Ladies and gentlemen, Zechariah says, we read it, that Jesus will come with His feet on the Mount of Olives and we will come with Him and we will rule with Him from this Jerusalem. Jerusalem will split and the river will go from its midst for 1000 years. There will be a new Jerusalem after the Millennial Kingdom. The new city will be called the New Jerusalem, just like the coming of Jesus ushered in the New Testament.
God entrusted into Israel’s hands that which He intended the world to see and eventually he who believes will inherit it. And when Jesus ascended to heaven, it was from Jerusalem. At the time it was mostly Israel that knew of Him – almost no Gentiles. And when He returns again, it’ll be to what? Jerusalem. And this time the whole world will know of Him. He will rule with us over people who obviously never believed in Him. Jesus will return to this Jerusalem with His saints as the Bible says. So, I built it up for the most important question. Who did God really prepare Jerusalem for? This is it. Folks, it’s not about Israel, it’s about Jesus. He kept in their hands the city for it to be prepared for the King of Israel, for the King of the Jews. Jesus.
John 14:2-3 KJV – “In my Father’s house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.”
1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 KJV – “For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another with these words.”
These two sets of verses remind us of a great truth that should bring us much comfort and even a sense of excitement and anticipation. When Jesus comes to get us and we meet Him in the air, we will, from that point on, always be with Him. We will be with Him in the Father’s house, we will come with Him at the Second Coming, we will rule with Him during the Millennium, and we will dwell with Him forever in the New Jerusalem.
Hebrews 11:8-13 KJV – “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went. By faith he sojourned in the land of promise, as in a strange country, dwelling in tabernacles with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise: for he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. Through faith also Sara herself received strength to conceive seed, and was delivered of a child when she was past age, because she judged him faithful who had promised. Therefore sprang there even of one, and him as good as dead, so many as the stars of the sky in multitude, and as the sand which is by the sea shore innumerable. These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth.”
We are waiting for the same city as Abraham, and, until then, we are here and living as in a foreign land as strangers and pilgrims. The city whose builder and maker is God is the New Jerusalem. The word Jerusalem literally means “founded peaceful”. It is the home of the Prince of Peace with whom we will forever be.
We have all read or heard of the streets of gold, the twelve foundations of precious stones, and the gates made each of a single pearl. While the physical construct of the New Jerusalem will be something beyond imagination, there is another aspect of the city that we will enjoy forever and ever:
Revelation 21:1-4 KJV – “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. 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. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away.”
Paul said this season of our existence where we are forever with the Lord begins in a moment and twinkling of an eye. So as we endure the perilous times in which we live, while we are stunned at evil being called good and good evil, while we watch in disbelief the redefining of truth and replacement of facts with feelings, remember, one day will be the day of our transition into a life of forever being with the Lord. We’ll meet him in the air, we’ll come back when He does to the Mount of Olives, we’ll see Him fight as He fights in the day of battle, we’ll rule with Him for a thousand years, and we’ll live death, tear, sorrow, crying, and pain free forever and ever in a city whose builder and maker is God!
Even so, come quickly Lord Jesus,
