Sermon 8"Zion - The Celestial City"
Text: Revelation 2l:l0-ll
Isaiah 60:l4 "The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of thy feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." Just a passing thought as we read these scriptures. Each one of the above scriptures set for the notion, and I underscore the thought, and you can take it and do with it whatever you wish to, but I trust that you will consider it, because beloved, the thought is this and it is very clearly stated in the scriptures, and that is that the people are the city. He says in verse l4 - "They shall call thee, The City of the Lord, the Zion of the Holy One of Israel." And again in Isaiah 62:l4 - "And they shall call them, The holy people, The redeemed of the LORD: and thou shalt be called, Sought out, A city not forsaken." Revelation 2l:9-ll "And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 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, Having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." Beloved, once again, the city of the bride. He says it. Just because we believe that the city is the bride, that does not preclude there being a literal city in which the bride dwells. The city of Malvern involves the structures, the streets, light poles, and everything that makes up the physical part, but it also includes the inhabitants of the city. Come election time, the city of Malvern voted to do so and so; well that's not the buildings, that the people, so you see the city is not only the physical location and or structures that make up that city, but are also involves the people who abide there. This final message involves Zion, the celestial city. Of course celestial means heavenly. As we shall shortly demonstrate from scriptures, the celestial, or heavenly city of Revelation chapter 2l and 22 is Zion, perfected; that is Zion in her final fullness and glory. Everything that we have said here before, or practically everything concerning Zion impacts the scriptures dealing with this perfected state of Zion which we have in Isaiah 60 and Revelation 2l. First of all let us make the statement that Zion is the celestial city because heaven is the place of her origin. Revelation 2l:l-2 "And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Again in verse l0 we are told, concerning this great city, this holy Jerusalem, that it is descends out of heaven from God. It is a heavenly city because that is the place of its origin. This is the place which Jesus promised to prepare for his disciples. I can't help but notice the word prepare there in verse two when he says, this holy city comes down out of heaven prepared (same translation of the word in John l4:2, when Jesus said I go to prepare a place for you) speaking to his disciples. So the city, beloved, that we are talking about is not heaven, the city is NOT heaven, you know that. Oh that other people knew it. The city IS NOT HEAVEN. And it is reserved for the bride. Psalms 69:35 "For God will save Zion, and will build the cities of Judah, that they may dwell there, and have it in possession. The seed also of his servants shall inherit it; and they that love his name shall dwell therein." There's who is going to dwell in Zion, folks. Those who love God's name. Zion is the city that is to come, which all the saints have sought after. Isaiah 62:l2 "And they shall call them, The holy people, the redeemed of the Lord, and thou shalt be called, sought out, A city not forsaken." Zion is the city which the saints of all the ages have ever sought after. Abraham looked for this city. In Hebrew chapter ll, we are told Abraham looked for a city that had foundations, whose builder and maker was God. Not only did Abraham look for it, seek after it, but all the patriarchs did so, for in verse l3 that same chapter: Hebrew ll:l3 "These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but seeing them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were pilgrims and strangers on the earth. For they that say such things declare plainly that they seek a country. And truly, if they had been mindful of the country from whence they came out, they might have had opportunity to have returned. But now they desire a better country, that is, an heavenly: wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God; for he hath prepared for them a city." Who? Those who confess themselves to be pilgrims and strangers! These who died in faith. This is the city reserved for the faithful. Hebrew l3:l4 "For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come." Zion is the city sought after. Abraham sought after it. The patriachs sought after it and the apostle Paul declares that we seek this continuing city which is to come. So Zion is the celestial city because of its heavenly origin, but Zion is also the celestial city because God abides there. Revelation 21:3 "And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them and be their God." We have talked about the fact that, and read many scriptures which declare that Zion was the habitation of God, was his dwelling place; the tabernacle was there in David's day and later the temple in Solomon's day. Then we talked about - "Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, elect and precious, a tried cornerstone(the church, if you will), wherefore ye have come to Mount Zion, that heavenly city." Spiritually today the church is Zion, the habitation of God through the spirit. Zion has always been the habitation of God, I say always; well, for a long time. There is coming a time when the dwelling of God shall be made apparent to the world. Isaiah 60:l "Arise, Shine, for thy light is come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. For behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and his glory shall be seen upon thee. And the gentiles shall come to thy light and kings to the brightness of thy rising." Zion is the city of saints where God shall literally dwell in all his fullness. We cannot comprehend this, much less can the world, but it shall become a living reality. We are told that the gentiles shall come to thy light and the word gentiles is that Hebrew word we should be very familiar with which was a term used by the Jews to designate anyone who was not an Israelite, anyone on the outside of the covenant. Nations, shall come to thy light. I'm trying to cram to much into this lesson than I should, but to give you an over-all view; the nations, call them what you want, for lack of a better word right now, I'll just call them the non-covenant saved folks, shall approach the city. Revelation 2l:24 "And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it." God is going to crown Zion with glory. This city is going to come down and receive the bride, and folks, I've been slow coming to this and I know some of you are not going to agree with this, but that's all right. I've been twenty years coming to this position so I can't expect you to switch right over. But brethren, I'm convinced that that holy city comes down when the Lord comes, not at the end of the thousand years. I've been real slow coming to this position, cause I was taught the other way, but folks, I've had a hard time making it all fit, but the city of Zion and God has crowned Zion with glory, and the nations are going to approach it; they are going to seek it; this will be the sought forth city. The nations shall come to its light. We are told that the nations are constantly going to bring their wealth into this city; they are going to gather their silver, gold and all their wealth into this city. That is the reason the gates stay open. Isaiah 60:5 "Then thou shalt see and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." The word "forces" there means wealth or riches, and based on my research of the word here, I think that's the best we can do. It's also used over in the book of Genesis, concerning the episode with the defiling of Dinah and what the sons of Jacob did to the men of Shechem as a result. Genesis 34:29 "And all their wealth and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house." Now the word "wealth" there is the same word as the word "forces" in Isaiah. So the nations are going to bring their wealth and riches into the city. Verse ll tells us that this is the reason that the city remains open all the time. You know Revelation 2l, the world takes this and they apply it to heaven. No, its talking about Zion. The gates are going to remain open so the nations can bring in their wealth and riches, constantly. Isaiah 60:6-7 "The multitude of camels shall cover thee, the dromedaries of Midian and Ephah; all they from Sheba shall come; they shall bring gold and incense; and they shall show forth the praises of the Lord. All the flocks of Kedar shall be gathered together unto thee; the rams of Nebaoith shall minister unto thee; they shall come up with acceptance on mine altar, and I will glorify the house of my glory. Verse l3 "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary: and I will make the place of my feet glorious." The point is the nations are going to continually bring their riches into the city. Revelation 2l:25-26 "And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it." Zion is the celestial city because God has glorified her. Revelation 2l:10-11 "And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God. Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal." Zion, the celestial city is said to have the glory of God. God has chosen Zion, which is a mecanem, don't let that word throw you, if you don't know what it is, let me tell you. Its not a term we use frequently and I would use another term, but I don't know another word that adequately expresses the meaning of the word. Mecanem is a word that is used as a substitute for another such as, on the news, they will say the Whitehouse did so and so, well the Whitehouse didn't do anything, the president did it or someone on his staff. Well that's a mecanem. Zion is a mecanem for the faithful saved of all the ages. We already mentioned the fact that the angel told John to come here, and I will show you the bride, and he took him up and showed him the city. The city is the bride. Isaiah 60:l4 "The sons also of them that afflicted thee shall come bending unto thee; and all they that despised thee shall bow themselves down at the soles of they feet; and they shall call thee, The city of the Lord, The Zion of the Holy One of Israel." If you don't get anything out of the message, get this: the people of God are said to be Zion. They don't just dwell there; they become so identified with Zion that they are Zionites. They are the children of Zion. As we studied in the 87th division of Psalms, Behold, this man was born there, this man is a zionite. Zion is the people of the Lord. God is going to put his glory there. The glory of Jehovah shall be clearly seen upon Zion. Isaiah 60:2 "Behold the darkness shall cover the earth and gross darkness the people, but the Lord shall arise upon me, his glory shall be seen upon me." All of these verses have to do with the glory of the Lord resting upon Zion. Verse 9 "Surely the isles shall wait for me and the ships of Tarshish first to bring thy sons from far, their silver and gold with them unto the name of the Lord thy God, the holy one of Israel, because He hath glorified thee." Verse l3 "The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree and the box together to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious." All of these verses attest to the fact that God has glorified Zion. Verses l9 "The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." There will be no need for solar or lunar light in that city because God himself will be the everlasting ever shinning light of that city. Revelation 2l:23 "The city had no need for the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it for the glory of God did lighten it and the Lamb is the light thereof." Now, consider this. We said that the church is Zion today, spiritual Zion. Jesus said a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid. Long ago when we first started this series, we said that Zion in the Hebrew means shining mountain. God is the light of that city. That city will have no need of solar or lunar light and we are told that it will give light to the nations. The nations will walk in the light of that city. We are told more about these nations. What will be their position? Maybe we cannot fully understand, but one thing we do find, and that is that the nations shall be servants to the Lord and to the saints. If you have a problem with the latter part of that, don't be disturbed; just take it into consideration and study it a little. Isaiah 6l:3 "To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. And they shall build the old wastes, they shall raise up the former desolation's, and they shall repair the waste cities, the desolation's of many generations. And strangers shall stand and feed your flocks, and the sons of the alien shall be your plowmen and your vinedressers. But ye shall be named the Priests of the Lord; men shall call you the Ministers of our God; ye shall eat the riches of the Gentiles, and in their glory shall ye boast yourselves." Now does that verse not indicate to you that the nations are going to minister to those of Zion. They shall be your vinedressers they shall feed your flocks; they shall be your plowmen, won't be anymore working in the field for the saints, they're gonna be in the palace. Which would you rather have? These people say - "Oh it doesn't make any difference." When we study the scripture and we consider the great awesomness of God's purpose for Zion, it makes us search our hearts and wonder if we have done all that is necessary to qualify ourselves for it. Today, Zion is despised but the scripture tell us that they that despise Zion, shall bow themselves at the soles of the feet of the saints. Reminds us of the statement in the book of Revelation third chapter, where Jesus said to the church - "I know thy works; behold I have set before thee an open door and no man can shut it, for thou hast a little strength and hast kept my word and hast not denied my name. Behold I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews and are not, but do lie, behold, I will make them to come and worship before my feet, and to know that I have loved thee." Zion is despised in the eyes of the world, but God has placed his seal of approval upon Zion, the holy people; those who have identified themselves with God in covenant, and he has promised to glorify her. Isaiah 65:l7 "For behold, I create new heavens and a new earth; and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create; for behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. Revelation 2l:4 "God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes and there shall be no more death neither sorrow, neither shall there be any pain, for the former things are passed away." Isaiah 65:l9 "And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people; and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days, for the child shall die an hundred years old, but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them, and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build and another inhabit; they shall not plant and another eat; for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble, for they are the seed of the blessed of the Lord, and their offsprings with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer, and while they are yet speaking, I will hear." What a day Brethren! This is the glorious day that God has promised to his people. This is Zion, the holy city, the celestial city, the city sought out and sought after.
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