The gates of New Jerusalem are open to all those who look for it and who are ready to come out of the rule of Satan.
You need not wait for some sort of Rapture off the planet. New Jerusalem is not a giant cube-shaped satellite that drops out of the sky into a Millennial Utopia with a dictator Messiah reigning from a throne located on a strip of Middle Eastern sand. And, after nearly 2000 years now, there is no need to fear a global bogeyman named Antichrist, who supposedly signals Armageddon and another physical Coming of the Son of Man (Christ).
No, all of that stuff was fulfilled within the 1st Century, by Nero "The Beast" Caesar, and with the complete destruction of old Jerusalem by the Romans in 70 AD, just like Christ said it would happen in His Olivet Discourse. (see Mat. 23:31-37, Mat. 24:2, Mat. 24:33 & 34, etc.)
The 20th Century has produced many fanciful, carnal-minded views that have served Satan well. That type of eschatology, called Dispensationalism, is very popular, although it is still fairly recent on the theological scene.
State-incorporated, federally-qualified 501 (c) (3) clergymen and women teach the logical extension of Dispensationalism, saying that, Christ’s Kingdom is unavailable at this time, and until Jesus comes back someday, that Caesar is Lord.
Without exception, whether they be Protestant Denominations, the Roman Catholic Church, the Mormon Church, the Watchtower Organization, or any of the typical others; all of them teach their members to finance and obey hostile, worldly government systems as their “higher authorities.”
But Christ taught no such thing. He said, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But it shall not be so among you..." Luke 22:25 & 26
God never ordained the State. The State ordained itself. And it's a fraud.
However, statist churchgoers all preach the Kingdom and Lordship of Caesar on Earth. And the State rewards those elite clergy with tax exemptions, housing allowances, and other so-called benefits or subsidies, while their members are told that submission to the State is obedience to God. And since they are in Union with Caesar, they are required, under the threat of imprisonment or other violence against themselves, to pay taxes on their own labor, on the food that they eat, on their homes, on their private mode of travel, on their ability to make purchases and communicate, or anything else that their master demands.
It was around 313 AD, under Caesar Constantine and the Edict of Milan that the Church first incorporated under the State, and lost its birthright. But the earliest Christians had a valiant heritage of renouncing the licensing and lordship of Caesar, which was a so-called crime against the State in those days, as it is today.
First-century Christians preached a most unusual Revolution, willingly suffering whatever persecutions the State hurled at them, and there were many. But they weren’t engaged in a violent overthrow of the State. What they were doing was not even civil disobedience, because they were not Caesar’s subjects. They belonged to another. Nonetheless, the Bible says that they were, “turning the world upside down,” and were acting “contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus.” Acts 17:6 & 7
Caesar couldn’t care less if Christians preached about the forgiveness of sins or that Christians might go to Heaven when they die. Even the Roman pagans preached pie-in-the-sky after you die. But the early Christians were espousing a revolutionary message, one of Separation. And Caesar was getting understandably angry.
Why didn’t the early Christians just accept Caesar as Lord on Earth, and allow Jesus to be the Lord of Heaven, like most typical Christians of today?
Because they knew where their citizenship came from, and it wasn’t Nero Caesar, nor the Roman Senate. They had been given their Commission: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ‘All power is given to me in Heaven and on Earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.’ Amen.” Mat. 28:18-20
Jesus didn’t say, “All power is given to me in Heaven...” only. He said, “...and on Earth.” Jesus told them that He was the reigning Sovereign Authority over the whole Earth. And those early Christians were absolutely thrilled at having the ascended Lord Jesus Christ as their King. Messiah’s Kingdom and government had come, fulfilling everything in the Law (Pentateuch) and the Prophets, just as Jesus said He would accomplish. (Mat. 5:17) And, those early Christians were also very excited about who they were, as the Body of Christ on Earth (or Church). After the true Day of Pentecost, when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, like John the Baptist said would happen, then they understood that, they too, were the fulfillment of what the old prophets had spoke of. (Acts 2:16-21, Joel 2:28-32)
This was not really out-of-the-blue stuff. In 520 BC, God gave some shocking imagery by the prophet, Zechariah, of what the New Israel/Church would look like, spiritually speaking: “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses ‘HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD’ and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be ‘Holiness Unto The LORD’ of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.” Zechariah 14:20 & 21
It was around 313 AD, under Caesar Constantine and the Edict of Milan that the Church first incorporated under the State, and lost its birthright. But the earliest Christians had a valiant heritage of renouncing the licensing and lordship of Caesar, which was a so-called crime against the State in those days, as it is today.
First-century Christians preached a most unusual Revolution, willingly suffering whatever persecutions the State hurled at them, and there were many. But they weren’t engaged in a violent overthrow of the State. What they were doing was not even civil disobedience, because they were not Caesar’s subjects. They belonged to another. Nonetheless, the Bible says that they were, “turning the world upside down,” and were acting “contrary to the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another King, one Jesus.” Acts 17:6 & 7
Caesar couldn’t care less if Christians preached about the forgiveness of sins or that Christians might go to Heaven when they die. Even the Roman pagans preached pie-in-the-sky after you die. But the early Christians were espousing a revolutionary message, one of Separation. And Caesar was getting understandably angry.
Why didn’t the early Christians just accept Caesar as Lord on Earth, and allow Jesus to be the Lord of Heaven, like most typical Christians of today?
Because they knew where their citizenship came from, and it wasn’t Nero Caesar, nor the Roman Senate. They had been given their Commission: “And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, ‘All power is given to me in Heaven and on Earth. Go therefore and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the world.’ Amen.” Mat. 28:18-20
Jesus didn’t say, “All power is given to me in Heaven...” only. He said, “...and on Earth.” Jesus told them that He was the reigning Sovereign Authority over the whole Earth. And those early Christians were absolutely thrilled at having the ascended Lord Jesus Christ as their King. Messiah’s Kingdom and government had come, fulfilling everything in the Law (Pentateuch) and the Prophets, just as Jesus said He would accomplish. (Mat. 5:17) And, those early Christians were also very excited about who they were, as the Body of Christ on Earth (or Church). After the true Day of Pentecost, when they were baptized in the Holy Spirit, like John the Baptist said would happen, then they understood that, they too, were the fulfillment of what the old prophets had spoke of. (Acts 2:16-21, Joel 2:28-32)
This was not really out-of-the-blue stuff. In 520 BC, God gave some shocking imagery by the prophet, Zechariah, of what the New Israel/Church would look like, spiritually speaking: “In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses ‘HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD’ and the pots in the LORD’S house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be ‘Holiness Unto The LORD’ of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.” Zechariah 14:20 & 21
Through the Holy Spirit, the Body of Christ resides safely inside New Jerusalem, where the whole city is the inner sanctuary of the Temple. There is no more veil around the Holy of Holies, and we move about like the High Priest who wore a linen mitre upon his head with the inscription of gold at his forehead, “Holiness Unto The Lord.” But the unclean cannot enter, nor touch what is holy.
Prophet Zechariah also recorded a picture of what the World would look like, spiritually speaking, during those portions of History that it refuses to accept the authority of Messiah and His Kingdom: “And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain.” Zechariah 14:17
New Jerusalem is available to all of those who are ready to come out of Satan. If you are waiting for Jesus to be seated on a gaudy throne, wearing an ermine cape, in a petty palace on a piece of Middle Eastern real estate before you make Him your Sovereign, you will probably be waiting for all eternity...
Christian Livingstone, NJT