Revelation 21:12. 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. AKJV
Ezekiel 48:30 And these are the goings out of the city on
the north side, four thousand and five hundred measures. 31 And the
gates of the city shall be after the names of the tribes of Israel:
three gates northward; one gate of Reuben, one gate of Judah, one gate
of Levi. 32 And at the east side four thousand and five hundred: and
three gates; and one gate of Joseph, one gate of Benjamin, one gate of
Dan. 33 And at the south side four thousand and five hundred measures:
and three gates; one gate of Simeon, one gate of Issachar, one gate of
Zebulun. 34 At the west side four thousand and five hundred, with their
three gates; one gate of Gad, one gate of Asher, one gate of Naphtali.
35 It was round about eighteen thousand measures:
and the name of the city from that day shall
be, The LORD is there.
The book of
Ezekiel contains some of the Bibles most difficult visions to
understand. At least 8 chapters of it is about the New Jerusalem.
Revelation 21 & 22 directly quote passages out of Ezekiel's New
Jerusalem vision. This is just one of them. What might be the most
relevant thing that ties this passage into Revelation 21-22 is the fact
that the name of the city is "God is there." That is the
persistent theme of the New Testament, repeated in many different ways
as it is in Revelation 21-22; that God is there, in the very midst of his
people. Not just with them but inside of them as they themselves
are the
temple\tabernacle\house\dwelling place\city of God.
There is a good
object lesson in comparing the details of this passage with Rev.
21:12-13 about the nature of visions and the unfortunate state we find
ourselves subjected to in not comprehending them. The internet and many
churches are filled with the testimony of people who have seen visions or
perhaps died and saw a vision or even believe themselves to be taken to
heaven. A problem with these testimonies is that the people who have
them will almost always say, "I was taken heaven or this is what is in
heaven." Many times though when you hear what they saw "in heaven," it sounds so
ridiculous as to be unbelievable. The problem is in many cases is not that
their vision wasn't from God or real. The problem is how they are
interpreting them. A little bit closer examination of the details of the
vision will reveal that God was using illustrations to show them
something that the Bible teaches, or about a need of theirs. In other
words he did not take them to heaven. God just has an ability to put a person into any
scenario he wants and make them see anything he wants them to see. It's
the viewer of the vision that makes the mistake of thinking he or she
was in heaven, (or hell.) It may indeed seem like they were in heaven
and more real than anything the recipient of the vision has ever seen or
heard in their entire life, but it is not.
Here is how this
object lesson ties into Ezekiel's and John's vision of the walls and
gates of the New Jerusalem. In both cases these were not visions as if
they were sitting in a
movie theater watching a movie. Nor were they holographic visions. No
they both used the terminology of: "I was taken to this place." The
apostle Paul spoke of this phenomena of being taken to a place but could
not really tell of the exact reality of it. 2nd Corinthians
12:2I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the
body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God
knows;) such an one caught up to the third heaven. 3And I knew such a
man, (whether in the body, or out of the body, I cannot tell: God
knows;) 4 How that he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable
words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. AKJV So it is
in
the case of Ezekiel and John. If were taken to a literal place and saw
something that was in the future. Why was Ezekiel's city only 1.5 miles
squared and John's 1500 miles squared, actually cubed? It is easy to see they are
seeing the same future by the other scriptures that John takes, (or saw)
out of Ezekiel. You'll see these verses as the article proceeds. The skeptic would say,
"Obviously because it is not the Word of God since this is a major
discrepancy." The answer though lies in what is being pointed out. That
God is able to "take" someone to a "place", at least that is what it
seems like to the person being taken there. Then he is able to show that
person whatever he wants in that "place." In this instance. God was
able to take Ezekiel and John to different illustrated "realities"
specifically tailored to the recipient that showed them the same future.
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