The Twelve Gates Of The Holy City

Chapter Five

(Having the Glory of God)

 

Rev. 21:11 says,

"Having the glory of God; and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal."

The word `having' in the Greek is `ECHO' and it means possess. This City possessed the glory or the nature of God. The old testament priesthood was the tribe of Levi, and the Levitical Priesthood had no possessions. The priests did not receive an allotment or a portion of land. If you will study through the book of Joshua, you will find that God Himself was their possession. Our possession is God Himself and His possession or His inheritance is us. I have an inheritance and it is in Him, and He has an inheritance and it is in me. (Eph. 1:18)

Since the glory of God is His nature then one aspect of His Nature is TRUTH. If this City has the glory or nature of God, then, the City has come into all truth. John 1:14 says:

"And the Word was made flesh (meaning Jesus) and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth."

Note that the Word is the pattern and example for the whole City. What did the Word do? It dwelt among us. What did the City do? It came down and dwelt among men. And John said Rev 21:23-24:

 

"The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. "

In other words, just as we behold His glory, the nations are going to behold our glory which is not actually our glory but His glory shinning through us. This glory is full of something-GRACE and TRUTH! All grace and truth. NOTICE: It does not say all knowledge.

QUESTION: How do we know that Jesus was full of grace and truth? John, who wrote five books of the Bible, including Revelation, said in John 21:25:

"Jesus did many other things as well. If everyone of them were written down, I suppose that the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written!"

Here is where end time teachers have missed it. They talk about when we all get to heaven we will be full of grace and truth,....and every body shouts!!! But how is the world going to know it unless grace

and truth is poured out to those who need it? What good is all grace and truth unless it is ministered to those who are in need of it?

John 17:5 says, "And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self...." Glory is His nature. Jesus prayed in John 17:20-26:

"My prayer is not for them alone. I pray for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father just as you are in me an I in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I Have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me."

What, then, is the purpose of our being filled with the nature of God? That the world may know! Some how end time preachers have forgotten that God so loved the world that He gave His life for it. The world is never going to know until we get our act together.

Heb. 1:1-3 reads,

"In time past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, but in

these last days He has spoken to us by His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, and through whom He made the universe. The Son is the exact radiance of God's glory and the exact representation of His being, sustaining all things by His powerful word"

When he says "in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son," this is the corporate Son or the Body of Christ. Paul said in Eph. 3:8-11:

"Although I am less than the least of all God's people, this grace was given to me; to preach to the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ, and to make known (plain) to everyone the administration of this mystery, which for ages was kept hidden in God, who created all things. His intent was that now, through the Church, the manifold wisdom of God should be made known to the rulers and authorities in the Heavenly realms, according to His eternal purpose which He accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord."

If Jesus was the exact representation of His Father's being, then we are the to be exact representation of the image of Christ. The words `exact representation' in the original are linked with the word `mark'.

For example: The mark of the beast or the mark of the Lord. There is going to be a people who have stamped or impressed upon them the very likeness or image of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Rev. 21:11 says, "and her light was like unto a stone mostprecious..."

Notice: It does not say His light; it says her light. Her light was like unto something. Our hope is that when He appears we shall be like Him. Not then made to be like Him but like Him when He comes.

First of all, the stone most precious is the chief corner stone, Jesus! Here is the stone that is more valuable than any other. This stone will cost you something. This message will cost you more than you paid in the outer court, or in the Holy place.

Daniel 2:31 says,

"You looked, O King, and there before you stood a large statue - an enormous, dazzling statue - awesome in appearance. The head of the statue was made of pure gold, its chest and arms of silver, its belly and thighs of bronze, its legs of iron, its feet partly of iron and partly of baked clay. While you were watching, a rock (or stone KJV) was cut out, but not by human hands."

God does not dwell in a building made by hands. Notice the stone now: "It struck the statue on its feet

of iron and clay and smashed them." You can assign various kingdoms that have existed from the beginning of time, even down to now, to this statue or as the KJV says, image, and what this is saying is

that every devilish tradition or ism or religion from the dawn of civilization until now, has to be destroyed.

Do you want to know how we are going to strike down this image? Rev.1:15 says, "Out of His mouth came a sharp double-edge sword." As you continue to read this book I am literally striking down the image of false teaching and false religion that men have built in your mind.

"And her light (TRUTH) was like unto stone.."

II Cor. 10:3-5 says,

"For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. Theweapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every though to make it obedient to Christ."

Jesus said in John 16:13, "When He, the Spirit of truth comes, He will guide you into all truth." And at the same time He is guiding us into all truth, He is at the same time smiting the image. Individually, as He guides you into all truth, He smites the image in your own mind. And pulls down the strongholds of your own imaginations. I see this happening in my own life and mind. Corporately, God is sending truth into the earth. And men cannot understand why their worlds, their denominations, their isms, their philosophies, and everything they have built their lifves and ministry on, is being smitten.

Somebody says, "I do not believe it has anything to do with our day." Look at the feet of it. I will give you two examples of this. Iron and Clay. In the political realm - détente between the iron hand of Russia and the clay of democracy. In the charismatic move - between the iron hand of Roman Catholicism and the democratic clay of Protestantism. This beast does not have much to stand on. He has no foundation

Look again at Daniel 2:34,

"While you were watching, a rock was cut out, but not by human hands. It struck the image on its feet of iron and clay and smashed it."

Destroyed the foundation of it. The Psalmist said, "If the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do." But let us turn that around and say that if the foundations be destroyed, what can the unrighteous do. It is bottomless, because there is no foundation. All this means is that the enemy is being brought into position where he is not going to have a leg to stand on. There is a message and a messenger that put him into that position. So if the enemy has no base of operations and does not have a leg to stand on, he is bound.

There is a messenger in the world today with a message that will, if accepted and acted upon, bring the enemy into a place of helplessness.

"And her light was like a stone most precious, like a jasper, clear as crystal."

Crystal is the color of water, which speaks of the truth that only the Holy Spirit can bring, and this is what shatters the image and renders the enemy helpless. As long as we stay in the thinking of the dark ages, the enemy will never be thrown into the bottomless pit. Paul told the Ephesians to give the devil no place. You can begin to give him no place in your life and put him in a bottomless pit and keep him there.

Daniel 2:35 says,

"Then the iron, the clay, the silver,and the gold were broken to pieces at the same time and became chaff on a threshing floor in the summer. And the wind (or the Holy Spirit) swept them away without a trace. But the stone that struck the image became a huge mountain and filled the earth, the whole earth."

Daniel explains this vision in Dan. 2:43. I want to show you proof that the charismatic move that we have

been experiencing is not going to be what brings back Christ. God has been in it, and God used it to bring a people out of darkness, however, many charismatics choose to remain in that darkness and refuse to come out.

There are many that teach on the Common Market, the Euromart, the European Nations, etc., in which they say represents the ten toes of the image. They say that the Common Market is going to come together and out of that is going to come a world dictator. I am going to leave that to the Bible scholars. I do know this, however, those feet made up of iron and clay and those ten toes are not going to cleave to one another. I do not read of any kingdom after that image is smashed that comes forth except the Kingdom of God. I believe that the next world kingdom is going to be the Kingdom of God.

Verse 43 says:

"And just as you saw the iron mixed with clay, so the people will be mixture and will not remain united, anymore than iron mixes with clay."

Détente will not work and Jonathan is going to have to learn that you just can not bring Saul and David

together.

Verse 44-45 says:

"In the time of these kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever. This is the meaning of the vision rock cut out of a mountain, but not by human hands----a rock that broke the iron, the bronze, the clay, the silver and the gold to pieces. The great God has made known to the king what will take place in the future. The dream is true and the interpretation is trustworthy."

"And of the increase of His government and His kingdom there will be no end."

Back to Rev. 21:11. "Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious.."

Do you want to be a part of a ministry that is going to destroy everything man has produced? Maybe you had better give this a lot of thought. It means tremendous warfare.

James said in James 5:7 :

"Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold the husbandman waiteth for

the precious fruit of the earth and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter

rain."

Here the word precious is linked with another descriptive word, `fruit'. Precious fruit of the earth. The stone is precious, and it destroyed the image, the fruit is precious and what produces the fruit? The early and latter rain. The latter rain brings the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, which brings maturity. Or the stone out of the mountain, or the fruit out of the earth. The Lord is long patient for this fruit to manifest, in order that He might receive it.

Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:12-13:

"If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work."

We will know what is a stone precious and we will know what is wood, hay and straw, because the Day will declare it. You will know what is hay and what is chaff, what is gold and what is silver, because one will burn and one will not. One will be consumed and one will be refined. This message will either burn you up or refine you. If it burns you up, I know what you are made of and what is really your intentions. But if I see your countenance becoming brighter and brighter than I know His Word is refining you.

Peter said in 1 Peter 1:6-7:

"In this you greatly rejoice, though for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire may be proven genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed."

KJV says, "That the trial of your faith, being much more precious..."

There is something better than walking on streets of gold. Going through the furnace. The whole church world is not interested in this kind of suffering. They just want to get on those streets so they may receive their inheritance. But the problem with that kind of thinking is that gold is going to perish.

Verse 18 says,

"For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver and gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you by your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ.."

If gold and silver are perishable, and your inheritance is imperishable, how can your inheritance have anything to do with gold? You see, my inheritance is the imperishable life of God Himself. It was in the furnace that the form of the fourth man was seen..

Let's go back to Rev. 21:11:

"Having the glory of God; her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper

stone, clear as crystal.."

We have shared with you that light is truth and it is truth that Jesus said would set you free. If you have a revelation of truth and live your life accordingly, you not only will be set free, but you will also be a light to those around you. If your local assembly will come together and walk in truth, you will be the light most precious.

In Rev. 21:11, we see a church that has come into all truth and is shinning with the radiance of His

presence. That truth is pure. It is not mixed and that is why the river that flowed out of this City is pure.

The word and ministry that flows out of this people is pure. No darkness, no pollution, in this stream;

only truth. What do we usually associate with the color white? purity, righteousness, and spotlessness.

But there is a color purer than white and clear as crystal. This is the color of water.

In John 7:37 Jesus spoke of this river when He said:

"Out of your bellies will flow rivers of living water-this spake He of the Holy Spirit that believers would later receive."