5. The message to each church:
(Rev 3:7-13 NRSV) And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write: These are the words of the holy one, the true one, who has the key of David, who opens and no one will shut, who shuts and no one opens: [8] “I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. [9] I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying–I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. [10] Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. [11] I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. [12] If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. [13] Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.
The City of Philadelphia.
fil-a-del-‘fi-a (Philadelphia: A city of ancient in Asia Minor on the Cogamus River, 105 miles from Smyrna. It stood upon a terrace 650 ft. above the sea. Behind it are the volcanic cliffs to which the Turks have given the name of Devitt, or “inkwells”; on the other side of the city the land is exceedingly fertile, and there was produced a wine of whose excellence the celebrated Roman poet Virgil wrote. a1] Philadelphia is not so ancient as many of the other cities of Asia Minor, for it was founded after 189 BC on one of the highways which led to the interior. Its name was given to it in honour of Attalus II, because of his loyalty to his elder brother, Eumenes II, king of Lydia. Still another name of the city was Decapolis, because it was considered as one of the ten cities of the plain. A third name which it bore during the 1st century. AD was Neo-kaisaria; it appears upon the coins struck during that period. During the reign of Vespasian[a2] , it was called Flavia. Its modern name, Ala-shehir, is considered by some to be a corruption of the Turkish words Allah-shehir, “the city of God,” but more likely it is a name given it from the reddish colour of the soil. In addition to all of these names it sometimes bore the title of “Little Athens” because of the magnificence of the temples and other public buildings which adorned it.
Some of the ancient ruins of Philadelphia
Philadelphia quickly became an important and wealthy trade centre, for as the coast cities declined, it grew in power, and retained its importance even until late Byzantine times. One of the Seven Churches of the Book of Revelation (Rev 3:7 ff) was there, and it was the seat of a bishop. As in most Asia Minor cities, many Jews lived there, and they possessed a synagogue. During the reign of Tiberius the city was destroyed by an earthquake, yet it was quickly rebuilt. Frederick Barbarossa entered it while on his crusade in 1190. Twice, in 1306 and 1324, it was besieged by the Seljuk Turks, but it retained its independence until after 1390, when it was captured by the combined forces of the Turks and Byzantines. In 1403 Tamerlane captured it, and, it is said, built about it a wall of the corpses of his victims.
Ala-shehir is still a Christian town; one-fourth of its modern population is Greek, and a Greek bishop still makes his home there. One of the chief modern industries is a liquorice factory; in the fields about the city the natives dig for the roots. On the terrace upon which the ancient city stood, the ruins of the castle and the walls may still be seen, and among them is pointed out the foundation of the early church.
Philadelphia was situated on the edge of a great volcano. Since it was located at the edge of a volcano the ground around it was very fertile making Philadelphia a rich agricultural area, especially for the growing of grapes. The city became one of the choice areas of the ancient world for the production of wine. But since it was next to a volcano they had a problem with earthquakes. Many, many earthquakes had hit this city and in A.D. 17 it was totally destroyed. The emperor Tiberius came in and completely rebuilt the place because he loved the wine. There were frequent tremors and the inhabitants lived in constant fear. The people were used to leaving the city during times of tremors and volcanic activity, and coming back in when it appeared the danger had passed. They were conditioned to living on the edge, fleeing in panic at a moment’s notice, then returning again and again. Their flight was always into the valley, away from the city, in case the buildings collapsed, as often was the case. Their lives seemed to consist of a never ending saga of going in and out, in and out.
The Church in Philadelphia
No negative thing is said about the church in Philadelphia Of the seven churches, two received no indictment. The church in Smyrna was known as the “suffering church” and they were not told to repent. The second, against which the Lord laid no charge, was the church in Philadelphia. Because they kept the word of His patience, by which the kingdom of God is inherited, He gave them wonderful promises. The “crown” is mentioned in connection with only two churches out of the seven: Smyrna and Philadelphia—God’s overcoming remnant. The word picture is that of a royal crown of triumph—total victory over every enemy, including the last enemy, death. The Greek word for crown in these passages is stephanos. This crown was traditionally a laurel wreath woven of fragrant branches. It was granted to winners in the games and also as a token of public honour for distinguished service, especially of military leaders who had been victorious over their enemies on the battlefield. It was also given at marriage feasts, especially in royal families, to celebrate the joy of the bridegroom in having “won” the maiden as his bride. this crown is a victor’s crown—the crown of an overcomer.
The people living out of Smyrna and Philadelphia are a very good representation of the Lord’s overcoming ones in the earth throughout the church age. They also correspond to the two witnesses in chapter eleven of the Revelation. There are two churches out of the seven that received no condemnation or reproof from the Lord, and were given only great and precious promises. Of the two witnesses it is testified,
And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a yousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth (humility, brokenness). These are the two olive trees (anointed ones), and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. (Rev. 11:3-4).
Two candlesticks. Two churches. Two given a special anointing and standing before God.
Before You an Open Door
: behold, I have set before you an open door, and no man can shut it … . (Rev. 3:8).
While there are many doors God opens and shuts in our lives as we walk with Him and grow in Him, this open door is the same door John saw “opened in heaven” at the end of the messages to the seven churches. Because the church in Philadelphia is God’s faithful overcoming remnant, a door is opened to usher them into into the heavenlies—into the high places of the Spirit in Christ. To enter this door is to have a transformation from the earthly consciousness and state of being into the heavenly. If any seem to fall short, be encouraged, for He will deal with you until you are able to enter in. No man can shut this door. No one can keep overcomer out of God’s purpose for them. The door is open for all who have heard the voice as of a trumpet saying, “Come up here and I will show you things which must be hereafter.” The Spirit is saying to arise and enter in to the full inheritance in Christ. This call goes out only to the called and chosen elect of the Lord. To those who have heard the voice, the door is open before them.
I will keep you from the hour of temptation
Because you hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep you from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. (Rev. 3:10).
I will guard you from the hour of afflictions sent by God to test one’s character.” Each of us must have specific tests that are custom made for us. God in His infinite wisdom has chosen the ones that you need to bring you to maturity in Christ.
This process of testing, or the “hour of temptation,” comes upon the entire world. The word “world” here is not the Greek word kosmos, but oikoumene, meaning the entire globe and all its inhabitants. It is “to try or test or discipline them that dwell upon the earth.” The “earth” speaks to the natural realm of the carnal mind, and there are vast multitudes of believers who dwell all their lifetime on a natural plane of man-made religious experience, Unquickened to the supernal glories of the heavenly realm where spiritual men and women sit together in the blessedness of the divine life and glory of the ascended Christ.
Those who dwell in the heavenlies in Christ live and walk in the Spirit far above the earth realm where the testings of those “upon the earth” cannot reach. In this holy realm they are kept from the hour of testing, trial and discipline that is designed for those dwelling in the lowlands of the flesh and the carnal mind. Overcomers bodies are still upon the earth, but their spirits live in worlds where what happens in the flesh does not affect how they live their lives. All are tried—but those who live the life of ascension are unaffected by the pressures of this dark age. What happens in the outer world has no power to remove the course that God has set for those who are called to seek the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Such are not judged with the world, not tempted or tested or tried as are those who are still struggling and have not overcome the world, Nor moved by any of the allurements, pressures, or powers of the earth realm of flesh and carnality.
The Three dimensions
Most of the events in Revelations take place in one of three dimensions: heaven, earth, and sea. Symbolically and prophetically they represent states of being, life-styles, levels of consciousness, and dimensions of life within. The lowest of these three realms is the sea. In the scriptures the sea is a type of the inner storms and turbulent nature of the Adamic man.,
The wicked are like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. saith my God, There is no peace to the wicked. (Isa. 57:20-21).
These are raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame. (Jude 13).
the waters which you saw, where the whore sits, are peoples, and multitudes, and nations, and tongues. (Rev. 17:15).
The natural sea is a great deep, an abyss
, “They search out iniquities; they accomplish a diligent search: both the inward thought of every one of them, and the heart is deep (an abyss). (Ps. 64:6).
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?. (Jer. 17:9).
John saw a beast (nature) rising out of the sea (abyss, depth) of humanity, Jesus said:
For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed all these evil things.”
This evil heart of the fleshly man inspires every perversion, and fills the world with ever increasing confusion, faithlessness, immorality, falsehood, fraud, hatred, violence, greed, cruelty, strife, wars, bloodshed, and oppression. The sea shows symbolically the lowest realm on earth The sea of fleshly, Adamic nature is humankind at the lowest point. Individually the lowest aspect of a human nature and life—the undisciplined body with its passions, lusts, physical desires and impulses that are restless, driving, compelling, and rage out of control.
The second realm is the earth. A realm higher than the sea, but lower than heaven; touching heaven at its highest and embraced by the sea at its lowest; yet of itself, is neither heavenly nor degenerate. On the individual level the earth speaks of the soul—mind, will, and emotion. It is an intellectual realm, but also the realm of the carnal or natural mind. Out of this realm comes our organized society, law and order, charities, good works, even good religious works which are deemed spiritual, but which do not originate out of the spirit. The man who walks in this realm of “earth” is that good neighbour of yours, a good person, who wouldn’t cheat you or lie to you or misuse you in any way. He may be helpful, caring, compassionate, socially and religiously active, a God-honouring man, but he has never ascended into the heavenlies and does not live out of a heavenly dimension. You can’t accuse him of any gross sin, or any wicked or ungodly act, but if you start talking to him in a spiritual realm there is no comprehension. In the earth realm one can touch the sea, and one can touch heaven, but one doesn’t dwell there. The hour of temptation is to “try them that dwell upon the earth,” the Spirit says. The Greek word for “dwell” is not the ordinary oikeo, but the strengthened form of the word, katoikeo, meaning those who have settled down upon the earth, who have identified themselves with it. They are content to remain in a carnal, natural-minded state of being. The man of earth lives out of the dimension of the first man Adam—the living soul. It is a soul realm of life.
The third and highest of the three realms is heaven. This is the highest dimension of life, the dimension of spirit. Those who live out of the spirit are spiritual and heavenly. The Greek word for heaven is ouranous meaning elevation, height, exaltation, eminence. It has both physical and spiritual applications. In its spiritual sense it speaks of the eternal, invisible, and omnipresent realm of the spirit in which God and all celestial beings dwell—far above the realm of the physical, material, earthly, and mortal. It is not a geographical or astral location. It is not a planet or a place. It is a dimension of life, reality, and being. it is a sphere of existence; a plane of consciousness’. Every spirit life-form lives on a plane of spiritual awareness. Each of these planes constitutes a “heaven,” a spiritual realm above the physical.
Heaven is the biblical name of the realm of God’s spirit, the invisible and omnipresent dimension of Spiritual Reality. It is all around us. It is as near to us as the air we breathe, closer to us even than the blood coursing through our veins. We are one with it by virtue of our spiritual life.
He that is joined to the Lord is one spirit.”
We touch heaven as we touch God in our spirit. We behold heavenly things as with our spiritual mind we behold spiritual realities. We walk in heaven as we walk in the spirit. We think like celestial beings when we think with the mind of Christ. We act in a heavenly manner when we live by divine nature. Heaven is the realm of God’s government—His infinite power and authority. This kingdom is rooted in our spirit, the heavenly dimension of our life.
Our Lord Jesus Christ had left His heavenly glory. He had humbled Himself, had taken upon Himself the form of sinful flesh; and becoming a man, was despised and rejected. He made Himself of no reputation. While in humanity and reproach, a man among men, He made this statement
:
No man has ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, the Son of man which IS IN heaven. (Jn. 3:13).
The Son of God left His glory, and descended to the depths of shame and reproach. He came and took our place of disgrace in order that we might be raised and exalted and honoured and, with Him, be given a name (nature) above every name. He was made in all things like his brethren, yet, while a man on earth “The Son of man which IS in heaven.”
Jesus the Christ as a man on earth was at the same time in heaven. Our Lord came down from heaven yet was still in heaven. Heaven is something a person can be in, can descend from, and still possess. Our Lord was the Mighty God—God manifest in the flesh, Emmanuel, God with us. Even while in the flesh, by the eternal Spirit within He was one with the invisible, infinite realm of the spirit of God. His outer man was conscious of the earthly realm and one with it, but His inner man was conscious of the eternal realm and one with it. The heavens were open to Him, He dwelt, lived, thought, walked and manifested out of the divine sphere of life. He was a heavenly man on earth. In this regard
the power which God exerted in Christ when He raised Him from the dead, and set Him at His own right hand in the heavens, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but in that which is to come. (Eph. 1:20-21).
Christ is raised up permanently into the highest spiritual realm where He has all power and authority.
And He raised us up together with Him and made us sit down together with Him in the heavenly sphere. (Eph. 2:6, Amplified).
We have already been raised up and given joint seating with Christ in the same heavens where He is enthroned with His Father. That is the true heaven Those who are God’s elect being taught of God, understand for they are quickened, made alive, raised up into the higher than all heavens, and in consciousness, in spirit, in reality are seated even now in the heavens in Christ Jesus.
Christ has ascended. Christ is now the highest heaven in this universe. Those who dwell in heaven, who walk in the spirit, who think with the mind of Christ, who live out of divine nature, have no need to be “tried” as men who dwell in an earthly state. There is no processing in heaven. There is no condemnation, no judgment, proving, purging, refining, correction, discipline, or testing of those who live and dwell and sit in the ascended Christ. Those who truly walk after the spirit are not depressed, perplexed, worried, or victimized by any kind of “earthly” situation. When our affections are set upon things above, where Christ sits at the right hand of God, and where we sit with Him and in Him, we are resurrected and ascended, for the Christ with whom we are joined in spirit is the Christ whIo has ascended into the heavens. When we stand in union with Him we are high above the mountains, not in the valleys.
Within us is a sea realm, the outer man of the body, in the intellect, our soul life an earth realm and in our spirit a heaven realm. There are things that are true about each of these realms, Every human on earth fits into one of these three categories and all live life from one of these dimensions. Processing takes place only in the realms of earth and the sea. Everything that comes out of heaven affects and deals with the earth and the sea. Fire comes down from heaven and brings purifying judgments upon those who dwell upon the earth and in the sea. Messengers come down out of heaven and the sea rages and the earth shakes. When heaven comes down and touches earth there are voices, and lightning, and thunder, earthquakes, judgments, fires, blood, hail, and mighty transformations. In the Revelation all that happens in the earth and in the sea originates out of heaven. Trying to deal with the carnal mind, the flesh, religious hang-ups or any other thing by ways apart from the life of God out of the inner spirit, is making a great effort of futility.
If you live after the flesh, you will die: but if you through the spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, you will live. (Rom. 8:13).
The True Sanctuary/temple
Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out. (Rev. 3:12).
Any reference to a temple of the present or the future refers to
the true sanctuary, and the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Heb. 8:2).
There is only one such tabernacle, or temple. There is one temple, one great high priest, and one royal priesthood.
To the example and shadow of heavenly (spiritual) things,” those heavenly things were the same that Moses saw in the mount, and the same heavenly and spiritual things to which we, God’s spiritual and heavenly people, have now come, for, we “are come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. (Heb. 12:22).
None of these are a future reality to be entered into after we die, or after Jesus returns. We have come, we are come. (Present tense)
The tabernacle of Moses in the wilderness and the temple of Solomon upon mount Moriah were merely shadows of better things to come; the natural shadow of the spiritual reality Moses saw in the mount.
Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: we have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the Majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary and of the TRUE TABERNACLE, which the Lord pitched, and not man.
Jesus is now a minister in the true tabernacle or temple. Concerning the old tabernacle and temple with its priestly ministry Hebrews continues,
Who serve to the example and shadow of heavenly things, as Moses was admonished of God when he was about to make the tabernacle: for, See, saith He,(God) that you make all things according to the pattern showed to you in the mount.
The tabernacle of old was made as a physical, material representation of the true heavenly tabernacle Moses beheld in the spiritual realm of the heavens. What Moses saw in the mount was heavenly and spiritual.
We have come to the true temple, the body of Christ; the family of God’s sons, who are growing to maturity in the image of Christ.
If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as to a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, you also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief cornerstone, elect, precious: and he that believeth in Him shall not be confounded. (I Pet. 2:3-6).
Christ is the living cornerstone that communicates stability to all the other stones that are joined to Him. A living cathedral of Christ rising in the heavenlies made of living stones. Each stone a spiritually living person indwelt by the glory of God. Not covered with glittering gold, but overshadowed by God. Not adorned with silver, but founded on redemption. Not fashioned with glittering, precious stones, but with the eternal jewels of His nature, glory, and power.
God will never vacate this heavenly, spiritual temple to return to one made with hands.
Neither in this mountain, NOR IN JERUSALEM, shall ye worship the Father … the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit (in their own spirits) and in truth (spiritual reality). (Jn. 4:21-24).
, “Now therefore … you are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone; in whom all the building fitly framed together grows to an HOLY TEMPLE in the Lord: in whom you also are builded together for a habitation of god through the spirit. (Eph. 2:19-22).
Almost two thousand years ago the Lord Jesus spoke to the house of Judah,
Behold, your house is left to you desolate. (Mat. 23:38).
This was a pronouncement of doom upon a city and a nation that had not received its King. The presence and the glory and the purpose of God had departed from Judah. God took His presence from the Holy of holies in the temple, leaving their house desolate to them. Finally, in A.D. 70, the Romans destroyed that vacant shell of a building. The people of Judah were scattered throughout all the earth, their law and their priesthood has never been restored in God’s sight, nor can it be.
For years the priests offered sacrifices to God who was not in His accustomed dwelling place. God had left His centuries-old habitation and moved into a body of flesh, the body of His Son, the true temple of God. All of the world would have been ignorant of this,
He was in the world, and the world was made by Him, and the world knew Him not. (Jn. 1:10).
Standing before Herod’s temple, beholding the stones and the glory of it, Jesus said,
Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
The Jews were furious, demanding, “Forty and six years was this temple in building, and wilt you rear it up in three days?” But
They wist not that He spake of the temple of His body. (Jn. 2:19-21).
At the time of crucifixion of Jesus, under the cover of that dense darkness God tore the temple veil from top to bottom so any carnal, earthly priest of Aaron’s passing order could peer into the Holy of holies, the former abode of Shekinah Glory, and plainly see and know that God was not there.
God was establishing something entirely new. This was the beginning of the end for Jerusalem, the temple, and its priesthood.
. “Now of the things which we have spoken this is the sum: we have such an High Priest, who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in the heavens; a minister of the sanctuary, and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched, and not man. (Heb. 8:1-2).
But Christ being come an High Priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building (material creation); neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by His own blood He entered in once to the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. (Heb. 9:11-12).
It was therefore necessary that the pattern of things in the heavens should be purified with these (the blood of goats and calves); but the heavenly things themselves (purified) with better sacrifices than these. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are the figures of the true; but into heaven itself … . (Heb. 9:23-24).
Where does Christ minister as high priest, into what holy place has he entered with his blood and which heavenly things has he purified. There are not two temples of God, one in heaven, and another on earth; one literal, and the other spiritual. The true understanding of Christ’s high priestly ministry and the outworking of the efficacy of his blood is contingent upon acceptance of the eternal truth that God has only one true heavenly temple, and we are that temple..
we are come to mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem … and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaks better things … . (Heb. 12:22,24).
We are in Christ. Christ is in us. We are built together, an habitation of God through the Spirit. We are raised up a building of God, the spiritual tabernacle which the Lord has pitched and not man. We are the temple of God in heaven. The blood of Christ has cleansed our hearts from sin and purged our consciences from dead works that we may serve the living God
.
Know you not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost who is in you, whom you have of God, and you are not your own? For you are bought with a price; therefore, glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. (I Cor. 6:19-20).
Our Lord Jesus Christ gave perhaps the greatest parable of His ministry when He cleansed the temple and then spoke to the people about the temple of His body. He said what He meant: His body was a pure body, and He stood there to let them know that the fore-court of the temple was a symbol of the body of the believer. There were three courts in the temple: the outer court, the inner court, and the most holy place. The Lord meant them to understand by that purification that the outer court of man’s temple, the body, had to be cleansed. There are three courts in this temple of man’s being, just as there were three courts in the temple made with hands.
(1 Cor 6:19 NRSV) Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?
When we defile our body we defile the temple of God.
The purification of the temple begins in the spirit, the most holy place of being. It is there the blood of Jesus is presented before God. It is there that the blood of Jesus, the incorruptible life of God, is sprinkled, quickening our spirit by His Spirit, making us alive to God again. All purification begins in the Holiest of All. Nothing can be cleansed in soul or body until by the washing of regeneration our spirits are quickened to God and His life released within.
God sent His Son, not merely to cleanse the outer court, but through His death, through His resurrection, through His life, and in the power of His Spirit, to cleanse man from the centre to the circumference.
God’s purpose from the foundation of the world has been the building of a spiritual house, a holy temple, an eternal abiding place in His creation in which He can be at home, and in which place He and His creation can meet. It is not temporal or transient as were the temples in Jerusalem which were all destroyed in turn. The temple which is Christ’s body is eternal in the heavens. It is not earthly nor does it belong to the earthly realm, but to the heavenly. It is not of corruption, but of incorruption.
A pillar in the temple
Him that overcomes will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out:
His temple is to be perfect in praise and beauty. Not every pillar will carry all His Father’s name, the name of the holy city and His new name. Wherever the Father finds a possible “pillar,” He will choose it for His great design and cease working on it, till He has set it in its proper place,
you are the temple of the living God, as God has said, I will dwell in them and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. (II Cor. 6:16).
Those who come to the sixth stage of overcoming are to be placed as a pillar; not sitting in some building worshipping God or doing great things, but part of a corporate building. Not a temple to sit in or minister in but a temple made of s people. In the day of His manifestation out of this temple in all the glory and fullness of Himself there will be no need for the sons of God to put up large tents, rent or erect huge buildings to accommodate the crowds. The Spirit of God will flow out of the sons of God wherever they are—in the streets, in the business places, in the fields, on buses, trains, and airplanes, in the restaurants, in the movie theatres, in the schools, in the churches, in the homes—wherever these sons appear in the purpose of God and at the word of the Father, there the works will be wrought. Up and down the land, in every place, to rich and poor, to educated and uneducated, to affluent and the down-trodden, needy, and hopeless, in the halls of government and to the common people, to all without respect of persons, without announcements or advertising, without organized meetings or gatherings, without radio programs or television networks, without organizations or promotions, the glory will flow into men’s lives. God will visit men wherever they are, reveal the secrets of their hearts, confound their intellects, break their selfish wills and bondages, cleanse from sins, heal the sick, raise the dead, transform their minds and hearts, and raise up the revelation of Christ in every life.
No longer will the overcomer be in and out of the leadership of the Spirit. They will be in perfect union with the spirit, mind, purpose, life, victory, and glory of God and will go no more out.
The Lord is raising up a people who are not tossed about by every wind of doctrine; who are not gullible; who are not being controlled by humankind; or made merchandise of; who have discernment and are not being deceived; who need no special teacher with some new revelation; who do not need a human shepherd to guide their every step; who do not have to depend on someone else for their peace and spiritual strength—but who have been tested and tried and have proven the life of God is within them, being raised up as wisdom, righteousness, power, provision, and glory in their lives. Christ has been revealed not only to them, but is revealed in them. They are drawing on the strength of their inner man, the spirit, Christ in them, according to the riches of his glory.
The whole universe is a picture, an image, a likeness. All the types, shadows, and figures in the Bible are symbols and images of reality to come, and that reality is Christ. Christ is the truth, the reality of all. In the physical realm we have food for sustenance; but Christ is the living bread that came down from heaven, that if a man eat thereof he shall never die. On earth we have great rocks, and the wise man builds his house upon the rock; Christ is the true rock of the ages, the foundation and stability that cannot be moved or shaken by anything. We dress our bodies in clothing for protection, warmth, appearance, and identification; but Christ is the eternal robe of righteousness covering the nakedness of our flesh nature and the royal robe of the king of glory and a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, giving us our identification as king-priests in the kingdom of our Father.
Christ Himself is the truth, and His Spirit is the Spirit of truth (Jn. 14:17; 15:26; 16:13; I Jn. 5:7). Christ is the reality, and His Spirit is the spirit of reality. Only Christ, the Spirit, is real. The people in whom the living God dwells, live, and move, are the pillar of the truth, the support upon which reality stands, the buttress that bears the reality. Upon this people can be seen the glory of the Lord, the reality of the universe. Upon this people can be seen what is real and true—the truth. Upon the sons of God can be seen the reality of life and in-corruption, the reality of love, the reality of righteousness, the reality of mercy and goodness, the reality of wisdom and knowledge and power. The sons of God are the pillars of God’s great temple, the support of the superstructure, the resting place of all truth, the foundation of all reality. God is raising up a many-membered temple, all indwelt by Christ, all in perfect union with Christ, to be filled with all the glory of God throughout the ages to come. This body is God’s house, His habitation, His temple. The overcomers are the strong and tall pillars upon which this reality rests
The Name of My God.
Him that overcometh … I will write upon him the name of my God. (Rev. 3:12).
The elect are changing from flesh to spirit, from earthly to heavenly, to make them into the overcomers It is God’s plan and purpose to thoroughly cleanse and transform. They are to lose their own identity and take on the identity of our Father, the characteristics of His holy city, the New Jerusalem, and the creative identity represented in His new name. When this work is completely accomplished they will be fully identified with God and the realm of His Spirit.
In a very real sense the “name” of a being is regarded biblically as being a part of the person. In a certain sense there can be no separation between a man’s name and what he is as a person. In the scriptures the innermost being of a man is expressed in his name.
thus Abram, which means “father,” had his name changed by God to Abraham, meaning “father of many nations,” for such he was to become in fact. His wife also from Sarai, which means “contentious,” to Sarah, meaning “Princess,” for, said the Lord, “I will bless her, and she shall be a mother of nations; kings of peoples shall be of her.” There are many such examples.
A name with God is indicative of the one who bears that name. Those who will be worthy to bear the name of God are those who have been transformed and recreated in the image and likeness of God. If the overcomer is not completely in His image and likeness the Christ cannot write that name upon him/her. We must, of necessity, be like God if we are to be the possessors of that name. It is “him that over-comes” that receives the name. Christ obtained a name more excellent than angels and higher than all other names. He obtained the name of the Father by overcoming all things. In similar manner the name of the Father is to be written upon His elect
He is the sole expression of the glory of God, the Light-being, the out-raying or radiance of the divine, and He is the perfect imprint and very image of God’s nature. (Heb. 1:3, Amplified).
He was able to say, “He that has seen me has seen the Father.” He bore His image, His likeness, and in this He manifested to the world the nature of God.
This is to be the impartation of his character and authority. When He proclaims or writes His name upon His called and chosen elect He is imparting to them His honour, authority, nature and power.
The name of the city of my God
Him that overcomes … I will write upon him the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem. (Rev. 3:12).
The bride of Christ is not a physical city of gold and stones and streets and gates. The bride of Christ is a people, a spiritual people in union with Christ. John introduces this glorious city as a bride brought to relationship with her bridegroom. ( of God in the wilderness. John was seeing in vision the fulfilment of all that the tabernacle in the wilderness and the temple in Jerusalem represented. In the elect, in the body of Christ the tabernacle of God continues with men. The tabernacle of God is with us and in us now, for Christ is in us and the glory of God is seen upon His body.
The message is to proclaim that this tabernacle of God is in the midst of men It is not to be revealed as the whole world looks up in the skies to see it coming down through the galaxies. Since the coming of Christ to His people God’s tabernacle has been coming down from the high realm of the Spirit of God into the minds, hearts, lives, and bodies of men.
(Rev 21:3 KJV) And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
The name of the city of my God is New Jerusalem. Jerusalem is a compound Hebrew word meaning “founded peaceful.” I will write upon you the name of the city—I will write upon you the establishment or kingdom of peace, the rule of peace that comes through the government of God. For God to write upon us the name of the city of God, the New Jerusalem, means that He inscribes in our very nature the peaceful and governmental characteristics represented by this glorious city of God.
The New Jerusalem coming down from the heavens of God’s Spirit is revealed to be a city four-square, a universal city that reigns over and blesses all men to the four corners of the earth.. Jerusalem of old was the capital city of the national Israel; and as that old order was a type and shadow of the new, the New Jerusalem is also the capital city, the ruling element in spiritual Israel of today, which is Christ’s kingdom and it “is not of this world.”
The New Jerusalem rules as kings and priests to God: those who have followed the Lamb whithersoever He goes and have attained to the highest position of honour and might and true greatness in the Spirit.
(Rev 3:21 NIV) To him who overcomes, I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I overcame and sat down with my Father on his throne.
God’s called and chosen elect, who supremely love Christ, who are submitted completely to His Lordship, who are accounted worthy to suffer with Christ and through trials and testing grow up into Him in all things are the New Jerusalem who will rule over God’s realm.
In the book of Hebrews the writer’s spirit is enraptured with glory, his heart exulting in praise, as he beholds in spirit the transcendent glory of the spiritual mount Zion in contrast with the indescribable dreadfulness of the earthly Mount Sinai.
(Heb 12:18-24 NIV) You have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom and storm; [19] to a trumpet blast or to such a voice speaking words that those who heard it begged that no further word be spoken to them, [20] because they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” [21] The sight was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am trembling with fear.” [22] But you have come to Mount Zion, to the heavenly Jerusalem, the city of the living God. You have come to thousands upon thousands of angels in joyful assembly, [23] to the church of the firstborn, whose names are written in heaven. You have come to God, the judge of all men, to the spirits of righteous men made perfect, [24] to Jesus the mediator of a new covenant, and to the sprinkled blood that speaks a better word than the blood of Abel.
Israel of old was God’s chosen nation, His peculiar treasure above all the people of the earth. Israel was the visible expression of God’s kingdom upon earth. Israel was the whole nation composed of all who were born there, irrespective of their stature, position, station, attainments, wealth, poverty, intelligence, sickness, health—all who were born there, from the blind beggar by the road to the king upon the throne, were citizens of God’s nation and came under the care, order, and provision of Yahweh. All who were born of the flesh in Israel were citizens of the kingdom by virtue of birth.
In our more glorious dispensation of the Spirit, each and every son of Adam’s race, who has been born again by the Spirit through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit are alike citizens of that kingdom.
No longer a dusty little country thronging with peasants and cattle who inhabit houses of clay and stone and wood, but an eternal land, a heavenly country of a spiritual order, the inhabitants of which have been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God which lives and abides forever.
In type the fleshly Israel represents all who, under the new covenant, are born into the family of God by spiritual birth.
Israel was the whole nation, but Jerusalem was the capital city. All who lived in Jerusalem were citizens of the kingdom, but not all who were citizens of the kingdom lived in Jerusalem. Similarly the New Jerusalem is the capital city, transcendent in glory, upon the mountain of His holiness, beautiful for situation, upon the sides of the north, the city of the great King. The New Jerusalem is the capital city of spiritual Israel today, which is Christ’s kingdom of blood-bought, quickened men and women at all stages of development in Life. The New Jerusalem is a city of redeemed persons, but persons who have not only been born as citizens of a heavenly country, but have moved onward to dwell in the capital city of that country, a realm of surpassing beauty and glory, the inhabitants of which are the embodiment of the glory of God, holding in their hands the priesthood, temple, kingship, and government of the kingdom, and are its light.
There are two Jerusalems.
For it is written, that Abraham had two sons, the one by a bondmaid, the other by a freewoman. But he who was of the bondwoman was born after the flesh; but he of the freewoman was by promise. Which things are an allegory: for these are the two covenants; the one from mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Hagar. For this Hagar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is, and is in bondage (to the law) with her children. But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. (Gal. 4:22-26).
There is a Jerusalem from below, which is here on this planet, the Jerusalem which now is and is in bondage with her children; which answers to Hagar and is fleshly, natural Israel under the law. There is a Jerusalem which is above, existing in a higher realm, in the Spirit. The Jerusalem which is above, being free, answers to Sarah and is the children of God through the new covenant, born from above by the Spirit. This Jerusalem is the mother of the heavenly Israel after which the earthly Israel is patterned, and this is shown in the book of Revelation in the twelve gates bearing the names of the twelve tribes of Israel.
We become citizens of the New Jerusalem by being born of the Spirit and brought into a responsible place in the family of God, by the workings of His Spirit within us. The spiritual New Jerusalem is a glorious realm in God, far more glorious and spectacular than anything of this earth has ever been. It is the free city, free from all of religion’s traditions, regulations, creeds, methods, systems, and bondages of men. When the New Jerusalem realm has come from God out of heaven to be manifested in all its fullness, with all her glorious kingdom parts fully established and spiritually fulfilled, she shall indeed be, in truth and in fact, “the joy of the whole earth.”
All of Jerusalem’s children are born of the Spirit, and led by the Spirit. In this heavenly light, power, and spirit they come to be the heavenly Jerusalem’s children, born from above, without the law and the bondages of religion being in the Spirit. This is the city that Abraham sought for, which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God; the Melchizedek Priesthood revealed. Jerusalem is not itself kingship and priesthood—but God’s king-priests occupy the high places of Jerusalem.
All saved people do not belong to the same company, order, or rank in the kingdom of God. Common understanding is that all are going to the same place in God, that all are the bride of Christ, all have the mind of Christ, all are sons of God, all will rule and reign with Christ. To assume this is conceals the purpose of God in the lives of His people. There are many justified believers who have not been filled with the Spirit of God. There are many Spirit-baptized believers who have not grown up into the maturity of the knowledge, wisdom, nature, power, and stature of Christ. Most believers are somewhere in between those who are “saved by grace” and those who have been completely conformed to the image of the Son of God.
The dwellers in New Jerusalem are in a brighter glory than the Israel people, even as the Spirit-filled ones dwell in a brighter glory than do the justified people. The New Jerusalem is the bride of Christ. A bride is one who is no longer a babe, but has reached a higher degree of maturity, and has fallen so intensely in love that her only wish is to yield herself to the high desires of her husband, giving herself completely and unreservedly to him as her lover, submitting her whole life to him as her head and lord. So many of the Lord’s people know little of what it means to be the bride of Christ. To press on into sonship to God requires an earlier “bride-ship” relationship to Christ, intensely in love with Christ, submitted to His Lordship, and seeking only to fulfill His high desires.
There is more. Not only have we come by our walk in the Spirit to the general assembly and church of the firstborn, not only have we come to the heavenly Jerusalem, but we have also come to mount Zion. The shadow. Israel was the whole nation; Jerusalem, the capital city. All Israelites were alike citizens of the kingdom, but not all Israelites dwelt in Jerusalem, the city of the great King, where stood the magnificent temple of God, the priesthood, the kingship, and the glory. While Jerusalem comprised a people of surpassing honor and glory and relationship with God, yet in all Jerusalem there was only one who, with his household, dwelt on mount Zion. He was the king. Zion is the name of the ancient citadel of Jerusalem. It was captured from the Jebusites by David after he became king. From that hill David and the kings of Israel reigned gloriously, and the ark of God rested there all through the forty year reign of David. Mount Zion was the highest pinnacle of glory and power attainable in Israel.
Earthly Zion was only a faint shadow of the Zion to which we are come. David was king over natural Israel. Christ is King over the Israel of the new covenant. David dwelt on the natural mount Zion. Christ dwells upon the spiritual mount Zion. This spiritual mount Zion is built of those who reach the highest pinnacle attainable in Jerusalem: those who, like king David are “a man (man-child) after mine own heart, which shall fulfil all my will.” This Mount Zion Company is the ruler, the overcomers who sit with Christ in His throne. They are the throne in the New Jerusalem. These are the kings and priests to God, after the order of Melchizedek, attaining to the highest position of honour and might ; true greatness in the kingdom of God. These are such as have gone all the way with their Lord and will now rule with Christ upon His throne over God’s infinite realm for evermore.
My new name
Him that overcometh … I will write upon him my new name. (Rev. 3:12).
The name of the Son of God who came in human flesh is Jesus. There is progression in the name of our Lord. We all know His name Jesus. But now the Lord announces, “And I will write upon him my new name. Called Jesus the saviour extends to the ages of the ages.
at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, and every tongue shall confess, to the glory of God the Father.” “Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
His name is still Jesus. But—He has a new name. This is not speaking of nomenclature. He is speaking of the nature and character—a new and higher nature and character than He had on earth as a man, higher than His being Saviourby which we are reconciled to God.
The new name of the Son of God is a name that is descriptive of what He is now within Himself. It is a name that is high above every name. A new identity, the greatness and glory is still to be revealed to the overcomers of God, and with that revelation a glory in them that will deliver creation from the bondage of corruption.
to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. for both he that sanctifies and they who are sanctified are all one: for which cause he is not ashamed to call them brethren, saying, i will declare your name to my brethren. (heb. 2:10-12).
. This new name is not any name we have heard Him called, for it was after He had submitted to the death of the cross that the Father raised Him up and highly exalted Him to the right hand of His throne, and gave Him a new name that is above every name. We can only learn that name and attain to that name by becoming all that He is
, “His eyes were as a flame of fire, and on His head were many crowns; and He had a name written, that no man knew, but He Himself. (Rev. 19:12).
This mysterious, uncommunicated name or nature will be imparted to every overcomer. An entirely new revelation of Christ will then be made in them.
Jesus was not perfect or perfected when he was here upon earth. He was perfectly sinless but not yet perfect or perfected
Luke 13:32 “Herod is seeking to kill you.” Jesus replied, “Go ye, and tell that fox, Behold, I cast out devils, and I do cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I shall be perfected.”
it became Him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings. (Heb. 2:10).
, “And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation to all them that obey Him. (Heb. 5:9).
He was tempted in all points like as we are, yet wiyout sin. (Heb. 4:15).
While He was here in the flesh, He still had the imperfect nature in that sin could still be a temptation to Him.
Through His death, burial, and resurrection He came to His perfect state, He knew no limitation, and death was forever swallowed up in victory. “For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also rise in the likeness of His resurrection.”
HE must increase, we must decrease—and it must be in that order. We do not die in order to live; we live in order to die.. The infusion of life abolishes death. Truth destroys error. Reality negates fantasy. Such is the law of conformation into the image of Christ. Fill the mind with the truth of Christ, flood life with the word of God, and “at the name (nature) of Jesus every knee shall bow and every tongue confess.” As overcomers partake of the nature of Christ out of the spirit, every knee within will bow before that nature and every tongue, every voice within us, will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
[a1] Roman poet. Author of epic poem “Aeneid” 70. B.C.
[a2]Emperor of Rome Founded the Flavian dynasty. Began construction of the Colosseum