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"Teaching the things concerning the kingdom of
God..."
Part 245
THE
(continued)
“And
the wall of the city had twelve
foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And the foundations of the wall of the city
were garnished with all manner of
precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the
third, a
As
we read these wonderful words it becomes at once clear that the use of gems in the
description is not by chance but instead by divine purpose, because it
specifies the kind to be used in relation to each foundation and the
gates. What wealth of joy and
instruction for God’s elect is contained in this highly figurative
language! Here we are told that the
twelve apostles of the Lamb are the foundations of the city. This alone should be ample evidence to us
that God
There
are twelve foundations — not separate foundations apart from one another
supporting different parts of the city, but twelve foundations laid one upon
another, giving perfect and full support to the whole. This, furthermore, indicates that in John’s
vision the foundations of the city come to rest on the surface of the ground,
signifying that this heavenly city is to touch the earth — its ministry, light,
glory, life, and dominion are all prepared to bring heaven down to earth in the
midst of men! One might suppose that,
according to human custom, rougher material would be selected for the
foundation. Not so, however. The most brilliant and costly gems were
chosen to lay these courses. Nothing
cheap nor common had anything to do with the raising up of this marvelous
city. It is God’s handiwork, and we
cannot but admire its wondrous beauty. Since these foundations are adorned with
dazzling stones it is evident that they are not beneath the ground, but
underneath the city in a heavenly realm, clearly visible for all to see.
In
rearing earthly structures men seek such materials as combine durability and
beauty. Look at this wall with its foundations! For durability,
it has the most indestructible material that can be found on earth. For beauty,
the language of man cannot even convey a meager description of its
exquisite loveliness. Oh, wonders of
God’s handiwork! How inexpressibly
glorious! Jewels are brilliant. How often the clear sparkle of a gem set in a
ring or as an ornament of adornment catches our eye, and almost without
thinking our gaze follows the every movement.
We are fascinated by the
Jewels
are beautiful. Precious stones have a
beauty of form and color that
In
its spiritual application, those many-hued stones bring out the varied
qualities of the nature and glory of God, made known through His people. Your life in Christ has infinite
possibilities, but you must walk in the
light as He is in the light for it to be seen! There will be different rays of His glory
revealed through different members of the Christ-body, illustrated by these
different precious stones, which are the emblems employed, to set forth the
luster of God’s elect, in heavenly brilliance and glory, and the way in which
He displays the beauty which He has
formed in them. Put a light through an
emerald, and it is quite different from that of the ruby, and though we are all
partakers of the same grace and glory of God, that grace and glory will shine
through each differently, and no two are alike.
It would be an immense pity if all the saints were like a truckload of
bricks — all the same shape and color.
What a dull, drab city it would be!
Just as there are no two leaves of the forest alike, and no two
snowflakes alike, so there are no two sons and no two daughters of God
alike! All are alike in being perfected
in His image, but all are different in the expression of that image, just as
children are different expressions of their parents.
Many
years ago Bill Britton sent out a little writing titled A PARABLE OF TRUE
RICHES. It went like this:
Two
men were going through a dark forest one night when they heard a cry for
help. They were on a long journey, with
only a certain amount of time to complete it, so they were in a hurry. The path they were on was narrow, and rather
hard to follow. They pondered the question
as to whether or not they should answer the cry for help. It might be a trap. Or they might get lost in the dark
forest. In any event, they would lose a
lot of time. But they decided that if
someone was in need of help, they really should find time. So they plunged into the forest, following
the sounds of the cry for help.
He
was very grateful, and thanked them profusely.
He said, “You men have saved my life, and I want to do something for you
that will make you very happy.” They
laughed at this, and said, “Why old man, what in the world could you do to make
us happy? That is very foolish
talk. You must be joking.” They laughed some more. This angered him very much. He said, “You should not have laughed at me. I am not joking. You saved my life and I am going to make you
very happy. But because you laughed at
me, you will also be very sad. Tonight on
your journey, you will come across a dry creek
bed. Stop and pick up some of the
stones from the creek bed, and tomorrow you will be very happy and very sad.” They were puzzled by this, and asked him to
tell them the answer to this riddle. But
he would only say, “When the sun comes up in the morning, look at the stones
from the creek, and you will know the answer to the riddle.”
As
they continued their journey, they talked about the riddle and tried to figure
out the answer, but to no avail. Finally, during the night they crossed the
creek. They remembered what the old man
had said, and each one picked up a handful of stones from the creek bed and put
them in his pocket. They continued on
till morning. As the sun was rising,
they stopped and sat down to rest for a few minutes. It was then they remembered the riddle, and
how they were to look at the stones in the light of the sun, and know the
answer to the riddle. To their amazement
and joy, when they examined the stones, they found them to be precious jewels —
rubies, diamonds, pearls, and emeralds.
With only a handful of these gems, they were richer than they had ever
dreamed of being! They each had wealth
enough to build a house of their own, and money to live on. They were very happy, and danced around in
joy and glee.
But
suddenly they became very sad. For they
only had a handful of these precious gems.
And had they only known what was so near and available to them during
their journey through the dark night, they would have emptied their packs of
all their other baggage, and filled their packs with these riches. Had they done this, they would have been a
hundred times richer than they were now.
Instead of having just a comfortable living, they could have had
anything they wanted and a life beyond
their wildest dreams! The very thought
of what they had missed on their
journey, made them very sad.
This
is a parable, dear friend, of your life and mine, and of our journey into the
Simply
by believing the truths of sonship and the kingdom, you will not just wake up
one fine morning to find yourself adorned
with the priceless jewels of the bride of
the Lamb and the glory of New Jerusalem.
Oh, no! These wonderful heavenly
and divine virtues and excellencies must be acquired on your journey through
this age of darkness on planet earth.
Cast aside all the useless weights of carnality and flesh and self and
religion that hold you down to the earthly realm, and apprehend the treasures
of heaven that will make you rich with heavenly wealth! Neglect not so great a salvation, neglect not
such a divine provision, neglect not such a high and holy calling — or you will
be very happy and very sad. You will be
very happy that you have made it into the
In
the 17th century, scientists came to understand gems as “rare and
noble productions of nature.” They are
distilled from duller rocks by processes that often involve the play of fierce
heat and pressure deep within the earth’s crust. And they derive their loveliness from a
variety of prosaic sources. For example,
precious ruby and the common abrasive emery consist of the same basic mineral,
corundum; the difference between them is accounted for by the presence of minute traces of other
substances. Diamond is chemically identical
to graphite, only a different crystalline structure gives the diamond the
hardness, clarity, and
As
diamonds and other precious stones pass through long seasons of intense heat
and cold and pressure in nature’s laboratory before they reach their perfection
of beauty, so must every member of God’s elect pass through pain and suffering
and dealings and challenges before we can be perfected. And though chemists can make diamonds and
other precious stones artificially, yet when we apply careful tests to them we
see their defects. That’s why a zircon,
though it superficially resembles a diamond, has very little value when
compared with a genuine diamond! So we
cannot reach in a single day, or without the heat and cold and pressure of
life’s experiences, such perfection that we will have no defects in us, but by
continually living in the presence of our Father, and subject to the deep
dealings of God in our lives through the crucible of experience, we will become
perfect even as He is perfect! Our Lord
Jesus is the pattern and example for every son of God, “For it became Him, for
whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto
glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings,” for, “though He were a Son, yet
learned He obedience by the things which He suffered; and being made perfect, He became the author of
eternal salvation unto all them that obey Him” (Heb. 2:10; 5:8-9).
Let
us, therefore, meditate upon the precious stones of earth and see by the spirit
the analogy that the Lord draws between them and His elect people who become
His holy city, His perfect and heavenly government over all things. Let us notice some common characteristics of
precious stones and see how beautifully they illustrate the spiritual
characteristics in the lives of God’s sons.
Jewels
are RARE, PRECIOUS, PURE, BRILLIANT, BEAUTIFUL, AND VALUABLE!
First,
jewels are rare. Think about it — if you went out in search of
precious stones how long and painstakingly must you search before one is
found? The majority of stones are common
and therefore of very little value.
Then,
too, jewels are precious. One could actually hold in his hands precious
gems which would be worth more than half a billion dollars! Some jewels, because of their history, are
virtually priceless. To illustrate the
immense value of gems think of the
The
best jewels are pure. Geologists tell us that precious stones
were once part of the surrounding elements in which they are found. Through the ages earth movement, pressure,
and heat began a separating work, and finally that which was once mixed and
impure became crystal, free from alloy, and that which was commonplace became a jewel! How often does the call of a son parallel
this process! The intense pressure and
heat of our trials and tribulations, and Father’s crushings and provings,
separate out of our lives the flinty disposition of self-will and the clay of
carnality and instability. We know that
the diamond was once carbon, black and soft in comparison to the clarity and
hardness of the final product. In the
depths of the earth, lumps of carbon are subjected to intense heat and terrific
pressure, and a miracle is performed!
That which was black becomes crystalline clear, and the hardest
substance known to man. What a
lesson! Truly the power of God can take
that which is weak and black and worthless and transform it into the very image and likeness of God! Oh, the wonder of it!
All
of nature in the material creation, as designed by the
Jewels
are brilliant. As I mentioned earlier, now and then the
clear sparkle of a gem someone is wearing in a piece of jewelry catches our
eye. We are fascinated by the
Jewels
are also beautiful! So is the city of
In
one of his excellent little papers Vern Goss wrote: “Peter declares that the
true
My
heart has been stirred and thrilled beyond measure as I have mused upon the
glories of the
Our
English word “apostle” transliterates the Greek word apostolos which means “one who is sent.” During the earthly ministry of Jesus twelve
disciples were called “apostles.” These
are the ones called in our
May
the spirit of
“Many
brethren have felt an inward call to apostolic ministry in this hour, and not
yet understanding the fullness of what the Lord is doing have tried to apply
this call in the wrong realm — moving under ‘church order’ in an attempt to
fulfill it. The sun is now setting on
the church age and the transcendent glory of that brighter and greater age when
the body of Christ has been brought to its fullness, the manifestation of the
sons of God, and all nations brought under the dominion of the
MEASURING THE CITY
“And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the
gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And
the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the
In
his vision, John now observes the angel or messenger about to measure the city
with his golden measuring rod. The city
is tetragonal — foursquare — in shape.
In fact it is a perfect cube since its width, length, and height are
equal. There were several kinds of “cubits” used in those days as units of
measurement, The ordinary cubit in use among the people of Israel was six
handbreadths (spans), corresponding to the length of one’s forearm from the
elbow to the center finger. But in
Ezekiel 40:5, the messenger measuring the temple in Ezekiel’s vision uses a
cubit measure with a span (handbreadth) added — the six-span cubit (six: the
number of man) that symbolized human
imperfection being changed to the seven-span cubit that
symbolized the spiritual perfection of
the temple of God. Ezekiel tells us,
“And behold, there was a wall all around the outside area of the house of the
Lord, and in the man’s hand a measuring reed six long cubits in length, each cubit being longer than the usual one
by a handbreadth: so he measured…the wall” (Eze. 40:5, Amplified). So the messenger in Ezekiel’s vision used
what he called the “long cubit,” or the seven-spanned cubit signifying divine perfection.
The
King James Bible says of this measurement that it was “according to the measure of a
man, that is, of the angel.” But that is not how the Greek
May
our heavenly Father now give understanding to all who read these lines! To “measure” the city signifies inspection,
examination, to take inventory, an evaluation of just how much we have
experienced of Christ and the life of sonship, to determine just where we are
in our growth and development in the spirit, the state of our progress into the
fullness of God. Trying to accomplish
any of this by human effort, natural understanding and logic, fleshly ability,
or religious exercises is a most heinous pit into which to fall! The “measuring” can only be done by the
Spirit who searches all things! “For the
Spirit searches all things, yea, the deep
things of God. For what man knoweth
the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but
the Spirit of God” (I Cor. 2:10-11).
The message is clear — only the Spirit of God can determine our spiritual stature!
Is
this not what is meant when John says, “And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city.” Oh, yes!
God is the One who initiates the action, and the Lord Himself is the One
who gives the empowerment for measuring, who searches out the line, who plumbs
the depths — not us! John wasn’t told to
measure the city, he could only report the result of the measuring. Until we can see all people and all things as
God sees them, we form opinions and
make judgments about people and spiritual things and moves of God by outward
appearances or by our own preconceived judgment! It is not the measure by the reed in the hand
of the messenger sent from God, that is, the Holy Spirit! Those who walk in the living truth and in the
Spirit and by the Spirit, judge all things by the mind of Christ — hence the measuring reed! Only in the Spirit and by the Spirit are we
able to perceive and see the true reality of all things.
When
John sees the messenger measuring the holy city we must understand what the
measure is. Christ Jesus Himself is the
measure! He is the golden reed! Truly, He is the measure, for all God’s elect
are being brought unto “a perfect man, unto
the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ!” Now the
only thing we can measure by when we measure the bride of the Lamb and the city
of
Therefore,
when the
THE CITY FOURSQUARE
“And
the city lieth foursquare, and the length
is as large as the breadth; and he measured the city with the reed, twelve
thousand furlongs. The length and the
In
reference to this beautiful description Ray Prinzing has pointed out that
“foursquare” and the “equality” of all its sides denote that there is
COMPLETENESS IN EVERY PART. Quality is not sacrificed for quantity. There are no highs and lows. Equality is revealed in every dimension and
inworking. When every
Another
has pointed out that in ancient times the cube was held to be the most perfect
of all geometric forms. In keeping with
that, the only thing in the whole Old Testament economy of types and shadows
that was foursquare, or a cube, was the Holy of holies in the tabernacle of
Moses in the wilderness. The outer court
was rectangular. The holy place was
rectangular. But the most holy place was
a cube — ten cubits by ten cubits by ten cubits. All spiritual truth and reality embodied in
the typology of the Holy of holies is ultimately fulfilled in this city. The new Jerusalem is a people that has come
to perfection in the full stature of the Son of God! There is no temple or sanctuary in the holy
city, and no varied courts, rooms, or compartments. The entire city itself IS ALL SANCTUARY, THE
GLORY OF GOD FILLS THE WHOLE! As a cube,
full of the divine presence and power, the city stands as the ultimate Holy of
holies — hence the name — the
To be continued… J. PRESTON EBY
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