operation of the Holy Spirit. In Jesus' name, amen. Okay, we're doing part two tonight on overview of the New Jerusalem. Last week, we gave more of an introduction. We didn't really get into the notes at all. I got a way out there. But we're going to, I trust, be able to get through them. And then next week, I plan to do part three on this. And basically, we're focusing on 2 Peter 3, of which the New Jerusalem, and therefore the new heaven and the new earth, are critical subjects in it. But 2 Peter 3 is such an important chapter related to the study of the end times. If I thought of the subject of the end times as a backbone, there might be 10 or 12 key truths, foundational truths, like vertebrae, that make the whole thing work. And several of them are anchored right here in 2 Peter 3. And until those different truths are clear in our mind as to their nature, what they're really about, the essence of them, I don't mean every detail, but the essence of them, and their timing and sequence, how they relate one to another. Until we understand the nature of these events, and how they relate to one another in sequence, they always stay a bit of a fog to us. And 2 Peter is a very important chapter, because it takes two or three of these key, again, I'm just making up the number 15, like vertebrae, the 15 major foundational end truths. And several of them are anchored in this chapter. And this is a chapter you cannot afford to be uninformed about. But the problem is, when you read 2 Peter 3, and we're just looking at a few verses, verse 10 to 18, a little bit tonight, although we're just going to really look at verse 13 about the new heavens and the new earth. But when you look at 2 Peter 3 from verse 1 all the way through the entire chapter, it can seem a bit cryptic and mystical. It's like, wow, that's kind of heavy, I think. I'm not sure what it means, but wow. And so tomorrow, I mean, next Saturday, I want to take some time and work on some of the other parts of 2 Peter 3. Now, some of you are, as we're going to go through this, we're going to go through some real intricate detail, some real specific detail, because what the Lord did in the end times, in terms of the truths of the end times, and there's hundreds, hundreds of chapters in the Bible with verses and paragraphs about the end times. I mean, hundreds of them. It's not a subject that we can afford to be uninformed about and be so ignorant of, which so much of the body of Christ is so untaught about the end times. And there's hundreds of chapters in the Bible that have passages related to the end times. It's critical, so don't just write it off as like, well, that's for them, because you don't want to give that much of your Bible away. You want to keep it. Now, we're going to work through some of the details, especially as we work through the Millennial Kingdom, and I want to encourage you to be a person that doesn't draw back when it comes to the details. Don't say, oh, it's hard. It is a bit hard at first. It's only hard until, because it's unfamiliar. I love how Alan Hood, he says it so excellent. He says, the fog is there. Just stay with it, and the fog starts lifting. Just stay with it a little bit. The truths become familiar, and you go, oh, okay, and stay with it, because work hard at it. Don't draw back, because when you understand a certain amount of the elementary details, that body of truth and facts, that understanding becomes the platform and the equipping for the next amount of details and understanding. You know, it'd be like, I remember when I was in high school, I took math. I remember first, or in junior high, first, I took Algebra 1, and took Algebra 1, and that gave me the equipping, the understanding to take Geometry the next year, and so I signed up for Geometry, and I actually understood Geometry because of my equipping. Then the next year, I took Algebra 2 and Trigonometry, and I actually enjoyed it and did well with it, because I understood the other. The next year, I took Analytical Geometry, and that was my favorite class, and I had my highest marks on that class, and I remember, because I just particularly enjoyed it, thinking, I could never be understanding this if I wouldn't have bothered with Algebra 1, because Algebra 1 was one of those classes you didn't have to take, and I said, oh, why not? And my point is, each body of truth is what equips you, I'm talking about the end times, each cluster of truths, is what I mean, gives you the equipping to understand the next cluster. And I want to say this to you, having done this a bit over the years, it becomes, just like my little math experience, the further I got in it, the more enjoyable it became. It became, I loved it, and the more it all came together, so don't look at Algebra 1 and just go, I can't do it, you know, I'm in eighth grade, I can't do it, just stay with it, because Algebra 1 was the hardest of all of those for me, in my experience, that was the hardest one of all. I the best ones in analytical geometry four years later. The same is true with this, this stuff, with a little fuzzy, back in the Algebra 1 stage. I don't know if I like this math stuff. Stay with it, because there's a great surprise. It's not just that it'll be enjoyable, it will bring those clusters of truth, one begets the next, and the next begets the next, they become more powerful, and they wow your heart with the beauty of Jesus, and they get a hold of you in a deeper way, and they motivate you more powerfully, but if everybody quits at Algebra 1, they never ever go on, and so, you know, and then some of those guys, you know, working at the space department, you know, in Houston, they went, you know, a hundred more years of math, and now they're getting airplanes up on the moon, and all the universe, and they love it. They love it, and so, I want to encourage you, don't just conclude that Algebra 1's too hard, and you're just going to quit. Just press in. Again, that was my hardest math course of all, was Algebra 1, and it's the first, it's the first six or twelve months of studying the end times, where people go, ah, it's not for me, and it's so dynamic. There's a principle in scripture, and Paul said this, he says, we go from glory to glory. He said that in 2 Corinthians 3. He said the same thing, Romans 1, he goes, we go faith to faith. It's the same principle. What we experience today becomes the platform and the equipping for a higher and deeper experience tomorrow. The psalmist said it in Psalm 42, we sing it all the time, deep unto deep. That's the same thing, faith to faith, glory to glory, deep unto deep. It's our experience today equips us in a vital way to experience more tomorrow. Our understanding today is the platform we jump from to far deeper, more powerful, impacting understanding tomorrow. So I just don't want you, as we go through some of the details of this, just to kind of, you know, just, you know, say, I'm just not going to do it. I, you know, I don't get all this, you know, I'm in Algebra 1, and it's just too confusing. Stay with it. Okay, we're going to read 2 Peter chapter 3, verse 10 to 18. The day of the Lord shall come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with great noise, with a great noise. The elements will burn with fervent heat. Both the earth and the works that are in it will burn up, will be burned up. Verse 11, therefore, since all of these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought we to be in holy conduct and godliness looking for number two and hastening two different things, two different actions, looking for, and hastening the coming of the day of God, the day of the Lord, the day of God, and the day of the Lord is the same. It's the same thing because of which the heavens, that's the atmosphere will be dissolved. The atmosphere being on fire and the elements will melt with fervent heat. Verse 13, nevertheless, we, according to his promise, according to the promise of God the Father, we are looking for a new heavens, plural, that's again, that's the atmosphere, and a new earth in which righteousness dwells according to the promise of God and the promise are the Old Testament promises about that. We're going to look at some of them tonight. Verse 14, therefore, beloved, looking forward, it's not enough just to look inward and outward and backward as we're seeking wholeness. We also have to look forward, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by him in peace as opposed to fear because of all, not just the fear of the understanding of it and anticipating it, there's fear in the anticipation, but to be found in peace when the events begin to actually happen instead of gripped with fear like the nations of the world will be. This word peace is really critical because be diligent to be found in peace, both in the anticipation of it, which we are now in the anticipation, but there will be a people that will actually experience it, billions of them, and fear will be one of their greatest adversaries because when they get into fear, then they will lose all kind of perspective and they'll panic and they'll go into deeper realms of darkness, even driven by fear. Some will go into deeper realms of darkness because of just desire for it, but others will be in so much panic, there'll be such a frenzy inside, they will not make calm life choices. He says, whatever you do, verse 14, look forward to these things, but in the looking forward, use these truths to motivate you to be diligent to be found in peace and it's not enough to conquer the fear thing, also be found in him spotless and blameless, get the compromise out of your life, not just because we're going to die. The point isn't just get compromise out because we're going to die. The point is, if God is this zealous, if he is this zealous against darkness, that he would kill his son and burn the earth, he's not going to lose interest in his war against darkness. That's, that's the overriding point he's making here. I mean, God killed Jesus. The devil didn't kill Jesus. God did. God, the father took him as a sin offer him and crushed him and God, he, he, his, his, his wrath, his fire fell on his son. He loved his son and God deeply values and treasures and enjoys the earth, but he will burn it. The point is, if God is that zealous, and that resolved, and that unwilling to back away from this thing of defeating darkness, what manner of people, why do we want to play with darkness at all? Because he's zealous for it. That's the negative side. He's zealous to destroy darkness, but the positive side is that he is zealous to make everything new and why not give ourselves to this renewing process even now? And to be ready for that, the great conflict that's coming called the great tribulation. He's, uh, Peter's telling the, the, the saints, even back then he goes, be ready, not just now, but be ready then. Because, uh, Jeremiah said, if you can't run with the foot soldiers now, how will you run with the horses? If you can't say no to sin, when there's very little pressure, how will you say no to sin when there's significantly greater pressure? He's telling them because it really is about your destiny and your own safety and your own wellbeing to press in now when it's easy, because you must press in when it's difficult in the days to come. And he's telling them that verse 15, he goes on account of the long suffering of the Lord. He says, and account or, or interpret or understand that God's patience is for the purpose of releasing salvation. You therefore beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware, beware, lest you fall away from your steadfastness, but grow in grace and grow in the knowledge of God. There it is. The knowledge of God is the which operates by the grace of God. But the knowledge of God is what will equip us through every stage this stage, when the fire gets intense in eternity, it's always the knowledge of God, which is the critical point that equips the soul to continue to go forward in God. Okay. Let's go to Roman numeral two. We're going to, uh, we did a bit of Roman numeral one last week, the promise of the new heaven and the new earth, the promise of the new heaven and the new earth, because in verse 13, Peter said, we, according to his promise, look for a new heaven and new earth. And so Peter is referencing old Testament promises that are to be taken serious and taken to heart. Now the two most prominent, there's several that you could look at, but these are the two most prominent promises in the old Testament. And there's others that are by inference and others are, are, are clearly stated, but this is the most graphic of all right here in Isaiah 65 or 17 to 25, and then Isaiah 66 verse 22 to 24, right there on the notes. So we're going to look at the two main promises, but not the only two, just, just read them real quick. Okay. Uh, first, uh, it's the promise of a new heaven and a new earth. I'm going, I want to distinguish before it will, I'll probably repeat this a dozen times tonight. There's a difference between the new heaven and the new earth and the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is a city in which it's final resting place is the final resting place is the new earth. The new earth is the earth. It's big. It's like, it's this it's as big as this earth. Let's say it that way, because it's going to be completely renovated and main made new. But it's my opinion that the new earth is the current earth completely renovated in a very, very dramatic way. And there's, as you study this, there's two basic, uh, uh, schools of thought about the newer, about the old earth. And, uh, both of them have a real long list of scholars that, uh, uh, support it. One of them is that, uh, the old earth is renovated. And the second school of thought is the old earth is annihilated. It's one of the with, uh, I've studied it, uh, pretty, uh, energetically and nobody has the final word because, uh, there's three, four really clear verses on each side. And, uh, uh, but when I put them all together, I feel most comfortable believing that the new earth is the renovation of this current earth. It's a renovation. Cause if you look at all the different verbs and, and, uh, that are involved in it and compare them and how they're used, uh, anyway, I don't want to get into that right now, but I want you to understand that the, the, uh, new earth, which I believe is the renovated older, uh, uh, dynamically significantly renovated. But the point of it is the sit, the new Jerusalem is a 1500 mile cubed or a city 1500 miles in each direction and three directions. It's based on the earth, which is the size. And so it's just one part of the earth, which boils down to the new Jerusalem. When it comes down to the new earth, it comes down to nearly when it's all said and done, it'll probably exactly. But, uh, uh, uh, the size of the promise land that God gave to Abraham, it's real close to the same dimensions. And so it, my guess is just, there's no, this is purely an opinion, a, uh, or just a speculation is that we'll probably be rest right there, uh, in the same, in the very boundary lines that God gave Abraham because the size of it corresponds to the new, new Jerusalem. Okay. So there's a new earth is the point it's different from the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is a city. The new earth is the whole earth. Now the heavens, again, I want to emphasize is speaking of the atmosphere. It's the atmosphere around the earth. There's going to be a new atmosphere and this new atmosphere will have properties about it. It will have color, fragrance, sights, sounds, the weather patterns, and various properties related to it. The atmosphere that will be very dynamic to the saints. It will be really wonderful. It will, it will, it will be more than, wow, what a beautiful day. The it's, it's a very properties will invigorate righteousness and in one part of the heavens right now, one part of the heavens or the atmosphere is actually adversarial to the human race, great storms and turmoil comes is very, it's a great blessing to the human race too with rain and sun, but it gets out of proportion becomes adversarial. It's in the place of the heavens where, where Satan and his hosts are lodged, the powers and principalities, but there's coming a new heavens of which all the adversarial elements are not just gone. They are gone, but there's new elements that we cannot imagine that enhanced the atmosphere far above anything we can imagine. It's not just that the bad is gone, but the new, new dimensions. Oh, what is God thinking when he's talking about a new atmosphere? Whoa, it's going to be, it's going to be awesome. Okay. And a new earth now on this earth, which I believe again, is the renovated the present earth renovated. And there's a lot of reasons I think that, and I do understand the arguments that are presented on each side. I've again, done some pretty energetic study on both sides of it. And either one of them works because it doesn't change a whole lot. There's an implication or two that changes, but, but nothing that's real significant as I can see it now, but in the new earth, uh, righteousness will dwell. Righteousness will dwell. It will be ultimate on the millennial earth on the thousand year reign it's coming next. Righteousness will be substantial, but not ultimate, not complete. It will be substantial in the millennial earth. There will still be sin. There will still be resistance. Jesus will still use the rod of iron to quelch rebellion and uprisings. And then there'll be the final uprising at the end of the millennium in revelation chapter 20, verse seven to nine, a great, a revolt. I mean, a great, I don't even want to use the word great, a, a, a, a global revolt against Jesus. And so righteousness is substantial in the thousand year millennial earth. Substantial, but it's ultimate in the new earth. There are no surprises. There is no snake in the garden. There's no serpent in the garden that, that, uh, that, uh, surprises Adam and Eve. There's no surprises like that. There is no adversary that's allowed on the new earth. So it's righteousness will be ultimate. It will not only be at its highest measure. It will be of infinite duration. It will last forever. It's, it dwells there in the ultimate and, and, and, and, uh, and an eternal measure, an infinite measure and an eternal duration. It will go on and on and on. Okay. Let's look at the two promises of the new earth. Now here's the problem that we're going to get at. And it's my point in Roman numeral three, but I'll kind of borrow from Roman numeral three right now to, uh, uh, introduce this. It said, as I'm reading this passage right here, uh, on page one here, uh, Isaiah 65 or 17 to 25. Uh, here's, here's the principle that I'll look at in just a moment. And I got some of this written in a moment, but I'll just, let me say it to you now that we'll read it then is that whenever, uh, usually, and I would, I'm close to saying every time, but I haven't proven that yet to myself from the scripture, but it's, it's looking like every time of the 10 or 12 major prophetic themes, I mean the big ones, like the second coming, like the kingdom, uh, of the real major prophetic themes, the coming of Elijah, things like that, the day of the Lord. Uh, what happens is that the there's two distinct, uh, fulfillments of those promises. There is a, a, a fulfillment that is, that's very important, but it is a prophetic down payment of an ultimate fulfillment at another time. Like Jesus came at the first time. And then most of the passages about the coming of the Messiah deal with his second coming. And that really threw off Israel. They were looking for the second coming passages at the first coming and it really, it threw them off because they did not know there was a time gap between them. And, uh, the coming of Elijah, you know, he, Elijah is really coming, but he came, uh, first John the Baptist, the spirit of Elijah on John the Baptist. And they go, oh, oh, oh, we get it. It's not really Elijah. Jesus says, well, yeah, Elijah is still coming. He's going to restore all things, but he is Elijah. And, and it, it seems confusing. It's a very simple principle because, uh, again, I'm not ready to say every time, but I'm suspicious that it's every time of every major prophetic truth. It has a dual fulfillment. It has a, a glorious or I'm not necessarily glorious, but a, a, a significant fulfillment like the first coming of Jesus. It's very significant. And then a, uh, a very, very glorious ultimate fulfillment later. Now the new heaven and the new earth is like that. The down payment of the new, of the new heaven. I mean the, uh, yeah, the, even the new heaven and the new earth is the millennial kingdom. It's not the ultimate, but it is the down payment because, uh, Satan is kicked out of the atmosphere. He's incarcerated. He's not in the atmosphere. The atmosphere is renewed. It's not ultimate, but it's still way better than it is now. And the earth and its vegetation and the government of it, it's significant, substantial righteousness. And so each time you find in the Bible, the reference of the new heaven and the new earth, you always find the millennial kingdom each time, four times you find the millennial kingdom and the eternal state merged together. And it really confuses people. They go, I don't get it. I don't get it. I go, no, it's really just as simple as the first coming of the second coming of Jesus are in one passage, like Isaiah 61, it's the, it's the most well known example, although there's several of them, you know, he says the spirit of the Lord is upon me and I'm going to heal the sick and preach to the poor, et cetera, et cetera. And, uh, he did it the first coming for three and a half years to a very small group of people in Israel. But he is going to fulfill that Isaiah 61 fulfill it in its ultimate sense at the second coming. And he's going to, he's going to preach to the nation. He's going to teach the nation's righteousness. It's going to heal the sick. He's going to have a healing ministry far outside the boundaries of, uh, of, of Israel of his day. He's going to, he's going to bring healing. He's going to have the greatest worship conferences, healing conferences, training Bible school conferences. It is just amazing what Jesus will do in Isaiah 61. Well, anyway, so that you're not confused. Uh, the, uh, the two of them, the, uh, uh, down payment of the new heaven, new earth, which is the millennial kingdom is not the ultimate, not meant to be the ultimate, but all these passages are describing the millennium the whole time. They're you're thinking, wait, this sounds like the millennium. How could that be the new heaven and new earth? It's so confusing. I go, how could the first and second coming being Isaiah 61, uh, the same, you know, in the same passage and many, many, uh, prophetic events. And again, I I'm nearly ready to say all the major prophetic events have this dynamic. So don't be thrown off by it. Don't be thrown off by it. It's a simple thing. Okay. For behold, I will create a new heaven and a new earth. And I, and here's the Lord's, uh, this is really an exciting thing. This is the Lord's attitude. This is how he feels about this, the millennial kingdom, but, but mostly about the renovated earth, the new earth or a supposed, you know, or again, it's my opinion is renovated along with, with many others. But again, there's another argument that it's annihilated and completely made new for those that have studied it a little bit. Okay. And here's what the Lord, he says, I'm going to be glad and I'm going to rejoice forever in what I, uh, create. And, uh, the Lord is forever going to rejoice in what it creates in this. And even this is one just little, even baby hint, just a very small hint about God continuing to rejoice in what he created in Genesis chapter one. And he'll create, he'll rejoice forever in the substance of what he created in Genesis chapter one, when he said it is good over the earth. But anyway, the Lord has great gladness, great rejoicing. I don't want to get off on the details. We'll look at these details during the millennial kingdom class. I just want to give the feel of it. He goes, I will create Jerusalem as rejoicing and her people. I will make them so filled with joy. Verse 19, I will rejoice in Jerusalem. So he's going to be glad and rejoice and be rejoicing the whole earth, but he's really going to rejoice in Jerusalem. Now he's talking about the millennial Jerusalem, the Jerusalem on the earth, which is not the same thing as the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem is 1500 miles in three directions, length, width, and height. The drew the millennial Jerusalem has, has, uh, had the millennial Jerusalem has its, uh, uh, measurements and Ezekiel 40 to 48. And it's nothing close to 1500 miles. Every direction, the millennial Jerusalem is what he's talking about right now. But again, he means the, the other one as well. You know, the minute you say it's only the millennial Jerusalem, the Lord says, no, I'm always, I'm often talking on two levels. I'm looking right down straight through my redemptive history in the future. And I'm speaking at two levels. Okay. There's going to be no more weeping hurt in her. Now here's where, you know, he's focusing, uh, Isaiah really, uh, focuses on the millennial Jerusalem. He says there'll no more shall an infant live there, but a few days, nor an old man that shall have not fulfilled his days, but a child shall die at a hundred years old. When someone dies at a hundred years old, they're still considered a child. Or if they died a hundred years old, they're considered a center who's cursed because sin will still be in the millennial kingdom, but life will go on for hundreds of years. Like it, like it went, uh, in the days of, uh, before the days of Noah verse 22 for the life of a man for as the days of a tree. So it will be the days of the people. People will live the length of it. They'll live hundreds of years old. Verse 25, the wolf and the lamb shall feed together. The lion shall eat straw with the ox, et cetera. Okay. So what he's merging is the two together. But this is the reason I went off for a moment on the millennium here is so that you could understand that the new heavens in the new earth, John, uh, uh, and Peter are both quoting this passage when they're talking about the eternal one. And yet you read it and they go, it's not the eternal one. This is the millennial one. But the principle is this. God often puts them together. And every time the new heavens and the new earth is mentioned, it's always in context to descriptions of the millennium. Again, so often the first and second coming of Christ are in the same verse many times I could give you a mini verses of it. It's clear to us now, well, on the other side of this, we'll look back and say, well, it's really clear. Well, the Lord might say, well, it was clear back then too. Okay. Let's look at Isaiah 66 verse 22 to 24. For as the new heavens in the new earth, which I shall remain, which shall, which start over for as the new heavens and the new earth. And again, the heavens is plural. Each time it's plural. There's different dimensions to the atmosphere. The earth is singular, but the heavens are plural, which I will make shall remain before me. Now it's talking about the eternal one, the eternal do heavens and new earth. So then now he's going to go and start talking about the millennium in a second. It goes, so show your descendants and your name remain. Now here in verse three, he's talking about the millennium. It shall come to pass because all flesh shall come to worship before me. Well, that's in the millennium and in the eternal city says the Lord, and they shall go forth and look upon the corpses of men who transgressed against me. And that's talking about the battle of Armageddon. This is the, the Psalm 110 where, where Jesus marches through the land and fills the land with the blood of the Kings that, that, that he kills related to the Armageddon campaign. The, the battle of Armageddon isn't exactly, isn't, I don't think the best way to, uh, to say that it's the, it's really a campaign that goes on for three and a half years with a number of battles in it. And it ends with the battle of Jerusalem. The, the Armageddon campaign actually ends, uh, with Jesus coming from heaven in the battle of Jerusalem. So what's really happening here. And so it's describing Jesus coming, starting this new heavens and new earth regime. It's the millennium here. It's just, it's just a prophetic down payment of the new heavens and new earth. But the thing that Isaiah focuses on is this King who's going to run, rule the new heavens, the new earth. Uh, it's showing his supremacy over his enemies. He's defeating the antichrist armies is what he's talking about. And all the international coalition that has resisted him that has been talked about and described so, uh, so brilliantly by David in Psalm two. So Isaiah goes right to the Psalm two conflict where all the Kings of the earth gather against Jesus. And to Isaiah, it makes sense because I'm talking about the new heaven and new earth. I'm gonna talk about the new King that's going to run it, but I got to talk about this international coalition of nations that are seeking to destroy him. He's going to wipe them all out. So to, to, to Isaiah, it's just one thought to him. There's no distinction in these thoughts. It's like one big theme he's talking about. Okay. Turn to page two. Maybe you're already there. Okay. Uh, revelation 21 verse one is another. Now this, this was written maybe, uh, uh, 30 years after Peter. So when Peter says, uh, we are looking at the promise of the new heaven, the earth, new heaven, a new earth. John had not said this. John doesn't give revelation 21 for 30 years after second Peter's already written. But since we're talking about new heavens and new earth, I just want to put it down there. Okay. Now I give some other passages where, uh, it's talking and we think of these passages as mostly millennial, mostly doing the millennial, but again, it's the double fulfillment. It has a substantial fulfillment in the millennium, but an ultimate fulfillment in, uh, the new heaven and new earth in the new Jerusalem. Okay. Here in acts chapter three, that God will send Jesus whom heaven must keep receive heaven, must keeping you could put the word retain or keep heaven must keep Jesus up there. I'm missing the most important verse, verse 19, the verse before Peter says, repent. And when, when repentance is sufficient to the degree, that's, it's another part. It's another point. It's related to hastening the day of the Lord. Then God will send Jesus who God is keeping in heaven until the times of the restoration of all things, which was spoken about by the mouth of the prophets. Everything is going to be restored. It's substantially restored in the new drew in the millennial kingdom, the millennial earth. It's an ultimate restoration in the new earth. So it's substantial and ultimate. Those are two words I'll use many times in the course of this study, but it's called the times of the restoration of all things. And so the millennial kingdoms a day, we say, well, that's a long time. They'll say, well, it was a day. I mean, you know, I'm going to count that one prophetic day. It's only one day to the eternal God. He goes, the, the, the, the other one where the restoration reaches his ultimate, it goes on billions and billions and billions of years. And that's only the beginning. Okay. Jesus talks about Matthew 19, verse 28. He says, I say to you that in the regeneration and the, and the theologians debate is the regeneration, the millennium or the new earth. It's both. It starts in the millennium, the regeneration, and it's ultimate in the new earth. When the son of man sits on his throne, Jer many verses, but I'll just give you one Jeremiah chapter three, verse 17, Jeremiah three 17, his throne is on the, in the millennial Jerusalem. His throne is in Jerusalem during the millennium. However, that's not the only place his throne is. He has a millennial throne in Jerusalem, and there's many, many passages about Jesus having a throne in Jerusalem, but also revelation 22, three, his throne, the father's throne and the throne of the lamb are in the eternal, in the eternal city, the new Jerusalem. He has a throne there. He has two offices and there's one, there's a unity, a perfect unity between them. You know, it's like the president has the oval office and then he has the other, wherever the other place is. But you know, I don't, I guess I should do my homework before I make the analogy, but I just thought it would come. It didn't. Okay. So, uh, so Jesus has a, uh, a throne in the new Jerusalem and he has a throne on the millennial earth. And so again, the, the, the, uh, scholars will debate and they'll say, no, that's clearly the eternal one. In other words, no, it's the millennial one. I think is what he sits on his throne in the regeneration. He's talking about two different timeframes through that prophetic lens. That's just how he, that's how God talks. And one reason God does it because he only, he wants the hungry ones to understand it. And he wants the people who aren't hungry, not to understand it. He wants it that way on purpose. He says that several times. He goes, I spoke with parables to make it easy. The idea of being to the hungry. And he goes, I spoke in parables to make it impossible to understand to those that are not hungry parables, make it hard and make it easy depending on the state of your heart. And so, uh, he speaks all through scripture this way, and it seems like so complex to us. But at the end of the day, it's just quite, it's quite simple actually, but it throws off and just kind of, uh, dis, uh, disengages who's ever not really hungry for it, for the truth of God in these things. Okay. Romans chapter eight, verse 21 gives a, gives another example. Oh, another one of the other famous, uh, torn of David ones is Luke chapter one, verse 32 Luke. When Gabriel comes to Mary and says that he shall sit up on the throne of David, that's the millennial throne in Jerusalem. He'll sit upon the throne of David. That's Luke chapter one, verse 32, but that's not the same throne is revelation 22, three, where the throne of the father of the throne of the lamb are in the new Jerusalem. Again, it's one reality, but two, two, uh, two main government offices, if you will, just using that a weak analogy. Okay. Page three. I mean, Roman numeral three. Okay. The principle of prophetic fulfillment. I've just said all that. Uh, I'll just go through it again because, uh, it's new to some of you, the passages a and the new earth are always, are always all the passages in the new earth are in context with the millennium and the eternal state together. All four, all four of them are. Okay. I have three of them written there, but throw in revelation 21 verse one to make the list complete. They're all four of them are okay. In one passage, prophetic scripture often points to two events or two timeframes that are separated in time. Give the analogy, Isaiah 61, Jesus first coming. However, that does still describe Jesus at a second coming as well. We make a lot about the second part of verse two in verse three is about a second coming. And we kind of have a kind of an unspoken assumption that verse one and two of Isaiah 61, is it about the second coming of Jesus? He will heal the sick in the second coming. There will still be folks that are sick and get healed in the millennial earth. Sin will still be present, but it won't, it will not be raining in any way like it is now, but it will still be present. He will use the rod of iron to put it down. Sin as it rises up a little breakouts of sin here or there. Okay. The day of the Lord, the tribulation, the destruction of the new Jerusalem, you know, other ones are like Gog and Magog. It's the same thing. Gog and Magog. There's a, there's a Gog, which is the antichrist during the great tribulation. There's a Gog at the end of the, of the millennium. It's Gog is the, is the prophetic picture of the, uh, the primary leader who opposes God on a global level. And there's two Gogs and Magogs. One's the antichrist and one is the other guy who is a, we don't know nothing about, but he has a far, if you really think about it, a far, uh, more sinister role, because it's been thousand year reign of righteous rule. And yet he gets the nations, all the nations to come against the Lord, not all the nations, but many of the nations from all the earth. And so that's another example of that. The great tribulation is one I'll just throw in there. The great tribulation is three and a half years of fire. And that is a down payment of the fire at the end of the millennium. The big fires at the end of the millennium, the great tribulation is clearly fire. It's called fire. Many times in the old Testament, when it describes the great tribulation, it describes it, uh, emphasizing the fire dimension of it. The book of revelation, especially revelation eight, nine, the fire dimension is emphasized, but it's nothing like the fire within the millennium that burns the entire surface of the earth for how deep I don't know, but probably takes the whole top layer of the earth and completely destroys it and renews it. And the top layer could be miles. I don't know. It's big. It's powerful. Okay. Uh, the coming of Elijah, the same way I already mentioned that. Okay. And so with the, uh, prophecy of the new Jerusalem and the new earth, now that's a, that's a little bit, uh, tedious this last 10 minutes. If this is the first kind of end times class you've been in, or maybe the second or third one, you're going, I lost you way back when this is algebra one, this is really simple. And I, but, but again, in my, uh, very limited math experiences, that was my hardest course of all was algebra one. That's like a watt. And that's the one that I made the, uh, I, I didn't do so good at the other ones. I, every year I got better and the class got harder, but my grades got higher. I don't know how that figures, but that's how it works. But it's, I find the analogy really, uh, appropriate to, to this on the beginning of your study, it seems the details are too big, but they end up, uh, you'll end up managing far more complex details with enjoyment and clarity a little bit down the road. If you use the beginning to build the platform and equip yourself and understanding to jump into the next level of understanding. Okay. B okay. I said all that. Okay. Roman numeral four. Let's turn to a revelation chapter 21 revelation chapter 21. Okay. Uh, cause I don't, I didn't have the space on the notes to put the whole text there, but I want to just give a few little, a little overview of it. The new Jerusalem, it's the father's gift to the bride and the bridegroom. It's that's kind of how I, uh, think of it. It is distinct from the new earth. The, the new earth is the final resting place of the new Jerusalem. So the new Jerusalem is the city and the new earth is, is the earth. There you have it. Okay. The throne of God and the throne of Jesus in the ultimate sense is in the new Jerusalem revelation chapter 22, verse three and four. Although Jesus has a temporary thousand year thrown on the millennial earth as well. Okay. So the new Jerusalem is our home. It's where the saints will live. It's the abode of the saints. It's where we will live. The new Jerusalem is not the wedding supper of the lamb. That's a great celebration. The new Jerusalem is not the new earth. It's the home. It's the city. It's that diamond city that we will live in forever from the, from the, uh, time of the which the, when we are translated, we're caught up together in the air to meet the Lord at the second coming. It happens at the second coming, but the saints are rapture. We're caught up. We're instantly translated. Those that are alive, those that are dead go first. Those that are alive, come right after that. And they're instantly transformed. Our home is in the new Jerusalem from that moment forever and ever and ever. So from the second coming and the rapture till eternity on and on and on, we have the same home in the new Jerusalem in the new Jerusalem. Okay. Let's, uh, read revelation chapter 22 verse two. There's this, uh, thing that happens. It's mentioned three times in scripture. The new Jerusalem descends out of heaven, out of the third heavens where God is the new Jerusalem descends. Revelation 22 verse two, the new Jerusalem descends out of heaven. That's all it tells us there. It just descends out of heaven. So you're thinking descending out of heaven to where, and it, it lands on the earth. And this, in this case, in verse two, it's landing on the new earth from verse one, relation chapter 21, verse one and two, the new earth is there. It has no seat. And, uh, the reason I still believe it's the renovated earth. I think the consuming fire in second Peter is what destroys the sea. We're talking about a serious fire and, uh, the fire is what destroys the sea. And so the earth is completely, that's what I mean when I say I'll take the, the, uh, the surface of it off. It may be a pretty, uh, pretty, uh, deep cut, but I don't know. You know, those are all speculative thoughts. You can't know that thing for sure, but the new Jerusalem comes down out of the third heaven and it lands its ultimate resting places on the new earth. But, uh, what we're going to find in a few minutes is that the new Jerusalem also descends to the millennial earth in relationship to the millennial earth. The new Jerusalem descends twice. Our home stays the same. You don't have to pack and unpack. You just stay in the same, in the same mansion. You don't even know. It's just, it's a glorious. And, uh, I'm sure I was going to say, you won't even know what hit you. I'm sure we'll know when it sounds like, Whoa, that was, that was awesome. Lord, let's do that again. No, no, we only do it twice. We only do it twice. We're raptured. We're taking to the new Jerusalem. We we've, we are, we are assigned our, our, uh, location in the city. Then the city descends in proximity to the millennial earth. And then it's there for a thousand years. And we live in the city and resurrected bodies the whole time in the, we get our eternal inheritance from the second coming on, but we interact with the millennial earth in a way that Jesus does, or in some ways that Jesus does. And I'll look at that in a few minutes, but that's what we have a whole course for is to go into the details about that. And so we're not going to get very far tonight on that, but we interact with the millennial earth in a limited way. It's a interaction, but it's called ruling. It's called ruling. And, uh, uh, it's, it's ruling and it's akin to, or a parallel to, uh, uh, principalities, uh, rule from a demonic point of view over regions, cities, and nations, and angels are assigned cities and nations, and they have government in the spirit. It's, it's a parallel to that kind of ruling. It's real. The, by far the most powerful government over our nation is not Washington DC. It's what angels or demons are doing over the cities and over this nation as a whole related to the prayer movement on the earth. The governmental center of the universe is the prayer room. It really is because the, I mean, it is in time and in eternity. It is now it is in the millennial earth and it is in the new earth because it's the prayer movement that moves the government powers in the spirit. Right now it's angels on the good side, powers of principalities on the negative side. The saints will occupy that, that role, but undoubtedly in a different way, but it will be the spiritual government that has a far greater impact on the direction of cities and nations than even the natural government does. I mean, I mean, it has a far greater impact. It has the superior impact. I'll say that. And so our ruling, we will have a impact. We will have relationship to the millennial earth, a very dynamic one, the limited one, but it would still be characterized as ruling. It's the government in the spirit is with the saints who live in the new Jerusalem. But again, I'm getting way ahead of myself. That's like class five and our class didn't start for two weeks. Okay. Look, what I'm trying to point out now is that the new Jerusalem descends God, the father thought this whole thing up. I mean, is this an amazing thing? I mean, he started with a blank whiteboard. There's Jesus, the Holy spirit. They're in the big staff room in heaven. Father says, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to do the new earth and Jesus, the Holy spirit. Of course it didn't happen this way, but, uh, for our limited point of views, uh, Jesus goes, wow. Father says, no, watch this. Jesus, here's my favorite part. I'm going to have it descend from where I'm at. It's going to go and go down there. Whoa. Well, and only for a while. And you're going to have your, you're going to have your throne right there. You know, that crossroads between Europe and Asia and Africa, it's called Jerusalem. That's your city, Jesus. And I mean, Jesus and the father, they know each other's heart. It didn't happen just this way, but, and then, uh, then I'm going to draw everything back and I'm going to cause everything to take a step back and I'm going to burn the earth and completely renovated. Then I'm going to it's going to send a second time. Whoa. I mean, my point being the father didn't have to do it this way is I can just, in a purely limited human sense, it would be going to the meeting, the planning meeting. I have a phenomenal idea. Jesus, you're going to love this one. I'm going to have it to send. I mean, somewhere way back where this thought entered God's mind, I am blown away that he came up with this idea because he didn't have to do it this way. He wants to. Okay. Revelation 21 verse 10. Revelation 21 verse 10. He carried me away in the spirit and showed me the great city, the Holy Jerusalem, and John saw it descending from the third heavens from God. He saw it. Now this is, it's the sending to the millennial earth here. He saw it. What did John sees on some high mountain somewhere in the spirit. And he sees he's this 90 year old apostle prophet. He sees the new Jerusalem to send the first to see the new Jerusalem is awesome. He sees it descend. Whoa. Okay. You know, when I do, whoa, I have a team of people who transcribe. It's really fun because one personality does W H O a another one says W H O a, a, a, a, a, another one puts a, all the different personalities, but I go, Whoa, some of them type it all the way out. Anyway, I just, I always laugh at that every time I see him because it's all the different personalities. So, Whoa, I got one for each of them. Okay. So John chapter 14, Jesus says, I go and prepare a place for you and I will come again and receive you to myself. He's talking about the new Jerusalem, but the critical part that I want to point out here is he says, I'm going to receive you to myself. When we are raptured at the second coming and go into the new Jerusalem, we are with him forever. The new Jerusalem, he receives us to himself in that city. So whatever city we're not, whatever city that city he's building, he's doing it so that we're received to his heart. So my point is, some people have an idea that we're on the millennium and resurrected bodies running around. No, we're in the city. We're in the city with him forever from the day that we meet him in the air. Okay. Abraham had revelation of this. Abraham waited for the city whose foundations and whose builder was God. So it's in Jesus says he prepares it. And the father in Hebrews 11, 10 is the one who is building the city. Let's talk about the new Jerusalem. Uh, Hebrews 11 verse 16, they is talking about the, uh, the, uh, uh, faithful of Hebrews 11. They desire a better country for he, the father prepared a city for them. This city has been built and prepared by God here in the two verses in revelation. I mean, in Hebrews 11 verse 10 and verse 16, and then Jesus afterwards says, uses the same word about preparing it. So it's all, it's seemingly already built, but not prepared. Everything is not prepared for the descent of the city. And I think the preparation is related to his leadership over history, the maturity of the body of Christ. Don't think of him preparing it. Like he's got to put, you know, the carpet in, you know, uh, the preparation of the city is more than just the material of the city. It's the state of the city coming into its destiny with the saints that are mature in a way that is commensurate with the city. So the preparing of the city is the city and the saints in the church. There's a lot on his mind when he's preparing the city. It's not just the last, you know, uh, nails to hammer in before the city is, is built because God speaks and creates. And so, uh, but it's, he's preparing something to do with the combination of the city and its inhabitants at its place in history, thinking of billions of years from now, he's preparing it. So it works exactly according to the father's plan. Okay. Hebrews 12, we find out that the heavenly Jerusalem is the place where the church of the firstborn lives. So we don't live on the millennial earth per se. We live in the new Jerusalem. It's where the saints live in the new Jerusalem. The new Jerusalem comes descends from heaven in a, in a relationship to the millennial earth of which that more relationship is never, uh, specified. It's never a given great detail. There's five main points about how it relates, but it's never, uh, uh, really said in, in great, great detail. But, uh, those five points we'll look at another time. Okay. Roman numeral, uh, five. Okay. The new heaven and the new earth in context of the book of revelation, the new heaven and the new earth in context of the book of revelation. You know what? I think I'm going to quit here, Murray. I did it to you again. Yeah. Because this is a very important subject and I'm out of time and I could go for three minutes and you just go like, cool. I didn't get any of it. And so I think I'm going to wait on that. So we'll look at this next week then. I guess we won't look at much a second Peter next week then. But I want to encourage you to go study the verses from the handout tonight. Just go look them all up, write them out, type them out, or use your Bible programs, whatever on your computer and go and look ahead at these verses and just get familiar with them a little bit. This is very, uh, dynamic because, uh, Peter said in, in second Peter three verse, uh, 10 to 13, he said this, he goes, you need, he says it three times. Verse 12, verse 13 and verse 14, three times he goes, look, look to these things. He said, look to these things, understand them, and they will motivate you in righteousness and in preparation for the future. Beloved, we are called to look to these things. We have to know them in order to look to them. And if we look to them, it motivates and inspires our diligence. But the body of Christ is so nearly almost utterly unfamiliar and unschooled in these things that we are called by God to look at them as part of our motivation and righteousness. And so I don't want to lose any of my arsenal and God and the grace of God. I don't want to lose this motivation and this tool in my heart because we look to them now in day to day life now, but beloved, we gain ground and motivated by that. I'm going to tie some of that together in the other sessions on how it really motivates us now. Then it helps us in the great tribulation days. When the, like Jeremiah said, if you can't run with the foot soldiers, how are you going to run with the horsemen? If you can't run at five miles an hour, how are you going to run at a hundred miles an hour? If you're tripping in sin, when we're only going five miles an hour, how are you going to stay up with what God's doing when it's going a hundred miles an hour? We got to settle the issues. Now we got to look to these things now and get with it. And then when things really pick up, we look to them. Uh, we look to these truths are critical in, in, in the hour of the great trouble. These things are very critical doctrines. And yet most of the church is completely unfamiliar with them. And so we got to spend some time doing algebra one. This is algebra one. This is not analytical geometry. It's not calculus. It's not space department in Houston. This is math. This is simply algebra one. And so I want to urge to draw back from it. Amen. Let's stand.