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Visions of Zion

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Visions of Zion Visions of Mount Zion – Earthly and Heavenly Through God’s great mercy and love, even when we were spiritually dead in trespass and sin, He sent His only Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, to quicken our mortal bodies and give us the gift of eternal life through the indwelling Holy Spirit. Through grace alone God saved our souls from an eternity of hell; a most precious gift of love and mercy, and He also…. ■ Ephesians 2:6… raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. The apostle Paul knew a man who had been to heavenly places. ■ 2 Corinthians 12:2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago–whether in the body I do not know, or whether out of the body I do not know, God knows–such a one was caught up to the third heaven. And this man, heard things, which if uttered were not lawful. ■ 2 Corinthians 12:4 …how he was caught up into Paradise and heard inexpressible words, which it is not lawful for a man to utter. The Apostle Paul knew perfectly well why the heavenly visions were unlawful to speak of, for under the religious regime of that time they were blasphemous, and Paul, then still known as Saul, had previously observed the fate of a man who had uttered such visions, namely seeing Jesus, the Son of Man, standing at the right hand of God His Father. For Saul, who was yet to have his Damascus road experience, was standing with the witnesses garments laid at his feet, which they had cast aside all the easier to stone Stephen to death! Paul who now preached Christ was, until his conversion, against Him! As also were we! Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit, and God worked miracles through him, which enraged the sanctimonious religious hypocrites of the day who were unable to gainsay him – well who could? For God was with him, and had filled Stephen with wisdom and knowledge of the scriptures. So in their ire they brought false witnesses against him and fetched him before the council. ■ Acts 6:9-14 Then there arose some from what is called the Synagogue of the Freedmen (Cyrenians, Alexandrians, and those from Cilicia and Asia), disputing with Stephen. And they were not able to resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spoke. Then they secretly induced men to say, we have heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and God. And they stirred up the people, the elders, and the scribes; and they came upon him, seized him, and brought him to the council. They also set up false witnesses who said, this man does not cease to speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law ; for we have heard him say that this Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs which Moses delivered to us. However, those who were there railing against Stephen were the exact same who hated Jesus, and had added their voices to those demanding that Christ be crucified. Therefore, for Stephen to say that he saw God and Jesus together was far worse than a red flag to a field full of raging mad bulls! But Stephen gave them his mind of truth and laid into them with well-deserved accusations. ■ Acts 7:51-54 You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit; as your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who foretold the coming of the Just One, of whom you now have become the betrayers and murderers, who have received the law by the direction of angels and have not kept it. When they heard these things they were cut to the heart, and they gnashed at him with their teeth. ■ Acts 7:55-58 But he, being full of the Holy Spirit, gazed into heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and said, look! I see the Page 1 of 8 heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God ! Then they cried out with a loud voice, stopped their ears, and ran at him with one accord; and they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the witnesses laid down their clothes at the feet of a young man named Saul. Our Lord Jesus Christ had also been charged with blasphemy in similar circumstances when he answered the high priest Caiaphas as to whether or not He was the Son of God. ■ Matthew 26:64 Jesus said to him, it is as you said . Nevertheless, I say to you, hereafter you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Power, and coming on the clouds of heaven. At this statement the high priest rent his clothes saying, He has spoken blasphemy and they all agreed that Jesus was guilty of death. Notice, even these days, how a religious spirit always condemns visions of heaven or even the manifestation of the spiritual gifts, because the evil cannot stand an expression of the truth. Back to Stephen… as he was finishing his testimony before the council he said something very interesting relevant to our theme – namely, that God does not live in temples made by hands. ■ Acts 7:48-49 However, the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hands , as the prophet says: heaven is My throne, and earth is My footstool. What house will you build for Me? Says the LORD, or what is the place of My rest? A similar sentence was spoken later by Paul in the book of Acts, whilst disputing and preaching to the men of Athens, ■ Acts 17:24-25 God, who made the world and everything in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands. Nor is He worshiped with men’s hands, as though He needed anything, since He gives to all life, breath, and all things. So where does God dwell? It is Mount Zion, the city of the Living God, which the writer of Hebrews, who incidentally I personally believe to be the Apostle Paul, and whom also I believe was himself the man who was caught up into the third heaven, quoted earlier in 2 Corinthians 12:2. ■ Hebrews 12:22-24 But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. How could the writer of Hebrews have known these things if he had not seen them for himself? And now the deacon and martyr, Stephen, his life suddenly terminated by stoning, found himself among the spirits of just men made perfect in Mount Zion, the heavenly Jerusalem, together with the general assembly and church of the firstborn whose names are registered in heaven, as are all true spirit filled believers, and that is why we too can enter the very throne room of God, not yet in the flesh of course, but spiritually we have open access to God and our passport is the indwelling Holy Spirit. ■ Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need. This is also why we are surrounded with a great cloud of witnesses in the spiritual realm; those heroes of faith who have gone before us and overcome are part of the company of the spirits of just men and women made perfect. Page 2 of 8 ■ Hebrews 12:1 Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. We are tethered as it were by the Godhead with a threefold cord to the heavenly realms, even as we live and breathe here on earth., Our adoption in Christ has accorded us a heavenly dwelling place in Mount Zion the city of the living God – the heavenly Jerusalem. For the Father chose us, Jesus the Son died for us and the Holy Spirit sealed us – our heavenly Father’s name is written on our foreheads. ■ Revelation 14:1 Then I looked, and behold, a Lamb standing on Mount Zion, and with Him one hundred and forty-four thousand, having His Father’s name written on their foreheads. ■ Revelation 22:4 They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. Now to Zion King David reigned from the physical ‘city of David’ in Jerusalem – the holy hill of Zion, and our Lord Jesus Christ presently reigns out of the heavenly Jerusalem – Zion – the city of God. Mount Zion has a long history, which began when King David conquered the Jebusites and took Jerusalem and the castle stronghold of Zion. ■ 1 Chronicles 11:4-5 And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem, which is Jebus, where the Jebusites were, the inhabitants of the land. But the inhabitants of Jebus said to David, you shall not come in here! Nevertheless David took the stronghold of Zion (that is, the City of David).
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