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Newness that is the nature of God.

We Are Made New for New Jerusalem

A recent post focused on our being sanctified, separated positionally, and sanctified, saturated dispositionally, for the holy city New Jerusalem.

New JerusalemAll human beings are in the old creation, under sin and death (Rom. 5:12). We need to be made new to be part of New Jerusalem in the new creation. Like sanctification, our change from old to new has two stages—positional and dispositional.

The positional change is immediate at the time of our believing. We repent and believe into Jesus Christ.

Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” In Christ we are positionally new; this fact stands firm in the Bible. But are we new in all our living? in all our attitudes and reactions to people and situations? We are not.

We need the dispositional renewing by the Spirit’s working in us. Romans 12:2 exhorts us “be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.” We need dispositional renewing to fully enter and prove the will of God.

Ephesians 4:23 is the same: “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” That is our need. The way is in Titus 3:5—God “saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.” The Holy Spirit, who gave birth to our deadened spirit (John 3:6) is working within us to spread into our mind to renew us dispositionally.

This renewing constitutes us with the newness of God so that New Jerusalem can manifest this newness eternally.

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by Don on March 6, 2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on March 6, 2020

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2020/03/06/we-are-made-new-for-new-jerusalem/

New Jerusalem: the Full Expression of God

Both God on the throne (Rev. 4:3) and New Jerusalem (21:11) have the appearance of jasper. In this way, New Jerusalem is the expression of God.

New Jerusalem is a composition of the Triune God and all His people. We were created from dust but through regeneration and transformation, we gain God’s nature and appearance. This makes New Jerusalem the expression of God. Transformation brings our entire being from the old creation to the new creation where New Jerusalem is.

New JerusalemRomans 12:2 tells us that we are transformed by the renewing of our mind. This renewing is accomplished by the Spirit who dwells within us from our regeneration all the way into New Jerusalem.

Titus 3:4-5: “When the kindness and the love to man of our Savior God appeared, not out of works in righteousness which we did but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy Spirit.”

We were dead spiritually (Eph. 2:1) but the Spirit has regenerated us, making our Spirit alive. John 3:6b “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The Spirit does not merely make us alive and then leave. Rather, the Spirit dwells within us forever. This indwelling Spirit renews us by spreading from our spirit to our mind, the leading part of our soul, our psychological being.

The renewal by the Spirit’s spreading is actually the Spirit Himself as the newness. He guides us “into all the reality” (John 16:13). Thus we gain the Triune God’s newness for His expression by New Jerusalem.

Photo courtesy of pixabay.com.

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by Don on February 21, 2020  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 21, 2020

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2020/02/21/new-jerusalem-the-full-expression-of-god-3/

Renewed in Spirit unto New Jerusalem

New Jerusalem is the center of the new earth. This is a new creation because in Revelation
New Jerusalem20 all oldness went into the lake of fire.

God is the eternal newness. When the devil deceived Adam, man fell into sin and death; this was a departure from God’s newness and an entry into oldness. (Oldness is not a matter of “how long” but is due to separation from God.)

Romans 6:6 tells us that the old man has been crucified with Christ. This death brings us into resurrection to be the new man in Christ. This is a positional change. But a practical change in our daily living, to “walk in newness of life” takes time because we continue many old habits.

To “walk in newness of life” is to “walk in newness of spirit” (Rom. 7:6). Practically, this new walk requires the renewing work of the Holy Spirit in us. This renewing work makes us new inwardly and in daily living; the result is that we match the newness of New Jerusalem.

Some verses about this renewing:
• “Do not be fashioned according to this age, but be transformed by the renewing of the mind that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and well pleasing and perfect.” (Rom. 12:2)
• “Be renewed in the spirit of your mind.” (Eph. 4:23)
• The new man is “being renewed.” (Col. 3:10)
• “The renewing of the Holy Spirit.” (Titus 3:5)

By loving the Lord, singing to Him, calling on His name, and taking time in His word, we give ground to the Spirit to renew us for a walk in newness of life today and fully in New Jerusalem.

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by Don on September 18, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on September 18, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/09/18/renewed-in-spirit-unto-new-jerusalem/

New Jerusalem is on Earth from God

Revelation 21:2, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Revelation 21:10 repeats, “the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”

New Jerusalem is holy, new, the foundation of peace, and heavenly because it is from God. God is holy; whatever is filled with God is also holy, not only in position but even more in nature. Likewise, God is the measure of newness; everything of God, with God’s life, is new; everything lacking the divine life is old, even dead.

New JerusalemFurthermore, New Jerusalem is the foundation of peace because God is its peace. Apart from God, in the fall of man, there is no real peace and no possibility of peace. And New Jerusalem is heavenly because its substance is the divine nature, “the city was pure gold” (Rev. 21:18). Gold in the Bible represents the divine nature.

All the characteristics of New Jerusalem derive from God Himself, from God’s accomplishments in Christ, and from God’s operation as the Spirit in the believers. The Triune God is the element, the substance, of the city.

New Jerusalem not only comes “from God” but also comes with God. The city and God can never be separated. God is on the throne at the center of New Jerusalem, and God’s glory illuminates the whole city.

Photo courtesy of Good Free Photos.

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by Don on February 25, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 25, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/02/25/new-jerusalem-is-on-earth-from-god/

New Jerusalem is Divinely New

Revelation 21–22 present New Jerusalem to us. It is new compared to the Jerusalem from King David’s time to now, but in what way is it new?

New JerusalemNew Jerusalem is new because it is entirely in God and of God. This is the divine definition of new—everything in God is new but everything outside of God is old. Everything around us is old because the first creation has fallen away from God.

The clearest presentation of this divine definition of new is in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.” Galatians 6:15 also speaks of this new creation. A small portion of a footnote on the new creation in the Recovery Version NT says,

The old creation is our old man in Adam (Eph. 4:22), our natural being by birth, without God’s life and the divine nature. The new creation is the new man in Christ (Eph. 4:24), our being that is regenerated by the Spirit (John 3:6), having God’s life and the divine nature wrought into it (John 3:36; 2 Pet. 1:4), having Christ as its constituent (Col. 3:10-11), and having become a new constitution.

The old creation was old because it did not have God’s element; the new creation is new because it has God as its element. Although we are still the old creation, we experience the reality of the new creation when we walk according to the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25).

New Jerusalem is unchangingly new because it is constituted entirely with God’s life and nature wrought into our redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified humanity.

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by Don on February 20, 2019  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on February 20, 2019

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2019/02/20/new-jerusalem-is-divinely-new-2/

New Heaven, Earth, Jerusalem; No Sea

New JerusalemRevelation 21:1: “I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea is no more.” Many recent posts are on the new heaven and the new earth. These will be with New Jerusalem but, as stated in this verse, without the sea.

There is no more sea because the sea is a result of God’s judgments on the corrupted earth. We are likely familiar with the flood in Noah’s time, which covered the entire earth with a sea of water. This was because “the wickedness of man was great in the earth” (Gen. 6:5). After this, God promised that never again would waters cover the earth to destroy everything (Gen. 9:11-16).

Prior to this there was another flood. In Genesis 1:1 “God created the heavens and the earth.” This creation was pleasant. Isaiah 45:18 declares that God “formed the earth and made it; He established it; He did not create it waste.” However, due to Satan’s rebellion, “the earth became waste and emptiness, and darkness was on the surface of the deep” (Gen. 1:2).

As a result of the judgment in verse 2, there was no land—no place for man to live for God’s purpose. Water covered the earth. But, as in Noah’s time, God restored the earth. “God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear; and it was so” (Gen. 1:9).

Revelation 21 is a full, complete renovation. It has the new earth for the nations to live on, New Jerusalem as God’s dwelling with His people on earth, and no more sea, no leftover from the prior judgments. Praise God that everything is new!

Photo courtesy of U.S. Bureau of Land Management.

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by Don on January 12, 2018  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 12, 2018

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2018/01/12/new-heaven-earth-jerusalem-no-sea/

The Wonderful Jesus Christ in Revelation 19 Brings Us to New Jerusalem (3)

Revelation 19 has much to say about Jesus Christ Himself and His accomplishments to end this age, bring in the next age, and open the door for New Jerusalem to come down out of heaven.

In verse 19:14, “The armies which are in heaven followed Him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean.” The white and clean garments indicate that these believers are approved by the Lord. These garments are not merely gifts to them. Rather, the garments manifest the believers inward condition and daily living.

This clean living includes the cleansing of our sins, and also the transformation of our inner being. The first is the forgiveness by Christ’s redemption (Eph. 1:7). The second is accomplished by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5) and also the purifying of our souls by our obedience (1 Peter 1:22).

New JerusalemThe garments qualify us 1) to attend the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:7-9), 2) to be part of His victorious army, and 3) to participate in New Jerusalem.

Forgiveness of sins is a necessary step in becoming part of New Jerusalem, but it is not the only step. We also need the renewing of our inner being to match the newness of New Jerusalem. This is the renewing of our mind by the Spirit in our spirit (Rom. 12:2, Eph. 4:23).

Those who are wearing white garments are on white horses. These match the white horse on which the Lord sits (v. 11). By the Spirit’s renewing, we are being renewed according to the Lord’s image (Col. 3:10), thus matching Him in many ways. We thereby become His expression now as the new man (Col. 3:10-11) and eternally as New Jerusalem.

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by Don on March 6, 2017  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on March 6, 2017

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2017/03/06/the-wonderful-jesus-christ-in-revelation-19-brings-us-to-new-jerusalem-3/

New and Being Renewed for New Jerusalem

In Revelation 21:1-2, John tells us, “I saw a new heaven and a new earth….And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem.” Both the creation and the city are new. We are looking at an article in the Christian journal Affirmation & Critique*. It states,

The new creation is new because God has been wrought into it; the New Jerusalem is new because it is full of God. In order to be part of the New Jerusalem—the new creation of God and for God—the believers in Christ need to be thoroughly and absolutely renewed (Rom. 12:2; Eph. 4:23). Since Christ Himself is the realm of newness, the New Jerusalem will be the ultimate consummation of Christ as the realm of newness and as newness itself.

New JerusalemChrist is the realm of newness and because of this, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Cor. 5:17). To get into Christ by believing is to have a positional change from the old creation to the new creation.

After this beginning, we still need an ongoing, inward, experiential renewing. This dispositional change is presented to us in Romans 12:2, “be transformed by the renewing of the mind” and Ephesians 4:23, “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

In the daily process of renewing (2 Cor. 4:16), God’s element of newness is added into our being to replace and discharge our old element, as the renewing Spirit (Titus 3:5) imparts the divine newness into our being to make us a new creation with the divine life and nature. Through this process of renewing, we are transferred from the realm of the old creation into the realm of the new creation to become the New Jerusalem (Col. 3:10; Rev. 21:2).

First we believe into Christ to become the new creation in Him. Then the Spirit works within us throughout our Christian life to renew our whole being, including inward attitudes and outward living. This produces an organic transfer in us which brings us fully into the new creation for New Jerusalem.

* Affirmation & Critique (A&C) is a Christian Journal published twice a year, © Living Stream Ministry. A&C presents Bible truths in a scholarly manner, with references to and citations from a variety of publications over the entire Christian era. A&C exhibits much appreciation for the person and work of Jesus Christ and our life with Him. This group of posts has short extracts from the article The New Jerusalem—the Consummation of the Divine Economy according to the High Peak of the Divine Revelation by Ron Kangas in the Fall 2010 issue.

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by Don on October 30, 2015  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on October 30, 2015

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/new-and-being-renewed-for-new-jerusalem/

God Constitutes Us to be New Jerusalem

New Jerusalem

Here are a few more excerpts from the issue of Affirmation & Critique* focused on New Jerusalem. Each excerpt is tagged with the author’s initials and is followed by a related verse.

In Christ God has become man to make man God in His life and in His nature [but not in the Godhead] so that the redeeming God and the redeemed man can be united, mingled, constituted, and incorporated together to become one entity, the consummated corporate God-man—the New Jerusalem. (RK)

We “have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where…Christ is all and in all.” Colossians 3:10-11

Just as the church as God’s house is not an actual physical house, so the New Jerusalem is not an actual physical city. The city of New Jerusalem is a sign signifying the church’s function in eternity to be God’s dwelling place. (WL)

“The house of God, which is the church of the living God.” 1 Timothy 3:15

Through His death, resurrection, ascension, and descension, Christ, the second man, was enlarged from an individual God-man to a corporate God-man, the one new man. (DY)

Christ, in His death on the cross, abolished “in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two [Jews and Gentiles] in Himself into one new man, so making peace.” Ephesians 2:15

The New Jerusalem is new because it is fully saturated with the Triune God of newness. Throughout eternity the New Jerusalem will ceaselessly unfold the fresh newness of the Triune God to the universe. (DY)

“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

All of these excerpts portray New Jerusalem as the consummation of God in Christ flowing into, being one with, constituting, and radiating out of His chosen people.

* Affirmation & Critique is a Christian Journal published twice a year and available online. It presents Bible truths in a scholarly manner, with references to and citations from a variety of publications by authors over the entire Christian era. Affirmation & Critique exhibits much appreciation for the person and work of Jesus Christ and our life with Him. The Fall 2012 issue (Vol. XVII, No. 2) focuses on New Jerusalem.

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by Don on July 24, 2015  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on July 24, 2015

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2015/07/24/god-constitutes-us-to-be-new-jerusalem/

Created and Saturated for New Jerusalem

God’s eternal purpose was hidden in Him before time. It expresses His desire and points to New Jerusalem in eternity future. As presented in the first half of the song we are reviewing, God wants to dispense Himself into people to build them together in Himself for His glory and praise.

God created all the plants, fish, birds, and animals according to their own kind (Genesis 1:11-12, 21, 24, 25). In contrast, God did not create man according to man’s kind; rather, God created man in His image (Genesis 1:26) because God created man especially for fulfilling His purpose, .

The man created for God’s purpose has a human spirit as the center of His being. Zechariah 12:1 says, “Thus declares Jehovah, who stretches forth the heavens and lays the foundations of the earth and forms the spirit of man within him.” Here the spirit of man is ranked with the heavens and the earth.

New Jerusalem4_As the center, as the kernel,
____Of God’s plan our spirit is;
__Calling on the name of Jesus
____Makes our spirit one with His.
__From the center to circumference
____God would saturate each part;
__Feeling, mind, and will renewing,
____Making home in all our heart.

The first action God takes in us to fulfill His plan is to enliven our human spirit. This is to be born again, to be regenerated. John 3:6b says, “that which is born of the [divine] Spirit is [our human] spirit.” This regeneration is our first experiential step towards New Jerusalem.

The result of being born again is 1 Corinthians 6:17, “he who is joined to the Lord is one spirit.” From our spirit, God desires to spread to our mind, emotion, and will; for example, Ephesians 4:23 speaks of “be renewed in the spirit of your mind.”

This renewing by the Spirit (Titus 3:5) in our spirit makes us divinely new to match New Jerusalem, the consummation of all the newness in the Bible.

Photo courtesy of pdphoto.org.

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by Don on June 26, 2015  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on June 26, 2015

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2015/06/26/created-and-saturated-for-new-jerusalem/

Our Father, Thou Art Forever New !

“He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Only God can make all things new. We are already new in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17); corporately we are the new man in Christ and we are being inwardly renewed to His image (Colossians 3:10-11). Ultimately everything God has done will be displayed in the new heaven and new earth with New Jerusalem at the center.

New JerusalemThe first verse and chorus of a hymn* extols God’s newness and freshness:
__Our Father, as the evergreen,
____Thou art forever new;
__Thou art the ever living Lord,
____Thy freshness as the dew.

Chorus
O Father, Thou art unchanging,
__Thou never hast grown old;
Thru countless ages, ever fresh,
__Thy newness doth unfold.

The fourth verse of the hymn speaks about us. We are a new creation and we have a new spirit and new heart, which were promised in Ezekiel 36:26.
__Now we Thy new creation are —
____New spirit and new heart;
__We’re daily from the old renewed,
____New life Thou dost impart.

The fifth verse includes the new heaven, new earth, New Jerusalem, and the tree of life bearing twelve fruits (Revelation 21:1-2, 22:2).
__The earth and heavens will be new
____And Thy new city share;
__New fruits each month will be supplied,
____For all is newness there.

Eternally New Jerusalem will manifest the ever new God with His thoroughly renewed people as God’s masterpiece in the new creation.

* author: Witness Lee, composer: George F. Root, words, music.

Photo courtesy of U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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by Don on February 9, 2015  •  Permalink
Posted in Characteristics of New Jerusalem, Life and New Jerusalem
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Posted by Don on February 9, 2015

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2015/02/09/our-father-thou-art-forever-new/

Newness is God Himself Filling the City

New JerusalemGod Himself is the definition of newness and the standard for newness. New Jerusalem is divinely new and eternally new because it is saturated with God.

In the human realm we call many things new but they get old quickly. What was “new” last week or last year or last decade becomes broken or traded in or thrown away or no longer in style. Human “newness” is very fleeting.

Here are examples of divine newness:
• In Luke 5 the Lord spoke about Himself as the Bridegroom and added a parable about a new garment and new wine. He is the reality of this parable as the new garment to cover us and the new wine to fill us.
• On the cross Jesus Christ created in Himself one new man (Ephesians 2:15). The crucial matter is, Where are we? To be in the new man we must be in Christ.
• “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Again, Where are we? If in Christ, we are a new creation; if not in Christ, we are in the old creation.
• “He who sits on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new” (Revelation 21:5). Only God can make things new according to His definition of newness.

Although God was present at times with people in the Old Testament Jerusalem, that city was neither in God nor constituted with God’s essence. Hence it was not new. In contrast, New Jerusalem is of God, in God, and constituted with God. Thus it is new and will remain eternally new as the consummation of all the newness in the Bible.

Photo by Louis Haynes, courtesy of U.S. Forest Service, Creative Commons 2.0.

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by Don on January 21, 2015  •  Permalink
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Posted by Don on January 21, 2015

https://newjerusalem12.wordpress.com/2015/01/21/newness-is-god-himself-filling-the-city/

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