Chapter 25: The Enemy Is Defeated – The Messiah Establishes “New Jerusalem”

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The circumstances of heaven escape our understanding. The scriptures make it clear it is a place of joy, worship and contentment, better than any thing we can imagine. Satan will never again be an evil force in the hearts of God’s children.

1 Corinthians 2:9 (NKJ)

9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

If you believe God exists and that His prophecies, fulfilled and unfulfilled are true, and that the revelations of His scriptures are true, then what greater priority exists than to seek His face and to enter into His presence?

Psalm 27:4 (NKJ)

4 One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple.

1 Kings 8:30, 34, 36 (NKJ)

30 …Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive.
34 …”hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and bring them back to the land which You gave to their fathers.
36 …”hear in heaven, and forgive the sin of Your servants

I suggest again that you will be without excuse if you have not sought His presence in your life. You know too much to claim ignorance as a defense. Those, whose names are not “blotted” out, are those who “overcome.” Sometimes we feel we can “wait and see.” No, the initiative is ours and Satan, manifested in our flesh, is an enemy to be overcome. As it says in the Bible, the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak. Either choose to “enable the Spirit” or be overcome by the flesh. Listen.

Revelation 3:5 (NKJ)

5 “He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My Father and before His angels.

Revelation 3:7-13 (NKJ)

7 “And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write, ‘These things says He who is holy, He who is true, “He who has the key of David, He who opens and no one shuts, and shuts and no one opens”:
8 “I know your works. See, I have set before you an open door, and no one can shut it; for you have a little strength, have kept My word, and have not denied My name.
9 “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie– indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.
10 “Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth.
11 “Behold, I am coming quickly! Hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.
12 “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name.
13 “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”‘

Here, Jesus is telling you that your name is in the Book of Life and that He will not blot it out if you have “overcome.” Then He defines “overcome” by saying it includes those who have “kept my word and not denied My name.” Then Jesus says a harsh sentence. He says, “Indeed I will make those of the synagogue of Satan, who say they are Jews and are not, but lie– indeed I will make them come and worship before your feet, and to know that I have loved you.

This last sentence could be considered one of hope, in that a Jew that has not kept God’s word and who has denied the Messiah, is present in the millennium, even though as one who appears subservient, but that is not what the Messiah prefers. In verse 10 He states that:

“Because you have kept My command to persevere, I also will keep you from the hour of trial which shall come upon the whole world, to test those who dwell on the earth”. Jesus does not want you to endure the “hour of trial.” He wants you to obey and to persevere, so He can keep you from the trial.

Then notice that He refers to the trial as a “test.” If you kneel to a false god, if you accept the mark of the beast, you will have failed the test. But He doesn’t want you to endure the test, He wants to keep you from it!

I know we await the coming or the return of the same Messiah. It isn’t that a Jew can’t be saved who denies Christ, because throughout history there are those who have denied Christ and then repented. They changed their mind. If we worship the same precise Messiah, The Christ, now and then, we will both have seen Him as the Lamb of God, the only One who could redeem us from our sin. We are going to come to the same point. But if prophecy is true, the tribulation may be too much for you to endure, and certainly Jesus Christ, the Judge, does not want you to endure it.

We see the word “overcome” as a depiction of the act of repenting. In a sense, the will to overcome is derived from the inner conflict between your flesh and your spirit. The more “out of sync” you feel, that is, the greater the gap between what you want to be and what you are, the more you are experiencing both God’s love and His chastisement. Parents understand this perfectly. We rebuke, if done God’s way, out of love. It is love first, then discipline.

Revelation 3:19-21 (NKJ)

19 “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent.
20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
21 “To him who overcomes I will grant to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat down with My Father on His throne.

God’s elect will, in heaven, be in the presence of the 144,000 young Jewish male virgins representing the 12 tribes of Israel who have been beheaded for refusing the mark of the beast; but before heaven is the millennium, here on earth. He who overcomes will reign with Christ during the millennium Those who do so are referred to as priests to God. The “scroll,” able to be opened only by the Lamb, tells of the events of the end times. Listen.

Revelation 5:9-10 (NKJ)

9 And they sang a new song, saying: “You are worthy to take the scroll, and to open its seals; for You were slain, and have redeemed us to God by Your blood out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation,
10 And have made us kings and priests to our God; and we shall reign on the earth.”

Read those two verses very carefully. Jesus Christ is worthy to open the seals of the scroll, because He was slain and redeemed us to God, by His blood. Then we who, by God’s grace, love and obey, are made kings and priests to our God on earth, during the millennium I know the verse says “on the earth” and does not say “the millennium,” but the reign of Christ with His saints on earth is during the millennium, only. It precedes the great white throne judgment where the sheep are separated from the goats, to enter into God’s presence in New Jerusalem. Listen.

Revelation 20:4-6 (NKJ)

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was committed to them. Then I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus and for the word of God, who had not worshiped the beast or his image, and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for a thousand years.
5 But the rest of the dead did not live again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
6 Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over such the second death has no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with Him a thousand years.

Those who overcome reign with Christ as kings and priests. Here we see that the “rest of the dead” did not live again until the 1000 years were finished. They were not part of the “first resurrection.” For those who are part of the first resurrection, the “second death” has no power over them.

What is the second death? The first death is our physical death, the second death is our spiritual death, but the second death has no power over those who are part of the first resurrection. You choose to be born twice, once physically and once spiritually or to die twice, once physically and once spiritually. Those who “die twice” will do so on judgment day, when their souls are sentenced to an eternal place whose full characteristics are known only to God, but we know it is not a place to which you want to go.

We know that at the end of the millennium, Satan is released and he deceives many again, but not the blessed and holy priests reigning with Christ, nor God’s children. Satan will cause the enemies of God to rally against Jerusalem in an effort to destroy God’s people. God will fight the battle and the enemy will be destroyed, finally and forever. Satan will be cast into the lake of fire with the beast and the false prophet and they will be tormented night and day, forever.

Then comes the judgment. The dead will be resurrected and all will stand before God in the great white throne judgment. Who is not included among the “dead?” It will be those blessed and holy priests who have been reigning with Christ during the Millennium Now that means every soul will appear before God to be judged. There are “two books” present at judgment. One is the Book of Life. Anyone whose name is in the Lamb’s Book of Life will enter into New Jerusalem. Listen.

Revelation 21:1-11 (NKJ)

1 Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. Also there was no more sea.
2 Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
3 And I heard a loud voice from heaven saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.
4 “And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes; there shall be no more death, nor sorrow, nor crying. There shall be no more pain, for the former things have passed away.”
5 Then He who sat on the throne said, “Behold, I make all things new.” And He said to me, “Write, for these words are true and faithful.”
6 And He said to me, “It is done! I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts.
7 “He who overcomes shall inherit all things, and I will be his God and he shall be My son.
8 “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”
9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of
heaven from God,
11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.

Skipping down a few verses,

Revelation 21:22-27 (NKJ)

22 But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.
23 The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.
24 And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it.
25 Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there).
26 And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it.
27 But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.

Do you see that only those names that are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will live eternally? Who is the Lamb? The Lamb is the promised Messiah. Listen.

John 1:29-36 (NKJ)

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!
30 “This is He of whom I said, ‘After me comes a Man who is preferred before me, for He was before me.’
31 “I did not know Him; but that He should be revealed to Israel, therefore I came baptizing with water.”
32 And John bore witness, saying, “I saw the Spirit descending from heaven like a dove, and He remained upon Him.
33 “I did not know Him, but He who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘Upon whom you see the Spirit descending, and remaining on Him, this is He who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’
34 “And I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.”
35 Again, the next day, John stood with two of his disciples.
36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of God!”

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