In today's commentary, we can see who wins! My daughter recently asked me about the Islamic terrorists. I told her flat out, they win... then added.... for a spell. For you regular readers, I have previously written that it is not the Roman church that is the harlot Babylon, or the end of time Church; it is many in Christiandom who will come to accept the real "harlot" - Jerusalem - of which Babylon is symbolic. I'm not referring to Judaism but Islam which has fornicated on Zion.
Zion, although applied to all of Israel, once specifically meant Jerusalem and Mount Zion, or the Temple Mount where the Islamic harlot-house now stands.
After the Great Tribulation comes Christ's millennial reign on earth. (Theologians believe that Heavenly Jerusalem will come down for merely 1000 years. It seems to me that it will endure forever.) Heaven comes down to its place of origin which is Jerusalem. Being the very "foundation of peace", Jerusalem is surely where the Garden of Eden once was. New Jerusalem, or the City of God, will replace the harlot with a clean and pure city. Jerusalem will be God's return to Paradise! Some of us will be there with Him. Isaiah the prophet saw that time, and did quite a good job of conveying what the new "garden" will be:
They shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you. Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. And an highway shall be there, and a way, and it shall be called The way of holiness; the unclean shall not pass over it; but it shall be for those: the wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err therein. No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go up thereon, it shall not be found there; but the redeemed shall walk there: And the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. (Isa 35:2, 4-5, 8-10)The Lord Jesus will return with a vengeance. He will clean up the harlot Babylon, surely back to its foundation, so that Holy Ground can be the foundation of the City of God on earth. Vengeance will be taking his "bride" back so to speak, at least the wedding place! The Lord will replace the "harlot" city with a pure and holy one. Why would he do that?
To "recompense the faithful". We know from scripture that God will prepare for us Christians a room in his mansion (John 14:2). That room will be in New Jerusalem on the foundation of old Jerusalem, or earthly Paradise. Then Isaiah describes the way to get there: It's by a highway, or the Way, and that Way is "the way of holiness". Isaiah spoke of Jesus his Lord:
Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. (John 14:6)
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. (Mat 7:13-14)Obviously, Jesus is the Way to Zion or Paradise which is referred to as Heaven. The "highway" is the "narrow way" through the straight gate", or the Doctrine of Christ. (Heb 6:1). Isaiah was describing what Jesus said centuries later! That Doctrine is "the way of holiness" which is toward Christian perfection (again in Heb 6:1).
Of course, perfection will not be achieved on earth but it is the Way toward it. Perfection is obtained through glorification, or living in the presence of God. Christians will be perfect in Zion. How so? "Fools shall not enter therein" and besides that "no lion or beast shall be there." We know from scripture that the beast is Satan, and the lions are his demons (Nahum 2:13). The king of the jungle is of course the beast - the lion king Devil (1 Pet 5:8).
"The ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion." That passage refers to those who are redeemed by Jesus. Of course, God's death on the cross was for everyone, but when a ransom is offered, the recipient must accept it. Those who are ransomed of the Lord, are those who work the gift of faith because it is by faith that Christians are saved (Luke 18:42). Zion is the very place of salvation, and it is on earth! If you remember the Lord's Prayer: "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven" (Mat 6:10), that's what Jesus was talking about; these very passages from the Book of Isaiah. (Salvation is eternal, thus my belief that New Jerusalem will be on earth for eternity.)
Christians like to think of us going to some invisible place somewhere in the cosmos. That is temporary. When all is said and done, our home will be on earth. The story ends with Heaven on earth. For those of us who like where we are, this is to where we shall return - exactly the same place Adam was made from dust is where our "dust" shall return (Gen 3:19).
We know that our dust will return to the grave, but that is temporary. The dead in Christ shall rise. Those who are redeemed shall have their dust removed form earth. However, God said that it shall return. Possibly, it is to Zion that the dust finally returns. Perhaps we don't think deeply enough that when God says things, it happens specifically as written.
Jewish literature identifies the foundation stone under the Dome of the Rock as the navel of the world, and the creation place of Adam. It seems God planned that mankind return to our origins all along. He never created Paradise for just a short time, but a place to exist forever.
I mentioned that when Zion comes down after the beast is destroyed, that mankind will finally be saved. That is corporate salvation for mankind for no one ever again will be in danger. The beast, his caliphate, and their god will be destroyed and the Temple will be ready for use again. Personal salvation is when Christians are no longer in danger. Life is tribulation but for those who live for Christ death is gain (Phil 1:21). Death is the commencement of salvation, and rapture a trip to the heavenly Zion.
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