Revelation II, Tape 5 Malcolm Smith The New Jerusalem I

Revelation chapter 21.

We are dealing in our two hours tonight with the subject of the New Jerusalem, and I want us to get a perspective on this as well as an understand. I think the perspective is as important as the understanding.

Chapter 21.1. And I saw a new heaven and a new earth – for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the Holy City, New Jerusalem, coming down out of Heaven from God made ready as a Bride adorned for her husband.

We have come to the end of the end, in so doing, says John, I saw a new heaven and a new earth. Now what exactly does he mean by that. The word ‘new’ there does not mean new in kind. Do you remember we have already met this word new when it says they sang a new song, and we pointed out that that meant ‘new in kind’. That is it had never been there before. The word ‘new’ here does not mean ‘new in kind’ – it means to rejuvenate It is the same one, but it is rejuvenated. And so he says, I saw a rejuvenated earth and a rejuvenated heaven. It was new, it was the old one, but it had been made completely over again, it was rejuvenated. This is shrouded in mystery. We know nothing about that. And anyone who thinks they do, go immediately into the realm of fantasy. The Bible is a book that is written for me today. The Bible does not tell me about unknown aeons of the future, because I am not living there. God is a very practical God and He tells me all that I need to know. But he just tempts, nudges me, and says a new heaven and a new earth.

Now that is spoken of in a book of the Bible which is not apocalyptic, by which I mean it is not in signs and symbols. Peter wrote about that in very straightforward language in II Peter 3.3 – he begins to speak about the flood of Noah, and said that God destroyed the earth with water, and when Noah stepped out of the Ark he was the only family on earth. There were 8 people, there was no one else on the earth. The animals were dead, except those that came out of the Ark. And Noah put his foot down on a rejuvenated earth. It was the earth that he had left, yet it was totally new. It was so totally new, he would not have recognised it as the earth he had left behind. He stepped out on to an earth that was totally new, and unlike any earth he had stepped out on before. Peter parallels that (v.10) to ‘The day of the Lord that will come like a thief in the night, the heavens will pass away with a roar, the elements will pass away with intense heat – the earth and its works will be burned up. Since all these things to be destroyed, what manner of people ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the day of God on account of which the Heavens will be destroyed by burning, the elements will burn with intense heat, but according to His promise, we are looking for a new heaven and a new earth in which righteousness dwells.

Quite frankly I do not know what that new heaven is, what it is like or anything about it. I am sure we will be given instructions the moment it arrives, but until then I dare not try to enter into a Disney world of fantasy trying to say what the Bible doesn’t say. All it says is ‘wherein dwells righteousness’. Satan has been for ever handed over to torment. The Beast and the Prophet have been given over to torment, the great Harlot, Babylon has collapsed, crashed and been destroyed.

Now we enter upon the Marriage Supper of the Lamb and they sing the praises of God – He who has brought about this great judgment and they enter into a new heaven and a new earth this life is not all there is. Time had a beginning, time will have an end. After that we move into an unknown future, eternal aeons when God’s future purposes will be unfolded. This is what it is saying, and it says no more, except that Satan will not be able to get there, wherein dwells righteousness.

When Noah stepped on to the new earth, be brought with him all the problems of the old earth. It is very significant when you study Genesis, when the world first began, man was the one who fouled it all up, and in so doing, the very first thing he did was to stand in the garden and be aware of nakedness. And in the new earth, Noah stepped on to it, and the very first thing he did when he stepped on to it, was to get stone drunk, and he stripped off all his clothes and stood there naked. It seems very significant that the earth at the beginning man became shamed in his nakedness. Then God gave them a new earth, and Noah stepped on to it, but it was only a matter of years when he was shamed in his nakedness. But said God, there is a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness. And if you know anything about the Scriptures you will know that the saints are clothed in God’s righteousness. And so we have that little insight into whatever that future holds.

But our main subject is the New Jerusalem. He said, ‘I saw a new heaven and a new earth, and I saw the Holy City the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. In v.10 it says’ He carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the Holy City Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God having the glory of God, her brilliance was very costly, etc. I want you to notice in the light of those 2 scriptures, now read verse 9, it says ‘that one of the angels said, come here I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb’ Hold those 3 scriptures together, the last one is the most important. We have just met the wife, the Bride in chapter 19. The wife, the Bride of the Lamb is the Church.

Almost any book which you pick up today which mentions End Times, or the Book of Revelation in particular, they will speak of the New Jerusalem as a real city. Those of my listeners who gather all of their theology from Southern quartets are completely convinced the New |Jerusalem is a city that is 15000 miles square, cubed and all the rest of it, and somehow it will fall down from Heaven. I was in Seattle and I heard a man who was speaking very seriously and solemnly, and he stated that it was a satellite, a satellite 15000 miles cubed and it was there floating around in outer space, because the Bible says that it came down out of Heaven, and all us saints have these celestial bodies, we don’t need space ships, we can just zoom up to that New Jerusalem that is floating around out of heaven. To me that is piffle. I have never heard of anything so ridiculous in all my life, when the Bible plainly states to us clearly with such clarity. This is one of the easiest parts of Revelation, ‘The angel said, come I will she you the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb and I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem coming out of Heaven’. What could be simpler? Of all the symbols in the book of Revelation this is the easiest. Because this one says I am going to show you the wife of the Lamb, the Bride, the Judge and then he shows us a city. You only have to be five years old to know then that city then represents the wife of the Lamb, the Bride, which is the church.

Do you see the parallel here? We saw one parallel last week that parallel was that on the one hand you had the Harlot representing the world. On the other hand you have the Bride representing the Church. Two women. Also it states in Rev 17 that that Harlot was a city. Remember written on her forehead it said Babylon. She was the city. And then we went on in chapter 18 and looked at that City. First of all we saw the woman, the Harlot, and it told us she is the city, then we looked at the same thing under the symbol of the city. Now last week we looked at the Bride of the Lamb under the symbolism of the Bride, a beautiful woman. Now it says she is also a city. Now you have Harlot, Bride, Babylon, New Jerusalem – it is a parallel. And so we are looking at the Church. Immediately this gives us perspective

When does this take place. We have already stated right at the very beginning, John makes it plain a new heaven and anew earth, he also states there is no sea and all through this book, sea has been the restless turbulent nations. You remember the Beast came out of the sea out from the nations. Now he says there are no more turbulent nations. Something has happened here, a new kind of rejuvenated heaven and earth, so very definitely he is talking of endless futures, but on the other hand, whatever the church is in endless futures, the Church is today in embryo. In fact the Bible teaches me very plainly that we have already come to the New Jerusalem. In Hebrews chapter 12 .22 you have these words, ‘that you have come to Mount Zion and to the City of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem and myriads of angels. So the Church today is called the Heavenly Jerusalem’. In Galatians he speaks of the Jerusalem which is below and the Jerusalem which is above. And he speaks of the Jerusalem which is below – of the whole legalistic system of dead religion and he says that they are cast out Gal 4.26. But he says that the Jerusalem which is above, that is the promised seed, that is the one who is free, living in the grace of God and so all through the New Testament you have this idea that we have already come to the New Jerusalem, the Heavenly Jerusalem which is above. And so what we are looking at here is not only a church which is the ideal church of endless futures, but we are looking at the Church as it is today in at least in embryo.

I don’t suppose we will ever really see this unless the Holy Spirit show us. We can go through these studies together, and maybe these last 4 hours are the most important of them. And we look at the Harlot and we look at Babylon, and we look at the Bride and we look at the New Jerusalem. But unless the Holy Spirit really shows you that you will never see it. I think it is significant that of all the chapters in revelation it is these two where it specifically states that the Spirit had activity. Look at chapter 17.3 – and he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast. Notice that he says I was carried away in the Spirit and only when he was in the Spirit did he see the true nature of the woman. Then it says in this statement of the New Jerusalem, it gives the same idea – v. 10, ‘And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great high mountain. If you do not see these things by the Holy Spirit showing you, then the Church is just a bunch of people, the world is a bunch of people, and they all get mixed up together. But in the Spirit you can discern the True Church; you are taken to a high mountain and you see things as they really are. And when you look at the world by the power of the Spirit, you see the world as it really is and you go into a desert wilderness, and you know that this is just what the world really is. I am shocked by the number of people that cannot discern between the two. The number of people who are in the spirit renewal movement and they still talk about people in their church as nice respectable people. God help us. We need to be taken to a great high mountain by the Spirit to see the Church, the real Church. The Bride, the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, and then we need to see by the same Holy Spirit that all those who have not been born again are in that wilderness along with that Harlot sitting on the beast. But only the Spirit can show us that, without the Spirit we get all mixed up and don’t know where we are.

So we are going to look at the New Jerusalem not only as a future reality but also as present among us now in embryo. I think you will realise this, look here in Chapter 21.4, it says He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes, there shall no longer be any death no longer any mourning or crying or pain. The first things have passed away, Behold (v.5) I am making all things new, (v.6) I will give to the one him who thirsts of the Spring of the Water of Life without cost. He who overcomes shall inherit these things I know there is a finality about those verses, but hasn’t that happened already? Quite frankly, it has. Didn’t Jesus say, I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes on me shall never die? We have already entered into eternal life. I can honestly say death has passed away for me. There will be a day when you read in the newspaper that Malcolm Smith is dead, but you won’t believe it – you will know that he is more alive then than he has ever been. There is no such thing as death for a Christian. Always when the Bible speaks of death of a Christian, it says he fell asleep. Beautiful thing. I think we Westerners have got to learn to die. We are afraid of death. People think that divine healing is merely to keep alive forever, then they get upset when someone dies. In the New Testament it was glory to depart and be with Christ which is far better. He says there is no more death in this New Jerusalem. And that is true, in embryo. I still look forward to the resurrection of my body when there will be no more death, and it says, Oh death, where is your sting? It is over. But even now, I’ve got it, it’s in embryo already. It is no longer there. It says no longer any mourning or crying or pain – quite frankly if we live in what this book is talking about we live in a joy unspeakable and full of glory. Can a Christian really mourn? If you are a Christian and you deeply mourn and grieve, then I believe you need counselling. Because in Christ we have been delivered from that. The tears of a Christian sparkle with triumph. Or as I Thes 4. puts it, ‘We sorrow not as others who have no hope’ We sorrow, we are human, but not as others, there is triumph in our tears.

Although this has not happened in totality, it has happened alright. I know what it is talking about, I have it in embryo, and of course it says the first things have passed away, I hear that all through the New Testament. I Cor 5.17 ‘The old things have passed away, look everything has become new, he says, for we are new creations in Christ. So I cannot really delegate this to the future, this is now, in embryo, I have got this, I know what it is talking about. Haven’t you been the one who has come to the Water of Life and drunk without cost? Of course, Jesus said, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink’ So all 2000 years to date, and maybe who knows how many years more to come, during that period of time, this has already taken place in embryo. Or as Ephesians 1.13 says, we have already received here and now the earnest of our inheritance – earnest money, down payment. If I lay a down payment on a house, I put so many bills down, ok? That means there is a lot more like this to come. Earnest is little bit of a lot more. We have received the earnest of our inheritance. It is whatever Heaven is, and whatever New Heaven and New Earth is, and we do not really know, but whatever it is, it is just what we already have in Christ by the power of the Spirit, multiplied and multiplied and multiplied to infinity So this is how we are looking at this New Jerusalem.

Now it tells me, the New Jerusalem, there is nothing wrong with it, it is a beautiful city. But when I look around at the Church, I say, Lord you made a mistake somewhere here. What you are looking at in this New Jerusalem is the Architect’s understanding. I have been involved in many building projects over the years, and I have always made it my business to sit down with the architect. The whole building exists in the mind of the architect. He sees it complete. He then draws plans on what he has already seen. No architect begins to draw plans hoping it is going to lead somewhere. You would have a house that Topsy built. He already has seen it complete finished house in his mind, the plans are drawn, and then you have all of the builders who know how to read plans, they then go and start building, and you see great holes in the ground, bulldozers here, and a great girder sticking up there, a chunk of concrete there, and you say – what a mess. And the architect stands on the building site and all he can see is the finished article. And if you go and look at that building in making, somewhere on the site the you will the architect’s vision – either you will see a model or a picture of what the architect knows this is going to end up like.

So in the mind of God, the Church existed before time began. Perfect, complete in His mind He then drew up the plans which we call the Eternal Purposes of God. He then brought in the bulldozers which we call the nation of Israel, and then He laid the foundation in Jesus Christ. And right now we see a lot of potholes and girders and chunks of concrete. And we say, is this it? The eternal plan of God is this? And then God gives us a picture of where He sees it, as He now sees it, and the sooner we see it as God sees it, the sooner we will arrive there in our own experience, and so we are going to look at that picture.

First of all we are going to go through designating, looking at all the things it says about this place. First of all the Church is seen here as a City. 21.2 –I saw the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. A city. Why should the Church be called a City? It says all through the Scripture that the Church is the coming together of people – a body, a fellowship. A city kind of puts that idea together. A city is a place of permanent residents. It is a place where people fellowship and live in community. And so all that we read in the Bible concerning Church is to do with other people. When I was in the Pentecostal movement we used to sing a song ‘On the Jericho road there is room for just two, just Jesus and me’ And dear God I wish that was true, but it is not true. The Church is not a road with just two people walking on it . The Church is a company of peoples. The very word Church means a caucus, it is word used to describe a company of a people who think the same way, and they come out from, it is a separated company, and they stay together in order to make decisions and implement them. The idea of a body – even as my all organs are united together, so the body of Christ, the coming together. The fellowship, the sharing the communion. A city – you have come to rest in the City. There are no motels in the New Jerusalem. You come to rest there.

I think it is important to understand the echoes from end to end of the Bible. Do you remember the very first people of God, when God first laid His hands upon people and said You are my people. Do you remember they lived in tents? The people of God end up living in a City. In the Old Testament they were always searching, seeking, what’s next, what’s next? They were waiting, waiting, waiting, but in Christ, in the resurrection of Jesus and His ascension, we have come to rest. I think this is brought out very powerfully in Hebrews chapter 11 where it speaks of Abraham, Heb 11.9 ‘By faith he, that is Abraham lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow-heirs of the same promises – for he was looking for a city with buildings whose architect and builder was God. The promised land was not what we call Israel today. Abraham recognised that straight away. He said, I am not going to build a house in this land, even though God has given it to me, - we are only in this land until we come to the City whose builder and maker is God. That City is the Church, that piece of land on the Mediterranean is important only until Jesus was born, and when He was born He said ‘I will build my Church’ and the promised land is the Church. It said they lived in tents there – nobody is going to settle there, nobody has got the idea that that strip of land is what God has in mind for ever. So they just put tents there – even Abraham wasn’t going to bother to put a house on that old bit of sand, they said we will just put tents here. But I am really waiting for the thing God has promised, that is a City whose builder and maker is God, and then we can put down our roots, the Church will be here as long as God is.

The second thing He said about this City – he said it is the Holy City, the New Jerusalem. Do you remember what it said about Babylon? It said that Babylon was great. So on the one hand the Harlot, the Bride, Babylon, the New Jerusalem. Babylon is great. New Jerusalem is Holy. That is the difference. What is greatness? If I am to say such and such is great, I am speaking about the person. If I am to point to you and say you are great person I am saying something about you. You in yourself, you are great, mighty. Remember the first Babylonian, Nimrod? It say he was mighty, - it says something about him. The world will always say something about itself, the world is the time long ego trip – great, mighty, you shall be as gods. All the flaunting of the world of what it has. It loves to exalt itself and say I AM. What does holy mean. It means set apart, it means For another – it means belonging to another, and its first instance it does not mean free from sin, it rapidly gets there, but in its essence it does not mean that. If I were to take this Bible, this one, and give it to my friend there, I would say this Bible is for him – that means holy to him. It belongs to him, that is it is holy to him. All of creation was created to be holy to God, that is set apart for God’s pleasure. That is belonging to God, that is for God. God is holy, therefore He belongs to Himself, He belongs to no-one else. God is holy, that means He is set apart for Himself. God is holy, that means He is set apart to His own exclusive delight. All creation delights in God, God delights in Himself, for there is no higher to delight in. So when I say that Babylon is great, I am saying something about Babylon in itself. It has exalted itself to be great. When I say that New Jerusalem is holy, I am saying nothing about New Jerusalem, I am saying it belongs to somebody else. Do you see the difference there? The Church is holy –it is set apart to God. That has an immediate corollary to that, that is that it is set apart from sin to God. Sometimes we are too negative about that. The Holiness Movement often emphasise the fact that we are separated from sin. Holiness in the Bible is not like that – it emphasises that you are separated to God, and there is quite a difference there, and so this New Jerusalem, this Church, is a company of people who are holy. They are the set apart ones. They belong exclusively to God. They do not belong to themselves, they are exclusively for God’s pleasure. They belong to Him. Remember the central term of the New Covenant. God says, I will be your God, you shall be my people. The New Jerusalem is a company of people who are the exclusive possession of God.

The New Jerusalem originates with God. Chapter 21.2., it says, I saw the New Jerusalem coming down out of Heaven from God, so not only is the City for God, they originate with God – they come down out of Heaven. Most cities that I know rise up from the earth – you build a foundation in the earth and then you build a city on top of the foundation, and so they rise up out of the earth. This is a city like you have never seen before – it comes down out of Heaven. That is, it has its origin in God. This fits perfectly with everything else that has been said about the Kingdom of God, the Church. Do you remember in that great statue in the book of Daniel – you have the head of gold, and so on you move down all the various nations which followed after Babylon, until you get to the legs of iron which we know was the Roman Empire, and then do you remember, it says the next kingdom which will come on earth will not hereby follow on all the others? It will come from Heaven. It says I saw a stone cut without human hands. And that little stone that had a miraculous beginning, that stone came hurtling towards that great colossus, smashed it to pieces and became a great mountain that filled the whole earth. So it says, then there was Babylon, the head of gold. They thought they were great – but they ended. Then came the Medes and the Persians, and although they felt they were great, they had to admit it, they only took over from Babylon. That head of gold became the breast of silver. And after them came the Greek Empire and Alexander the Great and they thought they were the greatest thing that ever was. And maybe they were, but they took over from the head of gold and chest of silver. Each one takes over from the other, because it is a continuum. Remember the beasts we found in this book? Really it is only one Beast, he is only dressed up in a different way. The Beast that was behind Greece, was the same Beast that was behind Babylon, was the same Beast that was behind Nazi Germany. It’s a beast, it’s a beast, it’s a beast.

Now he says here comes one that is a little stone – that is not one who comes along and takes over from the others. This one comes from the outside, cut without hands, or this City came down from Heaven. All other cities came out of earth, this is totally different, for this one comes out of Heaven – as Jesus said, ‘My Kingdom is not of this earth’ You can sit easy in your seat Pilot, I am not about to bring about a battle to dethrone you, sit down easily, Pilot. My Kingdom is not of this world, else my servants would have fought. My City does not rise out of the earth – my City comes down from Heaven. The Church originates with God. The Church is not a human institution. The Church is a Heavenly thing on earth. I suppose because of my understanding of that I get very uptight when I hear a lot of people talk about human institutions as churches . They are not, the Church is a Heavenly institution, it comes down from Heaven. Jesus said, I will build My Church. It does not originate with men but God. I will build my Church. And He calls that Church that comes from Heaven a City. Jesus said, ‘In my Father’s House are many mansions or many dwelling places, well that is the Church. That is another chapter we have destroyed. We have given that chapter to funeral parlours. I go to prepare a place for you, and the impression always I got in my spiritual upbringing was that Jesus was up there desperately banging houses together and building and preparing a place for me. And one day I have a mansion just over the hilltop, glory to God, then one day the Holy Spirit showed me that I have got it right now – I go to prepare a place for you. Where did He go? He went to the Cross, and there He prepared a place for me. What was that place – a place of many dwelling-places, so it fits perfectly with a description of a city. It came down from God, God made all the dwelling-places. The dwelling place is in His heart, it is in union with Him, it is walking with Him. We live in God – you are part of this City, you live there, you move there if you are born again, and your new birth came from God, too. John 3 says, you are born from above, born from above. There is nothing human about the Church. Take the miraculous out of the Church, and you don’t have a church. You can take the miraculous out of almost every other religion on earth and you still have it. But take the miraculous out of the Church and you have lost it, it is not even there. A bad Buddhist is not too bad because he only started off with philosophy anyway, if you take the miraculous away from the Church, then you have the biggest mess you have ever seen. Because the Church is from above, and if it is not from above, it isn’t anywhere.

The Church came from Heaven – it started before time began with those plans that God laid. It was brought about by the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, it is now being built actively by the Holy Spirit, Father Son and Holy Spirit working in glorious undivided union to bring about the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ to bring about the whole of everything. Born from above, coming out of Heaven, a Bride adorned for her Husband, glorious. In fact in v. 11 of this chapter it tells us how glorious, it says ‘Coming down out of Heaven, having the glory of God’ Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, a stone of crystal clear jasper. When did you meet jasper before in this book? In Chapter 4. And that jasper we saw was the glory of the unbeginning God who is light. That was at the beginning of the book. At the end of the book we see here is a city which we have defined as the church, which is a light, and that same jasper is the glory of God. The Church is seen to be the manifestation on earth of the glory of God. Two of the most amazing statements of the New Testament if you put them together, (1) Jesus Said, I am the light of the world and He turns to His disciples in Matthew 5.4 and says, You are the light of the world. He makes no difference. Light – Light. He said I am the light of the world – He is the glory of God among us – the jasper stone in flesh and he turns right around and says to His Church – (2) you are the light of the world. That is the miracle of the true Church.

When you come to God who is light, to participate in that light you become light. Men love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. Or as Paul called us on many occasion, he said You are children of the night. You are of the night, and we love it, and yet when we come into contact with God who is light, not only is our past wiped away, but we become a partaker of the light. To participate in God who is light, you partake in that light. And you become light. The glory of God shines through us – that is the message of the New Testament that we have so long missed . Not merely forgiveness, it is union – we come into union with God. This is a City that is in union with the eternal light of God.

We are heaps of dust, mud, but in us is the glory of God, and put us all together and we are the Church – a radiant as jasper stone the glory of God. Or as II Corinthians puts it, we have this treasure in earthen vessels. You are the vessel, the glory of God is the treasure. And that shines through us in what we call the nine fruit of the Spirit. God can only be satisfied with God. A Church that does not radiate God, God cannot be satisfied with. God delights in God. Egoism is only wrong among humans. If I think I am so great, it is not only wrong, it is stupid. Because God is the only Perfect, therefore when man turns to himself egotistically, he is wrong. That is the heart of sin – pride, but God cannot look to any higher, for He is the infinitely highest. There is no more perfect that God can look to, there is no more beautiful that God can look to. God is the Infinite Glory and so every creature who is created must delight in God. God must delight in Himself, for there is no higher. If there was a higher for God to delight in, then God would not be God. God can only delight in His own glory. Anything less than that would mean that God would delight in anything less than perfect and God wouldn’t be God. If God is going to delight in the Church, the Church must be filled with His light, His life, His love, His glory.

We have talked about Adam and Eve last week – Ish, Isha. The Bride must be of the very same stuff the same nature as the Groom, there is going to be fellowship. And the Ish, the male, must look and say Isha, the female – she is the same as me, but she is different, the Bride. And so the city – it is the same story. When God looks at the City He sees His own glory, therefore it is a fit habitation for God Almighty and the Lamb. It is quite a thought that the Church is among men the revelation of God among earth. There is no other revelation, and when Jesus went away he said ‘It is finished‘– the resurrection, the ascension, it is done, and he takes a handful of fishermen and says –go into the world and proclaim it. And I say you know they are going to fail, so what is Plan B? And He says there is no Plan B. Everything is the Church – the Church is the grand end of God, the grand aim of all the ages, this which you and I have, this relationship with God, that is what it is all about. And when we see that we can get history in perspective a lot better.

It tells me in chapter 21 v 15 the one who spoke with me had a gold measuring rod to measure the city and its gates and its walls, and the City is laid out as a square and its length is as great as its width. And he measured the city with a rod 1500 miles, its length, width are equal. What does that mean? 1500 miles in each direction, the perfect cube. Now 1500 miles is our translation what it really is 12000 furlongs. Now you are back to 12. We have met 12 over and over again. What is 12000? 12, 3x4, throw some tens in there, you have got it. That is what we have been doing all along, 3, 4, 10, all the time. 3 is the operation of the Trinity, 4 the Universal, the whole world, all nations 10 – that number of completion, Finale, that completion to which can be added no more, what is the New Jerusalem, this cube of 3s and 4s and 12s, here we have it , it is the Church. It tells us that in the number – the Church, God’s activity in all corners of the Universe, bringing to pass His perfect will, but why a cube? We have come across 3 and 4 and 10 before. This is just another way of saying 144000 actually.

But why the cube? There is only one other place in the Bible where you have the cube, and I believe this is what it is talking about. In I King 6.20 ‘And the inner sanctuary was 20 cubits in length, 20 cubits in width, 20 cubits in height, and overlaid with gold.’ The only other cube mentioned in the Bible was the Holy of Holies in Solomon’s Temple. Is not that significant? The New Jerusalem, the Church is presented to us as a perfect cube, and the only other cube mentioned in the Bible is the Holy of Holies. What he is stating is that the church is the Holy of Holies among men. In 21.3 it tells us that very plainly. It says then I heard a voice from Heaven saying, The Tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell among them, they shall be His people and God Himself shall be among them. He said, the Church, the New Jerusalem, that City, is the Holy of Holies.

Let me give a back-up on that. In the Garden of Eden there was the glory of God. Man lived in the glory of God, walked in the glory of God, then when he sinned he was thrown out of it. Notice that – the Garden of Eden did not fall – the whole earth fell, but the Garden of Eden didn’t – man had to be thrown out of that. It is very significant. The Garden of Eden was a place, a geographical location - in there was the glory of God. Man lived in there, and when he fell he was thrown out – that did not fall. It was a place of glory. Do you remember when men turned around and looked at that garden? He saw two cherubim and a flame and inside that glory was the Tree of Life. It says that the cherubim were to keep the way to the Tree of Life. The word ‘keep’ there rather Guard, means keep – guard, keep. It was not to keep men out, it was to guarantee that God’s purposes were to come to pass. Man will go back in one day. Then He gave them the Tabernacle and right there in the centre of it was the glory of God and the veil. Do you remember what was on the veil? Cherubim. They were guarding the way and telling men that one day they will be able to come back into the glory.

And do you remember David – he took the Ark of the Covenant and put it on Mount Zion in a tent and there was the glory of God and man rejoicing inside of that glory and there were two cherubim on the Ark, guarding the way, and what David did in that glory in the raising of the hands, and clapping and singing, was a promise, that one day all men may come in here. The cherubim are guarding the way. The Holy of Holies was on Mount Zion – then Solomon built his temple, and he made it a perfect cube, that Holy of Holies and the Glory of God filled that perfect cube. It was a promise one day men would come in there. And do you remember that the day Jesus died, that veil with the cherubim there, was ripped in two – the way into the Holiest was open. The job of the Cherubim was over, God had finished His work. The way into the Holiest is now open. Men can now go back into the Garden of Eden, they can go back on to Mount Zion, they can walk into the Holy of Holies but more, says the Scripture, you actually become part of the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies is no longer a geographical location – it is in fact a company of people in whom the Glory of God Dwells, the New Jerusalem, the Cube. That City is the ultimate Holy of Holies.

The original set of 12 tapes can be obtained from Malcolm Smith's web site.
They are suitable for group study.

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