God's Eternal Purpose - 2

Wife of the Lamb

  Christ - The Lord from Heaven
 
The scriptures unveil to us a very telling story when they reveal to us that Abraham was looking for a city with foundations, whose builder and maker was God. Even though He was promised the land, we are told that he dwelt there in tents as if he was a stranger or alien to it. In fact they were testifying that this was for a very specific purpose.  

God had given them a revelation and insight that there was another country, another land, another city; one that already existed in heaven - one that the Lord had already prepared for them.  

They never settled in the land themselves; rather they wandered it, prophesying through their actions that they were looking for something higher and better: something born from above.  

As we talk about these things, also keep in mind that when we are told that we must be born again, in reality the fuller meaning is that we must be born from above. The term born again isn’t inaccurate, just not complete.  So when we are told that Abraham saw a city we must know that it was the city that we see at the end of the book of Revelation in chapter 21 and 22.  

The first thing we need to note here is that this is a city that is coming from God. It is not something that has originated on this earth or from the mind of man; rather it has existed in God forever. As a matter of fact we are told that God is its architect. Not only that but He is its architecture.  

Next we must note that it is a city coming down from heaven, yet also recognized as the bride of the Lamb. The fact that this city is coming down from heaven means that it is from a higher life. It is already complete, as everything in heaven is already complete - which is why we are exhorted to pray for His kingdom to come and will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. He’s taken care of His responsibility in heaven, now it is to come down to this earth.  I want you now to remember how throughout all of the New Testament revelation of Christ, we are told that He is the Lord from heaven. That is His roots. Well the fact that this city’s roots are also in heaven says that it obviously comes from Him.  

As a matter of fact in the Gospel of John we are revealed that the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.  

Then in Revelation 21:3 a loud voice from the throne tells us to look and see for the tabernacle of God is among men. Then it goes on to say that He shall dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be among them.

When Jesus came to earth He was the beginning of this city, the end of the city and also the in-between. He was the tabernacle. Now the living tabernacle was with those who love Him. You might have a hard time seeing this but this was the firstfruits of the city of God coming to earth.

I want to talk about one aspect of this bride-city in this section. It is concerning the walls of this city coming down from heaven. We are shown that it is a high, massive, great wall. Included in the wall were 12 gates and also twelve foundations or foundation stones, along with all types of precious stones decorating them.  
Now what I want us to see here is that the wall, the gates, and the foundation stones, along with the precious stones were all one. They had different functions but were all part of one wall.  

These are all symbols of the great reality of Christ and His people. Like we learned in the introduction concerning the eternal purpose: Christ is all of the purpose of God existing at once. That is why when we look at this city from the eyes of God and Him revealing it to us, He sees all of it as one; existing completed and united at once. Even though the names of those mentioned cross thousands of years of time, and when the precious stones are included, we don’t know how long throughout time these have existed.  

In other words if everything is in Christ at one and the same time, so it will also be with this city and bride of His.

This is what we are being revealed: the very history of the purpose of God as it will be lived out upon this earth. We are seeing it from the eternal God’s point of view: complete, unified, and completely one, even though stretching across all of human history.

Here we are seeing another aspect of the eternal purpose, a mystery now being revealed: namely that Christ is being distributed among a people. The result is the New Jerusalem, His bride, fully filled with all that He is.