And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Revelation 21:10.
At the close of the thousand years, Christ again returns to the earth. He is accompanied by the host of the redeemed, and attended by a retinue of angels. As He descends in terrific majesty, He bids the wicked dead arise to receive their doom. They come forth, a mighty host, numberless as the sands of the sea. What a contrast to those who were raised at the first resurrection! The righteous were clothed with immortal youth and beauty. The wicked bear the traces of disease and death.
Every eye in that vast multitude is turned to behold the glory of the Son of God. With one voice the wicked hosts exclaim, “Blessed is He that cometh in the name of the Lord!” It is not love to Jesus that inspires this utterance. The force of truth urges the words from unwilling lips. As the wicked went into their graves, so they come forth, with the same enmity to Christ, and the same spirit of rebellion. They are to have no new probation, in which to remedy the defects of their past lives. Nothing would be gained by this. A lifetime of transgressions has not softened their hearts. A second probation, were it given them, would be occupied as was the first, in evading the requirements of God and exciting rebellion against Him.
Christ descends upon the Mount of Olives, whence, after His resurrection, He ascended, and where angels repeated the promise of His return. Says the prophet: “The Lord my God shall come, and all the saints with thee.” “And his feet shall stand in that day upon the mount of Olives, which is before Jerusalem on the east, and the mount of Olives shall cleave in the midst thereof, … and there shall be a very great valley.” Zechariah 14:5, 4…. As the New Jerusalem, in its dazzling splendor, comes down out of heaven, it rests upon the place purified and made ready to receive it, and Christ, with His people and the angels, enters the holy city.
The Faith I Live By p. 355
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Prayer Requests
—-Please pray for me. I am having so much gallbladder pain and swelling. Please pray that God will heal me and that I won’t have to go through another surgery. I have also been sick for almost 2 weeks with something else that just won’t go away. Connie
—-Asking for Prayer for my Son & Daughter-in-law… God knows why. Cheryl
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Dear Friends,
One time, when my mother was young, she wanted to go to Detroit to visit her aunt and uncle. Her friend, Mary Esther, was driving there to see someone and offered to let my mother ride with her. When Mary Esther arrived at her destination, my mother could take the city bus the rest of the way. She got out of the car, picked up her suitcase and her purse and waited at the corner bus stop. When the bus arrived, she found that she would have to transfer at a main connection somewhere downtown. When she got there, she saw many busses and began to feel a little confused. Carefully, she read the sign on each bus. At last she saw a bus that was going to Royal Oak (a suburb of Detroit). She climbed aboard and the bus left the terminal. At least she thought she was going to Royal Oak, but she had misread the sign. After riding on that bus for awhile, it stopped and the driver told her that it was the end of the line and she would have to get off. Embarrassed, she didn’t tell him where she was going. She just followed his orders. Looking around her, my mother soon realized that she was not only lost, she was in a very bad neighborhood. Fear crept over her. Then she saw a policeman who hailed a taxi and headed her in the right direction. How thankful she was to finally get to her aunt’s house. How relieved she was to be in a place of safety.
How often it is the same in our life. We can sincerely think that we are on the right “bus” but in reality be on the wrong one. The Bible tells us, “There is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.” Prov 16:25 Our Dear Saviour bids us, “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Matt 7:13,14
Solomon speaks of this path. “Hear, O my son, and receive my sayings; and the years of thy life shall be many. I have taught thee in the way of wisdom; I have led thee in right paths. When thou goest, thy steps shall not be straitened; and when thou runnest, thou shalt not stumble. Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life. Enter not into the path of the wicked, and go not in the way of evil men. Avoid it, pass not by it, turn from it, and pass away. For they sleep not, except they have done mischief; and their sleep is taken away, unless they cause some to fall. For they eat the bread of wickedness, and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the just is as the shining light, that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble. My son, attend to my words; incline thine ear unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes; keep them in the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh. Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life. Put away from thee a froward mouth, and perverse lips put far from thee. Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eyelids look straight before thee. Ponder the path of thy feet, and let all thy ways be established. Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Prov 4:10-27
How necessary it is that we choose the narrow path. Paul bids us, “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves.” 2 Cor 13:5 There is only One Standard by which to know if we are on that right path. Our Great Redeemer has given us His Holy Word as our Guidebook. Everything in our life must be checked by it’s precepts. All that we hear, all that we see, all that we read must be measured by the Standard of All Righteousness. How important it is to daily read God’s Great Instruction Book. “For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any twoedged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” Heb 4:12 “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls. But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves. For if any be a hearer of the word, and not a doer, he is like unto a man beholding his natural face in a glass: For he beholdeth himself, and goeth his way, and straightway forgetteth what manner of man he was. But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.” James 1:21-25
Let us “study to show [ourselves] approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” that we may be assured that we are on the right “bus” of life. 2 Tim 2:15 Let us hide God’s Word in our hearts that we may follow the right path, the rugged and narrow path, that leads to His Glorious Heavenly Kingdom is my prayer. (Ps 119:9-11)
Rose
Descent of the New Jerusalem