I am grateful that Your creation reflects Your loving care for us all to see!
Then I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, “Now salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of His Christ have come, for the accuser of our brethren, who accused them before our God day and night, has been cast down.
Revelation 12:10
Me: Good morning, Father!
Abba: Good morning, Jon!
Me: This is a marvelous verse, Father! Can You please tell me something about its temporal language? It uses words like “have come”, “has been”, “now”, and “accused”.
Abba: I Am glad to point out that “has been” is applicable to the accuser.
Many have speculated as to when this “now” is referring. In Job 1:6 and 2:1-2, Satan’s access to heaven is mentioned. He accuses both Job and I that Job only honors Me because of the blessings I bestowed on him.
Jesus said, “I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven.” (Luke 2:10) Though the English translation of this verse seems a strong past-tense rendition, this is not so in the original. Rather, it emphasizes that it was an event, something that happened at a particular point in time.
Consider how Revelation 12:10 links a moment (now) with salvation and the power of the Christ, with Satan’s casting down. In Revelation 12:7, leading up to verse 10, “war in heaven” is the setting. Verse eleven in Revelation 12 says this:
And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives to the death.
So, this victory, in which you stand, was won by Jesus at the cross. And the victory enfolds all who put their trust in Him. The Accuser, then, has no more standing to accuse those who have repented of their lives of sin and put their faith in the work of the sinless Son.
For He says: “In an acceptable time I have heard you, And in the day of salvation I have helped you.” Behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
2 Corinthians 6:2, Isaiah 49:8
While a person has breath, there is a moment – now – when it is possible to enter in to the salvation provided. None knows whether another moment is coming.
Me: Hallelujah! Thank You Father! I love You! Thank you! Thank you!
#5 in a series of inquiries concerning the bride of Christ. Taken from my handwritten journal entry, dated 12-28-2024.
I am grateful for your word telling what is to come!
9 And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife. 10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12 And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16 And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17 And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18 And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19 And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20 The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolyte; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21 And the twelve gates were twelve pearls: every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22 And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24 And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. 25 And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26 And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. 27 And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. Revelation 21.
[Isaiah 54 speaks of some similar precious-stone construction. Isaiah 65 contrasts the idolatrous and those who seek the Lord, explicitly prophesying of Jesus (a seed from Jacob). Also included there is a reference to the mountains of God.]
Me: Good afternoon, Holy Spirit!
Holy Spirit: Good afternoon, Jon!
Me: Can You please help me with these descriptions of the bride of the Lamb as the new Jerusalem?
Holy Spirit:
O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! Matthew 23:37
The buildings of a city do not choose. Rather, it is those who reside within. The new Jerusalem is established under the New Covenant. It is peopled by those who are in the Lamb’s book of life, not by those who “would not”, but by those who have said “Yes!” and “Amen!” to the Lamb’s proposal. (Even as a marriage is predicated on the bride saying, “Yes!”.
Notice the spectacle of the new Jerusalem “coming down out of heaven from God”. (Rev 21:2,10) This exact phrase is used twice to make sure you take notice of it. The new Jerusalem is of God. Remember Jesus’ words, “I go to prepare a place for you” (John 14:3). And “I will come again and receive you unto Myself; that where I Am there you may be also.” This is expressing Jesus’ heart the same as Matthew 23:37, but a NEW Jerusalem was required to bring this desire to fruition.
Me: Thank You Holy Spirit! I love You! How marvelous that Your word has made these things that will be known from of old!
Missionary Sojourn 