WEEKLY SUNDAY SCHOOL LESSON
An international Sunday school lesson commentary
For Sunday November 6, 2016
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MAKING THINGS NEW
(The New Jerusalem)
(Revelation 21:1-8)
Both Isaiah 60-65, and,
Ezekiel 40-48 contain parallels to John’s vision from JESUS of the “new Heaven
and earth”, and the “new Jerusalem”, which is depicted in Revelation 21. The earthly
Jerusalem, we know, was intended to be the site of the Temple of GOD. It was a
symbol of HIS presence among HIS people, and the place where HE might be
approached in worship.
Here
in Revelation 21, the New Jerusalem fulfills the promise of the old, as GOD is
present in reality, and HIS people can worship HIM freely, without interference
from outside duress and persecution from the world which is now controlled by satan.
It is a vision that can never be possible as long as satan is around, but
rather, can only be fulfilled after GOD settles the score with him, following
the time and “foretaste” of the Millennial Kingdom of CHRIST here on the “old
earth”.
John’s
vision of the New Jerusalem magnifies to a great degree, the Old Testament
prophet’s visions that were expressed and depicted hundreds, and even thousands
of years earlier. Isaiah, Haggai, and Ezekiel, all had visions of a “rebuilt”
Jerusalem. As we consider those facts, it becomes increasingly easy to see that
the idea of a New Jerusalem had been a constant dream that was given to GOD’s
most faithful messengers over the years.
Here
in this passage of Scripture, John seems to pull together all of the various visions
of these Old Testament prophets and make them his own, manifesting a sort of
verification to Christians in the “Church Age” that their earnest expectation
will be satisfied in “the Last Days”.
In
Revelation 21, verses 5-7, we see GOD HIMSELF speaking for the first time in
this vision saying, “Look, I AM making all things new! And then HE said to John,
“Write this down, for what I tell you is trustworthy and true”. And HE also
said, “It is finished!” I AM the ALPHA and the OMEGA----the BEGINNING and the
END. To all who are thirsty I will give the springs of the water of life
without charge! All who are victorious will inherit all these blessings, and I will
be their GOD, and they will be MY children” (NLT).
In
verse 8 GOD adds a warning to all those Believers and non-Believers who seem to
think that they have no responsibility to GOD, themselves, or their fellowman. A
professed Christian cannot just walk through this world declaring they have
faith in GOD verbally, while all the time living the life of a heathen. Our faith
in GOD has to manifest itself through our actions and behavior. We have to “work
hard” to “show” ourselves approved. Faith without “action” is no faith at all. “Saving
faith” is the kind of faith that moves us to action, and from there, into a
position and attitude by which you can overcome the world like JESUS did. Then we
will be able to embrace and accept the power of the blood sacrifice that is
CHRIST JESUS, simply because we have accepted and taken hold of the faith that
GOD has to offer us.
And
so GOD gives us a “list of immoralities”, that we must first remove ourselves
from, before we can obtain the attitude necessary to be able to even accept the
gift of salvation that JESUS’ sacrifice affords us. Surprisingly, we see that
the first group of people mentioned on the list is “cowards”. Here GOD is
speaking of those individuals who clearly know the right thing to do, but are
too afraid to do it. This type of inaction shows GOD that one does not trust in
HIS power, HIS protection, HIS provisions, nor, HIS plan. A person who reacts
this way has no faith in GOD, no matter how many times they profess it with
their lips in the friendly confines of the Church.
Cowards
are those who are afraid to defend the Word and lifestyle of the LORD openly
before the world that is opposed to HIM. They don’t mind speaking about the
LORD in a friendly, accepting environment, but they fear to confess their Christian
beliefs openly when challenged by someone who takes an anti-Christ position in
the world. And while it is true that we are not supposed to debate the bible
with the world, we are also not to deny JESUS before the world either.
Usually,
these particular professed Christians won’t defend the Word of GOD because they
are not familiar enough with its contents themselves to defend it, or, they are
afraid of the “counterfeit power of man, through satan”, which they “fear”
could cause them to lose their position or status with their friends that they
shouldn’t have in the first place, their status on their jobs, their position in
their families, or, their position in the world in general.
Next,
we see “unbelievers”, whom most people would think would be first on the list,
however, when GOD starts to clean house HE always starts with the church. The reason
being is that, GOD doesn’t ever want the professed Christian Church to be
guilty of contributing to further messing up the world, or working on satan’s
side of the fence. GOD more expects wrong things from those who never had the experience
to get to know HIM, than HE does from those who do, and, should know better.
And
so, whenever we know the right thing to do, yet are afraid to do it because we
have no real faith in GOD ourselves in the first place, then, the unbelievers
in this world have no real chance of obtaining salvation, by getting to know
GOD through HIS Church. As a result, those who are “corrupt” will begin to move
even farther away from GOD, perhaps, by becoming murderers, by further
embracing sexual immorality and homosexuality, by practicing witchcraft (evil spiritual
manipulation), by idolizing false gods (including people, places, and things), and
by becoming any of those persons who succumbs to the influence of “lying
spirits” and becomes open to, and is willing to embrace, all manner of sin.
In
order to make all things new, the way HE promises HE will, GOD has to dispense
with all things old, that are spiritually contaminated, and have become
familiar to us, through our sin. In addition, and, in regards to our role (the role
of the Christian Church), when we fail to, or refuse to, operate correctly as “GOD’s
only figurative representative here on earth”, we doom “the unsaved world” to
the pits of Hell. In other words, due to a severe lack of effort on most of our
parts, we sentence them to what GOD calls, “The Second Death”, which is a final,
“permanent separation from HIM” where there can be no coming back, not ever.
A Sunday school lesson by,
Larry D. Alexander
LARRY D. ALEXANDER- Official
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